May 19: The Mets announced that they’ve selected Sanchez’s contract, optioned Perez to to Syracuse and placed outfielder Tim Locastro on the 60-day injured list to open a 40-man spot for Sanchez. Locastro has a sprained ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb. New York also announced that Nido is heading out on a rehab assignment with the team’s Port St. Lucie affiliate, so further changes to the catching corps could be on the horizon.
May 18: The Mets are selecting the contract of veteran catcher Gary Sánchez, reports Andy Martino of SNY (Twitter link). He’s expected to be formally added to the roster before tomorrow’s game against the Guardians. The Mets will need to create a spot on the 40-man roster before the contest.
Sánchez signed a minor league deal with the Mets a little over a week ago. It was his second non-roster pact of the season. He’d initially signed with the Giants shortly after Opening Day but never got a big league look thanks to significant struggles with their top affiliate in Sacramento. He opted out and caught on with New York thereafter.
The two-time All-Star’s deal with the Mets allowed him to opt out if he wasn’t added to the MLB roster by tomorrow. He’s fortunately gotten out to a much better start for their Triple-A club in Syracuse than he had with Sacramento. He mashed at a .318/.531/.545 clip with a homer, two doubles, eight walks and nine strikeouts in seven games there. His overall Triple-A batting line for the season is a modest .208/.386/.286 thanks to the tough first month, but he’s clearly acquitted himself nicely in his brief time with his new organization.
With the opt-out date looming, reports earlier in the week suggested the Mets were strongly considering calling Sánchez up. Now that they’ve done so, he’ll be guaranteed a prorated $1.5MM salary (roughly $1.1MM through season’s end). Even with the Mets paying a 110% tax on that figure, bringing their total expenditure to around $2.31MM, that’s a reasonable sum for a capable #2 catcher.
Sánchez isn’t going to supplant highly-regarded rookie Francisco Álvarez as the starter. He’ll add an experienced depth option to the bench, offering some extra right-handed power for skipper Buck Showalter. Sánchez is no stranger to New York, of course, as he starred for the Yankees for the first four seasons of his career. His offensive production has fallen off since the start of 2020, as he carries a .195/.287/.394 line in a little under 1100 plate appearances through the past three years.
A much maligned defensive catcher over his time in the Bronx, Sánchez garnered respectable reviews from public metrics last year during his lone season with the Twins. Statcast rated him around league average as a pitch framer and blocker. He threw out a solid 28% of attempted basestealers. If he can carry over roughly average defense with some power and plate discipline, he’d be a solid backup catcher.
New York is without offseason signee Omar Narváez and expected backup Tomás Nido due to injuries. They’ve been relying on journeyman Michael Pérez as Álvarez’s backup of late. A career .180/.250/.308 hitter, Pérez has one remaining minor league option year. Unless the Mets elect to carry three catchers, he’s likely to be optioned to Syracuse or designated for assignment.
Ugh
Don’t know much huh?
He wants Alvarez to play everyday as he should.
Alvarez is an elite pitch framer.
“Elite”..So you’re suggesting that with less than 30 gms played, the kid Alvarez, is headed to the Hall of Frame?
A bit extreme, wouldn’t you say…?
Point being made, he’s pretty damn good at framing. As for calling a game, that remains to be decided. Arm is decent, but he’s slow on release.
Framing won’t matter in a couple of years.
So he is good at cheating, sucks at hitting and the jury is out on pitch calling. Got it. Make no mistake take a ball and moving your glove so the umpire will think it’s a strike is allowed cheating. A ball is a ball and a strike is a strike. I remember the first time hearing about it. It was back in the 90s and Steve Stone was explaining what made Ron Karkovice such a good catcher.
@thecoffinnall
You call it cheating, i call it righting the ship. How many strikes have the umps called balls.? This is just evening out the world so as not to make the umps look foolish. I cant speak to the umps that just want attention though .. there is no saving them *glares menacingly at angel hernandez*
If a catcher can catch a ball & move it into the strike zone faster than an umpires eyes can see where it crosses the plate, then the umpire has no business behind the plate.
Framing is low on the list of what matters now.
The Sanchise is back in NY baby!!!
If they perform Tommy John on Locastro’s thumb, will he miss 18 months like when they do it on elbows? Will they pull the needed ligament from his big toe? Guessing his thumb wrestling days are over. Good luck, Tim!
Where’s he going to play?
Um…. backup catcher and DH. Easy
Better not DH. They just brought up Vientos for that role.
Agree the kid needs at bats and dh is his spot for now. Also hard to put your only other catcher at DH because if something happens or you need to PH/PR for the starting catcher you now lose a 2nd bat since the DH goes away as you had to move him to catcher.
Mascot… maybe.
