I hope for one more glorious summer Carp can channel 2014 and mash. Then ride off into the sunset on his own terms. Hanging on the way he has the last few years makes for a sad ending to an otherwise proud career. Someone get that man some salsa!
He’d be a good arm out of their depleted pen too, but you’re right as they’ll need an arm stretched out at AAA. That should have been Gil, so that role probably falls to Sears now.
Not surprised, Ramos probably won't be back for a couple of months. A similar situation happened with Esmil Rogers when he was with the Nexen (now known as Kiwoom) Heroes after he got hit with a line drive which broke a finger in his pitching hand.
The Mets should trade for Garver. Drew Smith, Thomas Szapucki, and Colin Holderman for Garver since it seems like the Rangers need pitching and all of these guys are major league ready (I also don't want them on my team so its kinda like the Andujar/Viot trade ideas, atleast I'm admitting it)
Predictably. Hopefully this closes the books on Hicks as a starter. I don't wish an injury on anyone, but this experiment was heading toward an awkward conclusion. Unfortunately, VerHagen and Wittgren haven't inspired a lot of confidence as viable alternatives. Maybe Naughton. More likely Jake Woodford gets his shot.
Gonzalez getting a shot is a nice side effect. I was fully convinced they were never going to and he would end up being the next Cleveland farm hand to wash out and end up starting on the Tigers (see: Ronny Rodriguez, Eric Haase, Willi Castro)
I don't see Carpenter sticking with the team long term, unless LeMahieu and Donaldson are out for a while. No indication of that yet. They're simply dealing with a lot of players missing. Feels more like a band-aid move.
More curious to see what Manny might bring. He picked up some velo and an added a pitch while in the CPBL, so he might play well out of the bullpen. Schmidt, Sears (he'll be back), Manny and Marinaccio are more than capable to fill in the gaps.
He reinvented the mendoza line in his last 2 years with the Cardinals. Wouldn't be surprised to see him hit .250 with a .300 OPS though I've seen crazier things
This is how you have to stay competitive when the farm system is trash. Cashman has been grossly incompetent developing prospects. I honestly can think of Judge, Gardner and Cano and nobody else in the 20 plus years he has been GM.
Brewer Hicklen is definitely interesting. He's pretty much had consistent numbers at every stop through the minors. Very good walk numbers, steals a ton of bases, and has solid power. Look forward to seeing what he can do.
What Is The Best Case Scenario For D.J. LeMahieu,Plus,What Is It That Makes Matt Carpenter Like A Left Handed Hitting Version Of Him & What Is The Best Part About Manny Banuelos,Once Again,Being Part Of This Organization?
Reyes down again dam. I really don't think its a mystery....if you are a defensive end sized baseball player you are going to spend a lot of time on the IL.
Completely unknown. He's been beyond bad at the plate the last few seasons, although he supposedly made changes during the off season and was hitting well in AAA. I guess we're about to find out.
I didn't expect Sears to stay up. They just needed a spot start and I doubt they would want to just put him in the pen. He'll likely be up and down this year unless there's an injury to a starter.
TBH, I was kind of hoping Pirates either A) Brought up Mason Martin and released/waive Cole Tucker or VanMeter or B) Sign Carpenter and release/Waive Tucker and VM. Option B would have Carpenter DH as Yoshi sat for a few weeks to figure out his game. It wouldn’t help defensively to have Vogelbach at 1B, but to squeeze Carp in, that would be one option. Gamel could always squeeze in at 1B too
A year ago there were high hopes for Johnson. Really good minors numbers vs RHP, over .900 ops in 3 of his seasons. A good strong side platoon bat. Had a bad last year both on field and popping off on Twitter. Dumb harmless stuff. Still hope for him.
they should of sent Hicks to somewhere! Just play Florial, give the guy a chance to get regular at bats,but no they keep Hicks and sign another no hit specialist, just what they need !!
Hum. Guess they need an extra pitcher for their upcoming road trip, otherwise, I don’t know why they would send Sears down. If Manny can help at all, this could be one of the greatest comebacks of all time!!
