22
2012
Hits & Misses: Local Boys Making Noise, We Want Mike, Mets Bullpen Outperforming Rotation?
An article by 
According to MetsBlog, since July 6, a span of 11 games, the Mets have pitched to a 5.99 ERA over 97 2/3 innings. Mets starting pitchers have pitched to a 6.93 ERA, the bullpen has pitched to a 4.42 ERA over that span. So yes, the worst bullpen in baseball is now out-performing our starting rotation. Not surprisingly, the Mets are 2-9 over those 11 games. Hey, you all know the deal… It was our starting pitching that carried us through what was a pretty kick-ass run all things considered. But as I’ve been saying since we first lost Gee, if we don’t find a way to continue that same level of pitching, it’s over. The losing will continue because our offense isn’t good enough to score 5+ runs per game. Wright can’t do it alone. And no, I’m not being negative, some of you just need to get real.
That said, I’m not totally against pursuing players at the deadline as long as they can help this year AND beyond. Sandy Alderson is a genius as most of you know and that concept is not over his head, right? I do love the way Alderson always says things in Lawyer-Speak. Alderson told reporters yesterday that “the presumption is we will be buyers before the deadline, but the next 7-10 days will dictate what we will actually do,” LOL, I knew ther would be a ‘but” in there somewhere. Anyway, you all know what I’ve been saying about this, the Mets are buyers in words, but sellers in actions. The Mets needed help two weeks ago and they can hardly afford to wait 7-10 more days for it. The teams that also need help have already made moves, right now we are just passive bystanders. Poor Terry…
The Braves are talking to the Red Sox about Jon Lester, I always loved Lester. If they get him, Wren will sign him and the Braves will start looking like they did during the Glavine/Maddux/Smoltz era. Plan B is Zack Greinke or Ryan Dempster which would be like Plan AAA+++ if the Mets were really serious about being buyers in light of the Santana and Gee setbacks. Pssst, they’re not buyers, they’re just Harvard lawyers.
Good news. Mike Baxter is getting close to a return. As soon as the Mets activate him, we’ll have a real bona-fide outfielder on the roster. Whitestone Mike went 2-for-3 with two singles, a run scored, one RBI and one walk for Double-A Binghamton last night. We could use some of that in Flushing right now. Hurry up already Mike, the team is ten games under .500 without you.
Our two untouchables, Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler, were very touchable this weekend as both were torched and beat up pretty good. Even the best pitchers can have a bad day, but it was ironic that they both pitched their worst performances of the season a day apart and in the midst of all this debate about each of them being ready to pitch in the majors. Ummm… No they’re not. Shake it off guys and go back out there and give it that old college try… Uhh, high school try for you Wheels.
I got some minor stuff for you. MMO friend Cory Mazzoni was placed on the DL yesterday with a thumb injury. It’s nothing major I’ve been told. We love Cyclones pitcher John Mincone and yesterday he said he loves MMO. “Love all your work over there!” Well we love all his work too as John is one of the most impressive players and someone to keep an eye on in Brooklyn. Speaking of impressive, Steve Matz is back with a vengeance and a little bird told me that he could soon team up with fellow New Yorker Mincone where he’ll be wowing the crowds at MCU Park. That would be pretty awesome if it happens. Matz, 21, is hitting mid to high nineties on the radar gun consistently and he’s a lefty. Keep telling yourself that.
Have a great day and know that I appreciate your continued support.
STEVE MATZ: He’s throwing hard, and coming at ya.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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Yep some genius GM we have. The best starting option he has to replace Gee is Miguel Batista. And the bullpen he “revamped” has been the worst in baseball – Some genius alright.
Very happy to hear about Mike Baxter, I think he’ll provide a little spark to the outfield mix. Remember Scott Hairston was frequently touted as a great defensive outfielder? He’s been a great right bat for us, but he looks out of his element this season in the outfield. I hope that turns around. Also thanks for the update on Matz. Glad to see he is throwing the ball that hard. What was his velocity when we drafted him and before the arm problems? We appreciate all that you do here too Joe. Now lets go get us a win! LGM
Hi Joe D.
Took me back a bit when you started off saying “Sandy Alderson is a genius as most of you know ” before reading on.
Had me scared there.
