Please use this thread all week to comment on any Mets-specific topic you wish.
It’s been a tale of two months since Francisco Lindor returned from his IL stint. August was not very good, as he returned without a rehab stint and it showed. September has been a lot better. Here is the breakdown:
Aug: 25 PA, .160/.160/.280
Sep: 30 PA, .308/.367/.615
Lindor’s .992 OPS in September comes with a .300 BABIP. Four of his eight hits have gone for extra-bases, including two homers. A couple of 0-4s changes everything because the sample is so small. But it’s nice to see this type of production and hopefully Lindor can carry this on for the rest of the year.
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This is a baseball site but most of us are sports fans, not just baseball fans. If you’re an NFL fan, consider joining my knockout/suicide/do or die pool. If you’re not familiar with these, they’re exceptionally easy. You pick one team to win (straight up, no point spread) each week. If your team wins, you advance to the next week. If they lose or tie, you’re out. The only catch is you can only pick a team once.
It’s a $10 entrance fee, with 90% going to the winner and 10% to the runner-up. Last year we had 57 entries in the pool and I hope to have more this season. You make picks online and no one else can see your pick until the deadline passes. Once the Sunday, noon Eastern deadline passes, you can see everyone’s pick. Here’s what you need to do to join. There are a couple of steps but it’s all very easy.
1. Login or create an account at http://www.poolhost.com.
2. Go to the ‘Pool Tools’ menu and choose ‘Join a Private Pool’.
3. To Join the pool you need to enter the Pool ID and Pool Password.
For the Pool ID # type: 79452
For the Pool Password type: justwinbaby
4. ‘Confirm’ to join the pool ‘2021 Do or Die’
That’s it! The next time you login in to http://www.poolhost.com, you can get back to your pool(s) by going to ‘Pool Tools’ then ‘My Pools’ where you’ll see all the pools you’ve joined.
Hope to get a few Mets360 people into the pool this year!
Lindor needs to have an exceptional September if the Mets have a chance to win the division. When Lindor signed he was expected career average 343/477/820 with 28 homeruns and 20 stolen bases. He was expected to better an elite defender and a leader team which he did. He was expected to be a face of franchise but the thumbs down incident showed lack of judgement. Selfishly Lindor needs an exceptional September for his credibility.
Lindor needs to finish strong, but the season hardly depends on him exclusive to several other factors. Baez needs to contribute big time. If he makes the most of his short tenure, it could lead to huge payday, and that should motivate him. Conforto needs to be the “other guy”. If he can protect Pete and drive in runs, the Mets can be in this until the last weekend…
What the Mets need to do, realistically:
23 games left… need to reach 86 wins minimum.
Must go 16-7 to do so.
6 games left against “lesser teams” (MIA and Nats)… let’s project 4-2.
17 games against “better teams”… must therefore go 12-5
If they can somehow sweep the lesser teams, then they can go 10-7 against the better teams… more reasonable but still a slog.
Very hard to do. But it’s about getting hot…
With 3 weeks left I thought I’d look back at my season predictions and see where things stood. I know we’ll do this again once the season is over, but I was curious and this is open thread day…
1. Nimmo will be starting CF for the All Star game.
Well, he’s certainly played like that at times, but alas, injuries once again derail his full potential
2. Miguel Castro will have a 0.00 ERA through April.
From what I could sort on rotowire, he had a 2.00 ERA in April
3. Jeff McNeil will bat .235 in April but hit .400 from May 1 on
I know this one didn’t come true without even looking but…he batter .196 in April (so I had the right idea about a slow start) and .257 since
4. Pete Alonso will commit fewer than 10 errors for the season
He has 9 going into today’s game.
5. Luis Guillorme will start more than 50 games in the infield
can’t find this stat, but he’s only played in 60 so safe to say it’s much less than that
6. Kevin Pillar will start less than 50 games in the outfield
He’s played in 104 but I can’t tell how many he’s started.
7. Familia and Betances will each have ERAs under 4.00
Familia is at 3.33, Betances is much much higher than that
8. Seth Lugo will have an ERA over 3
Yup – 3.32
9. Jordan Yamamoto will have as many starts as David Peterson and more than Joey Luchessi
nope
10. Mets will win 94 games and finish in 1st 3 games ahead of the Braves
nope
11. Degrom will win 20, strikeout 280, have a sub 2.2 ERA and win his 3rd Cy Young
nope
12. 4 Mets will finish in the top 15 for MVP (Degrom, Lindor, Alonso, Nimmo)
nope
I’m gonna check out the Do or Die pool.
boomboom
If you go to Baseball-Reference, look up the player and then pick either his game logs or splits — you’ll be able to answer all of your questions. For example, Pillar has started 69 games.
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.fcgi?id=pillake01&year=2021&t=b#all_stsub
Thanks for checking out the pool – hope you’ll join!
joined.
Do or die,that’s the Mets inSeptember.
I hate typing on a phone. Anyway, according to ob obnoxious phone news JdG has a partially torn ucl that has resolved itself. Wtf does that mean? Next,I have read you complainers complaining about how the mets let Zach go to phi. I like Zach. I really do. But have you peoples forgotten forgotten how fragile he was?
I luv my phone. And Zach is leading the nl in ip? The mgrment in phi is stupid and are going to destroy him. A championship likely team can have a zach-type as a #3, possibly #2, but not as the ace. I don’t see not super overpaying for Zach as the greatest blunder since not slicing bread
Interesting. Those posts were only slightly less coherent than my usual. I blame the phone.
To be honest I don’t really know what you are trying to say about Wheeler in this post. I will tell you I really wish he was a Met right now so I guess I’m one of those complainers. As for your fragile comment, he missed 2 years with TJ surgery and then part of the year he came back but other then that he generally didn’t miss starts. He makes 28-30 starts every year so I’m not sure what you mean by fragile.
One of the bright spots of this season is that Jared Kellenic is batting .160. I don’t wish him ill will, but I sure hope he doesn’t turn into the perennial All-Star he was projected to become.
On that note, Diehard Mets fans know there is a maddening unsolved mystery about this franchise. Why do so many players prosper when they leave and so many stars flounder when they get here? I really hope that with Steve Cohen’s resources we can finally get to the bottom of this.
If we wish to identify what type of player excels in NYC, we need to look at the teams of the 80’s and the 00’s. Both teams start with a smart manager, but they have strong personalities, that aren’t sensitive. Lindor is sensitive; he better grow a pair. Nimmo is not sensitive because he’s been trashed as a platoon player and a bust since he was in the minors, so he’s tough. I think McNeil and Smith are ok but can’t keep both. Trade Smith. I like McCann and Peraza. Pillar is tough but had no business getting into the thumbs down stuff. Conforto is soft but a player that we are proud of. He needs support. Diaz is jello soft and as a closer that sucks. Familia is strong. Loup is strong. Lugo seems ok. I like Villar and I’d trade Davis.
Baez? I think he’s back. Defense up the middle will be a plus,McCann,Lindor, Baez and a defense first CFer. This means pitching is better. Corners? Smith or McNeil, Nimmo, Pete, Villar and you give Vientos and Baty a good look and a shot if they hit in the early going. Cano gets a shot at DH.
Got to keep Baez…
At what price?