Month: July 2016

Just Give Cespedes His Money Now

On By themetssiah2 Comments


On July 4th 2016, Yoenis Cespedes did what he’s been doing for the Mets for over 130 games at this point. He sparked the offense, had clutch hits, and won the team a baseball game. The Mets had arguably their most impressive victory of the season yesterday. Before the end of the third inning, they were down 6-0 to the Marlins. Matt Harvey gave up 11 hits, 6 runs (5ER) over 3.2 innings. He continued what has been an unimpressive campaign in his second season removed from Tommy John surgery.

But despite being down 6-0, the Mets were able to crawl back and eventually win this ball game. Travis d’Arnaud and Curtis Granderson hit solo homers in the fourth and fifth inning respectively. That made it 6-2 Marlins. In the sixth inning, the Mets got to the Marlins bullpen. Travis d’Arnaud hit an RBI single and Kelly Johnson hit into a run scoring double play to make it 6-4. It was at this point that Yoenis Cespedes took the team on his back and contributed the big hits that were needed. In the 7th inning, Neil Walker walked and Yo hit a huge double to make it second and third with nobody out. That set up a James Loney RBI groundout and a Wilmer Flores sac fly to make it 6-6. Then in the 8th inning, d’Arnaud drew a leadoff walk. Juan Lagares then sacrificed him over to second base in what was a close play at first that was originally called safe, challenged, and ultimately ruled a sac bunt. Then with two outs Neil Walker was walked (again), and Yoenis Cespedes crushed a double to score d’Arnaud and Lagares to make it 8-6. The double was Yo’s third hit of the game. 8-6 was the final score.

Almost every member of the bullpen stepped up and combined to toss 5.1 scoreless innings of relief. The bullpen was huge in the effort to bail out Harvey. But there’s just no way the Mets score enough runs to win that game without Cespedes. We could probably say that sentence for a majority of the team’s wins in 2016. I have always been firmly in the “pay Cespedes whatever he wants” camp. But I think considering the MVP level 2016 campaign he is putting together, we’ve reached that point in the season where it’s time to be more vocal about the need to lock him up.

Cespedes is the only true undisputed impact bat (franchise bat? elite bat? choose whichever cliché you want) in this Mets lineup. Without him this team doesn’t make the playoffs last year and is barely a Wild Card contender at this point in the season. I still have no idea why he didn’t receive any market value offers this past offseason. I have no idea why the Nationals didn’t up their offer so it had a higher Net Present Value than the Mets 3 year deal. Part of me thinks Cespedes dealt with a little bit of the Daniel Murphy effect. I’m not trying to compare the actual career production of these two players at all. But I am saying that teams may have been hesitant to pay Murph and Cespedes because of enormous spikes in production relative to their career numbers over the last year or so.

Murph’s 14 regular season home runs last year combined with his 7 postseason home runs certainly represented a spike in power production when you consider his previous season high was 13 (in 2013). When you look at that and then you consider his 14 home runs in 2016 along with his .347/.387/.579 batting line through 81 games, the production starts to become a little more than a product of small sample size. Yoenis Cespedes has had a similar spike in 2015-16. He’s been hitting between .290-.300 for a season and a half at this point and posting an OPS close to .900. He’s on pace for 40 home runs. This is a guy who hit .240 in 2013 and .260 in 2014 and never hit more than 26 long balls before his 35 home run campaign last year. Daniel Murphy is 31 years old and Cespedes is 30. I can understand that teams might be skeptical that these two players will sustain these late career production spikes in the short term and over the course of a long term deal.

I also think regardless of whether you feel it should, the poor 2016 performance by Matt Harvey may impact the Mets decision to sign Cespedes. It seemed unlikely before the season that Matt Harvey was going to sign a contract extension with the Mets because he’s a Scott Boras client, and also because he was under team control for another 3 years. Well based on his performance so far this year, it seems almost impossible that he will sign any type of extension in the near future. He’s certainly not going to lock up a deal with his value at an all time low, and I don’t think the Mets are going to be inclined to pay him right now either.

Assuming the Mets financial resources are somewhat limited (which seems to consistently be the case) the team might be more inclined than ever to use their additional revenue to extend Cespedes rather than plan to save funds for a future Harvey deal. Again, the two deals should not be linked because the Mets should spend whatever is necessary to field a winning product. I think in the long run, a winning product should include Cespedes and Harvey. But we must be realistic and acknowledge that any long term contracts they give out will undoubtedly diminish the chances that they give out more of them. If the Mets are actually debating whether to devote future resources to Cespedes or Harvey, 2016 may fully tip the scales in Yo’s direction.