Clearly he is going to be the backup catcher. Why even post this comment? If you didn’t know the answer to this, then you don’t watch enough baseball to comment.
What’s your problem, mikey?
You need to watch your tone, mikey.
Spanky knew the backup role
Alvarez and Sanchez. Defense not a priority with these Mets.
Alvarez has been very good.
You know Alvarez has been pretty great behind the plate right? His framing alone is top 10 in MLB.
Framing? Phbbbt!
Meaningless stat. Watch the balls that reach the backstop and you’ll see something much more important. Every pitch that skips by the catcher, with a man on, is a base. Sanchez is not ML caliber. May as well just put up a pitch-back, or a cinder block. I’m sure this is the spark the Mets need.
Maybe complain about the fact that the Mets pitchers cannot and do not hold runners on WELL AT ALL! You’re just flapping your gums on this comment. If you saw Alvarez’ pop time and incredible cannon of an arm he has just to make a “gimme stolen base” into a close or bang bang play you would see he’s not the problem. His framing has been absolutely fantastic also!
“Watch the balls that reach the backstop and you’ll see something much more important. Every pitch that skips by the catcher, with a man on, is a base.”
He has literally one passed ball in 203 innings behind the plate. If you’re going to hate, bring something factual to the table. Otherwise, you look like a doofus.
I’m referring to Sanchez. Add in wild pitches, too, because his lack of effort turns passed balls into wild pitches.
Alvarez is in the 90th percentile of pitch framing!
Hate to break it to you but Alvarez is borderline gold glove level at this point
SSS. Only a couple dozen games. Alvarez and Sanchez are not good defenders.
Haha. You dont even watch games nor would you be able to identify what is good vs what isn’t if you did
Terrible. They have enough old, unproductive guys in the lineup. Let Alvarez play every day, his bat is ready.
I read he’s going to play DH in place of the heavy fella the Mets have. Course when Sanchez was on the Yankees he wasn’t that slim himself.
Vogelbach, yeah. IMO a lot of the DH ABs should be going to Vientos who absolutely killed it in AAA and substantially improved his approach in the process.
The best catchers in the world don’t play everyday. Sanchez is replacing Nido, not Alvarez.
I didn’t mean literally every day, I meant he should be the regular C. I don’t see any evidence that the Mets, who seem to love Nido, are prepared to move on from him. So, I’m not sure what will happen when he’s healthy. To say nothing of Narvaez.
Well Nido’s hurt. Sanchez can replace Perez for now. Alvarez can play most of the time.
Even in baseball years, since when is 30 old?
I’m 30 and I’m feeling it way more than I did when I was even 28 after playing anything lol. Granted I’m not a pro athlete haha..
In baseball, 30-31 is usually the defining age hurdle for possible post-peak players
Way fewer players make it past 31-32 than you’d think, at least in a productive capacity. Post 30-31 players often see their stats and health plummet. A poor 30-31 usually means you won’t even see real playing time in the MLB at 34+
B-Rs similarities are not the greatest usually, but it does give us a few names to look at. Their similarities for Sanchez by age have Todd Hundley and Matt Nokes as 1 and 2. Hundley could only top a .211 BA once post 29 (which was the driving force of his production drop post that age) and was basically gone at 33. Nokes was gone at 31
Thanks. I guess the one issue that affects catchers more than others is the pressure on the knees. Older catchers are often given opportunities at 1B, OF or DH to relieve the knee pressure.
Its not just catchers though. There are all star hitters like say Billy Butler who couldn’t get past the still peak age of 28. He was gone at 30
Can even be seen in some HOF guys. Like Duke Snyder was a 740 Games (148 average) of 161 OPS+ in the 5 year age range of 26-30, but just a 111 game average and 134 OPS+ ages 31-33
Peak is usually 24-28, and age 30 is usually a hurdle for players in the MLB. Most won’t pass it very well – hence long term contracts being such a risk and often not working out.
Matt Nokes might indeed have been “gone at 31”, but to be fair he did rip it up at age 37 for Ron Kittle’s 2001 Schaumburg Flyers in addition to being a fun soccer-dad teammate.
Thank god they called him up before he opted out. As I’ve said before, hes one of the lowest IQ players I’ve ever seen. With that being said, he is easily a top 5 hitter catcher when hes on his game and he can be used as a DH. Smart move, I’ll give my first ever thumbs up to Billy Eppler, I didn’t know he had it in him to make a move that I myself liked
I’m curious to see what your are looking for in an offensive catcher, if you think he’s a top 5 hitter among them. It’s not 2019 anymore
@LFGMets: Of course, that might be saying more about your lack of knowledge than anything about Eppler.
