Official 2011 New York Mets Thread

[nmigliore]

Another awesome day from Reyes. Good lord. No matter how overrated I might think he is, I hope he finds himself (or some semblance of himself) soon, because this team has no chance of sustaining itself without him.

Manuel having Reyes bunt in the 7th inning was the epitome of stupid. I know he ended up grounding into the double play, but I sure he hoped he thanked the great Jerry Manuel for putting him in an 0-2 hole by asking him to bunt. Yeah Jerry, bat Reyes 3rd as if you are full of confidence in him and then have him bunt later in the game as if you have zero confidence in him; please tell me how those 2 things don't contradict. Oy.

Regardless, you are right that Reyes needs to get going. I would move him back to the leadoff spot where hes most comfortable.

By the way, how awesome is my new avatar?

Edited May 13, 2010 by nmigliore

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

Manuel having Reyes bunt in the 7th inning was the epitome of stupid. I know he ended up grounding into the double play, but I sure he hoped he thanked the great Jerry Manuel for putting him in an 0-2 hole by asking him to bunt. Yeah Jerry, bat Reyes 3rd as if you are full of confidence in him and then have him bunt later in the game as if you have zero confidence in him; please tell me how those 2 things don't contradict. Oy.

Regardless, you are right that Reyes needs to get going. I would move him back to the leadoff spot where hes most comfortable.

By the way, how awesome is my new avatar?

Love the avatar nmig. I meant to tell you that in my last post...I heard the story, but seeing it makes it that much better.

We both know Jerry's not the brightest bulb in the batch, and yeah, it's time to end this nonsense with Reyes batting 3rd...they gave it a shot, it's not really working out. Boomer and Carton did make a good point, re: Reyes...yeah, he's not the most intelligent baseball player out there, and he can make you crazy, but the Mets have also fvcked with him through the years: moving him to 2nd base for Matsui, batting him third when his skillset is clearly not that of a 3rd-place hitter, etc.

[nmigliore]

Taking Santana out at 98 pitches in favor of Nieve, whose peripherals are rather poor -- 4.88 FIP, 5.02 xFIP, 4.74 BB/9, and a very lucky .202 BABIP; those scream hes due for a really ugly outing. I have a bad feeling about this move.

edit: And now Reyes is trying to bunt AGAIN and falls behind 0-2.

edit 2: Nieve for another inning? Ugh... I really want to pull my hair out. Oy.

Edited May 14, 2010 by nmigliore

[nmigliore]

And the Mets lose because Jerry Manuel leaves Fernando 'awful peripherals' Nieve in for 2 innings. Great.

If only Jerry knew what FIP or xFIP, or even BB/9 meant.

Edited May 14, 2010 by nmigliore

[NJDevs4978]

Well Jerry's got a lot of Joe Torre in him when it comes to bullpen mismanagement, running the 'chosen few' into the ground.

That said...one run, four hits, hard to win any game with that output over nine innings. Josh Johnson or not, this offense just has to start doing better. For a team that has Reyes, Wright, Bay, et al (and none of them are hitting), they've had too many games where they looked overmatched. Even sometimes when they score runs it's more due to what the other team gives them error-wise and walk-wise.

[nmigliore]

Well Jerry's got a lot of Joe Torre in him when it comes to bullpen mismanagement, running the 'chosen few' into the ground.

That said...one run, four hits, hard to win any game with that output over nine innings. Josh Johnson or not, this offense just has to start doing better. For a team that has Reyes, Wright, Bay, et al (and none of them are hitting), they've had too many games where they looked overmatched. Even sometimes when they score runs it's more due to what the other team gives them error-wise and walk-wise.

Wright is certainly hitting. Though the strikeouts have been a little crazy, he was OPS'ing .961 coming into tonight.

Bay's average and OBP are about where you could expect them to be, but hes hitting for absolutely NO power, which is just odd. I really can't see that continuing for much longer. And no, Citi Field has nothing to do with it; hes actually slugging .519 at Citi and his 1 HR was hit there.

