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5/28/23

Observations from Mack - The Mets Outlook



Good morning.


I’m having such a hard time getting this post started. Do I talk about the five game winning streak? Do I talk about the latest fold against the Cubs? Do I pump this team up? Or do I just tell the truth and tell you what I think?

I’ll go with truth.

What I’m not going to do is rant that Ronny Mauricio should be playing in Queens, or that Daniel Vogelbach should retire, buy a guitar, and change his name to Dan Fogelberg. Also, not play Mark Vientos all this time or quote some of the low batting averaged from the so-called big stars on this team. No, I’ll leave that to the other writers, you, and your Mets friends on places like Facebook or Twitter.

For me, it starts, and ends with pitching.

And continuing with all the things I’m not going to do here, I’m not going write about the age of the starters, the pitchers traded, or the injuries incurred. Every team has pitching injuries, even big teams like the Braves and Yankees, but they don’t seem to be having little problems posting win-loss records that qualify them for the playoffs.

I don’t want to look back at what already has happened this season, but this division is being led by a team that looks like it will easily post up a 100+ win season. Teams that do this don’t have fan bases that are excited that “after one more bad outing, we can replace Cookie with Joey”.

The Mets, simply put, do not have enough talent in both their starters and pen, to reach the playoffs this season. Finished. Done. Over and out. Kaput.

I will step out and focus on one area though. No teams gets to or goes deep in the playoffs without three decent starters. We all know that the only problem that Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer has is their age-related injury potention… well, that and Max’s Vitalis problem… but the Mets needed Kodai Senga to become a positive factor this year in the rotation. He hasn’t. The league has quickly realized that if you don’t swing when he dishes up the forkball, it’s going to wind up in the dirt before it gets to the catcher and the ump will call it correctly as a ball. Looks like a strike when it starts. Ends going down under.

So, they had a good outing from Cookie, both Joey Lucchese and David Peterson are pitching well  in Syracuse, and Tylor Megill is turning out decent SP5 numbers. Enough? Hell no.

We know that Lucchese has never really pitched well at the major league level, and Peterson seems to have forgotten how to. One good Carrasco outing doesn’t make  a season.

I look at this rotation and see two old guys that probably only produce their worse outings going forward in the range of six innings pitched with three runs given up (oops). And Megill will do just fine in the SP5 slot. This is the good news.

The secret of where this team goes in the future lies in the SP3 and SP4 slots, especially after they play their last game today against “easy” competition for quite awhile.

And, by the way, how did that playing against easy competition work out?

And I haven’t even written here about a limited talented pen that is already overworked and hitting the wall.

Beginning Tuesday, the Mets play 3x Phils, 3x Toronto, 3x Braves, 3x Pirates, 2x Yankees 3x Cardinals, 3x Astros, 3x Phils, 3x Brewers, and end the month of June with three games against the Giants.

This current team can barely stay above .500 against easy teams and now this smacks you in the head.

There are some things they can do…


In my opinion:


-Senga’s fork is consistently ending out of the zone. Batters have figured that out and are working their at-bat towards a walk. Walks are good (just ask Vogy), but only if you get the rest of the batters out. Is the American baseball causing his pitches to dive down too much? A simple solution here would be to teach Kodai to start these pitches out shoulder high so then still end of out of the zone but just below the box.


-Prematurely move Mike Vasil to AAA-Syracuse. Sure, it’s a little early, but he does have eight starts for the B-Mets. Movement usually begins in the 10 starts range. He was pulled early last outing but I really don’t see an issue here. In wartime, poorly trained troops are very often sent to the front to continue their training in case the war ready line begins thinning out. Well, this is a war and the Mets may need this guy in a pinch.


-Get Jose Quintana on a steady rehab to get back by mid-June. Maybe he can help here.


-Complete the conversion of bats needed to create more 6+ runs per game results. Promote Ronny Mauricio and put him on second. Move the Mets’ best hitter, Jeff McNeil to full time left. Make Mark Vientos your full time DH facing both right and left-handed pitching. And keep Brett Baty on third and Francisco Alvarez behind the plate as regulars (and get Alvy out of that 9th at-bat slot and move him beind the Polar Bear).


