SYNDERGAARD BRILLIANCE
AND OTHER THOUGHTS by Tom Brennan
Man,
watching Noah Syndergaard the other night was so impressive. Thor was on fire, with high octane fastballs
with great movement, a fine change, and a wicked slider, in one of the most
brilliant 7 inning stints I have ever seen from a Mets pitcher. Hall of Fame caliber stuff.
As good as
he was, he was not helped by an ump who (rightly) gave him no calls on pitches
just off the plate and hitters who somehow laid off almost every borderline
pitch he threw. I was watching,
thinking, how can they react that quickly to pitches two inches off the
plate?
Still, Thor
was brilliant. My take is he is the ace
of the Mets staff going into 2017.
I wrote yesterday
that in my opinion, Blevins should have pitched the 9th, and not
Familia, against the scheduled lefty highly disciplined Giants who laid off his
“fish” pitches. The fish did not bite. We got bitten instead. Jaws-style.
I just
wonder if they could have waited one more game to shelve Steve Matz. If he was healthy enough to give us an
inning, that 9th inning against the lefties would have been a good
spot for him.
I saw a
little of marvelous lefty Andrew Miller in the Red Sox – Cleveland game. He would sure have looked good on the hill in
the 9th against the Giants, but the Mets don’t trade with the Yanks,
right? Too bad. Really too bad.
My brother
Steve laid down some quick orders of 2017 business:
Waste no time re-signing
Cespedes, Reed, and Colon. Two great
minds think alike.
Have a great
day, folks. Relax, relax. Only about four and a half
months to spring training (FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS!!! GOOD GRIEF.)
First order of business, add 2 years to cespedes contract at 23 mm each plus a 10 mm signing bonus, bringing it to a 4 year, 104 mm contract, where he gets 33.5 mm next year. i think that would do it. maybe add a 5th year option to get it up to 124/5 or 109/4 w 5mm decline.
ReplyDelete2. reed, 1 yr 8 with a 2nd year 9 mm option w a 1.5 opt out. 2/17 mm
3. colon 1 yr 7.5 (would like this to be 6mm but i think he could get more)
4. 1 yr 3.5 for k. johnson
5. contract extension for syndergaard, not sure what the money should be but he's gonna be super 2, like degrem so arb he's likely to make close to 40mm if he goes all the way through. so get the option years and cost certainty.
6. deGrom extension five years, $38.5MM basically the exact same deal as Kluber.
but i like cost certainty everywhere. id also trade bruce for a 3b prospect in single a and a 1/2 young projectable rhp
Very well thought out, Robb. Compelling. I am concerned with extending Jake until we know he is healthy. He should be, but only his elbow will really know. I hope he is, because he is one of my favorite pitchers in baseball. Can't argue with your Bruce logic, although keeping him could have its merits. Thanks for your input.
ReplyDeletePlayoffs two years in a row= big bucks coming out
ReplyDeleteCredit the post but throw money at Chapman
Throw money at encarnaccion for 1b
Resign YO
Resign Bart and Reed as well as Kelly Johnson
Pick up Bruce's option and let's play ball
I have a very high standard to the Fab 5... they were billed as 5 Aces... So i will hold them to that standard... And during the season I was very disappointed with all of them... Thor was great of the first half then avg for the second... Degrom even though he had a very good ERA I just felt he did just enough to lose... Never put the guy away to save pitch counts or had to over work to get out of innings and then gave up a run too many... Harvey matz and wheeler were never right...
ReplyDeleteBut man what a game THOR pitched... It was the game we all hoped he could have... He may be the Ace going forward... Still think he need to refine the art of pitching and not just throwing but with that stuff can you blame him...
Cespedes no brainer... get it done... he should never be allowed to test... 5 days to negotiate... get it done...
Reed surprised me... So much better than i imagined... Deserved to be signed... But he will demand a big raise and maybe a closer money...
Colon (I have said this from the time we signed him) NO WAY... yes he has performed... Yes he was better than expected... Yes he is great in the club house (but by now that shouldn't matter)
He is 43 man...Should we wait till he pops... We talk about signing Cespedes ... Means that we cant afford others... COLON is out... If Gsellman and Lugo a really viable options... then its a waste of funds (and we do have a mid market budget) to bring back Colon... Thank you for your service... We wish you well...