@Blue Baron The Mets have a 400 million dollar payroll and are under .500 right now. But somehow I’m the one who lacks knowledge? Honestly, I think Gary Sanchez right now is a better hitter than Lindor. I’d say 95% of Lindor’s hits have come either with no one on base or in garbage time with people on base. One of the least clutch hitters I’ve ever seen, will either popup or strikeout wity guys on almost everytime. Gives Sanchez a week of playing time and I garentee he will have more meaningful hits then Lindor has had all season. Lindor will get a hit with no one on and 2 outs in the 8th inning of a 9-1 blowout loss, thats the type of 341 million dollar player he is
I’d agree with Blue Baron here. A high payroll doesn’t guarantee a great record. Also, it’s a long season. I think this team is closer to the way it played in the first half of its games so far than the second. Hopefully, this power surge will continue and the quality starts from the pitchers in the last two games are a sign of what’s to come.
@LFGMets: Perhaps a better word is credibility. Eppler is a GM, a seasoned executive who has worked in the industry for at least 15 years with the Yankees, Angels, and Mets.
You, on the other hand, are an internet rando posting on a discussion thread. Quite the contrast, isn’t it?
I give the credibility edge to Eppler.
I’m not defending Lindor but 67% of his hits are considered “clutch” (+|- 2 runs) and 64% of his RBI’s.
@Blue Baron Eppler never had a winning season with the Angels with having 2 of the best players in the game on his teams. The Angels had a top 7 payroll in that time span while he was a GM. 400 million dollar payroll should be a garenteed division winner
@drascoo36 the stats can be misleading. As in point, you said “67% of his hits are clutch”, that only accounts when he gets a hit, he gets out in most clutch situations and hes barely been hitting all year as shown by his .225 batting average. You also said the stat counts hits when the game is within 2 runs, yeah he will gets hits when they are down by 2 runs but it will be with say 2 outs, nobody on base in the first inning. Thats not clutch to me. As for the 64% of his RBIs, he gets a lot of those RBI’s by grounding out to the secondbaseman with a guy on third, thats not clutch to me either
95% of Lindor’s hits have come either with no one on base or in garbage time with people on base.
but it will be with say 2 outs, nobody on base in the first inning.
74% of his hits have came with runners on base and 62% of those hits were with runners in scoring position.
Just correcting your statements. Doesn’t make Lindor any less horrible on offense this year.
@LFGM: And how many winning seasons have you had as a MLB executive? How many seasons period have you had as a MLB executive?
Remember, Eppler is a seasoned MLB executive and you are an internet rando.
Again, the credibility edge goes to Eppler.
@Blue Baron give me Epplers job and I garentee the Mets would have more wins then they have right now with the same payroll. I wouldn’t be good at scouting top draft pick talent or international talent but I know I can construct a far better team then he ever could
@blue Baron
he is just a troll. He will comment that everything done that is bad is Epplers fault and give credit to all the good to someone else.
Couple of examples hiring Chavez as hitting coach. Regardless of the fact he has been Epplers guy for a decade it was Cohen who knew nothing about Chavez was the one to bring him aboard not Eppler.
He wanted to trade away Vientos and Ottavino plus last year for Hader which would have cost us even the wildcard most likely as we would have a 7+ERA setup guy instead of 2-ERA one.
Didnt give a thumbs up for Cano being cut as he said ” Smart move, I’ll give my first ever thumbs up to Billy Eppler,”
Didnt want Robertson signed or Ottavino resigned, see previous quote
the list goes on and on
Eppler wouldnt be my first choice and i definitely would have him on the hot seat but i give him credit where it is due.
but now Im curious though if it was eppler or cohen or someone else on the non-signing for Correa as Cohen already said he was signed and going to play 3rd. That would leave us with Escobar and Correa being stuck there at the moment with baty waiting in the wings because cutting bait or benching with 300M would be insane.
@LFGMets: But nobody is giving you Eppler’s job because he is experienced and qualified and you are just, you know, an internet rando.
