Tom Brennan - Fundamental Questions to be Fiercely Asked

FIERCELY ASK THE QUESTIONS. 

IN ORDER TO GET REAL ANSWERS.

The most fundamental question is this: 

 - Does the Mets organization somehow neuter its upcoming hitting talent?

I ask this because the hitting, both at the major league and the minor league levels in the Mets organization, has frankly been abysmal this year.

I started to think, what hitters in the 2026 minors have wowed us?

Short Ans. Ewing.

And which hitters in the minors have been solid if not a wow?

Short Ans. Nick Morabito.

Anyone else?

Short Ans. NO!

If someone is truly serious about this organization, they have to start deeply asking why.

What about players who left the organization?

Jett Williams? Pistol hot for the Brewers organization in AAA during May. 

Then there is the curious case of the newly minted killer, Carlos Cortes. 

Mack suggests that I move on from the Carlos Cortes topic, because it seems that every team gives up a Carlos Cortes type of prospect.

But then I looked at Carlos, post-Mets, a little more, and I thought it was worth one more meaningful pass. 

Here’s why.

Carlos had his ups and downs in the Mets might system, but rarely did stuff that was impressive with the bat.  

He was decent, but not more. The Mets never called him up.

OK - now - it is Observation/Question time:

One has to seriously ask oneself how much that Cortes mediocrity had to do with playing in horrific Brooklyn, and almost as horrific Binghamton, parks. 

I am not saying I have the answers for that, but those two parks really seem to - well - suck for the home team hitters, to put it bluntly. 

Maybe someone can give Carlos a call and politely ask him about that.

So, Carlos exits the AAA team, and Mets organization, at the end of 2024. 

What has he done in AAA and the major leagues since leaving the Mets organization and going to the A’s organization? 

Plenty. Incredibly plenty. Amazingly plenty. Since he joined the As org.:

He has had 543 AAA and MLB plate appearances and 474 at bats. 

He has had 40 doubles, 25 homers, and 107 RBIs, just 80 strikeouts, and is hitting .325 in that stretch of AAA and major league games, pretty evenly split between the two levels. 

He hit .322 in AAA and .329 in the major leagues.  The highest ranked MLB current career hitter, Luis Arraez, is hitting .317 by comparison!

With a Cortes slugging % much closer to .600 than .500.

Friggin’ WOW. 

Far too much friggin’ WOW to just be dismissed as some short term fluke.

So again, before people just say oh, it’s just one of those things, I think:

If I were Steve Cohen, I would ask my people some really, really tough questions on that one. 

How much of it was due to the crappy, hitter-squelching minor league parks? 

How much it is perhaps due to crappy and/or faulty coaching? 

How much how much of it might just be due to Carlos feeling blocked in a Mets system that perhaps overlooked him, leaving him feeling, perhaps like he would never get a call up, but then going to the A’s organization and having the feeling that he had a brand spanking new lease on life?

Considering how much the Mets pay for free agent hitting talent, and how much they overpay frankly for a lot of that talent, to have a minimum wage guy like Carlos Cortes just absolutely tearing it up as soon as he left the organization really requires tough questions and real answers. 

Because if you just let this sail on by, as if it is just a fluke, the pattern that we’re seeing will just continue, most likely.

This isn’t just a Carlos Cortes fluke. 

Flukes don’t hit .325 over 574 PAs, with power and ribbies galore.

No, there were other flukes:

There was letting Gary Sanchez leave the Mets and go on to hit 40 homers and drive in 106 in 656 post-Mets at bats.

It was letting Travis d’Arnaud leave, and become a solid # 1 catcher thereafter. 83 HRs and 300 RBIs in 1,900 ABs since he departed Queens.

It also was selecting a Parada rather than picking fireballing Misiorowski.

It was Paul Sewald going from devastated Mets reliever, to devastating Seattle reliever, at the simple flip of a switch.

Or Mike Vasil going from a hammered Mets minor league AAA pitcher to 5-3, 2.50 ERA with the major league Chicago White Sox the very next season.

