NFT: New York Mets @ St. Louis Cardinals - 8:15 pm - Wheels Up!

I mean if he can't even give you an inning without giving up runs than I don't know what to say.

In comment 13929488 Eric on Li said:

Quote:

In comment 13929479 arcarsenal said: Quote: Can we have Curtis back and send Bruce to TOR? 3 years for Bruce continues to be such a weird decision. If you reversed the contracts for Frazier and Bruce it would make a lot more sense, it's just odd given their "salary cap" that they valued Bruce so highly.

I didn't really get it either.

I like Jay Bruce. Nice guy, easy to root for. Just don't like the player that much. Some embarrassingly bad plays in the field and he's been pitiful at the dish so far.

So much for the whole "let the best players play" bit - because Nimmo is performing and Bruce isn't.

.

He’s the best part of Mets games.

for Yo’s approach at the plate. The book on him is he’ll take takes the first pitch and it’s seemingly always a fastball right down the middle. He starts out in a hole and enables the pitcher to dictate the AB all too often. I wish he’d be more aggressive and keep them honest by sitting on that first pitch every now and then.

A SF.

Just missed him.

such a long way away from learning plate discipline.

In comment 13929540 madgiantscow009 said:

Quote:

Just missed him.

Came in the game and promptly gave up the lead.

In comment 13929540 madgiantscow009 said:

Quote:

Just missed him.

2 innings, 2 hits, 1 run.

All in all, not horrible for his first true relief appearance. He did strike a couple guys out.

Could have been worse.

Sewald has been fantastic. I think I've said this before - but I do think I need to give the Mets credit for nixing a deal that included him for Kipnis.

Cabrera is tearing the cover off the ball @ 2B and Sewald has been a HUGE asset out of the pen.

but I agree, probably caught a break on that one since it would have also blocked them from getting Frazier.

Frazier really should have been the main target from day 1, then they should have put the money they spent on Bruce towards Reed. Use the leftover money for a 1 year veteran OF like Granderson, or even Aoki. The lineup would have been light on power but if last few year's markets are any indication, trading for power corner or 1B isn't that expensive at the deadline.

People need to stop looking at the positions on the field and start looking at the construction of the lineup. You cant invest 100+ million on a right-handed slugger who is about to start declining on a win now team and not protect him.

You lose Granderson, Duda, and Bruce... you have to replace at least some of that LH protection somewhere. The options were CO or 1B. Neither ideal. CO, you block Nimmo. 1B you block Smith. If you block Nimmo, Nimmo has THREE positions to get some playing time at and the injury history in the OF has been a joke the last few years (and that includes Nimmo). If you block Smith that's the only position he can get play so he's stuck in AAA permanently. I also think Sandy didnt want some over the hill type like Granderson. He was checking in on guys like Santana, Bruce, etc. He wanted a semi-permanent player and realized good players were going out a value in 2017-2018. He settled with Bruce. I also dont care how depressed the market was. A 3 year deal, for a perrenial 30 HR, 100 RBI guy in his prime is peanuts. With the amount of injuries we've endured over the last few years its amazing people dont at least see the see the logic.

Players are streaky. Bruce will bounce back. Guys will get injured. Nimmo will get play. I dont mind the rationale at all.

That said, Nimmo should still be getting 4 starts a week and everybody should be getting a day off. No reason they cant do that but that's on Mickey who has admitted he has the lineups filled out weeks in advance based on matchups. For some reason they dont want to rotate him in regularly yet but they should.

people would have been happy with Granderson getting play over Nimmo right now. lol. It would be literally ten times worse. People would be screaming bloody murder. If you sign a streaky 37 year old Granderson for your bench Im not sure that really solves your lefty power production problem at all and Grandy likely sucks the few times he gets play anyway (similar to Reyes). That's clearly not what Sandy was going after.

dinks and dunks. That's probably game.

Come on..

Just what the Dr ordered!

another. If it’s accurate that lineups are completed weeks in advance and they don’t stray from that, then it’s a big nail in the coffin that is ruining baseball for me. I’m all for stats but there is also a place for “the feel of the game”. The Mets NEVER seem to run with the hot hand and will trot out players just because the numbers say that they should be there. I’m just not interested in watching stat sheets and projections play baseball.

When you are so strict and stubborn with the game, this is what you get. I get that players can be streaky. But the entire lineup, save for Cabrera, has been mostly bad for the better part of a month. Fucking change it up for Christ’s sake.

I wonder what the percentage is of a run coming in when two runners are on base with no outs. It's gotta be high.