@Roll You don’t know anything. Not once did I say that I didn’t want Ottavino, he was their second best reliever behind Diaz last year. I never said I didn’t want Robertson either. What I did say though was that they shouldn’t be the guys you sign to anchor your bullpen, they should be your 6th and 7th inning guys. The Mets could of easily of traded Vientos for Hader straight up last year and got him. Would of had Hader in the 8th and Diaz in the 9th, literally unstoppable. You act like Hader sucks meanwhile hes been the best reliever in baseball the past 5 years. I’ll take his recent 5 year track record over one bad month of pitching. With Diaz’s injury this year, they could of had a real young closer like Hader closing games for them. Robertson has been fantasic saving games for them this year but anyone with a brain knows he is not going to keep up this same production all season. Hes almost 40 years old. For example, he looked finished last year in the playoffs for the Phillies, he was just burned out. The Mets shouldn’t rely on 40 year olds to close games of a 400 million payroll team. There were other closers they could have, I don’t know, traded for or maybe signed in the offseason? David Bednar was available for instance. There was also Camilo Dovall, Felix Baustista, Alexis Diaz etc. A real GM constructs a fantastic bullpen in my opinion. The bullpen has been our biggest weakness. Bringing in guys like Nogosek and Drew Smith in close games isn’t going to help at all. I like Eppler’s signing of Jeff Brigham, I’ll give him that but there were 8-9 other guys he signed like Hunter, Jimmy Yacabonis, Dennis Santana, and Brooks Raleys who have done absolutly nothing. We have no lefty relievers, Raley isn’t any good. Its the same thing like last year with relying on Joely Rodriguez to get lefties out. Hader would have been perfect for them
Skipped
“The Mets could of easily of traded Vientos for Hader straight up last year and got him”
How dare the Brewers not take your offering of just Vientos over a comparable closer at that point of the season (rogers), a better prospect that plays a position of need (Ruiz), another top 10 organizational prospect that pitches (currently 5th in the brewers organization in Gasser) and other pieces.
Also how is 7+era unstoppable? You needed him for down the stretch.last year and either was gassed or hurt down the stretch when he was needed. Probably why the padres had to go closer by committe for a little while. The whole point of trading for a reliever was for the push or was your goal for that month simply to have an even more of an epic fall and not make the playoffs? I agree he is an excellent reliever overall but you could tell he did not have it. Mainly because he was not getting his usual whiff rate as you can tell by the hits being almost double.than any prior season. He could have been a closer this year as he is an excellent pitcher overall and he is playing for his contract which players always seem to play their best that year. In that scenario, you wouldnt have had Robertson AND Ottavino because they would have hoped for a bounce back contract year from Hader and probably sign only one of them.
The Mets shouldn’t rely on 40 year olds to close games of a 400 million payroll team.
They didnt they were relying on a 29 year old ace closer that got hurt just before the season started after coming off a reliever of the year award season. As you suggested they were hoping for a shared 7/8th of Ottavino and Robertson. Few teams are looking to trade a worthwhile closer at that point unless it is an egregious overpay.
There were other closers they could have, I don’t know, traded for or maybe signed in the offseason? David Bednar was available for instance. There was also Camilo Dovall, Felix Baustista, Alexis Diaz etc.
I again ask what is a realistic trade because they are not going to give you deals because you will pout and whine and stamp your feet because they wont take Raley for their young top cost controlled closer. Any of those guys you listed will be even more than what milwaukee got for Hader since these guys are younger and paid less and have multiple years of control left. .Look what these teams got/wanted for other players,.It will be top prospect 5 prospect just to start conversation and it will be alot more. as well. And for signing they did, they signed 2 of the top relievers in Ottavino and Robertson.
@Roll Just because Hader pitched bad for the Padres doesn’t mean he would have pitched bad on the Mets
Right. It just means he PROBABLY would have pitched bad for the Mets
It also means that the issue is irrelevant because such a trade didn’t happen and baseless speculation is pointless.
@Blue Baron its not like Hader is second in the National League in saves or anything, or that his ERA is around 1. Yeah sure the Mets don’t need him. Another game was almost blown today by the Drew Smith, Nogosek blowup combo
“The Mets have a 400 million dollar payroll and are under .500 right now. But somehow I’m the one who lacks knowledge?”
Correct.
@LFG
Agree it could but it also means he could have been worse since he would not be closer. Could have setup but ottavino pitching better. He could replace rodriguez who regularly gets up and down multiple times a game Hader did not.Also have moved from weakest in t national league to the toughest last year. Playing in new york is unforgiving especially if you are the big name in recent news. So yes he could have but alot has to fall for that to happen.
So Haders having more saves helps middle relievers? It just means he had more opportunites. Clase leads the league in saves but an era of 3.5. How many blown saves does Hader have? 2 blown saves in his last 3 games currently the league leader has 4. Potential trend? Robertson has been better in most categories in a committee including no blown saves. Will this be the same at the end who knows. maybe or maybe not
Just because Hader pitched well early for the Padres doesnt doesn’t mean he will pitch well late for the Padres. Same is true for Robertson.
@LFGM: But you have no idea what the Brewers’ ask would have been. They might have wanted more than just Vientos. And they might not have had interest in Vientos at all.
That’s because Eppler is the GM and you’re the know-it-all internet rando.
please explain Lindor’s 32 RBI with only 42 hits. seems to me like he’s been hitting with men on base. as for Sanchez,he’s always been a bad clubhouse guy who couldn’t catch a cold if you sneezed on him.
