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Let's not minimize the decision to play Ruben Tejada every day at third base.
Then again, let's not maximize it either.
Everybody but their left uncle has had his chance to play this position this season while David Wright decides if he's going to come back and play with a pain in his lower back.
Tejada, who is about as popular to Terry Collins as 'Reek' is to Ramsey Snow, looks to be getting his final chance to impress the powers to be of the now second Mets brass.
No, Collins won't actually cut Tejada's dick off like Snow did to Theon Greyjoy (a.k.a.'Reek')... oh, you don't follow the show and never seen that scene... sorry.
No, he's going to play third base and I expect he will play it pretty damn good because this is the first time his manager sat him down and had the balls to tell him to his face that he always didn't have the confidence in both his attitude and ability. You tell someone those two things and well, you might as well just cut my cock off!
Is this working? Well, the team is 4-2 against opponents that have the talent of a Policeman's Benevolent League in Queens. Tejada is actually getting the lion share of 6-7 hits this miserable offense comes up with every day.
Can you answer me a question?
Just how in the flying hell can a team play so bad and still work there way to being a half game out of first place?
Are we sure we're not in the AL East?
33 comments:
meanwhile... Lagares....589 OPS
All the more reason the Wilpons / Alderson should have placed more emphasis on building a stronger team this year.
The Mets GM refuses to bring in talent from the outside. He simply won't do it. So the options always comes down to rummaging around in the closet.
We dither with a six-man rotation, keep a 24-year-old star in AAA, and have Montero working his way back from injury.
Ruben Tejada is not a 3B. He's a bad shortstop. Can he have a good week or two? Absolutely. I think Terry's narrative about Tejada is pure fantasy. He keeps talking about how he "challenged" Ruben three times to step up -- how he needs to step up -- and so on and so forth. The reality is: This is Ruben Tejada. He's slow, he's a solid glove, he's a weak hitter, and his energy level is poor. On the plus side for Ruben, it's conclusive that neither Campbell nor Muno are legitimate major leaguers.
Bob is right. The club is too satisfied with "competing." Sandy Alderson should get down on his knees every night and thank God for the Phillies, which have helped mask another very poor year by the GM who doesn't do enough.
James Preller
It is time to get real players. It is a miracle that this team is a half game out.
What is really wrong with this team is Harvey. Once he or a runs he can never give up a run, ever, we'll be fine.
And Matz's next start s/b as a NY Met. Niese can rest his shoulder in the bullpen.
Bob and James -
I'll have a lot to say about this next weekend.
Sadly, ALL the Mets decisions regarding trades, free agents, etc., under the administration of Sandy and Company, have been first determined based on money spent rather than talent received.
It amazes me how badly it seems that this team has played in the last week and yet, they have worked themselves back into contention for first place.
Injuries happen and the Wright re-signing has cost this team dearly. I love the guy, but all this was done based on the team being afraid of the fan base reaction if they let Wright walk.
In retrospect, the same money (or a little more) could have, say, Nelson Cruz hitting 4th behind Duda, and we would still be in first place.
Tom -
I don't think you are going to get your wish regarding Matz. The Mets just don't operate that way.
Expect the current 6-man rotation to remain through June.
In defense of the Mets, in regards to Matz: They are going to Super 2 the guy, and that's as it should be. He's also got innings-count problems, so it's unlikely he'll be pitching in September . . . anywhere.
That said, come end of this month, where do you want those innings pitched?
The Mets have positional strength at pitching -- thanks to Omar, largely -- but Alderson has refused to use that to address areas of weakness.
As if hitting and fielding don't matter.
Personally, I don't think he's done such a great job with the farm system. It's mediocre. Remove the guys he's inherited, or traded for (using Omar's chips), and it's a solid, unspectacular system.
I don't know what happened to my comment sent earlier, but let's try again.
@James Preller Since 2013 Ruben Tejada has hit a whopping .223 and for his entire 1628 big league career has just 8 HRs, 128 RBIs and 14 SBs. If you want to write off Eric Campbell (who incidentally hit .237 to Tejada’s .223) over the same period, fine. But Danny Muno has gotten a whopping 14 ABs and then the typical Terry Collins treatment of young players — “Sit on the bench, young man. We’d rather trot out known mediocrity than give a shot to anyone new unless injuries force our hand!”
By the way, he misplayed Dee Gordon's bunt on Friday by playing back WAY too far for a known bunter/speedster that resulted in a game-turning hit. Let's not make him the second coming of Ozzie Smith or Brooks Robinson.
