For various personal reasons, I have decided to limit my highlight thoughts to a weekly feature.
For now, that will be on Fridays at 6am. It will outline my thoughts on this team after the past week's play.
Speaking of budding stars, you have to be impressed with the way both Carson Benge and AJ Ewing are carrying themselves. Obviously, Luis Robert Jr. is the 2026 centerfielder, but Benge is looking more like a major league keeper this season. He made his case even stronger on Monday when he got on base three times.
As for both Benge and Ewing, I'm very impressed with both of them.
Francisco Alvarez looks like a completely different person with a bat in his hands. Love the new light version of his body. Still swinging too aggressively but spray hitting rather than swinging for the fences (of course, as soon as I typed this, he hits a 439 foot bomb). If he keeps this up he could develop into a. 300+ hitter over the season. He kept rolling away throughout the week, finishing it at .429/1.181-OPS (though he did strikeout three times yesterday).
Don't get too excited about what the Mets did to the Yankees on Sunday. Most of the Mets runs were scored against Ryan Weathers and Dom Hamel, two pitches not high on the Yanks board.
The deeper we get into spring training the more I think that Videl Brujan will break camp as the primary fill-in for Francisco Lindor at short, and then remain on the 26 as one of the utility infielders for the Mets.
Monday brought the starter that Mets suits say has the best command of any pitcher in the chain... Zach Thornton. Problem Monday was his pitch count in his first two innings. 37. All his problems were secondary pitches. Ended the day at 0.00 so there was that. Love this guy.
Tell ya what... Ryan Clifford ain't no Carson Benge. Don't care he produced a 2-run-double on Monday. Everything else he has done this spring has been meh. (.053/.322-OPS)
A little worried about Nolan McLean at this point. I went to Elon Musk's AI GROK last night and typed in "is vertigo curable"? The first word in the answer was... NO.
If you keep reading, you will find there are various forms of vertigo with various medical conditions. Some are minor with little or no return of symptoms after the first reported. Others range up to daily visits to the hurt locker. None of those challenging days allow for one to pitch a major league baseball game, so McLean is far behind the spring build up his fellow Mets rotation mates are at. I hope this one-time vertigo diagnosis doesn't become career threatening.
His first outing finally came this past Tuesday. First inning he strikes out the side, but that's followed with two more innings, two walks, a HBP, two homers, and three runs, all of which has left a "dizzying effect " on me at this point in 2026.
Also, can't say that I'm impressed early with Sean Manaea (0-2, 6.35-ERA). I've said from the get-go that there may be a problem here, but thank Gawd they got Tobias Meyers 1.08-ERA) thrown in on that trade they made. You may just see a flip-flop of SP5 and SP6 here.
Both David Peterson and Christian Scott made their mark on outing #1. Both in the 50 pitch range, though Peterson produced a better K/BB ratio. The 50 pitch range in the first outing just goes to prove how much winter work has been done this off-season under the direction of the new pitching coach team.
And lastly... the first 12 at-bats by Jorge Polanco are sure impressive... .333, 2-HR, 1.300-OPS.
Summary -
More projected 26-man roster players being played... and others that were already being played, now being played longer... Benge getting lion share of rightfield work... Mauricio getting major exposure in the infield... all projected rotation pieces now being pitched... projected top of the lineup bats waking up... no injuries... not one error from projected starters...
To me, ahead of schedule.
16 comments:
Mack, a weekly breath of freaky air.
That said, I googled this about vertigo: Most cases are mild and brief and are due to changes in the inner ear (the vestibular system). Structures in this system sense the position and movement of the head. Hopefully, “mild and brief” is all it is.
Thornton the next Frank Viola?
Baty is looking good. Fingers and toes crossed.
A little stone cracked my windshield a while ago. A while ago, Sean Manaea’s fastball would have, too. Now, no chance. 88.8?
Polanco is changing his name to Pounding Pete Polanco.
Ok Mack…
1. Manaea wants grace, but he is full of shit. Senga and everyone else is up to speed but Manaea wants to wait until it counts? Two starts at most, then switch him and Myers.
