My preference is for people who finish the year strong, rather than those who start off with a bang and end with a whimper. To the best of my knowledge, there’s no reason to believe this. There’s no credible study that shows if you hoard guys who finished strong in the previous year that you’ll [...]
Very few people would argue against the notion that experience matters. You’re going to have open heart surgery, you want a doctor who’s done the operation 100 times before. You’re getting new brakes done, you want someone who’s not taking the wheels off the car for the first time. You’re being sued you want a [...]
Prior to the start of the 2019 season, my opinion was that signing Wilson Ramos was the best move of the offseason for Brodie Van Wagenen. It seemed much better than paying the freight for J.T. Realmuto in trade or for Yasmani Grandal in cash. By mid May, I was seriously questioning my judgment. But [...]
The historic rookie season of Pete Alonso almost seemed to have no limits. The decision to bring Alonso to Queens after Spring Training was perhaps the best single move made by the front office this past season. Let’s see, he broke the Mets rookie and single-season home run records, was selected to the All Star [...]
Anyone who’s watched the Mets this century has at one point or another lamented the money the club has had on the injured list. Sometimes, like in 2009, it’s just the sheer number and while others, like in 2019, it’s the high-dollar value. This past season, the Mets had three players who combined to produce [...]
When the Mets went on their 15-1 run shortly after the All-Star break, many people were unimpressed because it came against teams that were not very good. Yet those very same people failed to hold the Brewers to the same standard. When Milwaukee went on an 18-2 run in September, they were beating the Marlins, [...]
In the five-year period from 2014-2018, the Mets hit better on the road than they did at home, by an average off 55 points of OPS. In the just-concluded 2019 season, the Mets had a .766 OPS at home, compared to a .774 mark on the road. It wasn’t a home-field advantage but since the [...]
There’s safety in doing things the way every other team in MLB does it. Then there’s the reality of what may be good for some clubs is not good for your team. And the Mets are being served a healthy dose of reality here in 2019, specifically in regards to how they run their pitching [...]
Last year, eight players drew votes in the NL Rookie of the Year voting, including Jeff McNeil, who was one of three players to draw a third place vote and receive one point in the balloting. Ronald Acuna Jr. won in a landslide, getting 27 of the 30 first-place votes. Juan Soto picked up two [...]
Most everyone expects Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard to be very good. Many of us expect Zack Wheeler to be good, too. However, the outlook is not quite as rosy for Steven Matz and Jason Vargas. The questions become how good does the starting five have to be and can the first three make up [...]
Baseball is being played again, and it feels great. But do the Grapefruit and Cactus varieties of America’s Pastime really matter? More specifically, do team records and player statistics from Spring Training actually correlate to regular season success? We all want to go crazy over Dominic Smith’s batting average, or be upset at Zack Wheeler’s [...]
Brodie Van Wagenen said that his goal this offseason was to eliminate the “ifs.” Some have wondered if while he was doing this, he should have addressed the rotation and brought in a starter to bump last year’s number five guy to the bullpen. Virtually no one is happy with last year’s fifth starter but [...]