METS ANNOUNCE 2021 FULL
MAJOR LEAGUE COACHING STAFF
FLUSHING, N.Y., January 5, 2021 – The New York Mets today announced their full 2021 coaching staff under manager Luis Rojas.
As previously announced, Dave Jauss is the bench coach and Tony Tarasco will serve as the first base coach with additional outfield and baserunning duties.
Returning to the staff this season will be pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, hitting coach Chili Davis, assistant pitching coach Jeremy Accardo, bullpen coach Ricky Bones, third base coach Gary DiSarcina and assistant hitting coach Tom Slater.
Brian Schneider, who was the quality control coach in 2020, will work on the major league staff as the major league field coordinator/catching coach.
Ricky Meinhold will join the staff as the club’s assistant pitching coach/minor league pitching coordinator. Meinhold joined the organization last year as the minor league pitching coordinator after working as a professional scout (2014-2019) and a pitching development analyst (2017-2019) in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.
Part One:
ReplyDeleteOverall, I very much like the construction of this 2021 NYM baseball team and its coaching staff. I am delighted that things were not just "changed up" only for the sake of putting a new stamp on things here during this off season. Some good teams make this mistake with management changes. I honestly do feel that this team is "on target right now" as is, with just one minor exception that "shouts out" to me.
The one exception is simply the starting 2021 rotation out of the gate and sans the outstanding Noah Syndergaard. A wise team, like this one is, should always be aware of the injury "set-back issue" to especially its top player's because quite frankly it can happen. We have all seen this before as fans.
You don't want to be sitting on say July 15th of any one season, with no hope of getting back into the race without a miracle or two happening first. So you explore a wider variety of ideas, just as these NYM seem to be doing right now with their starting pitching solutions to opening play.
Too often here, I have seen these NYM come out of the "proverbial gate" not well enough prioritized to begin play and jump off to a really impressive start. A start which often sets the tone for the rest of the season's play.
Names being bantered about (beyond Tomoyuki Sugano) are James Paxton and Corey Kluber, which to me would be the wrong way to go now unless each injury prone older pitcher were coming in here for free to negotiate a "worthiness contract" after the month of May 2021. Which won't happen obviously.
As we all know, each of these two starters has had outstanding success in their history, but are older now and with more injuries possibly sitting in their respective hope chests. Physical durability looms too large of a question for Paxton and Kluber, and lost financial opportunity elsewhere (for a better solution) a real concern now as well.
Part Two
ReplyDeleteHere's my take on Japanese starter Tomoyuki Sugano.
So many Asian starters have gone through MLB's turnstyles the past 15-20 years. We all have seen them, even here with these NYM. But the problem I have with the signing of any Asian starter, is simply that their respective Asian League statistics usually do not transfer over well to the MLB style of play, so that it is virtually impossible to know what you are bringing over. The risk is huge in other words. It's like Greek to Spanish.
The other problem I have with Asian starters in general, is that because they have pitched in another league entirely different than here, their pitching windup motions are uniquely different as well. The crux of this problem being that once the MLB batters have faced these Asian starters a 3-6 games or so, they normally tend to do a lot better timing their swing to an often very herky-jerky pitching motion, and batting overall becomes that much easier as a result. As a result very few Asian starters seem to be able to "stick around successfully" in the MLB or so I have often noticed.
So what direction to go?
I see the 2021 NYM rotation like this right now:
Jake deGrom, David Peterson, and Marcus Stroman. I don't particularly like Steven Matz's overall record with the Mets, and I don't think that he has (or possibly even can for whatever reason) maximize his own career contributions here without some adjustments being made first or a new strikeout pitch addition. He's too easy to hit right now, although I really did like his first season here. He was tremendous.
To me, Steven Matz is a middle reliever now because of this. But with this opportunity, Steven could be truly outstanding in this role. A role that this team would really appreciate from him.
A really well designed and balanced rotation is always with an eye to its own AAA affiliate team for possible promotions. The "starter well" isn't fabulously full at Syracuse, but could offer some possible starting assistance in the near future with young left handed Thomas Szapucki and right handed Harol Gonzales. Both in my book are worthy of a "serious look" in 2021 ST. After these two, you have three 27 year old AAA starters in Zamora, Smith, and Oswalt. I'd bring them all in early to camp for work and any adjustments to make them fit for here come Opening Day, where possible to do so.
So basically I would do this, sort of kill two birds with one stone so to speak.
I would scout all the MLB teams and see what "might be" available via a trade for a really decent younger starter more for here. An idea might be, trading either middle infielder Ronnie Mauricio or Andres Gimenez for such another team's younger starter like Boston's Jay Groome (22) or Daniel McGrath (26).
Jay is coming off an arm injury (like two years back) but has pitched since coming back whole (2019) and was a top round draft pick for Boston from Barnegat Township, New Jersey. And Daniel was recently overlooked again by Boston, and I believe now pitches in the Australian League. He is from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. At current Daniel is a free agent, which might not be such a bad time to bring him in for give a look. Both are could be another left handed starter to add in here. I like the idea of one day having three lefty starters in the starting rotation, like Boston did a few seasons back, which worked quite well for them.
So in other words, I would take an early look this ST at Szapucki, Smith, Oswalt, Gonzales, Zamora, Smith, and one or two more young add-in young starters from other MLB teams via trades. In this way a team the Mets should have solid options for having that one more add-in starter for the 2021 Mets' rotation, and solid younger starters for their AAA Syracuse team as well.
Two birds. One stone. Fini.
Anon, Are you talking about Kevin Smith or Drew Smith? Kevin would have been a good option but he has gone to Baltimore in the Castro trade. Not sure if Drew Smith or Zamora can start but it might be worth a try.
ReplyDelete