Pete Alonso stormed the Bastille as a rookie in 2019, hitting 53 home runs. We thought we had the Queens version of Aaron Judge.
This year, despite gaudy home run and RBI numbers, Pete has been at a mind-bogglingly miserable slump.
So I thought Dr. Tom might want to take a gander at what is ailing big Pete. The answer appears to be Citi Field.
Pete is hitting .179 with a .407 slug % this year in Chitty Chitty Field. Chris Davis #s.
On the road, he is hitting a still-not-exhilarating, but far superior, 230, with a .546 slug %.
Career?
.237/.332/.482 in Chitty.
.268/.353/.569 on the road.
Poor at home, perennially.
But against the Nationals:
.316/.411/.639 in 309 plate appearances.
And .329/.414/.651 in games in Washington.
The Nats are not contending, for now, but he seems to love it there.
Figure out a trade with them?
Or the perennially contending Dodgers? 15 Pete games out there, .349/.379/.762.
And Pete in his career hits so much better when he is WINNING.
.285 in wins, .218 in losses.
And, we’ll, the Dodgers WIN a lot. I think he’d thrive in LAD, and could win them a title or two that the Mets find to be ever-elusive.
Find Pete a happy home, one where the owner will pay very handsomely for a pure bred like Pete. Hand first base to Mark Vientos and pray.
MCNEIL:
Terrific 2018 & 2019. Sky appeared to be the limit.
Since then, he’s hit powerlessly, like a Dave Magadan, of whom I was never a big fan.
Dave hit .328 one year, Jeff .329 last year, just to drive the point home.
Jeff is a Santa Barbara native, and a .350 career hitter in nearby San Francisco. Trade Jeff there?
Hits well in Yankee Stadium, too. Nice porch for a lefty.
Would a desperate Yankee team shower the Mets with top prospects?
Start thinking about turning this team over drastically. The endless failure is, well, endless.
I was 32 back in 1986. I’m a little older now. Fix it.
And that fix must include further shortening of the fences. 5-7 feet all around. Mets are in a virtual tie in home OPS for 2nd worst.
On the road, 14th.
I am not suggesting any longer that the fences be moved in.
I am DEMANDING IT.
Any fool can see it is a huge problem.
FIX IT.
Have a nice day.
You don’t want to extend him any more? You’re a what have you done for me lately guy.
ReplyDeleteA few things
ReplyDelete1. If you can trade Tom Seaver than anyone can be traded
2. The only players I would not trade are Alvarez, Nimmo, Edwin, and Senga
3. All the rest, including kiddies, would be in play
4. You can't win the whole enchilada if you don't have a strong rotation and closer
5. Mets have Senga and Diaz
6. I don't see much top pitching in the chain. Stuart and Tidwell look like middle to lower rotation pieces
7. This year's draft produced 674 more potential AAAA starters
8. You must develop top pitching
9. Teams that do have tanked for 2-3 years and select prime cuts
10. Spend your international bucks on bats. Latin guppy pitching has a far lower success rate
I would add Jett Williams to my list of untouchables
ReplyDeleteYes, Jett is "taking off", but I have seen so many other can't miss shortstops fade
DeleteWritten in nto Anderson Hernandez
And Rey Ordonez
DeleteAnd you’re an anonymous guy.
ReplyDeleteActually, if they’d move the fences in all around by 7 feet, Pete would hit like PETE at home, and so would the rest of the team. If this asinine franchise can never really figure out that they are neutering their hitters at home, trade everyone. But my calls for logic regarding having home park dimensions that don’t neuter our hitters fall on deaf ears, keep trading them off until the management team realizes their self-defeating stupidity, and fixes the fences.
Mack, I could not agree more. Your ten points largely align with mine. But the fences neuter our hitters. McNeil is the rare guy who in his career has hit better in Citi. Pete is much worse at home. In 2022 and 2023, Lindor is much worse at home, your two linchpins. Alvarez too. Much worse at home. How stupid can one team be?
ReplyDeleteIs dimensions part of analytics?
DeleteI'm not that much into fences
I'm into hitters
And Atlanta doesn't seem to have any fences problem
Mack, the relevant metric is overall hitting at home (where there should be a hometown advantage to hitters) vs. the road. Mets almost always do MUCH better hitting on the road. So, when you are 14th on the road, as they are this year in terms of OPS, you should be roughly 10th in OPS at home, not a depressing 29th..
ReplyDeleteI think the hitting-negative environment at home 1) gets in their heads and 2) weighs on them, except in a case of a guy like McNeil, who has a slightly larger field dimension for his spray hits to fall in.
I think the demoralization at home is a big reason they are 29-43 after their 14-7 start. The season is still fresh and the heavy gravity of a pitchers’ park at Citi has not yet demoralized them. But as days turn into weeks, the malaise is like a cloud on them. They press. They fret. They struggle a lot.
They probably are not saying it out loud, but they probably are thinking, Thank G-d we’re finally going on the road.
I think they are thinking "thank God we're getting closer to the end of this"
ReplyDeleteI used to want to trade Pete, but I’ve changed my tune. He isn’t a cleanup hitter, more of a #5, but I also wouldn’t sell low. I would hold Jeff. The trash starts at DH and the bullpen. And hey, they just had a bad year. Shit happens.
ReplyDeleteGus, hear ya.
ReplyDeleteBut look at Pete’s home-and-away slash line over each of his 5 seasons. Simple…The park is his enemy. I half-watched the highlights of a recent game where I believe it was the Reds hit seven home runs in Seattle. Centerfield was 401 I just think if they move the fences in 5 to 7 feet, e.g. from 408 to 401, preferably 7 feet all the way around then Pete gets unleashed at home and so does Lindor and so does Alvarez. I would make that my first order of business.
But,what about the pitchers? Won’t they give up more homers,more runs and the starters pitch less innings which means more BP. What’s bad for the hitters is good for the pitchers and vice versa. It’s like spraying for mosquitos and killing the birds.
ReplyDeleteWe're 37 games worse than Atlanta and the free fall from 101 wins is stark so we have to move aggressively NOW. On the fences I still remember back when Citi opened the FO talk was Reyes will hit more triples in the alley's and when you stop to think about the pure lunacy of that mind set it isn't surprising the outcome. It should be a very interesting 2 weeks to the trade deadline.
ReplyDeleteIf Tom had his way the fences would line the outer border of the insidebdirt
DeleteThis is just frustration talking. We all love Pete. Extend him now while his market value is lower than it was early in the season when he was leading the league in HR and RBIs. He bleeds orange and blue. Won't fit in a Dodger uniform.
ReplyDeleteHe’s obviously hurt.
ReplyDelete