Tom Brennan - WHY THE METS HAVE HAD A 10-18 SPRING, AND WHY IT DOESN'T MATTER
The Mets have had a Grapefruit League-worst 10-18 record.
Scary? Worrisome? Nah.
Here's why:
Ten pitchers named Wheeler, Robles, Montero, Griffin, Molina, Callahan, Regnault, Molina, Torres, and Uceta allowed 73 runs in 52 innings. And they all have one thing in common: they are not on the opening day roster.
Those guys, by themselves, allowed an average of 2.6 runs per game. That will lose you some games, for sure.
The rest of the team's pitchers, though, allowed just 97 runs in 219 innings, and some of the lower flyers in that cluster are fine young guys like Gerson Bautista who pitched well against advanced competition, but where one would expect them to surrender their share of runs, as he did.
Guys like DeGrom, Thor and (lately) Harvey and Matz have been, well, terrific, and they are only the rotation mainstays. And Jake and Matt were terrific yesterday, too. Nice relief work by all except Ramos, too.
Meanwhile, the Mets hit 32 HRs in 1,043 at bats (not bad), but guys who will play frequently hit the lion's share, like Yoenis Cespedes, Jay Bruce, Wilmer Flores, Brandon Nimmo, and Travis d'Arnaud, hitting 18 of those homers in just 224 at bats.
And Michael Conforto seems to be REALLY smoking the ball and almost ready to return, although most of his production (2 homer game, hitting for the cycle, and yesterday's dinger don't count in official spring stats - but they sure do count.
And Michael Conforto seems to be REALLY smoking the ball and almost ready to return, although most of his production (2 homer game, hitting for the cycle, and yesterday's dinger don't count in official spring stats - but they sure do count.
Exclude the non-25 man production this spring and one thing seems clear to me: we are gonna do just fine:
The A team is about to step in and step up.
And they're bringing Nats spray with them. Pesky suckers.
I know some folks disagree...a friend of mine expects 70 wins, my brother Steve is at 74 and he tells me Vegas is 77. One of us is right...I just happen to think: it's me!
I know some folks disagree...a friend of mine expects 70 wins, my brother Steve is at 74 and he tells me Vegas is 77. One of us is right...I just happen to think: it's me!
They made it through spring mostly healthy.
ReplyDeleteThat's the biggest W they could have possibly had.
Bring on the Metsies!
Agree with the Dova-mon
ReplyDeleteThey have their health and positive karma in their heads.
And, as I have said numerous times in the past, what vets do in spring training games really doesn't matter until there are less than 7-8 games left.
On the I95...
I wish I could believe your characterization that Wilmer Flores was going to play regularly.
ReplyDeleteHarvey seems psyched. I think the collective psyche of the big 4 in the rotation will be something to watch this year - just get us thru the cold weather of late March, early April healthy.
ReplyDeleteIt was 29 degrees this morning, only 54 hours to the game opener.
The geniuses who schedule games have night games April 2 and 3...great weather for players to stay loose in. I remember watching a game in the 1960s where, as I recall, it was April TWENTY SEVENTH and the first Mets night game - and it was chilly then.
But I think that the spring record and stats was never more meaningless than this spring. All the momentum seems positive right now - although I would have preferred Addison Reed over AJ Ramos as of today.
ReplyDeleteHey Tom -
ReplyDeleteTry playing in Binghamton.
Bring your woolies to a June nite game there, Mack.
ReplyDeleteBinghamton is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to try to thaw out there.
Ernest, you see the uptrend too, methinks. LGM
ReplyDeleteThe biggest "win" of ST was the relatively good health that the team left Florida with.....minus a few folks (Vargas, Smith).
ReplyDeleteThat and a couple of pitchers "on the fence" seem to be trending in the right direction (Harvey and Matz), of course.
I am cautiously optimistic for 2018.