METS HONOR TOM SEAVER WITH ADDRESS CHANGE

METS HONOR TOM SEAVER WITH ADDRESS CHANGE

FLUSHING, N.Y., June 27, 2019 – Moments ago, the New York Mets and the City of New York honored Hall of Famer Tom Seaver by renaming the street between Northern Blvd. and Roosevelt Ave. (formerly 126^th St.) to Seaver Way and changing the address of Citi Field to 41 Seaver Way. Mets COO Jeff Wilpon announced the change in a ceremony in front of the ballpark.

In addition to the renaming of the street and address, Wilpon announced that the team has commissioned a statue of Seaver to be built in an area near the Home Run Apple in front of Citi Field. Additional details will be announced at a later date.

“Tom was a once-in-a-lifetime player and will always be remembered as one of the greatest players in Mets history.  Tom truly lived up to his nicknames of “Tom Terrific” and “The Franchise,”” said Mets COO Jeff Wilpon. “The address change to 41 Seaver Way has been in the works for a long time and is the first of our efforts to honor Tom. Today we are also officially announcing that we have commissioned a statue in honor of Tom that will be coming soon to Citi Field.”

“We were so happy to be part of this ceremony and our father is so honored and humbled to be memorialized in these ways,” Sarah Seaver Zaske and Anne Seaver said. “We thank the amazing fans for their outpouring of love and support.”

Seaver spent 12 years with the Mets and went 198-124 in 401 games with a 2.57 ERA (870 earned runs/3,045.2 innings) with 2,541 strikeouts. Nicknamed “The Franchise,” Seaver is the Mets all-time leader in wins, strikeouts, shutouts (44), ERA, complete games (171) and starts (395). He won three Cy Young Awards with the team in 1969, 1973 and 1975 as well as the Rookie of the Year in 1967. Seaver led the team to the 1969 World Series championship going 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA (67 earned runs/273.1 innings) in 1969 and led the Mets to the 1973 NL Championship after going 19-10 with a 2.08 ERA (67 earned runs/290.0 innings).

The Mets previously honored Seaver by retiring his uniform number, 41, and inducted him into the team’s Hall of Fame in 1988. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot in 1992 with 425 of a possible 430 votes. Overall, he compiled a 311-205 record in 656 career games with a 2.86 ERA (1,521 earned runs/4,783.0 innings) with 3,640 strikeouts.

The Mets will continue to celebrate the 1969 World Series Championship team with a series of events this weekend.

Mack - 2019 Mets Transactions, Kudos, Comments, and Draft Update

Wednesday, June 26^th –

           The New York Mets and 3^rd round pick, RHP Matthew Allen, have agreed to terms (still undisclosed).

           With the first three picks, they landed the 17^th, 36^th, and 13^th best prospect in the draft.

           Allen was the 13^th and was considered unsignable by all the other teams.

           The Mets put a plan in front of him in which they would flood the draft with seniors, thus, saving huge chucks of bonus money that could be tacked on his slot amount.

           Big bold move that worked.

           I expect Allen will join Brett Baty and Josh Wolf for the GCL Mets.

           The Mets called up RHP Chris Mazza from AAA-Syracuse.

           I like it.

           Mazza is a 29-year old journeyman (Florida, Minny, Seattle) who the Mets picked up last year in the Rule 5 Draft. So far this season, Mazza, in AA and AAA, has produced a stat line of: 3-5, 3.59, 1.16, with 65-K in 72.2-IP.

           In AA-Binghamton:

                 RP Thomas McIlraith was activated of the IL

                 SP Tommy Wilson was placed on the IL

                 SP Harol Gonzalez is transferred to AAA-Syracuse

           P Jaison Vilera has been added from the Low-A 

               Brooklyn roster.

                 Four interesting moves.

           Gonzalez had a one game stint in Las Vegas the first time around (18: 1-G, 3.00). And has 11-starts (12-G) for AA-Binghamtonn this season (3.41, 1.14). He deserves the shot.

           Wilson obviously landed on the IL after a horrible start on Tuesday.

