Good
morning.
There
was a time that, once shortstop Jose Reyes left
the confined of the Mets clubhouse that there was only one home grown star Mets
fans could hang their hopes on for a successful season… David Wright.
Now,
putting aside injuries, we are watching the development of relievers like Rafael Montero, Jeurys Familia,
and Bobby Parnell, who will join the home grown
starters of Matt Harvey, (eventually) Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom,
Noah Syndergaard, and Steven
Matz.
But
it’s the other side of the table that’s starting to develop too. Lucas Duda, Travis d’Arnaud have
joined last year’s development, Juan Lagares,
and, with, Wright, we now have four home grown every day players in our eight
man lineup.
You
are watching the maturation of this talent right before your eyes during these
first few games of the 2015 season.
We’ve
talked so many times about how much of this game is mental. It’s also about
confidence. At no point while the Mets trailed any of the last seven games were
the players walking around ready to throw in the towel. They knoew they had the
ability to come back and win and they did.
Thursday
night can easily become the game we all look back at in October as the one game
that solidified this team. The Mets simply were not going to lose it.
Especially Lucas Duda.
The
team’s not perfect. They still need a long term shortstop, a quality fifth
starter, and two star potential outfielders, but, for the first 10 games, it’s
far more than I expected.
20 comments:
Hmmmm so let me get this straight:
Wheeler, Parnell. Edgin and Black haven't pitched an inning.
Mejia is suspended.
Grandy and Murphy are barely hitting.
Kirk......does he even have a hit this year?
Gee has had two consecutive poor starts.
The Mets have given up an early lead in like the past 4 games or something.
And this team is 9-3 !!!!!!!!!
Good enough to be 9-3, and should have Wright and others joining over the next few weeks and months. Let's keep rolling.
Cautiously optimistic so far and the pitchers have been great. With the exception of Gee, they have been as advertised and Colon looks to be better than last year.
I tell you what, it's early but if Colon keeps this up, I'd try to sign him for next year too. He's been that good.
Flores is coming alive a little bit and boy does he have some power. Once he truly settles in I think the Mets will never regret handing him SS.
Also, I'm a little worried that Thor has pitched so poorly so far. We know last year he worried too much about a call up and pitched bad because of it. I hope he's not doing that again. I hope he's not hurt either. I don't think his makeup will play in the big city and i hope I'm dead wrong. He just doesn't seem able to block out the pressure of living up to the hype. We'll see...
Thor isn't healthy, from the looks of his Spring and his start in Vegas. I hope I am wrong, but if you connect the dots (declining performance since last year, whispers of a sore arm and Sandy holding on to our excess of starters) you wonder if he is about to join Wheeler in the TJS club.
IF that is so......and I hope it isn't......get him fixed so he can get back at some point in 2016.
Mike
Woulda-coulda-should dept:
I was never a Grandy fan. Wanted to re-sign Byrd, but he wanted 2-yrs and CY signed for one--OK, maybe lightning in a bottle repeated...I thought. THEN they signed Grandy for 4! (ouch... I thought)
Then I wanted den Dekker in RF much of the time (batting LO...I hoped) but, OK, too much $$$ for the bench... I understand.
Now Blevins for dD was a great deal, but I wonder if it was not Kirk because of Wash or Sandy?
Alternative universes are great.
Mike, that's my sense of Thor too.
Regarding the Mets not being perfect, oh well, what team out there is perfect?
SA deserves a lot of credit, but I keep looking at Omar's guys on the field: deGrom, Harvey, Duda, Murphy, Lagares, Familia, Flores . . .
The false narrative has been that SA arrived and the cupboard was bare, the system in disarray. Obviously, not true.
JP
I'm going to hold my thoughts on the Mets overall until the end of April.
Yes, I would love to tweek a little but it still is early.
As for Syndergaard, I hate to sound negative, but tell me when he has been dominant.
I would at least DL him and rest the arm. It is only minor league baseball and, if the scouts are right and he does have the talent to someday dominate in this game, give him all the time necessary.
I don't think there is anything wrong with Thor in regards to health. Yesterday he was throwing as hard as he's ever thrown. 98 and 99 with the fastball all night. Actually only 4 innings. That is when he reached his pitch limit of 85 for his second start. His issue was control. He walked 5. I would like to see him drop a couple of MPH on his fastball if that would bring him more command. He still has work to do. 1000s of pitchers have gotten arm fatigue during spring training and never needed tjs. His MRI was good and now he looks 100%. He has good mechanics with a clean and easy follow through. Can he still end up a tj victim.? Yes. No one is able to predict them or MLB would pay you millions.
More on Thor...
I go back to Ernest's original comment on this post. There are a lot of 'unperfect' things going on with the Mets and yet they have the best record in the National League (league?).
Right now, the "Fab Five" rotation hasn't worked out..
Two have... Harvey and deGrom are all-stars.
There are two issues here... what do we do the rest of this year and what do we do next year. It's safe to assume that Wheeler will be back, at 100% at, conservatively, the 2016 all-start break.