The bottom line is Yo is going to opt out of his contract at season’s end, and I think it’s safe to assume a lot of teams are going to bet on his 2015-16 level of production continuing. I think the majority of teams are going to want to add his franchise bat to their lineup. He’s only enhanced his value this season by showing that he can at least hold his own as a center fielder. The Wilpons need to grab their checkbook, call Roc Nation, and add whatever number of years and dollars he wants to his current deal so they remove the opt out and ensure the Mets keep him in the lineup for the next 6 years or so. I don’t care about the bad back end of the deal. I don’t care that he may throw his back out at the driving range. We need to make this happen ASAP and avoid an offseason bidding war. The guy is a warrior and a star. He’s the heart of the offense, and I want to be able to see him launching upper deck moon shots at Citi Field for years to come.

What Is Happening To The Mets?

On By themetssiahLeave a comment


Final Score: Mets 14, Cubs 3

The Mets just inexplicably went from watching the season spiral out of control to sweeping the best team in the National League. That’s the most baseball thing I’ve ever heard. The season is so freaking long and ridiculous.

The Mets Hit Lefties Now?: The Mets were getting shut down by left-handed pitchers all season. Before the game, the Mets had a .693 OPS against lefties which ranked 26th in baseball. But now we can beat Jon Lester? Somehow we chased Jon Lester out of the game in 1.1 innings. We scored 8 runs and hit 3 home runs off Lester despite him having an ERA hovering around 2 on the season. How in the world does a team go from having one of the worst offenses and being unable to hit lefties to crushing one of the best lefties in the game? I’d like to think it’s because we “have the Cubs number” or some BS, but I think it’s just the offense finally breaking out and taking out any pitcher in its path.

The Mets Hit Home Runs Again?: Yoenis Cespedes hit that moon bomb homer on Thursday. Then the Mets hit 5 bombs on Friday. Neil Walker added a jack yesterday. And then today the Mets hit 5 more home runs. The offense goes from lifeless to raining home runs on the Cubs elite pitching staff. Live by the dinger, die by the dinger. The ball is flying out yet again. Curtis Granderson hit a solo shot in the first inning to make it 1-1. Then in the second inning, the Mets chased Lester from the game. Wilmer Flores hit a solo homer to start the inning. Literally seconds before Wilmer hit the blast, I was sitting in my seat at the game ranting about how his power has dissipated this season. So I take full credit for his power resurgence today. Anyway, with one out Matt Reynolds doubled and Rene Rivera hit a two run shot to make it 4-1. Then Lester, like an idiot, walked Noah Syndergaard. Juan Lagares doubled to make it second and third with one out. Grandy, Yoenis Cespedes, Neil Walker and Wilmer Flores then hit consecutive singles to run up the score and make it 8-1. The Flores single finally drove Lester from the game. Later in the game, Wilmer Flores (5th inning) and Kelly Johnson (7th inning) added two run home runs. Rene Rivera and James Loney had RBI singles. In total the Mets had 14 runs on 22 hits. It was the highest hit total the team collected at home since 1981.

Wilmer Flores Is Amazing Now?: Wilmer Flores went 6 for 6 with 2 home runs and 4 RBIs. He tied the Mets single game hit record set by Edgardo Alfonzo in 1999 against the Astros. I was at the Kirk Nieuwenhuis 3 home run game last season. I went from a 2016 Citi Field jinx to inspiring Mets players to set franchise records. Also, Wilmer can totally feel Jose Reyes breathing down his neck. I love that Wilmer’s response to the arrival of Reyes is to step up his performance. The fact that we will soon have Wilmer Flores, Jose Reyes, Neil Walker, Asdrubal Cabrera, Kelly Johnson, and James Loney is fantastic. Hopefully with Nimmo, Grandy, Cespedes, Lagares, and eventually Michael Conforto in the outfield, our team will now just be a straight up regular rotation of major league players. It will keep all these guys fresh. We just spent the weekend watching the Cubs do it. Kris Bryant, Ben Zobrist, and Javier Baez are playing all over the place in Chicago. Willson Contreras is catching and playing outfield. Miguel Montero is catching and pitching! Honestly the rotating stable of position players is the best way to go. It should have been the Mets plan from day one, but better late than never.

Bone Spurs Don’t Matter?: Noah Syndergaard went from elbow bone spurs and getting blasted by the Nationals to straight up dominating again. I guess the cortisone shot has started to take effect. He went 7 innings, gave up 7 hits, 1 run, and struck out 8.