In comment 13929557 arcarsenal said:

Quote:

In comment 13929540 madgiantscow009 said: Quote: Just missed him. 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 run. All in all, not horrible for his first true relief appearance. He did strike a couple guys out. Could have been worse. Sewald has been fantastic. I think I've said this before - but I do think I need to give the Mets credit for nixing a deal that included him for Kipnis. Cabrera is tearing the cover off the ball @ 2B and Sewald has been a HUGE asset out of the pen.

I hope he can be the closer eventually

Todd Frazier let me down there

I know Ramos and Blevins struggled the other night but Gsellman, ewald, and Lugo have all been huge. Familia, even with the blown save, has been mostly great. Swarzak returning is going to make it even better.

Vargas isnt terrific but he should settle things down a bit in the rotation. Matz and Wheeler will be up and down but thats pretty much what you're going to get from most backend guys.

The bench is great.

We just need our big hitters to start hitting in the lineup and we need to resolve the gaping hole we have at catcher before too long.

BRUCE!!!

wtf is this?

I just can’t put my finger on the pulse of this team lol. Such a frustrating team. And then this. Let’s close this out please?

That will ruin baseball.

talk the umpires into doing a crew review. Unbelievable.

To see if the guy touched all the bases on his homerun trot? Really? And this commissioner is supposedly worried about length of games. Sure.

Flores sliding into home review that SNY show 100 replays of and still couldn’t figure it out. And that Flores review took them three seconds.

LOL, I called the Bruce HR 3 seconds before it happened in a text message. Good stuff.

This would be a huge win. Familia has his plus stuff tonight.

Matheny is a fucking jerkoff, though. Are you kidding me with that challenge?

but got it done.

That's what Jeurys Familia does when he's on.

Absolutely disgusting.

I need a break.

That game just never felt like it would be a W but they fought it out.

LGM!

just keep collecting the W's.

Gonna be a dogfight for NL East this season between Phils, Braves, Nats and the Mets

obviously that would be huge for us.

While I would never want to take on his contract in a million years, I wonder how much of Votto's deal the Reds would eat to get out of it.

Having the whole band back together (Frazier, Votto, Bruce) would be pretty fucking cool down the stretch and make our lineup lethal. Heck, still add Realmuto too!

Conforto
Votto
Cespedes
Bruce
Frazier
Cabrera
Realmuto
Rosario

Harvey threw 94 and got as many swinging strikes (3) in two innings as Wheeler did in 4. Got touched for a run, but hoping against hope he can find himself in the pen, because I haven't seen much from Wheeler other than that he can beat the Marlins.

Quietly, the Nats are digging themselves a substantial hole. Not only 8 games back in the loss column, but the division is just a lot better than expected, so the three teams ahead of them aren't pushovers.

Really good to see Bruce get a few knocks including the game winning HR. He was lost.

Very odd start for Ces. Hitting .197 overall -- hitting 5/45 on the road

Overall OPS .634 and a road OPS of .434, and yet he is 2nd in the NL with RBI (21 in 21 games) because:

None on: hitting .125 with a .410 OPS (.160/.250)
Runners on: hitting .282 with a .904 OPS (.364/.568)
RISP: hitting .375 (9-24) with a 1.131 OPS (.464/.667)
RISP 2-Out: hitting .600 (6-10) with a 1.836 OPS (.636/1.200)

I know RBI isn't a beloved stat anymore -- but in this case, it encapsulates the story -- Ces is paid to be a run producer, and that's what he's doing.

Really excellent win though. Hopefully Matz can rock and roll tonight and then turn the rotation back over to the top tomorrow.

In comment 13929616 arcarsenal said:

Quote:

That's what Jeurys Familia does when he's on. Absolutely disgusting.

He's been excellent this year overall. Huge bounce back from the clot surgery.

1.08 WHIP and 17 K in 13 innings. Sure, he contributed to a couple of melt-down losses, but overall he's been a top-flight closer.

In comment 13929499 arcarsenal said:

Quote:

In comment 13929488 Eric on Li said: Quote: In comment 13929479 arcarsenal said: Quote: Can we have Curtis back and send Bruce to TOR? 3 years for Bruce continues to be such a weird decision. If you reversed the contracts for Frazier and Bruce it would make a lot more sense, it's just odd given their "salary cap" that they valued Bruce so highly. I didn't really get it either. I like Jay Bruce. Nice guy, easy to root for. Just don't like the player that much. Some embarrassingly bad plays in the field and he's been pitiful at the dish so far. So much for the whole "let the best players play" bit - because Nimmo is performing and Bruce isn't.

wait who hit the game running HR again? lol

Bruce is playing through a Lisfranc injury/fracture, lets cut him some slack. He can be a goddam force when he gets hot

I know from personal experience that you double take every step you make when dealing with it.

