With Tuesday night’s win, the Mets are now 5-2 in night games, meaning they are just 4-6 in day games. When the Mets went 0-5 to start the season, four of those games were played in sunshine. And now that they’re 9-3 in their last 12 games, two of the three losses happened during the day. Where’s Jacob deGrom when you need him? If you don’t recall, deGrom was nicknamed Sunshine Superman, thanks to a lifetime 2.09 ERA in 435.1 IP in day games. In 2019, he was 4-0 with a 1.25 ERA, with 49 Ks in 36 IP in afternoon tilts.
Actually, the Mets have a reasonable deGrom imitation with Jose Butto, who has a 0.75 ERA in day games, with no-decisions in his two starts. But it won’t be Butto on the bump later today. Instead, it’ll be Luis Severino getting the start at 1:10 p.m. Severino has a lifetime 19-9 record with a 3.73 ERA in day games. Most of his success came in 2018, when he was 9-1 with a 2.76 ERA in day games.
*****
Yesterday the baseball world lost Whitey Herzog, who lived to be 92. Herzog was an executive in the Mets’ system in the late 1960s/early 1970s and deserves some credit for the minor league guys the Mets were pumping out in that time frame. He was bypassed twice for promotions, losing out first on the GM job and later as the manager. Herzog wanted to replace Gil Hodges but the Mets chose Yogi Berra, instead. Herzog left at the end of the 1972 season. Herzog probably would have started George Stone in Game 6 in the 1973 World Series.
Nice job by Wendle filling in for Baty. If Baty can’t come back in a few days then I say we bring up Vientos who is hitting .296 at Syracuse with 3 HR and 14 RBI an OPS of .934 yes of course 15 Ks. In this lineup he’d be hitting 7th or 8th. Wendle then comes in for D near the end of the game.
AAA:
– Mark Vientos continues to have success in AAA as his OPS creeps closer to 1.000. He played first base again and while the Mets don’t need a first baseman, it’s good to know he can play a position in the field at all.
– Christian Scott’s trends continue. Both good (7Ks, 2 Hits and 3 Walks in 5.1 IP) and bad (2 Home Runs).
– The Syracuse offense was walked 9 times last night and only struck out 5 times.
AA:
– Kranick started and was good in a short outing.
– Blade Tidwell came in for 5.0 innings of relief and struck out 10 batters. Rumble Pony pitchers netted 18 Ks last night alone.
– There is a bright sign from two big prospects in AA as Kevin Parada and Jett Williams are showing great plate discipline and driving up their OBPs. Alex Ramirez has started strong but he’s striking out too much and not walking enough.
A+:
– Brandon Sproat pitched well but if he had lasted one more inning that would be a very well. I would like to see Sproat top 5.0 innings in his next start.
– The Advanced A Cyclones need Ryan Clifford and Stanley Consuegra to get their offense going.
A:
– Nick Morabito goes 4 for 4 in his quest for personal vengeance against the blogger who had no faith in him.
– Franklin Gomez (sits in the latter half of the Top 50 Met Prospects) started his season off perfectly with a 3 K frame.
Kranick’s short outing was part of a rehab assignment, and his pitches are limited. He’ll probably be up to 55 pitches next start. I’d guess that he comes off of the IL after that and will be optioned to Syracuse.
Vientos’s OPS jumped, more than crept, 100 points on one big game. His hitting had been quieter and his OPS was dropping until yesterday. OPS is just not a barometer this early in the season – still too small a sample size, and a big game or two can distort the reality too much.
Ramirez striking out and not walking is nothing new. But the fact that he’s hitting well is. For now, I’ll take that, especially since he’s doing it at a higher level. That said, he won’t move much farther if he doesn’t develop more plate discipline.
Anyone else a little concerned about Diaz s velocity? I know Stearns said he wasn’t but a drop from 99 for his fastball in 2022 to abt 95 this yr seems pretty significant. He s still been effective but the FIP is much higher than the ERA.
Loving the contribution from all corners of the team.
Calvin Ziegler back on the IL in the minors. Any news on what the issue is?
Nothing more than he’s been placed on the 7-day IL. Minor league teams are notoriously tight-lipped when it comes to injuries. If I come across anything specific I’ll post it here.
As for Diaz, a tiny bit concerned. If he’s still sitting at 95 three weeks from now, I’ll raise my concern level. In regards to his FIP, his 1.29 HR/9 is driving that. His K/BB numbers are good and assuming he keeps the ball in the park, we’ll see his FIP move towards his ERA going forward.
TJ surgery for Ziegler
Over 41 years now, and the decision not to pitch Stone by Yogi, still rankles many of the Mets fan base! I do know that Seaver insisted on pitching that 6th game, and he just willed his way to the mound. Your right “Other”, can’t see Herzog giving in to Seaver.
