Tom Brennan - METS SIMILARITIES IN 2015 AND 2018?
The Mets in mid-2015 looked pretty awful and hopeless.
They could not hit. Articles were being written mid way through the season that it was the Mets' worst scoring team since 1968's squad scored 473 runs.
I recall writing that in mid-July 2015, several part timers had several hundred at bats and were hitting collectively in the .180s.
In fact, the Excruciating Eight - Dilson Herrera, Darrel Ceciliani, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Eric Campbell, Johnny Monell, John Mayberry, Danny Muno, and Anthony Recker - hit a collective and incomprehensibly bad .184 (129 hits in 702 at bats, with those 702 pathetic at bats constituting an astounding 13.5% of all non-pitcher Mets at bats in 2015).
I recall writing that in mid-July 2015, several part timers had several hundred at bats and were hitting collectively in the .180s.
In fact, the Excruciating Eight - Dilson Herrera, Darrel Ceciliani, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Eric Campbell, Johnny Monell, John Mayberry, Danny Muno, and Anthony Recker - hit a collective and incomprehensibly bad .184 (129 hits in 702 at bats, with those 702 pathetic at bats constituting an astounding 13.5% of all non-pitcher Mets at bats in 2015).
I thought of including 0 for 8 Anthony Young in that total, but he somehow managed to score 9 runs mostly as a pinch runner, so I will leave him out.
Mets regulars weren't hitting much either through mid-July.
Yet the team was hanging fairly close to the division lead at that time, and Sandy Alderson went out and got pre-gimpy Yoenis Cespedes, Juan Uribe, and Kelly Johnson.
They promptly and improbably went from the poorest scoring team in the majors to the highest scoring team over the remaining few months, and hurtled on into the World Series.
The errant throw home by Lucas Duda, though, was sadly just seen on the Hubble telescope as it sailed past Pluto. Astronomers, however, are thrilled. Duda has already been told he will be the head of NASA when he retires.
The errant throw home by Lucas Duda, though, was sadly just seen on the Hubble telescope as it sailed past Pluto. Astronomers, however, are thrilled. Duda has already been told he will be the head of NASA when he retires.
It is what I love about baseball. The improbable pennant surge. Always a chance for magic. Mets Magic.
Rarely in pro football or basketball will a team with less-than-elite talent be able to ignite and go on a tear like that.
In basketball, for instance, no matter how hot your team got, there is always the Lebron James or Stephen Curry wall that is too high to be scaled. President Trump agrees.
In 2018, the Mets start like a ball of fire at 13-3, then turn into a ball of wax melting in a blazing sun, going 6-15 over their next 21 games. "I'M MEL-TING!"
Obituaries were being written:
"Ohh, the season that began with such great promise and joy died much too soon. We all have experienced Dark Knights, but at least we could cling fondly to the memory of those first 16 games. RIP, 2018."
Except the scrambling Mets swept the D Backs, have now won 5 of 6, Jason Vargas went from hamate to primate to so great, and the obituary script got shredded and discarded.
24-19 looks a whole lot better than 19-18 did just a few days ago after their 6-15 nosedive.
24-19 looks a whole lot better than 19-18 did just a few days ago after their 6-15 nosedive.
Will the Mets make the playoffs?
Heck if I know. Ask Mack! I just work here.
Heck if I know. Ask Mack! I just work here.
What I do know is that there is a high likelihood that, similar to 2015, we are about to add Yoenis Cespedes, and other talent named Todd Frazier and Kevin Plawecki.
Perhaps even Anthony Swarzak in a few weeks, if someone can identify him from his picture on milk cartons and bring him back home.
Those impressive "upgrades" - this time due to injury recovery and not via trade - could turbo-charge this team (although that Anthony Mesoraco via trade thing is looking purty derned good right now). ROCCO, ROCCO!
Their absence, along with the highly anticipated and recent departure of daredevil Flying Wallenda Juan Lagares, who never met a disabled list he didn't like, has had one side benefit - getting other guys innings and at bats they would not otherwise have gotten, and thus having them more ready to be strong contributors going forward.
Brandon Nimmo smiles daily now. Philippians 4:13, bro'.
Maybe, just maybe, this 2018 team has a 2015 run in it.
