Big Season coming up
Pitchers and Catchers report Tomorrow:
Key Questions:
*Which Matt Harvey do we get? ;
*will deGrom, Matz, and Wheeler healthy;
*Wright/Duda - What is their health status and what will their production be;
*Can we be less dependent on the home run ball, we still have a very power centric lineup ;
* Flores, Reyes and Lagares all have the talent to be regulars, how do we mix them into the lineup on a regular basis? ;
*My big question Alderson noted that we have a lot of young players on the cusp, how do we transition the Nimmo's, Cecchini's, Rosarios, Smiths, Conforto of the world to replace some of our veteran regulars like Bruce, Duda, Cabrera, Granderson; Our AAA Lineup will be stacked especially if Conforto is optioned: C-Plawecki, 1B-Smith, 2B-Cecchini, SS-Rosario, 3B-Rivera, LF-Conforto, CF-Nimmo,Taijeron; That's 5 first rounders, and the top international free agent. In Las Vegas that should be a dominant offense. [/b]; As an aside to this, we need some pitching/reliever depth, how can we deal from this surplus either at the major league or minor league level to enhance our team. I can see a bunch of mid-season trades.
It could be more than that, of course, depending on how David Wright's (neck) health is. The Mets aren't sure yet who will bat leadoff for them on days when Reyes doesn't start. Reyes is slated to see time all over the infield and some in the outfield this spring as he prepares for a super utility role. He could be a sneaky value in fantasy drafts this spring as a guy who doesn't technically have a starting job but who is likely to wind up playing a lot.
Source: Anthony DiComo on TwitterFeb 17 - 12:53 PM
David Wright - 3B - Mets
David Wright (neck) is tentatively scheduled to play catch on Sunday.
It would be his first time throwing a baseball since last June. The Mets are bringing Wright along slowly this spring as he works his way back from a cervical discectomy and fusion surgery. His health status figures to be a daily topic of conversation throughout spring training.
Source: Anthony DiComo on TwitterFeb 17 - 12:51 PM
Jeurys Familia - R - Mets
Jeurys Familia is expected back in Mets camp on Saturday.
Familia is away from the club on Friday to tend to a personal matter. We're still waiting to hear about Familia's expected suspension for his domestic violence incident.
Source: Mike Puma on TwitterFeb 17 - 12:49 PM
Dominic Smith, 1B
Justin Dunn, RHP
Desmond Lindsay, OF
Brandon Nimmo, OF
Gavin Cecchini, SS/2B
Robert Gsellman, RHP
Thomas Szapucki, LHP
Gabriel Ynoa, RHP
Tomas Nido, C
Marcos Molina, RHP
Anthony Kay, LHP
Peter Alonso, 1B
Merandy Gonzalez, RHP
Luis Guillorme, SS
Wuilmer Becerra, OF
Andres Gimenez, SS
Matt Reynolds, INF
P.J. Conlon, LHP
Luis Carpio, SS/2B
Patrick Mazeika, C/1B
Chris Flexen, RHP
Ricardo Cespedes, OF
T.J. Rivera, INF
Phillip Evans, INF
Corey Taylor, RHP
Ali Sanchez, C
Harol Gonzalez, RHP
Gregory Guerrero, SS
Colby Woodmansee, SS
David Thompson, 3B
Dominic Smith, 1B
Justin Dunn, RHP
Desmond Lindsay, OF
Brandon Nimmo, OF
Gavin Cecchini, SS/2B
Robert Gsellman, RHP
Thomas Szapucki, LHP
Gabriel Ynoa, RHP
Tomas Nido, C
Marcos Molina, RHP
Anthony Kay, LHP
Peter Alonso, 1B
Merandy Gonzalez, RHP
Luis Guillorme, SS
Wuilmer Becerra, OF
Andres Gimenez, SS
Matt Reynolds, INF
P.J. Conlon, LHP
Luis Carpio, SS/2B
Patrick Mazeika, C/1B
Chris Flexen, RHP
Ricardo Cespedes, OF
T.J. Rivera, INF
Phillip Evans, INF
Corey Taylor, RHP
Ali Sanchez, C
Harol Gonzalez, RHP
Gregory Guerrero, SS
Colby Woodmansee, SS
David Thompson, 3B
#9 traded for 50 grand. How many major league baseball teams trade their #9 prospect for 50k? Or however much it turns out to be.
