Mike Puma | New York Post- Curtis Granderson may have cemented his place as a true New Yorker. The veteran outfielder over the weekend joined the short list of players who have helped two New York teams reach the postseason, as the Mets clinched their first division title since 2006 and await the NLDS. “Both of them are equally exciting,” Granderson said. “Getting a chance to win [with the Mets] over the course of the season and see the fan base come on the road and support you is very similar. You play in a game in San Francisco, obviously it’s an attractive place to go, but if I’m a fan I’ll just watch it on TV. If I’m a real fan, I’m going to come and see you, and I’ve noticed that on both sides.”
(Chris Soto: Granderson has been wonderful this season. After all the negativity that fans had about him last season when he only OPS'd .714, despite hitting 20 HRs, it was nice to see a very strong sophomore season from him. If your a subscriber to the believe that in terms of WAR, each +1.0 = $4M of salary....Granderson is making $16M this season, which is supposed to be worth +4.0 WAR, and his production this season has been worth +4.9 WAR. He's been exactly what the Mets where looking for when they signed him last season.)
David Cameron | Fangraphs- For the first time all season, the team threw Steven Matz, Noah Syndergaard, Matt Harvey, and Jacob deGrom in consecutive games, previewing their playoff rotation. As a group, their fastballs averaged 96 mph this weekend, which is probably part of the reason why the Reds made contact on just 78% of their swings despite the fact that their starters lived in the strike zone all weekend. 53.6% of the pitches that the Mets fearsome four threw were within the bounds of the PITCHF/x strike zone, the kind of strike-throwing number you generally see from command pitchers who lack the stuff to get a lot of chases out of the zone. But that doesn’t describe any of the Mets four starters, all of whom were throwing hard and with movement. And when you constantly pound the zone with an elite pitch repertoire, well, you apparently end up running a 1.03 FIP.
(Chris Soto: Multiple players and media members have been coming out lately all the saying the same thing. "If there's something I wouldn't want to face....it's the Mets rotation." While most teams have a legitimate front 2 that they can lean on in a 5 game series, the Mets have a full 4 man rotation that can dominate every single night of a full 7 game series. No hitter wants to face that, especially a Dodgers team that has been one of the bottom 4 offenses post the All Star Break.)
Nick Schwartz | For The Win- Closer Jonathan Papelbon might be the least popular man in Washington D.C. after choking Bryce Harper in the dugout during Sunday’s game against the Phillies, and many fans want him off the team. Papelbon’s outburst put the organization in an incredibly difficult situation. If they release him, the Nationals will have to eat a sizable contract — but that might be a better option than keeping a player who appears to have poisoned the clubhouse. Nationals fans started a Twitter campaign to have Papelbon cut on Monday. @NLBeastNats tweeted the team saying he would donate $100 if Papelbon was released, and within an hour fans had pledged thousands of dollars.
(Chris Soto: Hahaha...it is so wonderful to see the script flip. We have seen many different opinions on this subject come out yesterday but the only important opinion is the FANS! To be expected, the fans are sided with the MVP of their team and not the guy who has been a symbol for why the Nationals fell apart in the second half of the season. For so long the LOLMets were the team that analysts chuckled about for all the oddities and crazy things that would happen to the team. Now the LOLMets has turned into the LOLNats.)
Michael Baron | Just Mets- A couple of injured relievers have made progress on their road back to action. Dario Alvarez pitched in an Instructional League game at the team’s minor league complex in Port St. Lucie on Monday, throwing an inning with two strikeouts. Alvarez strained his groin on September 15, and has not pitched since. Last week, Terry Collins said it was unlikely Alvarez would return in the regular season. In addition, Rafael Montero seems to be progressing once again from a rotator cuff strain which has kept him out of action since he made a spot start for the Mets in late April against the Marlins. Montero also appeared in an Instructional League game and struck out four batters
(Chris Soto: A nice general update on a pair of guys that could become MLB contributors next season. If both can prove to be healthy, we could certainly see them in the Caribbean Winter Leagues to make up for the time they have lost to injury. Once again, we will be covering all of the Mets organizational players participating in those Winter Leagues. Whether its the Dominican, Venezuelan, Mexican, Puerto Rican, or Arizona League.....if a Met is playing....we'll find him! )
8 comments:
Granderson has been wonderful. Many critiqued his use in the lead off spot. But be has scored 96 runs. With the hitless Mets of May, June, and July, that is tremendous. Hope he cracks 100.
Dario Alvarez on post season roster? He lost a lot of audition time with his I'll-timed injury.
Let's hope Montero is recuperate and ready for a 100% healthy 2016.
We don't need Alverez because we're already lucky enough to have O'Flaherty as the LOOGY ;)
Grandy has been a Godsend this year. Things kinda fell apart for Lagares in many areas, including as aleadoff guy.
And Nimmo unfortunately keeps getting hit by the yearly injury bug so he most likely needs all of 2016 in vegas just to see what mets really have in him.
I didn't love Granderson at leadoff. And when the offense was inept, I hated all those solo HRs going to waste.
But at this point, I'd have to say that putting him at leadoff at the beginning of the year was one of the keys to the season. I give TC a lot of credit for that. Curtis has thrived and in doing so filled an essential role for any team: that top of the order guy who gets on base.
I liked the signing from the beginning, because at that point my attitude was: Hey, we need actual baseball players. I thought he'd be good for 2-3 years and that year 4 might be tough, but that's how free agency works.
If he can get hot in the playoffs, it will be enough to make the entire signing worthwhile. He's been great this year.
James Preller
It mazes me how far the Nats have fallen this year. They easily had the best team on paper before the season started.
And look what has happened in Texas with those two teams.
Never count out anyone if you have 162 games to play.
Mack, the other day you linked to a Fangraphs "study" on the minor league farm systems which basically placed the Mets somewhere in the middle. 15-20th or so.
I realize that the club has traded away talent this deadline, particularly Fulmer. But still, it's not exactly a ringing endorsement of the job SA & company have done. They've gotten a lot of credit for rebuilding the farm system. At this point, it's fair to say that this is their system, filled with their guys.
And it's okay.
Or do you take issue with the ranking overall?
Thoughts?
James Preller
Hey James I'll jump in on this if I may.
Im ok with the silly rankings because.....think about it......how many organizations can promote. ....in the same year..... dilson herrera, Plawecki, syndergaard, matz, conforto, Robles, etc and STILL have a highly ranked system?
I think its also my understanding that rankings usually buy low on all young low level prospects.... lets see what happens by next all star break when guys like dom smith and rosario have reached aa level, and all those low A studs play a half season into games at lucie level.
James -
I found the ranking surprisingly low. The Mets minor league affiliates have been on the top of their division for the past two years.
Ernest may have a good point though.
Ernest, good point. Matz & Robbles were Omar guys, sort of the end of the trail there, and SA -- to his credit -- traded for Noah and Dilson. Not drafted and developed.
Conforto looks awesome, a great pick.
Plawecki may be another Vance Wilson. Not at all convinced he's more than that.
I do have hopes for Rosario & Smith, but my overall take is that it's light on talent. Other organizations seem to have done much better.
Sandy inherited Matz, Harvey, Familia, etc, and everyone pronounced it a wasteland. If Sandy left today, would the new GM be inheriting a minor league system that wasn't any better, talent-wise?
The good news is that the ML rotation is set, so there's time to try to fix this.
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