Tom Brennan: Rehab Pitchers' Timetables; Ritter No Quitter; "A Ram"; JD Debut & Fence Gripes; Minors Recap

BACK IN HIS COLLEGIATE DAYS, A LONG TIME AGO

Luke Ritter is not a quitter as a hitter.

Through Tuesday, in AAA:

Luke Ritter was hitting .275, with 5 HRs and 9 RBIs.in 51 at bats. 

Very nice. Also very nice that he is still trying, still playing, when others might have called it quits.

He’s no quitter.

The 27 year old was a 7th rounder in 2019. He is now 27. He plugs on. He steadily and gradually improves.

He amazingly had 229 at bats in 2019 in rookie ball in Brooklyn after being drafted, but just 1,127 at bats since.

No baseball in 2020, of course.

In 2021, just 250 at bats in A ball. 94 strikeouts in 73 games. Not good. His 14 HRs were a bit eye-catching in a low-powered organization, though.

In 2022, he split his time between AA and AAA. He hit just .215 in AA, followed by 26 games of .160 in AAA. Not good. Some might have quit.  Not Luke.

In 2023, the same split of time. Between leagues, he upped his power game, hitting 27 HRs in 369 at bats, .240 in AA and a much-better-than 2022 .247 in AAA. Didn’t quit, did improve - a lot.

In 2021-23, he fanned a too-high 396 times in 306 games. Not promising.

But three positives:

1) While just a .229 career average, his OBP is a much higher .336.  And improving.

2) In 2024 so far, “just” 16 Ks in 56 plate appearances, an improving rate of 1 every 3.5 times up.

3) In AAA, in 2023 and 2024, in 274 at bats, 18 HRs (a fine rate) and .255, with “just” 94 Ks in 320 plate appearances. Signs of real improvement.

Somehow, since his career began in 2019, he has just 1,594 plate appearances.  That tells me as he plays more, he can still improve.

I’d like to see a guy like Luke have a big year in 2024, with MANY plate appearances. 

It is hard when they bring in veterans like Choi to eat into his PAs. Mark Vientos, by comparison already has 30 more PAs this season than Luke.

Ritter is a righty bomber who plays decent defense at 2nd, 3rd, and first.

Pitchers get called up to the majors and get sent down a lot. But at least they get there. 

So many hitters don’t, and with the greatly reduced September roster expansion, it is that much harder to reach that major league dream.

I hope Luke makes it to the majors at some point. A big AAA season, with more continuing improvement, could make that happen. 

If not with the Mets, somewhere. 

If not, why not Korea or Japan? They love sluggers.

It ain’t quittin’ time yet. Not even close.

STARTERS? WHEN ARE THE FALLEN STARTERS TO BE READY AGAIN?

The Mets have pitched well, considering four starters either never made it into spring training, got hurt in spring training, or got hurt just as the season started. When might these 4 be ready?

MAX KRANICK: SP 7 

4 outings, 8 innings in rehab. He got up to 50 pitches on April 21 in a AA rehabber. Let’s assume he’d be ready to start in 2 weeks if needed. So…May 15?  If needed in relief, it could cut that to a week. Say, May 5.

DAVID PETERSON: SP 5

It seems reports are that when he is due to come off the IL in late May, he will be ready. So…let’s say on or about June 1.

TYLOR MEGILL: SP 5

Apparently he and his sporkball is just about ready for rehab starts, needing 3 and then ready to return. Let’s therefore assume around May 20.

Per Anthony DiComo:

Tylor Megill (shoulder strain) is due to begin a minor league rehab assignment (today) Saturday with two innings at Brooklyn.

KODAI SENGA: SP 1

You go easy on SP 1 types, so I will take a blind stab that after 3 rehab starts, he is ready to return about June 10. Maybe that is too cautious a guesstimate.

Per Anthony DiComo:

 Kodai Senga (shoulder capsule strain) threw an up-down bullpen yesterday and is scheduled to face hitters for the first time on Monday.

That four man heavily armed cavalry will arrive relatively soon. 

General Custer Cohen is hoping it is at the “sooner” side of soon.

If that plan goes awry, Messrs. Christian Scott and Dominic Hamel are increasingly looking ready to make the jump to Queens. Two strikeout machines. Through Wednesday, the duo had fanned an amazing 61 AAA hitters in 39 innings. That works for me.