And it doesn't have the "whiff" of 2015's Kirk and Muno, among other non-hitters, which is good right there.
Stay tuned. It's 2015 again. Maybe better.
14 comments:
Tom -
Make the playoffs?
As soo as I start writing and call for the total overall of this team, starting with trading both Jacob deGrom and Noah Syndergaard, the team starts winning.
As I write this, they are only one game back in both the wild card race and the division title.
I don't have this answer right now. The team seems to be committed to old fart baseball and I guess we should keep it that way until the all-star break, where things could be re-evaluated.
I love the optimism and you could be right.
One possible difference is that the division is much stronger then it was in 2015. If you recall, the Nats had a off year that season and they cleared the decks for the Mets to slip past them with out anyone else in the way.
This year, the Braves and Phillies look much tougher, as well as the Nats who are scuffling for now, but still right there.
It will take quite a run to get past all three of them.
I'm with you Tom. Mets fans are wired for negativity. Maybe I'm too optimistic but it's hard for me to count a team out until we're at least into July.
I didn't realize we'd gotten Devin's brother Anthony in that trade as well. That makes it an even better deal :)
When that season started to turn around was when small role player additions helped improve the roster -- Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe. Then came the bigger ones later with Yoenis Cespedes, Tyler Clippard and Addison Reed. Of course, into each life some O'Flaherty must fall, too.
I hate to debate a mate, but it's hamate to so great to Primate.
Reese, you get to my age, folks don't all look alike, but names become interchangeable!! I catch most of the names I mess up before press time. LOL.
Tonight is a huge game - if Wheeler can get on board, maybe, just maybe, this team's starters can be collectively dangerous. "If" usually is a nonworking word in Mets' vocabulary, but Matz, Wheeler and Vargas might just surprise us.
Erica, they just need to make sure Frazier and Cespedes are healthy when they return. I heard they might be considering Jose Bautista, which got me real nervous about Cespedes.
After all, they seemed undecided as to whether to put Cespedes on the DL in the first place, so it seemed minor, and you surely would have thought he'd be back after his 10 day DL sentence, and if so, where would Bautista fit?
So if Bautista is being considered, will Yo return shortly - or not?
Tomorrow's column advocates how to improve the roster with the addition of role players and the elimination of those folks not getting it done.
Why do people view realistic as negativity? this team was flawed and bad...
Frazier was an improvement... But that does not make him good. He is not Ventura when we formed the best Defense in baseball.
Bruce? We couldn't give him away for a decent return last year and we sign him for 3 years? 3 YEARS? at best we should have signed him for 1 year if at all...
we waste waste waste money year after year one these avg to below avg players... heck i almost wish we would operate as a small market team over this middle of the road go no where philosophy that this management and ownership employ.
Looks at the talent the Marlins gave away last year...
I cannot remember a group of home grown players in the mets history like the ones they gave away. and they do it all the time...
Eddie, no arguments.
And they are lucky - getting Syndergaard when they wanted Anthony Gose, getting gold in Jake deGrom despite being just a 9th rounder. It could be a whole lot worse. They got lucky.
Tom that's a great point... If not for that what would sandy have to show for his tenure... I really blame Selig... Selig did not go after the wilpons like he did the Dodgers ownership because of their friendship and he recommended sandy to them...
Eddie, I totally agree with you on Frazier and Bruce. Especially Bruce - and not just because he's been absolutely terrible so far. This team is definitely flawed. And maybe they are bad. For me, it's just too early to tell.
Erica, it almost always seems these deals are a year or two too long. Some like Wright and Santana, even longer. How to avoid that? Developing high quality guys thru the system.
The collective impact of Conforto, Smith, Nimmo, and Cecchini at the major league level has been well below average. And you pay for that by signing free agents of uncertain future competence due to aging and/or injury.
Tom,
Definitely. I'd love to have a home grown core of players. I think that's the goal for every team in pretty much every sport (except maybe basketball). But traditionally, we just absolutely suck at developing position players.
Can we chalk it all up to poor drafting? Or is there something else in the system that's broken? I'm guessing it's a combination of the two. Not to mention that signing free agents further kills your draft/farm when you lose picks.
yeah exactly Erica
can you just imagine what we would be saying if we didn't sign KROD but had that pick and Trout still available... what would we be saying today????
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