Tom Brennan: Minor League Recap

 RECAP! 

I will share my thoughts on the Mets’ trade deadline activities tomorrow.

An unscheduled article for me today. 

Sometimes, marvelous minor league things are worth a mention.

Seaver once fanned 19.

Tuesday night, St Lucie fanned 19, too.

2 Ks in an opening frame by rehabbing Grant Hartwig.

9 Ks in 4 innings by Saul Garcia.

3 in 2 innings by Irving Cora.

5 in 2 innings by Gregori Louis.

St Lucie Mets hitters fanned 16 times to bring total Ks in the game to 35.

St Lucie won 4-0.

Moving on…

Binghamton was 2 hit in a 6-0 loss. Punched out 9 times. Punchless.

Syracuse, though, won 7-1.

Mighty Luke Ritter was 3 for 3 and 2 walks, including his 20th HR and 70th RBI. Impressive. Ritter, this season and last, in 695 official at bats, has 47 HRs and 134 RBIs. That ain’t chump change.

Drew Gilbert had 2 hits.

Mike Vasil was GREAT! 7 innings, 4 hits, a run, 8 Ks. Just allowed a solo shot in the first.  

Bradley Jr was 1 for 5, and 4 for 18 since he signed on.

Brooklyn was rained out. No, it wasn’t a cyclone.

Lastly in one of the DSL games, Mets pitchers held their opponent to 7 hits.  

The problem was the 12 walks they also allowed along with 2 HBPs and the team making 3 errors, so the opposing team scored 14 runs on 7 hits. 

The last Mets pitcher, Darling Felix, was excellent, though.

He fanned 4 in 1.2 very clean innings just a walk) and has now fanned 23 in 11.2 IP, but he has also allowed 14 hits, 24 walks, and 4 HBP. It is a learning process, this game of baseball.

Signing off…

Reese Kaplan -- David Stearns Not Afraid to Cut His Losses

One of the things that continually frustrated New York Mets media and fans under previous administrations is their tendency to make a decision, stick by that decision, see the player acquired struggle yet continue to hold out hope to justify their own egos that they made the right move.  How long, for example, should the Mets have waited for sumo wrestler, ummm, DH Daniel Vogelbach to be designated for assignment instead of designated hitter?

Everyone across baseball applauded when the Mets waited for their front office honcho David Stearns to become not only available but a part of Steve Cohen’s architecture for baseball success.  It all sounded good on paper but most New Yorkers are a cynical bunch who have seen an awful lot that should have been fixed go unaddressed, so some of the enthusiasm was tempered by past history.

Going into the 2024 season the Mets were pretty active in free agency and a bit less so in making trades, but the lineup on Opening Day looked very little like the one that closed out the dismal 2023 season. 

You needed starting pitching, so Peterson went out and landed Luis Severino, Sean Manaea and Adrian Houser.

You needed improved outfield defense so Harrison Bader (coincidentally a childhood buddy of departing free agent Pete Alonso) was signed.  Tyrone Taylor was also new.

Backup infielders were not exactly falling from trees.  The Mets started off with Joey Wendle and Zack Short.

The bullpen needed reinforcement so out went deals to acquire Jorge Lopez, Yohan Ramirez, Michael Tonkin, Shintaro Fujinami and Jake Diekman.

Having soured on the likes of watching Darin Ruf and Daniel Vogelbach, the Mets actually signed a real DH in J.D. Martinez.  He is likely the only one for whom top shelf imported beverages were toasted.

Aside from Martinez, none of these other transactions were going to have you reaching for the champagne glasses.  Some were players coming off bad seasons in which you hoped for a turnaround.  Most were single year deals to keep roster flexibility at its maximum.

Now comes the interesting part.  Of all of these players just named that were a part of the David Stearns influx of player talent, Luis Severino and Sean Manaea are still here among the pitchers.  Harrison Bader and late arriving J.D. Martinez are it among the hitters.  Think about that for a moment...Stearns took action to excise players from the roster who were not performing at an anticipated level. 