Caught the recap this morning, great win. LGM!

*

Are to be expected with “elite closers”. To me 2 in a month is simply too much.

In comment 13930041 bhill410 said:

Quote:

Are to be expected with “elite closers”. To me 2 in a month is simply too much.

In his 3 full seasons as a met Familia has blown 5 saves each season, pitching ~77 innings in each season. So 2 blown saves in 13 innings is at least 1 more than his normal however he has also pitched a lot more than normal - he's on pace for 100 innings.

he also hasn't given up a home run yet this season - which to me is a big deal. His stuff moves so much and his control isn't pinpoint so he is always going to allow some walks and his sinker generates a ton of ground balls - some of which are going to get through. As long as he isn't giving up homers though he's as good of a reliever as there is in the game. If someone with more range was at 2B a couple nights ago they probably turn a DP on the ground ball triple. I wouldn't lose sight of the fact that both of his blown saves involved him stepping into a mess created by the guys in front of him.

In comment 13930041 bhill410 said:

Quote:

Are to be expected with “elite closers”. To me 2 in a month is simply too much.

Shouldn't you take in account of the 11 SVO and past inherited runners.

Also isn't Jansen a "Elite" closer, he's 3 for 5

after years of Parnell, Mejia, Beato...I appreciate a guy like Familia

In comment 13930041 bhill410 said:

Quote:

Are to be expected with “elite closers”. To me 2 in a month is simply too much.

If he blew 2 saves a month, he'd be blowing 12 saves a season. He hasn't even hit half that number.

Callaway simply tried to get too much out of him on Saturday. He pitched the night before that and then he was asked to get a 4 out save the next day after being ridden very hard in the early going.

Perhaps he just ran out of steam. It happens. Callaway has to get a better feel for how far he can push each of his relievers. This was a talking point during the broadcast last night.

We probably won't see him being asked to get inning+ saves the day after he just pitched. Maybe later in the season when perhaps the stakes are higher - but not in April.

Can you guys give me some names of guys you'd take over him? It's like no one has any context here. Several teams have closer carousels because no one can finish a game. Milwaukee blew 6 in a row a couple weeks ago with Knebel out.

2008 Brad Lidge seasons are extremely rare. If you use the same guy to close games all year, he's gonna blow a few.

Funny enough - the very season after Lidge went 41/41 with a sub-2 ERA, he posted a 7.41 ERA.

are in first place so hard to complain but Callaway's vaunted "new bullpen usage" has simply not been reality. Not really clear why?

In comment 13930394 DanMetroMan said:

Quote:

are in first place so hard to complain but Callaway's vaunted "new bullpen usage" has simply not been reality. Not really clear why?

Dont look now Dan, Phillies are breathing down Mets neck

In comment 13929774 Rory said:

Quote:

In comment 13929499 arcarsenal said: Quote: In comment 13929488 Eric on Li said: Quote: In comment 13929479 arcarsenal said: Quote: Can we have Curtis back and send Bruce to TOR? 3 years for Bruce continues to be such a weird decision. If you reversed the contracts for Frazier and Bruce it would make a lot more sense, it's just odd given their "salary cap" that they valued Bruce so highly. I didn't really get it either. I like Jay Bruce. Nice guy, easy to root for. Just don't like the player that much. Some embarrassingly bad plays in the field and he's been pitiful at the dish so far. So much for the whole "let the best players play" bit - because Nimmo is performing and Bruce isn't. wait who hit the game running HR again? lol Bruce is playing through a Lisfranc injury/fracture, lets cut him some slack. He can be a goddam force when he gets hot I know from personal experience that you double take every step you make when dealing with it. Caught the recap this morning, great win. LGM!

So I’d Bruce is injured (and it clearly affecting his production) why not give him more rest and use the hot player more?

Your “cut him some slack because he’s hurt” excuse doesn’t make much sense when we have (better) options.

are due to entering games in the middle of innings or with men on base...in comparison to starting with a clean inning. I could be wrong, but I don’t think he does well having to come in with men on base.

In comment 13930694 PhiPsi125 said:

Quote:

are due to entering games in the middle of innings or with men on base...in comparison to starting with a clean inning. I could be wrong, but I don’t think he does well having to come in with men on base.

I think he's actually been pretty good at getting out of seemingly tough situations. I think his problem is that he's not an elite strikeout pitcher yet bc he throws hard that leads to some hard contact and the defense behind him has always had holes. I feel like a lot of his blown saves combined a well placed hit with one of his inopportune walks.