Mack - IMO...

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 13^th 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.