Lots of soon-coming competitors for current struggling starters Adrian Houser (7.45 ERA/1.76 WHIP) and Jose Quintana (4.21/1.60) and perhaps even Jose Butto (2.86) to worry about.

A-RAM IS RAPIDLY RIPENING

Our buddy Bill Metsiac wrote yesterday: 

“I'm surprised you didn't mention my minor-leaguer-to-keep-an-eye-on of the early season, young Senor Ramirez.  3 more hits last night, including 3 doubles, plus a SB.  He's now batting over .360!!! His numbers are screaming, "get me to Syracuse ".  If he keeps hitting there, this Winter we may be asking, "Soto who?"”

Yep, Alex Ramirez had his A-Ram upgraded this off season. 

Ramirez has indeed ferociously rebounded from his pretty terrible 2023 season at hitter-crushing Brooklyn.

Through Thursday, in AA, he is hitting .361/.412/.525. His .361 is 3 points out of the league lead, and he is 12th in OBP and 10th in slug %. On Friday night, he stole his 10th and 11th bases in just his 17th game.

Promote him? 

Sometimes, a Lou Gehrig is in your way. Not this time, though. Instead:

3 veteran Syracuse outfielders (Thompson, Sanchez, and Kohlwey) are 22 for 152 (.144) through Thursday.

What to do?

Demote one of those munificent three and promote Ramirez in his place. 

Right, Bill?  

After all, forget Soto, Alex Ramirez will no doubt be the next Manny Ramirez.

MARTINEZ DEBUT A LOSS

JD had 2 hits, and a RBI, but the Mets suffered a 4-2 loss. Nido homered. 8 hits, but no walks for the Mets. Butto wasn’t as sharp as usual. Atlanta (18-6) loses Strider and doesn’t lose a stride: now 18-6, and 5.5 games ahead of the Mets with a handful of games left to play in April.

FENCE ALERT: 

Back to JD - his lined double last night (in his Mets debut) to right field narrowly missed being a HR.  Watch the video yourself on Mets.com.  Dang close.

If SOMEONE in the front office woke up and had the gumption to do the right thing and moved the fences in 5-7 feet to finally and simply make the field NEUTRAL to hitters, that shot easily sails out of Citi Field for JD's first Mets HR, and elicits a major fan thrill.  

Simple maxim, front office fellas and fillies - when your hitters score more runs at home, because the park dimensions are not punitive, you as hitters feel rewarded, and the pressure is off, and you hit EVEN BETTER THAN "BETTER" - a multiplier effect.  

That ball was almost caught - how deflating would that have been?  Slightly closer Citi fences = fan AND hitters' elation.

The hitters would score 50 more runs at home. 

The pitchers?  Too bad - you've had it too good for too long. Adjust.

MINORS RECAP

Pitching at all levels but AAA was simply superb. 

Pitching in the Mets minors has produced many superlatives lately.

Syracuse: 

Mike Vasil was not good again, going just 2 innings on 70 pitches. 10.91 ERA. 

Mark Vientos homered his 5th, and drove in 3, but Syracuse lost 7-5.

Binghamton: 

It was the Rowdey and Rudick Show.

Rowdey Jordan (.277) went 4 for 5, and Matt Rudick was 2 for 3 and a walk. Jordan doubled twice, while Rudick launched his 2nd. The other 7 hitters unfortunately went hitless.

A 3 run outburst in the 9th nailed down a 5-3 win. Joander Suarez (3.38) went 6 innings of 1 run, 5 hit ball, and Wilkin Ramos (1-0) fanned 3, keeping his ERA at 0.00, to pick up the win.

St. Lucie: 

5th rounder Zach Thornton (1-1) nicely threw 5 innings of one hit shutout ball, fanning 6, as the Lucites won 2-0. Jawilme Ramirez (0.00) threw 3 innings of one hit shutout ball in relief.

Mighty Marco Vargas (who will be very good) had 2 hits, and hitting machine Nick Morabito (.367) had 3 more knocks. Chris Suero had a hit, too, and is batting .316.

Brooklyn:

Jordan Geber (2.25 ERA) won as he threw 5 innings of 1 hit ball, and 11th rounder Brett Banks (0.00) threw a hitless 6th, followed by 3 hitless innings and 4 Ks from 15th rounder Justin Lawson (0.00), who has pitched great in the early going. 3-0 win, as Brooklyn made the most of its 4 hits and several walks.

