Leo, naturally, wants to know who was responsible before he turns into an ice cube.
So I made him a list. I checked it twice.
Read on to find out who’s been naughtiest in ripping a hole in that hull.
1. Steve Matz: Messrs. Syndergaard and Stroman both miss all of 2020 with maladies and what not. Needing him to step up hugely, Matz did not step up...but instead we threw up.
0-5, 9.64, 14 long balls in 30.2 IP. Where's the Dramamine?
So the 3 "S" Boys, Syndergaard, Stroman, and Stevie, combined for ZERO wins in 2020. In January, I thought they'd win 40.
2. Michael Wacha: mis-stepped when we needed him to step up. A 6.62 ERA, 1-4, and 9 homers in 34 innings.
3. Rick Porcello: the former Cy Young winner was a stone cold loser in 2020, going 1-7, 5.64 in 12 starts. That’s some low wins-to-starts ratio.
Amazingly, Matz, Wacha, and Porcello, in their combined 2-16 dreariness, somehow struck out more than a batter per inning (127 Ks in 124 innings). Then again, they faced an awful lot of batters, and the batters had to miss sometime, right?
Am I being too harsh here?
4. Wilson Ramos: expected to be a run producer, he produced zero runs in July, 8 in August, and 7 in September (6 of which came in 2 September games). Other than those 2 games, he compiled a mere 9 RBIs in 43 games, which qualifies him for Missing Persons posters.
5. Dellin Betances: in 11.2 innings, he allowed 10 or more runs, hits and walks, but did manage to fan 11.
He was one of several pitchers on the roster to be in the coveted 2.00+ Club, where all you needed to do was have a WHIP over 2.00. Thankfully, for all of us, he has an option to return in 2021.
6. Franklyn Kilome: we Mets fans anxiously wait for our top prospects to show up. Sometimes, we get a tad disappointed. In 11.1 innings, he put up "gaudy" stats: 14 hits, 14 runs, 5 homers, and 9 walks. Oh, and a 2.03 WHIP, which makes him an instant 2.00+ Club member.
7. Paul Sewald: in the category of “you can fool some of the people some of the time, but you fool major league hitters none of the time", Paul was limited to 6 innings, but still managed to give up 12 hits and 9 runs, and flash his 2.00+ Club membership card with a 2.67 WHIP.
Am I being too harsh here?
8. Billy Hamilton: now, there’s a guy who wishes he got to hit against a 2.00+ Club member, because Billy hit nilly (I created my own word there). Billy the Kid, as in "ya gotta be kidding me", went 1 for 22. He proved that hard to do (hitting below .050) is not the same as impossible to do.
9. Yoenis Cespedes: his first game dramatic homer was followed by 4 for 27 hitting with tons of K. La Potencia turned into La Absencia once again when he abruptly up and left the team. Muchos gratias, Senor. Adios, Amigo.
10. Amed Rosario: the rising star of 2019 did pick up the pace somewhat late in the 2020 season, but walking just 4 times in 150 plate appearances, posting a gosh-awful .272 on base percentage, and stealing no bases despite his speed, put him in the “why are there always Mets who puzzle the crap out of me?” category?
The above 10 would have had the makings of a pretty decent AA team, had there been minor league AA ball in 2020. There was, though, no AA baseball in 2020, and had there been, they probably wouldn’t have been pretty decent after all. AA players are generally better.
Am I being too harsh here?
Of course, others played little but managed to struggle in true Mets subs fashion.
Cordell, Sanchez, and Dozier combined to go 4 for 32. Ugly.
And a few supposed pitchers not named above, who thankfully didn't pitch much, did not manage to pitch as well as Luis Guillorme and Todd Frazier.
Walker Lockett, Hunter Strickland, and Ariel "the Mermaid" Jurado went 22 innings, with 29 hits and 20 runs allowed. Ugly.
To all of the above players, I suspect that the 1962 Mets would have said, "No thanks, try another team, we're good."
Now you know, Leo. Glug, glug.
8 comments:
Seth Lugo and Jeurys Familia seem to be missing from these lists.
