Please use this thread all week to comment on any Mets-specific topic you wish.
We know all about the injuries the 2021 Mets suffered. But not all injuries are created equal. Obviously, there’s the amount of time that they caused the player to miss. But even beyond that, it’s how the injury impacted things even once the player returned. Here’s a list of guys who were never the same once they returned.
Carlos Carrasco – When last healthy, he put up a 2.91 ERA in 12 games in 2020. This past year in 12 games, he put up a 6.04 ERA.
J.D. Davis – 1.109 OPS thru May 1. When he returned in mid-July, .731 OPS
Brandon Nimmo – Thru May 2nd had a .948 OPS and a .169 ISO. His first 220 PA back, .780 OPS, .100 ISO
Sorry if i am stealing an article, MLB trade rumors came out with their arb projections a few days ago. Here’s my take
Edwin Diaz – $10.4MM – look to trade
Jose Peraza – $1.0MM – non tender
Seth Lugo – $3.7MM
Miguel Castro – $2.6MM
Brandon Nimmo – $6.0MM
Robert Gsellman – $1.6MM – non tender
Trevor Williams – $3.8MM – non tender
Jose Martinez – $1.0MM – non tender
Dominic Smith – $4.0MM – look to trade
J.D. Davis – $2.7MM
Tomas Nido – $900K – non tender
Jeff McNeil – $2.8MM
Joey Lucchesi – $1.6MM – non tender (can try to resign for lower base)
Drew Smith – $900K
Pete Alonso – $7.3MM
Luis Guillorme – $700K – i’m probably one of Guillorme’s biggest detractors and honestly don’t think he’s worthy of a mlb spot, so i would say trade but he’s also probably worth nothing. i suppose since he has options and only $150k above the min he can be kept for 1 more year
Name, I thought that about Diaz before I saw his number, LOL! However, I disagree with you on just about all the non-tenders or trades. Running a team is expensive and if a player can show some ability, he will be useful. Unless they need room for Rule 5 guys, like Mauricio and Vientos, or they need to sign free agents, I would keep all my players.
Lucchesi is interesting in that by the time he heals, he will also be a free agent. Him, I would not hang onto at that rate.
Dominic Smith had a .937 OPS for two years under Chili Davis. Last year, he had publicity stuff all winter and it probably affected his focus and then got hurt early. I would hold.
The Mets were in first place for three months, they didn’t suck.
I would non tender Lugo and keep Williams. While Lugo has a better track record overall, he does have arm issues and took a major step back this season. Williams could be an emergency depth starter. I agree on everything else except on Guillermo; although Chris F is correct re: having him on the roster if Davis & McNeil are still around.
McNeil I would keep (cheap) and the 2B if Baez doesn’t stick around. Davis? Let’s see how he is in spring training re: his hand. In either case, both these players wouldn’t bring much on the market now.
and QO now set at $18.4 mm
Name,
I agree on every single player.
For some reason, I haven’t seen you mentioned on any POBO candidate lists.
One correction – Nido I would tender.
I Iike Guillorme and Peraza as utility guys. Was amazed at Peraza’s power and Guillorme’s lack of. But good gloves and not automatic outs when they get to play.
Castro worth keeping. Lugo worth one more season. Diaz very valuable on the market. Nido ok. Big decision on Dom and JD. Figure McNeil not a starter. Get Marte in CF, Nimmo in LF.
Bryant would solve a lot of problems, but somehow I doubt he wants to wear the orange and blue.
I figure if you keep McNeil and JD (maybe Dom) on as bench pieces, then that makes Guillorme etc irrelevant. So, if theres trade value in JD and McN then maybe they are worth keeping as bench depth. But I think if the bar is McNeil and JD are depth, then the starters should be great…just what the team needs to be competitive.
Anybody know if Bryant and Baez are close? One signing could help pave the way for another.
I read somewhere there was plenty of friction between them.
Mets Lineup:
1. Marte/Canha CF
2. Nimmo LF
3. Bryant/Castellano RF
4. Alonso DH/1B
5. Escobar 3B
6. Lindor SS
7. Brandon Belt DH/1B
8. Semien/Harrison 2B
9. McCann C
Bench: Pillar, Guillorme, Peraza, Dyson/Hamilton
note: no Baez, no Conforto, no JD Davis.
If they are forced to keep Dom, he assumes role of Belt… perhaps a return to 1B revitalizes Dom and he gets to .750 OPS.. not too bad for number 7/8 hitter…better defense. Alonso would balk and maybe sulk and maybe sag offensively…
Escobar is listed as a first baseman. I don’t know much about him. Is there evidence he could play 3rd?
Wabbit – $300 million payroll?
Very pricey team of thirty-somethings that won’t age well, and that is before addressing the pitching, which would be my priority despite the offensive offense.
