Some teams, and some players like ex-Met Tom Szapucki, miss lots of games
A key new stat that has significant correlation to teams' relative chances of making the playoffs, and one in which the Mets usually rate very high:
MIOBEOST
“Major Injuries Occurring Before End Of Spring Training”
This year?
Already injured are David Peterson, Ronny Mauricio, Kodai Senga, with over 4 weeks to go before the end of spring training.
Last Year?
Edwin Diaz, Jose Quintana, Justin Verlander, Montes de Oca. Of course, more followed during the season.
But other teams did worse.
The AP last fall noted that in 2023, the Los Angeles Dodgers lost the most days of players on the injured list this season at 2,465, while the San Francisco Giants had the most placements at 46.
The number of days lost on the injured list rose 6.1% to 44,461 from 41,916, but placements dropped 0.7% to 848 to 854.
There were 983 placements for 43,513 lost days in 2021, the first full season following a schedule curtailed to 60 games because of the pandemic.
Could find the comparable Mets numbers….sorry.
But…it feels to me like, year after year, the Mets are cursed:
Edwin Diaz’s freak and utterly bizarre injury kept the Mets out of the playoffs in 2023, and entirely blew up the fairly high risk Mets 2023 plan of adding aging veterans for a slug-out with the Braves. A healthy Edwin, Verlander, Scherzer, and Quintana, as it turns out, might have added 20 wins and still resulted in the Mets falling short of the Braves slightly for the division, but could have brought the Mets the crown. Instead, Edwin’s freak ACL tear was the first huge tear in the ultimate tear-down of the season.
CURSED? METHINKS YES. MAYBE YOU THINK, AHH, COINCIDENCE.
Today, while reading Reese’s 7:00 AM article, was actually the first time I watched the video of Edwin Diaz’s injury. Before today, I never did. I knew it would be too upsetting. Sickening. The announcer kept saying, Oh, no…oh, no…oh, no. My thoughts exactly, about Diaz, who was my beacon of hope for this Mets team. Bizarrely struck down. No one else in the WBC “Classic” was, and of course, it wasn’t a baseball injury, it was a bizarre, freak, celebration injury. It was a “Mets injury”.
It leads me to conclude:
This franchise is cursed.
Someone in 1986. struck a deal with the devil then to secure that crown. I wish they’d told us they did that, as I would have dropped the Mets and done something more productive.
Unconvinced? What about the death of Brian Cole, who easily could have been the Mets best offensive player ever, even better than David Wright, as this 2013 SI headline indicates:
THE BEST PLAYER YOU NEVER SAW:
IN CLUBHOUSES FROM CLASS A TO THE MAJORS, EVEN SUPERSTARS SUCH AS ALBERT PUJOLS STILL SPEAK IN AWE OF THE PROMISE OF BRIAN COLE
Think of those near-miss Mets teams from 2000-2007. The Mets May have won 4 championships in those years with Cole as the every-day star outfielder.
Now, in 2024, we can’t even get to the first spring training game without their ace being injured and opening the season on the IL for who-knows-how-long with a shoulder injury; perhaps their best rookie of 2024, and very possibly a line up regular, missing all of 2024 with yet another freaky ACL injury; and Peterson likely missing 30% to 50% of the season after freak hip surgery.
Hope gets ripped out of my chests, truth be told.
Cursed.
David Wright? Freak back disability. No? Name me a list of players whose backs shortened their careers in the past 25 years. Then divide by 30 teams. Then screen out the marginal and mediocre players. Who else is on that list but David Wright.
Hey, Mets fans, you love superior pitching? OK, I’ll give you a guy who will win TWO Cy Young’s. But here’s the catch…he’ll start all his games, but average 10 wins. Then he’ll fall apart physically. He, of course, will be…A MET.
Sometimes, there is Mets mercy. Divine intervention, perhaps.
Satan doesn’t want to make it too obvious. Case in point?
Mets’ best slugger ever? Pete Alonso.
So what happens to him? His truck is hit by another driver at high speed and Pete’s truck rolls over 3 times. Pete walks away from a near-death experience. Iron Man that he is, he shrugged off what had to have been whiplash and plays like nothing happened. Thank heavens he was wearing his seat harness. “This horrific incident saw his Ford F250 pickup truck get side swiped at a stoplight, before flipping over several times. Thankfully, Alonso came out unscathed, but the experience alone was extremely chilling for him, and left his truck smashed to pieces.
