The corresponding moves of bringing up first baseman Dominic Smith and the switch-hitting utility man Ty Kelly, however, are good, but not great. So without further ado, let me explain.

We here at BP Mets have certainly detailed the Mets’ handling of former top prospect and highly touted prospect Dominic Smith.  Personally, I think Smith did have a chance to be near what he was once projected – but the delayed call-up, the obvious disinterest by the organization and the absolutely head-scratching signing of Gonzalez eventually hindered him.

But now Sandy Alderson and co. find Smith as the everyday strong-side platoon first baseman yet again with his promotion on Sunday. Last year was a disaster for the 22-year old and this might be his last chance to prove his worth to the ballclub.

He has slashed a just-decent .262/.343/.370 while hitting two home runs in 219 at-bats, and while  I do expect him to outperform the now free agent Gonzalez, it likely won’t be enough to quiet down ‘the why isn’t Peter Alonso on the major league roster?’ camp – one which I am a part of. Even straight from Double-A, Alonso makes more sense. I mean, why not? He is raking .310/.441/.567 with 15 home runs in 210 at-bats and yes, it’s Double-A, but remember what Michael Conforto brought to the club in 2015 straight from Binghamton? Plus, I can’t see how much more improving a 23-year old college-playing first baseman needs with his offensive skills, even if his glove leaves some to be desired.

But for now, it’s only fair Smith gets another shot.

On the other side of the diamond returns the aforementioned INF/OF Ty Kelly. It may sound outlandish to suggest bringing two Double-A guys up in one article/transaction, but this could have been Jeff McNeil. Another destroyer of Eastern League pitching, the 26-year old has seen time in the PCL with Vegas and may actually provide more value than Kelly.

In all honesty though, I have no problem with Kelly being here. He provides a switch-hitting option (and owns a great first name) for an adjusting Mickey Callaway that should hopefully ease Mets brass into making the necessary move of releasing Jose Reyes.

There have been numerous reports of the Mets feeling bad releasing Reyes and trying to force him to retire to save his legacy, but at this point, the only thing that would make people stop talking about his absolutely abysmal year is to release him like they did to Gonzalez. No hard feelings, just an obvious baseball move.

Sunday was a rare bright day post-April for the 2018 New York Mets, but it could have been brighter.

Onwards and hopefully upwards.

Photo credit: Jason Getz – USA Today Sports

Sunday

10:45 p.m.: In their Sunday Night Baseball matchup on ESPN, the Mets defeated the Marlins by a score of 5 to 2. Noah Syndergaard pitched 7 exceptional innings with 9 strikeouts and only one earned run allowed.

When you’re slumping as a team, it’s up to your ace to pull you out of it. That’s exactly what Thor did that night and with the help of a few dingers, he recorded his first win of 2017.

11:11 p.m.: Syndergaard is wearing the Mets crown while discussing tonight’s game with the media.

Noah Syndergaard earned the Mets' player of the game crown tonight. pic.twitter.com/6RdVOrAOMi

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 10, 2017

David Wright made the executive decision to switch from championship belt to crown. Felt too many teams were copying their post-game ritual. Love the creativity from The Captain. The crown looks good on Thor. I have a feeling he will be donning it many times this season.

Monday

12:34 a.m. – 9:13 a.m.: Sleep.

4:46 p.m.: Ty Kelly has been claimed by the Blue Jays.

Enjoyed watching him during Israel’s magical run in the World Baseball Classic, but other than that he doesn’t really have a long-term fit with this team other than being a fringe player.

5:26 p.m.: Wright resumed throwing on Friday.

Great news to hear, as his presence is surely missed in the clubhouse and in the lineup. With Reyes struggling, the team could certainly use a speedy recovery from Wright.

6:48pm: Doug Williams and Nelson Figueroa are discussing Yoenis Cespedes on SNY’s Mets Pregame Show. The point of contention is whether you can call his slow start a slump at this point. Figueroa summed it up perfectly when he said, “when the weather heats up, Cespedes heats up.”

I wouldn’t call a slow start in six games a slump, but at the same time everybody is anxiously awaiting him catching fire like he has done in the previous two seasons.

6:54pm: SNY just flashed a clip of Syndergaard stealing the Philly Phanatic’s ATV.

Just your casual pregame joyride…atmlb.com/2okTEgw pic.twitter.com/pjwDmIxNXh

— New York Mets (@Mets) April 10, 2017

It was hilarious.

6:56 p.m.: After blasting a solo home run last night, Terry Collins has Michael Conforto on the bench again. His second start of the season eludes him for another night.

I’m a big fan of Conforto and I would love to see him playing regularly, but after his mind-bending slump and Triple-A demotion last season, it seems like he hasn’t been able to win back any favor with the Mets brass. Earth to Terry and Sandy: Conforto is never going to develop into an everyday player if he doesn’t play every day.

7:34 p.m.: Jerad Eickoff opened the game with a clean first inning, despite surrendering a double to Asdrubal Cabrera. Jacob deGrom worked himself into trouble early, giving up two runs on 31 pitches.

It’s always alarming when you see one of your star pitchers come out shaky. It’s even more alarming when a team that has trouble scoring runs digs a 2-0 deficit early. Eickoff spells trouble for the Amazins tonight given his prior success against the team: 2.66 ERA in 7 career starts against the Mets. A small nugget of good news: Jon Heyman announced that Cody Decker was signing a deal with the Mets. Rumor has it he’s bringing the life-size Mensch on a Bench too.

