As the Mets continue to struggle this season—they sport a 16-26 record over their last 42 games — it has become even more evident how little production the team has gotten out of their most expensive assets.

And the numbers are stark…

AJ Ramos: $9.32M, 6.41 ERA, 0.0 WARP

Initially viewed at as a savvy midseason addition last year by yours truly, AJ Ramos has turned out to be nothing but in New York. After starting off the year with nine scoreless appearances, everything has gone wrong for the 31-year-old right-hander. Since April 16th, Ramos has allowed 14 earned runs, 16 hits, nine walks, three home runs and an opponent’s slashline of .302/.397/.528 in 13.1 innings pitched. That’s a 9.45 ERA, for those wondering. Now Ramos finds himself as one of 11 Mets players currently on the disabled list, his stint due to tendinitis in his pitching shoulder. Ramos is the fourth-highest paid member of the Mets this season.

Anthony Swarzak: $5.5M, 3.86 ERA, 0.1 WARP

The Mets’ biggest bullpen investment of the offseason came on a two-year contract with Anthony Swarzak. After a breakout season split between the White Sox and Brewers where he posted a 2.33 ERA in 70 appearances, Swarzak appeared as if he’d be slotted into the set-up man role with the Mets. That hasn’t quite worked out. After just two appearances this season, Swarzak landed on the disabled list because of a sore left oblique and is just now beginning a rehab assignment. It’s been 62 days since he last appeared in a major league game.

Jay Bruce: $11M, .659 OPS, -0.1 WARP

After a very productive season with the Mets and Indians in 2017, Jay Bruce elected to make his return to Flushing with a three-year, $39M contract during the offseason. Coming off of a 36-home run season and three consecutive seasons with at least 26 dingers, it’s safe to assume that Sandy Alderson and company were expecting much of the same in the power department. Through 51 games, however, Bruce has batted a startling .230/.305/.354 with just three home runs, 11 doubles and 15 RBI. The month of May was even more unkind to the veteran Bruce, as the left-handed right fielder hit .211/.283/.300 with just one home run and three RBI in that time. Perhaps he’s still dealing with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, an injury that first reared its head in spring training, but as long as he’s still on the roster, he’ll be looked at to produce. And eventually something’s gotta give.

José Reyes: $2M, .406 OPS, -0.7 WARP

While he’s only the 15th-highest paid player on the team, José Reyes is still notable due to the fact that the Mets decided to give $2M in an offseason where players like Adam Lind, Melky Cabrera, José Bautista and Mark Reynolds had to settle for minor league contracts. And not to sound like the Twitter famous “Virus Guy,” but even in a limited role Reyes has been a detriment to this team. In 38 games, the now-34-year-old Reyes is hitting .145/.203/.203 with one home run, one double, three RBI, two stolen bases (one caught stealing), six runs scored and an OPS+ of 16 (league average is 100). In the field, things have not gone much better for Reyes, as he’s committed four errors along with -16 defensive runs saved. It’s the lowest salary of anyone who’s made this list, but it’s also the least production of any of the other mainstays on the Mets 2018 roster.

Jason Vargas: $6M, 8.53 ERA, -0.3 WARP

After compiling the second-worst team ERA in franchise history last season, the Mets’ only major league contract to a starting pitcher in the offseason went to the 35-year-old left-hander Jason Vargas. After missing the majority of April due to a broken right hand, Vargas has provided little comfort for what’s been an ailing rotation over the last season-and-a-half. In his first six starts of the year, Vargas has allowed 24 earned runs, 36 hits and 11 walks in 25.1 innings pitched. His longest start of the year has been five innings, a feat he’s only accomplished twice. One would think that Vargas simply has to pitch better solely due to the fact that his current 8.53 ERA is almost exactly double his career mark. Up until this point, however, that has not been the case. Vargas has been as bad as the numbers suggest, if not worse, and with Noah Syndergaard and Steven Matz on the disabled list, his outings have become all-the-more important to this team.

Jerry Blevins: $7M, 5.84 ERA, -0.6 WARP

Once the Mets’ most trustworthy pitcher out of the bullpen, left-handed specialist Jerry Blevins has not lived up to his title to start the 2018 season. Prior to this year, left-handed batters had hit .216/.268/.309 against Blevins during his 12-year career. This season, though, has been a complete role reversal for Blevins, as lefties have hit a stunning .344/.400/.438 with an .838 OPS in 35 plate appearances against him. Since the start of this season, Blevins hasn’t seemed confident in his curveball and the stats show why, as left-handers have hit .308 vs. what was once a lethal pitch in his arsenal. “It’s not for lack of effort,” a frustrated Blevins recently said to reporters. “It’s really hard to contain it sometimes.” Blevins is currently the eighth-highest paid player on the Mets, and the second-highest paid relief pitcher.

Honorable mentions:

Players such as Yoenis Céspedes and Todd Frazier were productive enough to avoid the main list, but deserve to be mentioned as they’ve both been on the disabled list for most of May while earning a combined $37M this season. Travis d’Arnaud and Juan Lagares, both of whom suffered season-ending injuries, are making a combined $9.98M in 2018.

And before anyone says it, David Wright is not applicable for this category as insurance will cover the majority of his $20M salary this season.

Not including the honorable mentions, the Mets are paying a total of $40.8M this season to the group of Ramos, Swarzak, Bruce, Reyes, Vargas and Blevins… who have combined for a negative 1.6 WARP. And for a team that doesn’t spend much money as it is, that is flat out unacceptable.

The Mets have gotten production out of their more affordable players like Brandon Nimmo, Robert Gsellman and Jacob deGrom, but if they don’t start getting contributions from their highest-paid players — and soon — this team may be in a whole world of trouble.

