Due to my hectic family schedule, I do the majority of my writing here a day early. It works best for me. But not always speaks well for the timing of what I write.
Yesterday, my lead story was about the Mets not having a decent DH power bat. Well, that changed quickly and made my report read like a… well, a guy writing a day earlier than he should.
I apologize for that, but let’s get on to to this guy that doesn’t look like he has missed a meal in quite awhile.
My immediate reaction when Jeremy Mand told me about this was to scream out a couple of real choice curse words.
Mand told me in equal segments. The news we got Vogelbach brought puzzlement to me by his second text that we gave up Holderman sent me over the top.
That reaction was caused because there are two areas of concern on this current team. Designated hitter and Relief Pitching. What I didn’t expect here was to give up one of the only decent arms we have developed for the pen for a one dimensional hitter.
I told the other Mets writers last night that I am going to wait until the trading deadline is over and view what the Mets did as a total picture.
As for the pen, if Jake comes back healthy, we will have new options for the pen in three weeks or less. Joey Lucchesi, Tylor Megill, and Trevor May will ease the sting of losing Holderman.
As for team service, Holderman had six left, but Vogelbach has three, so that’s almost a wash.
The plus here is the production of DH against right handed pitchers. It was close to zero under Dom while this guy almost puts up a .900-OPS.
Again, maybe we add a decent right hand hittng DH to platoon here, plus a reliever like David Robertson. We shall see. But one thing this trade tells you is the farm ain’t safe this month. A trade like this is a big statement that it’s all or nothing right now.
About last night -
This report is long enough rather than go paragraphs into a problem that can be described with two words… no runs.
Hats off to another of our July league leading ERA starters. Chris Bassett gave up only two runs. He did his job.
This lineup is too talented and far too expensive to not score three runs in a game.
Braves are a half out and deserve passing the Mets today.
The mildly sore left hand of Tomas Nido has caused the Mets to make another trade with the Pirates, this time with recent DFAd catcher, Michael Perez, for “cash considerations”.
Perez is a 29-year old defensive specialist, who was drafted by Arizona in the 5th round of the 2011 draft, out of Colegio Vocacional Para Aduiltos, in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
This year, in 107 at-bats, he has produced a -0.-2 WAR and bated .150, with six hime runs.
His career stats are -0.3-WAR, 521-AB, 15-HR, .175
Nido did play last night, but the system needs top level catchers so this is a good sign.
New York Mets pitcher Trevor May will pitch for the Binghamton Rumble Ponies today against the Hartford Yard Goats as part of a rehab assignment.
BPJ - 2023 MLB Draft: 10 College Players to Know
Chase Dollander, RHP, Tennessee
Dollander is the top college arm in the 2023 draft class. The 6-foot-3, 192-pound right-handed pitcher boasts a mid-90s fastball that touches 98 mph. He throws from a repeatable delivery and mixes in three secondary pitches, including a high-80s slider.
Dollander generates a lot of swings and misses with his fastball. He isn’t afraid to challenge hitters and possesses quality command and control of his pitches.
Yesterday’s Tweets -
4-28-19 New York Mets @Mets
We’ve designated Travis d’Arnaud for assignment and recalled Tomás Nido.
Michael Baron @michaelgbaron
The Mets have scored just nine runs in their last four games. Three of those runs have come from the ghost runner at second base.
That therapist guy @PatWeintraub
Dude literally has the 15th best numbers vs righties in the league and we got him for a pitcher no one heard of until this season.
Diane M @MetsSouthFla
Let’s also be realistic. He was going back to Syracuse soon. With May & Jake coming back, not to mention the arm or 2 they add. Holderman now gets a opportunity to stay up for the rest of the year to show what he can, can’t do.
Jim Passon @PassonJim
Top 5 in ERA for July:
1) NYM • 2.40 ERA
2) SEA • 2.45
3) ATL • 2.62
4) LAD • 2.88
5) HOU • 3.07
Mathew Brownstein @MBrownstein89
Highest walk rate among qualified hitters since 2019:
Juan Soto: 19.6%
Yasmani Grandal: 18.0%
Joey Gallo: 16.5%
Mike Trout: 16.1%
Daniel Vogelbach: 15.9%
Brooklyn Cyclones @BKCyclones
After last night’s 10 strikeout performance, Carson Seymour (@CheeseChucker35) has now struck out 34 batters in his last 20.0 innings.
