Just as a great many folks are willing to build statues or bury players based upon the results of a mini-season, there are the same ready to blow hot or cold based upon an even shorter session known as Spring Training.
Early on a great many were very quiet about the stats being produced by Francisco Lindor, opening their mouths only to demand he be signed to the biggest contract in the history of the ballclub. I cited his well-under-Mendoza hitting right here in talking about the offensive impact of the players pretty much guaranteed a spot on the plane flying north.
Since then he’s been on fire with 4 HRs (including a grand slam) in the past 5 games. He’s got the batting average up to a negotiation-friendly .342 and trails in team leading RBIs by just one.
Of course, many of the names written in ink are not quite as productive in Port St. Lucie. Dom Smith and Jonathan Villar are well below the Mendoza line. Arguably the best hitter on the whole team, Jeff McNeil, is hitting under .100 thus far. No one is worried about the first or last, though many are waving the red flag at the free agent with no fan base history with the Mets to buy him some goodwill.
No, the ones that are to me the most interesting are the individual performances by lesser players who really are struggling to make it onto the final roster.
Case in point was yesterday’s late relief pitching hero, Jacob Barnes. He’s a 30 year old journeyman with time spent in the majors with the Milwaukee Brewers, Kansas City Royals and Los Angeles Angels. While not as bad as some of the relievers the Mets have foisted upon their fans over the past few decades, a major league resume with a career 200 game record that includes a 4-13 record, a 4.36 ERA, a 1.389 WHIP and little to make you think he was the long term answer to anything.
Consequently, when the Mets called upon Barnes to come into an unenviable situation with two men on, no one out, expecting him to hold the lead, well, it looked a lot like mop-up duty for a lost cause situation. I’m fairly confident that a number of folks took that half-inning as time to go get a hot dog or visit the souvenir shop.
If they did, they would have missed out on one of the truly awesome pitching performances of the pre-season. Jacob Barnes whiffed his first batter on a well placed strike out of the zone on which the batter was unable to make contact. The second batter was a carbon copy of the first, with a weak swinging strike to ring up out number two. The third batter finally did manage to make contact, lofting a high popup to the foul lines that was hauled in by would-be third baseman J.D. Davis.
Three up and three down, no runs scoring and no damage done at all. Many were calling it his way of earning his spot on the team. I think of it more as earning more Spring Training innings to pitch and letting the brass know there is a capable arm waiting for them in AAA.
During this game there were a pair of long balls slugged. First was the new All-Star capable shortstop doing what he’s done best of late. Lindor also doubled in a run as well. Then came surprisingly the first dinger of the Spring by slugger J.D. Davis. Overall, Davis isn’t as on-fire as Lindor has been, but his eye has been spectacular with 10 walks already.
Unfortunately he doesn’t have the speed to be an asset while running.
There have been some rumblings about Dellin Betances not coming north with the big club after all. That particular move could mean he’s starting off in the minors to make himself right or it could mean he’s cut loose from the team. Either one of those approaches would be as anti-Wilpon as possible. The former owners would retain whomever they chose to pay pretty much no matter what. Coughing up a $6 million player salary was not in their DNA.
Fewer but similar stories abound regarding former closer Jeurys Familia. The decision to bring him back was one of Brodie Van Wagenen’s many poor judgments, and there doesn’t seem to be much gained by putting him into late inning situations where you’re trying to preserve a lead.
He’s in for nearly $11 million this season but at what point do you realize you’re throwing good money after bad? Again, it would be something you could never foresee happening in the Wilpon era, but perhaps finally players need to earn their way onto the roster (or at least have a recent good standard of performance). Familia has neither.
It’s getting to be the time of late Spring to keep your eyes peeled for last minute roster casualties from other ballclubs. If you wind up sending pitchers down or cutting them loose who were a part of your final roster projection, you need to find replacements.
No one is thinking Jacob Barnes is suddenly the second coming of Seth Lugo, so it’s possible there are some quality hurlers elsewhere who simply didn’t fit or were deemed not worth their major league salary if they were kept.
8 comments:
The Athletic had a great article on Jacob Barnes the other day. Apparently Jeremy Hefner advocated for his signing
From the post "Hefner told him to be more open-minded: Why couldn’t he throw that fastball in on occasion? What about working up in the strike zone to take advantage of his fastball’s natural ride? Had he thought about a changeup?
Barnes enthusiastically adopted Hefner’s suggestions during his offseason. He worked on holding that ride with his fastball even in games of catch. He tinkered with a changeup he had scrapped years earlier that could work well off a more elevated fastball...Barnes was confident in his offseason work, helped by mound sessions with his new catcher, James McCann, in Nashville... But that’s still not the same as going up against major-league hitters...
Barnes is part of an initially large but currently diminishing group of relievers competing for one of the two to three open spots in New York’s bullpen. His performance this spring, Hefner’s recommendation and his lack of minor-league options all combine to give him a decent chance of being in Washington on Opening Day.
And if Barnes does excel with his new style, it’s a win for Hefner. The Mets have not been an organization considered at the forefront of analytics and player development. Yet here was the veteran Barnes engaging with information he hadn’t been told about before."
Good news from the NY Mets regarding development? Wait, this isn't a Wilpon-owned team, is it? :)
Barnes may not go north, but to me, there are lots of good arms that will be parked in AAA and ready for the inevitable call ups, assuming that these guys don't have an opt-out clause to go elsewhere.
Familia and Betances will be interesting to watch - and both will be on fairly short leashes. Familia needs to just throw more strikes - if they hit him, guys will catch a lot of them. Better than a million pitches and high walk totals.
Stromas allowed 9 hits in 5 innings, pitching to contact, and did OK. I wouldn't recommend 9 hits every 5 innings, but a guy walking is 100% on base, a guy making contact is only 35% on base. Jeurys needs to not be skittish about contact.
Let's see how hard Betances is throwing this week. Even if 95, if he has that wicked slider back and under control, he could end up doing fine. If not, Sandy may be eating his contract before too long. I always remember when I first watched Betances against the Mets in inter-league games throw that slider, thinking it reminded me of Bob Gibson's. My reaction when I watched both of them throw it? HOW THE HECK DO YOU HIT THAT?
Reese - Wilpon and Brodie hired Jeremy. Gotta give them credit there.
I like Hefner's Seinfeld approach: If everything you've done up until now is wrong then the opposite must be right. Makes sense to me and don't you love the depth we have now that was NEVER there before. LGM!
It's not surprising that the Wilpons hired Hefner. Reunions were very big for them (qualified or not). Hefner came inexpensively as he was coming from a smaller budget and role in Minnesota. I'm glad thus far he's reaching some folks (though not all of them). I have nothing against reunions when the person brought back makes sense. The jury is still out on Hefner.
Barnes is out of options. Either he makes the roster or has to be put on waivers.
It's all about managing options in the bullpen, retaining talent in a revolving door situation. Sandy is loathe to let guys walk away. For those reasons, Barnes should stick. If it doesn't work out, next man up. Meanwhile, maybe Gsellman can figure something out in Syracuse and possibly give us a good six weeks sometime down the line.
Jimmy
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