Tom Brennan - WHAT DID YOU EXPECT?
The Mets return from their left coast swing with a 3 game winning streak after losing 7 of 8 to top tier opponents, essentially slamming the playoff door in their face, or so it seems.
But, with all of the injuries within the season's first half:
WHAT DID YOU EXPECT? REALLY?
DAVID WRIGHT has not played all year.
YOENIS CESPEDES has only played in 32 of their games so far. Those of you who are proficient in math know that is only about 40% of the games so far. Which is almost 60% too little.
JEURYS FAMILIA due to suspension and blood clot only pitched in 11 games and may pitch in no more this year. The irreplaceable closer was in 78 games last year and saved 51 of them. Hansel Robles (6.23) and Fernando Salas (5.88) have pitched far worse than expected, compounding the Familia-less bullpen problem and leading to Robles being demoted.
NOAH SYNDERGAARD was the co-pillar in the rotation with Jake deGrom, but got hurt early in his 5th start and likely will miss 20 starts this year, more or less. Until Rafael Montero started to pitch very well this month, Thor's replacements represented a massive downgrade.
MATT HARVEY came off of thoracic surgery, which usually degrades at least temporarily a pitcher's effectiveness. He was not exempt from struggles, pitched weakly, and is now pretty badly hurt, and likely will miss 15-20 starts.
STEVE MATZ and SETH LUGO both started the season on the DL and have only pitched 3 games apiece with the season's first half nearly over. That forced the healthy Rob Gsellman to sink or swim - and he has a 6.04 ERA to show that more than his pitches have sunk. Their unavailability caused the Mets to pitch Zach Wheeler to pitch more than intended and he recently hit a wall and is hopefully just slightly injured.
LUCAS DUDA and TRAVIS D'ARNAUD got injured at almost the same time - Duda missed about 20 games, and d'artaud about 3 weeks.
JUAN LAGARES, the flying Wallenda, got hurt while crashing to earth and likely will miss several weeks just when his bat finally woke up.
ASDRUBEL CABRERA has played hurt when not asking to be traded, and has only been in 52 games.
NEIL WALKER was healthy after back surgery, but on June 14, got hit with a hammy injury whammy, and likely will miss several weeks.
So, again I ask: what did you expect, really? All told, they've done well, given the drastic level of injuries.
Sadly they are in the NL East while this is happening.
Eleven games behind the Nats with a 34-41 record, they'd be 5.5 back of the Brewers if they were in the NL Central. In the NL Wild Card, they are 11.5 games back.
If they were in the AL Central, they'd be just 4.5 games out and 5.5 games out of the Wild Card. Well within reach.
Lots of bad luck this year. I did not expect THAT this spring.
13 comments:
Thomas on point as usual but if any good comes of this season it's that players like Duda, TDA, Walker and Cabrera are showing their age and injury history make them hopefully trade bait and not pieces to continue with next year. Couple that with Grandy's horrible start to season's Lagares and Cepedes frequent DL stints AND surprisingly poor pitching and it adds up to what were watching and yet I hope Sandy isn't going to buy into this recent sweep of the awful Giants and not take advantage of and early trade mkt. The Marlins just traded Hechavarria for prospects so deals CAN be made now if your looking. Question to everyone: Has Plawecki gotten back on managements good side with his performance in Vegas because we never hear anything about him and lets not forget we have Szapucki!
Gary, Plawecki now leads Vegas with a .331 average. Rosario has slipped to 4th on the team behind Plaw, Smith, and Cruzado, just to make an observation.
Let Plawecki keep hitting until one of the catchers gets hurt or to see if he or TDA should be the main guy next year if no catcher trade is made.
TDA is the only guy amongst Duda, TDA, Walker and Cabrera that I might want back next year, and that is a very tepid endorsement. TDA has to show more than he has in the first half.
Gary -
A couple of things...
