June 27th 2015 -- Mets 2, Reds 1 13 innings. (Resumption of Suspended Game)

Saturday at Citi Field the Mets and Reds played to a 6 inning 1-1 tie when the game was suspended. The game will be completed starting at 1:10 pm est before Sunday's regularly scheduled game.  The Met offense was once again held in check. The Mets took a 1-0 lead in the 3^rd when Curtis Granderson continued his torrid streak with a opposite field homer to left, his 5^th in the last 9 games and 13^th on the year.  Matt Harvey started for the Mets; the only blemish he allowed was a RBI double by Brandon Phillips in the 5^th inning. The Reds starter Michael Lorenzen went 5 2/3 innings, Harvey went a full 6 allowing just 5 hits the 1 run (earned) walking 2 and striking out 3.  The Mets had a chance to take a lead in the bottom of the 6^th. Granderson came to bat with the sacks full, but flew out to left to end the inning and the game for the day. The game resumed on Sunday and six Met pitchers held the Reds scoreless for 7 innings. Carlos and Alex Torres,  Hansel Robles, Jeurys Familia, Logan Verrett and Bobby Parnell.  Familia and Verrett both pitched 2 innings.  In the bottom of the 13th, Dilson Herrera walked. He went to third on a single by Granderson. Ruben Tejada reached on an error by Eugenio Suarez. That brought up Lucas Duda who reached on fielders choice scoring Herrera with the game winner. Bobby Parnell got the win improving to 1-0. Nate Adcock takes the loss falling to 0-1. With the win the Mets improve to 39-37 and 28-11 at Citi Field. Going into Sunday's regularly scheduled game the Mets are 3 games in back of the Nationals in 2nd place in the NL East. In regularly scheduled game Steven Matz (0-0 0.00) goes for the Mets, Josh Smith (0-0 12.00)

ROSTER MOVE - Las Vegas

SP Duane Below has signed a deal to pitch for the Yokohama Bay Stars in Japan

Reese Kaplan -- What Goes On Behind Closed Doors?

Somewhere deep in the bowels of a NYC high-rise building a new confederacy of dunces convenes with the solemnity and intrigue of a papal conclave to somehow divine a new business and baseball strategy to make the Mets relevant once again.  Everyone anxiously waits with bated breath for the highly anticipated smoke signals that indicate either a burning desire to win or a funeral pyre of the remaining 2015 home game tickets. 

Jeff Wilpon:  “Gentlemen, something’s got to give.  We can’t go on like this.  Our franchise is crumbling.  We’ve become a laughingstock.  The fans are readying torches and pitchforks.  The back pages and blogs are screaming for blood.  We can’t hit.  We can’t field.  We can’t run.  Lately we can’t even pitch.  All we do is LOSE!”

Sandy Alderson:  “Well, to be fair, boss, we’re in second place and a hot week has us right back on top again.  We’re ahead of the Braves, Marlins and Phillies.”

Jeff:  “Yeah, but for how long?  The Braves identified a need for pitching and guess what?  They went out and got a pitcher.  The Marlins locked up their young hitters to ensure relevancy for the future.  Hell, even the Phillies knew when to shut down Chase Utley and they’re actively marketing Ryan Howard, Cole Hamels and Jonathan Papelbon.  What have you done?  You signed Methuselah to play LF for us and he’s hitting like you’d expect a 36 year old to do.  Did you learn nothing from the great Bobby Abreu experiment?“

Sandy:  “But boss, with the budget you give me I try to find the best value propositions – players undervalued or overlooked by all the other GMs.  That’s why I’m the smartest man in the room.”

Jeff: “Look, Branch Rickey, maybe there’s a reason no one else wanted Chris Young…or Curtis Granderson…or Frank Francisco…or Kyle Farnsworth…or Jose Valverde…or Eric Young…or Rick Ankiel…or…hey, have you found ANYONE any good since you’ve been here?”

Sandy:  “How can you say that?  Didn’t I get you Zack Wheeler?”

Jeff:  “How many games has he won for us this year?”

Sandy:  "What about Jon Niese?  I signed him to a team-friendly contract.  And I got Bartolo Colon to eat innings until Matt Harvey came back."