Furthermore, there other players like Joey Lucchesi, Tomas Nido, D.J. Stewart and Brett Baty that he inherited who all no longer have lockers in the Citifield changing room.  Many other minor transactions straddle the line between his guys and his previous regime roster, but the fact is that after giving ample time to prove yourself (or in Stewart’s case, the Vogelbach treatment), he will find an alternative who just might do a bit better. 

So for the folks sitting at their breakfast tables wishing for something stronger than coffee to watch bigger name players go elsewhere while we “settled” for Phil Maton, Ryne Stanek, Matt Gage and Jesse Winker, remember that a lot of folks have been asked to leave.  Theoretically these headline avoiding moves might be what the club really needs. 

Of course as I schedule this piece there are still 12 hours to go on the July trading deadline whose importance is not just improving the final two months of the season but addressing who can be a part of an October roster if there is one.  Fingers crossed either way it goes.

MACK - Tuesday Morning Observations

 

 

Observations –

 

            Well, at 6pm tonight the trade deadline… err… dies.

            So far, I love the additions of relief pitchers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek, and outfielder Jesse Winker. Would have loved if they all had a team option through 2025, but I’ll take what I got here. The additions of Maton and Stanek to Edwin Diaz and Jose Butto give the Mets a solid bullpen base for the rest of the season and Winker brings instant left side pop that is much needed.

            I’m going to go out on a limb here and make a few predictions. You and I will both know if any of these come true by the time you bed down tonight.

 

1.     First, what I think we won’t see… a seasoned successful starter under contract past this year. I’d love to tell you the Mets will sign a guy like Garrett Crochet. But the cost for pitchers like this is currently through the roof. My guess, it would take three of the Mets top 20 prospects and I just don’t think the Mets will do this kind of trade.

 

2.     What I do see is one, maybe two, starter rentals to energize the current rotation. Right now, for me, the Mets current rotation is Sean Manaea, David Peterson, Jose Quintana, Luis Severino, and Tylor Megill. Megill seems incapable of pitching effectively past three innings, so I would add him to the pen filling the slot left open by the departed Adrian Houser. The Mets pitched Jose Butto three innings last night, which could be a move to stretch him out if no deals can be made for this will become more defined by tomorrow morning.

 

3.     As for the pen, there might not be a need to add another pitcher here if Butto remains in the pen and Megill joins him. If not, I see the chance of only one addition here. Probably a loaner for a mid to lower level chip.

 

4.     I don’t expect Brett Baty to be wearing a Mets uniform by tomorrow. I have no idea where he is going or what the team can get for a trade that includes him, but third base seems to be filled with Mark Vientos. If he’s moved to another position, Ronny Mauricio or Luisangel Acuna are waiting in the wings. Baty has had ample time to prove to the Mets he can hit consistently at the major league level.

 

5.     Other possible lost players through trades could be Kevin Parada, Justin Jarvas, Jonah Tong, Joander Suarez, Joel Diaz, Christopher Suero, Jeremiah Jackson, Jeremy Rodriguez, Ryan Clifford, Willy Fanas, or Simon Juan.

SAVAGE VIEWS – Wild Card Blues

Since the All-Star break the Mets have won 6 of 10 games. A 60% winning percentage is pretty solid and if sustained for the balance of the season, the Mets would wind up with 88 wins and most likely make the playoffs. 

A closer analysis reveals a number of troubling signs.

Splitting four games with the Marlins was the first indication that things are not going as planned. Winning less than 3 out of 4 from the worst team in the NL was concerning. While it was nice to beat the Braves in a game started by Chris Sale, the fact remains that they got only two hits and the game was handed to them thanks to the ineptitude play of the Braves in that game. 

Fortunately, Lindor and McNeil were able to carry the team to victories over the past 10 games.  The reality is that the rest of the starting nine have made minimal contributions.

THE THREE METSKETEERS

1.    JD Martinez appears to have lost his magic bat – I would not be unhappy if he gets moved by the trade deadline.  His signing was in opposition to the grand plan which was to give younger players the ability to prove themselves in 2024.  Baty should be manning third while Vientos serves as DH.

