ALL STAR
Juan Soto was voted in as starting NL left fielder.
Amazing.
Wow.
Why “WOW”?
It is encapsulated in this July 4 article excerpt from Anthony DiComo, quoting interim manager Andy Green:
“ At the precise moment Juan Soto learned he had been voted a NL All-Star starter, he was leading the circuit with a .971 OPS. That would be impressive in any context. That Soto was doing it for one of the worst teams in the NL encapsulates, in Mets interim manager Andy Green’s words, “what makes him really special.”
“Certainly, everybody’s numbers tend to be better when your team is performing well,” Green said. “I think that’s contagious. I think everybody feeds off one another. We help each other by playing really well and doing our jobs well. He hasn’t had that, and I think he’s still leading the National League in OPS right now. So not much more you can ask from a guy like that. It’s been special.”
This is what Stearns fails to grasp.
And Cohen, perhaps, as well.
“EVERYBODY’S NUMBERS TEND TO BE BETTER WHEN YOUR TEAM IS PERFORMING WELL.”
Your team GREATLY SUFFERS when, for the first quarter of the season, your guys hit in poor hitting conditions in their hitter-friendly home park.
Most of the hitters will press. Most will struggle.
Most will succumb to the pressure.
Having to climb from a deficit, it will dog them the whole lost season.
As team losses increase, the pressure increases.
There are very few Soto types that can weather that pressure.
Alonso and Nimmo sure could.
Stearns shipped them out and replaced them with glass-fragile veterans.
Veterans who had played very limited games pre-2026 in Citi Field.
A huge gamble. A really bad gamble.
Hence, the almost inevitable implosion. Guys get hurt. The pressure builds. The hull ruptures.
And the team with the Titanic payroll sinks like a rock.
The only easily controllable variable is fence depth. You reduce it, and pressure comes off the hull.
No sinking. No stinking.
I do, of course, love 36 runs over the last 4 games. It might just be real.
Lindor is still MIA at the plate, but Ewing is turning into HOF Pete Friggin’ Rose, and Benge has been a second wonderful catalyst.
Baty has stopped overthinking - AND STARTED HITTING - halleluia!
Polanco may suddenly be a real offensive upgrade over the AAAAs.
And Robert had 2 hits in rehab last night.
If Lindor suddenly joins the bat party, might this offense become POTENT and become a repeat of 2015, where baseball’s worst offense through mid-July became its BEST offense the rest of the way?
ERRORS ARE THE OVERLOOKED ELEMENT
I saw this errors by team chart (below). Not surprisingly…
- Dodgers are best at a dazzling 0.29 errors per game.
- Mets are 28th at 0.66 per game.
HUGE DIFFERENCE.
OVER 162 GAMES, THAT IS 60 MORE ERRORS THAN LAD.
Here is the team errors data link:
9 comments:
“Run Prevention”… defense + pitching.
Defense sucks & starting pitching sucks. Total front office fail.
Benge has replaced Nimmo and he's not fragile thus far.
Defense and Pitching are main contributors to run prevention obviously. Outfield defense has been very good and improving to near excellence and that's with two rookies starting (two who could probably cover the ground in a Coors Field as well). Starting pitching has been a nightmare. I wrote earlier that every team needs an anchor on which the foundation builds and that the best anchor is always quality starting pitching backed by excellent back of BP. You need SP that ranks high in quality starts as that relieves pressure on middle relievers. That has to be #1 priority always. Failure to provide that leads to strain on bullpen and their performance is likely to fall off as well. Do not look for bargains in SP other than 6-8 of back-ups stashed in minors and one of the relievers playing long relief role.
Peralta was always a mistake as a 5-6 inning pitcher at best. Scott has to cut down on pitches as does McLean. the same will be true of the likes of Santucci and Thornton if they make the big club next year. Holmes is strong vet presence, but he is going to be a 5-6 inning guy. That's where a Joe Ryan comes in as a vet to get. He'd be a 3 on this team but a smart pitcher who can more often give 6-7 innings. Can't have enough top of line starting pitching.
If Tong is not moved in a major trade, e.g. as part of a package for CJ Abrams, he'd go to the back of the BP as a two pitch high leverage reliever if the Mets choose to trade Weaver who along with Minter are their best relievers. Frankly, I prefer Weaver as closer and Williams as set up. I see Raley as more likely to move at deadline than Minter.
On infield, we can agree that Bichette is overpaid, but he plays with intensity and is better with his fielding that advertised. His arm is questionable. Want great run protection: consider same outfield: infield of Walker or Contrares at 1B -- Walker may cost less and is gettable by Raley and decent minor league prospect, Abrams at 2B, Lindor at SS, Bichette at 3B, SP of Skubal, Ryan, Mclean, Holmes, Santucci, Thornton?, and Torrens behind the plate
The other night, Gary Cohen said that Soto leads MLB in slugging and on base pct. I was stunned. Didn’t expect it.
Jules, Oeralta pitched the third most innings last year and while only a five innings guy early in the year, he was 6, 7, 8, after June 1. He has struggled this year and it’s just that simple. I like what Showalter used to do and get one more out from each reliever and thus saves one arm every night. Everyone likes clean innings.
Some guys struggle more when their teams hit poorly. It seems the bats have had A Great Awakening this week.
Baffling how bad Senga has been. He was an ace a few years ago.
That error chart is significant. If I interpret it correctly, the Mets are on pace to make 55 more errors in 2026 than LAD. That has to cost them several games.
Vientos is.
@Texas. According to the numbers I was able to find, Peralta averaged 5.3 innings per outing in 2025. He did pitch a total of 173 innings last year. This is commensurate with his numbers in previous years. it looks pretty consistent to me.
Post a Comment