You know, we heard a lot of kvetching about the Mets playing guys out of position, supposed Stone Hands Pete Alonso, etc., and how it negatively impact the team's defense.
Well, one measure of defensive competence and legerdemain is unearned runs.
The Mets ranked 9th out of 30 teams in baseball in unearned runs allowed at just 49. Oakland excelled at 34, and teams 2 through 8 allowed between 41 and 48 runs, with 3 teams at 48 unearned runs. So, had the Mets allowed just 2 fewer unearned runs, they would have ranked 6th.
Not bad.
Seven teams allowed 70 or more unearned runs, with Seattle topping out at 95, or roughly twice as many as the Mets.
Yes, the Mets were 19th in errors at 99 (Seattle worst at 132, St Louis best at 66), but only 4 teams had fewer than 80 errors, and had the Mets had just 9 fewer errors, they would have been 11th.
Lastly, the Mets' three error leaders had not-abnormal error levels:
SS Amed Rosario - 17 in 153 games
1B Pete Alonso - 12 in 156 games - he totally exceeded expectations
3B Todd Frazier - 12 in 123 games.
My conclusion?
The defense was OK - not great, but far from terrible.
My second conclusion?
The focus for 2020 remains improving the pitching staff; the hitting will be fine, and the defense (despite kvetching) will be solid.
If you'd like to provide another perspective, based on advanced defensive metrics, be my guest.
6 comments:
As I have said in the past, MIDDLE FIELD DEFENSE in the kwy to success here.
Catcher, pitcher, second base, shortstop, center fielder.
We have"
Ramos, Cano, Rosario, and Nimmo
DEFENSIVELY... does this float our boat in 2020?
Mack, true - but those 4 guys (if healthy) will provide more offense (perhaps significantly more) than the Mets usually get from those positions.
If Gimenez keeps it up, and is not traded, he could boost the D for those four spots sometime in 2020.
Nice article, Tom.
Like most fans, I simply accepted the media driven narrative that the team's defense was horrible. The
statistics often paint a different picture, as you stated.
I think we can win with average defense.........CF is still the biggest void, IMO.
Mike, if Cespedes truly is healthy, I can live with Conforto, Nimmo, Cespedes, and a better overall defensive CF than Lagares; McNeil and JDD can also get outfield reps
That is potentially a TON of offense. Even if the OF defense is sub par.
If you're scoring 5+ runs per game no one will give a flying whatever about defense.
Reese, I'd much rather have the best offense and worst defense, rather than the worst offense and the best defense.
Too many past years where the Mets did have the worst offense did that to me.
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