2.    Pete Alonso If Pete had met expectations, he’d be sitting at around 32 homers with 80 RBIs. It’s been awhile since Pete has produced meaningful results. His numbers are not far off the much maligned Alex Verdugo of the Yanks.

3.    Brandon Nimmo has caught the plague that Lindor had to start the season. Of this trio, I expect Nimmo to get back on track soon.

No doubt Alvarez will be a future all-star if he stays healthy. His handling of the pitching staff has been outstanding. However, his offensive numbers have fallen off the roof. I expect him to recover and I like having Vientos in the lineup. 

Iglesias has been a god-send, but he is still just a utility player propelled into the starting lineup. The addition of Jesse Winkler is a plus over DJ Stewart. No matter how you add it up, the Mets lack the big bat in the middle of the lineup. No one in the lineup strikes fear in the minds of opposing pitchers.

PITCHING BLUES

The loss of Senga and to a lesser degree Scott have dealt a devastating blow to the staff. The bullpen remains in shambles even with recent additions of Maton and Stanek. I expect the next move will be to DFA Diekman. Oops, I just learned that Diekman has been DFAd.

If they acquire a SP by the deadline, then Megill needs to be moved to the pen. His track record has been solid until the fourth or fifth inning when he routinely runs out of steam. Time to make the obvious move with Megill. Peterson is another candidate for the pen assuming a second SP is added. Perhaps, it’s time to see what we have in Hamel and Vasil.

OUTLOOK

Until now, I’ve been optimistic about the Mets making the playoffs. In my opinion, losing Senga is the straw that broke the camels back. Even though the schedule gets easier in August, I no longer see a path for the Mets to qualify for a wild-card spot.

Ray

July 30, 2024

Tom Brennan: Winker and Stanek

Winker Pre-Trade

So...

Perhaps everyone else knows everything there is to possibly know about these two, so why I am writing this?

Why not?  And I wanted to know more for myself.

Jesse Winker will turn 31 in a few weeks and came into this season with about 2,000 career at bats and 3 steals in 6 tries. One could conclude there is no speed, except...

He has stolen 14 of 18 this year.  Remarkable uptick.

He hit great in 2021, not well in 2022 or 2023, but he is back to hitting solidly this year. 

And, almost in Nimmo-like fashion, he gets on base.  

Career .373 OBP, .370 this year.  He walks a lot. 

316 at bats, but 380 plate appearances.  

And his 11 HRs and 45 RBIs mean he is reasonably productive power-wise.  51 runs scored, too, and one would think he will score more with a more potent, run-generating Mets offense surrounding him.  

And in his last 2 months, he is hitting .285.

Lastly, the lefty hitter is a far better career hitter vs. righties.  .278/.382/.468.  That will be his role.  He'll sit vs. lefties.

Me? I like the pick up.

He seems to be quite a big improvement over DJ Stewart.  A hole in the line up has been surgically repaired. (Perhaps with the Mets, I should avoid using the word "surgical" as much as possible.)

FIREBALLER

What to know about Ryne Stanek?

Just turned 33 on Friday. Not having the best year, at 6-3, 4.95, with 45 Ks in 40 innings, but he throws gas. Seven saves this year, too.  In 2022, he had a 1.15 ERA for the Astros in relief.

He had a bad Mets debut, surrendering 2 gopher balls in one inning in a lopsided losing game.  

OK, but with that out of the way, he ought to give them fire and gas out of a pen in real need of that right now. 

Averaging 10 Ks and 4 walks per 9 this year.  Career WHIP 1.28. 

Me? I like the pick up.

For these two, they gave up their # 19 and # 30 prospects, not too steep a price.  

Tyler Stuart has been added to the Nationals' prospect list at # 16, their 6th highest ranked pitcher.  Rhylan Thomas is not in Seattle's top 30.  Thomas rocketed thru the system as a low power, high contact hitter, but was sputtering a bit in more challenging AAA.  He now is in the Mets West organization know as Seattle.

Let's wish our new guys well, and the departed farmhands as well.

