NFT: Phillies at Mets Game 1

You know what? Fuck it. PITCHING. Embrace what got us here and what we have and promote Matz. Going to a 6 man rotation and starting 3 backend starters instead of two is the opposite of what we should be doing.

Promote Matz and start embracing the future and go with the young power rotation. The bullpen has been pretty good and should be getting reinforcements soon as well.

Many teams have shitty lineups and players struggling. I would absolutely look to acquire a bat to replace Wright but thats easier said than done right now. There will likely be more options available as we get closer to July but for now go with the one thing we can control and thats throwing 4 young power aces out there in a row.

in like 5-6 days.

I know that one player isn't saving this lineup but the drop-off from Wright to Cambell and TDA to Plawecki has been so drastic that TDA actually will be filling a MASSIVE hole. It should absolutely help. Now... what to do with third?
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Wow, that's quite the statement there.

BTW, how long does Collins last? Not just because they are 11-18 since their fast start, more because they show no fight at times, especially on the road.

Swept in Chicago and Pittsburgh with hardly a whimper.

How many games below .500 before they make the move?

and fired if things get really bad but I don't think we are quite there yet.

is honoring Eric Gregg. Holy shitballs.

say I really don't mind Murphy hitting 4th today. He has easily been our hottest hitter in May. Cuddyer needs to start being pushed down further in the order also.

Granderson, Lagares, TDA, Duda, Murphy, Cuddyer, Flores, Muno?

Maybe switch Lagares and Muno based on the pitcher?

Little better anyway.

with a pitch to his right shoulder. Colon has gotten about 5-6 pitches already that looked off the plate.

Next month

To see Duda and Cuddyer go yard.

Huge clutch home run!!

nice surprise

In comment 12299901 ZGiants98 said:

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Huge clutch home run!!

Wilmer should stay in the lineup just because of his bat.

But Wilmer's D has actually been more valuable than his offense. I know it was fun for everyone to pile on Flores in April when he had the yips but his defense has been been very good since he's settled down. Those that look at WAR will know what I'm referring to.

That Murphy has his average up to .270 after his dreadful April. Reminds of a game against the Marlins in late April and the announcers were taking bets on when he would his average back up to .290/.300. Late May? Late June? Looks like they weren't far off.

is the new 8th inning guy?

The Mets will always have somebody to land on.

100 MPH like 7-8 times there in the 9th. I was ridiculed for saying I saw him hit 100 MPH in a spring training game last year against the Braves.

In comment 12299945 ZGiants98 said:

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100 MPH like 7-8 times there in the 9th. I was ridiculed for saying I saw him hit 100 MPH in a spring training game last year against the Braves.

Collins met with the players and told them to step up and virtually everyone we are counting on did today.

Looking at the lineup...

Flores and Duda have been virtually everything we could have hoped for at this point in the season...

Cuddyer and Granderson have been average-ish/solid. They haven't been the difference makers maybe some would have hoped for but they have been solid. They certainly haven't hurt us. Cuddyer now up to wRC+ 99 with todays homerun. I think we all believe either of these guys are capable of getting hot for a few weeks as well and they simply haven't yet. We saw it with Granderson last year.

Murphy is back obviously. He's been our best hitter in May.

Lagares has been terrible but he's in the lineup for his glove right?

It really comes down to CF, 3B, and C if we want to upgrade off of the offense we've shown. TDA will be back next week so that solves one huge hole. We can't do anything about CF unless we want to package Lagares for Gomez or something. The colossal issue falls back to 3B and Wright.

until 90 Ws!

a 3 WAR+ player AT SS.

Hysterically, Murphy has actually been playing the best 2B defense of his career to this point as well. Guess that middle defense is killing us?? Not.

let's not get carried away

.

In comment 12299972 Headhunter said:

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let's not get carried away

I don't think anything Ive pointed out has anything to do with the Phillies. Was looking at players numbers up to this point.

I still feel like he's feeling his way through being a major league player. We haven't seen him get really hot yet. The errors mean next to nothing to me. We all saw he was rushing throws, ect. He's never been an error prone guy in the past. He was nervous and it lead to the mistakes. The metrics show he is good defensively this year. He has enough range, he's excellent turning the double play, and he has a strong arm. He's been flat out good period this year. I don't think anyone can dispute that. SS is the last position we need to upgrade on.