           Always a big fan of McIlraith, Would love to see him return to prospect form

           And, the Valera move is ballsy. The 26-year old blue prospect has pitched at A+. A, and Low-A so far this season and, in 7-G, 5-ST, has a stat line of 2-3, 6.16, 1.60.

           

           Kudos -

           Rookie DSL-2 LF, Dyron Campos: 2-3, R, .333

           Rookie DSL-1 DH, Freddy Valdez: 2-5, R, 2-RBI

           Rookie DSL-1 RF, Carlos Dominguez: 3-4, 2-R, 2^nd HR, 3-RBI, .340

I’m sticking an early blue tag on Dominguez

Rookie DSL-1 1B, Wilmis Castro: 3-5, 2-R, RBI, .313

           A-Columbia RP, Danny Hrbek: 1-IP, 0-R. 0.00

           Rookie-GCL CF, Adrian Hernandez: 2-4, R, .444

           Rookie-GCL catcher, Francisco Alvarez: 2-3, 2-R, RBI, .571

           Rookie-GCL SP, Robert Colina: 4-IP, 0-ER, 0.00

           AA-Binghamton SP, Jaison Vilera: 5.2-iP, 2-ER, 4-K

           Rookie-Kingsport SP, Ramon Guzman: 5-IP, 0-ER, 0.00

Great start for a guy I fell in love with when he played DSL ball.

AAA-Syracuse SS, Danny Espinosa: 3-4

AAA-Syracuse SP, Harol Gonzalez: 5.2-IP, 2-ER, 4-K, 3.18

      A great AAA start for someone who is long overdo to pitch at this level.

Tom Brennan - BULLPEN WOES

BULLPEN FAILURE STRESS IS PRETTY HORRIBLE, ISN'T IT?

I was wondering if this Mets team had the worst Mets bullpen of all time.

Of course, the first place to look was 1962, when the Mets finished 80 games below .500 - that team had to have a terrible pen, correct?

Yep.  It was terrible, all right.

Looking at Baseball Reference stats, the 1962 squad's pen allowed 5.89 runs per game equivalent, and saved just 42% of save opportunities.  Yep, 42%.

In 1968, the Mets may have had their best pen ever, performance-wise: 3.06 runs per game equivalent, and saved 80% of save opportunities.

Moving ahead to more modern times, the 2015 team that made it to the World Series had a pen that allowed 3.78 runs per game equivalent, and saved 70% of save opportunities.

In 2018, despite real bullpen problems, the Mets saved 41 out of 60 opportunities (68%) vs. an NL average of 65%.  So it wasn't all terrible.

In 2019, though, the pen has been "1962 bad" except for Edwin Diaz - but even with Edwin Diaz, the pen is allowing well over 5 runs per game and has saved just 18 of 35 (51%), while the league average excluding the Mets is 66%.  66% instead of 51% would mean 5 more successful saves in just half a season.

(Of course, after last night's pen impotence, turning a nice lead into a 1 run loss, make that 18 blown saves).

Edwin Diaz is 16 for 19 in save opportunities, so the rest of the pen is just 2 for 17, including Familia (0 for 4), Bashlor (0 for 3), Gsellman (1-4), and Lugo (0 for 3)!

The latter stats show that skimping on your bullpen is fool's gold.  Elite relievers deliver elite results, and those results are worth spending big bucks on.  I guess the Mets figured that Familia's 17 of 21 in saves for the Mets in 2018 would resurface in 2019, but it certainly hasn't.

Meanwhile, Craig Kimbrel has a career 91% save %.  

He was available - expensive, but available.  Then he was not.

And the Mets pen stays amazingly awful, except for Edwin.  

Who has been good, great at times, but not 2018 great.

SPEND ON THE PEN --- EVEN OVERSPEND --- 

OR THE FRAM OIL FILTER GUY WILL ASK YOU TO PAY LATER.

Lastl Night:

It was interesting to see McNeil, Alonso, Smith, Nido and, yes, Vargas, compile 10 hits and 2 walks, and the rest of the offensive squad take a complete oh-fer.

Prophetically, Robbie "Washed Up" Cano go 0 for 5, a sign that the Mets are likely to go 0 for 5 years on his inherited gargantuan, budget-stifling contract.  The one that is blowing up on the Mets like a dirigible. Oh, the infamy.