 Photo credit: Aaron Doster – USA Today Sports

On the surface, as much as I hate to say it, I’m not entirely surprised by this development. When the Mets acquired d’Arnaud from Toronto, he was the top catching prospect in the game, renowned for both his offensive potential and his defensive ability behind the dish. While catching metrics have always graded him as a premier pitch framer, d’Arnaud has never displayed the arm New York felt he had when they traded for him, and, early this season, it was obvious something was wrong as he was struggling to even reach second base on the fly, let alone throw out a potential base-stealer.

The corresponding roster move the Mets announced was that Tomas Nido had been promoted from AA, and that’s what first got my wheels turning. The Amazins had signed veteran Jose Lobaton over the winter to provide catching insurance, but they already know what they have in him; a strong defensive catcher whose lifetime .218 Major League average makes it clear he’s solely a back-up. Nido turns 24 years old today, but the motive for his call-up was far from a birthday present; New York feels their eighth-round pick from the 2012 draft is a legitimate catching prospect, and I anticipate him receiving a good deal of playing time, with the club potentially continuing to utilize the shared catching duties they had planned to roll with with d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki.

This is clearly a real opportunity for Nido to prove to the front office they don’t need to make a move to address position number two on your scorecard, but if I were General Manager Sandy Alderson, I’d already be formulating a different plan, and the gentleman I’d get on the phone was in the building when New York completed their three-game series in Miami Wednesday: Marlins’ GM Mike Hill.

What has transpired in South Florida since Derek Jeter and company took over the franchise has been well documented, with the club’s fire sale potentially being even more drastic than the ones that occurred following World Series titles in 1997 and 2003. Miami traded four big name stars over the winter in Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Dee Gordon, and Marcell Ozuna, but the one they did not trade is the one that has my full attention.

Miami catcher J.T. Realmuto is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated players in baseball, a lifetime .280 hitter who plays good defense at a premium position, and is under team control through 2020. He’s exactly the type of impact player New York has not had behind the plate since Paul Lo Duca, and he’s already expressed a clear desire to be the next one traded away from South Beach.

In a season that has started so miraculously, trading for Realmuto would send a message to their fans, and the rest of baseball, that the Mets intend to seriously compete for a championship in 2018. So what would it cost to acquire Realmuto in a trade? The short answer: a lot. Particularly if the Marlins are to be expected to trade him in division. Using Miami’s trade of outfielder Christian Yelich to Milwaukee as a barometer, I think a package like this would be good enough to bring Realmuto to Queens:

OF Brandon Nimmo

RHP Justin Dunn

LHP Thomas Szapucki

and in all probability,

C Tomas Nido

The highlight of of the Yelich trade from Miami’s point of view was bringing back young center fielder Lewis Brinson, a tremendously raw but talented player whom Mets fans got their first look at over the past few days. Nimmo is obviously more advanced at this stage of his career than Brinson, and while New York and their fans may be loathe to surrender the fan favorite, looking at the big picture the Mets have all of Yoenis Cespedes, Michael Conforto, Jay Bruce and Juan Lagares under contract for multiple years in the outfield, and they’d be able to survive his departure. Dunn and Szapucki are the Mets’ third and fifth ranked prospects respectively, and while neither has consistently put it together to date, they both have tremendous arms and scouts rave about their potential. Nido was added to the trade because in all likelihood the Marlins would like to add a young talented catcher who could potentially become their own long term answer behind the plate.

In all honesty I’m not 100% sure I would make the above trade if I were Alderson and company, but it’s without a doubt something I would give serious consideration too and absolutely discuss with the Marlins.

Photo credit: Scott Rovak – USA Today Sports

“This Mets season feels so good already, which likely means it will go bad in fantastic, operatic fashion. Like ‘Team plane flies into an alternate dimension, lands in an active volcano, and is eaten by a dinosaur’ bad.”

Is all of this too good to be true? Last night’s victory means that this current incarnation of the Amazins’ has matched the best start in club history; the Mets also started 8-1 in 1985 and 2006.

This team is firing on all cylinders right which means we should probably all enjoy it while it lasts. Here’s how it went down:

Veterans Opt-In

After the 12-inning contest in Washington Sunday, the Mets’ travel plans resulted in arriving at their Miami hotel somewhere around 5 a.m. Acknowledging the potential fatigue in play, Mickey Callaway offered his veteran starters the chance to take a day off. All of them declined and ground out an important victory in Miami.

An Important Outing For Thor

A noticeable trend so far in 2018 is that Mets starters haven’t been going very deep into games. It is very early in the season and Mickey Callaway seems to be taking a cautious approach to lengthening his starters’ outings, but sometimes bullpens do tend to get stretched thin pretty quickly. Noah Syndergaard worked through six innings tonight, tossing 90 pitches, 54 of which were strikes. He notched five strikeouts and two walks along with five hits. The Fish scratched across an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth off the bat of Derek Dietrich and then one more the following inning from a Brian Anderson double, but that was all the offense they were able to manufacture against Syndergaard.

Thor’s slider seemed to be working exceptionally well tonight until he ran into some trouble with it in the fifth. The Mets’ star right-handed grabbed his second win of 2018 and strung together yet another solid start in the young 2018 campaign.

Bullpen Beauty

To say the Mets bullpen has been anything short of exceptional in 2018 would be an understatement. Monday’s effort was no departure from the norm. The relief unit combined for three scoreless innings and four strikeouts with four hits and one walk. That line would have probably looked even better if we didn’t have to deal with yet another erratic ninth from Jeurys Familia. Despite raising everyone’s blood pressure just a bit more, Familia recorded his fifth save of the season. We’re obviously seeing the best that this bullpen can be, but it will be interesting to see how they respond when off days are less frequent.

No Dingers Necessary

The Mets are generally a team that has relied on the long ball as a means to fuel their offense. Last night, they got by without the benefit of a home run and still managed four runs. Adrian Gonzalez opened the scoring by singling home Todd Frazier and the second run of the game came on a Kevin Plawecki double play. Jay Bruce added to the deficit with a beautiful opposite field single in the third to raise it to 3-0. The Mets added one more in the seventh on an Amed Rosario single that scored Gonzalez. Gonzalez had gotten to third on an error by Justin Bour which should have been a routine 3-4-3 double play.

