Good Morning, Mets fans!

After another frustrating loss last night, the Mets travel to Atlanta for a four-game set starting tonight at 7:10 EST. The Mets opened the season with a three-game series against the Braves, losing two out of three. Rick Porcello will try to redeem himself in his second start as a Met.

Latest Mets News

The Mets made several roster moves including selecting Brian Dozier and designating Hunter Strickland for assignment, per Tim Britton of The Athletic.

Latest MLB News

MLB and the Players Association gave Rob Manfred the power to impose sign-stealing punishment on players.

Matt Monagan of MLB wrote about the legacy of Joan Joyce.

The Long Island Ducks GM Tweeted about how a new Atlantic League team has the only black majority owner in baseball.

The Atlantic League could also be expanding for 2021.

Jayson Stark of The Athletic wrote about the benefits of the new extra-inning rule. Regardless of your own opinion of the rule, it’s a pretty interesting read.

The Diamondbacks called up Daulton Varsho, son of former major leaguer Gary Varsho, according to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN.

Latest NL East News

The Phillies released a COVID-19 update.

Pat Venditte signed with the Marlins, per Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Latest on MMO

Jacob Resnick wrote about Andres Gimenez‘s first taste of the big leagues thus far.

Michael Mayer wrote about Jacob deGrom‘s latest start.

Matt Musico pointed out the key differences that made Michael Wacha‘s Mets debut so effective.

Resnick talked about how Jeremey Hefner has settled into his new role as pitching coach.

On This Day in Mets History

The Mets have made a plethora of trades on this day in their history, including those for Yoenis Cespedes and Addison Reed.

Birthdays: Rene Rivera (37), Billy Wynne (77)

Let’s go Mets!

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Ask any Mets fan, and they’ll tell you that the biggest frustration of the 2019 season was the underperformance of the team’s bullpen. Dig a little deeper and they’ll tell you more specifically that it was the underperformance of Edwin Diaz. 

Diaz’s performance last season is not as cut and dry as many may think. It wasn’t as simple as him regressing to a bad pitcher. 

There were a lot of pieces to the story that were lost within the frustration of the season. This is taking into account the midseason pitching coach changes, pressures of being in New York, as well as the change in the feeling of the ball. Diaz didn’t have many components on his side. 

Several pitchers came out last season mentioning that the ball had felt different because the seams were tighter. For Diaz, that difference added to a lot of his stress because he couldn’t execute his slider properly, which he was dependent on for most of his strikes.

His slider was breaking in a way that the batters knew that they could sit on his fastball, since his once-dominant pitch wasn’t being carried out in the way he needed it to.

Now going into the delayed 2020 season, the Mets really need Diaz to be solid in order to exceed expectations. Especially with some newly- revealed IL stints for Marcus Stroman and Robert Gsellman, Diaz will be needed to make sure that wins don’t slip away in the last inning. 

A prime example of this is Diaz’s outing yesterday against the Braves. Diaz struck out two and allowed one run.

Despite not securing the save for the Mets, the run that happened was the best thing that could have occurred in that situation.

The run was allowed on a fastball with no one else on base, leading Diaz to strike out Adam Duvall for the last out. 

Diaz’s biggest problems last season were his slider and the inability to gain back his confidence once his performance wavered.

In his two outings, he wasn’t back to the elite pitcher he once was, but he was pretty close to it compared to last season. Manager Luis Rojas expressed his own confidence in Diaz during his postgame press conference.

"We like how he's been throwing the ball"

Luis Rojas says he's still confident in Edwin Diaz despite today's blown save pic.twitter.com/SCu5TAQNxj

— SNY (@SNYtv) July 25, 2020

Despite allowing the run on Saturday, Diaz kept his cool and finished off the inning strong, which is something he previously struggled with. His execution and command seemed like a completely different pitcher from last year. 

It would have been unrealistic to see a complete 180 coming from the young pitcher compared to the mistakes of last season. Yet almost all the issues he had were with his off-speed pitches and looking at them now, it seems that there is a much higher chance that it continues to improve – leaving the Mets in a much better position than expected.

Moving forward into the season, if he continues to build up his confidence – as well as continue to work on the execution of his off-speed pitches – he has the potential to really add the edge that the Mets need to have a strong season, even with two main components being on the bench for an unknown period of time.

