The Official 2015 Mets Thread

[mets1090]

but it seems like the replacements were more likely to excel (or at least play well) in the meantime if they believed they were part of an organization that was committed to winning now. Now that the owners have sent the usual (for the Mets) signals of waiting until next season, it seems like the players have, too.

I think it only feels that way because they happened to exceed expectations for a little while with their replacement players. Now the level of play in the MLB is catching up to guys like Campbell, Muno, Ceciliani etc. and the team is being shown to suck as bad as they actually should. When they were treading water going .500 or so after all the injuries, I think most of us were thinking that was the best we could reasonably expect with that group of players on the roster even despite how good the pitching was.

I just don't think we should be surprised or criticize the players now that they're playing like they should be - a .450 club. Obviously the no hitter is a bit much, but those are flukey anyways so I try not to put any more weight in that than I would in a regular shutout loss (still not good). I can see how it can drive the collective fan base insane though.

 

[Alum86]

The strike zone was wide but ya gotta swing! Thank goodness the Nats are playing the red hot Yanks.
Campbell is here because of injuries first to Wright and now Murphy. He is horrible. Plawiecki cannot hit and I assume he goes back when d'Arnaud is activated. Recker lives a charmed life as perennial backup who's shortcomings are more pronounced when he is forced to play every day.
Still in 1st though. OMG

 

[Deepster]

Comparing them to the Cavs is a bit much considering they have Lebron playing 99% of every game and probably having one of the top 2-3 post seasons in the history of the sport. But I get your point. Look at the Royals last year. They didn't have a bunch of household names and just played hard and played as a team.

Simply put, THIS team isn't a winner. Whether it's getting back some of the healthy bodies, making a move or firing someone to shake things up, something has to be done or they're not going to contend.

 

[8893]

Yeah, there's no LeBron on this team, but the point is that replacements can play above their expectations if they believe they are in a winning environment. Heston's performance last night is testament to that. Likewise with Matt Duffy at 3B for them.

 

[mets1090]

Simply put, THIS team isn't a winner. Whether it's getting back some of the healthy bodies, making a move or firing someone to shake things up, something has to be done or they're not going to contend.

Bingo. d'Arnaud needs to be back to his normal self right away. Murphy's injury cannot linger. Cuddyer needs to pick his game up. Then they're a playoff team again. This simple logic will probably cause the front office to sit on their hands and maintain the attitude that they have all the pieces to win already. The problem is that everyone getting healthy is a fantasy. You just can't rely on it. Someone will get hurt by the time everyone else comes back. It's inevitable.

As for non roster moves to be made, although I don't like Collins, he can't be fired now for not winning more games with the roster he's been given. I would not exercise his option at the end of this season unless they make the playoffs or come damn close in September.

Alderson has made some outstanding trades which to me outweigh the relatively bad signings of Granderson and Cuddyer. At some point though he needs to make an impact signing or trade for a big bat (probably hindered by Wilpon). He's under contract through 2017 anyways so not much to discuss there.

The Wilpons are the worst owners in baseball. The only way to ensure the long term success of this franchise is for them to sell the team or finally open their damn wallets.

 

[TheDoggPound]

All the Wilpons care about is developing the area around CitiField. Winning to them is new department stores, new residential developments, etc. I think they would like the baseball team to win, but if they don't, they don't give a crap. It's all about hanging on long enough to develop the Citifield area. If they can do that, the whole family is set for generations.


And personally I don't think the Mets are a playoff team w/o a healthy Wright. That was a big stipulation heading into 2015, if he got hurt we were screwed.

 

[8893]

Memo to Matt Harvey: These are the defending World Champions, and your stuff isn't that good.

ETA:

PS: Your stuff isn't good at all. It's bad.

 

[Deepster]

When is the All Star Break?!?!? Yikes.

 

[UConnMike04]

I'm actually not worried about Harvey. He was hitting 97-99, and has been all season, consistently. Everyone that comes back from TJ surgery has this type of year for the most part as command is the last thing to come back. Some days he'll have it and others he won't. He'll have great games and games like last night. Saw a stat last night that most TJ pitchers in the year they come back have an ERA of a run or higher than they do in the 2nd year off TJ. We will see flashes of Harvey this summer but I don't think we'll see the ace 'till next year. As long as he's hitting 97-99 he's healthy and that's all I hope for for him this year.

 

[8893]

I'm actually not worried about Harvey. He was hitting 97-99, and has been all season, consistently. Everyone that comes back from TJ surgery has this type of year for the most part as command is the last thing to come back. Some days he'll have it and others he won't. He'll have great games and games like last night. Saw a stat last night that most TJ pitchers in the year they come back have an ERA of a run or higher than they do in the 2nd year off TJ. We will see flashes of Harvey this summer but I don't think we'll see the ace 'till next year. As long as he's hitting 97-99 he's healthy and that's all I hope for for him this year.

I'm not worried about him physically; I'm worried about him mentally. He was even more unfocused and lazy last night. As I mentioned upthread, I don't know if he's tough enough mentally to make the adjustments he needs to make, and that's where I think his cockiness works against him most. The pitches he made on the 0-2 counts concerned me most of all. 97-99 does you no good when you are grooving them belt-high across the middle of the plate. He's getting abused by decent hitters when he thinks he can just blow it by them. He's not being creative or wily at all, and I'm not sure it's something he's going to develop because he really hasn't had to be previously.

 

[mets1090]

I think he's just having trouble spotting his breaking stuff which is normal for TJS recovery. He used to strike people out on fastballs down the middle after mixing in a few sliders. These days it doesn't seem people are afraid of that consistent breaking ball so when he eventually makes a mistake with the fastball they're just getting hammered.