Only thing I disagree with you is that the Mets can’t score five runs a game. It seems their bats are able to do that most times. It’s just that the pitchers can’t stop allowing opposing clubs to score even more.
Know I’m repeating myself and many here disagree, but do you think the club would still be in a better position if they tried to keep Pagan, Capuano, Krod and Issringhausen who were on the roster last year? So many bring up the issue of KRod’s ridiculous salary but does it matter compared to what he would have been producing?
If the Wilpon situation is so bad that they really could not absorb that salary, then they should indeed be looking to sell the team instead of dragging it down. But as we know, it is a personal thing for the family to retain ownership of the club and as understandable as how hard the emotional separation would be on them, I don’t think this would cause the family to become dysfunctional, either. And a lot of that misfortune they brought upon themselves by building an expensive ball park and making it too expensive for most fans to enjoy (as long as they don’t sit in the left field promenade or rely on escalators to take them to the top).
I think it’s important for Mets fans to understand that this team (before the collapse of the SP) is not talented enough as currently constructed to be a 85+ win team and that rebuilding has a higher priority than “being competitive”
Sandy deserves total blame for his moves not working out, however, I will not blame him for not making things worse to cover up his mistake with a bad trade.
Had Sandy traded for Huston Street or some other rental player 6 weeks ago, the Mets would certainly have a better record, but they would have needed to give up a top prospect in order to do that which is clearly not going to happen, nor should it.
If you believe the Mets with a really good bullpen is a 90 win team, you have every right to believe that, but I’m not letting an overachieving bunch that lacks talent fool me into thinking we are better than Atlanta, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cincinnati and St. Louis.
Stay the course, keep rebuilding and in 2014 we can be a formidable team that will be in the playoff race every year from then on…
Yeah let’s not even try and win now. Let’s not ever have a 1973 or 1969 happen again because there will be no late runs this season right? This team doesn’t need to add pieces because they’re not gonna have a late run.
But 2014 you guarantee fighting for the post season every year right? That WILL happen, right? And there will be no more good runs by this team in the first year of a second wild card right? Since you already know there will be no more hot streaks for this team then why even go to the games right? But 2014 and beyond is guaranteed to have NO heart breaking defeats. Zack Wheeler and Matt Harvey WILL be 1&2 in the rotation and they won’t have .500 records or they won’t pitch good but Ike Davis or Jordanny break a wrist and are out for a month. That’s not gonna happen anymore right? Our relievers won’t blow any more late season games starting in 2014 right?
And this team has no more hot streaks in them for the rest of July, August, & September and therefore they don’t need to add components like SP, bullpen, righty catcher. How silly for those other teams that are making moves to try and compete to the end right?
Dillon Gee is done for the year, Dickey is no longer CY Young, Santana is on the DL.
Our biggest strength was our SP and now it’s almost as bad as our bullpen.
How do you possibly fix 1 spot in the rotation, 3 spots in the BP, a RH bat in the OF and another catcher in 2 weeks?
You TRY! That’s baseball. This is competition and competition starts in the administrative end too otherwise get the hell out of the sports business. Even when Frank Cashen was rebuilding he always TRIED to win every year even in the early 80s. When you have a chance you TRY. That’s the only reason to be in the sports business because these opportunities may not come again in years.
And also teams can get help in September too, but forget it because you already gave up thinking that things will be better in 2014. It’s guaranteed. There will be no more injuries or late game collapses starting in 2014.
Hi Bayonne,
That is the point I was making about 2011.
Many think we were playing over their heads and were going to stumble and thus saw us as a seller despite being in the position we were and how we were playing. That is the justification for Beltran/Wheeler. But it doesn’t matter if one feels the team was going nowhere and just hanging around – what does matter is that for the fans, the Mets are a dream factory and the front office has seemed to forget. They are in the business of giving us dreams, not analytical thought.
Anyone can say that the team was going to implode and fall apart based on the talent it had and the competition it was facing. That is a valid point and most likely would have occurred. However, that’s the fun of rooting. That is why we sit around the set and go to the ballpark yelling “let’s go Mets”. That’s whyt the front office – with it’s objective non-emotional mindset doesn’t understand what their actions last summer cost them in terms of fan support, fan confidence, ticket sales and just plain fan anger. I have never seen so many fans so disenchanted and disgusted since the late seventies.
