Metsbits by David Jacks

It’s Tuesday, sadly football has ended in New York so it’s time to look to baseball where hope springs eternal. Here are some Mets tidbits - Metsbits if you will. 

 

 - The next move after the Correa talks broke down was always going to be a disappointment, cue Tommy Pham. Let’s be realistic, Pham is a 4th outfielder and based on previous years this is a marked improvement. Previous 4th’s included Jankowski, Naquin, Pillar, Marisnick, Den Dekker, Almora and Broxton. He’s better than all of them  (his lifetime ops+ 114 is 14 points higher then the second closest  - Naquin) despite an off year in 22’. 

 - Back to Correa. We now have two examples of the current ownership/ FO taking a risk on a player they knew had medical issues, and both times they ended up punting due to those medicals. Kumar Rocker fell into the Mets laps due to shoulder concerns, they took the risk and drafted him 10th overall in the 2021 draft. Once they got a closer look at the medicals they didn’t even make an offer, leading to an extra first round pick in 22' (Kevin Parada). Of course this year it was the massive FA signing of Carlos Correa. The Mets knew San Fran balked after he met with their doctors, the Mets took a shot hoping their docs might disagree. They did not, and the deal folded. Cohen is willing to spend a ton, he’s not willing to spend on injury risks. Lesson learned.  

 - Good or bad the Mets will get a look at Vogelbach and Ruff for a full year after acquiring them at the deadline (if they make it to opening day). Cohen has shown he’s willing to buy out a mistake and that may be at play here, possibility of a trade as well. The two players have no defensive value, are station to station and only hit based on lefty/ righty matchups. If they don’t hit they may not last long with the kids in the wings.  

- Saw some silliness on MetsTwitterverse questioning Gary Cohen, HOW VERY DARE YOU!

- Back to Pham, his defensive metrics were down this year as were many of his offensive numbers, but a closer look tells another tale. Pham continued to hit lefties and was around 20th in hard hit rate overall (please look away JD Davis haters). He also has some pop and is excellent against plus fastballs. 

- New Rule - as soon as pitcher goes into the windup a batter should be allowed to drop his bat and steal first base, it would almost never work but the comedy would be tremendous. 

 - Bold take  - the most unheralded players this year will be Dave Peterson as a starter, 

Jon Curtiss in pen and though it will take time Francisco Alvarez as a hitter. 

- Chaffin and Britton are still very good options for the pen. That said the mets have Ottovino, Robertson and Raley to get to Diaz, and then a ton of other potentials arms to bridge the gap. 

 - Back, back to Pham  - He gives me Jayson Werth vibes.  Not saying he has the same skill set - I'm saying he's the guy who will do little things to ruin an opponents day. A firestater/ thorn in your side, oh and of course he will slap you down if you mess with his fantasy team. 

 - This may be the deepest rotation the Mets have ever had, and they may need it. Their two aces are almost 40, Carrasco is 35, Quintana 33 and Sengha has dealt with quite a few injuries through his career. Peterson, Megill and Lucchesi  (even Elieser Hernandez) offer some much needed depth, and if the starting five stay healthy they will be options for the pen. It will be interesting to see how all three are handled in the spring. 

 - Cohen admitted the Mets were a bat short despite being one of the better offensive teams in the league last year. Many fans assumed one of the young guns could be that bat, but it's starting to look more and more likely they will start the season in the minors. Baty probably has the best chance of sticking but if any of the big three (Alvarez, Baby or Vientos)  are gonna lose AB’s in the majors they are gonna be shipped to AAA instead. Can’t stunt development. 

- I’ve said it before but if you think a big trade is coming it seems very unlikely. The Mets are willing to spend but they don’t seem interested in trading blue chips, in fact they’d rather protect them by signing expensive stop gaps to high aav’s with short term deals. If you want Ohtani (who doesn’t?) it’s gonna be money, not Alvarez that gets him.