Terry’s Comments Foreshadow Disappointing Days Ahead
“If the guys take care of their business, then we will need less help than they think. We got to get the middle of our lineup going, then all of a sudden that extra piece is all you need. Right now it looks like we need several, we need to get our guys going. ’’ Terry Collins as quoted in the New York Post 7/8/15.
Gotta hand it to Terry Collins, he has been the epitome of a good soldier during his tenure as Mets manager. He was at it again yesterday, floating the trial balloon quoted above. Implied in his statement is that the Mets will once again be quiet at the trade deadline and will instead continue to hope for better performances and, one assumes, a return to health from the players currently on their roster.
So as a service to our readers, Mets Today recommends that you tune out all of the trade talk. No Ben Zobrist, Carlos Gomez or even Will Venable for us. Instead there will be discussions, monitoring and interest, but in the end no real action. You’ll be angry, upset and disappointed, vowing to stop following this team, never buy another ticket, etc., only to be back in a few days after strong back-to-back performances from the young pitchers.
While you’re at it, forget anything significant happening this winter either. The Front Office and the owners are happy with the way things are. That “extra piece” will be some variation of Omar Quintanilla or Anthony Recker, a single dimension/end of the bench type with a career batting average hovering around the Mendoza Line.
Sucks, doesn’t it?
I agree as well. Alderson will do something. But, that scares me more than excites me. Collins is right, if the middle of the order bats currently on the team don;t step up, adding one bat won’t change the calculus.
The two position spots to upgrade are corner OF (Cuddyer) and SS (Tejada). SS has very limited and likely overpriced options. Moving Cuddyer to the bench or a platoon is the best course of action, but I still would not overpay.
I view baseball as unpredictable enough that you can’t say anything with certainty in early July. On ESPN, Mets fan Mark Simon quotes FanGraphs’ listed 20% playoff odds for the Mets as a reason to stand pat… while listing a 73% chance for the Cubs, who are only 3 games ahead of the Mets. In other words, we’re one good Mets week & bad Cubs week away from looking at a totally different picture.
Just because the Mets’ playoff odds aren’t good enough to bet on doesn’t mean they aren’t good enough to give a little bump.
…and having said all that, no, I don’t think Sandy will make any moves of consequence. A Quintanilla type or a LOOGY wouldn’t surprise me, but that doesn’t count.
As for them adding a significant player, the Mets have been in this position before and didn’t add players. I am wondering why people think this year is different. I’d rather they be sellers, get rid of players they don’t need or are not coming back, and use the returns to build for next year.
“Aramis Ramirez . . . has batted .383 with three homers and a 1.115 OPS in his last 53 plate appearances.
“At this point, the Mets cannot count on Wright returning as a significant contributor, or even returning at all. Smart, aggressive teams seek even marginal upgrades, and the Brewers likely would part with Ramirez for a price that the Mets could absorb even if Wright came back strong.
“What is the problem?”
Exactly. Mets fans aren’t the only ones doubting management. All it would take is some initiative from Sandy and some cash from the Wilpons, and the Mets could have had Aramis before the Cubs series. You know, that series with the 1-0 and the 2-0 loss, where one hot hitter in the lineup would have made all the difference? *sigh*
I can point to another period from Apr 23 to May 19, 55 ABs, where he hit .327/.383/.691. And then from May 27 to June 18 that spanned 72 ABs, he hit .167/.167/.264. Snapshots are great aren’t they in baseball? There are always stats you can point to to make whatever argument you’re trying to make.
Bottom line, I’m all for getting him if it doesn’t cost the Mets too much in talent. His salary is 14 million this year. Prorate that, it’s still a substantial amount. I’m sure the Mets would want the Brewers to pick up some if not most of that.
Being willing to pay $6 mil for a part-time player who slightly increases your playoff odds — this is what teams who care about winning do. Most obvious example is the Yankees. If the Mets have abandoned hope for 2015, then sure, why waste a single dollar? But if they haven’t, refusing a one-time, no-further-obligation, 6%-of-the-team-payroll overpay is simply cheap.
I don’t think Ramirez by himself will win the Mets the wildcard. If he is a complementary trade to another bigger trade for bigger bat(s), then that 6 million doesn’t look too bad, and the Mets should go for it.
However, whilst I think the Mets will make a deal I do not think the owners and the GM will make a major deal of this type. No guts, no glory sums it up. So does Fortune Favors the Brave.
On a final and totally unrelated note, nice pick up by Argon to see the Wilpons development of a movie / mall complex was torpedoed by the City of NY. Another ‘win’ for Jeff and Fred.
By the way I am in no way in love with Ramirez, Mets need some life whatever…standing pat is ridiculous.
Ramirez is flawed. He’s slow, has no range in the field, and has slumped a lot this year, especially against the lefties he used to hammer. But he has pop, doesn’t strike out much, and is an excellent clutch hitter. Basically, he’s exactly who the Mets thought they were getting in Cuddyer, just with less hustle.
1) Matz gets promoted from the minors, never having thrown more than 97 pitches.
2) Matz pitches well in his MLB debut, finishing the 7th inning at 100 pitches. Everyone assumes he’s done.
3) Matz comes out for the 8th. After a ground out, deep line out, and walk, he exits at 110 pitches. I didn’t dislike this move, but did think it was slightly risky, and hoped Matz would be evaluated accordingly.
4) Matz complains of lat stiffness the day after (or hours after?). Well, looks like the risk didn’t pay off. If you combine the adrenaline of a debut with the desire to impress new teammates with a career-high pitch count, it’s no surprise that the kid overdid it at some point. Time to see exactly what’s wrong and begin the healing process.
