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3/22/21

Mets News and Breakfast Links 3/22/2021

 



Good Morning.  Happy Birthday Juan Uribe, Joe Smith, Ike Davis and Edwin Diaz. Mets 6 Nationals 2 as Francisco Lindor homers again and Jacob continues his degromination.  Thor gets closer and Mets are will to go to $300M to keep Lindor?  

Section Links: Mets Links, MLB Links, and This Day in Mets History.

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Mets 6 Nationals 2 (Box Score) Brandon Nimmo CF 1 for 3, 1 walks, 1 run scored, 1K; Francisco Lindor SS 1 for 5, HR, 2 RBIs, 1 run scored;  Dominic Smith LF 1 for 3, 1 K;  Michael Conforto RF 1 for 2 with a walk; Pete Alonso 1B 1 for 3 with an RBI; Jeff McNeil 2B 0 for 1, 3 HBP;  J.D. Davis DH 1 for 3, run scored; Tomás Nido C 3 for 3, HR, 1 run scored, RBI;  Jacob deGrom 0 for 2 with 1 K; 4.2 innings, 3 hits, no runs, 2 walks, 5 Ks; Miguel Castro, 1/3rd inning, no hits, no runs, 1 K; Edwin Diaz, 1 inning, no runs, no hits, 1 K;  Dellin Betances 1 inning, no hits, no runs, 1 K; Robert Gsellman 2 innings, 4 hits, 2  runs – both earned, 1 walk, 1K.













Tim Healey Newsday: Noah Syndergaard’s latest tiny step forward in his Tommy John surgery rehabilitation: a bullpen session with a batter standing in the batter’s box. Catching prospect Francisco Alvarez drew the honors Sunday morning in Port St. Lucie and repeatedly was instructed by pitching coach Jeremy Hefner not to swing and to just stand there, to give Syndergaard the feeling of having a batter present. After he reached his predetermined pitch count, Syndergaard wanted to throw one more. Hefner said no. Syndergaard insisted. Hefner allowed it.

Tim Healey Newsday: Castro hasn’t allowed a hit in 4 1/3 exhibition innings. Edwin Diaz is up to five scoreless innings with two hits, seven strikeouts and no walks. 

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Some of yesterday's Spring Training Highlights:





Here is yesterday's Spring Training Scoreboard.

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Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com: 

Born Today 3/22:

Died on 3/22:

3/22 Transactions:
New York Mets purchased Carl Willey from the Milwaukee Braves on March 22, 1963.

New York Mets traded Ike Hampton to the California Angels for Ken Sanders on March 22, 1975.

New York Mets traded Hector Ramirez to the Baltimore Orioles for Manny Alexander and Scott McClain on March 22, 1997.

New York Mets traded Jerson Perez to the Toronto Blue Jays for Jim Mann on March 22, 2000.

New York Mets released Tom Martin on March 22, 2009.

Centerfield Maz:

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13 comments:

  1. Tom BrennanMarch 22, 2021 at 6:17 AM

    I think a lot of Mets fans look at Lindor and he seems a little small-ish, and perhaps feel "is he really worth $300 million plus?"

    You see that home run swing and you see why Lindor in his career has been an extra base hit machine.

    So the answer is yes: Do what it takes to sign him.

    And...Jake is a freak. Happily, he is OUR freak.

    Can't do it every day, but Nido's 0 for 3 with 2 Ks once again makes me wish someone would send the Mets Flowers for Easter.

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  2. John From AlbanyMarch 22, 2021 at 8:13 AM

    Is Lindo worth $300M? Yes. Is Conforto worth $200M. Most likely. However, how far over the salary cap do you want to go? You can't have everyone making $200M+. You need quality young players that don't break the bank. As good as Lindor is, a better strategy would have been to keep Gimenez, sign George Springer and extend Conforto, Thor, and Stroman. Is the cost of Lindor worth losing Gimenez, not being able to sign George Springer and not being able to extend Conforto, Thor, and Stroman? That is the $300M question that will be answered in 3-5 years should the Mets not win the WS.

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  3. AnonymousMarch 22, 2021 at 8:39 AM

    A few things:

    1) Sign Lindor, stop wringing our hands over it. Has to happen. He's a great player and citizen. Just do it. The time for what should have happened or could have happened has long passed.

    2) I don't think Conforto is worth $200 million; there's more room to bargain on this one.

    3) Tom, the day after Nido went 3-3 (in a SPRING TRAINING GAME) you thought he might be okay as a backup. The next day he goes 0-3 (in a SPRING TRAINING GAME) and you want Flowers?? Here's the thing: Flowers is a terrible defensive catcher. Extremely bad. Why is that what you want? For one extra hit a month? Personally, I'd sign him to a minor league contract; Mets could use someone in the event McCann or Nido gets hurt. But Flowers absolutely sucks. Don't forget that. Don't you remember watching him play for the Braves?

    4) I don't think people have made enough about this (we are already reading a lot of dumb things about the contract extension process). In the Sports Illustrated article that just came out, it was revealed that Lindor signed his Bonus Draft Day contract at 11:59 PM. One more minute and he'd lose eligibility for that season. The guy has balls and confidence to spare. Mack can speak to this process, but going to the last minute like that tells you a lot about the individual. No matter what happens, it's almost certain that he's going to take this process to the very last minute and see who blinks. The deadline is a good thing, forces people to get down to business. I believe this will get done. But we're likely going to feel some stress before all is said and done.

    Jimmmy

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  4. John From AlbanyMarch 22, 2021 at 8:44 AM

    Amazing as always Jimmy.

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  5. Tom BrennanMarch 22, 2021 at 8:53 AM

    Jimmy, great point on the Lindor contract.