Payroll doesn’t guarantee jack.
@cleonswoboda getting an rbi doesn’t necessarily mean you have been clutch. Hes had a ton of chances this year with guys on and not getting them in. Most of his RBI’s come in garbage time when the Mets are up or down by 8 runs. Hes batting third almost every game so it increases his chances. He got a game winning hit last night which was great but, hes getting paid 341 million dollars, that hit and his grandslam vs Oakland this year were his only clutch hits of the season out of around 45 games played
@LfgMets
I know you will believe any random thought you think is right and will never change it no matter what is put out there but still going to put this out. Also btw dont forget his 3 run single that made up the entirety of the mets score with 2 outs and the mets down by 2 against the nationals. But that wouldnt be clutch im assuming since you determine “clutch”
In high leverage situations
28 AB ( he is batting 286 with 19RBIs and over 1.000 OPS
2 outs and RISP
21 AB (ba of 333 with an OPS over 1. knocking in 11 runs)
with RISP in general
48 AB (ba of 292 with an ops of over 900 knocking in 24 RBIs)
also going to throw this in there as this was interesting because as you know the 3rd spot in the batting order is meant to drive runs in and keep the game going for your cleanup hitters right? Lindor is just outside the top 10 in runs scored to go with his top 10 in rbis with few of those runs coming from homeruns. The only 2 people ahead of those combined runs scored and rbis is Pete Alonso and Max Muncy whom are the top 2 in homeruns. So lindor gets runs in by scoring and with his bat.
It’s funny how much a week can change things. Mets look good again. Lindor looks good again. It’s almost as if hot takes in May are rather silly.
@VonPurpleHayes Lindor is batting under .230. If thats your idea of “looking good” for a 341 million dollar player then I don’t know what else to tell you
He looked good this week. Obviously it’ll take more than a week to fix his season numbers, but overreacting based on the first 40 games of the season seems silly. At this point, we know what Lindor is, and he’s a very good player. I hate the Mets, but saying Lindor stinks is factually incorrect.
@VonPurpleHayes Lindor is the best fielding shortstop in the game. With that being said. I don’t think hes such a good hitter. I’m not a big believer in overpaying for defense. Hes an average hitter. Average is not worth 341 million
Sure. In a vacuum, he’s overpaid. But this is Cohen’s NYM. They’re going to overpay all the time. The Mets aren’t hampered by his contract.
@LFGMets: But since the Mets signed the contract and are paying him with their money and not yours, what you believe or don’t believe in paying for really doesn’t matter.
The saying, “Money talks and BS walks” fits like a glove here.
@Blue Baron Having Lindor’s contract on the payroll will effect other moves in the short and long term. Also to add, there is no team in baseball that would even consider trading for Lindor. The Mets would have to give up prospects and eat atleast minimum, half the money owed to Lindor. If hes so valuable, why is no one trying to buy low on him? When you got these immovable, overpaid players, other moves that could help the team like getting better relief help or going after a frontline starter become challanging. Steve Cohen is not going to spend 400 million dollars every season forever. There will be a breaking point soon. If I was an owner, I’d never sign a player past 5 years, but thats just me. History shows that none of these big contracts ever work out. The Mets are paying a premium to get Lindor’s prime years. His “prime years” haven’t been very good. He should be batting .330, atleast 35 homeruns, and over 100 RBIs a season for that kind of money hes getting paid. Hes a top 5 paid player but hes nowhere near the top 5 players in the game and for his hitting I wouldn’t even consider him to be a top 50 hitter
Then don’t. Please!
@LFGMets: But as I said, what you think really doesn’t matter since you’re just an Internet rando.
Remember, money talks and BS walks.
Your fave player Harper who you would hire 9 times in another post isnt batting 330 with 35 homeruns and 100 rbis and he is getting paid prob the same since he signed his 330 2 years before Lindor signed his deal and was record breaking where Lindor’s was not. That and bryce always misses time. He was lucky they kept the DH rule in the NL or he still wouldnt be playing at this point or down the stretch last year. .
Lindor averages 150 games and at SS no dh even in the AL. Harper hit 150 games 3 years out of 9 i excluded both rookie seasons and shortened 2020 to make it apples to apples.
Is lindor hands down better than harper who you love, no but if you average out IF he played 162 games vs Lindor. They are not that far off. Lindor strikes out less, and plays top tier def at a prem position.
per 162 average
Harper – 280avg 33 hr 95 rbi 150 SO
Lindor – 275avg 28 hr 90 rbi 113 SO
I will admit i was surprised batting wise they are so close i thought harper would be blowing him out the water but very good SS defender means even as he ages he will most likely be able to handle other positions 3B 2nd Of etc etc .. harper probably head to 1b or dh as he ages.