7:58 p.m.: Eickoff worked himself into a sticky situation after two walks, but worked out of it with a timely 6-4-3 double play. When deGrom returned to the mound in the second, he seemed to be back on his game, cutting down Freddy Galvis, Eickoff, and Cesar Hernandez quickly.

Philly is not a particularly strong offensive team, but deGrom turning his outing around was crucial here. Eickoff looked relatively in control early on and kept his pitch count down. That 31-pitch first inning is going to come back to bite Jake.

8:08 p.m.: The top of the third moved quickly. Quick flyout by deGrom and then strikeouts from Jose Reyes (swinging) and Cabrera (foul tip). Eickoff is locked in notching five Ks in the first three innings. For a moment, it looked like deGrom was relapsing to his first inning form, but he bore down and stranded two baserunners.

That could have gotten bad real quick. Runners or second and third coupled with an iffy deGrom could have broken this game open early on. One of deGrom’s best qualities is his ability to work through nights where he does not have his best stuff and it certainly seems that way tonight.

8:15 p.m.: Juan Lagares went 2-3 in his first rehab stint and could return by the weekend.

It’s good see Juan getting ready to return, but it certainly doesn’t do the outfield logjam any justice. Lagares is hands down the best defender in the outfield, but his inconsistent bat limits his use. If the team is facing a lefty, it makes more sense to get him in the game, but even after he returns the most we really expect is to see him primarily as a late-inning defensive replacement.

8:21 p.m.: The Mets finally strike back. Jay Bruce launched his third home run of the season into the right-center seats, cutting the lead in half. In his efforts to clamp down, deGrom surrendered an opposite field single to Freddy Galvis, but it did not come back to bite him. A nice running catch in the gap by Cespedes retired the side and the Mets inched closer to tying this one up.

I’ve been historically tough on Bruce. I disagreed with his acquisition last summer and I scoffed at the front office’s inability to swap him for another asset this offseason. This is a scenario where it feels pretty good to be wrong as Bruce is one of the two batters (along with Cabrera) that is buoying this offense early on in the year.

8:36 p.m.: Eickoff is a model of efficiency. Sitting at only 65 pitches, he may have the opportunity to go deep into this game. deGrom is certainly getting bitten by his 31-pitch first inning. At 82 pitches through the end of the fifth, it’s hard to envision deGrom going past the sixth. Protecting this lead is going to have to fall into the hands of the overtaxed New York bullpen.

In the bottom half, Cabrera made a beautiful barehanded play on a slow chopper to short off the bat of Howie Kendrick that Lucas Duda dug out of the dirt nicely. Plays like these are keeping deGrom afloat. Watching Cabrera play shortstop is a true privilege; the man is a smooth operator.

8:48 p.m.: Reyes popped out to short to begin the inning, and the lack of production in the leadoff spot is becoming a real issue for the Mets. Eickoff is cruising, and, after retiring Cabrera and Cespedes, has set down eight in a row. A fully settled in deGrom matched Eickoff in the sixth, also boasting a streak of eight in a row retired.

In the top half, Phillies first baseman Brock Stassi almost got away with one on a hanging changeup that just hooked foul, but deGrom was able to set him down with a strikeout. Reyes’ performance is growing very alarming. He would finish this game 0-4 and currently has a batting average of .037. You have to figure that at some point Terry Collins will have to bench him in favor of Wilmer Flores to shake up this offense.

9:16 p.m.: The Mets drew even in the 7th, courtesy of a walk, an infield single, and a couple errors. Eickoff retired Flores off the bench to prevent further damage. Josh Smoker replaced deGrom and recorded two outs before working himself into trouble. Jerry Blevins finished the inning after Howie Kendrick was caught trying to get back to first after a wild pitch.

Conforto was originally tapped to pinch hit, but would presumably never get to the plate. Collins expected Philly to counter with a lefty, to which he would counter again with Flores, but opted to send Flores up against the righty to keep Conforto available given the team’s short bench. I’m starting to feel bad for Conforto at this point; it just seems like he’s the odd man out despite being a young player with upside. Travis d’Arnaud made an excellent defensive play to block the wild breaking ball Blevins threw at the end of the bottom of the seventh. The catcher has been continually criticized for his inability to throw out runners, but I’m glad he got to put his best skill on display here in blocking pitches.

9:20 p.m.: Tempers flaring in Philly! Edubray Ramos relieved Eickoff to start the eighth and got Reyes to groundout to begin the inning. Cabrera then stepped to the plate and Ramos threw at his head on the first pitch. Ramos immediately acknowledged that it was intentional and Cameron Rupp had to talk down a visibly upset Cabrera. Warnings were issued to both dugouts and Pete Mackanin came out to discuss the call with the umpire when he was promptly ejected.

Gary Cohen first speculated that Ramos was retaliating against Cabrera because of the latter snubbing the Venezuelan National Team in the WBC, but, later in the inning, it was noted that Ramos was the pitcher who surrendered the iconic walk off home run to Cabrera last September. Putting two and two together, Ramos seemed to be targeting Cabrera because of his over the top bat flip from that game. Turns out the Mets are giving away a bobblehead of Cabrera with his arms raised just like after he hit the homer, against none other than the Phillies. I’d love to see one of his teammates place the bobblehead in Ramos’ locker before that game.

