In Baseball Prospectus’ transaction analysis about Bartolo Colón’s re-signing with the Mets from December, R.J. Anderson wrote that the Mets kept Colón because they “needed someone to fill out their rotation.” After all, the Mets traded Jon Niese away, and they’d have to wait until mid-season for Zack Wheeler to join the rotation. It was […]
Author: Eric Garcia McKinley
Let’s Go -Insert Opponents of the Cardinals and Giants here-!
So, the Mets aren’t dead yet. I, for one, was too quick to give the 2016 team its last rites before prematurely shoveling them onto the wheelbarrow of the departed. The Mets have now won 12 of their last 16 games, and they sit one game behind the Cardinals for the second Wild Card spot […]
Curtis Granderson Gives The Mets Something to Cheer For
The 2016 season hasn’t turned out as planned. While Baseball Prospectus still gives the Mets an 11.8 percent chance of making the playoffs (before last night’s game), there are still at least three teams standing in the way of the second Wild Card spot. Couple that with listless play, and things don’t look good. Perhaps […]
The Difference a Year Makes
The Mets’ 2016 season can be summed in in a few words and a few graphs. First, the words: The 2016 Mets resemble what people thought the 2015 Mets would be, while the 2016 Nationals look like the team everyone thought the 2015 were going to be. At the beginning of the 2015 season, FanGraphs […]
The Mets’ Offense and the Burden of Context
Often, when watching a lot of games by the same baseball team, we might say things like “boy it sure feels like Bobby Ballplayer strikes out a lot on high fastballs,” or “golly it seems like Javier Hitter grounds into a double play every time there’s a runner on first.” Often, we seek to prove […]
The Second Verse Is Often Like The First
Warning: small sample size. This well-worn caveat exists at the intersection of statistical analysis and human-interest narrative. At once, it says to the reader, “yes, I know that what I’m about to tell you cannot be representative of a greater truth, but I’m going to tell you anyhow,” and “who cares if it’s a seven […]
Potential trade target: Jorge De La Rosa
Entering 2016, it was easy to imagine things going extraordinarily right for the Mets’ rotation. Jacob deGrom and Matt Harvey were presumptive Cy Young vote getters, if not necessarily favorites to take home the award. Noah Syndergaard demonstrated flashes of brilliance in his rookie season that he looked to build upon, and Steven Matz seemed […]
Addison Reed is Better than Ever
On Saturday afternoon, Addison Reed entered a one-run game against the Chicago Cubs in the top of the seventh inning with two outs and a runner on first. Kris Bryant was at the plate, representing the go-ahead run. Reed struck him out. He returned for the eighth inning, which has become his familiar spot. After […]
Asdrubal Cabrera and the Unexpected Expected
When the Mets inked shortstop Asdrubal Cabrera to a two-year $18 million contract during the winter meetings in December, the response was reasonably tepid. Sports Illustrated’s winter report card for the Mets was titled “Mets focus on short-term moves in the off-season,” but Cliff Corcoran identified the Cabrera signing as “less encouraging” than other signings, […]
Our (Almost) Mid-Season PECOTA Check-Up
Player projections are future oriented—it’s built into the name. But that doesn’t mean projections from the past cease being informative as time moves forward. On the contrary, looking at pre-season projections compared to the state of things today can tell us who has been over- and under-performing the expected center, as well as how much. […]