Reyes has been the biggest issue. His defense tonight was dazzling, but hes just not doing anything at the plate. I'm still confident he'll be fine, but you really have to wonder when hes going to start coming around. I don't put all that much into the lineup positions, but I still would move Reyes back to leading off where he feels most comfortable.

I can't complain about them not hitting Johnson tonight; the Marlins made some great plays defensively and Johnson was just filthy; he had all 3 of his pitches working and he pounded the strikezone.

Edited May 14, 2010 by nmigliore

[NJDevs4978]

Wright's hitting .279 and his career average is .308, that's not really hitting, especially since most of his power production came on one road trip. Bay's got 15 RBI's in 34 games, terrible for someone that's in the #4 spot in your lineup. But yeah Reyes is the biggest issue, especially since he's apparently forgotten how to bunt. You'd think that would be the one thing he could get a feel for pretty quickly but geez.

[nmigliore]

Wright's hitting .279 and his career average is .308, that's not really hitting, especially since most of his power production came on one road trip.

Why only look at his batting average? In fact, who cares what his average is; his OBP is over .400, his SLG% is over .500, and hes easily been one of the top hitting 3B in baseball so far this year. You can't expect Wright to hit .300 or better when hes striking out at the rate hes been the past 2 years.

Bay's got 15 RBI's in 34 games, terrible for someone that's in the #4 spot in your lineup.

I don't put much into RBI, but like I said, his issue has clearly been the lack of power; hes slugging under .400, that can't continue, nor would I expect it to. His average and OBP aren't far off from his career averages.

Edited May 14, 2010 by nmigliore

[Devils Pride 26]

Ugh, I'm starting to think that 9 game streak was, as bruce said, a brillant disguise. Bay has been a mess, we're getting awful value on him. We'd be getting a hellof a lot more from Nady

[nmigliore]

Ugh, I'm starting to think that 9 game streak was, as bruce said, a brillant disguise. Bay has been a mess, we're getting awful value on him. We'd be getting a hellof a lot more from Nady

You mean the guy whose hitting .182/.327/.302?

[Devils Pride 26]

You mean the guy whose hitting .182/.327/.302?

He's struggling that much? Ooooooof. He was a good player for us and it sucks seeing another big contract under perform (Bay). The last few games I've been waiting for him to just hit some bombs. Nothing so far.

[NJDevs4978]

Why only look at his batting average? In fact, who cares what his average is; his OBP is over .400 and his SLG% is over .500. You can't expect Wright to hit .300 or better when hes striking out at the rate hes been the past 2 years.

Well if he's going to turn into Adam Dunn in terms of hitting .240-.260 and K'ing 150 times then he'd better get a little of Adam Dunn's power to be a viable middle of the order hitter. Yeah he's got seven HR's so far this year but how much is that - and his slugging percentage by extension - reflected in the fact that four of those HR's came in extreme hitters' parks (Philly and Cinci), two came in another park that used to be an extreme hitter's park (Colorado)? The one lousy HR he's had at home this year was the lucky opposite-field shot on Opening Day that just cleared the wall.

I've never bought OBP as a big deal for a middle of the order guy, when you're hitting 3-4-5 your job is to drive in the runs, plus you're gonna get a lot of intentional and semi-intentional walks anyway just based on hitting in that spot in the lineup.

Edited May 14, 2010 by Hasan4978

[nmigliore]

Baseball Prospectus just posted a new article today that discusses Wright's strikeouts/hitting this year:

What’s funny is that looking only at results, not much seems to change for Wright:

Year TAv WARP

2004 .289 0.9

2005 .313 6.8

2006 .311 5.1

2007 .338 9.6

2008 .323 7.8

2009 .306 3.6

2010 .330 2.1

Career .314 35.9

Neither a lack of power last season nor a high K rate so far this season have kept Wright from being an outstanding hitter. Notwithstanding all the headlines, Wright has been the Mets’ best hitter. Looking at WARP, he’s already put up nearly as much value this season as an average position player does in 150 games.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=10869

The rest of the article is for subscribers only.

Edited May 14, 2010 by nmigliore

['7']

End of the line for Ollie? I hope so

[Derek21]

Time for Ollie to walk the plank.

[Devils Dose]

Time for Ollie to walk the plank.

or go the way of Old Yeller.

