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The Mets just endured a tough series with the Nationals, losing three out of four. We've been Murphied!! Ouch, baby.Tom Brennan - Silver Linings
Being over 10 games out of both the division lead and the wildcard race race is truly painful. Lead the league in something, I always say...for us, though, it has to be time on the DL for key players.
To avoid fan-based trauma, it is time to look for some Silver Linings in the Mets clouds. Where did I leave my Silver Linings Playbook? Ahh, I've found it - let's peer inside:
Jake deGrom has had a few rough spots this year but I think the world of Jake, who (with 106 Ks through 68 games) is on pace for 250 strikeouts. Nice home run swing too, buddy. Somewhere the rehabbing Thor is jealous, and Bartolo Colon smiled,
Yoenis Cespedes looks like he is ready to do some heavy lifting with his bat. Be an MVP from here on out. Maybe he can leave the Mets on a miracle charge.
Jay Bruce who I had low expectations for has been playing at an All-Star level. The Met season homer record of 41 is in possible jeopardy with Bruce, if the Mets don't trade the man. Way to go, Jay...keep meeting your high expectations.
TJ Rivera once again proved on Sunday that he can hit (4, to be exact) and hopefully Terry Collins will cozy up on the bench with Jose Reyes and keep Dancing Jose very close by - and far away from the batter's box. TJ can play 3rd base just fine for me.
Michael Conforto on Sunday gave us hope that the major swoon of 2016 won't repeat itself in 2017. I am still hopeful of a huge season from Mr. Conforto. Forgetting his highs and lows this year, he is on pace for 30-35 homers and a ,285 average. I will take that anytime - for 2017, at least.
In the minor leagues there are several real Silver Linings:
Chris Flexen has pitched extremely well and I would not be surprised to see him in the Major League rotation next year.
Marcos Molina has also pitched very, very well and I wouldn't be surprised to see him crack the rotation sometime next year either.
Tom Szapucki has been regaining his fabulous lefty footing post-injury, and I expect that Tom and the fabulous, other-worldly Jordan Humphreys and Merandy Gonzalez will all be gunning for rotation spots in 2019 or perhaps even as early as 2018.
Heck, what about 2017? Quit your dawdling, gents.
Justin Dunn is pitching like a #1 son, son. Last 5 outings, 21 innings of 2 run ball. Soon on to AA, and maybe we see him sooner rather than later as a prime rotation or pen piece. Mid-2018, maybe?
Tyler Bashlor - drop his one shaky outing in his last 10 and whaddya got? Ya got CRAZY!! 9.2 IP, 23 K, no earned runs. Heavens to Betsy, that is N..A..S..T..Y! Looks like a possible future Mets fireballing closer to me.
Those are my Silver Linings. I love silver linings, don't you? What's in your playbook, mates?
LAST NIGHT'S GAME:
No silver lining with Zach Wheeler...what is he for 2018? Trade fodder? Number 5 pitcher? Awful outing last night.
Also awful if you want Rosario here, as hot Jose homers twice off the best pitcher on the planet. On a Silver Note, low power Gavin Cecchini takes Kershaw deep too. Six runs off the King and no win? Ouch.
LAST NIGHT'S GAME:
No silver lining with Zach Wheeler...what is he for 2018? Trade fodder? Number 5 pitcher? Awful outing last night.
Also awful if you want Rosario here, as hot Jose homers twice off the best pitcher on the planet. On a Silver Note, low power Gavin Cecchini takes Kershaw deep too. Six runs off the King and no win? Ouch.
12 comments:
My biggest 'silver lining' this week is the return of 3B Eudor Garcia to the St. Lucie lineup (played last night in both games). This will allow Jhoan Urena to either move to the outfield or move up to Binghamton
Cody Ballinger was the 124th pick in 2013. Who did the Mets pick at # 116? Low ceiling (then 23 year old) LJ Mazzilli. Really? Danny Muno Light? Into a Mets Minors glut of low power infielders?
Another atrocious waste of a pick. Only idiots need apply for the Mets job of drafting offensive players, it appears.
Was it confirmed if Eudor was out due to PEDs? He needs to stay clean and play hard. Time has shortened for him.
Tom -
I don't know. I never brought that subject up. Just glad to hear from him and have him back.
Mack, do you have any idea where you ranked Bellinger back in 2013 pre-draft?
