3/2/21

John From Albany – Mets News and Breakfast Links 3/2/2021

 



Good Morning.  Happy Birthday Harol Gonzalez. Marlins 2 Mets 0 in Spring Opener, Francisco Lindor makes his Mets debut, Sandy Alderson talks about extensions, Trevor Bauer, George Springer, and hiring practices. 

Section Links: Mets Links, MLB Links, and This Day in Mets History.

Mets Links: 

Marlins 2 Mets 0 (7 Innings). Brandon Nimmo 2 for 3, 1 K;  Francisco Lindor 0 for 2; Pete Alonso 0 for 1, 1 walk; J.D. Davis, 1 for 2; Jonathan Villar 1 for 2; Jose Martinez 0 for 2; Tomas Nido 0 for 2 with a K; Patrick Mazeika 0 for 1 with a walk; Harol Gonzalez 1 inning, no hits, no runs, 1 K; Sean Reid-Foley 1 inning, no hits, no runs; Stephen Tarpley 1 inning, no hits, no runs, 1 K; Ryley Gilliam 1 inning, 2 hits (triple and HR), 2 runs, 1 K; Thomas Szapucki 1 inning, no runs, 1 hit, 1 K; Trevor Hildenberger no runs, 1 hit, 2 walks, 3 Ks; Daniel Zamora 1 inning, no runs, 1 hit, 1 K (Box Score).

SNY.TV: Mets takeaways from Monday's spring training opener. "Prospects Francisco Alvarez, Ronny Mauricio, Mark Vientos, and Khalil Lee got one at-bat each. Alvarez grounded into a double play, Mauricio struck out looking, Vientos drew a walk, and Lee struck out looking."

SNY.TV: Mets' Luis Rojas says Brandon Nimmo and Kevin Pillar made 'aggressive mistakes' on bases. Both were thrown out looking to turn singles into doubles. “'They were aggressive mistakes...We're just sending ourselves a message to be aggressive.'”












Deesha Thosar NY Daily News: Superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor is exceeding Mets’ expectations. “Lindor noticed Davis wasn’t using his “good hands” in a way that would benefit his fielding at third base. The shortstop said Davis was “putting himself in bad positions where his hands weren’t allowing him to become a good infielder.” Davis accepted Lindor’s advice, and the team quickly began to see a difference in his defense. Lindor credited Davis for working hard and sticking with his practice because defensive drills can become monotonous and boring at times.”

SNY.TV: Mets' Marcus Stroman to start Tuesday's game vs. Astros. The game will be on SNY, beginning at 1 p.m. and first pitch scheduled for 1:10 p.m.








NY Post: Sandy Alderson admits Mets didn’t do due diligence with Mickey Callaway hire.

USA Today: Trevor Bauer happy with Dodgers, and Mets happy without Bauer.

Faith and Fear in Flushing looked at Willard Hunter who once won two ends of a Mets double header. 

Amazing Avenue: Patrick Mazeika and catching depth. As things stand now, Patrick Mazeika is surprisingly high on the catching depth chart. Is that a good thing?

Barstool Sports: Lets Get Joan Payson into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

MLB.com: Jeff Deline to join Mets as EVP/chief revenue officer. “Deline brings to the Mets nearly 25 years of innovative sales leadership experience with the Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and the Toronto Maple Leafs.”











SportSpyder Mets Links: 

MLB and SportSpyder NL East and MLB Links:

Some of yesterday's Spring Training Highlights:



Here is yesterday's Spring Training Scoreboard.

MLB.com:

MLB Trade Rumors:

Yahoo Sports:

ESPN:

FOX Sports:

CBS Sports:

SportsSpyder:

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com: 

Born on this date:

Died on this date:

Transactions:
New York Mets released Joe DePastino on March 2, 2001.

National Pastime.com:

1966

Commissioner William Eckert, citing a rule that prohibits clubs from signing players during their collegiate season, voids the Braves' contract with USC standout Tom Seaver, who had signed with Atlanta for a $50,000 bonus a week earlier. The Mets will be awarded the future Hall of Famer's signing rights in a lottery that includes the Phillies and Indians, who also were willing to match the Braves' terms.

1989

"When he punched Keith Hernandez in spring training last season, it was the only time that Darryl Strawberry hit the cutoff man." - STEVE WULF, Sports Illustrated journalist.

At a photo session, Mets' outfielder Darryl Strawberry throws a punch at Keith Hernandez, the team's no-nonsense All-Star first baseman. The spring training scuffle started over comments about salaries and results with the Straw walking out of camp.