Or Eric Orze getting just two relief outings as a Met, then getting let go, and immediately since then has 50+ MLB outings, with a 3.40 ERA.

Or Jake Mangum, like Cortes, never gets called up by the Mets, but hits .290 in the majors thereafter in 2025-26.

Or Simon Juan, signed as an international “5 tool” player in 2022 for $1.9 million, was hitting in the mid .160s on Sunday in A ball St Lucie, with 50 Ks and 3 walks in 33 games. He may need 5 or more plumbing tools for his soon-coming change of occupations, should he choose to become a plumber. Baseball seems to be above his pay grade.

My gosh, I could keep right on going.

These and so many more such questions that need to be answered objectively about Mets’ organizational chronic underperformance/failures.

But, for today, Steve C’s team geniuses ought to hone it in and do a forensic dive on the failure to foresee, and harvest, a formidable Carlos Cortes AS A MET. 

Come up with real answers.

Or don’t, and just keep making the same season-killing mistakes.

Paul Articulates - Where can this go?

After getting swept by the Miami Marlins and splitting a series with the Washington Nationals, your New York Mets stand at 22-31, in last place in the NL East.  Their 3-7 record against the bottom of the NL East puts them in a tough place if they have any post-season aspirations remaining.

That in fact is the subject of this post.  There is no credible way that I could suggest that this could be a playoff team with the way they have performed for the last six weeks.  However, there have been times in history where a team found itself late and surged to success.  

Let’s look at some examples:

1) We were reminded during the last series that the 2019 Washington Nationals started a dismal 19-31, possessing one of the worst 50-game records for a playoff-bound team. They rallied to grab an NL Wild Card spot and ultimately won the World Series.

2) In 2022, there were two teams: Philadelphia and Seattle, that had 21-29 records in their first 50 games.  Both made the playoffs and the Phillies actually went all the way to the World Series.

3) In 1914, when there was not a generous wild card playoff bracket, the Boston "Miracle" Braves had a 26-40 record which was good for last place on July 4th. They went on to win the NL pennant and swept the World Series.

4) And of course, the 1969 and 2015 Mets teams had remarkable late surges themselves to become World Series teams.  The 2024 team came close – more on this later.

You may wonder why I am bringing up hope in the midst of despair and the reason is simple: baseball is a game of ebbs and flows that is host to some of the most mind-boggling streaks in sports.  Yes, the Mets are currently in the midst of their second consecutive year with a mind-boggling streak, but with 109 games to go there is plenty of time to re-coin the term “amazing”.

What is the math?

The prevailing trends indicate that 89-90 wins are needed to secure the last wild card berth.  For a 22-31 team to win 89 games, they must go 67-42 over their last 109 games, which is a .615 winning percentage.  That may seem like a stretch for a team that can’t win a series against the Nationals or Marlins, but it is a very reasonable record for a team worthy of playoff contention.

The Mets have 33 series remaining this season, and if they won or tied each series (won=2 of 3, tied=2 of 4) they would accumulate 66 wins.  Winning every series is not realistic, but sweeping a few and winning most is what one would expect of a playoff contender.

Just a couple years ago, the 2024 Mets started at 22-33 and then went 67–40 the rest of the way to finish with a 89–73 record.  That happened when a misfunctioning team closed the doors and sorted out what needed to change and then played a little closer to (some would say above) their potential.

Where is this going?

I am not trying to sell you on a complete turnaround, nor am I of the mind to convince you that this team has the pieces it needs to go on a 2024-like run.  I am telling you it is possible under the right circumstances with the right mental state.  With the latest trend of bringing new young talent up to give them a shot to prove their worth, there is certainly not going to be any quit in this team because young players are contending for a job and veterans are trying to keep theirs.

So now I turn the floor to the readers – do you think that this team eventually turns out of this dive and competes?  Do you think they may have it in them to make a run?  Or do you think that it is time to sell, sell, sell at the trade deadline and make the fans sit through another rebuild?

Reese Kaplan -- Get Used to the Current Mets Offense

The merry go round of the Mets roster continues with frequent cast members being shuffled in and out of prime time as ineffectiveness, health and potential suggest changes are necessary given the ongoing losing record and the team’s inability to build on its modest recent success.  The issue right now seems to be more related to what many are calling the “Noffense” than pitching, but most of the roles other than in the outfield are related to the folks who take the mound. 

On the hitting side we have indeed seen A.J. Ewing and Nick Morabito added to the major league roster when other outfield options simply did not do enough to justify remaining a part of the big league roster.  Vidal Brujan was also added as an emergency replacement when backup shortstop Ronny Mauricio joined starter Francisco Lindor on the IL.  Backup catcher Hayden Senger is here for the same reason on a different injured player named Francisco. 

What the team is not seeing is a reliable offense.  Juan Soto is pretty much all alone when it comes to providing the batting average, power and RBIs one would expect from him.  There have been recent surges from outfielder Carson Benge and infielder Bo Bichette.  Brett Baty and Mark Vientos are still on the flip-a-coin side of whether they are assets or liabilities.  Marcus Semien isn’t putting together solidity at the plate.  Neither of the catchers are generating any offense.  The other outfielders are not doing enough either. 

The problem is that while “Play the kids!” has a certain understandable flair for its sentiment, there is not anything much left in the minor league well.  If we bypass the AAAA veterans taking space on the Syracuse roster then the last remaining hope would be first baseman Ryan Clifford who currently has provided 8 HRs and 29 RBIs which are not bad numbers at all but they are accompanied by a .216 batting average which is 21 points below his 2025 level.  He’s been up 171 times and has whiffed in 70 of those appearances.  He does not look at all like he’s ready to face more intense pitching at the major league level. 

The rest of the offensive options in Syracuse resemble the paltry numbers one step higher in Queens.  There doesn’t seem to be anyone there who could help the club at all.  That leaves the Mets with an interesting dilemma.  Do they engineer trades to fill temporary needs created by injuries and ineffectiveness or do they try their best to tread water until players who are on the IL begin to return to a competitive level?

As a refresher, the Mets are currently missing Francisco Lindor, Jorge Polanco, Luis Robert, Francisco Alvarez, Ronny Mauricio and Jared Young.  Of them Lindor and Polanco are most definitely missed the most with Alvarez having provided better offense than the current two putting on the gear.  Robert is still very much an expensive and unproven answer for center field and neither Mauricio nor Young appear to be anything more than bench pieces or Syracuse regulars. 

David Stearns’ MO has been to wait until the 11th hour in July to make any kind of trade deals and a lot can happen between now and then.  Still, any way you slice it there are about 65 days before that deadline hits and it may be sufficient time for Lindor and Polanco to return.  Alvarez may be on their heels.  Robert is not yet doing baseball activity so the timeline for his return is a great unknown. 

Any way you slice it, the 2026 season is a great uphill battle.  Without moving some of the pitching pieces or gutting the minors of AA and A players there is not a lot of player capital to propose in deals.  It is possible that the club will have grown ready to move on from Baty and/or Vientos, but no other infielders are prepared to take over for them.  Then again, Polanco could replace Vientos at first base and Lindor could shift Bichette back to third.  It may be that time is truly running out for both of them.  

Tom Brennan - I Simply Cannot Stand It Anymore! Topic # 2; A Kirk Clone

“I Simply Can’t Stand It Anymore” 

Topic #1 was earlier today. 

Moving on to Topic # 2:

ONE MORE THING THAT I SIMPLY CANNOT STAND IN MLB BALL

Seth Lugo, in his Mets days, won 7 games one season as a reliever

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I present to you our friend Seth Lugo…

Seth has always been a truly fine pitcher, both with the Mets and after leaving the Mets. His name crossed my mind and I wondered how he was doing.

I decided to look at his statistics through May 18. 

When I did, it reminded me of another thing I hate about the game today.

Simply, and for whatever reason, so many guys have much trouble going five innings these days in the major leagues. But you still require five innings to qualify for a win.

On the other hand, if you begin to pitch as a starter in a game, give up a HR on the first pitch, and get pulled, you could end up losing the game despite throwing ONLY one pitch. Seems a tad inequitable.

So I looked deeper at Seth‘s numbers and saw he had one start that he got a no decision and where he went 6.1 IP, and gave up seven runs.

Including that bad start, in ten starts, he has a 3.56 ERA.

His record? 1–3. One stinking win in 10 starts with a 3.56 ERA. 

Even worse?

Excluding his one rocky start?

Just 1 win in 9 starts, with an ERA below 3.00!

Nuts.

I would immediately change the rule at season’s end to allow a Starter to pick up a win if he throws a minimum of four innings, not five.

It makes me also think of Christian, Scott, whom many Mets fans think very highly of, and who still does not have a major league win. I think that is insane, and I think that rule should be changed.

On Tuesday, in his FOURTEENTH Mets career start, Scott led 4-3 after 4 innings and 81 pitches. They did not allow him to throw even 82 pitches. 

They yanked him.

Result? Another ND.

Nuts. 

But, if the starter win rule was changed to a minimum 4 innings, rather than 5 innings, he again would have qualified for a W when pulled.

As the 16-7 Mets win unfolded, he still would have gotten an ND, but that is besides the point.

I SAY…

CHANGE THAT OUTDATED RULE TO ALIGN WITH MODERN DAY REALITY. 

FOUR INNINGS BY A STARTER SHOULD QUALIFY!

AND…A KIRK NIEUWENHUIS CLONE…

Kirk Nieuwenhuis the former Met was a lefty slugging outfielder who struggled with his batting average, and walked and fanned a lot. 

Career split: .221/.311/.384.

MJ Melendez the current Met is a lefty slugging outfielder who struggles with his batting average, walks a lot, and fans a lot. 

Career split: .215/.298/.388.

Clones.

Tom Brennan - I Simply Can’t Stand it Anymore! Topic # 1….And Ross is the Boss

THE PAIN IS MORE THAN WE FANS CAN BEAR 

It is disturbing to know that in mid-May, the Mets already are out of contention with the Atlanta Braves. 

As of Monday morning, the Mets found themselves six games under 500 while the Braves find themselves 17 games above 500. I thought, right then: there’s no chance that the Mets make that up. 

If they were fully healthy, perhaps. But the last time I looked at the injured list, I painfully concluded that they were not nearly injury free.

This brings me back to something that I find frankly disturbing, and I’ll bring it up again. 

For decades, the Pirates…sucked. 

That’s a little blunt, but it’s true. 

In the meantime, in the NL eastern division, juggernaut Atlanta, which is much further west than Pittsburgh, not to mention much further south, has blocked the Mets over and over and over and over and over again from making the playoffs. More “overs” than that, to be accurate.

And, in those seasons when the Braves are not up to their usual best, the Phillies perennially, over the last 20 years since the Howard/Utley/Rollins days, have been strong contenders and winners as well. 

Meanwhile, I look at the pathetic division that the Athletics are in. 

The As lead that division with a paltry 23–23 record. 

If they were in that division, the Mets would be trailing the As by just three games. And the Mets would be extremely much in contention for the division title.  

Mets fans that now give up on going out to see the team, because they have at best a long-shot chance at the wildcard, would instead be turning out to games because they’d be right in the middle of a division pennant race.

Frankly, as a Mets fan as well as a Mets hobbyist writer, I am so beyond sick of this. 

Are you, too?

And what is “this”? 

Watching teams in other (mostly central) divisions with lousy season records win division titles while the Mets have to bump heads with Philadelphia and Atlanta year after year after year after year, almost always coming up short. No playoffs. 40 years since winning a WS.

No joy. No fun. Thus…

Suggestionto Steve Cohen: 

I would do everything in my power, if I were you, to switch that divisional stuff around, so the Mets have a real chance of winning the division when they’re not absolutely at the top of their game. 

That would be “Baseball Equity.”

Heck, even at their best, like in 2022, when the Mets won 101 games, they didn’t win the division title. I’m sure some NL central or AL central team back then would’ve been very easy for the Mets that year to skate into a division title in.

I am SO sick of it. There’s gotta be a way to fix that. DO something.

And that’s my memo.

Except to say this:

I conducted a Survey on the subject running this by my brother Steve and my cousin Billy. 

Steve said it was brilliant. DO IT!

And cousin Billy said this:

“I would love to see the Pirates take Atlanta's place in the east. They should have done that when they pulled the Cubs out of the east! Great article but someone needs to listen”. 

Yes, “someone” needs to listen. And force the issue. Redistricting is a popular topic these days. The Mets need to be redistricted.

DYLAN ROSS

ROSS IS THE BOSS

Through Wednesday, big, bad Dylan Ross had allowed a mere 3 hits in 11.2 IP this season…and just one hit in May.

In his career, 66.2 IP, just 32 hits allowed.

A bit wild, but…who cares…

No Hit Ross could be the Boss of Queens.

But he can’t be that in Syracuse.

What is the Obstacle for Ross getting to Queens? 

Thru Wednesday, the NY Mets pen had a 3.48 ERA, tied for 9th best. Perhaps Craig Kimbrel (6.00) is in jeopardy, I initially wrote, only later to see the jeopardy was real, as he was DFA on Friday, but even he hadn’t been “goodbye” bad. This year, though, in this pen, he was not good enough.

Called up in his spot, Jonah Tong Terrific went 3 scoreless, pitching to just 9 batters, in a disappointing 2-1 Mets loss, in which Juan Soto hit a 450 foot homer, while everyone on the Mets not named Soto compiled just one hit.

Bat Nolan McLean in the clean up spot, and problem solved. He brought a rocket launcher to the plate when he used to hit in the minors.

P.S. Ross’ AAA fireballing buddy, Ryan Lambert, has been wild…12 walks in 13-IP. And 4 walks in 3.1 spring training innings. A walk an inning is simply a door-shutter to a ticket to Flushing.

A catcher named Meggers had 3 hits on Friday for St Lucie. His battery mate, Kodai Senga, threw 63 pitches, hitting 97 MPH. 

Jose Chirinos went 5.1 IP in relief of that Kodai guy, and fanned 10.

But, wait. Three hits…from a catcher?  Call that guy Meggers up.

RVH - Part 3: Can the Mets Hold On Long Enough for Reinforcements?

 

The Mets do not need saviors.

That may sound strange for a team sitting at 18–25, but it is true.

They do not need one young player to arrive and rescue the season. They do not need one pitching prospect to become the next ace overnight. They do not need one hot week to erase April.

What they need is more realistic and, in some ways, more important.

They need reinforcement.

They need balance.

They need the roster to stop operating in survival mode.

That is the real meaning of the next phase of the 2026 Mets season. This is the bridge period.

The Mets are trying to survive long enough for three things to overlap: better health, better performance from underachieving veterans, and help from the next wave of young players.

That does not guarantee a turnaround. But it does create a plausible path.

The current record is ugly. At 18–25, the Mets are in a real hole. But the underlying numbers tell a slightly different story. Their Pythagorean record is closer to 20–23, which means they have played a little better than their actual record. More importantly, their last three weeks have been more stable. Across Weeks 6, 7, and 8, the Mets went 9–6 with a +11 run differential.

That does not erase the April collapse.

But it does suggest the team may have stopped falling.

Now the question is whether they can climb.

That is where the reinforcements matter.

Ryan Benge’s development matters.

AJ Ewing’s arrival matters.

Jack Wenninger appears close.

Tong may not be far behind (Hopefully).

The point is not that any one of these players should be expected to save the season. That would be unfair to them and unrealistic for the team. Prospects rarely arrive as finished solutions. They arrive as energy, volatility, athleticism, upside, and sometimes immediate usefulness.

But that usefulness can matter a lot.

Young players do not have to become stars immediately to improve a roster. Sometimes they help by restoring proper role alignment.

A young athletic outfielder can reduce pressure on an overextended veteran.

A credible starting arm can keep the bullpen from covering too many innings.

A productive young bat can push a struggling player down in the lineup or onto the bench.

A fresh player with speed and energy can change the look of a team that has started to feel heavy.

That is why Benge and Ewing are interesting.

The Mets’ lineup has too often looked compressed. It has lacked athleticism, rhythm, and pressure. Injuries to Soto, Lindor, Polanco, Luis Robert, and now Alvarez have only made that worse. When that many key pieces are compromised, the lineup stops functioning the way it was designed.

Benge and Ewing do not need to become instant stars to help. If they bring athleticism, competent at-bats, defensive energy, and a little pressure, they can change the texture of the roster.

That matters.

Baseball teams can get stale. They can get slow. They can start to feel like every game is being played under the weight of the previous one.

A young player can disrupt that.

Sometimes the value is production. Sometimes it is energy. Sometimes it is simply forcing the roster to reorganize in a healthier way.

The same logic applies to Wenninger and Tong on the pitching side.

The Mets do not just need better pitching. They need more stable innings.

That distinction matters.

When the rotation is unstable, the entire pitching staff bends. The bullpen gets overused. Relievers appear in the wrong spots. The manager starts managing around weakness instead of from strength. A close game in the fifth inning becomes a series of uncomfortable compromises.

If Wenninger can provide useful innings, that matters.

If Tong eventually becomes part of the picture, that matters too.

Not because either has to dominate immediately, but because credible innings change bullpen usage. They reduce stress. They give the team a better chance to avoid the one bad inning that turns a winnable game into another frustrating loss.

That is exactly where the Mets have been leaking value.

The gap between their actual record and expected record is only about two wins. That may sound small, but in the Wild Card race it is meaningful. At 18–25, the Mets look buried. At something closer to 20–23, they look like a flawed team still near the crowded middle of the National League.

That is what makes the bridge period so important.

The Mets do not have to be great immediately.

They do have to stop making the climb harder.

They have to turn decent run-differential weeks into actual winning weeks. They have to protect leads. They have to avoid bullpen overexposure. They have to get more from Bichette, Baty, and Semien. They have to get healthier. And they have to let the young talent begin pushing the roster toward a better shape.

That is a lot to ask.

But it is not fantasy.

The hopeful version of this season is not that the Mets suddenly become dominant. It is that several moderate improvements arrive at the same time.

Soto and Lindor look healthier.

Alvarez returns and stabilizes the catching position.

Polanco and Robert add length.

Bichette wakes up.

Baty or Semien becomes useful.

Benge and Ewing inject athleticism.

Wenninger and Tong help stabilize innings.

No single item on that list has to carry the entire season. The value is in the overlap.

That is what the Mets are waiting for.

Overlap.

Health plus regression.

Veterans plus young players.

Better innings plus better lineup shape.

Stabilization plus time.

The danger, of course, is that the bridge collapses before the reinforcements matter. That is the risk of a bad April. You lose not only games, but time. By the time the roster improves, the standings may no longer care.

That is why the Mets cannot drift through the next few weeks. They need to hold.

Not dominate.

Hold.

Play .500 or better. Win the winnable games. Avoid another 1–5 week. Avoid another 0–6 week. Keep the Wild Card middle in sight. Give the June roster a reason to matter.

That is the assignment now.

The Mets do not need saviors.

They need enough reinforcement to stop playing distorted baseball.

They need enough stabilization to turn underlying improvement into actual wins.

And they need enough time for the next version of the roster to arrive before the current version digs the hole too deep.

That is the bridge period.

And the season may depend on whether they can cross it.

SAVAGE VIEWS – BITS AND PIECES

HERE I GO AGAIN!

