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3/4/24

Reese Kaplan -- Spring Training Is More Show and Less Glow


A week into the 2024 Spring Training in primarily Port St. Lucie and what have we learned thus far?

It appears that the starting pitching is highly suspect with Kodai Senga already on the IL with his shoulder issue, Sean Manaea getting hit in his first big league outing, Tylor Megill looking good once and looking bad once.  On the plus side Luis Severino had a very nice first outing and Jose Quintana may have to polish up his game a bit if he indeed is going to be the Opening Day starter with Senga on the shelf.  

Out of the bullpen some of the wannabes have looked better than expected but no one knows who is actually on the legitimate radar for roles on the big club.  Obviously Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino, Brooks Raley and Jake Diekman are locks to come north.  


Apparently Shintaro Fujinami is legally able to participate after whatever family issue kept him in Japan for an extended period of time.  His 100 mph pitching potential has Jeremy Hefner and others drooling over his closer potential, but the man needs to demonstrate health, availability and significantly improved control before many folks will take him seriously.

On the field it was good to see long balls from 2023 underperformers Mark Vientos and Brett Baty.  It does appear the Mets are serious about granting the starting 3rd base role to Baty while the DH duties for now belong to Vientos.  Many other hitters without great defensive skills like DJ Stewart and others might feel somewhat excluded, but considering how very little the Mets received from the DH position since it became part of the National League lineup, it won't take a whole lot for Vientos to exceed what was done by Mssrs. Vogelbach, Ruf and others who failed miserably at the role.  


Perhaps the most encouraging sign of the young preseason is the apparently health of former star player Starling Marte who has already shown both in the field and at the plate that he's ready to go for the start of the season.  His power, speed, bat control and defensive acumen can make him into a highly valuable contributor.  Look no further back than 2022 to see what he's capable of providing when completely healthy.  

Pete Alonso has gone yard already and despite the lack of progress on a contract extension he appears ready to be a key component in the middle of the batting order once again.  

Great things have been said about the defensive attitude and even the English aptitude of catcher Francisco Alvarez.  Many are clamoring for an early extended contract at a discount to keep him from escalating out of site once he obtains enough MLB playing time to hit free agency.  It's not the worst idea in the world, for sure.

Rumor has it that Jeff McNeil is suffering from a bicep issue that might keep him out of games for awhile, but with other infielders in camp it's not as if the club will suffer in his short term absence.  There is an ongoing question mark about Joey Wendle who has been doing a Claude Rains impression as the Invisible Man since camp began, but soon enough we'll hear about what's kept him out of games.  Without him Zack Short and others can pick up the innings.

Brandon Nimmo is scheduled to get his first start this week which is a welcome sight indeed.  He has decent defensive skills, great bat control and has demonstrated more power recently than in his past.  He's a key component to the Mets offense.

Thus far the questionable defensive whiz Harrison Bader has not demonstrated bat skills sufficient to get a starting role, but then the Mets do not have much else in the way of outfield options.  Tyrone Taylor has already show he is capable with the bat and glove, though it's minor league Trayce Thompson who has launched a couple of long balls (including a Grand Slam) to suggest that at age 32 he's not done yet.  


There are no major news flashes and no surprising failures early in viewing this flawed but interesting club.  Right now the team appears perhaps better than they were in 2023 but certainly not October bound. 

15 comments:

  1. It's the "if" roster for better or worse.

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  2. Ya know...

    If 2024 was a goal for Cohen & Co. they would swoop in about now and bring in a keeper from the outside instead of waiting for someone to excel at third base.

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  3. The last time they did that we got Eduardo Escobar.

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  4. Reese,
    We got burned in both the Jim Fregosi and Joy Foy trades. We did well with our trade for Howard Johnson. Lets give our prospects at least a half a season to show us we have a keeper. David Wright was our guy and proved to be one of the best third basemen in our history.

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  5. Mack, Reese, Ernest, and DJ, we are fans, and with Vientos and Beatty, we are clearly tending to be optimistic, as perhaps, opposed to being realistic. And tomorrow’s article for me, I propose a hypothetical trade. There’s no rumors of such a trade, but I just present it to illuminate that tendency towards a fan mentality amongst all of us.. It is the second topic in my article tomorrow; please check it out.

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    1. I'm starting to think the Mets need to look inward for a new future third baseman

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  6. That internal third baseman could turn out to be Ronny Mauricio next year.

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  7. You really can't take third base away from Baty until he convinces the management that he will never excel there. Because once you do, you can never go back. Same with Vientos. There are not enough at-bats in the pre-season to know that they can't perform so better or worse this is how the season will start.

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  8. One word that should NEVER be used in discussing an upcoming season is "certainly". Anything can happen over 162 games.

    And judging individual players based on the first week of ST is as close to "certainly wrong" as we can get. We can choose to be optimistic or not, but thise are emotions, not statistically valid.
    The plan at 3B and DH is give Baty and Vientos the opportunity to show their stuff over a period of months, not one week.

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  9. Giants might be open to trading JD Davis now that they acquired Matt Chapman. Worth considering?

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    1. Not if the Mets really don't want to give up on Baty too soon. He could be a bust, or the next Amos Otis, but the only way to find out is by giving him enough playing time.

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  10. Ray, Baty has been up 16 times, on base twice, against generally weak early spring pitching. I am getting worried.

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    1. Traditionally, pitchers dominate early in ST, so I wouldn't use that as a guide. Additionally, Baty is tweaking his swing to get more balls in the air instead of GBs.
      It's not working so far, but changes don't come instantly.

      Patience, my friend. Patience.

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  11. A lot of good hitters under perform in ST. I see Stanton at ,100 and a bunch of others below the Mendoza line. Let's see how he produces when it counts.

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