One cannot run a sports franchise the way one runs a law office. Lawyers say they are not interested in whether or not their clients are truly innocent or guilty and need to remain detached to do their job according to the letter of the law. But it also means being detached from the spirit of the law. To run a sports franchise, one needs to be of an opposite mindset, not be detached from the spirit of competition but to embrace it. One cannot run a sports team in the same analytical manner as one runs a law practice. To be a healthy and vibrant sports franchise, it has to be run with that competitive spirit – not an analytical one. When a team is winning, even if one’s mind he or she believes they are just hanging around for a while, to be more concerned with starting all over and building from scratch indicates an emptiness of that spirit
And as fans, we know it. It didn’t matter if we were fooling ourselves into thinking the 2011 team had something special which it didn’t It didn’t matter that we couldn’t detach ourselves from our emotions that others could and see that what we were hoping for was an illusion more than reality. What matters most is that type of illusion is about about having hope – misguided or not. To think one’s team has a chance to do something is the diversion of what sports is all about. It’s not about reality – it’s a break from reality.
Sports is a dream factory. It is for dreaming. That is what makes it fun. That’s how come we refer to the team as ours and put ourselves alongside the players and call them “we”. Yes, it’s all an illusion, of course but that is what the front office fails to see. It’s more than just winning – it’s about the hope of winning. It’s about us arguing about traditional viewpoints versus aber facts. It’s about us thinking we know more about the game than the manager. It’s about some believing in the 2011 team and others not believing in it.
That’s why I love the Mets. It’s a diversion. And the owners don’t seem to recognize it. Once it stops becoming fun, then the franchise becomes less important to us. And that is what the analytical mindset is failing to take into account.
Think this is your first post I totally agree with Joe. Glad your coming around to my way of thinking!!! (ha, ha)
I’ll give you this Joe D, you did a good job on importing many of the terms used by others in the past to describe their displeasure with the GM. Genius (in a sarcastic mode), lawyer-speak and Harvard lawyers. The only one missing is God.
Good to read Baxter is progressing on his rehab. His bat off the bench this year provided so many big hits for us. It be nice if he can get back and continue where he left off.
Saw the John Mincone twitter comments with MMO. Pretty cool & well deserved the props he gave MMO. You guys do a great job covering the Mets minors. Though I have one question. What happened with that Donnelly interview?
I just love to tease people, lol. One of my best friends who runs a great and popular political site, always told me not to think of myself as a writer, blogger or a journalist, times have changed. You are an entertainer and your readership is your audience, so entertain them and let them boo or cheer. I tell that to my writers all the time.
Now as for the Donnelly interview. Oh boy where do I begin. Without sounding like I’m knocking MetsBlog because I’m not, I’m a huge fan, I’m not that big on videos and audios when it comes to interviews.
When we do interview it’s never a Twitter or Email exchange it’s either a 30-60 minute phone call or a meeting in person before a game or on their day off. The biggest drawback to that is transcribing everything. It takes for ever and if you use a service it’s just so costly.
We have back-log right now of interviews we’ve conducted with Phil Evans, Steve Matz, Brad Marquez, Keven Plawecki, Jeff Reynolds, and about a 7-8 others including Donnelly.
I think we are finally starting to catch up and I know for a fact Matz is going up tomorrow, plus a great on regarding Cecchini and a real eye-opener about what really happened with Teddy Stankiewicz negotiations that broke down as told by his family.
Hopefully the Donnelly interview which is packed with great insights will be up soon. Pete is busy this week as he will be on assignment getting more interviews with a half dozen B-Mets including all the big ones on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Meanwhile get ready to read a cool one I’m working on with Tyler Pill, a name that all of you should start familiarizing yourselves with if you haven’t already.
We’re pleased to announce that MLB.com’s Mike Barrett has joined MMO and he will be helping us out in the coming weeks with even more player stuff.
So bear with us.
I hear you on those transcribing services. I have never used it myself but I’ve read the program “Dragon Naturally Speaking” does a good job at transcribing. Something you may want to consider if you haven’t already. Here is the url.
http://www.nuance.com/talk/
Same exact spot we were in last season right about this time.
Not sure why anyone should be surprised about the buyers/sellers debate.