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Tim Britton of the Athletic reports that the Mets are calling up Matt den Dekker and Jacob Rhame from triple-A Las Vegas and will send down Drew Gagnon and Kevin Kaczmarski to make room for them.

Gagnon made his MLB debut last night for the Mets and allowed six runs in 4 2/3 innings. Meanwhile, Kaczmarski only had five plate appearances with the club despite being on the roster for more than two weeks and did not record a hit in that span.

Den Dekker, 30, was hitting .286/.336/.524 with 11 home runs and 34 RBI in Las Vegas and is making his first appearance with the big club this season. He is starting in center field tonight and hitting sixth.

Rhame has had multiple stints in the majors this season including one a couple of days ago for the doubleheader. The 25-year old has allowed 10 runs in 13 2/3 innings of work in the majors.

A 40-man roster move will need to be made to make room for den Dekker so keep refreshing the page as we will update it once one is announced. 

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The New York Mets announced that they have officially picked up Jerry Blevin’s $7 million option for the 2018 season.

“I would love to come back to New York,” Blevins told us last month in an exclusive MMO interview. “I feel like we have a lot to prove and I think we’ll play that underdog role a lot better than we do playing the favorites. Everybody kind of needs a chip on their shoulder. … I hope to be a part of it.”

Blevins, 34, is coming off a solid season for the Mets, finishing with a 2.94 ERA, 3.12 FIP and a .228 BAA with 69 strikeouts in 49.0 innings.

However, against left-handed hitters, Blevins was among the best, holding them to a .195 average and .202 slugging while striking out 48 batters in 34 innings.

The Mets acquired the veteran Blevins from the Washington Nationals in March of 2015 in exchange for outfielder Matt Den Dekker.

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Sloppy game by the Mets as they fall 9-5 to the Washington Nationals and make four errors in the field.

Steven Matz made his second spring start and looked good through the first two innings not allowing any runs before running into trouble in the third. He threw eight straight balls to start the inning, walking Danny Espinosa and Matt Den Dekker. Alejandro De Aza then misjudged what should have been an easy out in left field, letting it fall for a single to load the bases.

Matz was taken out of the game with the bases loaded an nobody out. All three inherited runners were allowed to score by Antonio Bastardo. Matz threw 41 pitches with 27 of them for strikes and his only strikeout came against Bryce Harper looking.

Logan Verrett pitched two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, he has given up one run in five innings so far this spring. Sean Gilmartin pitched two innings as well but allowed one run in his second inning of work. He would have given up more if not for a tough catch in foul territory by Gavin Cecchini who then made a good throw home to allow the runner from third to score.

Ugly 8th inning by Duane Below (0.1 IP, five runs) that wasn’t helped by his defense with errors by Cecchini (throwing) and John Mora behind him. Cecchini did redeem himself a little with a nice diving stop up the middle to get the final out of the inning.

The Mets offense was quiet for the first eight inning, scoring their first run of the game in the third inning on a RBI single by Juan Lagares that scored Roger Bernadina who doubled to start the inning. Huge plus by Wilmer Flores who walked in both his plate appearance against Nats starter Stephen Strasburg.

Tough day at the plate for Dominic Smith who went 0 for 5 with four ground outs. T.J. Rivera, Marc Krauss, and De Aza each had one hit on the day. Travis Taijeron continued his strong spring with a walk and sacrifice fly.

Jonathan Papelbon was exactly what the Mets offense needed, giving up four runs (three earned) in the 9th inning and retiring only two batters. He walked three batters and gave up a two-run single to Mora.

The Mets take on the St. Louis Cardinals at 1:10 at Tradition Field on Saturday with Bartolo Colon making his second spring training start.

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Eric Campbell is a virtual lock to make team.

Dave in Spain asks…

”Also, what are the chances of Puello making it over Campbell? Or does he get optioned/sent down on the last day of ST, after most teams have set their rosters?”

Daniel McCarthy replies…

My understanding, as of this moment, is that outfield prospect Cesar Puello is out of options.  Therefore, if he does not break camp with the major league team, he will have to pass through waivers before being sent down to the minors- which ultimately I think will happen.