David Stearns = Bullpen Builder! (So far)
Diaz 1.29 ERA 3.10 FIP 12.9 K/9 2.6 BB/9 1.3 HR/9
Garrett 0.00 ERA: 0.36 FIP 17.7 K/9 3.1 BB/9 0.0 HR/9
Smith 1.08 ERA: 2.65 FIP 10.8 K/9 0.0 5.4 BB/9 0.0HR/9
Raley 0.00 ERA: 2.14 FIP 11.4 K/9 4.3 BB/9 0.0 HR/9
Lopez 2.16 ERA: 3.01 FIP 7.6 K/9 3.2 BB/9 0.0 HR/9
Ottavino 2.57 ERA: 1.68 FIP 15.4 K/9 0.0 BB/9 1.3 HR/9
Diekman 5.40 ERA: 3.25 FIP 10.8 K/9 5.4 BB/9 0.0 HR/9
Yesterday, The Athletic had three pieces on the Mets. In one of them, Will Samson hinted that Stearns is a great trader and will do so again this July. Samson hinted that the Mets aren’t championship caliber anyway, so why not? I agree with that thinking, but I also don’t ever want to give up. I understood the sale last year because they had no bullpen and we didn’t know when and if the offense would wake up. But, if the Mets are successful this year and around or close to first place, do you still punt?
How do you bring up Scott, Vientos, Hamel, Lavender, and Vasil if you can’t let go of what’s on the roster due to its success? And, will that success continue? A fun thought for sure, but “those that fail to plan, plan to fail”, so what do we do?
As for your 2nd graph, the only one who you can even consider promoting in the near future is Vientos and JDM will get that opportunity when he’s ready. Would the Mets trust Vientos at 3B if Baty needs an IL stint? I’d like to see him get that shot but I don’t believe the Mets agree.
As for trades, while I agree about planning ahead in general, for me it’s too soon to seriously think about making a deal. Maybe they need a SP. Or maybe Senga comes back, Butto continues to be worthwhile, as does Severino. Maybe they need a starting OF. Or maybe Marte can continue to be league average while Bader/Taylor becomes a serviceable platoon. Maybe they need a 3B. Or maybe Baty settles into the position and starts giving something besides a .370 BABIP.
The trading deadline is in late July. My opinion is that unless an injury occurs, you can’t start strategizing about a deal before June.
Stearns said that until you are 45 games in, you can’t make a determination. But, my point was about seeing the kids, or staying with the success? I vote for the latter, but as Chris F says, yiu hate to be caught in mediocrity.
At the moment, the Mets are saying Baty will avoid the IL. If thats the case, there will be no roster opening for Vientos to fill unless they decide to waive Short now (he seems to be the odd man out once JDM returns, anyway). If Baty is just day-to-day, even for a full week, then playing Short, or platooning him and Wendle might be the more appropriate thing to do right now. If Baty hits the IL, then Vientos certainly should be the next man up.
The question is just too premature. I like Sammons. But this is just a case of a writer trying to get the jump on a topic before everyone else starts covering it. The question is better left until June.
I think its a big assumption that they would be around or close to first place come late July. Either way, I’d expect that Stearns will be looking at and planning for multiple scenarios, and tweaking those plans as the situation evolves.
I also think that the whole, “we have to see what the kids can do” is an overrated concept and is more fanspeak than baseball reality. If the player’s performance or the team’s situation warrants it a call-up, then call him/them up. If the call-up has to wait until September, or even next year, then so be it. I’m not building my plans around what a rookie does for two months when the league hadn’t seen/scouted him yet.
From The Athletic:
“An Arizona woman who accused former MLB pitcher Trevor Bauer of sexual assault has been charged with felony fraud against Bauer and another person, according to an indictment unsealed Monday in the Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County.”
While I advocated for the Mets to sign Bauer in the offseason, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to do that now. Still, when his name got dragged thru the mud because of this woman (and others) and what she claimed, it’s only fair to acknowledge that this one wasn’t a credible claim.
I had a few minutes to kill the other day, so I decided to do some projecting of current stats. I realize that BR likely has some feature to this automatically, but this was exceptionally easy for me to do.
Through the first 15 games, I looked at the 13 players who have had at least one at bat thus far this season. For each player, I multiplied each stat by 162/n, where n = numbers of games played thus far. This is what BR does, but does so for the player’s entire career, whereas I’m just looking at the results through the first 15 games.
