Conforto Strikes Again
Bringing in two players are the Mets, fellas named Baez and Williams, and presumably they will be activated today.
So what do you do? Send down Banda for Williams?
I guess so. Banda had one fine inning, one poor inning last night. 33 pitches. He needs to improve. AAA is the place.
For Baez? Do what?
Send Drury down? He is the most scorching bat for a non-scorching team. Keep him. Unless you’re stupid.
Nimmo needs IL? Unlikely, but if so, that would be a temporary answer.
Guillorme? Well, they are bringing in an infielder in Baez, so that’s a real maybe.
Or…DFA Conforto? WHAT? OK, swap him for somebody. I’m sure he’ll immediately hit like it is 2020 again, then, when he hit .322.
But even that .322 was a fluke. He hit .412 BABIP in 2020, you see.
That was about 25 points higher in terms of BABIP than ANYONE ELSE in baseball. Unsustainable. Smart people said it wouldn’t last. Prescient they were.
This year’s BABIP? .167 points lower, at .245.
So why not move him out?
Unless it is a cheap one year re-signing for 2022, I do not want to see him in a Mets uniform next season. Change is good. Do you want him to stay? Be honest. Please, if so, let me know why.
The Mets’ offense perennially under-performs…and Conforto is much of the sand clogging those gears. Last night’ 6-2 loss was not aided by Conforto’s 0 for 4 with 3 Ks, dropping him to .199.
ONE NINETY NINE.
Last year’s .322 was also a fluke, in the sense that you thought “Wow, .322!” But he had just 31 RBIs in 233 plate appearances, way below what one might expect given that average. This year, in 258 PAs, a crushingly low 24 RBIs. So that is 55 RBIs in 491 PAs in 2020 and 2021. Simply irreplaceable…who else could give you 55 RBIs?
This year’s slug %? A gaggingly low .329. Meanwhile, Itsy bitsy slap-hitting Wilfredo Tovar in AAA has a .413 slug %. Conforto ought to be ashamed.
Why not make a change? Move on. Do it now.
Do a post-deadline player move of some sort to replace him. Oh, I know you’ll say, “we need him for the playoffs.” Without Jake deGrom for another 5 weeks or more, the playoffs are in great jeopardy. Baez or no Baez. If you possibly can, move him out and somehow get another quality pitcher in.
Conforto? He is a bum.
I heard he is one for his last 34 against lefties. Kind of begs the question, doesn’t it? Why is he ever hitting against lefties? Just 8 for 66 in 2021, with 3 RBIs, vs. lefties. Strictly platoon him, at a minimum. Career vs lefties? .220, with a .380 slug %. Again, how can one possibly replace such prodigious production? Where are the Analytics folks? This is a glaring flaw. Let me make the introduction: “Ass, this is bench. Why don’t you two get to know one another better?”
No, they won’t DFA Conforto. There would be howls and screams. But, for Pete’s sake, at least sit him for a few games AND strictly platoon him. We do, after all, have Kevin Pillar. At least he’s not a wimp.
I’m almost 68 now. I have increasingly little patience for Mets failures. Injuries. No hitting with RISP, like it’s a Mets badge of honor.
Mack no doubt has seen my demeanor change in my writing over the past 10 years.
My brother Steve is 53. He really worries he’ll never see another Met World Series win in his lifetime. Me, too. The Dodgers made huge playoff-focused moves. They are driven. The Mets? Much more timid. Conforto should have been dealt. Addition by subtraction.
The Mets, so far, are miraculously in first place despite scoring 1.75 runs less per game than the Astros all season. The Mets are 29th in scoring. Baez could be a catalyst.
But first place is in real jeopardy.
Conforto IS an albatross. DO SOMETHING.
11 comments:
The biggest problem is that the Mets have no one to step in and play RF if they want to bench Conforto. McKinney? Gone to LA. Carlos Rincon the player they got for McKinney? At Double A - having a good season but would like to see him do it at AAA before coming to NY.
Brett Baty or Mark Vientos - Vientos would be the closest bat (20 HRs) but would need way more time in the OF and so far it has been all in LF.