Jon Niese looks like a key piece to start rallying around. He's easily our SP4 this year.
I do expect a change to be made this season regarding Dillon Gee. I think Montero will get his shot here which could put him in the rotation for years to come.
I have no idea what to do with Gee. Parnell and Black will be back in the pen and there is no room for him there. Send him to AAA to be the emergency SP5 a plane ride away if needed.
Take the ball out of Thor's hand and rest him for 2-3 weeks. Slow down his maturity date to next year's ST. Maybe he'll surprise us and be ready for this year's playoffs.
All this makes for Steven Matz to be the next starter to target. Again, when? What if Montero is installed as the SP5, there is no injuries, and the Mets keep winning?
Richard -
He had 53 pitches in the FIRST INNING.
Studs don't do this.
wow, the abandonment of Thor after two stars seems to be extremely premature. When was he dominant? How about every stop in the minors before reaching the pitching hell hole of Las Vegas at age 21 and even in that year, he finished extremely strong. There once was a 25 year old guy who had the exact same ERA and WHIP in time split between AA and Vegas, but he went on to win the ROTY the very next year. deGrom got hit hard when he was in Vegas and Matz walked 5 guys in 5 innings his last start.
I think expectations need to be tempered when talking about two starts for a 22 year old prospect pitching in Vegas. Was he dominant last year in Vegas or this spring? no, he was not. does that mean he isn't going to reach his potential at the major league level? I think Jacob deGrom would say no. I also don't think rest is the answer either; he just came off of four months off from pitching and it didn't cure whatever ails him and if he does have ligament issues, its gonna blow sooner or later, so why delay the inevitable, if it is even inevitable.
The Fab Five has been delayed by two TJS and two 22/23 year old prospects making their way through AAA in the worst pitching environment in all of professional baseball. Thor struggled to start off last year, but in the second half, he was perfectly fine, so how about we give the guy more than 8 innings pitched before hitting the panic button? Neither Harvey, Wheeler or deGrom met the sort of expectations in AAA that people are placing on Thor at a younger age. Is it possible that it is not Thor, but rather a set of unreasonable expectations?
Mack-Studs have never had a clunker before? You cannot define a pitcher, for better or worse, based on one start
Anon Joe F
53 pitches in the First Inning shows there's an issue. It doesn't mean that it is a TJ issue. I'm sure Nolan Ryan and Sandy Koufax had 53 first inning pitch counts early in their careers when they struggled with control.
My post wasn't NOT saying bring him up and push Harvey, deGrom, and Colon back a spot in the rotation. It was saying I don't think he is on the eve of TJS because he had a sore arm at the end of Spring training.
He only gave up 2 hits last night. His stuff was studly. He just couldn't put it were it needed to be. Look at what Vegas did with the bats. The Vegas air was in full effect. Thor needs to learn what deGrom did in Vegas. The same a realistate. Location, location, and location.
Richard, I'm not asking for the Mets to take the knife to Thor either.
Just rest him for 2-3 starts and deal with the soreness before you move on to the wildness.
Mack
What was your source for the 53 1st inning pitch count.
Syndergaard was on an 85 pitch count. Wally removed him at 82. If that 53 is correct that means he pitched the next 2 and 2/3 with jut 29 pitches. I listened to the game and I don't think that could be possible. I know he walked a couple in the 1st and struck out a couple also but he didn't allow any runs. He pitched to 5 batters in the 1st. I can't see how that would be 53 pitched. Maybe 33. I can't find anything on line with inning pitch count break downs but I did listen to the game and it doesn't make sense.
The Mets have no reason not to rest him if that is what he needs. They have plenty of depth in AAA. I trust the Mets in this regard. They are not going to risk Thor by having him pitch if he needs rest. They are much closer and know Thor more than I do.They pay doctors a lot of money to monitor their pitchers. Can they make mistakes? yes. I think they would error on the safe side.
Richard -
I followed game on MLB-com and they had the count at 53 after one inning.
Unless I read it wrong.
According to Joe F, I have the whole Thor issue wrong.
I'm just not a Syndergaard fan.
Fine... I'm moving on here...
Dillon Gee has has two starts. Not as bad (to my eyes) as the numbers indicate. Now Montero is on track to start within two more turns through the rotation. That will give Gee 4 starts before a decision has to be made.
Thing is, I don't think Montero has made a strong case this year to be granted starter status. If Gee steps it up a notch, I think he should remain in place for the time being. If he stumbles badly, you make the move. I'm rooting for him to pitch relatively well for an SP5.
I don't have confidence that Montero is in fact the better option at this moment in time.
Mets are up 7-1. With Harvey pitching 8 in a row is looking pretty good.
The magic number will be down to 147.
Anonymous -
Montero has never been at his best when used as a reliever. Do you remember how he pitched late last year in his last couple of starts? The man is a starter - pure and simple. Used as a reliever, he doesn't have time for whatever his usual warmup routine is. You put him in the rotation and let him pitch a couple of games, he'll prove himself.
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