NY Mets Are Adding Swagger to Their Walk
(PC - Ed Delany)
Through Tuesday:
Hottest team in baseball, winners of 11 of 13? METS!
Winners of 7 straight.
Reid Garrett is 7-2, 55 Ks in 35 IP. We all knew he’d be great.
Edwin Diaz a 9 pitch save. Economical.
Down 4 runs mid-game on Tuesday…My first thought was…
“It’s just four runs. Piece of cake. After all, we’re playing on the road, where we love it.”
So they naturally score 5 unanswered. And win.
Hitters on the road are banging and bashing like it’s 2006 again.
Vientos and Alvarez asked, “You STILL doubting us? Just STOP, please!”
They went out and collected 12 hits between them in 2 games. Twelve.
.317 and .269, respectively.
Ohtani is .316/.388/.608. Vientos is .317/.375/.554 (112 PAs).
No, Vientos is not Ohtani.
But please…stop fretting about Mark. It is OK to smile.
Cubs are coming up, winners of 4 of 10. Under .500.
Forgive them if Mets’ hitters are carrying towels around to wipe off the drool. A road series in a hitters’ park.
Ten runs a game? Why not. These are the Road Mauler Mets.
Mets lead baseball in road hitting through Tuesday…
.279/.342/.445, and 5.8 runs per game.
Mets at home are .221/.300/.363.
Perspective? .221 is 28th. They are also 28th in runs at home per game, a mere 27 slots behind the road squad.
Might Citi Field dimensions be a negative factor? Might they be adjustable?
Anyway…
What’s going right?
The entire roster - except McNeil, Taylor, and Stewart.
What’s not going right?
McNeil, Taylor, and Stewart.
They are hitting .216 in 480 at bats, with 10 HRs.
Jeff and Tyrone’s OBPs are under .290.
Everything else on the roster is cool, actually. Mendoza is clearly great.
2B Pablo Reyes reminded me there are replacement parts available for those 3 under-performersin the Syracuse warehouse.
You see, Pablo went 5 for 5 with 6 RBIs on Tuesday, and is hitting .365/.459/.603 in AAA in 19 games.
Rhylan Thomas in the Syracuse outfield in 5 for 9, with a single, 2 doubles and 2 HRs in his last two games. Dude can hit. .310/.385/.423 in 2023 and 2024 in the minors.
Baty is still hanging out there…and hitting.
Luke Ritter is a HR-generating machine.
Amazon provides same day delivery.
Mets Lost 5-3 after I wrote this. Naturally.
JEFF MCNEIL AND JD DAVIS
The former Met, JD Davis, was DFA’d by Oakland this week.
While hitting fairly well lately, he had just 5 RBIs.
He was on a $2.5 million, one year deal.
Jeff McNeil has played just as badly this year, but has not been DFA’d.
Why not? He is owed a ton of money still.
Roughly $40 million.
If he was owed $2.5 million instead, like JD, would he be DFA’d?
There are answers for the dilemma of Jeff McNeil if his current extended malaise proves to be incurable:
IGLESIAS. OR PABLO.
Or Baty. Or Ritter.
R.I.P. WILLIE MAYS
How geat a hitter was the Say Hey Kid? Consider this:
Willie had a .565 slugging % in Candlestick and Forbes, two of the toughest parks for sluggers ever. How great is that?
And, despite his playing for the Mets in Shea at the very end, his slug % in Shea was still a stunning .757 in 130 games. It was probably 1.000 prior to his two Mets’ seasons in his 40s. Still, in his final year, in 37 Shea games, he slugged .588.
Extraordinary is too weak a word.
P.S.
Through Tuesday, Syracuse led the International League with 5.85 runs per game, in homers with 103, and is 43-26. 34-17 in their last 51. Last year, that Syracuse squad finished 61-85.
Great hitting (and decent pitching) leads to much winning.
The 2024 Chicago White Sox are 20-54. My guess is Syracuse is a better team.
P.P.S.
If you could only pick one…
Which Mets minors player below AA has the best chance of seeing time with the Mets in late 2025?
21 y/o OF Nick Morabito.
In Brooklyn and St Lucie this season, he is hitting .333/.447./432 in 57 games with 32 steals.
LOTS of guys in front of him, but you make way for true talent.
