Starting Lineups for both clubs tonight
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Probable Starting Pitcher Matchups for tonight in Flushing against the Pirates.
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#LFGM!
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Notes:
-The Mets and Pirates start off the day 8.5 games behind the Marlins for the last Wildcard spot in the NL (click
HERE to see the Playoff Status of teams in the NL).
-The Mets have a record of 53-65, which ties them with the Tigers and Pirates for the 7th/8th/9th worst record in MLB (click
HERE to keep track on Tankathon).
-Only 1 game separates the five teams with the 5th through 9th worst records in MLB:
Cards, Nats, Pirates, Tigers, 7 Mets.
-The way the lineup looks tonight with Arauz, Ortega, and Vogelbach, combined with Cookie the Crumbler on the mound, losing is the most likely end result.
-The weather looks decent, but there's a chance for showers later on in the night. Click
HERE to check on the Hourly AccuWeather Report at Citi Field tonight.
-All three games of this series at home against the kindred bottom-feeding Pirates will be on SNY.
-Yesterday, the Mets transferred RHP Elieser Hernández from the 15-day injured list to the 60-day injured list. They also sent RHP Reed Garrett back down to Syracuse yesterday after he served as the 27th man for both games of Saturday's Doubleheader massacre.
-They also optioned RHP Edwin Uceta to Syracuse.
-Click
HERE to the Mets' List of Transactions.
-The Mets' 4-man bench for this game will consist of
Narvaez, Mendick, Locastro, & Stewart.
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Tweet - Funhouse @BackAftaThis - 5:51 PM · Aug 14, 2023 · 33.5K Views - ( New Window )
Mets vs. Pirates | 7:10 pm EDT start - August 14, 2023 - TV Broadcast: Mets' feed - SNY: Gary & Keith (strfi5h.blogspot.com)
Mets vs. Pirates | 7:10 pm EDT start - August 14, 2023 - TV Broadcast: Pirates' feed - ATT SportsNet-PIT (strfi5h.blogspot.com)
MLB.com - Gameday: Pitch by Pitch - Mets vs. Pirates - August 14, 2023 - 7:10 pm EDT start
Note: Ron isn't doing the game tonight.
Enjoy tonight's farce...I mean game! ;-)
-Coonrod is with the big club tonight.
-Click HERE to see the Mets' updated 26-man active roster.
Tweet - Mike Mayer @mikemayer22 - 6:25 PM · Aug 14, 2023 · 14.5K Views - ( New Window )
No prob. Thank you to you guys about suggestions for them as well. If I can make 'em, then I will.
I think I'll shorten the Notes section more as we go forward (not much of note to really note anymore anyway) since this season is #tanked to high hell. I'm not gonna make a thread on Thursday. One of you guys can go ahead and start one then. Takin' a lady friend of mine out that night, haha.
I keep hearing the clubhouse is toxic; I don't know who should stay and who should go, I know that if you trade Alonso you better bring back something effin' great. It's not quite like trading Seaver but damn.
Disappointed in the Baby Mets right now. Mauricio never made it up; Baty's back down; Vientos looks overmatched in the field and at the plate. Alvarez is doing great for a 21-year-old rookie but I hope he makes more consistent contact as he grows up.
But I'm WAY more disappointed in the vets.
This is their chance to earn one for next season as the 5th starter. Mets will most likely sign two starting pitchers in FA. Senga and Quintana will have the other two spots in the rotation. Megill and Peterson are basically fighting it out now for that 5th spot. The Mets have have Blade Tidwell and Mike Vasil on the come---more likely for 2025 though. By 2025 Quintana will have been gone from the teams since his contract expires after the 2024 season. They're not gonna spend willy nilly.
They'll target at least one youngster. Yamamoto is about to turn 25 in a couple of days and Urias is 26 now. If they can get both that would be even better. We all know about Ohtani. He trumps all of course and is 29 now. Get two guys---one of whom is in his mid 20s and avoid any guys in their mid to late 30s in FA. Hopefully Christian Scott and Brandon Sproat after him can add to that staff or bullpen as well.
METS MINORS RECAP: RYAN CLIFFORD STAYS HOT, CHRISTIAN SCOTT PITCHES A GEM | Posted by Ricky Keeler | Aug 13, 2023
Mets Pitching Prospect Scott Makes Huge Jump in Top 30 Rankings: Christian Scott is pitching at Double-A Binghamton and moved nearly 20 spots in the New York Mets' Top 30 prospect rankings. | MATTHEW POSTINSAUG 13, 2023 9:00 AM EDT
Mets sign top draft picks Colin Houck and Brandon Sproat: The Mets have signed their first two picks from the amateur draft. - By Chris McShane@chrismcshane | Jul 14, 2023 - 5:44pm EDT
Please explain.
That wouldn’t surprise me, he was a major issue 2 years ago when he refused to position himself where coaches wanted him to. So yeah, McNeil’s the problem, but trade Alonso.
I guess if Sal Licata was a doctor, he’d say, “well, you have lung cancer, so let’s remove your leg”.
