The Mack Report - Tuesday, August 9th
Some general thoughts and observations after last night’s games.
1. First, hold your Mats caps. Right now, Max Scherzer and Jake deGrom line up as the two starters against the Yankees in thier final series this year.
2. Our first hero from last night was RF Sterling Marte. Marte got the team started of in the right direction, hitting a two run bomb in the first inning. It was his 12th home run of the season and he is now batting .315 since May 1st.
3. Hero number two goes to DH Daniel Vogelbach, who had two hits, one that drive in run number three. He currently has 50 plate appearances as a Met and has produced 13 hits, three doubles, two home runs, and 10 walks, for a .333 batting average and a whopping .480 on base percentage. Oh yeah, his OPS is 1.044.
4. And our last hero was starter Chris Bassett. Our triple digit pitch count starter (114) pitched the longest Met start of the season , going eight innings, notched his 9th win, while striking out eight and not giving up any earned runs. HIs ERA is now 3.39.
5. Honorable mention goes to another of our deadline acquisitions, outfielder Tyler Naquin, who tripled in runs four and five in the 8th inning.
6. The Mets are now 61-0 when leading after 8 innings this season. I hate to use the obvious here, but that’s friggin’ amazing. Remember, Edwin Diaz didn’t pitch in everyone of those games. This might be one the the top Mets stats of the year.
7. Steve Cohen gave a good thrashing to that sore loser Spencer Strider, calling him out when he said the Mets won their series with luck against his team? Luck? Was the fact they won 43 of the 45 innings played in that series luck? Was that lopsided strikeouts thrown by pitching staffs luck? Trust me, this is the last thing a manager wants. Giving the opposing team fodder to put up on their cork board in the clubhouse will not serve them well in their next series. Imagine if pitchers still hit and Strider had to face Mets starters? Could we borrow Thor for one pitch?
8. The rest of the week lines up this way… the Reds today and tomorrow, day off Thursday and the Phillies through Sunday. Next week, it’s four in Atlanta and three in Philly. Dominate here and the winner of this division could be determined early.
Grading each Mets deadline get here -
Overall, the Mets did the bare minimum at the deadline. They did upgrade DH spot, added a reliever, and patched up the bench, but fell short of filling holes at catcher, and in the pen, where a reliable lefty is all but missing. Had they added that lefty arm, the deadline goes from underwhelming to a success, but alas, they did not.
The deadline grade: C+
2023 MLB DRAFT - TOP 100 COLLEGE PROSPECTS here -
#13 RHP Rhett Lowder Wake Forest
The reigning ACC Pitcher of the Year, Lowder has some of the best pitchability in the entire class. He's been into the mid-90's with the fastball, sitting in the low-90's later into starts with running life, mixing it with a good slider in the low-80's and a change-up with fading life in the mid-80's. He can pitch backwards off the slider and change-up with ease and has good command and feel of his entire arsenal.
Yesterday’s Tweets -
John Flanigan @jflan816
Pete Alonso in the five game series against the Braves:
8-for-19 (.421), 1 2B, 1 HR, 4 R, 7 RBI, 1.132 OPS
Michael Mayer @mikemayer22
Baseball America has update their Too 100 prospects, the Mets have 4 players on the list:
6. Francisco Álvarez
28. Brett Baty
53. Kevin Parada
94. Alex Ramirez
Buster Olney @Buster_ESPN
NL playoff chances, per Fangraphs:
Dodgers 100%
Mets 100%
Braves 97.7%
Padres 89.8%
Cardinals 70.4%
Phillies 70.3%
Brewers 67.4%
Giants 4.3%
Marlins 0.1%
Nationals, Pirates, Reds, Cubs, Rockies, D-Backs 0.0%
Tim Ryder @TimothyRRyder
the Mets are hitting .298/.364/.480 in the second half. their 142 wRC+ is best in MLB
Mets starters have a 2.87 ERA over that span, 2nd in MLB
things are looking up. way up.
