Meet the Mets (For Mets Fans Only!)

What to do about Dom?

bub said:
What to do about Dom?

 Trade him while he has some value.

mfpark said:
Alonso made the Big Team.  Hell of a spring the kid had, but so did Dom Smith for once.

I heard speculation that the next CBA will revise service time calculations, so teams aren't seeing any advantage to keeping good young players at AAA to start a season any more.

Mets tied for first place!  

LET'S GO METS!

SNY just discussing -- Mets '19 wins over/under of 85.5.

I'm taking the under. I think they'll win 82-85 games, but probably not any more.  And I think it's more likely they'll win fewer than 80 than that they'll win more than 86.  The reasons are:

• The division is tough.  Barring one or more teams collapsing under injuries or poor performance from key stars, 90 wins will probably win the NL East, with a couple of other teams in the 85-88 win range.
• The Mets have more depth than last year, but the roster is fragile.  They need Rosario, Conforto, McNeil, and Wheeler to replicate what they only did for a half season last year.  Alonso is unproven, and Smith has never performed at the big league level.  They can't lose one important arm in the bullpen or rotation to injury.
• They still have a lot of older players who might decline or spend a lot of time on the IL.  Frazier and Lowrie are already injured, and the odds are against Cano and Ramos making it through a full season without injury.

Here are some of the things that would need to go in their favor to approach or exceed 90 wins:

• Get at least 115 starts out of the top 4 starters
• Diaz, Familia, Lugo and Gsellman all pitch well for a full season, and they get a solid year out of Wilson
• Cespedes comes back by the trade deadline and plays well
• The guys mentioned above continue their stellar play from the second half of 2018
• Alonso is one of the NL's top rookies
• One or more division competitors underperform

Unfortunately I think the odds of the negative stuff coming to pass are better than the stars aligning on the positives.  My prediction is that the team has a winning record, but fall just short of the 2nd wild card.

FilmCarp said:
Mets tied for first place!  

I read through these, and the accompanying projections, and kept asking myself: Braves, “second in NL  East”? Nats, “third in NL East”? OK! So Phillies ... “fourth in NL East”? Who the heck is this guy Bradford Doolittle projecting to win the damn division?

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26281236/mlb-opening-day-power-rankings-every-team-best-worst-case

The top teams in the division are all close.  I truly believe it will come down to who stays healthy.  I know, that's a cliche, but its really true.  I pick the Phillies as the division winner, but I think more of the Mets than others.  I like an infield of McNeil, Rosario, Cano, Alonso or Smith, and Ramos.  And I like Nimmo, Legaras, and Conforto.  I am actually glad that the older players are on the IL.  The bullpen is better this year, at least on paper, and I like all of the Mets starters, except for Vargas.  And even he improved late last year.

DaveSchmidt said:
I read through these, and the accompanying projections, and kept asking myself: Braves, “second in NL  East”? Nats, “third in NL East”? OK! So Phillies ... “fourth in NL East”? Who the heck is this guy Bradford Doolittle projecting to win the damn division?
http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26281236/mlb-opening-day-power-rankings-every-team-best-worst-case

Most of the sites that run simulations have the standings as Nats, Phils, Mets, Braves.  But they also have the division very close, with only 5-6 games separating the top four.  Which is well within the margin of error for projected won/loss records.  So I guess the honest answer would be "who knows?"  But these guys are paid to prognosticate, so they can't say they don't know.

https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings

FilmCarp said:
The top teams in the division are all close.  I truly believe it will come down to who stays healthy.  I know, that's a cliche, but its really true.  I pick the Phillies as the division winner, but I think more of the Mets than others.  I like an infield of McNeil, Rosario, Cano, Alonso or Smith, and Ramos.  And I like Nimmo, Legaras, and Conforto.  I am actually glad that the older players are on the IL.  The bullpen is better this year, at least on paper, and I like all of the Mets starters, except for Vargas.  And even he improved late last year.

I'm picking the Nats because of their pitching, which is more of a known quantity.  And I don't think they're going to miss Harper that much.  Victor Robles will be good enough that the impact of losing Harper will be minimized.

The Mets have so little margin for error it's hard for me to pick them.  Just about every question mark they have needs to be answered positively for them to win this season.

Geez...what a pitcher's duel! I can barely stand it. Nerve wracking! deGrom is freakin' on fire. And Scherzer is amazing. What a way to start the season! 