And let's see whether the Mets have a blockbuster up their sleeves before the deadline.  I hear the pitching prices are HIGH HIGH HIGH, so perhaps we just get a few more tweaks.  

Wheeler Dealer David Stearns is prudently on the case.

 

Paul Articulates – The Grimmace is dead

On Saturday, July 27th at about 4:30pm, the Grimmace was viciously murdered by a Matt Olsen home run to left center field which pierced the hearts of Mets fans everywhere.  

Yes, Marcell Ozuna had hit a 423 foot shot just before that but it could have been justified as a single mistake by Tylor Megill.  

Olsen’s shot did the damage – it signified that the Braves were back.  The Mets acknowledged that fact by reverting to their former selves and going scoreless for 16 consecutive innings.

Sadly, it was the combination of Tylor Megill and David Peterson, two Mets pitchers that came up in 2021 with great promise as part of the future for a New York Mets staff that had a long legacy of excellence on the mound.  

Those two pitchers always seemed close, but just could not string great games together – a bad inning, a couple of untimely mistakes, an unexpected injury were just some of the things that held them back from achieving their promise.  

And now, after taking the first two games from the reeling Braves and passing them in the wild card standings, the Mets pitchers opened the door and let the Braves back in.  Those Braves did not look like the team that used to have the Mets’ number in past years.  

They did not have a formidable 1-9 lineup, didn’t have an endless supply of quality arms that had come up through their system, and didn’t even have any swagger left as they gave away game one and then dropped their heads as the Mets hitters circled the bases in a game two rout.

On Saturday Ozuna homered; Olsen homered; Rosario homered.  On Sunday Olsen homered again; Arcia homered; Riley homered; Laureano (Thursday’s goat) homered.  Every one of those shots went through the heart of the Grimmace, the Mets fans, and the momentum that the team had built over an incredible 31-13 run since their May nadir.   

The Grimmace left Citi Field in a hearse and the Braves left Citi Field feeling like they had gotten their mojo back.

I hope this is just fiction – a brief glitch in a monumental run.  But it just felt like a different team than we had seen before.  On Sunday the Mets had doubles in four of the first five innings but could not push a run across.  Think of it – a leadoff double (3 of the 4) is like starting extra innings with no outs and a runner on second.  

It is almost a given that the team scores one run and the goal is to score more.  In these four instances they went down with a whimper that was more reminiscent of their failure to execute earlier this year.

But there are more signs of the apocalypse than just the sight of the Braves’ power bats returning and our two young “almost were” pitchers failing to execute.  

Kodai Senga went down after six magnificent innings, destined to spend the rest of the regular season on the injured list.  Edwin Diaz continues to look like he has no idea where the next pitch will go even though he has escaped with a few saves lately.  

Dedniel Nunez headed for the IL along with Senga, Drew Smith, Brooks Raley, Reed Garrett, Christian Scott, and Sean Reid-Foley.  The numbers of injuries are piling up now after the Mets had gone 100 games with relatively few major personnel losses to deal with compared to the rest of MLB.

With a decimated pitching staff and their red-hot bats cooling off, there are only a few things that can keep this team from a losing streak that will plummet them back below their wild card rivals.

1) Jeff McNeil needs to stay on a tear.  Before the all-star game, McNeil was slashing .216/.276/.314 and looking like he had lost the magical ability to heat anything thrown at him.  Suddenly, post-all-star break he has slashed .343/.351/.800 which he will need to do for the remainder of the season to give the Mets some base runners to drive in.

2) Pete Alonso needs to get on a tear.  Pete has always been streaky, but this season he has been down much more than up.  His selection of pitches to swing at has been appalling – a collection of fastballs down the middle are watched while the slider that breaks into the dirt a foot off the plate has been most appetizing to him.  But Pete sometimes goes on a stretch where he is driving the ball hard to all fields and racking up multiple homers in a week.  He (and the Mets) desperately need one of those runs now.  Repeat this paragraph with the name, “Francisco Alvarez” substituted for “Pete Alonso”.