Puello is hitting .294 this spring with a .455 OBP, but it’s too small a sample size and lacking in power (.294 slugging from nothing but singles) to justify his presence over Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Matt den Dekker.  Both of those guys are in another stratosphere defensively than Puello and they’ve shown vast improvements at the plate that started last season, well before this spring.

Also, beyond the outfield logistics, Eric Campbell is a very valuable player and should be a lock for one of the bench spots.  His ability to make contact and play both corner infield positions will become increasingly valuable as the season wears on and fatigue sets in on the starters, particularly David Wright as the everyday third baseman and Michael Cuddyer as the platoon bat at first against southpaws.

Last year, Campbell had 145 at bats while playing third base, first base, DH or pinch hitting- all roles that speak to his background.  During those at-bats, he owned a .290/.344/.393 slashline and most importantly, he generated runs (13 runs scored and 11 runs batted in) and kept the bases moving when he didn’t find a pitch to hit (12 walks).

Sometimes in baseball, a guy can land on the wrong team at the wrong time, or just not have what it takes to earn a cup of coffee.  I’ll give Puello the benefit of the doubt and say that he’ll have to get his morning brew somewhere other than Queens.

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I reviewed  long-term free agent deals (7-10 years) last week, and today I’ll examine last off-season’s  mid-term deals (4-6 years) highlighted by the Cards’ Jhonny Peralta.

The Mets are close to turning a pivotal corner in the return to relevancy with a wealth of power pitching no less than a year away from being fully realized. Bartolo Colon was brought in to fill a portion of the black hole left by Matt Harvey who succumbed to a torn UCL injury, but anything behind Colon’s two year contract made little sense for the Mets in the long run.

The position players available to the club were former Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson, former Tigers shortstop Jhonny Peralta, former Braves catcher Brian McCann and former Tigers second baseman Omar Infante.  The Mets anticipated a breakout season from their top catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud, so McCann made little sense at five years and $85 million. The organization’s deepest position, aside from pitching, is second base with Wilmer Flores and Dilson Herrera both waiting behind All-Star Daniel Murphy, so Infante was never a fit either.

Peralta had the best season of any mid-level free agent signed last offseason. He ended the year by posting a career high 5.4 WAR and quieted the critics who questioned whether he was worth the four year, $53 million deal that the Cardinals jumped to offer him. The majority of teams were hesitant to commit that amount of time and money to a 32-year old shortstop coming off a 50 game PED suspension, but St. Louis had faith in a different approach than the rest of the league and it certainly paid off.

The Mets instead signed former Yankee’s slugger Curtis Granderson, 33, to a similar four year, $60 million deal.  This satisfied a portion of the fan base that felt increased spending would hurdle the team into contention.  The minority view among the fans was that Granderson, despite having a successful career, would not regain his stroke in Citi Field after an injury shortened season a year before.  In the months of May, June, July and September, Curtis had 376 at bats, which represented more than 65% of his season total.  His produced a .272/.370/.860 slash line, along with 18 homers and 54 RBI.  The remaining 35% of the season (March, April, August), Curtis hit just .142/.241/.439.  The net result provided little value this season, but came with promising anecdotes headed into 2015.

Back in July, Dave Cameron of FanGraphs said this of advanced metrics: At times, they’re flawed, but oftentimes they discover outliers in the data, or exceptions to conventional rules.

A concern regarding Peralta last offseason was his defense. Scouts who studied Peralta in the field felt that his range was limited and his lower body was too bulky, therefore defensive metrics in favor of the shortstop were inaccurate. However, Cameron argued that metrics that support Peralta, like Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR), are indeed accurate.

The stat line highlights him as an outlier, who replicated quality seasons on multiple occasions, despite the cautions of conventional wisdom.  Although written in July, the predictions held true as Peralta ended the regular season fourth among all qualified shortstops in UZR (12) and UZR/150 (12.7).

Wilmer Flores didn’t play enough games to qualify at shortstop, but his performance measured by UZR/150 ranked him 5^th among those that did, with Ruben Tejada coming in at 7^th.  The point being that, the same standards that deem Peralta a good shortstop, ranked our boys right behind him, so the Mets lost very little defensively by passing. The story at the plate turns into in an entirely different narrative with Peralta, especially if he was chosen instead of Granderson.