@Roll The problem is you are showing lifetime averages. Lindor at 22 is a different hitter at 28 now. Same with Harper. Lindor has been on the decline since 2020. Harper has been doing better every year since 2020
@LFGMets
declining to be 9th in mvp voting in 2022 and also declining from a 230 ba in 2021 to 270 in 2022 and almost doubling rbi totals from 2021 to 2022. Ill take that kind of decline of Lindors every year. Come on Lindor decline some more we need an Aaron Judge MVP kind of season. If you wanted to say he having a down season this year that would have been better argument but he starting to heat up a bit so may be it is another “decline” as you put it. Last year was a typical Lindor batting type year. I wonder if the rest of the team can have the type of “decline” lindor had from 2021 to 2022. this year.
Considering Harper barely played half the seaon in 2021 and even that was just dh then still has not taken the field yet in 2022 and missed half the season with the bat so far. I guess Carlos Rodon must be shoe in for CY Young this year if being injured is improving.
LFG…
Billy lives for your thumbs up
You mean the guy who questioned why he was being benched when hitting .098? Never seen a guy take such a huge dump as Sanchez except maybe for the Jets’ version of Sanchez. Made me stop watching NFL.
He can’t wait to get himself a NY hot dog again 🙂
If he hits well, I’ll buy him all the Papaya King hot dogs he can eat.
Wish we had Long coaching the bats
Me too he gets the best out of everyone he changed the course of Murphy’s career.
ELLL OHHH ELLL. What a joke. This is better than McCann? Yikes
An upturned broom is better than McCann.
Nice. I believe that upturned broom is named Luis de la Cruz. Also, Sanchez is costing them a lot less than McCann did and still is.
Think this speaks to how little production NYM have gotten out of DH. I would not expect much.
They finally make the right decision by calling up Vientos and follow that up with this idiotic move. Let’s give the needed abs for Alvarez and Vientos to this strikeout machine. Eppler can’t get out of his own way.
I agree 100% with this sentiment. The young kids they’ve brought up all have a proven track record of hitting the hell out of the ball at every level. Just let them play and get adjusted already! Why would you want Gary Sanchez as your backup catcher anyway? I would totally understand the move if it weren’t for the fact that they just brought up Vientos, who should be DH-ing most of the time against both righties and lefties.
Garys first game back:
0-4 3ks 1 gidp and one 460 foot foul ball
And three passed balls, if he catches
and he’ll have a runner out by 40 feet at home and the runner will be safe because he misses the tag
Lolol and I was worried the Mets were going to overtake the city. Mets still gonna Met while the Yankees sink slowly like the Titanic. Cohen is floundering in a system in which he cannot break the law and gain an advantage.
Mets need to break this down and start over. The longer they take to admit that the longer it will take to rebuild. Salvage what you can with their assets. Verlander can be moved, Scherzer is a short term deal and might be able to be moved or just ride it out. The real issue is Lindor….how much would the Mets have to eat to move him? Is there someone desperate enough to take on him and his contract?
You’re joking right? Guys, he’s joking right? Lindor, Alonso, Vientos, Alvarez, Baty, Nimmo, McNeil is a very solid young core. They need to develop pitching while uncle stevey signs veterans to fill the holes until their developing arms are fully cooked. The whole idea of this way of team building is to protect your young assets by plugging holes with cash until they can come up and perform. Cahna and Marte and those type of players have always been stopgaps. The pitching is an issue because they chose high risk pitchers to roll with.
Exactly. We are creating sustainability in the long term while staying relevant and interesting today.
All their young players are a few years away from being relevant on a winning team. McNeil is a nice guy to have on your team but isn’t a core piece. Lindor has a good glove and his bat is pretty average at this point in his career. Alonso really is the only core piece at this point…..hopefully the kids they called up can develop into some more pieces but it’s still an unknown.
I’m realistic enough to see how flawed the Yankees are, you should do the same with the Mets. Or not. It is kinda fun to watch Mets, Jets, Nets fan always wind up in the same exact spot year after year haha.
On what planet is McNeil not a “core piece”?
He defends well at 5 positions, won the batting title last year, and posted a 5.7 WAR.
That sounds kind of core-ish lol.
Unless you are watching baseball games with a football helmet on.
So what that was 2022. DJL hit .364 in 2020 for his second batting title in 5 years and was a .300 hitter year in and out….he hasn’t sniffed .300 since 2020.
Have you watched him at all this year? Last year is looking like an aberration and this is actually who he is. Definitely not a plus defender. Adequate at 2b and LF and below average everywhere else, the noodle he has for an arm is tough to overcome.
Oh and he is 31 and has no power or speed…should age great lol
“last year was an aberration”.
