Please use this thread all week to discuss any Mets-specific topic you wish.
Buck Showalter is giving all of his hitters a chance here in the early going. Let’s see how that compares to the three previous managers to hand the umpire a lineup card in April in their first (or second) year at the helm of the Mets. We’ll look at the number of games played in April and see the PA accumulated in the first month by the least-used players to make the Opening Day Roster.
Terry Collins, 2011, 27 games – Chin-lung Hu (14) and Mike Nickeas (23)
Mickey Callaway, 2018, 26 games – Phillip Evans (3) Travis d’Arnaud (16) and Kevin Plawecki (28)
Luis Rojas, 2021, 21 games – Albert Almora (8) Tomas Nido (11) and Luis Guillorme (23)
Showalter, 2022, thru 12 games – Nido (17) Travis Jankowski (17) and Guillorme (18)
And Showalter is doing this while carrying 14 hitters, too, one more than the other three managers on the list.
Nido is the most interesting one to me. He’s clearly the personal catcher for Max Scherzer. And he’s caught the first two games for Carlos Carrasco, too. Neither of the Mets’ catchers are hitting, as James McCann has a .413 OPS and Nido checks in with a .375 mark in the category. This keeps up and we’ll have to retire sub-Plaweckian. A 9-3 record covers a lot of sins but the complete lack of offensive production from the catcher tandem is something to monitor going forward.
McCann may be showing signs of life his last couple starts.
My favorite thing the team this season is how Buck is getting everyone in the game and utilizing the full roster. Although it feels like JD is really being squeezed out as the short end of the dh platoon. Clear that Buck does not want him in the field.
While the lack of production from catcher is certainly notable, the lack of production from DH outside of Alonso (Cano and Smith primarily) is also somewhat surprising early on.
and of course JD is at 3B tonight. Does Buck read these?
Buck is spreading the wealth to be sure. Who the hell is Chin-lung Hu, and how did he get 14 AB? I never heard of the guy!
As for catchers. I feel your pain there. For me catcher is one position where I have little more latitude for tolerating plate performance. We have essentially a new pitching staff, on a severely shortened ST, so the catchers have a lot of work to do with the pitchers. For now, Id prefer them to spend more time getting aligned with the pitchers even if that means less time in the cage. Its just too important to get the battery in place.
As me if this will be ok in June…and the answer will be different.
Random thoughts
1. Im glad Mauricio is killing it, because I can see him at SS and Lindor moving to 2B.
2. It seems the left side of the infield at Citi was build on an ancient burial ground or something, because it seems no one can make the throw to 1B (Escobar, my fingers are crossed for you!)
3. Forget thinking Dom as some savor at 1B. The most important defensive skill at the bag is manhandling wayward throws and Pete is a master. See last night. And, every game.
4. Forget moving Alonso to DH. We need his octopus arms and tentacles catching the garbage thrown at 1B every day (see 2 above)
5. Lindor is going to make the Mets his team, and he’s already come a long long way ina couple weeks.
6. Lindor and McNeil have buried the rat/raccoon
7. Exactly who is Travis Jankowski again and when did he become a Met?
8. Buck Showalter buried Sandy-ball somewhere among the chop-shops by the stadium. Mercifully we see what complete baseball looks like, and how to score runs in many heads up ways. Thanks Buck.
9. This team seems to have a cohesion behind the all seeing manager right now. I defended Rojas as a communicator, but we are seeing a guy who may not communicate well (at least in post games to the media), but who is building a team that will run through walls for him.
10. Im sure glad we got Starling Marte to play center field. Hmmm….
11. I wanted to rip off the smug smile off of Montgomery C Wilpon as he stood there at 41 Seaver Way at an unveiling for a Seaver statue that came 20 years too late. Shame on you.
12. Its 12 games in and we dont have a problem at 3B. Welcome to Queens Eduardo Escobar. Glad to have ya.
13. This team is better with Dom and JD and Cano as bench depth. It means better players are getting more ABs.
14. It sure is nice to see a professionally managed and coached team on the field, with smart decisions coming from the dugout and not coming down from the FO box.
15. M A X imum.
The catching situation is offensively concerning with the two catchers having a sub 400 OPS. Defensively they are fine and also they are comfortable handling the pitching staff. Winning covers it up and there are many pinch hitters available, because of the DH, for the late innings. It is not ideal but bearable.
Alvarez has the 1.303 OPS and 4 homeruns at AA. By Memorial Day he should be promoted to AAA. If, and this is a big if, he still rakes and if the catching situation doesn’t offensively improve then he could be promoted to the Mets in August to get accustomed to the majors and be a weapon for the playoffs just like Conforto did in 2015.
FanGraphs updates its fielding component for WAR
“Since we launched FanGraphs WAR in 2008, we have used various components of Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) such as Range, Outfield Arm, and Double Play Conversion to evaluate position player fielding. Today, we’re changing one of those components. Retroactive to the 2016 season, we have swapped out the Range component of UZR for the Statcast metric Fielding Runs Prevented, which is Outs Above Average (OAA) converted to runs above average. The UZR Outfield Arm and Double Play Conversion components of WAR remain unchanged.
We believe the additional data points available in Statcast, such as a fielder’s starting location, help to improve the measurement of a player’s range, especially in situations where players are shifted.”