In comment 12299945 ZGiants98 said:

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100 MPH like 7-8 times there in the 9th. I was ridiculed for saying I saw him hit 100 MPH in a spring training game last year against the Braves.

Wasn't it Matz or someone else you said throws 100, not Familia?

In comment 12299998 Shecky said:

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In comment 12299945 ZGiants98 said: Quote: 100 MPH like 7-8 times there in the 9th. I was ridiculed for saying I saw him hit 100 MPH in a spring training game last year against the Braves. Wasn't it Matz or someone else you said throws 100, not Familia?

No Shecky it was 100% Familia which was baffling to me since we've all seen hit him hit 97, 98 before. Even if you hate me and think Im full of shit, I still didn't think 100 MPH was that outlandish. lol.

I did say Matz was on record for hitting 99 this year in a game but that was separate and nobody gave me shit about it.

His range runs above average is 4.5. His UZR is 1.2. I would love somebody to give me their scientific formula that disproves this. You can discount WAR all you want but I need to hear something other than he's had a some errors in April as to why he isn't playing a good SS. I need somebody to prove he doesn't have range because by all accounts he does.

I guess I confused Matz and fAmilia then.

Not the formula you asked for. But Flores ranks near dead last in making plays he is expected to.

I need more proof every screwup is based on emotional nerves while the hypocritical saber crew dismisses emotional clutch or choke and plays the bs luck card.

Put Flores at 3rd please.

and Flores is no longer under the microscope, he is going to put up outstanding numbers for a short stop. Patience will be rewarded. It's not like he was a butcher boy at SS, he made throwing errors. An error is an error, but throwing can be fixed, not being able to catch the ball can't.

on Flores, bottom line he is not a liability defensively. Most importantly the team feels he will put up great numbers

Flores' may be their 2nd best defender with Wright out of the lineup. For a team that doesn't hit and plays close games it's a big weakness, and winning 1 game against the Phillies doesn't change that. Nor does it change the fact that Flores' has made at least 2-3+ errors that were turning points in close losses (Cubs/Brewers games back to back were just a couple weeks ago).

Errors are going to happen, but I still don't see what's not to gain by moving Flores to 2nd when Reynolds is ready to get promoted. Murphy will be gone sooner rather than later and there's an opening at 3B for who knows how long. Flores' athleticism should play better at 2nd, and hopefully that upgrades 2 important defensive positions. Herrera is hurt and shown he's not ready yet when healthy, so you cross that bridge later on when you come to it.

The only whipping boys are the fans who have been patient with this bs process yet have to listen to morons talk playoffs and hype up an otherwise inferior product.

.

The go to San Diego Phoenix and come back to play the Giants. They should have TDA in Phoenix and maybe San Diego.

In comment 12300028 Shecky said:

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I guess I confused Matz and fAmilia then. Not the formula you asked for. But Flores ranks near dead last in making plays he is expected to.

Shecky this again has everything to do with the inordinate amount of errors he had in April. Almost all of those throws he rushed, ect were on plays HE SHOULD have made. We already know this. He was also the best SS in all of baseball last year on plays he should have made. I need to see data on Flores that shows me he isn't good defensively outside of the errors. This is almost the same thing as pointing to fielding percentage. Of course his fielding percentage isn't going to be good AGAIN because of the errors.

Outside of the errors, he has shown above average arm, range, and has been excellent turning the double play and he's settled down considerably since his early gaffes.

Well there your have it. Perhaps the most ridiculous perception one can have.

Geno Smith is the best in the league besides the mistakes.

In comment 12300036 Eric on Li said:

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Flores' may be their 2nd best defender with Wright out of the lineup. For a team that doesn't hit and plays close games it's a big weakness, and winning 1 game against the Phillies doesn't change that. Nor does it change the fact that Flores' has made at least 2-3+ errors that were turning points in close losses (Cubs/Brewers games back to back were just a couple weeks ago). Errors are going to happen, but I still don't see what's not to gain by moving Flores to 2nd when Reynolds is ready to get promoted. Murphy will be gone sooner rather than later and there's an opening at 3B for who knows how long. Flores' athleticism should play better at 2nd, and hopefully that upgrades 2 important defensive positions. Herrera is hurt and shown he's not ready yet when healthy, so you cross that bridge later on when you come to it.

