Paul Articulates – Underrated or Overrated?

In last Sunday’s post, I heralded two of the Mets’ unsung heroes – batting coach Eric Chavez and third base coach Joey Cora.  In my opinion, those two have had a dramatic effect on the Mets success this year by influencing a style of play that befits the team makeup and the home stadium.  There were may good comments from readers who suggested other underrated members of the ball club.  It caused me to think deeper into the Mets to discover who are the most underrated and conversely, who are the most overrated on the team.  

This can expand in many ways, so to bound the problem I created a few ground rules for my investigation.  First, the mid-season acquisitions are excluded because they have not had enough time to truly establish their level of contribution.  There are many opinions on those folks from their brief introduction to Mets nation, but we’ll suspend judgement until they have had many more at-bats.  Second, there are several prospects in the minors that have generated significant attention this year, but for this post, they are also out of bounds.  I will focus on the Mets’ 40-man roster minus July/August trade acquisitions, the coaching staff, the front office, and the owners.

With that set of rules established, here is my view on the five most underrated and five most overrated members of the Mets:

                                    Underrated

1) Eric Chavez.  The Mets slashed .239/.315/.391 as a team last year, with the 23rd rated OPS in baseball.  This year they are slashing 260/.332/.412 with the 5th rated OPS in baseball.  Chavez is the reason why.  He has boiled down complicated analytics into simple focus points for hitters, making them better prepared for the next game’s at-bats. No headlines – just results.  That is underrated!

2) Joey Cora.  I will repeat my argument from last Sunday: He has orchestrated a much more aggressive approach with the Mets’ offense that has moved them into unfamiliar territory – the MLB top 5 in runs scored.  I enjoy watching him interact with base runners – picking them up early, clearly signaling where to head, constantly pointing to where the ball is so no one gets fooled.  No headlines – just results.  That is underrated!

3) Steve Cohen.  This team looked like they had potential in spring training, and everyone was talking about how Steve Cohen was willing to spend the bucks to make this team a contender.  But we’re Mets fans – we always come out of spring thinking we have a contender only to get our hopes dashed.  So in the back of our minds, we expected this team to tank.  Guess what?  They have not tanked, they dominated last year’s World Series Champs in a pivotal 5-game series, and they have a laudable 37-14 record against the NL East.  Admit it – that is above your expectations for this season.  Steve set the culture and the team is reaping the benefit.

4) Luis Guillorme.  There have been a lot of accolades recently for the play of Luis Guillorme.  But you cannot call him anything but underrated if he does not have an everyday starting job when he displays this level of skill both with the glove and with the bat.  He has made some of the most memorable fielding plays on the team, only has 3 errors all year, and though his batting used to be considered a weak spot, has slashed .281/.356/.357 this year while antagonizing pitchers with long at-bats.  No wonder Buck says there should be a utility player position on the all-star team!

5) Billy Eppler.  It is so easy to criticize a General Manager.  GMs have to look into a crystal ball, and the rest of us get to look in a rear view mirror.  If the trade or signing or draft pick works perfectly, then the GM did their job.  If any of them don’t work out, the GM failed.  How many of you have that level of expectation at your job?  Eppler has not succeeded everywhere, and some of his deals still have to prove themselves throughout the season and hopefully the playoffs.  For that he seems to get flack from the media for not being good enough.  The measuring stick seems to be a world championship, which is something the Mets (and their GM) have only achieved twice in 60 years.   This team seems built to last, and he should get a lot of the credit for that.

                                    Overrated

1) James McCann.  McCann looked like a great acquisition in December 2020.  He was much cheaper than Realmuto, but his stats with the Chicago White Sox showed a rising star that was good on both the offensive and defensive side of the stats sheet.    He has shown to be adequate defensively although there is not much drop-off with backup Tomas Nido behind the plate.  The problem is that McCann never came close to hitting like he did with the Sox (.273 in 2019 and .289 in 2020).  His split for home games (.217 Avg) versus road games (.246 Avg) imply that the big city lights might be a problem (but didn’t he play in Chicago?) or maybe it is CitiField.  Either way, he is not earning his $10M/year.

2) Eduardo Escobar.  Like McCann, Escobar has proven to be a solid defensive player but a weak hitter which doesn’t justify his $10M/year.

3) Joely Rodriguez.  Joely has pitched to a 5.12 ERA and 1.453 WHIP this year.  Not good for our only lefty in the pen.  Why do you need lefties in the pen?  To get left handed batters out.  But Joely’s splits against the left handed batters are nowhere near what the team got from Aaron Loup or Jerry Blevins over the last several years.

4) Seth Lugo. I am a Seth Lugo fan, so I hate to put him in this category, but his inconsistent performances this year warrant comment.  We expect any pitcher to have good days and bad days – that’s baseball.  Lugo has been a fantastic reliever for the Mets, and he has set a high standard for his time on the mound.  This year in 9 April appearances, he pitched well in seven, but two blow-up games against the Phillies and Diamondbacks came at a cost.  In May, 11 appearances, two blow-up games.  In June, 8 appearances, two blow-up games.  In July, 11 appearances, two bad games.  Notice a pattern?  Seth needs to fix this for October.

5) Francisco Lindor.  It is unfair, but Lindor has to be in this category since he is making $34M+ per year as a position player (the next closest player Marte makes $19.5M).  That is superman pay so if he does not play like superman every day, he is overrated.  Francisco Lindor is slashing .331/.409/.561 in the combined months of July and August for an OPS of .970.  That is pretty close to the stats superman would deliver.  He also brings many intangibles and leadership to this club.  If he began his Mets career like that, he would be cheered from the rooftops every time he set foot on the field and many would justify that he was fairly paid for his output.  Instead, he started poorly and created an impression in the minds of the fan base that he would never be worth it.  Fortunately for all of us, I believe that Francisco has come to terms with that, and no longer carries the burden of having to please everyone all the time.  He has embedded himself in the core of a successful team and lives off the fans’ appreciation for the team.