Like some of the other bloggers, I wonder if this means DJ has a more serious injury than we were led to believe. Carpenter is really takin a shot, good luck to him though. Hope he doesn’t steal at bats from Miggy.
Swing & a miss, swing & a miss, swing & a miss, swing &....oh wait, innings over. They want to speed up baseball? They're doing a damn good job.. Stolen bases are slowly coming back, how about bunts? A good way of getting on base INSTEAD of striking out. Many teams are losing games by 1 run, how about some strategy?
Yankees love those declining and old players. Not a dig on them, but they have had some luck with declining and the elders of the game the last 6-8 years. From McCutchen to Gardner (granted he was with the Yankees for several years, but they resigned him for another year or two on his decline), they ended up doing fairly well in a limited role. So if this helps Carpenter for a one year contract for DH role next year, might as well get the starting chance with the Yankees.
@RobM excellent comment, and I think the Mets will be utter fools to sign Judge in contradistinction to the high, but sensibly short-term spending, of this past offseason.
They won't actually be a sustainably good team for significantly under $300m for another 3 to 5 years, so sinking $32m+ a year into Judge just to watch him in steep decline as you're about to arrive is a real mistake.
With injuries to their old #1 and #2, with injuries or ineffectiveness doubtless coming to Carrasco and Walker, and to their fragile, elderly OF, they'll be very lucky to play .475 ball for the next two month. And that's with a payroll already around $286m.
This team needs an offensive overhaul. It can't be good when ur 3 catchers are ur biggest offensive threats, and ur benching 1st and 3rd basemen to get them in lineup
What they need more than a splash is to put more runs on the board or take more runs off. Buying 30 yo SS's for big money on long deals is usually a terrible idea.
@Find Ployd Thing is, it's fielding, and he's 30. In a corner. For 2020-22 he's at zero wrt OAA and has been, really, for each of the most recent three seasons. 2019 doesn't matter for a fielder in his post-prime years. He's an average runner, now. Average speed, average jumps. He'll probably get worse overall this year. In 2023 he'll get worse than that. In 2024 a team will have to be hurting at least a little on defense to want to use him in the OF.
If you want to spend 7/210m on a DH, have at it, but it's not a good idea.
@RobM That was true in 2018-2019, at ages 26 and 27---as it is for many players where physical decline has begun but is supported by increasing smarts---but no longer today. Judge is average now, in the field, in no way elite, Not at 30.
L99: That’s an apt description for me as well. As unreliable as they are, I still check them….frequently. It’s weird (I’m weird). Love the Twain/not Twain quote btw…lol.
Anyway, the 1B stat is one to which I was referring, and here’s why: defensively, Rizzo is doing poorly according to the metrics, but watching him in every game, listening to those watching him play, & hear broadcasters describe his play all indicate Rizzo performs above average defensively.
On the other hand, watching some others play,(insert name), they are clearly not as defensively sound yet metrics favor them incredibly well…..almost too well.
I think what bothers me most is I like to know why. With defensive metrics, it’s doesn’t necessarily make sense.
@Samuel Doubtful, or I should say 'Cohen shouldn't.' The Mets are already an extremely old team. Saddling themselves with a player in his decline phase who gets hurt a lot and will be in his mid30s for most of a 30m+ AVV deal doesn't make sense for them.
You "win" New York but putting up a perennially good team, or at least a team with the crescendo of the mid-80s Mets; probably not by snagging one of the Yankees best players and winning 83 games with an ancient club.
Is Judge at 31 to 37 the best expenditure of something like $210 million and a 7-year commitment? Probably not.
The Phillies just don't mesh. Girardi doesn't get the best out of his players. These guys are studs on other teams and underperform in Philly. Something is wrong at the leadership level.
I never understood this trade from the offset since they already had Huff. Seemed knee jerk, especially since what they really needed was pitching and had a strong trade chip in Isiah Kiner-falefa.
@drasco036 Sounds right re Judge. If you're going to pay him significantly more than 7/210m for his age 31+ seasons just because he had a peak year (assuming) at age 30, you deserve what you get.