Insane Mets stat:

• 38-20 all-time on Opening Day.  (38-12 since 1970)

These two teams are going to play well against each other all year.  Not many easy outs.

Mets support deGrom with 2 runs and he gets the win, already reaching 10% of total wins from last year.

yahooyahoo said:
Mets support deGrom with 2 runs and he gets the win, already reaching 10% of total wins from last year.

 And about 10% of his total run support, if memory serves.

can anyone find the percentage of deGrom's career starts in which he's given up only 0 or 1 run?  I think it's now close to half.

ml1 said:
can anyone find the percentage of deGrom's career starts in which he's given up only 0 or 1 run?  I think it's now close to half.

 I am not sure if that stat is easily available, but I do know that last year he broke the record for consecutive starts allowing three runs or less.  I think it was 29 straight, and if that was for the full season then yesterday extended that streak to 30.  An amazing stat in the current era.

the weird thing about yesterday was that deGrom was not at his best, yet still pitched 6 SO innings with 10 Ks.  His command was a little off at times with several deep counts and he had guys in scoring position a few times, and yet the Nats still couldn't score.  I've never seen anyone like him with the ability to keep teams from scoring when he's not at the top of his game.  The worst you could say is that he ran up the pitch count early, so he didn't make it into the 7th inning.  Which is really nitpicking after a performance like that.

.

He has started 140 games so that means he gave up one run or less in 64 games.  Yet, he has only 56 career wins.  The Mets lack of support for this guy is criminal.

He is getting recognized and paid, so I wouldn't say criminal.  It's a shame that they waste so many of his starts.

I'm sure he appreciates the money. And I've never heard him complain about the lack of offense. But the ultimate measure of a pitcher in Major League Baseball is wins, and the man would have many more on a team that's supported him more.

mrincredible said:
I'm sure he appreciates the money. And I've never heard him complain about the lack of offense. But the ultimate measure of a pitcher in Major League Baseball is wins, and the man would have many more on a team that's supported him more.

I think that even that measurement is going to mean less.  Now that  we have openers and 3 innings of middle relief.  Often the wrong pitcher gets the win.  Should the starter who leaves with no outs and the bases loaded but a one run lead get the win if the reliever gets a strike out and a double play?

FilmCarp said:
I think that even that measurement is going to mean less. 

It already means less.  deGrom won the Cy Young with 10 wins.  He's already proven that greatness is no longer measured by Ws.  I mean, Jason Vargas led the AL in wins in 2017 for jeebus' sake.

Off to a good start.  It's laughable that Lugo had such a bad inning and still has an era of 0.  Another mistake in baseball scoring.  I don't know quite what the answer is, but he walked the guys, he hit the guy, and he gave up the double.  The only play that wasn't on him was the error .

Mets send McNeil to Cleveland for Lefty Reliever Perez

Veteran southpaw Oliver Pèrez is returning to the scene of both his greatest successes and biggest failures as a big-leaguer.  The Mets picked up the well-traveled reliever in exchange for IF/OF Jeff McNeil, who doesn't figure to be in the team's immediate plans when utility man Jed Lowrie returns from the IL.  
"We think the world of Jeff, and expect him to be a pretty decent professional hitter down the road, but this team is built to win now, and we felt like the last piece we needed to put us over top was another lefty in the bullpen," explained Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen.  "You've got to give up value to get a guy of Pèrez's caliber, so that's what we did.  We feel like we have solidified our position as the team to beat in this division, now that we've got Ollie coming out of the pen."

wow

I like it.

DaveSchmidt said:
I like it.

 well of course you  would

shame on you all

ml1 said:
Mets send McNeil to Cleveland for Lefty Reliever Perez

Veteran southpaw Oliver Pèrez is returning to the scene of both his greatest successes and biggest failures as a big-leaguer.  The Mets picked up the well-traveled reliever in exchange for IF/OF Jeff McNeil, who doesn't figure to be in the team's immediate plans when utility man Jed Lowrie returns from the IL.  
"We think the world of Jeff, and expect him to be a pretty decent professional hitter down the road, but this team is built to win now, and we felt like the last piece we needed to put us over top was another lefty in the bullpen," explained Mets GM Brodie Van Wagenen.  "You've got to give up value to get a guy of Pèrez's caliber, so that's what we did.  We feel like we have solidified our position as the team to beat in this division, now that we've got Ollie coming out of the pen."

wow

 ml1: The Skip would like to see you in his office.