He better be headed to AA right after the ASB. That would keep him on pace with Rhylan Thomas’ pace last year. Thomas hit well in A, High A, and AA last season and is now doing well in AAA.
Morabito is faster than Thomas, likely has more power, but fans a little but more.
P.P.P.S.
Oddest hitting line ever?
Nolan McLean has 9 doubles and 7 HRs in 126 at bats this year. Excellent.
But he also has fanned 72 times in 126 at bats.
Good thing he is primarily a fine pitcher.
Elsewhere, Suarez, Gervase and Walker all pitched well, and Baty homered again. Rowdey Jordan had 3 hits, including a grand salami.
Roster changes often occur after a road trip. Will Baty be coming back?
A stinker last night but let's see if they can take the series in Chicago
ReplyDeleteThere are so many teams in play for a wild card this season
ReplyDeleteGonna take a .650 W/L PCT going forward
Game of inches and tough spots. Game-tying grounder that ticked off mitt of Vientos to tie the game, then Leody Taveras a low power, low average guy, going deep to decide the game on the 7th pitch from Drew Smith. Can't win them all. Next up? Imanaga and the Cubs.
ReplyDeleteThe Orioles may need a starter pronto: Kyle Bradish - news is a brutal blow for the club’s rotation. He had a tremendous breakout season with the O’s last year, making 30 starts with a 2.83 earned run average. He struck out 25% of batters faced, limited walks to a 6.6% rate and got grounders at a 49.2% clip. And he was strong this year, too. But he needs TJS.
ReplyDeleteOrioles prospects
ReplyDeleteJackson Holliday - no chance
C Samuel Basallo - 2024/2025 needs is not a catcher
3B/1B Coby Mayo - AAA: 176-AB 13-HR .284 - possible replacement for Baty or Pete
Colton Cowser - hittibg 9-HR .234 fir Orioles - probably no chance
OF Heston Kjerstad - 14 ABs for O's - .143 was hitting .307 15-HR for AAA - possible
They lost last night, trade them all. Just kidding, for now anyway.
ReplyDeleteThe Mets have a history of playing down to the competition so I wouldn't be surprised if they lose the series to the Cubs and struggle against teams they should be beating.
The next 2 weeks should tell us a lot about this team.
Ritter should be with the Mets instead of Steward.
Nido 4 HR series
DeleteI love the optimism here. I'm with ya, Tom!
ReplyDelete2 questions:
I agree that Baty is earning the "right of return". But if he does, where would he play?
I understand why Citi's dimensions would squash HRs. But why would they hurt BA?
Why does Smith almost always spit the bit in big spots and by the way where is Nunez? Yes Viper we have to stop playing down to our competition like now! Imanaga who I thought was our fall back option we if we missed out on Yama (who's of course is out with an injury) is killing it so our work is cut out for us boys LGM. On the outfield dimensions just smooth out the wall in right field and get rid of that stupid jut back.
ReplyDeleteStill top 3rd reliever in game
Delete4.00 average in league
Delete3.34 Smith
Read somewhere else that Nunez has a sinus infection
DeleteSmith is from Dallas so Mendoza gave him the chance. Home plate ump was a disgrace last night. What the difference between Manaea and Lucchesi?
ReplyDeleteBill,
ReplyDeleteThe Mets have done this many times only to break our hearts. So, like I said, two weeks and then we will see if they do beat the teams they are supposed to beat or fail to do so. Like I have been saying, consistency matters.
They lost last night, can they regroup to start another winning run?. We will see. But in reality, all they need to do is win series and they will be fine.
Mack,
Nido knows our pitchers and hitters tendencies, he will be catching for sure.
Sometimes you win and Sometimes you lose. That's the way it goes.
ReplyDeleteSproat in AA, Tong in High A tonight. Nice.
ReplyDeleteAs a big fan commenting for the first time , my question is what's going on with this injury to Drew Gilbert , what is the injury ezactly , and when will he finally return to playing again?
ReplyDeleteHey Hard
DeleteWelcome
I have asked insiders 5x and no one will share what's going on here
Strange. Did they give you a reason for the secrecy? His "slight strain" is now two months old.
ReplyDeleteBill, almost 11 weeks, but who is counting?
ReplyDelete