Tom Brennan - SIGNS OF METS REVIVAL
Baseball is a game of peaks and valleys, and it is often the darkest just before dawn.
I think dawn has arrived for this flailing Mets team. It is time for the roller coaster ride north, and to stop flailing and start wailing on the opposition.
Already, this Mets team has climbed from hitting sub-.220 and as of pre-game Monday had climbed to .245, and their 246 runs in 48 games compares very favorably to the 2nd highest scoring team, the Rockettes, who have scored 21 runs but in 4 more games.
The team is tied for 9th in homers with 67, but only 8 HRs behind the leaders, and all but one have played more games.
And Cespedes should return very shortly - might they have the best hitting team in the majors then?
Duda? Hot. ,286/.426/.592 in May.
Granderson? Hitting .263/.360/.526 in May, as my Old Man Hitting Tracker now has a smiley face. Even Reyes has improved, and if he does not keep it up, Rosario is ready.
Bruce? 12 HRs and 34 RBIs in 45 games is delightful.
Conforto? Comeback player of the year? Terrific.
Walker? A scintillating .330/.381/.557 in May. Playing like a $17 million guy should.
Flores, the Rivera boys, hitting well.
Pitching has been a horror show - worst ERA and WHIP of any team in the majors - but clear signs of life emerge:
Jake deGrom - masterful of late. Even with the bat.
Zach Wheeler and Matt Harvey - both rounding into strong starters.
Rob Gsellman - showing some of that 2016 form recently.
Steve Matz - annihilated his AAA opponent on Sunday - he is ready to rock, replacing a fire starter currently on the staff (Montero?)
Seth Lugo? A fine 6 innings, 7 Ks in AA on Sunday - just one shaky inning - if he feels good, he is probably ready to rejoin the Mets, perhaps as a starter, in 5 to 10 days. He will replace another weak link.
Paul Sewald - out of desperation, he got called up. In May, he has thrown 19 innings, allowed 3 runs, fanned 24, and walked just 3. Sewald is the Mets' Reliever of the Month, unless you want to give that to the outstanding lefty Jerry Blevins, and Sewald is looking like a true asset in the pen.
My take? June will bring us a top 5 hitting Mets squad, and a pitching staff producing around middle of the pack or better, no more of this last-in-baseball stuff.
Those signs of revival are right before us. Sunshine will predominate. Mets fans will smile again.
And Reese....maybe Terry Collins will get hot, too! Never too old to learn.
QUESTION: would you call up Matz to start for the Mets next weekend after his brilliant Vegas outing of 5 perfect innings and 8 Ks? And Lugo or Gsellman? Who then becomes your 5th starter? I say Gsellman....what say you?
QUESTION: would you call up Matz to start for the Mets next weekend after his brilliant Vegas outing of 5 perfect innings and 8 Ks? And Lugo or Gsellman? Who then becomes your 5th starter? I say Gsellman....what say you?
9 comments:
I say Gsell as #5 also, but only because I think Lugo's bender may be more effective in relief than Gsellman's stuff following a deGrom, Wheeler, Harvey or Matz.
My guess is they don't want to risk Lugo's UCL with frequent bullpen appearances, and instead hope that a start every 5 days is healthier.
Lugo threw 79 pitches. I wonder if they feel he needs one more start. I think that is enough of a base, and that he is ready for 90 pitches and, like Matz, should be called up to start their next games for the Mets.
Gsellman showed last night that he can pitch effectively into the 7th inning.
It seems to me that the Mets rotation is coming back... add to that the soon return of Cespedes and we might have something here.
Still, we keep losing games late with poor relief work.
Put Matz in the rotation as SP4 and Lugo as 6th-7th inning guy
Go to a 6 man rotation and give everyone an extra day of rest
Zozo, the problem with a 6 man rotation is starters not going deep into games. Losing that extra arm in the pen would kill it.
What perhaps they should do is move Zach Wheeler to the pen, if they are really serious about a 125 inning limit - he is already near 50. At this rate he will be done by the end of July. If they reassess and let him go to, say, 160, he could be there by Labor Day.
I think they are happy to see the real Zach Wheeler starting to re-emerge, though, and don't want to mess with that.
It is funny that Zach Wheeler feels like he has been here forever, yet has 334.2 total career innings. Nolan Ryan threw 332.2 innings one season.
Being cautious...too cautious??
GM Sandy Alderson said Monday that Steven Matz and Seth Lugo will each get one more rehabilitation start in the Minor Leagues, and that both could be ready to join the Mets' rotation right after that.
If Gsellman has another start like the past one, it will be hard for the Mets to put him on the pen. As long as the starters go 7 innings more often than not, the BP will get back into shape.
Wheeler's innings will be handled like Harvey's situation was when he came back. They will add if needed and it will be needed.
Viper, good points. I agree they will add to the 125 innings, but are likely to not (in my view) go above 160, as they would not want to risk an eminently tradable asset.
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