It’s encouraging to see contributions coming from all areas of the lineup. Gonzalez has been a revelation and Bruce has been hot since he launched that grand slam in Washington on Thursday. Rosario has operated nicely in the nine hole and Michael Conforto looks like his old self, notching another base knock today.

The only real cause for concern (other than behind the plate) is the slump Yoenis Cespedes seems to find himself in. It was reported that the Cuban slugger has been battling flu-like symptoms, but the good news is that it hasn’t impacted his defense at all. Cespedes came up with an outfield assist Monday on a Braxton Lee single where he tried to take second on a hustle play. The key cog in the Mets lineup is on a 1-17 skid, but it’s important to note that the one hit was a game-winning single. Hopefully, he comes out of it quickly.

Catchers Continue to Struggle

Watching Mets catchers try to throw out runners has just been painful. Starlin Castro pumped up his stats by taking advantage of Syndergaard’s slow move to the plate and Plawecki’s poor defense. What makes matters worse is that the Travis d’Arnaud/Plawecki platoon isn’t doing much hitting either. Through the first two games, they were 3-6 with three walks and a home run. Since then, they are 3-25 with two walks and a hit by pitch. The good news is that with the production this team is seeing from the rest of their lineup, the catchers can get by on a slump for now. But sooner or later they will have to start producing. And if they can’t, then it’s time to seek an upgrade elsewhere.

The Mets are back at it tonight in Miami where Jacob deGrom faces Marlins lefthander Caleb Smith at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Steve Mitchell – USA Today Sports

The Mets sent Matz out to face Nationals left-hander Gio Gonzalez, who’s enjoyed a great deal of success against the Mets since he was traded to Washington. According to Mark Simon of Baseball Info Solutions, Gonzalez had a 2.39 ERA in his last 11 starts against the Mets, holding them to two runs or fewer in 10 of those 11 starts. Saturday was more of the same for Gonzalez, as he limited the Mets to one run on six hits in 5.1 innings of work.

On the other side of the diamond, Matz was nothing short of brilliant in his second start of the season. The 26-year-old oft-injured left-hander struck out eight Nationals over five scoreless innings on the afternoon, limiting Washington to only three hits and two walks. Matz’s command was much improved on Saturday, which allowed him to get ahead of 13 of the 20 Nationals batters he faced.

After the Mets squandered an opportunity to put a run on the board in the first, Matz allowed speedster Trea Turner to reach on a bunt single to open up the bottom of the frame. Turner went on to steal second, one of five stolen bases for Washington on the afternoon, and the Nationals looked primed to jump out to an early lead. The Nationals had Anthony Rendon, Bryce Harper and Ryan Zimmerman coming up next, making it almost a foregone conclusion that the Mets would be facing an early deficit in this one.

In a twist that absolutely no one saw coming (if you did, I commend you on your optimism for which I do not share) Matz would go on to strike out all three Nationals to keep the game scoreless. The southpaw was working almost exclusively with his fastball, which was sitting 92-94 for the afternoon, and his sinker in the first, somehow escaping a potentially disastrous inning.

The Mets failed to get anything going in the top half of the second, and Matz returned on the mound hungry for more. After striking out Howie Kendrick and Michael A. Taylor to make it five straight strikeouts, he walked Brian Goodwin after getting ahead of him 0-2. Pedro Severino was up next for the Nationals, working another 3-2 count and eventually taking a fastball down in the zone to center field for a single. Knowing that runs were going to be hard to come by, the Nationals sent Goodwin all the way from first to home in an attempt to jump out to a 1-0 lead. Juan Lagares was not going to let that happen on his watch though, throwing an absolute laser to Travis d’Arnaud in time to get Goodwin and keep the game scoreless.

Neither team could get anything going until the bottom of the fifth, as Taylor reached on a throwing error by Todd Frazier to start the inning. The Nationals chose to have Goodwin lay down a sacrifice bunt, moving Taylor into scoring position with one out. With Severino up at the dish with a man in scoring position, Taylor stole third and scored easily on a single to right to put the Nationals up 1-0. The unearned run would be all the Nationals got off of Matz though, as Mickey Callaway chose to go to everyone’s favorite high leverage reliever Hansel Robles to start the sixth.

After a Wilmer Flores ground out to third, Frazier delivered a double to deep right to set the Mets up in scoring position in the sixth. d’Arnaud knocked a single to center, scoring Frazier and tying things up at 1 apiece. Jay Bruce was up next, and hit a single to right, setting the Mets up with first and second with one out. The Nationals then made a pitching change, bringing in Matt Grace to relieve Gonzalez, and he secured the final two outs of the inning.

Callaway turned to the aforementioned Robles in the bottom half of the inning, who immediately surrendered a solo home run to Bryce Harper that put the Nationals back on top by one. Interestingly, Callaway stuck with Robles, who let up one more hit before he struck out Goodwin to end the inning.

In Callaway’s defense, he got sucked into Robles’ good start to the season just like the rest of us. Robles will need to earn his manager’s trust back, and it’s unlikely he gets more high leverage opportunities until he proves he’s up to the task again.

The Mets bats came alive in the top of the seventh though, as Amed Rosario hit a leadoff single to get things going. Asdrubal Cabrera stepped up to the plate and delivered an RBI double to deep right, scoring Rosario and tying things back up. The savvy veteran was able to advance to third on a Yoenis Cespedes groundout and eventually scored on a Frazier groundout to second.

Frazier’s RBI groundout proved to be the decisive run, as both teams failed to score the rest of the way. Mickey Callaway brought Jeurys Familia in for the five-out save, and he somewhat shockingly got all five outs without any theatrics.

The Mets are now the winners of four straight and have started a season 6-1 for the first time since 2006. Of course, the Mets finished first in the NL East in 2006 with a 97-65 record, dropping game seven of the NLCS to the St. Louis Cardinals. That team also won their fifth, sixth, and seventh game of that season in a sweep of the Nationals in Washington.

