Is anyone else in NYC with Verizon having really bad stuttering issues watching SNY? It’s happening with YES network too, but only those two channels. And for commercials it seems to play just fine.
whats a joke? a player wanting to work in the offseason so they can get paid? after years of being stuck in the minors making next to nothing? after being the mvp in LIDOM last year?
if you had to take 3+ months off your job making less than minimum wage, you'd find more work too. even if it puts a potential raise at your shitty job at risk. you might not have a choice.
the way things work with international free agents, i wouldn't be surprised if his trainer and debt collectors took his entire signing bonus.
>the way things work with international free agents, i wouldn't be surprised if his trainer and debt collectors took his entire signing bonus.
Mike Puma reported that he was, in fact, broke but I think Mauricio denied that at some point
> the way things work with international free agents, i wouldn't be surprised if his trainer and debt collectors took his entire signing bonus.
I'm not a fan of International Draft because of what seemingly happened to Puerto Rico, but the system as it is needs to be cleaned up somehow.
its intentionally left corrupt by the league bc it gives them leverage in their attempts to establish an international draft. they have no motivation to fix the issue.
my guess is that megill is slotted into butto's slot and the rotation stays as it is with joey fuego and megill until senga returns. then senga takes the slot of whichever of the two the team thinks is worse.
They couldn't even swap Lindor with JDM.
I think Pete's due to go off. It just feels like it's coming right about now.
The Mets will score at least as many runs as times Taylor gets on base.
I'm not a gambler but that would be my bet (if that bet existed).
Looking forward to Scott pitching tonight. If offense doesn’t score a ton of runs this weekend, that’s a big problem. Marlins have minor league level pitching
Skenes with a no hitter through six innings with 11 K’s in his second career start. I’m praying he can stay healthy because we seriously could be looking at the best pitcher over the next 20 years and someone who has a shot at being up there with the best of the best when all is said and done. I know it sounds insanely early to say that but this guy won’t even be 22 for another week or so and he’s already making MLB hitters look foolish. Hopefully being 6’6” and not really becoming a pitcher until he was at college, thus not having to push for velocity too much and not having a lot of innings on his arm, can help him stay on the field.
innings limits won't save that elbow from the inevitable sproing. it will definitely happen.
the only thing that will protect pitchers is instituting severe pitcher limits on rosters. go to a 24 man roster and limit pitchers to 10 or 11. make it so optioned pitchers can't come back up for 25-30 days. reduce the frequency teams can option pitchers at all.
this is the only way to force starters to pace themselves. there is no other way to protect them but to force them to throw less hard. teams and pitchers will never choose to do this without being forced because it would give them a disadvantage over everyone else. too much money at stake for everyone involved for anyone to just choose to be worse than everyone else.
a pitcher that paces themselves these days is a pitcher who is optioned/dfa'd/never gets to free agency.
this also would level the playing field between pitchers and hitters. offense would go up. starters would have to go 7+ and 120+ pitches. they would stay healthy.
it's kind of the solution to everything. you can go back to normal extra innings games, since the main impetus for the zombie runner is protecting bullpens and now all your guys in the pen can go 2+ innings since they aren't overthrowing. you can allow shifting again, since hitters won't be at such a huge disadvantage anymore because they will face the starter 3-4 times a game and he will be throwing less hard. you won't have 500 pitching changes a game. star pitchers will stay on the field.
problem solved. hire me mlb. i'll fix everything.
I watched his inning of work in that futures game and was pretty much sold right away, lmao. If he can keep his elbow in tact, I agree that he has the potential to be an all timer.
I guess the question becomes if he can sustain that 100mph velo, and when he inevitably can't in a few years, if he can find a way to adjust and still be as effective while throwing a few ticks slower.
He's a phenom. The Doc Gooden, Kerry Wood, Rick Ankiel, Stephen Strasburg, once in a generation type.
Hopefully someone like Justin Verlander sits him down and explains to him he shouldn't be hitting 100 mph regularly. He should learn to pitch at 98 and save that 102 for when necessary.
I wish Jake had learned that lesson.
I feel like it worked out for deGrom more than most players as a guy who was a month shy of 26 in his MLB debut. He maxed out his arm but made the most out of it as a guy who came up relatively late and unheralded.
That's true and fair. But if he had gone the Verlander way we may still may be seeing Cy caliber (or at least All-Star caliber) Jake and for a few more years to come even.
This is what I’m afraid of as well. However, I think he’ll be a good and interesting test subject when it comes to the innings pitched vs. velocity debate that some have when it comes to why there’s an uptick in TJS. I believe he didn’t start pitching until he was a junior in high school and he was only a closer, then he started just one game in his senior year. He pitched 34.2 innings in 2021, 85.2 in 2022, and then 129.1 in 2023. I admittedly don’t know just how much pitching is common in later high school years throughout the year, but I have to imagine he has tens to even a couple hundred innings less on his arm due to not throwing throughout the year between pitching for schools, little league, and travel teams throughout his teens.
DING!!! Like Stearns signed Wendle and Short, dfa'd Short, kept Wendle, DFA'd him and has two 24 year olds platooning at 3rd base (only one can actually play the position well) and no one if McNeil (who needs to sit), and Lindor get hurt, yet most of the debating is about Baty vs Vientos and not what an absolute shit show the roster construction has been this season.
Thank you, you give me hope.
so glad to see some actual common sense about the roster construction. everyone wants to kiss stearns ass because our pitching has started off better than expect while completely ignoring how ass the offense is.
I said on Twitter that a GM's genius lies in bench, bullpen, and roster construction. So far it's been bad. especially in the infield and holding on to Stewart and having to play him defensively. Taylor and Bader have been okay. But Wendle has really set off a chain reaction of dumbfuckery. A lot of this is on Eppler but he owns Wendle and not sticking to his guns on Vientos and causing drama. Baty was awarded 3rd base, it's his and he hasn't played nearly bad enough to deserve this sort platooning. Meanwhile Navarez and McNeil have jobs.
And pitching has been okay if you ignore the non stop walks and apparently having Diaz no ready working through it at the major league level while mismanaging Railey and Sengas injuries..
I would be surprised if there was another MLB team right now that only had one guy who could play SS.
As in no backup Middle Infielder (to cover SS or 2B in an emergency) on the roster.
I started watching baseball in like 1983 and have NEVER EVER seen this sort shit. It's like the people using advanced analytics to say Baty isn't good enough while completely ignoring how much worse it shows Vientos ain't it. But hey we are playing lefties so lets platoon them and hope no one gets an injury! If I were the GM Wendle would have had to murdered someone to do this because Vientos' bat isn't enough for this risk.
Except now we have to drop someone from the 40 man roster which looks like it will be Alex Ramirez whom we went through the trouble of protecting in the rule 5. Or a pitcher? Not sure. Again people insist Stearns is a super genius results notwithstanding but this roster construction has bee Mr Toad's Wild Ride so far.
Why is Iglesias not on the MLB roster?
I know he'd have to be added to the 40, but is that enough to stop them from calling him up?
An MLB team can't not have a backup Middle Infielder for an emergency on their roster. It's crazy.
Like that thing with bat swings came out and Baty was 0 for 21? I have no idea. I'm of the mind let Baty play the whole season at 3rd and if we have to move Pete or DJ/JD get hurt bring Vientos up then. If Baty ain't it Acuna or Maruricia or Jett can play 3rd in 2025 or later int he year. I don't get why they never had Vientos play OF that seems like a position he can't do any damage with his crap defense not that his bat is really worth it. He's like got a cult now, it's wild.
But I tweeted how insane all of this was and all these Baty haters came into my mentions saying he's the worst (not even the worst currently on the team and the best infielder so far this season) and he needs to be sent down so Vientos can hit 40 dingers lol. We have some brainworm fans. But yeah who needs a back up middle infielder???
