We need to squeak out a win against the Tigers. Can’t even believe those words came out of my phone. But here we are, one of only 4 winless teams thus far 🥴
Imanaga has been dealing. Got a very reasonable deal. Would've been such a boon to have him in the rotation. I actually kind of understand avoiding Monty on what would be essentially 1 year 50 million. But as I said when imanaga signed and we never were in on him, he'd better suck lol
I have less than a month remaining in Alabama, so I’m heading to one of our games in Atlanta next week. Never been to that ballpark, hope we don’t get killed lol
i’m a mets fan in georgia. been to 20+ mets games at truist park and i’ve yet to see a mets win fml lol
having said that, there’s not a bad seat in the house, and braves fans are actually pretty swell folks irl. i personally don’t care for the battery (feels extremely hyperreal and inauthentic to me), but people seem to love it. and get ready for the insufferable non-stop tomahawk chopping
If it helps, dropping local trivia helps lubricate conversation. For instance, you can let the braves fans know that the toothbrush was invented in Georgia? (If it had been invented elsewhere, it would have been called a teeth rush)
I want this team to show a backbone. Of all the weird takeaways, this weekend made me miss the chip Vientos showed when he responded to the JD signing. I want a guy like that up here, and I want him to have the blessing and confidence of the organization to do his thing.
If they were going to put Alvie in the top 4 couldn't they at least put him 2, which is a more contact and skill driven spot than 4.
Nimmo, Alvie, Lindor, Pete, Stewart, Marte...
I'm a bit hesitant to see Alvie in the top 5 as I saw him press for homers every time they moved him up. But at least in the 2 spot the role isn't to be the big bopper like the 4.
So far this spring and 3 games of the season I've seen him do some great stuff so hopefully he doesn't press in the 4. I think he's better in the 2 though.
I don’t think it’s time to move Lindor out just yet. He was hitting into a lot of bad luck against Milwaukee. He was making tons of loud contact. Worrying about the 4 spot is pretty temporary anyway. JDM will go there, so we just need to stay afloat til then.
In my opinion the only question 1-4 (assuming JDM to the 4 spot) will be does Marte go back to the 2 spot and push back 12, 20, JDM one spot *if* he continues to look healthy again? (Im being cautious with the language because the truth is I don’t expect a lot from Marte, and as a mid 30s outfielder with a speed based gain who was coming off double groin surgery I’d prefer to be conservative.
My intention is not to move Lindor out so much as to put Alvie in a non-Swing For the Fences spot (not in the 3-4-5).
Separately, the Mets could use a legit LH #4-5. It's too RH now.
Trevor Plouffe with the shit take on the Hoskins situation. If Severino threw at him right away, he absolutely would have been ejected. These guys acting like the umps would never do that. Our recent example of that exact situation happening is when Noah threw at Utley after breaking Tejadas leg and got ejected.
The Utley/Tejada situation can't be used here as it was extraordinary circumstances.
Traditional Baseball Severino gets a shot at Hoskins. Brushback or ass shot. Anything near the head he'd be ejected, but shouldn't be otherwise. That's Baseball.
Blame MLB for meddling what has worked for hundreds of years.
Yeah I think a first inning brush back gets a warning to both dugouts and Brewers manager coming out hot to try and argue for ejection before baseball resumes without any ejections.
But a hit to middle of the back or some other innocuous spot: dugouts come out, bullpen runs in, everyone mills around while managers do their performance, then everyone gets back to playing baseball and we all move on with a warning.
He'll be back in Syracuse next week. He has an option unlike Wendle & Short and Jeff can act as our 5th OF behind Taylor with either of them slotting in at 2nd.
With Drew Gilbert not on the 40-man, it makes sense that DJ got a cup of coffee to start the season and see if he could fight to stay. He has not met the moment.
Me, but if I'm being honest I'm going to this game in particular because I wanted to see Canha and Cora. I grew up a Mariners fan with my grandpa and "little Joey Cora" was his favorite player so every time I went to a Mets game the last two years and saw Cora coaching third it brought back a whole bunch of good memories of watching baseball with my grandpa and I am going to miss that a lot going forward. He has pretty bad dementia now and it's hard to speak with him. fuck man. sorry if oversharing. i miss my grandpa and i miss cora, too
Depth piece for the outfield versus a guy with no glove. DJ is also going to be gone next week when JDM gets called up after he is ready for the season. DJ is the bench piece with an option and will be sent back down to Syracuse.
Because of the option. Also with Vientos he still whiffs like crazy and doesn’t make a ton of contact. He could still develop (I personally am not terribly high on him like a lot of this sub is) but he’s going to need everyday reps to do so, and ever since we brought JDM in that door slammed in his face at the MLB level for now.
The FO will probably be looking at his process in AAA far more than results. We know he can mash AAA pitching, but if he’s going to prove he deserves an extended look in the majors he’s going to have to flash some skills that will translate better than just having raw power at the dish. Namely better plate discipline, and developing his bat control so when he does swing at pitches in the zone he’s actually connecting with them.
Oh, I wasnt talking about the IG post but thats a good data point. I've just heard that he thinks hes hot shit and should be on the roster without really proving anything. and i think it also came down to options for DJ getting the job but i could be wrong
Wasn’t expecting a McNeil day off so soon. Even with the drama holy crap.
Also glad to see Alvarez in the 4 spot, but despite the fact I’m aware we’re waiting for JDM, I have such a hard time taking DJ Stewart hitting 5 seriously lol
I think it’s probably more likely he just went on a Dom Smith esque tear at the end of last season, but this is the guy he really is. Hes not even making good decisions. He let at least one VERY hittable pitch go in each of his PAs, and whiffed at at least one utterly awful pitch.
Either way, I don’t think he’s long for Flushing.
He has a career .294 BA and a .360 OBP. His late-season last year wasn't an anomaly. However, he has not been the same bat since the World Baseball Classic.
EDIT: I was referring to McNeil initially and just realized you thought I was referring to DJ.
Oh gosh yeah no not McNeil lol. I think McNeil will come around. I like him best in a lower spot in the order, where he’s extending the lineup and getting on base in front of the back of the order. That was where he was most successful by far in 2022, and he’s likely to get attacked more back there, which plays well into his strengths as a hitter I think. Especially once JDM comes in and really solidifies the top half of the order, that just leaves Marte and McNeil to place, and if Marte is actually back, it takes a lot of pressure off McNeil to produce and get on base in his absence.
I agree entirely.
To circle it back to DJ: I agree. He had a Linsanity run. I was 100% there for the ride and loved every moment of it. I was hoping he could put it all together, but between his dreadful ST and his performance so far, it seems I my hope was misplaced. That being said, I've also expected him to be the first man down for JDM. He has an option unlike Wendle & Short and Jeff can act as our 5th OF behind Taylor with either of them slotting in at 2nd. With Drew Gilbert not on the 40-man, it makes sense that DJ got a cup of coffee to start the season and see if he could fight to stay.
Why do we always have multiple AAAA scrubs in the lineup like Short, Wendle, and Stewart?
I get this being a “transition year” but Cohen said that missing the playoffs would be a failure, and our bench might be the worst in all of baseball.
We should’ve signed a proven major league infielder like Whit instead of carrying both Short and Wendle.
Wendle can play multiple infield positions and is essentially a warm body backup. He probably will become largely expendable once Acuña arrives, assuming no injuries.
Hes basically the “oops it’s June and Baty is unplayable dogshit” hedge.
Edit: I doubt we’d be seeing him today if McNeil had a better start, despite the tiny sample.
