How I feel when Mets Players Progress
Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Francisco Alvarez had lousy first halves of 2025. Vientos, particularly, showed real regression.
Aside from Alvarez’s boo-boos, the second half however has shown great progression.
I think a lot of it has to do with increased hitting aggression. Good.
You can’t hit what you don’t swing at.
Anyway…
I do remember (don’t ask me why) that I had arithmetic down pat when I was in 3rd grade and summer vacation began.
When 4th grade started, I realized I’d forgotten a lot of the arithmetic. For a few days, I was in a panic…but it came back to me.
Thankfully…how else would I have become a CPA (now retired, thankfully) and a Mack’s Mets stats guy?
Back to Baty, Vientos, and Alvarez. Will their second half progression be followed by even a temporary 1st half of 2026 regression?
Even thundering Pete Alonso (53 rookie season homers) was followed by a rough 2020 for Pete (also the year of COVID, so I do not want to take analogy this too far).
But guys do regress. Why? I dunno.
Jarred Kelenic after two horrific break-in seasons had a solid 2023, then a regressive 2024, followed by a crash-and-burn 2025.
On the other side you have a guy like Brent Rooker, who struggled, and then has hit 98 homers in 1,600 at bats over the last three years.
Stearns will have to decide if it is only progression from here on out for the Mets trio.
“WHAT ABOUT MAURICIO?”
Well, the Mets never got him into centerfield, despite his good speed, length, and strong arm. So, as he gets butt splinters in the dugout, Jose Siri returns and through Tuesday was a predictable 1 for 9 with 7 Ks. And Mullins hits little.
But Ronny is not a CF, although he should be a decent one, given his aforementioned tools, so instead the team nurse removes splinters from his derrière nightly, and bums play out there instead.
I know not whether Ronny will progress. Jeff McNeil rapidly learned to play defense well everywhere. Mauricio always seemed to underwhelm in that regard.
So, I will leave the opinions on whether or not Mauricio will progress in 2026 to you guys.
TIEBREAKER
If teams competing with the Mets end up tied with the Mets, who gets in? Well, I read this, which was posted on Thursday:
“The Mets hold the tiebreaker over two of their closest competitors in the Wild Card race (Giants and Cardinals), but they don't have the tiebreaker over the Reds, and a tiebreaker with the D-backs would come down to intradivision record at the end of the season.”
So? Win it outright, and tiebreaker rules become meaningless.
HAMEL DEBUT
ERA of zero, after securing 3 outs while surrendering 3 hits and an HBP. Magician. Then he got his DFA. Maybe it was his 4.00 WHIP.
TWO INJURIES TOO MANY?
The Mets have had many injuries this year, but who knew two T Boys getting hurt might be the straw that broke the camel’s back.
After being offensively impotent the entire season, both suddenly surged. Combined, in each of their last 7 games, they went 16 for 40 with 14 RBIs. “Oh, no” turned to “Oh, yeah.” Then, just as both FINALLY started to help the line up, both got hurt.
Siri came up, and as expected did zilch. And Mullins got most of the Taylor fill-in time, but continues to produce little. Games like last night, a 7-4 loss where Mullins went hitless, might have had a different outcome with one more functioning bat.
Alvarez has miraculously returned from injury and replaced Torrens and done OK. But Alvarez was on fire before he got hurt a few weeks ago. So add his injury in. Three injuries that (if the Mets fail to reach the wild card) might have been just enough to push them off the cliff.
Let’s hope they keep their footing.
That Wednesday night 7-4 loss, rather than securing a win to help their wild card cause, put a ton of weight on Tong Thursday afternoon.
“Come on, Jonah!”, I thought.
Game Result? Superb.
He made Padres’ batting stats look exactly like those from his recent AA games:
5 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 8 Ks.
Young David slew Goliath with that slingshot FB of his.
Yes indeedy, Bobby, my guy Tong was Terrific.
WONDERFUL WENNINGER
Six 1 hit shutout innings in the opening series clincher on Thursday. Wow.
He is the Mets’ # 12 prospect.
He grades out as follows, per the Prospect list on the Mets’ site:
Scouting grades: Fastball: 50 | Curveball: 45 | Slider: 45 | Changeup: 60 | Control: 50 | Overall: 45
On the same night as the Wenninger gem, AAA Senga faltered again. Badly.
He is a “ghost” of his former self.
SOTO COMPLAINTS?