The Mets Beat Elite Teams?: The Mets went from getting dumped on by the Braves to embarrassing the best team in the NL. The Mets really got smoked by the elite teams in the NL Central last year, but had a lot of success against the NL East. So far this season they have had real success against the NL Central, but the results have not been nearly as good against the NL East. The Mets need to improve their performance against their division rivals immediately.

Mop Up Stink Off: As you would expect, Antonio Bastardo and Logan Verrett handled mop up duties against the Cubs. I think at this point they are both low men on the totem pole. Bastardo handled the 8th inning fine, but Logan Verrett gave up a homer in the 9th and threw a wild pitch that led to a second run. He still managed to close the game out though to seal the 14-3 win. Also, Logan Verrett autocorrected to “slogan Verrett” on my phone. I think his slogan for 2016 would be, “Logan Verrett: When the game gets out of hand and you need an arm.”

Hot Notes From The Game: I saw a guy at the stadium with a Tsuyoshi Shinjo #5 jersey. Then on the way home I saw another guy rocking a Shinjo jersey on the subway. I had no idea there were that many Shinjo jerseys in circulation, but what a classic. I also saw a guy with a custom #25 jersey that said Last Name “BA”. Bad ass? Big Al? I honestly couldn’t crack the case on that one. Before first pitch, I was sitting near the right field line watching Rene Rivera toss the ball around in the outfield. Rivera has such a big fat catcher’s body. I had trouble telling the difference between Rivera and Dan Warthen purely based on their frame.

Paul Newmo: I keep trying to figure out a doppelgänger for Brandon Nimmo. Is it young Paul Newman? Nimmo has gangly teeth so he’s not quite at the movie star dreamboat Newman level. But I think it’s kind of uncanny.

Tomorrow: The Mets now have three games against the Marlins and four against the Nationals before the All-Star Break. They really need to run off a bunch of wins and head into the break hot. Need to beat the NL East.

Sex Machine Takes Out Arrieta

On By themetssiah2 Comments



Final Score: Mets 4, Cubs 3

I really couldn’t be more elated to see that the Mets have something on Jake Arrieta. He’s arguably the top pitcher in the game, and the Mets just keep on beating him. They make him look human. I don’t get it. I’m not going to dig deep into the reasons behind it. All I know is we beat him again and took 3 out of 4 against the super hyped up Cubbies. The Stinko rock bottom Mets that got swept into oblivion by the Nationals just came home and embarrassed the NL juggernaut Cubs. You really can never tune out when it comes to baseball. This series is actual proof that when you least expect it, your team can turn things around. Hopefully it’s a permanent turn and not an aberration.

Neil Walkyear: Neil Walker set the tone for the game right away. He kept the team’s power weekend going with a two run blast in the first inning. As I said yesterday, his June disappearance really hurt this squad. If his ding dong stick is back, then the Mets offense will certainly be partially back.

Big Sex Machine: The success of Bartolo Colon is truly mind blowing. The guy just paints the corners, pitches to contact, and gets outs. That’s it. He went 6 innings, gave up 4 hits, 3 walks (unusual), 2 runs and struck out 5. He seemingly got the Cubs to hit key groundouts whenever he needed one. He made one big mistake in the fourth inning when he surrendered a two run bomb to Anthony Rizzo to make it 2-0. Sometimes all that contact can burn him. But it was just another robotic quality start. He outdueled Jake Arrieta. Arrieta only went 5.1 innings, gave up 8 hits and 4 runs! Unbelievable.

D’ArNeed Him: In the fourth inning, Asdrubal Cabrera singled with one out and Alejandro De Aza walked with two outs. Is De Aza heating up? Probably not. Still destined to be cut. Anyway, with two on and two out Travis d’Arnaud hit a little bloop pop up that landed between the center fielder, shortstop, and second baseman. It was the perfect lucky little dinky BS hit that the Mets never get. Luck! BABIP! Hooray. That made the game 4-2.

Chances: The Mets had opportunities in the fifth and sixth inning to score more runs. In the fifth Brandon Nimmo and Neil Walker singled to get on base. And nobody could drive them in. Both were left on base. Then in the sixth inning, De Aza and d’Arnaud singled with one out and Juan Lagares hit into a double play. Men left on base. What else is new? But this time it didn’t burn us. The gods smiled upon us this weekend.

Commissioner: In the 7th inning, Erik Goeddel gave up a solo blast to Ben Zobrist with two outs to make it 4-3. The Mets should have just signed Zobrist, Daniel Murphy and traded for Neil Walker. Just corner the second base market.