Also, when are we getting a sweetheart trade deal with Baltimore? They keep getting our players
Guys on the bubble would be Edgin (though I think he's making the team), Gilmartin, Montero and Goeddel. Anyone else would be pretty shocking to me.
Matt Reynolds, they have a glut of middle infielders. Reynolds isn't lasting the season on the Mets roster.
Probably didn't need to protect Marcos Molina, doubt he would have lasted the season on anyone's major league roster with no innings above a ball and only 40 innings in Advanced A ball and coming off injury.
Probably didn't need to protect Becerra in rule V either.
and probably other moves they could have done too.
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Who else would we drop?
Matt Reynolds, they have a glut of middle infielders. Reynolds isn't lasting the season on the Mets roster.
Probably didn't need to protect Marcos Molina, doubt he would have lasted the season on anyone's major league roster with no innings above a ball and only 40 innings in Advanced A ball and coming off injury.
Probably didn't need to protect Becerra in rule V either.
and probably other moves they could have done too.
They won't drop Reynolds now. He's the best MLB ready defensive infielder they have. Rosario won't be called up early and Cecchini might not even be a SS.Guys like Rivera, Flores and even Reyes are all below average at SS. Reynolds will stick around for now.
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In comment 13364427 spike said:
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Who else would we drop?
Matt Reynolds, they have a glut of middle infielders. Reynolds isn't lasting the season on the Mets roster.
Probably didn't need to protect Marcos Molina, doubt he would have lasted the season on anyone's major league roster with no innings above a ball and only 40 innings in Advanced A ball and coming off injury.
Probably didn't need to protect Becerra in rule V either.
and probably other moves they could have done too.
They won't drop Reynolds now. He's the best MLB ready defensive infielder they have. Rosario won't be called up early and Cecchini might not even be a SS.Guys like Rivera, Flores and even Reyes are all below average at SS. Reynolds will stick around for now.
Either way they had options if they wanted to keep Ynoa and my point was the fact the Mets traded the #9 prospect for cash.
and if they wanted to keep him it could have been painlessly done.
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When a future hall of gamer is already on the 40 ;)
Big Patrick Mazeika fan?:)
C is another very thin position in the organization. Hopefully it's addressed.
Thin? Who cares when you're so TOP HEAVY!!! Lol
Looking forward to that favor! We've made quite a few transactions with Balt
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They certainly didn't trade him for 50k. They probably had 3-5 guys on the backend of the bubble (none might make the team still) and Ynoa was one of them. Baltimore called us up and liked him. Peace. Maybe they return the favor some day.
Looking forward to that favor! We've made quite a few transactions with Balt
Eric O 'Flaherty didn't work out but we essentially got him for free at a deadline or just a little cash. That's the kind of good will kind of moves I think Vick g up a Ynoa might create down the line. Nothing great, but I think there are situations where teams just say "who cares, why not?"
I personally can't remember there ever being as much talent at the shortstop position as there currently is. The days of the all-glove SS's are nearly gone unless they are a generational defensive player like Andrelton Simmons.
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It's weird how often people parrot defense up the middle and yet the 0 bat + defense SS's who start for good teams basically don't exist anymore. Throw in the fact that Guillorme has below average speed and he's WAY too high. I'm not a fan of this list.
I personally can't remember there ever being as much talent at the shortstop position as there currently is. The days of the all-glove SS's are nearly gone unless they are a generational defensive player like Andrelton Simmons.
If Simmons could hit he'd be a HOFer. The position is LOADED with 2 way players now. Unlike catcher where it's insanely shallow.
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In comment 13364508 DanMetroMan said:
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If Simmons could hit he'd be a HOFer. The position is LOADED with 2 way players now. Unlike catcher where it's insanely shallow.