That offer had to do with Judge's history with the Yankees, which of course he won't have with any other team. Judge is the kind of guy who, after he descends into mediocrity and worse, will still have rabid fans who think he's the cat's arse---but only in New York and only if he remains on the Yankees. That devotion has value to a team, but only if that team is the Yankees. Judge is simply too old to build that devotion anywhere else.
Otherwise, why would you pay a significant premium to a fine, old ballplayer coming off a career year? Is some GM really deranged enough to go to something like 8/250m? Is Judge really worth 100m more than Freeman, Goldschmidt, and other corner guys?
If Judge doesn't get hurt or suffer a steep drop in performance, he might get 7/210m away from NY, ie the Freddie Freeman scenario where player gets huffy and is fortunate enough to find some team to give him his original team's offer.
'This is an attempt to condense each batter's career into a single season's worth of stats. With batters this is easy. Just take their career games played and divide by 162, and then divide their career totals by that factor.'
Do that, and you'll arrive at 42.51906158357771, which, rounded up, is 43.
It was startling to see Szapucki left in to give up 9 ER.
Given his AAA usage this was a bullpen game, where the hope was that ZPuck would give them 2-3 useful innings. SO, if he wasn't going 6 innings anyway, or even 4 innings on his best day, why not pull him before the game was completely out of reach?
That's the thing--the Mets aren't deep at all as of late May 2022:
Including Bassitt, who has his own very real durability issues, the Mets are looking at
Bassitt
Carrasco
Walker
Peterson
Trevor Williams
There's no one behind them and that's not a league average rotation for the next two months, even without the inevitable injuries or complete ineffectiveness looming in Cookie and Walker's futures after the 80-90 inning mark.
The drop-off after Nimmo, Marte, and Canha is steep, and while McCann was no great loss the decline from him to Mazeika and the increased playing time going to Nido's 35 OPS+ is likely to be significant. The pen can hardly stand any injuries, either.
The bench is currently Dom, JD, Guillorme, Jankowski, Mazeika. That's *very* thin. After that it's sub-replacement level turtles all the way down.
Hard to see this team playing better than .450 ball until at least two of Jake, Max, and TM return. It's going to be another rough season---but at least there's upside this time around.
@Michael Chaney All well said, but given the overall fragility of an OF of Nimmo, Marte, and Canha, plus Dom's struggles, plus cutting Cano which makes it less possible to put McNeil in LF, plus Khalil Lee's demotion to single-A, the Mets might be more than satisfied with an OFer who gives them nothing more than replacement level performance.
With Jake, Max, and Megill out, with Carrasco and Walker's fragility, with Bassit's severe limitations (exceeding 90 innings all of twice in his career as of age 33), and now soon heading into that part of the season where your regular position players tend to drop like flies, the FO is surely strapping in and expecting to have to struggle for wins on most days.
For the next six weeks this probably won't be a .500 team.
@angt22 Yes--and to A ball, no less. Sounds like it might have been a discipline problem as in, after repeated instruction to stop hitting the ball into the ground as he has been to wont to do over the past several years, Lee simply won't consistently elevate his swing (which is probably the entire key to his becoming an MLB-caliber hitter).
Lee's the kind of player who can go from extremely good to useless in about a minute, so if he's not listening it's easy to see the team getting frustrated to the point of being ready to release him, and deciding on some tough love, instead.
It was surprising to see the Mets go into the season with just Lee and Nick Plummer as depth after faking the 4th OF slot as of Opening Day with Dom Smith and Jeff McNeil, particularly when Nimmo, Marte, and Canha rated to miss about 140 starts between them. Still, given where they had already pushed payroll, finding a solid 4th OFer capable of starting for much of the season might have been too expensive. You have to stop spending at some point, I suppose.
Cahill's not a bad pickup at all given the price, that they gave up no talent for him, and that his FIPs in 3 of the last 4 years have been respectable.
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I hope for one more glorious summer Carp can channel 2014 and mash. Then ride off into the sunset on his own terms. Hanging on the way he has the last few years makes for a sad ending to an otherwise proud career. Someone get that man some salsa!
I think Clipper was onto something when he said Cashman was trying to get rid of every beard in MLB.
