Good morning.
There's been a lineup change here.
I have moved my Thursday Observations post here to Tuesday.
Sorry for the bouncing ball.
First Montas, now Manaea. Hope we have
run out of starters with a last name that starts with M.
THIS is why you come to camp with as
many guys you can find that can throw 80+ pitches a game.
Especially if most of them are over 30.
The Manaea one brings question marks to
me. You bring in Johan Santana to work with him and THIS is the result?
So. For now. You got Senga, Peterson, and
Megill, and Blackburn, Canning, Holmes, and Kranick all fighting it out for the
SP4 and SP5 slots. Not exactly the 1971
Baltimore rotation.
One thing. The talk of camp is the
nastiness coming out of the arm of Brandon Sproat. His new pitch, the
2-seam sinking fastball, has potentially made him a more dangerous future
piece.
Too early? Yeah, it still is, but if one
more arm goes down... well... who the heck knows?
As for outside, the available starters still
unsigned do not jump out at you so the Mets might want to make a serious run at
Dylan
Cease. They really only have
to protect Sproat, which leaves a projected offer of:
1. Jonah Tong or Nolan McLean
2.
Drew Gilbert or Ronald Hernandez
3.
Jett Williams or Jesus Baez
4.
Brett Baty or Nick Morabito
Psst. Did you notice the inning Mack
Darkhorse Candidate Douglas Orellana pitched yesterday? One
inning, three strikeouts. Just sayin…
As all of us know, the Mets spring schedule started this past Saturday and I
will share my thoughts on what goes on in these spring games. I also will try
and pick up the pace and write more than I have recently. The posts may be
shorter but they will continue to contain the kind of content ya'll are used
to.
Carlos Mendoza mentioned this past Sunday that he wants Brett Baty to lower his bat trajectory and concentrate hitting line drives rather than going for the fences. It’s obvious Mendoza is looking for Baty to fit in somewhere while, at the same time, sending signs that this team will get its power from other bats. Good move in my opinion, but I still can’t see how Baty is going to fit in to this team. Other than a AAA third baseman waiting for Mark Vientos to either stumble or go down with an injury.
I’ve said this before… the Mets have
enough second baseman and Luisangel Acuna doubles as the backup shortstop. Baty needs to get his bat
in order while in Syracuse, get some reps on first, and wait for the team to
trade him where he can play regularly. He’s both talented and a nice guy and he
deserves to play. Somewhere.
Let's revisit CF Simon Juan. He's 19. He doesn’t turn 20 until July. He stands six
feet. He is projected to stick in center. In 2023 he had two homers for the FCL
Mets. In 2024 he had seven for the same team. Sunday he hit a 3-run homer that
came down just outside of Baltimore. His OPS went up .200 from the previous
season. Forget the $75,000 signing bonus. That’s chump change these days. But
it does look like this commitment is beginning to pay dividends.
Look for Juan to open up this spring in the St. Lucie outfield. The
assumption is he would finish the season in Brooklyn. That would leave 2026 for
stints in both Binghamton and Syracuse. Past that is all gravy in my boat.
Sadly, we need to revisit Nick Madrigal.
Remember when the Mets said they had big plans for LuisAngel Acuna this season? Well, it looks like that’s pretty much
guaranteed now that Nicky boy’s left shoulder went pop.
Oh, and there could be another contracted infielder now in play. Here’s
what Anthony DiComo said about him on Sunday:
Mets: INF Jared Young
The Mets signed Young off a successful half-season stint in Korea, where
he slugged .660 over a 38-game sample. The 29-year-old isn’t quite as snug a
roster fit as Nick Madrigal, who could back up Francisco Lindor at shortstop
and garner some second-base reps as a right-handed foil to Jeff McNeil. But
Young is versatile as well, with significant experience at both corner infield
and outfield spots. He’s always had power, including two home runs in 22 career
Major League games. With a strong spring, Young could win the lone Mets bench
job up for grabs.
Johan Santana
On working with Sean Manaea in
camp, who idolized Santana while he was growing up:
"It was an honor, it's pretty cool -
great kid. Whatever it takes to get him better and help him"
Carlos Mendosa
On writing
in Francisco Lindor, Juan Soto and Pete Alonso on the lineup card:
"It's
a good feeling."
Juan Soto
On the
reception of the fans towards him in Port St. Lucie:
"It's
been really cool to see them enjoying the moment and enjoying this time. First
year with the Mets and everything, it's going to be unforgettable."
Codify @CodifyBaseball
Postseason
wins since MLB went to 30 teams in 1998:
113 NYY 77 HOU
73 LAD 69 STL 68 BOS
50 SFG 49 ATL 47 PHI 35 CLE NYM
Sandy Alcántara's fastball on Sunday:
98 99 99 99 99 99 99 98 98 99 99 99 99
MLB Network @MLBNetwork
Career milestone watches to follow in 2025
Manny Machado - 2,000 H
Kyle Schwarber - 300 HR
Bryce Harper - 1,000 RBI
Trea Turner - 300 SB
Justin Verlander & Max Scherzer -
3,500 K
Chris Sale & Charlie Morton -
150 W
Terry Francona - 2,000 W
Clayton Kershaw - 3,000 K
Jim
Koenigsberger @Jimfrombaseball
The first
time the word "f***" was ever heard on television, was during the
broadcasts of Brooklyn Dodgers games on CBS, 1948
28 comments:
Pete Alonso 300 homers? Only needs 74 this year to do it.
