Montero logged a scoreless inning for the Gulf Coast League Mets on Tuesday morning in Port St. Lucie, Florida. It marked his first game action since pitching for the Mets on April 28, then landing on the disabled list.
Source: Adam Rubin
Maybe he’ll work his way back into some starts for the Mets this year – wouldn’t that be something?
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Thats a long fall from Flushing. Hopefully he can rapidly earn some advancement.
I cant imagine he is getting a lot of support from the FO given the length of time it appears hes milked a big league salary on injury. Now that hes pitching does that mean hes officially optioned to the minors?
He “milked a big league salary on injury”
…you’re kidding, right? Yes it makes much more financial sense for a 24-year-old to fake being hurt instead of, you know, establishing big league value by, you know, pitching.
smh some Mets fans. I swear.
Hardly. He was cleared by doctors to throw a while ago but continued to inexplicably refuse to throw. He magically got hurt right as he was being demoted. He can see that he was not going to be in contention for a starting position, or a relief position for that matter; with the record he put up, he may be afraid there’s no place in the big leagues for him. His numbers in the show are terrible no matter how you parse it (except for little stretches): ERA, WHIP, BB/9 all are bad. Call it small numbers, or failing to properly read the magic 8 ball, Im guessing his days as a Met are numbered. Like with Puello, the fall from the stars has been dramatic.
There’s never been any reports of Montero being a malcontent so I think declaring he’s jaking it is a pretty harsh reading of the situation. Like Stephen said, he’s got more incentive to pitch than not to pitch at this point.
Montero has a 4.07 ERA in nine games as a SP. That’s not good but it’s far from a disaster for a rookie pitcher. Not everyone starts off like Harvey. Randy Johnson had a 4.77 ERA in his first nine starts. Greg Maddux had a 6.02 ERA in his first nine starts. David Price had a 4.78 ERA in his first nine starts. Plus, Montero has a 3.29 ERA in his last seven starts. I think if we look at his minor league record the 3.29 ERA is much more in line with his expected output than the 8 ER in 10.1 IP of his first two starts.
Shhhhh Brian, there’s no place for logic when it comes to Mets fans! You know better.
Well, on a team not starting like Harvey is an issue because deGrom has, Matz has, Syndergaard has, and Wheeler sort of has. Add that Niese is having some sort of revival…and well…
Whats troubling is the offering up home runs and lack of command and control he showed. ERA? Thats pure old school ! All I hear is justification of his status by potentially spurious comparisons. What I see is a guy who came up with promise and then cratered in the heat…if he cant show ultimate command and control he cannot make it in the bigs, and certainly not on a pitching staff where he is quite far down the depth profile. The idea of IP management is interesting, but that makes him inning filler and not much else.
I realize this is harsh evaluation, but I havent seen much to like.
OK, let’s look at some non ERA stats:
first 2 starts:
10.1 IP, 6 BB, 7 Ks, 3 HR
last 7 starts
38.1 IP, 16 BB, 39 Ks, 5 HR
So, he went from a 1.2 to a 2.4 K/BB ratio
He went from allowing a HR every 3.1 innings to one every 7.2 innings
He went from a 6.1 K/9 to a 9.2 K/9
That’s a pretty substantial improvement.
Tons of pitches though. Look, I get you like Montero and want to see him get more of a shot than he has been granted. I think the entirety of Mets fandom really was there in the beginning and wanted the exact same thing, me included…and then deGrom outpitched him in Spring Training, and ultimately outpitched him completely. If he struggles in his rehab duties, its hard to see where on this staff there is a place for regular innings. He was given a pen role, and my guess is thats about all he can aspire to on the Mets without significant other transgressions.
This year it wasnt Montero against deGrom. It was Montero against Gee.
“In Milwaukee, John Ricco said that Rafael Montero has been cleared by doctors to throw for weeks. He’s not because he’s reporting discomfort”
posted 7 July, Jared Diamond
Yes, I don’t think anyone is debating that.
You read that as someone who doesn’t want to play.
I think most people read that as someone who has an issue that doesn’t show up in traditional diagnosis.
Edit: If the same exact thing happened with Steven Matz, would your reaction be the same?
Interesting question. Im not sure. I dont get a strong feeling about compete level in Montero, which is quite different than I sense in Matz. Thats probably not fair, and I get that. Also, the feeling of disappointment in his perfromance is so strong, its hard to get around it in appraising him. All that said…Ive jumped off the Montero train. I dont want him to do bad, I just dont think hes gonna do a lot of good, and he is never going to get more than filler starts at best. He’s clearly falling down the ranks in a hurry in the organization.
I think it’s pretty standard for DL guys to make their first rehab appearance in Florida where they were already undergoing treatment for their injury.
Sure, at A+, not rookie league.
SLU was off today.
Brian,
You and I might be higher on Jefe than anyone else but I do think it’s for good reason. He is one of my favorite players in baseball and I hope he can complete a speedy rehab assignment and fill in for Matz while the Long Island native is out. Very excited he is back. Can’t help but think the shoulder woes are from misuse, but I’ll reserve judgment for now.
Realistically, he’s got to be at least a month away from contributing in the majors.
But it was always going to be a tricky situation managing the inning limits, even before Matz got hurt. If Syndergaard was at 160-something, Matz at 170-something and Harvey at 180-something. I don’t know how it works without introducing a 7th pitcher somehow. Someone should do the math so I don’t have to!
Did they look under the benches for Cesar Puello?
Nah, not worth the effort.
He’s not pitching because he’s in pain= refusing to pitch!!!????
He doesn’t have the explosive stuff of “The Fab Five”, but he has a shot to pitch.
He’s always reminded me of Ramon Martinez. Throws strikes, lot of natural movement, keeps it low. If they end up trading one of the big 5 (only in a package for a true star hitter please) Jefe could challenge for the 5th spot. I son’t buy the far flung speculation about his attitude. Speaking of which, Jordany Valdespin ia available. :/
I am glad Montero is back on the mound. He’s probably just an undervalued trade chip at this point, but it’s something.
If healthy, he’d deserve a shot in the starting rotation for several MLB teams. If the Mets were constructed differently — no Colon — and if he was truly healthy — I could see him as a #5 for now. Feels like a lost year for him.
I believed that his best value to the Mets would be in the bullpen. There was a job there, an opportunity for the taking. Unfortunately, for whatever reasons, he spit the bit. Then the injury and here we are.
Wonder about timing of this. Odd it happened right at the all star break. Looking for more days off or a trade?
This is what I really appreciate about this blog. Reading this whole thread right now, I was expecting the debate between Chris and Brian to turn ugly (note – I’ve been reading MetsBlog for years.) This is so much better and, as a result, much more informative.
Good stuff fellas.
BTW, deGrom made us all proud to be Mets fans last night, didn’t he? I had people texting me during the game as though he were my 10 year old kid!
Thanks Bull!
The comments section means a lot to me. I’ve learned from Chris, Name, Metsense, JP and others throughout the years and I want to continue to learn from people there, too. It’s why I moderate the comments. I understand it’s a turnoff for some but I truly believe that it keeps the comments section civil, which is key.
We can and do disagree frequently. But for the most part, we disagree without being utterly obnoxious. JP and I were going back and forth on another thread but even though we didn’t see eye to eye on a few things, he still comes around and visits and weighs in and that makes me happy.
Right Rafael Montero was signed a lot later than international prospects usually are. Most are signed when they turn 16 or 17 years old but the Mets signed him out of the Dominican Republic at the age of 20.