Battle Of The Addisons Part 2: In the 8th inning after surrendering a leadoff single, Addison Reed struck out the damn side. He struck out his same named nemesis Addison Russell to end the inning. The guy has been dynamite this season. God I hope he keeps it up for the long run. Anyway, Jeurys Familia retired the side in the 9th inning without the tightrope act. Having an elite lockdown closer is arguably my favorite thing about this team.

Sore What?: Bartolo said after the game that he’s dealing with some left leg soreness. Ummm what? He battled a sore back earlier this year and now a leg. But the soreness doesn’t actually affect his play. It’s really hilarious that the 43 year old guy on our roster is by far the most durable.

Time To Gamble: So before this series the Mets were going off at 18 to 1 to win the World Series. I think it’s time to lock in that bet. I went from writing them off in Washington to gambling the big bucks on them to win it all. That’s how things go in the Panic City casinos.

Draw The Line: So I’ll be at today’s game watching Noah Syndergaard. The Mets are 0-4 in games I’ve attended this season. I think I need to actually draw the line at 8. If the Mets go 0-8 in games where I’m at the park I don’t see how I can keep showing up. Too risky.

The Bombs Are Back In Town

On By themetssiah1 Comment


Final Score: Mets 10, Cubs 2

The Mets hit home runs again? Is this happening for real? The calendar flips from June to July, and now the Mets have seemingly rediscovered their power stroke. The Mets hit 5 home runs last night. The game may have had two rain delays, but the weather gods could not stop the Mets.

Dingers In The Rain (Act 1): The Mets power surge started in the second inning when James Loney and Asdrubal Cabrera hit back-to-back solo blasts off of Jason Hammel to make it 2-0 Mets.

Rain Delay: The tarp came out after the second inning, and I thought for sure that would be the end of the night for Jacob deGrom. He was dealing right out of the gate. Originally, I was pissed they even started the game because of the possibility that the rain could jeopardize deGrom’s outing. But the Mets brought him back out after a delay that lasted over an hour. The Cubs brought Jason Hammel back out there too. I guess I missed the memo that says it’s okay to bring starters back out after long rain delays.

The Lone Man: James Loney hit a pre-rain dinger, and once the game got started again he added a two out two RBI double in the third inning after Neil Walker singled and Yoenis Cespedes walked. He went 3 for 5 in the game with 3 RBIs. He’s hitting .297/.345/.495. Yeah I’d say the decision to take a flier on him has worked out thus far.

Dingers In The Rain Act 2: In the fourth inning, Wilmer Flores walked, Travis d’Arnaud singled, and deGrom sacrificed them over to second and third. Brandon Nimmo then launched a three run shot to make it 7-1. In the fifth inning Yoenis Cespedes added a solo dinger and Asdrubal Cabrera hit a two run blast to make it 10-1. It was his second dinger of the game. That was really all the scoring the Mets needed.

Rain Delay 2.0: Other than a solo blast he surrendered to Kris Bryant, deGrom had a great night. He went 5 innings, gave up 3 hits, 1 run and struck out 7. He got pulled after the second rain delay. Jerry Blevins, Hansel Robles and minor league call-up Seth Lugo combined to pitch four innings (1 run) to close out the game. All these rain delays brought back memories of the July 30, 2015 game against the Padres. I’ll never feel confident in the Mets chances of winning during a rain delay ever again. I’m scarred for life.

The Hot Guys: Everyone got involved for the Mets last night. Nimmo, Cabby, and Loney. Oh and Yoenis Cespedes was 2 for 4. Yo had two hits and the Mets won the game because duh. They win when Yo goes.

Asdrubal and Neil: I mentioned this earlier in the week but look how much Neil Walker and Asdrubal Cabrera disappeared in June.

Neil and Asdrubal are going to have to pick it up big time now that the calendar has flipped to June. Last night was a good start.

Jesus Is Good Again?: Brandon Nimmo went 2 for 5 with his big 3 run shot. He also made a stellar play in the field. I also noticed he’s a big Jesus guy. He did an awful lot of pointing to the man upstairs on his big hits. I suppose that’s good. Daniel Murphy was a godly man, and I think we’ve felt his absence this year. Hopefully Nimmo can help get us back in the good graces of the Lord.

Baseball Is So Ridiculous: Every single Mets fan had their nooses ready for this weekend. The Mets season was spiraling out of control. And now here we are two days later and we’ve snagged two games from the freaking Cubs. We can’t beat the Braves. But the Cubs? No problem.

Today: Let’s see if we can beat Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester. I’ll be at the park on Sunday jinxing the hell out of the Mets. So I hope we win tonight.

