In their last 20 games, the Mets have failed to score at least three runs 13 times. The biggest culprit is the meat of the order. Last season Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Michael Conforto and Todd Frazier combined for 107 home runs. The slumping and injured quartet has just 25 through the first 65 games of the season. Does Cespedes need to return for the other three to wake up or will at least one of them break out on their own?
The good times,they are a-coming?
Strangely enough it’s Jun 15th and I have nothing constructive to say about the team and the rest of the season. Yet I still have the desire to watch the team play. Why? It’s our guys.
Maybe through all of this lessons could/have to be learned.
I feel similarly.
I mean, it’s not like there aren’t good things to talk about. But there are only so many times you can go to the well with deGrom, Lugo and Nimmo.
Why do I keep watching? Because I refuse to believe that Bruce, Conforto and Frazier are all toast. Because I think it’s possible to see something positive from Rosario and Smith. Because I still feel like all of the non-Vargas starters can turn in an electric start. And while he’s not my favorite player, there’s something admirable about Asdrubal Cabrera gutting it out when he should clearly be on the DL. Plus there’s the chance he might snap and take down an umpire.
+1
And Game chatter every night helps me get through this…Im not alone!
Brian, spot on. I’d add Gsellman to the list. He hasn’t been as flawless as JDG or Lugo, but he’s definitely shown he has a home in the bullpen and possibly a future as our closer.
If you remove the first 3 dreadful starts when Vargas first returned from the DL (probably prematurely), he’s actually been serviceable. Not his fault Mickey keeps pulling him after 5 even when he’s grooving. That two times through the lineup strategy might work if Blevins, Ramos, Robles and Sewald didn’t all stink. Add Rhame to that list too after last night. All these guys do is walk batters and give up home runs – the two things relievers are supposed to avoid.
Intelligent blogging is certainly a boost, so I am thankful for this site.
Just like soap operas, there are always storylines in baseball to follow. I am eager to see how Dom Smith responds to this opportunity; the Mets can really use him showing he belongs. Can Conforto and Rosario raise their game? Is Plawecki a big leaguer? Will any Met veteran display situational hitting (typed after dismal consecutive innings stranding runners on second and third with no outs). The bottom line is that it is much easier to hang in and follow youngsters struggling than it is watching 35 year olds struggling.
Just checked the scoreboard, down 6-2.
This season reminds me of the movie Groundhog Day. We wake up and the Mets have 4 hits and they are down by 3 or 4 runs.
I agree, if we are going to lose, Id rather see young players gain experience, develop or wash out.
The Mets are going nowhere with some of their dead weight players. They will go nowhere with these players.
At the beginning if the year, everyone was hopeful, maybe even winning 90 games and earning a playoff spot. This is a repeat of last year and is even worse. This sure feels like a 100 loss team.
It could take years to rebuild.
But, we have to try. It is the effort that counts. But, we can’t stand around complacent and try to convince ourselves that Alderson has done and is doing his best to build a winning team.
As the story goes, now we have some boat anchor contracts again with Cespedes and Bruce.
I have been a Mets fan for 50 years and have been down this road before. Many valleys and a few peaks. I still love and root for the team.
It is like the spiraling flush of a toilet. You know that the ship is going down with the vortex. But Alderson just seems to have no plan except for the acceptance of mediocrity.
As we go towards the trade deadline, it is not just about being sellers. We know that Cabrera and Familia will probably get traded. It is more about cleaning house of serious dead weight.
I hate to give up deGrom or Syndergaard, but by the time that the pendulum swings in the other direction in two or three years, their contracts will be up and they will be gone.
I can live with losing, but the team has to fight. The GM has to fight battle and scrap. I can blame Callaway, but his talent sucks.
We need a five year plan. We need to get way younger. We need to develop players. We need good free agent signings and no, not Harper or Machado for 40 million a year for 10 years.
But the steps hsve to be taken. I am tired of Alderson dumpster diving. He has to go.
Don Smith looks smooth in the outfield. Why hasn’t he played there before? The Bruce signing is looking worse everyday. Terrible, actually.
TJ – I completely agree on two fronts. 1) if the team is struggling, I’d rather root for kids and see how they progress. 2) Mets360 is a place for informed fans and that’s why I came here. The comments from Mets fans on Mets Blog and some of the facebook pages are often either really ignorant (far flung trade suggestions) or angry nonsense.
Gus – It looks that way now, but at the time, the Bruce signing made sense. We hadn’t yet signed Frazier or A-Gon. It was definitely wrong to sign all three of those guys though.
Matt, maybe I’m biased because I never liked players like Bruce, big windmill plodders that had low averages as we waiting with bated breath for the 3% outcome (a homerun). I said all winter that an outfield of Lagares, Nimmo, Conforto, Cespedes, and a young kid was plenty talented and diversified. Unfortunately, it looks like Cespedes may be out a while and possibly needing hip surgery – ala ARod – and Lagares, well, guess what?. Still, I don’t like plodders in the outfield, never did. Don’t like watching windmills with sub .250 batting averages fail when the team just needs a fly ball. These guys don’t help a team, but that’s what Alderson collects.
Matt Blackham, my #37 prospect, started the year in Hi-A and recently got the call to Double-A. Two scoreless innings last night for BNG. He’s older because of TJ surgery but had a nice year last year and it’s good to see the Mets being aggressive with his promotion.
Among Ty Bashlor, Blackham and Ryder Ryan – there are three interesting relief arms in Binghamton to keep tabs on.
It looks like the Mets went with a slightly different draft strategy this year.
From 2015-2017, they went full slot value for the #1 pick and basically picked nobodies in the 7-10 rounds to get extra money in the pool for other picks.
This year, the extra bonus money to spread around is mostly gonna come from going super under slot on the 1st round pick.