I write this on a dreary, rainy Sunday morning, not knowing if today will be the day the Mets' dreary, moribund bats explode (they didn't explode Sunday afternoon, but they did enough to grab a win and expel a lot of gloom that comes from losing 4 of the previous 5).
A cancelled initial series, cold weather, and lots of rain has screwed up a team that, in the first 25 days of the season, only played 16 times.
They are 8-8, not 4-12, so I guess I should be thankful for that.
I had such high hopes for the offense - and maybe it averages close to 5 runs a game from here on out as I expected it would this season - but here is where the Mets stand, understanding once again that their 16 games to date is by far the lowest total in the majors.
Runs scored - 52 (next lowest teams, Nats at 62 and Detroit at 67; Cincy has 115 runs in 20 games. Jed Lowrie the ex-Met has driven in 1/3 of the total number of Mets runs, with 17.
HRs - on a team with capable HR hitters like Alonso, Conforto, Lindor, Smith and others. the Mets have hit a 1981-like 12 HRs. Cincy has hit 32.
Steals? The Mets have 3. The Padres have 26.
Doubles? The Red Sox have 51, while the Mets have 20.
Oddly, the Mets appear to have the lowest strikeout rate in the majors - yet are anemic. Scratch my head.
Jeff McNeil, a .319 career hitter heading into 2021, is hitting .188 despite just 4 strikeouts in 56 plate appearances. Weird.
Slug % - surprisingly, the Bronx Bombers are baseball's worst at .351, with the Mets slightly above that at .360, which is, however, a hefty 100 points lower than baseball's top slugging squad, the Red Sox.
Remarkably, and almost entirely due to Nimmo, Guillorme, Davis, and Jake, the Mets have the 5th highest on base % in baseball - but very few come around to score. Lindor has just 3 RBIs in 16 games. Jeesh!
Jake Marisnick (.259/.355/.519, 8 RBIs), who I wanted the Mets to re-sign, is doing well. Almora Jr., who they signed instead, is not, at 1 for 5 with 3 Ks. Great Sunday catch though. Kudos for Almora .
When the Mets scored 8 runs in their second game of the season, to me it felt normal. All these hitters, runs should be coming in bunches. In 14 games since, they scored six in a game just once and 5 in a game just once. It feels impossible, but they are (not) scoring like it's 1968.
Pitching? 7th in ERA at 3.47, but remove Jake and his 1 earned run in 29 IP and the teams ERA is nearly 4.40.
Unearned runs? 16 in 16 games. The Cubs have allowed 1 in 20 games - what a contrast.
Lastly, relief? The Mets passed on Brad Hand and other real bullpen talent. Sandy's bargain basement guys pitching in what could have been his innings (Hildenberger, Tarpley, and Barnes) have predictably allowed 11 runs in 7.1 IP. Back-of-the-bullpen meltdowns are an annual occurrence for the Mets.
So dreary - after a dreary 2020.
Maybe this club is JUST NOT THAT GOOD? Maybe it's just early?
Except...if they play like they did Sunday. Heck, break out the champagne - they scored 4 runs. First place in a talented but surprisingly struggling division that is collectively below .500. The whole division has been playing "dreary".
The solution for Dreary? MORE HITTING.
The pitching has been mostly great, and the defense not so, but I still blame the defense on frigid baseball. We'll see how the fielding goes over the next few weeks, now that it is real baseball weather.
That's all for now. Don't get weary, or feel dreary. We may win so many games soon, it'll be downright eerie. Just win me a World Series, I wanna get teary, dearie.
6 comments:
That's the Sandy effect. Coming into 2021 the Mets needed a catcher, CF, 3B, BP and at least 1 starter.
Sandy fixed the catcher, shortstop (which was not an issue), cheap out on the BP and CF and did nothing on 3B. Time will tell if the starters he signed will do the job. Still too early to judge.
Sandy is on record saying that had he been in place, he would have claimed Brad Hand but when he had a chance to get him, he wouldn't even match the 10M he would have gotten if Sandy been in place at the time and claimed him.
Sandy also offered a boat load of money to Bauer which in turn means that deGrom will certainly opt out of his contract which in fairness, he probably would have done anyway. Stroman and Syndergaard will be more expensive too.
I said before that if Matz all of a sudden became the pitcher the Mets were waiting for, that there is something wrong in the Mets organization where they cannot fix a struggling pitcher. Matz is 4-0.
He trades Matz for good prospects and then trades those prospects for another CF prospect that is not even ready for the ML. Oh God.
One of these years Cohen will realized how over-hyped Sandy really is.
Viper, tell me how you really feel. I am on record as saying that Matz could have been retained and tried in the Brad Hand role. But that is all water under the Whitestone Bridge now.
You do make quite a few very strong points.
Quite a difference a day makes.
When they win, it all looks so much sunnier.
I don't see any reason to believe that Matz could have been a regular, consistent reliever. It's an entirely different role, with unique demands on the arm; it would have also required for him to buy into the role. I mean, sure, you can believe he would have succeed and possibly you could have been right. At that price, $5 million, why not just sign a proven guy for that role?
When we talk about how unlucky Brodie was -- and in fairness, it's worth noting -- that 2019 was fun and exciting and much improved. In 2020, he lost Noah, then Stroman, and Matz gave us bupkis. And Lowrie, sigh: a good signing that went backwards in every possible way. Oh well.
And -- oh, yeah -- COVID! A weird 60-game season.
Need a little luck in this game.
Jimmy
Andrew Miller and Brad Hand were crappy starters turned great lefty relievers. No guarantee Matz would have done as well in such a transition, although I think he would have, or that he would have bought in to such a change. It sure is working out well for him being with Toronto so far.
Alonso and McNeil made them look good in 2019. 2020 was mostly a disaster of multiple proportions, it's true.
Matz also had a hard time with first innings. He just needed a change of scenery.
Speaking of E-Mets Harvey tonight against the Yanks!
May Harvey shut down the Yanks tonight.
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