Tylor Megill has never been my cup of tea. It seemed to me he was given preferential treatment by the organization, while fans hyped his good games – which he definitely had – and ignored his clunkers – which were even more prevalent.
When he was sent to the minors after his appearance on July 31, Megill had a 5.17 ERA in 47 IP and the Mets were 2-8 in games he pitched. At that point, not only was I glad he was no longer in Queens, there were visions of him being DFAd in the offseason dancing in my head.
An injury to Paul Blackburn got Megill back to the majors and in four starts, he’s been very strong. In 21.1 IP, Megill has a 1.69 ERA, with a 0.891 WHIP and has limited opposing batters to a .465 OPS. And if that wasn’t enough, the Mets are 4-0 in his starts since his recall.
On the broadcast last night, Gary Cohen mentioned how Megill has been hovering near pitching coach Jeremy Hefner during his starts since his recall, something he started doing with the pitching coach in Syracuse once he was demoted. Does that mean anything? It’s impossible to tell. Subjectively, it looks like Megill is trusting his stuff and attacking hitters. Whatever the case may be – he’s looked like an MLB starter since his recall. However, it should be pointed out that his four games were against the Nationals, Blue Jays, Red Sox and White Sox. That’s four teams below .500, including the worst team in baseball.
Hopefully, Megill and David Peterson can continue to put up strong numbers the rest of the way. Wouldn’t it be something if that duo, seemingly depth starters for the entirety of Steven Cohen’s ownership of the team, both established themselves as members of the rotation for 2025? A boy can dream…
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You hit the nail on the head. McGill, like all of the other starters during this crazy September stretch have been attacking hitters and throwing strikes, rather than nibbling. I don’t have the stats, but I’m certain the entire staff’s walk rate is lower over their last 4 turns through the rotation than the rest of the season. That has contributed to them pitching deeper into games which has made the bullpen more effective. I mean, I had literally forgotten Brazoban was even on the team when he came in last night.
David Stearns rightfully got credit for building strong pitching staffs in Milwaukee where they routinely unearthed talented pitchers. We didn’t know if it was a system / scouting thing or something he had a talent for. Well now we have Manaea, Peterson, and Quintana all making 30+ starts and pitching lights out baseball, while McGill and Peterson are having their best stretches of starts perhaps in their careers.
It’s clear there is more talent on the way as well. It makes going into free agency so much more interesting when there are multiple paths available rather than needing to fill holes in 4 or 5 specific places. MeGill and Peterson have put themselves in position to be next year’s 3 (Peterson) and 5 (McGill) starters the way they’ve pitched of late. With Senga’s return, the ascension of at least one of Scott/Sproat/Tidwell or a rotation spot for Butto, and (hopefully) the re signing of at least one of Manaea or Severino (hopefully Manaea), we can spend money on bats if we want, whether that’s Soto, Alonso or both. So many ways to approach it. But it’s not inconceivable that the roster will only need a few tweaks here and there.
Now lets chase down the Padres, get the top wild card and exact our revenge on them at a rocking citi field decked out in Grimace purple and end this season late October with the 3 most beautiful words in lexicon….Oh. My. God. OMG. LGM.
Ok well take Scott out of my hypothetical above. TJ surgery out all of next season.
Yes, a major blow.
Wow
Wow. A 10 1/2 games spread in the standings…. Where my box of Kleenex?
Ace is the most overrated and most over paid position in baseball. Solid #3 staarter who go 5-6 innings are almost as valuable as aces who go 6-7 innings.
So long as your bullpen is strong, that’s true. However, having a stopper (who is typically an ace like pitcher) to ensure a team doesn’t go on extended losing streaks can be extremely valuable and a rare thing in todays game.
Since it’s the open thread day and I don’t want to do the work that’s waiting for me at my desk I thought I’d take a crack at next year’s opening day roster with some signing $$ just for fun.
Lineup
1. Lindor ss
2. Nimmo lf
3. Soto rf (13 yr, 600 million)
4. Alonso 1b (5 year, 140 million
5. Marte dh
6. Vientos 3b
7. Alvarez c
8. McNeil 2b
9. Acuna cf
Bench: Iglesias, Torrens, T. Taylor, Winker
Starting Rotation
1. Senga
2. Manaea (4 years / 80)
3. Severino (4 years / 85)
4. Peterson
5. MeGill
Bullpen
Cl Diaz
8th Nunez
7th Garrett
Long Butto
Middle Blackburn
Middle Maton (club option picked up)
Middle D. Young
Middle Brazoban
discuss.
Nicely done but what about Mauricio?
The 2025 should have Senga and Peterson as locks. The 32 yoa Manaea should be offered 3/64 . Then get another good free agent starting pitcher like Corbin Burnes, Jack Flaherty, Max Fried or Luis Severino depending on the budget. Butto, Megill, Blackburn, Scott, Sproat and Tidwell fight the last spot. This year, we are seeing that good pitching has yielded positive results so make sure that it doesn’t regress in 2025.
Baty to be back next week
I believe is Manaea, I don’t know about Severino…
I believe in Manaea for next year, but don’t know about Severino…
Soto brought up the sweepstakes for his services, sure to be the talk of baseball all offseason, after he crushed a special home run in a 11-2 win over the Seattle Mariners at T-Mobile Park on Tuesday night.
Soto’s fourth-inning, two-run homer meant he had finally hit a home run in all 30 active ballparks. That was a big deal to the 25-year-old.
“What a best way to go into free agency with all 30 ballparks checked (off) my list,” he told reporters.
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The playoffs start in a week, his team may be the #1 seed in the American League and listen to where his mind is. He’s a loser, the Yankees can have him.
That was from The Athletic today. Sorry. The bottom was from yours truly.