Reese Kaplan -- The Mets Have Had Plenty of Bad Acquisitions

One could seemingly author a rather thick tome regarding the players the Mets have acquired in their quest to win ballgames and put more people into the seats at the ballpark, increase their market share in broadcast media and to win some of the local headlines back from their crosstown rivals in the Bronx.  Sometimes things work out well (such as the Friday piece on Bartolo Colon).  Other times, well, not so much.

Today rather than looking at list of who the Mets gave away in ill fated trades, but instead looking at the new faces to walk through the clubhouse door and don the orange and blue as a member of the Mets. The arrival of J.D. Martinez likely triggered this line of thinking and we certainly hope he enters the much smaller win column than the staggering long collection of people who simply did not perform as expected.

Ask any Mets fan who was the worst acquisition the team ever made and super nice guy but totally ineffectual Jason Bay would very likely head that list.  There is no point in reiterating how much he cost nor whose jobs he took by continuing to play to justify the bad contract.

While the Mets developed the longtime arch rivalry with the Atlanta Braves, it must have looked like major stealth of hand when the Mets waved enough moola at former star pitcher Tom Glavine to come to Queens.  From 2003 through 2007 Glavine actually started 164 games for the Mets and did so with a marginally winning record attributable in part to his age 37 through 41 ERA of 3.97.  He surely dd not make it to Cooperstown on his Mets tenure.

For awhile it seemed as if the Mets specialized in obtaining star Cleveland Indians ballplayers and watching them disintegrate in New York.  The dubious duo of Carlos Baerga and Roberto Alomar played well before and after their Mets experience but in New York they were shells of what they had demonstrated elsewhere.

Former star third baseman Jim Fregosi had a fortunate short tenure with the Mets as the no name young pitcher they gave up to acquire him started throwing more strikes than balls en route to his own Hall of Fame career.  Yes, they sacrificed Nolan Ryan.

Mr. Firecracker himself, Vince Coleman, was a speedy baserunner but apparently a terrible human being.  The speed was good.  The speed with which they got rid of him was not.

A similar fate on another base thief was Roger Cedeno.  He put up terrific numbers in his first year as a Met, but then they traded him away.  They reacquired him for big money and he´d gained enough weight to demonstrate a plodding one trick pony doesn´t win many races.

Mr. July, Bobby Bonilla, was so despised after not only his first but then inexplicably his second contract with the Mets that he becomes a millionaire every summer as the club put together a long term buyout of his deal.

It may date all the way back to the poor experience with the $20.1 million man, Kaz Matsui, that kept the Mets out of the front line for Japanese ballplayers.  Aside from hitting a home run in each of his first games each season, there is nothing much to say about Matsui in a Mets uniform except the joy that happened when he took it off for the last time.  Jose Reyes probably agrees as he was moved off shortstop for the wunderkind who make people wonder what the front office saw.

In the bad contract era, Luis Castillo parlayed a partial solid season into an overpaid deal during which he never again approached a solid level of play.  Oliver Perez couldn´t find the plate as a Pirate nor as a Met, yet the front office felt they wanted him around for a long time that will never be remembered fondly.

Manager Bobby Valentine had his promising career curtailed by injury, but the Mets were willing to take a chance on a thin promise of permanent recovering by sending Dave Kingman to the Padres to obtain him.  Ummm...not a good deal.

Joe Foy batted a robust .236 for the Mets after they obtained him from the Royals.  That was not too impressive.  On the other hand, the rookie sent to the midwest was named Amos Otis.  ´Nuff said.

Relief pitcher Billy Taylor was a late bloomer who put together a string of successful closing years for Oakland, but at age 37 he didn´t seem like fair value for up and comer Jason Isringhausen.

We can list any number of bad contracts the Mets have made over the years, including Guillermo Mota, Jed Lowrie and others.  However, one little known trade the Mets made was acquiring solid if unspectacular Kris Benson and his stripper/murder suspect/gun brandishing ex-wife.  

The Mets sent a minor leaguer they had obtained to get Benson.  That guyś name was Jose Bautista.  Ummm...his 14-12 with a 4.23 ERA didn´t come close to matching the nearly 400 HRs Bautista hit during his career that included six straight All Star appearances and three Silver Sluggers.

And how can any list of weird Mets acquisitions be complete without mentioning the former Cincinnati Reds slugger, George Foster.  He was bad for the Mets though not as awful as people remember.  His best season was 1983 when he hit 28 HRs and drove in 90 with a meager .241 batting average.  By most folks’ standards that would be a commendable season but given his otherworldly numbers for the Big Red Machine it was colossally disappointing. 