I don't know what your looking at unless your just looking at which team has the most errors. Cuddyer is playing the best defense he's played in a decade. Murphy has been above average at 2nd. Flores has been excellent at SS. Duda has been good at 1st. Lagares is awesome. TDA showed great improvement early. So who sucks? One person. Granderson and that is directly tied to his arm. His range has been pretty good.

within a run or two is not a "turning point." Give me a break. If Flores makes an error and the pitcher goes on to give up 5 hits and 4 runs after that...its Flores' fault because it was a turning point? Bullshit. If you want to kill him for the errors then fine but it's not his fault that Jon Niese is a shitty pitcher. Pitchers need to do their job too. Errors are a part of the game.

In comment 12300055 Giants2012 said:

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Well there your have it. Perhaps the most ridiculous perception one can have. Geno Smith is the best in the league besides the mistakes.

Does geno smith do ANYTHING well? At least Flores can hit.

Nice try though.

In comment 12300042 arcarsenal said:

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.

Flores has actually been better than Peralta this year defensively but you are exactly right. A bunch of people here were pissed we didn't pounce on Peralta and instead settled for Granderson and yet Flores is shaping up almost exactly what Peralta is or was in his prime. Peralta had some rough years defensively and is still considered to be slower, ect but he was a 5 WAR player last year. 21 homeruns, 60 RBI's, .260 average? Isn't this exactly who Flores is shaping up to be?

In comment 12300058 PhiPsi125 said:

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In comment 12300055 Giants2012 said: Quote: Well there your have it. Perhaps the most ridiculous perception one can have. Geno Smith is the best in the league besides the mistakes. Does geno smith do ANYTHING well? At least Flores can hit. Nice try though.

Error on missing the point. You must be nervous

than any SS in baseball and has a higher OPS than Tulo, Rollins, Castro, Desmond, Andrus, ect.

Not saying the Flores supporters are vindicated yet, but if he keeps this up or God forbid even improves further.... forget it.

Flores is likely a top 5, top 3 even, SS in the game at seasons end.

It took a bit for people to be convinced he could play SS. The Indians didn't think he could handle the position and the metrics more or less supported that. You heard the same exact things you hear about Flores. Didn't have the body type or the range, belonged at 3B, etc..

Then he went to Detroit and they put him at SS. He went from below average defensively, to average, to above average and he's basically aged like fine wine ever since. He was the best SS in baseball last year and is 5th in WAR and 2nd in wRC+ so far this year.

It's not unreasonable to think that Flores could put up similar offensive numbers and I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities for him to keep improving defensively.

In comment 12300079 arcarsenal said:

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It took a bit for people to be convinced he could play SS. The Indians didn't think he could handle the position and the metrics more or less supported that. You heard the same exact things you hear about Flores. Didn't have the body type or the range, belonged at 3B, etc.. Then he went to Detroit and they put him at SS. He went from below average defensively, to average, to above average and he's basically aged like fine wine ever since. He was the best SS in baseball last year and is 5th in WAR and 2nd in wRC+ so far this year. It's not unreasonable to think that Flores could put up similar offensive numbers and I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities for him to keep improving defensively.

Great, great post. And to further your point, Flores has been much better defensively right out of the gate than Peralta was in his early years. I think its pretty obvious Flores is still learning and improving and will continue to do so.

In comment 12300072 ZGiants98 said:

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than any SS in baseball and has a higher OPS than Tulo, Rollins, Castro, Desmond, Andrus, ect. Not saying the Flores supporters are vindicated yet, but if he keeps this up or God forbid even improves further.... forget it. Flores is likely a top 5, top 3 even, SS in the game at seasons end.

Hes going to be our All star SS next season

or the middle infield. Murphy is back hitting and playing D. Duda has been one of the better players in baseball. TDA looked great in the limited time we saw him. Cuddyer and Granderson have both been "ok". I think you could possibly look to add a corner outfielder and platoon players but Im not sure how much that upgrades the offense yet. Cuddyer and Granderson are 99wRC+ and 109 wRC+ players today and I think they can both be better. Upgrading off Lagares's offense would make a HUGE difference but I don't think anybody is willing to throw away his D yet.

TDA needs to be back ASAP and we need to find a solution at 3B. If Wright is going to be out long term Id look to make a move. Its unfortunate Herrera had his injury when he did as I feel he was the closest to being ready out of our minor league crop. Murphy could have stayed at 3rd. Now I think we need to do something outside of the organization.

I also think we need to clear this pitching mess up and promote Matz but the train hasn't come off the track yet.