Jeff:  "And what's the market for Niese?  That contract must not be too friendly if no one wants it.  And in case you haven't noticed, Harvey is back.  Why is Colon still here?  What do you do all day, anyway?"

Sandy:  “What about Travis d’Arnaud?  He’s hitting .nearly 300.”

Jeff:  “I’ll give you that one.  But if you laid odds on who would be the ironman this year between he, David Wright and Michael Cuddyer, I don’t think anyone would have put money on the outfielder.” 

Sandy:  “Hey, didn’t I lock up David Wright so he’ll end his career as a Met?”

Jeff:  “Yes, you did, Sandy.  You just didn’t tell me he’d be ending it so soon!”

Sandy:  “What about saving you money?  Didn’t I get rid of K-Rod before his option kicked in?”

Jeff:  “Well, I do have to hand it to you.  When you have a quality asset to sell off to another team, you are capable of doing that.  By the way, that quality asset saved the game against us on Monday night!  Of course, that was one of your patented giveaway trades…remind me again who we got in exchange?  Oh yeah…a sore armed little lefty reliever who’s out of baseball and a righty reliever who last pitched to 10.12 ERA in 2013.  You are a shrewd bargainer, Sandy.  

Sandy:  "Ummm, err..."

Jeff:  "And you're proving to be such a great judge of talent, too.  Let's see...you got rid of Angel Pagan, Colin McHugh, Justin Turner...I’ll bet you can get another sub-Mendoza-line catcher in exchange for Jacob de Grom!”

Terry Collins raises his hand to speak and Sandy Alderson pulls his string to let him have his say, “Was that a dig at Anthony Recker?  Did you know the pitchers did better with him behind the plate than with Travis d’Arnaud?  If you just gave me time to get him going, I’m sure he’d show you what he was capable of doing.”

Sandy, “Ummm…Terry, we farmed him out to Vegas last week.”

Terry:  “Oh, I wondered why I hadn’t seen him around lately.  I thought maybe he was posting to Instagram during the games.  I hear all the kids are doing that these days.”

Sandy:  “Jeff, I think you’re overreacting.  It’s all in how you spin it.  You seem to forget we had an 11 game winning streak earlier in the year.  Until we lose 11 in a row, it’s a net positive.”

Jeff:  “How do you spin batting your leading home run hitters 8^th and leadoff for most of the year?  How do you spin playing your best shortstop at 3B and a natural third baseman at shortstop?  How do you spin putting the guy deaf in his left ear in left field where he can’t hear the centerfielder and the guy with no arm in right field to make the longest throws across the diamond?  How do you spin sending in guys with reverse platoon splits who do better against righties as lefty specialists in the pen?”

Sandy:  “That’s not me.  That’s puppet-boy over there.  He makes the lineup decisions!”

Jeff:  “Listen here, Gepetto, why is it that your nose is growing and not his?  How do you spin sitting on Dillon Gee so long that we’re paying him major league money to pitch in Las Vegas?  Or giving up your first draft pick to get two years of Cadaver out there in LF?”

Sandy:  “It’s pronounced Cuddyer, boss.”

Jeff:  “Listen, I’m tired him and all of the other stiffs you put on the roster.  I think it’s time some hard choices are made starting at the top.”

Fred Wilpon:  “Silence!  Sandy was brought in to cut costs.  He’s done that.  He was brought it to turn us around from a last place club to one fighting for a pennant.  We're in second place.  Ticket sales are up.  TV revenues are up.  Payroll is down.  Change nothing!  So it shall be written.  So it shall be done.”

When the smoke clears, the room is empty except for Fred who’s seen whispering into his cell phone, “We’re just a few games out of first!  How hard can it be to dupe some imbecile into buying the whole damned mess from me.?  I don’t want Jeffy to go down as a case study like New Coke or the Edsel.  Get it done!”

A fan can dream, can’t he…?

Mack’s Morning Report - 6-27-15 – Q and A

Good morning.

Jason asked –

          Mack, you seem to be going from ‘half-full’ to ‘half-empty pretty quickly this month. Any second thoughts?