I have charitably left out the other half of the Midnight Massacre as it was not any of the incoming players’ fault for not being Tom Seaver.  Still, with J.D. Martinez now becoming a part of the everyday lineup, folks are hoping more for a one year Bernard Gilkey type of performance than another Jed Lowrie.  (Look it up — 30 HRs and a .317 average in his initial 1996 season at Shea).  It certainly would be nice to see the Mets come out on the plus side in one of these proven player deals.

Tom Brennan: Mets “Brown Out”

“You non-core guys? PLEASE be more productive hitters.” 

The Mets have a core of 5 hitters.

Alonso, Lindor, Marte, Nimmo…and Taylor.

Yes, anyone hitting .327 with 13 RBIs in 49 ABs, as Taylor is, is core.

Those 5 have 62 RBIs in the Mets’ first 24 games. Not bad.

DJ Stewart is not core, but has done well - he started slowly but he has been a fine support for those core 5.

The other 8 hitters? 

Some say they’re doing good.  Me? A friggin’, all-too-familiar Mets malady:

Power Brown Out Syndrome. A/K/A Power Putridity. Pukey Power.

You get the point. Let’s run it down here:

Alvarez surprisingly has had lower power results than I’d have expected, with just 4 doubles and a HR. (And, sadly, none of us expects any RBIs from him for the next 6-8 weeks.)

Then you have Bader, Baty, McNeil, Wendle, Short, Narvaez, and Nido.

Combined, those 8, including Alvarez, have had 351 at bats.

Combined, they have 16 doubles, 0 triples, 4 HRs, and 34 RBIs. 

Add in 30 walks and HBPs, and 381 PAs makes their power #s look worse.

As usual, the back half of the Mets’ offense offensively - well - sucks.

Sure, combined they are hitting .250.  Sounds pretty good.  But…

An XBH ratio of one every 24 plate appearances?

And a HR every 95 plate appearances?

Good teams do better with their outside-the-core hitters.

You may also ask me:

Alvarez and McNeil and Bader are not (in my mind) core offensive players? 

Why?

Alvarez homered on July 8, 2023, raising his average to. 248. He hit poorly thereafter, ending up at .209. His 2024 hitting was only fair prior to his recent injury. We all want him to be a core hitter. Starting July 9 last year, he has not been much of a core hitter since.

Bader is, yes, hitting .278, but with just 3 XBH and just 6 RBIs. Fair.

McNeil, in 737 PAs this year and last, has just 62 RBIs. Just not enough run production to be “core”.

Baty just 2 XBH in 81 PAs this year? Just not adequate power-wise, clearly.

The remaining 4 (Wendle, Short, Narvaez, and Nido) come in with low offensive expectations. And are meeting those low expectations dandily. 

As in just 14 for 71, 4 RBIs.

Lots of “Just’s” in there. I just want better. So…

“JD MARTINEZ?  Please make the Core 5 a Core 6.”

The Citi is a Pity:

As you know, if you read my articles over the years, I often rail against the fact that Citi field is a decidedly pitcher-friendly park. 

So does that hold true for 2024? So far, yes.

In 2024, to date, the Mets have played 12 at home, 12 on the road. 

They’ve hit .222 at home .269 on the road. 

Draw your own Conclusions.

TONG TERRIFIC

We Mets fans had our brilliant Tom Terrific. 

Now, we have Tong Terrific.  

Jonah Tong, that is. Another brilliant St Lucie outingThursday. He fired off a 6 inning, 2 hit, no run, no walk, 9 K gem. 

In 2024, he has 18.2 innings pitched, allowed a scant 12 baserunners, allowed no earned runs, and racked up a preposterous 36 Ks. 

Geez. We got a hot one here.

TYLER STUART JOINS THE K CLUB

After Hamel and Scott continued their high K ways, along with Tong Terrific, Tyler Stuart got fired up and fanned 12 in 6 innings allowing a run and 4 hits for Binghamton.

LUCCHESI LABORS ON

Lucchesi threw 5 innings of 1 earned run ball. The roof, however, caved in on Wild Man Fujinama and Hartwig late in the game. Fuji has walked 11 and hit 2 batters in 5 innings. Steve Blass says that guy is WILD!

MINORS HITTING BROWN OUT

The 4 minor league teams combined for just 16 hits in “We Forgot How To Hit Thursday”. Every time you think the hitting is kicking in - it stops.