Even with the tying run Diaz allowed yesterday, it is important to take into account that in retrospect his pitching wasn’t bad, and if the run support was there, no one would be talking about Marcell Ozuna‘s hit. 

The post Edwin Diaz Shows Promise in Blown Save vs Braves appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Alex Cora received his punishment from the Red Sox in his involvement with the Astros sign-stealing scandal. The question still remains: will Mets manager Carlos Beltran face discipline as well?

Latest Mets News 

Former Met D.J. Carrasco has joined the Syracuse Mets as their pitching coach.

In an interview on SiriusXM, Jeff McNeil said that he thinks the 2020 Mets can reach the playoffs.

Latest MLB News

Alex Cora, one of the finalists for the Mets’ manager job two years ago, has been fired by the Red Sox for illegally using their replay room to sign other team’s signs. Cora was also mentioned in Major League Baseball’s report two days ago for stealing signs by using electronic means with the Astros.

In the Red Sox’s release, Cora said he “did not want to be a distraction for the Red Sox.”

Josh Donaldson inked a four-year, 92 million dollar contract with the Twins. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com tweeted out the deal first. This deal has a 16 million dollar option for the 2025 season and most notably, takes the third-baseman out of the NL East for the coming seasons.

The Brewers signed Jedd Gyorko a minor-league pact.

The Angels acquired SP Matt Andriese from the Diamondbacks in exchange for minor-leaguer Jeremy Beasley.

The White Sox DFA’d Dylan Covey, who was one of the most highly-touted starting prospects in minors a few seasons ago.

Latest NL East News 

The Marlins sent outfielder Austin Dean to the Cardinals for minor-leaguer Diowill Burgos.

The Phillies DFA’d Obudel Herrera to make room on the roster for Nick Martini.

Latest on MMO

Mojo Hill gives his thoughts about the fall from the Astros sign-stealing scandal.

John Sheridan opines that Carlos Beltran should remain as manager.

Max Culter profiled Ryley Gilliam, a minor-league reliever the Mets invited to MLB camp.

On This Date in Mets History

Birthdays: Mike Marshall (79)

Let’s go, Mets!

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Endy Chavez (Jacob Resnick/MetsMerized)

The St. Lucie Mets announced their coaching staff for the upcoming 2020 season with some returning faces and newcomers joining the Class High-A Affiliate.

Chad Kreuter returns for his fourth season as the team’s manager, becoming the first manager in team history to work a fourth consecutive season. Sources told this writer weeks ago that the organization has remained high on Kreuter as a manager, offering him promotions to coach in higher levels. Chad reportedly declined the offers and requested to remain in Class High-A, stating he very much enjoys the developmental league and working with the players in their careers to this point. Many players from the 2019 season praised coach Kreuter and his hard nosed approach.

“If he see’s you looking off in an outing, poor mechanics, delivery or effort he will immediately take you aside and have you hear about it. He will then help get you back on track and provide detailed insight on what’s going wrong from his perspective.”

The team is coming off its best record (68-66) since 2016, a tall task for a team who saw a bulk of its rotation and top relievers earn promotions in the second half of the year.

Royce Ring will serve as the pitching coach after spending the 2019 season in this role with the Class-A Columbia Fireflies. He was around to help shape the development of a young core of pitching prospects including now former Mets top pitching prospect Simeon Woods-Richardson, Daison Acosta, Jose Butto, Bryce Hutchinson and Tylor Megill among others.

Bruce Fields returns as hitting coach for his second season with the affiliate. He comes with prior major league coaching experience that includes time as Cleveland Indians hitting coach from 2011-12 and Detroit Tigers hitting coach from 2003 until being named bench coach for them in 2005.

Quote from a player on the 2019 St. Lucie squad about Bruce Fields, “He was always an open book. He was ready and wanting to help in any way he could. Best part was that you could tell he cared and wanted to see you succeed and get better.”

St. Lucie this season for the first time will employ a bench coach in Endy Chavez. The former Mets player broke into coaching ranks last season with the Brooklyn Cyclones.

Kory Wan makes his return to the affiliate as its performance coach after having previously been in the role back in 2016. Wan has spent the past three seasons serving as performance coach with Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies.

