Mets manager Terry Collins would like to remain with the team beyond the 2015 season but isn’t worried that he has to contractual guarantee that he’ll be back, writes Steven Marcus of Newsday. Collins, whose contract contains a club option for the 2016 season, tells Marcus that he’s better equipped to handle the uncertainty at the age of 65 than he would have been earlier in his career, and he’s used to receiving short-term renewals from the team. “They know I want to be here,” says Collins. “They know I like it here. But I also understand the business as good as anybody. Hey, look, my job is to go out [and help them] do the best we can do to have a big year. If we do, the rest of it takes care of itself.”
Here’s more on the division-leading Mets…
- Travis d’Arnaud’s fractured hand will sideline him for six to eight weeks, per Newsday’s David Lennon, but the team had already discussed the idea of eventually having d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki split time at catcher once the latter forced his way onto the MLB roster (All Twitter links). Plawecki has some experience at first base as well, but the Mets wanted him to focus solely on catching this spring in advance of him getting some big league reps. Lennon adds that the Mets considered Plawecki virtually untouchable in trade discussions this offseason, because they were concerned about d’Arnaud’s injury history. While d’Arnaud’s injury was a fluke occurrence as opposed to the flaring up of a prior injury, the decision to hold onto Plawecki certainly looks to have paid off.
- Alex Torres will step into more high-leverage situations against lefties following Jerry Blevins’ injury yesterday, Collins told reporters, including MLB.com’s Joe Trezza. While there’s no specific timetable for Blevins’ return from a broken forearm yet, Collins implied that the team won’t necessarily look outside the organization for help. “We have a couple of lefties still at Las Vegas that are potential replacements,” said Collins. “Although we lost Jerry, we still have far more depth than we had in, say, mid-Spring Training, because the development of a couple of guys and the fact that we still have Alex Torres.”
- Fangraphs’ Dave Cameron examines his site’s playoff projections, noting that the top three teams — the Nationals, Cardinals and Dodgers — were all widely expected to occupy those slots, and the fourth-ranked team, the Padres, entered the season with similarly high expectations. The Mets currently rank as the fifth-most likely club to earn a playoff berth, per Fangraphs, and while they’ll be tested due to the losses of d’Arnaud and Wright, Cameron notes that it’s not hard to envision them getting there. With 10 wins already in the bank, the Mets have an edge over other Wild Card contenders that have better rosters, such as the Cubs and the Pirates. And if the team upgrades its rotation sooner rather than later by swapping out Rafael Montero or Noah Syndergaard for Dillon Gee, or if a superior fourth outfielder to John Mayberry is acquired, the .500 outlook for the rest of the season could trend upwards a bit and push them into the postseason, he concludes.
if we won 79 games with a month of David Wright striking out due to his shoulder and our crappy bullpen last year, 85 should be in the bag this year
d’Arnaud fractured his finger, not his hand and is out at least 3 weeks. Should be back to the majors in about 5.
No, he broke the metacarpal, which is the hand. If he had broken a finger, he would have broken a phalanges. There are three phalanges, one for each knuckle, then the metacarpal, which is the hand, then the carpals, which is the wrist.
He broke the 5th metacarpal bone which is of the little or “pinky” finger. Still should be back in at least 3 weeks.
There is nothing to argue here, metacarpals are not fingers.
It’s not like he broke his hand, though. It would be a different time table and he wouldn’t be in a splint. It’d be a cast. I know that phalanges are the medical term for the fingers. The peripheral metacarpals are the metacarpals attached to the pinky and thumb. That being said, since those two are both on the outside of the hand it really isn’t a hand injury, which is why he’s in a splint. If he broke any of the others he probably would have 1. broke others 2. had a cast on and 3. be out longer.
“the Mets have an edge over other Wild Card contenders that have better rosters, such as the Cubs and the Pirates.”
Half the league is better than the Mets.
There are no teams in baseball with more wins than the Mets. None.
There are no teams in baseball that finish the season after 13 games. None!
Please feel free to list the 15 or so teams better than the Mets….
Sure.
Dodgers, Nats, Marlins, Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, Angels, A’s, Mariners, Cardinals, Pirates, Padres, Orioles, White Sox, Royals, and maybe even the Braves.
More than half of the teams you’ve listed have a dubious claim to being better than the Mets. I mean, the Braves? Come on. I don’t think they’re as bad as everyone thinks they’ll be, but that’s borderline trolling.
Okay I get it. You are buying into this team…like every year. I’m sure last year we heard the same from you and years before. The Mets have proven nothing to think they can sustain this long term. Let them prove me wrong. I’ll be waiting and i will say I was wrong once they prove it.
You are wrong about me. I have not said that they were good in the past. They’ve been rebuilding and most Met fans have been aware of this. I’m also not saying that they’re going to be great this year. We’re 13 games in and this is more of a transition year, especially when you consider Wheeler’s injury and Syndergaard not even being in the majors. Ditto on Conforto/Nimmo et al. They were borderline .500 last year and got Harvey back as well as a healthy Wright (before he went down again). 85 is a reasonable goal especially in light of their start. I doubt half the teams you mention win 85. But you’re right, let’s wait and see.
So you like to throw out this arbitrary number of 85, yet come to a confident conclusion the other half of the teams mentioned have no chance to reach this number?
So you’re just trolling? I clearly said they were near .500 last year without Harvey or a healthy Wright. I said 85 was ‘a reasonable goal’. It’d be a six game improvement. How is that arbitrary?
Also, what part of ‘But you’re right, let’s wait and see’ is a confident conclusion? I’ve made a reasoned and calm argument about one team. You’ve made a huge proclamation about 15 teams and have not explained any of it. Please stop being so antagonistic and try to have an actual discussion. This isn’t ESPN Radio, you’re not in ‘The Herd’.
It’s not arbitrary, it’s the number that Vegas have. They have millions and millions of dollars and many years of expertise behind their prediction…is your opinion worth that?
Just saw in his post history he’s a Braves fan. Move along.
Agree on Dodgers, Nats, Tigers, Royals, Padres, Pirates, O’s, Red Sox..bc of their bats, Cards bc of talent.
Next best:
White Sox…that’s a reach.
A’s…meh. Not impressed thus far.
Indians…with what offense?
Mariners?! You mean Felix Hernandez and a bunch of other guys?
Marlins…the 3-11 already imploding Marlins w/o their #1?
Braves…lol. They are in a full rebuild.
Statistically you are wrong.
Braves beat the Mets last week. So based on that the Braves are better. Right?
You are confused…
Yankee fans are adorable when they troll
Does anyone remember when the Braves and Red Sox both lost 10 game leads in the last month of the season? I wonder what their playoff projections looked like at game 130 (let alone game 14).
I’m as excited as anyone to see the Mets succeed but let’s wait until at least the all star game before we start talking about playoff probability.
You are right but it’s called playoff “probability” not playoff certainty. In any case the red sox and braves september were major outliers statistically speaking. A team that reaches 7 games above .500 at any time during the year has a better probability to reach the playoffs than other teams in their league, it’s a no brainer.
We will see!