There is no jumping for joy in Metsville in 2023.
Today is August 1. The trading deadline is today at 6 PM.
So be it.
In the movie The Sum Of All Fears, a nuke erupted in Baltimore.
This year, it erupted in Queens. Cohen hit the destruct button.
Simply, the primary year this team was built for was 2023. Meanwhile…
Because baseball (foolishly in my opinion) has the trade deadline at July 31, when about 35% of the season is yet to be played, teams have to guess whether they’re in or out after just around 105 games played.
Cohen realized he had a very old and hugely expensive team with just a 17% chance of a Wild Card, and a lot of that “expensive” would drift over to 2024, when it is quite reasonable to question whether the likes of Verlander and Scherzer would show sign of age degradation.
So Cohen nuked the Mets, to reset the players and $$$.
Had he had until August 15, perhaps he’d have done differently.
Maybe the Mets would go on fire and quickly close the Wild Card gap.
But smartly, he realized that given the July 31 deadline, a sharp redirect right now was the most logical and appropriate tactical approach.
Many disappointments - try these 13 for starters:
1) If Edwin hadn’t gotten hurt, they’d be squarely in the WC hunt right now, and none of this would be happening.
2) Two normally fine hitters in Nimmo and McNeil who are sitting in or around the mid .250s, when one would have expected them combined to be hitting .300.
3) Pete and Lindor knocking in lots of runs, but hitting combined in the low .220s. Again, probably 40+ points below expectations.
4) Marte and Escobar sliding sharply, and well below 2022 levels due to injury and age.
5) Megill and Peterson having a very unexpectedly rough first 4 months.
6) Baty hits in a sub-par fashion, leaving us to wonder what his ceiling is.
7) Vogelbach one dimensional mediocrity.
8) Canha sub-par, too, to a lesser degree.
9) Nido’s impotence when Narvaez naturally got hurt badly at the start of the season.
10) Not enough bullpen depth, resulting in more losses.
11) The lowly Nats hitting 24 points higher than the Mets, and scoring the same number of runs. Crazy. Marlins outhitting them, too. Who woulda thunk it?
12) A barren minor league system, so there was no real supply chain.
13) The talented duo of Verlander and Quintana missing so much time in the first 4 months.
Every season has its ups and downs. This season has plenty.
I do not blame Cohen one bit for his course change.
I just wish the trade deadline was August 15, when there is still 25% of the season to be played. More rational, less guesswork.
Because maybe he would have seen a hot Mets team heading into August 15 and been a BUYER instead.
But maybe it is all for the best.
Or…maybe not.
That’s baseball, folks.
Of course, the factor no one but me likes to add in. The pitchers’ park and its retarding factor for Mets hitters.
.248 on the road, 13th best in baseball.
.226 at home (28th).
SMALLER HOUSES ARE LESS COSTLY, STEVE
STEVE COHEN, SAVE MILLIONS IN BREAKING-UP-IS-EXPENSIVE-TO-DO MONEY BY MOVING IN YOUR FENCES AND HAVING LESS DEPRESSED (AND HENCE MORE WINNING-ENABLED) HITTERS.
SIMPLE: 7-8 FEET FURTHER IN ALL AROUND.
Yanks? 87 HRs in 57 home games, but just 59 HRs in 49 home games. Where do you think their hitters are happier?
P.S. Only the Mets’ 2 DSL teams and its FCL team played Monday in the minors, but they managed to compile 34 runs. Nice.
28 comments:
Good morning, America, and to all our overseas affiliates.
Did our new FCL acquisitions play yesterday? Where can I find FCL results online?
100 gam s is a pretty big sample .
Yes they did and they.both dominated
You can find all the daily Mets scores online on the MLB scores feed
Another reason our season is off the rails is the putrid record against southpaws. If we won close to 50% of those games we'd be in the playoffs.
Tom
I remember taking my daughter on her HS grad trip to California and we watched that movie where a volcano erupted outside the Beverly center in LA
We watched it in the theater where the volcano supposedly erupted
Very weird sort of like this week for Mets fans
Playing Vientos and Alvarez daily should help
Bill, Google MILB scores, and select Mets.
Failure v. Southpaws is baffling, as is the entire Mets performance of 2023.
KC is terrible pitching wise…let Vientos and Alvarez break loose.
Dallas just said that Pete is being shopped around
(seat belt sign lights up)
Blow it up. New faces galore in 2024.
1B Vientos
2B Acuna
SS Lindor
3B Baty
C Alvarez
LF Mauricio
CF Nimmo
RF Marte
DH Voit
SP1 Senga
SP2 TBD
SP3 TBD
SP4 Quintana
SP5 Hamel or Vasil
Mets release Tanner Murphy and Quinn Brodey
Jawilme Ramirez promoted to Cyclones
P Baily Reed promoted to Brooklyn
Hunter Parsons and Dedniel Nunez to Syracuse
Mateo Gil to BMets
I’m with you until I didn’t see McNeil. Don’t take him for granted. Too, I don’t know about Baty and Mauricio in the same lineup. Those AAA offensive numbers have been quite gaudy this year and not sure Mauricio is ready for prime time.
Tom I have an idea...bring in the fences! Mack your right Vientos has 2 hits including a HR and Alvy hits a HR and they don't play the next day!!! just dum. Shocked at how SC doesn't mess around but he's running this team like his business so our Mets should be winning soon and be worth oh 20 Billion or so in a few years.
