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2/9/16

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.

7 comments:

  1. Easy April shaping up - I'd like to see 15-7 or better.

    Mets will be #1 exciting - so let's get close to 3.5 million in attendance and keep our starters with the extra cash.

    "the Mets led baseball with 5,346 pitches of 95 mph or more in 2015." And that was without Matz and Thor for much of the season, and without Wheeler for all of it. Bump that # up to 6500 this year.

    I think the Mets are 5 games better than the Nats - nothing scientific, just a gut.

    Familia will PRO-gress, not regress.

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  2. Thomas I agree with both you and Mack but I hate all the great press and predictions preseason which sets the bar so high it can only come down from there. After the run from 2009 to last July we were all conditioned for failure and now I'm certainly on board but cautiously excited. I love seeing more posts from "the Boss" and Lets go Mets!

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  3. Thomas -

    I agree that 3.5 mil would be a good goal for home attendance. This could insure a decent offer to Harvey in the future.

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  4. Gary -

    The tough part about the press i the off season is they still have to make a living... so they must write about something. Everybody has run out of subjects well before the Cespedes signing. All that did was turn them all positive... for now.

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  5. It is a baseball season, so much can go wrong. But in truth, it won't take too much to go right to win 100 games - particularly in this division. Yes, setting the bar high sets us up for possible disappointment, but I also remember '86, and what it felt like to dominate a season from beginning to end (followed by one of the most riveting and exciting post seasons ever). Years of losing have prepared me for disaster, but a piece of me is expecting the kind of season we enjoyed 30 years ago.

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  6. OK, who remembers when the Phillies featured "the plays of Wine (Bobby) & Rojas (Cookie)?"

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  7. The Phillies are only interesting to those who don't have to watch them a lot or root for them. That pitching needs three big free agent signings. Still, I'm pulling for them to finish ahead of the Braves this year.

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