The Ground-Level Work

Can David Stearns build the deep, competitive 40-man roster that has eluded the Mets for so long?

Since the World Series ended, things have begun to heat up for the Mets. It kicked off with the news that Carlos Mendoza had been hired as the new manager, which became official at the news conference on November 14. On Friday of that week, we learned that the Mets had elected not to tender contracts to several of their eligible players: DH Daniel Vogelbach, Utitly Infielder Luis Guillorme, and relievers Trevor Gott, Jeff Brigham, and Sam Coonrod. Along with some of the moves made earlier in the month, the Mets 40-man roster is sitting at 28 players. We knew there would be massive changes to the team in David Stearns's first offseason calling the shots, and there certainly is plenty of roster room for those changes.

Creating the Next Generation of Mets' Pitchers

The free agent pitching market is expensive and unpredictable. The solution is for the Mets to get back to producing more of their own pitching talent. What will that take?

I've been rooting for the New York Mets for over 50 years. Although the Mets have developed some excellent position players over the years, this is an organization that, by far, is known for developing some great starting pitchers. However, the current edition of the Mets had to stock up their rotation on the free agent market. It was quite expensive and, at least up to now, a huge fail. As the dreadful 2023 season has shifted our focus to the future, we ponder how the Mets can develop some of their in-house arms into effective Major League hurlers and reduce dependence on the pricey free agent marketplace.

Dead Team Walking

There will be no second-half surge from the 2023 New York Mets. The real questions now are all some variation of "What's next."

I've been putting off writing this piece for days — going back even before the Mets dropped their series against the Phillies in such a horrendous fashion. It has been clear for quite some time that these Mets aren't going to pull off some scrappy comeback story. It's not entirely impossible, but the turnaround would have to be miraculous and almost instantaneous. It would require a bunch of ballplayers currently underperforming at various rates to reverse course almost to a man. It would make a wonderful story if it happened, but what would make it so remarkable is how infrequently we see something like that.

Protect Your Sanity

No matter how often they insert the word "nightmare" into an article, it's too early to lose your mind over the 2023 New York Mets.

First off, let me assure you that I, too, am a bit demoralized by the Mets' awful showing in Milwaukee. I won't pretend otherwise. The team essentially failed to show up for the first couple of games. Then, when they had the chance to salvage one before heading home, the Mets coughed up the final in a very disheartening manner. Baseball season is so long you're guaranteed to be disgusted with the team you root for at times. However, it does suck a little more when it happens so early in the year. But hey, we're back in the win column today.

Some Roster Thoughts as Spring Training Nears

With Carlos Correa out of the picture, the Mets still have issues to address before spring training starts in just 4 weeks.

When I finished my last post, I was hoping that by the time I wrote my next one, there would be a positive resolution to the Carlos Correa sage. While there was a resolution, it differed from the one most New York Mets fans, including me, hoped to see. Carlos is back with the Twins, and the Mets will take the field this season with a lineup a bit weaker than what it could have been with Correa.

The Sun (and the Mets) Will Rise Again

Don't give into the despair that some pundits wish to inflict on Mets fans. There are tough decisions to be made, but the future is still bright.

The New York Mets' 2022 season came to a disappointing end at Citi Field Sunday night. In their first playoff appearance since 2016, the Mets didn't look much like the club that won 101 games in the regular season. This is too bad. They were an entertaining team to follow this summer, but they will likely be remembered for a couple of consecutive bad weekends in October.

How the Dominoes Fall

More thoughts on constructing a Mets starting rotation in 2023. Is exercising Carlos Carrasco's $14 million option for next season really a no-brainer?

The New York Mets had a rough time down in Atlanta this week. They lost starting pitchers Carlos Carrasco and Taijuan Walker to injuries in the first two games of the Atlanta series, although it looks like Walker will only miss one start. Their infield defense took a big hit, losing Luis Guillorme and Eduardo Escobar to the I.L. The Mets' offense seems to be in hit-or-miss mode since the series against the Cincinnati Reds with run totals of 1, 1, 6, 1, 0, 9, 2, 7, 8, and 1 through Saturday's doubleheader split with the Phillies. They lost all but one of the games in which they scored 2 runs or fewer.

Early Thoughts from Spring Training

The Mets will have some tough decisions to make this spring, particularly in the outfield and who will be the bullpen lefty.

As the New York Mets continue to prepare for the season, Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer have both given fans reasons to feel good about the top of the team's rotation. On Monday, Max Scherzer debuted first, pitching against the Marlins in their ballpark. Scherzer clearly had been doing the work during the protracted lockout. He went 5 innings against Miami, throwing 72 pitches. Scherzer wants to be prepared to throw 100 pitches when the regular season gets underway in a couple of weeks. The Mets hitters gave Max the "deGrom treatment," failing to score a run for him. Scherzer took the loss despite allowing only a solitary run.

A Very Early Look at the Mets' Pitching

The weather here in Southern New England continues to be typical for this time of year: schizophrenically shifting back and forth between winter and spring. One day I was wearing shorts when I took my dogs for a walk with the temperature around 60. The next, I looked out of my window at about an inch of snow on the ground. While this weather can play havoc with my personal plans, it has no effect whatsoever on the New York Mets' preparation for the 2022 season that is underway down in Port St. Lucie. This weekend, the Mets have made some significant moves to bolster their chances of contending for a playoff spot this season.

Balancing the Future vs. Now

Tim Britton in The Athletic has a thoughtful piece up on some possible ways the New York Mets might approach the trade deadline at the end of this month. Of course, the Cubs' Kris Bryant is right up at the top. The trade rumors that persisted throughout the winter will only continue to build over the next two weeks. The Cubs are definitely sellers now, and Bryant is a free agent after the season. Jed Hoyer would be stupid not to try to obtain value for Bryant.

