2019 New York Mets Season Thread

[NJDevs4978]

16 minutes ago, Daniel said:

Apparently BVW said that if the Yankees wanted Stroman, they had to give up Florial and Deivi Garcia, which is a pretty insane ask.  I get that the Mets don't want to trade someone like Syndergaard or DeGrom to the Yankees, but pretty silly to hold out over making the team better in the long run for someone they got a few days ago for a can of magic beans.  Like, BVW is just being an a$$hole to the fans if he wouldn't just take Clint Frazier and something else.

I think that one (the Yankee thing) is above BVW's paygrade tbh.  Jeffy wouldn't even let Sandy deal rentals like Jay Bruce and Addison Reed to the Yankees.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

1 hour ago, NJDevs4978 said:

Can't say I blame you tbh...I said this on another board, I like Cashman as an outsider (not to mention him being an actual Devils fan) but if I were a Yankee fan I'd be LIVID today after seeing the Astros get Greinke, Sanchez and Biangini while they only get some faceless minor leaguer.  In a lot of ways Cashman is a slave to never going a cent above market value for a trade.

Agree, I can understand why MB3 and other Yankee fans are annoyed today.  Suddenly they’re not those Yankees that want to go that extra mile...with the big prize very much within reach.  

['7']

2 hours ago, Daniel said:

Apparently BVW said that if the Yankees wanted Stroman, they had to give up Florial and Deivi Garcia, which is a pretty insane ask.  I get that the Mets don't want to trade someone like Syndergaard or DeGrom to the Yankees, but pretty silly to hold out over making the team better in the long run for someone they got a few days ago for a can of magic beans.  Like, BVW is just being an a$$hole to the fans if he wouldn't just take Clint Frazier and something else.

Isn't Florial their #1 guy? Yea no way the Yankees would ever do that. 

I don't get what BVW's plan is. The Mets have had a nice little run here against bad teams catching them at the right time. But they cannot do anything with serious bullpen upgrades. Brodie did not of that this deadline. They're still on the periphery of the 2nd wild card. Just barely hanging in there. A bad week and we'd be back to 7-8 out and cooked. I'm wondering how much of what's been going on is just flat out Jeff Wilpon pulling the strings.

I'm shocked the Yankees stood pat this deadline. But I can also see them winning a WS this year with their roster exactly as it is constructed anyway

Edited July 31, 2019 by '7'

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

That Yankee rotation is simply not very good.  Now they have to hope for those guys to get hot/overachieve.  Mets could probably gotten something nice for Wheeler if they hadn’t overplayed their hand, but like Has alluded to, impossible to trust BVW and Jeffy not to botch ANYTHING that they get involved in.

Just to throw a number out there, I’ll go with 88 wins to lock down a WC slot.  So Mets would have to go 36-19 to make it happen.  Doesn’t really seem possible (especially since Cano has gone right back to being a useless corpse at the plate).  It’s one thing to be hot for a week or so, but the Mets can’t be expected to flourish for about 9-10 weeks.  Way too flawed for that...even if the rotation totally shreds (and that potential for that is there at the moment), that probably won’t be enough.  You just KNOW Díaz will blow some huge games along the way.

[NJDevs4978]

lol I'm not sure at what point I'm gonna stop being skeptical but I know this much...win no worse five of the next seven or GTFO.  Maybe by the time I get back from my vacation on Monday they'll either be out of it for good or actually can entertain being in it   

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

The Mets are in the same boat as the Florida Panthers were in 2017-18...they basically have to remain scorching hot for the rest of the year.  Any slump at all and they’re toast.  All these recent wins and they’re not even a .500 team.  They just have so much damned work to do, still.  

['7']

One thing that makes me a tad optimistic is that they really didn't play all that well in Chicago (didn't hit at all in a series that they should've been able to score runs comfortably) and yet still swept them)

Not sure what to expect from the Pirates they've been so wretched. But they're kind of due to start winning some games too. But yea as Has said...5 of 7

We've got meaningful August baseball though. For that I am grateful

['7']

20 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

That Yankee rotation is simply not very good.  Now they have to hope for those guys to get hot/overachieve.  Mets could probably gotten something nice for Wheeler if they hadn’t overplayed their hand, but like Has alluded to, impossible to trust BVW and Jeffy not to botch ANYTHING that they get involved in.

