Mack’s Morning Report - 2-9-16 – April Schedule, #1 Exciting Team, Mets/Nats, 2016 Phillies

Good morning.

Mike Delcos takes a close look at the Mets early 2016 schedule –

I’ll bitch about this later, but the first game of the season shouldn’t be interleague. However, if it is going to be that way, then why not make the first series be against the World Series opponents? I mean, if MLB is hell bent on interleague play, then this should be a new Opening Day tradition. It won’t be because the schedule is released before the end of the World Series.

OK, there are two games against the Royals on the road, followed by three-game series at home against the Phillies and Marlins.

That’s followed by three games at Cleveland – the Indians have one of the best rotations in the sport – and three more against at Philly and Atlanta.

The Mets end April with three games with Cincinnati and two with the Giants, who also have one of the game’s best rotations.

Mack – Delcos says this is bad news, but, for the hell of it, let’s look a little deeper:

Kansas City – 2 games – 95-67  –     2 game total -   190 - 134

Philadelphia – 6 games – 63-99  -    6 game total  -  378  - 594

Miami – 3 games  -  71-91                3 game total  -  213  -  273

Cleveland – 3 games – 81-80    –  3 game total –     243  -  240

Atlanta -3 games  -  67-95    -      3 game total  -     201 - 285

Cincy – 3 games  -  64-98   -         3 game total  -     192  -  294

S F  -  2 games       84-78  -          2 game total  -     168  -  156  

                                                Total 21 games – 1585 - 1976

                  Well, I don’t know about you, but the April schedule looks just fine with me, especially since there are three days off between the two Kansas City games, which could lead to all kinds of piggy-back situations coming out of out clubhouse.

 The Bleacher Report ranks the Mets as the number one ‘exciting team to watch’ in 2016 –

According to Andrew Simon of MLB.com, the Mets led baseball with 5,346 pitches of 95 mph or more in 2015. Here's a bit of context to explain just how ridiculous that figure is, per Simon: "That's nearly 1,000 more pitches than the second-place [Cleveland] Indians (4,455) and more than double the totals of 14 teams."

When it comes to the starters, Matt Harvey, Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom deserve much of the credit for that impressive feat.

Meanwhile, from the bullpen, Jeurys Familia is the guy who brings the heat. Per the calculations of MLB.com, Familia's sinker averaged 97.32 mph, which explains how he punched out 86 batters in 78 frames.

Mack – These numbers are incredible, but the most incredible is a 97.32 MPH sinker. I said sinker, not fastball. Can you imagine trying to hit this?

And pundits say Familia is going to regress. Well, not if he continues to throw a 97.32 sinker.

The Dude of NY: I forget: do you think the Mets or Nationals have the upper hand in 2016?

Jeff Sullivan: I think the Mets have a slight edge, but I think the two teams are closer than they’re perceived to be. I like the Mets’ depth at the moment, but then I also think the Nationals are more likely to go out and get better, like, say, behind the plate

                            Mack – I agree with Jeff.

                  The Nationals are not afraid of either making a change or spending additional money to improve their position. I also think they will be under a tremendous amount of local press/fan pressure to win the division and not repeat what happened in 2015.

                  It would surprise me if they played the 2016 season with Spencer Kleboom, Jose Lobaton, Wilson Ramos, and Pedro Severino behind the plate.

Paul Swydan Paul Swydan on the 2016 Phillies –

It’s highly unlikely that the Phillies will be a good team in 2016. But they have a solid mix of players who should make for an entertaining brand of baseball, and the franchise has done a great deal to turn things around in the last year. They have very few old and fading veterans, a healthy dose of players who are not only exciting, but as Corinne Landrey recently pointed out, are excited for each other. They even have an interesting reclamation project in Peter Bourjos. It won’t all be wine and roses — let’s not speak of the bullpen — but it is the type of team that you can dream on, and that’s exciting.

          

            Mack – An interesting article.

Yes, I agree that Philadelphia will not compete in 2016. And I also agree that they will have a lot of young players. But that doesn’t mean they have the right young players.

It simply will take time… maybe the 2016 season… to see if they can compete the following year.