Meet the Mets (For Mets Fans Only!)

Callaway will take the hit.  But they ought to release Frazier as well.  


I blame BVW for thinking he put together a playoff caliber team. That said Callaway hasn't impressed me. Is Lowrie going to play this year?


Of course if they fire Callaway, he'll be replaced by Jim Riggleman, owner of a 44% winning percentage as manager, which sounds about right for the Mets.


The whole Marlins series was a total embarrassment. They were downright lethargic. Is it the manager who pushes them or revs them up? No closed door, players-only meeting yet? If he survives Monday and they get swept by the Nats, one would think he'd be fired at that point.


NotoriousEAM said:
Of course if they fire Callaway, he'll be replaced by Jim Riggleman, owner of a 44% winning percentage as manager, which sounds about right for the Mets.

 That's the real key, isn't it?  It's not like there is a successful, dynamic, appealing manager waiting for a phone call.  It's just the retread parade.


FilmCarp said:
 That's the real key, isn't it?  It's not like there is a successful, dynamic, appealing manager waiting for a phone call.  It's just the retread parade.

 Some great managers were abject losers before they became great.  Casey Stengel comes immediately to mind.  Joe Torre was a second division manager until the Yankees.  Terry Francona was middling until he took over the Red Sox.

But, wait, you will protest, look at those Yankees and Red Sox teams they took over!

And that is exactly my point.  The Mets got better over the off-season, but they did not become a powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination.  This is not on Calloway.  It is on the decade of Mets mediocrity that he and BVW are trying to overcome.  It will take more than a year; it will take more than a manager.  The Mets have a decent nucleus for the first time in a long time, but they need a lot more from the whole team and a few more productive pieces before we can call them a legitimate contender regardless of who is managing them.


The off season margin of improvement looks a lot smaller today than it did on opening day.  36 year old, and now showing his age, big ticket loafer Cano is a large net negative for the forseeable future.


bub said:
The off season margin of improvement looks a lot smaller today than it did on opening day.  36 year old, and now showing his age, big ticket loafer Cano is a large net negative for the forseeable future.

 Cano was the price for dumping Swarzak and Bruce.  


bub said:
OY
https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mets-yoenis-cespedes-suffers-broken-ankle-in-an-accident-on-his-ranch-in-florida/

 Argh.  The Mets couldnt sign an outfielder because he was coming back.  Now it will be what, next year?  Unless he trips over a crack in the damn sidewalk.



Once again the Mets are clown show.  Embarrassing.



FilmCarp said:
 Cano was the price for dumping Swarzak and Bruce.  

 And for getting Diaz.


Lost in all of the drama with Callaway and Cespedes is the little fact that Lugo just hit the IL.  That's going to hurt more than some think.


As an unrelated aside I was sorry to see that Daniel Murphy has a sub 200 average in Colorado.  The nats may have been on to something when they dumped him to the Cubs last year.  Bruce is also below 200, I think.


Proof that losing Lugo hurts has just been provided by Familia.


FilmCarp said:
Proof that losing Lugo hurts has just been provided by Familia.

 meh. Proof that Jeff McNeil is not a right fielder 


Rosario burned up the baseline, however.  Fast enough that it put him in the Statcast Elite Runner category.  McNeil gets the assist for dancing around in front of Turner enough to make him throw high to first base,.

I agree that had McNeil fielded Turner's shot down the line then Kendrick would have been held at third.  He was barely able to make it home without having a heart attack as it was.

But let's face it, Familia is getting hit hard and getting hit often.  In 18 innings he has given up 20 hits and 14 runs, including 2 homers.  And he has granted 14 walks!  His ERA is 6.50.  His batting average against is 0.299 and his WHIP is 1.89.  He has had three save opportunities and failed all three times.  Simply not sustainable numbers for a middle reliever.  

The best hand for that middle role right now is Gagnon, followed by Gsellman.


mfpark said:
Rosario burned up the baseline, however.  Fast enough that it put him in the Statcast Elite Runner category.  McNeil gets the assist for dancing around in front of Turner enough to make him throw high to first base,.


