Tom Brennan - STARTERS GETTING STIFFED
Our Metsies are 14 games into the season and, against what any objective observer would conclude is a favorable schedule of teams so far, the Mets are only at 7-7, .500.
We have 3 potentially Hall of Fame caliber starters in deGrom, Syndergaard, and Harvey. The apparently healed Zach Wheeler ain't chump change, either.
Hall of Fame pitcher types get there by, primarily, winning. No decisions (NDs) are like kissing your sister, only worse.
So how are our elite starters doing so far?
The starters overall are 4-2, getting decisions in just 6 of the 14 games, while the pen hogs the decisions, going 3-5 so far.
deGrom? 3 great starts, 0-0, 19 IP, 22 K, 1.89 ERA, 3 NDs.
Thor? 3 great starts, 1-0, and 2 NDs in which he allowed 1 earned run in 12 IP.
Harvey? 2-0, but in his 1 ND, he allowed just 1 ER.
Wheeler? 1-1, but in his one ND, allowed just 1 ER in 5 IP.
So our Big Four has 7 NDs in 12 starts, an awful number made even more awful when one considers they allowed only 7 earned runs in those 7 starts!!!
This team has been historically awful in getting its great starters wins rather than no-decisions, due to inept hitting by and large, with the bullpen not being the main culprit, but not being lock down either.
What to do about the "No Decisions?"
It might be time to make some Decisions about the Mets' line up, which except for a few games has made the mediocre starters opposing them look like they are the Mets' Big 3.
For instance, Granderson in April 2017 is (not) hitting .170 (8 for 47). In his 4 years as a Met, he has hit .200 in April (59 for 295). Solution? Bench him every April, and as he is now older, perhaps permanently.
Reyes? His 1 for 4 got him half way to the Mendoza line, as he is now (not) hitting a robust .100. As in 5 for 50, while Thor is 2 for 4. Solution? Bench the aging Jose. Maybe it is Rosario Time. Or TJ Rivera, who hit .333 in his trial run last September, could hit 2 or 3 times as high as .100 for the Mets right now at 3B.
Make some decisions.
Because our great starters are getting stiffed again this year.
I have a couple of suggestions coming up in my 2pm post
ReplyDeleteThomas spot on as usual with your post which brings up our old friend Einstein. Didn't he say: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity. Well here we are so what are they going to do about it.
ReplyDeleteGary, they need to find a way to not be so boom-and-bust with their scoring. It does Jake no good if they score 14 in one game and 2 runs total in his next 3 starts.
ReplyDeleteI heard a caller on WFAN complaining about Dom Smith not having any home run power. Gee suppose he hit about .350 and only had about 8 home runs? Wouldn't that be awful! He'd probably be way up there in RISPs. Terrible!
ReplyDeleteI also grit my teeth at the number of called strikes this team gawks at. That Moneyball OBP fixation could caause bad repercussions in batting techniques.
Lot of truth there, Richard
DeleteBill O'Reilly will be joining the Fireflies outfield
ReplyDeleteHe could be a real Factor. The OF would be fair and balanced
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