What about Khalil Lee the Syracuse RF? I like Khalil a lot but I am not sure he is ready. He struggled when he was called up this year and at AAA this season - 38 hits, 42 walks, 62 Ks; I think he needs more time in AAA.
So why didn't the Mets try to get an outfielder yesterday (Hey the Braves picked up 3!)? Good question.
Not true....put Pillar in center and move Nimmo to RF or LF and have Dom in the other corner....Dom may not have experience in RF but if you put Nimmo in LF you have 2 outfielders in their natural positions. I have always supported Conforto but he is done....he is killing all rallies. I appreciate his defense but it does not make up for the games he has cost us or may have cost us....he killed the 1st inning tempo yesterday. Even if he had hit into a double play we would have scored another run....and he looks terrible. Why not let Drury play RF every day and see what happens. He has experience in the outfield. He may not be as good as conforto but so what...his offense will be better. What makes it even worse is that they keep batting Conforto in the middle of the lineup...today he is going to bat 5th again. Why? It turns my stomach now when he comes up to bat with runners on base or in a close game. Sorry Michael but its time to take a seat.
Conforto must sit, I agree. Awful. Well summarized by Anonymous. Situations like the year when Ike Davis was dismal well into June, and ended up with 32 homers, are the rare exception.
We can coddle Conforto to a 3rd place finish or cut his time, and let him hit 8th.
Sadly, McNeil has his iffy leg, because in July, he is .365 with a .514 OBP. He could have replaced Conforto in the outfield.
Again, he is hitting .199 heading into August. Egads. Don’t coddle him…sit him. They won’t cut him. Perhaps they should.
Truth be told.
I am so very tired of watching this team's field manager make so many silly decisions with what pitchers come into Mets games and when that happens.
Banda is not an MLB pitcher by anyone's definition, neither was Szapucki or Klidehoff or whatever his name is. I just don't understand why he keeps putting MiLB pitchers into the Mets games at all, let alone in crucial situations no less. This has got to be rectified and really soon if the Mets want to just even make the playoffs.
Micahel Conforto
If this team had been sharper, Michael would have been traded yesterday, for anything. The reason is he is not as good as he had been here and has himself admitted to being sick with Covid 19 twice. He just is not himself this season.
It is obvious that it could be impossible to resign him at the end of this season because he is nowhere near his normal level of play, and his current contract is way out of line for his 2021 performance. I like the guy a lot and had been very good, but sometimes things change and a team has to be able to see this.
Scott Boras, his agent, will demand a long term/high priced contract for Michael based upon passed seasons, and of course some team will come up with it too. But it most certainly should not be these NY Mets, although if history dictates they possibly could.
My point here is that the Mets should have been able to see this now and just tried to get something for him for the remainder of this season before he walks. Then move on without him. They have an ample number of decent outfielders to do this.
But they missed the boat here based upon foolishness and honoring what Michael once had been to this team. I understand this but it was to me the wrong move.
Michael Conforto was never a tier-one star level player though, but he is at current being paid like one anyway.
Cutting bait was the right call here, and then go with LF Dominic Smith CF Nimmo RF McNeil. Now with the strikeout king coming in at second base from Chicago, McNeil or Davis could be without a chance to start here with these NY Mets. See my point.
Must be time to get ready for football season soon. Preseason starts in a couple of weeks. Just a series of typical bad moves by Mets management once again. It goes on and on...
I am available Steve, and will live orange and blue, sleep in the dugout even, if it helps turn all this around! It's almost like getting root canal lately watching this team with these kinds of dumb repetitive decisions.
Ugh already!
Banda types get used when a team tries to get by. A Steve Cohen team is supposed to not have to resort to marginal players. But I guess he is not up to competing seriously with LAD. A SHAME.
Keep Conforto and let be leave at the end of the year and get a draft choice.
D.J., thanks for your comment. Whatt if he refuses to leave LOL.
But you make a valid point there. My "DFA recommendation" is hyped, but in a real world, he'd be closer to being DFA'd than re-sigend.
After Sat nite game, do you bench 11 for 15 Drury for icy Conforto? Not me.
Post a Comment