Gratitude

The New York Mets are 58 games into the season. If this was 2020, we would almost be at the end of the regular season. In 2021, as in so many other seasons past, there are still 104 games left to play. My purpose in noting this is not to show off my second grade math skills. It just drives home once again how very different 2020 baseball was from what a baseball season is supposed to be.

A Third of the Way Home

When the New York Mets began play in June, I was cautiously optimistic but nonetheless worried about their chances. June has been a harsh month for the Mets in recent years, and the club was embarking on a difficult part of the schedule with a still quite depleted roster. They've survived the first third of the month pretty well with their 5-4 road trip. That they were able to come back and win the last two against the San Diego Padres was particularly gratifying.

Why This June Is Different

The New York Mets opened their month of June with a bad loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks. As I was wallowing a bit in the disappointment of the loss, the thought crossed my mind "this reminds me so much of awful losses from previous Junes." When you're talking, writing, or even thinking about the baseball club you root for, it's often tempting to lean on simplistic narratives like that one.

The Challenge of Surviving June

Since I last posted here, the New York Mets managed to play one of their three scheduled games against the Atlanta Braves this past weekend and the first game of the Arizona Diamondbacks series last night. Putting aside the uncharacteristic offensive explosion Saturday night, it was still going to be difficult for them to win games against Atlanta with a Triple-A offense. I guess we can hope that the Mets are in better shape to play these games later on, but the number of doubleheaders they'll be playing in June and July is going to be tough, also. This year was supposed to be the year that we at least made progress towards returning to a normal baseball season, but the injuries and postponements have got in the way of that journey. Last year's extreme abnormal pandemic season has given way to the year of endless injuries.

Baseball Weather

When I last wrote in this space, I reacted to some things I was reading in the local and national media about the Mets and Phillies. Hot takes abounded that Philadelphia "fixed" its bullpen problems from last year, while the Mets were still struggling to plate baserunners. Could the Phillies indeed be a more successful team than the Mets in 2021? 

Three games and another rainout later, those hot takes have cooled down considerably. At 5-3, the Mets have looked a bit stronger in the three games they were able to play, while the Phillies bullpen hasn't been quite as invincible as they were at the start of the season.

A Tale of Two Pitchers

In yesterday's post, I wrote about the Mets' effort to construct a bullpen for 2021 without resorting to spending a pile of money on established relievers. For an example of how that approach can go astray, we don't need to look any further than Jeurys Familia and Dellin Betances, pitchers who will be pocketing a cool $17 million of Steve Cohen's hedge fund profits between them. Those two would have to meet the absolute wildest hopes for their performance to even approach earning that pile of cash. While I don't begrudge any player for signing for big bucks — who wouldn't if we were in their place? — if I could reallocate that money with a snap of my fingers, I wouldn't hesitate to do so.

Signing Taijuan Walker Was a Terrific Move

Mets fans received some good news today. Signing a starting pitcher to compete for one of the two bottom-of-the-rotation slots really was a must for this team. Don't get me wrong, David Peterson and Joey Lucchesi are both perfectly acceptable options for the role, but there needed to be more competition for those spots. Now there is. Bringing Taijuan Walker into the fold for a reasonable 2-year, $20 million deal seems to be, at least in my opinion, exactly the right balance of risk and potential upside. While it seems almost comical to refer to a $10 million per year salary as "reasonable," it really is in the context of how players are valued these days. As a fan, I feel much better about the Mets' chances of having enough starting pitching to survive this season today than I did yesterday.

Time for Action, Part 1

MLB.com's Mark Feinsand tweeted out yesterday that lefty reliever Brad Hand was coming close to making a decision on where he would sign, with a decision coming "perhaps even by the end of this weekend". The Mets are still in the running for Hand, but other teams are in it, too, and I've read a lot of speculation that the Mets aren't interested in giving a multi-year deal to the reliever. Hand has enjoyed plenty of success in his career as a closer. While there are questions about him losing some velocity, I'd be shocked if interested teams weren't willing to go 2 or more years for the guy. He'll be turning 31 before the season starts, which isn't old enough to scare teams from offering him 2- or even 3-year deals. If the Mets really are committed to holding to a 1-year contract, it seems likely that Hand will sign somewhere else, too.

The Mets Can Still Use Starting Pitching

Now that Carlos Carrasco has joined Francisco Lindor on the Mets, the team has a top 3 in their rotation to match up with anyone in baseball. If Noah Syndergaard makes it back and the other three remain healthy — always a big if when you're talking pitching — the Mets would have as good of a rotation 1-4 as they've had in many years, easily one of the best in baseball this year. Combined with the solid offense and a defense that has certainly been upgraded and could be a really solid group if a true CF is signed, this is a legit playoff contender with a real shot at going all the way. But the questions certainly remain when it comes to the depth of this rotation, and we've seen lack of depth sabotage many promising Mets seasons in recent years.

Watching Paint Dry

The holidays are past us now, and I really do expect that we'll be seeing some free agents signings in the next couple of weeks. Then again, I thought that things were going to pick up after the non-tender deadline back at the beginning of December, and that just didn't happen. Perhaps there's no real sense of urgency for MLB teams who are betting on some sort of delay for the 2021 season. Or, another possible reason for the slowness that's been bandied about is that player agents are unhappy with the small number of teams that are interested in their clients and keep hoping that some teams will reconsider and jump into the bidding. That would certainly make sense on their part. Whatever the cause, this hot stove season is moving slower than my friend Tony does when he's reaching for his wallet, and trust me, that's pretty damn slow. At times I've seen cobwebs form between his hand and his pocket during this maneuver.