The Mets are activating star shortstop Francisco Lindor from the 10-day injured list before tonight’s game against the Giants, Anthony DiComo of MLB.com was among those to relay. He’ll be making his first appearance since mid-July after missing five weeks with a right oblique strain.
Things were looking up for the Mets before Lindor hit the IL on July 17. New York had been leading the National League East for the prior couple months and looked to have a good chance at snapping a four-year playoff drought. That’s no longer the case, as the Mets have fallen flat in August and dipped below .500 in recent days. New York enters play tonight sporting a 61-63 record, sitting in third place in the division. They’re six and a half games back of the Braves and two games behind the Phillies, giving them very little margin for error if they’re to make a playoff push over the season’s final five-plus weeks.
For the first time, Lindor will pair with trade deadline acquisition Javier Báez in the middle infield. The Mets acquired Báez from the Cubs in the hope that he could hold down shortstop for a few weeks before sliding to second base upon Lindor’s return. Unfortunately, Báez missed ten days himself due to back spasms, but he made his return to the lineup over the weekend.
Lindor started the season very slowly, but he’d begun to find some rhythm offensively before the injury. Overall, he’s carrying a .228/.326/.376 line over his first 364 plate appearances. That’s career-worst production — no doubt a disappointing start to his time in Queens — but Lindor has continued to offer Gold Glove caliber defense and should see an improvement in his hitting numbers, since he’s been plagued by a .248 batting average on balls in play.
Jeff McNeil to the bench? His lack of professionalism has worn out its welcome. I wouldn’t want him on my team.
Career .300 hitter that can play anywhere. I’d say McNeil is entitled to be angry with an incompetent umpire in need of robot replacement.
Overrated player. I think the .300 hitter stuff was a mirage. Not a .250 hitter, either. I’m thinking .270/.280 with limited power, a sub-.750 OPS, and so-so defense wherever he plays. Brawling with the team’s best player was not a good look. The handwriting is on the wall for Mr. Selfish.
I’m thinking Lindor is hitting .228 this season, and looking up a slash line against one team where everyone underperformed is grasping.
Underperforming or not good players? Michael Conforto is a career .252 hitter outside of 2020’s short season. Given Lindor’s track record and what the Mets are paying him, he should be considered their guy whether his offense is worth that kind of money or not. Baez also has a track record. McNeil is going to spend some time watching the two buddies start at 2B and SS.
McNeil complains about every call. Even strikes down the middle. It’s infuriating. Don’t get me wrong, every team has a guy or two like that, but McNeil’s incessant complaining it’s unbearable to watch sometimes. I think he’s a solid player though.
VonPurpleHayes, It’s uncanny how many hittable pitches their batters don’t swing at. It must have something to do with organizational hitting philosophy. It’s as if they are so concerned with possible strikes on the corners that they ignore the fat ones. I’m not a believer that Rojas is the blame for the Mets’ poor performance. However, he whines about balls and strikes more than anyone in recent memory. Often, he gets aggressive about it. It makes me wonder if all that complaining has made his players tentative. The hitters bypass pitches they should swing at, while pitchers mope when a call doesn’t go their way. Steve Carlton addressed that as a visitor during a recent Mets-Phillies game. He said a pitcher shouldn’t worry about umpire’s calls; instead, focus on making the best pitches you can.
Unprofessional describes most of McNeil’s at-bats against the Dodgers…He of the .179.192/.371 slash line against them this season.
His not running out a groundout. I’m not saying re-signing Baez for huge bucks is a great idea, but I think the Mets will do it and try to move McNeil.. The remaining years of control might make McNeil attractive to a losing team. The Mets rid themselves of someone who doesn’t fit and the losing team gives the appearance they’re trying. Camden Yards of Coors Field would be excellent destinations for McNeil. The Mets can send along a half-dozen water coolers to be broken later.
Pretty sure you’d love the very real possibility that Cano is the 2022 starting 2b.
I don’t care what the Mets do, though they are still on the hook for Cano. He’s another reason McNeil doesn’t fit on the team. I’m looking at it as a baseball fan who watches the Mets play quite a bit. How a player reacts when the chips are down is telling. Baez can be frustrating to watch at the plate, but at least he’s trying to make winning things happen. His glove and speed are major assets that McNeil doesn’t provide.
Ceyhey, Mets fan here and i agree with you on Conforto and McNeil. McNeil is a hothead and whiner and stopped making contact in favor of homeruns.Conforto is a decent player but will probably accept a qualifying offer and then let him walk PLEASE!! We can take the draft pick
wright1970, do you see them bringing back Baez? Realistically, what would you like to see them do over the winter? Would you be okay with a relatively quiet winter if they made the proper hires to run and manage the team?
