Tom Brennan - DAVE AND JOSE
Ten-to-twelve years ago, Jose Reyes and David Wright were perhaps the most coveted left side of the infield of any team in baseball (except, perhaps, for Jeter and A Rod from a nearby club.
Arguably the best left side IF tandem the Mets ever had.
2018 is a different story. Jose again has proven that he needs 5 months of spring training (Feb-June) to get rolling.
This year, he was hitting a sub-anemic .139 through June 9.
In case you are calendar-challenged, that is roughly 73 days (40%) into this 180+ day long season.
This year, he was hitting a sub-anemic .139 through June 9.
In case you are calendar-challenged, that is roughly 73 days (40%) into this 180+ day long season.
Since then, once-fast-twitch Jose is 23 for 99 (.232), an acceptable pace for a whole season from a utility player, but the first 73 days count.
Jose thru August 12 is hitting .193 with 12 RBIs in 171 ABs.
Jose thru August 12 is hitting .193 with 12 RBIs in 171 ABs.
Grade? F.
Last season?
Hitting as low as .199 as late as June 29 ,roughly the season's halfway point.
After hitting a Mets-season-damaging .095 through April 22.
He did get hot during essentially meaningless late season games to finish at .246.
Probably he deserves a C+ season overall for 2017, but since timing is everything, and when the season was early, potential-filled, and in the balance, he (and Curtis Granderson) did not hit a lick, as the team sunk early:
I give Jose a C- for 2017.
Many of us wondered frequently and aloud this year as to why Jose Reyes is still with the team, given his comatose early season starts in 2018.
Answer?
Almost definitely management envisioning a David Wright and Jose Reyes nostalgia and honor tour in September.
So let's move on to Wright. David played his first minor league rehab game on August 12, with an eye on a September return. The odds of David playing beyond 2018 seem extremely long, having only played 75 of a possible 600+ games since the beginning of 2015.
David also turns 36 in December, around the same time as Reyes, an age where baseball becomes challenging for really healthy guys, and almost insurmountably tough for a guy like David who has faced his severe health challenges.
David also turns 36 in December, around the same time as Reyes, an age where baseball becomes challenging for really healthy guys, and almost insurmountably tough for a guy like David who has faced his severe health challenges.
It will be indeed nostalgic and touching to see both of these players, once considered by me to be potential Hall of Famers if everything went right in their careers.
We will (assuming Wright can get ready enough to be activated in September) get our chance to applaud and think of what might have been.
Sadly, it has not gone that way for either player.
We will (assuming Wright can get ready enough to be activated in September) get our chance to applaud and think of what might have been.
Then hopefully both will retire.
Then let's turn the page to 2019.
This team has a lot of work to do.
TIM TEBOW: happy 31st birthday.
Hope the healing process accelerates.
Give them an appearance in the last home series
ReplyDeleteWright, unless the pain is a problem, can certainly at least pinch hit a few times. Seems he can get by in the field, too, so let them start a few games together. Should sell a lot of tix, I'd think.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the Tim Tebow farce ends soon
ReplyDeleteThe Tim Tebow farce to sell jerseys and tickets is mirrored by the hypothetical left side of the infield envisioned for 2018. I have no problem if they want that one-game blatant money grab, but glue Reyes' butt to the bench until that day so as to use this time to evaluate more deserving players.
ReplyDeleteRusty, Tim Tebow in just his second season, in a league as high as AA, hit .344 his last 5 weeks before he got hurt. Pretty amazing. He started out as a farce, but those last 5 weeks tell me it no longer was one. Considering his compressed time since starting baseball, it certainly seemed to indicate he could be legit, because he was clearly in ascent.
ReplyDeleteWill the hamate injury screw up his chances of making the majors? Time will tell. He might very well have made it this September - in his 2nd year. And at least somewhat deserved it.
I wrote a few times about Anthony Dirocie this year, breaking out in Kingport in now his 3rd or 4th year - but he has slowed up considerably in Brooklyn since his promotion, 3 levels below where Tebow was. So Tebow has done much better, much faster.
Relatively speaking, Tebow, in the short time allotted, has in my mind outperformed everyone not named Alonso and Conforto in recent Mets minors history.
Tom I’m sorry but if Tebow ever sets foot on Citi Field as a Mets Player I’ll eat my words (as well as a heaping portion of ludafisk) .
DeleteReese, I agree on Reyes...let Reyes get up enough to get over .200 by season's end - that's it.
ReplyDeleteTebow is a farce to me now only in the sense that winning clubs like the Red Sox would not have even considered him, because they are serious about competing for World Series. The Mets are not, they just hope they get lucky.
Things like this is so Dumb...
ReplyDeleteas if the last memory necessary is to have Dwright and reyes take the field... Why do players need to have to go out on their own terms? Some are blessed but actually most that do leave before they are made to leave...
They have both been great Mets and both Paid well... they dont need to seen again on the field...
Rusty, you're on! I really believe he would have been up this Sept had he not gotten hurt (and not badly slumped).
ReplyDeleteHe may have to wait until Sept 2019 now, if he can recover. This injury was very unfortunate to his bid.
Eddie, I am sure the Mets have given great amounts of thought on how to squeeze every last $$ out of the David Farewell Tour (and hopefully Jose as a package deal). It is all about the bottom line.
ReplyDeleteA David Wright day could boost attendance by 20,000 spending customers, and if he could play in a bunch of Sept games, maybe they could add 100,000 in attendance, maybe more including road games. Lots of dough to recoup their Wright-related financial losses, insurance notwithstanding.
They should all go back and study the career of Johnny Bench. When he realized he couldn't get it done any longer, he hung it up. Ditto Sandy Koufax.