BILL METSIAC CATCHES MY OVERSIGHT

On a night of minors non-hitting, one did hit, and Bill Metsiac pointed out my oversight, as follows:

“I'm surprised you didn't mention my minor-leaguer-to-keep-an-eye-on of the early season, young Senor Ramirez. 3 more hits last night, including 3 doubles, plus a SB. He's now batting over .360!!! His numbers are screaming, "get me to Syracuse ". If he keeps hitting there, this Winter we may be asking, "Soto who?"”

Bill is right. Alex Ramirez has left his struggling 2023 season IN THE DUST!

Reese Kaplan -- Martinez Changes the Known Mets Lineup

While most of the folks focused on the New York Mets will be obsessing over the ”Who will they cut?” question regarding the impending arrival of J.D. Martinez from his late start, injury recovery and cups of coffee at various minor league locations, there are other questions to address going forward as well.  Honestly, if Zack Short or with-an-option D.J. Stewart took their final major league AB for the Mets on Wednesday, would it honesty make a dramatic difference?

No, the bigger question now is assuming it is somewhat later in the year and everyone has had sufficient time to get into a hitting groove, how do you construct the lineup with Martinez now an available member of it?

It has been reported that Carlos Mendoza wanted to slate Martinez to hit behind Pete Alonso in the cleanup position, though that arrangement would put two slugging right handed hitters back to back.  Normally managers want to split up the left handed and right handed bats, but when the bats in question here are as formidable for run production as Martinez and Alonso, it doesn´t seem like an overly big concern.

Assume for the moment that Brandon Nimmo remains as the leadoff hitter.  He had been fairly regular in that role since he started playing regularly and sporting an enviable on-base percentage.  There doesn´t necessarily seem to be any outstanding need to change that plan.

The newly revitalized Starling Marte was a mostly number two hitter during his hot 2022 season with the Mets and he appears to be well suited to resuming that setup role here.  He has a bit more speed than Nimmo and about the same amount of power, but here you have two guys who can wreak some havoc both at the plate and on the bases.

Now comes the tough choice.  Francisco Lindor has been the number three hitter with Pete Alonso behind him while Martinez was unavailable.  Now you have to consider whether you want him to remain in that role which would keep Alonso at cleanup and pushing Martinez down to number 5.  That approach might make some sense during the long Francisco Alvarez absence.

Given that sequence it would likely leave Brett Baty or Jeff McNeil for number six.  Right now Baty has more HR potential than does McNeil, but McNeil has a higher batting average history.  Both are left handers and if you accept back-to-back righties at 4 and 5, then do you wind up with back-to-back lefties at 6 and 7? 

At 8, 9 you need to figure out where to play center fielder Harrison Bader and the catcher of day in Alvarez’s absence. 

Now Mendoza could throw all of us a major shakeup but taking the risk to put Baty or McNeil higher in the order or using them to break up the righty-righty pair in the middle of the order, but neither of these lefties have run production pedigree to sit between Alonso and Martinez. 

Overall, the front office and Carlos Mendoza have a very nice problem to solve.  Imagine replacing the less-than-dynamic-duo of Short or Stewart with a 30 HR/100 RBI bat?  It is increasingly unlikely there will be more 10-0 shutouts on the near future horizon.

Paul Articulates – A different approach to arm management

Does anyone remember Kodai Senga?  Since his pre-season departure to the injured list on what was then a minor shoulder issue, there has been very little said about Senga except for a brief time when he tried to start throwing again.  He was moved to the 60-day IL on April 10th, which puts him out in late May for a return in the best scenario.

Until Senga returns, the Mets continue to struggle through a starting rotation that has great difficulty pitching more than five innings.  The dearth of quality starts is alarming.  As many of us have stated, this puts enormous stress on the bullpen, and when the pen gets fatigued, the team’s ability to close out ballgames is compromised.  It doesn’t matter that you have Edwin Diaz for the ninth inning if you can’t carry a lead into the ninth.

We have already seen the roster fluctuations as the team tries to keep fresh arms in the pen.  Michael Tonkin was signed twice and DFA’ed twice.  Poor Grant Hartwig has flown back and forth from Syracuse to the west coast more often than a United Airlines pilot.  There are others that also have yo-yo strings attached.  This is not a healthy routine.

A few things can be done to help this situation.  