Mets will dump Cano and eat the money if there’s no NL DH
honestly the mets need to change their entire culture. for that reason, i would overpay for baez. the guy plays hard and has a big enough personality to change the “vibe” of an entire team
Cano should be released, he’s not blocking anybody. And Baez’ speed and D won’t help the offense (which is the team’s problem) with his K rate and anemic OBP.
Culture, vibe and other fancy words don’t win games. The last thing the Mets need is to overpay for a guy who doesn’t even get on base 30% of the time.
i’m a rare yankee fan who would like to see the mets get their act together. the yankees of the early 90’s were a dreary and unprofessional mess. bringing in paul o’neill and jimmy key helped turn things around. mcneil might be the mets’ mel hall. if paying baez precludes signing other big contracts then of course you take a pass but cohen has more money than god and is clearly embarrassed with this year’s performance
Culture and vibe, maybe not, but fancy words are grossly under-rated. Baez still knocks in a lot of runs and does other things exceptionally well. Give him a chance – playing with Lindor might elevate them both.
I think Baez won’t require a big overpay. I think he’d sign very reasonably to play in a place he enjoys playing.
1) Coming from a 39 year old Mets fan, first and foremost if they want to keep deGrom around they need to make that decision now and extend his contract. He can opt out after next year.
2) Conforto is probably worth extending a qualifying offer as this year is clearly an aberration. He’s no Harper but he’s not this bad.
3) unfortunately, it looks like the rotting carcass of Cano’s body will be starting at 2B. To answer your question about Baez, only if he is willing to bet on a one-year pillow contract.
4). The DH should FINALLY come to the NL. Ext year (the only professional baseball league without it) so the Mets of anyone really should benefit from that. They’re trying to fit too many square pegs into round holes. ie JD Davis at 3B, Smith in the OF, Nimmo in CF. I love Nimmo at the top of the order, I would consider keeping him in CF as long as the rest of the defense isn’t balls-awful like it was in previous seasons.
5) They need to clean up the starting rotation. I really wanted Jon Gray at the deadline, maybe he would be a good target along with another SP. These days you need 7-10 SP candidates to have a safe season and not be screwed by lack of depth. Walker was a steal and the full season workload caught up with him. He should hopefully continue to be solid. Megill was a nice surprise.
dasit. I agree they need to change the culture. A possible problem with Cohen’s embarrassment is he might make the wrong moves in a bid for a quick fix. With you being a longtime Yankee fan and me a Dodger fan, we know how that can blow up in your face. The Yankees in the 90s didn’t turn the corner until their homegrown nucleus was established, just like the current Dodgers. The Yankees also made astute moves by looking beyond the recent numbers to bring in guys like Scott Brosius and David Wells. Both were coming off bad years. Transactions weren’t always popular. Quite a few people were upset when Yankee-for-life Roberto Kelly was shipped out for O’Neil. It wound up being one of the best trades in Yankees history. People will claim the Yankees were successful because of unlimited payroll, but it wasn’t that at all. Their drafting, scouting, and player development made it feasible to add difference makers like Clemens and Tino to a team that was already good. It wouldn’t hurt the Mets to build on that old Yankees blueprint. Try something that has proven to work.
Poor attitude due to frustration of not hitting home runs. He lost his way and can’t find it again. Now it’s gonna cost him playing time.
Cey it ain’t so. I am a Met fan living in SoCal and was listening to the Dodger radio announcer’s who agreed Jeff McNeil had a right to be upset!
So why is that unprofessional; umpire and his bank account should be investigated and replaced with technology.
Lindor will hit well now that the Mets are out of it, mark my words.
Canosucks, I lived in the NYC area for a long time and frequently watch the Mets prior to the Dodgers’ late start (one reason is I like their TV broadcast team). This has been a constant for McNeil.
Hey Cey Hey, well thanks for the information; honestly…
My sample size was that one….
Jeff McNeil was a great teammate when he was going good, but he’s carries his frustrations outwardly on his sleeve as if it was a patch next to the one honoring Tom Seaver. Too bad. I think he needs to mature a little. As far as his defensive prowess, he isn’t great individually anywhere but offers more than adequate flexibility to the Mets or any team wanting that. People smirked about Chris Taylor in his pre-Dodgers days, but David Wright knew he was better than that from working out with him and it was the Dodgers who went out and grabbed him.
I wonder if cey hey thinks bellinger in just having a down year. When it obvious that he’ll never be what he was. League has figured him out.. talking about McNeil like he isn’t better than bellinger
Bellinger has been bad for about a year and a half now. McNeil was never really all that great. Is he hitting better than Bellinger right now? Certainly. But I wouldn’t be so quick to give up on him, especially with the elite defense he brings to the table.
“McNeil was never really all that great”
This is wrong, but you’re entitled to your opinion. Nearly 10 WAR in his first 250-ish games and y’all are ready to write him off completely for one injury-plagued, bad year where his BABIP (.275) is 50 points lower than his career average (.326). Give me a break.
