Please use this thread to comment on any Mets-specific topic you wish.
A Facebook friend put up a post a couple of days ago about the injury to Ronald Acuna Jr. He also mentioned about Mike Soroka, Travis d’Arnaud and Marcell Ozuna being out and put how they were still in the race despite all of that. So, it became necessary to outline the challenges that the Mets have faced, with five hitters from the everyday lineup being on the IL at the same time, with a consistent double-digit total of guys on the IL, with a high of 17. And how they’ve consistently had multiple starters out injured.
We all know the story. But in re-telling it, my thoughts zeroed in on the pitching aspect. Here’s who the Mets have used as SP in the last 15 games:
Marcus Stroman
Jerad Eickhoff
Tylor Megill
David Peterson
Jacob deGrom
Taijuan Walker
Stroman
Corey Oswalt
Megill
deGrom
Robert Stock
Walker
Stroman
Megill
Aaron Loup
That’s nine different starters in the last 15 days. And, yes, all of the doubleheaders play a big part. But the Mets are now using Megill, a 25 year old who had all of one game above A-ball coming into the year, and a bullpen game each time thru the rotation. And my suspicion is that Stroman is pitching thru an injury because he knows how depleted the rotation is.
Hopefully, the bullpen game gets upgraded to Carlos Carrasco in the near future, even if Carrasco can only go a few innings right off the bat.
At the beginning of Spring Training, the hope was that Peterson could hold down a spot until Noah Syndergaard returned. Now both of those guys are on the IL and no one knows if and when they’ll return. Sure, the current time frame for Syndergaard is September. But it was originally going to be June, so no one should get their hopes up about him being the best September call-up ever.
Even with Carrasco and Syndergaard yet to throw a pitch, the Mets have used 15 different starting pitchers. Of those 15, six are currently on the IL. And four of those six join Carrasco and Syndergaard on the 60-day IL. The sheer number of injuries would be incredible if that was the only thing going on. But these are extended stays on the IL that we’re talking about here.
At this point, both the Mets and the team’s fans are used to it. But it’s amazing what you can get used to.
It will be a fascinating journey to the season’s end. The Mets are in a good position to hold off the challenge of the Nats, the Braves, and the Phillies. Of the three, I expect the Phillies to make a run, and the Nats can do it, especially if they get starting pitching healthy.
But the Mets still have the upper hand because of pitching. That said, the bullpen has shown some serious cracks. Castro is cooked. May is a time bomb. Diaz can be, too.
Rojas will have to weave his way through Lugo (should be saved for deGrom’s starts at least), Loup (please don’t overuse him), Familia (god help us), and Drew Smith (needs to step up). Trade for another LH reliever!
Bench Mob will continue to be a difference. Quality veteran starters show little dropoff from the “starters”. I’m never disappointed to see Guillorme, Villar, or Peraza in the infield, nor Pillar and McKinney in the outfield.
Not that it’s a big deal, but with seemingly so many players opting out or skipping for “injuries”, It doesn’t feel fair to me that another player gets to be an All star simply because someone better than him doesn’t want to go to the game.
I would like to see them make it so that a player who isn’t on the DL who opts out doesn’t get to have a replacement player named and the team has to play “short”.
Or i’d even argue to go further – set a hard number of players that are all stars, and then even if players are injured or don’t want to play, you don’t name any replacements as these games are overstaffed anyways and you should have more than enough guys to get through 9 innings.
How soon we forget the 2002 ASG that the used car salesman declared a tie because the teams ran out of pitchers.
I’m torn with your proposal. I’d like to see the ASG selection be viewed as the honor and not necessarily feel like every player selected has to get in the game. But I’m also a believer in that each team should get a representative. So, I don’t know what the answer is.
Maybe 40 players are selected for each league, earning whatever honors and bonuses come along with an All-Star selection. But a manager can only take 26 guys. And if somehow 15 players decline, well, you play shorthanded.
I don’t know why, but it just bothers me that a player like Betts and even deGrom, is physically able to play in a regular season game on Sunday and then cites injury as a reason they are unable to play in the all star game, when they actually can.
It’s totally fine if they want to sit and rest and not play in the exhibition game, but why does their spot need to be replaced? It’s an exhibition game anyways and they could play extended spring training rules where hitters can come in and out of the lineup for all i care.
It’s just silly to me that there’s an initial round of all stars chosen and then there’s a second set chosen later because the league thinks there needs to be a certain number of players at the game ready to play.
Also inequitable is the ratio of position players versus pitchers chosen. Most rosters are comprised of 14 pitchers, so about 54% of the roster, yet the All star initial roster is 20/21 position players and only 12 pitchers which is 38% of the roster. I would have it as 20 positions players (2 for each position plus 2 discretionary utility pick) and 20 pitchers (5 man rotation + 4 man pen and then double that because position players get backups for each position and then 2 more discretionary pick) and that gets to your 40 man roster and you should have more than enough players in case of injury/don’t want to plays.
I would like some insight into the 2021 draft. Some time back I read that the Mets would be following the same strategy that brought them Baty, Wolf and Allen in 2019 and Armstrong, Ginn, and Greene in 2020. But the reports I’ve read suggest that there was no second or third First Round pick who dropped and the Mets signed. I’ve read conflicting reports on Ziegler from good to terrible and Hamel and some others had been drafted way above their expected slots. It seems from what I read that Kumar is the big get here and the rest were picked because of analytics. So here are my questions:
1) Were there no ‘first-round’ quality guys who dropped?