His former Yankee team, which largely always avoids washed-up, has-been bums, won their 1 run decision game and are now 24 games over .500.  And all around NY, Yankee fans shake their heads, laugh, and wonder why we follow this agonizing team.

The Wilpons are planning to send Cano to the Cespedes wreck and rehabilitation ranch in hopes that "events" will occur so that they can collect injury insurance money to offset the previously mentioned gargantuan budget-stifling albatross of a contract. 

The only thing that, over time, the Mets lead baseball in.

Mack - 2019 Mets Transactions, Kudos, Comments, and Draft Update

Monday, June 24^th –

DSL-1 DH, Federico Polanco: 2-4, R, 3-RBI, .349

DSL-1 SP, Luis Moreno: 3.2-IP, 1-ER, 1.04

Moreno had pitched 5 scoreless innings in his first two games and the Mets are attempting to convert him to a starter.

AA-Binghamton P, Mickey Jannis: 8-IP, 1-ER, 1.13

           Jannis finished off a game that was suspended from an earlier game that David Peterson had pitched one scoreless inning.

AA-Binghamton SP, Joe Zanghi: 4-IP, 0-R, 2-K, 1.71

           Interesting. Our blue-chip reliever seems to be being converted to a starter. Love this to work out. We are thin right now in the pipeline for quality starters and it would be great to see both me and Jannis step up this year for Binghamton

AA-Binghamton RP/CL, Stephen Villines: 1-IP, 0-R, 1-K, SV-4, 0.00

           Stephen is going to have to put his toe back in the AAA pool to become a legitimate candidate for the majors next season.

           Remember… what you do at these levels means nothing in the majors. Just go look at what Stephen Nogosek is punching out (or not punching out) in Queens.

AAA-Syracuse SP, Anthony Kay: 4-IP, 2-ER, 4-K

A-Columbia SP, Simeon Woods-Richardson: 4.1-IP, 2-ER, 4-K

           Both Kay and SWR have had miserable seasons at the level they are currently pitching at, but these two starts are baby steps back. Don’t look back guys and stay away from the stat pages/Twitter

Tuesday, June 25^th –

           AA-Binghamton RP, Austin McGeorge, placed on IL

           AAA-Syracuse transferred RP Eric Hanhold to AA-Binghamton

           A+ St. Lucie promoted RP Jacob Rhame to AAA-Syracuse    

                 Kudos –

           The GCL-Mets played their first game of the season and, boy, if the first game is any indication of what the rest of the season turns out to be, it’s going to be fun following this team.    

           Our 1st round draft pick, 3B Brett Baty had a double on his first professional at-bat.

           2017 top IFA pick ($1.5mil bonus), OF Adrian Hernandez, went 2-5, 2-R, HR, RBI in his first stateside game

           And last year’s top IFA signee ($2.7mil), catcher Francisco Alvarez jumped DSL and opened up stateside: 2-4, 2-R RBI

           Not to be outdone, this year’s 21^st round pick, DH (SS) Braden Fryman went: 3-4, 2-R 3-RBI

          

           DSL-2 RP, Marco Villegas: 1.1-IP, 0-R, 2-K, 0.00

                 That’s now 11.2 scoreless innings over 7 games

           DSL-1 DH, Freddy Valdez: 2-4, R, RBI

           DSL-1 RP, Jose Valdez: 2-IP, 0-R, 3-K

           AAA-Syracuse 2B, Luis Guillorme: 2-3, game winning RBI, .305

           A+ SP, Tony Dibrell: 6-IP, 1-ER, 4-K, 2.58

           Rookie-Kingsport RP, Christofer Dominguez: 2-IP, 0-R, 3-K, 0.00

           AA-Binghamton C, Ali Sanchez: 3-4. 2-RBI, .300

          

           Low-A Brooklym 1B, Joe Genord: 3-4, R, EBI,.333

Reese Kaplan -- Yes, There Were Times, I'm Sure You Knew...