Sandy and Matz? Respect 

On By themetssiahLeave a comment

Final Score: Mets 4, Cubs 3

Before last night’s game even started, the media talked to Sandy Alderson about the state of the team. I respect the hell out of what Sandy said. Sandy basically said there’s no savior coming. He said there’s no Yoenis Cespedes on the horizon. There’s no big trade or trades that will help the Mets salvage this season. Sandy put the onus on the players on the current roster. Sandy essentially said “step the hell up”. Which is what I’ve been preaching for a while. I really respect Sandy doubling down on the roster he built. It may come back to burn him. But in my opinion he’s saying the right thing.

Matz Respect: Before the game, it was being widely reported that Steven Matz was considering surgery to get that bone spur removed from his elbow. Apparently the Mets convinced him to battle through the injury. They gave him the anti-inflammatory injection. Now, it goes without saying that nobody should ever trust the Mets medical advice. He shouldn’t pitch if he’s risking any long term damage. That being said, I respect his decision. I respect that he went out there and gave the Mets a chance to win. He basically abandoned his slider because it puts the most strain on his elbow. I’m not sure if his approach is sustainable, but I respect him for not giving up on us.

Steven Matz went 5.1 innings, gave up 7 hits, 3 runs, walked 3 and struck out 6. He certainly wasn’t at his best. In the first inning, Kris Bryant hit a 2 run jack off of Matz. Matz tried to get a 1-2 pitch down and in, and he left it over the plate. Bad pitch. Great hitter. In the 6th inning, he left another pitch out over the middle and Javier Baez made him pay with a solo blast that made it 3-0 Cubs. Once Matz’s pitch count got over 100, Terry decided to yank him. It worked out because Erik Goeddel gave the Mets 1.2 innings of solid relief.

Yo Bomb: In the bottom of the 6th inning, Yoenis Cespedes did his job as team spark and crushed a moon shot homer off of John Lackey. It went to the upper deck in left. It was over 450 feet. Absolute bomb. The Mets didn’t score anything else that inning, but I think it woke the team up.

Finding Nimmo: So I think the Cespedes homer helped wake the team up, and also the Cubs bullpen was dog crap. Travis d’Arnaud hit a one out single off of Lackey in the 7th inning. D’Arnaud had two hits in the game. He needs to get things going for the Mets to have any chance of competing this summer. Anyway, Cubs reliever Joel Peralta came in and promptly walked Alejandro De Aza. I don’t care that De Aza had a nice AB. Inexcusable walk by the Cubs pen. Then last night’s leadoff hitter Brandon Nimmo came to the plate. Nimmo had a fantastic AB against Peralta. He got the count to 3-2 and managed to rope one up the middle to drive in d’Arnaud and get De Aza to third base. I can’t even remember the last time the Mets had a clutch hit, but this one was as clutch as they come. That made the score 3-2 Cubs. Then Joe Maddon brought in Pedro Strop and the Cubs essentially gave the Mets the lead. With De Aza on third and Nimmo on second, Neil Walker hit a ball to second baseman Javier Baez. Baez threw the ball to third base to try and get Nimmo, and he made a terrible throw that missed Bryant’s glove. De Aza scored and Nimmo scored and that made it 4-3 Mets.

The Bridge: Addison Reed came in for the 8th inning and gave up a single to Willson Contreras. He struck out the next two batters, although he did toss a wild pitch along the way that allowed Contreras to get to second base. Then in the “Battle of the Addisons”, Reed walked Addison Russell and Terry pulled him from the game. Luckily, Jerry Blevins came in, retired Jason Heyward and preserved the lead.

Thank You Jeurys: Jeurys Familia did his 2016 tightrope routine. He walked leadoff man Miguel Montero and gave up a double to Ben Zobrist. Then he struck out Kris Bryant for the first out. He walked Anthony Rizzo intentionally to load the bases. Then Familia got a strikeout followed by a pop out to end the game.

Fire: Steven Matz was ready to charge the mound last night when Lackey almost hit him with a pitch in the fifth inning. Nimmo was jacked up when he won his battle against Joel Peralta and smacked that clutch hit in the 7th inning. Addison Reed was ready to punch a wall when Terry pulled him in the 8th inning. Jerry Blevins was screaming and shouting when he got the last out in the 8th. Familia’s head was about to explode when he closed the game out. I’m sure these guys are jacked up for the Cubs. There’s no doubt about it. But they have to be jacked up to turn this season around too. They knows what’s up. They feel our pain. I hope they keep this fire all weekend.

Today: Jacob deGrom goes tonight. Let’s win two games before Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester take the mound. Right the ship baby. Score runs please.