The 2016 season for the New York Mets can be described as an insanely long and arduous roller coaster ride. Boarding the ride is the beginning of the season, giddy and excited for it to start and see where it takes you. Then you slowly make the climb up the old wooden planks, creeping higher and higher, trying to reach first place. The ride then reaches the ultimate height; your’e staring out high above everyone else, as the Mets did when they were atop the National League East standings in early May.
But as we all know, roller coasters don’t just coast gingerly around an easy track, they endure twists, turns, loops, and sudden drops that once you’re safely off the ride, you’re reaching for some antacids because your stomach is in knots, something that many Met fans endure while watching this team on a nightly basis!
And so, with 32 games left on the regular season, the Mets must take advantage of a weak September schedule, where they face the Phillies, Reds, Braves, and Twins for a total of 19 games, and hope that their core nucleus of offensive weapons can stay relatively healthy for the remainder of the year.
With the Mets facing issues with their starting rotation, the offense needs to continue to score runs as they have this past week when they scored 40 runs in six games against the Cardinals and Phillies, who they went 4-2 against. They also need to solve their seventh inning conundrum, where Hansel Robles has been dreadful this past month and Jim Henderson is slowly getting back into shape after missing time with right biceps tendonitis. Collins also must be careful with handling Addison Reed and Jeurys Familia, who are both on pace to reach career highs in games pitched this season.
The Mets face two huge series against the Marlins and Nationals this week at home, clubs the Mets are currently looking up at in the standings, and look to continue inching closer and closer to a wild card berth, giving fans a fun-filled, yet nerve-racking September.
As always, here are your MMO Players of the Week for August 22 to August 28.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK: ASDRUBAL CABRERA
Asdrubal “Slim Shady” Cabrera is MMO’s Offensive Player of the Week, after he had one of his greatest offensive weeks as a Met, going 12-for-22 (.545), with eight RBI, five runs scored, four doubles, three home runs, two walks, and a stolen base. He had a multi-hit game in four of the six played this week, and recorded a hit in all six.
Cabrera had returned from the disabled list on August 19, along with Yoenis Cespedes, joining the team in San Francisco for their road trip. Cabrera was battling a strained patella tendon in his left knee after injuring it on August 1 against the Colorado Rockies at home, missing the next 16 games.
Cabrera has been a steady fixture in the two-hole since his return, as he and Jose Reyes have made for a formidable one-two punch in the batting order, giving the Mets a strong on-base presence, and some occasional pop atop the order.
Case in point, the bottom of the first in Friday’s 9-4 win against the Phillies. Reyes leads off the game with a homer, his fourth on the season on a 2-1 fastball from LHP Adam Morgan. Cabrera digs in next, and pounces on a first pitch fastball to right-center field for his 14th homer of the season. Cabrera wasn’t done, as he belted another homer to right in the sixth off of reliever RHP Frank Herrmann, on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Cabrera would hit another homer the following day, this time in the third inning after Reyes led off the inning with a soft single to left. Cabrera’s 16th homer of the season gave the Mets their first lead of the day, and ultimately led to the 12-1 blowout.
Unfortunately, Cabrera left Sunday’s 5-1 loss in the bottom of the first, after he reached on a bunt single to third. Cabrera collided with first baseman Tommy Joseph, who was jumping to try and reach the high throw from Phillies’ starter Vincent Velasquez. Cabrera was clutching his arm after the play, but stayed in the game for Kelly Johnson‘s ensuing at-bat. Johnson reached on a single, moving Cabrera to second, but clearly Cabrera was in a considerable amount of pain. This time it was his knee that was bothering him, as he walked off the field with trainer Ray Ramirez and manager Terry Collins, being replaced at short by Wilmer Flores.
Hopefully Cabrera doesn’t miss much time with the latest injury, as he has become an intricate part to the Mets’ offensive success in the past week. His 16 homers is his highest total since 2012 (also 16), and his .767 OPS is his highest since 2011 (.792).
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: ROBERT GSELLMAN
Rookie right-hander Robert Gsellman gets the nod for MMO’s Pitcher of the Week, as he made two appearances against the Cardinals and Phillies. For his major league debut, Gsellman was called upon in the first inning of last Tuesday’s game, when starter Jon Niese left after recording only one out with an apparent knee injury. Niese will undergo surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee, requiring at least four weeks of recovery.
Niese got the Mets into some trouble early, walking two of the first three batters in the first before giving up an R.B.I. single to Brandon Moss. That’s when Collins turned to Gsellman (who he should’ve started to begin with due to issues with Niese’s knee troubles), and although two more runners scored (charged to Niese), Gsellman was able to limit the damage, and turned in 3.2 innings of two-hit ball, along with two strikeouts in his first major league victory. Gsellman flashed a mid nineties fastball, and a sharp slider that had some good spin on it. According to TrackMan, Gsellman averaged a RPM of 2,445 that night, well above league average of 2,284. Some note that the higher the RPM, the tougher it is to see and ultimately hit.
Gsellman made his first major league start on Sunday’s finale against the Phillies, looking for the sweep. Gsellman pitched superbly through the first six innings, limiting the Phillies to just one run on four hits, an R.B.I. double off the bat of Jimmy Paredes in the fourth, plating Maikel Franco. Gsellman had a low pitch count through six (84 pitches) so Collins sent the 23-year-old righty back out for the seventh. Gsellman got into some early trouble, loading the bases on three straight singles on 10 pitches. Collins went to the bullpen, bringing in RHP Hansel Robles to try and limit the damage, but to no avail. Instead, Robles gave up a double to newly acquired A.J. Ellis on a 2-1 fastball, scoring two runs, all charged to Gsellman. One more run would score and be charged to Gsellman, for a total of four runs on the day.
Gsellman has shown some glimpses of potentially being a candidate for a starting rotation role next season, especially if the Mets decide to move one of their young starters for a controllable bat in the off-season. Gsellman was impressive in the minors this season, especially at Double A where he went 3-4 with a 2.71 ERA in 11 starts, limiting the opposition to a .233 average, along with a 1.09 WHIP.
