Tom Brennan - The Mack Report

 

The Mack Report, Friday, August 11

I am pinch-hitting for a few days for Mack, who had surgery Thursday, and is on the Macks Mets' IL.

Thoughts and prayers for you. No doubt you'll return throwing 102 MPH.

The Mets got a well-deserved day of rest on Thursday.  

It gave me time to put Max Scherzer in perspective:

Max missed seven weeks with an oblique injury.  This great makes no excuses, and accepts nothing less than HOF-caliber performance.  Every pitcher should do what they can to emulate Max.

At age 38, he is 8-2, 1.98, with an 0.89 WHIP and 120 Ks in 96 innings. Wow.

Another great, and future HOF, Justin Verlander, is baseball's best starting pitcher in 2022, at 15-3, 1.85, 0.86 WHIP, and 134 Ks in 136 innings.  Max is just as great as Verlander in 2022, except for the 7 weeks missed.

Dylan Cease is 12-4, 166 Ks in 123 IP, 1.98 ERA, 1.16 WHIP.  He is not as adept at keeping runners off base as Max.

Those are the three best MLB starters this year.  Max is RIGHT THERE, except for the time missed.  

I don't know about you, I thought Max would be great - just not THIS great.

Then...we get Jake back, and in his second start, against one of baseball's best offensive teams, he starts out with 17 straight hitters retired, 12 Ks, 102 MPH, and several of the fastest sliders recorded this year in all of baseball. Jeesh! 

Max and Jake - then add in brilliant Edwin Diaz - and every MLB team has to be aware that facing the Mets in the playoffs could be a hazardous proposition.  Jake, after that last freak show start, could be poised to be baseball's best starter over the remainder of 2022.

Dominic Smith (who did not play tonight) was featured in a NY Post article the other day, where it is clear he has struggled psychologically and has implemented coping mechanisms like daily journaling to help him.  

If I was Dom, all of that is fine, but I would pivot from trying to cope and be at peace to putting on my warrior hat - why not watch Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) in the movie "Warrior" over and over, and set my goal as being a bull-in-a-china-shop Tommy Conlon destroying AAA pitching and positioning myself to be a September 1 call up.  

If you don't know the movie, check out this scene, where the then unknown Tommy comes into a gym to work out, and somehow gets a chance to spar with the # 2 ranked fighter in the world, and stuns everyone in the gym when he destroys and dismantles # 2.  What a stunning movie scene. (I normally don't post videos, I hope this works).

So, Dom, be a warrior, and FIGHT to be be part of the Mets playoff push - if someone gets hurt, your role could expand.  

He will almost undoubtedly be elsewhere in 2023, so why not set the short-term goals of 1) destroying AAA, 2) rejoining the Mets in September, 3) being part of a World Series winner, whether he gets in the playoffs or not?

Jeff McNeil - a tale of 3 sub-seasons:

1) hitting .328 thru June 28.

2) deep slump, knocking him down 41 points to .287 by July 29. No HRs, 3 RBIs over those 31 days. A little gimpy. Then, the resurgence....

3) 20 for 46, 3 HR, 8 RBIs over the last 11 games, with NO walks and just 5 Ks.  Back up to .307, 8th highest average in baseball. You know Jeff is red hot when he stops walking and striking out…he just wants to put the ball in play ASAP and generate HITS.  

Paul Goldschmidt leads the NL at .328. I think Jeff has a chance to overtake him. It would be nice to grab a batting title.

Keep rocking, Jeff.

CITIFIELD HOME RUN GRAVEYARD:

Have you noticed how many near-HRs Pete and Francisco have hit recently in Citifield that were caught (and the ball that Lindor hit that fell an inch short of going out and was held to a double). 

At the risk of being a broken record, on a subject I have raised a lot, I want those fences edged in, to be a bit shorter, one more time: 

1) 400 to dead center, not 408; 

2) 5 feet shorter in the corners; 

3) Otherwise 3 feet shorter all around; 

4) ditch the outward bullpen dip. 

I think if those minor tweaks were made to the dimensions, Pete and Lindor would both have 5 more HRs this year - already. 

Other MLB stars are far more fortunate.

Aaron Judge in 2022? 25 Bronx homers, vs. 20 road homers. 

Career, 110 Bronx HRs, vs. 92 road HRs. Big (+20%) difference. 

