Starling Marte, Mark Canha, and Eduardo Escobar are all playing well for the first-place Mets, making the team’s investment in the trio look like a canny move. The New York Post’s Joel Sherman looks back at how the Mets added all three players during a frenzied span of around two days prior to the lockout, and how newly-hired GM Billy Eppler “emphasized on-base percentage, defense, versatility and players with strong reputations as good teammates,” with a particular focus on how well such free agents could adapt to Citi Field. Sherman’s piece contains several interesting details about the Mets’ pursuit of the three players, as well as some other info on some of the other suitors.
The Rangers (another of the winter’s more aggressive teams) and Dodgers were interested in Canha, while “the Mets saw the Giants as a threat” due to Canha’s ties to the Bay Area. As for Marte, New York was a relatively late entry into that chase, as agent Peter Greenberg said he met with roughly 20 other teams before touching base with the Mets, since Eppler wasn’t officially hired until midway through November. However, the Mets made up plenty of ground by offering Marte a big four-year, $78MM contract that outpaced the other bidders. “What stands out to me is that the Mets came in and in less than 24 hours we had a deal,” Greenberg said.
More from around baseball….
- Martin Perez has been one of the surprises of the 2022 season, as the veteran lefty has an AL-best 1.56 ERA over 69 1/3 innings, plus a 54.7% grounder rate and just a single home run allowed. With encouragement from Rangers coaches, Perez has re-established his sinker as a big part of his arsenal, Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News writes, and Perez also took a tip from the legendary Pedro Martinez about throwing more pitches outside the strike zone, to induce more chases from batters. The results speak for themselves, as Perez is having a career year at age 31, and setting himself up for a much more lucrative trip to free agent this winter. After the Red Sox declined their club option on Perez last fall, he told Grant that the Pirates and Nationals each had interest prior to the lockout, but Perez instead chose to return to a familiar environment and signed with Texas for a one-year, $4MM pact in March.
- The Padres placed right-hander Robert Suarez on the 15-day injured list due to right knee inflammation earlier this week, and manager Bob Melvin told reporters (including reps from 97.3 The Fan radio) that Suarez recently had surgery to remove “loose impediments.” A specific recovery timeline isn’t known, but Suarez will miss “at least a couple of weeks before we see him back throwing.” The 31-year-old rookie has been a solid performer out of San Diego’s bullpen this year, with Suarez contributing a 3.09 ERA and 30.9% strikeout rate over 23 1/3 innings, though with a high 13.8% walk rate.
The Mets have been one of the biggest overachievers this season – one big reason is their average at best offense is overperforming. They will regress even with the big 2 returning. Too bad the Phils decided to play well now because they handed the Mets about 1/4th of their wins.
The Braves and Phillies both have been playing lights out recently. However, both teams current pace isn’t going to last forever (as much as I would love my Braves to keep winning.) Come the end of June, it’ll probably level to what it’s supposed to be: The Mets in the lead with the Braves and Phillies within striking distance.
How is the Mets offense even over-performing? No one’s really playing higher than their ceiling, a lot of hitters are playing somewhat under it. The difference this year is hitting with runners in scoring position, which they couldn’t do last year, and working much better ABs, whether it be fewer K’s, working deeper into counts, or just more productive outs overall when they aren’t hitting.
If they were outperforming expected production I’d say sure, they’re overachieving, and 2020 was a good example of that when they had an elite offense that we all knew wasn’t legit, but the hitters aren’t really destroying pitchers, they’re just being more professional at the plate. If anything, Mets pitching has underachieved. If good fortune favors the Mets (we know it doesn’t) it’ll only improve.
Yea I see no evidence that they are massively overachieving. I’d expect some regression but the offense looks good on paper.
Luis Guillorme is hitting .350…
Guillorme isn’t even hitting .330, and maybe even that is over his head, but he’s also a contact machine, walks 14% of the time and plays great defense at multiple positions – he may not be a batting title contender at his actual level but he’s a very valuable player and legitimately good hitter.
One player. Most teams are gonna have at least one player with a better batting average now than they’ll end the year with. That’s one anecdote, not evidence of the premise.
I don’t see the Mets as overachievers. Last year, advanced metrics showed the Mets were playing over their heads and taking advantage of an easy first-half schedule. This year, advanced metrics just show that the Mets are good. They have solid pitching and defense. Their offense is really good, and it doesn’t rely on power. They’re able to win consistently. The only reason the Mets lost some ground is because the Braves and Phillies are the hottest teams in baseball right now, but they won’t be playing at that pace the whole season. I don’t see another Mets collapse barring huge injuries.
Duvall Lover, please learn baseball better. You’re really bad at understanding it.
Guillorme is the only hitter really exceeding expectations. Alonso has been very good, probably on pace for his best season (especially when you account for HRs being down around baseball), but his numbers aren’t that different from what he’s done so far in his career.
After Alonso, Lindor has arguably been the Mets best overall hitter, and no way can he be described as overachiever.
I’m guessing the Mets add another hitter at the deadline, one with power. They essentially have the DH spot available, so the position doesn’t matter. I’d expect them to be in on Contreras, but unless they figure something out with them taking on Heyward or some other salary I don’t think they will end up being able to get him.
I would say some of these pitchers regress as the weather warms up and the ball starts carrying, but I think that’s irrelevant because deGrom and Scherzer are coming back.
Average at best offense? They’re sitting at the top of MLB in runs scored. Even if they regress they’ll still be in the top 25% easily. And considering they don’t have their top two in pitching, I guess that will either even out the offense or exceed what they’re doing now.