When Brodie Van Wagenen got the nod to be the GM replacing the Three Stooges who covered for Sandy Alderson during his medical leave, one of the first questions facing him was what about the manager hired prior his arrival, Mickey Callaway?  For a club whose in-house strength was perceived to be pitching and whose Achilles heel seemed to be hitting, bringing in a pitching guru didn’t seem like the formula to take the club to the next level.

As it played out in 2018, Callaway had his rookie managerial growing pains, but you can’t argue with a Cy Young Award for Jacob deGrom, Zack Wheeler matching him nearly pitch for pitch much of the year and Seth Lugo harnessing potential to be an All-Star level setup guy.  Of course, with the good comes the bad.  You had more inconsistency from other pitchers, a lost bullpen and it took until September when the games no longer mattered for Jason Vargas to remember he wasn’t a batting practice pitcher.

That problem with the offense, if anything, got worse.  The Mets were tied for last in the league with a team batting average of just .234.  They were 12^th in runs scored, 12^th in OPS and 12^th in SLG.  I guess you have to give them points for consistency. 

During his rookie year as GM it seemed that Brodie Van Wagenen’s focus was much more on the offense than on the pitching (though the acquisition of AL Saves leader Edwin Diaz was applauded).  He added bats he hoped would help in Robinson Cano (still a .300 hitter post PEDs) and Jed Lowrie, and theoretically reinforced the bench with the additions of J.D. Davis and Keon Broxton.  What these moves did do was force his best contact hitter – Jeff McNeil – out of the lineup until out of desperation he was handed an outfielder’s glove, and it created a logjam at 1^st base with Todd Frazier scheduled to move across the diamond, thus blocking both Dom Smith and some guy named Pete Alonso.  While it’s never lucky to have players get injured, take your hats off to the latter two for seizing their opportunities when neither Lowrie nor Frazier made it north when the team left Port St. Lucie. 

He also brought on somewhat embattled hitting coach Chili Davis to try to light a fire into his frozen offense.  Thus far the Chili Davis experiment has been a great success even without Jed Lowrie, Yoenis Cespedes, and Brandon Nimmo available to contribute.  They are up to 7^th in batting average and 8^th in all of the other leading offensive categories. 

The pitching, however, has clearly gone backwards and the results made the first casualties the pitching and bullpen coaches.  The pitching guru, Mickey Callaway, seems to have lost his mojo and this past Sunday night also lost his cool (though many are now questioning whether or not the whole thing was staged as an ill-fated attempt to shake up a bad ballclub as it was so far out of character for the seemingly affable skipper).  He and Jason Vargas went off on Newsday’s Tim Healy for no apparent reason.  It will cost them some fine money, but hey, when you're earning $850,000 (or in Vargas' case almost 10 times that much) it's questionable what impact other than symbolic a fine will have.

The incident has prompted many to call for Callaway’s termination, but you have to wonder what purpose it would serve?  The Mets already squandered their opportunity to set a righteous tone of professionalism (wait, I have to stop laughing)…by firing Callaway the next day to send the message that none of their employees will treat the beat writers with that kind of open hostility and threats of violence.  Well, that sinking ship has sailed, but you’d have to think that while Mickey survived to mismanage some more, he’s clearly navigating through iceberg-filled waters. 

The problem is that in mid-season all you can generally do is hand someone the mantle of “interim manager” which is like being the backup quarterback.  When you take over, no one expects anything of you, and if you miraculously do manage to comport yourself well, people are ready to build statues to you.  Basically an interim manager’s job is to try not to trip over his own feet and to keep the team’s off-the-field behavior off the back pages.  There are some flashy names theoretically available to take over such as Dusty Baker, Buck Showalter and Joe Girardi, but those types of deals would likely need to be negotiated after the current debacle comes to a merciful end.

The in-house candidates for the job look more like outhouse candidates when you examine their credentials.  Jim Riggleman has been a losing interim manager for the Padres, a losing manager for the Cubs, a losing interim manager for the Mariners, an interim manager (and then losing manager) for the Nationals, and a losing interim manager of the Reds.  By Mets standards, he checks all the boxes.