No it wasn’t, he played at a 5 WAR clip in 3 out of his last 4 seasons before that. He has a WAR of 18.1 in 2200 games.
“He’s not a plus defender”
Total air ball. He has a dWar of 0.4 in 46 games and a +3 DRS at 3 different positions this year, check the facts before slinging hot takes.
And elite bat to ball skills can age very well, that list is very long. Also with the way these players train and age now, 31 isn’t old any more, he has several seasons of 4-5 WAR baseball left in him.
AKA, a “core piece”.
Alright I’m not going to yell louder than you. Just will have a little chuckle to myself again when the Mets Met.
Mets fans love something horrible happening to their team so they can wallow in misery and then pretend like they are shocked when it unravels. Just don’t pretend like this is all shocking when they flounder for the next 3 years until they finally admit it has to be torn down and rebuilt. Don’t blame injuries or Buck or some nonsense like that. Just own it.
Who is yelling? You made a completely ignorant, fact free statement regarding Jeff McNeil and I corrected it with facts and actual data.
As far as the Mets looking to “tear it down” in three years, they went into this season with 5-6 top 100 prospects. They are playing a 21 year old catcher who was a consensus top 10 prospect overall in the entire league, they also just handed 3B off to another top prospect who was in the top 50 league wide, and just bought up a third top prospect to play every day as well. They have another top 100 prospect, a 22 year old switch hitting SS who has an OPS of 1.002 in AAA.
I think they are well aware of what they are doing, and which direction they are looking in. They are in a transition year, and next year they will likely be playing 4 everyday players who are homegrown and in their early 20’s.
Man if you like McNeil then good for you. I’m not asking you to take your poster of him down. Just letting you know he will never be a core piece on a championship team. Maybe a nice complimentary piece to plug in here and there but will never be one of the driving forces to a World Series.
You can cherry pick stats all you want he is not a good defender at any position. Defensive stats are highly volatile for guys who bounce all over the diamond. Anytime he spends a large amount of time at one position the defensive stats you speak of start to shift to negative town. That and not one scout in baseball has ever considered him anything higher than average defensively. Hence why he can’t ever find one position to stay at bc he is pretty basic at all of them.
And he still has no power and no speed to go along with that. Shapes up to pretty average to slightly above average to me lol.
Would I take McNeil on the Yankees? In a heart beat. But I am not going to pretend he is something more than he is.
Again, how is a 5 WAR player a “nice guy to have around?”
That is absurd. He has played 600 games at a 5.2 WAR rate, on what planet is that not a core piece of a championship team? That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard.
And who is “:cherry picking” stats?
He has played 324 games at 2B and has really good metrics there.
He has played 216 games in the OF and has really good metrics there.
No matter what defensive metric you use, (DRS, defensive WAR for starters) he has excelled everywhere he has played.
And what are you basing your defense declining the more he plays on? Your own observations? Because there are no metrics anywhere that support it, and as somebody who watches every Mets game, it’s simply not true, He is a strong defender wherever he goes, and you have offered ZERO facts to back up your argument because there are none.
He has switched positions because why wouldn’t you use the versatility of a player who can thrive in all different places on the diamond? No different than DJL or Ben Zobrist.
And not sure anybody cares about speed when a guy is rocking a lifetime OPS+ of 126.
No posters on the wall, I just recognize when somebody is really good at baseball, which McNeil is.
Any player that can defend at 4 different places on the diamond, average a 5 WAR, and put up a 126 OPS+ over a 600 game stretch is worth his weight in gold.
What was his WAR every other season besides last?
He’s a nice player and nothing more and you’re proving it for me. I guess we call Whit Merrifield a star player that is a core piece too. I guess DJL is a core piece also. Tommy Edman is a superstar too. Lolololol bro die on another hill besides trying to prove McNeil is some kind of star player who is a core piece for a championship team.
“WHAT WAS HIS WAR EVERY OTHER YEAR?”
Says the man on a website with instant access to a players page which shows Jeff McNeil’s 162 game average over his 6 year career span is 5.2.
Good luck finding that on Tommy Edman’s page.
Why don’t you set about proving how a 5 WAR player is a “nice player to have around” lol.
For the record, he had the 18th best WAR of any position player in the NL last year.
Meant to say good luck finding it on Merrifield’s page, not Edman.
Also McNeil was 9th in WAR in the NL last year, not 18th.
He was 18th in MLB.
The Titanic sank incredibly fast.
Good luck…..Sanchez could not his weight in AAA
He did in Syracuse. People don’t seem to understand this is a trial run for him. Nido and Narvaez are not getting cut. Sanchez would need to catch fire to keep his roster spot. If he doesn’t but shows adequate production, he could garner the Mets a team’s lower top 30 prospect in a DFA trade.
