THE MENDOZA LINE
It has been a strange start to the season.
As I write
this the Mets are 4-6 and very easily could have won at least two more
games. How improbable was it to beat
Morton with Teheran starting and Lindor, Alonso, and Alvarez going a combined 0
for 13.
Four
regulars remain under the Mendoza Line after ten games. Lindor shows little signs of snapping out of
it; Alonso had early success by going the other way, but he has abandoned that
approach; and McNeil looks as though he might be on the right track. Although
I’m not a fan of DJ Stewart, playing him on Monday was the right call since he has
been productive at Truist Field in the past.
Just imagine if these guys were simply average or even slightly below
average, what our record would be.
Let me do a
quick evaluation of Carlos Mendoza. First let me say the front office did him no
favors by not sufficiently upgrading the relief corp. It’s hard to understand
how Ramirez and Tonkin won spots over Bickford and Garrett. The notion of keeping a player with no
options over a better player with options is ridiculous. Also, what is being accomplished by farming
out Mark Vientos? He deserves a place on the roster over Stewart.
Carlos
Mendoza shows signs of being a very good manager. I like his calm demeanor in
the face of adversity. I’m not sure to
what extent the analytics team imposes a starting lineup on him. But, for the most part, I don’t understand
why Stewart was selected as the DH.
Some questionable
moves by Mendoza probably cost the Mets two wins.
· In the 7-6 loss to the Brewers, five pitchers were used to get 12 outs. That was an unnecessary waste of BP resources.
· The ill-timed decision to throw behind Hoskins was not the smartest move.
· Leaving Wendle in after making a number of on-field changes. The right move would have been to put McNeil at 2nd and bring Taylor into the game.
· Having Baty try to bunt twice in extra innings against a RH pitcher with Marte on deck.
· Bringing Tonkin in a second time when the game went into extra innings.
· Taking Houser out after 67 pitches in the first game of a double header.
· Using seven bull pen arms over six innings in the first game of a double header.
· The bull pen was therefore depleted resulting in a loss in their next game.
I refuse to
join the bandwagon of those who believe the season is over. As the temps warm
up so will the bats of the Mendoza group.
Ray
April 11,
2024
5 comments:
I agree with your points Ray. I think that there is room for improvement. This team has some talent, but is going to hover around .500 until they can get some dominant pitching. Starting pitchers going 5 innings and getting pulled is not dominant even if they only give up a few runs.
The bats will have a lot to do with their final record. So far it has been a lot of pop-ups and Ks when there are runners on base. Chalk it up to bad luck, but if that trend is maintained, we will be having a lot of discussion around midseason about who to trade.
Ray, that Mendoza sure did good today.
Lindor looks lost.
Sounds like a bit of early team building, showing their support for Mendoza by staying below the line. Now that they have given their manager his due, they can start hitting again. More of today would be nice.
I like the optimism. I have more faith in the lineup than our starting staff and bullpen.
Denis, remarkably, they are up to .233 as a team. And everyone but Lindor? .253.
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