Official 2014 New York Mets Thread

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I don't think Sandy ever wanted the job.  I think he wants it less than ever now.  Sucks because there's actually fans (like me) that for some godforsaken reason actually care about this team and where it's going.  It's a joke that a guy who clearly doesn't give a fvck about this team is the GM.  Like I've said, if he's pissed about the payroll situation, fine, but there's guys out there who could find ways to work with they've got...guys who don't waste resources on zilches like Chris Young.

 

Re:  Sather, great that his team finally got to a SCF, but I don't think it was supposed to be a 14-year plan.  He's lucky the owner is a Sather fanboy...he would've been fired by several franchises many years ago...especially with the many co$tly mi$takes he's made.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976

['7']

Wright with a big chance here. For the love of god, please come through

Anyway, Sandy is a guy who supposedly has honor and integrity with his military service background and education pedigree. He's a guy who I would hope politely walks away if he doesn't feel like he's doing a good enough job

 

Didn't the MLB also pretty much nudge Pat Gillick into the Phillies job in 2005 when they were floundering and underachieving for years? I don't think he wanted that either at his advanced age at the time. But he got it done. And pretty much walked away immediately

Well textbook David Wright...

Edited July 8, 2014 by '7'

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

BTW Murph is turning back into Murph...only 6 BB in his last 33 GP, just one BB in his last 18 GP.  His OB% in those 18 GP is about .300, even though he's hitting about .290 in that timeframe.

 

Is it even a surprise anymore when David fails in these spots?  Only to Wright fanboys.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976

['7']

I think Wright has had a game winning hit this year vs philly...on the road mind you. Can't remember his last home walk off. I can remember Ike Davis' more clearly...ha (grand slam, reds, early season)

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Mets need to find a cornerstone hitter in the worst way.  Wish they had him coming up through the system, but it doesn't appear so. 

[NJDevs4978]

Nine games back, the surge is coming lol

['7']

Mets need to find a cornerstone hitter in the worst way.  Wish they had him coming up through the system, but it doesn't appear so. 

 

I wish we jumped on Jose Abreu when we had the chance...but to be honest I wasn't exactly beating the drum on that either. I just wish somebody in the Mets org recognized how good he was.

 

I think Nimmo will be pretty good. But no cornerstone.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Kinda sucks when Tejada has to be the guy to come through. 

 

Speaking of Tejada...would you believe that he's a .294 hitter since May 25 (36 games)?  And that he's drawn 19 BB in that time?  We know he hits with absolutely zero power (four 2B hits and two HR in that stretch, .303 SLG in 2014), and I still hope that Sandy tries to upgrade over him by the start of 2015, but I'm already preparing myself for the "Let's see if Ruben can build off 2014" mantra that will come out of Metland if he keeps this up.  I guess he deserves some credit for not being abysmal when no one in the organization seemed willing to back him up at all (which in Sandy's case is a joke, because he did nothing to give himself another reasonable option at short), but even if Tejada becomes a .260ish hitter who draws some walks (some intentional if he keeps hitting 8th), he's still not very good.  He really needs to become a better version of 2012 Tejada before you can even entertain the idea of him being your everyday SS.  If he's going to remain a pure singles hitter, .240-something BAs aren't going to fly, even with .350ish OB%s.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Anyway, Sandy is a guy who supposedly has honor and integrity with his military service background and education pedigree. He's a guy who I would hope politely walks away if he doesn't feel like he's doing a good enough job

 

Didn't the MLB also pretty much nudge Pat Gillick into the Phillies job in 2005 when they were floundering and underachieving for years? I don't think he wanted that either at his advanced age at the time. But he got it done. And pretty much walked away immediately

 

I think Sandy is a just a majorly disgruntled employee at this point.  I would love to know what happened just before the free-agent signing period began.  I think Sandy thought the payroll was going to go up and was told almost last second that it couldn't.  Like I've said, I can understand why he's ticked, and I'm sure working for the Wilpons is very difficult even with money to spend, but you're still the GM of a MLB team.  To me it felt like Sandy just stopped trying. 

 

A big test will be what happens before or on July 31.  There's guys on this roster that aren't part of the long-term picture and we know who they are.  Colon should not be here after the deadline...you can make the argument that Montero and Syndergaard having their issues in 2014 make Colon more valuable to the Mets in 2015, but if Colon pitches well in July, then I can't see how Sandy can't find a taker for him (and even if the player return isn't awesome, you can at least get a chunk of the money he has coming to him off the books).  I think Sandy has to move Murph too...he's always going to have his limitations, and he's been morphing back into the good BA/low OB% Murph lately.  His OB% was up to .371 on May 17, but is now down to .343.  

 

Dilson Herrera is off to a nice start in AA:  17 GP, .329/.410/.479, 15 RS.  Only 20 years old...if he can keep this up, he could see some Vegas time before the end of the year. 

[nmigliore]

Saw this from ESPN's stat guru Mark Simon: Granderson has an .895 OPS since April 29th, 7th best in the NL.

 

Overall he's sitting with a .771 OPS -- 21% better than average after adjusting for the league and park -- and is on pace to be worth between +2 and +3 WAR. My biggest fear over that signing is what he'd look like in 2016-2017, when the Mets are more likely to contend and he eating up $15-16M per on the payroll, but hard to complain about what he's doing in 2014. 

Edited July 8, 2014 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I've been posting about Granderson's surging quite a bit.  Yeah, hard to complain about how he's been playing overall since April 29.  He's actually been much better than we really had any right to expect during that stretch.   

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Talk about your rough days...check out 36-year-old Giancarlo Alvarado's pitching line from last night for Vegas:

 

2.1 IP, 12 H, 12 ER, 3 HR

 

His last two games combined:

 

7.1 IP, 20 H, 19 ER, 4 HR, 4 BB 

 

Poor guy is definitely pitching for the love of the game...1314.2 minor-league innings, 257.2 Japanese innings, and has pitched in some other leagues as well.  Probably a really good book in there somewhere. 

