Joe D | Metsmerized Online- Michael Cuddyer exited Tuesday’s game against the Cubs in the seventh inning with a sore left knee, the team reported. He was replaced in left field by fourth outfielder Darrell Ceciliani and was 0-for-2 before departing. “It had progressively gotten tighter to the point where I had to say something,” Cuddyer said. He will undergo an MRI on Wednesday after which the Mets will decide if he needs to go on the DL. “I’m definitely concerned, but honestly, I don’t jump to conclusions until after we see that MRI,” Cuddyer said. “Then we’ll deal with whatever it is.”
(Chris Soto: This is not good...as if the Mets weren't already hamstrung offensively, potentially losing Cuddyer knocks another middle of the order bat out of the line-up. If Cuddyer's MRI comes back and shows something significant, it may be the last push Sandy needs to go out and force an overpay trade. There has been a lot of grumblings about the Mets making a run for Athletics OF Josh Reddick who is having a career season thanks to a vastly improved K rate and a new "all fields" approach.)
Mike Puma | New York Post- Jenrry Mejia is throwing heat, but hasn’t completed his time for the crime. The Mets reliever has impressed team brass with his raw stuff in the minors and appears ready to rejoin the major league club, according to manager Terry Collins, but his 80-game PED suspension isn’t scheduled to end until Tuesday.“He’s ready to go, ready to pitch here and he’s going to go out a couple of more times and then he’s going to come back,” Collins said before the Mets lost 1-0 to the Cubs at Citi Field. Collins said Mejia’s fastball has been in the 94-96 mph range, and his breaking ball has progressed. The plan calls for Mejia to assume a setup role, with Jeurys Familia remaining the closer.
(Chris Soto: Say what you want about Mejia and the PEDs, but he is going to be a sight for sore eyes when it comes to the 8th inning. Based on his performances so far, Mejia should be a massive boost in production over what the club has been getting from the mixture of the Torres brothers. If the Mets ever learn how to get to the 8th inning with a lead, at least fans can now feel comfortable handing it over to Mejia as the bridge to Familia.)
David Lennon | Newsday- Jon Niese, for as well as he's pitched lately, isn't Steven Matz. Nor is he Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard or Jacob deGrom. And therein lies the problem. Anyone who talks to the Mets these days first asks about the Big Four and that's a non-starter in trade conversations. The young guns have been untouchable for a while now. The Mets probably need to stay in a six-man rotation until the end of July to bank some innings for a few of their starters. Eventually, trading Niese -- if he continues to pitch well -- could return a helpful bat if he's packaged with another piece.
(Chris Soto: Not in a rush....nor should he be....Sandy should not trade Niese, just to dump the salary or open a rotation spot. He has some real value to interested teams looking for a consistent mid rotation arm. Sure he's not the sexiest pitcher out there, but over his past 6 years he's been unbelievably consistent. Below are his xFIPs during his six year career with the club. xFIP takes into account a pitcher's performance minus defensive values added/shortcomings AND takes into account a normalize HR rate which has bit Niese in the butt this season.
2010: 3.80
2011: 3.28
2012: 3.64
2013: 3.84
2014: 3.63
2015: 3.85
I'm not sure how much more consistent you can get than that. He's averaged a value in the +2.0 WAR area every season as well. Based on this information as well as his age and contract situation, I'm going put together a post to evaluate each team's pitching situation and lay down some reasonable trades in my opinion.)
Do not sell Niese cheap. He is clearly a good pitcher. If on Toronto,he'd be 8-3. Not 3-8. If he pitched all his games against the Mets, he might be undefeated. Plus I was thinking Gee could be 2015's Dice K (#6 starter/pen guy) for this team if Niese gets traded. But Gee is beyond awful lately, So that is an unlikely future option.
ReplyDeleteI agree with James now - if Cuddyer goes on DL, call up Conforto. What to lose?
The offense is so unbelievably bad, I'm afraid it will start to put the pitcher's at risk of injury as they try too hard to be perfect (example : over throwing)
ReplyDeleteThe offense needs more than just 1 bat.