3) Francisco Lindor needs to keep playing like he has been.  Lindor takes his leadership role very seriously and when the team gets down, he takes the weight of the team on his shoulders.  That leads to poor pitch selection himself and his OPS and RBI counts go down with it.  Lindor must just stay within himself regardless of what other hitters are doing and just drive the ball where it is pitched.

4) The Mets need arms to step up.  I don’t know if it is time for Vasil and Hamel, who have recently pitched better in AAA, to make their debut, or if it is some trade deadline acquisitions that bring life to the staff.  Somehow the starters and relievers are going to need to compile an acceptable ERA over the last 57 games because it is not likely that the Mets are going to score over 5 runs per game over that stretch.

If all, or at least most of these things happen we can continue our blissful pursuit of a NL playoff berth.  If not, OMG the Grimmace is dead!

Reese Kaplan -- Time Is Not On the Mets' Side

Gather a group into a room who are concerned about the New York Mets in the present and in the future after a fairly recently stomach turning past that lingered over into the beginning of 2024.  Get the owner, Steve Cohen, the POBO, David Stearns, an assortment of your favorite media scribes and a large contingent of excited, frustrated and disagreeable Mets fans.  Let them see what’s before them as the Tuesday trade deadline looms very near with not much time to do anything else. 

First, what has been done?  Well, the planned additions of veteran relievers Phil Maton and Ryne Stanek may not be the real headline generating mega moves people hoped to see happen, but every person in that room would acknowledge that improvement in the bullpen was priority number one. 

Now many in this assembled motley crew of Mets opinion holders would advocate that the club needs to be bolder and bring in much more impactful players with All Star pedigrees to keep the club’s recent good fortunes rolling and to bolster the team’s hold on an October baseball position.  Word then came down that Jesse Winker was coming to the Mets.  Well, he did once make an All Star team but this past season settled for a rather minor contract with the Nationals.  Still, it’s a step in the right direction.

For a moment let’s think back to the summer of 2015 when the Mets made several late July roster transactions.  They saw that John Mayberry was not what they had hoped and cut him loose, replacing him with a AA outfielder by the named of Michael Conforto.  They knew their bench was not getting it done and added veteran role players Kelly Johnson and Juan Uribe.  Injuries continued to make a big impact on the club with countless folks missing a lot of time due to medical issues, including David Wright, Jerry Blevins, Travis d’Arnaud, Michael Cuddyer and others. 

So the question facing the club right now is whether or not the combination of Maton and Stanek add up to the value of Tyler Clippard and if these types of incremental improvements are all that is necessary?

Well, back in 2015 they thought they needed a middle of the order bat to push the team to the postseason.  Then they brought in a supplement to the relief corps in Tyler Clippard.  Of course, at the eleventh hour having passed on the medically fragile Carlos Gomez, they then added Yoenis Cespedes by giving up future rookie of the year Michael Fulmer and Luis Cessa.

So it seemed back then to improve a club you needed to reinforce what was working in small ways, fill the gap in the bullpen in a big way and then make a World Series level transaction bringing in the bat that carried the team into October. 

Earlier in the year it appeared as if the Mets would be holding a house cleaning sale in July as nothing was going right.  It was time to dump the expiring contracts and free-agents-to-be in order to fortify the minors as they did in 2023.  Things changed and moved the club from sellers to buyers.  How much are they willing to buy?  Remember the payroll tax factor in adding salary so despite Cohen’s coffers it may not be quite as simple as taking on some other team’s $25 million player salary. 

Everyone applauds the small changes that have been made, but with the IL holding the likes of Starling Marte, Kodai Senga, Christian Scott, Drew Smith, Reed Garrett, Sean Reid-Foley and others, many are wondering if they haven’t yet done quite enough.  There’s still time until the end of the day...

Tom Brennan - Perspective

The Injured Scott has Fewer Wins than the Injured Senga

The Mets scored 8 and allowed 4 in an 8-4 win Friday night.

Megill the next day retires the first 11, then hangs two sliders to Ozuna and Olsen. HR elites hit those for HRs.

Fans want to crucify Megill. 

But had the Mets scored 8 runs for him, no one would be complaining.