Yes, I understand the relevance of small sample size
Thus, I had 9 players project to 518 or more at bats, 3 others to 486 to 498, and Zack fell Short at 139
I wish I knew how to post a full spreadsheet here with all the columns properly aligned – I do know how to put the data in comma or tab separated format
For now, I’ll just give the most interesting highlights
Runs: Alonso 140, Marte 108, five tied at 81
Hits: Baty 184, Marte & Bader 176
2B: Alvarez 54, Nimmo 35
3B: Nimmo 12, twelve tied at 0
HR: Alonso 65, Stewart 32
RBI: Nimmo 139, Alonso 108, Taylor 100
SB: Marte 32, Bader 27
CS: Short 23, Lindor 11, eleven tied at 0
BB: Nimmo 127, Stewart 97
SO: Alonso 162, Nimmo 150, Alvarez 149, Stewart 146, Marte 140, Bader 135, Baty 119, Taylor 112, Narvaez & Wendle 81, Lindor 76, McNeil & Short 46
This is alarming, as 10 players project to 100+ Ks; McNeil at only 46
There are others, but I’ll list just one more
IBB: thirteen tied with 0
ESPN does this for all players, extrapolating out what they’ve done so far over an entire season. No need to do the math yourself.
You might find this hard to believe, but I know that ESPN doesn’t love me, therefore I had no idea they would be helpful
It’s a biased judicial (cultural) system. Rape accusations are just a no-win situation for us guys.* Instead of innocent until “proven guilty”, males tend to be viewed as guilty and have to almost prove that they are innocent, or that the (female) accuser is being vicious or vindictive (for whatever reason).
* and no, I’ve no personal experience in any such scenario……Happily married 40+ years.
I have a recommendation for you; it was a real eye opener for me
Author Jon Krakauer, who does not write fiction, from 2015
Missoula: Rape and the Justice System in a College Town
I am listening to the pregame show of the Mets game, and they just told me that the Mets have 169 strikeouts from their pitching staff second to the Dodgers who have 176. Tell me, Stearns isn’t smiling…
Brian, what possible reason would we have for not wanting Bauer?
So he’s (possibly) not a rapist/abuser, just excessively kinky. That’s good enough for me
The reason is that right now the Mets have 5 SP doing fairly well, with two injured starters nearing return, Joey Lucchesi still in the mix, David Peterson available sometime in July and Christian Scott perhaps sometime after the All-Star break.
Sexual misconduct issues aside, Bauer has never been a popular teammate. Perhaps this entire experience has humbled him and he’d be a better teammate now. But with the good vibes around the Mets right now, combined with solid SP options, it would be too big of a gamble to bring Bauer in now.
And I say that as someone who wanted to sign him in the offseason.
I suppose Bauer is Sour
However, good feelings aside due to current (and unsustainable) improved winning percentage, Bauer has more NLCYAs than the entire Mets staff combined
The Mets most certainly need an ace, and Bauer has been… one
Leaving aside his admitted masochistic sexual practices, Bauer is widely reputed to be clubhouse poison. Hard pass.
The Mets have just claimed Michael Tonkin from Min on DFA waivers. Waived Tyler Jay in the corresponding move. I’d have to guess that Hartwig will be optioned down to make room for Tonkin on the active roster. The question then becomes: who gets moved when Reid-Foley comes back in a week or so? Reed Garret is the only one with options., but he’s been pitching too well to send down.
I have different questions, Metstabolism:
What is the point of this here move?
What the flox is going on here?
I don’t really know. I’d only be speculating. Could be that Tonkin is viewed as a better pitcher than Hartwig(?). Addig him and sending Hartwig down also gives another level of depth. Tonkin can also pitch multiple innings, and the Mets don’t have a lot of that kind of length in the pen.
All just guesses, all a little flimsy. But here we are.
From B-R:
Hottest Teams (Last 15 Days)
Braves: 9-3
Mets: 10-4
Royals: 10-4
And the Mets gave those other two teams 4 of their 7 losses in this span
Easy to replace Short with JD Martinez on Friday or so. How about another LH reliever from the minors? Lucchesi, Walker, Jay, and Lavender are there. Or do they gut it out until Raley returns?
“Alvarez has told teammates he should miss roughly six to eight weeks, putting his return sometime in June. However, according to Baseball Prospectus’ Injury Ledger, over the last two seasons, four players have undergone surgery to repair a torn UCL in their thumb, and three missed between nine and 12 weeks (Darick Hall, Gilberto Celestino and Jake Marisnick). The fourth, Brett Baty, missed the final 38 days of the 2022 regular season, and his status for a postseason return that October was in jeopardy. That means anything before the All-Star break is probably a good outcome for Alvarez.”
https://theathletic.com/5434213/2024/04/22/this-week-in-mets-how-the-mets-recent-winning-streak-channeled-2022/