He’d be a good arm out of their depleted pen too, but you’re right as they’ll need an arm stretched out at AAA. That should have been Gil, so that role probably falls to Sears now.
Not surprised, Ramos probably won't be back for a couple of months. A similar situation happened with Esmil Rogers when he was with the Nexen (now known as Kiwoom) Heroes after he got hit with a line drive which broke a finger in his pitching hand.
The Mets should trade for Garver. Drew Smith, Thomas Szapucki, and Colin Holderman for Garver since it seems like the Rangers need pitching and all of these guys are major league ready (I also don't want them on my team so its kinda like the Andujar/Viot trade ideas, atleast I'm admitting it)
They needed a C and were concerned about Huff's swing and miss tendencies, along with his defense. Have you heard about former prospect Gary Sanchez?
Predictably. Hopefully this closes the books on Hicks as a starter. I don't wish an injury on anyone, but this experiment was heading toward an awkward conclusion. Unfortunately, VerHagen and Wittgren haven't inspired a lot of confidence as viable alternatives. Maybe Naughton. More likely Jake Woodford gets his shot.
Gonzalez getting a shot is a nice side effect. I was fully convinced they were never going to and he would end up being the next Cleveland farm hand to wash out and end up starting on the Tigers (see: Ronny Rodriguez, Eric Haase, Willi Castro)
If I'm a big defensive end ball player, you leave my end out of this discussion
I don't see Carpenter sticking with the team long term, unless LeMahieu and Donaldson are out for a while. No indication of that yet. They're simply dealing with a lot of players missing. Feels more like a band-aid move.
More curious to see what Manny might bring. He picked up some velo and an added a pitch while in the CPBL, so he might play well out of the bullpen. Schmidt, Sears (he'll be back), Manny and Marinaccio are more than capable to fill in the gaps.
Ever heard of insider trading?
good Aaron Boone deserves it he pitches him just about every day
Ruh roh
He reinvented the mendoza line in his last 2 years with the Cardinals. Wouldn't be surprised to see him hit .250 with a .300 OPS though I've seen crazier things
good Aaron Boone deserves it that what happens when I pitch him every day
Thanks to the Yankees' sillyass pseudo-military/prep school ban on facial hair, this man is going to look very different in pinstripes.
Whats a million bucks to the Yankees...................
a hole
This is how you have to stay competitive when the farm system is trash. Cashman has been grossly incompetent developing prospects. I honestly can think of Judge, Gardner and Cano and nobody else in the 20 plus years he has been GM.
Is Miss Significant on Freddy's date list?
Brewer Hicklen is definitely interesting. He's pretty much had consistent numbers at every stop through the minors. Very good walk numbers, steals a ton of bases, and has solid power. Look forward to seeing what he can do.
What Is The Best Case Scenario For D.J. LeMahieu,Plus,What Is It That Makes Matt Carpenter Like A Left Handed Hitting Version Of Him & What Is The Best Part About Manny Banuelos,Once Again,Being Part Of This Organization?
Why did they option Sears, who's looked good in limited time, for a guy who hasn't pitched in the big leagues since 2019?
“Hey Yu…. Out there in the cold, always doing what you’re told…”
Reyes down again dam. I really don't think its a mystery....if you are a defensive end sized baseball player you are going to spend a lot of time on the IL.
Probably can't do worse than he did for the cards at the end of his tenure there.
I honestly can’t think of any player who makes less sense for the Pirates right now than Matt Carpenter.
What Can They Do To Correct Joey Gallo,So That He Starts Hitting With The Rest Of The Lineup?
I believe fumes............
Brewer Hicklen... now that's a name
Matt Carpenter hopes “We’ve Only Just Begun”. Seems like “Only Yesterday” when we would all “Sing” his praises and he was a borderline “Superstar”.
Completely unknown. He's been beyond bad at the plate the last few seasons, although he supposedly made changes during the off season and was hitting well in AAA. I guess we're about to find out.
This deserves more love
Does he have anything left in the tank?
If they ban the shift next year, he could be a very good pickup next year.maybe he makes a good impression and they pick him up next year too
If I were a Carpenter & you were a lady, would you play third base, and hit .130?