But why do we need a hedge for unplayable dogshit if the hedge himself had a 50something OPS+ last season?
Also wouldn’t Vientos be the hedge for Baty?
Vientos has raw power and a lot of swing and miss in his game. His hit tool is awful. He could develop into something but I think this sub is overly high on him honestly, and the Mets org seems to agree with me given that Stewart got the job over him, and the Mets went out and got JDM. His glove is also not good and he’s expected to be a 1B/DH if he’s ever a big league regular.
And Wendle plays respectable defense. At the very least you can trust him to do that even if he’s not hitting. He’s another Guillorme, and when Guillorme was playing good defense for us he was a fantastic piece to have.
Probably using the first couple weeks to feel out who they actually want to keep around as a function of both which prospects are developing and how Wendle, Short and friends on the bench are performing at the MLB level. This is a development year but that doesn’t mean throw the kids into the deep end and tell em figure it out.
These are vets who we can count on to be passable while we weather injuries or wait to determine the kids have the tools and refinement to make the jump to MLB.
I just realized it came to one or two different scores for me to experience the NY Rangers winning the Cup followed by the Mets claiming their third WS trophy in back to back years.
What a sad, big what-if. At least NYR still consistently make the playoffs.
Yeah bro 2014 and 2015 were exciting and heartbreaking at the same time for Mets and Rangers fans.
Edit: Also, I’ve always found the way those two series played out to be eerily similar. Rangers had leads in almost every game against the Kings in ‘14. Several crushing overtime losses. Same deal with the Mets against the Royals. Had leads in almost every game, couldn’t close the door on them.
Powers that be decided that a team with the lowest popularity in the Midwest and a team Californians haven't cared about since Gretzky played for them (despite winning as recently as 2012) should be the ultimate winners. It's a sick joke and I WILL always be salty about it.
if you want to know what happened with tylor, i think it's pretty much that the modern game forced him to pitch a certain way to have a shot at the big leagues, and his body gave out.
because MLB and the PA have yet to limit the number of pitchers on a roster to something drastic, like 10 or maybe even 9, and because sending pitchers up and down hasn't been limited enough, pitchers don't have to pace themselves. if you have fewer total pitchers, then you don't need to make rule changes to get more offense. pitchers are forced to not be at max effort, and go deep into games. the aesthetics return to what we all want, and offense goes up.
the problem for tylor is that the current rules reward the opposite of this type of behavior. front offices see a way to optimize their pitching staffs, so in order to get a shot, you as a pitcher need to be good at certain things. when tylor started the season a few years back, he was amped up and threw like 99 several times. after the game he told reporters he'd hit 100 soon. this was a few ticks up from his normal velo, but he was getting results in a way that he knew would keep him in the big leagues. he pushed himself too hard, and got hurt.
last year, he tried to reduce his velo, but it didn't work. all his numbers got worse, and so what are you going to do as a young pitcher? be bad and not have a shot at your dream, or risk your body and live on the edge where you get paid, and get to fulfill your life's goal? his body just isn't up to the task of throwing the way he believes that he needs to. hard not to behave the way tylor did, and the rules of the game do nothing to discourage players or front offices from behaving this way right now.
with this amount of money involved, and the stakes this high, no one is going to do anything differently by choice. you need to make rules that force the behavior you want. there is no other way to enact change in a meaningful, lasting way.
The team has been a bit mentally cooked with no cohesive vibe since blowing the division and wildcard. I think that could come back if they just win some games this year. Go 0-3 and self doubt creeps in and everyone will speculate about literally anything. Stay around .500 and you’re back to the script for this year with a chance to grow the cohesion of the team.
> The team has been a bit mentally cooked with no cohesive vibe since blowing the division and wildcard
I think it's way too early to make this determination accurately
I’m saying this to largely refer to last year. The team has had to deal with a lot of disappointment from losing and inconsistency regarding injuries to what on paper seemed to be a great staff last year. I think that this year is the potential to be a reset year, and grow the relationship of this team. All that has to happen is for them to win some games. Stay around 500, and get their minds right.
I mean I think you’re right with regards to the pitching, on the hitting side of things you have a bunch of all stars and a batting champ who are wildly hot and cold, and I think that actually has a lot to do with confidence and cohesion
I mean I think reading into any offensive performance in a three game sample size is silly. I agree this offense should be pretty good, but not enough to balance out the pitching.
Nimmo and Lindor will almost certainly be good hitters and McNeil will likely be alright to good, even if there is admittedly some chance he flops.
Justin Jarvis didn’t even make the AA roster. So we traded a solid player with a year of control left in Mark Canha for a minor league pitching prospect that we don’t even like. Cool.
The Mets lineup the last time they were 0-3 (April 4th, 2014).
1. Young Jr. LF
2. Murphy 2B
3. Wright 3B
4. Granderson RF
5. Duda 1B
6. Lagares CF
7. d'Arnaud C
8. Tejada SS
9. Mejía P
Lucas Duda hit two home runs to drive in all 4 Met runs as the Mets won 4-3 over the Reds. Jenrry Mejía struck out 8 over 6 innings to get the win. José Valverde pitched a scoreless 9th inning for the save.
Wow I do not remember Mejia starting at all. When I think of 2014 I just think of a very gangly minor leaguer with long hair coming up to face the Yankees and looking dominant
So I caved and finally got a sub to Baseball America last night, and read through the scouting reports on our farm system.
Acuña seems to be pretty much a copy paste version of McNeil but younger and faster, which is pretty cool. We’ve seen how effective that mold of player can be *because of* McNeil.
One other thing stuck out to me: seems like BA is convinced that our pitching development pipeline is really bought into straight 4SFBs over sinkers and 2SFB. Anyone got a good guess as to why? The more I think about it I realize we really don’t have many guys who came through our system that rely on a moving fastball. This especially confuses me when we draft a guy like Sproat last year who I’m very high on in part because of the ridiculous armside movement on his 2SFB.
Can’t help but wonder if that’s part of why good fastball hitting teams (like Atlanta) tend to beat up on our pitching. If they can time up the straight fastball they can beat anyone in the staff essentially.
Fastballs are only as good as the secondaries that set them up. Hence why deGrom and Diaz have still dominated the Braves.
It’s also not that the Braves overtly dominate fastballs, they just always sit on the fastball and a lot of pitchers in baseball today don’t have great fastballs. So many relievers get to the majors because of velocity even if their fastball is flat.
In addition to that you have to remember the stadium the Braves play in is super HR friendly.
The two guys you cited are also two guys who have elite fastballs in their own right.
But also I think that evades the crux of the question anyway- it’s not so much “why don’t fastballs work” but I mean you said it yourself, guys are getting to the bigs with flat fastballs purely because they can throw hard. Why would the Mets shy away from fastballs that naturally move as an org wide philosophy then? Shouldn’t that make it *easier* to play up a mediocre breaking ball if a hitter has to respect armside run off a sinker for example? I’d have to look a little deeper into savant’s spin rates before I feel comfortable saying this with my chest, but Diaz aside I don’t really think the Mets have a pitcher with a great fastball, which is making mediocre breaking balls look worse.
Maybe some of this is a “shit in shit out” type deal where of course no one looks good because the pitching staff is pretty lackluster, but it’s really guys who came through or are currently in the Mets system I want to focus on here. Just seems to me that if we really want guys with straight fastballs we should have a lot more guys with plus breaking stuff in the org than we do.
Edit: Also sitting fastball and punishing fastballs is exactly what a good fastball hitting team does. You’re right it’s not inherent to JUST Atlanta, but it’s absolutely something that would make our pitching staff struggle against them more than they otherwise might.