Walker is another that cannot be on the team... (risky to offer him arbitration at 17 mil... why wouldnt he take it)
We have excellent INF flexibility with Reyes and cabrera who can play 3b,ss, and 2b... and real depth in Flores, Rivera, and cecchini... and Rosario may be ready next year...
Nope No need to allocate money in Walker unless you think of him as the 3B/1B... I was wrong about Murphy too... I said dont pay him and even after this year I wouldnt... NOT as a 2b...but if they wanted him to be the 3B/1B I could understand... If they were going to trade Duda I would say OK i can see that... But Not as a 2b and the same goes for walker...
thats my Pitch...
and I can say that most wouldn't have a eye to 2018... But I am still holding out hope that we could be players in that monster Free agent class... (With my dream being my man Machado manning 3b for the next 8 years)
ReplyDeleteI'm back in the USA just in time to see that heartbreak. I was screaming at the TV when the idiot-in-chief sent Eric Campbell up to pinch hit to correct the mistake of starting James Loney over Kelly Johnson who has owned Bumgarner in his career.
ReplyDeleteThen again when he sent Familia in for the 9th when it was conceivable this was going to be a long, extra inning affair. Also using your closer in a start-the-inning fashion has not worked nearly as well for Familia as getting out of jams, so why not instead go with Colon who could have given you multiple innings or Blevins since Skipper only trusts veterans, but no...and then when he gives up the obligatory leadoff double you'd think it would sound some alarms that maybe you made the wrong choice, but nooooooo!
Disgusting in-game management as per usual.
Anthony thinking big, not "Wilpon Small." I like it.
ReplyDeleteEddie, trade Duda, sign Walker for 1B or 3B? I would like that for 1B for one year, until Smith is really ready.
ReplyDeleteEddie you are right....get Machado for 2018. Think big, win big.
ReplyDeleteReese, I have to agree with you. By-the-Book Collins again backfired in the playoffs. And when I saw Soup get up, I felt it was somehow minding the outcome of the game.
ReplyDeleteReese, my tablet strikes again - what I wrote before it spell checked it wrong was:
ReplyDelete"Reese, I have to agree with you. By-the-Book Collins again backfired in the playoffs. And when I saw Soup get up, I felt it was somehow JINXING the outcome of the game."
Need to fire the bench coach and get someone in there with a managerial background to give terry some help
ReplyDeleteForget machado in 18, josh Donaldson baby
ReplyDeleteDonaldson would be great, Anthony. Someone strong on the bench that could succeed Terry would be prudent.
ReplyDeleteWatching francona is just painful. he's just so much better of a game manager. and clearly he can handle the big stage bc of boston.
ReplyDeletethe only way youre getting muchado is if wright has to retire, which might actually happen. i agree i would go all in for that guy. age, talent, personality scream made for nyc and the yankees are still going after bryce harper but sadly not JF.
as for Degrom. he'll get the pre free agency money anyway, unless he has to retire bc theres just no way they wouldnt go through the arb process 3 times with him, even if he got hurt again this year. so he's gonna make minimuim 20mm (2.5 this year) but more like 35 (4 arb years) just in arb. you dont really need downside protection when the raises are coming anyway and the upside of the multiple option years works out. I mean even Niese got 10mm this year.
Kluber deal:
$1 million for Yr1,
$4.5 million yr2
$7.5 million
$10.5 million
$13.5 million to $17.5 million based on esclators.
option 1, $13.5 million to $17.5 million based on esclators.
option 2, $14 million to $18 million with a $1 million buyout.
Great points, Robb. DeGrom has had 2 major arm injuries, have to be prudent and go one year at a time
ReplyDeleteFor me the Cespedes signing speaks for itself but I'm NOT signing long term contracts for ANY pitchers period. If this year didn't show us once again the folly in long term contract signing's then nothing will. We should instead look at the Dickey trade or more recently the Shelby Miller steal ...er... deal and trade from strength as we should have last off season with Harvey who we knew we weren't going to able to sign and coming off a 13-8 2.71 season at 26. Instead we now have no idea what next season will bring with him but it's a long shot assuming he'll be anywhere near his pre 2016 self. I would trade each one 2 years away from free agency because anymore "healthy pitcher" has become an oxymoron so using the old Branch Rickey line "It's better to trade em a year to soon than a year to late".
ReplyDeleteGary, I agree.
Delete