Offensively, Peralta was 2^nd among qualified shortstops in home runs (21), RBI (75), slugging percentage (.443) and OPS (.779).  According to ESPN’s Home Run Tracker, at least 18 of his 21 homers went beyond Citi Field’s dimensions, so his long ball power would have translated well to Queens. By comparison at shortstop, Jhonny still outperformed his counterparts on the Mets in almost every offensive category, combined. He also accomplished this in 86 fewer at-bats.  Per his season totals, Peralta hit 10 more home runs, 11 more doubles and 30 more singles than the Mets contingent.  In that same comparison, Peralta’s isolated slugging percentage (.179), or ISO, was 48.2% higher than the Mets shortstop unit (.093).

Had the Mets chosen Peralta instead of Granderson, it would have had a huge impact on the makeup of the outfield and the team’s performance in 2014.  By August, a combination of Matt den Dekker, Juan Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis would have been patrolling the outfield grass together.  Not long ago, those three were the top center field prospects in the Mets minor league system. Given a full season together, it’s possible they may have developed into one of the best defensive units in baseball. Oftentimes rare, unforeseen circumstances, present opportunities to a combination of players who otherwise may never have discovered their talents as a unit.

Through 27 games in LF, den Dekker batted .295 with a .404 on base percentage.  The home run ball eluded him, but he showcased his ability to spray doubles around the park and found ways to keep the line moving. His 26 hits, 8 doubles, 4 stolen bases, 15 walks and 17 runs brought tremendous value during that span. Translated into a 150 game season, that pace is good for 144 hits, 44 doubles and 94 runs scored.

Kirk played 17 games between right and center, where he’s far more comfortable, and hit .288/.371/.909 with 7 doubles, 2 home runs and 12 RBI.  This year, the Mets played two full games with an outfield of den Dekker (LF), Lagares (C) and Nieuwenhuis (RF).  The first was on 8/31 against the Phillies and the second was on 9/3 versus the Marlins.  The Mets won both of those games decidedly, on the backs of that very outfield unit, who either scored or batted in 5 of the team’s 10 runs in those games.  Together, over those 18 innings, they put up a collective slash line of .667/.769/1.991.    

In the short run, Peralta was a huge miss on behalf of the Mets. He would have been an added threat in the lineup and his presence in lieu of Curtis may have altered the fate of the outfield. In the long run, signing Curtis could also prove harmless. Kirk has likely earned a spot on the bench after his stellar campaign as a pinch hitter and den Dekker still has an opportunity to win a starting corner outfield spot.

Sandy Alderson knew what Peralta could bring to the Mets. He personally met with him in the offseason and the only other player he met personally was Granderson. But the Mets’ GM likely believed a more elite player at a lower cost was available heading into next season.  Few GM’s have the patience and conviction to sit out a full year in order to achieve their ultimate goal of winning a World Series, but the Mets are a unique team defined by big market expectations and a small payroll.  Alderson saw 2014 as another year to evaluate the players he’s targeted as options and his own players he’d consider dangling.

As always, I look for feedback from other fans, what’s your take?  Was Peralta the right shortstop for the Mets short and mid-term plans?  Should Alderson have followed his initial instincts when he viewed Peralta as a key Mets target? Or was Granderson at a year older the right call for the future of the team? Or should he have passed on both of them?

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The New York Mets wrapped up their 2014 campaign at Citi Field yesterday, taking two out of three from the Houston Astros to finish 79-83 on the year. The Amazins’ concluded their final two games with authority as they head into a highly anticipated offseason. Below are the series takeaways in this edition of 3 & 3.

3 Up

1. In front of a crowd of nearly 35,000 fans, which included his parents, Lucas Duda smashed his 30th home run of the season and rounded out one of the most hysterical dugout celebrations I’ve ever seen on television. The two-run jack was his 14th at home this year, the most by any player at Citi Field in a single season and it was a total no-doubter. To witness a player discover his power stroke in Flushing, in a lineup where he is the protection, is just remarkable. For the series, Duda hit (.333), slugged (.917) and totaled an OPS of (1.250) to go with his 6 RBI’s and 2 runs scored.

