The New York Mets remained 2.5 games out of the last wild card position after yesterday’s tough loss to the Padres. The Mets leave San Diego with a split series, which is what one would have hoped for given the Padres’ hot streak and the difficulty of flying west again. However, after winning two of the first three and then leading by two going into the eighth inning, it was a difficult pill to swallow.
Not to worry, baseball games are won or lost sometimes on a single pitch or a single swing of the bat. Last night was two swings of the bat against two very good relievers so both Jose Butto and Edwin Diaz will have to have a short memory. In a playoff chase, teams heat up and teams cool down. I see the Padres cooling down and they will fall back into the pack. The Braves are hanging by a thread with all of their injuries and I don’t think they have the players to withstand a challenge from a hot team.
So what does it take for the Mets to be that hot team that overtakes the crowd for one of the playoff spots? I would argue that there are three ways they can get there.
1) Hitters need to hit. In the last few months, Brandon Nimmo has been ice cold. He has hit .188/.295/.313 in July and .194/.280/.361 in August. That’s probably the longest slump he has endured in his professional career and it is due to end. Increased production from Nimmo puts more men on base in front of two other hitters that are due for a surge. JD Martinez is characterized by those who know as a “professional hitter”. Even pros go through slumps, but JD is more likely to pull out of it quickly than most others.
2) Starters figure it out. The starting pitching for the Mets has been a weakness this year. They have failed to go deep into ball games and hurt their chances by issuing too many walks. Recently a few of the starters have shown signs that they have figured something out. Sean Manaea has put together a string of solid starts as he attacks the top of the strike zone more often. He could be a difference maker if he continues to throw like he has in August. He has a 1.00 WHIP and a 3.38 ERA in the past month. Luis Severino has also pitched better recently, posting an identical 3.38 August ERA and going deep into ballgames. Many have wondered how his arm would fare this year with the increased number of innings he has thrown, but he does not look like a tired pitcher.
3) Strength through depth. This is probably one of the least discussed topics this year, but the Mets have been able to maintain a pretty deep bench. Guys like Iglesias, Taylor, Torrens, and most recently Winker have given the Mets the ability to rotate players through rest and keep them healthy. As the summer wears on, less deep teams will begin to see stress cracks in their personnel, but the Mets can keep running fresh players out there.
It is always a challenge to put on a run in September to overcome several hungry playoff-ready teams, but if the Mets can master at least two out of these three areas in the coming month, we could see playoff baseball again this year. Let’s go Mets!
7 comments:
The positive case has been laid out by you, Paul. Sadly, the Mets almost always, each year, find a way to mystify and underperform. I fear this season will be likewise. I’d love it to be 2015 or 2016 again. Seems so long ago.
It was long ago, Tom. You can't bank on the present nor future based upon the past. The Mets do have some solid players but they never seem to click offensively, defensively nor with pitching at the very same time. September is going to be tough but an appearance in the postseason even if only for a single game would suggest that the club has made significant progress form 2023.
Reese, one can hope. When Senga, Scott, and Dedniel went down within days of one another, with ace Senga of course having both a bizarre and very lengthy new injury, my thoughts went to “snake bit”. This team has a weight on it of being snake bit, that it seems awfully hard to shake.
I’m thinking if Nimmo’s slump isn’t self created. In an interview right after the all-star break, Nimmo was asked about a pitch and he lamented that “he didn’t hit that one out”. If he thinks he should be jacking homeruns, he isn’t the player he used to be. And, I worry that putting him in the cleanup spot may exacerbate that. Nimmo’s importance is not just for him, but the dependence other players have on him being on base. There really isn’t another player like him in the lineup, expect “Nimmo-lite” Jesse Winker.
Everyone needs to hit. Extended slumps now will lead to yet another extended off-season hiatus.
The Mets have too many Jokers on the team to go far.
This is the "new day" for the Mets, and not the "same old, same old".
The "almost always" only applies if you're using it in reference to the Stearns years in Milwaukee, which have been very successful despite a low budget.
Comparing the start of the Stearns/ Cohen regime to the Wilpons/ Anderson (or ithers) one just doesn't cut it.
He deserves the chance to build a team, via the draft, the farm, if the trade/FA markets for at least 2 years before fair judging can begin.
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