For the fifth time in their history, a Mets manager will pilot the NL All-Stars at the midsummer classic. Sure, the All-Star game doesn’t have quite the allure that it once had, with an interleague game virtually every day. Still, it’s nice to see the All-Star banner on a player’s Baseball-Reference page and it’s nice to see a bunch of All-Star appearances pile up for a guy.
There’s a perception that a manager will pick guys from his own team to help fill out the reserves of the club. But as we look at the 2016 Mets, it will be next to impossible for Terry Collins to do that this time around. One would figure Yoenis Cespedes, Jeurys Familia and Noah Syndergaard to be on the club. But it’s an extreme uphill battle to get anyone else on there.
Let’s take a look at the previous four times a Mets skipper was in charge of the All-Star game.
1970 – The Mets came into the break with a 47-39 record, good for 2nd place in the East and 1.5 games behind the Pirates. Somehow that team only had two All-Stars, neither of which were voted in by the fans in the first year that they had that privilege since the debacle in 1957 when Reds fans stuffed the ballot box and elected their entire team to the starting roster. Gil Hodges picked Tom Seaver, who started the game, and Bud Harrelson.
1974 – It wasn’t a good year for the team, as they limped into the break with a 40-52 mark, which had them in last place in the East, 7.5 games behind the Phillies. Once again, no one was elected to the squad by the fans. Yogi Berra added two Mets to the roster, Jerry Grote and Jon Matlack. Amazingly, Grote had a pretty good offensive year in the first half of ’74, as he posted a .287/.347/.376 mark. Order was restored after the break, when he batted .171 and had a .488 OPS.
1987 – After steamrolling the league in ’86, this version of the Mets had a 47-40 mark at the half. They were in third place, 9.5 games behind the Cardinals. Darryl Strawberry and Gary Carter were voted to the starting lineup while Davey Johnson selected Keith Hernandez and Sid Fernandez as reserves, with the latter earning the Save with a hitless 13th inning in the 2-0 NL win.
2001 – Much like the previous time they lost in the World Series, this year’s follow-up club did not fare very well, carrying a 38-51 mark into the break. They were in 4th place in the East, 13 games behind the Phillies. Mike Piazza was voted in by the fans and Bobby Valentine chose Rick Reed was a reserve. Reed was 7-4 with a 3.10 ERA and a 0.958 WHIP but did not pitch in the game. By the end of the month, he was traded to the Twins for Matt Lawton.
This year’s team has a 43-37 mark with eight games still to play before the break. They have a shot to have to top the 47 wins of the 1970 and 1987 squads. But will that be enough to justify adding a fourth player to the game?
The most likely guy would be Jacob deGrom, who doesn’t have the Won-Loss record but who has just about everything else, including the memory of his dominating performance in the All-Star game in 2015, when he struck out the side on 10 pitches.
In his last outing, deGrom looked back in 2015 form, in an appearance that was marred by rain delays. But deGrom has actually put up great results in his last seven starts, as in 45 IP he’s allowed 35 H, 11 ER, 9 BB and recorded 54 Ks. That’s a 2.20 ERA , a 0.978 WHIP and a 6.0 K/BB ratio. But overall he’s just 4-4 and there are a bunch of hurlers who have a legitimate case for the game.
In addition to Syndergaard, Clayton Kershaw, Jose Fernandez, Johnny Cueto, Jake Arrieta, Stephen Strasburg, Madison Bumgarner, Jon Lester and Zack Greinke seem to have strong cases. Will Aaron Nola get consideration for the token Phillies slot? And what about the relievers? Six players besides Familia already have at least 18 Saves and there seems to be a token middle reliever picked these days, too.
After the Final Vote player and the injury replacements, there were 15 NL pitchers last year who earned All-Star status. It may break in deGrom’s favor if Greinke, Kershaw and Strasburg all have to miss the game due to injury and token spots go to hitters rather than pitchers. He’ll have one more start before the break to add to his resume.
I think Jake has a shot. Familia is a must, TC has to make that call. With Kershaw and Strasburg out, I think Jake belongs. However, TC has to do the math, get every team represented.
I also think Scherzer absolutely belongs.
NL has a lot of great pitching these days.
Also look for TC to select a very deserving Daniel Murphy from Washington.
…helps that he’s having an MVP-type season in addition to a little gratitude.
They need to take the vote away from the fans. The ballot stuffing is obnoxious.
Cubbies fans stuffing ballet boxes, I get it, but it does not make it right.
Murph belongs at 2b, Russell is no big deal at SS, should be LA’s Seager.
D. Fowler with so many votes ? Pleeeez.
Hope TC adds Syndergaard, Familia, and say Colon wins his last start vs Nats, goes 8-4 with like a 2.60 era , pick him too ! With Cespedes, that would be 4 Mets plus the Mgr. Nice rep. Also,win the damn game…you never know if Mets make it back to the WS how important it can be. Cubbie sweep coming today, then go get 5 wins vs Marlins and Nats, go to the break only 3 games out or so. With all the injuries, all the lineup shuffles, bad first Harvey half, etc, etc, all Mets fans would be happy with that.
Bill James’ long-ago idea of having the voting counted by precinct — in other words, no matter how many in Cubs fan in the Chi precinct vote for Mike Rizzo, he gets one first place vote, and so on — would solve that little problem immediately.
Off topic: the Cubs hit town with a team ERA of 2.84. They leave town with a team ERA of 3.10. Four games, mid season, a quarter of a run added.
Was someone too lazy to do their HW? I’m struggling to see why you threw out Nola’s name for the Phils, even if this was written a while ago.
Odubel’s probably the one to go, though TC does like saves so Gomez wouldn’t surprise me
Thanks for thinking the worst of me.
Edit: Brevity
Pssst: Wilmer have a chance?
Yes, the same chance you have of winning Power Ball
LLLLLLLLOL!
Brian, after today I was lamenting: “Alderson is thinking his value will never be higher!”
Seriously, if Flores was on some other teams, they’d be talking him up as a player on the rise. On the Mets, he’s to be replaced any day now.
Lol value is the same today as yesterday, no one is paying more tomorrow for a 6 for 6 day today