A more radical idea would be to promote Chili Davis to manager based upon his good work as hitting coach, but that would require guts and could results in some ill will should they go after a manager in earnest once the disastrous 2019 season is in the books. 

One interesting twist they could try would be to promote AAA manager Tony DeFrancesco as the interim manager.  He brings with him two minor league manager of the year trophies and has had some experience at the big league level having served as interim manager for the Houston Astros back in 2012.  They could simply return him to AAA for 2020 if he treaded water successfully in the role or, if he flourished, they could reward him with an inexpensive contract with the big club.  Nah, that would be too sensible. 

They could reach even deeper into their system for Kevin Boles, a 19 year minor league managerial veteran whose nearly .500 record would represent a vast improvement over the other candidates.  He’s never had any major league experience, however, and given the sad state of the current regime, methinks they want someone who at least knows the rules and how to fill out a lineup card.  

Mack asked on Monday, is it time for Mickey to go?  I ask today, if so, who should get the nod? 

METS TO HONOR TOM SEAVER WITH ADDRESS CHANGE THURSDAY AT CITI FIELD

METS TO HONOR TOM SEAVER WITH ADDRESS CHANGE

THURSDAY AT CITI FIELD

DETAILS:       The New York Mets and the City of New York will honor Hall of Famer Tom Seaver by changing the address of Citi Field to 41 Seaver Way as well as renaming the street between Northern Blvd. and Roosevelt Ave. to Seaver Way

WHEN:            Thursday, June 27 at 11 a.m. (media call time is 10:00 a.m.)

WHO:              Mets COO Jeff Wilpon

Members of the 1969 team – Jerry Koosman, Cleon Jones, Ron Swoboda,

Seaver children and grandchildren

WHERE:         At the Executive Entrance at Citi Field. Members of the media are asked to park in Lot G via Roosevelt Ave. Please note, 126th street will be completely closed from Northern Blvd to Roosevelt Ave beginning at 10 a.m.

RSVP:             Credentials are not required, but media members are asked to RSVP to Zach Weber at zweber@nymets.com.

Tony Plate - NY Mets Fine Both Callaway and Vargas for Incident

                                               

SAFE AT THE PLATE, WITH TONY PLATE

The New York Mets fined both Mickey Callaway and Jason Vargas for their conduct and roles in a clubhouse altercation with reporter Tim Healey from Newsday at Wrigley Field this past Sunday. A source said the fines totaled $10,000 each for Callaway and Vargas. 

The Mets did not issue further discipline and will not suspend either individual. Brodie Van Wagenen met with Callaway and then met with Vargas. He does not expect Callaway and Vargas to receive any additional discipline from Major League Baseball.

The Mets lost a very tough game to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday. Callaway was very frustrated over the loss. He had asked staff to have the reporter removed from the clubhouse, using profanity. Vargas then physically threatened the reporter and had to be restrained by his teammates from going after the reporter. 

Van Wagenen said that “The Mets organization does not condone that type of behavior. The altercation was disappointing. It was regrettable on many levels.  We are trying to create a healthy work environment for everyone that participates in the game. It includes the players, coaches, media and everyone else.”

The Mets issued a public apology to Healey on Sunday and ownership personally contacted him after the incident. Callaway described the incident as a misunderstanding. He said “I understand that I can’t control the actions or words of others, but I can always control my reaction to those things.” 

Callaway spoke to Healey since the incident and things are now fine between the both of them. 

A couple of hours after his initial press conference, he reappeared in front of the media and issued a clearer apology. He said “I apologized for my reaction. I regret the distraction it has caused the whole team. I’m not proud of what I did to Tim. I’m definitely sorry.”

Vargas gave a brief statement and didn’t take any questions and did not address the incident directly. Van Wagenen said he still has confidence in Callaway’s ability to do the job. It is unfortunate that this incident occurred.

In sports, sometimes things like this happen where tempers flare among a team after a tough loss and they lose their composure when questioned by a reporter. The media has to do their job and at the same time the team has to maintain their composure.

HOOPS - In other sports news, the NBA held their player draft and the New York Knicks drafted Duke’s RJ Barrett in the first round and Ignas Brazdeikis out of the University of Michigan in the second round. The Brooklyn Nets drafted Georgia’s Nick Claxton and UCLA’s Jaylen Hands in the second round.