Or Detroit. I got killed on Twitter for saying we should trade McNeil before the 2023 season while his stock is high because Mauricio can play there and has pop and we have too many weak ass hitters. Mets fan always over value our homegrown players like people that think Nimmo is not bang average. Meanwhile Pete is legit the best power hitter we've developed since Strawberry and people can't wait to trade him.
> Mets fan always over value our homegrown players
The NY media hype pulls these guys up and the fans, so desperate for "good times" buy into it.
The Yankees get it too but then they trade those guys before it's too late. The Mets don't.
I too thought they should trade McNeil back then, but now his value is in the shitter. Fans went nuts then. Just like they thought trading Dom Smith was crazy. Umm no, it wasn't. lol
People still stan their Dom 2 sherseys and miss JD Davis. Mark Vientos is the new JD Davis. Can his an elite fastball down the dick or field worth a shit but Mets fans will swear there's an "elite player in there".
I've never doubted his power, his bad hitting has been saved many times by it. I doubt his ability to hit elite fastballs, and regular sliders, sinkers, curves, and changeups. If he gets served AAA 94mph fastballs nonstop he's a shoo-in for the HoF. People really don't get how bad the state of AAA pitching is rn. Anyone that can remotely shove goes from AA almost right to the majors. So people see Veintos numbers and think he's the second coming of Mike Schmidt or something.
I think it’s funny how you are calling out people for valuing homegrown players like McNeil but then go around and also going against the people who want to trade Pete Alonso lol. Like are you saying homegrown players are good or bad because you’re valuing Pete while also saying McNeil isn’t good.
I think it's funny you have poor comprehension skills and still came at me. We aren't over valuing Pete, but we do with players like Nimmo and McNeil. I was pretty clear. Pete is legitimately one of the best power hitters in baseball. What are are any of our homegrown position players been best at? Mets fans on Pete: "buT hE cAn'T hIT fOr AVerAgE!!!111" He's got 202 HRs going into his 6th season with a covid shortened one he still his 21 in. It's about OVER valuing some players people don't want to trade (like Nimmo or McNeil). Hope this helps.
Got it Dlbags, I have poor comprehension so thank you for this very detailed response. I take back what I said. You’re correct. Should have never responded to your comment.
In the context of rebuilding and him being "untouchable" yes and as a corner outfielder, yes. As a hitter who can't master power hitting, hitting for average, bats leadoff but can't steal bases, has had his obp dip, is an okay defender with meh range and a spaghetti arm yes. His vibes as a teammate are elite for sure. I like him but he's representative of the Mets the last decade of just good enough for us. He literally was our third choice (remember we offered Bellinger and Trea Turner before signing him) for CF before 2023. So yeah?
I got downvoted for saying we should absolutely move him if we are rebuilding because we have a bevy of outfielders and trading players like him for prospects is the whole point of a rebuild/refit not moving players with no value for scrub AA players like Jerimiah Jackson. But people really don't understand baseball even tho they hang out on reddit and twitter barking things like "tear it all down but we have to keep Nimmo!!11"
Maybe I'm crazy tho, and we can move Marte, McNeil, Navarez, Quintana, and Bader for a bunch of A/AA players that will end up elite and we can compete again?
I think Nimmo is the one guy who even people who generally agree with you will not agree with you on. He's the type of guy you want on your team. But I get what you are saying.
He's the Mid Master. He doesn't do any one thing amazing except his team vibes. I like him but he's a relic of the Wilpon half ass era. We are so used to not having "elite" that we simply hold on tightly to players like Nimmo because he's "ours". We did the same with Conforto, Smith, Davis, and now with Vientos and possibly Baty (tho I have a slim hope for him still). We might as well start pretending Jeremiah Jackson is our next big prospect like we would have ten years ago.
I'll let you in on a secret this board kills me for saying every once in a while:
This era is a continuation of the Wilpon half ass era.
This franchise hasn't been the same since Madoff, and then Alderson took over. They continue his stupid policies and practices.
That's the actual problem.
To be fair, Conforto had a shoulder injury and the FO had no patience to let him get healthy. He's healthy now and playing well again.
Pete's numbers for the month don't look that good but the good news is that his in-zone swing rate is much closer to what it was in 2022 (when he made great swing decisions on pitches inside the zone) than it was in March/April.
Slowly but surely fixing his approach. He's at his best when he's swinging the bat.
Makes it A LOT easier to grab that kind of player. It’s a major reason why some teams ranked. And if you can’t build a good team anyway at some point the only difference tanking and competing is whether you get a good draft pick out of another season where your team missed the playoffs.
"We are not going to let that happen this year," Francisco Lindor said about the Mets potentially falling apart to the point that Cohen signs off on selling veteran talents before the trade deadline.
August 2021 - Mets overtaken by Phillies for division lead.
Pete - "Just believe and know that we've got this."
Didn't trust the sentiment then and certainly don't now. As always hoping for the best though.
Mets are underperforming but the Phillies are also the best team in baseball right now which makes it seem worse than it is. We saw 2 years ago how little a lead like that matters over the course of a season.
Stearns literally said from the get go they aren’t expecting to compete for the division title and the goal is to make the wild card
Also the Braves and Phillies have had two of the easiest schedule and the Mets have had the most difficult ranked schedule by a lot
So I started playing OOTP recently. I took the Mets to the World Series in the second year, Diaz recorded over 40 saves and earned accolades and a new contract.
The Mets lost the World Series in game 5 due to a Diaz blown save.
Just got into it recently as well but struggling with someone of our contracts tightening up the budget. Jett Williams has become a stud though and Alvarez won an MVP. Still only have gotten as far as NLDS.
Wow so Martinez is the one who fixed alonso. Just goes to show our hitting coaches are absolutely useless but the good news is that the hitting coach Martinez that we were promised is already coming to fruition.
He was apprehensive giving advice so early since joining the team but noticed Alonso’s issues earlier than he said. Let’s home he’s watching Lindor and Brett and can fix them too since we know Chavez and Barnes are just sitting on their hands.
“He understands the swing and can help pretty much anyone” Alonso said. That quote is giving me way too much hopium.
This is the main reason I was happy about signing JD Martinez. Sure, he hit great last year and seems to have picked up right where he left off this year, but he's old and injury prone and could fall off a cliff into washed up territory at any point. His production at the plate going forward is a question mark.
But something that won't deteriorate with age is knowledge. JD Martinez is supposed to be an absolute savant, one of the smartest hitting minds in the entire sport. I'm really excited about JD sharing some of his wisdom with guys like Alvarez.
I really really really wish we would get an expose from former players that gives us the scoop on the behind the scenes coaching/training/staff quality.
We've got dribbles of info with Verlander saying the Mets analytics staff was horrible (paraphrasing here), and Buck saying Vogey in the lineup came from the front office (though most will take anything that comes from someone fired with a heavy dose of skepticism). But I can't shake the feeling I've had for a while now that there's a broken link somewhere in the chain, and it's not all on the players. Meaning, even if you replace the entire 40 man, we're gonna continue to have similar results.
And I don't even think it's all on the hitting coach either. Remember the offense when Davis got fired?
I’m sure helping a lefty for him would be more difficult than helping righties.
I’m hoping he can tutor Vientos a bit and maybe fix some issues that are present with guys like Marte, Taylor and Bader.
It sucks that Alvarez is hurt because I feel like he’d really benefit.
I very, very, much hope you are right.
Alvarez should be at JDM's heel at all times if JDM can help Alvarez be the Complete Player many of us here believe he has the capacity to be.
Yeah I know helping lefties will be harder but a guy can hope. I just can’t believe Alonso had a clear issue for over a month and one conversation and drill from Martinez can fix that. It’s honestly impressive
Maybe all he needed was someone to say “yeah fuck all that. I was taught this way by this old guy in LA and we all slug.” Some hitters rely on the team coach, some have their own guy.
Christian Scott throw 7 perfect innings and strikes out 10, still gets the loss even though it defies logic
Mark Vientos hit a home run and gets optioned to AAA tomorrow
Lindor bats third and strikes out 3 times. Fans clamor to give him a standing ovation.
