Tom Brennan - JD Martinez Thoughts, & 2019 Mets’ Quiz Questions!

The Dodgers scooped up JD Martinez for 1 year, $10 million...which sounds mighty cheap these days.  A mere ten mill.

Interestingly, in his age 31 season in 2018, he was a hitting terror: 

43 HRs, 130 RBIs, .330.  And he hit almost as well in 2019.

In 2022, though, he hit (in roughly the same # of at bats) just 16 HRs, knocked in just 62, and batted .274. (In fairness, JDM was still a doubles machine with 43, but he also hit only about .230 over his last 4 months).

In 2023, I confidently predict he will be....a year older.  His age 36 year, in point of fact.  

Many MLBers excel at 31 - and are done, or close to it, by age 36.

We've seen what an extra mid-30s year can do to Jose Reyes, Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier, Adrian Gonzalez...and yes, our very own Darin Ruf.  

So, maybe JDM has an LAD Renaissance.

Or maybe his hitting keeps deteriorating like the other fellas. We'll see.

Last JDM note - and it is a biggie: 

JD Martinez was drafted in 2009 by the Astros in the 20th round. 20th.

Mets that year drafted Steve Matz and otherwise a complete slate of bums.  Bums.  Complete and total bums.  Am I clear about bums?

If you use the mantra of "Draft Power Arms, Power Bats", I am beyond puzzled how the Mets could have drafted guys like Zack Dotson, Casey Schmidt, and Chase Greene several rounds before JD Martinez came off the board.  After all, JD was IN THE MAJORS in 2011!!!

This Cinderella story had some bumps, as noted in Wikipedia:

The Astros outrighted Martinez off the major league roster on November 20, 2013, and released him on March 22, 2014. After three years and 252 games in an Astro uniform, Martinez had hit .251 with 24 home runs.  He promptly signed with Detroit and his career rampage began. A strong word of caution on giving up on a perhaps very similar guy like Mark Vientos too soon, only to see him he become a prodigious bat in another MLB uniform.

Passing on JDM was similar to the Mets passing on Pujols in the late 90s.  Pujols was a 13th rounder, spent one year in the minors, and hit like Lou Gehrig in the majors as a rookie the following year.

DRAFT POWER ARMS. DRAFT POWER BATS. THOU SHALT NOT DRAFT DRECK.

After all, you may just end up drafting the next JD Martinez instead of Chase Greene, who had a .327 slug % when released from rookie ball by the Mets after just 294 at bats.

DON'T DRAFT FILLER!  TRY TO DRAFT "THRILLER"!

Now...on to the quiz.

2019 QUIZ:

The year of Pete, Jeff, & Jake: 

So many questions! 

1. Which player broke a Mets team record by a whopping 29%?

2. Which player, had he not lost his rookie status in 2018, would have given Pete Alonso a real challenge for rookie of the year?

3. Who was the last strong-hitting Mets catcher?

4. Who made it seem in 2019 like the Mets would never need to consider a Francisco Lindor in a trade?

5. Who were the utterly helpless back up hitters in 2019 (name at least 2)?

6. Which player set career highs in HRs and RBIs besides Pete and Jeff?

7. Which 2 pitchers were 4-2 in 45 innings despite ERAs well above 8.00, while the team's Cy Young winner could only scrape together 11 wins in 32 games despite his reputed pitching brilliance?

8. How many blown saves were there in 2019?

9. The Mets were in first place mostly until late May, but never again.  Why?

10. Which pitcher got away after the season to become an intra-division star?

ANSWERS:

1. Pete Alonso - the rookie cracked 53 HRs, eclipsing the old team record by 29%.  He also best the team's rookie HR record by 104%.

2. Jammin' Jeff McNeil played just 133 games in 2019, but had 38 doubles, 23 HRs, 83 runs, 75 RBIs, and hit .318.    Pete played in 161 games. 

McNeil projected over a similar 161 games would have had 46 doubles, 28 HRs, 100 runs scored and 90 RBIs.

3. Wilson Ramos who, in 141 games, hit .288 with 73 RBIs and just 69 Ks.  Circling the bases on his 14 HRs, however, did extend game time, since he was officially noted to be the slowest man on the planet. 

4. Amed Rosario in 157 games hit .287 with 52 XBHs, 72 RBIs and 19 steals at age 23.  Then Citi-regressed, and is now a very solid Guardian in Ohio..

5. Keon Broxton, Aaron Altherr, Jed Lowrie, Travis d'Arnaud, Ruben Tejada and Sam Haggerty went a combined for 13 for 123, 52 K non-hitting.  As it turns out, 3 of the 6, when later healthy as ex-Mets (Lowrie, d'Arnaud, and Haggerty), showed they could be valued MLB contributors elsewhere.  Beware who you shed.

6. Michael Conforto had 33 HRs and 92 RBIs, giving the Mets' top 5 offensive players some real punch.  Had Cano not had his hands damaged by HBPs, and had TDA been allowed to stay with the Mets and hit like he did for the Rays, the team's offense would have been utterly lethal.

7. Drew Gagnon and Walker Lockett had that combined 4-2 with an ERA above 8.  Add in Luis Avilan, and the 3 went 8-2 despite allowing 65 combined runs in 78 innings.  I'm sure Jake said "WUT???"  Better to be lucky than good - except when it comes to the size of new contracts.

8. Far too many (I did not look up the exact number), but this 2022 year, by comparison, the Rays blew 36 saves while the Mets blew just 15 saves, so these things even out over time.

9. After a 9-4 season start, the Mets proceeded to go 31-47 in their next 78 games, dropping them to 14.5 games out, so despite a 2nd half surge, the playoffs remained elusive in 2019. Going 31-37 over half a season can do that to you.

10. Zack Wheeler.  Wilpon cheapness struck again.  Boy, does his Phillies contract look cheap now.

NEXT UP: 2020 QUIZ, THE YEAR OF THE PANDEMIC.