Here are the Mets’ pitching transactions for the last 10 days or so:
8/12 – DFA Jimmy Yacabonis. Added Denyi Reyes, Reed Garrett and Tyson Miller
8/13 – Optioned Garrett to Syracuse
8/14 – Placed Josh Walker on the 15-day IL, Reinstated Sam Coonrod from the 60-day IL
8/16 – Added Dennis Santana, sent Jose Butto to Syracuse
8/18 – Recalled Joey Lucchesi, optioned Grant Hartwig
8/19 – Activated Adam Kolarek, recalled Vinny Nittoli, DFA Santana, optioned Lucchesi
8/20 – Recalled Garrett, optioned Nittoli
This is from the ESPN transaction log and while there are a ton of moves listed here, it’s not in any way complete. Reyes and Miller are both now in the minors and it wouldn’t surprise me if other moves were missing, too. And since you’re worried – nobody picked up either Yacabonis or Santana, with the former back in Syracuse albeit no longer on the 40-man roster. Santana elected to become a free agent.
It’s roster churn at its finest. Something should be done about it because it stinks.
Read an interesting article in The Athletic (paywall) about the story with the Angels post trade deadline. If you recall, the Mets and Angels were in pretty similar positions. Both a bit underwhelming, in need of making a decision of going all in or selling off. The teams went the opposite ways. Instead of cashing in on Ohtani and all the potential a return haul would generate, they declined all suitors and started trading depth for more MLB talent. Well in that case, they proceeded to lose a bunch of games and now find themselves 10 back in the WC, essentially done, with nothing in the farm, nothing in the standings, and Ohtani out for nothing, It is a reminder that all the chips in does not necessarily lead to the desired outcome. In many regards, this is the entire Mets season. The Mets going the other way have tremendously bolstered their advanced ranks below and not pretending this year is much to remember. End result is both big league teams are in about the same place (4th in division), with the last 6 weeks of the season essentially fighting for nothing. However, even woth as much work as it will take, I like the Mets posture going forward a lot more.
There’s been a lot of great baseball content at The Athletic lately. If you’re on the fence about getting a subscription – you absolutely should.
The Angels had one huge thing that the Mets didn’t have and that was trying to make a last-ditch impression on Ohtani. I think it’s pretty clear that Ohtani wants to play somewhere he can win and the Angels simply haven’t done that. They could have received a huge haul if they traded him. But if they traded him, they would have had zero chance to re-sign him.
At the end of July, the Angels were five games over .500 and had gone 10-3 in their last 13 games. If the Mets had gone 10-3 in their last 13 games before the Robertson deal, they would have been buyers, too. Cohen wanted to see signs of life and the Mets just didn’t give them.
Every decision can work, every decision can fail. The Angels made the decision to go for it, defensible all on its own and even more understandable given where they were with Ohtani. It didn’t work and now they’re left with the worst of all worlds – no shot at the playoffs, a depleted farm system and the inevitability of Ohtani going elsewhere.
You say that “all chips in does not necessarily lead to the desired outcome.” And that’s 100% true. What’s also true is that trading for minor league prospects doesn’t necessarily lead to the desired outcome, either. And there are certainly enough cases in the Mets’ past, from the righty relievers in 2017 to Dilson Herrera and Vic Black to Damon Buford and Alex Ochoa.
Like the Angels, the Mets made a defensible choice. Unlike the Angels, we won’t know for a while how it turned out. Right now, the best we can do is follow Scherzer and Verlander and see how they do the remainder of this year and next. Right this moment, Scherzer has a 2.66 ERA and Verlander has a 3.38 mark in four starts apiece with their new clubs.
Seeing the Angels lose year after year with two all-time great players reminds me of the story about Branch Rickey cutting Ralph Kiner’s salary despite leading the league in homers seven years running. The Pirates finished last with the slugger. Rickey told Kiner, “We can finish last without you.”