2. Matt den Dekker turned in one of the best series of his brief Major League career, going 4 for 10 (.400) with an RBI and a run scored. The majority of writers, fans and critics believe the Mets would benefit from another power bat in the lineup and feel that left field is the most logical position for such an acquisition. However, den Dekker put up a strong fight towards the end season to throw his name in the conversation. In the month of September, he hit .328, got on base at a .426 clip and posted an .858 OPS. After being in center for the majority of his amateur and professional career, den Dekker made great adjustments defensively and played a strong left field. An outfield tandem of den Dekker in left and Juan Lagares in center is about as ‘lock-down’ as you can get. I’m probably in the minority here, but barring any overwhelming offers, I’d like to retain the pitching we’d use to trade for an outfielder and watch Matt back them up in left.

3. In the 5^th inning of yesterday’s game, Bobby Abreu knocked the 2,470^th hit of his 18 year MLB career. Immediately after, Abreu left to a standing ovation as Eric Young Jr. came in to pinch run for the veteran. Citi Field sent the former All-Star off with a warm and joyous applause, but many see this as merely the beginning of Abreu’s career as a Met. The front office believes he had a positive influence on the many young call-ups in search of guidance this season and find his offensive approach to be identical to the organizations hitting philosophy. MLB.com’s Tim Healey summed up the end to Abreu’s storied career nicely, noting that he “was playing against the organization with which he got his professional start (the Astros), playing for the team against which he collected his first big league hit (the Mets), and playing under the same manager as when he was a 22-year-old September callup in 1996 (Collins).” Congratulations Bobby, may all the good fortune that followed you as a ball player continue in the next chapter of your life.

3 Down

1. Jon Niese battled injuries and discomfort all season and ended up leaving Friday’s game early with the return of an accelerated heart rate. Overall, Bartolo Colon was the only Mets pitcher to reach 200+ innings this season. Zack Wheeler came close at 185.1 and despite the fact that he remained healthy all year, he consistently suffered from high pitch counts that forced him to routinely exit games in the 5th or 6th inning. Dillon Gee was also no stranger to the disabled list. Matt Harvey will be coming off of Tommy John Surgery and undoubtedly be under an innings limit and Jacob deGrom, aside from an outstanding rookie campaign, battled shoulder soreness with a stint on the DL. For a team that is grounded in its young starting pitching, there’s a component of durability that’s certainly missing.

2. The Mets did tie for second place, but did so with a losing record for the 6^th straight season. The club hasn’t made it to the playoffs in 8 straight seasons now and aside from the “additions” they’ll be getting from the disabled list, it doesn’t appear that much will change heading into 2015. If the team can stay healthy all season, I think we have the pieces to be relevant, at least in the wild card standings, but I hope the front office has a better back up plan than AAA Las Vegas should the youth initiative fall through next year.

3. The season is over with and I’ll still be paying an outrageous cable bill even though I’ll have nothing to watch. Here’s to Spring Training 2015, down in Port St. Lucie.

A special thank you to all those who followed along with 3 & 3 this season, I learned a tremendous amount from all of those who added their input. I also realized that expanding my thoughts on the Mets through MMO is a true passion of mine, so a special thank you to Joe D and all the MMO staff for allowing me to be a part of such a great entity. The writing was as therapeutic as the season was frustrating, but I would not have enjoyed 2014 as much as I did had it not been for Mets Merized Online.

Lets.Go.Mets.

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Perhaps not as intense as the Mets and Nationals rivalry looks to be in coming years, but the Miami Marlins have played hard fought games against New York all season and like the Mets, they’re a squad that is centered around young talent and a low payroll.  The fish kept finding ways to get hits en route to taking 2 out of 3 games in this series, below are the usual takeaways in this edition of 3 and 3.

