Tom Brennan - OUR DEARLY DEPARTED
Sandy Alderson's garage sale has been brisk.
He has turned the Mets into LIQUIDATION NATION.
Cash $$$$$$$ on the balance sheet is where it is at.
In that liquidation, the Dearly Departed include Lucas Duda, Jay Bruce, Neil Walker, Curtis Granderson, and Addison Reed...5 key performers from our 2017 roster built to win.
Overall, they performed quite admirably as New York Mets in 2017, with only Duda's (hyperextended elbow) and Walker's (hammy whammy) missed time with injuries, and Grandy's miserable April, dampening their overall very solid results.
Those 4 sluggers hit .249 in 1,260 NY Mets at bats in 2017, with 76 doubles, 5 triples, 75 homers, and 200 RBIs, and an on base % of around .340.
Split that in half, to give the equivalent of 2 playing-every-day seasons, and you'd have 630 at bats, 38 doubles, 37 HRs and 100 RBIs. Sweet. Clearly:
They were not the 2017 problem.
Reed, pushed into the Mets' closer's role for nearly all of 2017, was a fine 1-2, 2.57, with 19 of 21 saves in 48 games.
He was not the 2017 problem.
The 2017 problem story has been often written about; these guys on the whole weren't the problem.
Let's be brief but fair - the season long issues of Yoenis (oops, I dropped it again) Cespedes and ghastly pitching, much of it the result of extremely prolonged disappearances of Thor and Jeurys, but also some brutally below expected performances from Matz and Gsellman, and other pitching injuries/crap (Harvey, Lugo, and Wheeler) did this team in.
Had those other, very real problems not occurred, the very solid performances of the (sniff, sniff) Dearly Departed 5 would have had the Mets vying for the Division title. Possibly even World Series bound.
So c'mon...give the 5 their due.
How are the Dearly Departed 5 doing since they...well... dearly departed?
Collectively TREMENDOUS.
Let's check in (results through Sunday):
Lucas Duda - Tampa has gotten classic 2017 Duda: 22 games, 5 homers, 9 RBIs, .356 OB %. Not a world beater, but getting their money's worth, IMO.
Neil Walker - the Brewers love Neil? How could they not? 9 for 20, homer, 5 RBI, 3 walks.
Jay Bruce - back in Ohio, this time with the Injuns, Jay is smoking: 11 games, .375, 15 for 40, 5 doubles, 3 HRs, 12 RBI, 5 walks. Superhero production: Jay Bruce, Superhero.
Curtis Granderson - joining the juggernaut in Tinseltown, he is 1 for 8 in 2 games with a homer. He knows homers.
Addison Reed - now the set up man in Boston for the extremely unworldly Craig Kimbrel, he's had 8 very good outings and one awful one. My guess? Bosoxers are happy.
A 6th Met, catcher Rene Rivera, was snatched by the Cubs via waivers on Saturday night, which accomplishes 2 things:
First, it saves the Mets several hundred thousand buckeroos.
Second, it gives Kevin Plawecki a REAL chance to play - having failed in previous Mets trials, but killed it in Vegas this season, may he totally excel with the Mets this time.
Encouragingly, his Saturday homer was really cranked.
Rene helped the Mets early this year with defense and a surprisingly strong bat, but then pulled an Anthony Recker and slipped to 12 for 76 hitting after May. Not a future answer for this team, we fans thanks for your service, Rene.
Of course, he went 1 for 3 in his Cubs debut. Hitting .333!
So what about what we got back?
Drew Smith, acquired in one of the trades, threw 2.2 perfect, sweet innings Sunday and fanned his last 7 batters!
Gerson Bautista has been clocked at 101 since the trade (no, not driving...pitching, you dummy), and his pre-Mets severe walk issues seemed to have vanished with a change in address to St Lucie Land: 8.1 IP, just 1 walk, 9 Ks.
Steve Nogosek, also with the Saints in Lucie, has so far been (choosing my words carefully) pretty danged awful:
Last 4 outings, spanning 7 IP: 12 H, 5 BB, 9 earned runs.
Jamie Callahan in deeply dreaded, pitching-horrific Vegas? Holding his own, nose above water: he thanks you for asking:
7 IP, 10 hits, 4 walks, 2 earned runs, 9 Ks.
Ryder Ryan: after his first (bad) outing, he has had two very good 2 inning efforts for Columbia - his last one was 2 perfect innings with 3 Ks.
Jacob Rhames: a 2013 6th round righty with LAD, gotten for Grandy, he is 24, with 96 relief outings for OKC in the PCL in 2016 and 2017, where his ERA is about 3.90, WHIP of 1.29, but just 1 wins and 9 losses, 9 saves in 14 tries. 1 perfect inning for Vegas this weekend. Upper 90s guy, 307 career Ks in 256 IP.
Another possible 2018 pen piece to add to the Queens equation.
Another possible 2018 pen piece to add to the Queens equation.
So, our reliever booty has been pitching mostly well and shows reasonable future promise...now can we get Bruce and Walker back on the Mets for 2018 too?
Final note: Fernando Salas pitched a perfect 9th last night - against Las Vegas. He belongs in AAA, don't you agree?
4 comments:
Granderson hit a game tying grand slam in the seventh inning last night in Pittsburgh. In all, while a case may be made that collectively these players' stats look good, individually, it's hard to see where Duda with his 14 solo HR (most of them when the game was one sided) and Walker really contributed much to this campaign.
Weren't we saying last winter that AT LEAST one of Bruce, Granderson or Duda should be moved to give AB's to Conforto? If our pitching hadn't gone the way of the Pompeii White Sandals in the 79 (AD) season we (a) would be in the hunt, and (b) be lamenting that half the lineup would be walking at the end of the year with no compensation and no MLB experience for the next genertion.
Of the dearly departed, me highest re-sign target is Reed. Hands down.
I would be happy with Walker or Bruce back. Reed also, but they did not get all these young pen arms to go back and sign Reed. Too much money for them.
Wow, I actually missed the Grandy grand slam - talk about paying quick dividends. LAD trading for Grandy shows they are 110% in for the World Series - Joc Pederson could have sufficed, but they like the G Man's ability to rise to the occasion, unruffled by pressure.
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