Francisco Alvarez was not only 16 for 29 with 8 walks, 4 doubles, 3 HRs, and 10 RBIs in his last 9 games. Blistering pace.
Then I see this astonishing fact posted by SNY:
Still longing for Nido or Narvaez to come back, folks?
Nah, me neither.
Is Francisco Alvarez……the Mets’ MVP?
Maybe.
Alvarez seems to be “the straw that stirs the drink.”
My brother often asks:
Where is our home-grown hitting superstar? Where’s our Griffey Jr?
Maybe it is this guy.
METS OVER .500
7-2 win? McNeil 3 hits AND 3 RBIs? Dedniel now 2-0? Mets now 40-39.
Stunning.
We all thought, when they were 24-35, losers of 27 of 39, they’d thereafter go on an offense-filled 16-4 surge. Right?
Best offense in baseball over the last 20 games.
Do they have the best offense, period?
MOVING ON…BAD NEWS…
Drew Smith likely has thrown his last inning as a Met, as he will get TJS after a second opinion. May it go well, Drew, and thank you. You are well appreciated.
12-13, 3.48 in 191 career outings.
Bizarrely, in his last game, on Sunday, June 23, he was only put in to pitch in the 9th because Edwin Sticky Fingers Diaz was ejected for…well, sticky fingers.
FCL METS NO-NO…
A trio of FCL Mets hurlers (Wellington Aracena, Joseph Yabbour, and Brayhans Barretto) combined on a 3-0, 7 inning no hitter win, fanning 12. Nice.
We now look forward to you three combining to throw back-to-back no hitters.
A MERE 13 PITCHES FOR 2 INNINGS
Two rehabbing wild men threw an inning each last night.
Bryce Montes de Oca & Shintaro Fujinami both threw 1-2-3 relief innings Friday.
The 2 threw 12 strikes and just one ball in 13 total pitches.
How odd, but nice, for these two normally wild men.
ORLANDO CEPEDA DEAD AT 86
The Hall of Famer, known as the Baby Bull, was a terrific hitter and former teammate of recently deceased Willie Mays. He was only a decent hitter starting at his age 32 season, and in his age 36 final season, he hit just .215 with a HR and 18 RBIs.
Our current Baby Bull at first base for the Mets will soon be entering free agency, and he will be 30 next year, and is hitting about 60 points less in his career to date than Cepeda did through his age 29 season.
Cepeda was a decent career hitter vs. the Mets (.276), but tore apart the Atlanta Braves (.324). We could use more guys on our side who can do that.
SPEAKING OF THE BRAVES…
The Mets have scored 32 more runs than the Braves in one fewer game. Why can’t the Mets overtake the Braves?
Heck, the Mets trail Philly by just 12.5 games with 83 to play…
What a difference a year makes. In 2023, Atlanta outscored the Mets by 230 runs.
30 comments:
I again repeat the question: Are the Mets currently the best offensive team in baseball? If not, who is better? The Yanks have still scored more runs, but players in 5 more games. So that gap will really narrow, and that is past performance...who is the best hitting team NOW?
Hoping this a good sign for McNeil. Before last night he was hitting .170 in June. The Mets would be that much more of an offensive powerhouse if he could get hot
The Drew Smith news just doubles down the need for a pen rental in July
Hopefully we can survive the next week when reinforcements come.
Jon, agreed, and we NEED McNeil to hit, to make up for the loss of Marte, although Taylor has woken up with, it seems, more regular playing time.
Mack, we need a true pen arm. Foley is injured way too much, and they are thin. For some reason, they are choosing not to give Butto a whirl, but rather keeping him stretched out. I do think Scott will be here this week, and Adkins out.
But to replace a quality reliever like Smith from the outside is necessary. Scott could eventually bump Megill to the pen, but I think if Cohen thinks a pen rental or two will get it done, he'll do it. It sure worked in 2015.
Ray, I hope the surging bats carry us. And if McNeil FINALLY woke up, that surge will be easier to continue.