Just to throw a number out there, I’ll go with 88 wins to lock down a WC slot.  So Mets would have to go 36-19 to make it happen.  Doesn’t really seem possible (especially since Cano has gone right back to being a useless corpse at the plate).  It’s one thing to be hot for a week or so, but the Mets can’t be expected to flourish for about 9-10 weeks.  Way too flawed for that...even if the rotation totally shreds (and that potential for that is there at the moment), that probably won’t be enough.  You just KNOW Díaz will blow some huge games along the way.

And if not Diaz, Familia will be mucking things up before. The pen is just outright crap.

36-19 does indeed seem impossible. They've already on a 13-4 run...that would mean for 88 wins they'd have to go 49-23 over a period of 72 games. For a team with this bad a pen (and this bad defensively) to go 49-23 over ANY stretch would be unfathomable. It would be like Mark Sanchez setting an NFL record for most attempts without an INT.

[NJDevs4978]

6 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

The Mets are in the same boat as the Florida Panthers were in 2017-18...they basically have to remain scorching hot for the rest of the year.  Any slump at all and they’re toast.  All these recent wins and they’re not even a .500 team.  They just have so much damned work to do, still.  

That's actually a really good comp tbh, the Panthers were like twelve points out and at least several games under .500 at their nadir...I was thinking more 2011 Devils or 2001 Mets but this year's Mets weren't even AS far out of it as the MacLean Devils got and the 2001 Mets were out of it going into September and got on a late surge in a very mediocre division (think the Braves only won with 87 games that year), could have actually stolen it if not for the great Benitez blowing it back-to-back weekends against Atlanta.

Edited August 2, 2019 by NJDevs4978

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

They’re a little like the 1987-88 Devils too, in that, like Sean Burke said “We were in it, but we weren’t really IN it.  We had to win just about every game just to make it.”

That’s where the Mets currently are...having to play .650 or better ball, after  having already won seven in a row.  And even that might not get it done, if two or more teams already ahead of them get especially hot.  

I feel like once they start playing the Nats and Braves, that this pipe dream will crash and burn anyway.  

['7']

3 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

They’re a little like the 1987-88 Devils too, in that, like Sean Burke said “We were in it, but we weren’t really IN it.  We had to win just about every game just to make it.”

That’s where the Mets currently are...having to play .650 or better ball, after  having already won seven in a row.  And even that might not get it done, if two or more teams already ahead of them get especially hot.  

I feel like once they start playing the Nats and Braves, that this pipe dream will crash and burn anyway.  

One of the unsung heroes of that 1988 miracle was another Maclean...Paul Maclean. He scored a late goal for Winnipeg against the Rags 2nd to last game of the year and the game ended in a tie. If the Rags get the W (and they rallied back from like 4-1 that game) they make the playoffs and not us

Amazing the NHL back then. The Leafs made the playoffs at 52 pts. The Rags and Pens were out with 81 and 82

Minnesota had 51 points and just missed. They finished the season 3-20-5 wanting no part of the playoffs it seemed. Leafs were 7-32-7 their last 46 games and made it somehow

Edited August 2, 2019 by '7'

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

You had some really dreadful teams back then...and of course, with 16 out of 21 teams making the playoffs every year for a while, more than a few duds got in.  

Yeah every team in the Patrick that year finished .500 or better.  Was pretty crazy down the stretch.  Going solely off the top of my head but I think the one team that wasn’t playing well as the season wound down was the Flyers.  I also remember that you basically had three teams playing for first, and three teams playing for fourth.  Was real cut-throat. 

EDIT:  Looked up that Flyer season and it was odd as can be.  They started horribly (5-12-3), then went 29-10-4 before finishing on a lousy 4-11-2 skid.  They took a 3-1 series lead against the Caps in the first round before losing in seven.  Mike Keenan was the Flyer coach back then...I forget if he was canned after that.

