Although sometimes not in particular pretty fashion, the New York Mets have been getting it done of late while winning eight of their last 12 games. Part of the reason for their winning ways has been the play of the bench and the call-ups they have relied on from Las Vegas.
Aside from the sweep to begin the season at the hands of the Washington Nationals, the Mets have turned on the switch and have now a winning record (8-7) on the strength of going 6-3 on their recent nine-game road trip (with six on the west coast). Sure, the pitching has been solid, but considering the starts David Wright and Curtis Granderson are off to, you would think the Mets would be in a major hole.
You would also think some of the injuries they have endured would torpedo the start to the season.
That has not been the case.
The Mets ideal and optimal lineup to open the season was to have Travis d’Arnaud at catcher, Ike Davis at first base, Daniel Murphy at second base, Ruben Tejada at shortstop, Wright at third base and Granderson, Juan Lagares and Chris Young in the outfield.
That’s not a terrible lineup, but it’s been the contributions from others that have been giving the Mets a significant lift.
Consider the impacts from the following players:
Eric Young Jr.
Young has been getting on base with regularity ever since he got the opportunity to play every day at leadoff. Young Jr. has a decent .254/.339/.313 slash line to go with nine stolen base, which is good for second in the league. His base-running ability once again has been causing havoc on opposing pitchers and without his timely base stealing, the Mets are probably not where they are without him.
Anthony Recker
Recker has been playing so well that Terry Collins may start playing him at the expense of d’Arnaud. Recker has two home runs and four RBI’s on the year and all have come in big spots. The Mets may have one of the better backups in the league and they’ll try to take advantage of it for as long as they can.
Although he didn’t get off to the most impressive start, Duda has now become the preferred choice at first base over Davis and Josh Satin. Duda is currently the team leader in home runs (three) and RBI’s (eight) while sporting an impressive .275/.341/.500 slash line. If he can provide some pop in the middle of the lineup, than the Mets will be better off for it.
It’s not just the aforementioned players, as Satin, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Andrew Brown and Omar Quintanilla have all made significant contributions, too. Although they have combined to go just 14-58, this collective group does have two home runs, four doubles and 13 RBI’s under their belts, and just like Recker, many of their hits have come in timely situations.
With Lagares going down with a hamstring injury, Chris Young will now step into his role (he’s due to be activated off the DL on Friday) and hopefully he can do well in Lagares’ stead. Sure, the loss of Lagares will hurt, as he was off to a fantastic start (both offensively and defensively), but this is where the Mets’ depth has paid off.
Not to mention, some unlikely arms (i.e. Kyle Farnsworth) have also emerged and stabilized the back end of the bullpen. Now, the Mets will call up Daisuke Matsuzaka and hopefully he can pitch better than John Lannan, as that should be another boost to the pitching corps.
So, between some unlikely heroes and good organizational depth, the Mets are keeping their heads above water at the moment. It should only get better once Wright, Granderson and d’Arnaud play up to their capabilities. You also may have some reinforcements (Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, César Puello, etc.) on the way as well.
While the Mets still have a long way to go before they are knocking on the doors of the playoffs, but if they do, they can look back at the way some tertiary and secondary players gave this team a boost early on.
Like they say, you’re only as good as your weakest link.
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A team needs roster depth to cover for the inevitable injuries. Brian ran an article in the spring about outfield playing time that was excellent. MLB players don’t play 162 games a year and quite frankly sometimes should be rested when they do have minor injuries. Bench strength is important.
There have been some nice contributions this year but the ball was also dropped by Sandy concerning roster make up. The Mets are very weak at middle infielder depth and also backlogged with one too many first baseman at the expense of a 5th outfielder. There is room for improvement and the 8-7 record is a good reason to seek this improvement.
The real organizational depth is in Las Vegas with their 11-3 record and a lineup that has a major league capable player at every position. Dykstra-Campbell-Flores-Lutz-den Decker- Puello-Centeno and vets Abreu and Teagarden and we all know who makes up that pitching staff. This is the organizational depth I really like. BTW my Sand Gnats are 9-4 and Nimmo is batting .400 in St Lucie. There is a pipeline being established. Hats off to Paul DePodesta.
Great piece. The fact that the Mets will not be relying on these secondary players to carry more than they should is a big difference between last year and this year. There is reason to hope that the Mets will be a stronger team as the season progresses.
As much as I don’t believe in Collin’s ability to lead this team to the playoffs, you have to give credit where it’s due. It seems anytime he’s rested one player for another this season, be it Davis for Duda, or Recker, or Omar, or Brown, Kirk, etc…they have produced…Exciting baseball for the last 2 weeks. We’ll know a lot more about this team after this homestand. If we can win 6 against the Braves/Cards/Marlins I think this team can really take off.
Pieces that focus on passing strengths … look, I love the three game sweep against Arizona. I’ve argued that you can only play the opposition in front of you to support the performance of guys like Travis Taijeron.
But before we go off touting our depth (or worse yet, guys like Cerrone talking about how we’re 5th in scoring in the NL), you should remember that Mets scored 21 runs in three games and that brought the average runs surrendered by the DBacks down.
Captain Kirk and Omar Q will return to being completely overwhelmed by good pitching. As will our wonderful lead off man, EYJ. Don’t let your eyes fool what your brain inherently knows, and its that on most days we go to battle with at least three if not four positions with a likely OPS under or near 600.
This is one of the most challenged offensive teams in all of baseball. Nothing has changed. And I believe we are about to find out just how little has changed when Atlanta comes to town.
+1. That is dead on. remember how we played against the Angels…and Nats…
It’s the bounce back I’m focusing on.
Yeah, true. Again, Terry Collins preaches resiliency and nothing is promised, so it’s nice to see them bounce back in the face of adversity.
The point of the article was to enjoy it while it lasts and that you just never know.