Tom Brennan - ODD AND INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS IN THE METS MINORS

Over a long season, one sees the odd and the interesting everywhere.  

We certainly see lots of odd stuff in Queens, and some mighty interesting ones, like Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil, tearing up major league baseball even more than they were tearing up AA together in the first few months last season.

Let's look at just a few of the many odd and interesting tidbits of 2019.

ODD:

Before 2019, if you were asked quickly about the hitting of two excellent AA defenders for the upcoming season, Andres Gimenez and Ali Sanchez, most would have said: 

Gimenez is our # 1 prospect, he'll hit; Sanchez is a reputed light hitter, who knows?

Through Sunday, though, Sanchez was hitting .289/.349/.348 in 45 games.

Gimenez?  52 games, just .226/.293/.337.  Go figure, right?

How does the # 1 prospect (Gimenez) compare to other shortstops in the system right now?

AAA Luis Guillorme is hitting more like a # 1 prospect: .297/.408/.392 in 549 games.

And former Met Ruben Tejada in AAA is hitting .351/.432/.553, kinda Mike Trout numbers.

2nd year SS in St Lucie, Manny Rodriguez, is hitting .263/.347/.321.

And 18 year old SS Ronnie Mauricio is hitting .286/.326/.382.

So the Mets # 1 prospect is the # 5 shortstop in their minors statistically right now.

Heck, now that Gavin Cecchini (remember him?) started his rehab with Brooklyn finally, Andres might be both # 1 prospect and # 6 SS.

Pretty odd.  If you ask me. 

Now:

INTERESTING:

Mets top rising minor league starting pitchers were expected to be Anthony Kay, David Peterson, Simeon W R, and Tony Dibrell.  

Record, including Ks and WHIP, for each in 2019:

Kay: 76 Ks, 71 IP, 1.02 WHIP

Peterson: 73 Ks, 65 IP, 1.45 WHIP

Simeon: 65 Ks, 50 IP, 1.29 WHIP

Dibrell: 58 Ks in 67 IP, 1,28 WHIP

All pretty solid.  

Then there is unheralded starting pitcher guy:

Dedniel Nunez: 82 Ks, 66 IP, 1.05 WHIP

I guess we all ought to be paying attention to Nunez, huh?  He's been pretty interesting this year.

ODD:

While the NY Mets pitching staff is hitting over .200, Tim Tebow in AAA is hitting .147 in 177 at bats, with  4 fewer homers than the Mets pitchers.

Maybe Tebow should take up pitching.

INTERESTING:

One start does not a career turnaround make, but former 2nd rounder Andrew Church, still only 24, caught my attention.  

In a career marked with a lack of memorable performance levels (441 IP, just 295 Ks, 4.79 ERA), Church came into this past weekend's start with only two 2019 outings: 4.2 IP, 15 H, 2 Ks.  Seems like washed up pitcher's numbers to anyone. 

But numbers are. sometimes just numbers.

I watched him for a bit as he threw 7 innings in his last start in AA on good old MILB TV, and after allowing a 2 run jack in the first inning, he allowed just 1 earned run over his final 6 innings, fanning 7, hitting 94 pretty consistently and flashing a nice curve.  

Hmmm...could Church be ready for a career renaissance? 

Finally...


ODD:

Well, really, not so odd.

The young Columbia Fireflies couldn't hit their way out of a paper bag early in 2019, hitting just .194 through the first 35 games.  Was it youth?  

Not sure, but I will say this, happily:

In the next 35 games, they've hit nearly .260.  A sixty six points differential is odd, but when its a PLUS 66, that's GOOD!



That's all for today, folks.  I need time to go scream at a reporter right now - maybe I'll punch him, too.  What the heck.   In Metsville, doing that is NOT odd - it's ordinary.

The Mets hitters (except No-Show Robbie Cano) showed again on Monday night that they are more than ready to be part of the solution in 2019.  

The pitchers, however, have not gotten the memo.  

The ice under Mickey's feet just got a little thinner.