If you thought things couldn’t possibly get worse for the Mets after Marcus Stroman opted out earlier in the day, well, you’re wrong. The Mets got smoked by the Nationals, 16-4.
Usually in a blowout you say something like, “the best thing is no one got hurt.” But in this blowout, where no one seemingly got hurt, the Mets found themselves a potential two-way player. Luis Guillorme came on and pitched the ninth inning and had a 1-2-3 inning, confounding the Nationals hitters with his collection of slow, slower and slowest stuff. He was toying with them out there.
Meanwhile, the less said about every other pitcher for the Mets Monday night, the better. Steven Matz was terrible, giving up three more gopher balls. Paul Sewald, who warmed up yesterday but didn’t get in the game, warmed up a couple of more times before getting in on Monday. Well, he left his good stuff in the pen. His final line was 0.2 IP, 6 H, 6 ER, 2 BB, 0 Ks. Chasen Shreve gave up two runs, including a homer. Drew Smith pitched a scoreless inning, so it wasn’t all bad, I guess.
The Mets faced a lefty starter for the ninth time in 17 games. Luis Rojas, who some say is making all of the right moves, reflexively put Amed Rosario in as the leadoff hitter. Rosario went 0-5. He’s now batting .207 with a .517 OPS. We all want Rosario to be the guy who once was rated as the top prospect in baseball. But he’s actively hurting the team now and it’s foolish to pretend otherwise.
It was a joke earlier saying that Guillorme was a two-way player. But it’s not a joke to suggest that he should get some starts in place of Rosario right now. He may not be any better of a hitter than a scuffling Rosario, but he’s a much better fielder.
Scraping the barrel for some good news – Jeff McNeil had three hits, Ali Sanchez made his MLB debut and Brandon Nimmo hit a homer off of a lefty. J.D. Davis had a walk, a HBP and a run scored. But his 13-game hitting streak came to an end.
This pitching staff stinks. Going to be a huge lift to put together a decent staff for 2021. Amazing how a position player infielder can come in and do better than the bullpen.
So, with the state of the team, should there be a discussion of a rebuild?
Mike, were “rebuilding” for it…just like usual. Neither going for it nor rebuilding. Its the Mets tepid, halfway, milquetoast approach to winning.
If it were my team, we’d get every prospect out there to see has it, and Id experiment with position placement. for 10-15 game stretches.
Can Rosario play CF? (I dont think so, but what the hell)
Can Gimenez play 3B?
Can McNeil please be moved to 2B?
Can Dom get playing time at 1B?
Can Ali Sanchez catch?
Can Guillorme close 😉
Rosario in CF? Sure, worth a shot
Gimenez at 3B – I don’t get it. Play him at SS when Rosario’s in CF and keep him there from now on
McNeil at 2B – Yes
Dom at 1B – I’m floored that you’re on this train. Last I knew you wanted to sign Alonso to a 10-year deal and trade Dom for used fax paper and a pop-up toaster.
Sanchez absolutely can catch. Can he hit?
I’d rather see Guillorme get another shot on the mound than Sewald.
I want to boost Dom’s value for trade purposes. The future is Alonso, I’d still make the 10 year deal.
“Last I knew you wanted to sign Alonso to a 10-year deal and trade Dom for used fax paper and a pop-up toaster.”
This one got an “extremely rare while internetting” giggle out of me. Bri, I’m not sure about the possible reasons for these occurrences instead of your near-constant steady and mature leadership, but I really appreciate the snarkiness without the YouTube-type rancor, that is, the type which leaves me wanting a shower with a heavy scrub brush
And is Lugo an effective starter?
When I was about 9 years old my father started taking my brother and I to Shea stadium (Saw Seavers almost perfect game and Mets clinching pennant )…..and here I am die hard Mets fan (Thanks Dad )…..(Should we fly planes above all MLB Stadiums with the planes pulling a banner that says……”Help Wanted Starting Pitching contact NY Mets “)………But hey tonight My NY Rangers won the lottery and now have first pick in the draft .
As I saw the scoring highlights popping upon my phone, I couldn’t help but wonder if there was let down from the Stroman announcement, and I couldn’t help but not like Cabrera a bit more. But, Mike Vaccaro’s article in the Post is most frightening, because it’s so logical. A team that is being sold and wants to win so badly that they have just thrown prospects away for anything, can’t be trusted in this precarious situation as the trade deadline nears.
I can see Rosario traded for the Giants for Kevin Gausman. I can see Szapucki, Kevin Smith and Baty to the Ranger for Lance Lynn. BVW is a careless GM with his talent, and I hate careless people. He got Davis and implemented a better coaching system for the minors as well as some nice hires, but he treated his talent base the way a rich girl treats a credit card.
The Mets are far enough along the sale road to hopefully avoid yet another foolish now team trade. That said, it can’t be ruled out that this was a major factor in what now appears to be awful moves to acquire Cano, Stroman, and to not deal Wheeler at the trade deadline.
Rebuild? I’m not even sure what that actually means. The Mets are reasonably good positionally, but the pitching is the worst it’s been in quite some time. One game is what it is, but Matz teetering on that edge to oblivion. On TV, his pitches never look polished. Wheeler had that same look for years but was able to take the next step. Matz gets the rest of this year to sink or swim. I would also use the balance of this exhibition to both see what Lugo can do as a starter, see if Diaz can close, play JD at third daily, etc. I think it’s about 2021 prep at this point.
When we were two touchdowns behind I knew we had the Nats right where wanted them – ahead of us in the standings. It’s only one game but how could a major league team put such crap out on the mound? Gopher balls from Matz is to be expected. His being the #2 starter is not. Stroman opting out is more about not getting hurt in this abbreviated season and getting his big pay day next year. Don’t expect free agents to flock to Citifield next tear without a change in ownership.
Gut Reaction: Matz was terrible but the Mets should not panic.
They have a good core of position players. The starting pitching needs a fix. They have untried starters in Lugo and Gsellman. They don’t need a closer when the starting pitcher loses the game in the first three innings. Don’t panic and don’t trade any more future pieces to salvage a lost season.
One thing that occurs to me – does the emergence of Hughes, who looks like a great pickup, make a Lugo move to the rotation more feasible from the Mets’ POV?
Perhaps that accommodates, but given their record, performance to date, schedule difficulty, and collectively weak pitching, I would opt to give Lugo starts for the balance of this schedule to see if his improvement in the pen translates to starter. The 2021 rotation is very much in Flux and would be the priority over this softball-tournament season at this point. Additionally, while there is no justification for it, Diaz can be installed as the closer for the remainder of the season regardless, as an audition for 2021.
One thing I won’t do this year is blast any players, even Matz. I wrote back in October to trade the guy but it didn’t happen. Now, with players opting out for personal reasons – like Stroman the day he qualifies for six years service to secure free agency – I’d prefer to see Matz figure it out then bash him for hanging in there and trying. We all want to win, but we should all be thankful to guys that are staying on the field rather than taking the summer off.
This is absolutely the right attitude to have.
It’s going to be hard for me to be that magnanimous, though…
Well, it’s just that we all realize that these guys playing are playing for our entertainment while realizing there’s a virus out there and the guys that aren’t playing could care less about fans. Can’t say they’re wrong, but want to embrace the ones putting out.