Mack - FWIW: Matt Adams, Joander Suarez, Startling Rotation Ranking, Trade Proposal, Opening Day Roster,

Good morning.

First baseman Matt Adams was granted his request to be released by the Mets.

Adams was a 23rd round draft pick by St. Louis, in 2009, out of Slippery Rock University (PA).

He played for 10 seasons in the majors, first with St. Louis than Atlanta and Washington.  He hit .261/.310/.469/, with 116 home runs in 2,336 at-bats. He was always a glove first player, with some pop.

I was sad to hear this. I thought he stood an outside chance to be named to the 60 this year, but it seems obvious that he was told different and that probably began the process of leaving.

A great AAAA option at first in a normal year that had minor league baseball.

He almost came back to haunt us when the Braves picked him up and played him against us on opening day.

This seems to lock up  David Thompson starting next year in Syracuse and almost prospect Jeremy Vasquez right behind him somewhere in AA.

Mack's Mets welcome Mets pitcher, Joander Suarez, to our family of readers.

Suarez signed with the Mets as an International free agent and debuted with both DSL teams in 2018. He opened up 2019 as part of the GCL-Mets rotation and put up incredible numbers for a 19-year old:

11-games, six starts, 1-0, 1.79, 1.07, 40.1-IP, 47-K

Baseball still hasn't decided how many minor league teams the Mets will have, but my guess he will pitch at the next level, probably A-Columbia, along side Josh Wolf, JT Ginn, and Matt Allen.

Now THAT is going to be one hell of a rotation!

The people at Fangraphs ranked the rotations going into opening day:

9. Mets

Name	IP	K/9	BB/9	HR/9	BABIP	LOB%	ERA	FIP	WAR
Jacob deGrom	76	10.9	2.2	1.1	.307	77.7%	3.11	3.16	2.1
Marcus Stroman	66	7.4	2.9	0.9	.309	72.2%	3.89	3.94	1.1
Rick Porcello	65	7.8	2.3	1.5	.309	70.9%	4.59	4.58	0.7
Steven Matz	59	8.4	3.1	1.3	.311	72.7%	4.35	4.41	0.7
Michael Wacha	59	7.6	3.6	1.3	.309	71.3%	4.63	4.72	0.5
David Peterson	17	7.5	3.5	0.9	.313	71.1%	4.13	4.21	0.3
Walker Lockett	7	6.6	2.3	1.3	.312	69.9%	4.57	4.58	0.1
Corey Oswalt	3	7.5	2.9	1.6	.308	69.4%	4.94	4.97	0.0
Total	353	8.4	2.8	1.2	.309	72.7%	4.09	4.13	5.5

Some thoughts...

1. Fangraphs did say that the Mets rotation would have challenged for the top spot in this survey if Noah Syndergaard was healthy.

2. I found it interesting that they rank Peterson as the SP6, but the Mets chose to pitch Oswalt against the Yankees this past weekend. Instead, they had Peterson pitch in an intra-squad game that included him drilling a fastball off Michael Conforto's wrist.

3. I assume that, with Lockett now on the DL, it could elevate Seth Lugo into a possibility here, depending upon how well the pen does early.

4. This was written before Stroman went down, but I threw this up anyway because I do expect him back sometime next month.

I am curious whether you would make this trade, to a team that is on record that they will try and reduce their payroll commitments:

Mets trade:  

2B Robinson Cano (but agree to pay one half of the existing $72mil owed him in 2021-2024

SS Andre Gimenez

The Mets receive, and assume the 2021-26 existing monies of $210mil of.... 3B Nolen Arenado

For me, there was one exciting and another disappointing decision when the 30-man opening day roster was named.

There never was going to be many surprises here. The players on the 30 additional players on the 60 were basically the 2020 Syracuse roster and it's no big secret that our affiliate talent doesn't begin to bubbly over until around 2023. 

The promotion of Andres Gimenez was a no-brain decision. He was our top talent scheduled to play in Syracuse so, since there is no minor league baseball, the Mets decided he was a better utility infield option than others being considered. How many games he will play is in question, but who cares? It's more that the zero he would have played in Syracuse this season.

For me, the disappointment was the passing on David Peterson and, instead, naming Corey Oswalt to the rotation. Peterson has had a great camp and we have seen numerous times what we get when we pitch Oswalt at the major league level.