9:47 p.m.: Following the drama to start the eighth, Ramos was replaced by Joely Rodriguez with a runner aboard to face Bruce. Bruce then smacked a moonshot into the right field stands to take the lead. Blevins returned in the bottom half, recorded an out, but worked himself into trouble only to be replaced by Hansel Robles. Robles induced a double play to end the frame.

Kudos to Bruce. The guy has the entire New York media on his back and is playing like an All-Star – albeit through seven games. His hot 2017 star has so far validated the idea that he belongs on this team and is making Sandy Alderson look smart for picking up his option after all. Bruce is carrying this offense and leads the team with four home runs.

10:21 p.m.: Joely Rodriguez worked a 1-2-3 ninth leading to Addison Reed coming on for the save. Brock Stassi tagged Reed for a home run to right center field that cut the lead to 4-3. Reed bore down, struck out Galvis, surrendered a single to Daniel Nava, but shut the door after getting a fly out from Cesar Hernandez and another strikeout from Maikel Franco.

Stassi notched not only his first Major League home run, but his first Major League hit on the big fly. After being drafted seven years ago, this was a long time coming for the 27-year-old from Sacramento, California.

Reed handled the ninth like a true closer, working out of a tough jam after getting tagged a few times.

10:35 p.m.: The crown belongs to Bruce tonight.

Tonight's king, Jay Bruce, discusses the plate approach that has worked for him this season. #Mets pic.twitter.com/noEnrs2Rq0

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) April 11, 2017

No brainer here. Carried the offense with his two home runs.

Photo credit: Eric Hartline – USA Today Sports

Nearly any Mets fan perusing these pages likely remembers that amazing doubleheader in 2013 when Matt Harvey and Zack Wheeler teamed up to give a terrible Mets team a glimpse of hope. Friday night was a throwback, with Wheeler making his first start in two years the night after Matt Harvey made a solid return from surgery to correct thoracic outlet syndrome. With the Mets’ deep rotation suddenly looking a bit more shallow after injuries to Seth Lugo and Steven Matz, a strong performance from Wheeler could again be a ray of hope.

Game Recap

The evening started excellently for Wheeler, as he induced a ground out from Dee Gordon before blowing a fastball past A.J. Ellis and striking out Christian Yelich looking on a perfectly spotted fastball on the inside part of the plate. In the bottom half of the first, the Mets offense built on that strong start, with Curtis Granderson driving in Asdrubal Cabrera with a single to give them a 1-0 early lead. This was also the first time the Mets had scored in the first four innings of a game, as the majority of the hitters work through a sleepy start to the season.

Unfortunately, Wheeler’s rust became evident in the second inning. Giancarlo Stanton started the inning with a smash that on any other night probably winds up in the second deck in left field. Instead, the wind knocked it down, but the Marlins would get on the board three batters later anyway when Derek Dietrich drove in two with a triple. By the time Wheeler struck out Wei-Yin Chen to end the inning, the Marlins had taken a 3-1 lead. The 22-pitch inning was very similar to Wheeler’s pre-injury struggles; at times, he loses control of his plus stuff, and that leads to walks and hittable pitches over the middle.

The Marlins would add two runs to their lead in the third, when Yelich dinged a home run off the right field foul pole after Gordon reached on a bloop single to left. Wheeler held the Marlins off the board in the fourth before exiting for a pinch hitter in the bottom half of the inning. In his first action since 2014, he threw 80 pitches (54 strikes) with four strikeouts and one walk over four innings. He allowed six hits, including a couple unlucky bloops and dribblers as well as at least one ball that likely leaves the yard under more favorable conditions.

Josh Smoker relieved Wheeler and promptly allowed the Marlins to stretch their lead, walking two and allowing three hits in only a third of an inning of work. Rafael Montero inherited the mess as Terry Collins seemingly waved a white flag on the game, but the struggling righthander navigated out of the jam he inherited and pitched two and two thirds scoreless innings with a pair of strikeouts. Josh Edgin replaced Montero in the eighth and also pitched well, finishing out the game with a pair of scoreless innings.

Meanwhile, the Mets offense was almost completely dormant. Rene Rivera and Granderson were stranded after doubles, while Michael Conforto (as a pinch hitter) and Wilmer Flores never advanced past first after singles. Yoenis Cespedes launched his first home run of the year in the eighth, but his solo shot was wasted as the Mets went quietly in the ninth, losing their first game to the Fish by a score of 7-2.

Thoughts from the Game

A pessimist could easily point to the elevated pitch count, 11.25 ERA, and at times hittable stuff as reasons to be down on Wheeler’s return. However, in a rare moment of optimism, I think this was an encouraging rebirth for the former top prospect. Despite two years of injuries and rust, Wheeler flashed a riding fastball (touching 98 once) and strong secondaries, as well as stretches of control that reminded viewers of his extremely strong finish to 2014, which incidentally included a complete game shutout of the Marlins. Inconsistency will be a problem at least as the start of the season and likely throughout the year, but for an extremely talented arm who still has plenty of upside and endeared himself to Mets fans with his intense desire to remain a Met, it’s a good beginning.