Mack –

          No, not really.

          I’ve defended this team for a long time and I really looked forward to this season coming together, but I just don’t see that happening in 2015.

The 2015 Mets need a multiple amount of changes to make things gel, the first being the ending of all the injuries that continue to plague this team. You have to shut down Juan Lagares, put the knife to him, and move Darrell Ceciliani into the lineup for the remainder of the season. Just this move alone is going to tell the baseball world that you are willing to sacrifice the remainder of 2015 so, in the long run, you can build a better team. The object here is the 2016 starting outfield to be Lagares, Michael Conforto and Brandon Nimmo.

The next move is just as simple. Tell the baseball GM-world that either Noah Syndergaard or Steven Matz are available in a trade, but the team must also take on the contract of Curtis Granderson. The Mets have to start clearing contracts and the two years left on Grandy would be a perfect place to start. Arizona and the Cubs, who both have an excess of young, team controlled infield prospects, would be the perfect teams to contact first.

You know I have called for the Mets to hold on to their great young pitching, but you simply are not going to start to build a quality, deep lineup without better core players. Addison Russell could be on this team if you were willing to trade Syndergaard. Are you actually telling me you wouldn’t do this for long range success?

My next move would frankly be a sad one. I would move catcher Kevin Plawecki for the best AAA third baseman I can find in a deal. I love having the luxury of having Plawecki as part of this team but he’s more valuable as a trade chip. Additionally, no matter how much you feel that Travis d’Arnaud’s injuries are just a case of bad luck the fact still remains that no team is going to deal for a guy with this track record.

Getting back to third base, I think you are all seeing the handwriting on the way regarding the future of David Wright on the Mets, and baseball.

Lastly, move Bartolo Colon and Daniel Murphy for mid-range minor league prospects. Sandy Alderson is good at these kind of deals. The least you could get is a decent 4^th outfielder that could fill in before Conforto is promoted.

Gary asked -

Hi Mack, I know it’s been awhile but hopefully I'll try and send you questions more often from now on.

My take on all things Mets is that the management has been gearing up for 2016 not 2015 because there is no other way to explain starting a season with a terrible bench and knowing the severe pitch count limits on just about everyone not named Gee or Niece. Couple that with losing Wheeler AND Edgin to TJS and not having Meija, Black or Parnell for the bullpen is not a situation that screams "we ready to contend".

If you’re S.A. It makes more sense to see how this year plays out with Harvey coming back from almost 2 years off, integrating Syndergaard, Matz, Herrera and possibly Conforto and Nimmo onto the major league roster. All that and it doesn't even take into consideration how a 23 year old will handle SS full time, a ROY will fare in his 2nd year and ditto our first basemen and let’s not forget our off injured starting catcher. So that's my take. What do you think?

Hope everything’s good with you.

Gary –

Long time. Good hearing from you.

I think your take on the Mets is spot on. I think the Mets thought they had enough offense for the quality pitching staff they were going to throw up, both starters and relievers. Then, down goes Wheeler, Edgin, Mejia, Black, and Parnell. Add to this everything that happened to the field players and neither Sandy Alderson or Terry Collins have the intestinal fortitude to stand up and admit that this season is toast.

I think a few things.

I think we probably will see Conforto in Flushing when the roster expand, but not Nimmo.

I think that Herrera will return to Las Vegas as soon as Murphy comes back. He really has been rushed this season both offensively and defensively and I’d like to see him put his mental game together before a fresh start next season… but, I’d also like to see an external deal done for a new middle infielder that could move Flores over to second next season.

Mets Minor League Games - 6-26-15

Minor League Player of The Night - Dominic Smith and Jeff McNeil, with 4 his apiece, both are coming on mighty fast.


Honorable Mention - starting pitchers Matt Bowman, Martirez Arias, Logan Taylor, and Gaby Almonds all were My-T-Fine last night.


AAA - Las Vegas - (43-32) 6 - Sacramento (32-43) 3

    RHSP Matt Bowman - 7 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 4K, 5.73

Kirk is killing it, with a 3 run homer giving him his 6th dinger and 16 RBIs in 9 games.  Bowman tosses a  decent game, Vegas is killing it.  They whipped the great Jake Peavey.