The guy has problems finding a minor league deal, and you think some one will trade for him?
Mentos over Sánchez for DH. Alvarez and Narváez over Sánchez for catcher.
It’s been a long time since Gary was scary. He doesn’t hustle, is bad defensively, has a low baseball IQ and is a terrible base runner. He used to be able to hit. Maybe the Mets will catch lightening in a bottle. If not, may be the end of the road for him in MLB.
I think he’s up because he’s a gOoD cLuBhOuSe GuY
The right move. It adds much better offense to the lineup when Alvarez sits. Adds a power and RBI bat they need
Looking at his statcast data from last year shows he was pretty elite offensively in some categories. 97th percentile max exit velo, 92nd hard hit%, 92 barrel%, 76 xSlg
A pretty respectable 76th percentile pop time 2B, 55th chase rate and 53rd BB%. He does draw some walks
Downside he K’s a lot, no speed, 50th percentile framing is acceptable but not great
The slug adds passed balls.
If he’s not productive he will be DFA’d when Narvaez returns. Not a big deal.
What a disaster of a season for the Mets. They spent all that money & it’s May & they’re still having to buy free agents the likes of this guy. He could barely cut it as a catcher most teams would want catching their young pitching in AAA.
Yeah ok I bet you’re a guy who thinks the Pirates are going to win a wild card
The Mets are doing better than they should be. Much of the lineup isn’t hitting. Both main catchers are out and the Starting rotation has spent more time on the IL than the active roster. Buck Showalter will have this team moving along in short order.
Moving along home in October. Maybe Sanchez can take over the 3 hole from their very light hitting shortstop… Similar batting averages
@yetipro Lindor should not be batting third, I have him as the Mets 7th hitter. He ruins so many rallys. 341 million dollars for a player who can’t hit, its kind of sad. Steve Cohen must get heatflashes every night just thinking about that contract, I know I would
keep throwing good money after bad.
Whole lotta crying going on for just another tool. Winning is all that matters for the Mets this year. When you’ve pushed in 350 million plus, you just expect to win, and no excuses given. They are not paying much to cause any furor about it, and no skin off no one’s rear when your still trying to get to .500. He’ll be warmly welcomed to the team.
Mets will use him at DH. This is bad news for Canha. Vientiane is still getting his ABs at third but now Baty will move to left.
Sanchez was a .200 hitter while the cheating was going on… How will he fare without that advantage?
Guy’s gonna rake. Probably wins the quadruple crown award.
They could trade with the Tigers if this doesn’t work out.
Who would.have ever thunk the winning percentage between a team who is all in vs a team that isn’t even trying…..would.be, could.be so similar…..
Wacky hot takes on here. Par for the course. Whatever their early struggles – expect PHI, NYM and STL to course correct and be in WC hunt. Too much talent.
STL won’t until they get a new Manager.
@GarryHarris The Cardinals have the worst manager in the game. Half their roster is older than him. He is Luis Rojas 2.0. A yesman for the GM
among the most maddening players i’ve ever rooted for
NYM fans may not fully realize it yet. But they are already winners for ignoring the dopiest elements of Long Island loudmouths and keeping Baty, Alvarez, Vientos, Mauricio. Those guys are studs and will be the centerpiece of the team for future. But man – they need to step it up on young arms. Wasteland
its weird they get on runs of really good drafting/trading for prospect pitchers and then just horrible. Had the mid 80’s with doc and company. hen the wilsons and pulsiphiers etc … then harvey degrom etc. Its not like they ever just have a consistent feed.
Imagine the reaction of Scherzer and Verlander when they heard Sanchez is coming…
Good point.
Long Island loudmouths last night: “Yo Joey Buttafuoco we don’t need this bum”. Also Long Island loudmouths after seeing tonight’s lineup “Yo Buck WTF? No Sanchez?”
Im conflicted on this. I love power behind the plate and a veteran of the big city. This would be helpful to alvarez in both respects especially Sanchez was big name in new york and could help alvarez even more.
But Sanchez has had very long cold streaks. Perfect example is he was the starting catcher and went pretty much went the last 2 weeks of the season with one hit and then last game had 2. Would it hurt him even more since he would not have regular catching duties.
Bummer. TLo was a pretty speedy dude, especially with the DBacks, sad to see his career kinda tumble.
The injury is a good thing if you wanted to keep locastro. If he was not placed on the disabled list then he would have been forced to go through waivers. Mets keep getting lucky injuries letting them keep extra players and move them up and down from the minors bypassing rules that state they have to stay down a minimum number of games before recall.
Well put.
Carrasco is getting a pink-hineyed Spanking.
Locastro: 4 steals, 7 ab