Terry Collins stayed true to his word, mostly, and ran his best players out there last night rather than one of his all righty lineups against lefty Clayton Kershaw. It worked. Kershaw gave up four hits, all of them to left-handed hitters, including a solo homerun to Daniel Murphy. There was some concern that Collins would look to exploit what had been working throughout the Mets’ resurgent summer. That is, he’d been playing to the splits and would sit left handers against tough southpaws. Kudos to him for doing the right thing.
Except for Michael Cuddyer. As awful as he looked at the plate, his poor defense could have been even more damaging to the team’s chances of winning had Jacob deGrom not bailed him out. Those doubles that should not have been that didn’t turn into Dodgers runs may still have had a negative effect, though. Just how many more pitches did deGrom need to throw as a result? It’s very unlikely that he’ll get the ball on short rest for a potential game four now. A healthy Steven Matz has made this less of a concern, but the extra stress essentially nixed the possibility. Stop starting Cuddyer, please.
How about Tyler Clippard? Collins has said that he has no plans to ditch Clippard as the setup man. This is a typically stubborn reaction from him. He tends to show faith in his players until it’s far too late. This cannot be the case with Clippard in the playoffs. It’s clear to everybody but Collins that Clippard has struggled immensely the last month or so. Have a look at some of his numbers from September and October.
14.2 IP, 6.14 ERA, 5.79 FIP, 1.30 WHIP
There’s really no need to go further with the numbers. They’re not good. In contrast, Addison Reed has been quite good during the same time span. This is not a call to instill Reed in the setup role, it’s simply to call out the fact that having a setup role in this bullpen just doesn’t make sense right now. Collins needs to be less stubborn about his management of his relievers if he hopes to guide this team deep into the post-season.
We’re one game deep into the playoffs, so we don’t know how far Collins is willing to stray from his usual decision making. However, we’ve already witnessed two instances where he needs to keep the leash short and, at least with Clippard, he doesn’t sound like he’s willing to keep that leash short enough. Of course, he may simply not wish to tip his hand. Either way, we’re about to see firsthand how flexible post-season-Collins will be.
Cuddyer should not be playing over Lagares. These are the splits vs LHP.
Cuddyer 357/343/701 Lagares 333/438/771
There is no need to even discuss defense. Conforto starts tonight. (yeah)
Clippard has really struggled since his back injury (?) and I was hoping he would have a strong game with the extended rest. He didn’t and his innings are too important to mess around with. Robles should take the 7th and Reed the 8th if it comes down to it tonight.
Playoff baseball means winning the game that is being played that day and not worrying about the next game. A team has to leave everything on the field and then somehow come back and do it again the next day. deGrom 120 pitches and Familia getting 4 outs are positive signs that TC appreciates this concept. It also means constant evaluation and reevaluation and changing up what isn’t working. Cuddyer and Clippard fall into this situation.
The double switch last night inserting Johnson to 2B and Murphy to 1st when Familia came in was a good move by TC. Murphy had a few good plays there.
Agree 100%. I like seeing Conforto in there tonight, and I think Lagares will get some healthy defensive time throughout the series.
I’m not a Cuddyer fan and I have no problem replacing him with Lagares when there’s a lefty on the mound.
My only concern is about creating a culture here in the playoffs where if you have one bad game you’re hopelessly buried. Cespedes went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts. If he made a fielding blunder, would we talk about yanking him from the lineup, too?
For all of his faults, Cuddyer was definitely a contributor in the big run in August and early September.
I agree that a player should not be buried because of a bad game. I don’t fault TC for giving Cuddyer first crack. In Game #1, Duda, Granderson or Murphy could have failed. They didn’t so they play. Conforto goes tonight. I would go with Lagares in Game 3. Cuddyer should get plenty of opportunity to get playing time before the Mets win 10 more games. In regard to Cespedes, he is too big a weapon to sit and there aren’t any replacements that could match his production. In Cuddyer there are quite a few.
I didn’t like Cuddyer starting yesterday before the game, and I didn’t like it after the game was over. Cuddyer will contribute to this team moving farther, but I don’t see it in a starting outfield capacity.
Count me in with the group that says Lagares should be in CF when the Mets face a LH SP. Cuddyer has had every opportunity to show that he can still hit now that Coors Field is not home and he has continually failed. His defense was almost passable this season but it was exposed badly on Friday night.
Loyalty is nice but being loyal to a guy who has not been productive all season could cost the team a chance to move on. Cuddyer must sit.
Cuddy needs to be a pinch hitter and vet on the bench / clubhouse.
Therein is his value to this Mets team right now. His value would be to concentrate on the pitcher, the scouting reports, etc, be that extra voice on the bench to help the younger players, and possible big pinch hit late in games.
He is awkward anywhere else besides 1B right now.
As for Clip-art, he is just not the same. He is actually pitching himself off the 2016 team BP right now (Familia, Reed, Robles, Gilmartin, Edgin, Goedell, Blevins or Alvarez), which probably saves $ for Cespedes anyway… TC needs to flip flop Clippard with A.Reed now, not later after he causes a game in the playoffs.
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Cuddyer has six hits out of 22 PH plate appearances, so he could be vital in that role, taking over for Juan Uribe.
Happy to let him pinch hit and DH in the world series, otherwise I have no use for Cuddyer. Clippard doesnt look right. We have to hope our starters can go 8 or we have a few blowouts. What’s the alternative? Reed? Not super confident in him either.
After having a week off, there should be no excuse about fatigue or not resting up before the playoffs. Clippard’s arm just may be worn down and done for the season. Let’s hope not. Cuddyer is just a liablity to the defense and exerts extra pressure on the pitching staff to avoid a mistake pitch. Maybe TC makes a gutsy move (for him) and inserts Comforto? Defense, starting pitching and timely hitting wins playoff games. You need the first 2 if the offense doesn’t produce. Cuddyer isn’t producing. doesn’t matter how much he’s making next season. Make the move. He’s been around long enough to not rock the boat and put the team’s needs first..