AA - Binghamton - (37-31) 3 Harrisburg (33-38) 7

    RHSP Seth Lugo -   5.2-IP, 8-H, 2-R, 3-K, 3-BB, 4.21

Brock Peterson and Josh Rodriguez homered.  Akeel Morris with his worst minor league outing since 2012, allowing 4 runs in less than an inning, to take the loss.


A+ - St. Lucie - (36-36) 9 - Bradenton (33-39) 3

    RHSP Logan Taylor -   7.0-IP, 6-H, 1-R, 3-K, 0-BB, 4.50

It was "4 for 5 nite" for our boys. Jeff McNeil, Daniel Murphy and Dominic Smith all had that line.  Smith, at .305, had 2 doubles and 3 RBIs.  McNeil scored 4 times.  Sixteen hit assault. 

Logan Taylor with a superb start. Good to see it from him.


A - Savannah - (39-33) 2 - Lexington (33-39) 6

    RHSP Martires Arias -  6.2-IP, 4-H, 3-R, 13-K, 3-BB, 3.22

Superb start by strikout machine Arias blown by the bullpen.  Guillorme walked 4 times, and Lupo smacked his 2nd dinger in as many nites.

Despite a 1.85 ERA, bad luck Alberto Baldonado slipped to 0-5, as Jimmy Duff allowed all 3 inherited runners to score in the pivotal 9th.

Low-A  -  Brooklyn - (5-3) 4 - Connecticut (2-6) 2

    RHSP Gaby Almonte -   6.0-IP, 5-H, 1-R, 3-K, 1-BB, 4.91

Michael Katz shrugged off a slow start with a double, homer, walk and 2 RBIs.

Nicely pitched game, first Almonte then a hitless inning each from Nicco Blank, P J Cohoon, and Alex Palsha.  14th rounder in 2015 Vince Sienna had 2 more hits and is hitting .367 so far.

4th rounder in 2015, David Thompson, picked up his first career hit and RBI in his first career start. Welcome.


Rookie -  Kingsport - (2-2) 8 - Bluefield (3-1) 15

    RHSP Connor Buchmann -  4.0-IP, 3-H, 4-R, 2-K, 5-BB,  9.00

Kingsport pitchers held their opponents to 8 hits.  It was the 12 walks that did them in.  6 total errors by the 2 squads and you can see why this is called rookie ball.

Milton Ramos is off to a smoking start (.471 in 4 games), adding 3 hits. Dash Winningham added 2 hits to his hot start.

CF Rafael Ramirez is hitting .412 in 17 ABs.  He has stolen 20 of 23 in just 45 career games.



Rookie -  GCL  -  split a twin bill. In completion of the first suspense game, the Nats pushed across 2 runs for a 2-1 win. 

The Mets repaid the favor in the 2nd tilt with a 5-2 thumping of the Nats. 17 year old 23rd round LF Kenny Bautista showed them how it is done by going 3 for 3 in the nightcap.  Sixto Torres notched the win and Eusebio Arias the save by tossing a scoreless inning each. 

The G Mets move to 1-3, while the Nats slipped to 2-3.

    RHSP Ronald Guedez  -  5.0-IP, 5-H, 2-R, 2-K, 0-BB, 1.80


Rookie - DSL 1Mets (12-12) 11 - Baltimore (10-14) 2

    LHSP Daniel Guzman  -  4.0-IP, 7-H, 2-R, 2-K, 0-BB, 3.98

Winning the game with 4 shutout innings and improving to 2-1 was Jose Moreno.

11 runs on 9 hits, because Met hitters walked 12 times. Their on base percentages say thank you. Wagner Lagrange, their top hitter so far (.321) scored twice.


Rookie - DSL 2 - Mets (15-9) 6 - Yanks (11-13) 7

3B Grabiel Jiminez is .329/.430/.456 in 22 games after 3 walks last night in the clean up spot.