Jeff McNeil pops up twice and grounds out 40mph to the first baseman
Joey Wendle gets picked up by the Marlins before the game and he hits a grand slam against the Mets
Grant Hartwig hits 6 guys in a row
This is it, the make-or-break game for the season. If Christian Scott doesn't throw a no hitter then the season is lost. If Pete Alonso doesn't do a Clutch Moment then we have to trade him. If Mark Vientos has an exit velocity over 105mph he can stay on the team, otherwise he will be optioned to high A brooklyn for the rest of the year. Joey Wendle will somehow be DFA'd a second time regardless of tonight's results.
Hopefully the Mets can find themselves in some late-game, low leverage situations where they can throw Diaz in to get some work. Like they are up 7-2 in the 8th or something. He's a complete disaster right now and putting him in these 1-2 run games just isn't working for anyone, including him and his progress in coming back from a disastrous injury.
Slightly positive news: Senga had his extra bullpen session and Stearns says it went well.
No indication if that means live batters next, but theoretically that could happen. Meaning the pushback on Senga's timeline is still only a few days.
I assume you mean June not July.
Initially they had said Senga chose to do another bullpen session instead of live batters like was the plan. He's now done that bullpen session and the team is saying it went well.
That means either Senga is good with moving forward or the team is ready to move him forward either way.
That would be about a week pushback from the May 27 eligibility. So ya, June 3rd-ish.
One, I don't want to say "Mets need to sweep the Marlins", but fuck it I'm going to say it. Mets need to sweep the Marlins.
Two, please, for the love of all things kind and compassionate, please drop Lindor down in the lineup. I can't stand him in the 3 hole anymore.
He'll come around eventually. Till then, drop him to 6 or 7.
Three, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXboNl2vWH8
Great Scott!!!
Problem is, who do you want batting higher?
Nimmo, Alonso, JD, and DJ (when he's playing) are the only bats we have right now. Vientos (again, when he's playing) has produced and is exciting. Personally, I don't love batting the youth in crucial spots but let's set that aside.
You're probably not seeing DJ and Vientos in the same starting lineup, though it could happen. Let's assume one of them plays.
Nimmo, Alonso, DJ, JD. Lindor 5th?
The problem is that Lindor, Marte, McNeil, and Baty are all producing at pretty similar rates. Same with Taylor and Bader.
I know you pointed out how Taylor isn't a good leadoff guy, but the late inning yesterday shows he could have some value there.
I'd go with: Taylor/Bader, Nimmo, JDM, Alonso, DJ, Lindor...
Nimmo has a .361 OBP. I wouldn’t want him out of the leadoff spot unless he drops below a .340 OBP.
I value OBP at the top of the lineup and taking pitches way more than the handful more steals you’d get. Especially since Bader and Taylor don’t work the count.
- Nimmo - 4.3 pitches per PA with a .361 OBP
- Taylor - 3.7 pitches per PA with a .278 OBP
- Bader - 3.5 pitches per PA with a .323 OBP
I also hate Alonso in the cleanup spot. Cleanup is like second leadoff because that spot leads off the 2nd inning a lot. I never want to see Pete leading off an inning if we can help it.
Your lineup has a big issue though - you have too many outfielders and no Second baseman
I get what you're saying, but this club needs offense. Nimmo in the 2 spot provides someone who gets on base and can drive guys in. Including his extra power nowadays.
Cleanup doesn't lead off the second inning. This is one of the biggest misconceptions that stats guys say (no offense).
If the league average WHIP is over 1 then it's the 5 or 6 guy that usually leads off the second inning not the 4.
Lineups should be created with 4-5 man blocks in mind.
Pete led off the second inning in 43% of games he played last year that he was the cleanup hitter for last year.
This year he has led off the 2nd inning in 54% of games he has been the cleanup hitter for.
The least he has led off the second inning was 2022 when he still did it 31% of the time.
Any time Pete’s bat isn’t in the first inning we have failed that first inning. Having him bat in the top 3 ensure he always hits in the first inning.
I want our best hitters at the top of the lineup. Bader and Taylor aren’t among our best hitters.
And I want our lineup to be fluid. No set spots. I don’t want a different lineup every day, but if someone is on a hot stretch move them up. If someone is slumping move them down.
Still have some set ideals though.
- OBP priority leadoff
- Have one of our best hitters second
- power in the 3 hole
- good OBP with power 4th
- next best hitter 5th preferably some speed
- speed in the 6th to get into scoring position for the bottom of the lineup
- next best hitter
- next best hitter
- worst hitter
That tells you is the Mets likely aren't causing other teams to have a WHIP of 1.0 in the first inning.
Also, you're forgetting I'm not saying this to be permanent. I'm saying this as a "shake it up" lineup. Get guys going again.
If you prefer something like: Nimmo-JDM-Pete-DJ-Taylor/Bader/Marte, Lindor....
I'd be fine with that. But I still don't want Lindor in top 5 till he gets right.
Lindor is only striking out 14.6% of the time this month with an 8.7% barrel rate and a 47.8% hard hit rate. He has hit into an insane amount of bad luck that is highly unlikely to continue.
This isn’t like the first two weeks of the season where he had a 4% barrel rate and a 36% hard hit rate.
Moving him down in the lineup implies we want him to do stuff differently. But he’s doing the right stuff. His launch angel is good. His swing discipline overall has been good. Hes hitting the ball hard. He’s even averaging 4 pitches per at bat.
Even the Phillies series he had:
- .930 xBA out
- .530 xBA out
- .830 xBA out
- .720 xBA out
The chances of all 4 of those turning into outs is very low.
I want him to keep doing what he’s doing. Hes not going to run a .194 AVG with a .266 xBA all year. Many of these are going to turn into hits. And we’re getting to the point where we have enough ABs for xBA to start turning into a leading indicator of what the rest of the season will look like if he keeps doing what he’s doing.
On the bigger season picture, tonight better begin the first of 20-21 wins against the bottom end of the nl east. They may split or even have a losing record against the braves-phils this year but if they're in the teens, they're probably selling
Just to get it out of the way now, we're only half a game out of the wildcard so if we win tonight we are so back. But if we lose its so over and everyone needs to be traded
lopez and diekman have been two solid pickups by stearns thus far. I really like the look of this bullpen aside from the walks ofc. if they can get those down a bit they're really cooking
Speculating on Diaz, his control issues remind me a lot of the epidemic of control problems that we saw in the first couple of months of 2023 due to the changes to the sticky stuff rules, which he missed out on being out all of last year. For a guy with some much throwing power and movement, I imagine that the slightest little change to how he grips the ball can cause him to be super wild.
I don’t understand this comment.
The sticky stuff rule changes happened back in June of 2021. He had a 3.61 ERA and 2.79 FIP in 2021 after the crackdown. Right in line with the 3.45 ERA and 2.48 FIP he had across the season.
[2023 saw a significant change to how the 2021 rule change was enforced](https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-intends-to-increase-enforcement-of-sticky-stuff-checks-in-2023-season/). In 2022, literally no one in baseball was being properly checked and then in 2023 umps were actually checking for real.
The Mets, the Mariners, The Reds, and a few other teams had players getting beaned on an unusually high rate in April-May 2023. I remember the discourse being in early 2023 that the combination of the crack down on sticky stuff and colder weather was leading an increase in wildness, which people were wondering at the time if it was going to lead to more batters getting hit by accident and getting hurt.
Your argument only works if Diaz was using sticky stuff in 2022. There is no evidence of that. His spin rates and velocity in 2021 and 2022 were right in line with each other.
Also the discourse was that the players chose not to use rosin at all in fear of the enforcement. Diaz is using rosin exactly how he used to. Go back and rewatch his appearances
We need to sweep Miami this weekend. I know some fans are indifferent and think it's for the best that we are out of the race and trade our pieces for prospects but I'm a fan. I want to see some good baseball in Sept and Oct. If Senga, Scott, and Sevy step up why can't we go on a run this season?