James -
There's a lot of truth in what you say abut the Mets farm system, minus Alderson's trades. It simply hasn't been a stellar group of players picked in the draft.
In the top 5 rounds:
2014 - only Michael Conforto (1st round) and Eudor Garcia (4th round) have stood out as good draft picks.
2013 - Andrew Church (2nd round) Jared King (5th round), and Ivan Wilson (3rd round) look right now as bad picks. Dominic Smith (1st round) and Casey Meisner (3rd round) show promise, but it's still to early to evaluate
2012 - Kevin Plawecki was a good pick. Gavin Cecchini looks better every day but it's still too early to determine if he has what it takes to be successful at the major league level. Drafting someone in the 2nd round (Teddy Stankiewicz) and not signing him is criminal... Matt Reynolds (2nd round) looks to be, at best, a utility infielder... and Matt Koch (3rd round) Brenden Kaupe (4th round), and Brendon Welsh (5th round) look to be a stretch.
2011 - Brandon Nimmo (1st round) and Michael Fulmer (1st round) can't keep healthy enough... Cory Mazzoni (2nd round), Logan Verrett (3rd round) and Tyler Pill (4th round) have proved to be bad picks... Jack Leathersich (5th round) may be the only player other than Plawecki to be a great pick
Reese -
I'm sorry your comment went somewhere into space. For reasons I can't determine, this happens sometimes.
Regarding the bunt dropped on Tejada, I fault the Mets coaches for not aligning him for, as you said, a 'speedster'. I played third and I would have known I should have been 'on the grass line' for that batter. Tejada just doesn't have that experience though... I'm sure he's going to remember it now.
Mack
I look forward to your weekend article(s).
Unfortunately it seems that the majority of decisions that others, along with myself, have worried about the Wilpons/Alderson making are proving to be legitimate concerns.
1) misdirection/half-truths/lies have a tendency to turn fans off and
reduce their trust in the future.
2) half efforts with "appeasement players" when it came to free agency such
as Granderson and others that were less expensive than potential
difference makers. Production here has been hurtful and filled roster
spots that could have been filled with potentially better alternatives
through promotion/trade/or free agency
3) Not taking advantage of weakened opposition in the NL East and with the
cross-town Yankees over the past couple of years to increase their fan-
base
4) Waiting too long to surround Wright with a strong line-up
5) over-reliance on waiting for the future.
6) avoiding the top tier of the international market
7) over-reliance on pitching
8) turning off other general managers by Alderson's philosophy/approach in
the trade market
9) Fences? at least the first failed attempt to address this issue should
not be up for debate.
I'm sure there is a host of others.
@James Preller
In reference to Matz's Inning's Limit...
Its worth noting that the Mets are quietly limiting him in anticipation of pitching in September. After throwing 85+ pitches in his 1st 8 starts.
05/26/2015: Taken out after 7 IP, 0 ER with only 77 pitches thrown.
05/31/2015: Taken out after 5 IP, 1 ER with only 79 pitches thrown.
They are beginning to throttle his pitch count down.
Bob -
I do understand your fan frustration. I really do. And, I'm not defending the team's position, especially about the lack of building a decent offense (writing about it this weekend).
It's almost torture for me to watch, listen to, or follow online, this team every night leave runners in scoring position.
And I don't have a solution for it because there is no one in the system ready to step up and hit .400 with 20 at bats every month (tip of the hat to Reese)
I've said this a number of times...
THIS IS YOUR 2015 NEW YORK METS
They are far from perfect but they are also a half of a game out of first place.
Buy the bats and build the Arms!!! the arms have been built they are there> its time to spend and buy some bats? Go get a 3rd baseman or an OF who can hit
@Anonymous
That's easy to say....unfortunately as much as Sandy may or may not want to make a trade, no one is selling.....yet.
Towards the end of June is where we will begin hearing about who's going into sell mode.
Also writing about the trade market this weekend
Christopher, yes, I noticed that on Matz, but I don't think the math works.
He threw 140 IP last year. The conventional, safe thinking is that he's good for a 30-35 IP jump this season.
This year, he's thrown 68 IP in 10 starts. It's June 1. I see him running out of bullets in September, and likely not at a point where you'd want him pitching high-leverage games in the majors. I don't think there's room for him now with the Mets, and by the time there is room, there won't be much point. I don't realistically see him making a contribution this year.
I do think he should start the 2016 season in the 5-man rotation in NY.