GOAT: Akeel Morris

June 26th 2015 -- Mets 2, Reds 1

Friday night in Flushing Johnny Cueto walked Lucas Duda with the bases load in the bottom of the 5th inning bringing home the go ahead run. The Mets behind a stellar outing by Noah Syndergaard beat the Reds 2-1.  It was another pitcher’s duel on this night with the Met offensive still very sluggish.  The Mets only managed 2 hits on the night.  The 1st one was in the bottom of the 1st when Curtis Granderson continued to be red hot as he greeted Cueto with a lead-off homer. For Granderson his 12th on the year and it was 1-0 Mets. Syndergaard was in control all night long. The only blemish on his 8 inning stint came in the 2nd when Jay Bruce scored on a fielder’s choice by Chris Dominguez.  With the game tied at 1 in the bottom of the 5th with 2 out Dilson Herrera tripled. Granderson walked and stole 2nd base. Eric Campbell then walked to load the bases.  Then Cueto walked Duda and Herrera trotted home with the game winner.  Syndergaard had his best outing the majors going 8 innings allowing 5 hits the 1 run and striking out 5. He gets the win improving to 3-4. Jeurys Familia pitched the 9th and earned his 21st save.  Cueto takes the loss falling to 4-5.  With the win the Mets are now 38-37 and continue to thrive at home with a 27-11 mark.  With the win they keep pace with the Nats who beat the Phillies. The Mets stay in 2nd place 3 ½ games back.  Saturday night is game two of the series.  It’s Harvey day! Matt Harvey (7-5 3.18) goes for the Mets, Michael Lorenzen (3-2 3.56) goes for Cincinnati.

ROSTER MOVE - Savannah

Please be advised of the following Sand Gnats roster moves:

6/26 - Martires Arias activated from Savannah DL

Ernest Dove - My Report From Port St. Lucie Watching Daniel Murphy And The Prospects

Daniel Murphy at bat in the 1st

  It wasn't until I was already at Tradition Field before my buddy Scot told me that Daniel Murphy was reported to be in the lineup.....And, well, there he was.  I feel lucky to have been back at beautiful Port St. Lucie watching the A ballers go to work on  this Thursday evening.
  Old Murph manned third base for the St. Lucie Mets for 7 innings on this night, where he did not see much action come his way in the field.  On a few plays, Daniel navigated the infield, calling out where balls were to be thrown on certain plays, cut off situations in the outfield, etc. 
  At the plate, it was nice to see Murph make contact during his at bats, mostly lifting balls to the outfield, to centerfield and to left center.  He was also walked and, thanks to outs behind him, never really had to do any real hustling on the base path when he was out there ;)

                                                    Daniel Murphy flying out to left center

  To me, Murph looked like Murph.  Happy, smiling, and relaxed.  Just another day of baseball.  There was one occasion in the field where the opposing batter chopped one to third.  Happily (for us fans), Murphy did not charge on the ball and simply ate it, allowing the runner on with a single.  I did not notice any hesitation, either in the infield, or at the plate.  And unlike my last LIVE look in from Tradition watching TDA on rehab, Murphy already looked solid at the plate, making contact and seeing the ball well.  He was able to get in some looks from both a lefty pitcher, and a righty.  No issues with either on this night.



  Well, as you know, Mack's Mets also prides itself on giving its readers a good hard look at the kiddies, so I wanted to once again give my thoughts on some of the prospects after getting to watch them for another night.  Along with also seeing new faces for the first time.

Jeff McNeil AKA Star of the Night


  For  me, the gold star award of the night goes to the California kid, Jeff McNeil.  Here's one way to put it, and my buddy Scot said it best, "He's Wally's kinda guy".  I see this to be true.  Jeff, by all accounts, is simply a baseball player.  A grinder.  A do whatever it takes kinda guy. Starting with the very first at bat of the very first inning.  Right from the jump, Jeff immediately stepped up to the plate, against an opposing lefty pitcher, and dropped down a beauty of a bunt down the first base line for a single.
  And, trust me, from there on out Jeff was a 'problem' for the opposing team on the bases. Jeff stole two bases on the night.  And more amazingly for me and my buddy on the night, Jeff actually tagged up....from first base....on a ball hit to right field....I repeat, right field. It was an absolutely crucial play in the 9th, with two on, two out. He went for it.  Almost slid past the bag, but was able to keep his hand on the bag.  A run scored on the following play, and that's when Jeff ran right into the third baseman.  After a lengthy argument occurred, and opposing manager was tossed from the game, the umps ruled everybody safe.  Of course, my man Dom Smith broke my heart soon after with a fly out to end it.
  All in all, im sticking to my story.  I see Jeff McNeil as Murph with a bat, the position versatility of Murph, but with a better glove, better range in the field, and more speed.

