Mack - Weekly Mets Recap

Good morning.

Six more cuts this week… SS Amed Rosario, OF Wuilmer Beccera, pitchers Chris Flexen, Marcos Molina, Chase Bradford, and Adam Wilk. All of these are expected, especially Flexen who is out for 3-4 weeks after surgery earlier this month.

Overall thoughts...  I have only one worry right now with the Mets spring.

The pen. 

Jamilia is not going to be around on opening day, Sales has gotten no time on the bump, and Reed (10.13) does not look ready. Add Blevens (5.68) and Edgin (4.32) and, as of right now, we got problems in America's city.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wheeler continues to pitch well and stay healthy, that both Gsellman and Lugo start off the season in the pen. Let's face it... right now they are two of the top six pitchers on the team.

The only injury (Wright) was expected and overall play has been outstanding. The only undetermined slots in the 25-man continue to be a 5th outfielder and the last pitcher in the pen. It seems to me that the Mets have to make roon somewhere for Seth Lugo. He's tearing up the WBC and he's a legitimate major league pitcher.

As for the 5th outfielder, I don't see 1997 being the year for either Conforto and Nimmo and one must wonder if they both should play (again) daily in Vegas and let someone like Ty Kelly fill the role here.

Player wise...

Brandon Nimmo - Nimmo re-injured his hammy during running drills and now isn't due back to the 'end of next week'. This could greatly hinder any chance he has for making the 25-man for opening day.

Mike Harvey – I guess we all have to realize at this point that Harvey may never be the kind of pitcher we saw when he first came up. Right now, he looks to be fighting for a spot in this rotation. His velo was up… 92-93, hit 95… but he simply can now be hit. Dan Warthan even said that he thinks the sub-95 Harvey might be the ‘new normal’ and he’ll have to rely heavily on his secondary pitches.

Rafael Montero – Montero didn’t get charged with a run scored on Sunday, but he did blow a save and had the run charged to Kyle Regnault. This is an example of why I’m not ready to sign off this guy yet. On Wednesday, he gave up two runs in 1.2 innings pitched, and walked four. This is far from the kind of pitcher I want on the bump in Queens, be it as a, God forbid, starter, or in the pen.

Zack Wheeler – I was thrilled with Wheeler’s outing on Thursday. Sure, he threw too many pitches in the 2.1 innings he was in there, but the last thing that comes back is accuracy. What one needs to look for here is velocity and Wheeler hit 97! He sat 94-95, threw his 50 pitches (30 were strikes) and headed for the clubhouse. I never care about spring stats like ERA. What I care about is velocity and progress. Both were shown here and, so far, I see no reason why Wheeler won’t return to the Mets rotation.

Steven Matz - Not the best outing this week. Through 42 pitches through two innings. He batted twice in the second which made me worry about his stamina in the third. One really good thing to see was his picking off a runner in the third. I know he was working with ex-Met Scott Rice on his move to first and, so far this season, he's one for one to first. Matz finished stronger than he started, though he did walk as many as batters he struck out (three). On to next week's start.

Wilmer Flores - Flores gave us six reasons (RBIs) on Friday... off a righty...  why the issue of who will be the starting third baseman may not have been etched in stone yet.

Mike Pelfrey – It was good to see Big Pelf pitching well (3-IP, 0-R), even if it was at the expense of the kiddie team the Mets put up on Sunday.

Noah Syndergaard – One can’t be happier with the results of Syndergaard’s spring through the first three innings he pitched on Monday. He sat at 96-97 and backs that up with a nasty 92 slider; however, a three run fourth brought everything back to earth and told everybody in the Mets camp that there was still some work to be done here. NYDN: “ 67 pitches 47 for strikes. Three runs three hits, 4 Ks, 1 BB Fastball was sitting up when he got hit.” Trust me. So much can be blamed on a fastball that is too high consistently in the zone. (BTW... Syndergard pitched five innings in a minor league game on Saturday and allowed one unearned run).

Jacob deGrom – DeGrom came out smoking on Tuesday, sitting at 96-97. It seems that he has healed the best of all the pitchers that went under the knife last season. Yes, he gave up a home run in the fourth inning he pitched, but he still finished the day with a 0.90 spring ERA.

Robert Gsellman – It was good to see Gsellman throw three scoreless innings on Monday and get back in the race for the SP5 position. He pitched well also yesterday and I'm starting to get dizzy about all these healthy starters we have in camp. Makes a good case for getting a deal done for a prime third baseman before the season starts.

Corey Taylor – Through Tuesday: 8 IP, 6 H, ER, BB, 5 K, 4 saves (I'm just saying...)

Paul Sewald – Through the end of the Friday game, Sewald has allowed only six base runners this spring in 9.1 innings (0.96-ERA). 

For me, right now, the fixed Mets pen consists of Smoker, Reed, Blevens, Sales, Robles, and either Gsellman or Lugo

My guess is either Gilmartin, Goeddel, Edgin, or Montero would be dropped from the 40-man to make room for Sewald.