The 2018 Mets are looking to do the same, and they take on the Nationals in the final game of the series tonight at 8:08, as Matt Harvey (0-0, 0.00) faces Tanner Roark (1-0, 1.29).

Photo credit: Brad Mills – USA Today Sports

These days, I scroll through Facebook about once a day — sometimes a result of just clicking on the app by accident — and still spend a few minutes to scroll through my news feed and see some dumb dog videos or how much more successful my high school classmates are than me. It’s a place where relatives whom I’ve never met can wish me a happy birthday once a year and where my dad can share Van Halen music videos from the ’80s. I also recently helped my 80-year-old grandfather sign up for Facebook, so that he can connect with his relatives, who are also on Facebook.

Yesterday, I watched the Mets on Facebook, because that’s where the cool kids are, or something. Look, many words have been spent on this — including on this site — so I won’t go much into this, but while MLB streaming games around the world for free is objectively a great idea, making the broadcasts exclusive to a social media site that many young people hardly even use anymore may not be. It segments and limits the audience, and I’d wager that it inconveniences more people than it actually benefits. On top of that, it’s an amateurish broadcast with obtrusive graphics, choppy, boring, and lazy commentary, and awful camera angles (who wants to see a pitch from the third-base line?)

As for the game itself, the game was delayed by 90 minutes because winter is forever and the sun no longer exists. But once the game started, the Mets gave all the young whippersnappers streaming the game a treat by knocking off the Phillies by a score of 4-2. Noah Syndergaard got the start for the Mets and had an uneven outing, striking out seven, but racking up 92 pitches in just four innings while giving up two runs on four hits and two walks. He worked deep counts, struggled with his command, and seemingly couldn’t put hitters away after the second inning.

To be fair to Thor, though, the second run scored off him was hardly his fault. The Mets infield was caught napping in the third inning, when Rhys Hoskins broke for second trying to steal, and Kevin Plawecki’s throw had him beat, but Hoskins got into a rundown. The Mets’ infield forgot about Carlos Santana at third base, though, who broke for the plate and scored before the throw came in. But hey, when two speed demons like Carlos Santana and Rhys Hoskins are on the basepaths at the same time, sometimes you just tip your cap, you know?

Syndergaard was bailed out by his teammates, though. In the first inning, Yoenis Cespedes tagged a two-run dinger to left field that John Kruk on the broadcast described as “almost taking out a family of four.” The game was tied at two in the sixth, when Amed Rosario stepped in with two on and two out, and punched a first-pitch breaking ball over the head of right fielder Nick Williams, who was playing extremely shallow for some reason. Both runners scored on the triple by Rosario to give the Mets a 4-2 lead.

So, holding a 4-2 lead after Robert Gsellman pitched another solid two inning out of the bullpen, who better for Mickey Callaway to bring on in the seventh than high-leverage reliever *checks notes* Hansel Robles.

Robles has looked lost on the mound for over a year, and this is the kind of game he’s had a tendency to blow in the past. This seemed like a doomsday scenario. But Robles struck out the side on 14 pitches, sending the Mets fans in the Facebook chat into a frenzy, as Scott Braun was so keen to point out for us a number of times.

A.J. Ramos came on in the eighth and piched a clean frame, and Familia allowed a baserunner in the ninth, but did not allow him to score, as he notched his second save of the 2018 season. The Mets are now 4-1 on the season; the most games over .500 they’ve been since they were 7-4 early last season.

METS NEWS OF THE DAY

Prepare yourselves: Michael Conforto is coming. Conforto is on his way to the nation’s capital, and Mickey Callaway said yesterday that it’s likely Conforto is activated from the disabled list today, his first day eligible.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Mets begin their season series with the Nationals today, at 1:10 p.m. down in D.C. for the Nats’ home opener. Jacob deGrom takes on Stephen Strasburg in what is always an important series for both teams, even at this stage of the season.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports

It may not have been snowing, but the weather certainly wasn’t pleasant as the Mets got set to play the Phillies for the first time this season. Matt Harvey took the mound in 40 degree weather with a fine mist coming done, as the rest of New York wistfully wished for spring to just hurry up and get on with it. Opposing him was Ben Lively, an unremarkable 26-year-old righthander who had an unremarkable rookie year with the Phillies in 2017.

As you can guess from our title, Jose Reyes got his first start of the season, subbing in at shortstop with Amed Rosario getting the day off. Brandon Nimmo slotted back in at leadoff and Travis d’Arnaud got a start against a right handed pitcher. In a somewhat disappointing move, Yoenis Cespedes moved out of the second spot in the lineup, returning to the more traditional but less important third spot. We’ll see if this is temporary or if the sabermetrically informed lineup will disappear for the time being.

Game Recap

Harvey got off to a fantastic start, setting the Phillies down in order in the first, including a strikeout of Aaron Altherr. His fastball sat in the low 90’s, touching 93 but more often coming in at 91 or 92. The slider was consistently in the 87-88 range with more of a cutter action, and he seemed in better command of his pitches then we saw at any point of the last two years.

The Phillies managed a leadoff baserunner in each of the next three innings (single from Rhys Hoskins, terrible error by Reyes, walk to Altherr), but Harvey was never rattled. He held the Phillies off the board, inducing plenty of weak or medium fly balls and striking out four over the first four innings. It was a very encouraging start to his season – the Dark Knight version of Harvey wasn’t around, but this serviceable, third starter version could be plenty valuable behind Noah Syndergaard and Jacob deGrom.

On offense, the Mets managed to squander opportunities left and right. Singles from Asdrubal Cabrera and Jay Bruce put runners on first and second with two outs in the first, but Todd Frazier popped out. Reyes was caught stealing to end the second, forcing Harvey to lead off the second. Harvey managed a single anyway and Nimmo was hit by a pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs, but Cabrera, Cespedes, and Bruce failed to push any runs across. By the end of the fourth, the Mets already had five men left on base.