James Preller
@Anonymous
Matz actually threw an additional 12 IP during the playoffs and is scheduled to be limited to around 180-185 IP this season.
If the team continues limiting him to 5-6 IP starts over the next 5 starts. He should hit Queens with enough left in the tank to get him through September (If the club continues to use a 6 man rotation)
James, slight tweak on Matz...with playoffs, he tossed 153 innings last year. I'd figure a 185-190 inning cap. Perhaps higher if he keeps pitch cou ts per inni g low,
Chris and I were on the same wavelength on our last posts! To the poi t of fewer pitches, he is down from 1.19 WHIP in 2014 to 1.05 so far in 2015, so presumably his pitch count is a little lower just due to that.
It is amazing to me that a guy like Justin Bour had good but not great minor league career #s, comes up and hits like an All Star. We have guys hit better than him in minors and totally flop when called up. Is it NY PRESSURE?
Im still sticking to build the arms and buy the bats!!! Patient is the approach, teams will be looking for future pieces to trade of hitters and vice versa! just be patient,stay in the race then make your trades. Toronto Colorado Boston Milwaukee are all teams I'd be looking at
Tom -
It's interesting that you bring up NY pressure.
There are many cities where major league baseball is played that has 4-5 beat reporters total lurking in the clubhouse before and after each game.
Some have more NY beat guys crossing over to ask questions than their own home town has.
And then there is NY where 25-30 guys can surround a player after a game and take apart every part of his game and what just happened on the field.
And then there are the classic beat reporters... and I've seen this first hand a number of times... they go and ask a player 8-10 what seem like innocent professional questions, with a smile on their face, and then the next day the newspapers are placed out in the clubhouse and the player picks up the story only to read that the same reporter tore him a new a-hole in the story.
THAT'S why most players want nothing to do with the beat reporters. They really are a bunch of 5'4" insects that don't have the guts to look a player in the face and tell then what they plan of writing about them that night.
There's LOTs of pressure Tom, but there also is a tremendous amount of dislike doing your professional job in cities like NYC, Philly, etc.
Anonymous -
I like your approach.
I'm writing about most of the teams you mentioned (plus a few more) this weekend and some key players that could come available.
It is getting better though it does seem like it's inch by inch sometimes.
It just pisses me off so much that Wright and d'Arnaud went down. I REALLY think the team might have had enough to draw away from most of their competition.
No confidence that the Mets will do what is needed to obtain the "key players " you mention.
There is always some excuse and Sandy refuses to part with his chips.
Unfortunately the getting better inch by inch is not helping when steps backward are taken such as injuries this year to Wheeler, Wright, D'Arnaud etc....
Yes injuries can not definitely be predicted
But....
Wright and D'Arnaud's importance to the offense was predictable and it was predictable that at least one of Wright and D'Arnaud would spend some extended time on the DL.
It was predictable that a better offensive acquisition was needed than Cuddyer at least.
Well, the young guys will get out of PRESSURE-filled NY. Take advantage of being out of spotlight, do what you've trains all your life to do. Hit. Reading papers gets them nowhere. See ball, hit ball, run, enjoy. Easy for me to say...was in bowling league years ago...10th frame. Tight game...PRESSURE is there. Affects you.
Bob -
I love you... I really do... but you're a one trick pony
Tom -
Most ballplayers would rather be paid $15mil in a smaller venue than the pressure cooker of NYC
Harvey is the exception. He eats it up.
But baseball will pay you the same money regardless where you play so why put yourself in a position to take all this shit?
Add to this the lack of financial support by the ownership and you can figure out on your own what their agents tell them to go
I agree.
Unfortunately it's true
Over and over and over and over..........
I'm sick of having reason to say/think these things
Tom & Mack, while I agree there's pressure in NY, I'm not really seeing any strong examples of guys who have been effected by it. Sure, some lousy players have compiled fake numbers in Vegas, but nobody could have ever reasonably thought that, say, Eric Campbell was ever going to be anything.
From what I've seen, the players reach their true level. Duda is Duda, Harvey, deGrom, Tejada, etc. I can't think of one guy who was adversely effected by NY. Now you could make a case for Cuddyer, but that could be more about "the contract" than "the town."
Could be the NEW YORK actually energizes and focuses some guys. They like the bright lights.
James Preller
James -
Well... I could start with Bay...
...and I could add Duda to the Pressure Train. He really struggled when he first came up. It took him a long time to be what he is now. Pressure can affect in many ways. With him, it was being tentative to a fault.
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