 

Baseball Reference.com:

2005: Thirty-two years after his death, Jackie Robinson receives the Congressional Gold Medal in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington, the highest honor Congress can bestow. The medal is accepted by Rachel Robinson, his widow. Baseball is represented in a way by former Texas Rangers executive George W. Bush. Robinson joins Roberto Clemente, Joe Louis and Jesse Owens as the only athletes among about 300 Gold Medal recipients. Following the ceremony, the Boston Red Sox are honored at the White House for winning the 2004 World Series.

2005: In the Washington Nationals' first game since moving from Montreal, pitcher Tony Armas, Jr. tosses two hitless innings and Jose Guillen hits a two-run home run as the Nationals post a 5 - 3 triumph over the Mets in the Grapefruit League opener for both teams. The Expos played their first regular-season game against the Mets in 1969 and their last game against the Mets on October 3, 2004. In the first regular-season game between these franchises, Tom Seaver started for the Mets at Shea Stadium and Coco Laboy powered the Expos to an 11 - 10 victory. In their last meeting, Tom Glavine started for the Mets at Shea Stadium and Todd Zeile hit a home run to deal the Expos an 8 - 1 defeat. Wearing their regular-season home uniforms instead of the traditional batting practice spring training jerseys, the Nationals defeat Glavine this time.

2006: Bret Boone retires at the New York Mets training camp, the culmination of a swift decline for a player who was one of baseball's best second basemen only a few years ago.

Mack’s Blast From The Past comes from 3-2-12 – Mack looked at the projected Mets starting rotation 4/1/12 – 4/1/2014. 

Centerfield Maz:


Click here for the full list of Mack's MLB Draft Scouting Reports.     

Want more?  Check out https://sportspyder.com/mlb/new-york-mets/news. 


Want something else tracked here each day?  Please leave a comment below.

Also at Mack's Mets:

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3/1/21

213 Miles From Shea - Get To Know A 2021 Non-Roster Invitee: Jared Robinson

 


Posted on February 26, 2021 by Elliot Teichman

There are several players in Mets camp that are trying to break into the majors with the Mets after not being able to do so with another team (like Oscar De La Cruz), today’s Non-Roster Invitee is another player in this category – Jared Robinson.

Jared was drafted by Cleveland in round 11 in 2014 out of Cerritos College (located in Norwalk CA). He pitched in all levels in the Indians organization from the Arizona Rookie League (one of the first players in this series that played in that league without making the majors!) all the way to their Triple A team in Columbus.

Jared essentially has a pattern of doing well in one league, and then getting promoted and struggling.

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Pitching Stats:


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Marlins 2 Mets 0 Box Score 3/1/2021

 




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Lunch Time Links 3/1/2021


Here are some of the News and Headlines around Major League Baseball courtesy from our friends at SportSpyder .

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Mike's Mets - Spring Training Thoughts


By Mike Steffanos February 28, 2021

When you have a team that's been together for a while, with most of the key players returning, spring training becomes boring fairly quickly. That's certainly not the deal with the Mets this season. Two, possibly three, members of the starting rotation are brand new to the club. In the field, there will be a new catcher, shortstop, and a rebuilt bench. There will be new guys in the bullpen this season as well.

The coaching staff has undergone some changes, too. Dave Jauss is replacing Hensley Meulens as bench coach, Tony Tarasco replacing Tony DeFrancesco as first base coach (an exchange of Tonys, if you will), and hitting coach Chili Davis doing his job in person rather than remotely this season. Plenty of changes are taking place behind the scenes, also, as the new front office overhauls a Mets organization that has become synonymous with inept management and losing for most of the last couple of decades.

We'll be getting our first look at pitchers Carlos Carrasco, Joey Lucchesi, Sam McWilliams, Jordan Yamamoto, Trevor May, and Aaron Loup in a Mets uniform. We've seen some positive reporting on McWilliams, with thoughts he can be an effective multi-inning reliever as well as a spot starter for the Mets. Having pitchers in the bullpen who can do more than one-and-done inning outings will be crucially important this season, and really in the long-term also. The regularity of starts that last 5 innings or less will demand that successful clubs build flexible bullpens. As I noted in Thursday's post, manager Luis Rojas has indicated that he hopes to have almost all of his bullpen arms stretched out to go a couple of innings by the end of spring.

In the field, we can begin to learn if James McCann is the player that the Mets evaluated him to be when they signed him to that 4-year contract. If he is — and he can stay healthy — the Mets will have some stability at their catching position for the first time in a long, long time. It's almost irrelevant how much he hits, as long as it's enough to justify a lineup spot. What matters is that McCann earns the trust of the pitching staff and is solid defensively.

Behind McCann, it's also important that Tomás Nido prove that he really has made strides offensively. Nido offers enough defensively to hold down a backup catching job, but he has to prove that he's more than the offensive lightweight who carries an anemic lifetime OPS+ of 49 into this campaign. I'm sure he'll get enough at-bats this spring to prove himself. While some players can mess around in March, secure in their place on the team, Nido clearly does not fall into that category. If he struggles at the plate, the Mets will be under some real pressure to find someone better than Bruce Maxwell or Caleb Joseph to backup McCann.