Like I said before, if the Mets hit, they don't pitch. If they pitch, they don't hit. If they pitch and hit, they catch the ball. If all 3 are going well, Collins aka, the Imbecile in the dugout, will take out the pitcher and bring in a fire starter from the BP.
I get on Collins a lot because of his lineups, in game decisions, under performing veterans in the lineup vs promising young player but the Genius can't seem to be able to draft good position players or sign any international players that are talented.
This team can't seem to sustain any kind of success. It is always something. Now the Mets go and draft a bunch of pitchers and very little position players that have a chance to make it to the ML.
That is fine as long as you go out and sign a Manny Machado to play 3B for the next 10 years but does anyone believe the Mets will do that? The Mets never seem to have a plan that they follow to the end. It is always half and half which hasn't work and won't work.
It seems to me that the window for these Mets has closed. The starters can't stay healthy or string along 2 weeks of excellent pitching. deGrom was pitching badly and Wheeler was pitching like an ace. Now deGrom starts to pitch like the ace he is, Wheeler becomes Montero.
Is it the curse of Murphy?
Tom -
I don't think I had Bellinger in my top 200 list
Viper -
I guess we can use the injury excuse again, but the fact remains that this team does not have enough to make the playoffs.
(This would be a good place to remind everyone that I predicted this team to finish 3rd in their division and miss the playoffs)
Viper - you say Wheeler became Montero - funny thing is Montero, the man of many lives, has really gotten it done his last 2 relief outings: 6.2 IP, 3 hits, 2 walks, 1 run, 8 Ks.
Maybe the Mets need to give the innings-limited Wheeler the next 6 weeks off and move Montero into the rotation and see if he can finally get it right. He can't be worse than Wheeler was in his past two starts.
Speaking of drafts, Viper, do you know that Low Ceiling Lee Mazzilli Jr. is only a month younger than Montero, who seems like he has bounced around here forever? Low Ceiling Lee (hitting .257 in the minors with a subpar .388 slug % this year) was almost 23 years old when the Mets drafted him in the 4th round.
My guess? If the Mets had not drafted him in the 4th round that year, they could have gotten him in the 10th round. Hey, maybe Low Ceiling Lee will get 3 major league at bats some September before he retires.
Cody Bellinger, picked 8 slots after Low Ceiling Lee and thus available to the Mets in that 4th round, has a very high ceiling indeed and is currently almost 2 years younger that Low Ceiling Lee was on the day LJM was drafted.
I understand why we drafted Low Ceiling Lee in the 4th round? Because you can never have enough infielders. The Mets minors had about 300 middle infielders and needed one more.
Can we start calling the Mets hierarchy, which almost never drafts impact hitters, what they really are? Idiots. Trump would have fired them years ago, and the only special investigation would have been as to why they weren't fired sooner.
Thomas, that's why I call Alderson the Genius in his own mind.
When they made Nimmo their first pick, I knew they were not up to the task. When they kept counting on Wright, you knew they were lost in space.
Opportunities for the Mets to improve have been there. But they always pick the Nimmo, Cechinnis when better players were available.
When Vlad Guerrero Jr. was available, they signed his cousin. Mondesi Jr, same thing. Cuban players that become international FA, ignored.
Once upon a time, the Mets had the perfect scout for Latin America, Omar Minaya. But the Genius needed to get him out of the organization instead of using him for what he is best known. Talent evaluator.
Viper, Nimmo was a huge gamble, when there were other better-known very athletic guys. I guess they watched Robert Redford in the Natural, signed out of the boonies, and thought they could do it too. Cecchini I roundly remember reviewers saying he had a lot of solid skills but no superior ones, so that draft pick that high in the draft never made sense to me, especially with Giolito just behind him.
Drafting may be a crapshoot, but some are crappier than others.
Tom - Sorry, but Rivera is a truly horrible third baseman and, along with Wilmer should probably never set foot on the left side of the infield. He and Wilmer are unfortunately the same player, gifted right hand hitters who are too awkward in the field to play the left side, though either seems to be adequate at second or first. Of course, they continue to play Reyes at short, who as bad as he is at third is a darn sight better there than Wilmer or TJ. Yes, he shouldn't be playing at all, but that's another discussion. Today they move Cabrera to second, further muddying the water. Oh, the humanity! Frankly, I love TJ's story, but he belongs in the AL, where he'll rarely have to play the field and can just rake. If they're going to move Cabrera around and piss him off, they might as well try him where they really need him, and that's at third. If he's not up to the task, what have they lost at this point?
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