Jose Siri - pre-Mets - had a reputation of top tier "Juan Lagares type" outfield defender, with decent power, and a horrific strikeout rate.
He hit a horrific .187 in extended 2024 play, with 170 Ks in 448 ABs.
That is a 38% K rate. Horrific. Sorry, I am using that word a lot.
Perhaps, though, Siri came up big with the bat in the playoffs?
Not exactly - in his career in the playoffs, 3 for 26, no walks, 9 Ks.
No wonder his teams failed in the post-season.
So...Stearns signed him for his great glove.
But I frankly have to ask David:
"Are you Siri-ous?"
Well, the Mets do have their lab.
It can fix literally anything.
But...Can Siri Frankenstein be re-created?
Apparently not.
Hey, early spring started out well for Siri, as the pitchers were easing in and prospect hurlers were toeing the mounds.
He was 3 for his first 10 - 3 HRs - and 3 walks and just 3 Ks in 13 PAs.
I thought the lab had concocted something amazing, new and nice.
But thereafter, through this past Sunday?
Siri is just 1 for 21, 2 walks, 10 Ks. The lab malfunctioned.
Yessirree, Siri has been a sorry figure at the plate.
If he was on an opposing NL East team, a guy who, between last year and this spring in nearly 500 PAs, was hitting .180 and fanning 40% of the time, I’d be thinking, “Great, a real weak spot.” But it’s OUR weak spot.
Seeing the above, and having seen the foibles of a similarly-skilled former strikeout king Met, Keon Broxton, after Keon was a Stearns player in Milwaukee and with the Mets and two other teams in 2019, Broxton fanned (are you sitting down?) 82 times in 175 PAs.
Stearns last year signed Trayce Thompson, another strong defensive outfielder who, pre-Mets in 2022 and 2023, fanned a horrible (there's that word again) 170 times in 438 MLB PAs, a 39% rate. He never reached the majors on 2024, thankfully.
But Stearns decided to make the same exact mistake by signing Jose Siri. I have to hope and pray that if Siri sticks around for a while, he rarely gets the opportunity to bring the bat to the plate.
Why?
He hits like a pitcher. And…
Pitchers struck out (when they hit pre-DH) pretty much like Keon, Trayce and Jose. Weakly.
That's why.
Defensive replacement and pinch runner - that's all. I'm dead Siri-ous.
I'd much rather "rush" Nick Morabito to the majors if it is an outfielder that is needed. Nick is better IMO - right now. Even if High A is his level of development through 2024. Remember that he wasn't in charge of the promotion decisions, keeping him out of AA in 2024.
Nick has been in 2 official spring games, one being the Prospect game. He is 3 for 5, 2 steals, no Ks. Siri in his last 21 at bats has ONE hit and ELEVEN Ks. You pick one.
(Jett? He's fanning too much, needs more time down under).
It won't be Morabito because baseball is too structured in the 21st century. Ed Kranepool was 1 for 6 as a 17 year old for the Mets in 1962, fanning once. At age 18, he was up 294 times and hit .209, and at age 19, he was up 461 times and hit .257. Morabito currently by comparison is almost 22.
But it is 2025, and teams don't do that “call up the 17 year old stuff” anymore. Guys it seems now have to be 45 years old before being promoted. Given that is the case, I would demote Siri and keep Joey Meneses on the team.
Joey has played the outfield in his career. A lot, as in 468 games in the outfield, to be precise.
No, he's not the fielder Siri is. Joey, tho', is a true professional utility hitter.
Naturally, Ronny Mauricio and Drew Gilbert would have been ready to assume the Siri roster spot, but I just came to realize those two are most likely a figment of my imagination and do not really exist. "Fake news".
I ask you: Do you have actual proof they still exist?
I lack such proof, as I am just seeing some circumstantial evidence, like a coach here or there, saying they are "progressing".
I think they actually do still exist, but are stranded on a harsh planet named Rehab in a galaxy far away from Florida ball games, a planet that even Elon Musk's ships cannot yet retrieve them from.
Hey, they got Matt Damon back from Mars once, right?
There's gotta be hope for those two "rumored" individuals.
Especially if the Lab can re-create ligaments, tendons, and hamstrings.
Jesse Winker left with leg cramps on Sunday and said afterwards he was OK. I just hope it wasn't an AI recording spreading disinformation. and then we soon find out that he too was exiled to the planet Rehab.