First, the Mets are going to have to encourage their pitchers to start pitching to contact.  That may hurt their wonderful ERA a bit, but there have been way too many walks.  As of Tuesday night, Mets pitchers have walked 101 batters in 205 innings, which equates to almost four and a half walks per game.  This implies too much emphasis on attempting to get strikeouts, and less on just getting outs.  

Theoretically, the pitching lab data in spring training should have improved characteristics like RPM and pitch movement, so take advantage of throwing in the strike zone to induce light contact instead of pitching to the black and letting disciplined hitters walk.

Second, the analytics guys are going to have to accept the notion of pitchers facing a lineup for the third time.  To save the bullpen and maybe the season, we need to get length out of the starters.  If they take suggestion number one, then they are throwing less pitches and they have some gas left for the sixth (and maybe seventh) inning.  

Logan Webb did that against us Tuesday, pitching eight.  Mets hitters did not fare better on their third trip to the plate.  What ever happened to encouraging pitchers to “trust their stuff”?  Do we not trust it once batters have seen it twice?  Even if they start swinging at the first pitch because more strikes are coming?

Third, the Mets have to consider going to a six man rotation.  Don’t wait for Kodai Senga to come back before implementing a practice that will allow more rest/recovery for all the starters.  There are two guys, Christian Scott and Joey Lucchesi that are pitching very well at the AAA level.  I don’t see much difference between that and what we are getting out of Adrian Houser, so it is worth a shot.

This will take some adjustment on the part of the pitchers.  There is no better time to do that than now.  Once the adjustment is made to routines and pitch locations, guys can throw 110 pitches over 7 innings, rest for five days, and come back stronger.  With the number of pitching prospects coming up through the minors, you could even consider using the same practice at AAA which would establish the right habits before they get called up.

Tom Brennan: Time for a Houser Move? And Lots of Wins in Metsville

AFTER THE 2ND INNING, HOUSER PITCHED LIKE SANTA GIVING OUT PRESENTS

“Yo Adrian” Houser is earning $5.05 million this year, with no remaining options.  

His ERA is a bloated 7.45 with 16 runs allowed in 19.1 innings, in which he has allowed 36 baserunners via hit, walk, and HBP. Heavy traffic.

The Mets are not getting their money’s worth…I think that is fair to say.

A closer look at Houser’s season-to-date splits suggests a potential solution.

In the first and second innings this year, he has gone 8 innings, allowing 2 hits and one run. 

Sizzling.

After that, he has gone 8.1 innings, allowing 15 runs, allowing 18 hits and 10 walks. 

Super ugly. Worse than fizzling.

And this after a high 1.42 WHIP over the past two seasons, even when backed by a stellar Brewers’ defense.

What to do? My initial thought…

Why not turn him into a two inning relief pitcher?

Well, one might ask, who would replace said Bowser Houser? 

Ther’s no Senga, Megill or Peterson to soon ride to the rescue, after all.

Christian Scott? He is one option. 

He, however, in my view, would be rushed if called up now. 

Yes, sir, he has fanned an incredible 26 hitters in AAA in 14.1 innings.

But he has also allowed 5 home runs. 

That’s a lot, especially when one considers that major league hitters are far more lethal in terms of hitting homers than AAA hitters.

I think another several starts in AAA are called for, to not rush his development.

Who else, then?

Why, there is this guy named Joey, of course.

You remember Joey Lucchesi?

He’s the guy who went 4-0, 2.89 in 47 innings for the Mets in 2023, right?

Well, in 4 starts in 2024 in frigid AAA, he is a fine 2-0, 2.57, 1.19 WHIP. That is a far better ERA and WHIP than his league’s averages for pitchers.

The average International League team is coughing up 5 runs per game.

And in his 2023 major league 47 innings of 2023 and his 21 innings in AAA in 2024?  Just 6 HRs allowed. 

That is just 6 allowed in 68 innings, compared to Scott’s 6 in 20 innings.

But, you’re the GM, not me. I’m just a humble reporter. So I need:

YOUR THOUGHTS on this please. 

To me, after the Mets’ recent good play (followed by a modest losing streak) makes the idea of a Mets snatch of a wild card at least somewhat more possible, we can’t have Houser bomb as a starter every 5th day. At least, that is how the fan in me sees it.

LOTS AND LOTS OF WINS IN METSVILLE ON WEDNESDAY 

Lindor explodes, 4 hits, 4 RBIs, 2 HRs. Up from .034 a few weeks ago to .206.  THAT’S A LOT OF “UP”.