However, you cannot hang weak sliders in the strike zone to those guys.

So, forget yesterday, unburden yourselves, win today. Because today is today, OK?

Senga, naturally, will miss the rest of the regular season.  But like some will “always have Paris”, we will always have those 5.1 precious innings of Senga.

His win does, however, give him one more win than Blake Snell has this year. Senga: one start, one win. Snell, 10 starts, no wins.

JD Martinez and Vientos, superstars on Friday night, were 0-7 with 7 Ks on Saturday. Megill had a better day than either. That is baseball for ya.

WINKER, STANEK

Winker for Stuart, Stanek for Thomas. 

Thank you, David Stearns.  The Price is Right.

MACK - Sunday Morning Observations

 

Mack’s Observations –

 

            Jeff McNeil is a professional hitter. We have watched him direct balls over the third baseman all the way to the batting crown and hit for power basically when he wants to. My frustration with him comes with his constant changing of his swing and what he wants to do with a bat in his hands. 

We are now witnessing him dropping the “plop in left field” approach and replacing it with full swings designed to barrel up on the pitch. The immediate new approach seems to be paying off, but how long will he keep this adjustment going?

             My question to you…  which Jeff would you like to see going forward? We know one approach could get him on the base more. We also know he has the power to far past the first row in the seats.

             Which one I ask?

 I got to know now retired Kevin Kernan, then the Mets reporter for The New York Post. We still follow each other and he used to write on the site here. Anyway, Kevin now lives in St. Augustine and posts on X regarding Mets and Yankee games and baseball. In general.

 He posted something on Tuesday that is so simple and makes so much sense:

 Let me repeat: The best pitch in baseball right now is the 2 strike fastball right down the middle. Hitters are frozen because their minds are littered with pitch probabilities by the Nerds and their iPads. 

The average fan doesn’t understand the pitching process. You have a pitcher that has X amount of different pitches, a pitching coach that sometimes sends signs on pitch suggestions, the catcher that basically is the reaper operator that controls what pitch should be thrown, and the hitter with a cheat sheet on the pitcher. I know the point that Kevin is making, but you can’t throw a fastball down the middle every time someone has a two-strike count. 

The art of hitting has become an educated guessing game between the hitter and what is thrown to them. Anybody out there that has played organized baseball knows how little time you have to make a decision if you are going to swing or not. The game is much more dominated now with pitches that start in the zone until they don’t couple with fastballs in the paint. To me, no nerds with I-Pads can control where a pitcher’s curves and sliders only drop off near the end or fastballs that can hit the corners. Only the pitcher controls that.

 Now…

 This is where this portion of this post went into targeting a certain Mets starter that might be overthinking his approach on the mound as he continues to punch out results far lower than his prospect projections… Christian Scott. I went and did what every old guy does… take a nap… and then returned a phone call from Gary Seagram. Gary’s first words were “so, what do you think about the Scott injury”? The son of a sailor made me get up early to rewrite this. Thanks Gar.

 Every pitcher I ever knew in organized baseball has told me that they could tell you just what their arm was producing while warming up in the pen. One pitcher told me “one third of the time I was spot on, one third half and half and one third for shit”.

 I’m steadfast that all these arm problems started with high school managers who pitched their best far past a proper pitch could just to win that particular game. Their arm was heading in the wrong direction before they either went to college or signed out of high school. You add to that the current desire to have more pitches than rooms in your house, plus the need for speed mentality in today’s game, and you wonder why any pitcher doesn’t lose time to a major arm or shoulder injury.

 Lastly… pitching chess…

 Just when the Mets pen seemed to be coming around, along comes Friday’s announcement that RHP Dedneil Nunez was going on the 7-day IL and RHP Adrian Houser being designated for assignment. To replace these two, the Mets activated SP Kodai Senger and RHRP Eric Orze.

 Let’s assume the Senga move is to replace the injured Nunez… that means Orze trumps Houser?