Meanwhile, back here on planet earth, on good old terra firma, through Sunday, the "St Lucie NY Mets" from Queens by far had the most woeful offensive production of any MLB team.
Thru Sunday, hitting .210; heck, I used to bench press more than 210.
What up wit' dat?
20 comments:
Tom, I've said this from the beginning. If Siri is anything more than a defensive replacement, we are in trouble.
Now is the time to see if Acuna can handle CF.
Broxton, Thompson, now Siri…strikeouts below 30% (still very high) should cognitively be the limit for any hires. Visualize a hitter that…just…keeps…striking…out. It is painful to experience, as a fan. When I watched Broxton, I couldn’t wait for them to finally dismiss him, for that reason.
I think back to when they had Jake Mangum, and never promoted him before he left. He was a strong defender who could also hit and limit strikeouts. Mangum this spring? 12 for 28, 3 doubles, 2 HRs, 9 RBIs, 2 walks, just 3 Ks. The anti-Siri.
Tom being Tom
In fact, Joe being Joe
We all knew going in that the Taylor/Siri platoon was being done to protect Soto’s weakness in covering the right center
Nothing new here.
Let's move on.
Acuña will never play center in Queens until he plays it in camp.
I'm fine with the defensive alignment in center
Mangum hit .317/.358/.442 (126-for-398) with 30 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 56 RBI and 20 steals in 104 games for Triple-A Durham last season.
If the Rays don’t add him to their OD roster, trade for him and cut Siri.
I hate the strikeouts, love the defense. I don't know which one wins.
I originally thought Siri was a great pickup and maybe that lab and the Mets coaches could do something for him. He has to show a lot more than he has shown in ST to get a lot of at bats. Can he bunt?
I'd like to see them reaquire deGrom to play CF. At least Jake can hit.
Ray, a no doubter, and Jake has a better arm in CF, too.
R69, some guys’ flaws can’t be fixed. Remember Champ Stuart? Excessive Ks are very hard to fix, just based on my seeing those guys not fix them when it was their glaring flaw.
I guess when he "asked Siri" for advise on making better contact she just said forget it. I often wonder why with a player like Mangum PI he never got a shot with us almost like why didn't the powers that be let Lugo start? Also why isn't the Jett playing CF this spring or did I miss something? Kong is the perfect comp but of course he could hit 30 or more HRs and Siri can't or won't get enough AB's.
Gary, good one liner.
Mangum to me was always a headscratcher - seemed a solid OF 4 or OF 5.
Kingman was a true contact hitter compared to Siri, and put him in a hitters' park, and he was quite a hitter. Had he not gotten hurt that one year in Chicago, he might have hit 60 rather than 48. He hit in Warning Track Out Shea Stadium
Gary, I also would have preferred the Mets sign Iglesias and give him an outfield glove, rather than sign Siri. Siri is making $2.4 million, Iglesias $1.5 million. Siri in 2024 hit .187, while Iggy hit ONE HUNDRED FIFTY POINTS HIGHER. I just pulled my headscratcher out of the closet.
I felt like I was the only one who was disappointed when they got rid of Mangum. I’m rooting for him to make it.
Adam, I wish they kept Mangum. In AAA last year and this spring combined, .320. Siri over the same period (admittedly mostly against tougher pitching) just .180. No contest.
Also, look at my comment to Gary above: "I also would have preferred the Mets sign Iglesias and give him an outfield glove, rather than sign Siri. Siri is making $2.4 million, Iglesias $1.5 million. Siri in 2024 hit .187, while Iggy hit ONE HUNDRED FIFTY POINTS HIGHER. I just pulled my headscratcher out of the closet."
(glad we moved on...)
If your justification for Siri's 0-14 in the last 7 days is that his early hitting was attributable to pitching not up to speed or below MLB level, then I say, "Uh-oh, what about Baty's 2-12?"
I'm fine using Siri as a defensive replacement. His glove is not the question. At this point in his career, he is what he is...garbage offensively.
Fingers crossed one of the kiddies steps up by All-Str break
Paul the first thing I look at with Baty is Ks - and he is fanning only about once every 9 plate appearances. He's fine, IMO.
JoeP, the problem with Siri is, if he is a 5th OF, you can avoid damage. If someone gets hurt, you just have to hope he hits above his weight when he is pressed into action more.
I am really writing this article knowing that in the heavens, it will trigger a miracle and he will become a .300 hitter.
If I'm looking for a miracle, I'm wishing I wake up in bed with Cindy Crawford (Age Appropriate)
So is Billy
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