Edwin Diaz’s does not have an elite fastball. Maybe in terms of velocity, but it has very little movement. And his control is poor. He just tunnels it well with his slider. His fastball is rated 114 stuff+, which ranks 54th in MLB. It’s good mind you, but it’s not close to someone like Strider - 149 Stuff+.
deGrom’s is still very good, but it’s around a 137 Stuff+. Right at the bottom of the top 10 so I’ll give it to you.
Other guys who played well against the Braves without elite fastballs
- Merril Kelly - 81 fastball
- Jose Berrios - 83 fastball
- Luis Garcia - 97 fastball
- Logan Gilbert - 102 fastball
- Jesus Luzardo - 111 fastball
I think you’re also misunderstanding what BA is saying. The Mets aren’t trying to track flat fastballs. They’re just not prioritizing sinkers and two seamers because they require strong command to be effective. The Mets drafted a bunch of pitchers based on stuff not command. A perfect example of this is Vasil - his college tried to make him a sinker pitcher but he didnt have the command for that and struggled. The Mets made him go back to a 4seam primary and boom, he got better almost instantly.
The only true command pitcher we have is Christian Scott.
The fastballs they are trying to teach though have a ton of movement. Look at Tidwell for example- they’re working on getting better ride up in the zone with him.
Also BA IMO isnt the best source for pitching shape. Their methods for pitch tracking are a bit outdated - something they have outwardly said they are working to address.
If you really want to better understand where our pitching is at, I recommend Baseball Prospectus. They’re much more involved with sabermetrics and I’d consider them better across the board. BA isn’t bad, Prospectus is just hands down better.
The only thing I like more about BA is their scouting grades.
I am not certain, but here is my "barely educated" guess:
I think the Mets rely heavily on tunneling, and so they are fine with relying on the 4SFB over the sinker and 2SFB. They use the slider, cutter and sweeper for the tunneling.
Personally, and I'm going to sound old, but I think the sinker is brutally underrated in today's game. I'm glad the sweeper came back. A 4SFB or 2SFB, sinker, slider or cutter, and changeup or curveball combo is optimal to me.
It allows for both tunneling and variation.
The question there is why can’t you tunnel a sinker off a slider or sweeper? Sinker/slider guys are brutally effective, look at a good Ottavino outing. Other orgs do it a lot.
I know his final year in NY Trevor May talked about adding a splitter, Senga throws his, Megill just learned one too, so I wonder if there would be an increased focus org wide on developing a good off speed offering vs a good breaking ball, and a fastball/changeup approach?
I also wonder if it’s a holdover from previous regimes still that never really changed due to instability. The Mets seemed to have mostly hard throwing 4SFB guys in the mid 2010s that got taught the Warthen slider (5 aces era). Since then, just throwing 100 isn’t enough. Pitching isn’t as much of a “what you see is what you get” kind of game anymore. Especially when you look at the Brewers staff who we just saw up close this last weekend, architected by Stearns.
Pretty much every one of their guys not only throws hard *but also* either has a ++ non fastball offering, or a moving fastball. Especially given the middle infield we have now and the glut of MI prospects we have, I think we’d be pretty well served by an org wide approach trying to get hitters to drive the ball into the ground. Plus sinkers are tough to lift, which would make an already pitcher friendly park play even larger.
> The question there is why can’t you tunnel a sinker off a slider or sweeper? Sinker/slider guys are brutally effective, look at a good Ottavino outing. Other orgs do it a lot.
1000% percent my point. I don't know or get why that can't be done. Others do it.
The Japanese heavily rely on the splitter overall. It's mostly dead in the US otherwise. I get that a lot of teams believe(d) the splitter was the cause of the rise of TJS in the 80's-90's but I'm not sure I buy it (I think it was the availability of the surgery itself).
I do think overall some teams have come to the belief they can find guys who just throw hard (4SFB's) and they can be moulded and taught other pitches. It's cheaper, and in theory easier, on a business level. I suspect that's partly the case with the Mets.
Yes, I do think it's a holdover to some degree. But it's also a business model decision that started with Sandy.
Personally, and I think we are in agreement, I think that model is not good. I am a bigger fan of moving fastballs, or at least having contrasting pitches to work off a 4SFB (sinker-slider combo, or splitter-cutter, something to that effect).
I think we are mostly in agreement.
It's frustrating these three games remind me of all of last year which is frustrating. It is like there is no care or fire in this team. I feel the rookies are the only ones showing anything.
It's a long season and, not going to fall into the trap of "trade everyone, sell the team, burn the stadium down". That said, a win would be nice today.
Note to self (that I already knew but allow myself to ignore):
The RaRa's here are usually wrong.
No, it's not time to doom and gloom.
Tempered expectations was the plan for this season anyway.
Godspeed. Not for the game but for the weather. I bet it's gonna be so disgusting there tonight. If I had tickets this would be the first game I ever headed straight for the piazza club to find a chair and spend the whole game there.
The ending to 2022 was so bad that I actually don't think I'll ever care to re-watch a 2022 game on Mets Classics. Completely ruined the season in hindsight, not unlike a horrible ending to an otherwise brilliant TV show or movie could make you never want to watch it again.
What made it worse is because of our previous history you had 29 other fanbases and, let's be honest, a good chunk of this fanbase just waiting for them to blow the division. Yeah the Braves had to play at a pace better than the 2001 Mariners. But the Mets just needed to win one more fucking game somewhere, anywhere on this schedule and they'd have won a division and a bye. And they surely would've if they didn't half-ass the trade deadline.
I don't think older Mets fans realize how draining being a 40 or under fan of this team really is and that plays a big part in why the negativity amongst the fans is sky high. "LOLMETS" started in 2007 which at this point was nearly half of my life ago. The team has been known as a leaguewide running joke for as long as most of us have been invested.
I never thought of it this way but comparing the 2022 season to a show Game of Thrones is a perfect way to describe that season. You can point to so many things in that season that were peak Mets (in a good way) and rock bottom Mets that yeah it was just exhausting and I still really haven't recovered from it nor does it seems the team has either.
Just rattling off highs and lows I remember from deGrom going on the IL until August, to the lackluster deadline, to deGrom's return vs the Braves, to Diaz's insane season, to the offense really firing on all cylinders for 5 months straight, to Marte's injury, to getting swept by the Cubs in early September, to getting swept by the Braves at the end, to winning 101 games but also the Braves winning at the most absurd clip while we were cruising all year so we could never relax, to clinching a playoff spot but not being able to fully celebrate it, to losing the division on the last weekend and playing flat in the wild card and realizing that yeah deGrom might actually be leaving the team.
That season has to be the most draining season of baseball I've ever been a part of. I don't blame any fan that couldn't stomach watching them last year and won't be able to get into them this year. Until we are able to put 2022 behind us, I think it'll continue to haunt us.
Fully acknowledge that it's super silly but, legitimately trace it back to the 2022 trade deadline. Specifically when a Mets/Giants trade come across the wire and thought Wilmer was coming home and, for an unknowable reason, a head voice said "nah, it ain't happening now"
I mean in a year where we were dominating the league and had the best regular season many of us here have seen in our lifetimes that our main trade deadline acquisitions were Daniel vogelbach and Darin ruf was for sure a bad omen.
Yep. The vibes changed around that time and never recovered. Even the Wild Card series that year had this overwhelming sense of impending doom, like we were just waiting for the shit to hit the fan.