Harvey recorded a clean inning in the top of the fifth, including his fifth strikeout, and left the mound at 84 pitches having faced each Phillie twice. That’s all the run he’d get, as the Mets stuck to their plan to limit opportunities to face a lineup three times. Harvey finished with five strikeouts, a walk, and one hit allowed over five scoreless. It was a performance oddly reminiscent of his glory days, as the Mets gave him no runs in a no-decision.

While the decision to remove Harvey makes sense, replacing him with AJ Ramos instead of Seth Lugo or Robert Gsellman was a bit questionable. Things immediately went down hill, as Cesar Hernandez laid down a beautiful leadoff bat, and Carlos Santana walked to put runners on first and second with nobody out. The Mets managed to wiggle out of it with Altherr lining out and Rhys Hoskins striking out, before Jerry Blevins came in to induce a pop out from Odubel Herrera.

With the threat avoided, the Mets struck in the bottom of the sixth. Cespedes was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and moved to second on a ground ball that should have been a double play if not for a misaligned shift from the Phillies. Frazier followed with an RBI double, giving the Mets a 1-0 lead. d’Arnaud followed two batters later with a two-out RBI single to give the Mets an insurance run.

That was all the Mets would get, but it was all they would need in large part thanks to Lugo. Pushed to the bullpen after getting his start pushed back by the snow, Lugo tossed two perfect innings, striking out four and throwing only three of 22 pitches for balls. Jeurys Familia made things interesting in the ninth (and had a somewhat troubling lack of offspeed pitches), but ultimately the Mets locked down the 2-0 win for the first shutout of the season. The win pushes the Mets to 3-1, with Noah Syndergaard set to take the mound against the Phillies this afternoon.

Thoughts from the Game

The AJ Ramos trade remains one of the most befuddling, misguided moves that Sandy Alderson has made. The Mets surrendered a marginally interesting pitching prospect (Merandy Gonzalez) in exchange for the right to pay a mediocre reliever with extreme control problems almost $10 million dollars in 2018. For a lower or similar AAV, the Mets could’ve had Luke Gregerson, Tommy Hunter, Jake McGee, Yusmeiro Petit, Bryan Shaw or Joe Smith, all of whom are equivalent or better options. A slightly higher AAV could’ve brought in Brandon Morrow. The current front office has a notorious dislike for multi-year reliever contracts, however, and it’s clear they chose to stick to that philosophy rather than add a more talented player to the roster.

Mickey Callaway moving Cespedes down in the lineup naturally leads to a discussion about what the Mets lineup will look like once Michael Conforto returns (more on that later). Ideally, your best hitters bat second and fourth, but teams and players still view the third spot in the lineup as a prime position. There’s also something to be said for breaking up righties and lefties in your lineup. As such, I think an optimal lineup once Conforto returns looks something like this:

2B – Asdrubal Cabrera
CF – Michael Conforto
LF – Yoenis Cespedes
RF – Jay Bruce
3B – Todd Frazier
1B – Adrian Gonzalez
C – Travis d’Arnaud / Kevin Plawecki
P – Pitcher
SS – Amed Rosario

That’s a decent blend between sabermetric construction and traditional sensibilities, while also alternating lefty-righty the whole way through. If the Mets’ pitching stays healthy, there’s more than enough offense there to make this team successful.

Other Mets News

Mickey Callaway today: “I think you guys will probably see him very soon.” The him, of course, is Michael Conforto, who seems highly likely to return Thursday or Friday. It’s a tremendous leap for Conforto, who was originally slated to miss the entire month of April. If he’s actually healthy (and that’s a huge if, given the Mets’ penchant for mismanaging injuries and bringing hurt players back too soon), this is a huge boon for a Mets team off to a solid start to the season.

Photo credit: Wendell Cruz – USA Today Sports

Thursday’s Opening Day win went about as well as Mickey Callaway could’ve hoped for: a dominant start by Noah Syndergaard, an offense that produced nine runs on twelve hits, and no injuries to report. The win reaffirmed the line of thinking held by Met fans all throughout the offseason; keep the team healthy and they can contend in the NL East. After an injury-riddled 2017 season though, the Mets couldn’t even make it two games before picking up their first twinge of the year.

The Mets returned to Citi Field for the second game of the season opening series against the Cardinals, sending Jacob deGrom out to face Michael Wacha. The righty, debuting his new hair cut, was his usual brilliant self, throwing 5.2 innings of one run ball in his first start of the season. Working with a mid 90s fastball and a high 80s changeup, deGrom mystified the Cardinals, whiffing seven while allowing only four hits on the afternoon. The Mets offense provided plenty of run support early, scoring in the first inning for the second straight game. Todd Frazier got it started with a two-RBI double that scored Asdrubal Cabrera and Yoenis Cespedes, but the Mets’ bats weren’t done. After deGrom allowed an RBI single to Jose Martinez in the top of the fourth that cut the lead to one, Travis d’Arnaud came to the plate for his second at-bat of the day. d’Arnaud got his first start of the season Saturday and carried his hot bat with him to Flushing, clubbing the Mets’ first home run of the season in the fourth inning. d’Arnaud’s solo shot would be the deciding run, but Cespedes added to the 3-1 lead in the fifth inning with a solo homer of his own.

deGrom entered the sixth inning nearing 100 pitches and allowed the leadoff man, Tommy Pham, to reach on a soft dribbler to third. A throwing error by Frazier allowed Pham to take second base, but deGrom struck out Matt Carpenter and Marcell Ozuna looking to secure the first two outs of the inning. In his first controversial decision of a season bound to have many, Mickey Callaway made the call to the bullpen, bringing Robert Gsellman in to face Jose Martinez. deGrom was pulled with 101 pitches, as Callaway surely didn’t want to put unneeded strain on his ace in only the second game of the season, but the timing was confusing. The pitcher spot was slated to come up third in the bottom half of the inning, deGrom had just gotten two strikeouts in a row and Callaway planned on going to Gsellman for longer than just one out. Gsellman would deliver though, striking out Martinez to end the Cardinals threat in the top of the sixth. Adrian Gonzalez led off the bottom half of the inning with a single to right, but was thrown out trying to advance to third on a Juan Lagares single. With Lagares on second and only one out, Callaway elected to bat Gsellman, who moved Lagares over to third with a swinging bunt. Although it worked out in this particular case, it’ll be interesting to see how Callaway approaches similar situations during the season, especially when the score is closer.

