Good morning.
New feature.
I keep trying to come
up with a new posting angel for this site as well as keep the creative juices
flowing inside of me.
Many of the things I
have said on this site are taken by the readers as an etched in stone statement
by me, as which I really knew what the hell was going on in the Mets clubhouse,
dugout, and front office. Those days are over for me and I’m just down to my
opinions now.
So, a perfect weekly
post would be one that just featured what was going on in my feeble brain.
Thus the title… ‘IMO’…
‘in my opinion’.
Here goes number one…
IMO…
The Mets signed RHP AJ Griffin to a minor league contract. Griffin was a
good pitcher out of the University of San Diego who surprisingly only went in
the 13th round of the 2010 draft. He got off to a great start for
the Athletics in 2010 (24-appearances, 2.39), 2011 (27-starts, 3.47), and 2012
for the parent team (15-starts, 3.06). The following year was another gem
(32-starts, 3.83), but everything went to hell in 2014 when he had to sit out
the entire season because of TJS. Everything went south from there. He was
picked up by Texas and had 23 starts in 2016 (5.07) and 15 starts (18 games)
last season (5.94). A no risk sign sort of like Matt
Purke. I Just don’t know where there would be room for him. For now, I
slotted him, in a projected Vegas rotation with Chris
Flexen, Corey Oswalt, and Marcos Molina.
Let me reiterate my
thoughts about spring training games. You can’t walk away from any of these,
especially during the first week when your regulars are basically playing three
innings or less, and come up with a rational opinion regarding where this team
is heading. Case in point… one of my Twitter followers posted that AFTER ONE
PRE-SEASON GAME, Dominic Smith missing the start
of a team meeting, and Adrian Gonzalez not
getting a hit in his three at-bats, that we should bring back Lucas Duda. ONE PRE-SEASON GAME!
I had to drive my wife
last week to a ‘meeting’ (blood test) in Charleston, SC at 9am. It is 100 miles
away from my home. We had to be in the car moving by 6:30am, so we set the
alarm on BOTH our handhelds to go off at 5:30am… we made the ‘meeting’ with 15
minutes to settle down. Important stuff. Gotta be on time. Make my drift? This
being said, let’s see how the kid moves on from this. He started the week late…
he ended it injured. Week two has to be better for him than this.
P Kevin McGowan’s first outing this past Saturday
strengthens my opinion that this is why spring training games are played. He’ll
get a few more chances to lower that 67.50-ERA before the final pen is picked. Ditto
P Marcos Molina and P J
Conlon. My guess is this proves all three of these guys need further
seasoning in the system, but will get a few more reps this spring to shake off
the rust.
On the plus side, you
couldn’t ask more from ‘Starting Team 2.0’. Robert Gsellman,
Rafael Montero, Seth Lugo, and Corey Oswalt pitched
eight scoreless innings, 11-Ks and 0-BBs. These are good complications and, if
it continues, one must question the need for any relief pitching past the ‘Big
4’.
It seems that Luis Guillorme’s efforts in the off-season to improve
on his game are paying off early. His defense continues to be premier, his
pitch instincts stay high and warrant his + OBP, and now his hint of additional
pop (HR Game 2) will just add to the dynamics.
David
Thompson came to camp with a reputation of below level fielding and premier RBI
producing hitting. Fed his rep in game one with a run causing error early and a
run producing, game winning ribby in the eighth.
You can’t help but walk
away and be impressed with the two-inning stint by RHSP Corey Oswalt. I don’t see any chance of him coming north in April,
but I believe he’s a lock, the latest come September.
Early injuries so far
have been ticky-tacky ones… Jay Bruce with sore
left foot… Juan Lagares with a hamstring problem.
Bruce will sit until week two. Better safe than sorry. But, before anyone
starts blaming the new Mets trainer, let’s remember that 99% of injuries that
happen the first week a player comes to camp are because the player wasn’t
ready for the program laid out to them from day one of the camp. This kind of
injury falls on the player, not the team. As for Lagares, I know he’s not
capable of attempting to play at 120%. I also know his body is more fragile
than my wife’s china. This is probably the best we are going to get until his
contract runs out. For now (April), be thankful we signed Ty Kelly and Matt Borenstein.
One of them just might keep the outfield going before Michael
Conforto comes back.
11 comments:
Actually, I think it's the foot that's bothering Jay Bruce -- plantar fasciitis.
OF depth could be an issue with non-roster invitees the only options should Juan Lagares or others require a short DL stint. Gee, if only the previous manager actually worked out Jose Reyes in the OF as he said he would...
Jose, grab an OF glove...Lagares did once upon a time.
Mack's BB IMO is akin to Warren Buffett's stock market IMO. Just saying.
Reese -
My bad... thanks for the correction.
Tom -
I would expect that we will be seeing some interesting people play in the outfield this spring.
I think they said Bruce will first come back as a DH
(Gee... I thought this was going to be a popular new posting... I'll try it once again come Friday)
McGowan, Conlon, and Molina need to do much better to try to enter this arms race.
Tom -
Well, I think they all get another chance tommorrow though I expect all three will eventually ship out to the other side of the complex.
In 2018, it is not about them, so much as our 50 homer guy :)
Will his current ankle injury deter him from reaching that lofty plateau? Oh, you meant Yo!
Interesting game, no? Who would have thought any of us would utter the words "be thankful we signed Ty Kelly and Matt Borenstein". But you are correct, Mack.
Maybe Luis Guillorme can be our version of Jose Altuve?
He's more likely our version of Jose Lind
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