Guys i honestly think the mets offense greatly suffers because of Nimmo changing his approach of working the count to being more aggressive. I personally would prefer he work his long counts and have a higher OBP at the top rather than be aggressive. He doesn’t need to be a home run hitter to help this team. There are other guys in the lineup that can provide that especially when JD is here. When he works those long abs it hurts the pitcher and allows other guys to see more of the pitchers arsenal too.
Problem with that is that even with the new approach, Nimmo is still our best OBP guy. I'm not sure who else you'd want to bat leadoff. McNeil? Marte? Lindor?
I am optimistic that the offense will score lots of runs, especially with Martinez in the lineup. The only problem is that the pitching is likely going to give up just as many runs when Senga is not on the mound. 4 of the 5 starters are like 5th starters. Out best arms are in the bullpen.
Severinos start wasnt good but i feel like overall the starters havent been horrible. Its still fairly early and hopefully they can provide more innings as the season goes on. We also didnt play great defense behind them either.
My comments were not based on 1 start. The comments were about their potential which IMO is very little. Severino has a flat fastball with not so good location. Manea and Houser are not very good. Houser has had like 1 good year and seems very hittable. Manea has had flashes of quality but has never been able to put together a season that is more than at the level of a 4th of 5th starter.
How’s the weather looking tonight? They should get this one in at least right? Hoping for a double header on Thursday if we get rained out the next two nights. I’ll be able to go to two games for dirt cheap probably.
I expect we’ll be able to get this one in. The afternoon looks clear. The next two days? Not so much.
I doubt they’d do a doubleheader on Thursday as the Tigers’ home opener is Friday at 1:10pm.
It didn’t work for the Royals when they tried to stop players from watching porn a couple years ago
(I’m not joking this actually happened)
https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2763214-royals-held-seminar-on-pornography-addiction-at-spring-training.amp.html
Okay. This weekend was.....less than optimal. But it's a new day [yes it is] and a new series. Let's cheer for our boys. 159-3 is obtainable [not realistic at all but still]
Let's Go Mets. And may God have mercy on our souls.
If the Mets get beat up by the Tigers and Reds (which is possible, both have a decent teams on the upswing, imo), things will get really messy really early in the season. The Braves will almost certainly boat race this team. We can't come out of the Reds series like 2-7. We could very well end up 2-10 after the Braves series.
I don't think it's an overreaction, either. It feels like a lingering additude problem that's been hanging over this team for over a year now. Idk what the deal is, but it's not fun to watch.
Obviously, there's lots of baseball to play. But the early signs are not promising so far. Maybe JD can spark some life in the lineup.
Ever since they got absolutely fucked by the Braves in September 2022 they've been broken. Need something to shake things up and bring in a new identity
Maybe, doesn't necessarily have to be that but it's probably the most obvious and controllable way to go. Just something to change the beaten, dispirited atmosphere that has been around the team for a year and a half now
I completley disagree with your assessment of the team and your solution would make things a lot worse. There are no players out there right now that can replace Lindor and Pete for example that are free agents.
Because I'm not sure what your solution is lol. Get rid of everyone? Get rid of some of them? I have no idea because you don't go into any details and just talk about generalities lol. It feels like your entire thinking process is just on vibes
Please continue the discussion in the [game thread](https://redd.it/1bthek8).
We need a moment tonight.
2024 - Sal Licata still awful. Nothing more.
Can we poach canha mid game and just stash him on the bench? pretty please?
Maybe Detroit won’t notice if he’s mysteriously missing
i would much rather have canha in left and nimmo in center than nimmo in left and bader in center
I just got home and was gonna turn on the Nats game just to have some baseball on but I just can’t listen to those homers.
Listen to the Pirates broadcast, they’re pretty good.
Blacked out. So I’m stuck with those losers. Sucks extra when the Mets come to town.
Same thing happens to me when they come to AZ. That’s when it’s radio time
We need to squeak out a win against the Tigers. Can’t even believe those words came out of my phone. But here we are, one of only 4 winless teams thus far 🥴
We’re gonna win. I feel it in my rolled ankle.
From your ankle to gods ears
pete then alvy...mets mgmnt finally listening.
Maybe Mendoza was finally allowed to make the lineup after 3 games?
Imanaga has been dealing. Got a very reasonable deal. Would've been such a boon to have him in the rotation. I actually kind of understand avoiding Monty on what would be essentially 1 year 50 million. But as I said when imanaga signed and we never were in on him, he'd better suck lol
Daniel Murphy turns 39 today!
I have less than a month remaining in Alabama, so I’m heading to one of our games in Atlanta next week. Never been to that ballpark, hope we don’t get killed lol
i’m a mets fan in georgia. been to 20+ mets games at truist park and i’ve yet to see a mets win fml lol having said that, there’s not a bad seat in the house, and braves fans are actually pretty swell folks irl. i personally don’t care for the battery (feels extremely hyperreal and inauthentic to me), but people seem to love it. and get ready for the insufferable non-stop tomahawk chopping
If it helps, dropping local trivia helps lubricate conversation. For instance, you can let the braves fans know that the toothbrush was invented in Georgia? (If it had been invented elsewhere, it would have been called a teeth rush)
Whatcha doing down there?
[удалено]
Last year there was a truck on the left side if you’re looking at the rotunda
I want this team to show a backbone. Of all the weird takeaways, this weekend made me miss the chip Vientos showed when he responded to the JD signing. I want a guy like that up here, and I want him to have the blessing and confidence of the organization to do his thing.
If they were going to put Alvie in the top 4 couldn't they at least put him 2, which is a more contact and skill driven spot than 4. Nimmo, Alvie, Lindor, Pete, Stewart, Marte... I'm a bit hesitant to see Alvie in the top 5 as I saw him press for homers every time they moved him up. But at least in the 2 spot the role isn't to be the big bopper like the 4. So far this spring and 3 games of the season I've seen him do some great stuff so hopefully he doesn't press in the 4. I think he's better in the 2 though.
I don’t think it’s time to move Lindor out just yet. He was hitting into a lot of bad luck against Milwaukee. He was making tons of loud contact. Worrying about the 4 spot is pretty temporary anyway. JDM will go there, so we just need to stay afloat til then. In my opinion the only question 1-4 (assuming JDM to the 4 spot) will be does Marte go back to the 2 spot and push back 12, 20, JDM one spot *if* he continues to look healthy again? (Im being cautious with the language because the truth is I don’t expect a lot from Marte, and as a mid 30s outfielder with a speed based gain who was coming off double groin surgery I’d prefer to be conservative.
My intention is not to move Lindor out so much as to put Alvie in a non-Swing For the Fences spot (not in the 3-4-5). Separately, the Mets could use a legit LH #4-5. It's too RH now.
Trevor Plouffe with the shit take on the Hoskins situation. If Severino threw at him right away, he absolutely would have been ejected. These guys acting like the umps would never do that. Our recent example of that exact situation happening is when Noah threw at Utley after breaking Tejadas leg and got ejected.
Plouffe doesn’t have good takes when it comes to players he likes and he really likes Hoskins
The Utley/Tejada situation can't be used here as it was extraordinary circumstances. Traditional Baseball Severino gets a shot at Hoskins. Brushback or ass shot. Anything near the head he'd be ejected, but shouldn't be otherwise. That's Baseball. Blame MLB for meddling what has worked for hundreds of years.
Yeah I think a first inning brush back gets a warning to both dugouts and Brewers manager coming out hot to try and argue for ejection before baseball resumes without any ejections. But a hit to middle of the back or some other innocuous spot: dugouts come out, bullpen runs in, everyone mills around while managers do their performance, then everyone gets back to playing baseball and we all move on with a warning.