3 Up

1. Wilmer Flores was incredible this series.  Apparently no one told the 23 year old Venezuelan that hitting for power in Citi Field is impossible because he made it a top priority the last three days.  Wilmer’s slugging percentage against Miami this week was 1.273, hitting 2 doubles and 2 home runs to go with 8 RBI’s.  Overall, he registered a .545/.583/1.856 slash line for the series.  It appears Flores has developed a repeatable approach at the plate.  He’s getting the barrel on the ball consistently and has an idea of what pitchers are trying to do to him.  6 of Wilmer’s 8 RBI’s came Tuesday night and the SNY crew flashed a very interesting statistic.  In Mets franchise history, only four players have had two separate 6 RBI nights in a single season.  Along with Flores, that list includes Carlos Delgado, Mike Piazza and Robin Ventura.
2. Lucas Duda regressed towards the end of August, but he has bounced back gradually, adjusting different parts of his offensive approach to remain productive.  It’s easy to dismiss Lucas when he isn’t hitting home runs, but he is much more of an all around hitter than he’s been given credit for.  In this series, Lucas went 4 for 9 (.444), but also drew 4 walks to give him a .615 on base percentage.  This as a major plus because the league caught up to Duda and he’s seeing mostly breaking balls, a common treatment in the majors for emerging sluggers.  Any elite power hitter goes through periods where the home runs slow down, so it’s imperative that Lucas finds a way to contribute when the quality of pitches diminishes.  A perfect example was last night’s game where he managed to punch in two runs with a slap single off a pitch that landed on the upper outside portion of the plate.  Would it have been more fun to see him crank a 3 run shot over the Shea Bridge?  Of course, but I’m firmly content having a 25-30 HR first baseman who also drives in runs with singles and doubles.  Additionally, as his power and average have dipped, his OBP has skyrocketed.  In the month of September, he’s getting on base at a .439 clip.  Eventually, this will come down, but with it, his home runs will go up as opposing pitchers will have to throw their fastball for strikes.  When they do, there will be misses over the plate, the Hulk will be unleashed and moonshots will resume.  One other thing, Duda is hitting .308 against left-handed pitching this month and getting on base at a .400 clip against them.
3. Have to give the final “Up” nod to Jacob deGrom, his performance on Monday night was spectacular.  He made the first 8 Marlins batters look completely lost at the plate, striking them out one after the next in dominate fashion.  Ironically, the first hit came off of the opposing pitcher, Jarred Cosart, but deGrom got back to work and cruised up to the 7^th inning nicely after that.  The outfield was playing oddly deep in that inning and the Marlins took advantage with a series of hits that landed in front Matt den Dekker and Juan Lagares, allowing them to briefly take a 3-2 lead.  The Mets offense would come back with go ahead runs in the bottom of the frame, but the bullpen could not hold on to keep Jacob’s W in line.  Another hard luck loss for the Rookie of the Year frontrunner, but not before tying the major league record for number of consecutive batters struck out to start a game.  Congrats sir.

3 Down

1. This isn’t an indictment of Juan Lagares, but the centerfielder may be out for the rest of the season after spraining his right elbow in the 4th inning of Tuesday night’s game throwing to second base.  This is a major downer, obviously there’s only 9 games left in the season, but Juan has hands down been my favorite player to watch this year.  He was also hitting .317 in the month of September, working hard to end his first full campaign on a high note.  First priority is to get healthy for next season though, so if Tuesday marked the end to Lagares’ season, tip of the hat to this young lad.  If he doesn’t win a gold glove award, I’m going to explode.
2. Travis d’Arnaud has got to improve his footwork behind the plate.  Bobby Ojeda did an excellent job breaking down TDA’s mechanical flaws during last night’s pre-game segment with a side by side comparison to backup catcher Anthony Recker.  Travis comes up flat and doesn’t sets his throwing arm back far enough before firing to second, forcing him to add an extra hitch in his release.  This adds another second for the runner and more pressure to d’Arnaud’s timing resulting in rushed misfires over the second basemen’s head.  One second seems harmless, but it’s the difference between locking up runners and sailing the ball into center field.  However, like Ojeda, I believe d’Arnaud will improve in the offseason.  Also, his catching abilities are much more valuable than he gets credit for.  There were several pitches in this series that were clearly out of the strike zone before Travis snapped them back in with the flick of his wrist.  This ability, along with his game calling, are two very underappreciated aspects of his game.
3. Last down goes to the farewell tour that stopped by Queens on Tuesday night.  Bud Selig’s vote of confidence for Fred and Jeff Wilpon is infuriating at this point.  Look, I understand that blindly spending money in free agency this offseason will not cure this Met’s post-season woes.  However, Selig is avoiding the bigger picture.  Financial prowess doesn’t just pertain to offseason acquisitions.  It deals with retaining talent that is set for a raise in the offseason.  It deals with acquiring talent midseason in the midst of a playoff hunt, when other players undoubtedly go down or underperform.  It deals with justifying the price the Mets charge their fans to go see a game.  This isn’t Oakland, it isn’t Kansas City, it’s New York.  No one is fooled by the numbers, the product, or the slick sales pitch.  The Mets are going to miss the offseason for an 8^th straight year and despite having the pieces to build a dominant contender going into next season, it looks like the organization is instead banking on a miracle.  I’ll write later on about other options this team can exercise in the offseason, but regardless, the approach for next year should have been described as “we’ll spend when the right opportunity presents itself”, not “we’re still broke, but it’s all good”.