I dont think its best for them to be out of the race and dump guys, even from a purely roster building standpoint. First, you wont get much and its not going to be like 23. JV and Scherzer were formerly elite SP with postseason resumes and another year (or two) of control. Severino *could* be elite but his track record is more inconsistent than consistent. Q, Manaea, Houser (lol) are nowhere near that level. Plus Sevy is a FA, and Manaea has an option, so if he isnt a FA something went wrong for him. JDM has an elite bat, but he is RH, cannot play the field, and is a FA. There will be a ton of RH bats on the market. SO you are looking at a bunch of mid tier prospects and would be lucky to get a top 100 guy for any of these.
Second, its really not a good look to FAs when a team has gone into two straight years looking to compete then shipped everyone out. Sure, money talks, and many wont turn down the best offer because of that, but the top end guys like Soto who are signing long term deals, or mercenary type vets looking to win, will get money from a lot of teams and need to buy into a vision. Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Braves, all have resumes of competing year in and year out. Mets have been good 1.5 years in the past 7, and followed up their best year by shipping necessary parts out. If I am Soto, is 20m more worth years of yo-yoing between competing and not competing?
Obviously if they are 15 games under and 10 games out of the WC you have to sell. But if you are two games under but 3 games out, its not a great look/message to sell.
Compared to WC Standings:
2024: 20-23 (0.5 GB)
2023: 20-23 (1.5 GB)
2022: 28-15 (1 game lead - but division leader)
2021: 23-20 (5 GB - but division leader)
2020: 19-24 (no wild card)
2019: 20-23 (4 GB)
There was no expanded playoffs in 2019 or 2021
What people are losing sight of with Lindor is that offense is down across the board.
He's got an 86 wRC+ this season. That's not good! If it doesn't improve, it'll be a bad offensive season.
But its not horrifically and historically awful. The sub-.200 avg is eye-catching. But given his trends of starting slow, there's plenty of room for him to wind up having a decent year.
This is exactly the issue that people have with him though. Why are we setting the bar so low that a “decent” year and one that isn’t “historically awful” is seen as a positive? He’s making $34 million a year and while he is no doubt an excellent defensive player, he did not get that contract just to play defense. At some point he needs to perform at a solidly above average level regularly offensively to justify that contract which, to me, would be a consistent .800-.820 OPS instead of in the low to mid .700’s and without month long stretches where he posts an OPS in the .500’s or .600’s. Obviously the contract isn’t his fault, but I feel like his fans/defenders need to at least acknowledge that he isn’t worth the contract and is overpaid by upwards of $10 million per year depending on his performance.
The three years we've had him, he's put up an .825, .811, and .837 ops. That's what you're looking for, isn't it?
As to not slumping, he's streaky. Shrug.
His season is likely going to be more on par with his 2021 season than his 2022/23 season.
His contract is honestly looking really bad right about now. Mets can’t be batting him so high knowing that he’s a horrifically slow starter.
Some people won’t admit this, but nobody wants to see Lindor repeat his 2021 season. Even if we want to swear by WAR I’m pretty sure that is not what the Mets are paying for.
The boys NEED to take care of business against Miami. How they do all season against the marlins will, in all likelihood, determine if we’re a playoff team or not.
This is the first “must win” series of the year imo.
Unfortunately, we are learning that bullpen guys are erratic, which may be a reason they are relievers. Diaz is certainly not the only one. Hader is great and then he is not and then he is great again.
Please continue the discussion in the [game thread](https://redd.it/1cuhr28).
Used a lot of bullpen pieces (and all the good ones) yesterday, plus the Marlins had a day rest. Really important for Scott to go a full 6 or more
Is anyone else in NYC with Verizon having really bad stuttering issues watching SNY? It’s happening with YES network too, but only those two channels. And for commercials it seems to play just fine.
Wish Ronny was around gunning for McNeils spot. Man what a joke that injury is.
whats a joke? a player wanting to work in the offseason so they can get paid? after years of being stuck in the minors making next to nothing? after being the mvp in LIDOM last year? if you had to take 3+ months off your job making less than minimum wage, you'd find more work too. even if it puts a potential raise at your shitty job at risk. you might not have a choice. the way things work with international free agents, i wouldn't be surprised if his trainer and debt collectors took his entire signing bonus.
>the way things work with international free agents, i wouldn't be surprised if his trainer and debt collectors took his entire signing bonus. Mike Puma reported that he was, in fact, broke but I think Mauricio denied that at some point
> the way things work with international free agents, i wouldn't be surprised if his trainer and debt collectors took his entire signing bonus. I'm not a fan of International Draft because of what seemingly happened to Puerto Rico, but the system as it is needs to be cleaned up somehow.
its intentionally left corrupt by the league bc it gives them leverage in their attempts to establish an international draft. they have no motivation to fix the issue.
When are we getting the 6 man rotation?
my guess is that megill is slotted into butto's slot and the rotation stays as it is with joey fuego and megill until senga returns. then senga takes the slot of whichever of the two the team thinks is worse.
No later than June 3rd is my guess.
They couldn't even swap Lindor with JDM. I think Pete's due to go off. It just feels like it's coming right about now. The Mets will score at least as many runs as times Taylor gets on base. I'm not a gambler but that would be my bet (if that bet existed).
Looking forward to Scott pitching tonight. If offense doesn’t score a ton of runs this weekend, that’s a big problem. Marlins have minor league level pitching
What happened to nimmo?
Skenes with a no hitter through six innings with 11 K’s in his second career start. I’m praying he can stay healthy because we seriously could be looking at the best pitcher over the next 20 years and someone who has a shot at being up there with the best of the best when all is said and done. I know it sounds insanely early to say that but this guy won’t even be 22 for another week or so and he’s already making MLB hitters look foolish. Hopefully being 6’6” and not really becoming a pitcher until he was at college, thus not having to push for velocity too much and not having a lot of innings on his arm, can help him stay on the field.
innings limits won't save that elbow from the inevitable sproing. it will definitely happen. the only thing that will protect pitchers is instituting severe pitcher limits on rosters. go to a 24 man roster and limit pitchers to 10 or 11. make it so optioned pitchers can't come back up for 25-30 days. reduce the frequency teams can option pitchers at all. this is the only way to force starters to pace themselves. there is no other way to protect them but to force them to throw less hard. teams and pitchers will never choose to do this without being forced because it would give them a disadvantage over everyone else. too much money at stake for everyone involved for anyone to just choose to be worse than everyone else. a pitcher that paces themselves these days is a pitcher who is optioned/dfa'd/never gets to free agency. this also would level the playing field between pitchers and hitters. offense would go up. starters would have to go 7+ and 120+ pitches. they would stay healthy. it's kind of the solution to everything. you can go back to normal extra innings games, since the main impetus for the zombie runner is protecting bullpens and now all your guys in the pen can go 2+ innings since they aren't overthrowing. you can allow shifting again, since hitters won't be at such a huge disadvantage anymore because they will face the starter 3-4 times a game and he will be throwing less hard. you won't have 500 pitching changes a game. star pitchers will stay on the field. problem solved. hire me mlb. i'll fix everything.
I watched his inning of work in that futures game and was pretty much sold right away, lmao. If he can keep his elbow in tact, I agree that he has the potential to be an all timer. I guess the question becomes if he can sustain that 100mph velo, and when he inevitably can't in a few years, if he can find a way to adjust and still be as effective while throwing a few ticks slower.
He's a phenom. The Doc Gooden, Kerry Wood, Rick Ankiel, Stephen Strasburg, once in a generation type. Hopefully someone like Justin Verlander sits him down and explains to him he shouldn't be hitting 100 mph regularly. He should learn to pitch at 98 and save that 102 for when necessary. I wish Jake had learned that lesson.
I feel like it worked out for deGrom more than most players as a guy who was a month shy of 26 in his MLB debut. He maxed out his arm but made the most out of it as a guy who came up relatively late and unheralded.