If you aren’t winning with two Mount Rushmore-great players, it might be best to try something else. The Angels didn’t and they’ll continue to be mediocre-to-bad for years to come. For what it is worth, Eppler served as Angels GM for 5 years.
The Ohtani ship could be sinking. Ohtani has a torn UCL in his pitching arm. If he gets TJ, that will be his second. Buyer beware.
There was also a nice story in The Athletic about the Mets’ minor league pitchers and the steps forward they’ve taken this year. Mets fans got spoiled with calling up Harvey, Wheeler, deGrom and Syndergaard in a four-year period. That absolutely cannot be the expectation of your farm system. Getting one top-of-the-rotation starter in a four-year span is good, much less four. Hopefully Tidwell becomes that guy.
Also, a day or two before that was a nice piece on the pitching lab finally opening up. And The Athletic was the first outlet to break the Alonso-to-the-Brewers scenario.
If those four guys truly were top of the rotation pitchers, how come the Mets weren’t carried every year? Why? Because the defense behind them was usually substandard undermining their efforts! Alderson never understood that pitching and defense go together.
You could have left it here Gus:
Alderson never understood
Kolarek had an awesome Met debut last night. Another “home grown” pitcher…they were right about him all along!
Mr. Mayor, you accurately point out that the Angels pushed all their chips to the center of the table, went W or L, and barring a miracle they will put up a gigantic L. While they had similarities with the Mets, the big difference was Ohtani. I have to figure that their point of view was that, unless they made the playoffs this season, Ohtani was a goner…most likely to the Dodgers, where he could keep his residence, be the richest MLB player ever, and have a great chance at winning. Now, that raises an interesting question that hadn’t popped into my mind…the Ohtani consolation prize could well be New Jersey native Mike Trout. 3 years older than Pete, with a gaudy career OPS+ and balky back, and a lifelong Philly fan. Do you think Uncle Stevie will let him land in Philly without a fight…even in spite of his newfound prospect religion? I mean, hey, he’s got a deep prospect pool now…and we all know Dombrowski couldn’t give a you-know-what about prospects…
T.J. and Brian,
Yes, the Angels have Ohtani, but we had Scherzer and Verlander. Both big attractors along the lines of Ohtani.
No situation like this is identical, but the Angels and Mets much more similar than dissimilar.
For sure, prospects are not paid bills, but they off the potential for it, whereas the Angels are heading to White Sox land next. The Mets? Arrow is pointing up in The Mayor’s view.
Mets had the two Verlander under contract and every indication was that Scherzer was coming back. Ohtani gave off no such vibes. Big difference.
Any interest in Trout? And if so, what would you part with in prospect capital?
I hate to say it: no.
The Angels a mistake. They waited too long to extend Ohtani. They should have done it in the past off-season . Angels should have made their best offer and if Ohtani refuses it then trade him. That is when a team has more leverage. If a player doesn’t want buy to into the team or they feels that offer is “too light” then get players that are affordable in team’s budget. The Mets should do it this way for dealing with Alonso.
Ohtani has an uncle tear.
Test
All,
Lets use this space to post on the weekend series with the Angels.
Also please note we will be using the chatter for 8/23 for all three games in this set.
ChrisF
I am out of town and I got an email alerting me to a critical error with the back end of the site. I’m unable to post any new content until this gets fixed and it likely won’t get fixed until late Sunday night or Monday morning when I get back.
Please use the last Game Chatter for all games this weekend.
Sorry for the error. Thanks – Brian
Angels 3 – Mets 1
Well there were two things to be happy about in this otherwise aweful showing from the Mets, who have picked up right where they left off in ATL. Kodai Senga threw a fabulous 6 2/3 with 2 runs allowed. Another very nice outing for the Mets #1 starter. The second bright spot was a solo home run by Francisco Lindor, who continues to shine. The Mets started the 7th with some real hope to level the score or even take the lead. Danny Mendick doubled and Arauz made a perfect bunt the got Mendick to third and Arauz was on first. So, with the top of the order up our chances to get some runs looked great, until it wasnt. With one out, Nimmo hit a shallow pop up to LF that was an easy out, which should have given Lindor a chance to get Mendick home. However, with the ball hardly more than 50 feet into int he outfield, Cora apparently gave the green light to tag up, and so Mendick took off, only to be thrown out by 15 feet or more. The pen managed to give up another in the 9th, with the Mets whimpering their way to a loss and last place in the NL East.