We had some concerns earlier. But with 38 HRs in 119 games after April, and season totals of 100 RBIs, 116 runs scored, and a .400 OBP thru Thursday, and 32 of 35 steals, with 9 games left, he is having a season that in some years might have resulted in an MVP award.
So…quit yer yappity-yap yappin’…be happy he’s here. No, be thrilled.
He’s OUR superstar now. Rejoice! Then…
Hits a 3 run super bomb on Friday night. Turned 5-4 into 8-4, which later turned into a Tong Curveball score: 12-6.
Off of a lefty did launch Mr. Soto. Superstar. Beast.
Siri got booed. I booed him, too. Taylor was 1 for 4 in AAA. It’s time to DFA Siri who, since his return, is predictably 1 for 12 with 9 Ks. One of those Ks, last night, he incredibly did not get into the box in time, and thus started his at bat with an 0-1 count. A guy who really needs 4 of 5 strikes, not just 3, gave away one of the 3.
Helsley remarkably has thrown 3 straight one inning scoreless outings. Exclude one bad outing last week against Philly, and in the other 4 outings, no runs and one hit and one walk.You have to hope he is the real Helsley again going into the probable Wild Card entree into the playoffs. He seems to be.
I still remember stretches in his Mets tenure where Edwin Diaz got flat-out destroyed. It ended and he dominated. Helsley is the only guy in the pen who could dominate, besides Edwin.
Benge went 4 for 4 to boost his AAA average to .181.
Mauricio
ReplyDeleteHE'S HORRIBLE
HE SUCKS
HE NEEDS TO BE RELEASED
NO
HE NEEDS TO BE DEPORTED
(just trying to wake Gus up...)
Tong
ReplyDeleteWill be wild card starter
Lock it in
Wenninger
ReplyDeleteNext great Mets starter
Even over Scott
Somehow, that surprises me having you say that. I don't disagree. Just surprised .
DeleteWenninger has had a great year, Mack. That is why I showed his (fairly recent) prospect scores. That scoring doesn’t scream “great”. I hope however he turns out to be. He and Santucci have both been sensational in their first full seasons. Trying to decide which is best? A great “problem” to have. Santucci has been sensational since just before the middle of May. Not as much as Tong, but Tong was the best in the entire minor leagues this year.
Deletebeen touting Wenninger since 2024
DeleteNeeds to be touted. Is near the top in most pitching stats for the Eastern League. If he only becomes a SP3, being a SP3 behind Tong, Sprout, McClean and Scott?
DeleteHelsley
ReplyDeleteMay turn out to be a playoff star
Diaz
ReplyDeleteIs no mas
Mark my word
Well, Mack, we do have Lambert and Ross for 2026. Whether or not Edwin wants to stay, my concern is what if he loses a few miles an hour. Syndergaard was equally poor at holding runners. When there are more runners….and that might not mean he degrades in 2026. But what about 2027? In 2027, he will be 33. Craig Kimbrel was WOW until he turned 30. Benitez was really good until he suddenly wasn’t. Familiar, too.
ReplyDeleteTom, you keep saying Lambert will pitch in the majors in 2026. That's debatable at best. I remind you again that he has to work through AAA first
DeleteHelsley went thru it. But he may not be Edwin, but he has turned the corner.
ReplyDeleteMack keeps skipping over Santucci. Not me? Santucci is superb. I like them both.
ReplyDeleteThinking Wenninger and Santucci will be there OD 2027 with the other three and Scott. There are a number of good arms being developed for the bullpen as well. 2027 - one of the best pitching staffs at one of the lowest costs?
DeleteTaylor started his rehab last night, and if he's OK physically should push Siri out. And Torrens is back, replacing Senger. Those "T-men should be an improvement over the" S-men" they replace, as has "T-ong" over "S-enga".
ReplyDeleteThankfully both of the "S-otos" have been productive, and "S-tanek" has had a good week.
I see no reason to play Siri, even after Taylor returns. I'm happy with McNeil there, allowing Baty and Vientose to play every day and "old man" Marte. Well below the radar, the old guy is still leading the team in BA and coming up with timely hits.
The key to making the post-season is the Cubs. They play the Reds the next 2 days, then come here for 3. If they win the weekend games, that takes a lot of pressure off the Citi boys. LGM!!! YGB!!!
