1/29/21

Metstradamus - The Other One That Escaped To The North

 


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Well this wasn’t so much of an escape as it was a relocation.

As I hope you’ve heard by now, Steven Matz was traded to the Blue Jays last night for three guys that I’m not even going to pretend to know anything about. (No, George Spinger did not come back in the deal.) Matz spent six seasons in New York, a tenure which started with a very memorable debut in which he pitched 7 and 2/3’s innings and also had three hits. And in his first two seasons with the Mets he went 13-8 with a 3.16 ERA and a 1.21 WHIP which, along with his electric stuff gave credence to the notion that he was every bit deserving of his place as one of the mythical “five aces”.

But from 2017-20, Matz not only couldn’t take the next step, but regressed big time, going 18-33 with and ERA of 4.83 and a WHIP of  1.363. He gave up more home runs per nine innings and walked more per nine and that’s never a great forumla. The legacy of Matz will always be if he was in his own head a bit, which is probably unfair but it’s also a commentary on the great stuff he had. “He’s too good to suck so it must be in his head because while I don’t know pitching mechanics, I know the human brain.”

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