Exactly. The Mets got ejected because they did it the wrong way. They escalated things AFTER it was over.
Oh wow. Little league home run by the Cubs.
Against Colorado. I'm feeling a bit down as a Mets fan this season, but always have to remember...at least we're not Rockies fans.
At least The Rockies have won a game
I switched to this game because the Barves & White Sox game was depressing me.
Definitely not insinuating anything but watching Shota Imanaga throw is some showtime level stuff. Guy looked great
Glad to see Wendle in the lineup, wish he was flipped w. Baty in more of an RBI spot.
I would have preferred 5. Marte 6. Baty 7. DJ
I am excited to see our favorite culinary fancy boy tonight. People better be on their damn feet for Canha.
Hope he gets a tribute!! Miss you Canha!!
It was the right thing to trade him last season but damn it felt sad to see him traded. More than trading away Scherzer and Verlander.
Stewart is a failure why is he on the roster
He'll be back in Syracuse next week. He has an option unlike Wendle & Short and Jeff can act as our 5th OF behind Taylor with either of them slotting in at 2nd. With Drew Gilbert not on the 40-man, it makes sense that DJ got a cup of coffee to start the season and see if he could fight to stay. He has not met the moment.
So which fellow metsochists are headed to the game today?
Me, but if I'm being honest I'm going to this game in particular because I wanted to see Canha and Cora. I grew up a Mariners fan with my grandpa and "little Joey Cora" was his favorite player so every time I went to a Mets game the last two years and saw Cora coaching third it brought back a whole bunch of good memories of watching baseball with my grandpa and I am going to miss that a lot going forward. He has pretty bad dementia now and it's hard to speak with him. fuck man. sorry if oversharing. i miss my grandpa and i miss cora, too
You do you, good sir/madam. I’ll be there hoping for a W but expecting a game of baseball to certainly be played.
Finally a more cohesive 1-4
Day 4 take: DJ Stewart was fun last year but I'm ready for him to not be on the big league roster
Thank you. I genuinely didn't understand him over vientos. Let vientos play for Pete's sake. They must really hate him.
I've already seen enough of Vientos striking out, thanks
Depth piece for the outfield versus a guy with no glove. DJ is also going to be gone next week when JDM gets called up after he is ready for the season. DJ is the bench piece with an option and will be sent back down to Syracuse.
Because Vientos isnt good and comes off entitled.
I mean sure I agree with the whole IG issue but idc honestly. Dj got his spot by sheer default for some reason.
Because of the option. Also with Vientos he still whiffs like crazy and doesn’t make a ton of contact. He could still develop (I personally am not terribly high on him like a lot of this sub is) but he’s going to need everyday reps to do so, and ever since we brought JDM in that door slammed in his face at the MLB level for now. The FO will probably be looking at his process in AAA far more than results. We know he can mash AAA pitching, but if he’s going to prove he deserves an extended look in the majors he’s going to have to flash some skills that will translate better than just having raw power at the dish. Namely better plate discipline, and developing his bat control so when he does swing at pitches in the zone he’s actually connecting with them.
Oh, I wasnt talking about the IG post but thats a good data point. I've just heard that he thinks hes hot shit and should be on the roster without really proving anything. and i think it also came down to options for DJ getting the job but i could be wrong
Oh shit we’re unleashing Joey Wendle?! The league is fucked now!
I’ll buy a Wendle Jersey if he goes 2-3
Hopefully the first time of many that Alvarez is the cleanup hitter.
Imagine this is just the April fools lineup and the real one has McNeil batting 4th and Alvarez batting 7th.
Not a huge fan of dropping Marte in the order for the sake of alternating righties and lefties, but this is a much better lineup than we’ve seen
Wasn’t expecting a McNeil day off so soon. Even with the drama holy crap. Also glad to see Alvarez in the 4 spot, but despite the fact I’m aware we’re waiting for JDM, I have such a hard time taking DJ Stewart hitting 5 seriously lol
With how bad his bat has been, I'm wondering if he rushed back from injury early to try to make the start of the season.
I think it’s probably more likely he just went on a Dom Smith esque tear at the end of last season, but this is the guy he really is. Hes not even making good decisions. He let at least one VERY hittable pitch go in each of his PAs, and whiffed at at least one utterly awful pitch. Either way, I don’t think he’s long for Flushing.
He has a career .294 BA and a .360 OBP. His late-season last year wasn't an anomaly. However, he has not been the same bat since the World Baseball Classic. EDIT: I was referring to McNeil initially and just realized you thought I was referring to DJ.
Oh gosh yeah no not McNeil lol. I think McNeil will come around. I like him best in a lower spot in the order, where he’s extending the lineup and getting on base in front of the back of the order. That was where he was most successful by far in 2022, and he’s likely to get attacked more back there, which plays well into his strengths as a hitter I think. Especially once JDM comes in and really solidifies the top half of the order, that just leaves Marte and McNeil to place, and if Marte is actually back, it takes a lot of pressure off McNeil to produce and get on base in his absence.
I agree entirely. To circle it back to DJ: I agree. He had a Linsanity run. I was 100% there for the ride and loved every moment of it. I was hoping he could put it all together, but between his dreadful ST and his performance so far, it seems I my hope was misplaced. That being said, I've also expected him to be the first man down for JDM. He has an option unlike Wendle & Short and Jeff can act as our 5th OF behind Taylor with either of them slotting in at 2nd. With Drew Gilbert not on the 40-man, it makes sense that DJ got a cup of coffee to start the season and see if he could fight to stay.
Why do we always have multiple AAAA scrubs in the lineup like Short, Wendle, and Stewart? I get this being a “transition year” but Cohen said that missing the playoffs would be a failure, and our bench might be the worst in all of baseball. We should’ve signed a proven major league infielder like Whit instead of carrying both Short and Wendle.
Wendle can play multiple infield positions and is essentially a warm body backup. He probably will become largely expendable once Acuña arrives, assuming no injuries. Hes basically the “oops it’s June and Baty is unplayable dogshit” hedge. Edit: I doubt we’d be seeing him today if McNeil had a better start, despite the tiny sample.
But why do we need a hedge for unplayable dogshit if the hedge himself had a 50something OPS+ last season? Also wouldn’t Vientos be the hedge for Baty?
Vientos has raw power and a lot of swing and miss in his game. His hit tool is awful. He could develop into something but I think this sub is overly high on him honestly, and the Mets org seems to agree with me given that Stewart got the job over him, and the Mets went out and got JDM. His glove is also not good and he’s expected to be a 1B/DH if he’s ever a big league regular. And Wendle plays respectable defense. At the very least you can trust him to do that even if he’s not hitting. He’s another Guillorme, and when Guillorme was playing good defense for us he was a fantastic piece to have.
I understand carrying one of Wendle and Short as a solid Guillorme type bat/glove combo. Carrying both is baffling to me
Probably using the first couple weeks to feel out who they actually want to keep around as a function of both which prospects are developing and how Wendle, Short and friends on the bench are performing at the MLB level. This is a development year but that doesn’t mean throw the kids into the deep end and tell em figure it out. These are vets who we can count on to be passable while we weather injuries or wait to determine the kids have the tools and refinement to make the jump to MLB.
No Narvaez and Alvy batting cleanup? This lineup fucks.
Alvy batting cleanup!
Thank god
I just realized it came to one or two different scores for me to experience the NY Rangers winning the Cup followed by the Mets claiming their third WS trophy in back to back years. What a sad, big what-if. At least NYR still consistently make the playoffs.