 Orze has pitched in one Mets game, giving up three earned runs without getting a single batter out… better known as an infinity ERA. Tom loves this guy and what he has done in Syracuse this season: 3-0, 3.40, 1.21, 28-apps, 42.1-IP, 59-K, and 22-BB, but we’ve seen much better stat lines at the AAA level only to miss their mark at the next level. Is this worth losing a guy like Houser who did so may good things during this run? First indication of the Orze move was the home run given up Friday night.

 Then comes some good news… the Mets traded Rylan Thomas for Ryne Stanek. Stanek is a 100+ mph wild man that perfectly slots into the set-up role before Edwin Diaz. Thomas is the kind of prospect level player you want to only have to give up for a seasoned rental. Great move.

 Then the Senga injury… now, both Scott and Senga are lost to the rotation for a while. Tylor Megill will fill one of the slots, but the Mets need to sign a starter before the trade deadline next Tuesday.

 Thank God this team can hit.

  

Mets Transactions –

             Mets –

                         SP Kodai Senga - 15-day IL with a left calf strain5 

                         RP Adrian Houser designated for assignment.

                         RP Dedniel Núñez placed on the 15-day IL 

RP Shintaro Fujinami reinstated from the IL, DFA'ed

                         RHP Christian Scott - 15-day IL, right UCL sprain.

                            Optioned Eric Orze to Syracuse

                 LHP Alex Young has been recalled from Triple-A Syracuse.

                         Signed C/1B             Logan Porter

                                     5-11               200                 29/yrs old

                                     Lifetime MLB – 0-0 WAR, 31-AB, .194

                                     2024:             188-AB         .293

                         Designated P Cole Sulser for assignment

 

             Syracuse –

                         LHP Josh Walker has been designated for assignment.

                         RP Cole Sulser to the Rays for cash

                         RHP Bryce Montes de Oca  - 7-day Injured List

                         Activated OF Jackie Bradley Jr.

                        OF Drew Gilbert activated off Syracuse's Injured List

                         Signed OF Jackie Bradley Jr.

                         Acquired RHP TJ Shook for reliever Tyler Jay.

                                     Shook –         26/yrs. Old              6-4                  220

                                     UDFA – University of South Carolina

                                     2024 –           AA:               

                                               5-7      4.90-ERA     64.1-IP    77-K      25-BB

 

Binghamton –

                         IF Nick Lorusso - Placed on 7-day IL

 

            Brooklyn – 

                        RHP Jeffrey Colon - Transferred from AA to A+ Brooklyn

  

            St. Lucie: 

                        SS Yonaton Henriquez promoted from the Complex 

                        LHP Brayhans Barreto has been transferred to St. Lucie 

                        Promote SS Jose Subero from FCL Mets 

 

Mets draft picks – 

            Signed 1^st round pick Carson Benge $3,997,500

 (slot 19 = $4,219,200) 

            Signed 4^th round pick Eli Serrano - $697,500 ($656,400 slot) 

            Signed 5^th round pick Trey Snyder - $1,322,500

(slot value = $476,200). 

            Signed 14th rounder Tanner Witt: $222,500 

            Signed 15^th round Owen Woodward - $150,000 

            Signed 16th rounder Josh Blum: $150,000 

            Signed 18^th round Jace Hampson - $150,000

Tom Brennan: Remarkable, Yet Troubling, Times in Metsville

DEDNIEL

The Mets just passed the Braves like a Maserati blowing past a parked car. 

JD Martinez snaps a skid with a grand slam.

 

Mark Vientos

Then “Andres Galarraga Vientos” with the .897 OPS (11th highest in the MLB) smashes his 14th HR despite only being with the Mets for 3 games before May 15, and Francisco Alvarez crushes a solo blast.  

8-4 win.

The returning Kodai Senga gave up an early 2 run HR, then dominated like an overpowering SP 1.  Fans are beyond giddy.

But…5.1 innings into his first start of 2024 in game 103, he goes down like a shot with a strained calf.

We are stunned and await the doctor’s prognosis. Timetable unknown.