Lets.Go.Mets.

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Let’s take a brief look at some of this weekend’s highs and lows in this edition of 3 & 3.

3 Up

1. Curtis Granderson needed to turn in a great series and that is exactly what happened this weekend. The veteran right fielder went 5-for-12 (.417 Average) with a double, two home runs, six RBI and three runs scored.  He was also able to draw two walks.  As of yesterday, Curtis is tied with Mike Trout for 3rd in walks among all major league qualified outfielders with 72 on the year.  When looking at his numbers in comparison to the other major league outfielders ranking in the top 10 in walks, Granderson is one of 3 players with a BABIP that’s lower than .300.  In fact, his number (.249) is drastically less than the other two, with St. Louis’ Matt Holiday coming in at .295 and Toronto’s Jose Bautista generating a .291 in-play average.  Curtis’ BABIP has been heavily cited throughout the season as a sign of bad luck, but it also could speak volumes to his need to adapt to defensive shifts used often on the slugger.  If he can work in the offseason to evolve as a gap-to-gap doubles hitter at home, while still pulling pitches on the low and inside part of the strike zone, it will give the Mets a more realistic version of the player Sandy Alderson expected to be signing.  Against righties, Granderson is slugging .846 from that portion of the plate this year (ESPN.com), so developing a game inside the ball park for pitches on the rest of the plate will benefit his game tremendously.

2. Six different Mets took a pitch out of the yard this series, giving the team a total of seven home runs, with notable blasts coming from up and comers under the age of 30.  Travis d’Arnaud hit his 13th on the year and continues to lead all NL rookies in the category.  Dilson Herrera hit the second long ball of his brief career, helping to generate a .500 slugging percentage in his first 34 major league a- bats.  Lucas Duda added his 27th home run in the ninth inning of Friday’s matchup and is now 3rd in the National League in homers, 2nd among first basemen to Chicago’s Anthony Rizzo (30).

3. Matt den Dekker and Juan Lagares are both doing excellent jobs of translating their speed and overall baseball IQ from the outfield to the basepaths.  While he didn’t have his best offensive performance this series, den Dekker has gotten on base at a .370 clip in 22 games since being recalled from AAA Las Vegas in August.  More importantly, his ratio of walks to runs scored during that time is nearly 1 for 1, having sprinted across home plate 15 times compared to his 16 walks.  His batting average is ascending slowly, but still only at .261 since the call up, so he is still finding a way to make an impact offensively, while continuing to adjust to major league pitching.  Matt scored two runs off of his two walks in Friday’s game.  Meanwhile, Lagares has been unbelievably efficient with the use of his explosive speed, going 3 for 4 in stolen bases this series.  The lone failed attempt came in Saturday’s game and marks the only time he’s been nabbed in his last 10 attempts.