Tanner Murphy did not hit, and Quinn Brodey hit the wall. Shohei Ohtani he is not. Dedniel gets an opportunity, he needs to show he can command that opportunity.
Also who's that Japanese pitcher who the next hot signing? Ohtani is also huge if we can get him and if anyone can it's Stevie'$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. He should at least get his moneys worth with Eppy's Japnese connection's.
“The Dodgers are in hot pursuit of Rodriguez of the Tigers”, according to MLBTR tells me that they are out on Verlander. I’m expecting Verlander news fairly soon. Hope the Orioles get him because that means the Astros didn’t hold up the Mets the way Brodie should have help up the Mariners a few years back.
Yamamoto
On Tom's article blog today...
The NY Mets making these larger scale moves now, to separate itself from their still good but no longer great expensive veteran pitchers, is absolutely the right move to be making at current. This was a sub-500% all season long here thus far. It clearly did not work, although Maxwell Scherzer did have a nice 2023 after "Shredded Lettuce Arm" went down for the count. I respect Maxwell.
Justinian Verlander to me, is too large a risk to keep here for 2024. He could have a terrific 2024, or he could be shelved with an achy breaky. A really good rule of thumb to uphold is to never have more than one older (36+) starter your team desperately is counting on in your 5-man rotation. This is why I suggested preseason to go to the 6-man to save these two arms.
The Mets realistically need three new competent starters for 2024, and not just the tw most people think. At the moment, they have Kodai Senga, Blade Runner Tidwell (now at AA Bing), and potentially Mike Vasil. All three are righties though. My bet would be that with some mound thought process preparation and pitching mechanics training this off-season, these three could be considered the three most likely for 2024's rotation. But I sure do wish that Tom Seaver (41) was still around, because he would be the absolutely perfect person for this role with these three starters.
But we all have to remember one very obvious thing being NY Mets fans...That is that our franchise's greatest most successful seasons ALL BEGAN with a really dynamite starting rotation. In fact we lost 2002 WS because it was not great enough.
Thanks, Tom.
Now that the deadline has passed and the dust is starting to settle, I feel like the Mets cleaned the cupboard so I look forward to filling it next year. I would like two new pitchers and would like to see Megill reestablish himself as a competent starter. Certainly 40 year olds don’t hold up as well as the prime aged guys do, but I think Verlander was much less of a risk than Scherzer was.
Gus, Megill pitched like Megill again just the other day, and Hamel was brilliant in his AA start Tuesday, putting himself back on the map. Will the Mets thrust a few guys into a starter role that you’d normally expect to pitch in AAA instead, like a Hamel? And, perhaps, do we see Vasil in Queens THIS year? Someone has to pitch. Just got rid of 3 of our 4 best pitchers.
The problem with Tylor Megill and David Peterson is...
simply consistency game to game in MLB. They haven't established this so far. Perhaps with some tutoring and work, they could be the 2024 Mets short relievers from the right and leftside. I don't have a problem with that thought. But they need work still.
On Macks lineup for 2024 above...
1B Mark Vientos.
Again here it is a question of establishing consistency. We saw it in Syracuse with him for certain, but he has to establish it here at the MLB level first to be the starting 1B.
DH: I think Daniel Vogelbach needs to play elsewhere in 2024. Immediately following the ST 2023, I had DJ Stewart down as the team's DH and stated it here. Now we can all see why I think. I give him a true shot for the DH in 2024 ST.
LF: I like your Ronny Mauricio idea tremendously. The Mets need his power bat and ability to hit for average as well. It would strengthen the 3,4,5 batting order. Perhaps just Winter League him in LF to get him fully acquainted there with more experience. But only after a rest from AAA.
C: Hard not to love catcher Francisco Alvarez. But I might upgrade the number two backup catcher for insurance. Catcher is a very physical position. Funny, but Tomas Nido is hitting quite well in Syracuse right now. But again here, it is offensive consistency at the MLB level that remains his only remaining question. Winter Ball him too maybe? He's not too old and he really hasn't had a bad injury thus far in his career that I can recall. His catcher/pitch calling skills seems high-end as well.
The NY Mets brass has done a fantastic job this trade deadline. Kudos out to everyone on this accomplishment.
They have addressed all the questions, except one.
And that is building that really respectable starting three rotation staff. Personally, I would maybe slide Kodai Senga down to a four slot, and hope for maybe Blake Tidwell to grab the five out of ST 2024. Winter Ball possibility here with him after a rest first. To me, it looks like Mike Vasil may need more time to get ready for here. We want him "el primo", no questions to ask, the moment he steps on Citi Field mound. Totally confident.
I think the only questions remaining with this off season are:
(1) Which players on the NY Mets (right now) will fetch the NY Mets three outstanding starters that they must get for the 2024 season? (2) And then too, who within the organization can fill these roles of the players actually dealt for these three outstanding starters? My ideas right now are 1. Francisco Lindor 2. Jeff McNeil 3. Pete Alonso. But that could have growing pains attached with this NY Mets team too.
Ideally speaking, these NY Mets will need a Cubs' Justin Steele, or a Tampa Bay Zach Eflin type starter, but slightly younger. But neither Steele or Eflin are going anywhere but Chicago and TB respectively in 2024. The three slot good be "possibly snagged" from another team's AAA roster to shore up this rotation.
The NY Mets obviously need to grow stronger and younger in the 1-3 starting rotation pitcher spots. Young guns and good ones at that.
We'll see. Have Hope will Travel.
The NY Mets as an organization...
Are now on the right road. It all begins now.
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