I think the Stearns plan is: keep all top pitching prospects, and promote Sproat, Tong, and McLean next year for $2 million in salary, and sign Vlad. You can trade Tidwell. And Hamel.
I’d replace Madrigal internally. Baty or Acuna.
Keep Santana away! If he says, let me work with Senga, just say no.
Manaea? I don’t know why he didn’t just shut it down for a week, and see if that cured the discomfort. No heroes, please, unless it is October.
Lindor was interviewed and with a smile, made it clear that playing every game would make him very happy. Pete and Soto are also guys who hate taking days off. 486 combined game starts from those 3 would be quite welcome. Note that Pete doesn't get strained lats or obliques. And he was side-slammed some years ago and his vehicle rolled 3 times. No time missed, certainly no broken shoulder. That is a great asset. Durability.
Your pitching plan is great on paper but so was last year's with Scott, Hamel, and Vasil
Tidwell went scoreless in first inning yesterday pumping 99
THAT'S why I want him in the pen
Don't put Pete is the same category as the rest. Polar 🐻❄ don't get injured.
I consider him a cross between a tank and a rhinoceros
If either Baty or Young wins the final bench spot, who is the backup SS?
And this is why Acuna HAS to make this team
Good morning Mack! I’m trying to plan my week, so I’ll keep note. Simon Juan was paid almost $2MM, not $75K. Much is expected, but his very slow start (see Colin Houck) had him off the radar quickly.
That outfielder they got yeaterday from the Cubs could be Marte’s replacement when he gets traded. Great power, but a hole in the bat. See David Arthur Kingman.
Acuna can go to Syracuse. But, if Acuna’s winter ball stats don’t count why should Young’s Korea ball stats count?
Also, I too am concerned about the lack of quality in the rotation. Megill is ok, but not both Canjing and Blackburn… one only. Senga, Peterson, Holmes, Megill, Canning/Blackburn? Oh boy!
You are right about Juan. My bad.
Gonna take a deep dive into that new outfielder on Sunday
If I was Stearns, I would deal with this post haste
Hope that Simon kid turns out to be a good Juan. That Manaea injury and all we ever hear is how great it is that players come to camp in such great shape yeah right it's those dam guaranteed contracts because when you get paid hurt or not it's a different mind set. Did you hear about Stanton's elbows and wonder why it took till spring to address this? LOL great life to be a major league ballplayer.
Baty is a tough fit for the backup IF spot. Not only is he not believable as a backup SS, but he’s a LH bat, same as McNeil, which doesn’t give him a path to semi-regular AB’s there. Acuña is a RHH and can play SS but I’d bet they’d much rather see him get the experience of 300 AB’s in AAA in the first half of the season, than 100 or fewer riding the Mets’ bench.
Sproat with a new, nasty pitch? He’s a guy to watch this spring and, as Mack noted, with the injuries, could force himself into the rotation on or near OD.
This new OF had 30+ HR 2x in the minors, has played CF (so he’s not a butcher out there), a 60-grade arm, and he’s only 24. Definitely worth a flyer.
Adam, I read about his lack of range. If he can stand in CF, then he is an upgrade over Siri and Taylor.
The Player's Union has created a situation in which teams can not dictate anymore what a player does in the off-season. Branch Rickey is dead,
hint on Sunday article... taking reps at first this spring
Adam, Hojo manned SS for a while. Asastarter. Baty would be backing up a guy at SS whenever comes out of games.
Who never, not whenever.
That’s interesting.
I mean, since I don’t think that they want to take Acuña north, it’s likely that whoever ends up in that last roster spot will be emergency SS only (they would maybe bring someone else/Acuña up to start in case of injury). But also, Baty is a LH bat, as is Jared Young, which doesn’t really fit for what they need. Maybe they do have Acuña ride the bench. I just don’t think it’s their preferred path.
Adam, I think the Mets would want to see Acuna's batting average and OBP jump 40-50 points in AAA. He was .258/.299 in Syracuse. That frankly is weak.
If they are going to start Acuna in Syracuse, then why wouldn't they sign Iglesias. I thought the reason was that he would block the prospects.
I seem to be a minority on this site when it comes to Acuna's role on opening day.
I have him as a sure fire memeber of the 26
I thought that myself. But I get the impression they want him to get steady playing time. The first 2 months, barring injury, he would only play once or twice a week. I think they really need to see how he handles CF.
If Baty stands in CF, he'll have to hit 50 bombs to make up all the runs he created for the other team by being a statue in the field. Siri is a weak bat but he is an elite CF
I strongly think Stearns wanted Acuna in AAA, for more productivity development, and wanted to use Madrigal as the Mets' cheaper utility guy than Iglesias. POOF! We'll see how the spring games go.
But Acuna or whoever is in that role (Baty?) won't play that much. Absent another injury. Acuna could have a slight edge if they want to go lefty/righty with McNeil at 2B.
Time for the best contestant to beat out the other contestants.
Jon, I was speaking of Acuna getting reps in CF...not Baty. All winter we heard them speaking about Acuna's versatility.
The only position I am comfortable with for Baty is 3B. I also have said if I were him I would pick up a 1B mitt.
Joe and Mack,
I think Acuna makes the 26 man roster out of Spring training. We need his speed and defense.
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