A few years ago, one of the issues the Mets had was that every single reliever called up from the minors was terrible. It’s been just about the exact opposite here in 2022, where three of the five called up have been great.
Colin Holderman – 9.1 IP, 1 ER, 1 BB, 11 Ks
Stephen Nogosek – 8.2 IP, 0 ER, 4 BB, 7 Ks
Jake Reed – 3.0 IP, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 Ks
That’s 21 IP, 1 ER, 7 BB and 20 Ks from guys promoted mid-season. And except for one appearance in Colorado, Adonis Medina would be on this list, too. Medina and Yoan Lopez have combined for 11.2 IP, 8 ER (5 ER from Medina in COL), 0 BB and 11 Ks. Add that to our three guys listed above and you have:
32.2 IP, 9 ER, 7 BB, 31 Ks – that’s a 2.48 ERA from guys not deemed ready or good enough for the majors on Opening Day. For years we’ve had plenty of ammunition for things that went wrong. We should all enjoy these things that are going right in 2022.
You know what I see all around baseball? Former Mets farmhands that were released or plucked via Rule 5 helping teams, especially on the mound. You know what I don’t see? Other teams’ farmhands that were released on the Mets. For many years the Mets did a terrible job of self scouting and obviously the Mariners knew the Mets system better than the Mets.
I know.. Nick Plummer, even though he was a free agent. Name another…
Some teams dumpster dive and pick up other teams’ rejects and have some success. Other teams sign Max Scherzer and Starling Marte and trade for Chris Bassitt. Having seen firsthand what the former was like in the immediate post-Madoff days, I’m quite happy to be in the latter category.
Im interested in the developing situation of walking Alonso in RBI spots. Solidifying the 5 hole in the lineup could be an important piece as we face tougher competition. I would love to see Marte protecting Alonso for a couple of games especially while he’s hot.
Versus RH
Nimmo (CF)
McNeil (2B)
Lindor (SS)
Alonso (1B)
Marte (RF)
Escobar (DH)
Canha (LF)
Nido (c)
Guillorme (3B)
VS LH
Nimmo (CF)
Canha (LF)
Lindor (SS)
Alonso (1B)
Marte (RF)
Escobar (3B)
McNeil (2B)
Davis (DH)
Nido (C)
Alonso’s been intentionally walked six times in five games. The Mets are 5-0 in those games and have outscored their opponents in those contests, 37-18. I expect teams will continue to walk Alonso but it’s hard to say that it’s been a productive strategy for them so far.
the trend has only just begun. it certainly hasn’t helped the Phillies or Nats. But I’m looking ahead to the better more stout pitching staffs out west.
Because weeks are funny this month some minor league stuff.
AAA:
Mark Vientos had 6 home runs and a .642 SLG in May
Eric Orze had a nice May and should be back on the bullpen depth plan
Dedniel Nunez is back with AAA and healthy
Khalil Lee looks better but still not “good”
AA:
Francisco Alvaez reminds us that he is the #1 prospect pulling back ahead of Mauricio’s numbers
Brett Baty has a slightly down month
Mauricio falls back to earth a little
Carlos Cortes can hit in AA but does the matter?
Luke Ritter could turn out to be a major league bench player
A+:
Mike Vasil survives an okay debut in Brooklyn
Jaylen Palmer using power to regain relevance
Jose Peroza steadies his stock
JT Schwartz never belonged in the Top 20. What was Dave Groveman thinking?
A:
Alex Ramirez remembers how to steal bases and looks like the future top prospect
Calvin Ziegler looks pretty good
Carlos Dominguez’s power appears real
I offer adding de los Santos to the A ball guys worth following.
Wow, what an amazing homestand. I was hoping for a 4-2 split and would have rationalized a 3-3 record, given the pitching injuries. 6-0 was not worth hoping for, in my book. There’s always a clunker pitching outing, plus there’s always a Soto or Harper ready to wreck the best laid plans. So, awesome. I am hoping for a 5-5 roadtrip and can rationalize a 4-6 record. If they lose 7 or 8, they will still have a commanding division lead. If someone told you before the season that the Mets would have a 6 game lead AFTER this west coast road trip, everyone would have taken that.
Two questions/thoughts for the group:
1. Marte has been ridiculous since he got back from his grandmother’s funeral. I wonder how much her situation was weighing on him for the first part of the season. Most of us have gone through personal losses like that and can attest to how debilitating they can be and how much discretionary bandwidth they consume. Marte, being a human and not a robot, had to have been dealing with a lot in April and May. Now there is closure and he is proving why he was such an amazing addition.
2. Cohen’s wealth brings such obvious advantages. A payroll that affords the FAs like Marte and Scherzer is a godsend after the years of false poverty. Brian addressed my question about minor league player compensation in another thread, but I also wonder if the Mets have a highly paid/highly talented scouting team, analytics team, marketing team, etc. Maybe they were able to pull Plummer in because they knew something others didn’t and that enabled them to move quickly? It will be interesting to learn more about this advantage as time goes by. Internal FAs like Nimmo and JDG will be interesting to watch. I would be willing to bet that Darling eventually gets recruited by ESPN or MLB – he’s so good. If that happens, will Cohen pay to keep him?
FWIW, I like Dom but like the decision to send him down even better. It reinforces the right message to the team and demonstrates to us fans that the front office has little sentimentality.
Now, the flip side of Cohen’s wealth has not played out thus far, but can you imagine if the Mets succeeded in signing Bauer? Or re-upped Baez? Or, even for that matter, signed Matz? If any one of those deals happened, I don’t think the Mets would be on this 109 win pace.
Excellent points Bull. Sometimes in life the best moves you make are the ones you don’t make. That holds true even for those moves that you wanted to make but didn’t due to circumstances beyond your control (Bauer, thank goodness, Matz, when players decided). Even passing on the deal with the Padres for Paddock was a wise choice. Trevor Williams may not see the same success vs the likes of the California teams, but this 10 game lead affords them the luxury of not having to chase starting pitching and/or parting with prospect assets unreasonably or prematurely. Barring a collapse out west or additional injuries they should be able to hold off until at least Megill returns.
Darling is employed by SNY, not the Mets. SNY is owned by… The Coupons! No such thing as them ponying up to keep an announcer. Besides, Darling is already under contract by TBS to do Sunday games, he is part of MLBN.. he gets plenty of love.
Williams will be ok because he gets ahead of hitters and locates well. Peterson can learn something from TWill.
In terms of quality ABs, the leaders are: Canha and Guillorme. But almost everyone in the lineup is following suit. Except Escobar, who should improve sooner or later… underperforming. But Lindor looking much better, Pete continues to excel, Nimmo and Marte OK.
I value Canha very highly. His ABs set a tone (like Muncy did last year and Jason Werth years back.) Just bloody tough outs.
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/robinson-cano-released-by-padres-after-struggling-in-san-diego-becomes-free-agent/
When will teams learn… “Other teams are interested in adding him to their rosters”” wtf??
Thanks for putting this in the catch-all thread where it belongs. Everyone else – if you want to talk about something that’s not related to the article in question, please go to the Open Thread.
One of my preseason predictions was that Cano would have an ISO no better than half of the .228 mark he had in 2020. In his tenure with the Mets, Cano’s ISO was .073 (at least one prediction right!) and adding in his time with the Padres, he has a .040 this season.
I wonder what all the people who proclaimed in Spring Training that Cano could “hit until he’s 50” think now.
Robbie may need to take his dirty quest for 3,000 hits to Mexico, Japan, or Korea.