If Simmons could hit he would either be in Atlanta or they would have gotten a monster package for him. The lack of talent at catcher across the league is alarming. The Braves recently acquired former top 10 pick Alex Jackson who was a catcher in HS but moved to the outfield because the Mariners thought that was the quickest way to get his bat to the majors. After the acquisition Atlanta moved him back to catcher. Now the Braves are hoping that he can stick there defensively where it would take a lot of pressure off of his bat. Now in the unlikely event that he does live up to his potential at the plate and can be at least serviceable behind it then the Braves would have a rare asset.
Point being guys with exceptional skills play and at SS I think an exceptional defensive SS still has value, there are just never very many of them at 1 time and sometimes they happen to be multi-skilled. Crawford, Simmons, Russell and Lindor are terrific defensive players who would play even if they didn't hit at all - they just happen to do both to varying degrees.
The issue was that he was "lazy" and had no work ethic.
Point being guys with exceptional skills play and at SS I think an exceptional defensive SS still has value, there are just never very many of them at 1 time and sometimes they happen to be multi-skilled. Crawford, Simmons, Russell and Lindor are terrific defensive players who would play even if they didn't hit at all - they just happen to do both to varying degrees.
Who are the current guys without power or speed that you would want starting at ss for the Mets?
Alcides Escobar? He's been worth 1.8 fWAR the past 2 seasons... COMBINED. He's been worth 2 fWAR or more twice in his career. You would want him as the Mets starting SS? .4 fWAR in 2016 aka the second worst SS in baseball... tied with... Hechavarria... am I reading your quote wrong? The only SS worse in 2016 than those 2 was a now retired Alexei Ramirez... the other guy you mentioned (Jose Iglesias) was worth 2.1 fWAR 17/23 qualified SS. Outside of Iglesias who still has a shot to get better the other are DRAINS on their team not assets. Hechevarria had a very nice 2015 (3.1 fWAR)... and despite that in 4 MLB seasons he's been worth 1.9 fWAR... yes... he's been a NEGATIVE value player the other 3 seasons.
“I was kind of, a little bit uncomfortable toward the end of the year,” Smith said. “Very tired, and my legs hurt a little bit. I wanted to change my regimen, eat healthier, and not just go on a diet but just change my lifestyle, just have a clean, healthy lifestyle.”
“I don’t know what I’m going to do [at leadoff] if he’s not in there,” Collins said. “But I do want to get him in that leadoff spot as much as we can.”
“I was kind of, a little bit uncomfortable toward the end of the year,” Smith said. “Very tired, and my legs hurt a little bit. I wanted to change my regimen, eat healthier, and not just go on a diet but just change my lifestyle, just have a clean, healthy lifestyle.”
This is what we've been waiting for from him. Can't wait to see what kind of seasons him and Rosario put together.
“I was kind of, a little bit uncomfortable toward the end of the year,” Smith said. “Very tired, and my legs hurt a little bit. I wanted to change my regimen, eat healthier, and not just go on a diet but just change my lifestyle, just have a clean, healthy lifestyle.”
Good to hear.
Because he's a draft pick, I wonder if the team would cover a personal chef/nutritionist. If he's doing it himself, it can be really, really hard to keep up. They should probably do this.
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I haven't watched Iglesias as much as the other 2 so I could be wrong on that one, but the fact that he's hit .300 before and seems to not K all that much makes me think he's not a total automatic out. Escobar has obviously been a good leadoff hitter so maybe he doesn't count, but last year he was the 22nd best SS by fwar and his career wRC is 10 points lower than Juan Lagares.
Alcides Escobar? He's been worth 1.8 fWAR the past 2 seasons... COMBINED. He's been worth 2 fWAR or more twice in his career. You would want him as the Mets starting SS? .4 fWAR in 2016 aka the second worst SS in baseball... tied with... Hechavarria... am I reading your quote wrong? The only SS worse in 2016 than those 2 was a now retired Alexei Ramirez... the other guy you mentioned (Jose Iglesias) was worth 2.1 fWAR 17/23 qualified SS. Outside of Iglesias who still has a shot to get better the other are DRAINS on their team not assets. Hechevarria had a very nice 2015 (3.1 fWAR)... and despite that in 4 MLB seasons he's been worth 1.9 fWAR... yes... he's been a NEGATIVE value player the other 3 seasons.