2. Semien was the cost of getting moving Nimmo’s contract and making a spot for Benge. If Semien is relegated to the bench, maybe Polanco or Bichette plays second base and Baty the other spot. I would give Semien at least until Memorial Day.
3. I wish Dom Hamel well and success.
4. I wonder if Clifford is swinging for homeruns… I hope not.
5. LuisAngel Acuna is batting .440, and facing MLB pitchers. Is anyone worried?
6. Love Alvarez. Always did. His intellect and enthusiasm makes him special. His talent screams star!
7. Hope everything is well with you Mack.
Can the Mets IL Manaea against his will if his velocity doesn’t improve?
Gus, Manaea promises to raise his average slowball velocity from yesterday’s 88.8 MPH to 88.9 MPH in his next start. Slow progress.
Kidding aside, I think his hottest slowball yesterday (90.4) was blasted out of the park. Not good. The season starts in 13 days. Not 43. His only high velocity is how fast he cashes his pay check. Whoosh!
Looking at rhe Sean Manaea mess, can you blame Stearns for not wanting to give long term deals to pitchers? And he only gave three years to Manaea! What would you guys give Peralta? Honestly, I’d like to keep him but…………. I know he won’t sign for less than five and he will want seven years, or more. Do we let a bad Manaea deal cloud our judgement?
Most pitchers decline with age and injury. Way too early for me to think about extending Freddy P. Mr. Manaea is certainly a “you broke it, you own it” prime example. I think his hidden dream has always been to be the next Randy Jones, not Randy Johnson.
Welcome the post Mack!
Manaea sure looks like toast. If he doesn’t wake up he will be gone by Memorial Day, Maybe sooner. Too bad. No time for risky reclamation projects.
Keep pitching strong Christian Scott. Keep the pressure on.
Semien will be fine. Baty will be first baseman mostly full time by June.
Polanco is a pro. They need professionals.
Senga, your being counted on - keep progressing.
I too believe the vertigo incident is just that, an incident, but...
Some of these prospect starters have to be converted to the pen. Maybe Thornton.
I have no confidence in either Semien or Manaea.
I think Alvarez will put it all together this year
Two operations later, I'm slowly healing, but I can't stop Father Time.
Not sure
The Mets have, legitimately, seven starters in the chain that will graduate from 2026-2029
They do not need to sign anyone
They just need to keep drafting these gems
I would start the season piggybacking Manaea with Mr. Tobias
Scott could solve a lot of things
We may all fall in love with Polanco's bat by June
I’m excited to watch Polanco hit all year in this lineup. The guy is a very good hitter who historically gets even better with runners on base. Whether he’s at 1B or DH more often, he’ll be in the lineup if he’s healthy. I agree with Mack and most others here on Alvarez. There was a time last season when he looked terrible, but he got it together and it’s easy to envision him hitting .270 with 25-30 HR in 120 games. My two worried among the SP are Senga (whose velocity has nevertheless been promising thus far) and Manea. $50 mil over the next two seasons gives him a long leash, but between Meyers, Scott, and Wenninger, I’m pretty sure we’ll be ok if one of them is un-pitchable. Tong, I think, needs to spend most or all of this season in AAA rounding out his arsenal. Finally, I’m all-in on extending Peralta. Even 7 years (if we include the current season) only takes him through his age-36 season. And, as Mack notes, we’ve likely reached the point where we’ll no longer need to sign or trade for SP, so the risk is relatively minimal, and he seems like the exact kind of guy to be the vet leader of a perpetually young, deeply talented staff.
And...
This now is a team that afford to eat the end of long contracts (Peralta) or failed pitchers (Manaea)
Eat it, eat it, eat it (Manaea). Can’t stand the thought of watching & talking about Manaea all season long…
Manaea has to feel the pressure of the other starters available. If he really wants to be in the rotation, he has to be better than Scott, Myers, Peterson, and/or Senga. So far he is not.
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