As for the Mets offense, I am less optimistic. In 2015, Jose Reyes was a below average offensive player (.240 TAv), and his success last season was driven by a power spike that his peripherals don’t support. He’s off to a 1-for-13 start to 2017, and while that’s not a meaningful sample at all, it’s a worrisome start. If Reyes can’t hit, the Mets are probably looking at starting Flores at third, and while he can certainly mash against lefties, his performance against RHP leaves much to be desired. In the outfield, Granderson is a notoriously slow starter, but he’s 36 and is taking on additional defensive responsibilities in center. These are two obvious holes (utility infielder and center field) in the Mets roster that management did not address during the offseason. Hopefully this lack of urgency doesn’t come back to hurt the team in the long run.

Other Mets News

With the Mets suffering some rough injury to their pitching depth (what else is new), they’ve reportedly looked into signing Doug Fister. Fister made 32 starts (180.1 innings) in 2016 for the Astros and was bad, with a 4.64 ERA and a 4.75 FIP. His low strikeout numbers stayed low, but his walks ticked up over three per nine innings for the first time in his career. Fister has dealt with elbow and shoulder injuries in recent years as well, but is still searching for a major league deal. I’m not convinced he’s a significant upgrade over the Mets’ current options (Rafael Montero, Sean Gilmartin, Adam Wilk, Ricky Knapp), but he could be at least a passable innings sponge. However, the Mets don’t see that role as worthy of a major league deal at the moment, so for now Fister remains unsigned.

In news that actually affect the Mets roster, Paul Sewald was called up from Triple-A. Sewald had a strong spring, with a 2.51 ERA and 12 strikeouts against only five walks in 14.1 innings. His minor league numbers over the past two seasons are impressive, with more than a strikeout per inning and a low walk rate, including hitter friendly Triple-A Las Vegas. With the Mets bullpen a little bit stressed after Wednesday’s extra-inning loss and Wheeler’s short start, Sewald will serve as some extra bullpen depth. To make room on the roster, Ty Kelly was designated for assignment.

Photo credit: Noah K. Murray – USA Today Sports

Anyway, last night’s game was tied 1-1 from the seventh inning on, and after Terry Collins had exhausted almost all of his other relief options, he turned to Rafael Montero in the 11th inning. Montero pitched a successful 11th, but he looked more like the Montero we saw last year in the 12th.

Montero got two outs in that 12th inning, but had given up a single and a walk, and issued a no-pitch intentional walk to Freddie Freeman to load the bases for Matt Kemp. Kemp turned on an inside fastball and ripped it past Jose Reyes at third for a two-RBI double to put the Braves out in front to stay.

The Mets offense mustered just five hits all night, with their lone run coming on a Jay Bruce solo homer in the fifth inning. Bruce also contributed three of the team’s five hits. In related news, Michael Conforto has retired from baseball to take up equestrianism.

The Mets only had one chance with a runner in scoring position all night, when they had two men on with only one out in the bottom of the 10th inning. But Travis d’Arnaud and Ty Kelly both struck out to end the frame. They went down without much of a whimper in both the 11th and 12th innings.

Earlier in the game, Jacob deGrom pitched a masterful six innings, allowing no runs on two hits and one walk. He struck out six. Hansel Robles pitched into trouble in the seventh and allowed a run to score, but Jerry Blevins said “hello” and came on to put out the fire, stranding the bases loaded. The Mets’ bullpen did not allow another run until that 12th inning.

Of course, last night also marked the return one of the most integral players of the Mets’ recent run of success. He was a total fan-favorite in his three years in New York. He was the source of numerous gifs and memes for almost his entire stay here. Even when he made us frustrated, he still made us smile by being one of the most all-around beautiful people in the world.

I’m talking of course of the return of Anthony Recker. His triumphant return to Flushing in this series has oddly gone without much fanfare, but there is no denying that, even though he was basically a guaranteed 0-for-4 every game, striking out has never looked so handsome.

Okay, in all seriousness, Bartolo Colon came back home last night. He’s the man who hit a home run and ascended us all into temporary heaven where all of the world’s problems were gone and all of our worries were alleviated. He’s the man who flipped the ball behind his back and reminded that the world could still be beautiful. He’s the man who slipped in a hallway and fell on his face, only to get right back up and remind us that he is truly indestructible. Probably.

And, personally, because of Colon I made this, and was quasi-baseball internet famous for a few days.

Growing an attachment to athletes we only see on our TV is objectively something none of us should do. Players are flawed humans, but we idolize them based entirely on the way they play baseball. And their name will immediately incite a certain reaction from us based entirely on how they play this dumb game, because that’s all we ever see them doing.

This should not happen, but it does. And it happens because it is embedded in human nature. We felt a connection to Colon for years because he entertained us; he made us laugh and smile even on our worst days. That’s why we grow connections to players, because they make us feel. And some days, they’re the only people who know how to make us feel good.

But last night, Colon became the enemy. They showed a video tribute for Colon and he received a standing ovation, because we all still love that guy; we still have that attatchment to him. But once the game started, we didn’t cheer for him anymore. We were forced to root against someone we all still want to see succeed and who will still undoubtedly put a smile on our faces again this year, even as we watch from a far. It was a weird feeling, for sure.