Hiroto Kawamura begins his fifth year in the Mets organization and his second as the team’s trainer. Kawamura was the Fireflies trainer in 2018, the GCL Mets trainer in 2017 and the Mets Dominican Republic trainer in 2016.

The St. Lucie Mets open their season April 9 on the road against the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels. The first home game of the season is April 11 vs. the same Fort Myers squad.

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Nicole Menner of WBNG 12 News reports the New York Mets have announced Lorenzo Bundy as the new manager for the Double-A Binghamton Rumble Ponies. The Mets had a managerial vacancy in Binghamton after Kevin Boles was promoted to become the organization’s minor league field coordinator.

Bundy, 60, began his coaching career in 1989. In addition to being a minor league coach and manager, he has been a Major League coach as well getting his start as Jim Leyland‘s bullpen coach with the 1999 Colorado Rockies.

He also served as an interim bench coach on the 2004 Diamondbacks and later as the first base coach for Bob Melvin on the 2009 Arizona Diamondbacks. From 2014-2015, he was the third base coach and outfield coach for Don Mattingly‘s Los Angeles Dodger teams.

Most recently in the majors, he was the outfield and baserunning coach for the Marlins during the 2016 and 2017 seasons. He worked on the same staff as new Triple-A Syracuse Mets hire Brian Schneider.

In his eight-year minor league managerial career, he has a 568-597 record. Of those eight years, he has served as a Triple-A manager in six seasons, most recently in 2013.

Bundy spent the last two seasons managing in Mexico.

In terms of his coaching philosophy, in a 2014 interview with The Greatest 21 Days, Bundy said, “Will things go right all the time? Probably not, just because it’s a tough game to play. But we put ourselves in positions, as far as having our routines, having a great work ethic, paying attention to detail. If you have talent, good things will happen.”

Joining Bundy on the Binghamton staff will be Jonathan Hurst as pitching coach, Tony Jaramillo as hitting coach, Luis Rivera as bench coach, Kiyoshi Tada as athletic trainer, and Tanner Miracle as performance coach.

Hurst, Jaramillo, and Tada are all returning to Binghamton. Rivera was the Columbia Fireflies hitting coach ast season and Miracle worked with St. Lucie.

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According to reports, the New York Mets are currently looking to upgrade their bullpen and backup catcher situation. While Tomas Nido was a strong defensive catcher in 2019, he had just a 40 wRC+, which probably necessitates this search.

Ideally, whoever the Mets acquire can offer the Nido’s defensive abilities while also providing a better bat. Given the Mets shoestring budget, the player they acquire is likely going to have to be cheap. Here are three catchers who should meet those requirements.

1.Kevin Plawecki

The mention of Plawecki may not excite Mets fans who had grown exacerbated with him never quite fulfilling his offensive potential. Even with his offensive struggles in Cleveland, Plawecki’s 63 wRC+ was better than Nido’s. If he reverts to the catcher who had a 10.8% walk rate and 96 OPS+ in his final three years with the Mets, all the better.

Another factor with Plawecki is he has historically been a strong pitch framer. As noted by Baseball Savant, Plawecki was a strong pitch framer on the lower half of the plate. That is of no small significance with a pitching staff which includes Marcus Stroman, Noah Syndergaard, Jeurys Familia, and Edwin Diaz.

Of note with Syndergaard, who had his issues with Wilson Ramos, his 5.33 K/BB with Plawecki behind the plate is the best mark he has had with any catcher not named Rene Rivera.

2. Russell Martin

On the topic of the Mets pitchers who need the low strike to succeed, there was a Grantland article that described Martin’s strong framing, which included his exceptional work on the lower half of the zone. While he is not the same framer he was in his prime, he is still one of the better framers in the lower part of the zone getting a called strike a little over 50% of the time.

In addition to framing the low strike, Martin had a strong offensive season for a backup catcher with an 83 wRC+. However, it should be noted that was part of a three year drop off offensively, and he is 36 years old. Still, Martin is a respected veteran presence, and that should not be underestimated.

If the Mets do change course and go with the personal catcher route, it would be much more palatable to Ramos and the clubhouse for the Mets to defer to a catcher of Martin’s stature than it probably was with Nido last year. Overall, this should help the clubhouse and the pitching staff.