 Pete?  Home, just 58 HRs vs. 77 road HRs in his career.  A minus 25% difference. Stunning disparity home and away, and even more so when comparing "Judge Home" and "Pete Home". 

If Pete had 20% MORE HRs at home, like Judge does, Pete would see his career hometown HR total climb from 58 to 92. Huge 34 HR difference, even at this early stage of Pete's career. Let that sink in.

At this rate, Judge is on a trajectory where he probably makes the HOF, while Pete probably doesn’t.  Pete needs BIG HR #'s to make the Hall. 

All because of their home parks' advantage (Judge) and disadvantage (Pete).

So...why penalize Pete? I want Pete to make the Hall of Fame. More HRs help. 

Fix the fences, Mr. Cohen. Do it this off-season, please.

I promise I won't bring this issue up again - for at least a few weeks.

P.S.  MINORS: All close, back and forth, games for the top 4 teams.

SYRACUSE: Brett Baty batted lead off and he remains HOT.  2 hits and a walk his first 3 PAs.  Mark Vientos added a 2 run double.  RJ Alvarez coughed up a 4-2 lead late by surrendering a 3 run homer.  Syracuse rallied in the 7th to take the lead on a 2 run single by Khalil Lee, his 3rd hit of the game.  

Towering fireballer Bryce Montes de Oca pitched a 1-2-3 8th, fanning 2. Baty grounded into an inning-ending DP in the 8th, so the lead stayed at 1.  

Big Bad Bryce returned for a 2nd inning in the 9th.  Strike out, strike out, strike out.  In all, 2 perfect innings, 5 Ks, almost all (18 of 23) strikes, no doubt overpowering.  Sounds like an Edwin outing to me.  7th save. 6-5 Syracuse win.

Francisco Alvarez sat this one out.  So did Dom.

BINGHAMTON: Rehabbing Tony Dibrell quickly surrendered 3 runs, then settled down and finished 3 innings, 3 runs.  Down 6-3, Wyatt Young (hit and walk) walked to load the bases, and Rowdy Jordan, who homered earlier, fought a walk to make it 6-4.  Ronny Mauricio lined out to first to end the threat.  Hayden Senger later homered (4) to make the score, 6-5.  Bottom 8, Mauricio again up with the bags full, struck out on a wild pitch, with the tying run scoring.  But Joe Zanghi allowed 2 runs in the 9th and Binghamton lost the see saw battle 8-6.

BROOKLYN: William Lugo hit a 2 run shot in the 5th to give Brooklyn a 5-4 lead.  Keyshawn Askew had a bit of a shaky outing. allowing 3 in the second and a 4th run in the 3rd, but went 5 innings with 4 runs allowed and 5 Ks.  The other team tied it in the 9th, 5-5.  In the 11th, both teams scored.  6-6.  

Then, in the 12th, Brooklyn scored to take a 7-6 lead.  Bottom 12, man on 3rd, two outs....walk....walk....bags full.  But the Mets' Daison Acosta (2-6) prevailed, getting the final out in a 7-6 win. Good to see struggling Matt Rudick with 5 hits and 2 walks in his last 2 games, raising his season OBP to a solid .345.

ST LUCIE: In yet another see-saw affair, St Lucie seemed to have pulled it out in 11 innings, 5-2.  2021 12th rounder, Jack-Thomas Wold, smacked a 2 run shot top 11 to help secure the extra inning win.  Except it wasn't a win, as Clearwater rallied for 4 runs bottom 11 against Miguel Alfonseca for a very tough 6-5 extra inning loss.

Moving on to rookie ball:

DSL:  YONATON HENRIQUEZ had himself a fine game. The 17 year old 2B had his first 2 pro HRs and 2 walks in a 7-5 win, and SS Jesus Baez cracked his 7th HR. 

CHRISTOFER GOMEZ fanned the side in his inning of relief, and now is 2-0, 5 saves, 0.48 ERA, 32 Ks in 18.2 IP.  Nice.  As someone suggested, get him up to the FCL.

FCL:  In his pro debut, 2022 6th rounder Tyler Stuart pitched a perfect inning, fanning one. Nice to get that first one under your belt.

MLB:

The Phloundering Phillies lost to Marlins 3-0 today - and are now 10.5 games behind the superior Mets.  While 40-20 in their last 60, they will not catch the Mets this year.  Or maybe ever.

NY Post article projected Mets' salaries at $345 million next year if they keep most of the hombres from this year's highly successful team.  It's only $$.