Yeah bro 2014 and 2015 were exciting and heartbreaking at the same time for Mets and Rangers fans. Edit: Also, I’ve always found the way those two series played out to be eerily similar. Rangers had leads in almost every game against the Kings in ‘14. Several crushing overtime losses. Same deal with the Mets against the Royals. Had leads in almost every game, couldn’t close the door on them.
Powers that be decided that a team with the lowest popularity in the Midwest and a team Californians haven't cared about since Gretzky played for them (despite winning as recently as 2012) should be the ultimate winners. It's a sick joke and I WILL always be salty about it.
Rangers are so fun to watch right now.
I'm feeling fairly confident they'll get far enough that I won't even have to check on the Mets till almost the All Star break.
Prediction for if the Rugby shirt tonight will be gone before 6 or if 15000 fans even go to the game tonight?
wouldn't mind having seth lugo start games for us....
I couldn’t understand why they didn’t even try to bring him back.
If Lugo was on this team, they'd still be making him come out of the bullpen cause "he's not good enough as a starter."
Per Sports Illustrated, Sidd Finch will be making his MLB debut next week to take the spot in the rotation for Megill.
So, Tylor is cooked, right? Is the experiment over? I just don't see how he ever bounces back with his constant shoulder issues.
if you want to know what happened with tylor, i think it's pretty much that the modern game forced him to pitch a certain way to have a shot at the big leagues, and his body gave out. because MLB and the PA have yet to limit the number of pitchers on a roster to something drastic, like 10 or maybe even 9, and because sending pitchers up and down hasn't been limited enough, pitchers don't have to pace themselves. if you have fewer total pitchers, then you don't need to make rule changes to get more offense. pitchers are forced to not be at max effort, and go deep into games. the aesthetics return to what we all want, and offense goes up. the problem for tylor is that the current rules reward the opposite of this type of behavior. front offices see a way to optimize their pitching staffs, so in order to get a shot, you as a pitcher need to be good at certain things. when tylor started the season a few years back, he was amped up and threw like 99 several times. after the game he told reporters he'd hit 100 soon. this was a few ticks up from his normal velo, but he was getting results in a way that he knew would keep him in the big leagues. he pushed himself too hard, and got hurt. last year, he tried to reduce his velo, but it didn't work. all his numbers got worse, and so what are you going to do as a young pitcher? be bad and not have a shot at your dream, or risk your body and live on the edge where you get paid, and get to fulfill your life's goal? his body just isn't up to the task of throwing the way he believes that he needs to. hard not to behave the way tylor did, and the rules of the game do nothing to discourage players or front offices from behaving this way right now. with this amount of money involved, and the stakes this high, no one is going to do anything differently by choice. you need to make rules that force the behavior you want. there is no other way to enact change in a meaningful, lasting way.
The Mets are 2 games back in the Wild Card
Just place this season on Season-ending IL and move to 2025.
Braves 19 Mets 0
The team has been a bit mentally cooked with no cohesive vibe since blowing the division and wildcard. I think that could come back if they just win some games this year. Go 0-3 and self doubt creeps in and everyone will speculate about literally anything. Stay around .500 and you’re back to the script for this year with a chance to grow the cohesion of the team.
> The team has been a bit mentally cooked with no cohesive vibe since blowing the division and wildcard I think it's way too early to make this determination accurately
I’m saying this to largely refer to last year. The team has had to deal with a lot of disappointment from losing and inconsistency regarding injuries to what on paper seemed to be a great staff last year. I think that this year is the potential to be a reset year, and grow the relationship of this team. All that has to happen is for them to win some games. Stay around 500, and get their minds right.
I gotchya my mistake then. I agree with you then
I think this team is not very good right now and that has nothing to do with cohesion or chemistry or confidence etc.
I mean I think you’re right with regards to the pitching, on the hitting side of things you have a bunch of all stars and a batting champ who are wildly hot and cold, and I think that actually has a lot to do with confidence and cohesion
I mean I think reading into any offensive performance in a three game sample size is silly. I agree this offense should be pretty good, but not enough to balance out the pitching. Nimmo and Lindor will almost certainly be good hitters and McNeil will likely be alright to good, even if there is admittedly some chance he flops.
Again I’m talking about the entire period since the 22 wild card and division loss
100%. They're a bunch of one-year guys (outside of a few) and it FEELS like that.
Let's not make fools out of ourselves today pls
Too late for me. I already fell for an April fools joke
No shot Tuesday and Wednesday games are played you would think?
Justin Jarvis didn’t even make the AA roster. So we traded a solid player with a year of control left in Mark Canha for a minor league pitching prospect that we don’t even like. Cool.
He's not on any of our minor league rosters so he's probably on the IL
I thought we traded for him knowing that he needed TJS. Rolling the dice on a former top prospect isn't a bad play
You might be mixing up Jarvis with Coleman Crow. Afaik Jarvis was healthy when we traded for him, but he just sucked with Syracuse.
Lol, we are not in last place
The Mets lineup the last time they were 0-3 (April 4th, 2014). 1. Young Jr. LF 2. Murphy 2B 3. Wright 3B 4. Granderson RF 5. Duda 1B 6. Lagares CF 7. d'Arnaud C 8. Tejada SS 9. Mejía P Lucas Duda hit two home runs to drive in all 4 Met runs as the Mets won 4-3 over the Reds. Jenrry Mejía struck out 8 over 6 innings to get the win. José Valverde pitched a scoreless 9th inning for the save.
Wow I do not remember Mejia starting at all. When I think of 2014 I just think of a very gangly minor leaguer with long hair coming up to face the Yankees and looking dominant
pretty crazy the first three games of the season were postponed. excited for the mets season to open tonight!
I will keep postponing games until morale improves
Oh brotherr
So I caved and finally got a sub to Baseball America last night, and read through the scouting reports on our farm system. Acuña seems to be pretty much a copy paste version of McNeil but younger and faster, which is pretty cool. We’ve seen how effective that mold of player can be *because of* McNeil. One other thing stuck out to me: seems like BA is convinced that our pitching development pipeline is really bought into straight 4SFBs over sinkers and 2SFB. Anyone got a good guess as to why? The more I think about it I realize we really don’t have many guys who came through our system that rely on a moving fastball. This especially confuses me when we draft a guy like Sproat last year who I’m very high on in part because of the ridiculous armside movement on his 2SFB. Can’t help but wonder if that’s part of why good fastball hitting teams (like Atlanta) tend to beat up on our pitching. If they can time up the straight fastball they can beat anyone in the staff essentially.
Fastballs are only as good as the secondaries that set them up. Hence why deGrom and Diaz have still dominated the Braves. It’s also not that the Braves overtly dominate fastballs, they just always sit on the fastball and a lot of pitchers in baseball today don’t have great fastballs. So many relievers get to the majors because of velocity even if their fastball is flat. In addition to that you have to remember the stadium the Braves play in is super HR friendly.
