NFT: Mets/Brewers rubber game - Thor comes to Queens!

Cut the lawn
Fire up the grill
Open the beer
Yell at the TV

:)

Mets

Curtis Granderson, RF

Eric Campbell, 3B

Lucas Duda, 1B

Michael Cuddyer, LF

Daniel Murphy, 2B

Wilmer Flores, SS

Johnny Monell, C

Noah Syndergaard, RHP

Juan Lagares, CF

After yesterday...

..

The sooner he and Matz are out there every 5th day, the better. Neither has anything left to prove at AAA. No point in wasting any more innings.

Supposedly Mets considering moving Flores to 2B and calling up Reynolds when Wright gets healthy (and theoretically trading Murphy). Personally I think that's an excellent idea because it improves the defense around the entire IF and as much as we all put Murphy on a pedestal, Flores has a much higher upside both offensively and defensively. I wanted him to get a fair shot at 2B the entire offseason, at this point I don't if it makes a difference with his throwing issues but I don't want to give up on his bat.
Mets weigh Reynolds callup, Murphy trade, Flores move - ( New Window )

I think he's a better prospect than Reynolds is.

But I think it's a long term decision that's best left until the offseason after seeing what Flores does with the bat over a full season. Herrera still seems to need some seasoning before he's ready to have a meaningful role with the big club anyways.

I don't think it is as much as we Murphy on a pedestal but that the guy can flat out hit. Granted he is off to a slower start this season, the whole teams seems to be. But the big question is on a team that has so much trouble hitting if you trade Murphy does Flores or whomever adequately replace him. Trading him before having found out the answer there is a risk. Not saying it shouldn't happen but on a team full of anemic hitters they would be giving up one of their better hitters.

Murphy is one of the few Mets that does well in clutch situations. Here are his clutch stats.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/split.cgi?id=murphda08&year=Career&t=b#clutc

and he's absolutely one of the guys on the roster I'd trust most to put the bat on the ball in a big spot. But at some point they need to start solving long term problems. For a while now we've known that Murphy isn't getting resigned. IMO it's always been debatable as to how much his defense/baserunning balance out anything he does with the bat. Flores at SS will never be an ideal long term solution, even if it's workable.

At this point Flores has shown a knack for getting hits in big spots and I don't think it's far fetched to see him hitting 20 HRs this year. That's the stock I would be looking to invest in over the rest of the season and I think the best investment in him is at the less demanding defensive position (2B) with a stronger defensive player next to him.

Because Flores isn't going to be able to stay at 2B long-term. So even if you put him there and he's more natural there defensively, there's nowhere to put Herrera. Then we'd either have to trade Flores or put him back at SS anyway. And then there's Reynolds as well.

Someone's just going to have to get moved or be the odd man out. Even if Murphy isn't back next year, we are going to have 3 players and only to Middle IF positions to fill. Better to have this problem than the alternative, but...

nobody has ceased the opportunity that is clearly there for them, and that's troubling as well. What you want is for someone to just take the job.

pitching inside, I like it

I hope they give him some run support today.

if he can spot it in the zone

And Curtis is heating up!

but I don't see any reason Flores can't stick at 2B long term. Certainly far less concerns with that prospect than with his present situation. I like Herrera's athleticism better long term, but who knows how high Flores' upside is with the bat? I'm not ready to say Flores can't play his best position because Herrera is that good. Let's see where Flores' season ends up. We've seen that Herrera isn't quite ready yet, Reynolds deserves the next shot at the ML level.

Looks like Grandy is heating up

Even further than last night

Duda waking up again is even better. If Cuddyer can keep things going as Wright slides back in this could be the start of another streak.

Maybe he is coming out of his funk

Nice hustle

I don't know how you can take him out of the rotation for Gee.

grow and mature as a pitcher with hellacious stuff

.

In comment 12289969 Eric on Li said:

Quote:

I don't know how you can take him out of the rotation for Gee.

Yeah, that's what I was talking about earlier. If we could just have one of the infielders do that.

Thor, Matz, JdG, Harvey, Wheeler, Montero. I don't know how you begin to parse whose stuff is better between the first 5.

you just don't see this kind of stuff everyday. Imagine ifMatz is as advertised?

As I watch them it makes me want a defensive ss even more. Give these young pitchers that and with Legaras in CF and sit back and watch the magic.

These guys are going to be fun to watch in the coming years.

Those guys are too rare. I could see him packaging Montero with a position player who loses as a spot (like Plawecki or Herrera), but that's about the max I see him dealing. Sidenote - I want to make that trade for Carlos Gomez.

hook from hell. He can throw just his curveball

but those first 2 breaking balls were damn impressive.

but he did miss it

Duda doubles

another double.

Needs to produce good ABs in situations like this.

.

is indeed

break it open

Cuddyer has been a little overaggressive so far at the plate today. I like that he's looking to get a hit but he if he waits for a pitch here, he'll get something good.

well done, sir!

to get the offense back on track because the Cards are coming next

Lagares + Montero + solid 3rd piece (obviously not Thor/Matz) for Gomez - do you do it?

if he popped it up, bad things would of been in his head. He hit in a hitters count and produced

he fooled the ump

Jim Fergosi type? I've lived through that once and still am not over it

In comment 12290014 Eric on Li said:

Quote:

Lagares + Montero + solid 3rd piece (obviously not Thor/Matz) for Gomez - do you do it?

No. Lagares is untouchable

have been as good or better than the other recent debuts? JdG might have been slightly more impressive given the situation, but he also benefited from being far more under the radar. Thor's control looks better than Wheeler's did early. Harvey had a different energy from day 1 and knowing what he is makes it hard to compare.

Wheeler comes back and is Wheeler, it is an almost unimaginable rotation that I've never seen in my lifetime as a Met fan

has the potential to be better than the Nats.

Now the bats need to wake up.

Harvey, DeGrom, Syndergaard, Wheeler/Matz, Niese netx season. Gee is the long man.

IF he stays healthy, Niese gets traded mid season 2016 for Matz' Super TWO arrival

Syndergaarad just threw the hammer down on Gomez