Nido, meanwhile, down to .167.

Reed Garrett pitches like the 1986 version of Mike Scott again, as Garrett goes to 4-0, and the win today gave the Mets a 3-3 game split on their tough west coast swing. 

Terrifically Talented Tyrone Taylor had a double and HR, and is hitting .327. Sweet. Maybe he really IS the best player on the team.

In the minors, only a 1 run 5-4 loss by St Lucie marred a perfect Mets day. But even that losing game had “amazing” in it.  As in, Nick Morabito is at .370/.507/.519 after Wednesday’s game. A .507 OBP, translated, means “promotion definitely overdue.”

Syracuse? Dom Hamel was awesome for 5 innings, as part of a 4-0 one hit shutout.  Ignore his season 4.42 ERA.  It is that high only due to a terrible first season outing, but…he has been brilliant his last 3 outings, with just 4 earned runs in 15.2 IP, and TWENTY FOUR Ks. Wow. 

JD Martinez had 2 hits and 2 RBIs. He has to be in the Mets lineup this weekend.

For Brooklyn, Doug Orellana went 5 perfect innings in relief, fanning 6, to grab a “hold” in a 13-3 Cyclone slugfest. Another pitcher went a mere 1/3 of an inning just before him to close out the 3rd inning and got credited with the win….weird rules.

Friggin’ Drake Osborn got on base THREE more times (.464/.583/.679). He got, I imagine, a blood infusion from Barry Bonds. And Stan the Man Consuegra was on base a well-needed 4 times, and Ryan Clifford walked 3 more times. Sixteen walks in 17 games.

Binghamton won 7-6 on homers by Wyatt “Hercules” Young, J Jackson, and a 3 run jolt by Kevin Parada that had to feel G..O..O..D. 

Junior Santos 2 perfect innings for the win. He may have found his niche in the bullpen.

That’s rhe deal.

Tom Brennan: Mets Minors Super Duper Mini-Highlights

JACK WENNINGER IN COLLEGE

 Just a few brief thoughts on special stuff in last night’s minors action.

Nolan McLean in High A whirled a gem: 

5 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6Ks. Looks for real on the mound. Hits missiles, too.

Catcher Drake Osborn has been a light hitting catcher. Up about 30 times for Brooklyn so far, .454/.581/.708, which is amazing.

Jack Wenninger, 6th rounder for St Lucie (pictured above), was smoking last night. 

6 innings, 1 hit, no BB, 10K. Last 3 outings, 14 innings, 25 Ks, 6 hits, 2 walks, 2 runs. 

Wow, huh?

Nick the Very Quick Morabito had 3 hits against tough pitching, Up to .365. Get him the heck to Brooklyn. 

And 1B Chris Suero had all 4 RBIs in the win.

Chris Scott went 6 innings for Syracuse, 1 hit allowed (HR), and 8 Ks. We got a winner. 

Big Boy Choi woke up with 2 HRs. 

JD Martinez was 1 for 4. In Syracuse. See you Friday.

Luke Ritter 5th HR in 51 ABs, hitting .275.

Mets? They lose 3rd straight without Alvarez. Hitting has ceased.

Reese Kaplan -- Chicks Dig the Long Ball But No One Digs Walks

After the disastrous end to the Dodgers series and the opening giveaway in the Giants series you have to start to wonder a little about the Mets pitchers.  The question is not whether they can remain healthy nor is it about the assortment of pitches they have in their arsenal.  No, the issue is why home plate has become a “Where’s Waldo?” exercise with having given up recent game totals of 10, 7 and other blatantly embarrassing number of walks. 

Granted, we Mets fans are spoiled by many of the fine arms who have come through this franchise during their long careers.  I’m not here today to bring forward the exploits of Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Jon Matlack, Doc Gooden, Sid Fernandez, Al Leiter or even Jacob deGrom.

No, the man to consider today is none other than “Big Sexy” — Bartolo Colon.  This guys career was a little bit of a mixed bag of speed, location, PEDs and girth.  By the time he got to the Mets in 2014 he was already 41 years old and had played for so many teams he outlived at least one of them as he spent 2002 with the Montreal Expos. 

For the Mets he was a mainstay in the rotation for three years from 2014 through 2016, winning 15, 13 and 15 games in that trio of Mets seasons.  He was so effective in 2016 he represented the Mets in the All Star Game.  By the time many of us have decided on a favorite reclining chair in which to watch ballgames or take a nap, big Bart was spending his 40s pitching like a lesson plan for younger hurlers.