After Gsellman ran into some trouble in the seventh, Callaway called in Anthony Swarzak with one out and runners on second and third. Swarzak struck out pinch hitter Greg Garcia looking to get the second out, and got Dexter Fowler to fly out to center field to end the inning. Frazier would hit a sacrifice fly to increase the Mets’ lead to 5-1 in the bottom half of the inning, and Callaway sent Swarzak back out to pitch the top of the eighth. Swarzak struck out Tommy Pham to start the inning, but allowed a solo homer to Matt Carpenter that cut the Mets’ lead to three. Two batters later, Callaway was out to the mound again, this time with the training staff by his side. Callaway took the ball from Swarzak and brought on Jeurys Familia and Wilmer Flores in the double switch, sending Adrian Gonzalez to the bench. The Mets added another run on Cabrera’s double in the bottom half of the inning, and Familia pitched a scoreless ninth to seal the Mets second win of the season.

After the game, Swarzak said that he left the game with a sore oblique, but hadn’t undergone X-rays postgame. The former White Sox reliever projects to be a big piece in the Mets bullpen this season after signing a two-year deal in the offseason, so anything worse than a tweak could be an issue.

With Saturday’s win, the Mets have won consecutive games to start a season for the first time since 2013, a year in which Jon Niese started on Opening Day and Marlon Byrd batted fifth behind Ike Davis. The last time the Mets opened the season with a sweep was 2012, when the Metropolitans swept the Atlanta Braves at Citi Field behind Johan Santana, R.A. Dickey and Niese.

The Mets are back at it again on Sunday looking for a sweep over the Cardinals at 1:10 p.m., sending Steven Matz out to face Luke Weaver.

 Photo credit: Gregory J. Fisher – USA Today Sports

Here are some important storylines that are flying under the radar and before you say it, yes, we here at Baseball Prospectus acknowledge #SmallSampleSize, especially in spring training games…

Jeurys Familia doesn’t look right

Following a 2017 campaign that saw the Mets closer suspended during the first month of the season and on the disabled list for a total of 106 days, Jeurys Familia is looking to rebound in his final year under team control. After making just 26 appearances while posting a 4.38 ERA last year, Familia has largely flown under the radar this spring. While Familia hadn’t allowed a run until his most recent outing, where he was blasted for five earned runs, four hits, two home runs and a walk in just 1.1 innings, there has been something off in his first five exhibition appearances.

In 5.1 innings to start the spring, Familia has allowed five runs, six hits, four walks and has hit two batters while racking up one strikeout. It may be just a handful of innings in games that don’t actually matter, but Familia’s inability to miss bats right now is a bit alarming. Last season, Familia struck out 9.12 batters per nine innings while generating whiffs on 55.4 percent of his pitches. In 2016, Familia’s last fully healthy season, he got whiffs on 81.6 percent of his pitches.

Throughout the course of his career, Familia’s fastball and sinker have averaged between 95-97 miles per hour. So far this spring, however, Familia’s been sitting mostly between 91-93 mph with those pitches while generating very few swings-and-misses.

We’ll have to wait and see how and if he progresses over the next two weeks leading up to Opening Day, but lack of swings-and-misses for a power pitcher can often be an indicator of a regression. If that’s the case, the Mets may have some late-inning troubles early on this season.

The emergence of Brandon Nimmo

While there are many that have written him off over the last few years, it’s important to remember that Brandon Nimmo was once drafted 13th overall by the Mets in 2011 and is still only 24 years old. With Michael Conforto out until at least May, the club needed someone to step up in center field this spring. Many hoped that Juan Lagares, new swing and all, would be the one to take the opportunity and run, it’s actually been Nimmo who’s flourished in that role. In 32 at-bats to start out spring training, Nimmo is batting .344/.421/.750 with two home runs, three doubles, two triples, six RBI, eight runs scored, and a 1.171 OPS.

Not only that but after going 0-for-2 in their Grapefruit League opener, Nimmo has reached base safely at least once in all ten of the team’s games since.

If Nimmo is truly able to tap into the potential the organization saw in him back when they drafted him out of Wyoming—one of three states in the country that doesn’t even offer high school baseball—than he could not only solve the Mets’ center field issue, but he could also prove to be this team’s answer at leadoff to start the season.

Some young relievers are producing

This spring may not be kind to Steven Matz, Jeurys Familia, and Hansel Robles so far, but it’s two of the team’s younger relief pitchers, Paul Sewald and Jacob Rhame, that have been excelling on the mound and both may have a chance to make this roster.

Sewald, 27, impressed at times after being called up by the Mets last season, pitching to a 4.55 ERA, 3.74 FIP, 1.209 WHIP and 69 strikeouts in 65.1 innings pitched. After nearly being dealt to the Indians for Jason Kipnis, as reported by The Record’s Matt Ehalt, Sewald has made his case to make the Mets bullpen to start the season as he’s posted a 1.42 ERA with five strikeouts and zero walks in 6.1 innings pitched this spring.

Rhame, whose path to the big leagues is likely tougher, has impressed as well, striking out eight batters while one in his first six appearances in Grapefruit League play. If Rhame is able to harness control of his pitches, something he was unable to do in his very brief major league stint last season that saw him issue seven walks in nine innings, he’s got the stuff to help this team in a big way out of the bullpen.

If things keep up, I would expect Sewald to be on the team’s Opening Day roster while Rhame will likely start out in Triple-A. If he continues to show what he’s displayed thus far in spring training, though, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Rhame in the big leagues contributing later this summer.

