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| Tom Brennan Pic - Pete Alonso at the plate - squint and you can see him! |
The battle for a 25 man roster spot (or spots) for the duo of Dominic Smith and Pete Alonso continues.
Both are doing so well so far. Epic heavyweight battle stuff, in fact.
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| Ed Delaney picture - Dom Smith and Luis Guillorme |
Whenever a player brings things like this up, one can view it skeptically - is this a lame excuse, and how long will it be before we figure it out?
What convinces me, though, that this is real and it will last is Smith's describing the sluggishness and sub-optimal performance he exhibited pre-treatment. He indicates he is feeling far more energized.
I'm sure sleeping better helps in weight containment, too.
I'm sure sleeping better helps in weight containment, too.
And, remarkably, he has indicated that the sharpness he now feels translates over to something vitally important to a hitter - fastballs seem to have dramatically slowed down.
Smith said it seemed like 95 MPH fastballs were coming in at 103 MPH last year, pre-treatment - and now a 95 MPH heater comes in looking like 95. As in much more hittable.
Which tells me, he could be about to really break out and dispel the skepticism we have all felt about his play over the past two seasons. Which means it would be good to attempt to find a way to keep him on the roster and get him some real playing time during the season.
He did pull an 0 for 4 Sunday, but is still hitting .349 through Monday, and heck, he was hitting against the electric Stephen Strasburg.
As well as Smith is hitting, he lacks the raw, brute power of the first base heir apparent, though.
Poundin' Pete Alonso is my nickname for the man who launches rockets from the batter's box with regularity. He has a crazy high 1.076 OPS thru Monday and, at the game I was at on Wednesday, on at bats that ended in outs, he skied out to deep right and just missed a double down the left field line.
He is looking more and more like a power hitter who can really hit, too.
No errors thru so far, he is getting noticed for his so-far-solid fielding and base running. The Tampa-born Alonso clearly loves the Florida sunshine and hopefully will find chilly Citifield to his liking just as much as the season starts.
Pete has the edge on Smith in strikeout rate, with 10 in 53 plate appearances, vs. Smith's 13 in 47 at bats. And both have 9 ribbies.
The Jed Lowrie and Todd Frazier injuries seem like they will keep the latter duo on the DL come opening day, so Alonso and Smith look more and more to be seizing the opportunity, and seem to be increasingly likely to be heading north with the Mets in a few days.
Good stuff. Nothing better than young guys succeeding, as far as I am concerned.
Off topic a bit, let me add that ageless Robbie Cano is smoking hot at .475, and Keon Broxton, with a .429 OBP, is far outshining the anemic Juan Lagares (.182/.200/.227 so far) in the battle for first righty outfielder off the bench when the season starts. If Juan does not wake up, he could be gone (big contract or not) once Lowrie or Frazier are ready to return.
Have a great day - and I hope you get to first base!
He did pull an 0 for 4 Sunday, but is still hitting .349 through Monday, and heck, he was hitting against the electric Stephen Strasburg.
As well as Smith is hitting, he lacks the raw, brute power of the first base heir apparent, though.
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| Tom Brennan pic |
Poundin' Pete Alonso is my nickname for the man who launches rockets from the batter's box with regularity. He has a crazy high 1.076 OPS thru Monday and, at the game I was at on Wednesday, on at bats that ended in outs, he skied out to deep right and just missed a double down the left field line.
He is looking more and more like a power hitter who can really hit, too.
No errors thru so far, he is getting noticed for his so-far-solid fielding and base running. The Tampa-born Alonso clearly loves the Florida sunshine and hopefully will find chilly Citifield to his liking just as much as the season starts.
Pete has the edge on Smith in strikeout rate, with 10 in 53 plate appearances, vs. Smith's 13 in 47 at bats. And both have 9 ribbies.
The Jed Lowrie and Todd Frazier injuries seem like they will keep the latter duo on the DL come opening day, so Alonso and Smith look more and more to be seizing the opportunity, and seem to be increasingly likely to be heading north with the Mets in a few days.
Good stuff. Nothing better than young guys succeeding, as far as I am concerned.