3 Down

1. Jenrry Mejia managed to record a save in yesterday’s 4-3 victory, but just barely.  The closer allowed 4 hits, including a home run to Jay Bruce, while surrendering 2 earned runs before shutting the door.  In the month of September, Mejia is 3 for 3 in save opportunities, but is doing so with an ERA of 6.00 and an even WHIP of 2.00.  My concern is that a much needed bout of luck is overshadowing the fact that he is not in a healthy enough condition to finish out the season.  As always, it depends on the results.  If he is able to finish out the season strong and battle through adversities such as injury and strong hitting opponents down the stretch, then it could be beneficial.  However, if pitching through physical duress creates an issue that lasts into next season, it would be wise to preserve his body for 2015 and shut him down.  Also, I love the intensity, but tone down the celebration dance when you nearly blow a 3 run lead my man.

2. Home runs were equally helpful and hurtful in this series.  Dillon Gee failed to hold on to a one run lead during his outing on Saturday, giving up home runs in the 6th and 7th innings en route to his 7th loss of the season.  Dillon will always be a pitcher who relies heavily on location, not power.  He must be able to keep the ball down and reduce the number of fly balls, particularly in situations like Saturdays where his offense has given him a lead against a formidable opponent in Cincinnati’s Johnny Cueto.

3. The team batted .242 with runners in scoring position this series, with that average being propped up heavily by Friday’s 14 run onslaught.  Looking specifically at the latter two games, the Mets were 2-15 (.133) with a total of 18 men left on base.  For the series, the Amazins’ left a total of 31 men on base.

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The Mets finished up their three game set against the Marlins with a 2-1 series victory last night. New York has an interesting parallel with their division rivals from Miami, in that both organizations have dwelled at the bottom of the NL East cellar for many years now, but through those years they also stockpiled young, athletic players with the potential to be stars. Let’s see how the Met’s youngsters stacked up in this edition of 3 Up and 3 Down.

3 Up

1.  Matt den Dekker, Juan Lagares and Kirk Nieuwenhuis are a stellar defensive unit in the outfield, they’re fast and fearless, but that speed and tenacity has transitioned recently at the plate. Of the three, I’ve been most impressed with den Dekker as of late. The indictment against Matt has always been that his offense may never develop enough to give his glove an everyday spot in the lineup. I’m only evaluating a small sample size, but MDD is showing improvement in areas that project future success. Mainly, he’s reverted to a shorter, more compact swing, allowing him to turn on pitches quickly. He’s also showing vast improvements in his plate discipline. In his first 12 games in August, he was seeing an average of 12.4 pitches per game. In his last seven, that number has gone up to 16.4 pitches per game, with a 22% increase in strikes. His walk rate has remained relatively flat, but now Matt is seeing better pitches and taking better swings. The results are fantastic as den Dekker left Miami with a triple slash line of .545/.615/1.252, plating a run, swiping a base and scoring twice. His defense holds up pretty well to his counterpart in center field as well.

2.  Juan Lagares is no stranger to Mets fans at this point. He continues to improve in every facet of his game, becoming more of a student, while retaining his ‘hair on fire’ style of play.  Lagares took tremendous strides in this series and gave us a glimpse of a superstar in the making.  First base coach Tom Goodwin has challenged Juan to transition his speed in the outfield to the basepaths and unsurprisingly, it’s been a success. Juan had three stolen bases in three attempts against the Marlins this series. In his last six games, he is 5-for-5, as Goodwin at times has forced him to steal. Lagares noted that he had previously been hesitant given the duress on his hamstring, but at 100%, he seems unstoppable. Prior to his recent streak, he was 4-for-7 all year. It also seems that the coaching staff is making a unique case for Lagares’ approach at the plate by ditching the one-size-fits-all philosophy and building on Juan’s strengths. Pitchers began to recognize his ability to hit balls on the outside of the plate, so they started going inside to him. Lamar Johnson worked with Lagares to pull the ball on the inside and it translated into home run power. Opposing pitchers are once again pitching him low and outside the strike zone and Juan has adjusted nicely by continuing to drive those balls to the opposite field. Tuesday, Lagares put his talents on exhibition, going 4-for-4 with a walk and two stolen bases. Overall, the center fielder batted .500 with an OPS of 1.105 in South Beach.