                                                                      Miller Diaz

  Tonight I was able to see Miller Diaz on the mound.  I like what I saw from the just turned 23 year old from Venezuela.  He mixed his pitches extremely well.  He sat mostly 90-92 mph on the stadium radar gun, but was able to once top 93 in the game. He did not rely too heavily on his fastball. I saw plenty of breaking pitches on the night, regardless of the count.  I also liked the ability of Diaz to (unlike some of the guys on the main ball club) consistently put balls in the dirt with two strike counts.
  Now obviously, you look at the game box score and you see that Miller gave up 4 runs in the 7th.  Even though Diaz maintained a low pitch count the entire night, he did appear to lose it the inning.  (you know, it was pretty damn hot out still...ooops I sound like TC making excuses...) My buddy Scot and I noticed Miller pitches appearing to now consistently be up in the zone in the inning, and he lost control of his breaking stuff.  Also, he had some hard luck bounces go against the team, including a steal attempt, which led to the batter hitting hit right where SS Rosario had left to cover the bag during the inning. Miller has seemingly had a bumpy road of it in the minors since signing as a teenager, but last year he performed well in low A, and now he is looking pretty good in high A.

                                                                Dominic Smith

  Well, no way I can write another post about the St. Lucie Mets prospects again without further mentioning more about Dom Smith power, just annoy my man Mack himself ;)
  I said it last month, and I WILL SAY IT AGAIN.  The 20 year old has power.  We've been hearing all about the pure hitting potential of Dom, and it showed again last night, including his first at bat where he hung in there against the opposing lefty, taking him opposite field with a hard grounder that squeezed through the infield for his only hit of the night.  Dom also hit a bullet to center field.  However, he smoked it right at the defender for the out.  Also, during the game in one  of his at bats, he smoked a pitch, opposite field, that cleared the wall......just left of the foul post.  Anyway, yada yada yada, I still love the kid. 

Some other notes on the other young men in the game for the Mets:

Let's face it. I still love Amed Rosario.  I would love to talk about some amazing plays or hits, but I can't.  To be honest, he did pull a "Tejada" on the night with three pop ups that drove me crazy.  One thing I did notice is that he really has good speed, not just at short with his range, but on the bases. His arm once again looked outstanding tonight. He made an impossible play look really close when they attempted a double play led by the first baseman.  However, the ball just didn't get to Rosario quick enough, but his rocket arm made it close.

Matt Oberste looked like a man among boys.  However as my buddy Scot (twitter handle @scottyc9) pointed out, " He's a man without a position. 

I had a chance to see Dave Roseboom pitch.  I know some of us on Macks Mets have been pretty excited about this guy.  Well, kinda didn't start off well, seeing as how he drilled his first High A ball batter.  But he settled down to pitch 2 and 1/3 very solid innings.  I didn't know what to expect from him, but what is saw was a fastball that sat at 88-90, with very solid breaking stuff.  I believe there are some reports of him maybe projecting out one day as a LOOGY.  I think I can see that. There was also a scary moment in the game where a ball was ripped right back at Roseboom.  Thankfully, it appeared the ball hit directly at and over his glove which was covering his face/head, and Rosario actually was able to catch the ball on the fly for the out.

Well I guess that's about it...................till next time St Lucie................till next time Macks Mets.......

LGM

Mack’s Morning Report - 6-26-15 - 2016 and Beyond

Good morning.

I guess I’m sort of moving on this season.

The more I try to figure out what to do this season, the less I come to any conclusion.