[nmigliore]

I missed the entire game, but to no surprise, Perez's line was a disaster. This is probably the best thing that could have happened, assuming the Mets finally wake the fvck up and get him out of the rotation. Takahashi or R.A. Dickey are probably the best alternatives to take his spot.

Francoeur stinks, he needs to be benched. Its not really just a cold streak either... okay part of it is, but Francoeur really is just terrible at the plate.

Edited May 15, 2010 by nmigliore

[overtime98]

Francoeur stinks, he needs to be benched. Its not really just a cold streak either... okay part of it is, but Francoeur really is just terrible at the plate.

Thank you!!!

[Colorado Rockies 1976]

I missed the entire game, but to no surprise, Perez's line was a disaster. This is probably the best thing that could have happened, assuming the Mets finally wake the fvck up and get him out of the rotation. Takahashi or R.A. Dickey are probably the best alternatives to take his spot.

Francoeur stinks, he needs to be benched. Its not really just a cold streak either... okay part of it is, but Francoeur really is just terrible at the plate.

Safe to say that Perez is officially out of excuses. The guy just stinks. End of story. 29 other teams knew that when he was a free agent two years ago. The only guy who could possibly get anything out of him at this point is Dave Duncan, King of Reclamation Projects...it won't happen, but if only the Mets could trade him to St. Louis for a broken bat, a few unseamed baseballs, and agree to pay 85% of Ollie's remaining salary. ANYTHING to get him off the team.

Francouer is a little sad, because he really seems like a gamer and a terrific clubhouse guy, and fields his position well. But yeah, he's turned back into the guy that Atlanta gave up on...as in terrible at the plate.

['7']

It's time to put Francoeur on the bench. Can't hit, and that wild throw (was he trying to put it in the mezanine?) was the last straw. He can't do a damn thing out there.

I'm not quite ready to give up on Maine yet, his 3 starts before this were fine. But we needed a well pitched game tonight and he totally sh!t the bed.

[NJDevs4978]

Francoeur stinks, he needs to be benched. Its not really just a cold streak either... okay part of it is, but Francoeur really is just terrible at the plate.

Benched for who, though? We can't even get Gary Matthews Jr. off the team, our outfield depth is so bad right now. It's sad that I find myself wishing that Murphy wasn't as hideous as he was last year in the outfield (and probably traumatized by the experience), since he's out of a job at first he actually could have been an option there...oh well. Best not to go down that road again.

Edited May 16, 2010 by Hasan4978

[nmigliore]

Benched for who, though? We can't even get Gary Matthews Jr. off the team, our outfield depth is so bad right now. It's sad that I find myself wishing that Murphy wasn't as hideous as he was last year in the outfield (and probably traumatized by the experience), since he's out of a job at first he actually could have been an option there...oh well. Best not to go down that road again.

Chris Carter, at least until F-Mart is ready. I don't know if he'll be capable of holding down an everyday RF job, and defense could be another problem in itself, but hes long over-due to be given a shot after dwelling in the minors and raking AAA pitching for the past 4 years.

Maybe the Mets can catch lightning in a bottle with him, like the Pirates did with Garrett Jones.

Edited May 16, 2010 by nmigliore

['7']

I really wish we hadn't let Jon Garland slip through our fingers...

[nmigliore]

Jon Garland has had some luck on his side. He isn't going sustain an ERA under 2, 3, or even 4 for that matter. His xFIP is 4.67, which is typical Garland.

[NJDevs4978]

Chris Carter, at least until F-Mart is ready. I don't know if he'll be capable of holding down an everyday RF job, and defense could be another problem in itself, but hes long over-due to be given a shot after dwelling in the minors and raking AAA pitching for the past 4 years.

Maybe the Mets can catch lightning in a bottle with him, like the Pirates did with Garrett Jones.

From what I've heard he's a real liability in the field. I've seen us throw enough guys out in the outfield who had no business being there (Evans, Murphy, Marlon Anderson, etc) the last few years so I'd rather stick with the sure defense of Francoeur - especially in Citi - until something better comes along instead of hoping Carter hits enough to make it worth having him out there.