Chris Gallo Jr #LFGM @Cgallo9293
Why we shopping at dollar general ?
Minor League Press Releases -
Worcester, MA – The Syracuse Mets roared back from an early deficit on a steamy Saturday afternoon, scoring seven out of the game’s final eight runs in the game en route to a 7-3 win over the Worcester Red Sox. The Mets have won the first two games of the three-game weekend series against the Red Sox. Syracuse has also won 10 of its first 14 games against Worcester this season.
Early on, it looked like it may be Worcester’s (47-45) day, as the Red Sox jumped out to a 2-0 lead with single runs in the third and fourth innings. Grant Williams singled leading off the third, swiping his way up to second base with one out. After a Triston Casas flyout, Ronaldo Hernández brought Williams home on a groundball single into left field for a 1-0 WooSox lead.
In the fourth, Pedro Castellanos doubled to start the inning in the midst of a 2-for-4 afternoon at the plate. After a Ryan Fitzgerald strikeout, Johan Mieses singled home Castellanos on a line drive into right field to make it a 2-0 ballgame. Mieses has reached base in five of his seven plate appearances so far in this weekend’s series.
Syracuse (42-50) took control of the game from there. In the fifth, Francisco Álvarez made magic happen. The top prospect in Minor League Baseball came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs after Terrance Gore, Deven Marrero, and Kramer Robertson had all walked earlier in the inning. On an 0-1 pitch, Álvarez smacked a no-doubt drive over the left-field fence to give the Mets a 4-2 advantage in the blink of an eye. The homer was the first Triple-A home run for Álvarez and his first-career grand slam.
In the sixth, the Mets made it happen again with two outs. After a leadoff double for Mark Vientos, who went 2-for-4 at the plate in the game, Marrero came to the plate later in the frame with two outs and blasted a two-run shot over the wall in left-center field to push the Syracuse lead to four, 6-2. Each of Syracuse’s first six runs came via two-out home runs.
In the eighth, the Mets capped off their scoring. Nick Plummer reached to start the inning when he was hit by a pitch, and after a Vientos strikeout, Lee doubled home Plummer with a laser-beam line drive that one-hopped the wall in center field to give the Mets a 7-2 edge.
It was still 7-2 entering the bottom of the ninth inning when things got interesting. Michel Otañez entered the game out of the bullpen for the Mets and promptly walked Johan Mieses to start the inning, followed by a Nick Sogard single that runners on the corners with nobody out.
A fielder’s choice groundout by Grant Williams then scored Mieses to trim the deficit to four, 7-3, and put Williams on first with one out. Devlin Granberg was the next batter, pounding a pitch off the 22-foot-high wall in right field for a double. The WooSox, however, got greedy, attempting to score Williams from first base on the double.
A perfect relay from Lee to Tzu-Wei Lin to home plate nabbed Williams and effectively snuffed out the comeback hopes for the Red Sox. Casas would walk to make it two on base with two outs, but then Hernández grounded out to end the game and hand the Mets back-to-back wins over the WooSox to start their three-game series.
BINGHAMTON, NY – Saturday’s game between the Binghamton Rumble Ponies and Hartford Yard Goats at Mirabito Stadium has been postponed due to inclement weather. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader when the Yard Goats return to Binghamton to play the Rumble Ponies from September 13th through September 18th.
JUPITER, Fla. (July 23, 2022) – The Jupiter Hammerheads pitched another strong game in a 4-1 victory over the St. Lucie Mets on Saturday at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.
Miami Marlins reliever Anthony Bender made a rehab start for Jupiter and pitched 1.1 scoreless and hitless innings before being replaced by Gabe Bierman.
Bierman (5-4) logged 5.2 innings and surrendered just one run on a solo home run by William Lugo.
Joey Steele pitched a perfect eighth and ninth with three strikeouts for his first save.
Jupiter took a 1-0 lead in the third inning on a two-out RBI single by Javier Sanoja off Mets reliever Raimon Gomez.
Lugo launched his sixth homer of the season in the fourth inning to tie the game 1-1.
Yiddi Cappe lifted a sac fly in the fifth inning against Benito Garcia that gave the Hammerheads a 2-1 lead.
Jupiter added two insurances runs off Saul Gonzalez in the eighth inning to ice the game. Carlos Santiago ripped a run-scoring single and Federico Polanco scored on a wild pitch.
The Mets were held to just four hits for the second straight game. Lugo was 2 for 3 with a homer and double. He has the only extra base hits for the Mets in the series.