****NEWS ALERT**** Grimase (who by the way is gender neutral) signs a 10 year $100 million dollars contract with the N.Y.Mets and will be throwing out the first pitch every Saturday and the City Connect uniforms will be purple in color. In breaking the ceiling for character contracts he has the support of previous winners Ronald McDonald, Tony the Tiger and Kermit the Frog. His agent Scott Boras said it was the simplest contract negotiation deal he has ever had. As far as the BP we need more long men like how about Butto or Scott because this pen will burn out quickly using it like last night so between Houser and Butto they could each cover say 3 innings every 3 or 4 days.
Gary, are you woke yet? LOL
I think a pen rental to replace Smith is a better approach. Someone not washed up, who has pen experience. I'd suggest Trevor, not Tylor, Megill, but Trevor's team is in 1st place in the Central.
The 6'8" taller Megill with Milwaukee has 17 saves and a 1.71 ERA. And the other day, his final pitch for his save was a 101 MPH heater.
And boy, he was costly (not) to the Brewers to acquire in 2023: RHP Trevor Megill acquired from Minnesota Twins for PTBNL or cash - April 30, 2023.
I am still hoping rehabbing Bryce Montes de Oca can come up and be our Trevor Megill soon.
Stearns says team will be buyers in July
Every team needs a MeGill in the pen.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the team - and the pitching - improved dramatically as soon as we exchanged Narvaez and Nido for Torrens and Alvarez. Alvarez really does look like an emerging superstar, and I wouldn’t bet against him being the next catcher to win an MVP.
I know that you’re never as good as you look when you’re on a hot streak, but from what I can see, I think we’re the 3rd best team in the NL right now, and I fully expect us to catch and pass the Braves. I’m not sure what we do at the deadline - a lot of mediocre players will be available (and not a ton of surefire upgrades in RF) in what looks to be an extreme seller’s market. But I have faith that Stearns will at least find us some BP help, which may be all we really need.
Ray, I agree. Two Megill’s in the pen would have been twice as nice.
Mack, what a difference 16-4 makes.
My guess is very few prospects are safe from a rental trade
Mack, I'd like to see no Sproat and no Tong in any trades.
Alvarez has really made a difference with the pitching staff. It is hard to see from the other side of the TV what he is doing that much differently, but it is certainly working.
My guess is Scott, Sproat, Tong, Acuna, and Morabito are safe
Mack, I did not include Scott because I see him as a major leaguer already but yep, I'd definitely exclude him from any trades. Acuna I've grown to like more, but if the right trade came along....
I'd definitely hoping Morabito sticks around.
One behind the leader in HRs in the FCL? Simon Juan with 7. The Yanks (who else) have a young SS hitting .404 in the FCL, OBP in the mid 5's.
If Scott is brought up, as expected, why can't one of our current SPs become that "pen rental"?
And when Senga returns, another can do the same. Would another team's RP serve us better than, say, Megill and Peterson?
I wonder what Baty's fate is.
Re: Drew Smith, I'm not ready to just give up on him. Certainly he will be out until next July if he does need the TJ, but as he said yesterday he really wants to stay a Met.
I'd give him a low-cost '25 contract (say, $3 mil pro-rated on his games pitched next year after his recovery), then use his post-return performance to evaluate him for a '26+ deal.
Now that the Reds seem to be fading, why not try for Edwin's younger brother? Having a double-Diaz late-game combo is awfully tempting to me.
Not exactly. He said he's not ruling out being a buyer, but "it's too soon right now to decide".
Bill,
I would add Raley to a prorated contract for 2025, although he is older than Smith.He did quite well the last two years and would be a good one to take a chance with. A low cost contract might get it done.
I would try to retain Ramirez as well. OFers with his talent are hard to come by.
Diaz’s brother has sub par control. 107 walks and hit batsmen in 160 MLB innings. What if he fails and Stearns wants to jettison him? How would Edwin feel?
Ramirez has shown little sign the last 2 years of producing good results. Two good Aprils.
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