How can you be as bad as Siri and still be on the roster? He has a .292 OPS AND dropped that fly ball release him now! I was wondering about the ripple effect in regards to why DS didn't resign Bader and instead signed Siri and even with richest owner in baseball it was about the $$$$. Bader made 10 mil last year and Siri only cost 2.4 mil but not only was it another dreadful Sterns move it also lead to the Mullins trade disaster AND we are probably right now just lining up our PO pitching instead of this nailbiting fight to the finish so I hope David that that money saved went to good use ...yeah right. Tom last night as Soto's bomb hit off the barrier surrounding the apple I wondered if the CF wall had been moved into say 400ft from 408 would his blast have landed in the apple and would have been very cool. Just so you know you have really planted that thought in my head to the point where they say: the first step is admitting you have a problem lol.
ReplyDeleteGary, it was dreadful. Did they not bring in Keon Broxton? When they knew he had a hole in his bat the size of Mars? Well, Siri has a hole in his bat the size of Jupiter. I am sure Houston saw the Mets sign Siri and thought, “how stupid is that?”
DeleteAnd Juan is putting up superstar numbers…and the balls are flying out now…but over the full course of the season, he has lost homers in pitcher-friendly Citi Field. What if he had 47 HRs right now, instead? Criticism of him (I saw a FB post about Soto - some still do criticize) would go to zero, even with idiots, if he had 47 HRs. Move the fences in to “pitcher-neutral” and allow your superstars to put up jaw-dropping numbers.
Terrific piece as usual, Tom. Hey, can I call you Tom Terrific? I mean… Mack is already The Franchise around here. Also, so nice to put a face with the “voice”. Not sure that orange is your best color, but a kind face goes a long way.
ReplyDeleteOn to the Mets, I agree that it’ll be a tough call on Diaz. Not sure if he’d be as dominant if he loses a couple of MPH in a couple of years, and good point that any downgrade could be compounded by runners taking whatever bases they want off of him. Siri must be DFA’d. I like Tyrone Taylor, but never thought I’d be counting the hours til his return.
not a grey hair...
Deletehmm...
Thanks. I do turn 72 in early November, so somehow, my genes have left me with no grey hair, and zero baldness.
DeleteMy father’s side of the family was”black Irish” and had dark hair and didn’t go grey. My mother was fair-complexion, and she went grey very early. One of my 5 brothers is 66 and has very little, but some, grey.
My older, deceased brother took after Mom and started going grey in his early 30’s. Besides those two, the other 5 siblings have varying amounts of grey, despite them being 8-14 years younger than me.
Genes….that is why some players do great in baseball (Hank) and others don’t (Tommie). The Guerrero family, too. We got the short end of the stick…Greg and Vlady Jr.
Pete Alonso has very good genes, and so do Soto and Lindor. Keep the good genes guys.
Only 72? You're still just a "yoot" to me. When you were 5, I was 18! I saw Bobby Thomson's HR (on our first TV) and cried (the last time I did for baseball). I felt like crying when my beloved Dodgers went west, while you weren't even in kindergarten.
DeleteStop thinking of yourself as "old". As long as you've got baseball in your thoughts you're a kid. 💪
Another weird genes thing. I was always athletic. I don’t try, but I still feel like I could throw hard, and run fast if I could trust my knees. About at age 62, I once had virtually no time to run from the 7 line to the LIRR connection at Hunters Point. I bolted from the 7 train and speedily bounded up two flights of stairs about 40 steps, raced thru the turnstiles, raced up another set of around 40 steps up to the street, sprinted across the very wide overpass to the LIRR steps, and raced down them 2 at a time, and made the train by 10 seconds. If I missed it, I would have gotten home 50 minutes later, so I was determined to not miss it.
ReplyDeleteAs I ran from point A to point B, I thought, “No one watching me would ever possibly think I was 62.” Genes.
Never count out us. Tom I am your age. This July I decided to do a bike ride. From Buffalo to Albany along the Erie Canal. 400+ miles in eight days.
DeleteDrew Gilbert is 2 for his last 26. Put that in your food processor.
ReplyDeleteSteve, impressive. Stay safe on the bike from careless drivers.
ReplyDeleteBill, we are both just a couple of kids. I want to go to a batting range soon, to see how much hitting I retain. But id want to do a little build up first. I do not want to be the next Manaea/Winker.
ReplyDeleteBill, I'm kinda pissed off now. Thought I was the oldest guy on this site. Don't turn 85 until December. And I was at that game in '51.
ReplyDeleteWe are changing the site name to Methuselah’s Mets. He lived 969 years.
ReplyDelete