    On Flowers, he is a guy I really never paid attention to. Silly me, I assumed he was solid defensively. He's not? Forget him.

    But I do have a 9:30 article on our catcher situation.

    It will not be floral :)

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  6. TexasGusCCMarch 22, 2021 at 1:02 PM

    I remember hearing a Mets/Braves game on the radio about three years ago, and Josh Lewis said that Clowera had thrown out one of fifty-five trying to steal on him that year. Yet, the Mets didn’t attempt a steal that night...

    I’d rather sign Lindor and the two starting pitchers, put Nimmo in left field and McNeil in right field, but Conforto is a nice player to have. Problem is, there aren’t any CF available next free agency either.

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  7. Tom BrennanMarch 22, 2021 at 3:44 PM

    I wonder how many good centerfielders defensively there are currently, that are also decent with the bat. Seems it shouldn't be so hard to find, but I guess it is.

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  8. Tom BrennanMarch 22, 2021 at 4:31 PM

    Not only is Matz pitching great, just saw Wacha with Rays this spring: 7 innings, 2 hits, no runs, 1 walk, 5 Ks. When Rays picked him up, I wondered...

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  9. Remember1969March 22, 2021 at 5:16 PM

    I kind of like the idea of waiting out Conforto. I believe Bradley has an opt-out which I got the impression was probable after this year.

    I also like the idea of moving McNeil to the outfield. This year will show a lot and whether he is a good option to keep at second base.

    Besides Conforto, Gregory Polonco is the next best free agent outfielder next year.

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  10. Tom BrennanMarch 22, 2021 at 5:31 PM

    Moving Mauricio to 2B and McNeil to the outfield in 2022 might just happen, if Conforto were not retained. Then, with a DH, Smith to first primarily and Pete a 1B/DH. The Mets have to see if they get a Conforto discount now, otherwise, perhaps just wait on him until season's end. We'll see who, of Mauricio, Vientos, Baty and Crow might be ready for next year. Crow won't probably for 2 years. To me, he needs 1,000 plate appearances. Mauricio and Vientos should need 500. Baty? Hard to tell.

    The team will have to figure out who could give them quality in 2022 - if not, perhaps they'd need to reconsider Bradley for 1 or 2 seasons.

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  11. Jack StrawbMarch 22, 2021 at 10:42 PM

    Tremendous collection of links, stories, and resources. Many thanks.

    Sign Lindor? It's difficult for that to be a serious mistake, given how he projects to be worth a starting gig until around age 36, meaning the Mets will be getting some value even when the money gets painful.

    The real mistake was dealing for him in the first place when the team had so many other holes and were reasonably well set at SS with Giminez and with Rosario as a respectable backup and trade fodder. That's in addition to the various promising SSs in the system and next year's avalanche of fine FA SSs.

    No one seems concerned by Lindor's drop off since 2018. When a prospective FA or extendee is in the 300m neighborhood, you had better be. Still, he's a fair bet to put up 30+ WAR over the next decade. I wouldn't do it, and I absolutely wouldn't have dealt for him when the needs elsewhere were so great on a team that should now be on par with LAD and SDP but isn't close, but for some reason they don't consult with me before they do these goofy things.

    As for Conforto, 200m for a corner OFer entering what are typically the decline phase years, is lunacy. Every appearance of improvement in 2020 was illusory, based on a BABIP of .412 that would have tied for 8th best / luckiest over the last 121 years. He won't come close to repeating that. Even his HR rate dropped a hair, meaning he suddenly, unrepeatably became one of the luckiest ballplayers on the planet during 2020. I hope the Mets are smart enough not to pay through the nose for that luck, but I'm not sure they are.

    Boras has a history (Ellsbury, Shin-Soo Choo, Werth) of getting ludicrous, 7-8 year FA deals for above average OFers who don't remotely resemble superstars; deals their teams quickly regret. When he's not getting historically fortunate, Conforto is a 3.0-4.5 fWAR corner guy with average defense and nowhere to move once his speed declines.

    Per PA or inning played, Nimmo has been worth more over his career than Conforto, the only difference being that Nimmo has played in 69% of the Mets games since he became a starter to Conforto's 81%. Nimmo's as undervalued as Conforto is currently overvalued. Letting Conforto walk at the end of the season is the right idea if he'll require anything close to 200m, while extending Nimmo for the roughly 3/45m he'll need is a far better idea.

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  12. John From AlbanyMarch 23, 2021 at 6:17 AM

    Jack,

    Great comment. Thanks for stopping by. Glad you like the site.

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousMarch 23, 2021 at 11:44 AM

    Overall Off Season Moves

    To me, Lindor is the new Reyes. Same high energy type person and player really, both with excellent skills and ability to master the moment. I liked this move a lot. The team needed a leader type.

    The Carlos Carrasco move is "kind of sort of" proving itself to be a typical NYM move. High expectations with a starter having had some injury history in their past. But in the long run, it should workout quite well I believe, if he can stay healthy.

    The Kevin Pillar move I didn't really much at all, only because it blocks both Brandon Nimmo to me a better and more natural and powerful hitter who is learning the CF position more aptly now with more playing time there, and then too Luis Guillorme, who clearly needs more playing time with his skills.

    I like the pen a lot better this season. It appears to have more depth than usual. But with starter Carrasco out until May sometime with a somewhat serious and iffy healing hammy tear, the Mets are left with now two excellent starters out (Carrasco and Syndergaard) in a very competitive division where a rapid start is essential.

    Summary: A lot of new faces running things in Flushing, but it just feels to me a little bit too much the same as recent seasons past. I would not however diminish their season long chances at a solid run, but it could take a healthy Noah and Carlos to lead it.



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