Francisco Lindor will be making his game debut for the Mets tomorrow. Many of the Mets' hopes of shoring up their defense center around their new shortstop. Not that Andrés Giménez wasn't solid at the position last year, but he was also a 21-year-old kid in his first Major League experience. Beyond his own abilities, Lindor will be asked to be a leader in the field, with the hopes that he elevates everyone's game a little. Also, while I understand that Jeff McNeil and Luis Guillorme offer some value with their defensive flexibility, my preference would be for one guy (McNeil) to get the bulk of the playing time at second base. I think teams are better defensively when their middle infield combo has a chance to really know each other well. I'd like to see McNeil get at least 120 starts at second.

Unless there's a last-minute compromise on the DH, Dom Smith and Brandon Nimmo will be spending a lot of time together in the outfield this season. Both players have already spoken this spring about their belief that they can improve their defense in LF and CF, respectively. No one expects either player to win a Gold Glove, but a commitment to improving their defense is important and something that Rojas and the rest of his staff should be stressing all season long. My sincere hope is that the days of just shrugging and accepting sub-par defense for the Mets are over.

DH or not, I expect Kevin Pillar to be an important contributor to the Mets in 2021. Pillar doesn't feel as if his defense in CF has regressed as much as metrics are indicating. As long as he can be solid in that position, he'll be a valuable contributor. Moreover, he's a right-handed hitter who has handled lefties well over his career, slashing .286/.320/.464 with an OPS+ of 121 against southpaws. Unless there is a DH this season, I'm not sure that José Martínez even makes this roster out of spring training, which would only increase Pillar's importance as a RH bench bat.

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Reese Kaplan -- It's Not All Bad (and Not All Good)

It’s difficult to watch Spring Training games without fluctuating between the extremes of “We found our own Fernando Tatis, Jr.!” and “These guys are going to be driving Ubers by this time next month!”  The truth is somewhere in between these unrealistic ends of the spectrum fans use to evaluate new players, but draft position often determines who gets the most chances to make a name for himself.  

Just because the scouts and the club thought you were the number one level prospect, that doesn’t necessarily mean you have that level of talent.  Remember that not all players develop at the same rate and each respond differently as they ascend the ladder towards the Majors.  



Think back to a middle infielder playing for Stetson University Hatters as a shortstop and occasional relief pitcher. He was a slick fielder but a light hitter who likely was not going to be able to make the climb to the top.  He was out-of-necessity moved into a more regular pitching role and what he was able to accomplish brought him to the attention of the Mets.  They figured he’d develop into a quality bullpen arm and he was selected in the 9th round of the 2010 draft.


His pitching performance in the Mets minors was uneven.  His first year resulted in a 5.19 ERA in limited appearances.  Then came a year off dealing with injury.  He followed it up with a spectacular second season with a 2.43 ERA and a WHIP of just 0.997. He worked three levels in 2013 and finished again with a mediocre 4.51 ERA and a WHIP of 1.449.  His strikeouts were down a bit and he was giving up far more than a hit per inning pitched.  Then 2014 arrived and he was thrust in the pitching Hell that was Las Vegas.  He started 7 games there with an outstanding 2.58 ERA.  His strikeouts declined again but he managed to keep the hits to almost 1 per IP.  He was brought up to work out of the bullpen despite his minor league career having been as a starting pitcher.  However, an injury to veteran starter Dillon Gee opened the door and he never looked back.


With a rookie year record of 9-6 over 22 starts with a 2.69 ERA, better strikeout numbers than he’d ever posted before and the hits falling very far below one per inning pitched, Jacob deGrom earned himself a Rookie of the Year Award for 2014.  At the time no one knew what to make of this infielder/relief pitcher combo who had turned into a starting pitcher, but no one was regretting his stellar performance.  



In his sophomore campaign he went 14-8 with an even better 2.54 ERA which netted him his first All Star Game nod and a 7th place finish in the Cy Young Award voting.  It didn’t take long for him to push it even further with back-to-back Cy Young Awards in 2018 and 2019 to go along with two more All Star Game appearances.  He was denied his third straight Cy Young Award in the abbreviated 2020 season despite posting his best strikeout numbers, and his best WHIP since his first Cy Young in 2018.


No one saw this kind of performance coming from deGrom, just as no one saw the number of higher draft picks who stumbled out of the gate but who kept getting renewed chances despite not delivering what was expected of them.  I won’t belabor with an extended list of failure, nor will I lay all the blame at the foot of the scouts or front office who made the selections.  


