Far too many Mets pitched like Fauci
I would never beat a live horse. I love horsies.
But let me take a minute to soundly and roundly beat a dead horse.
The Mets, again this year, had a slew of horrific pitching performances.
How bad? Horrid, like I said. But you be the judge.
What, I might ask you, are the combined stats of the 14 man law firm of Wacha, Porcello, Matz, Gsellman, Lugo, Brach, Betances, Sewald, Kilome, Castro, Lockett, Smith, Jurado, and Strickland?
247 innings, 310 hits, 103 walks, 53 HRs, 8-26 win-loss record, and 203 runs allowed (7.4 runs per 9 innings).
Gosh-AWFUL!
The 247 innings of these 14 bumblers constituted an astonishing FORTY EIGHT PERCENT of all of the Mets' innings thrown in 2020.
The other 52% of the innings, by the good pitchers, involved just 105 runs allowed in 266 innings, or a solid 3.5 runs per 9 innings, less than half the rate of the previously mentioned 14 bumblers, and those good guys had a commendable 18-8 record.
I am sorry to include Seth Lugo in with these bumblers, only doing that because of his "above five" 5.15 ERA, which was the result of 2 horrendous late season starts that marred his 2020 season.
Without his 3-4 record, of course, the other 13 bumblers had a Roger Craig-like 5-22 record. Of course, Roger Craig (pitching for the early 1960s Mets) didn't deserve his 5-22, since when he compiled that record in 1963, his ERA was a solid 3.78, while the above 13 guys most certainly did deserve to compile so many losses and so few wins.
In 2018 and 2019, that bottom half of the entire pitching staff allowed more than 7 runs per 9 innings, too.
It is, IMO, THE KEY REASON that the Mets missed the playoffs the last three seasons. You sign junk, the results are junky.
So how horrific were the Awful 14?
Well the Dodgers, the pitching Gold Standard of all major league squads, had just 3 guys with an ERA over 5, and they went 4-4, while allowing 48 runs in 63 IP, a touch under 7 runs per 9.
That's 63 innings of bad compared to the Mets' sucky pitchers' 247 IP. While the sucky Mets hurlers aggregated 48% of the team's innings, for the Dodgers, their Sucky 3 pitchers totaled less than 12% of the LAD's total innings.
That's why the Dodgers win, and the Mets lose - the Dodgers have DRASTICALLY FEWER SUCKY PITCHERS.
Solution?
Make good and darned sure you have TRULY DEEP AND ABUNDANT quality pitching.
The Mets tried to fake it in that regard the last 3 years.
Result? It cost them the last 3 years.
Hoping sucky pitchers will not suck is not, it turns out TIME AND TIME AGAIN, a winning strategy.
Nope. It is a strategy for LOSERS.
Another perspective on why the Wilpons cannot leave fast enough. They have always done enough to LOSE.
How did Corey Oswalt not get on that list? Was he secretly good? I'm honest. I could have missed the fact that he did okay. I know he had a few decent outings, and maybe his limited time on the major league roster lead to him appearing as reliable.
ReplyDeleteI hope by now EVERYONE has read that Post article "Steve Cohan to blow up 'archaic Mets technology" so to your point Tom maybe now finally to quote the great Sam Cooke "a change is gonna come" and not a moment to soon.
ReplyDeleteAlso spot on article in Rising Apple "the Rays are about 10 quality relief pitchers deep on any given day ..Their team defense is always solid they don't run into outs on the bases and their fielders don't misplay balls in the infield or outfield. Wow how refreshing and when was the last time you could say that about us?
ReplyDeleteBob W, Oswalt was close to, but not quite, in that awful group.
ReplyDeleteGary, Tampa sure does the bullpen right.
ReplyDeleteI still think offense and defense have to be evaluated in tandem. The Mets, for instance, may have sub par defensive outfield, but it sure did hit. I love defense, but I love offense more.
Gary, I did an article on Saturday bringing up a point about offense and defense, and the care needed to not damage the offensive status quo.
ReplyDeletePart Uno
ReplyDeleteIt has been a longtime saying in baseball that, "I'd rather have a really good offense and an average defense, than a really good defense and an average offense."
Then the perfectionist who probably never played this game chimes in with, "Why can't a team have both for crying outloud? Is this still America or what?"
Truth is a team can have both. But it is kind of/sort of a seldom thing in MLB these days.
On this idea, some clarity...
I think that the 1969 Championship Mets were more of an above average defensive team, than an above average hitting team. This team was most about being pitching centered. And it beat a more dominant and well rounded Baltimore Oriole team in the WS.
Whereas the 1986 Championship Mets were more of an offensive weaponized team with really good pitching as well.
Q: So what in all this is apparent to you as the most consistent feature with both these NY Mets' Championships?
A: The pitching.
Q: So then what has been the most missing ingredient here since 1986?
A: The pitching at that higher level. A full house rotation. Consistency.
This is why (to me) the most important aspect of this team (the pitching) needs to really be highly accentuated this off season to get it all back to constructing a NY Mets traditionally outstanding five man rotation for 2021.
It must happen now.
By tradition it was supposed to be all about great starting pitching and a deadly closer. They got away from it though through carelessness and so-so scouting and drafting. Then rediscovered this obvious truth when the deGrom, Matz, Harvey, Syndergaard, and Wheeler starting wave arrived within a reasonable timeframe close to one another. And for a moment it worked well.
But that wave has exploded and left town now. Syndergaard got hurt, Harvey got wrecked, Wheeler got traded, and Matz fell apart at the seams. See what I am saying here? That wave is over.
For all the Mets lost at the end of the 2019 MLB season, we got Marcus Stroman and two veteran starters from other teams (and recently off arm injuries) in.
To me, this off season is about getting everything righted again with the pitching. Aside from adding in another catcher, the hitting and fielding will upgrade itself and work fine. Getting the eight man defense set in-place and not moving them all around should do it.
Building a better and smarter rotation around Jacob deGrom and eventually Noah Syndergaard, when he is healthy to go. Add in from within this organization young lefty starter David Peterson. Bring David to camp early (to work with a Mets staff of retired Mets pitchers) along with a few younger pitchers like Thomas Szapucki, Harol Gonzales, and maybe even someone lefty Daniel Zamora as well. Daniel was awesome when he first came up to the Mets. he had that killer curve working and fooling all the batters. Plus, he's a lefty. An interactive session to discuss with all the processes and mental approaches to pitching.
Start here.
Part Dos
ReplyDeleteIn addition to the above first part...
Make trades with other teams to bring in possibly three more new kid starters with higher level MiLB experience. Bring them along with Szapucki, Gonzales, Zamoro, and even Adonis Uceta (only 25) to this pitching mechanics and interactive chat session workout as well. Now you have potentially seven really good young kid arms in attendance to work out and interact mound thoughts with really good veteran Mets pitchers from years past.
Q: Why is this so important you ask?
A: Because the next wave here is 2-3 years away.
This 2021 starting pitching fix needs to be handled correctly this time. Not by just plugging in 31+ year old starters from other teams who were once good (The Wilpon Way), and then closing one's eyes and hoping for good results.
The three from within and three from outside this franchise could all come into play in 2021. The Mets have a few pretty good relievers down at Syracuse in Ryder Ryan and Stephen Nogosek that could be invited to this earlier camp also. But by having three more from outside through minor league trades and such, it would enhance the overall probability of being deeper. Thus eliminating older AAA relievers from this equation who should have been eliminated awhile ago but were not.
The road to success is sometimes all about the numbers and the Law of Averages. Make it happen here.