Do you mean like the league has figured out McNeil, Conforto, Lindor, Smith, and, in pressure situations, Alonso?
Bellinger is three years younger than McNeil and a far superior athlete and defender (he has won a Gold Glove in 2019). He doesn’t throw fits in the dugout when things don’t go his way. I’m concerned about his struggles but wouldn’t toss him away just yet. Not long ago, the league had supposedly figured out former MVP Bryce Harper. How does that look now?
Betts returns on Thursday. If Bellinger doesn’t turn it around soon, Pollock, Taylor, and Betts will be just fine as the starting outfield for the remainder of 2021. Since the Dodgers now have Trea Turner, they no longer need Taylor at 2B. So while I’m concerned about Bellinger, his struggles don’t preclude them from doing great things in October. Even with Cody being way off, they lead the league in runs (they’ve scored 178 more than the Mets).
With McNeil, it’s more of a problem because the Mets are still trying to figure out how to build a winning team. Over the past four years, they’ve gone 77-85 per 162 games, which is about where they figure to finish in 2021. The Dodgers have averaged 102-60 over the same stretch, which is also about where they will finish this season. In April, you said the Mets wouldn’t be 20-plus games worse than the Dodgers, What do you say now?
Cey Hey. Before the seven game home and home versus the Dodgers MetsFan22 said the Mets weren’t “afraid” of the Dodgers. I admit the Nets did better than I expected. They won one out of seven. There is not a single player on the Mets except maybe Alonso (sometimes) and deGrom that strike fear in the league, imho.
The Mets are a disaster. They won’t make the playoffs this year and if deGrom doesn’t come back healthy they won’t make the playoffs next year either.
I have been following the Dodgers since they were in Brooklyn and this is one of the most balanced teams they have ever had. Still SF is playing on antihero level and this may be their year.
You barley beat us in all the games but one. Stop acting like you dominated…
Pay no mind to the person in the clown outfit that is Metsfan22. No credibility on these boards and should probably follow another sport more suited towards his limited brain capacity. Maybe something like corn hole or hopscotch.
Sounds soupy
Again, there’s no column in the standings for almost, or barely, or even barley.
“…barely beat us…”
There ya go, @metsfan22. Good to see you back in form. I was worried about you the other day with all that “mets won’t make the playoffs” stuff.
Show some damn NYC grit, son.
I agree, deGROMINATOR is TERRIFYING!
Winning six out of seven is not close. The Dodgers have been averaging 25 more wins per season than the Mets.
But 5 of the 6 don’t count because (insert idiotic reason here.)
The Mets are 124 – 0 in the “if only” column.
Show some damn NYC grit, son.
===============================
I’m willing to give Mets22 some props. It was crazy talk in the pre-season, almost like the NYMs were so good that the regular season was a mere formality.
But he’s hung in despite a brutal stretch of baseball. That said, the NYC grit is something that separates them from other cities. I’m a RS fanatic, but some of our fans start lining up at the Tobin like it was a required pre-game ceremony.
In NYC, the first instinct that kicks in, during a losing streak, is that it is time to brawl.
The last 4 years don’t count… anything pre Cohen doesn’t count. The wilpons were a mess. Dodgers still don’t have a real championship… I doubt the get it this year also.
So 55, 59, 63, 65, 81, 88 and 20 don’t count? On what plant don’t those countL.
And the last four years count like every other year. Like the McCourt years the Dodgers went through. They all count. Like last year when every team had the same number of games.
Your doubting they don’t go all the way means absolutely nothing, as have zero baseball credibility. Maybe you should worry more about the underperforming Mets, who won’t be in post season, and less about the Dodgers who will be. Your team is a mess.
Except the Miracle Mets, those guys count!
Hmmm. According to MLB’s official record book, the Dodgers won the World Series in 2020. Seeing as how you are a Mets fan, I doubt you want to talk about championship droughts. Being in the hunt year after year is something any team’s fans would savor. For nine years now, I’ve been watching Dodger baseball knowing every game is meaningful. There are no negatives accompanying that. As for your predictions, I’m still waiting for that Mookie Betts to the Mets prognostication to bear fruit.
So far, Cohen has made a bad showing. Visting the clubhouse, bashing players on social media, and trying to make himself the face of the franchise are not things a good owner would do. He also signed off on giving $341 million to Lindor, a good player but not the elite hitter that should get that kind of money. Having Lindor all those years forces him to keep “going for it” even though it’s wise at this time. The talent shortage on the Mets is obvious Heck, they don’t even have their front office in order. What Cohen and the Mets should do is take a breather from any championship talk and get their organization built the right way., Otherwise, you’ll keep seeing results similar to these last five years. As an organization, they are far behind the Braves in their own division. That gap won’t be made up in one off-season.