Adrian Gonzalez may not have much left

At first glance, it appeared as if the Mets were just taking a flyer on the 35-year-old Adrian Gonzalez, signing him to the major league minimum after being released by the Atlanta Braves. As the winter moved forward, however, it sounded more and more likely that, barring something crazy, Gonzalez would be the club’s first baseman on Opening Day over Dominic Smith, the team’s No. 2 overall prospect entering 2017.

Smith’s spring didn’t get off to the best of starts after being benched in the team’s first game thanks to showing up late to the facility, already putting him in the line of fire for ridicule. Then, after playing in just one spring training game, Smith suffered a quad injury and hasn’t been heard from since, all but clinching the first base spot for Gonzalez.

Here’s the problem, though: Adrian Gonzalez looks like he’s done.

In 26 at-bats this spring, Gonzalez is hitting .192/.276/.231 with no home runs, one double, no RBI, no runs scored, five strikeouts and a .507 OPS. Even putting the stats aside, it’s easy to tell by just watching the games that A-Gon may not have much left as his bat is visibly slow and he’s not even making hard contact at the plate.

Spring training results for anyone, especially a veteran player, are often of little meaning, but coming off of a season where he played in just 71 games and posted a .642 OPS, it’s reasonable to think this may be the end for a once great player. It’s likely a matter of if, not when, Smith takes over the first base job. It just won’t be on Opening Day.

The Mets catching situation actually looks pretty good

Much maligned over the past two seasons, both Travis d’Arnaud and Kevin Plawecki have actually performed very well to start spring training.

Viewed by most as a position of weakness, the Mets chose not to go outside the organization for help at catcher, rather giving the tandem of d’Arnaud and Plawecki one last shot to prove what they’ve got. And so far, they have.

In 19 at-bats this spring, d’Arnaud is batting .316/.480/.526 with one home run, a double, three RBI, three runs scored, and a .984 OPS.

And while d’Arnaud has impressed at the plate thus far in camp, Plawecki may be in position to take the starting job altogether. To start spring, the 27-year-old Plawecki is hitting .381/.458/.619 with one home run, two doubles, seven RBI, a run scored and a 1.077 OPS in 21 at-bats.

“Obviously d’Arnaud hits really good against lefties,” manager Mickey Callaway said recently. “I feel like Plawecki hangs in there really good against good righties. I think we’ll base who is catching more on that type of stuff than who [starting pitchers] prefer to throw to.”

Based on those remarks by Callaway it appears likely that the Mets will go into the 2018 season with a traditional platoon situation at catcher. However, if Plawecki is going to get the majority of starts against right-handed pitching, as Callaway suggested, than he’s essentially become the Mets’ de facto starting catcher.

Over the last two years, Mets fans have been pining for the club to go out and fix the catching situation. While the club never did land Jonathan Lucroy or any other major league backstop, it’s suddenly become possible that they may have an answer at the position from the guys they’ve had all along. Whether or not that’s how this situation will play out is yet to be seen, but it’s going to be something the Mets let play out over the course of the 2018 season.

 Photo credit: Jasen Vinlove – USA Today Sports

The mess of 2017 is now behind us. For some, we’re already into next season. For others, that phrase is reserved until at least spring training. Either way, that graph proves that Mets fans have been waiting for next year since before the trading deadline. Is there anything worth anticipating in 2018 besides a .500 record before the first pitch on Opening Day? Yes, and here’s what we’re waiting for. — Scott D. Simon (@scottdsimon)

Travis d’Arnaud Finally Putting It All Together

This is probably the third or fourth season in a row that I’ll be predicting a breakout from Travis d’Arnaud. He’s already an above average catcher — yes, a .263 tAV and solid framing gets you there as a catcher these days — and he’s once again flashing signs of more, hitting more home runs in September than in any other month in 2017.

Caveats about the diluted talent of September rosters aside, I think there’s a chance d’Arnaud can make these improvements stick. Catchers often have a slow, sinuous development path, and d’Arnaud’s has been slowed even further by his frequent injuries. Perhaps after a relatively healthy 2017, d’Arnaud taps into the offensive potential that made him the centerpiece of two trades for former Cy Young pitchers and becomes one of the better catchers in baseball. — Lukas Vlahos (@lvlahos343)

Terry Collins Departing For Greener Pastures

While he has generally gotten good reviews as a clubhouse manager and his in-game management is not significantly worse than that of most MLB managers, the end of the Terry Collins Era (the longest of any manager in team history) will help the team exorcise some of the demons of 2017 and begin 2018 with a clean slate. Whether they go the tried-and-true route with Bob Geren or commence a youth movement with Alex Cora (the latter, if you please), the Mets need a fresh voice. Will the new guy (or girl – we can dream!) be an improvement? Possibly not – a cursory look across the league suggests Collins was roughly middle of the pack – but the potential is there, especially if they go with an outside-the-box option like Cora or hitting coach Kevin Long. Collins, to the outside observer, had trouble reigning in strong personalities like Syndergaard, and his lineups frequently favored veterans at the expense of overall productivity. But at the end of the day, it’s simply time for a fresh approach, untainted by the bitter memories of a dismal season. — Maggie Wiggin (@maggie162)

Jay Bruce Returning To The Mets

Like any team going through a transition year, the Mets dumped their expiring veteran contracts. I can’t say I was thrilled with shipping Jay Bruce off to Cleveland, but I understood the rationale (kind of). In a season plagued by injuries (I’ve probably written this phrase 500 times since April), one of the few bright spots was the consistent offensive production of Jay Bruce. When you combine a healthy Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes with Bruce, you have the foundation of a pretty formidable Major League lineup. If the Amazins are going to challenge the Nationals for NL East supremacy in 2018, they’re not going to do it by relying on Juan Lagares, Brandon Nimmo, Gavin Cecchini, or any of the other fringe players that could be forced into starting roles. Sandy Alderson has to be aggressive in free agency and bring in a proven big bat. What better choice than a guy who’s already withstood the bright lights of New York City and performed admirably? Hey Sandy, let’s open the checkbook and reopen the New York chapter of Jay Bruce’s career. — Justin Birnbuam (@birny53)

Jay Bruce Not Returning To The Mets

No disrespect to Justin, but Brandon Nimmo just posted a .300 tAV over 200-odd plate appearances. Small sample size sure, but it’s better than the .298 mark that Jay Bruce posted during his 2017 Mets tenure. That speaks to the difference between Bruce’s .321 OBP and the elite .390 OBP that Nimmo produced. Is that sustainable? Who knows. Is it worth giving the 24-year-old former first-round pick first crack at an outfield spot over a 30-year-old Bruce? My sources say yes, even without considering what’s likely to be a nine-figure difference in salary.