22 comments:
The Dodgers have led the universe in injuries for years and years now. Why, pray tell? Because NOBODY manipulates the IL like they do. N O B O D Y. And, just find one player of consequence that “got hurt”…. good luck. Seems like everyone cries for the Dodgers, but like I have said before, they realize rules are for idiots.
I'm sitting here waiting to have my bone marrow removed and tested
Does that make me on the IR?
Mack, I’ll write about that to-marrow. Best wishes on that. You’ll be back before Senga. Have some sushi on your way home.
Gus, and of course, Eppler gets flogged for lesser offenses. Sound familiar? Like politics today. LAD are baseballs political darlings.
Crispy Duck Rangoon at Nakorn Restaurant in Brunswick Georgia
Nice. I wonder how fast Amazon can ship it to me?
If I can get off my butt I'll write a column today.
You only write while standing?
Sounds great! But too far for me to drive to.
Mack, only if you have already signed a large extension can you go on the IL. Seems like players don’t get hurt as often before they “get paid”. Like I said, I believe Alonso is sounding like Rendon before Rendon got his deal.
I have a theory that I have been thinking about since about since they signed Voit:
Why are the Mets suddenly signing first basemen to minor league deals? Is it to scare Vientos? I don’t think so….
Alonso just signed with Boras. Boras clients aren’t getting deals. What if Alonso really DOES want to stay in New York and he sees that 1. The Mets are stocking up on first basemen (possible trade) and 2. His agent is having problems signing his clients (for whatever reason). Think he may be more apt to sign now at a team endorsed deal? Then, I see Cohen come out yesterday and say they would love to keep Alonso…. You think Alonso isn’t thinking right now? And the Mets know that! Well, I have been thinking, anyway… sometimes I overdo that.
That was me.
Lol, good one Bill!
Gus, Ray writes his articles with consonants and bowels. He gets down into the nitty gritty with his articles. He has never written a s…ty one.
Pete is a goner unless fairy dust sprinkles Citifield.
I don’t fully understand WAR stats. Pete has 17 WAR in 2900 plate appearances. Jeff McNeil has 19 in 2700 plate appearances. Does that mean Jeff is better than Pete or more valuable than Pete to the Mets? Anyway, just 17 in 2900 PAs is far from great. Worth Elite $$?
What really disturbs me is just seeing how many players, the latest being Eric Hosmer, going to drastic decline in their early 30s and in Eric’s case, not making it to age 34 in the majors before retiring. We are supposed to sprinkle more fairy dust, and believe that just can’t happen to Pete. Long for the days of single year contracts, even though they will never return.
Hosmer had 17 WAR thru age 28. 2 WAR thereafter.
Pete had 17 WAR thru age 28, too. Of course, Hosmer thru age 28 had about 35% more PAs than Pete, so Pete is a bigger producer.
Now that he is 29, how many more WAR digits will he accrue? 10? 20? 25?
Part of Boras’ sales pitch this fall will be to convince suitors why Pete is the exception and will be great for 8 - 10 more years.
I believe Alonso is vastly underrated for his defense and thus the low WAR. I have watched him and do not see where any other first baseman is noticeably better than Alonso. He wants to win a gold glove and I believe him. He may not be Keith Hernandez, but show me who is.i feel he should be about 1.5 units of WAR higher per year, or roughly 6-7 units more than that 17. No way a stiff like Hosmer should be the same WAR and since we all watch the games, is McNeil really more valuable?
It is a curse. Accept it. Overcome it. Just win, baby!
Did the Mets do something to offend The Force?
Bill, a deal was stuck in 1986 and the price to get “Gets by Buckner” has been very high ever since.
Gus, I agree with you on his D and discounted WAR.
If he hit in a neutral or hitter’s park, rather than at Citi, he’d be perceived as a superstar, not just as a big slugger.
Tom, I have a secret for you: He hit 53 when the park was bigger. Big parks help batting average as there is more room for the ball to fall in, but you need to hit the little round thing first.
Hey, Bellinger signed. He got a little, but that was it! From MLBTR:
Center fielder Cody Bellinger is in agreement with the Cubs on a three-year, $80MM deal per Jeff Passan of ESPN. Per Passan, the deal includes opt-outs following the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Passan adds that the deal is slightly frontloaded, with Bellinger making $30MM in 2024 and 2025 with a $20MM salary in 2026.
Ok, Pete Alonso… here’s your comp. Enjoy it. And he had a better year.
Thanks for your comment this morning, Gus. I don't completely agree with the "here's your comp" statement, but there is definitely some 'smoke' there. I think this just kick started me to write up a full article to post! Stay tuned! :-)
Post a Comment