5) Or, wait, don’t do that, just get a massage until it feels better and then go pitch again and make it worse.
SO FED UP WITH THIS
And I wonder how many BP sessions he had between starts to hinder full recovery, and guarantee aggravating the injury he had, but didn’t recognize as such.
“It was just a little tight,” Matz said immediately after that outing. “Once I got out there, it was feeling good. And it still feels good now.”
“After his [debut], he was a little stiffer than we liked,” manager Terry Collins said Sunday. “He’s fine, as you saw. That’s what that first start does to you — all of that adrenaline and trying to overthrow a little bit.”
Yet Matz felt enough continued discomfort this week for the Mets to schedule an appointment at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. There, Matz received his diagnosis and a platelet-rich plasma injection.”
Copied from http://m.mets.mlb.com/news/article/135793838/steven-matz-out-3-weeks-with-torn-lat
If the accusation was the Mets let him pitch after a little soreness, then we should round up every major league team for letting players play with little nagging discomforts.
“It’s never really pain. It’s just like a little pulling. It’s hard to describe,” Matz said Friday.
The red flags for a pitcher are elbow, forearm, shoulder, or anything with the arm really. This was a latissimus.
You guys can second guess all you want. It is a second guess because the lat issue was mentioned after his second start. No one had an uproar then, only when it’s now revealed it’s a partial tear. I’m done with this issue.
Any injury is a “red flag”, especially for a pitcher since a lot more than the arm is used to pitch effectively. Knowing the cause is the key, proceeding without that knowledge is like walking towards a cliff in the dark.
A red flag is pain. Doesn’t matter where. Jake Peavy’s career almost ended because of a lat issue — he struggled much longer to get back on track than your average Tommy John victim. Roy Oswalt never missed a game with an arm issue, but was prone to hip flexor strains. Carlos Zambrano hurt his knee and instantly became terrible — though he dodged the DL, his stuff flattened out and his location went to hell. Pedro tried to pitch through a pulled calf and then tore his rotator cuff.
Sandy Alderson, the guy who’s limiting his young pitchers’ innings in a flailing attempt to protect their health, just made a crack about, “Should we MRI him every time a pitcher feels a little something?” But mocking an idea doesn’t actually make it bad. So, yes, Sandy, you absolutely SHOULD get an MRI every time a pitcher feels something. Scientifically speaking, that makes a LOT more sense than dabbling with 6-man rotations (and potentially allowing 2 interim bullpen sessions in the process). Is the trip to the New York hospital prohibitive from Queens? Is the cost ($1K?) prohibitive to look out for a million-dollar asset? How much production did the Mets lose from Matt Harvey in 2014 because no one bothered to MRI his “tight forearm”?
We’d also probably see some studies on effectiveness — I’d predict that we’d find that your typical 6th starter is more effective than your typical 3rd starter who’s pitching hurt, so we might start seeing more DL trips for non-aces.
It’s always an interesting question — from 1999 on, Greg Maddux was one of the most reliable innings-eaters in the sport, but he wasn’t close to the dominator he’d been from 1992-1998. Everything changed in August 1998 when he injured a side muscle and decided to pitch through it without ever missing a turn. He learned how to pitch hurt (something he credits Glavine for helping with), and that helped him rack up the 4th most games started of all time. But it was hard not to wonder what could have been, given that Maddux was 124-49 with a 2.04 ERA and on track for his 5th Cy Young in 7 years before the injury. If he’d gone on the DL (in a season where the Braves ran away with the division title) and stayed off the mound until he could pitch without changing anything, could that dominant run have continued?
As for false positives, I dunno. Maybe teams keep that out of the news better than they do other medical snafus, but I’ve never heard of one in MLB.
My point was that skilled professionals can usually figure out what’s wrong, and how to correct it without high tech assistance, the problem is that their professional opinions may be at odds with the teams goal to keep expensive players on the field rather than extend their careers unless they have long term contracts.
Leave it to the doctors, and blame it on bad luck.
Sure, deal Gee, Niese and Colon, but I doubt any of those guys are going to get us anything decent in return. Niese is a very tradeable arm and contract, but with Hamels, Cueto, and Kazmir all on the block, he’s a second tier guy and unlikely to get anything other than a utility guy. Colon hasn’t been very good the last two months and is in his walk year and we obviously aren’t going to reup.
Anything that upsets the apple cart of potentially dominating young pitching for years to come – all of whom are under team control for a number of years – to address the reactionaries yelling ‘do something!’ would be very stupid and very short sighted. Particularly when d’Arnaud and Wright are out, Duda and Lugares are slumping, and Cuddyer has done jacksht so far this year.
as has been said other places the nationals are having trouble, but with harper around the next 10 years, this may be the closest the mets get.
no big move but something…i.e. bring back marlon byrd.
I think the Nats argument a lot of people are making (that THIS is the year to beat them because they are stumbling) is ridiculous. They feel that way about us, believe me (I live in DC). Zimmerman, Span, Fister, and Desmond are all FAs this year. And then Stassburg, Storen and Ramos are FAs in 2017. That’s a lot of talent they lose or have to pay big dollars to resign. Werth is 36…how many good years does he have left in him?
bryd may be all mets need. maybe kirk has woken up. however, i see short stop being a problem, they need someone there even rollins would help.
bryd and rollins, two guys approaching 40, but shouldnt take much to get and give the mets just a little boost.