I agree that had McNeil fielded Turner's shot down the line then Kendrick would have been held at third.  He was barely able to make it home without having a heart attack as it was.
But let's face it, Familia is getting hit hard and getting hit often.  In 18 innings he has given up 20 hits and 14 runs, including 2 homers.  And he has granted 14 walks!  His ERA is 6.50.  His batting average against is 0.299 and his WHIP is 1.89.  He has had three save opportunities and failed all three times.  Simply not sustainable numbers for a middle reliever.  
The best hand for that middle role right now is Gagnon, followed by Gsellman.

 it was Davis in LF who couldn't field the double.  Leading off, Kendrick blooped a fly ball to right that McNeil didn't get a good jump on.  With Conforto in RF, the inning likely would have started with Familia retiring the first batter.  Instead, it was soon 2nd & 3rd with no outs.

Familia has been bad this season, no doubt.  But it's hard at this point to know how much the sore shoulder was responsible for that.  And he gave up only one hard hit ball last night, but it cost him.


The Mets actually got $500k in international bonus pool money for Broxton.  That's only $500k more than I thought they would get.


I loved that 8th last night.  It may be the only hit he ever gets as a Met, who knows, but that at bat by Davis was my idea of the perfect at bat.  I think he took enough pitches to keep Doolittle out of today's game.  And Lagares has a chance to get himself right right now.  I hope he keeps it up.  He had great potential.


Friday night's game was a roller coaster of emotion. Also, a roller coaster of terrible pitching. But the breeze was nice in the Coca-Cola Corner and I yelled myself hoarse. 

Anyone know why good beer is suddenly so hard to find at Citi? All the craft beer stands were closed and the big counter in centerfield seems to no longer have anything decent. Couldn't even locate a Brooklyn lager.


Seen on Twitter: "On Sunday, the last full day of Bill Buckner's life, 16 major leaguers struck out at least three times. Buckner played 22 seasons and never did it once."


Train_of_Thought said:
Seen on Twitter: "On Sunday, the last full day of Bill Buckner's life, 16 major leaguers struck out at least three times. Buckner played 22 seasons and never did it once."

 Says it all.  Thanks.


Buckner was a great contact hitter. Hall of Fame-worthy? Probably on the cusp, right? What's with all the strikeouts anyway? Is the pitching that much better or is it all about launch angle? A combination of both? Now it's pretty good to strike out under 100 times. 


Its a different game now.  Nobody cares about strikeouts.  I wonder what kind of career Buckner would have now, if any.  Teams trade defense for offense, and average for power without hesitation.  

  Personally, I think the next undervalued trend, ala moneyball, is going to be these contact hitters like McNeill.  


Love McNeil's approach. Such a keen eye for the strike zone and truly knows what pitch he wants to swing at. For a while I thought Conforto was going to be that type of hitter but I think he's in love with hitting homers and has a hard time resisting that impulse. Nimmo seems to be the type of patient hitter that's a bit old school but has half the hitting talent as McNeil. Not that there's any comparison at all but on the ridiculousness scale, Tony Gwynn had 9 seasons when he struck out under 20 times and his career average was 21 strikeouts per season! It was a notch on a pitcher's belt if you k'd Gwynn. Wow!


FilmCarp said:
Its a different game now.  Nobody cares about strikeouts.  I wonder what kind of career Buckner would have now, if any.  Teams trade defense for offense, and average for power without hesitation.  
  Personally, I think the next undervalued trend, ala moneyball, is going to be these contact hitters like McNeill.  

 actually some teams are starting to care about strikeouts.  The Astros and Dodgers in particular are assembling their lineups and coaching their hitters to try to make contact more often.


nice ball player, that Robbie Cano, eh?  Enjoy.


Train_of_Thought said:


Soul_29 said:

Train_of_Thought said:
Permission to speak?
 Permission granted. 
Familia sucks. We will rue this signing.

Back in December.


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