May 27, 2021
Anyone who has follows me knows that I have been a
strong supporter of Sandy Alderson. I
believed that he was the right hire to lead the Mets into contention in
2021. Let’s take a look at how well his
free agent signings have done so far.
Trevor May started the season well but recently has
faltered. Not quite the lights out
reliever we thought we were getting.
Aaron Loup also began the year in good form but has been
getting knocked around a bit recently.
He may be a victim of an over-used bullpen.
Taijuan Walker has been a solid addition. Can’t say enough good things about him. Hopefully, he stays healthy for the rest of
the year.
Kevin Pillar and Jonathon Villar are good bench pieces
and each has made significant contributions over the first quarter. In fact, before he got hurt, Pillar was the
Mets best position player. However, I question the judgement of anyone who
thought Almora was a worthwhile addition.
Brian McCann, signed for a mere $40 million over 4 years
is now a highly paid back-up catcher.
Not only has his offense suffered but his ability to frame pitches is
among the worst of all catchers. Tomas
Nido has proven to more than an adequate replacement.
The trade and signing of Francisco Lindor will be known
as the great Amazing Heist. Lindor
pulled of one of the greatest scam jobs in history. His ability to convince the Mets that he is a
superstar – one of the best players in baseball – was a total con job.
He has shown himself to be an incredible fielder but he
is not a feared bat in the lineup. I’d
be surprised if he hits above .240 for the year. And what’s even more incredible is that his
ten year $341MM contract does not kick in until next year. No wonder he always has a smile on his face.
I’ll admit to being a fan of Amed Rosario and was sorry
to see him traded. As of Sunday evening,
Rosario has more extra base hits than McCann and Lindor combined.
To sum up, Sandy has made a handful of good moves but
overshadowed by the ones you would like to do over. I would give the team of Alderson/Scott a D+
for this quarter.
Luis Rojas has been getting terrific reviews by the
media. It seems that being part of the
Alou heritage has bestowed magical powers on him. Steve Gelbs lauded his approach in keeping
the Mets competitive during the current rash of injuries. Another wants to nominate him for MOY.
I, too, want Rojas to succeed. In time he may become a good manager and
maybe even a great one. One argument in
his favor is the team is currently in first place. Being the best of a bad lot is not
necessarily a good thing. I have
questioned several of the strategic moves made during the early season.
· McNeil
is a top of the lineup hitter. Batting
him in the sixth or seventh hole reduces his effectiveness. Once Nimmo returns
I expect McNeil will return to the seven hole.
Lindor has staked a claim to the two spot.
· Even
though McCann struggled early on, Nido was not given the opportunity to
play. There was no reason to have McCann
play 90% of the first 28 games.
· Kevin
Pillar was a forgotten man on the bench until the Nimmo injury forced Rojas to
play him. Pillar may have been the best
position player before his injury.
· Peterson
had a wonderful game going through seven innings. However, he had never pitched into the
eight. Rojas choose not to even have
someone warm up with a two run lead.
· Stroman
had thrown 89 pitches into the seventh before he was removed after walking the
lead-off batter. Thought that move was
pre-mature.
As an old timer, I would like to see the Mets be more
aggressive on the bases. Not enough
attempts to steal, hit and run is a foreign concept and too often runners do
not score from second on a hit to the outfield.
Most of this was written Monday afternoon. Was pleasantly surprised by
their taking chances on the base paths Tuesday.
Maybe my expectations are too high, but I give Rojas a C+
for the first quarter. Media and player
relations have to count for something.
Ray
Good job hwre Ray.
ReplyDeleteC+ is slightly above average. That's probably a fair grade, though how many decisions are his and how many are dictated by the front office is unknown. Slightly better than average while not sexually harassing the female reporters covering the team nor losing more games than any other manager in team history is a step forward. He's still green having had just the 60-game season under his belt. It will be fairer to evaluate him at the end of 2021, though with the huge injury explosion it may not be right to blame him for things that go wrong. I think he's likely already earned himself another season.
ReplyDeleteAgree he gets another year unless things completely fall apart.
ReplyDeleteGreat summary, Ray. I too love Pillar, but Nimmo was not sitting when he was scorching hot. His numbers only started to slide when he hurt his had, but the OBP was still superb. But yes, Pillar should have played more.
ReplyDeleteMy guess is we got Almora for the same reason Matz was jettisoned - to free up cap space. I would have spent a little more and gotten Marisnick. Almora compounded it by running hard into the wall. He tried to overcompensate for his Maybin-like bat, and paid dearly. Fargas tried to over-impress - same outcome. )f course, after a great start, Marisnick is hurt for past 3 weeks - how or why, I do not know. Maybe he ran into a wall. It is contagious.
Thankfully, we have Edwin Diaz, but I better not say that too loudly.
I Rate These NY Mets Management A Solid [C] So Far.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't hugely into the Lindor acquisition. I liked Amed Rosario a lot and never bought in Andres Gimenez's batting capability. To me Rosario was a young and upcoming talent with true All Star potential ahead of him. But on the downside with Amed, he was prone to batting slumps like any other younger MLB batter.
The truly great thing about Amed Rosario is that once in a slump and then placed in the lower end of the batting order, he always regrouped and came out of his slump really well. Then he could be placed back up to a higher spot in the batting lineup.
Amed was a true gamer, always at a 110% effort. He was this team's "sparkplug" and quite frankly here they miss Amed Rosario a lot more than management probably thinks here. There still exists a void in the Mets 2021 batting lineup, and that void to me is the loss of Amed Rosario.
Simply put, the shortstop position was not this team's most obvious weakness in their 2020 roster. And you can say whatever you want about Sandy Alderson, but will he ever bring home the gold to Citi Field is my only question regarding him.
Francisco Lindor is a really good player. He has Jose Flash and too can be an energizer. But how much better than Jose Reyes will he ever be? To me, they are similar athletes. Both every good. But I just liked Amed better in the sparkplug category.
I'd rather have the 27 year old Jose.
DeleteMets Just Announced A Pair Of Roster Moves
ReplyDelete"Newman" is being added to the bullpen as Cosmo's set-up man. And Patrick Mazeika is being converted into a starter.
I look for this WS matchup in 2021: NY Yankees versus LA Dodgers
Possibly the NY Mets and White Sox as the maids of honor. But no team can get to the WS with half of their team on the IL. While the White Sox may have a top four starting rotation in MLB. And the Dodgers still own the NL and the Yankees are currently surging for good reason.
Mickey Callaway should have been banned permanently from the game of baseball. He is a disgrace, a child brain for certain. Is there any question to this?
ReplyDeleteIt was a horrible NYM hiring back when this guy was brought in here. Horrible. And is a worse one now for any team down the road.
Baseball does not usually tolerate such people as Mickey Callaway. It is supposed to be a sport that maintains its own traditions and class.
Mickey was a pitching coach and nothing more. I don't care what anyone else here thinks. But his mental issues overrode his baseball capabilities and he should be banned from baseball for life.
Sorry, disagree with you. At the time Callaway was hired. it did not seem like a bad mive.
DeleteMaybe Brody got “play, boys” and “playboys” mixed up.
ReplyDeleteI still think the Mets have a real shot in post season, but only if the health issues evaporate by July.
ReplyDeleteA once healthy Mets can compete with anybody.
DeleteAnon...Padres better and they lead the West. Tatis is not just the best SS in baseball but the best player in baseball right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lindor got a bigger contact.
Delete