Cashman finds someone dumber than he is to take the remainder of his contract?
I didn't expect Sears to stay up. They just needed a spot start and I doubt they would want to just put him in the pen. He'll likely be up and down this year unless there's an injury to a starter.
TBH, I was kind of hoping Pirates either A) Brought up Mason Martin and released/waive Cole Tucker or VanMeter or B) Sign Carpenter and release/Waive Tucker and VM. Option B would have Carpenter DH as Yoshi sat for a few weeks to figure out his game. It wouldn’t help defensively to have Vogelbach at 1B, but to squeeze Carp in, that would be one option. Gamel could always squeeze in at 1B too
A year ago there were high hopes for Johnson. Really good minors numbers vs RHP, over .900 ops in 3 of his seasons. A good strong side platoon bat. Had a bad last year both on field and popping off on Twitter. Dumb harmless stuff. Still hope for him.
Loved Carpenter when he was a Cardinal except for his last 5 years.
Perhaps a Donaldson DFA to follow..
LeMahieu possibly to IL and Donaldson down with covid and even Stanton now on the IL. Depth is getting thin on the so reinforcements were needed
they should of sent Hicks to somewhere! Just play Florial, give the guy a chance to get regular at bats,but no they keep Hicks and sign another no hit specialist, just what they need !!
Message to Peraza and Cabrera "Do better"
Hum. Guess they need an extra pitcher for their upcoming road trip, otherwise, I don’t know why they would send Sears down. If Manny can help at all, this could be one of the greatest comebacks of all time!!
Like some of the other bloggers, I wonder if this means DJ has a more serious injury than we were led to believe. Carpenter is really takin a shot, good luck to him though. Hope he doesn’t steal at bats from Miggy.
Swing & a miss, swing & a miss, swing & a miss, swing &....oh wait, innings over. They want to speed up baseball? They're doing a damn good job.. Stolen bases are slowly coming back, how about bunts? A good way of getting on base INSTEAD of striking out. Many teams are losing games by 1 run, how about some strategy?
Yankees love those declining and old players. Not a dig on them, but they have had some luck with declining and the elders of the game the last 6-8 years. From McCutchen to Gardner (granted he was with the Yankees for several years, but they resigned him for another year or two on his decline), they ended up doing fairly well in a limited role. So if this helps Carpenter for a one year contract for DH role next year, might as well get the starting chance with the Yankees.
@RobM excellent comment, and I think the Mets will be utter fools to sign Judge in contradistinction to the high, but sensibly short-term spending, of this past offseason.
They won't actually be a sustainably good team for significantly under $300m for another 3 to 5 years, so sinking $32m+ a year into Judge just to watch him in steep decline as you're about to arrive is a real mistake.
With injuries to their old #1 and #2, with injuries or ineffectiveness doubtless coming to Carrasco and Walker, and to their fragile, elderly OF, they'll be very lucky to play .475 ball for the next two month. And that's with a payroll already around $286m.
I would have rather just seen Dietrich promoted but either way this is a stop gap, DFA in a week or 2 move.
Someone might be heading to the IL?
As I noted at top, they may have done this because LeMahieu is about to hit the IL so they want to add depth until he returns.
Especially when u just spent $1/2B "upgrading" offense
Why Did They Need To Sign Matt Carpenter?
Giants would never have gotten Bonds if Zaidi had been around.
This team needs an offensive overhaul. It can't be good when ur 3 catchers are ur biggest offensive threats, and ur benching 1st and 3rd basemen to get them in lineup
Wishing the best for Carp in New York
What Is The Best Case Scenario For Giancarlo Stanton?
Interesting that they gave him a major league deal.
Best of luck to Carpenter. That short porch could work for him.
You know the injury bug is bad when you give this dude a call.
Giants well under CBT. Zaidi continues to dumpster dive. Only splash Zaidi is going to make or see is balls being hit into McCovey Cove.
good luck with that
Good point, but according to baseball pundits, strike outs & batting average make no never mind. I miss baseball, not this crap
Of course they would do that
Worried DJLM is heading to the IL.
