Tom Brennan - Matt Reynolds or Ronny Mo? Tidwell Terrific. Retaliate, Buck, YA WOOSIE.

Matt Reynolds pictured back around 2015.

FIRST OFF:

Mets needed to make a statement before the trade deadline.  They did…potential is greater than results.

Yesterday, I noted that if the Mets beat the Yanks Wednesday night, they then had the next seven with Washington and KC, and a case could be made to go for it. 

Two problems:

1) they came up small, again, when we needed BIG, and lost 3-1.

2) The “weak” Nats have the division’s best “last 10” record of 6-4.

A gallop to the playoffs? Still plenty of time, unless you are a team where potential is almost always greater than results. When your team is 33 of its last 80, a 67-95 win pace over 162 games, you have to see it’s a pipe dream and you’re smoking something illegal in that pipe. 

So, I’ll leave a subtle hint:

SELL SELL SELL SELL SELL SELL SELL SELL SELL

Now, on to my real article:

When you see a question like that in the title of this article, it usually means the answer you wouldn’t think would be true actually is.

Matt Reynolds is a former second round Mets draft pick who hit with little power and barely made the majors with the Queensites. 

He played a little more time with the Cardinals, and now he is in the international league for the Redbirds in AAA. 

We Mets fans all pretty much never got all too excited with Matt as a prospect, when he was one several years back. 

Time flies, as Mack knows. Now, Reynolds is 32. 

And he has a total of 475 MLB at bats, .229/.301/.326. 

Meh.

Ronny Mauricio, meanwhile, is our current hot prospect in AAA and we all want him called up. When??

“Now is OK, or do it tomorrow  -  we’ll begrudgingly settle for that.”

He is, to be clear, 10 years Matt’s junior, at age 22.

Through Sunday, R-Mo had been up 392 times in AAA in 2023 and was sporting a nifty enough .297/.344/.508 slash, with 56 RBIs.

Reynolds, meanwhile?

Up 320 times, 72 fewer PAs than Ronny Mo.

Slash of .297/.400/.599, 62 ribbies for Matty. .599?  Pretty powerful.

But the Cards are likely not calling him up, although he is hitting quantifiably better than Ronny Mo, the guy we all want to see called up RIGHT NOW!

The fact that Reynolds is pretty substantially outproducing Mauricio at the dish in 2023 should provide some perspective for the Mets’  call-em-up fanatic fans.

Since perspective is subjective, though, whaddya think, thou perceiver? 

Call up Ronny this week? Next week? This season? 

When he’s Reynolds’ age, 32? What?

To help your perspective…

R-Mo is 3rd in IL AAA at bats, 19th in HRs, 14th in RBIs, 3rd in doubles, 21st in average. Strong, Triple Crown stuff. Just .202 in June, .266 July.

And not sure where his 18 errors rank him in his league. Worst? Ouch.

Lastly…

The Syracuse Mets, for whom he is an everyday player, is 20 games out of first place, also for perspective. To be clear, I mostly blame their putrid record on the team’s putrid pitching.

TIDWELL TIDAL WAVE

Just a tidal wave of excellent outings for Blade Tidwell over the past roughly 3 months, including yesterday’s 5 inning, one hit, no run ball on Wednesday. Dude is simply crushing it. Few runs for a LONG time, buckets of strikeouts.

No one in the SAL wants to face Tidwell right now.

He might be the best, healthy pitcher in the Mets organization right now.

He ain’t ready for the Mets yet. Nevertheless…He’s TIDWELL TERRIFIC.

RETALIATE, YA WOOSIE

“I still wonder why we lead the league every year in getting hit by pitch,’’ Buck Showalter said prior to the game Wednesday.

Then Jeff  McNeil got drilled between the numbers at 96 MPH on his back, and he was clearly ticked off after being hit for the 13th time this season. Ron Darling said that in his entire career, he never hit anybody square in the number on the player’s back, unless it was intentional.

Buck Showalter is a fool. A woosie. A wimp. A girlie man.

Sometimes, you have to put aside your analytical side, “is it intentional or not?” and just freaking retaliate.

Man up, dude.

The Mets in 2021 were at or near baseball’s top in HBP.  (Look it up)

In 2022, they said the major league record in HBP. 

- Marte’s Sept HBP cost them the Division. 

- Which may have cost them a trip to the World Series.

In 2023, they sit at 69 HBP in just 101 games, and have a real shot at breaking that 2022 record. Pete’s June HBP may end up costing them the playoffs. It may also have cost him a real run at 60 HRs, plausible until the HBP.

Very, very simple, Bucko:

Just start hitting other players A LOT more, how? Just “suggest” to your pitchers to put on a good act to make it clearly look like it was unintentional, even when it isn’t, to avoid further retaliation, and I truly believe our Mets hitters will become less and less used for DAMAGING target practice. 

Jeff McNeil had one really bad hitting stretch in July in his 2022 batting title year - it was after a HBP. HBPs can adversely alter seasons. And, in Metsville, they have.

When you are the other team, and you’re facing Mets pitching, and your team’s hitters are getting nailed, it sends a message of danger. It could be interpreted as basically the Mets may be feeling enough is enough. 

And they have EVERY right to feel that way. 

You want the opposing pitcher think, “I want to throw a boring-in fastball high and tight, but if I hit this guy, they’re gonna retaliate, so I will be cautious, fearing for my teammates.

Or…you can continue to roll over and play dead.

MAN UP, BUCK. PROTECT YOUR GUYS. STOP BEING A WOOSIE.