-And get those under-producing bats out of the lineup. Make them utility players, DFA them, trade them, send them down, or release them. I really don’t care, but it would sure help if you could trade for one decent reliever for one or all of them.


-Memorial Day begins the “win the series” plan. This especially works against teams you play in your own division. Trust me. You win your series, you win it all.


Will this make the Mets a playoff team?  

Well, only if some teams come back to earth like the Pirates seem to be doing right now. Let’s project that the Braves, Dodgers, and Brewers win their divisions. My guess is Arizona is a lock for Wild Card #1. That leaves two more between the Pirates, the Mets, the Giants, the Marlins, the Padres, and the Phillies.

It can happen. 

I don’t believe it will, but I welcome the Mets proving me wrong. 

17 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Agree totally. If I can reiterate, spot-on, Mack; could not have said it better myself! The question remains is who is tying Buck's hands? Buck or Schmuck (Whoops, I meant In-Eppler-tude)!

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    2. This is why Mack your the best … all facts
      Eddie

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  2. Tom

    Ya know, I wrote this before the Rockies series thinking that the current stink fest would hold up.

    Big family day yesterday prevented me from updating the article or following the game

    Woke up around 3am to check the score last night.

    Glad to see they didn't start making me look bad.

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  3. Please Mr. Cohn get someone in here that will teach these young"baby mets" how to act and show respect for the game of baseball. Between Alvarez getting called out for starting his celebration at third base to early last night and Alonso and his LFGM as well as his humping air I am starting to feel that my Mets are being hi-jacked by players that are making it very difficult to watch and enjoy the Mets. Lindor, Baty, Nimmo, and Marte are my favorite players now simply because of their on-field actions and the way that they conduct themselves after a nice play or big hit. Too many Met players celebrate as if they had just hit a World Series game-winning home run. Sorry Alonso and Alvarez the big hit you just got is happening in the month of May and you are playing for a team that is barely at the .500 hundred mark. Do something REALLY big and then you can celebrate. I have been a Mets fan since 1968 so yes I am an older fan so others can tell me how the game and the modern players have changed. They are taking the fun and the love that I feel for the game away from me. I hate that is happening.

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  4. Les

    Yes, you and I are both old school and. sadly, there are less of us every year.

    The norm for a Mets fans these days are the fans that sit out in right with the 7lineArmy

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  5. What a Debbie Downer! Mauricio will be up soon,Narvaiz is almost back, Scherzer and Verlander are ready to roll, Vientos or Marteare going to hit. The Braves are down two ace pitchers and reeling.

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  6. Much of that is true, but I add a similar take to Mack at 10 AM> and I also remember the Braves went an unconscious 78-34 in their last 112 games of 2022, so I for one still expect they will be tough as nails from here on out.

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  7. Mack spot on as usual and if last night's game did anything it put an exclamation point on PLAY THE BABY METS EVERY DAY! The pitching is a mess and if the big 3 ain't getting it done were done. I had some hope in Smith in the BP but can't remember the last time he pitched and did't give up a run and wouldn't last night's pitcher Anderson who was picked up off the scrap heap been worth a flier because as we all know this is on Eppy because if we don't make the playoffs I can't see SC standing pat. Les unfortunately thats the world today long gone are words like respect (thank you Aretha) responsibility, class and knowing when to be humble. I'm afraid the inmates are running the asylum and it's very sad indeed.

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  8. lets also not forget we're w/o the trumpet man and that huge.

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  9. This piece was a hard dose of reality. Really can't argue with anything said. Not sure what the trade deadline will bring, because everyone is looking for starting pitchers and no one is looking for aged veterans that aren't hitting.

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    Replies
    1. That’s so true
      Can’t keep the Kids and trade for top talent
      Which is why free agency we should alway look to full fill our team
      This group doesn’t trade and waiting for the trade deadline is not in the cards
      Eddie

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  10. Baby cries, if,and it’s a big IF,Verlander and Scherzer are healthy this is a 90 win team.

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