Off topic a bit, let me add that ageless Robbie Cano is smoking hot at .475, and Keon Broxton, with a .429 OBP, is far outshining the anemic Juan Lagares (.182/.200/.227 so far) in the battle for first righty outfielder off the bench when the season starts. If Juan does not wake up, he could be gone (big contract or not) once Lowrie or Frazier are ready to return.
Have a great day - and I hope you get to first base!
15 comments:
I'd have no problem with Alonso & Smith sharing 1B, not as strict platoon, but to push each other.
The last thing I want to see is Todd Frazier standing over there at 1B, hawking his stupid t-shirts.
It's been a shame about Lowrie's injury. Hopefully this doesn't cause a slow start for him.
Lagares is another holdover that Brodie couldn't flip. Just untradeable. Just can't make a contribution offensively. Leaks in some singles here and there. A flare, a four-hopper. But the glove . . . sigh. $9.0 million.
Mostly, though: hats off to Dom Smith, who entered this ST as a dead man walking. Nobody counting on him for anything. He had to play great, day in and day out, in order to turn heads and change minds. He's done that. Now all he has to do is keep it going. Respect what he's accomplished. Kid showed us all something. (I'd put Frazier in this category now; I just don't want to see him play baseball, though maybe he gets starts vs. LHP and delivers. If he starts over McNeil or Smith/Alonso vs. RHP, it would be hard to stomach.)
On Alonso: I'll defer to whatever they do with him, regarding the incredibly stupid MLB rules. It just doesn't make much sense to bring him North. At same time, I kind of love the boldness of the idea, the statement to the clubhouse.
Again: I don't know if this team has enough to win NL East, but should be in it until the end. They have a legitimate shot in a suddenly tough division. Makes me look back last few years when only the Nats were trying to compete in the entire division. It was all there for the taking. Brodie has a much, much steeper hill to climb.
Jimmy P
Jimmy, I get into Lagares a bit tomorrow - he has stiff competition from Carlos Gomez and Keon Broxton - some guys are done at an early age - maybe Lagares is. Once again, we run into the convenience but stupidity of back loaded contracts - Juan's first 3 years of this 4 year deal, he made $14 million, but this year alone, $9 million. If this was an even 4 year deal, he'd be making just $5.75 million, not $9 million, and would look less stupid in terms of that deal if they wish to cut him loose.
This will be a very tough division, so unless Pete slumps badly over the next week, I want him on the roster from day 1. He adds immediate danger to the line up.
I personally like this hitting squad if healthy...Rosario, McNeil, Conforto, Nimmo, Alonso, Cano, Ramos, Lowrie (when he returns), and perhaps Smith, JD Davis, d'Arnaud, Broxton, and one of Gomez, R Davis, and Lagares for the last spot until (ugh) Frazier returns. Seems like a top 10 hitting squad to me, potentially.
I have a close friend who had a huge sleep deprivation issue. It caused him to have a few mini-strokes (TIA's) and his abilities at work were severely compromised. Thankfully, his new doctor figured out that he had a horrific case of sleep apnea and put him on a CPAP immediately. He's since lost weight, has huge amounts of energy, is getting a restful 8 hours of sleep and has been doing a hell of a lot better at work. We were just discussing this last week- and I told him about a baseball player having a similar process without (thankfully) the TIA's. He said that he could only imagine how much more difficult it would be to go without restful sleep, moving beds regularly, having discrepancies in diet and having to go all out athletically each and every day. No one should minimize what he was going through, and yes, Tom, it's exciting to see how well he's responding to his treatments. Like everything else we don't understand, people tend to either minimize or look down at things like a sleep disorder, yet, like any other disorder, if you or a loved one suffered from it, you'd change your mind in a heartbeat.
I don't think Frazier is going to be out very long, so unfortunately the thought of having a platoon of Pistol Pete & Dominating Dom won't be a long-lasting one; but here's hoping both of these talented kids keep doing what they're doing and make this an extremely difficult decision to make on roster placement!
David, I feel like I have symptoms like Smith described - I did go for a sleep test once with the CPAP, the friggin' room was shivering-freezing, it was a bad experience and I never followed thru, even though the doctor felt I should - I think I am going to re-visit it.
If I were the Mets, I am not returning Frazier before late April at the earliest - if he can end up with a strain like that in warm weather, I'd be very concerned that it could recur in cool weather. In NY at the end of April, the normal high is only about 66, normal low 52, so I would be concerned about him coming back before then.