Agreed. Also there is another thing to consider, not just with Wobbit’s proposal, but with a lot of the proposed acquisitions that have been included in the comments on this site the past week. Many of the players that have been proposed as upgrades over what we have are players that are coming off of good seasons, but are either aging, or that outperformed their career numbers this past year. Guys that outperformed their career numbers in 2021 include:
Castellanos 136 OPS+ in 2021, 115 career
Marte 131/116
Escobar 109/99
Belt 160/125
Semien 133/110
Schwarber 148/119
Baez 117 (141 with Mets)/104
Remember that in 2020 the Mets had a great offensive season and some of our guys well outperformed their career numbers, like Conforto and Smith who are both much younger than most of the guys that we are all proposing as upgrades. Look how that turned out in 2021. I’m all for some change, and think that it’s definitely needed, but if we feel that our current players are done because they had a bad year after a good year (or in some cases several good years) what is the reason to think that someone will come in here a produce at an older age, just because they are new blood? What makes us think that the guys from other organizations will come in to NY in their 30s and continue to put up 2021 numbers when that is the first time they have done that?
^
+1
I guess the flip side is, what would make us think that bringing back almost the same team, which has never been to the post season, and only a single winning season in the past 5. What we do have is a lot of excuses year after year for failing to achieve success. None of us are prophets, so who knows what configuration will happen, but doing little and expecting some magical success is just hope.
Sometimes a shake up is necessary to break the chain. The Mets can’t put things together with this team construction. Every night people play out of position. There regularly is a choice to play a person because of their OPS regardless if they can field the assigned position. I think the team needs to find balance, a real functioning unit not some baseball card assemblage of numbers masquarading as a team – with personalities (Cookie Club or HR horse or whatever Sesame Street-like crap we need to see absent accomplishment) more important than wins.
The team needs a World Series winner on the team, like Baez, who understands how it must function to win at the top.
My point was not to bring back the same team, but that the names that are being thrown around are a lot of guys who are on the wrong side of 30 that are coming off a career year which is likely to inflate their value and we will regret those deals and be in the same boat we are now, just with different names. I honestly think its going to take some time and patience and we should only look to sign the right free agents, not just the best ones we can each year.
I agree, the right FAs and time. The one thing that seems to be misunderstood is time. The 3-5 year window, now 2-4 years, places a lot constraints if that is the real goal. As you say, that could lead to some real bad contracts, and worse, little accomplished.
I think as we consider the team going forward, the question should be: will we hit a $300M opening day payroll. You wanna roll with the big dogs? Shut up and pay the players.
The Wilpon way of slight-of-hand will not win a World Series. Just look at the Dodgers rotation: Kershaw, Sherzer, Urias, Buehler. Until the Mets look like that, and let me tell you, Carrasco and Walker arent even in the same game by comparison, then the Mets will toil hoping for the coin to come up “heads” 20 times in a row to win a WS. Not gonna happen.
Bring back mostly the same group, and it basically a < 80 win team.
The $300 million payroll is not an objection, and certainly the Wilpon way post-Madoff is a recipe for mediocrity at best. But, to BobP’s point, signing a three or four of mid- to slightly above mid-range free agent thirty-somethings, coming off overperforming seasons that drive up price (and more importantly number of years) is not something that excites me. It is more of the whack a mole approach.
If the Mets want to go all-Dodger/big market style, fine. Check on what return deGrom could bring, and if not a windfall, extend him now. Sign Correa, a stud at 27. We’ll find room for him. Extend Nimmo now. Resign Loup. Resign Stroman and add another quality starter. Add another 9th inning arm to the pen. Maintain a pathway for Vientos, and don’t deal any of the top 10 prospects.
If the Mets want to go all-Dodger/big market style, fine. Check on what return deGrom could bring, and if not a windfall, extend him now. Sign Correa, a stud at 27. We’ll find room for him. Extend Nimmo now. Resign Loup. Resign Stroman and add another quality starter. Add another 9th inning arm to the pen. Maintain a pathway for Vientos, and don’t deal any of the top 10 prospects.
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Exactly.
Davis @ 3B, McNeil @ 2B, Dom @ LF is not going to move the needle – ever.
I say this every year, but it’s so silly how rosters can be reset for every postseason round. It makes the 26 man rosters essentially like 28-30 guys and thus the million pitching changes and you end up having so many roster specialists that would hardly ever be on the roster in the regular season.
And i’d argue rosters need to be shortened for the postseason as you only need 26 guys when it’s a marathon and the postseason is more like a sprint and to prevent managers from turning it into a spring training game when they feel like everyone has to be used and they have to make a million changes during the game.
Dateline 16 October 2021
Houston,TX
Atlanta, GA
Two failed NY Mets catchers start in both ALCS and NLCS games on same day.
Against any Las Vegas betting line imaginable, today Kevin Plawecki and Travis d’Arnaud started in both MLB Championship Series. Plawecki couldn’t hang on in NY after some time as a back up and d’Arnaud, whose brother previously played for the Braves, spent ages on DL in NY. I struggle to wrap my brain around this given the poor performances of both, and how critical C is in October. To be fair, KP is a personal catcher for Eovaldi so not an every day guy, but still…
And we still get to hear the dulcet tones of Ronnie in the booth.
Baseball is so weird and so against the Mets.
Travis has been injured and awful this year so really a regression back to the player he was with the Mets and Plawecki is just a backup like you said so this is nothing more than coincidence.
Poll 100 fans from all different teams and 99 would probably say no thanks to either being a starting catcher on their team