Mack – The 23 Best “I Believe” Things…
I believe…
1. 1. SP Nolan McLean has
the potential of becoming one of the top all-time Mets starters. I believe he
is that talented. The talent is there. He needs no more additional pitches. The
secret is to keep him healthy.
2. 2. I believe Juan Soto will
maintain an above-average level of production through the lion-share of years
left on his contract. He’s currently one of the top offensive players in the
game and I don’t believe that level will diminish through the remainder of this
decade and well into his years past that.
3. 3. I believe Francisco
Lindor will be around into the next decade and the main job now is to
keep him off the IL. This may not be easy.
4. 4. I believe AJ Ewing will
begin his Mets major league career as the starting second baseman and hold that
position down until Elian Pena debuts there in a few seasons. He will then move
out to the outfield and join Soto and his buddy Carson Benge. He’s off to a
late start but he may “out-star” Benge.
5. 5. In the short run, I believe the best off-season
addition is Tobias Myers. I would have
stretched him out in the off-season, and the kiddies will be knocking the gate
down reasonably soon, so any chance of him becoming a starter has to begin right
now. Wednesday’s rough outing in frigid Denver is an aberration.
6. 6. I believe the best long-term off-season addition
is Bo Bichette The bat is waking up and he
is already ranked in the top 10 third basemen in DRS. Thrilled he’s aboard and
hope he can be talked out of opting out at the end of the season.
7. 7. Carson Benge is
now past his slow start. He’s now hitting .300+ recently and he’s ranked in the top
three for LF DRS. The experiment worked.
8. 8. Clay Holmes is
our ace this season and the Mets need to do everything they can to get him to
drop his 2027 opt out. Holmes is needed while the kiddies work out their kinks.
9. 9. Kink #1 would be Christian Scott. There is huge pitching talent here that is just needed to be poured out of the bottle.
10. Kink #2 is the AAA strikeout leader, Jonah Tong. The problem is the rest of his game. It is getting better though and I see him ready around June.
11. No kink here. Current AAA ERA leader Jack Wenninger should be promoted NOW to replace one of the failing oldies in the rotation.
12. The problem with Zach Thornton may be where to pitch him. The Mets rotation might be filled up with his buddies before he is ready. The worst here is a 2-inning long man.
13. It’s taking a while for Dylan
Ross to get together this season, but it’s there now and he should be
called up by the end of the season. Uber talent.
14. Want a uber Swiss army knife UT player, C/1B/LF Chris Suero is your guy. It’s going to get so much easier to fill out your 26 when he is ready and can be penciled in for three positions.
15, Nick Morabito will
be one of my go-to UT outfielders when the dust settles. He may start out as
the starting CFer, but I see his role as OF-4.
16. Remember I said this… Yovanny
Rodriguez will be your starting Mets catcher, latest 2029. 5-star
talent.
m 17. My LHDH is simple. He’s currently hitting .333
for the Mets. Good enough for me. Another guy with initials… M.L. Melendez.
18. I believe that Randy
Guzman could be the Mets first baseman in three years. Uber power being
developed here. Signed in 2022 as a IFA. A steal of only a $10K signing bonus.
Developing uber power. 10 home run last season. So far, seven this season for
St. Lucie. 6-4 RHH. Remember this name.
19. I believe the Mets have made some wonderful
deals with undrafted players, starting with St. Lucie outfielder JT Benson. The 24-year old was signed away from
the Lake Country DockHounds (2024), where he hit .286 in 109-PA. So far this
year, Benson is batting 4-HR, 19-RBI, .309, in 92-PA. I believe Benson has a
definite future for this team, especially if his power keeps developing.
20. I believe, around June 1st, the Mets should flip shortstops between St. Lucie and Brooklyn. Let’s face it… Antonio Jiminez needs more grooming. I’ve been told he has a bunch of talent. The problem is it is not firing forward. At the same time, Elian Pena is eating up rookie ball in Florida. I believe the Mets should consider, around June 1st, to flip these guys. Keep trying to find a level that Pena may need
more time at.
Who knows. There may not be any.
21. Wander Asigen is
probably the most talented middle infield prospect. The problem is you are
going to have to wait 4-5 years to see him play.
22. I believe 2027 will bring aboard the next best
thing in IFA OF Cleiner Ramirez. But you
will have to wait even longer than you waited for Asigen.
23. And 2028 will bring on another shortstop, Euneil de la Cruz.
Is Is this good?
Well, considering you are grading four full season teams, three rookie teams, and projected future uber International prospects... great teams would minimally have around 40 players on this list. Just saying.
18 comments:
Nope, not very good. But the list is a very good one. But much shorter than many had hoped on Feb 1.
I was very disappointed that the Mets did not allow Christian Scott, who is still looking for career win # 1, to get one more out and leave the game qualified for a possible W. AFTER Brazoban quickly got the last out of the 5th, Scott briefly hung his head in the dugout. He had to be disappointed.
I did not see the 9th. Kimbrel loses, surrendering 4 runs. Meanwhile, Ryan Lambert threw a scoreless frame for Syracuse, fanning three. Is it time for that “young Kimbrel” to replace the old beast? Probably not yet. Lambert has not been lights out. But maybe Wenninger should be called up to start, and another seeming retread moved to the pen.
4 games in, the FCL Mets are 1-3. The FCL Yankees meanwhile are 4-0 and scored 21 runs in their 4th win. My brother Steve would see how the two teams are doing, and that the Yankees have come out of the gate, much faster, and just simply say TYPICAL.
Yovanny RODRIGUEZ IS THREE FOR 15 SO FAR, BUT WITH A HOME RUN & FIVE RBIS
Here is the link to FCL box scores.
https://www.mlb.com/milb/scores/2026-05-07/rookie
Err... did I leave anyone out?