DDM Fan @FanDdm
If the Mets starters continue to perform well - & hopefully Walker’s meltdown was just a one timer - what is there to fear? Mets have proven the age old axiom that good pitching stops good hitting. And right now they are scoring lots of runs to support amazing starting pitching.
ReplyDeleteThe C+ is a bit low, especially when you open the post by crowing the accomplishments of Vogelbach and Naquin. The stupid Ruf trade (I’m not getting over it) and not getting a lefty puts me in the B territory, but Eppler may be right there too as Lucchessi and Peterson may be added to the bullpen to help Rodriguez.
Matt Carpenter got hurt last night; the pitching is breaking down in the Bronx; they have their own problems!
Steve Cohen should just let his team fight its battles, and they will next Monday. Til then, there’s work to be done. The Phillies actually think they’re pretty good, and that’s before Harper comes back. Mets haven’t played Philly in several months. Different team now.
Good point on Steve.
DeleteI'm sure his tweet is now on their cork board too.
Between Max Fried's "I wanna pitch against Scherzer" and now Strider's whining, the Braves are doing well to keep the Mets motivated. That's good because you never want to let down against a great team like that. So we will go into the next series with them wanting it just as bad as this last series. I agree with Gus that Steve Cohen should drop this now so he doesn't become bulletin board material for Atlanta - all it takes is one tweet.
ReplyDeleteIt is early to give out trade deadline grades just like April is early to grade the players on a team. Some great or terrible things could happen in the first month, but over the long haul a different picture emerges. I certainly like the picture so far - Naquin has performed, Ruf has added some timely hits, and Daniel Vogelberg is quickly becoming a fan favorite. They all seem to be meshing well in the clubhouse.
Mets have team option in 2023 on Vogy.
DeleteRuf signed thru 2023 with team option in 2024
Acuna threw 4 perfect innings vs. St Lucie after the trade - but still, it is Low A ball.
ReplyDeleteI think with the deadline moves, they were very good - first of all, they're working. Secondly, it was a matter of replacing sputtering offensive pieces that were frankly affecting the overall offense adversely with enough fixes to make the Mets jet engine offense purr like a kitten. Mission accomplished. We got to keep our prospects.
With all due respect to Mayer, what do you call a player who in 643 at bats, has 31 doubles, 40 HRs, and 122 RBIs? Pete Alonso? No. You call him Vientos Mauricio. Yes, that is their combined numbers. I find it hard to believe both of these guys are not in Mayer's top 100.
As I've said before , the future looks bright.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI thought I had posted a quip on Michael Conforto being exactly what the Yankees need right now, despite him hating NYC’s media.
ReplyDeleteNever saw it
DeleteTex,even if Ruf flops what did the Mets give up? Davis had worn out his welcome and like Dom had zero trade valu. The three pitchers can’t even be considered lottery tickets. And if Ruf hits as a platoon DH this might be a WS team.
ReplyDeleteAnybody got a stat line on Tidwell today?
ReplyDeleteMack, one inning, no runs, no hits, one walk, one wild pitch and 2 strikeouts.
ReplyDeleteWalker is pitching tomorrow vs Cincy, then will skip Philly and get a chance at redemption in Atlanta. 🤞
ReplyDeleteI keep saying (though no one seems to hear) that we CAN NOT judge the deadline moves simply by the trades.
ReplyDeleteThough the trades in and of themselves have made us a much better team, we must consider the additions that have cost us ZERO, either in talent of $$$.
How many teams have added anything comoarable to Jake, May, McCann and (soon) Megill?
And to repeat, those 4 players cost us ZERO!
The Mets were very good - now they are downright dangerous
ReplyDeleteLook if we go all the way it won't matter what those players who were traded do in the future. We have won 2 yes TWO World Series in SIXTY ONE YEARS!!!! It is time to seize the moment and surprise our amazing owner as we have moved up his 3 to 5 year timeline TO THIS YEAR. It works for me thanks Boss and LGM! We all know where we would be with the old ownwership and I like this alot better.
ReplyDelete