Day games simply aren’t for the Mets this season. Whether it be on Sunday or a weekday matinee, the game hasn’t been kind. The negative pattern continued this afternoon when Martin Perez and the Texas Rangers defeated the Mets 5-1. The Mets went down early, when starter Rafael Montero allowed three runs in the first inning. Montero’s record dropped to a lowly 1-8. Two of the three runs came on a tape-measure shot to Joey Gallo, and the other came on a balk. Montero was unimpressive, allowing four runs over five innings, along with three walks and five strikeouts.
As for the offense, they didn’t produce nearly as much as required today. The only run came off of a Wilmer Flores solo shot in the fifth inning, the Mets first hit of the game. Jose Reyes and Amed Rosario were the only other Mets to produce hits. The team combined for seven strikeouts on the day. As for the bullpen, Josh Smoker came in to relieve Montero, and allowed five hits and a run. Perhaps the most impressive pitcher out of the pen was Hansel Robles, who over three innings did not allow a hit, and struck out five. My Gut Reaction is that if Robles starts to develop consistency, he will be trusted with a more long-reliever type role out of the bullpen. Chasen Bradford then came in to finish the ninth inning, and he struck out two. The Mets have fallen to 11 games under .500, a low point on the season.
Tomorrow the Mets take on the Phillies at 7:10, and will look to start a winning trend for the weekend.
Good bye Jay Bruce. Good luck in Cleveland- I hope you get to see real post season play.
Our chance for a better draft position is improving. Its needed desperately.
Montero really put them in a hole early and he made multiple mistakes such as a balk and late covering first base. He was not impressive in his three innings of work and 87 pitches. Yes, 87 pitches !
I am very disappointed in the Bruce Trade because the Yankees were rumored to be in the mix also. The Mets should have paid his salary and taken a bonafide prospect from one of the teams instead of a Single A All Star relief pitcher, Ryder Ryan. Buying a prospect from a desperate Indians or Yankees would have been a better move for the Mets .
The Mets avoid trading with the Yankees because the Yankees might win. As for the Coupons paying to get a better player, that’s hysterical.
Marc Carig @MarcCarig
NYY: 2 prospects Mets asked for and $1m in salary relief.
CLE: 30th rounder Ryder Ryan and about $5m in salary relief.
Mets chose latter.
Is this just a rounding error or did the Indians send money to the Mets in addition to picking up Bruce’s salary?
Bruce makes $13 million this year and we’re more than 2/3 done with the season. Cot’s did not list any incentive clauses in his deal.
I thought it also Brian, as we are a week more 25% left, or roughly $3.5MM. I’m wondering if the Wilpons didn’t make Carig write that to cover themselves even more. Don’t forget, he does appearances on the radio side every game. That makes the Yankees news even more troubling. However, we still have Granderson…
One of Montero’s mistakes was not fielding a not too well hit grounder up the middle by Elvis Andrus, that went off Montero’s foot. Andrus then stole second and third on consecutive pitches. Both plays were close because of perfect throws by Rene Rivera, and then scored on a grounder to a drawn-in Reyes, but that was a close play also.
The Gallo bomb was an impressive blast on a straight fastball right down the pipe. Montero is a middle reliever at best, and nothing else, who is obviously overwhelmed with the speed and focus of the major league game.
Three things:
1. There was absolutely no way that Montero had a play on the ball that Andrus hit in the inning he stole two bases. It was a bullet that Rosario was lucky to make a play on. Are you confusing his ab-bats in the first and second inning?
2. Both Gary and Ron thought the Mets should have challenged the play at 2B on the CS attempt.
3. Rivera’s throw to 3B on the steal was not good. Walker was lucky to make the catch and Rivera pointed down to him in acknowledgment of his play. A good throw and he would have been out.
Brian protested when I stated this before, but this trade is everything we know about the Wilpons. By wanting full money back, they lost the opportunity to acquire more talent in return.
It’s how they do things. Not always, just usually.
It’s also why Granderson is still around. The Brewers don’t have the resources to pick up that tab and, I’d bet, Sandy is holding out for the money.
I wish they’d dump Walker.
Bad owners.
Oh, and I should say: Jay Bruce, you were a class act and a solid ballplayer all season. Better than I expected.
I was never for keeping you — the plan, we must never forget, was to keep Conforto in AAA — always felt the resources should have gone to bullpen and other areas — but every day you took the field and played hard. Good luck in Cleveland. I’d welcome you back next season at the right price.
For the record:
You said adding money “has never been the Wilpon way.” So I pointed out three times that they did. You then amended it to “rarely” and then I said it shouldn’t be the default assumption that they wouldn’t since the most recent time they were sellers that they did exactly what you wanted them to do.
Then they did not include money this time with Bruce.
Is it because the team that was willing to pay money was the Yankees and they didn’t want to deal with them? Or was it because, as you suggest, that they’re simply bad owners?
I don’t like either answer. The idea of not trading with any particular team, whether it’s the Yankees or a divisional foe or a team that looked at you wrong at the last GM meetings – is just silly.
The Mets deserve whatever bad press they get for this trade.