Man The Lifeboats, Part 3

We continue our search for hope that the Mets can turn their season around with a look at the bullpen.

The New York Mets have just won their series against the Rays by taking the rubber game this afternoon. It was difficult to see that coming after the team had struggled so mightily for weeks. It would have been so easy for them to let down this afternoon after winning an improbable victory last night that was easily the signature game of the season up to this point. But Tylor Megill had his best performance of 2023, and the team did just enough to take it to the finish line. Although I hesitate to place too much importance on very small sample sizes, it's fair to say the success of the last two days gives the Mets something on which to build and work themselves back into the playoff chase.

Another Hill to Climb

The New York Mets finally added a desperately needed credible starting pitcher to the mix, picking up veteran Rich Hill in a deal with the Tampa Bay Rays. Understandably, this isn't the type of transaction that's going to electrify the fan base. Still, it was a solid deal for a decent veteran starter that didn't tap into the Mets' limited pool of top-tier prospect talent. As we discussed Wednesday, the Mets lack a deep pool of prospects who would be attractive to potential trade partners.

Mailing It In

The title of this post has nothing to do with the way the New York Mets are playing. Sure, they've been up and down this past week. Their offense is unwatchable at times, which predates many of their better players going on the IL. The team's chances of ever fulfilling their offensive potential now seem to hang on whether they can get their best players healthy and keep them that way. All things considered, the Mets are doing okay right now, keeping things going despite the ever-growing Injured List. Even a tough loss tonight from a tired bullpen doesn't change that.

Launch Angles, Spin Rates, and Bucking the Trend

It wasn't all that long ago that I didn't spend any of my time pondering the finer points of pitchers' spin rates or batters' launch angles. I think about them a lot lately. It's not that these are recent innovations in baseball. We've understood for a long time that the ability to impart spin on a baseball caused the ball to move in some combination of the horizontal and verticle axes, dependent on the spin. This, in turn, makes the pitches more difficult for the hitter to square up. We've also known that home run hitters incorporated an uppercut in their swings to hit more balls in the air and, hopefully, out of the park.

Defense is Mostly Work and Commitment

When I started watching Major League Baseball in the late 60s - early 70s, defense was valued over offense. At least on competitive teams, you were only likely to see teams trying to hide bad defenders at first base and in left field. The reason was fairly simple. It was an era dominated by pitching. If bad defense cost you runs, it was more difficult to get them back when your team came to bat. Particularly in the key up-the-middle positions of catcher, second base, shortstop, and third base, elite defenders with almost comically low offensive stats were tolerated in a lineup. It wasn't uncommon to have another automatic out or even two hitting in front of a pitcher.

Embracing the Pressure

Now that we've left 2020 behind, I hope that some of the players and teams resolve to not let January be as boring as December was, and that the hot stove season can finally live up to its name. The only sparks of excitement so far have been courtesy of the San Diego Padres, who have made themselves into one of the best teams in baseball by building a very deep farm system and being aggressive using it. For all of the deserved credit that the Rays get for making their voodoo work, it's good to see a team in a relatively small market like San Diego making a bold and aggressive push in a much different way to challenge the Dodgers in the NL West. 

Maximizing Player Value

The Tampa Bay Rays get a lot of credit, most of it deserved, for running a pretty successful baseball club on a small budget. Of course, it wasn't always that way. When they came into being as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, they spent their first decade of existence in last place in the AL East. Their best year from 1998-2007 was in 2004, the only time they won 70 games. Meanwhile, they lost over 100 games in three different years. I know the Mets franchise got off to a much tougher start back in the sixties, but baseball was much less liberal in giving players to expansion teams back then, and there was no amateur draft until 1965. I'd argue that being terrible for a decade puts the Rays in a class by themselves for ineptitude, despite the assist from the Mets in giving up Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano in 2004.

Welcome to the Promised Land

As I sit here writing this, the Wilpon era has just ended. With word that the final hurdle of approval by the mayor has been overcome, this thing is in the books. It's a great moment for Mets fans, but the real work is only beginning. The goal has to be to put a real playoff contender on the field in 2021, and that's going to be no small task.

Modern Baseball Trends and Making Adjustments

I'm a bit late in getting to this, but Eno Sarris had a very interesting piece in The Athletic last week about how the teams in this year's World Series reflect modern baseball strategy, and asking how this strategy might continue to evolve. There are several fascinating observations here concerning ball movement, velocity, pitching up in the zone, and how hitters might adjust to these trends. As I mentioned in Sunday's post, baseball is glacially slow in adapting to new trends, and once they do follow suit, it's hard for a lot of teams to move on - even if things aren't working as well for them quite as well anymore.

The Evolving Bullpen

One of the huge reasons that the Tampa Bay Rays are in the World Series is their bullpen. Despite a less-than-impressive cast of starting pitchers, the Rays have ridden a deep, diverse, and pretty darned cheap bullpen to October success. Of course, whenever any team pushes deep into the postseason, other teams are going to look at what they do and try to appropriate what works for them. The Rays bullpen will definitely be an important topic of conversation this offseason as teams look to build their own bullpens.

Lessons From the Tampa Bay Rays

In The Athletic Monday, Jayson Stark had a piece on the unusual success of the Tampa Bay Rays this season. The Rays manage to field a remarkably competitive team year in and year out, despite having a budget that makes Fred Wilpon look like a profligate spender in comparison. Most people who follow baseball fairly closely are aware of the way Tampa Bay operates. Despite incredible budget constraints they manage to compete most years. Since 2008, they have managed to finish with a winning record 9 times out of 13 seasons. Two of the years they fell short they went 80-82. Their only awful season in the stretch was 2016 when they finished last in the AL East with a 68-94 record.