Re-signing Bruce would mean that one of Michael Conforto and Yoenis Cespedes have to play center field on a regular basis. They’ve both expressed a preference for — and demonstrated far better defensive performance — in the corners. Bringing Bruce back buries Juan Lagares, the team’s only true center fielder. Lagares led the team in FRAA despite appearing in fewer than 100 games. A platoon with Nimmo in center, with Lagares getting extra playing time as a defensive replacement and spot starter against lefties, sounds like the most efficient distribution of resources. I’d much rather see the Mets spend $15 million on a quality starting pitcher or non-Jose Reyes second baseman than on Jay Bruce. — Scott D. Simon (@scottdsimon)

David Wright Getting Healthy

Of all the injury comebacks that the Mets are hoping for in 2018, David Wright’s stands alone as both the least likely and the most welcome. Seeing the captain back in uniform would fill fans’ hearts with joy and Sandy Alderson’s depth chart with a spot he doesn’t have to spend additional money on. The 2017 season ended with the Mets’ clubhouse in shambles, and having Wright’s presence among what will likely be a young roster will work wonders for Terry Collins’ successor. Aside from the emotional and financial benefits to be gained from Wright’s improbable resurrection, we shouldn’t forget that there’s still a very real chance that he could make a meaningful baseball-related contribution if he can find his way back onto the field. — Adam Kaufman (@adamkaufman315)

Michael Conforto Playing Every Day

Back in 2013, Curtis Granderson fractured his right forearm after being hit by a pitch during Spring Training. He came back in May, but got hit by another pitch and fractured a finger in his left hand. People wondered if he was too big of an injury risk for the Mets to offer a four-year, $60 million contract. Granderson hasn’t been on the disabled list since.

When I looked at predicting injuries earlier this year, time spent on the DL with a more serious injury wasn’t a big risk factor for hitters. Mets fans should feel confident that Michael Conforto will be able to come back from his shoulder injury, too. And next year, he won’t have to fight for playing time like he did the last few seasons now that the Mets have traded away outfielders. — Noah Grand (@noahgrand)

Photo Credit: Jasen Vinlove -USA Today Sports

“Only Ten More of These To Go,” I wrote. Apparently, it was the first thing I’ve ever done worth copying,  because the five game recaps since then have followed suit with their headlines, going in descending order, and now we’re at three.

But this time, I am overcome not by indifference, but instead by a strange sadness.

Now, I’m not upset because because I’m going to miss this season. God knows I’m not going to miss this season. No, my sadness stems from the same reason the Mets drew their largest weeknight crowd last night since the Subway Series in August. It was the reason the cheers sounded a little louder than they usually did. It was the reason fans chanted for a manger they’ve criticized nearly every day for years.

No matter how much you think you want something to end, sometimes you aren’t actually prepared for it to end. And when it does end, a sort of sympathy grows, and it’s usually followed by a realization; a kind of a “Hey wait, I actually still like these guys!” type of moment. We’ve spent the last 159 games in a perpetual state of anger at this team, but last night, the fans didn’t seem angry. They seemed supportive. When you go through a long, rough road with a team, you don’t realize until the end of that road how much you still appreciate them. This was the last chance for Mets fans to show their appreciation, and cheer on their favorite team at home one last time this year. So they took advantage of it, they savored their last game at Citi Field in 2017, and they made the most of it.

Those players out there went through this turbulent season with us. They wish it worked out better, too. We had the ability to turn our TV off or change the channel, but they didn’t. And they did their best. So we thank them for their efforts, and send them on their way, with one common goal in mind:

Inside the clubhouse pic.twitter.com/D4EaniqVBN

— Matt Ehalt (@MattEhalt) September 28, 2017

But before the players gave out treats to fans, and before SNY signed off to “Meet the Mets,” as they did their annual tradition of rolling their credits, there was an actual game that was played. Of course, it didn’t mean much, but cool stuff did happen. Robert Gsellman ended his season on a high note, tossing six innings of one-run ball, with four strikeouts. Terry Collins lauded Gsellman’s stuff in the post game, saying his pitches were moving quite a bit. Jamie Callahan, Chasen Bradford, and Paul Sewald all pitched scoreless innings in relief. Both Callahan and Bradford have looked much better in their last few appearances.

On offense, the Mets scored their first run in the fourth on an error by Dansby Swanson, and then scored two more on a Travis d’Arnaud RBI single in the fifth. The Mets led 3-1 at that point, and kept that lead until the seventh, when Dom Smith crushed a three-run homer—his eighth of the season—to propel the lead out to 6-1. Later in the inning, Jose Reyes doubled in another run, and it was 7-1.

And that was the final score, as the Mets walked off the field to a standing ovation despite being 69-90, and a really, truly bad team.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY

The Mets apparently are leaning towards letting go of their pitching coach, Dan Warthen, come Monday. In response to this, Warthen recieved vocal support from the likes of Noah Syndergaard, Seth Lugo, and Jeurys Familia.

TOMORROW

The Mets begin their final series of the year, as they take to Philadelphia for a three-game weekend set with the Phillies to finish it off. Matt Harvey makes his final start of 2017 against Ben Lively at 7:10 p.m.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports