What the hell is going on with the Mets? The 2014 edition of the New York Mets is
perhaps the hardest team to figure out, ever. By team, I mean from the top
down. It’s hard to tell what Terry Collins is thinking, what management wants
or what team they intend to field.
I applaud the player moves we have seen so far. While I was
a staunch Ike Davis supporter, I agree that either he or Duda had to go, and no
matter who left it would be addition by subtraction. Ike departed to Pittsburgh on April 18th
and so far so good. Duda hasn’t fumbled the ball after being handed the
starting 1st base job and that’s a good thing. The Davis/Duda
competition is one less distraction that has to be dealt with.
While not a fan of it at the time, the recall of Daisuke
Matsuzaka has been a great move. Who knew that Dice K would flourish out of the
pen? He’s grown into
the role a long man and even has a save for his trouble. I
love that fact that the Mets didn’t wait for all the wheels to come off the
wagon before they started to adjust their bullpen. On a similar note, I am a
fan of moving Jenrry Mejia to the pen. While as a starter he would be brilliant
only to fade after 5 or 6 innings, he is usually close to unhittable his first
time through the order. It was a smart move because the Mets have the young
arms to support that move. Both Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom made terrific
first starts that were both upgrades to what Mejia had been providing. The Mets
pitching is a strength and by moving Mejia they have strengthened their pen immeasurably
(and probably have found their closer of the future) and have strengthened
their rotation despite subtracting Mejia and losing Gee for on the DL for two
starts.
While no one was
happy about the loss of Bobby Parnell, the Mets were caught flatfooted by his
Tommy John surgery. Now, I have read several reports admonishing the Mets for
not being prepared for Parnell
miss part or all of 2014. I have to say I agree.
The Mets knew going into this year that their closer, arguably the most
important arm in the back of their bullpen had very serious neck surgery at the
end of 2013. A contingency plan should have been considered incase Parnell wasn’t
ready to go 100%. The fact that he tore
his UCL may or may not be a consequence of him working too hard and too fast to
return to form, but never the less it happened. When it did, the Mets were left
flatfooted and placed 36 year Jose Valverde in the closing role. A role he wasn’t
up for. 38 year old Kyle Farnsworth faired a little better but has since been
released. All indications are that Mejia is the heir apparent. It should work out
just fine, we’ll see. It will be a work in progress. Did the Mets fall into
this decision, or has it been their “fallback” all along? I personally don’t care. Again, the Mets have
gotten stronger in the pen. I also applaud the Mets for bringing up Josh Edgin.
Edgin is a hard throwing lefty. It’s time to see if he can do the job or not. Scott Rice is their insurance, let’s see how
Edgin does.
Now, since the season began, the Met offense has been sputtering.
This is where my head starts to hurt. The Mets have seeming made decisive moves
to improve their offense, yet it seems Terry Collins is working against it. Juan Lagares has been one of the most consistent
offensive performers so far this season.
Not
only that, he is an elite defensive center fielder. In the past week,
Collins has started Chris Young and Eric Young over Lagares for unknown
reasons. Chris Young is just fine in
left field, and the Mets are paying him 7 million dollars to play for them this
year. Aside from that CY’s power and speed make a strong case for him getting
the majority of time in left field. However, when you compare EY with Lagares, Lagares
is the by far the superior fielder and hitter.
EY is an elite base stealer and has had a penchant for getting on base
and scoring runs. But between the two, if you put Legares in the leadoff spot
he hits enough and saves enough runs with his glove to give him the edge as a
starter over EY. Plus, Lagares is easily as capable a base stealer as say
Daniel Murphy. If Lagares is the future, then give him that shot now. He’s
earned it. His continued presence in center field is an advantage. EY is best suited helping the Mets in a
platoon or bench role.
Another puzzle is why Ruben Tejada is still starting at
short. When the Mets brought up Wilmer Flores his bat was on fire in Las Vegas
and his fielding was adequate. Actually, the terminology used was “It wasn’t a
major factor either way. He is making the plays an average shortstop is
supposed to make.” So why was he riding the bench for most of last week? True,
Tejada had a bit of a renaissance. His fielding has been improved, and he’s
hitting a bit better, but he’s not tearing the cover off the ball. Flores has been sitting on the bench cooling
off as Tejada bats around .206 with no power. What the hell? Either play Flores
or send him down so he can keep his bat hot. A team that was blanked twice in a
row by the Yankees on Wednesday and Thursday could have used Flores’ hitting
some gappers. Perhaps the Mets are
afraid of weakening themselves up the middle. Murphy is solid, but can be inconsistent. Playing Flores at short gives you in essence
two mediocre displaced third basemen up the middle. To that I say…so? If you
want offense, I’ll go with mediocre in the field batting .280 to slightly
better than mediocre and batting .206 anytime.
Left out of this equation is Josh Satin. Satin got a hard
luck demotion last week. While he didn’t produce in his spot starts, Eric
Campbell is the hot hand and is a tad more versatile than Satin. Campbell can play all over the infield and
some outfield. Bobby Abreu also adds a nice experienced bat off the bench as
well.
The Mets indeed have moved the pieces around. They seem
invested in their young players. Pitching-wise they are getting a good look
with Mejia, deGrom, Wheeler, Montero and Edgin. But offensively they are
languishing on the bench. Terry Collins
has shown over and over again a reluctance to go with youth as far as everyday
players go. Play Lagares, play Flores,
use Campbell, Abreu and EY off the bench. Get the offense going, get it consistent.
Consistency comes from the top down. Collins continues to buck that trend by
pulling the hot hand out of the line up at exactly the wrong moment. Until that
changes….I have a feeling my head is going to keep on hurting.
2 comments:
Hey Craig - nice recap.
Let me add that Eric Campbell in my view should be getting a lot more playing time at 1B - all of the starts vs. lefties, against whom he is a FAR superior hitter to Duda, and Campbell vs. some of the tougher righties too. While lacking the HR power of Duda, Lucas sadly makes little use of that power. And, unlike Eric, Lucas strikes out far too much.
Eric has a renaissance starting in July last year in AAA - including last year from July 1 on, spring training, AAA and his 6 times out of 12 on base since his call up, Eric has about a .450 on base % and a K once every 8 or 9 times up, or half the rate of Duda. He just may be a superior starting 1B to Duda. Eric won't hit a lot of HRs, but will nail lots of doubles.
If Duda flounders, Eric can step in full time - I'd like to see Duda succeed, but he needs to be more aggressive in hitters' counts. Or he'll continue to be mediocre. If he continues to sputter, Duda can be traded and I'm confident that a 50-50 platoon of Dykstra and Campbell would work fine.
Flores should start every day, I agree. He not only will hit far higher than Tejada average-wise, as you note, he will hit a decent # of HRs (maybe 10-15 over the course of a full season) and 30-40 doubles in a season. Far superior offense. Just bench Tejada (down to a powerless .185, and under .200 since the end of 2012, for Pete's sake) and LET FLORES PLAY EVERY DAY.
Hopefully d'Arnaud hits upon his return, but Plawecki may be much closer than most think. He is on fire. A little light on power, but also hardly K's. Maybe a replacement for d'Arnaud in a month or two if Travis continues to dwell along the Mendoza line.
Lastly, I'd keep an eye on blazing hot Andrew Brown. I know he's had his chances, but is he worse - or better - than Chris Young? Maybe he is better with a real chance. Another 3 to 4 weeks may tell that tale. By then Young's $7MM will only have about $4MM left, and he could be cut or traded with Mets eating a good portion of his contract if Brown stays hot (.700 slug, 8 HR since demotion). i think Brown could hit the same .220, and maybe more, but with more power than Young. Every little bit helps.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the two G-Men are ready to come off the DL. The one obvious move is cutting Jose Valverde but what about the other move? Could Collins favorite Scott Rice be headed to Vegas to cure what ails him? He's still respectable if only used as a LOOGY but he's batting practice to right handed hitters.
For the people ready to throw d'Arnaud under the bus, did they note that Recker (with more playing time) is down to his usual Mendoza-straddling offense.
Speaking of struggles, can we print in big, bold letters the stats for Eric Young, Jr. so even Terry can't miss it:
In his last 5 games he's hitting .095 with a .136 OBP yet Collins keeps trotting him out there day after day. That's even worse than Tejada -- and that's saying something!
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