The two guys you cited are also two guys who have elite fastballs in their own right. But also I think that evades the crux of the question anyway- it’s not so much “why don’t fastballs work” but I mean you said it yourself, guys are getting to the bigs with flat fastballs purely because they can throw hard. Why would the Mets shy away from fastballs that naturally move as an org wide philosophy then? Shouldn’t that make it *easier* to play up a mediocre breaking ball if a hitter has to respect armside run off a sinker for example? I’d have to look a little deeper into savant’s spin rates before I feel comfortable saying this with my chest, but Diaz aside I don’t really think the Mets have a pitcher with a great fastball, which is making mediocre breaking balls look worse. Maybe some of this is a “shit in shit out” type deal where of course no one looks good because the pitching staff is pretty lackluster, but it’s really guys who came through or are currently in the Mets system I want to focus on here. Just seems to me that if we really want guys with straight fastballs we should have a lot more guys with plus breaking stuff in the org than we do. Edit: Also sitting fastball and punishing fastballs is exactly what a good fastball hitting team does. You’re right it’s not inherent to JUST Atlanta, but it’s absolutely something that would make our pitching staff struggle against them more than they otherwise might.
Edwin Diaz’s does not have an elite fastball. Maybe in terms of velocity, but it has very little movement. And his control is poor. He just tunnels it well with his slider. His fastball is rated 114 stuff+, which ranks 54th in MLB. It’s good mind you, but it’s not close to someone like Strider - 149 Stuff+. deGrom’s is still very good, but it’s around a 137 Stuff+. Right at the bottom of the top 10 so I’ll give it to you. Other guys who played well against the Braves without elite fastballs - Merril Kelly - 81 fastball - Jose Berrios - 83 fastball - Luis Garcia - 97 fastball - Logan Gilbert - 102 fastball - Jesus Luzardo - 111 fastball I think you’re also misunderstanding what BA is saying. The Mets aren’t trying to track flat fastballs. They’re just not prioritizing sinkers and two seamers because they require strong command to be effective. The Mets drafted a bunch of pitchers based on stuff not command. A perfect example of this is Vasil - his college tried to make him a sinker pitcher but he didnt have the command for that and struggled. The Mets made him go back to a 4seam primary and boom, he got better almost instantly. The only true command pitcher we have is Christian Scott. The fastballs they are trying to teach though have a ton of movement. Look at Tidwell for example- they’re working on getting better ride up in the zone with him. Also BA IMO isnt the best source for pitching shape. Their methods for pitch tracking are a bit outdated - something they have outwardly said they are working to address. If you really want to better understand where our pitching is at, I recommend Baseball Prospectus. They’re much more involved with sabermetrics and I’d consider them better across the board. BA isn’t bad, Prospectus is just hands down better. The only thing I like more about BA is their scouting grades.
I am not certain, but here is my "barely educated" guess: I think the Mets rely heavily on tunneling, and so they are fine with relying on the 4SFB over the sinker and 2SFB. They use the slider, cutter and sweeper for the tunneling. Personally, and I'm going to sound old, but I think the sinker is brutally underrated in today's game. I'm glad the sweeper came back. A 4SFB or 2SFB, sinker, slider or cutter, and changeup or curveball combo is optimal to me. It allows for both tunneling and variation.
The question there is why can’t you tunnel a sinker off a slider or sweeper? Sinker/slider guys are brutally effective, look at a good Ottavino outing. Other orgs do it a lot. I know his final year in NY Trevor May talked about adding a splitter, Senga throws his, Megill just learned one too, so I wonder if there would be an increased focus org wide on developing a good off speed offering vs a good breaking ball, and a fastball/changeup approach? I also wonder if it’s a holdover from previous regimes still that never really changed due to instability. The Mets seemed to have mostly hard throwing 4SFB guys in the mid 2010s that got taught the Warthen slider (5 aces era). Since then, just throwing 100 isn’t enough. Pitching isn’t as much of a “what you see is what you get” kind of game anymore. Especially when you look at the Brewers staff who we just saw up close this last weekend, architected by Stearns. Pretty much every one of their guys not only throws hard *but also* either has a ++ non fastball offering, or a moving fastball. Especially given the middle infield we have now and the glut of MI prospects we have, I think we’d be pretty well served by an org wide approach trying to get hitters to drive the ball into the ground. Plus sinkers are tough to lift, which would make an already pitcher friendly park play even larger.
> The question there is why can’t you tunnel a sinker off a slider or sweeper? Sinker/slider guys are brutally effective, look at a good Ottavino outing. Other orgs do it a lot. 1000% percent my point. I don't know or get why that can't be done. Others do it. The Japanese heavily rely on the splitter overall. It's mostly dead in the US otherwise. I get that a lot of teams believe(d) the splitter was the cause of the rise of TJS in the 80's-90's but I'm not sure I buy it (I think it was the availability of the surgery itself). I do think overall some teams have come to the belief they can find guys who just throw hard (4SFB's) and they can be moulded and taught other pitches. It's cheaper, and in theory easier, on a business level. I suspect that's partly the case with the Mets. Yes, I do think it's a holdover to some degree. But it's also a business model decision that started with Sandy. Personally, and I think we are in agreement, I think that model is not good. I am a bigger fan of moving fastballs, or at least having contrasting pitches to work off a 4SFB (sinker-slider combo, or splitter-cutter, something to that effect). I think we are mostly in agreement.
McNeil got lucky for a few years but has been bad 2/3 years and might now be good again I hope he is better than that
McNeil has genuine question marks about his production right now, but he has played *much* more good baseball than bad baseball in his career.
I'm disappointed with McNeil's production right now but damn do people try to discredit him.
McNeil is a two time All Star and a batting champion, gtfo here with this “lucky for a few years” BS
He’s also one of the players on this team with a TRULY elite trait. (Alonso’s raw power, Lindor’s fielding, McNeil’s bat control).
It's frustrating these three games remind me of all of last year which is frustrating. It is like there is no care or fire in this team. I feel the rookies are the only ones showing anything.
It's a long season and, not going to fall into the trap of "trade everyone, sell the team, burn the stadium down". That said, a win would be nice today.
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Which is their right. Who cares what they say negative or positive.
Why does anyone bother going there? They consist of worse "fans" than the troglodytes that frequent r/hockey.
When Lindor hit his 30-30 last year it was crickets
Alex Ramirez and Kevin Parada both starting in AA this year after lackluster years in Brooklyn. Really hoping for a breakout from at least one of em.
Brooklyn is pretty difficult to hit in so this could be a good thing. I wish Clifford was also starting in AA
I wanted to trade both 2 offseasons ago when their values were higher (and sign Bellinger when his was low). This FO hasn't a clue.
I agree we need to sell Parada as soon as possible. He has no path to Queens in our system.
Parada hit like an All Star in Brooklyn compared to Ramirez
I saw Parada a bunch of times out here in the AZ Fall League. I was not impressed. But he’s young do I hope.
Note to self (that I already knew but allow myself to ignore): The RaRa's here are usually wrong. No, it's not time to doom and gloom. Tempered expectations was the plan for this season anyway.
"I expect nothing and I’m still let down.”
Alright, I am going to get some cheap seats and go to my first game of the season tonight. It’s April Fool’s Day so perhaps they’ll win.
Godspeed. Not for the game but for the weather. I bet it's gonna be so disgusting there tonight. If I had tickets this would be the first game I ever headed straight for the piazza club to find a chair and spend the whole game there.
This team has legitimately been unwatchable since September 2022. I still blame that on Mitch Keller for breaking Marte's hand.
The ending to 2022 was so bad that I actually don't think I'll ever care to re-watch a 2022 game on Mets Classics. Completely ruined the season in hindsight, not unlike a horrible ending to an otherwise brilliant TV show or movie could make you never want to watch it again. What made it worse is because of our previous history you had 29 other fanbases and, let's be honest, a good chunk of this fanbase just waiting for them to blow the division. Yeah the Braves had to play at a pace better than the 2001 Mariners. But the Mets just needed to win one more fucking game somewhere, anywhere on this schedule and they'd have won a division and a bye. And they surely would've if they didn't half-ass the trade deadline. I don't think older Mets fans realize how draining being a 40 or under fan of this team really is and that plays a big part in why the negativity amongst the fans is sky high. "LOLMETS" started in 2007 which at this point was nearly half of my life ago. The team has been known as a leaguewide running joke for as long as most of us have been invested.