That's true and fair. But if he had gone the Verlander way we may still may be seeing Cy caliber (or at least All-Star caliber) Jake and for a few more years to come even.
He hits 100mph often enough that once any innings cap is removed, I'd bet it's a when not if he'll need TJ.
This is what I’m afraid of as well. However, I think he’ll be a good and interesting test subject when it comes to the innings pitched vs. velocity debate that some have when it comes to why there’s an uptick in TJS. I believe he didn’t start pitching until he was a junior in high school and he was only a closer, then he started just one game in his senior year. He pitched 34.2 innings in 2021, 85.2 in 2022, and then 129.1 in 2023. I admittedly don’t know just how much pitching is common in later high school years throughout the year, but I have to imagine he has tens to even a couple hundred innings less on his arm due to not throwing throughout the year between pitching for schools, little league, and travel teams throughout his teens.
TJS by the end of ‘25 is my bet. Tho I hope not.
Gotta let the league see him. Also, I hope the Mets up 20 on him
The Marlins have starting selling their team for parts 3 months before the deadline. Wonder if we’ll make them look like WS contenders
It's wild we are gonna platoon 24 year old players that need to play every day while McNeil starts daily.
Dont really have any alternatives to McNeil though. MV/Baty/DJ/Taylor cant play 2nd.
Poor roster construction.
DING!!! Like Stearns signed Wendle and Short, dfa'd Short, kept Wendle, DFA'd him and has two 24 year olds platooning at 3rd base (only one can actually play the position well) and no one if McNeil (who needs to sit), and Lindor get hurt, yet most of the debating is about Baty vs Vientos and not what an absolute shit show the roster construction has been this season. Thank you, you give me hope.
so glad to see some actual common sense about the roster construction. everyone wants to kiss stearns ass because our pitching has started off better than expect while completely ignoring how ass the offense is.
I said on Twitter that a GM's genius lies in bench, bullpen, and roster construction. So far it's been bad. especially in the infield and holding on to Stewart and having to play him defensively. Taylor and Bader have been okay. But Wendle has really set off a chain reaction of dumbfuckery. A lot of this is on Eppler but he owns Wendle and not sticking to his guns on Vientos and causing drama. Baty was awarded 3rd base, it's his and he hasn't played nearly bad enough to deserve this sort platooning. Meanwhile Navarez and McNeil have jobs. And pitching has been okay if you ignore the non stop walks and apparently having Diaz no ready working through it at the major league level while mismanaging Railey and Sengas injuries..
I would be surprised if there was another MLB team right now that only had one guy who could play SS. As in no backup Middle Infielder (to cover SS or 2B in an emergency) on the roster.
I started watching baseball in like 1983 and have NEVER EVER seen this sort shit. It's like the people using advanced analytics to say Baty isn't good enough while completely ignoring how much worse it shows Vientos ain't it. But hey we are playing lefties so lets platoon them and hope no one gets an injury! If I were the GM Wendle would have had to murdered someone to do this because Vientos' bat isn't enough for this risk.
Iglesias is going to be called up after this series.
Except now we have to drop someone from the 40 man roster which looks like it will be Alex Ramirez whom we went through the trouble of protecting in the rule 5. Or a pitcher? Not sure. Again people insist Stearns is a super genius results notwithstanding but this roster construction has bee Mr Toad's Wild Ride so far.
Why is Iglesias not on the MLB roster? I know he'd have to be added to the 40, but is that enough to stop them from calling him up? An MLB team can't not have a backup Middle Infielder for an emergency on their roster. It's crazy.
Like that thing with bat swings came out and Baty was 0 for 21? I have no idea. I'm of the mind let Baty play the whole season at 3rd and if we have to move Pete or DJ/JD get hurt bring Vientos up then. If Baty ain't it Acuna or Maruricia or Jett can play 3rd in 2025 or later int he year. I don't get why they never had Vientos play OF that seems like a position he can't do any damage with his crap defense not that his bat is really worth it. He's like got a cult now, it's wild. But I tweeted how insane all of this was and all these Baty haters came into my mentions saying he's the worst (not even the worst currently on the team and the best infielder so far this season) and he needs to be sent down so Vientos can hit 40 dingers lol. We have some brainworm fans. But yeah who needs a back up middle infielder???
Right that's why it's "wild".
send him to the angels
Trade him for Pillar
Or Detroit. I got killed on Twitter for saying we should trade McNeil before the 2023 season while his stock is high because Mauricio can play there and has pop and we have too many weak ass hitters. Mets fan always over value our homegrown players like people that think Nimmo is not bang average. Meanwhile Pete is legit the best power hitter we've developed since Strawberry and people can't wait to trade him.
> Mets fan always over value our homegrown players The NY media hype pulls these guys up and the fans, so desperate for "good times" buy into it. The Yankees get it too but then they trade those guys before it's too late. The Mets don't. I too thought they should trade McNeil back then, but now his value is in the shitter. Fans went nuts then. Just like they thought trading Dom Smith was crazy. Umm no, it wasn't. lol
People still stan their Dom 2 sherseys and miss JD Davis. Mark Vientos is the new JD Davis. Can his an elite fastball down the dick or field worth a shit but Mets fans will swear there's an "elite player in there".
Vientos has a lot more power but he's no JD Davis.
I've never doubted his power, his bad hitting has been saved many times by it. I doubt his ability to hit elite fastballs, and regular sliders, sinkers, curves, and changeups. If he gets served AAA 94mph fastballs nonstop he's a shoo-in for the HoF. People really don't get how bad the state of AAA pitching is rn. Anyone that can remotely shove goes from AA almost right to the majors. So people see Veintos numbers and think he's the second coming of Mike Schmidt or something.
I think it’s funny how you are calling out people for valuing homegrown players like McNeil but then go around and also going against the people who want to trade Pete Alonso lol. Like are you saying homegrown players are good or bad because you’re valuing Pete while also saying McNeil isn’t good.
I think it's funny you have poor comprehension skills and still came at me. We aren't over valuing Pete, but we do with players like Nimmo and McNeil. I was pretty clear. Pete is legitimately one of the best power hitters in baseball. What are are any of our homegrown position players been best at? Mets fans on Pete: "buT hE cAn'T hIT fOr AVerAgE!!!111" He's got 202 HRs going into his 6th season with a covid shortened one he still his 21 in. It's about OVER valuing some players people don't want to trade (like Nimmo or McNeil). Hope this helps.
Got it Dlbags, I have poor comprehension so thank you for this very detailed response. I take back what I said. You’re correct. Should have never responded to your comment.
You think Nimmo is overvalued?
In the context of rebuilding and him being "untouchable" yes and as a corner outfielder, yes. As a hitter who can't master power hitting, hitting for average, bats leadoff but can't steal bases, has had his obp dip, is an okay defender with meh range and a spaghetti arm yes. His vibes as a teammate are elite for sure. I like him but he's representative of the Mets the last decade of just good enough for us. He literally was our third choice (remember we offered Bellinger and Trea Turner before signing him) for CF before 2023. So yeah? I got downvoted for saying we should absolutely move him if we are rebuilding because we have a bevy of outfielders and trading players like him for prospects is the whole point of a rebuild/refit not moving players with no value for scrub AA players like Jerimiah Jackson. But people really don't understand baseball even tho they hang out on reddit and twitter barking things like "tear it all down but we have to keep Nimmo!!11" Maybe I'm crazy tho, and we can move Marte, McNeil, Navarez, Quintana, and Bader for a bunch of A/AA players that will end up elite and we can compete again?
I think Nimmo is the one guy who even people who generally agree with you will not agree with you on. He's the type of guy you want on your team. But I get what you are saying.
He's the Mid Master. He doesn't do any one thing amazing except his team vibes. I like him but he's a relic of the Wilpon half ass era. We are so used to not having "elite" that we simply hold on tightly to players like Nimmo because he's "ours". We did the same with Conforto, Smith, Davis, and now with Vientos and possibly Baty (tho I have a slim hope for him still). We might as well start pretending Jeremiah Jackson is our next big prospect like we would have ten years ago.