I would have had Hughes on this list also,
Kinda makes you sick to think even with all those dreadful performances were in the playoffs if we win the last 3 games against the Nat's or if we signed Wheeler (another Jeffy blunder). The only real hope this off season from the last 12 is an ownership change thank God.
On top of having to be tortured for a few more years with Travis and Zach after those years of Murphy pain. We really need to stop making those mistakes and how fitting that Travis would turn into Johnny friggin Bench AND with the Braves ugh O.K. sorry I just needed to vent.
Lugo was a victim of a staff devoid of talent - had he stayed in the pen, I suspect he'd have been fine.
Familia, struggles and all, had a mid 3's ERA.
Hughes probably belonged on this list, but his ERA snuck in just below 5, so I gave him a pass.
Gary, your points on the guys that got away are huge. Got away collectively for very little return, too.
I bet the contrast between the performance of the top half of this team and the bottom half non-performance was the most stark of any major league team.
Solution: virtually all of the guys in this article today should never come back. That's a huge rebuild.
Wrap Up
(Last Night's MLB Playoffs)
1. Braves advance. Braves 7 - Marlins 0
Braves run Jeter's Marlin's out of town and back to reality on a broken down bus. Marlin' starter Sixtoe Sanchez gets meringue pie. Huge hitting star for the Braves was Travis d'Arnuad with two doubles. (He can hit now evidently.) Travis with (get this) a playoff batting average of .600. Somewhere Ted's Head is spinning.
2. 'Stros Advance 11-6 Over Oakland.
The usual Brantley, Bregman, and Correa thing here. Good job Mr. Bean.
3. LA Dodgers (the best team in baseball today) Advance 12-3 Over San Juan Padres.
Dodgers with just fourteen hits to Padres six. This was predictable a series sweep by the mighty Dodgers of Los Angeles. See them in the big dance later.
4. The Yankees Tie Series with second win in Game 4 over the tough devilish Rays by a score of 5 to 1. Infielder Joe Torres goes two for three with a dinger in the sixth off Cale Yarbrough.
{The Great Gazoo Out}
"Me Personally" by The Great Gazoo
I am not going to waste one second of my life getting upset over this past Mets' 2020 season. It was, what it was already. Let it go (why not) and think more about getting things ready for the start of the 2021 season. The past is obviously the past now. Kiss its forehead and wave it goodbye.
I go by the 2019 full season stats a lot more than any abbreviated season, simply because it's our most recent full season of play. This to me was sort of a dismal abyss Covid19 infested type 60 game season. Players got sick. Thankfully all lived, so far. "It's practice man practice." I don't really get too excited about this 2020 season. The Dodgers will win it all, and play will end at that time. But we almost had no season at all in 2020, so what we did have was fine with me, and I was grateful for it.
But yes absolutely there were some younger Mets players here (in 2020) that stood out nicely advancing themselves through this 2020 season. Like lefty starter David Peterson, outfielder Dominque Smith, infielder Andres Gimenez, and phenom reliever (in the making) Edwin Diaz. Right there, this team advanced itself by four really, really good players heading into 2021.
I take this with me as my season memory.
Some players digressed themselves a bit in 2020. But here's how I actually look at this as well. It's the numbers involved for me that matter most from this shortened season. Do you realize that some relievers here threw only a compilation of just 14-20 innings this entire abbreviated season? That some starters (in the five man rotation) pitched in only like five or six games all season?
So for me really, how the heck does anyone judge much of anything based upon this amount of limited work. Some pitchers (here even) are typically just barely even warmed up by this same amount of work. Not kidding. You know too.
Yes, there was Spring Training for a moment in 2020. But what "many" journalists do not ever seem to grasp onto with it, is the simple fact that Spring Training (for most players) is a time for them to conduct some personal experimentation with their own respective playing approaches, as well as getting physically ready for the season to begin. Meaning that they are usually being advised by their team's coaches to explore new pitches, alter pitching and batting mechanics, and try new things that they may not have ever been doing before.
"It's practice man, practice."
So for me, it's the 2019 numbers I go by the most right now.
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