And we watched as he pitched 6 solid innings against the team whose colors he used to don. He gave up one run on two hits, striking out six and walking one. His only blemish was Bruce’s solo home run. He went 0-for-2 at the plate, inlcuding a groundout where he adorably carried his bat to first base as only he can.

Long live Bartolo.

OTHER NEWS OF THE DAY:

The Mets signed outfielder Desmond Jennings to a minor-league deal. He will be assigned to Triple-A Las Vegas and will likely serve as the center fielder there, although it’s not unlikely to see him in the big leagues at some point this season. The former top Rays prospect was worth more than 3 fWAR in both 2013 and 2014, but leg injuries have limited him to only 93 games since then, and may have taken a hit on his play as well. He was cut from the Reds roster just a few days ago. Overall, it’s a solid low-risk depth signing for the Mets that still has a small chance to reward them with a solid MLB contributor.

Juan Lagares will play in rehab games beginning Monday, according to Sandy Alderson. The Mets are looking at next week for a potential return for the defensive wizard.

From Tuesday: Seth Lugo has a slightly torn UCL, but will avoid surgery for now. He received a PRP injection and will miss at least a couple weeks, said Terry Collins. But given the nature of the injury—and the Mets’ history with these things—Lugo is very likely to miss more time than that.

TOMORROW:

The Mets look to take the rubber game of the series from the Braves, as Matt Harvey makes his season debut against fellow Thoracic Outlet Syndrome victim Jaime Garcia at 7:10 p.m. The Mets have only won one of their last four series with the Braves dating back to last year.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

Ty Kelly, muse to so many of us, stars in one of today’s posts by the incomparable Emma Baccellieri. It’s a lovely short read, it’s free to peruse on the main site, and it will give you absolutely no help when building your fantasy team or projecting the performance of the 2017 New York Mets.

In the future, you may even see a couple of your favorite BP Mets writers over at Short Relief at some point. Head down or up the river–who really knows?–and check it out.

Photo Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

21. Chris Flexen, RHP, Age 21 (St. Lucie)

The least-heralded prospect the Mets added to the 40-man this offseason. Flexen is honestly about as close to a generic assembly-line good-but-not-great right-handed pitching prospect as there is, right down to the Tommy John surgery in his recent past. 2016 was his first full season back, and he was middling in High-A, but his velocity did largely come back. The Mets have done extremely, extremely well maximizing this profile into major-league success, and Flexen will start 2017 in Double-A and on the 40-man, so this could all come together quicker than you’d think. Whether or not that future is in the rotation or bullpen remains to be seen.

22. Andrew Church, RHP, Age 21 (Columbia/St. Lucie/Las Vegas)

2013’s second-round pick emerged from years of erratic and unspectacular performance in the depths of short-season ball to put up an impressive half-season split between A-ball levels. There isn’t a lot differentiating him and Flexen, honestly—touching 95, good breaking ball (curve for Flexen, slider for Church), change that needs some work, a lot of time missed with arm injuries, unclear whether either will fit in the rotation or the bullpen. Flexen being a spot higher is more that we’ve seen him pitch more and better through the years, despite the TJS in his background, but consider these guys fairly interchangeable.

23. Phil Evans, IF, Age 23 (St. Lucie/Binghamton)

Evans opened 2016 as a High-A extra infielder and ended it as a Double-A batting champion. He was originally notable as one of the first markers that the new regime would be way more aggressive in the draft, signing as 2011’s 15th-rounder for a $650,000 bonus. Of course, draft bonus pool caps came just the year after, and nobody could be particularly aggressive after that. Evans bounced around the system until this year, emerging as a hit-tool first second base option in much the same way T.J. Rivera did at Triple-A and in the majors.

The Mets exposed Evans to Thursday’s Rule 5 draft, and he’s been widely talked about as one of the more likely players to get popped. It’d be more of a loss if the system didn’t already have Wilmer Flores, Gavin Cecchini, and Rivera as young RHH utility options that can’t really play short.

24. Anthony Kay, LHP, Age 21 (DNP)

As ESPN’s Keith Law noted at the time, Kay’s usage at UConn this past spring was suspect at best. Surprise surprise, Kay’s physical with the Mets showed significant elbow damage, costing him many hundreds of thousands of dollars of bonus money. MLB, through the bonus pools, made it up to the Mets by allowing them to sign Cameron Planck. Nobody will make it up to Anthony Kay–not UConn or the NCAA or the AAC.

This ranking is pretty much a shot in the dark; Kay would’ve made the top ten if healthy, but won’t throw a meaningful professional pitch until his age-23 season in 2018. As with Marcos Molina, we’ll probably have a much better idea how the recovery is going in a year, even if he probably won’t make it back before the end of the MILB season.

25. Cameron Planck, RHP, Age 18 (DNP)

Do you like playing the lottery? Well, here’s a pair of prospects for you. The Mets went through quite a saga to acquire Planck, originally offering to cut a pre-draft deal with him for somewhere in the mid-high six figures, to be drafted in the third or fourth round. Planck turned them down. The Mets took him in the 11th as a backup plan, and ended up having a bunch of leftover pool money when Kay took a far lower bonus than expected. Planck signed for $1,000,001.

He’s yet to pitch as a professional. He throws in the mid-90s. We’re ranking him around where we’d rank a generic third-round prep arm because, well, for the purposes of rankings, he’s sort of a generic third-round prep arm. And as you see with Church upstream, it’s not always clear for a number of years which way these things are going to go.