['7']

d'Arnaud has been better at the plate (not sure if it's luck because I don't see a real change to his approach at the plate) but he's still not there yet when it comes to his throws. Spiked a bad one just there, but no harm as Degrom gets out of the inning.

['7']

I was very wrong about Granderson. Thought he was just about washed up. Not even close.

[nmigliore]

Grandy Grandy Gone!

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I was very wrong about Granderson. Thought he was just about washed up. Not even close.

 

A lot of people were, but the recent track record was not terribly good.,,there was good reason for concern.  It was hard to see him turning it around to this extent.  Gotta give Francesa credit on that one...he kept saying not to worry, that Grandy would start to hit. even when it got worse than Ike Davis ugly.

 

And how about deGrom...forget the record, he's made 11 major-league starts and continues to be competitive.  What he's done has really taken the sting out of Wheeler still being a work in progress, and Montero and Syndergaard having health and performance issues. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Jesus, even Wright drives one in.

 

Watch Duda hit a home run here.  His time to shine.

Edited July 8, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976

['7']

Not a fan of Terry running deGrom out there for the 7th at 98 pitches to start the inning. Especially after the Braves got good swings on him in the 6th. And now a leadoff single. I want to get him out on a high note and preferably under 100 pitches

Edited July 9, 2014 by '7'

[nmigliore]

EY Jr. doesn't do much good but damn that was some catch. Hopefully this is the last inning for deGrom. I can't stand when TC runs the young arms into the ground. Just totally unnecessary when you're going nowhere.

['7']

delete

Edited July 9, 2014 by '7'

[nmigliore]

What a fantastic game from deGrom. In one start he bumped his season strikeout rate up from 20.9% to 22.8%, his ERA down from 3.77 to 3.38, and his FIP down from 3.78 to 3.38. Still only talking about 66 innings here, hence the wild swings these numbers can take from start to start, but his emergence has been such a welcoming story for a team that could use some. 

Edited July 9, 2014 by nmigliore

['7']

Germen was sent down to make room for Dillon Gee, who starts tomorrow. Not sure why it wasn't Eveland or Carlyle? Preferably Carlyle.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

What a fantastic game from deGrom. In one start he bumped his season strikeout rate up from 20.9% to 22.8%, his ERA down from 3.77 to 3.38, and his FIP down from 3.78 to 3.38. Still only talking about 66 innings here, hence the wild swings these numbers can take from start to start, but his emergence has been such a welcoming story for a team that could use some. 

 

He has really done a nice job bouncing back just when it seemed like things go could south for him...back on June 16 he had his worst outing as a major-leaguer (4.1 IP, 12 H , 6 ER), after a couple of so-so games.  Since then:  4 starts, 25.2 IP, 23 H, 5 ER, 0 HR (hasn't given up a dinger in his last 6 starts), 8 BB, 30 K, 1.75 ERA, 1.21 WHIP.   

 

Don't look now, but Lucas Duda has an .843 OB+SLG.  I'll never be a big believer in him (especially in moments when you really need him to come through...I think he'll always be a relatively easy out under those circumstances), but he's doing enough that it won't surprise me if Sandy decides to keep him at first base next season. 

 

What interesting about Duda's and Davis' seasons is how dramatically things have turned since that late May series against the Pirates...Davis was batting almost 60 points higher than Duda at that point, and seemed to be settling into becoming a pretty good everyday player for the Pirates.  Both players' numbers since May 26:

 

Duda:  39 GP, 37-for-126 (.294 BA), 19 RS, 15 2B, 25 BB, 29 K, 8 HR, 26 RBI, OB% around .400 for this stretch, OB+SLG around 1.000.  (I'd have to look up sac flies and HBP to be accurate for OB%, as HBPs count as 1-for-1, and SFs count as 0-for-1 when calculating OB%.)  His SLG% since May 26 is .603.

 

Davis:  37 GP, 19-for-102 (.186 BA), 10 RS, 3 2B, 21 BB, 22 K, 2 HR, 12 RBI, OB% around .330 for this stretch, OB+SLG around .600.  His OB+SLG for the season is down to .709.  His SLG% since May 26 is .275 (that's about as bad as it gets).   

 

The only positive thing you can say about Davis is that some of his numbers (like his RBI total and his OB%) aren't that bad for a guy with such a low BA, but as far as the RBI total goes, I have no idea many opportunities he's had in that time to drive in runs, so that number could be as lousy as some of the others.  But there's no argument...it's still too early to judge whether or not the Mets traded the right guy away, but the fact is Duda has outperformed Davis by a country mile and then some over the last 6 weeks. 

Germen was sent down to make room for Dillon Gee, who starts tomorrow. Not sure why it wasn't Eveland or Carlyle? Preferably Carlyle.

 

Eveland's been pretty good so far, though you wonder how long it will last. 

Edited July 9, 2014 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[nmigliore]

The raw OPS doesn't even do Duda full justice because of the Citi Field factor. Adjust for the park using wRC+ and Duda has been 39% better than the average hitter, which ranks 25th in MLB and 10th among 1B. Unless Duda has suddenly turned into one of the 20 or so best hitters in baseball he's not going to keep up that kind of pace, but he has room to regress and still have a strong overall season.

 

He should absolutely be the 2015 1B at this rate. He's also only making $1.64 million this season so his arbitration payout this winter won't be much. 

Edited July 9, 2014 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I have to see Duda at least finish out the year relatively strong...no way I expect him to keep up what he's done, and no one else should either, but if Duda fizzles in August and September, I can't automatically pencil him in at 1B for 2015.