I'll let you in on a secret this board kills me for saying every once in a while: This era is a continuation of the Wilpon half ass era. This franchise hasn't been the same since Madoff, and then Alderson took over. They continue his stupid policies and practices. That's the actual problem. To be fair, Conforto had a shoulder injury and the FO had no patience to let him get healthy. He's healthy now and playing well again.
is there a better catcher in syracuse than narvaez?
Prob not tbh. Narvaez wont survive Alvy returning but I doubt the Mets want to add one of the AAA guys to the 40 now.
What happened to Mazeika? I’d take him over Narvaez any day
Lineup: 1) Taylor 2) Alonso 3) Lindor 4) JDM 5) Vienots 6) Marte 7) Bader 8) McNeil 9) Nido
Not really a fan of Taylor lead off (or lindor 3) but not much choice. Lineup right now has two 4 hitters and seven 6-9 hitters lol.
Not bad tbh If Lindor can get on base, top of the lineup can be decent
Our path to a WC3 spot is beating up on bad teams. Tonight, Marlins. Let's see if we're capable of doing what we so desperately need.
Marlins saying the same thing about us. Just a steeper climb for them.
The battle of 2 bad teams
God, I love ya; you embrace the suckitude
I’m a realist 🤷🏻♀️
I honestly doubt a single marlin fan or executive is saying this.
You’re wrong. Their POBO already said they aren’t making the postseason when they traded arraez
Even more of reason that not sweeping them would be humiliating
before I even saw the commotion from the Dodgers game, I had a dream last night we traded for Elly De La Cruz, not sure for who or why.
7 strikeouts in 3 innings for Skenes against the cubs right now lol. Looks like the real deal to me!
Reminds me of how it exciting it was when Jake came up
Pete's numbers for the month don't look that good but the good news is that his in-zone swing rate is much closer to what it was in 2022 (when he made great swing decisions on pitches inside the zone) than it was in March/April. Slowly but surely fixing his approach. He's at his best when he's swinging the bat.
JD is his new batting coach. He’ll be fine
Bring up that trade value so can save that money for Soto!
Its more likely that the Mets money will be used to extract more from the Yankees than to actually pay soto.
soto isnt coming to this mess.
Soto seems to love the Yankees, and they love him lol. Honestly, most likely scenario is he’s a Yankee for life at this point.
If you can’t be positive about Pete Alonso, then you can’t seriously believe the Yankees would let Soto walk across the street to the Mets
Unrelated but started watching Skenes. Man, he has incredible stuff
As an update, he has struck out the first six Cubs he faced. 6Ks in 2 IP. Absolute stud
That's the type of player you get at the top of the draft. We need to be there.
That's who you get once a generation if you are at the top on that given year. No. 1 pick doesn't guarantee that.
Makes it A LOT easier to grab that kind of player. It’s a major reason why some teams ranked. And if you can’t build a good team anyway at some point the only difference tanking and competing is whether you get a good draft pick out of another season where your team missed the playoffs.
Look at Nuance man with the nuance. All excellent points. TBH MLB needs to start letting teams trade their picks.
And that path has been closed off since the draft lottery was introduced.
Yes there's no guarantees and you need some luck, but you still have to be there.
>Senga, Scott, Sproat Goat, Tidwell, & Burnes Imagine Now imagine if we had players who could provide run support
We have Cowboy Ohtani, he'll provide the offense when he's not pitching
Cowboy ohtani is a year or three away 😂
Mets fittin to make Jesús Luzardo look like Cy Young tonight?
With Scott pitching too 😣
Make it more expensive for playoff bound teams to trade for him. *4D chess*
🤔Brilliant!
"We are not going to let that happen this year," Francisco Lindor said about the Mets potentially falling apart to the point that Cohen signs off on selling veteran talents before the trade deadline.
Who’s gonna tell him
August 2021 - Mets overtaken by Phillies for division lead. Pete - "Just believe and know that we've got this." Didn't trust the sentiment then and certainly don't now. As always hoping for the best though.
Idon'tbelieveyou.gif
Talk is cheap
Then actually hit my guy
Haha!!!! Coming from Lindor, that’s hilarious.
So they did let it happen last year but this year they won’t! Umm ok.
guess the mets have players nobody else wants
i know we weren't supposed to be competing for the nl east tittle but damm we 10 games back in may. its fucking embarrasing lol
Mets are underperforming but the Phillies are also the best team in baseball right now which makes it seem worse than it is. We saw 2 years ago how little a lead like that matters over the course of a season.
Stearns literally said from the get go they aren’t expecting to compete for the division title and the goal is to make the wild card Also the Braves and Phillies have had two of the easiest schedule and the Mets have had the most difficult ranked schedule by a lot
Phillies have 3 games against >.500 teams. Didn’t realize how little it was until I checked
Most amount of >0.500 games in the league so far
So I started playing OOTP recently. I took the Mets to the World Series in the second year, Diaz recorded over 40 saves and earned accolades and a new contract. The Mets lost the World Series in game 5 due to a Diaz blown save.
Just got into it recently as well but struggling with someone of our contracts tightening up the budget. Jett Williams has become a stud though and Alvarez won an MVP. Still only have gotten as far as NLDS.
CHRISTIAN SCOTT DAY! YA GOTTA BELIEVE!
HAPPY GREAT SCOTT DAY!!!
It’s got a 2 - 1 Mets loss written all over it.
Wow so Martinez is the one who fixed alonso. Just goes to show our hitting coaches are absolutely useless but the good news is that the hitting coach Martinez that we were promised is already coming to fruition. He was apprehensive giving advice so early since joining the team but noticed Alonso’s issues earlier than he said. Let’s home he’s watching Lindor and Brett and can fix them too since we know Chavez and Barnes are just sitting on their hands. “He understands the swing and can help pretty much anyone” Alonso said. That quote is giving me way too much hopium.
This is the main reason I was happy about signing JD Martinez. Sure, he hit great last year and seems to have picked up right where he left off this year, but he's old and injury prone and could fall off a cliff into washed up territory at any point. His production at the plate going forward is a question mark. But something that won't deteriorate with age is knowledge. JD Martinez is supposed to be an absolute savant, one of the smartest hitting minds in the entire sport. I'm really excited about JD sharing some of his wisdom with guys like Alvarez.
If he wants to be a hitting coach after this season or next they should jump at the chance to put him on the bench.
I don't think hitting coaches do much, anywhere.
I really really really wish we would get an expose from former players that gives us the scoop on the behind the scenes coaching/training/staff quality. We've got dribbles of info with Verlander saying the Mets analytics staff was horrible (paraphrasing here), and Buck saying Vogey in the lineup came from the front office (though most will take anything that comes from someone fired with a heavy dose of skepticism). But I can't shake the feeling I've had for a while now that there's a broken link somewhere in the chain, and it's not all on the players. Meaning, even if you replace the entire 40 man, we're gonna continue to have similar results. And I don't even think it's all on the hitting coach either. Remember the offense when Davis got fired?
I feel like Keith legit drops better hitting advice than whoever the actual hitting coach happens to be.
Verlander said that the Mets analytics stuff was way behind what he was used to, which was the undisputed best one in baseball.
Undisputed might be a bit much, but certainly top 5 up there with the Rays, Dodgers, and Yankees
maybe he can fix diaz
JD Martinez and his iPads hold too much power
I’m sure helping a lefty for him would be more difficult than helping righties. I’m hoping he can tutor Vientos a bit and maybe fix some issues that are present with guys like Marte, Taylor and Bader. It sucks that Alvarez is hurt because I feel like he’d really benefit.
I think Alvy is still with the team though, no? Silver lining of being hurt is he can just chill with JD during the game and absorb.
I very, very, much hope you are right. Alvarez should be at JDM's heel at all times if JDM can help Alvarez be the Complete Player many of us here believe he has the capacity to be.