I did see this very troubling quote (my italics added) in the NY Post:

“It’s a tough piece to lose, but there’s no sense in dwelling on it,” Martinez said of Senga. “He’s going to do everything he can to come back, and hopefully he’s back by the playoffs. But a lot of baseball left. We just got to keep it going.”

Earlier in the day, the remarkable Dedniel Nunez end up going on the Il. Forearm pronator strain. Timetable unknown.

Just a few days earlier, Christian Scott hurts his elbow.  Severity unclear. IL. Timetable unknown.

Just a few weeks earlier, the valuable Reid Garrett hurt his arm, but avoided a TJS prognosis. But his timetable to return to the Mets? Unknown. Hopefully fairly soon.

Drew Smith a month or so back hurt his arm and needed TJS.  Timetable? Pennant drive NEXT YEAR. 

Reid Foley pitched well, but got hurt again a month or so ago and likely has a few more weeks to go until his return.

Earlier, Edwin Diaz hit the IL, and then missed another 11 games due to sticky fingers. Hopefully, his 2024 MIA time is over.

Eric Orze - MiLB.com

So, the Mets recently added Phil Maton, and just traded away Brennan favorite OF Rhylan Thomas for righty reliever Ryne Stanek, while recalling pitchers Eric Orze and Tylor Megill. Houser and Lucchesi were recently released DFA’d, as was minor leaguer Sulser and wild man Fujinami.

Of course, Megill missed time with an injury and David Peterson missed the first 2 months before his life-saving return in late May.

Wait, there’s more…

Jorge Lopez threw his glove, ran his mouth, and is a Cub as a result.

Tonkin got cut earlier in the year due to shaky pitching and a needed roster maneuver and is a Yankee.

Who am I missing?

Top prospects Jett, Gilbert, Mauricio, Reimer and Lavender miss major time. Four of those 5 might have been Mets this year otherwise. Especially left hand pitcher Nate, out with TJS.

What a 2024 whirlwind. The farm system is pretty depleted of pitchers. Wild man Bryce Montes de Oca? Signs are not promising so far.

SOOO remarkable are the pitcher injuries when one considers that the Mets champs of 1969 and 1986 both used just 15 pitchers the whole season.

Hitters?

Starling Marte hurts his knee and seems he will miss 2 months, with 60% of his sentence already served.

JD Martinez missed the first 4 weeks due to ABS - Aging Body Syndrome.

Francisco Alvarez had a freak base running play that cost him a hand surgery and several weeks.

And, of course, Mauricio.

Thankful we are for the Iron Men on this team, like Lindor, Nimmo, Vientos, Pete, Severino, Manaea, and Quintana, whose day in, day out, start in, start out, readiness has been the glue holding this team together.

But with 61 games to go, can the Mets stay ahead of the injuries, especially the pitcher injury tidal wave? And keep the current 31-13 bat-fueled surge going?

I sure as heck hope so. 

My guess is David Stearns ain’t done dealing.

- The Real Question: Can he acquire 10 more pitchers at the deadline?

 - Why 10? Read above and tell me they don’t need 10 more.

MICHAEL CONFORTO REUNION?

He seems to be on the decline, but would be an upgrade over DJ Stewart. Price wouldn't be high.  Puma of the Post wrote about the possibility.

How steep is his decline, though?  JD Martinez REALLY did not want to go to San Francisco (the other suitor besides the Mets for him) because of the dimensions in SF on the right side of the field.  His grand slam last night likely would not have gone out in Frisco.

Conforto, being a lefty hitter, is punished by a deep right field. It shows up in his numbers:

Home: 128 PAs, 7 doubles, 1 triple, 2 HR, 12 RBI, .224/.289/.353

Road: 171 PAs, 10 doubles, 1 triple, 10 HR, 28 RBI, .227/.304/.451

To me, it would be a fit.

DJ Stewart does draw walks. 18 of them in the past 3 months, giving him a .300 OBP over those 3 months.  But that's it - he is a brutal 15 for 115 in that span, with just 3 extra base hits, and just 5 RBIs.  Adios to that, especially since the pitching is fragile.  The Mets need a top-to-bottom explosive hit machine.  Conforto would be a plus.  Do it.