3 UP
1. Team Still Cares
Perhaps it is because this is the Subway Series, but we really have not seen quit in these Mets players.
Noah Syndergaard was boasting before his start against the Yankees, and he largely backed it up by getting the win.
We saw Pat Roessler and Asdrubal Cabrera get tossed from a game because of their arguing balls and strikes.
Mickey Callaway sent out a rested Seth Lugo and Robert Gsellman for four innings to get the win on Friday.
The team should have been dead in the water Saturday being down four and with Aroldis Chapman on the mound. Instead, they fought back, and they nearly closed the gap.
And for what has been unwatchable offense much of the season, the team did score 13 runs in the two games they did play.
Overall, while this Mets team is not having a good season and the front office being a complete and utter mess, we see this team does have players on the roster who still care, and they are still playing hard.
2. Conforto Turning It Around?
The biggest positive to come from these two games was Michael Conforto. In the two game series Conforto was 3-for-7 with three runs, a double, homer, four RBI, and a walk.
If you look a little further out, Conforto has been turning things around of late. Over his last six games, Conforto is hitting .316/.440/.684 with two homers and seven RBI.
Maybe he’s getting back to better playing shape. Maybe he’s getting his timing back. Maybe he just needed those days off to reset. Whatever the case, if we are seeing the return of Conforto, there’s still hope yet for 2019.
3. Rosario Rebound
Friday was a tough game for Amed Rosario. While he was charged with just one error, he made a number of defensive miscues in the field, which led to the bulk of the Yankees runs, and it made that game much closer than it should have been. In addition to the tough night in the field, Rosario was 0-for-4 at the plate with two strikeouts.
Well, from the first batter of the game on Saturday, Rosario showed he put it all behind him with him flashing much better range and decision making in the field. Moreoever, he was the Mets best hitter that day going 3-for-4 with a run, stolen base, and a two out RBI.
Overall, one of the biggest things to follow in the second half of this season is the continued development of Rosario. One of the things we should be looking for is how he responds to bad games and failures. Based on this two game set, he took a step in the right direction.
3 DOWN
1. What We Have Here Is a Failure to Communicate
The second half of the season is not even four days old, and the Mets have a season’s worth of miscommunication and ineptitude in that time span.
First, there was the team claiming they had not idea Yoenis Cespedes needed surgery on both his heels or that said surgery required 10 months of rehabilitation. Really, this is a repeat of what we once saw with Carlos Beltran and his knee. Given the past history, it’s difficult to give the Mets the benefit of the doubt on this one.
As is their wont, the Mets then sent Callaway into the pre-game press conferences the ensuing day either ill informed, order to lie about what he knew, or both. This was all the more egregious when you consider Callaway was the sole person from the Mets organization who was available to speak over the weekend, at least since they all went in hiding since the Cespedes news broke.
Of course, while the Mets are trading away their biggest trade chip (more on that in a second), no one from the organization is available to speak with the media about the trade. The excuse then given was John Ricco, who despite his deer in the headlights look and stammering, is somehow now the voice of the organization, was away from the team due to a previously scheduled engagement.
Putting aside the communciation issue for a second, how is one of your three appointed GMs away from the team on a previously scheduled engagement less than two weeks away from the trade deadline?
It gets better. Apparently, it was J.P. Riccardi who “ran point” on the trade discussions with the Athletics.
So in total, we all had to wait for the guy who had little to do with the trade to speak because he couldn’t be bothered to be with the team at a time when they were trading away their biggest trade asset, and a former general manager in Riccardi couldn’t be trusted to speak with the media.
Seeing all the events which transpired, it is well worth revisiting MMO‘s Michael Mayer’s interview with Nick Francona which touched upon topics like the team’s culture and dysfunction.
2. Underwhelming Familia Return
As Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported, the Mets likened the return for Jeurys Familia to what they received in exchange from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for Addison Reed. Seeing Gerson Bautista, Jamie Callahan, and Stephen Nogosek, that shouldn’t exactly inspire confidence in Mets fans.
Also reported by Rosenthal, the Mets didn’t eat any of Familia’s salary because they didn’t believe the quality of return “didn’t justify it.” Certainly, no one would argue this return merited it, but that misses the point entirely.
The point is the Mets moved quickly to get the roughly $3 million remaining to Familia off the books. By and large, other executives and talent evaluators were underwhelmed with the return the Mets received, and that’s putting it mildly.
Fact is, the Mets told everyone they would eat salary for a better return in a trade. In their first trade, they didn’t eat salary, and they didn’t get a good return.
In the end, Keith Law of ESPN put it best when he said, “For a franchise that operates in the largest market in the league to do this — and do so ten days before the trade deadline rather than waiting for someone to offer a legitimate return — is embarrassing for the Mets and for Major League Baseball as a whole.
3. Non Major Leaguers Playing Games
Arguably, the Mets lost on Saturday because Matt den Dekker, a player in there solely for his defensive prowess, was flat out awful in center field. To make matters worse, he is 0-for-17 on the season. Really, when you can’t do the one thing you purportedly do well, and you put up offensive stats reminiscent of Bartolo Colon‘s tenure with the Mets, you should not be in the Major Leagues.
And yes, at this point it is beating a dead horse, but Jose Reyes should not be playing in games, even ones which afford the Mets an opportunity to DH Cabrera.
What makes this all the more disconcerting is these are at-bats being taken away from Jeff McNeil, who has seemingly played everywhere but second base after the Mets declared him to be just a second baseman.
