Tom Brennan: Sewald Debacle; Pitching Discards; Pham Slam; Mets Puny P/O Records

 

Paul Sewald has been a gem everywhere, except with the NY Mets. 

Funny, huh?

Paul Sewald was a brutal 1-14, 5.50, 3 saves as a Met.

In part, as I recall, his abysmal W-L record was due to a complete lack of offensive support when he pitched.

But 5.50 is 5.50, which is not good, because it is 5.50 and not 2.50 or 3.50.

When he was a Mets minor leaguer, I yearned for the Mets to promote him. Why? In the minors, mostly before his initial call up, he did this:

74 of 83 saves (wow), 23-12 (wow), 2.32 ERA (wow), and 388 Ks in 330 innings (wow). And his ERA was above 2.00 only because of a short rough stretch one season in the Las Vegas hitters’ heaven.

As the story goes, Paul signed with Seattle after failing with the Mets, and they got Paulcto change his approach: pitch up, up, up in the zone, not down, down, down. 

Immediately, he excelled.

Since his move to the Mariners, he has gone 18-9, 2.95, 65 saves out of 80 tries, and 256 Ks in 189 IP.

Very closely correlating to his prior minor league level of excellence.

Yeah but can he perform in the crucible of the playoffs? The real season?

Uhh…yeah.

8 innings, 3 hits, no runs, 11 Ks, SIX saves! Beast.

Well, he did get beat in a big Mano-a-Mano moment in the 9th inning when  Corey Seaver took him deep. Corey is Corey, awesome, and that’s the story. Paul is human.

Anyway…Nice, Mets. Real nice, to not fix the dude like Seattle easily did.

Right up there with allowing Daniel Murphy go to the Nats after his 2015 playoff explosion, which was a division-changing move to the Mets’ distinct detriment, since Murph became an absolute beast in 2016-18 for the Nats.

And letting Travis d’Arnaud go after his Tommy John recovery, only to have him end up with arch-rival Atlanta and being one of the reasons the Atlanta has been the Mets’ daddy. He has 61 HRs and 226 RBIs, post-Mets, in just 1,365 at bats. Numbers almost no other catcher can match.

Avoid these sorts of debacles, or never win another division.  

Because spending mega-millions can’t overcome “stupid”.

So…

One of baseball’s best relievers, Paul Sewald, was jettisoned by the Mets.

Who else left and how did they do in 2023? Here’s four:

* Michael Wacha 14-4 (11-2 the year before).

* Zack Wheeler 13-6, and 3-0 in the post-season.

* Taijuan Walker 15-6.

* Chris Bassitt 16-8.

So, in 2023, those 4 ex-Mets went 58-24 (.707).

What??  58-24?

How’s THAT for shrewd decision-making? “Let’s not keep the .707 guys.” “Hey, you’re right, let them go. We got Cookie. We’re all set.”

ROB GARDNER PASSES AWAY AT AGE 78

Forgive me, but I do not remember him as a Met.

He had one of the most memorable starts in Mets history as a rookie call up. 

He tossed a 5 hit shutout and fanned 7 in a late September game.

Yeah, OK, that’s nifty, but what was so unique about that?

Two things:

1) It ended in a 0-0 tie, so he didn’t pick up the win.

2) He threw all FIFTEEN INNINGS. FIFTEEN!! 

A 15 inning shutout and no win…a truly expected Mets occurrence.

PHAM PULLS A “HOWARD COSELL”, AND TELLS IT LIKE IT IS

From a Greg Joyce article in the NY Post, the worst words a Mets fan wants to hear:

“That team [the Mets] is more talented than this team [the Diamondbacks],” Pham said Thursday at Globe Life Field. “Let’s be honest here. But what makes this Arizona team different is everyone is still at this level trying to reach their max potential. The drive wasn’t there [with the Mets]. That drive is here [with the Diamondbacks]. That’s what separates this team from most teams. You have guys that are still trying to get better every day. You have teammates trying to help you out. And that’s dangerous.”

Pham’s comments echoed what he previously told Francisco Lindor and then The Athletic — that the Mets were the “least-hardest working group of position players I’ve ever played with.”

The hard working Pham went 4-4 in his team’s game 2 WS win last night.

Hard workers with huge hearts and drive win. That is Pham.

SO…THREE THINGS:

1) Why do WE bother to put so much of OUR time and effort into THEM?

2) David Stearns must fix THAT lack of player drive. PRONTO. MAJOR SURGERY, IF NECESSARY. If players need psychologists, you have the wrong players. You need more Phams.

3) Hire a Billy Martin manager type without the drinking problems, to kick butt and take names. 

ORGANIZATIONAL FUTILITY

Will we Mets fans ever get OUR Adonis Garcia, a hitter like him who will go out and hit .357 in 56 at bats with 8 HRs and 22 RBIs in 13 games?  Garcia accomplished all that through Friday night, with possibly 6 more post season games remaining.  

Tomas Nido BTW in 2023 had the same # of ABs this year, and just 21 fewer RBIs.

Mark Vientos had 22 RBIs this year, but it took him four times as many at bats as Garcia to do it.

PLAYOFF BLUES: 

The Mets in their entire team history have won just 11 rounds in the playoffs. Eleven.  

If Texas or Arizona win, it will have taken them 4 rounds JUST THIS YEAR.

ALL TIME METS PUNY PLAYOFF RECORDS:

Mets playoff offensive records are puny. Offensive.

The legendary Jay Payton has the 15th highest all-time Mets playoff RBIs with 8. 

Everyone-Loves-Benny-Boo-Boo Agbayani is tied for 19th all time with 7.  

He had a whopping 156 RBIs in his career. But his name was Benny, and Mets fans embrace mediocrity so we naturally loved him.

Edgardo Alfonso has the Mets playoff record of 17 RBIs in 113 at bats.  

Garcia has 5 more RBIs this playoffs, in half the number of at bats as Alfonso. 

- Where, oh where, is OUR Garcia?  Oh where, oh where, can he be?

Alfonso has the Mets record of 24 playoff games played. Nearby Bonx Bomber Derek Jeter played in 158 playoff games and he had 200 hits. Edgardo holds the Mets playoff record for hits, with 26, just 174 short of Jeter.

PUNY

Lastly, before I go, Albert Belle is not in the Hall of Fame despite having the 13th highest career slugging % (.564) in baseball history. I’m sure 500 HR, not in Hall Gary Sheffield thinks that sucks. 

Albert had 9 straight years of 100+ RBIs, in which he averaged 123 RBIs, and had 95 RBIs in the season prior to those 9 seasons, only missing 100 that year because he played in just 123 games. 

He had a 50-50 year as well (52 doubles, 50 HRs), and just missed another 50-50 year in another season where he had 48 doubles and 49 HRs. 

“Sorry, Albert, we just didn’t like you.”

In the Hall is our favorite Korner Man dRalph Kiner:

5,205 at bats, 369 HRs, 1,015 RBIs, .279, .548 slug, 22 steals.

Belle?

5,853 at bats, 381 HRs, 1,239 RBIs, .295, .564 slug, 88 steals.

I guess this hurt, though, with the voters…hurt a lot, and rightly so:

“In 2006, Belle was sentenced to 90 days in jail and five years' probation after he admitted to stalking his former girlfriend.” 

That kind of Fame isn’t good at all. Should there be a Hall of Infamy? 

Belle might be its first inductee, after Pete Rose, whose favorite WOR radio show was no doubt Rambling With Gambling.

OK, I’ll stop rambling. Happy Sunday.