This year is going to have ups and downs for him. I won't be worried unless he struggles next year or finishes this year with an ERA over 4.


Meanwhile, I've fully shifted my focus for this team away from the playoffs. I think it's far easier to get frustrated watching the games when you think about where they could be if they stayed healthy or if the front office just added a couple of players. At this point it's clear they are not a playoff team so I'm back to following the progress of individual players. The worst part is it's not even a "wait until next year" approach because they won't do anything without adding new bats anyways.

 

[Deepster]

Meanwhile, I've fully shifted my focus for this team away from the playoffs. I think it's far easier to get frustrated watching the games when you think about where they could be if they stayed healthy or if the front office just added a couple of players. At this point it's clear they are not a playoff team so I'm back to following the progress of individual players. The worst part is it's not even a "wait until next year" approach because they won't do anything without adding new bats anyways.

I look at it differently. It's been since '86 since we won a title. I can't let go of the start this team had combined with the talented arms up and down the current staff. All they need to do is get in the postseason and you have a couple hot pitchers, a good closer and the right mojo and that's all it takes. I can't relax my focus to hoping D'Arnaud hits .285 or Herrera matures into an everyday infielder by August.

 

[mets1090]

I look at it differently. It's been since '86 since we won a title. I can't let go of the start this team had combined with the talented arms up and down the current staff. All they need to do is get in the postseason and you have a couple hot pitchers, a good closer and the right mojo and that's all it takes. I can't relax my focus to hoping D'Arnaud hits .285 or Herrera matures into an everyday infielder by August.

It's mainly just pessimism on my behalf. I never said I was happy just to hope Herrera matures and that d'Arnaud returns to form. It's just less frustrating than holding on to the illusion that if Flores, Herrera, and Lagares have break out seasons in addition to Colon and Niese not being terrible, they have a shot at making the playoffs.

With Wright presumably out long term, this team is constantly an injury to Murphy or Duda away from being a train wreck, a train wreck that we have witnessed in the last 2 weeks. They hit for low average and don't have a single player that has even average speed for their position (Lagares is the only one that I would guess is in the realm of the 50th percentile of CF). They hit an OK amount of home runs but don't get enough guys on for it to matter.

There has only been 1 year (2006) that I've been old enough to fully follow the game where the Mets haven't massively let their fanbase down. I just can't buy into the hopes of even making the playoffs until the Wilpons do something that indicates they actually care about winning even 1% as much as they care about profits. You can basically print money with a $100 million payroll in New York.

 

[mets1090]

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/slumpi...hier-alderson-talks-trade-003405956--mlb.html

''It's not as if we have a full deck at this point,'' Alderson said. ''But I do see that we will start to get people back, and that's a good thing. Of course, that doesn't solve our problems. Players have to perform and have to be blended into what we already have. But at least we're starting to get the numbers down.''

Good that he's publicly addressing this as it's probably my biggest concern (i.e. they'll sit back assuming that when everyone is healthy all their problems will go away). Elsewhere in the article, he points out that the trade market is crap right now because no one wants to sell in mid June as it would effectively signify they are mailing it in the rest of the season (and we can make the inference that this would cost them money from lost ticket sales and fan interest). This is probably the case in the sense that you would need to kick in an extra piece to get a deal done compared to a deal you might make on July 30th. However, it may be worth it to send that extra piece since it gets you an extra 6 weeks of the player you're getting in return.

Alderson is not an idiot (despite what the Grandy contract may indicate) and generally speaking I think what he says publicly is truth and not just PR bullsh1t. We'll always have the budget constraints from the Wilpons as a hurdle but it's good to know Alderson realizes they need more help than just Dilson, d'Arnaud and Murphy. A lot bar for a front office member? Perhaps, but look at the Mets for the last decade and I think we can agree the bar is pretty low.

 

[Deepster]

When I look at the last decade, I see a good deal of that as rebuilding from a) the Madoff aftershock to the Wilpon's wallet and b) the huge hole the Omar Minaya threw us in. I like what Alderson has done, especially considering the young arms in this organization now. I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt to move the team to the next level when the time is right to start moving that young talent. The disconnect is between what fans probably feel is that right time and what he feels.

 

[Alum86]

Uggh. Bad loss today. Thought that rookie ump would punch out Freeman on that 2 strike count. So close. It was a ball, though.
To rally and then blow it sux

 

[storrsroars]

Every team in the NL East now has a negative run differential.

You could almost expect that from the Mets, but the Nats are underachieving at an embarrassing level given their talent/payroll.

 

[TheDoggPound]

Anybody still think Gee is better than Niese?

 

[UConnMike04]

Huge W today!

 

[Stainmaster]

Desperate times call for desperate measures for you guys?

 

[UConnMike04]

It'll be a one or two day call-up. Pen was abused yesterday bc of the wonderful outting Gee had.

 

[mets1090]

Anybody still think Gee is better than Niese?

I still think Gee should be a better pitcher than Niese but his head is clearly duck*ed at this point and I hope that was his last appearance for the Mets, certainly his last appearance at Citi Field. It would be best for both parties if he was shipped out for whatever return he can get.

 

[mets1090]

Oh also, Terry Collins is terrible. Why the hell would you bring in Robles in a save situation like that? He's literally the last person I would bring in with the game on the line.

 

[UConnMike04]

It should've been Carlos Torres. I was at the game on Sat and everyone around me was dumbfounded. Robles last saves a game in 2011...in A ball. That was a terrible move that most likely cost us the game.

 

[Stainmaster]

http://nypost.com/2015/06/14/mets-talked-replacing-syndergaard-with-matz-in-rotation/

From what I've read in this thread, shouldn't Gee/Niese be the ones up first to lose their spots?