1. Did you say that injuries make for trade bait? In actuality, injuries trump any chance for a player to be traded.
2. Yes, the Marlins trade did produce 2 prospects, but neither were in the Rays top 20 list, per John Sickels.
A few expected and unexpected things in the minors last night.
Vegas led 8-0 and lost 9-8....no lead too big.
PJ Conlon got hammered and lost despite 6 runs of support.
Brooklyn had a strange game - 3 runs, only 3 hits, 5 errors, and IF Franklin Correa pitched again - the infielder pitched well twice for the Cyclones last year, and last night allowed no hits or walks while fanning 3 in 1.2 IP - but gave up two runs because he hit THREE batters. Maybe the .224 lifetime hitter will switch to pitching - in 4.2 IP this year and last, 1 hit, 1 walk, 6 Ks - and oh, yeah, those 3 HBP!
New Brooklyn draftee Carl Stadjuhar off to a rough start - 0 for 10, 6 Ks, 3 errors at 3B.
Normally sure-handed Edgardo Fermin of Kingsport has 5 errors at SS in 4 games, but has happily gotten on base 10 times to offset that. And teammate Rigoberto Terrazas did in fact increase his .613 average, going 2-3 and a walks and is now hitting .625. Time for a 5 for 5 night, Rigoberto.
Tom -
A couple of things...
1. I'm at a loss what to do about d'D Playing him does not increase his trade chances. He hits bad and throws like a sissy. Frankly, I would send him down to Las Vegas and replace him with Plawecki. First, we'd get a day to day look at Plaw and we could see if he has finally matured into a major league catcher. Secondly. we could include d'Arnaud as an add on chip in some future deal.
2. I would save this post as a future template that you could drag out each year, change the names of the players that were placed on future DLs, and we could re-post it each season.
Ha ha, Mack, the new "What Do You Expect?" series! That one could run daily!
Would not just have to limit it to injuries. We expect a lot from the Mets, and almost always get frustrated in one way or another.
Sandy Alderson's MO has been to do nothing. He has not brought in new major league talent since last summer's deadline deals for Fernando Salas and Jay Bruce. A whole winter of discontent and now half a season of bottom-of-the-barrel fishing for the likes of Adam Wilk, Tommy Milone, Neil Ramirez and the like.
Gary, I echo your thoughts. Get Sandy off his ass and have him start trading away the pieces he's going to lose for nothing. The waiting game might make sense for the better ones like Jay Bruce whose value could theoretically increase as other players come off the board, but he should be laying the groundwork for ALL deals right now.
Reese -
I think the results of what Sandy does during this trading period will speak of his future plans with this team.
Reese, I agree that the bargain basement fill-ins have damaged this team. Remember that in 2015, through July, all of the marginal bums they were calling up (Campbell, etc.) were hitting about .180 in several hundred at bats. They somehow climbed out of that self-induced bargain basement hole.
The woeful Phillies should be plugging holes with marginal guys like these - we should do better. It costs games. Lost games cost pennants.
I'm assuming Sandy is showcasing Reyes, Cabreara, Grandy Duda, TDA etc. because why else wouldn't he bring up our prospects now to get playing time but if we have have a good series against the Fish and Phils all bets are off and he and TC will be selling the "we have a chance at a playoff spot" nonsense. Right we were 5-19 against the playoff caliber clubs so Lets Go Mets!
The way 2017 has turned out is surprising, if you are looking at things from the expectations created in the off season. However, things are definitely not surprising when you look at things on 06-27-17......I don't think many teams could survive the amount of injuries the Mets have.
Being a realist, I think 2017 is toast, so focusing on the future makes sense to me......start with an exorcism, perhaps?
Seriously, I think changes in management (at least the coaching staff, maybe more) and how the medical staff prepares/treats the players should be priority number one. I don't think it is all coincidence or bad luck.
Doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result is the definition of insanity, right?
Mike
Mike, if they sweep the Marlins and Phils this week, won't that be a kick?
come on guys...
please don't kick so we can get on to building a new team
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