It’s World Series or bust for the 2023 Mets. Owner Steve Cohen made that clear by signing Justin Verlander to replace Jacob deGrom, and it became more clear when Cohen made an effort to sign Carlos Correa. Fielding a rotation that runs five-deep of elder statesmen means you’re not looking at the long term, at least for the moment. It’s about now. Mets fans, reasonably, wonder...
Read More
All Mets fans know that Pete Alonso is one of the biggest sluggers in baseball. As the questions at Jeff McNeil’s introductory press conference suggested, signing Alonso to a contract extension must now be a top priority for Steve Cohen and Billy Eppler. If McNeil is a homegrown Met star, Alonso is a homegrown Met superstar. Alonso has had his ups and downs just like any other hitter....
Read More
In the analytics era, lineup construction comes down to two central concepts that are often conflicting: batter strengths and handedness matchups. In 2022, Buck Showalter seemed to stick with the dual philosophies that handedness > strengths and lineup consistency > matchups. Those ideals are also contradictory at times, which led to some strange lineup decisions. The Mets will roll back a...
Read More
Options aren’t everything, and the Mets should know that. In a report about the Mets’ interest in free-agent lefty reliever Andrew Chafin, SNY’s Andy Martino stated that the Mets would prefer a bullpen arm with options remaining. This would indicate that Chafin and Zach Britton, with whom the Mets have also been linked, are not their preferred targets. It has been widely...
Read More
There’s a lot of speculation and hoopla around the limitations on the infield shift and how it may affect various hitters. Earlier this week, I speculated about how the rule changes might impact various Mets’ hitters. There has been less chatter about how the changes will affect specific pitchers, though. At the request of some commenters on the hitting article, let’s dive into...
Read More