Carlos Gomez & Ryan Braun could go a long way in helping the offense. Gomez can provide as a better leadoff hitter. Braun, of course, provides in the middle of the order allowing others to fill spots they are more suited for.
Last night was painful, especially the line drive that Cuddyer seemed to pull up on that scored the one run in the game. I assume that was the play that caused him to tell TC that he was hurt, but it sure looked like he just was either too slow to get to the ball or misjudged its trajectory.
ReplyDeleteBob -
ReplyDeleteESPN had the number of one run games the Mets have lost this season (I forgot to write it down) and I got sick when I heard the number.
I don't see losing Cuddyer as a problem. I see it as an opportunity, an opened door, for someone (Comforto?) to come in and do something to help this team win. I've watched enough of Cuddyer to pretty much surmise he's washed up. And, as a good buddy of mine said, when he made excuses about that embarrassing error instead of owning up to it he should have been benched. I tend to agree.
ReplyDelete@Tom
ReplyDeleteIn regards to Conforto...lets look at his performance more closely....
Here are his advanced metrics between A+ ball and AA Ball
K% rate: A+ (12.6%), AA (21.4%)
BB% rate: A+ (8.3%), AA (13.2%)
ISO power: A+ (.179), AA (.210)
The K rate increase is a bit concerning especially since it's a consistent bad trend. He's K in 80% of his AA games so far. However, overall, he's been crushing AA pitching just as much as he did in Port St. Lucie.
The quality in the Eastern League is probably on par with the quality of pitching in the Pacific Coast League so Conforto probably wouldn't gain much by going there.
I say bring him up!
Mack, if I'm not mistaken Gary Cohen said they've lost 1-0 four times this year!
ReplyDeleteTwo things;
ReplyDelete1) Bring up Conforto.
2) I never believed in the "5 Aces" concept, not at the sacrifice of offense and defense. A well-constructed team would not be see off-balance. That said, I don't think the time to trade Syndergaard is mid-season. This winter, Sandy has to change the team, bring in talent, and the only way to do that is to trade one of the young arms. Besides, in a year, maybe there's Fulmer. Or maybe folks begin to realize that Jon Niese makes one hell of a #5 pitcher.
James Preller
I also vote for Cuddyer.
ReplyDeleteThere really is no one else in the organization that could fill this role without a trade.
He couldn't possibly hit as bad as some of these guys are hitting.
I think the Cuddyer injury might be a blessing in disguise? Maybe it's time to put Cecillianni at the top of the batting order, and stop being stubborn at whoever is making this lineup. Murphys value last year was at the 2 spot and follow it up with
ReplyDeleteDuda
Flores
Granderson
Lagares
Monell/ Plawecki
tejada
Until we trade for Braun and Segura
A Herrera, Fulmer, Plawecki and Nimmo deal plus take back all the $$$$ owed to Braun should do it? I would like Gomez as well but that might be a stretch?
First, let's give credit when credit is due.
ReplyDeleteJon Niese pitched an excellent game and, hopefully, the guys in the Cubs sky box took notice. No one ever said he didn't make a wonderful SP 4/5.
Grandy has carried the team offensively on his shoulder lately and it was nice to see the double out of Murphy, but the true failures with a bat in their hands have been the guys everyone expected more out of... Cuddyer, Lagares, Duda, Flores... I could go on.
Do any of you actually believe any team would want to trade for any of these guys?
Right now, this team has four great young starters and an all-star closer. That will keep the team in most of the games played this year. They HAVE to win the next two games against the Cubs because the schedule just keeps getting uglier.
I like Cuddyer as the Mets #4 outfielder. He's actually the bat they are looking for, but in the wrong role.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Ceciliani is a true major leaguer, frankly. But that is what this organization does. Muno, Campbell, Kirkkk, Satin, etc.
I am okay with Ceciliani on the bench for now -- at least he can run and catch -- but I do not harbor high hopes if he's exposed to regular playing time.
He's not the answer.
James Preller
Happy Bobby Bonilla Day everyone !!!!!!
ReplyDelete@Ernest
ReplyDeleteForget Bonilla....Happy Santana pay Day!
Starting this season the Mets will be paying him $5M per year until 2020 as part of the deferrals in his contract.