Edited August 2, 2019 by Colorado Rockies 1976

['7']

2 hours ago, Colorado Rockies 1976 said:

You had some really dreadful teams back then...and of course, with 16 out of 21 teams making the playoffs every year for a while, more than a few duds got in.  

Yeah every team in the Patrick that year finished .500 or better.  Was pretty crazy down the stretch.  Going solely off the top of my head but I think the one team that wasn’t playing well as the season wound down was the Flyers.  I also remember that you basically had three teams playing for first, and three teams playing for fourth.  Was real cut-throat. 

EDIT:  Looked up that Flyer season and it was odd as can be.  They started horribly (5-12-3), then went 29-10-4 before finishing on a lousy 4-11-2 skid.  They took a 3-1 series lead against the Caps in the first round before losing in seven.  Mike Keenan was the Flyer coach back then...I forget if he was canned after that.

Yea Keenan at that point probably had worn out his welcome and they could barely stand him. I wonder if that was the season he held the famous unexpected death practice on Christmas and had the players do suicide drills until everybody threw up.

The Caps were coming off that horrible 87 blown 3-1 series to the Isles with the 4 ot game 7. To have them come back from 3-1 to Philly...and then from 3-0 in game 7...it's actually one of the better series comebacks in NHL history. Weird that the seemingly (until last year) cursed Caps engineered it.

['7']

Just when you think Matz has turned a corner, with a 3-0 lead to a total corpse franchise...he goes full gutless. Inexcusable

[NJDevs4978]

The irony is Matz may well be the best #5 starter in baseball as it stands but it still always feels disappointing he never became anything more than a #4 at best.

['7']

How the hell do you bring Tyler Bashlor in any game for any reason. He's crap and needs to be designated for assignment

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

2 hours ago, '7' said:

Just when you think Matz has turned a corner, with a 3-0 lead to a total corpse franchise...he goes full gutless. Inexcusable

Matz is such a gutless puke.  He’ll have his good moments, but he’s completely impossible to ever fully trust.  It’s never a shock whenever he comes up puny.  Loser.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Stroman sure seems pretty hittable.  A bit unnerving when you factor in that he was pretty crappy in 2018.  Yet another BVW move that has a chance to blow up (though to be fair at least one of the kids that went to the Jays in the deal would have to perform in the majors before anyone could shred it too too much).

[NJDevs4978]

That was definitely a bit odd, sounded almost like a warped fan more worried about the Yankees than the Mets, though it’s not like there’s really one team you can scoreboard watch at this point, maybe just the division teams in general for now. 

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

4 hours ago, MB3 said:

He’s a ground-ball pitcher. Does not have swing and miss stuff, doesn’t walk a ton of guys, doesn’t let the ball leave the infield too often.

a starter’s version of Zach Britton, ish.

The above is why this was a bizarre move to begin with...the Mets defense is awful.  Stroman was never going be a great fit on this team as currently constructed.  If he’s not a swing-and-miss guy, not sure how he overcomes his teammates.  But that kinda sums up the Mets...rarely do they put guys in the best position to succeed, yet they’re forever surprised when the mismatched pieces they throw out there don’t perform as hoped.

4 hours ago, MB3 said:

By the way; Mickey callaway admitted today that he does “a little bit of scoreboard watching”, but only to check on the scores of the Yankees games.

you’re 4 games out of the wildcard on the best run the team has strung together post-ASG since 2016 and your manager just admitted he’s scoreboard watching to see how an AL East leading team is doing.

i genuinely feel terrible for Mets fans. I have ALWAYS cheered for the Mets and it just seems like incompetence will prevent them for ever achieving up to their talent level.