Mets starter Franklin Sanchez pitched two perfect innings with two strikeouts.
The Mets have lost five in a row and have mustered just one run, the Lugo homer, in their last 22 innings.
BROOKLYN: Alex Ramirez is ON FIRE. Hotter than an East Coast Heat Wave.
5 RBIs in each of the last 2 games, and 10 for 17 with 11 RBIs in his last 4 games. He’s 19. If Soto comes, Nats certainly have to want Ramirez as a piece in that trade.
A few buck shot thoughts in no specific order…
ReplyDeleteAlex Ramirez hit a go ahead grand slam with two outs in the ninth inning. Down two, two outs, bases loaded, top of the ninth inning and Ramirez is Brooklyn’s last hope. Well, he cleared the bases and gave two insurance runs with one swing. Wow, what a feeling!
Remember how I wrote about Simon Juan’s 0-4 in a game his team scored 19 runs? Well, he surpassed that by going 0-5 when his team scored 13 the next day and won 13-12. Yesterday, he sat.
And now, from CBS Sports, R J Anderson:
“https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-power-rankings-second-half-starts-with-a-new-no-1-and-four-teams-eyeing-100-wins/
The Washington Nationals have begun engaging in trade talks involving outfielder Juan Soto, according to what sources have told CBS Sports. The Nationals' newfound willingness to entertain proposals for Soto ahead of the Aug. 2 trade deadline is precipitated by his rejection of a 15-year, $440 million extension offer. When Soto is moved, be it at the deadline or over the offseason, rival front offices who have spoken to CBS Sports expect veteran left-hander Patrick Corbin to be included in the deal.
Corbin's incorporation into a Soto trade would serve two main purposes by 1) balancing the value equation and 2) clearing more money off the books ahead of the Nationals' potential sale. Let's break down what those mean using handy subheads.
1. Balancing the value equation
The reality of trading Soto is that obtaining what feels like equal (or thereabout) value for him in the form of other players is nearly impossible. He's a 23-year-old outfielder on a Hall-of-Fame track who will be under team control for three more playoff runs. Even if a contender doesn't extend him into his free-agent years, or beyond the 2024 season, they'll be employing one of the best players in the game at submarket wages. That should bring back a ton in return, but teams these days have a tempered view of what they're willing to concede in trades, even for young superstars.
"We assign dollar values to everyone now," a talent evaluator in a rival front office said to CBS Sports. "You can project the value Soto will produce in [2022-2024] and get that in one or two high-end players with five-plus years of control."
Tacking Corbin onto Soto is a way for the Nationals to get a better deal, but not in the conventional "the other team will then add more to their side" sense. Rather, Corbin has been a well-below-replacement-level pitcher over his last 50 starts, amassing a 5.84 ERA (68 ERA+) and a 2.46 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He's owed an additional $60 million over the two forthcoming seasons, too. Shedding that commitment would be a win, and would help even the scales when viewed from the aforementioned cold, calculating dollars-based framework.
Punting Corbin would also free up innings for youngsters or interesting reclamation projects, a lesser (if valid) consideration for the Nationals, who remain years away from being competitive based on their roster and the consensus of their farm system.
It's fair to question the wisdom of attaching Corbin's contract to Soto, but bear in mind that it's become a common practice. The Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Guardians both attached pitchers owed decent coin (David Price, Carlos Carrasco) when they traded away Mookie Betts and Francisco Lindor. Those situations aren't exact parallels, but they're as close to recent precedent as one will find here.
The Nats will smell the Mets.panic from blocks away and will demand 4 top prospects for three playoffs
DeleteAs much as I hate what is going on night after night. I just couldn't make that trade
Let these kids mature at the.proper speed and the team will some day never be in this position again.
Bat wise maybe we just don't have enough this year.
Of course, there's another reason the Nationals would be motivated to move Corbin.
ReplyDelete2. Clearing money off the books
From a normal person's perspective, having Soto on the roster makes the Nationals a more attractive club. The goal is to win games and to field an entertaining product, and he helps in both respects. Sports owners are not normal people, and they certainly don't view these franchises through the same lenses.
The Nationals' next prospective owner, whomever that may be, would likely view a long-term extension for Soto as a negative. The franchise values are such these days that an owner either has to be ungodly rich (à la Steve Cohen) or they have to be rich and leveraged up to their eyeballs in order to cut the check. To the latter, paying a single player nearly $500 million over the next 15 years is an undesirable burden to take on.