3.  Little “d” on the mound and behind the plate, means a W in the books. The battery duo of Jacob deGrom and Travis d’Arnaud has produced a team record of 5-3 in the games they start together, allowing a meager 1.07 walks/hits per innings pitched. Last night kept pace with that production, as deGrom went 6.0 innings, allowing only one earned run while striking out six.  He has lowered his ERA on the season to 2.87 and kept his name hot in the hunt for Rookie Of The Year.  Meanwhile d’Arnaud (the little ‘d’ is killing my auto-correct) continues to emerge as one of the top offensive catchers in the league. He already leads all rookies in home runs with 12, but had a great series, giving his pitchers a boost on offense. Travis produced a triple slash line of .500/.571/1.155 this series and is now a point away from having a .300 OBP and .700 OPS on the year, which is fairly remarkable given his woes prior to returning from AAA Las Vegas. Consistency is the name of the game for the youngsters, it’s the only true measurement of projecting sustained success in the future, and these players named so far have done a great job making the future very bright.

3 Down

1.  Pitching was atrocious for the most part in this series, which for the Mets, has been their strength all year.  Zack Wheeler was fortunate enough to have minimal damage done to his ERA, as it now sits at 3.45.  He only gave up two earned runs in Monday’s loss, but as a whole, he allowed five runs total while he was on the mound. Wheeler again turned in a brief outing, going only 4.2 innings with five hits and two walks, using 114 pitches to get through it all.  Zack clearly has the material to be an ace, but he has yet to figure out a way to keep his pitch counts down and go deeper into games.  Pitching coach Dan Warthen has got to prioritize this and reverse the trend or Wheeler may never reach his full potential. Jon Niese remarkably was able to walk away with a win on Tuesday, thanks entirely to an eight-run offensive outburst by his teammates (Jon did go 1-1 with a run scored to be fair), but he still surrendered 10 hits and six earned runs.

2.  Errors absolutely killed this team.  Jeurys Familia is a relief pitcher, so I’m slightly less aggravated by his two errors in the series, although they were total blunders. Dilson Herrera committed two errors in his three starts and David Wright also had a pair in the series, giving him 15 on the year. Wright is a seasoned vet and a former gold glover, although watching his errors gave me hope and disappointment simultaneously. Hope, because they had nothing to do with injury or lack of range. Disappointment because he was back on his heels when he committed a fielding error and he wasn’t squaring his body up when he made a poor throw. When David struggles from injury, I’m probably his biggest apologist and have been all year. This series was not a good display of The Captain leading by example though.

3.  In game decision making by the manager, in my opinion, cost the Mets their only loss in this series and could have cost the team another loss last night as well.  In the top of the 7th of a tie ball game on Monday night, Terry Collins made an offensive switch to bat Eric Campbell against lefty reliever Mike Dunn, taking Matt den Dekker out of the game.  Conventional wisdom agrees with Collins’ move here, but there were different elements that immediately made me feel like this was a poor choice.  The Marlins were producing runs all night, using all parts of the outfield to knock out base hits. Den Dekker is clearly the better defensive choice, and had also been producing at the plate that night too. In a game where the Mets pitchers were getting lit up, it made sense to leave den Dekker in. The result was Campbell flying out to center and in the following frame he dropped a ball he dove to catch in left field, It was the beginning of an error-filled meltdown. Hindsight is 20/20, but den Dekker was playing great that night and he undoubtedly would have made that catch. This isn’t a knock on Soup, but he’s not an outfielder. I also understand situational hitting, but at the same time, this is supposed to be a developmental period for our up and coming youngsters.  All position players who are looking to lock down a job in 2015 should be tested in all situations across nine innings of baseball to see what they’re really made of. As for last night, leaving Carlos Torres in to bat with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth, instead of pinch-hitting Curtis Granderson, was a dangerous choice that just barely paid off. The entire reason behind that decision was so that Torres could face Giancarlo Stanton in the bottom of the eighth. The result?  Stanton cranked his 36th home run of the year, a magnificent bomb to left field.  Again, this is another case of hindsight after the fact, but I was baffled when I saw Torres toss a batting helmet on.  If it weren’t for a slick defensive play by Lucas Duda to rob a rocketed baseball off the bat Marcel Ozuna and end the inning, it most certainly could have backfired.

Lets.Go.Mets.

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