I know the Mets are winning at the moment in spite of Mickey rather than due to anything he’s doing (similar to 2015, when Collins was constantly getting in the way), but I think he’s gone after this season no matter what...of course, if this team somehow made the playoffs and made it to at least the NLCS, he’ll likely keep his job, but with the tightest of leashes.  I don’t think BVW is a fan at all, and might’ve even canned him already, but Freddy and Jeffy probably wouldn’t allow it, due to not wanting to pay off the rest of Mickey’s contract this early (two years left after this one), and having to pay someone new.

But it always circles back to the same thing...BVW was hired because he was the only guy who had no choice but to have to deal with Jeffy “Baseball Man Wannabe “ Wilpon’s constant unwanted input and meddling.  And BVW is apparently a guy who will tell with Wilpons what they want to hear, no matter what...it’s another huge reason why he got the job.  This arrangement will 100% crash and burn at some point...sure, the team is on a nice run at the moment, but this is temporary, a quick breath of fresh air within yet another suffocatingly difficult season full of idiocy and incompetence.

My only hope is that when this does inevitably fail, that Jeffy and Daddy Wilpon realize once and for all that it’s long past time for them to be involved in any personnel decisions, and that they need to hire a TRUE baseball mind to do the job.  And then they get the fvck out of the way, and let that guy do what needs to be done...if he says he needs 3-5 years to truly stock the farm and has a plan that will take time but should build a solid competitive team, so be it.  I’ll happily take that over the fantasy baseball, no-real-plan-at-all, just collect bodies and hope for the best approach that BVW and Jeffy have embraced.  And in BVW’s case, I can add that you even have a little conflict-of-interest going on, which was a concern going in...he’s a little too interested in bringing back former clients for my blood.

But Jeffy is truly oblivious to how much of a problem he’s truly been, and even worse, I think he’s on a mission to prove how wrong everyone is about him...his almost bragging about how involved he was in deGrom’s new contract made that crystal clear.  He wants to show us all, and man I don’t see how that can lead to anything other than complete disaster.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Colorado Rockies 1976

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Anyway, nice late surge by the Mets last night, but gotta finish the Marlin series over .500.  That means win at least four out of the next five...that would give the Mets a record of 58-57...win all five, and they’re 59-56.  Anything less, and I consider them to be fully done.  Problem with getting off to such a crappy start is that you don’t get to tread water at any point, really...the 2017-18 Panthers (not to mention the 2010-11 Devils) did that just long enough within their elongated surges to fail in their quests.  There’s a huge difference between getting to within sight of being in the race and actually GETTING there.  All the Mets have done to this point is get a better view.  But still merely just that:  a view from the outside.  

Edited August 4, 2019 by Colorado Rockies 1976

['7']

Wasn't all that impressed with Stroman. Yes he seemed hittable but did make a nice play there with his throw to the plate that prevented the game from getting out of hand. Maybe it was new team/city nerves? I'll give him a pass. Can't overlook the fact that he was pitching to a sub 3.00 era in the American League in 2019 (and was 6-11...deGrom can relate) but that's not nothing in terms of era's considering where he was

['7']

Also remember Nelson Cruz and the conversations we had about him right around 2014 when he became a free agent and how wary we were of signing him due to age, bat potentially slowing down, K's and low OBP/walk totals. Seemed like a decaying player. 

All he's done since is hit 233 home runs in 6 years

https://risingapple.com/2018/06/09/new-york-mets-missed-nelson-cruz/

 

['7']

Nice 1st inning outburst with shots by Conforto and Davis. 3-0

If Syndergaard is worth a damn he puts this one on cruise control. 7 innings...2 runs max. That's what he should be expected to do.

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Now 6-0...and of those games the Mets (and Noah) can’t fvck up under ANY circumstances.

8-0

11-0

Mets actually have their run differential down to -2 at the moment.  Pretty sure it might have been -50 or worse at one point.

And gotta give Noah credit...he’s not fvcking around, throwing strikes, letting his fielders do the work.  Two very quick innings have given him a shot at pitching into the 8th now.

13-0 and now the run differential is down to zero.  

Noah out after 91 pitches...a little surprised by that.  Guess they didn’t want to push him, especially since he gave up a couple of hits and a run in the seventh.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Colorado Rockies 1976