Another week in the books with some good and some bad. 

Beating the Yankees two out of three was a major plus followed by a rather mediocre performance against the Nats, although we managed to split the four-game series. Winning at least two of three from the Marlins will keep on the playoff track. The road to the postseason clearly rides on the backs of our top prospects.

So far, it’s hard to understand why Nick Moribito has been promoted. After one start, he has been riding the bench with Melendez continuing to prove he is and never has been an answer. However, Morabito is slated to start in Friday’s game. 

AJ Ewing is one of the more exciting prospects to join the team over the past 40 years.  He has demonstrated an ability to get on base at a very high rate. He is a disciplined hitter with a knack of making pitchers work- a natural leadoff hitter who is going to steal a ton of bases I his career. And yet he is being buried at the bottom of the lineup. On the other hand, Marcus Semien seems to have the sixth spot cemented – go figure.

IMHO, I would have Ewing leading off with Benge batting second and Bo Bichette in the clean-up spot. Mark Vientos has simply been unable to produce and his lack of discipline as a hitter should mark him as a casualty once Lindor is ready to return. Incidentally, it was good news to hear that Craig Kimball was given his walking papers.

A bit of a controversy this week when Morabito was allowed to wear number 8. Gosh, Gary Carter was a terrific player who gave the Mets a couple of good years. However, his HOF career was earned while starring as a player with the Expos. Retiring his number is a rather stupid idea. In fact, I am generally opposed to retiring numbers. 

Next up is Carlos Beltran to have his number 15 hung on the rafters to join the disgraced duo of Gooden and Strawberry. And you don’t want to know my feelings about Stengel and Mays being honored. 

Later this year, Lee Mazzilli and Bobby Valentine will be recognized. Lee’s greatest contribution to the Mets was getting traded to the Rangers for pitchers Ron Darling and Walt Terrell. I think Terrell was actually a better hitter than Lee. And Terrell got us Howard Johnson who was a terrific switch-hitting third baseman with power. I do remember that Lee was a big hit with the ladies for reasons that escape me.

Recently, Gary Cohen cooed about Aaron Judge being the greatest right-hand hitter of all time. This opinion has been shared by others. While there is no doubt that Judge will be installed in the HOF on the first ballot, he just went through a stretch where he struck out in seven consecutive at bats. Maybe these commentators have never heard of Roger Hornsby, Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Albert Pujols and a few others who were all better right-hand hitters. 

One thing that all of these have in common is not striking out more than 100 times in a year. I will admit Judge is one scary looking human being and wish he was on my team.

I’ve run out of things to rant about. I’ll be back next Friday.

Ray

May 23, 2026

Reese Kaplan -- Which New York Mets Team Will Take the Field?

The New York Mets continue their schizophrenic season in which one day they appear totally embarrassing and then the next day resemble a post season contender.  Obviously the major injuries and early season slumps have paid a massive price in their resulting won/loss record, but every now and then there are some signs suggesting perhaps they have started to adjust to the litany of changes forced upon them and perhaps there is some internal reserve that could end the season with a .500 or better record.

First of all, hats off to David Peterson who went from banished to the pen to Huascar Brazoban’s supporting cast and then just this week authoring a one-run performance over five starting innings.  No one really expected it though the hope was always there that it could happen. Would happen?  Well, that one was not filled with a stadium full of well wishers.

Then there are the ripples of productivity happening to stellar hitter Bo Bichette who has not resembled the .317 hitter he was this past season.  Lately, however, he’s landed his bat on the ball for solid contact, long balls driven out of the park and suddenly he’s making David Stears appear for once to have made a solid player acquisition.  There’s still a long way to go to get Bichette into All Star form but the signs are most definitely there.

The linked-at-the-hip duo of Brett Baty and Mark Vientos have continued to appear better than they have been but still performing well below league average as hitters.  Whereas Baty has more defensive chops to put on a highlight reel than Vientos does, he has dropped out significantly where it comes to slugging percentage and OPS.  Neither are necessarily starter quality on a good team but for now they are what the Mets are choosing to use to fill 22% of their at-bats.  And Vientos even contributed a screen gem of a defensive play to help preserve that 2-1 victory against the Nationals.  Go figure.