3. Jason Castro

With the Mets hiring Jeremy Hefner as the pitching coach, the organization is looking for an advanced analytical approach to help bring the pitching staff to the next level. This requires the implementation of a new organizational philosophy across the board. That process could be helped along by the Mets bringing in Castro, who worked with Hefner in Minnesota.

In addition to his knowledge of what Hefner is looking to do, Castro is a strong framer and like aforementioned catchers, he is strong in the lower parts of the zone. He is also exceptional at getting the corners. Unlike the aforementioned catchers, he was an above-average league hitter with a 103 wRC+.

On that note, it was the highest mark he had in six years, and it was just the second time in the past decade he was an above-average league hitter. Of course, some of the impact to that is the ball which was much maligned last year. Despite that, Castro is still a good hitter for the position with strong framing metrics.

Looking beyond these three, it is difficult to find a catcher who would fulfill the criteria of being a better hitter than Nido as well as a strong framer, especially in the lower half of the zone. The framing in the lower half of the zone really needs to be a focus for this Mets team given their pitchers and in their attempts to find a complement to Ramos.

Those three catchers should be the overall upgrade at a cheap cost over Nido, who the Mets may very well lose as he is out of options.

The post Three Free Agent Options For Mets’ Backup Catcher appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Last week during the Winter Meetings, the Mets added two veterans via free agency to round out the back end of the rotation: Rick Porcello and Michael Wacha.

Wacha, 28, signed first, and took a base salary of $3 million, with $7 million attainable in incentives. Porcello, 30, signed for $10 million, and at the moment, looks like he’ll likely be the fifth starter.

However, Wacha was also told he would start in 2020. During a conference call on Friday afternoon, Wacha said “(The Mets) said they had a spot to start. I’m here to be in the rotation and be in there every fifth day.”

However things turn out, it looks as though Wacha will be battling for a spot in the rotation during Spring Training, and will likely start the year in the bullpen unless someone is either traded, or someone gets injured.

Regardless of his role, Wacha will be the first test for new pitching coach, Jeremy Hefner.

A former first round pick, Wacha struggled with injury in 2018, and was overall ineffective in 2019. The Mets are hoping that they can catch lightning in a bottle and have Wacha produce if he is 100 percent healthy.

However, his pitching skills are quite frankly scary.

His fastball velocity (38th percentile) is slightly below average, but his fastball spin (ninth percentile) was one of the lowest in the league in 2019. His curve spin (sixth percentile) was also dismal.

Wacha’s xWOBA ranked in the 10th percentile, his xSLG in the 11th percentile and his xBA in the 13th percentile. He also only ranked in the 17th percentile in K%.

Overall, Wacha had a 4.76 ERA, 5.61 FIP and 4.80 xFIP in 126.2 innings pitched. There are some positives in his game, however. He had a 79 percent strand rate in 2019 and a 48.0 percent ground ball rate, which was pretty much in line with his career numbers.

The right-hander’s opposing barrels of 31 was the highest of his career in 2019, while the barrel rate against him has spiked the last two years. His exit velocity is more or less in line with his career numbers, as is his launch angle. His hard hit rate his spike a bit in the last two years as well, but his strikeout and walk rates are similar to his career production.

Can Wacha be a factor for the Mets in 2020? Who knows. He was only worth 0.6 fWAR over the last two seasons combined and his career best fWAR came in 2017 when he put up 3.1.

But at just 28-years-old, Wacha is on a mission to prove he’s healthy, and he will get that opportunity to go out there and give it a go.

For the new pitching coach, Jeremy Hefner, it will be his first test in trying to salvage Wacha’s career and give the Mets a guy who can produce.

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The Mets announced that they have finalized new manager Carlos Beltran’s coaching staff for the 2020 season.

Retaining his job as hitting coach is Chili Davis, who led the Mets to one of the better offenses in the NL in 2019.

Tom Slater will be joining the staff as assistant hitting coach, while Jeremy Accardo will be joining the major league staff as assistant pitching coach.

Some other roles that were previously undisclosed are Ricky Bones as bullpen coach, Luis Rojas as quality control coach, Gary DiSarcina as third base coach, and Tony DeFrancesco as first base coach.