I will use one example of a number four draft pick that hit very close to home for me.  He was a stellar high school player by the name of Eudor Garcia whose coach referred to his batting stats as being like video game numbers.  Seeing a native El Pasoan get tabbed that high for my favorite team was doubly exciting.



There has been a lot of speculation about what led to his early termination from the Mets.  Rumors surfaced about poor training habits, possible substance abuse issues and lack of commitment to succeed.  His output was still solid in terms of batting contact, though the power was pretty much non-existent.  


He floated to the Mexican league in 2018 to try to continue his path to the big leagues, but a quick look at his personal dimensions suggest it was not going to happen.  He stands 6 feet tall which is a bit larger than most folks in this area, but he’s tipping the scales at 264 pounds.  It suggests he doesn’t have the speed or agility to make it on singles hitting alone.  During his last foray into professional baseball he hit just .261 with 1 HR and 9 RBIs over the course of 115 ABs.  Extrapolate that over the course of a full season and it would be 5 HRs and 45 RBIs.  That doesn’t speak to high draft choice potential, but gaining a significant amount of weight and not training properly is on him, not on the failure of the team personnel.  


So as the games start getting broadcast on TV, try to remember all that glitters is not gold and all that stinks isn’t necessarily garbage. 


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John From Albany – Mets News and Breakfast Links 3/1/2021

 



Good Morning.  Happy Birthday to Michael Conforto. Sam McWilliams, Albert Almora, Jeremy Hefner, and Francisco Alvarez talk to the press, J.T. Ginn invited to the MLB Camp, and Francisco Lindor to play in today’s Spring Training Game. 

Section Links: Mets Links, MLB Links, and This Day in Mets History.

Mets Links: 

Newsday: Sam McWilliams could be hidden gem for Mets' bullpen after 15 teams made offer. “He was 25 years old and a veteran of six minor-league seasons — zero major-league games …Over the previous year-plus, he had undergone a data- and technology-driven reinvention, helping him throw harder and use his 6-7, 230-pound body better...So he and his representative…had Trackman reports — spin rate and other modern metrics teams have come to value…What it turned into: 15 offers, including more than one for a major-league contract."





Newsday: Mets' approach to Noah Syndergaard's rehab from Tommy John surgery: Patience is key. "He’s been locked in the whole time, listening, adjusting," Hefner said. "I’m proud of him for sticking to that, because it can be tough. Sometimes when you feel good, you want to do too much, and when you don’t feel good, you want to do less. But trying to be as consistent and constant as possible will get a better outcome at the end of this thing."







NY Post: Mets won’t waste any time starting Francisco Lindor.  “The star shortstop, who was the big prize of the Mets’ strong offseason, is expected to be among the starters who will hit the road Monday to play in the club’s Grapefruit League opener against the Marlins at Roger Dean Stadium.”




NY Post: Carlos Carrasco threw his first bullpen session since his delayed arrival to spring training, working with catcher James McCann. The veteran right-hander said he believes he should still have enough time to build up to be ready for the start of the regular season.

Amazing Avenue: Marcel Renteria and his slider could be another dark horse bullpen candidate. While the surface numbers have never been that impressive, Marcel Renteria has great stuff when healthy.

Amazing Avenue: Bruce Maxwell adds to the Mets’ limited catching depth. The 30-year-old hasn’t played in MLB since 2018. 

213 Miles from Shea: Get To Know A Non-Roster Invitee: Tom Windle.

SportSpyder Mets Links: 

MLB and SportSpyder NL East and MLB Links:

Some of yesterday's Spring Training Highlights:







Here is yesterday's Spring Training Scoreboard.

MLB.com:

MLB Trade Rumors:

Yahoo Sports:

ESPN:

FOX Sports:

CBS Sports:

SportsSpyder:

Today in Mets History Per Ultimatemets.com: 

Born on this date:

Died on this date:

Transactions:
New York Mets signed free agent Jose Santiago on March 1, 2005.

New York Mets signed free agent Willie Collazo on March 1, 2006.

From National Pastime.com:

1999

In the episode "Big Shots" of the Everybody Loves Raymond show, security kicks out fictional Newsday sports writer Ray Barone, played by Ray Romano, from an event honoring the Mets' 1969 World Series championship team. The Hall of Fame guards lose their patience when the title character, who insists on using his journalist's credentials to avoid the wait, refuses to get in line with the fans waiting to meet their heroes, including Tug McGraw and Art Shamsky.

Baseball Reference:

2012: In an important step in his recovery from shoulder surgery in 2010, Mets pitcher Johan Santana faces hitters for the first time in spring training. The team is hopeful he will be ready for Opening Day.

Centerfield Maz:


Click here for the full list of Mack's MLB Draft Scouting Reports.     

Want more?  Check out https://sportspyder.com/mlb/new-york-mets/news. 

Want something else tracked here each day?  Please leave a comment below.

Also at Mack's Mets:

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