Didn't this topic start with you saying that all defense and no bat SS don't exist anymore? Doesn't this basically prove that they do exist? I wasn't looking to argue that fact if you re-read my first post you replied to, my entire point was that there are only so many good defensive SS at any given time and it just so happens that right now many of them are good hitters too. Obviously anyone would love to have Russell, Lindor, Crawford, etc., but the teams lucky enough to have guys like that will always be the minority. The majority of the starters in the entire league are going to have some flaws.
And yes, I would have been happy to have any of those 3 guys as our starting at SS during those years between Reyes and Cabrera. I'd still probably take Escobar over Cabrera if we could make that swap right now (and I like Cabrera a lot, including his defense). At shortstop I think excellent defense game in and game out is still more important than the extra 15 homers.
Link - ( New Window )
Overall defense 13/24
UZR 13/24
Cabrera
-7 DRS
18/24 overall defense
18/24 UZR
Last 3 seasons Escobar -11 DRS (good for 16/23, Cabrera admittedly a poor fielder 21/23)
Last 3 seasons Cabrera 10/23 fWAR, Escobar 18/23
Last 3 seasons Cabrera 9/38 wRC+, Escobar 36/38
Escobar hit 19 homers with 176 steals in 647 minor league games
Luis Guillorme?
He has 1 career home run, 34 steals (52 attempts) over 346 games
and Escobar rounded into one of the worst offensive players in baseball.
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None of my posts were trying to make a point about Guillorme (or Tovar). The greatest defensive SS ever wouldn't hold a starting spot in the majors if he hit under .200.
Iglesias aside (because he actually has shown some ability to hit previously) the other 2 are AWFUL offensive players. You want to suddenly discount fWAR? I thought the argument was defensive metrics overrated guys like Zobrist? Derek Jeter and Palmeiro won GG's. They don't mean a whole lot and surely don't make up for an utter lack of hitting ability. The Mets wouldn't trade Cabrera for Escobar or Hechavarria... trust me.
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is Guillorme 1.0 Link - ( New Window )
Guillorme could hit .240 but without power or speed his glove wouldn't land him a starting gig. You need SOME secondary skills. Speed for one. I'd love an upgrade defensively but not a blackhole offensively.
None of my posts were trying to make a point about Guillorme (or Tovar). The greatest defensive SS ever wouldn't hold a starting spot in the majors if he hit under .200.
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Iglesias was a finalist last year, Hechavarria's been a finalist before and we play the Marlins enough to know he's really good. It's hard to appreciate how good or bad any player is defensively without watching them every day and I don't think any of the defensive metrics are a reliable substitute yet. Seen far too many inconsistencies in the last few years since they've become more of a thing. I thought Cabrera was more than solid last year but in no way would I call him a GG contender. I think it's fair to say the other 3 are closer.
Iglesias aside (because he actually has shown some ability to hit previously) the other 2 are AWFUL offensive players. You want to suddenly discount fWAR? I thought the argument was defensive metrics overrated guys like Zobrist? Derek Jeter and Palmeiro won GG's. They don't mean a whole lot and surely don't make up for an utter lack of hitting ability. The Mets wouldn't trade Cabrera for Escobar or Hechavarria... trust me.
I'm not discounting fwar - I'm discounting 1 season as a sample size because Cabrera's year last year was his best in 5 years. Hechavarria had the exact same fwar in 2015, Escobar you'd have to go back 2 years to 2014. If any of these guys were more consistent it would be a more obvious decision but they all have flaws - in a good year they can be top 10 at their position but their range is somewhere in the middle 1/3 of starters. I still think most GMs would choose Escobar over Cabrera at SS because defense is generally more predictable than offense and it's not like Escobar is an automatic out like Rey Ordonez.