You ever wonder, given the pandemic, how the nation's unemployment rate can be so low?
Look no further than the Mets.
42 guys pitched for them in 2021.
FORTY TWO.
A few were position players, but every year, when the season starts, I feel bad for pitchers left off the opening day roster.
Then 30 more guys pitch during he year and I realize my early sad feelings were…dumb.
Not to mention 25 position players also being used, including household names like Johneshwy Fargas and Not-a-Chance Sisco.
Simply stunning.
1969? 35 players…20 hitters, 15 pitchers.
1986? 36 players…21 hitters, 15 pitchers.
This year, 64 dudes played for the Mets.
39 pitchers and 25 hitters, 3 of whom also pitched briefly in a pinch.
The 42 pitchers in 2021 were 12 more than 1969 and 1986 - combined.
I just hope, over the winter, that the Mets Build Back Better.
And that the Mets don’t once again drive the nation’s unemployment stats down all by themselves.
And don't be surprised if there are Haitian refugees pitching for the Mets next year. Some former Afghani rock hurlers, perhaps.
Why not? Everyone gets their chance in Metsville.
All teams have lots of injuries these days. Times are different: the training is harder and the leaner players don’t have the leeway of having a bit of fat to maintain moisture in the body. Too, no one plays through anything anymore. If you have a chipped nail, they put you on the IL as precautionary. Now, that doesn’t mean that the Mets injuries were minor but health is part of the equation.
ReplyDeleteAnybody that blames any other issue than the 2021 injuries as the.major cause for.the seasons failure is simply wrong.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Gus (there. I said it) that many other teams had lots of players go down but the healing process seems slower here.
Maybe it's the lack of tobacco, cerveza, and blow.
Nothing like paying tens of millions a year for guys who spend 1/4 of the season in sick bay, huh? The whole thing is triggered, it seems, by long multi-year contracts and having to protect those investments.
ReplyDeleteAt a quick glance, Houston used 53 players, far fewer than the Mets
(BTW another former Met, Blake Taylor, had a very nice season: 4-4, 3.16 in 52 games)
Braves clocked in at 56 players. Eight less than the Metsies.
Mack, we used 64 players while the two WS teams used 11 and 8 fewer. Those 11 and 8 are clearly going to be below average major leaguers. You lose more with below average major leaguers.
ReplyDeleteYour points are spot on.
Yes, the Mets used a lot of players this year. The lack of roster continuity certainly contributed to their demise. A great deal of the injuries happened pre-July and they seemed to be managing it by having a well-stocked AAA club with major league ready talent. Then deGrom went down, Syndergaard never got there until game 150-something, and Carrasco limped back as a shadow of his former self. The pitching staff seemed to have much more difficulty weathering the injury storm than the rest of the club, and this was further exasperated by Luis Rojas' handling of the staff by overworking the bullpen. I think that his approach to the starters (less than 6 innings in almost every game) was driven by fear of further injury.
ReplyDeleteSo, as the team works on "building back better", remember that you can "never have enough pitching" in your system.
Paul, I think they could have gone bonkers at the trade deadline and done more than just Baez and Hill, but I think more than almost any year in memory, they were built for a force 3 hurricane. In prior years, they were built to withstand a tropical storm. This year, they need to build for a force 5 injury and sub-normal performance hurricane. It was too much to ask to build in anticipation of a force 5 storm. I can't fault Cohen on this, really.
ReplyDeleteSo What Could Be Wrong Here Anyway Jackster?
ReplyDeleteTo me, it really is all the key player injuries each season. You can almost set your watch by this each season, and it has got to change now.
But let's move beyond this fact for a moment. There are "other issues" here to contend with. FA and Trade moves.
There is a perception here that bringing in outside more established veteran players from other MLB teams, somehow works better than Mets scouting, drafting, and development. Why this is, I do not know.
We tend to use our most sought after MiLB talent as "human trade chips" so to speak. Then after a small amount of time, these traded players come back home here to play the Mets, only to beat us with their new teams.
Every team needs veteran leadership.
In 2022, the Mets hopefully will have veteran players like Nimmo, Alonso, JD Davis, deGrom, Syndergaard, Loup, and Lindor. Excellent.
i.e. This off season, the rumor mill has begun churning out talk about certain veteran guys the team "could be interested in" like OF Starling Marte, SP Kevin Gausman, OF Nick Castellanos, and 2B/SS Javier Baez (rerun).
Here's what I see with the current rumor mill churning.
OF Starling Marte (age 33) .289 career BA. Marte is a solid outfielder, but he doesn't hit many homeruns. So if homers are what you are looking for, he isn't that. I actually prefer guys who hit for average first most, homeruns second. Starling's older now, so really how many years should a team tie him for really?
Can these NY Mets not come up with someone maybe a little younger from within their own MiLB structure to do basically similar things, or maybe even more perhaps?
2. SP Kevin Gausman (age 30) One strikeout per inning career guy, pitches right handed but has a horrific career won/lost record of 64/72 and a nine year career 4.02 ERA. His 2021 14-6 w/l came with a 2.81 ERA and 227 strikeouts in 192 innings. If the Mets were to say unload Jake or Noah, he could be considered probably for a top three spot of the 2022 NY Mets rotation. Now if the Mets got Kevin Gausman (R) and Carlos Rodon (L), say their only big acquisitions of this off season, it could work. I like Syndergaard a lot though. If he's healthy again, 100%, he should remain a NY Met in my opinion. Imagine a starting four of: deGrom, Rodon, Syndergaard, and Gausman. It won't matter who's on second.
I couldn't find any major injuries for Kevin, a few 10-day smaller type injuries like a foot, hip, and an elbow issue in 9/2020. But his seasonal record right before 2021 (which was one of his only personal best seasons) looks a little dubious to me when you look at his 2-3 seasons prior. But still his 2021 stats were sound.
Nick Castellanos has been a rumored target for these NY Mets for sometime actually. He will be 30 by opening day 2022, but his stats are overall better than Michael Confortos'. Career .278 batter, 34 homeruns in 2021 with a .309 BA. Not any major injuries I could find on him. OBP of .329 career. Making $16.0 mill per and signed through '23.
Javier Baez (age 29) opening day 2022. A .262 career batting average, a slick glove man at second/short, more of a homerun guy than a high batting average one. But here is my contention with re-signing him. Both he and Lindor can hit homeruns, field well, true, but their hitting can be a tad bit streaky as well. Both would be batting within the first four spots of the '22 Mets batting order. Personally, I'd prefer either Wilmer Reyes, Robbie Cano, or Carlos Cortes on the 2022 Mets two bag, and then having a batter within the top four spots who gets on base easier.
The Mets have to start building youth into their roster strategy. The 2016 youth movement is perhaps leaving town soon. It did not work out and we need to learn by this and expect something "more".