During his Mets career Colon was not going to blow people away like Nolan Ryan.  He wasn’t going to struggle to find the plate like Randy Johnson.  No, Colon gave up during his Mets three seasons 1.3, 1.1 (league leading number) and 1.5 walks per 9 innings pitched.  That is not a typo.  He simply didn’t give away bases on balls.  As a result he could withstand his batting average against which was somewhat higher than many would like to see when he didn’t offer up free base runners to the opposition.

During his long career Colon kept evolving.  Earlier after making his way up the ladder from his Dominican Republic upbringing he was not always this kind of pitcher.  As a rookie for the then known as Cleveland Indians he was coughing up 4.3 walks per 9 IP.  He improved somewhat over the next few years but the numbers were acceptable rather than exceptional.  He was in the 3s and 4s until his 2002 split season good for 20 wins, 10 each for Cleveland and 10 for the Expos.  During that year he was 6th in the Cy Young Award voting and a large part of the positive pitching numbers may be at least partially attributed to a never before seen exhibition of control when he now only allowed 2.7 walks pre 9 innings pitched.

As his career progressed, there were a few small backsliding years, but soon that control got even better and he multiple times was below 2.0 in that walk total per game.  He kept getting better and better at working on the full strike zone and that helped make him a valuable mound asset to the Mets. 

He did tinker around for a few years after leaving the Mets with the Braves, Twins and Rangers, but Father Time caught up with him during his ages 44 and 45 seasons resulting in an ugly set of stats — 14-26, a 6.13 ERA and a WHIP of 1.465.  Still, through those two years and three teams he still kept the ball in the strike zone with a 1.9 per 9 IP final total. 

Whether it’s early season adjustments being made, ignoring advice from pitching coach Jeremy Hefner (or ineffectively executing his recommendations), the Mets pitchers ought to watch some game tapes of Colon in his Mets prime.  Somehow they have to learn the value of significantly better control if the club is going to continue attempting to win ballgames, particularly with their parallel offensive struggles. 

SAVAGE VIEWS – Magic Number Twenty

 SAVAGE VIEWS – Magic Number Twenty

As I begin to write this, the Mets have completed 20 games and are sporting a 12-8 record.  This has been accomplished by playing teams that all have a winning record.  Perhaps, some of the naysayers will admit the Mets are a better team than originally forecast.  

It’s a fair statement to state that there is no truly dominant team in baseball. The top ranked teams, pre-season, the Dodgers, Yanks and Braves have sustained critical injuries.  The one common denominator for teams with a winning percentage has been a strong bullpen.

The Braves and Yankees have been piling up wins by attacking the mediocre pens they are facing day to day.  The Mets are also employing that strategy.  Right now, our team has not had much success getting our starters to go more than 5 innings.  

Our success is not sustainable, and our pen will eventually falter if the starters can’t go deeper in games.  Before Sunday’s game, the Mets had the best ERA in the National League.  However, losing Raley for a few weeks could have a negative impact.  The good news is that the schedule favors us for the next couple of weeks and then it gets really tough.

It’s safe to say that the Mets have put together a very competitive team.  Like all good teams we are getting production from unexpected sources.  Players like Bader, Stewart, Taylor and Garrett have exceeded expectations.  

The team is winning without significant contributions from our core players.  Alonso, McNeil, Lindor and Nimmo have been rather lackluster thus far.  Defense has been poor and this was supposed to be a strength.  The third basemen have three errors, all by Short and Wendle.  Baty has looked terrific fielding his position.

In the past week different sources have ranked the Mets 20 among 30 teams although they have winning records against four of the six teams played thus far.  Clearly the Braves are the best team in baseball and no other team is close.  

If you follow the numbers, the Braves and Yankees are winning a lot of games with late inning rallies.  Having a strong pen makes all the difference in the world.  There are probably not more than six “good” teams including the Orioles, Yankees, Dodgers, Phillies and Brewers as well as the Braves.  All of the other teams have major deficiencies ranging from lack of position player depth to poor pens and few quality SP arms behind the top two or three.

 It’s hard to predict the future but if the Mets enter June with a winning record, they should be playoff bound.  By then, Senga, Megill and Peterson should have recovered from their injuries.  This is a competitive team and will remain so unless we suffer several devastating injuries.  Hopefully, Alvarez returns by mid-June.

As always, I remain optimistic.

Ray

April 23, 2024