Quote:
Mcneil is the problem
That wouldn’t surprise me, he was a major issue 2 years ago when he refused to position himself where coaches wanted him to. So yeah, McNeil’s the problem, but trade Alonso.
I guess if Sal Licata was a doctor, he’d say, “well, you have lung cancer, so let’s remove your leg”.
Here's an old article with a video clip...
Francisco Lindor grabbed Jeff McNeil by throat during Mets’ ‘rat-raccoon’ altercation | By Mike Puma | November 3, 2021 | 5:44pm | NYPost.com
mcneil just signed a $50m extension so it's not quite the same as veterans in training camp stiffing a rookie with a big check, but lindor is set to earn almost 3x this year ($27m) what mcneil has made his entire career so far (11m career earnings including this season).
im not saying it has but neither side should have let something like this become a distraction even on the level of the article linked below being written.
alonso also shouldnt have let his contract discussions drag the way they have. cohen has proven he's willing to pay people, i have a hard time believing he's drawing some unreasonable line with alonso.
when you have an owner throwing around record sums of money to individual players, it is absolutely a risk that some guys in the clubhouse are going to want to get theirs too, and feel slighted.
Francisco Lindor Still Hasn't Fulfilled Promise to Jeff McNeil - ( New Window )
everyone has been pissed with a co-worker, and even if there's zero impact on whatever your work is it's not positive.
again zero idea if this is real or nothing, but something has been off in the clubhouse since may.
shecky noted marte has been a different guy this year and marte gave a weird interview right around that same time, maybe he turned into a negative when his game diminished rapidly? who knows.
last year was all positive vibes this was just a year where everything went entirely the opposite way.
we are talking about 2 guys that fought in the dugout 2 years ago over field positioning.
yes it would be great if everyone had 0 emotions and just did their job but thats not how things go at any workplace but especially pro sports. geno smith got his jaw broken for not paying a guy back $600.
i have no idea if lindor or mcneil were problems this year and im not making an excuse for anyone on the team if they allowed anything to be a distraction whether this, or alonso and his contract, or marte and his injuries, or whoever. but it appeared something was a distraction to have so many players underperform at once.
mcneil is now hitting .280 with a 107 rc in the 2nd half, he's not that expensive and plays a bunch of positions so he's movable but when they just extended him you would think it's because they want to keep him. he wasn't a free agent he was a known quantity they didnt need to extend.
id be surprised if the lindor/mcneil thing is the problem. i think it's one of many strange things in the clubhouse this year that just wasnt handled well. some by players some by org.
DMM is right about Jeff's versatility and relatively low salary. I'm just concerned about these rumors with him being difficult. None of these vets should be sacred cows though at this point. I think these remaining players all saw that, especially Pete.
we can obviously see that marte has had a very strange year both with injuries and performance.
the way scherzer is pitching now maybe we can say that there was an adjustment period to the pitch clock impacting him earlier in the year. in his last 6 starts he's 4-1 with a 2.25 era. he's 12-4 with a 3.67 era on the season and he's 1 start away from making the same number he made last year. so that demise was overrated (not saying the trade was mistake).
other stuff like mcneil's fall off and like those pop ups nimmo has dropped all year is hard to explain, and may just be the types of things that happen when players press because things are going bad.
He’s the only teammate to have an issue with Lindor - reportedly because of a power struggle between the star shortstop and the second baseman.
I’ll never forget McNeil holding the wrestling championship belt that they give to the player of the game - in a game that the new rookie Brett Baty clearly won for the team single handed.
And I’ve never see a player have more tantrums after striking out or grounding out. This guy throws more bats and helmets because he just can’t get it done.
It’s exhausting and a shitty tone to set for the clubhouse and the younger players. I’ve said it for a while - McNeil is likely problem #1 in the Mets clubhouse. Either have him shape up or ship him out.
i think this was just (another) really disappointing year because as an organization they are trying to move faster then they are capable of and there's no 1 single person responsible for why it went the way it did. though i do think a manager with a reputation of running a good clubhouse and fundamental soundness deserves some time under the microscope.
How Jeff McNeil’s path to an extension with the Mets began with a simple dinner - ( New Window )
Quote:
Similarly, Eppler wanted explore retaining who he considered to be the model “Dirtbag.” There are club officials remaining with the Mets who, like Eppler, have long admired how McNeil seems to always make contact, how he obsesses over winning, and how he plays so hard. Drew Toussaint, the former amateur scout who recommended McNeil in 2013, earned a recent promotion as the Mets’ amateur scouting director. He was in attendance at McNeil’s news conference.
i think this was just (another) really disappointing year because as an organization they are trying to move faster then they are capable of and there's no 1 single person responsible for why it went the way it did. though i do think a manager with a reputation of running a good clubhouse and fundamental soundness deserves some time under the microscope. How Jeff McNeil’s path to an extension with the Mets began with a simple dinner - ( New Window )
So, just another in a long line of horrible Eppler moves or philosophies?
Either way, you can obssess over winning/play hard without acting like a petulant child all the time when it doesn’t work out. Most players are able to do it.