In terms of health and wellness, sleep tends to be undervalued.
People talk about exercise and proper nutrition, but if you don't get adequate rest, the body-mind just isn't going to perform at peak levels.
Tom: Gomez can't go North. He's had 2 ABs and is coming off a number of rough seasons. He's insurance. Very hard to cut Lagares and Frazier at this point. I think you've got to play it out for a bit. They both have potential and both serve as solid backups in case of emergency. Come the end of May, it will be easier to cut ties.
A lot of risk in going with a rookie tandem at 1B. Both should go through periods where they struggle mightily. For short-term, I understand the role Frazier might have. My worry is Calloway mismanaging the situation, though my sense is that Brodie wouldn't stand around and let it happen.
And, yes, J.D. Davis is an interesting figure in this discussion.
I like to ask one question about every player: What if he just disappeared? Vanished, gone. You lost the player, but saved the money. Would you take that exchange? When the answer is yes, well, that's a powerful statement about the value of that player.
Jimmy P
Off topic question:
Gio Gonzalez signs with the Yankees for $3 million??
Why would the Mets not have pursued him in that price range??
Bob -
Could be that Gio did not want to be a Met.
I am writing about my thoughts on things later this week, especially first base.
My spin is...
if Brodie is a man of his word, the best person will play first come opening day.
That would be Alonso.
Jimmy P, my take on two rookie first basemen is: Smith is not a rookie. Alonso is, of course. Smith has 332 major league plate appearances, clearly unimpressive in sum and substance so far, but guys do get better after an early break-in period many times. He is better conditioned, older, and now more energized from the CPAP. Maybe this is his time.
I'd rather try to roll with the two kids initially, with Frazier as a fall back, if and when needed.
I think Frazier is a $2 million player now, Lagares a $1 million - to -$2 million player. Sadly, they are due to make much more this year.
Tom,
I understand the skepticism when discussing Smith's sleep apnea. Before I was diagnosed with it myself, I could barely make the 40 minute trip from work to home and vice versa. I am a school teacher and twice I went into that foggy la la land just before you doze off and did it while I was standing in front of the class teaching. I was that exhausted and I woke up exhausted. Most of the time when a player says he's done this or that in the off season and expect it will turn his season around, I take it with a grain of salt. The sleep apnea stuff is real.
Tom,
Follow through with the sleep apnea test and get it fixed as sleep apnea leads to heart disease and a variety of other ailments.
Holmer, thanks so much for the input - I will be pursuing the CPAP in the weeks to come - I called today to have an annual physical on April Fools Day (I guess on April 1, I will have to ask the doctor everything twice to make sure I am getting the real story!), and will look to get a prescription for the device, or a referral to a specialist to get it. Dominic's story on apnea symptoms (lack of energy, fog, focus) was like a bulls eye for me. It is worth seeing if its results turn out to be as amazing for me as they have been for you and Dom Smith.
Sleep Apnea and Look A likes too
I once read that all living creatures from human, animal, and whatever the hell the politicians are really, have sleep apnea and for 10-30 seconds normally for up to 400 times a night too. i.e. If you have a dog that sleeps down by the kitchen, and you wake up one night and sneak down for a snack and there you notice, "Oh my God, my dog is not breathing", it is probably due to one of two things. A. It is having sleep apnea, a basically natural breathing event during sleep or (B) Your dog really is dead, probably from the boredom of living with you and your family. In other words here, it just chose the easy way out, it quit.
The problem with sleep apnea is that if not treated you could get diseases like HBP (high blood pressure), hammer toe, and things like the very popular lately Hepatitis Type 2. It can also become an issue for divorce. Ask your spouse you lucky dog!
Quick Look Alikes
1. Babe Ruth and Johnny Roventini
2. Luis Guillorme and Zach Brown
3. Pete Alonso and Ed Sheeran
4. Todd Frazier and James Corden
5. John Franco and Sam Smith
6. Howie Rose and Sam Rosen (You never see them both in the same place at the same exact time. Do you? Amazing!)
Sorry meant...Not Hepatitis but Diabetes Type 2. It's the peppers repeating no doubt. LOL
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