The Mets have announced that Tobias Myers is getting the Friday start while theoretically Jonah Tong is on tap for today’s game.  Throw in the rest of the starting entourage — Freddy Peralta, David Peterson, Christian Scott and Nolan McLean.  If you add in both Jonah Tong and Tobias Myers and then remember the existence of one-start hurler Zach Thornton the Mets have gone from needing five starting pitchers to all of the sudden having seven of them with Sean Manaea being grossly overpaid as a starting pitcher banished to the bullpen.

In the outfield Carson Benge has been on that same reassuring flourish at the plate to solidify his necessity as a worthy starter in right field.  Juan Soto will never win a Gold Glove but if he indeed returns to full time duty in left field it leaves just the question of center field to be answered.  A.J. Ewing has certainly responded to the challenge of major league pitching in his early introduction at the ripe old age of 21 while Nick Morabito’s appearance is either as a platoon partner or left fielder when Soto slots in at DH. 

Complicating things are injury rehab tidbits that evolved this week.  Long lost A.J. Minter is slated to resume full game level action this week prior to coming back fully from injury.  Kodai Senga is also expected to toe the rubber as a starting pitcher as he works his way back to full time major league duty.  Who will leave to make room for the two of them is still a bit of a debate which may be answered over the next few weeks as the Mets do whatever it takes to put 26 men onto the active roster until the regulars are fully ready.

Tom Brennan - Highlights from a Thursday in Metsville

YESTERDAY’S METS WIN WAS LIKE ALKA SELTZER TO THE RESCUE 

Mets split the 4 game Nats series with a badly needed 2-1 win. 

David Peterson picks up the win, and Bichette drives in both runs. 

Bo now has 27 RBIs, which ain’t all that bad. 

MJ Melendez almost had a very good game - hit by pitches twice - and a titanic home run, except it went just foul…and another deep blast that was a little further foul…and a 9th inning liner that landed just foul with the bags full. Fair territory is between the lines, MJ.

The box score just showed another hitless game for him. 

Ahh, this game of baseball can be unforgiving sometimes.

Devin Williams? He continued his excellence. He is excellent, you know.

In the bushes….

Syracuse scored 12 in a 12-8 win. 20 men on base. Hitter’s Mets park?

Nate Lavender got a one out save. Three runs allowed in his last 11 games. Nate has been great as of late.

Binghamton held to 5 hits, but scored 7 in the ninth, and got a 9-5 win. 

Serrano III had 3 RBIs. If I were the broadcaster, I would’ve said, “now that’s the third RBI for Serrano the third. How about that?”

Brooklyn hit poorly in one of its two 7 inning losses, amassing 4 hits while fanning 16 times, and was shut out in the other game, on 2 hits.  Hitting an astonishingly microscopic .178 after 42 games. Astonishing.

Someone should tell them that there was once a one armed hitter named Pete Gray, who hit .218 in his one year in the major leagues. These guys? I think they’d need at least three arms to hit .218.

St Lucie got smoked again, losing 18-6. Team ERA of 6, and allowing nearly 7 runs per game.

Lucie’s Bonus baby Simon Juan seems to be burnt toast, hitting .168. What would he hit in Brooklyn? .068?

 The FCL Mets got tattooed, 11-2, but hey, good news…

Boston Baro made his first appearance of the season, and went 2 for 3. 

I had completely forgotten about him.  Offense-starved Brooklyn and Binghamton likely are both saying that 3 rehab at bats are enough of a tune up, they need IMMEDIATE HELP!

MINOR ON A WIN-LOSS PERSPECTIVE?

Syracuse has a decent record at 26-21.

The other 4 minor league teams combined? More than 40 games below .500.

The “vaunted minor league system”? Nah. Overrated may be a better word.

That’s all, folks.