Chatter continues in the 8/23 chatter tomorrow.
The Mets are now officially in last place behind the lowly Nationals. Expected, but Cohen will still cringe. The Mets are a deeply flawed team.
I bet the Mets will offer Alonso an extension of nowhere near what he will want. Freeman got six years 162. Freeman is hitting .340 and is in the MVP discussion. Alonso is floating at .220.
Those Nationals aren’t so lowly after all lol.
I think Uncle Steve would lock up Alonso in a heartbeat at Freeman or Olson money. If Pete sees himself in the Lindor/Judge price range, we’ll likely see him dealt. In any event, they should gauge the marketplace to understand his value…my sense is that no team would meet Eppler’s price point event this winter…I hope he doesn’t settle. Imagine the lineup without his bat. Oye.
The Mets are in the driver’s seat right now. In the off season they can the discreetly offer Alonso in trade in see what is available. Meanwhile they can probe Alonso’s extension demands and weight them with trade and then they can choose. All that Alonso can do is prepare for arbitration.
Het were only 8.5 back of a WC spot!!!!
Lolololololololololol
Carrasco is the most consistently bad pitcher in MLB.
L Angels 5, Mets 3 (8/26/23)
Mercifully, I missed most of the game. I gather Carracco pitched pretty poorly and got blasted in the second inning. Ohtani went 2 for 2, with a double and triple. Vogelbach hit a solo HR. Alonso got beaned on the back of the head which caused a kerfuffle. The Mets have no heart and managed to look like zombies in the latter innings, with a particularly zombieriffic bottom of the 9th, when the white flags of were on full display. The Mets went 1 for 10 with RISP. The series is lost. The Mets are 26 back of the Braves, and after another day 1 more behind the Nationals. We seem to be creating breathing room in the basement.
Thanks for the recap. I too missed almost the entire game- thankfully. There is a real chance now to lose 90 games this year after winning 101 last year. That is simply absurd. They simply don’t put out a major league lineup any more after the first 4-5 spots. Could be a hard sell to lure free agents here in the off-season.
W Angels 2, Mets 3 (8/27/23)
After two pretty hopeless games, the Mets looked to see of they could change course for game 3 of this already lost series and see if they could take some mojo for going forward. The Mets took a 1-0 lead at some point that I missed only to find themselves in a tie shortly thereafter. In the top of the 8th, some guy named Regfino for the Angels homered to go up 2-1. The bottom of the eighth was interesting. After Nimmo Kd in a hot minute, Lindor weakly singled, then advanced to second on a WP. Pete followed with a hustle double that scored Lindor, 2-2. Pete was stranded on second. Ottavino managed the 9th. With a chance to win a walk off the Mets rallied a bit. Alvarez was hit by pitch (but really only grazed) and pinch run for by Locastro. A couple walks later and bases loaded, Ortega hit a single that drove in the game winner for a 3-2 victory. It beats losing! The Mets welcome the Rangers into town for three, then three with J-Rod and and the Mariners.
I know Lucchesi had a tough outing in Syracuse, and I know the Mets think highly of Carrasco as a good guy, but the Mets need to remove Carrasco from the rotation and pitch Lucchesi every 5th day at the big league level. I’m not sure why that doesn’t happen right now, as there is no future benefit to the organization that I can derive from continuing with Carrasco.
Thanks for the replays this weekend. Peterson pitched brilliantly this afternoon. Lindor continued his hitting streak at 13. Stewart had a single (not a walk) in the game winnng rally. Stewart in making the most of his time to try and earn a roster spot in 2024.