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 […]
Category: Articles
Our Wild Card Nightmares
Let’s stipulate up front that with 13 games remaining and a Wild Card berth seemingly in hand, Mets fans are most afraid of this and this. To be in a position to worry about collapses is better than the alternative, of course. Three Sundays ago the Mets had lost to the floundering Phillies, were stuck behind the mediocre Marlins, and […]
Game recap September 18: King of the jungle
Gabriel Ynoa handled himself admirably in his first MLB start as he struck out eight Twins while allowing a single walk over 4.2 innings. The series sweep of Minnesota was confirmed by the bats of T.J. Rivera and Michael Conforto, as Jerry Blevins earned the multi-inning save. Lucas Duda and Juan Lagares made guest appearances in […]
Game recap September 17: Never say die
What Happened: After a long and painful day, the Mets got to celebrate a franchise-record 201 home runs in a season as Curtis Granderson hit a game-tying homer in the 11th and a game-winning homer in the 12th. Fans probably walked in to yesterday’s game a little bummed out. It was Jacob deGrom hair hat […]
Game recap September 16: Bartolo Colon, down-ballot Cy Young candidate
With the Giants and Cardinals, the Mets’ two primary challengers for the two Wild Card spots, squaring off in San Francisco, the Mets had a prime opportunity to solidify their hold on a playoff spot against the lowly Twins. Bartolo Colon and his 3.27 ERA (his lowest mark since 2013 in Oakland) was opposed by […]
Projecting the Possible Mets Wild Card Roster
There are two and a half weeks left in the season, and that’s going to feel like a long, long time. While the world sits and watches and bites their nails to see if the Mets will stay in their skin-of-their-teeth second Wild Card spot, the team will be struggling to needle out every possible […]
The One That Didn’t Work Out
Last week in this space, I looked at the difference between Robert Gsellman as a prospect and as a major league pitcher. Gsellman’s improvements in the upper-minors and at the MLB level are fairly typical of what the Mets have imbued on a number of pitching prospects over the past few years, leading to outcomes […]
Game recap September 14: Robert Gsellman can’t do it all
WHO WON: The red and white first-place not-Mets WHAT HAPPENED, IT WAS A GOOD GAME: It’s not as if the Mets got blown out, or the Mets couldn’t get a runner on base, or played sloppy defense, or really did anything poorly at all. Rookie starter and apparent wizard Robert Gsellman turned in a strong […]
Maybe TV Can Help Us Make Sense of The Collins / Conforto Schism?
Much ink has been spilled on Terry Collins’ sparing use of young outfielder Michael Conforto, who showed great promise in his rookie season last year. He would no doubt be just the injection of youthful non-injured-hitter the 2016 Mets’ lineup needs. But few have dared to look beneath the shroud of sabermetrics to see the […]
Game recap September 13: The T.J. Rivera game
Rookie T.J. Rivera hit his first major league home run in the 10th inning to lead the Mets to a dramatic 4-3 victory in the nation’s capital on Tuesday night. After Washington scored twice in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score at 3-all, Rivera lined All-Star closer Mark Melancon’s 0-2 cutter into the […]