That's why teams tend to cut costs ahead of a looming sale, and that's why the Nationals have greater incentive -- not just to refuse to up their offer to Soto into a realm where he'd accept it, but to dump as many future commitments as possible.
To be fair, the Nationals don't have many of those. Corbin is one of two Nationals with guaranteed salaries next season: the other is Stephen Strasburg, who has more than $140 million remaining and who has started eight times in the Pandemic Era. Executives with other teams expressed doubt that anyone would take on Strasburg's deal, and noted that he has the right to veto any trade using his 10-5 rights -- that is, 10 years of big-league service time with the last five coming with his current club.
Moving Corbin as part of a Soto trade, then, is the best chance to clear the books as much as is realistically possible. It shouldn't be the main consideration, not given the franchise-altering stakes of trading a player like Soto, but it matters on some level.”
I have a plan, but it’s ballsy…
ReplyDeleteTell Washington that you will take both Strasburg and Corbin along with Soto, but they can forget the multiple top prospects. If they pay all salaries this year, they can have Mauricio only.
The Mets salary structure will go way up for two years. JDG isn't getting re-signed and having Megill’s and Peterson’s cheap salary will offset some need to spend for pitchers. Corbin will slot into the rotation for the next two years and Strasburg is a lottery ticket. But, in two years Scherzer, Corbin, Cahna, Escobar, Corrasco, Walker, and McCann all come off the books and you could reset. I know that this isn’t my pocket we are talking about, but in Alderson’s returning presser he talked about the two currencies of baseball: money and prospects. Save The Lerner Family $200MM, but they won’t get prospects.
My only problem this year is they just got Vogelbach and what do you do with Cahna, Nimmo, and Marte in the outfield? And adding so much payroll to the team will hurt and Nimmo will be sacrifice. However, while a complicated problem to solve, it is solvable and will leave you with a great talent and a full farm system when the dust settles.
Lastly, how do you have Travis Jankowski and his .167 average on your bench and no righties when playing a team with four lefties in their bullpen, including the closer? How many times did Gary Cohen mention that they had no righties on the bench? Really Eppler?
ReplyDeleteAnd Nido with a bad thumb that couldn’t turn on a pit h is better than McNeil against a lefty there Buck Showalter? Really??
Make an offer for:
ReplyDeletePaying off Corbin
Paying off Strassburg
Mauricio
Dom Smith
JD Davis
If they say no, hang up the phone
I like Gus’ thinking. I would love to see them keep Alvarez, Baty, and Ramirez, and get Soto.
ReplyDeleteLet’s say you get Soto and he arrives August 3. Still need Vogelsbach for next 10 days.
Vogie in 900 career at bats vs. righties. 55 HR, 136 RBI, 172 BB, . 358 OBP. Unlike Dom, he is not a sensitive loser. He plays hardball.
Mack good call and Texas great post and taking on 200 million when SC has say 14 billion or 14,000 million would work AND really energize this team because I'm not sure we have enough as currently constructed. Look when your this close you need an owner willing to go the distance and thank God we have one and being able to also save the farm goes along way to accelerating Stevie 3 to 5 year plan and oh would he make this fan base happy. So Steve are you listening because I know he reads the best Met site on the web LGM!
ReplyDeleteThis team will never get ahead of the curb unless 3-4 starters are young team controlled players.
DeleteMack, I wouldn’t even give that much in talent. But, my motivation is a sold out Citifield every night, like Fenway, Chavez Ravine, and Wrigley. I believe this move would pay for itself after all the other moves that have been done. Again, the risk isn’t mine…
ReplyDeleteToo, some bozo wrote that the Mets have a standing offer to Washington for Bell and a reliever giving up a high minors outfielder and starting pitcher. Well… I guess what if Soto blows a hamstring and you hamstrung your team to get him? That’s the other side of the coin.
ReplyDeleteAll true
ReplyDeleteBoy this is a great daily post.
ReplyDeleteWho does this?
Why spend millions on Corbin and Strasbourg. Spend the money on Correa,Verlander,Montas,Robertson,Bogarts, DeGrom,Walker…
ReplyDeleteJosh Bell and a quality reliever wouldn't be bad - depends on the price.
ReplyDeleteCarson Seymour and Mauricio? Too much?
The bunch of SPs we drafted a year ago are really paying off.
ReplyDeleteTrade Mauricio and no one else