I don’t think it’s really that hot of a take to say a guy won’t repeat a ~8 fWAR season
Yeah, Jeff McNiel is 2x the player Bellinger[overrated] is. He will show it eventually.
McNeil turns 30 next April 8. Bellinger is three years younger, more accomplished, and more talented. Good luck finding someone in baseball who shares your opinion. McNeil for Bellinger. Gee, I wonder which team would say no.
Is this a parody or did Metsfan22 forget his probably ridiculous password?
Not like he’s gonna make that much of a difference anyway
Met’s activate $340M player who will be the second best SS on the field tonight.
I’m going to call it, Lindor is going to finish the year off very strong, Mets still finish 3rd or possibly 2nd, but Lindor finds himself.
I think Lindor and Baez will have FUN. Regardless of where the Mets finish? It should be very entertaining
I can see this and as a fan, would enjoy it. They’re not winning the division, but Lindor finishing well would be nice to see.
Lindor only finishes strong and does not find himself only because the pressure is off as the Mets are out of it and now he may perform well. Lindor will suck again next year when it counts; total waste of money.
Maybe. Maybe not. Time will tell. First year in the NL. Guy can play baseball – let’s see what happens.
I don’t have a dog in the fight, but know that Lindor certainly CAN be a dominant player on both sides of the ball. This year may not reflect the entirety of the future.
He started off slow, but was playing pretty well up until the injury. It’s a huge contract, but he is a pretty good player.
Right now the Mets have to put the best offensive team on the field. The Mets have to see who’s even worth bringing back next season and trading in the off season. Either put McNeil in Lf (Dom hasn’t done much offensively this season in 400 AB’s) and Davis at 3rd or McNeil at 3rd and platoon Davis with Dom in Lf. Davis played Lf before not pretty but he played it. All depends on how you want to balance offense and defense there’s good and bad in both scenarios. Also Baez has played 3rd before.
I’d rather see Drury in LF than Smith.
Smith lost the pop he had last year.
He’s been a disaster.
How Rojas left Drury on the bench in loss to Dodgers and PH Travis Blankenhorn I will never know. Rojas and Sandy need to go or same old Mets.
Sandy likes to surround himself with incompetents and deviants. This way he can spread the blame so he appears superior.
Strategy for shutting down the Mets’ offense: Intentionally walk the first two batters, then watch the next three shrink from the moment. The third guy will be praying for one of the other two to hit into a double play.
Good Mets fans know what needs to be done, and would be willing to endure a couple of rough years to get there.
I don’t think it matters who they put out there. Their organizational approach to hitting has been deteriorating over the last few years. They need to change philosophy or something. How many years in a row have they struggled to hit with RISP?
Our incompetent manager is batting Lindor third when he hasnt had a major league at bat in over a month, what a jackass
On to the World Series
The Giants are good. Funny that their starter tonight is S. Long… as in s’long Mets!
That was a bad joke but my day has sucked so I appreciate the effort. Thanks.
The Mets are making him look like vintage Bumgarner.
Lindor & Baez are back tonight and Mets are down 7-0 with 2 hits. LOL
The Mets have been worse on this Dodgers/Giants stretch than I would have predicted in print. After this series, they have 16 straight against the Nationals and Marlins. Gary Cohen just stated, “if the Mets are going to make a move, that would be the time.” But the last time they played the Marlins, they lost three of four.
I said the Lindor trade was looking bad early in the year because the contract they gave out wasn’t worth his play. Anyone still care to defend his contract?
Hard to defend or criticize it, yet, since it hasn’t technically started yet. His contract is an extension beginning next year.
Do I think it was an overpay? Yes I do.
Might he turn it around and be worth it? I don’t know- it’s possible.
All the money in these contracts boggles my mind. What is the real value? Do the Mets expect ten amazing years from him? What if he has 3 great years and they win a WS? Will that have been worth it? How can you really gauge it?
My crystal ball is broken
Lindor way over paid and Baez is all about himself this combo will never work out.Lindor quit on the team and now comes back when it is over that tells you all about him.Good Luck
I’ll say two things:
1. Javy Baez is not all about himself, and if you watch him play over a period of time you will realize that. He’s flashy, but that is confidence, not arrogance. Whether you like him or not, the fact remains that he’s one of the most exciting and talented players in the sport.
2. Jury is out on Lindor’s value. I think time, not 2021, will determine the answer. I don’t think he quit on his team or anything else. I think that unless you have participated at his level (i.e. one of the best in the world at something highly athletic) you cannot know, or therefore criticize a professional athlete for missing time due to injury.
3. Bob 333 is a troll. Don’t take him seriously
Seasons over. To Hell with Noah, DeGrom, Lindor, and company. Grow up people. They are only going to get hurt again. B O R I N G
Then you should give up and go away.
Paging @WhyNot