The big news yesterday was the impending addition of David Einhorn as a minority investor. It’s interesting to read about the team’s newest acquisition, with my favorite part being how after he implored Micorsoft to get rid of its CEO, he then shouted GO METS.
All of the stories talk about how smart he is, which certainly beats having all of the reports mocking his brain power. Yet, I can’t help wonder if this is like when they talk about Supreme Court nominees. Usually they talk about whatever influential cases and judgments they have made. But inevitably there comes people who have done nothing outstanding on the bench. So here they talk about how the nominee is known for his intellect.
Still, I feel like this is good news. Hopefully Einhorn will have a voice in team matters and proves himself a worthy addition. And in the best-case scenario, there is an in-house successor ready to take over if Irving Picard successfully takes down the Wilpons in court.
RUNNERS ON THIRD BASE: Much has been made of the Mets’ trouble with the bases loaded. But overlooked in this has been just how evil third base has been for Mets batters. With a runner on third, the Mets have a .185/.288/.241 slash line. And with runners on first and third, those rotten numbers drop to .104/.164/.167 this season.
How bad is that? Baseball-Reference calculates splits relative to league splits. An average number is 100 and above that is a team that does well in that split and a number below that is a team that does poor. With runners on first and third, the Mets have a -8 sOPS+, which I can’t even find words to describe how awful it is. Their bases loaded sOPS+ is 56, which is horrendous.
10-GAME HOMESTAND: – Generally I dislike whenever someone talks about a key series when there are still over 100 games to play in the season. But this feels like a make or break point of the year. The Mets recovered nicely from their 5-13 start and have managed to stay afloat with two of their best hitters going to the DL. But now they have a 10-game stretch that includes Three against both the Phillies and the Braves.
The Mets are a combined 3-6 this year against their NL East rivals but all nine of those games came on the road. Will playing at home make a difference? If it doesn’t and the Mets go 2-4 (or worse) against the Phillies and Braves, it will be difficult to argue against those who call for the trading of impending free agents Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes.
PAGAN RITUAL: Reports indicate that Angel Pagan could join the club in time for tonight’s game against Philadelphia. Originally, manager Terry Collins wanted Pagan to play a game in the cold weather after he appeared in eight games in Florida. But last night’s game in Buffalo was postponed. However, temperatures are warming up in NYC and there’s little reason to hold back Pagan. Jason Pridie provided a spark when he first came up but in his last 16 games he has just a .562 OPS.
Of course, it would be nice if Pagan came back as the player he was in the first half of 2010 (.845 OPS) rather than the one who we saw this year (.506 OPS) before he was sidelined with a strained oblique. Pagan did not set the world on fire in his Single-A rehab stint, but three of his six hits went for extra bases, giving him a .175 ISO.
RUNS IN SHORT SUPPLY: One day after exploding for seven runs, the Mets once again had trouble getting runners home on Thursday. While the weather was a factor, the heart of the matter is that the offense has not been productive recently. Even counting Wednesday’s seven-spot, the Mets have managed just 24 runs in their last nine games, an average of 2.7 runs per game.
The problem hasn’t been getting runners on base, as the Mets have stranded 80 runners in those nine games, reaching double-digit LOB in three games and no fewer than seven in any game during the stretch. You’ve got to get them on to get them home but it would be nice if they would get home more frequently. Clearly, too many of these runners were on third base. On close plays, Chip Hale should hold them at second base or wave them home.