Yesterday, I posted one Mets related question from Keith Law’s chat on ESPN on Wednesday – the one about Mets fans possibly suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. I’ll include that one again along with some other questions he fielded regarding the Mets.
Chris: Josh Satin, Lucas Duda, Allan Dykstra….how nauseous does it make you when people recommend them as starters at 1B for Mets?
Klaw: It’s baseball’s Stockholm Syndrome – fans of bad teams latch on to mediocre players when that’s the best they’ve got. And then they accuse me of hating their teams when I point out that, hey, Junior Lake isn’t anything to get excited about.
Jack: Klaw, I saw that John Manuel said that scouts he talked to in the FSL preferred CJ Edwards to Syndergaard (better breaking ball, better secondary offerings, also throws hard). This seems crazy to me. Wasn’t Syndergaard posting triple digits? What do you think about those 2 pitchers?
Klaw: I didn’t see John’s piece, but I can completely understand that point of view. Velocity doesn’t make the pitcher and Edwards has a far better breaking ball. Syndergaard is much further along, which balances things out somewhat.
James: Brandon Nimmo is showing no pop and he isn’t stealing bases. If he is destined for a corner OF position, has his stock gone off a cliff this season?
Klaw: Savannah is a brutal place for power. I’d stay off the ledge for a bit.
Kevin: I know he was old for the level, But Steven Matz had a nice year. Could there be a solid #4 starter there if he is healthy.
Klaw: I haven’t seen him post-surgery, but given his delivery, especially the head-whack, and subsequent injury, I’d say he’s more likely a reliever than a starter.
Thoughts from Joe D.
I think it’s way too early to write Matz off as a reliever. He’s responded and performed well post-surgery and is in the top ten in the league in many pitching categories. He’ll be over a year removed from surgery next season and after a Winter of rest, I suspect he’ll start the season in St. Lucie and end it in Binghamton much like Syndergaard has.
I haven’t seen Edwards pitch so I’ll leave it to the experts as to which pitcher is better, but I love what I’ve seen from Syndergaard thus far. Next season will be his biggest test.
I’m concerned about Nimmo… I don’t like what some scouts are now saying about him, and the Mets might have to move him to a corner outfield position next year because he lacks range. Most likely left because his arm doesn’t play well in right field either. He doesn’t have the power many expected. It’s hard enough to develop a teenager who did come from a baseball program, so the odds on Nimmo were always long and even DePo admitted it was a crapshoot based on ceiling. I’m thinking we can now call it a Hail Mary pass.