Mets seem to babying Scott's arm
I’d have Reimer in and Suero not in, because Reimer is finally rolling, and Suero? The jury, to me, is still out, as to whether he will handle MLB pitching someday. I also still think Voit will be OK. He could have used 2 months this year at St Lucie, but no one else was ready to hit in Brooklyn instead.
Thank you Tom for your multiple comments. The problem is YOU are the only one commenting.
The question is, if very little reading is being done and no one comments, is it worth writing this shite.
As always good stuff. I'm not a morning person and off to play 18 in 5 minutes .
After my shoulder surgery I move much slower in the morning. Not what my PT wants. but ...
I agree in most but not with Ewing and second base. He is by far the better CFer, although he did play some 2nd this year. Before September I see an outfield of Soto, Ewing and Benge. (Morabito as the 4th?). I absolutely agree on the "out shine" comment. (In spite of Soto, the best defensive outfield in MLB? Maybe not but close.)
Mack, it is a puzzler. Maybe Pail and others can figure out how to get more readers to comment.
Steve, I too see Ewing as an OF.
Tyrone Taylor and Luis “I’m hurt again” Robert are hitting .215. Time in May to call in the Maytag repairman and install quality replacement parts.
If called up, and installed, could Morabito and Ewing hit .215? I think we’d both say they’d hit better than that.
Mack,
Yes you certainly do need to keep writing. I personally value your opinion and go back and review your player evaluations to keep up with their individual success throughout the year. So keep them coming.
Unless Bichette can up the bat, I see him opting into his Met's contract for next year. That will give Reimer developmental time in both AA and AAA. (Mack - will that be too late? Then it will be Guzman time?)
If Suero can develop the bat (as Mack has commented on in the past), I would definitely have him in. Love the diversity of positions and the speed.
Mack, Scott was only at 82 pitches. Give him the chance to get that last out. He has been in a dozen MLB career games so far has not picked up a single win. That’s got to be disheartening. We’re not talking about one more inning with 82 pitches already thrown. We’re talking about one more hitter, which could’ve been two pitches. You probably wanna be conservative with him, given his surgery and his talent level, but let’s stop running it with such preciseness. For Petes sake, Dwight Gooden won 41 games in his first two years. They let him go too deep into games, but the way they are handling Scott is completely at the other extreme.
Jon Heyman wrote this article. I didn’t read the article because I refuse to pay for these add-on post articles that are.” premium.”. Everything is premium these days. But the headline and the subheading really question our David:
“Maybe Pete Alonso had a point with sharp dig at David Stearns' '(flipping) formulas'”
“One question that comes to mind: Might David Stearns’ formulas work better in the smallest market than the biggest one?”
I believe that when Mack posts, people listen.
Mack your the MAN and yes we need you! We all know the crappyness of this team hurts viewership.
This was a super fun and interesting article. My excuse is that I am currently in LA until Sunday, so even when I wake up early it's later than Tom!
I definitely believe there is real major league talent in the minors. My worry is the rumors I keep hearing about the 'universal' approach being taken to coaching hitting throughout the organization. I know I'm beginning to sound like my grandmother who used to write weekly to Walter O'Malley demanding the Dodgers fire Alston as manager and replace him with her. But.... while I don't want any Prof baseball job I am pretty sure that not just me, but lots of coaches in a variety of sports know two things about the use of technology -- especially those of us who use it -- the people who sell it oversell its value by misrepresenting what it is actually best used for and how; and that most people who use it don't understand how best to do so.
And I would say all the following sincerely, if there is a so-called universal approach to teaching hitting throughout the organization, I definitely could do better. There is no such thing. I am going to devote a whole series to hitting with videos hopefully starting on Tuesday to explain every claim I make. I don't believe it will make a difference to the Mets because I doubt anyone in the organization will look at them, but i want to be informative. I will use examples of a number of hitting coaches who make gigantic mistakes but have had success with some hitters. Good example is Teacherman with Judge. I hope it will not bore people, but I will have short vids so they won't go into too much detail, but am always available for people who want to see or learn more and especially to those who disagree with me as I am always learning and definitely open to changing my mind. But I think it will be worthwhile to get a few important basics out there.
So let me start with a teaser. The things that are measured are best thought of as kinds of 'outputs'; the inputs in things like swinging are biomechanical and cognitive. The issue is never what position your body is at some point during the swing, the question is how you get to it and why some ways of getting there work better than others; and some work better on some players than on others, and why. So how in the world can there be a universal approach to hitting. Also there is a lot of neuro science that is involved in learning that we don't yet fully understand, but ultimately we will learn more so thinking you've got it down now is embarrassingly immodest. Especially important is what chemical and biological changes are triggered by various intentions or ways of interacting between coaches and players (like teachers and students, or individuals and communities). It's a joke that someone running BB club would think that they knew the right way to help make players reach their potential with regard to developing their skills. I would ask them to get back to me after they work out the answers to several deeply puzzling and complex issues in cognitive and neuroscience, etc.
But we can identify some of the things you want every hitter to be able to do: and those are knowable and known. How you get there is a lot of science, a lot of human understanding, and a lot of deliberate practice fitted to each person; and a lot of that person being able to understand and implement. I can't stomach the mixture of arrogance with the level of ignorance that we all possess.
I just want to help people see the need to be open.
We are always learning: we should think of ourselves as shephards, coaches and curators, not teachers instructor someone how to do something. We are helping them bring out the best in them; and we are always learning better ways of doing that. And they are not our experimental subjects.
Sorry for being pissed and long winded. Video series to follow
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