3 UP

1.  Rosario Is Here

The Mets have finally called-up Amed Rosario, and the shortstop has already given fans a glimpse of the player he could well be.  We have already seen him make plays neither Asdrubal Cabrera nor Jose Reyes could make at any point this season. In fact, he’s the first Mets player to hit two triples in his first three games.

According to Statcast, on that second triple, he was the fastest player in three years to go from home to thirdd since 2015.

During Tuesday’s game, there was a ground ball hit by Trevor Story.  Between the route to the ball and the glove tap, Story barely beat out Rosario’s throw to first.  There was a similar play the following game.  Rosario attacked the ball with a much more direct route, and he made the throw on the run.  This time, he beat Story.

In Rosario’s opening series against the Rockies, there were a number of plays that could get you excited. His handling of the second Story groundball is perhaps the most exciting of all because it shows us just how great he is going to be.

2.  Bullpen Arms Stepping Up

While the offense was really impressive in the Mets rallying back from a 5-0 deficit on Wednesday, what really stood out was the Mets bullpen combining to pitch six scoreless innings in Coors Field of all places. As noted by MMO‘s own Michael Mayer, the six scoreless innings was the most combined scoreless innings by a bullpen at Coors Field by a visiting bullpen in over seven years.

There were a number of standout performances.  Chasen Bradford pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first major league win.  There were signs of life from Fernando Salas who struck out two in his one inning of work.  Paul Sewald pitched high leverage innings to preserve the lead, and AJ Ramos pitched his first scoreless inning as a Met.

The Mets have also seen an improvement from Josh Smoker. He had two scoreless appearances in the series with two strikeouts. In fact, he’s been much better since his most recent call-up. In his last six appearances, he has a 1.69 ERA.

Unfortunately, Hansel Robles hasn’t been able to keep pace allowing the winning run in both 5-4 losses in this series. This might have something to do with his losing feeling in his fingers.

3.  Cabrera the Third Baseman

Since moving to third base, Asdrubal Cabrera has been hitting .360/.389/.480.

With his improved play at the position, he may rekindle teams interests. That includes the Mets, who are now re-considering picking up his 2018 option.

3 DOWN

1. Smith Remains in Triple-A

In the Month of July, there was perhaps no better hitter than Dominic Smith in the minor leagues.  During that month, he hit .385/.437/.725 with 13 doubles, eight homers, and 26 RBI.  Between how he has continuously improved during the season and the trade of Lucas Duda, Smith should have been promoted to the majors.  His play on the field has certainly earned him a promotion.

Instead, the Mets are going out there and playing a combination of Jay Bruce and Wilmer Flores at first base, neither of whom will be the Mets everyday first baseman in 2018.  If the move is done to find a spot for Curtis Granderson in the lineup, he’s not going to be the right fielder next year.

The Mets sold at the deadline, and with the call-up of Rosario, the team has unofficially announced they have shifted their focus from 2017 to 2018.  The time for showcasing the veterans, who garnered no interest at the trade deadline, has since passed.  With that in mind, every day Smith remains in Triple-A is another wasted day.  He needs to be at the major league level learning what it takes to succeed as a major league player, so he can be ready to take over the first base job next year.

2.Walker Struggling

While the time to showcase veterans has arguably passed, that is not the case for Neil Walker.  The second baseman was on the disabled list with a torn hamstring, which was an impediment to a potential deal.  Arguably, Walker coming back and playing well could create a market for his services.  Unfortunately, it has not worked out that way.

Since returning from the disabled list, Walker is 2-17 at the plate with no extra base hits and one RBI while striking out seven times.  In the field, Walker has not looked as good, and he has already made three errors since returning.  Those three errors in his five games played are one more than the two he committed in the 60 games he played before going on the disabled list.

There is still time for Walker to improve and play the way he was playing earlier in the season.  However, time is running short with the Mets having under one month remaining to move him.

3.  Mets Refusing to Trade Duda to the Yankees

In Jon Heyman’s recent article for Fan Rag Sports, he includes a quote from an unnamed Yankees official who said of Lucas Duda, “the Mets just wouldn’t trade him to us.”

Now, we don’t know if what the Yankees could have beat the return of Drew Smith.  However, that is besides the point.

Throughout the period prior to the trade deadline, there were whispers the Mets were refusing to make trades with the Yankees or Nationals because they did not want to help their competition.  As a result, the Mets made a short-sided and petty decision that could have limited the market for not just Duda and Addison Reed, but for everyone.  If the Yankees were to obtain Duda, maybe the Rays make a deal for Jay Bruce or Curtis Granderson.  If the Mets made Duda available to the Yankees, maybe the Rays might’ve upped their offer for Duda.  Fact is, we’ll never know.

What we do know is the Mets did not even put a deep Yankee farm system into play when trading Duda.  That’s just a dumb business decision regardless of whether the return for Duda would have improved or not.