As was previously reported, former Met Jeremy Hefner will be rejoining the Mets as pitching coach, and Hensley Meulens will be assisting Beltran as bench coach.

Additionally, after serving as interim pitching coach last year, Phil Regan will be returning to his previous role of minor league assistant pitching coordinator.

“Carlos drove this search and prioritized talented coaches who share his player’s first vision and complement his skill sets,” GM Brodie Van Wagenen said of Beltran.

Beltran said of his new staff, “I am looking forward to working with this talented, knowledgeable and experienced group. Each member of the staff brings a unique perspective and expertise that will give myself and all of our players the tools they need to succeed.”

The post Mets Finalize 2020 Coaching Staff appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Good morning, Mets fans!

Latest Mets News

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that the Mets have chosen Jeremy Hefner to be their new pitching coach.

Marcus Stroman talked to new Mets’ manager Carlos Beltran on the phone and is ready for the 2020 season.

Robinson Cano told Nathalie Alonso of MLB.com that he is excited about the Carlos Beltran managerial hire.

Latest MLB News

The Houston Astros have agreed to a one-year deal with free-agent catcher Dustin Garneau, pending a physical, according to Jake Kaplan of the Athletic.

The Minnesota Twins have signed left-hander Blaine Hardy, right-hander Ryan Garton and catcher Juan Graterol to minor league contracts, per Nate Rowan of the Rochester Red Wings.

According to Ken Rosenthal and Katie Strang of the Athletic, the MLB is investigating free-agent reliever Sam Dyson for domestic violence

Shohei Ohtani was cleared yesterday to begin throwing off a mound for three or four weeks completing his rehab from Tommy John surgery, according to Jeff Fletcher of Southern California News Group. 

According to Jeff Passan of ESPN, Arizona Diamondbacks Catcher Stephen Vogt is in agreement on a one-year deal with the team that includes a vesting option for a second season.

The Lotte Marines have apparently reached an agreement with outfielder Leonys Martín for 2020.

Latest NL East News

According to Matt Gelb of the Athletic, the Philadelphia Phillies have announced a minor league deal with Josh Harrison, reuniting him with former Pittsburgh Pirates teammate Andrew McCutchen.

Latest On MMO

Lindsay Moran noted the hiring of women to management positions across the MLB.

Pat Ragazzo wrote a profile on free agent Brett Gardner.

Michael Mayer created a list of the Mets’ top prospects at each position.

Tim Ryder evaluated Amed Rosario‘s performance at shortstop for the Mets throughout the 2019 season.

Jack Ramsey discussed various offseason rumors across the MLB.

This Date in Mets History

Birthdays: Bill Short turns 82, Randy Milligan turns 58 and Raul Valdes turns 42.

1967:  The Mets traded Bill Denehy to the Washington Senators for Gil Hodges. 

1972: The Mets traded Tommie Agee to the Astros for Rich Chiles and Buddy Harris. The Mets also traded Brent Strom and Bob Rauch to the Cleveland Indians for Phil Hennigan. 

1996: The Mets traded Jerry Dipoto to the Colorado Rockies for Armando Reynoso. The Mets also traded Rico Brogna to the Phillies for Ricardo Jordan and Toby Borland. 

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Jon Heyman of MLB Network reports that the Mets have chosen Jeremy Hefner to be their new pitching coach.

Phil Regan served as the Mets interim pitching coach to finish out the 2019 season after the team fired Dave Eiland. No word yet on what role Regan could have in the Mets organization going forward.

The former Mets right-handed pitcher spent the 2019 season as the assistant pitching coach for the Minnesota Twins. Before that he spent two seasons as an advanced scout for the Twins.

Hefner, 33, pitched in 2012 and 2013 with the Mets at the big league level. Enos Sarris of The Athletic included Hefner in an article earlier this month looking at up-and-coming pitching coach candidates.

Our own Mathew Brownstein did an interview with Hefner last year.

The Mets coaching staff is rounding out as it was reported on Monday that Hensley Meulens would be the bench coach for new manager Carlos Beltran. Chili Davis also agreed on a two-year deal earlier this month to return as the Mets hitting coach.

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