Tom Brennan -Tiki, Tierney on Lindor; Implant Success; and C Jonah Heim

I swallowed a crown, but thankfully, not one like this. 

"This here game is 90% dental."

"Getting the Mets to win is like pulling teeth."

I went to the dentist on May 18, to get two crowns implanted, the final step in the implant process.

While preparing to connect the first crown, my dentist, well, he turned into Stone Hands Chuck Hiller. 

He fumbled the crown out of his fingers and, whoops, right down my throat. Couldn’t cough it out.  Down, down, down the esophagus it went.

That day, an X ray was taken, and in a few hours, it had already moved to my intestines.  I’ve since been scanning through “the output pile” for a few weeks, so to speak, in search of that hiding crown, with as much success as the Mets draft team in identifying quality draft picks, so chances were, it logically seemed, that my intestines “DFA’d the crown”, so to speak.  

(Got that 2nd X-ray on Tuesday, and not the news I was hoping for - the sucker is still hanging out in there in my gut, "overlying the cecum" - SMH. Time to reach out to my gastro doc for a DFA game plan).

Anyway, Rick Reed was happy to note that the replacement crown the dentist did install fits perfectly, so the “right field” of my mouth is fully fixed. Left field? Well….Repairs are still needed.  I may go to someone other than Stone Hands for those.

Driving home from the dentist, I was listening to Tiki and Tierney on WFAN, and they were discussing Francisco Lindor, and one of them expressed his view that Lindor's bat has slowed down a bit. And that has Lindor at the plate guessing more, and pressing more, and presumably stressing more. I know when I eat at a buffet, I normally have no plate discipline either, so I can relate.

Anyway, Tiki and Tierney got me to thinking: 

Lindor has 8.6 years left on his ten year contract, so he is still owed the modest sum of $300 million.  8.6 years with a slowing bat???? 

CAN TOMAS NIDO BECOME THE NEXT JONAH HEIM?

Noticing that Mr. injury himself, Jacob deGrom, and his Texas Rangers lead the majors in scoring, I looked at their stats for the first time this year.  Through Monday, their catcher, Jonah (who?) Heim, has 46 RBIs in 51 games, in large part because he is an astonishing 23 for 45 with runners in scoring position this season.  He was just a .210 hitter lifetime with decent power going into this year.

He was also the 129th pick in the 2013 draft. What did the Mets do instead?

The Mets, picking 117th, went with slap-hitting L.J. Mazzilli. A no-tools guy with name recognition. 

The round before, they picked toolsey but whiffy Ivan Wilson at #76. 

Two absolute duds, instead of the still-available Jonah Heim, who is now a star catcher.  

Don’t rationalize here, my dear reader, thinking the annual draft is simply a hit-or-miss crapshoot. If you think that, put on a blindfold and throw darts blindfolded. 

When they picked Sonny Boy Mazzilli, at the time, I thought “what REAL prospect might they have chosen, instead of appeasing Papa Lee by picking Sonny Boy?”  You probably thought the exact same thing.  The correct alternative answer would have been Jonah Heim.

Mack pre-draft in 2013 listed his top 266 prospects. He had Ivan the Terrible at # 129, 2 rounds more conservative than the Mets picked him at, and Heim went to Baltimore at # 179. 

Mazzilli? Mack had as his last and final listed player, at 266, which would have made L.J. a 10th rounder, far more appropriate.  

And Mack probably had him ranked lower, but just wanted to add some pizzazz to his article, so he got the name Mazzilli in there.

The Mets, of course, always had a huge over-abundance of stud catchers, so they skipped Heim for that reason. Joshing, of course.

Back to Nido (an 8th rounder in 2012).  It is clear that if Nido now goes to Texas, he too will become a hitting machine. Leave the Mets, and of course, you hit like the dickens. With the Mets, instead, the way guys hit sickens.