2) Did the price for signing Kumar make it impossible to sign other highly regarded prospects?
3) Did the Mets actually change strategy and go with analytics over ranking in choosing players after Kumar?
4) Does anyone have any other insights into the picks after Kumar?
I realize it is hard to know what you’re getting until these kids spend a few years in the minors. After all, Megill was an 8th round pick.
Thanks.
I’ll take a stab at #2 – Did the price for signing Kumar make it impossible to sign other highly regarded prospects?
Back in 2019 the Mets paid $3.9m to Baty, $2.15m to Wolf, and $2.5m to Allan. Furthermore, in the 2019 draft, of the first 30 picks, only 1 player got less than $2m signing bonus, so let’s just say $2m is the floor for first round talent
The Mets paid $6m to Rocker. Their bonus pool for 2021 is $9.026m. If they exceed it by more than 5%, which in this case is $9.476m, they will forfeit a 1st rounder next year so that’s pretty much the hard cap. So after agreeing to Rocker they only have $3.476m to work with. In 2019, the Mets only paid out $62k for rounds 4-10 players to get the full bonus pool, so yes, they still had the money to sign a first round talent of $2m+ as long as they paid the other remaining guys next to nothing.
Whether they had a chance to draft a player like that i have no idea.
Very helpful, thanks. I appreciate it.
Looking at our top 10 prospects (in alphabetical order) does any team have as good as or better 10 prospects?
Allen
Alvarez
Baty
Crow-Armstrong
Ginn
Mauricio
Megill
Rocker
Santos or Szupacki
Vientos
Two of those guys are out for the year with injuries, it’s doubtful Rocker will pitch in another game this year, Megill likely won’t qualify after sometime in August and Santos/Szapucki right now is nothing special.
There’s some high-end talent – and I’d rather have that than strong prospect depth – but I find it hard to believe that there aren’t a bunch of teams that can match or better this.
Thanks, Brian. I suspect that I buy into the NY hype more than I should. I’m not worried about guys out for surgery, since they usually recover, but I realize more than one “can’t miss prospect” misses.
Hated the ASG. I love when players proudly wear their uniforms rather than those silly softball uniform. I also like the focus to on the game rather than miked up players or interviews with Ohtani.
I passed on ASG and HR Derby, but hopefully some younger folks enjoyed…
The Braves have been pummeled but so have the Mets, and Nats are missing their big starter. I am hearing about the Mets running way in the 2nd half, but the division is tight and not much separates these teams. The Mets are certainly well positioned, and there is good reason to be optimistic, but a lot of ball remains, and the game, as always, is played on the field…even in these SABR times.
Met system solid but I doubt top 5, but, those rankings and to p 10 lists are not the end all be all.
The starting pitching injuries have depleted the rotation and now the 4th starter in Megill and 5th starter is a bullpen game. This is very concerning. The bullpen is showing signs of distress with all their extended workload. Carrasco needs to be back soon and it appears that he will. The Mets need another accomplished starter in order maintain and increase their hold on first place. The back of the rotation should be the priority going into the trade deadline.
I thought the live microphone on the field was a blasphemy. I men, talking to Bogarts while he is hitting, and then stupid Joe Buck talks while the pitch is being delivered!!!… at least let the guy concentrate on the 100mph fastball coming towards him… we really did not need to hear, “here’s the 2-1 pitch”… I nearly lost my mind… what an ass. I can see John Schmoltz cringing next to him in the booth.
And all those stupid interviews while the players are in the field. My feeling is, please leave something sacred. Don’t show the little kids watching the game that the players are just regular guys… they want the players to be gods, let them stay gods… I mean, Freddie Freeman is just a dad? Honestly, Tatis had nothing to say whatsoever, nor did Albies… very disappointing and I hope they never repeat this awful practice. The closer grunting “damn it” and “fuck” almost redeemed it, but not really. Fox really wants to turn this sport into part news magazine, part reality show. It’s a sport dammit, with grown men trying very hard at a very hard game. A little respect…
Fox was the original network that accelerated the demise of the game back in the 80s, and now they are working hard to drive the final nail… that broadcast horrible.
I agree with you Wobbit. To me it felt like some millennial who knows nothing about the game of baseball came up with the stupid ideas. Who cares if Freddy Freeman is six five and here comes Aaron Judge.
Maybe the All Star game is a thing of the past. It’s not very interesting and obviously a lot of players would rather have the time off. Maybe a mid season 3 day break with HR Derby, ML Draft.
And Hall of Fame ceremonies.
Those are terrific ideas. HOF Inductions, Draft, HR Derby, time off…”voted” All-stars have no need to play No more ASG. Perfect. I’m in.
Actually never liked All Star games in any sport. The surrounding stuff is fun. HR Derby is great, but NBA has more than just dunk contest – 3-point shootout, skills competition. What could MLB add?
Fielding: OF throws to home? maybe most ground balls without an error? Speed: home to first and home to home? Probably not fastest pitch…
https://www.mlb.com/news/10-milb-tv-matchups-to-watch-on-milb-major-fun-weekend
Haven’t checked the schedules yet, but I’d love to watch a AA or A+ game.
I expect a great second half for the Mets and a division win. However, I dont see the other four teams all just lying down. They all have talent and resources. Any one of them could get hot over the next 2 weeks and decide to make a big move at the deadline. Think what Kris Bryant could do for the Nats, Berrios for the Braves, Kimbrel for the Phillies? I wouldnt think the Marlins will be buyers, but with their pitching, they’re no pushover anymore.