@tad2b13 But if only OBP didn't count!
/sarc
What they need more than a splash is to put more runs on the board or take more runs off. Buying 30 yo SS's for big money on long deals is usually a terrible idea.
@Find Ployd Thing is, it's fielding, and he's 30. In a corner. For 2020-22 he's at zero wrt OAA and has been, really, for each of the most recent three seasons. 2019 doesn't matter for a fielder in his post-prime years. He's an average runner, now. Average speed, average jumps. He'll probably get worse overall this year. In 2023 he'll get worse than that. In 2024 a team will have to be hurting at least a little on defense to want to use him in the OF.
If you want to spend 7/210m on a DH, have at it, but it's not a good idea.
Now this is the best comment in the stream.
@tab2b13 Winning? How bout that beat’n the Mighty Giants took over the weekend from the Splashy Padres ?? #SWEPT
LOL
Who'd a thunk it?
One half of the brittle brothers
You’re all children. I’m honestly embarrassed for you
@RobM That was true in 2018-2019, at ages 26 and 27---as it is for many players where physical decline has begun but is supported by increasing smarts---but no longer today. Judge is average now, in the field, in no way elite, Not at 30.
L99: That’s an apt description for me as well. As unreliable as they are, I still check them….frequently. It’s weird (I’m weird). Love the Twain/not Twain quote btw…lol.
Anyway, the 1B stat is one to which I was referring, and here’s why: defensively, Rizzo is doing poorly according to the metrics, but watching him in every game, listening to those watching him play, & hear broadcasters describe his play all indicate Rizzo performs above average defensively.
On the other hand, watching some others play,(insert name), they are clearly not as defensively sound yet metrics favor them incredibly well…..almost too well.
I think what bothers me most is I like to know why. With defensive metrics, it’s doesn’t necessarily make sense.
Maybe he should stay at DH. In the Month of May, he's been slashing: .289 / .333 / .684. His OPS is 1.018.
@Samuel Doubtful, or I should say 'Cohen shouldn't.' The Mets are already an extremely old team. Saddling themselves with a player in his decline phase who gets hurt a lot and will be in his mid30s for most of a 30m+ AVV deal doesn't make sense for them.
You "win" New York but putting up a perennially good team, or at least a team with the crescendo of the mid-80s Mets; probably not by snagging one of the Yankees best players and winning 83 games with an ancient club.
Is Judge at 31 to 37 the best expenditure of something like $210 million and a 7-year commitment? Probably not.
The Phillies just don't mesh. Girardi doesn't get the best out of his players. These guys are studs on other teams and underperform in Philly. Something is wrong at the leadership level.
I never understood this trade from the offset since they already had Huff. Seemed knee jerk, especially since what they really needed was pitching and had a strong trade chip in Isiah Kiner-falefa.
Perfectly stated, Fink.
@drasco036 Sounds right re Judge. If you're going to pay him significantly more than 7/210m for his age 31+ seasons just because he had a peak year (assuming) at age 30, you deserve what you get.
That offer had to do with Judge's history with the Yankees, which of course he won't have with any other team. Judge is the kind of guy who, after he descends into mediocrity and worse, will still have rabid fans who think he's the cat's arse---but only in New York and only if he remains on the Yankees. That devotion has value to a team, but only if that team is the Yankees. Judge is simply too old to build that devotion anywhere else.
Otherwise, why would you pay a significant premium to a fine, old ballplayer coming off a career year? Is some GM really deranged enough to go to something like 8/250m? Is Judge really worth 100m more than Freeman, Goldschmidt, and other corner guys?
If Judge doesn't get hurt or suffer a steep drop in performance, he might get 7/210m away from NY, ie the Freddie Freeman scenario where player gets huffy and is fortunate enough to find some team to give him his original team's offer.
Sorry to hear about all your afflictions.
"And further, Dr. Boonedoggle can’t even get it right."
He's a baseball manager, not a doctor. He reported what he was told. How is that his fault?
I’m the wiz and nobody beats me !
B-Ref explains the process:
162-Game Average
'This is an attempt to condense each batter's career into a single season's worth of stats. With batters this is easy. Just take their career games played and divide by 162, and then divide their career totals by that factor.'