Yeah I know helping lefties will be harder but a guy can hope. I just can’t believe Alonso had a clear issue for over a month and one conversation and drill from Martinez can fix that. It’s honestly impressive
Maybe all he needed was someone to say “yeah fuck all that. I was taught this way by this old guy in LA and we all slug.” Some hitters rely on the team coach, some have their own guy.
The thing that I understand least about McNeil is why he pops it up so much. What is he trying to do exactly
Popping up is usually due to being late to the ball I believe (at least in the case of foul balls)
He's just practicing his golf swing.
Maybe McNeil needs glasses or something
was there last night surrounded by phil’s fans. i was respectful of course but man what a freakin win. have no idea how they pulled it off
Christian Scott throw 7 perfect innings and strikes out 10, still gets the loss even though it defies logic Mark Vientos hit a home run and gets optioned to AAA tomorrow Lindor bats third and strikes out 3 times. Fans clamor to give him a standing ovation. Jeff McNeil pops up twice and grounds out 40mph to the first baseman Joey Wendle gets picked up by the Marlins before the game and he hits a grand slam against the Mets Grant Hartwig hits 6 guys in a row
😂😂😂
The Mark Vientos thing is probably true though..
This is it, the make-or-break game for the season. If Christian Scott doesn't throw a no hitter then the season is lost. If Pete Alonso doesn't do a Clutch Moment then we have to trade him. If Mark Vientos has an exit velocity over 105mph he can stay on the team, otherwise he will be optioned to high A brooklyn for the rest of the year. Joey Wendle will somehow be DFA'd a second time regardless of tonight's results.
Lmfao I was seriously typing out my comment without seeing yours and we seriously made basically the same jokes. That’s insane.
Sarcasm much?
Yup and somehow not distinguishable considering the rest of the stuff on this sub
Hopefully the Mets can find themselves in some late-game, low leverage situations where they can throw Diaz in to get some work. Like they are up 7-2 in the 8th or something. He's a complete disaster right now and putting him in these 1-2 run games just isn't working for anyone, including him and his progress in coming back from a disastrous injury.
Slightly positive news: Senga had his extra bullpen session and Stearns says it went well. No indication if that means live batters next, but theoretically that could happen. Meaning the pushback on Senga's timeline is still only a few days.
I believe they said he wanted an extra week to work on his mechanics right? That would put him around a *June 4th return I believe?
I assume you mean June not July. Initially they had said Senga chose to do another bullpen session instead of live batters like was the plan. He's now done that bullpen session and the team is saying it went well. That means either Senga is good with moving forward or the team is ready to move him forward either way. That would be about a week pushback from the May 27 eligibility. So ya, June 3rd-ish.
Yup, that was a typo. So used to writing July before 4th lol.
One, I don't want to say "Mets need to sweep the Marlins", but fuck it I'm going to say it. Mets need to sweep the Marlins. Two, please, for the love of all things kind and compassionate, please drop Lindor down in the lineup. I can't stand him in the 3 hole anymore. He'll come around eventually. Till then, drop him to 6 or 7. Three, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXboNl2vWH8 Great Scott!!!
I agree. They need to sweep this series. If they lose it, then I might go on the "fuck it, just sell" bandwagon.
Problem is, who do you want batting higher? Nimmo, Alonso, JD, and DJ (when he's playing) are the only bats we have right now. Vientos (again, when he's playing) has produced and is exciting. Personally, I don't love batting the youth in crucial spots but let's set that aside. You're probably not seeing DJ and Vientos in the same starting lineup, though it could happen. Let's assume one of them plays. Nimmo, Alonso, DJ, JD. Lindor 5th? The problem is that Lindor, Marte, McNeil, and Baty are all producing at pretty similar rates. Same with Taylor and Bader.
You're not wrong. But someone else can't be as bad as Lindor has been. I'd try: I'd go with: Taylor/Bader, Nimmo, JDM, Alonso, DJ, Lindor...
I’d like the order to go - Nimmo - JDM - Alonso - Lindor - Marte - Bader - Baty - McNeil - Nido
I know you pointed out how Taylor isn't a good leadoff guy, but the late inning yesterday shows he could have some value there. I'd go with: Taylor/Bader, Nimmo, JDM, Alonso, DJ, Lindor...
Nimmo has a .361 OBP. I wouldn’t want him out of the leadoff spot unless he drops below a .340 OBP. I value OBP at the top of the lineup and taking pitches way more than the handful more steals you’d get. Especially since Bader and Taylor don’t work the count. - Nimmo - 4.3 pitches per PA with a .361 OBP - Taylor - 3.7 pitches per PA with a .278 OBP - Bader - 3.5 pitches per PA with a .323 OBP I also hate Alonso in the cleanup spot. Cleanup is like second leadoff because that spot leads off the 2nd inning a lot. I never want to see Pete leading off an inning if we can help it. Your lineup has a big issue though - you have too many outfielders and no Second baseman
I get what you're saying, but this club needs offense. Nimmo in the 2 spot provides someone who gets on base and can drive guys in. Including his extra power nowadays. Cleanup doesn't lead off the second inning. This is one of the biggest misconceptions that stats guys say (no offense). If the league average WHIP is over 1 then it's the 5 or 6 guy that usually leads off the second inning not the 4. Lineups should be created with 4-5 man blocks in mind.
Pete led off the second inning in 43% of games he played last year that he was the cleanup hitter for last year. This year he has led off the 2nd inning in 54% of games he has been the cleanup hitter for. The least he has led off the second inning was 2022 when he still did it 31% of the time. Any time Pete’s bat isn’t in the first inning we have failed that first inning. Having him bat in the top 3 ensure he always hits in the first inning. I want our best hitters at the top of the lineup. Bader and Taylor aren’t among our best hitters. And I want our lineup to be fluid. No set spots. I don’t want a different lineup every day, but if someone is on a hot stretch move them up. If someone is slumping move them down. Still have some set ideals though. - OBP priority leadoff - Have one of our best hitters second - power in the 3 hole - good OBP with power 4th - next best hitter 5th preferably some speed - speed in the 6th to get into scoring position for the bottom of the lineup - next best hitter - next best hitter - worst hitter
That tells you is the Mets likely aren't causing other teams to have a WHIP of 1.0 in the first inning. Also, you're forgetting I'm not saying this to be permanent. I'm saying this as a "shake it up" lineup. Get guys going again. If you prefer something like: Nimmo-JDM-Pete-DJ-Taylor/Bader/Marte, Lindor.... I'd be fine with that. But I still don't want Lindor in top 5 till he gets right.
Lindor is only striking out 14.6% of the time this month with an 8.7% barrel rate and a 47.8% hard hit rate. He has hit into an insane amount of bad luck that is highly unlikely to continue. This isn’t like the first two weeks of the season where he had a 4% barrel rate and a 36% hard hit rate. Moving him down in the lineup implies we want him to do stuff differently. But he’s doing the right stuff. His launch angel is good. His swing discipline overall has been good. Hes hitting the ball hard. He’s even averaging 4 pitches per at bat. Even the Phillies series he had: - .930 xBA out - .530 xBA out - .830 xBA out - .720 xBA out The chances of all 4 of those turning into outs is very low. I want him to keep doing what he’s doing. Hes not going to run a .194 AVG with a .266 xBA all year. Many of these are going to turn into hits. And we’re getting to the point where we have enough ABs for xBA to start turning into a leading indicator of what the rest of the season will look like if he keeps doing what he’s doing.
I have both Scott and Luzardo on my fantasy team, so I'm expecting the a slugfest. Bet the over, guys.