MEANWHILE, ANOTHER CATCHER, KEVIN PARADA…

Uptrending. Hit .213 in April, .269 in May, .286 so far in June for Brooklyn. Just 9 for 45 with runners in scoring position so far, though, and 16 for 98 in caught stealings. After a really bad CS start, something like 0 for 17, he has thrown out about 20% since. Getting there.

PITCHERS’ WALKS IN THE METS MINORS

Fellow MM writer, the astute “Savage”, noted walks seemed high in the Mets minors.  As always, astute…

Here is the deal, as of a few days ago…

Syracuse: 491 innings, 273 walks. 5 walks per 9 innings. 6th of 19 teams.

Binghamton: 429 innings. 215 walks. 4.5 walks per 9 innings.

Brooklyn: 442 innings, 230 walks. 4.7 walks per 9 innings.

St Lucie: 418 innings, 261 walks. 5.5 walks per 9, worst in the FSL.

979 walks in 1,790 innings in total, or 4.9 walks per 9. Lots of walks.

Maybe some of these pitchers should take a friggin' walk.

One walking contributor here is Jace Beck. The 6’9” 22nd rounder in 2019 had a very normal brief 2019 debut, with 8 innings, 10 Ks, one walk. In 2021, he was wild. Last 2 seasons, 2022 and 2023, he has fanned 57 and walked 32 in 35 innings. Can the about-to-turn 23 year old tame the “bases on balls beast” within him?  Because those Ks look mighty good.

JUNIOR LEAGUE

We have two Juniors in the minors - Santos and Tilien. 

How are they playing?  Not like Whoppers. Like juniors, though.

SANTOS: In AA...3-4, 6.18 ERA, 64 hits allowed, just 33 Ks in 51 IP.

 - 21 yr old pitched great when he was 16 in 2018, but very hittable since.

TILIEN: Low A....240, 3 HRs, 17 RBIs in 46 games.  

 - He hit 3 HRs in one game last year, this year it takes 46 games? 

May they henceforth play more like Seniors.

P.S.

This just in from Steve Brennan: "Mets suck."  He's always right, I find.

P.P.S.

Mets’ top hitter going into Wednesday?

Nimmo, at .288. 

Luis Arrauz, meanwhile, is hitting .401 for the Marlins.

P.P.P.S.

Mets bobbed and weaved for the first 3 weeks despite key injuries, and 21 games into 2023, they were a nice but shaky 14-7.

Since then, 16-25. Not Comforting.  

But ask any Mets fan - the Mets will no doubt go 60-41 the rest of the way to end up 90-72.  

And don't you dare suggest otherwise.  

If you do, you're obviously not a REAL Mets fan.

With Pete’s wrist contusion, can Vientos start at first today? Or will Pete just play?  Heck, Pete kept playing after his pickup truck was broadsided and flipped 3 times a few springs back, what’s a little 96 MPH-caused contusion, anyway?

P.P.P.P.S.

On Facebook recently, I made many well-reasoned arguments why Gary Sanchez should be brought up from AAA and retained.  He had 24 doubles, 16 HRs, 61 RBIs for the Twins last year, and got on base 19 of 37 times for Syracuse.  No matter.  He sucks, most said.  Don't confuse me with rational thought.

Well, he quickly became San Diego's # 1 catcher.  Thru the first 9 games with them, .321/.387/.821.   4 HRs, 9 RBIs.

"He still sucks."  You just can’t convince the obstinate and foolish.

Glad we kept Nido for another 3 or 4 days, instead, aren't you?

P.P.P.P.P.S.

Our Big Baby Trio, hitters Baez, Fanas, and Juan, in FCL, are a combined 4 for 35 so far. Nido their hitting coach? Yuk. 

P.P.P.P.P.P.S.

Syracuse and Binghamton games canceled due to bad, forest fire air. Terrible Wednesday on L.I. Hopefully it will improve today. Dudley Dooright better get off his duff in Canada and DO SOMETHING.