Good morning, Steve.
I was always told that you can’t address someone by their first name unless you have met them. I haven’t had that pleasure with you, but since we have “talked” privately online, I thing that counts, in these times for meeting that criteria.
I’m first going to address what I am NOT going to do in this letter. There are enough armchair General Managers out there chanting for you to bring up these two bat studs that are dominating at the AAA level, but my guess is you and your GM (see… no first name used here) are giving the grownups on your current 26-man roster the month of May to get their game in shape before you sit down and decide who will represent this team at the plate come June.
I’ve been in the Mets clubhouses and have witnessed first hand bad chemistry between the players. This always bleeds out to the field. You don’t have that right now. You have a group of grown men that like and respect the persons on both sides of their locker. Disrupting that with quick changes can create a cancer in the clubhouse that will be hard to either remove or control for the remainder of the season.
So, I’m going to leave the bats to you and your GM. I’m also sure that the fans will see both Mark Vientos and Ronny Mauricio at some point in this season. I am also sure this will be done in a timely manner and will be done in a way
that even their closest friend on the team will understand why those players had to either be returned, released, or designated.
I AM going to address what I have always said in the past is the key to success for a team that wants to play playoff baseball.
Sure, power bats, decent amounts of runs per game produced, and team defense (especially from the “middle fielders”) means a bunch, but, as best as I have observed since the Mets have come into existence, if you prevent your opponent from scoring more runs than you have, you… well, you get the picture.
You do this in three ways…. starters, middle relievers, and back-end relievers.
You assembled one of the top five rotations for opening day. Then the fan was hit with multiple injuries, while others had unforeseen control problems. You win enough games to get to the playoff if starters give up only 2.5 runs per every six innings they pitch. That, and first inning runs still need to be addressed, but I see that self correcting now… Verlander is Verlander. Max seems to have corrected himself after tumultuous beginning that included both a suspension and neck spasms. Senga is adjusting to the new ball. Cookie comes back this week. And Megill is a fully capably SP5.
Not discussing the spilled wine named Diaz. Even after that disaster, you and the people around you have produced one of the top back-end relievers in baseball. Drew Smith, Adam Ottovino, and David Robertson have done everything you and your pitching coach have asked them to. They have held leads, Period.
But this leaves the one area that has dragged this team down in this early season. Middle relief. They don’t hold leads and they have increased deficits. THIS is the problem you can immediately address internally, as well as begin to target certain relievers that will become available during the upcoming trade period, that can be obtained without losing your top prospects.
If you don’t do this… in my opinion… your team will not make the playoffs this season.
Steve, I’ve taken up enough of time today. Please consider what I have outlined here and say hola to the Mrs.
Mack
12 comments:
Well said. Hope you get his attention.
I think they are in a tough spot bc they have aging players in the decline - or it’s just a small sample and they need to wait it out - but on the meantime their kids (Mauricio and vientos) are raking at the highest level - so the call to inject the youth makes sense but as with everything that is baseball patience is the key so I do agree with your assessment Mack- as for middle relief is Pat mahomes available ? I guess my point is what team has good middle relief ? Aren’t they middle bc they are less trusted ? It’s not an excuse I just don’t see very many options on the farm- hartwig has come back to earth and many of the highly touted relievers are in low ball. I see your point - Mets signed these vets to protect the development of the kids but if the losing continues at some point you’d just rather see the kids develop then vets struggle
Mack,
I'm happy you wrote something like this and got it all out there. We know Steve and the front office are not oblivious to what is going on, on the field, and on Mets Twitter. I 100% agree there is no chemistry issue in the slightest with this team. They all get along very well, but I would not be surprised if we see a blow up in the clubhouse sooner than later. Everyone has to be pissed off right now and for good reason. The pitching has been brutally injured and inconsistent which is simply unpredictable.
As for the offense, you have to think it gets better than this. And middle relief, yikes. Nothing to say about that, just have to throw stuff at the wall until it works.
Hoping for better days... LFGM
Middle relief isn’t the problem! Have you been watching the games or you another expert who thinks Vogelbach is a righty? Have you noticed the starting rotation is a disaster? Maybe that leads to an over exposed middle relief. Have you noticed a lack of power outside of Alonso? Finally have you seen how many players are hitting in the 230s or lower with little power? It’s no wonder they can’t beat the poorer clubs in baseball. Maybe the starters bounce back,Baty and Alvarez develop and Vientos and Mauricio finally get called up and prove they’re ML players. A lot of maybes.
I thought this piece was reasoned and logical. Middle relief is certainly a big part of the problem. The lack of innings from starters and Buck's adversity to overusing his best relievers has overexposed some guys. I wonder if those of you more expert in evaluating prospects than I am see anyone in the minors who could help this season. I'm sure they're going to trade for at least one more reliever at the deadline - unless they keep playing this poorly, in which case they should consider selling. Of biggest help in the immediate future would be getting better starts throughout the rotation. While I have hope that David Peterson could still be an asset in the future if he can figure out his current problems, he really needs to be pitching out of the spotlight in Syracuse until he does.
Nice piece Mack, seriously.
Bring up Lavender and Walker. For God's sake release Tommy Hunter. It looks like Tampa knew exactly what they were doing when they traded Raley to us.
Dan is th man. Walker and Lavender are rapidly earning majorleaguecall ups.
Technically I met him so can I call him Steve!? I think as the weeks go on if the starters can begin pitching more into the 6th inning things might slow down and more wins might come.
It's Simple Watson
Injuries to older veteran starters with some innings already on their arms.
Cure
Getting them healed up and strong again. 100%. Time.
Bullpen
I concur with Mack that Drew Smith, Adam Ottovino, and David Robertson have been excellent overall later innings. And these three are our true bullpen strength, even without Edwin Diaz still in a legcast and metal forearm crutches. Love that WBC stuff!
So, it is the middle relief that can always be upgraded here.
I like this idea.
Eventually perhaps: Raley, Lucchesi, Josh Walker (3 lefties), and possibly Jose Butto if he can add just one more decent outpitch to his repertoire. I bet he can.
Backup Starters:
RSP Mike Vasil, LSP Nathan Lavender (2 Yutes/2 Big Game Winners in da' footure. Quote me on this okay.)
Field/Batting
I am a realist first and foremost. If something isn't working, I say so. I don't pretend everything is fine when it is not. This is not working. It's like the NYK without a 20 pt. a game big center. Duh!
1B Alonso (fine) 2B McNeil (fine) SS Mauricio* 3B Baty* LF Vientos* CF Cedrola* RF Nimmo C Alvarez/Sanchez*
Know it. Go with it. This Mets team is sucking for air right now. It needs a change in thought most of all.
Mets starting pitchers have thrown less than 6 innings in 36 of 43 games this year. I think the need for middle relief is pretty glaring. Don’t think Steve or anyone in the front office has missed this one. There just isn’t anyone offering middle relief for a reasonable price.
It is true that middle relief can improve the team, as the starting pitching just isn't going to hold up. The question is, where does it come from? There are few major league teams that are willing to part with their middle relievers because everyone is in a similar boat - injuries and arms tiring faster with the pitch clock. Help must come from within - but are our minor league starters ready for a MLB middle relief role? Time will tell. I am confident that the Mets front office is studying this hard.
I also hope that the Mets' bats, which have been much better for almost every player in the lineup, begin to churn out some hits. We need to win some 8-5 games.
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