ReplyDeleteKoufax had little incentive to stick around - he made in a season what Max Scherzer makes in an inning - oh, but that is before adjusting for inflation :)
ReplyDeleteMack Man:
ReplyDeleteVery sorry to hear about your LSS.
If it's ligament (ligamentum flavumcaused, you may want to look into a minimally invasive lumbar decompression or called "mild R" which is an outpatient option remedy to lessen the pain and improve mobility.
A surgeon uses an x-ray and an injected or oral substance (such as iodine or a suspension of barium sulfate which is opaque to x-rays). The non-invasive procedure widens the spinal canal to lessen nerve root compression, thus making it a lot easier to move about again more freely.
Seventy tends to be the medical profession's "cut-off date" for mopst operations. It's their way of saying, "You be on your own now."
If this is so with you, and you still want an operation, then I'd probably research going to another country, maybe like France or even Canada, and see what they can do for you there.
Living in severe pain is not ever going to be fixed by anyone's pain pills unfortunately, and there is usually an endpoint to just how much pain they can spare a patient.
You may want to also explore a really good/wise nature food store and research natural remedies that could help you manage the pain.
Hitting the web never hurts either.
Today, with so many diseases, brand new bacteriums and viruses (possibly of third world origin), the state of pollution up the proverbial ying/yang (mostly air and water caused), a person absolutely must do their own diligent online research for everything that they encounter hurtful health wise just to have a chance to survive this polluted planet called earth.
If you go to any doctor today, any specialization, a patient can become dependent upon the depth of that doctor's knowledge and experience. This fact can however be life or death to that patient depending on how broad scoped that doctor actually is and do they keep up with the latest technologies and state-of-the-art newer therapies. Getting more than one opinion is always wise.
For instance here, up until very recently, medical schools only taught nutrition for one week in their entire college curriculum for students to become doctors. One week. And nutrition is probably what? A: The very best prevention to serious human and animal diseases known to man, along with a daily exercise programs.
All the best to you Mr. Mack! Be thinking of you! Do the rosary thing!
From Managing Pain to Managing The Mets Bullpen
ReplyDeleteFirst off, another great NY Mets game except for when Brandon Nimmo was hit by a pitch on his back batting hand. At first, I thought he was hit by sniper fire or something or shrapnel from like a missile. Thank goodness that he wasn't, although that pitch looked exceedingly painful and made me cringe just watching it.
But other than that, it was another great effort by the NY Mets. Everyone got hits, everyone contributed.
What more can a fan ask for really? Overtake those nasty Nats. They are begging to be overrun!
Actually, I think Sandy Koufax was dealing with severe pain from arthritis, if I recall correctly. It's a compromise of the immunity system in causation, possibly genetic too. Same with Crohn's and Ulcerated Colitis. They all come from a patient's compromised immunity system.
ReplyDeleteIf you have any of these, go to the web and look up just how to build up your immunity system again. They have vitamins and supplements, diet and exercise suggestions there.
As always talk to your doctor for help too.
Tom:
ReplyDeleteOn your Tim Tebow "farce comment" above.
The Red Sox have probably the best outfield in all of baseball. Two players (Betts and JD Martinez) who are both serious considerations for the AL MVP Award. They have like eighty homeruns between them. In between, they have Jackie Bradley who is hands down the best CF glove in baseball today, that I have seen anyway. Plus, he is hitting pretty well right now too and has amazing speed on the bases.
So yes, the Red Sox may not have wanted to draft Tim Tebow. So what?
The Mets on the other hand have two young corner outfielders still in discovery mode, and a fairly established CF in Austin Jackson. It's a different situation than the Red Sox entirely.
Here's the thing though, Cespedes earliest possible return is like June 2019, half the season will be almost over by then. I like the current Mets outfield of Comforto, Jackson, and Nimmo, plus either Joey Bats or Jay Bruce for bench depth. There is the possibility that Jay Bruce could be good again if his hip injury isn't too sveere.
So if the Mets were to add into this either a Tim Tebow or a Zach Borenstein more, that player would bring a little more homerun capability to this 2019 outfield.
As an example here, say Austin Jackson got hurt. Then the Mets already have Comforto and Nimmo in the corners, one could easily slide over and cover CF.
I see considerable balance with all this.
Forgot to mention the Bullpen above, my bad.
ReplyDeleteIt's still without a definite closer. Heck, I'll do it!
Who do I like so far in this quest?
Probably Wahl or Bashlor right now.
Wahl needs a little bit tighter management of his pitches and a beard trim so he isn't "ZZ Top" by season end. The guy could be Superman underneath or Tug McGraw even, but no one would ever know.
Bashlor needs to maybe slow it down just a tad, and let the batters think too much before he delivers the ball. Maybe get that second pitch offering up to more times being used. Consider a viable third pitch over time maybe too, so he has it all, all the bananas. He's very aggressive, which is good. But coolness with aggressiveness can work too. Watch some Chris Sale.
Blevins, I like him as a lefty set-up lately.
Drew Smith, I still am seeing him as a possible starter for some reason. He has a nice pitch selection going. Otherwise, a middle reliever role. Definitely should make the Mets in 2019 out of camp one way or the other.
Jamie Callahan. I have never once seen him pitch, but his online videos look good. Hope he is back really soon.
Who do I think is the guy that the Mets are hoping on for 2019? A: I think maybe righty Gerson Bautista, the 103 mph righty reliever. If he is ready by ST that would be a good thing. But who knows? An idea: Maybe Winter Ball could help him further get ready? Sure would be nice though to have him vying for the closer role.