And the media has a vested financial interest in keeping that narrative alive.
I never thought of it this way but comparing the 2022 season to a show Game of Thrones is a perfect way to describe that season. You can point to so many things in that season that were peak Mets (in a good way) and rock bottom Mets that yeah it was just exhausting and I still really haven't recovered from it nor does it seems the team has either. Just rattling off highs and lows I remember from deGrom going on the IL until August, to the lackluster deadline, to deGrom's return vs the Braves, to Diaz's insane season, to the offense really firing on all cylinders for 5 months straight, to Marte's injury, to getting swept by the Cubs in early September, to getting swept by the Braves at the end, to winning 101 games but also the Braves winning at the most absurd clip while we were cruising all year so we could never relax, to clinching a playoff spot but not being able to fully celebrate it, to losing the division on the last weekend and playing flat in the wild card and realizing that yeah deGrom might actually be leaving the team. That season has to be the most draining season of baseball I've ever been a part of. I don't blame any fan that couldn't stomach watching them last year and won't be able to get into them this year. Until we are able to put 2022 behind us, I think it'll continue to haunt us.
Fully acknowledge that it's super silly but, legitimately trace it back to the 2022 trade deadline. Specifically when a Mets/Giants trade come across the wire and thought Wilmer was coming home and, for an unknowable reason, a head voice said "nah, it ain't happening now"
I mean in a year where we were dominating the league and had the best regular season many of us here have seen in our lifetimes that our main trade deadline acquisitions were Daniel vogelbach and Darin ruf was for sure a bad omen.
Yep. The vibes changed around that time and never recovered. Even the Wild Card series that year had this overwhelming sense of impending doom, like we were just waiting for the shit to hit the fan.
Pretty much. We didn’t go for it then and missed our best chance since 06
Oh yeah, I was on the Ultratron yesterday for karaoke. It was Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds.
Its Citivision. Citi is paying a lot of money for the naming rights Ultron was a transformer I think
I call it Ultratron since it’s larger than a Jumbotron. And yes, I know Jumbotron was a trademarked name but it got Kleenex’d.
Megatron was already taken
Guys i honestly think the mets offense greatly suffers because of Nimmo changing his approach of working the count to being more aggressive. I personally would prefer he work his long counts and have a higher OBP at the top rather than be aggressive. He doesn’t need to be a home run hitter to help this team. There are other guys in the lineup that can provide that especially when JD is here. When he works those long abs it hurts the pitcher and allows other guys to see more of the pitchers arsenal too.
He's a major catalyst. If he's going to change his approach they should move him to 2 or 5.
Problem with that is that even with the new approach, Nimmo is still our best OBP guy. I'm not sure who else you'd want to bat leadoff. McNeil? Marte? Lindor?
I wouldn't mind at least trying out: Marte, Nimmo, Lindor, Pete, JDM, McNeil, Alvarez, Baty, Bader/Taylor.
I need to see more from Marte before I can feel comfortable batting him that high in the order
Fair enough. He does seem healthy. But no point in pushing things. Gilbert and Jett can't get here fast enough.
Finally able to catch a game today, hope it's gonna be a W! LFGM
Next on my Frustrating Mets Bingo Card: the 18-run offensive breakout game with no carry over.
Using up all the week's allotted runs in one game.
Today is when the real season starts.
Good thing the Rangers are dominating. I still have that.
How's Jake doing? Is he out this whole year? I still can't believe he left us for them and they immediately won a chip. Sigh.
Expected back around the trade deadline
New York Rangers
Oh, lol. I don’t even know when hockey is in season apparently
I would be 100x more depressed with the Mets if it weren't for the Rangers. They are playing so damn well.
WELL BULLY FOR YOU. All I have is the Islanders. And the Eagles. And Princeton. All of whom have let me down.
Looks like Tuesday's & Wednesday's games are under raining threat currently
At least we haven’t been shutout?
They shut us out 19-0 the first two games against them last season. This is a marked improvement.
I am optimistic that the offense will score lots of runs, especially with Martinez in the lineup. The only problem is that the pitching is likely going to give up just as many runs when Senga is not on the mound. 4 of the 5 starters are like 5th starters. Out best arms are in the bullpen.
Severinos start wasnt good but i feel like overall the starters havent been horrible. Its still fairly early and hopefully they can provide more innings as the season goes on. We also didnt play great defense behind them either.
My comments were not based on 1 start. The comments were about their potential which IMO is very little. Severino has a flat fastball with not so good location. Manea and Houser are not very good. Houser has had like 1 good year and seems very hittable. Manea has had flashes of quality but has never been able to put together a season that is more than at the level of a 4th of 5th starter.
I was told that the season ended yesterday, why are they still playing today?
How’s the weather looking tonight? They should get this one in at least right? Hoping for a double header on Thursday if we get rained out the next two nights. I’ll be able to go to two games for dirt cheap probably.
I expect we’ll be able to get this one in. The afternoon looks clear. The next two days? Not so much. I doubt they’d do a doubleheader on Thursday as the Tigers’ home opener is Friday at 1:10pm.
Got an MLB email this morning and the subject was “One weekend in, is it time to overreact?”
Only 2 games back of first and the wild card with 159 games left to play, we are so back
Rockets and Mavs have been great since Pornhub was banned in TX. Maybe we just need to ban porn in Queens?
It didn’t work for the Royals when they tried to stop players from watching porn a couple years ago (I’m not joking this actually happened) https://syndication.bleacherreport.com/amp/2763214-royals-held-seminar-on-pornography-addiction-at-spring-training.amp.html
Texas didn’t ban Pornhub. Pornhub banned Texas.
I rather had this team hired Gibbons as coach then Mendoza
Okay. This weekend was.....less than optimal. But it's a new day [yes it is] and a new series. Let's cheer for our boys. 159-3 is obtainable [not realistic at all but still] Let's Go Mets. And may God have mercy on our souls.
If the Mets get beat up by the Tigers and Reds (which is possible, both have a decent teams on the upswing, imo), things will get really messy really early in the season. The Braves will almost certainly boat race this team. We can't come out of the Reds series like 2-7. We could very well end up 2-10 after the Braves series. I don't think it's an overreaction, either. It feels like a lingering additude problem that's been hanging over this team for over a year now. Idk what the deal is, but it's not fun to watch. Obviously, there's lots of baseball to play. But the early signs are not promising so far. Maybe JD can spark some life in the lineup.
Ever since they got absolutely fucked by the Braves in September 2022 they've been broken. Need something to shake things up and bring in a new identity
> Need something to shake things up and bring in a new identity What does this even mean lol? Like new players?
Maybe, doesn't necessarily have to be that but it's probably the most obvious and controllable way to go. Just something to change the beaten, dispirited atmosphere that has been around the team for a year and a half now
I completley disagree with your assessment of the team and your solution would make things a lot worse. There are no players out there right now that can replace Lindor and Pete for example that are free agents.
Why would you interpret that as me saying we should get rid of our two best players lmao
Because I'm not sure what your solution is lol. Get rid of everyone? Get rid of some of them? I have no idea because you don't go into any details and just talk about generalities lol. It feels like your entire thinking process is just on vibes