26. Gregory Guerrero, SS, Age 17 (DSL)

Gregory Guerrero is most notable as Vladimir’s nephew, trained by Uncle Vlad at the Guerrero Academy. He signed for $1.5 million as one of the reported best players in the 2015 international class. And that’s where it about ends for now—Guerrero was adequate in enough in the Dominican Summer League, but doesn’t get the kinds of great whisperings Andres Gimenez has, at least not yet. He’s likely to be way up this list after a summer in North America, or off it entirely.

27. Nabil Crismatt, RHP, Age 21 (Brooklyn/Columbia/Binghamton)

Crismatt put up one of the more spectacular ratios in the system in 2016, striking out 74 and walking only 7 while rising from extended spring all the way to a spot start in Double-A. He’s already being used in a swingman type role and is very likely headed to a future in the bullpen. As a fastball/change guy with a fringe breaking ball, it’s easy to think Akeel Morris. He’s a few years away from any sort of major-league role, and was subsequently left off the 40, where he should be among the lower risks among the significant prospects to be taken in the Rule 5 draft.

28. Kevin McGowan, RHP, Age 24 (St. Lucie/Binghamton)

Of the prospects the Mets exposed to the Rule 5 draft, McGowan is probably most ready to contribute to a major-league team. Jeffrey and I talk quite frequently about “95-and-a-slider” guys in the context of generic perfectly acceptable relievers, and after converting to relief in 2016, McGowan is basically already there. He could be this year’s Erik Goeddel in contributing decent innings to the major-league club from off the radar, or he could be this year’s Matt Bowman in contributing decent innings to someone else’s major-league club.

29. Jake Simon, LHP, Age 19 (Kingsport)

The Mets gave Jake Simon $400,000 in the 11th round in 2015 because he was a projectable lefty, and early signs are promising. His velocity ticked up in 2016 while pitching adequately in the Appy League, a perfectly respectable assignment for his age and advancement. These profiles can come together quickly—we’ll note that this is about the same point where we’d have had Simon’s teammate Thomas Szapucki last year, and with broadly the same profile. Simon will be headed for a higher-profile assignment in either Brooklyn or Columbia in 2017.

30. Ty Kelly, IF/OF, Age 27 (Las Vegas/New York)

Ty Kelly deserves to be higher than this, as he’s not more than a shout off of T.J. Rivera, but this is what happens when your authors end up counting service days by hand and realize he is eligible at the last second. He’s a present major-league role 4, a perfectly good utility guy, and honestly most of the players behind him are future 4s, so here he is. I guess this serves as a reminder that more guys are still “prospects” than you’d think.

THREE MORE WITH A SHOT:

• P.J. Conlon, LHP, Age 22 (Columbia/St. Lucie): A small, soft-tossing lefty from Northern Ireland who has dominated the low-minors to the tune of a 1.47 career ERA. This profile often implodes in Double-A, but he could carve out a MLB future in some role.
• Paul Sewald, RHP, Age 26 (Las Vegas): The best pitcher for the 2016 Las Vegas 51s, and overqualified for a MLB long relief type role with a chance for more. Could be selected in Rule 5.
• Jeff McNeil, IF, Age 24 (Binghamton): The former golfer missed nearly all of 2016 with lower-body injuries. If his athleticism and hit tool remain intact, he has a chance at a long career as a utility player or even fringe starter. Also exposed to Rule 5.

Photo Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports

Norse gods are rejuvenated by the strep throat bacterium. Mets 12, Marlins 1.

Discussion and Analysis

Noah Syndergaard started for the first time in eight days. While extra rest this late in the season is a good thing in itself, Thor appeared unaffected by his recent illness. The Marlins scored a lone fluky run off the Mets’ ace. Dee Gordon led off the bottom of the first with a bunt single in front of the mound, took a stolen base against the pitcher least able to prevent them, forced T.J. Rivera to hold him on second base, then scored when Marcell Ozuna topped an excruciatingly slow ground ball to the vacated position. After the first, Syndergaard went five more innings, allowed just three more hits and struck out eight. He walked nobody all game. He also singled twice. He seems okay.

In what started as a typical Mets offensive performance, the team scored primarily on home runs. In the top of the second, Curtis Granderson walked and Jay Bruce crushed a dinger to the second deck in right field.  In the third, Asdrubal Cabrera singled and Yoenis Cespedes dented the Marlins’ sculpture in center field. The Mets knocked Marlins starter Tom Koehler out in the fourth, but left 10 runners on base through the sixth inning. The score held at 4-1 through the seventh inning.

Marlins manager Don Mattingly used 17 pitchers over the last two games. The pick-a-pitcher strategy looks good when one’s opponent isn’t hitting, but it broke down in the eighth inning last night. Ty Kelly singled and Jose Reyes doubled. After Mattingly intentionally walked Cespedes, Granderson poked a two-run single. The suddenly-scorching Jay Bruce lined his third hit of the night to re-load the bases, and the also-smoking Lucas Duda cleared them with a double. Go buy all the milk cartons on the shelf searching for Michael Conforto’s picture; it’s clear Terry Collins is going to play Jay Bruce every day. We can only hope that Bruce continues to hit. But few would argue that Duda’s return — and the corresponding James Loney benching — is anything but a positive development.

