Luis Rojas opted to use Jeurys Familia for the fourth time in five days. And in a high-leverage situation, to boot. Familia gave up a homer in a tie game, the difference in a 3-2 setback in Miami Thursday night.
Maybe it’s not fair to focus on Rojas and Familia. But that’s the point that I turned on the game and it sure seemed pretty darn important. You should look at rest and leverage when picking your relievers and it was just a failure on both parts.
To be fair, Rojas didn’t have a ton of great options for the eighth inning. But if the choice is using a tired Familia or Heath Hembree – who hadn’t pitched since recording a save on Saturday – the choice should have been Hembree, 100 times out of 100.
The broadcasters talked about the Mets’ failure to score a runner from third in both the seventh and eighth innings with fewer than two outs. Yeah, that’s a problem and one that shouldn’t be swept under the rug.
But the manager has to recognize the strengths and weaknesses of his players, and taking those into account, placing the player into the best possible position to succeed. Rojas shouldn’t be blamed for the extreme dropoff in performance from Michael Conforto, Francisco Lindor, Jeff McNeil and Dominic Smith. Nor should he be blamed for the absences of key players like Carlos Carrasco, Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo and Noah Syndergaard for months at a time.
However, when he uses Patrick Mazeika to pinch-hit for a position player or using Familia for the fourth time in five days when there were other options available – those are just glaring failures that no one should ignore.
When McNeil grounds out to end the eighth inning, he clearly was trying his best to get a hit and win the game. Was using McNeil as a pinch-hitter in that situation instead of Jonathan Villar the best move that Rojas could have made? Maybe, yet it sure seems like Rojas got out-maneuvered, as he ended up with McNeil facing a LHP. Lefties have held McNeil to a .541 OPS coming into today.
Maybe Villar would have struck out in the eighth inning, like he did in the ninth. Maybe Hembree gives up 5 ER in 0.2 IP, like he did in his last outing with the Reds before he joined the Mets. Just because the manager makes the “right” move, it doesn’t guarantee success.
But it sure would be nice to see the manager not make lousy moves.
I sometimes wonder what it would be like to watch the metsies on even a rare occasion, but truthfully it sounds like torture. However, keep that head up because I predict better times… in the (hopefully not too distant) future
Spot on Brian. We had chances to win but again have no clue how to knock in RISP. This is who we have become this season. Rojas’ managerial choices have been questionable all season and while they say a good manager is worth 3-5 wins during the course of a season, he has probably been worth 7-10 loses. I’ve stuck by him all season but these last few games broke the camels back and he did not manage well even through their recent winning streak. We rarely steal bases, try a hit and run and god forbid someone should try a squeeze play let alone a sacrifice bunt. In the absence of HRs we do not play small ball and manufacture runs. While it ain’t over till it’s over, I am already thinking of off-season moves.
Gut Reaction: They play like a losing team because they are a losing team (70-71).
In his words Stroham said he was rolling and not tired. He deserved a chance to preserve his win . He only threw 94 pitches and the last two hits were infield hits. All year May and Castro would pitched because they didn’t pitch the previous day. Instead Rojas used an unknown quantity in Hand and a over used Familia. Rojas was out maneuvered with the McNeil move. It didn’t matter anyway because they were 0-7 in RISP. Poor decisions and lack of timely hitting are tendencies of a losing team.
Well said.
While it is beyond repetitive, it bears repeating…this offense is awful. 4-4 vs Washington and Miami, with simply dreadful RISP performance against middling pitching at best sans Alcantara, the verdict is in. Rojas has been equally dreadful and melted in crunch times. Mets Yankees on 20th anniversary of 911 is downright depressing. Anyhow, for 2022, they need to prioritize a closer and fixing the lineup. I don’t think it requires a rebuild, contracts totaling $500 million, or draining the prospects. It does require a sharp baseball mind, one that makes correct choices in who stays and who goes. The division is the bar, and the Braves lineup is miles ahead of the Mets even without Acuna. That needs to be resolved.