Brandon Nimmo’s strikeouts, David Peterson’s shiny ERA, Jesse Winker turns on the power

Brandon Nimmo has been a model of consistency the past three seasons. Coming into this year, Nimmo posted OPS+ marks of 131, 130 and a 128 in 2023. Which makes this year’s 113 mark disappointing. In previous seasons where he didn’t reach that level, there were stretches where he didn’t hit for power, typically coming [...]

Sean Manaea turns it up a notch, Francisco Lindor leads NL in fWAR, Pete Alonso’s August

After starting June off with back-to-back clunkers – a combined 11 ER in 9.1 IP – Sean Manaea has been outstanding. He’s pitched in 13 games since those rough outings and has a 2.83 ERA while limiting opposing batters to a .584 OPS. And the Mets are 10-3 in those Manaea starts. Among the 74 [...]

Francisco Lindor’s hot stretch, Luis Severino versus the dregs, Jose Butto succeeds despite the walks

On Saturday’s broadcast, Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez were discussing Francisco Lindor and how his season turned around once he moved to the top of the lineup. To his credit, Cohen wondered if it was purely coincidental, as Lindor was going to heat up regardless of where he hit in the order. Hernandez countered with [...]

The misleading performance of the pen without Edwin Diaz, Harrison Bader’s power, Luis Torrens’ torrid start

You hear people say it all of the time – if the Mets are going to be buyers at the deadline, they need to get at least one relief pitcher to bolster their pen. The latest talking point in this regard has been the relievers’ performance while Edwin Diaz served his suspension. Without Diaz to [...]

Pete Alonso’s hot start, the surprising Jorge Lopez & Drew Smith and the team’s recent offense

Pete Alonso followed up on what Gary Cohen called an O-for-Cincinnati with an 0-4 in his first game in Atlanta. That brought his line down to .167/.222/.310 in 45 PA. But the four games since then, Alonso has been on fire. He has multi-hit games in his last four appearances, including a 3-3 with two [...]

The Mets’ rotation, the whiffs of Brandon Nimmo and DJ Stewart and the curse Harrison Bader looks to break

When Kodai Senga went down, it was natural to have Jose Quintana take the ball for the Mets on Opening Day. Not only was Quintana a veteran who pitched well when healthy last year, he was the only one of the remaining four initial pitchers in the rotation who played for the Mets in 2023. [...]

Lots of playing time for Brett Baty and Mark Vientos but not so much for Phil Bickford and Joey Lucchesi

People love to say things which they think makes them appear smart. One of those is that Spring Training stats don’t matter. And on the surface, that’s true. It doesn’t matter if Player X is hitting .300 or Player Y has a 0.00 ERA. But there are things that are important and one of those [...]

Brooks Raley v. Drew Smith, the combined misery of Brett Baty and Starling Marte, playing time and days off

We all hope that David Stearns will add another arm or two to the bullpen. But whether he does or not, one thing that we hope that Stearns and/or Carlos Mendoza will do is to utilize Brooks Raley as a true setup man, rather than the lefty specialist that it seemed Buck Showalter wanted Raley [...]

Tylor Megill vs. David Peterson, Adam Ottavino’s extended good stretch, the feast or famine offense

Most fans put Tylor Megill and David Peterson in the same boat. They view them as okay depth starters but not anyone you want to write into ink for the 2024 starting rotation. That’s not an unreasonable take. However, my opinion is that Peterson is a solid back end of the rotation guy while Megill [...]

The curious Denyi Reyes decision, Ronny Mauricio’s MLB debut, Jeff McNeil’s turnaround

This past November, the Mets signed Denyi Reyes, one of the plethora of guys they signed because of his option status. Reyes was released by the Orioles following the 2022 season, one where he advanced to Triple-A at age 25 but went 0-7 with a 7.17 ERA. Reyes began the year in the bullpen for [...]

Kodai Senga continues to succeed, Jeff McNeil’s hot August, a Mets-Marlins breakdown

At the end of the projection piece on Kodai Senga for the 2023 season was this bit, My opinion is that if he’s able to throw strikes, he’s going to dominate. If he has the WHIP that ZiPS forecasts, he’ll have a sub-3.00 ERA. Here’s my totally biased forecast for Senga this year: 155 IP, [...]

Drew Smith’s status, Francisco Lindor’s extended hot streak, Jose Quintana continues his strong pitching

We have been criticizing Billy Eppler for his options-reliever strategy since before the season started. And it’s turned out even worse than we initially feared with how those back-end relievers have all been horrible this year. But one thing that flies under the radar has been the club’s designation as Drew Smith as one of [...]