On the day the Mets announced that Steven Matz would undergo season-ending surgery to remove a bone spur from his elbow, it’s worth remembering that Syndergaard is dealing with a similar, if less significant, malady. That means three-fifths of the opening day starting rotation is out for the year and the other two have visited the team orthopedist. (It was revealed today that Bartolo Colon has been pitching through a sprained tendon in his right foot.) A playoff rotation that goes Thor and Colon, then E.T. phone home, is less than optimal even if the remaining pitchers were healthy. Jeff Sullivan recently tweeted that fourth starters pitched only 8% of the innings in last year’s playoffs. The minimal importance of a postseason rotation’s back end would be better news for the Mets if the team knew for a certainty which of Robert Gsellman and Seth Lugo is the better third starter.

Let’s reach the playoffs first.

Contemporaneous Thoughts

Jay Bruce since I suggested a @BP_Mets staff post burying him: .417/.417/1.167

— Scott D. Simon (@scottdsimon) September 27, 2016

GKR-isms

“Syndergaard was pretty irritated… You get irritated when a ball that rolls and bounces 18 times makes it through the infield for a base hit.” — Ron

“Can I ask you a question? Why do intentional passes count against your pitch count?” — Ron

“Whenever I see relievers come in and go three-and-oh to the first hitter, my first thought is, ‘What were you doing in the bullpen, rowing?’ ” — Keith

Coda

Lugo’s spin rate faces Jose Urena tonight in the Marlins’ final home game of the season — after which they will attend Jose Fernandez’s funeral.

Photo Credit – Steve Mitchell, USA Today Sports

BATS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF INABILITY TO THROW STRIKES

The Phillies sent six different pitchers to the mound today, and not one of them had anything resembling a good day. Starter Jake Thompson did look good early in the game – he had a low 90s fastball that he placed well in the first three innings, as well as a biting slider that generated a few whiffs. During those innings, the only run to score was by Jay Bruce on a ball that James Loney grounded into a double play.
Things fell apart for Thompson in the fourth, as Curtis Granderson hit a leadoff homerun into the stands in right field. T.J. and Rene Rivera each walked while Loney singled to load the bases. Gsellman then grounded into a force out at home. Reyes’ first walk of the day brought in the inning’s second run.
Phil Klein appeared in relief in the fifth inning and could not control his fastball. He walked both Yoenis Cespedes and Granderson to start the inning, followed by a single by Bruce to load the bases. After the Mets scored two runs on a T.J. Rivera single and a Rene Rivera hit-by-pitch, Colton Murray replaced Klein with only one out in the inning. Bruce scored on a wild pitch.
Murray had a pretty good sixth inning – getting two strikeouts and a popup. The team then made the decision to have him come out for a part of the seventh, which is predictably when things went south again. Unable to throw a strike, Murray hit a batter, walked a batter, and allowed a single before being replaced by Frank Herrmann. Herrmann immediately walked Reyes with the bases loaded and allowed a grand slam to Asdrubal Cabrera before getting two strikeouts to end the inning.
Lefty Patrick Schuster entered in the eighth and did strike out two batters, but also allowed three hits, a walk, and a hit batter. He was then replaced by Luis Garcia, who walked Ty Kelly and allowed a Michael Conforto double before striking out Gavin Cecchini (in his second appearance of the inning).
In total, the Phillies’ staff allowed two home runs, three wild pitches, four hit batters, five inherited runners to score, nine walks, 14 hits, and 17 earned runs in eight innings. The Mets deemed a bottom of the ninth unnecessary.

ROBERT GSELLMAN STIFFLES THE PHILLIES’ LINEUP

Robert Gsellman continued to impress as he pitched what is probably his best MLB start to date. He had some command issues in the first inning as he allowed a single to Freddy Galvis and walked Maikel Franco, but suffered no damage on the scoreboard. He settled down in the second and really had his 94 mph fastball working as he generated three groundouts and three strikeouts over the next two innings.
He allowed two singles to Jorge Alfaro and Cody Asche through the rest of his outing, but was basically dominant throughout. Seventy-five percent of his batted balls were grounders, and he struck out eight batters in total. It will be overlooked because of the gaudy numbers on offense, but it was a really encouraging outing for the rookie right-hander.

SALAS, BLEVINS MAKE QUICK WORK OF LATE INNINGS

There’s not a ton to write here about the relief appearances of Fernando Salas and Jerry Blevins in the eighth and ninth innings, respectively, but each quickly retired the three batters they were assigned. Salas in particular struck out the side in order and looked really good with his fastball while doing it. Blevins finished the game with two grounders and a lineout on 10 pitches.

UP NEXT

On Monday, the Mets head to Miami to begin a three-game series against the grieving Marlins, in the first game since the passing of Jose Fernandez. Since Fernandez was scheduled to pitch that game, the Marlins’ starter is unknown, and it isn’t clear how the cancellation of Sunday’s game will affect the remaining schedule. Adam Conley was originally scheduled to pitch on Sunday, so he may be the Marlins’ most likely starter. Bartolo Colon will pitch for New York, who sit atop a tight three-team race for the two NL Wild Card spots. First pitch is at 7:05 p.m.