Do that, and you'll arrive at 42.51906158357771, which, rounded up, is 43.
Yeah, cause it's not about winning, it's about splashy signings. Maybe you should become a Padres fan.
It was startling to see Szapucki left in to give up 9 ER.
Given his AAA usage this was a bullpen game, where the hope was that ZPuck would give them 2-3 useful innings. SO, if he wasn't going 6 innings anyway, or even 4 innings on his best day, why not pull him before the game was completely out of reach?
Buck bunged this one, a bit.
Another way to look at it: How many players have more than Stanton's 358 home runs since his 2010 debut?
One. Nelson Cruz. In 1,046 more plate appearances.
Or you can look at it this way: How many players have hit more than Stanton's 91 home runs since he joined the Yankees?
Forty-four.
One of the all time greatest haircuts
Dumping Joe Ross on the Nationals
That's the thing--the Mets aren't deep at all as of late May 2022:
Including Bassitt, who has his own very real durability issues, the Mets are looking at
Bassitt
Carrasco
Walker
Peterson
Trevor Williams
There's no one behind them and that's not a league average rotation for the next two months, even without the inevitable injuries or complete ineffectiveness looming in Cookie and Walker's futures after the 80-90 inning mark.
The drop-off after Nimmo, Marte, and Canha is steep, and while McCann was no great loss the decline from him to Mazeika and the increased playing time going to Nido's 35 OPS+ is likely to be significant. The pen can hardly stand any injuries, either.
The bench is currently Dom, JD, Guillorme, Jankowski, Mazeika. That's *very* thin. After that it's sub-replacement level turtles all the way down.
Hard to see this team playing better than .450 ball until at least two of Jake, Max, and TM return. It's going to be another rough season---but at least there's upside this time around.
From your lips to Dayton's ears...
Please write a story about the Bottom 10 free agents so I will have a preview of who the Pittsburgh Pirates will be looking to sign next year.
Bullpen slot for DJ?
The confusion came in when you used the plural "things" instead of the singular "thing."
Inflating their blow-up wives is a single action, so you'd use a singular noun to refer to it; i.e., thing.
"Only thing trolls are doing for their wives is inflating them."
@Michael Chaney All well said, but given the overall fragility of an OF of Nimmo, Marte, and Canha, plus Dom's struggles, plus cutting Cano which makes it less possible to put McNeil in LF, plus Khalil Lee's demotion to single-A, the Mets might be more than satisfied with an OFer who gives them nothing more than replacement level performance.
With Jake, Max, and Megill out, with Carrasco and Walker's fragility, with Bassit's severe limitations (exceeding 90 innings all of twice in his career as of age 33), and now soon heading into that part of the season where your regular position players tend to drop like flies, the FO is surely strapping in and expecting to have to struggle for wins on most days.
For the next six weeks this probably won't be a .500 team.
Well played sir!
Somebody lock Farhan in a room til he makes a splashy signing or two.
Jose Berrios is a Blue Jay. I thought you were talking about the Reds?
@angt22 Yes--and to A ball, no less. Sounds like it might have been a discipline problem as in, after repeated instruction to stop hitting the ball into the ground as he has been to wont to do over the past several years, Lee simply won't consistently elevate his swing (which is probably the entire key to his becoming an MLB-caliber hitter).
Lee's the kind of player who can go from extremely good to useless in about a minute, so if he's not listening it's easy to see the team getting frustrated to the point of being ready to release him, and deciding on some tough love, instead.
It was surprising to see the Mets go into the season with just Lee and Nick Plummer as depth after faking the 4th OF slot as of Opening Day with Dom Smith and Jeff McNeil, particularly when Nimmo, Marte, and Canha rated to miss about 140 starts between them. Still, given where they had already pushed payroll, finding a solid 4th OFer capable of starting for much of the season might have been too expensive. You have to stop spending at some point, I suppose.
Cahill's not a bad pickup at all given the price, that they gave up no talent for him, and that his FIPs in 3 of the last 4 years have been respectable.
Surprised he's not in someone's system.