The 1988 Baltimore Orioles won their first game of the season on April 29. Unfortunately, that was their 22nd game of the year. After starting the season with a 21-game losing streak, they finished with a 54-107 record. And that team had future Hall of Famers Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken having solid years, too.
Makes this year’s Orioles start of 8-20 not look quite so bad. Baltimore started off 2018 at a respectable 4-6 but then dropped 13 of their next 15 games. B-R lists them with five starters with a sub-70 OPS+ and Adam Jones with a 79 OPS+. And as bad as that sounds, the pitching isn’t any better. Big free agent acquisitions Andrew Cashner and Alex Cobb are a combined 1-7 with a 6.90 ERA
And for those of us who wanted Lance Lynn signed by the Mets:
4 starts for the Twins, with an ERA of 7.71 (56 ERA+) 19 BB in under 19 innings. Of course, it’s only 4 starts….
And some wanted Alex Cobb, who’s been even worse. Meanwhile, Jake Arrieta is 3-0 with a 1.82 ERA and a 0.932 WHIP
Hopefully, Vargas (2 years/$16 million) won’t also be a dud!
No way were the Mets going to give Arrieta 3 years/$75 million.
I agree – they weren’t.
But the question remains should they have? Would they have been better off with Arrieta at those terms or Bruce + Vargas? Too soon to say. While Arrieta is off to a good start, the drop in K rate is concerning. But what killed him in the first half of last year was the gopher ball and he seems to have that under control right now.
Brian,
Arietta > Bruce + Vargas + $20 million + 2nd round draft pick? Hmmm. Disregarding April’s results, I’d say yes since I am old school in that I favor high quality pitching over virtually all other alternatives. As for Lynn and Cobb, from the Met perspective, they were overpriced even at what they signed for being that it would cost a high 2nd round pick in addition to the moneye. Regarding Arietta, as is always the case, only in time will we know for sure.
Up and down month, but a very good one as a whole.
Time to make some changes. Gonzalez had a last hurrah, but lets get Bruce at first to get Nimmo in the leadoff spot.
If we want to up our chances of winning, we do need a catcher now. There are low end options and higher end options such as Realmuto. I like Realmuto and would love to have him on the team, but he is not Gary Carter and wont be worth what the Marlins will want for him.
How about looking at another bad team, the Reds. The Reds are having a bad year. Tucker Barnhart would be a good catcher to pick up. He has a decent bat and is a good defensive catcher. The Reds would still have Devin Mesoraco to catch if they traded Barnhart.
Thoughts ?
Love it Mike, but Plawecki has already started his throwing.
Safe to assume that Baltimore will be having a fire sale in July. Anyone of interest?
Impending free agent Manny Machado
Fire sales will start in June, as most sellers will be out of the “races” by then. Meantime, Baltimore has been open for business since the winter.
No, Baltimore spent the winter trying to improve – they identified their biggest weakness and signed 2 FA starting pitchers. That Cobb has been a massive disappointment shouldn’t be forgotten.
I think a better case can be made that the Reds have been open for business that long.
New York, New York…Mirror, Mirror…
After the games of April 13, the Mets were 10-1, Yankees were 7-7.
Since then, the Mets are 7-8, Yankees are 11-2.
I am not optimistic about Mets Starting Pitching…watching other teams with young and talented pitchers makes Me feel like the “Great Met Arms” is a Myth—- Everyone throws 95mph, not just Mets Pitchers.
DeGrom is a Great Pitcher….Noah can get to that level or beyond. Matz/Harvey/Wheeler— right now they’re not all that impressive. Pin what you want on it, but none of that troika guys excites Me on a sheer talent level at this point.
Cleaning up the SP without destroying the bullpen?…. the next 20-30 games are huge. That’s 4-5 starts per Pitcher.
Is this a trade into a Pennant race, or a Trade into Re-build? it’s all about the pitching…. they’ve played about 25 games—May will provide a tight definition of this team.
Never seen a first place team scrutinized in the same way The Mets have been so far. Doubt there were many predicting a 17-9 record and first place to end the first month of the season. Anyone would have signed up for that. And there’s an argument to be made that we have not nearly played our best or most complete baseball. In spite of the inherent flaws in the lineup and questions around the pitching, we are where we are because it feels like a complete team. And i know chemistry gets talked about a lot, but I think having it makes a big difference, and this team seems to have it. From 1-40. It’s going to be a fun Summer.
17-9 and in first place because the Mets have two dominant starters in deGrom (1.4 fWAR ) and Syndergaard (1.2 fWAR). They are ranked #2 and #3 among NL starters in fWAR. This duo of dominance will take the Mets to the playoffs.
Yes, but they need to be proactive and decisive about the rest of their challenges. Decision on 1B, decision on Reyes, decision on catcher, decisions on pitching staff.
Does anyone think Matt Harvey truly cares about his baseball career? In his walk year and he still hasn’t grown up. please DFA ASAP.