Photo credit: Anthony Gruppuso – USA Today Sports

It felt like only a matter of time before the Mets’ paper-thin rotation would collapse. With Noah Syndergaard out with strep throat, Collins was left with two options. Sean Gilmartin wasn’t an inspiring choice for a spot starter. He only made one start in the big leagues before Saturday’s game. But the other option was Rafael Montero, whose best big league start this year involved six walks in five innings.

Neither option was a safe choice for the Mets. Gilmartin gave up a walk, a single, and then served up a fastball for a three-run Maikel Franco homer. He responded by getting right in to another jam, walking Jorge Alfaro to bring pitcher Alec Asher up with two outs and the bases loaded. Asher singled to center to bring in two more runs and chase Gilmartin. Montero warmed up with a wild pitch and another walk to Cesar Hernandez. In what may be Saturday’s biggest surprise, that was Montero’s only walk. He struck out Roman Quinn to end the inning.

Odubel Herrera led off the second with a triple. It felt like the Mets were in for another onslaught of bad pitching, but Montero retired seven of the eight batters and was cruising in the fourth. Herrera broke through with a single, then Franco and Tommy Joseph singled. Darin Ruf homered for the second straight game (after not homering all season) and it was suddenly 10-0. Collins gave Jose Reyes, Asdrubal Cabrera, Yoenis Cespedes and Curtis Granderson one more at-bat each in the bottom of the fourth before pulling them all to rest for Sunday’s day game.

Lucas Duda started the Mets comeback in the bottom of the fifth by running down the line to take advantage of Freddy Galvis’ poor fielding. (Duda also made diving plays in the field, showing no obvious back symptoms.) Travis d’Arnaud singled and Gavin Cecchini reached on a Franco error to put the Mets on the board. T.J. Rivera, Brandon Nimmo and Ty Kelly all got hits to give the Mets a total of four unearned runs before James Loney pinch hit and grounded out to end the inning.

The rookies from Las Vegas went 6-11 with three doubles and drove in the Mets’ first six runs, striking again in the sixth and the eighth. Cecchini got his first major league hit in the sixth, an RBI double scoring Michael Conforto. Cecchini almost got his first home run in the eighth but settled for another RBI double. The crazy dream of coming back from a 10-0 deficit was suddenly real when Rivera came up as the tying run. Phillies setup man Hector Neris couldn’t throw his splitter close to the plate, but he made the adjustment, relying on his fastball to get Rivera and Nimmo out.

Jay Brice finally got off the bench and gave Mets fans a reason to cheer for him in the ninth with a solo home run to make it 10-8. Eric Campbell drew an 11-pitch walk to bring Conforto up as the tying run with one out. He drew a 3-2 walk to bring up Duda. Could the Mets slugger have his own storybook walkoff homer? Would he flip the bat in celebration? Nope. Duda popped up and d’Arnaud hit a comebacker to end a wild game, just short of the record books.

What’s Next?

After using Johnny Wholestaff for the last two games, the Mets hope Robert Gsellman can go deep in the game. Both the Cardinals and Giants won, pushing the Mets back in to a tie for the wild card.

Photo credit: Brad Penner – USA Today Sports

The stars of the show were those who, based on lineup order, should be the stars. The Mets’ 1-5 hitters accounted for ten of their eleven hits and all 9 of their RBIs; this, however, doesn’t do justice to the timing of many of these hits.

Curtis Granderson got things started off score-wise with a two-run shot to shallow right for his 29th of the year. His insane HR/RBI ratio, which was covered by Eric Garcia McKinley a month ago Thursday, now stands at an astounding 29/54. For the first four innings of Seth Lugo’s campaign, it seemed like this would be enough. In the top of the fifth, however, holding a 2-1 lead entering it, Lugo’s first two pitches went off Ryan Howard and Cameron Rupp’s bats for their 23rd and 16th home runs, respectively. The bottom of the inning would show the resilience that characterized the latter half of the game.

A comedy of errors led to Ty Kelly on third and Asdrubal Cabrera on second with two outs and Yoenis Cespedes up, looking to avenge his near-heroics of last night. Though he was 14-69 in September entering the night, Cespedes delivered with an RBI single to tie the game. Two innings later, the game still knotted at 3, Cespedes improved on this performance by knocking in Jose Reyes with a double to give the Mets the lead. As with Grandy’s homer, things looked up.

It didn’t take long for the optimism to wear off, as Addison Reed allowed men on first and third with one out when Maikel Franco came up to the plate. A cutter hung on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, leading to Franco hitting a three-run shot to give the Phillies the lead once again.

In the bottom of the ninth, Reyes came up with one out and Brandon Nimmo on base. Reyes hit a game-tying two-run homer that sent the crowd into a frenzy, and it appeared as if Jeurys Familia would enter the game to keep the Phillies’ score at six. This strategy worked for the 10th inning but began to falter in the 11th –  Familia let a man score as did his replacement, Jerry Blevins, and the optics of the game suggested that the Mets were about to lose once again to a lower team in the NL East. With one out in the bottom of the 11th, the Mets’ offense ran off a three-fold series of events that quite possibly changed the entire course of their season: a Michael Conforto walk, Reyes single and Cabrera walk-off home run. For all of the criticism levied against the team in the wake of their series versus the Braves, tonight’s win proved that they want this Wild Card as much as anybody.

Photo credit: Andy Marlin – USA Today Sports