As we had this morning on today's Breakfast Links Zack Scott thinks the Mets Roster is complete.
Per Anthony DiComo Mets.com: Scott likes roster – ‘I feel really good about the roster,’ general manager Zack Scott said. ‘As it is right now, I think we’re pretty settled with the 40-man. We may have some other types of non-roster deals, and there may be other opportunities that present themselves during the spring, but I feel very good about the group that we have here.’”
Mack's Mets writer Dave Rubin texted me last night about this:
"I think they are going to be quite surprising and I was just speaking to a scout yesterday and he was telling me that Nimmo's D in CF is nowhere near as bad as it is being portrayed and that there is no way he cost them that many runs in the season.
In fact, he said that so many other players have cost the Mets games by their bad baserunning and the proof is that we have the easiest time of getting people on base and the hardest time in getting them home.
So I think we should all worry more about getting base runners in then potentially how bad the defense may or may not be in the outfield.
And the addition of Lindor & McCann should help that
And having Chili in the dugout means that hitters will have a much easier time
making adjustments on the fly during the game"
Dave still thinks the defense is a concern, just not as much as others do.
I just hope we see lot less plays in the outfield like this:
Andrew Stevenson - Washington Nationals (2) Solo (inside-the-park). pic.twitter.com/Rg1MBWHdjr
— MLB HR Tracker (@hr_mlb) September 26, 2020
Do you agree with Zack Scott and think the Roster is all set? Do you agree with Dave and the scout he spoke to and think defense is not a problem? What is your take?
The defense will be much closer to average this year, coupled with a thunderous offense.
ReplyDeleteI felt Nimmo’s defense was much improved once he played a bit deeper. But, how many plus defensive CF are there? Springer wasn’t...
ReplyDeleteI keep reading about McNeil plus defense at 3B. Where was it last year? He looked like he couldn’t even reach 1B.
McCann/Nido should make for a productive two-way combo.
I think catching and SS will be better but CF will be an issue. Almora and Pillar have both regressed the past few years and I have seen a lot of Nimmo over the years in CF w/o improvement to only want to see him in LF.
ReplyDeleteAgain, main point: A fan can be happy with the overall offseason and still feel disappointed in certain aspects.
ReplyDeleteI'm excited for this season, should be fun.
I am disappointed in the bullpen, which to me still looks like a bottom-half pen. Too many guys who might give us little to nothing: Betances, Gsellman, Loup, Familia, Castro. That's more than half the pen. There's a not-unrealistic scenario where 3-4 of those guys are junk innings only.
Diaz, May, Lugo (hurt): all good, to the extent that we can count on any reliever. Would hate to lose May or Diaz for parts of the season. We seem thin.
We are left hoping that some unproven guys will step up and become big contributors: Smith, McWilliams.
I may have forgotten someone along the way. There are the vets with minor league deals who might be useful: Montgomery, Hunter.
So, yeah, a lot of moving piece, but I would have much preferred the addition of 1-2 more proven quality arms.
I feel like Sandy whiffed here, did not do enough to address a perennial team weakness -- at a time when the market was ripe for the Mets organization to dominate and turn this crucial area into a strength.
In Sandy's defense, he might have felt limited by the commitments to Betances and Familia, in terms of bringing in established talent. The MLB bullpen is an "options" game, more than ever. But good pitchers have signed minor league deals (the Nats just inked Jeffries, who was very good last year), and good pitchers signed 1-year deals at $5 and $6 million (Colome, etc).
Didn't do enough here. It's more disturbing because of Sandy's abysmal track record with bullpens in the past. If he'd had any sort of consistent success, it might be easier to take that leap of faith. Why have they stopped short?
On outfield defense: Tough with the DH situation. I like the decisions he made, to go with Smith and Nimmo and try to support them with Pillar.
I am very, very glad to get at least half a season where the team will get an extended look at Alonso, Smith, and Davis. It should give us more clarity as the club faces decisions in the second half of the season and off-season.
Jimmy
I share your pen concern, Jimmy, unless they figure the 6th starter will be out of the pen helping and McWilliams, Szapucki, or Gilliam can step in successfully as pen arms. That is my only concern right now.
ReplyDeleteIf we have a bad pen, we will not succeed, no matter how good the rest of the team is.
Yes, Tom.
ReplyDeleteLucchesi seems to have the arm for a long man role.
McWilliams certainly has the hype.
Szapucki was one of the few minor league starters who genuinely impressed me -- before the surgery. I'd love to see him start in AAA and establish his health and continued dominance against higher competition.
There are a number of guys who might be good, maybe, possibly, fingers crossed.
It would be amazing (and shocking) to get something out of Betances. And a bounceback from Familia would be great, too; I think he'll be useful, always liked and rooted for him, just not top shelf anymore.
Jimmy
Jimmy, Betances we'll know soon enough - is the velocity back or not? Is that crazy nasty slider back and reliable? Familia - wasn't terrible last year - I'd take average reliever from him this year, anything better is gravy.
ReplyDeleteThe big thing to me is I see them getting a couple of months into the season and then making the appropriate moves unlike the previous ownership. It's going to take a while to let it sink in that this owner actually WANTS TO WIN...how refreshing.
ReplyDeleteI do tend to agree with Zack Scott UNLESS they magically agree to the DH, which I don't see at this point.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with Dave and am more bullish on the defense than many. I suspect Nimmo understands and will get somewhat better. I definitely agree that baserunning and scoring the guys that get on is a bigger issue. My biggest issue at this point the right side of the infield - first and second base. I am just not sure McNeil is the guy that will want to make Lindor stay in NY. His statement yesterday in his presser was "I hate to not turn the double play".
I also am more bullish on the bullpen than Jimmy and most of the rest of you, especially if they implement the relief catcher :-) One thing that is pretty clear is that when Lugo comes back, he will be in the pen, not a starter.
Over the next couple weeks I am going to work on a piece I'm going to call "Are you Happy yet?", outlining my initial take of the off-season as of October 2020 and where they are now.
Remember69, oh, that's a fun idea.
ReplyDeleteI imagine a combination Time Line and "Happiness Probability" graph, modeled after the win probability graphs.
So you list the dates/events and the graph moves up or down. You'll also need to list, I should think, things like Springer signing with Blue Jays and even, oh, lesser disappointments that threw some fans into a tizzy of despair.
Good luck with it!
Jimmy