This is a team that was built behind young, team controlled pitching, backed by an offense led by David Wright and Daniel Murphy. Michael Cuddyer and Curtis Granderson were added over two off-seasons and, along with Travis d’Arnaud, Michael Cuddyer, and Lucas Duda, this was supposed to be enough offense to get the majority of games won.

Everything was hunky-dory when all of these guys were in the early games together.

Fans have to realize that extended contracts just don’t disappear if a ballplayer doesn’t live up to your expectations. Just ask Jason Bay’s wife and how much she’s had to spend from checks sent to her by the Mets.

Trust me, the Mets aren’t the only team that suffers from bad contracts. There is none worse right now than the Boston Red Sox. Hanley Ramirez ($88mil through 2018), Pablo Sandoval ($95mil through 2019), Dustin Pedroia ($110mil through 2021), Rick Porcello ($82.5mil through 2019), and Rusney Castillo ($72.5mil through 2020) are all either injured or under-preforming. We have it bad. They might be terminal for their front office.

I haven’t changed my stance on the pitchers on this team. Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, Jenrry Mejia, Jeurys Familia, and Steven Matz are the future of this team through 2018. Harvey, Mejia, and Familia will become a free agent in 2019 and we’re going to have to wait and see if the Mets attempt to sign any of them up to a long term deal.

As for ‘field players’, very few matter to me over the long run. I’d like to keep Lucas Duda, but the last minute breakdown in contract extension talks just before the start of this season may have created bad blood between the player, his agent, and the team. 

Dilson Herrera looks like a keeper at second, but I do still need to see much more here, both offensively and defensively. 

I love Travis d’Arnaud behind the plate… now all he has to do is stop getting hurt and needing so many days off. 

And Michael Conforto will definitely be a starter in my outfield, as early as next season.

But that’s really it.

David Wright looks shot and, if I was the Mets, I’d strongly consider going the insurance route here.

Daniel Murphy isn’t worthy of discussion because he will be gone next year.

Regarding Wilmer Flores, are we really supposed to be happy with a middle infieder that hits .240 and can’t get to a ground ball in time (or turn a double play) just because he can hit 10 home runs before the all-star break?

I’ve never been a fan of the Curtis Granderson signing and Michael Cuddyer at best represents a bargain basement approach to solving a team problem in the outfield.

And this brings me to Juan Lagares who overnight seems to have turned into a bad defensive centerfielder. There’s obviously something wrong here, but is it more than an injury? I don’t think it is, but I know how much emotion he plays with and I just don’t see it coming out of him right now.

The rest of 2015 may be a tough time for Mets fans. The 11 game winning streak only represented a team that had most of their starters in the dugout and their names written daily on the lineup. That went away quickly.

None of us can make any of these contracts go away and no team in baseball is going to actively help the Mets reach their goals. The decline from first place was delayed due to the miserable way other teams played in the division, but Washington seems to have now got their act back together.

Equally important is the distance being made by teams like Pittsburgh, Chicago, and San Francisco. It’s becoming quite evident that the only road to the playoffs for the Mets will be to beat the Nationals as division champions. Tell that to Max Scherzer and Bryce Harper.

Dillon Gee ($5.3mil), Bartolo Colon ($11mil), Daniel Murphy ($8mil), John Mayberry ($1.45mil) and Buddy Carlyle ($725K) represent $26.475mil worth of projected savings from the 2015 to 2016 payroll.

No loss of any of these players leave a gaping hole in the 25-man squad, thus, all of this money can be used for arbitration raises and at least one quality blue chip either via a trade or free agency.

Bobby Parnell ($3.7mil) and Jerry Blevens ($2.4mil) are also scheduled for free agency, but my guess is the Mets will try and re-sign both.

I still feel the primary need for this team is a defensive-minded shortstop that also brings a decent bat to the table. The team has to address the horrendous defense being played this year on all three infield positions.

I light a candle every night that Dilson Herrera will continue to improve on second base. I think we have a winner here but it’s going to take another year to probably find out.

Frankly, the whole David Wright fiasco is preventing this team from moving ahead both during this season and 2016. A decent addition at short could move Wilmer Flores and give him new life at third, but you can’t do this with your Captain still a member of the team.

It’s a horrible, horrible set of circumstances.