While i would have said the same at the beginning of the season that they would have to overachieve, i see what their plan was just like everyone else and what has one a lot of games over the last few years (small ball and good defense with good pitching).
How many of their batters are hitting above league average and how many games have they won without the homerun that many other teams rely on now. Singles doubles, taking walks, and ugh HBP are generating runs and majority of the lineup is doing that.
I wonder how much cohen input is being put in to the team or is it eppler making these deals. It seems to me, yes he is willing to throw big money out there but outside of pitching and kris bryant was he truly big into any of the bigger names huge dollar people? I honestly cant remember.and please correct me if i am wrong on this. Yes people could be connected to the mets but was there ever a credible offer sent out. (IE we offered a 1 yr 10 million to Carlos Correa when he is seeking 300 million or someone just saying the mets are in on them to drive up the price.
Mets need a DH? Hmm. Buck and Mancini have a healthy history. His power numbers are down but he’s always done well putting the ball in play. May be a good fit with Mets style of offensive play? The question. Would Eppler have anything he could offer Elias in return?
Mets are 9-4 (.692) against the Phillies and 30-18 (.625) against everyone else. Don’t act like the Phillies are the only reason the Mets are good. 23-14 against teams at or over .500, which is by far the best record in the NL (and aside from the Yankees at 15-7, no other team in baseball is more than three games over .500 against those teams) and the best record in the NL. Worth noting that the Dodgers have only played 23 games vs teams at or over .500 (13-10) while the Mets have 23 *wins*.
We all knew the Braves and Phillies would eventually come alive, but maybe part of the reason the Phillies didn’t do it earlier was because they were playing the Mets. Also, they’re currently doing it without their #1 and #2 starters.
It should be an interesting summer but calling the Mets ‘overachievers’ is not accurate, and baselessly asserting that they’ll somehow ‘regress’ when deGrom and Scherzer return makes absolutely no sense.
Nonsense. They’ve bought into Eric Chavez’s philosophy and most of them stopped trying to hit home runs every at bat. McNeil summed it up best last night when asked about his new hitting approach: “I’m just trying to beat the shift”. I’ve watched Nimmo, Canha, and Marte do the same thing, The Mets have won numerous ballgames this year sending 7-10 hitters to the plate in an inning by keeping the line going.
Not taking anything away from the Braves, winning 11 games in a row is hard work, but Arizona, Colorado, and Pittsburgh aren’t exactly stiff competition. They are feasting on the soft part of their schedule which is what good teams do.
The Mets have a 24-14 record vs. >.500 teams. The Braves have a 12-14 record vs. >.500 teams. The Mets have a run differential of +70. The Braves have a run differential of +38.
The Braves havent played a good team since May 18th
I wish you wouldn’t link to articles with a paywall like that Sherman NY Post article. Or at least, copy the text from it to here.
So will you be their piggybank for the legal fees and the payout when they break the copyright and intelligence laws? As he is behind a paywall, im assuming he has no problem suing to get what money he is owed and lets be honest mlbtraderumors is pretty well known in the industry so it will pop up on his radar.
The choice is to have the brief information here at all or have a proper bibliography to the source you found it otherwise it is plagiarism and falls under said law type mentioned above. I personally would prefer to have the brief information and have the choice to to subscribe to him or not for more details.
There are probably unscrupulous sites that have a copy of the article you are looking for but then would you trust them not to do unscrupulous things to you and your method of accessing said article like say a virus?
Or at least, copy the text from it to here.
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Do you understand that the writers actually make a living from this? I don’t mind getting stuff for free, and I pay for a couple of services. But I would never ask, or expect, someone to supply someone else’s articles for free.
If Sherman’s opinion is that important to you, then pay that man his money.
Believe me, you’re not missing anything by not being able to see articles from Joel Sherman or the New York Post.
You can see many articles without paying for it by using a site called archive dot com. Just paste the URL into the field and press return. Archive dot com will make a copy of it. Yes, you’re dependent on someone who paid to see the whole article archiving it. But I’ve had good luck seeing NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and Fox News articles that way. Unfortunately, the archived version of Sherman’s article about the Mets is exactly what you see if you haven’t paid.
Unapologetic Buck fan here. Don’t underestimate his impact here. What he did in Baltimore was just short of miraculous. Here we were, a franchise “dead in the waters” for over a decade going to him transforming the Birds in to the winningest AL team for a 5 year stretch in the 2010s. Wow. Why? He’s a players coach and coach’s coach but equally important he does this with respect to owner ownership style/approach. Peter Angelos very active in the daily baseball decision making; Mr Cohen, from what I can tell, not so much. What a chameleon! Happy for you Metropolitans!
Zach Britton disagrees
@bucsfan0004 Ahhh, pretty sure you are making reference to the 2016 Wild Card loss to Toronto. Fair enough. But I will say this. There’s only one difference between Kershaw and Britton: 18 million. Why? Both around the same age and both highly touted with lights out stuff but only one relished the starter role. So what does Buck do, gives Zach a shot at closing. Lights out! No, Zach Britton doesn’t disagree here, I’m pretty sure he’s grateful for what Buck, his staff and the Orioles organization did for his career. Oh yes, Mr Britton agrees.
And he’s learned from that mistake. In the past week he’s brought in Diaz twice in the 8th inning in the higher leverage situation. Against the Dodgers he faced Betts, Trea Turner, and Freddie Freeman and retired the side. Good bad Lugo couldn’t close out the 9th. Last night he dd the same against the Angels and Diaz recorded a 5 out save.
For the record, I’m not a huge Diaz fan, but he looked incredible in those two appearances and seems to have his confidence back.
Buck does seem to be pushing all the right buttons so far.