The Pitching Question

There was a time when the Mets were known for developing young pitching. What happened?

When I became a Mets fan in 1969, the franchise became known for its excellent starting pitching. Besides future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver, the Mets rotation that season included southpaw Jerry Koosman, rookie Gary Gentry, veteran Don Cardwell, and Jim McAndrew. The Amazins also received starts from a young, wild righty named Nolan Ryan and young lefty Tug McGraw, who would become more famous in future years for finishing games. Koosman was always in Seaver's shadow, but he won 222 MLB games in his own right, 140 of them with the Mets. Gentry was a talented kid who, unfortunately, ruined his arm at a young age. He was out of baseball by age 28. Cardwell had a journeyman career, amassing a lifetime 102-138 record with 5 clubs while pitching over 2,000 innings. However, he was excellent for the Mets in 1969, pitching as a starter and a reliever.

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.

This Kid May Have Something

Although he didn't receive much fanfare before this season, Mets prospect Junior Tilien is making himself someone to watch going forward.

I don't normally write about prospects at this site. It's not that I don't care. I actually spend as much time as I can following the exploits of New York Mets prospects. I'm checking daily to keep up with the latest exploits of Mets farmhands like Francisco Álvarez, Brett Baty, Mark Vientos, and Ronny Mauricio. I look forward to the day when top pitching prospect Matt Allan returns after undergoing Tommy John surgery in May 2021.

Surviving the Slump

When I last wrote in this space 8 days ago, the New York Mets were floundering but still in first place. It's been pretty much all downhill since that point. As I finished my piece last Monday, the Mets were in the process of dropping a game to the last-place Marlins. They would lose 3 of 4 to Miami, then get swept in their 3-game set in Philadelphia. If you were somehow transported forward in time, basing your opinion on the 2021 Mets strictly on the games they played over the last 10 days, you'd probably think you were watching a last-place team in the midst of a rebuild.

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.

Making the Future Brighter

The main storyline for the New York Mets is about treading water while all of their players on the Injured List work their way back. It's been a bit frustrating to watch them try to win Major League games while playing mostly their Triple-A lineup, but I do admire that they've been able to compete in most of their games during this stretch. Still, their listless loss to the Marlins today capped a disheartening 3-6 road trip. It might be a bit more interesting if their roster at Syracuse included more true prospects. Then there would at least be the sense that we were previewing the future of the big league club these last few games. Sadly, this is not the case.

Building Better Pitching

Tim Britton had an outstanding piece in The Athletic today about the Mets organization's efforts to create a state-of-the-art pitching development program. Under the Wilpons, the team had been notoriously reluctant to buy into the latest trends in player development. This likely reflected some skepticism towards new technologies on their part and a certain cheapness towards investing in something that didn't pay obvious and immediate benefits. That's probably a good reason why the Mets have historically lagged behind the top organizations in developing talent. Fortunately, new Mets owner Steve Cohen sees the benefits of investing in the future. That should pay dividends for the club and its fans going forward.

At the Gates of Spring

It's hard not to feel the excitement of baseball returning this week, even amidst the still-ongoing concerns about COVID-19. Mets pitchers and catchers will report Wednesday, while the position players will be in camp a week from Monday. While Acting GM Zack Scott has indicated that the Mets are not done improving their roster, it will still be a blast to see the team they've assembled so far over the offseason. A new era of Mets baseball truly began when Steve Cohen took over the team in October and handed the keys to Sandy Alderson, but it will all start to get real this week.