Good morning.
A bunch
of you have chimed in on Francisco Alvarez and
his future on the Mets. This is my spin.
1. He’s a
great teammate and a positive addition to both the dugout and clubhouse.
2. The
pitchers on the team love how he calls a game.
3. He has
worked very hard at improving his defensive game.
4. He is
an excellent framer.
5.
Opposing teams will always be able to successfully run on him.
6. He
hits with tremendous power but will never learn to harness that power.
7. He is
not Mike Piazza. More like a Jerry Grote on steroids.
8. He
only has one swing... destroy the ball. This will limit his stat line.
9. For
me, he’s a perfect 8th or 9th hitter.
Next…
There are
writers on this site that come close to dukes over writing about off-season
play by Mets players and prospects.
Me?
I hate
it. I sit every day waiting for someone to leave a post on X about who was
injured in a useless game.
The Edwin
Diaz injury made me sick. Now, we have the team's number one prospect, running
balls first into the centerfield wall.
Sure, it
was the last game in the AFL season and the team needed that game to make the
playoffs.
Boo hoo.
You lost your closer for a season for that stupid dance. Now you could lose
your future centerfielder who spent most of last season injured. Right now a right
ankle strain, but what if it doesn’t heal correctly?
Do you
see a pattern here with Jett Williams?
Should
the Mets dish him off in hopes no one asks for his medicals? That’s not going
to work. Everybody in baseball knows what is going on these days about every
facet of a player’s ability, injury history, and return. The combination of
this injury, plus last season’s wrist problems just about eliminates Williams
from becoming trade bait this off season.
Next…
John From
Albany wrote…
The New
York Mets announced on the transactions tab of their Roster Page that they have
signed Second Baseman Donovan Walton and have assigned him to Syracuse.
According
to FanGraphs, the 30 year old, Left-Handed Batter, has no Minor League Options
left. He spent limited time (37 games)
over 4 seasons for Seattle before being traded to the San Francisco Giants in
2022. He has been a minor league free
agent in 2022 and 2023 - resigning both times with the Giants and again this
year signing with the Mets.
He will
be eligible for the Rule 5 Draft in December.
However, since he is on the Syracuse Roster, he would need to be added
to a Major League Roster if selected.
He was
drafted by the Mets in the 36th Round of the 2012 Draft but did not sign. Seattle signed him after taking him in the
5th round of the 2016 Draft.
He
slashed .306/.380/.441 in 99 AAA games last year and is a very good
fielder. Just one error in 95 games in
the field including no errors at 2B, 56 games.
He also
pitched 10 games for the Giants in AAA last year, 2-1 with a 2.25 ERA, 10
games, 12 innings, 11 hits, 2 Ks; His fastball barely touches 70 MPH but he did
throw two scoreless innings in extra innings for a win. While he may be a good
guy in a "save the pen blowout", he is not a two-way pitcher in the
mold of a Shohei Ohtani.
Next...
Did any of you really think that Sean Manaea would bite on the Mets qualified offer?
If you did, I have waterfront property I'd like to sell you in Mexico Beach.
This means nothing. Manaea will sit down with the Mets brass and see if they can come to agreement on a multi-year deal.
Manaea loved being part of the electricity we call the 2024 season and I understand he fell in love with living there also.
I for one hope they can work this one out. There are five starter slots here and he fits in perfectly for one of them.
Lastly...
Going forward, I will be writing posts on the following schedule:
Tuesday 11am - Tuesday Morning Observations
Thursday 11am - Thursday Morning Observations
Sunday 6am - Sunday Morning Observations
Sunday 8am, 10am, 12noon - Draft Prospect targets
13 comments:
As Alvarez just turned 23, I don’t think he can be truly figured out yet. He worked very hard in his defense; he works very hard and the team believes in him so much that the backup plays as much as the backup quarterback to Peyton Manning played.
Pudge Rodriguez couldn’t hit, at all as a young catcher. Neither could Yadier Molina. Piazza at age 22 was in the minors. I feel the player has the tools, he just needs to learn how to use them, and he will be a great #5 or 6 hitter in this team, behind Lindor, Soto, Vientos, and Nimmo and if they get Alonso….
I agree Gus. God gave min the talent but his head keeps getting in the way.
Mack,
Alvarez hit 25 homers in a 2023. In 2024 did the league simply find his holes and exploit them? Did he swing for the fences on every at-bat and become open to strike outs? If you are the batting coach what do you do to correct this problem? We need his bat to be more consistent lf we are going to win at the level we expect to achieve in 2025.
Brooklyn released 11 prospects yesterday. Can you mention these in you Sunday column if any were legitimate prospects we will miss?
The list of released hostages... err... prospect will come Sunday
As for Alvy, all I do is speculate. The most frustrating thing to batting coaches are young minds. You would think it was the opposite but older guys that start failing look for all the help they can get
All I see when Alvarez gets up is his hands trying to crush the bat where he holds it
Sure, he has the talent to hit 40 HR and bat .250 but only time can tell
It is hoped the young buck settles down. He sure looked stupid at times…. I have hope.
Please allow me to remind that Alvarez broke a bone in his hand and it never really healed.
Reminder noted ✅️
The thing that impressed me with Alvarez on his way up through the system was his ability to learn. He was not always a good framer or pitch blocker. He did not always call games like he did now. So I believe that he can learn to hit for better average while still maintaining power. It was really this season that pitchers figured out his weaknesses and exploited them, and it is hard to change an "all-out" swing in mid-season. I would not be surprised to see Alvarez in spring training with a new version of his swing - shorter, more compact, but still powerful.
I agree with a lot of your points here, Mack, but I can't go along with saying "never" about a 22 y.o with great potential.
I'd wait at least 3 years before using the "N word" for either Alvy or Jett
I can give Alvarez a bit of a pass on his hitting post hand surgery, (very hard to hit with a bad hand) and I’ll also note that he finally seemed to adjust his approach somewhat, hitting several balls the other way rather than swinging from his heels over the last couple of games in the postseason. That said, he looked for much of the season like a kid in need of a massive amount of coaching and a less out of control approach both offensively and defensively.
Didn’t Piazza first play in the majors at age 24? Maybe Alvarez clicks in his 3rd season in 2025.
I ran this avoid injury by my friend who was formerly in the minors. He wholeheartedly agreed that overly aggressive play is stupid. Be appropriately aggressive. For hitters, it is mostly about learning to hit and field. I’d rather have a guy with 30 steals in the minors than a guy tearing up a knee on his 80th.
Would the Mets have picked up Donovan Walton if Jett was healthy all year? Perhaps not. But Jett is not ready.
Coming to the table a little late on this one.
Once again, I feel like I'm in the minority on this one. As it stands right now, I don't even think Alverez should be on the team coming out of spring training. I would send him down to try and reverse all his bad habits.
Crazy you say, I believe he has regressed in every aspect of his game. The only positive I see is his game calling. It appears the pitchers like throwing to him, he calls a good game. But the rest was awful.
My comments come from my past experience as a catcher when I was younger. Sorry Mack, his pitch framing is ridiculous. You don't take a pitch that is 6 inches outside and place it in the center of the plate. How many times during the season did you see him try to pull a ball back over the plate to see that he completely missed catching the ball...actually miss it altogether.
How many passed balls did he not stop because of that ridiculous knee on the ground. Just awful. He's no Manny Sanguine.
Hitting wise, he is so out of control at the plate it's ridiculous. He swings for the fences on every pitch. How many times was he fooled so badly that he threw his bat into the stands.
To me, he hasn't proven anything...sorry guys as you can see, I'm really down on him. I would love to be proven wrong...but I'm not seeing it right now.
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