Mets to play the Marlins this afternoon at 1:10. Marcus Stroman to make the start.
Here is the
Lineup:
Brandon
Nimmo LF; Kevin
Pillar RF; Jeff McNeil 3B; Pete Alonso DH; Jonathan
Villar 2B; Jose
Martinez 1B; Luis
Guillorme SS; Albert
Almora jr. CF; Tomas Nido C;
Scheduled Pitchers:
Marcus
Stroman; Aaron Loup; Jeurys
Familia; Jerry
Blevins; Jacob Barnes;
Daniel
Zamora.
Four things:
ReplyDelete1) 9th inning, Nogosek throws 36 pitches, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts (the last one should have been ball 4). Not a single ball in play. Brutally boring.
2) The Villar/Martinez DP was comical. Two more new guys who can't field.
3) Crazy that Mets had Villar at 2B and McNeil at 3B today. Jeff needs work at 2B and Villar -- who has not played at 3B since 2016! -- needs experience over there. Bringing in Villar to shift McNeil over the 3B is very bad planning. We already KNOW that Jeff can't handle 3B. It was strange that, given the defensive challenges Mets face at 3B, Sandy brought in Villar as his well-paid backup. I'm just not seeing this as a well-considered plan.
4) Last thing: All the announcers and everyone else keeps repeating that Sandy has added depth and improved the bench. I don't know what they are talking about. Backup catcher: the same. Backup infielder: Guillorme, the same; added Villar to the mix, but LOST Gimenez, who is a far better ballplayer. Outfield: Pillar replaces Marisnick. We had hopes, at this time, for Cespedes -- so the "depth piece" was actually JD Davis. The big difference is we added a $300 million man at SS and signed a catcher. Neither improves the bench, per say.
Where's the big improvement that everybody keeps talking about?
Jimmy
Jimmy,
ReplyDeleteYou make a lot a sense.
My prediction is that the loss of Gimenez and lack of defense in CF will far outweigh any benefit they get from Lindor. Hope I am wrong.
Did you see Pillar's fly ball muff? He is to provide better defense?
March 7, fellas.
ReplyDeleteJose Martinez hurt.
Tom, I understand that it's March 7th.
ReplyDeleteVillar comes with a bad defensive reputation. Martinez, we know, can't field. And we know that Jeff isn't a 3B (at least, some of use seem pretty certain of it).
Pillar is a solid glove; I like him and I liked the signing. A dropped ball doesn't faze me.
I'm more writing in reaction to THE GREAT NARRATIVE out there that Sandy did so much to improve the depth. Who are they kidding? Why does everyone believe it?
It's almost entirely baloney. Our current #6 pitcher was dumped by the Padres and threw 2 innings last season -- and I actually think he could be useful. Yamamoto isn't going to cut it; I'm sorry. Show me the list of successful RHP who top out at 90 MPH. He's the guy who is "challenging for a spot"? If one pitcher gets hurt, he'll be next in line. What was it last year? 24 hits in 11 innings? Who is next up after that? And how is it any different from last season? If you lose a bunch of guys to injuries, you are in deep trouble. Period, done.
Last year our depth was Wacha and Peterson.
I do think there are more interesting "depth" arms in the bullpen. Smith might be good. Reid-Foley, Tarpley, McWilliams. I mean, they could all be Jacob Rhame all over again, but at least they have live arms. Zamora, Blevins? There's a three-batter rule in baseball now. The old LOOGY guys are a dying breed. I liked Wilson, but that was a Brodie signing so he had to go.
Anyway, I'm hopeful and excited about the season. I'm more complaining about the way Sandy is idolized, this absurd storyline that everyone is talking about that's utterly false. He didn't make the bench stronger -- he didn't add quality depth -- and he had a LOT of money to work with.
Jimmy
Villar played 3B last week and they need to see what’s the story with McNeil, who came through the minors as a third baseman. This from today’s NY Post after the game: “They paid me the money so if they need me to play outfield, I will go out there,” Villar said. “Whatever position they want me to play I will be ready to play anything. If they want me to play catcher I will do it.” You have no idea how nice that sounds.
ReplyDeleteSo Jimmy, tell me what you thought of Alderson’s comment about Familia during the ESPN game...
Gus,
ReplyDeleteAs I've noted before, the last time Villar played 3B in a Major League baseball game was 2016. If the plan is to have him backup 3B sometimes, that is at best a wildly presumptuous plan. I mean, if I were looking for a backup 3B, someone who could potentially help out over there, I would start with someone who, you know, actually played some 3B. Am I crazy? Or do you just blindly trust that this dope can do it?
Finding out about Jeff at 3B? Come on. Sandy was on record years ago, during his first tenure as GM, saying that he didn't think Jeff was a 3B. We've watched him play there. The arm isn't there. Could he fill in here and there? I guess. But he's currently learning how to play 2B. Why bounce him around over to 3B, which requires a much, much different throw. It's a long way across that diamond.
I get Villar's expressed willingness to play anywhere, but so what? Any player is going to say that, especially a bench player. The fact is he's played a TOTAL of 8 games in the outfield in his entire career. Are we to assume he's going to be good at it? Even in the meaningless quote you pull, he says he's willing to play catcher! Should we now consider him a capable guy to throw back there? Because he claims he's willing to do it? The FACT is that for his entire career Villar has been almost exclusively a barely adequate defensive middle infielder. Period. I don't have an axe to grind here; I'm simply stating demonstrable facts.
Lindor plays everyday, btw.
And we already have Guillorme.
Marwin Gonzales, OTOH, has played a lot of 3B and OF and 2B, and would have fit neatly into the needs of the Mets 2021 roster. A far more flexible player. Villar gets the nod offensively, I think, maybe, if he has a good season. This looks like another case of Sandy going with "offense first" to me.
The Familia quote? I didn't make much of it (and I was watching at the time). It was a joke. The interview dragged on, the inning dragged on, and they joked about how long it was in comparison to Lindor's interview during a 7-pitch inning. Clearly it was not a great outing for Familia. Just one of those long, arduous, dull innings.
More notable, to me, was Sandy's overall checked-out tone. I will be surprised if he's working the same job, the same role, next season. Everything about him screams "consultant" to me. And honestly, I think he'd make a great consultant!
Jimmy