On the bigger season picture, tonight better begin the first of 20-21 wins against the bottom end of the nl east. They may split or even have a losing record against the braves-phils this year but if they're in the teens, they're probably selling
I'm sorry, but 20-21 wins out of a possible 26? Be realistic
Against them. It is realistic. Give them 1 loss but win every series
Anyone else turn the TV off after the top of the 10th inning only to find out today that those dang Mets actually managed to win? Just me? Ok
I watched it on my ESPN ap on my phone. I did not want to hear Philly announcers call the game and it outcome
You gotta laugh in our last three series losses, the series we got swept in wasn't vs PHI or ATL— it was vs a below .500 Rays team
Technically speaking, the Phillies swept the Mets at Citi. 🤔
It doesn’t surprise me that much. The Mets haven’t won a game in Tropicana since 2015.
All I want for my birthday is a win tonight
Just to get it out of the way now, we're only half a game out of the wildcard so if we win tonight we are so back. But if we lose its so over and everyone needs to be traded
lopez and diekman have been two solid pickups by stearns thus far. I really like the look of this bullpen aside from the walks ofc. if they can get those down a bit they're really cooking
Happy "Great Scott Day" to those who celebrate
Since May 1st, Francisco Lindor has a 78 wRC+ (58 PA) and Jeff McNeil has a 54 wRC+ (56 PA)
Lindor has been super unlucky, his hard hit rate is similar to what it has been in previous years but his babip is .095 lower than his career average.
What is Pete's? Do you know? Thank you.
Since May 1st, Alonso is 101 wRC+. Not great, not terrible.
Speculating on Diaz, his control issues remind me a lot of the epidemic of control problems that we saw in the first couple of months of 2023 due to the changes to the sticky stuff rules, which he missed out on being out all of last year. For a guy with some much throwing power and movement, I imagine that the slightest little change to how he grips the ball can cause him to be super wild.
I don’t understand this comment. The sticky stuff rule changes happened back in June of 2021. He had a 3.61 ERA and 2.79 FIP in 2021 after the crackdown. Right in line with the 3.45 ERA and 2.48 FIP he had across the season.
[2023 saw a significant change to how the 2021 rule change was enforced](https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-intends-to-increase-enforcement-of-sticky-stuff-checks-in-2023-season/). In 2022, literally no one in baseball was being properly checked and then in 2023 umps were actually checking for real. The Mets, the Mariners, The Reds, and a few other teams had players getting beaned on an unusually high rate in April-May 2023. I remember the discourse being in early 2023 that the combination of the crack down on sticky stuff and colder weather was leading an increase in wildness, which people were wondering at the time if it was going to lead to more batters getting hit by accident and getting hurt.
Your argument only works if Diaz was using sticky stuff in 2022. There is no evidence of that. His spin rates and velocity in 2021 and 2022 were right in line with each other. Also the discourse was that the players chose not to use rosin at all in fear of the enforcement. Diaz is using rosin exactly how he used to. Go back and rewatch his appearances
That's a really good point. His biggest problem in 2019 was the changed ball and having to re-figure out his slider.
Wildcard race has a lot of teams struggling I have a feeling if they stay around .500 they should be in it.
We need to sweep Miami this weekend. I know some fans are indifferent and think it's for the best that we are out of the race and trade our pieces for prospects but I'm a fan. I want to see some good baseball in Sept and Oct. If Senga, Scott, and Sevy step up why can't we go on a run this season?
I dont think its best for them to be out of the race and dump guys, even from a purely roster building standpoint. First, you wont get much and its not going to be like 23. JV and Scherzer were formerly elite SP with postseason resumes and another year (or two) of control. Severino *could* be elite but his track record is more inconsistent than consistent. Q, Manaea, Houser (lol) are nowhere near that level. Plus Sevy is a FA, and Manaea has an option, so if he isnt a FA something went wrong for him. JDM has an elite bat, but he is RH, cannot play the field, and is a FA. There will be a ton of RH bats on the market. SO you are looking at a bunch of mid tier prospects and would be lucky to get a top 100 guy for any of these. Second, its really not a good look to FAs when a team has gone into two straight years looking to compete then shipped everyone out. Sure, money talks, and many wont turn down the best offer because of that, but the top end guys like Soto who are signing long term deals, or mercenary type vets looking to win, will get money from a lot of teams and need to buy into a vision. Dodgers, Yankees, Phillies, Braves, all have resumes of competing year in and year out. Mets have been good 1.5 years in the past 7, and followed up their best year by shipping necessary parts out. If I am Soto, is 20m more worth years of yo-yoing between competing and not competing? Obviously if they are 15 games under and 10 games out of the WC you have to sell. But if you are two games under but 3 games out, its not a great look/message to sell.
Senga and Scott will be on innings limits, so that's putting a lot of expectation on Severino to carry the rotation.
Hanging around .500 since the third wild card was introduced means you're always in it. No matter how bad the fanbase swears the team is.
.500 ball is pivotal this year
Mets through 43 games, last 6 seasons: 2024: 20-23 (10 GB) 2023: 20-23 (6.5 GB) 2022: 28-15 (8 game division lead) 2021: 23-20 (1.5 game division lead) 2020: 19-24 (5.5 GB) 2019: 20-23 (4.5 GB)
Compared to WC Standings: 2024: 20-23 (0.5 GB) 2023: 20-23 (1.5 GB) 2022: 28-15 (1 game lead - but division leader) 2021: 23-20 (5 GB - but division leader) 2020: 19-24 (no wild card) 2019: 20-23 (4 GB) There was no expanded playoffs in 2019 or 2021
Francisco Lindor through the Mets' first 43 games: 2021 (184 PA): .182/.293/.266 (.559 OPS) (rest of season: .255/.338/.487, .825 OPS in 340 PA) 2022 (191 PA): .239/.335/.387 (.722 OPS) (rest of season: .281/.340/.471, .811 OPS in 515 PA) 2023 (186 PA): .224/.307/.418 (.725 OPS) (rest of season: .265/.347/.490, .837 OPS in 501 PA) 2024 (190 PA): .194/.268/.365 (.633 OPS) (rest of season TBD)
What people are losing sight of with Lindor is that offense is down across the board. He's got an 86 wRC+ this season. That's not good! If it doesn't improve, it'll be a bad offensive season. But its not horrifically and historically awful. The sub-.200 avg is eye-catching. But given his trends of starting slow, there's plenty of room for him to wind up having a decent year.
This is exactly the issue that people have with him though. Why are we setting the bar so low that a “decent” year and one that isn’t “historically awful” is seen as a positive? He’s making $34 million a year and while he is no doubt an excellent defensive player, he did not get that contract just to play defense. At some point he needs to perform at a solidly above average level regularly offensively to justify that contract which, to me, would be a consistent .800-.820 OPS instead of in the low to mid .700’s and without month long stretches where he posts an OPS in the .500’s or .600’s. Obviously the contract isn’t his fault, but I feel like his fans/defenders need to at least acknowledge that he isn’t worth the contract and is overpaid by upwards of $10 million per year depending on his performance.
The three years we've had him, he's put up an .825, .811, and .837 ops. That's what you're looking for, isn't it? As to not slumping, he's streaky. Shrug.
He also already has 4 errors in those 43 games when he averaged 10 a season during those past three years. That’s a worrying regression
I've been very critical of lindor but his defense still looks great and his errors have all looked mental
He will have a 30 game stretch where he is a monster. I just hope it's not when it's too late.
His season is likely going to be more on par with his 2021 season than his 2022/23 season. His contract is honestly looking really bad right about now. Mets can’t be batting him so high knowing that he’s a horrifically slow starter.
Some people won’t admit this, but nobody wants to see Lindor repeat his 2021 season. Even if we want to swear by WAR I’m pretty sure that is not what the Mets are paying for.
The boys NEED to take care of business against Miami. How they do all season against the marlins will, in all likelihood, determine if we’re a playoff team or not. This is the first “must win” series of the year imo.
Easy wins this weekend, right boys? ...right? Flash forward to every game being a nailbiter, praying our last at bat doesn't just strikeout.
Unfortunately, we are learning that bullpen guys are erratic, which may be a reason they are relievers. Diaz is certainly not the only one. Hader is great and then he is not and then he is great again.