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2017 Mets thread!


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I normally enjoy Gardos but he misses the mark on this one. Yes, the Indians and Royals showed what a stacked bullpen can do in the playoffs, but outside of a very small handful of guys the variance on bullpen pitchers is so high year to year, statistically speaking. While relief pitchers are getting paid this year, that doesn't change that. I would have no problem with them paying Blevins, but certainly not on a 3-year deal. 

Reality is the Mets will have some bullpen options when the season starts (Wheeler...etc), that will allow them to evaluate who is up and who is down once the season starts, then make some moves accordingly, which is what they did last year and it worked out fine. I don't think Sandy has been the perfect GM and he's certainly had some misses, as all GMs do, but the one thing you have to defer to him on is assembling effective bullpens on the cheap. They have had a top ten bullpen for the past 2 seasons using this exact strategy, so I think as fans and us being the experts that we all are, this is a thing where you have to kind of accept that and maybe humble yourself a bit.

Quote

Sandy Must Adjust Relief Pitching Philosophy

An article by Howard Gardos posted on December 26, 2016 304 Comments

This is not a Sandy bashing article, though it seems like some fans take any criticism at all of the general manager as sacrilege.

Sandy Alderson has done some great things as the GM of the Mets—holding onto Noah Syndergaard while some screamed for the minor leaguer to be traded for Ian Desmond, bringing in and keeping Yoenis Cespedes to reasonable contracts, and turning some veterans into young talented players. But Sandy Alderson has got to adjust his mindset when it comes to relief pitchers.

The Mets as configured are a team reliant on starting pitching. Twenty five teams produced more runs than the Mets last year and we go into 2017 with the same offensive weapons as 2016. Our defense? We didn’t have a single player even be a finalist for a gold glove and are below average at the catching position, centerfield (when Juan Lagares is not playing) and first base, with no position where we are substantially above average other than left field.

The starting pitchers need help, and that has to come from the bullpen. Yet, Sandy Alderson announces at a time when relief pitchers are the hottest commodity on the market that he won’t go as long as two years for a relief pitcher.

Somehow Sandy stood by this statement even as Brett Cecil, a left handed specialist who was 1-7 with a 3.93 ERA in 2016, signed a 4 year $30 million deal with the Cardinals. Even as Daniel Hudson, coming off a season he appeared in 70 games and produced a 5.22 ERA with the Diamondbacks, signed a 2 year – $11 million deal with the Pirates.

I am not suggesting that these were contracts that we should have tried to match—far from it. These contracts should be an indicator to the current market for a quality relief pitcher.

Brad Ziegler would have been a fantastic addition to the Mets bullpen. He has a career 2.44 ERA and has been even better of late, throwing to a 1.85 ERA in 2015 and a 2.25 ERA in 2016. Several articles linked the Mets to him, but we watched him sign a two year deal with the Marlins because of how Sandy feels about two year deals for relief pitchers.

How about bringing back Jerry Blevins? We need a lefty specialist and he pitched effectively with the Mets in 2016, to a 2.79 ERA. Surely Sandy won’t leave the role of our left handed specialist to the unproven bunch behind him in 2016 (Josh Smoker, Josh Edgin, and, gulp, Sean Gilmartin)? Well, Jerry Blevins is said to be seeking a three year deal, so unless Sandy makes an exception to his philosophy or changes it all together, that is not happening.

The playoffs put on display the importance of the bullpen. The Mets currently have two solid and reliable arms in the pen—and one could be suspended for the first 30 games of 2017. The time when relief pitchers are failed starters is long over. First the Royals dominated the American League—and beat the Mets—on the strength of their bullpen. Last year the Cubs and Indians showed what a strong bullpen can do in a World Series for the ages.

It is time for Sandy to reassess his position on signing relief pitchers to long term deals, and bring in some arms we need—Even it if means for two or three years.

http://metsmerizedonline.com/2016/12/sandy-must-adjust-relief-pitching-philosophy.html/

 

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Wouldn't mind signing Marlon Byrd again as a spare outfielder. Hated when we lost him. There should be a roster opening if we trade Jay Bruce. I predict we will even if Sandy gets a low return because they don't want to pay him and Cespedes even though the money isn't close. It would free payroll to get what I think Sandy desires most in terms of bullpen help. The thing is if they do keep Bruce and he has a good year that lineup could be almost awesome. In terms of power two 30-90 to 100 plus guys. 

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Wouldn't mind signing Marlon Byrd again as a spare outfielder. Hated when we lost him. There should be a roster opening if we trade Jay Bruce. I predict we will even if Sandy gets a low return because they don't want to pay him and Cespedes even though the money isn't close. It would free payroll to get what I think Sandy desires most in terms of bullpen help. The thing is if they do keep Bruce and he has a good year that lineup could be almost awesome. In terms of power two 30-90 to 100 plus guys. 


Wasn't he suspended for 162 games on June 1 2016 for multiple PED test failures?
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Wouldn't mind signing Marlon Byrd again as a spare outfielder. Hated when we lost him. There should be a roster opening if we trade Jay Bruce. I predict we will even if Sandy gets a low return because they don't want to pay him and Cespedes even though the money isn't close. It would free payroll to get what I think Sandy desires most in terms of bullpen help. The thing is if they do keep Bruce and he has a good year that lineup could be almost awesome. In terms of power two 30-90 to 100 plus guys. 


Wasn't he suspended for 162 games on June 1 2016 for multiple PED test failures?
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3 minutes ago, JetFanWithNOPSL2017 said:

 


Wasn't he suspended for 162 games on June 1 2016 for multiple PED test failures?

 

You're right he was suspended in June 2016 for a year. According to Wikipedia he told his Cleveland Indians teammates he is retiring. My mistake. 

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1 hour ago, RutgersJetFan said:

100% chance this is no psls under some new moniker.

I thought that had already been proven.

The market has stagnated where no one is signing players right now.  It is foolish to be the one that sets the market too high.

Biggest intrigue is what becomes of Bruce.

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47 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

OMG the raging boner I have.

 

Amed my son you are now a man......

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/213452762/mets-prospect-amed-rosario-on-impressive-path/

 

.

I'm heading down to SoFla in March and will most certainly be in St Lucie a few times. He is hands down the thing I'm looking forward to seeing the most.

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7 minutes ago, RutgersJetFan said:

I'm heading down to SoFla in March and will most certainly be in St Lucie a few times. He is hands down the thing I'm looking forward to seeing the most.

I wish....maybe...... I can get down there for a few days

 

Gonna be exciting times in anticipation for the Metsies. My main concern is Harvey & Co., and if we get a break with them all... watch out.

Love Lugo and Gsellman too

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15 minutes ago, JohnJ said:

I wish....maybe...... I can get down there for a few days

 

Gonna be exciting times in anticipation for the Metsies. My main concern is Harvey & Co., and if we get a break with them all... watch out.

Love Lugo and Gsellman too

Most definitely. This will be a make or break year for how the Mets go forward with the pitching staff. I think deGrom will be fine, but if Matz, Harvey, and Wheeler can't get their sh*t together by late summer the Mets are going to have to start considering going forward without them and focusing on Dunn, Szapucki, and Gsellman. And the nice thing about that happening is they are all actually really ******* good.

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Latest Update...

Jan. 15 | 4:15 PM

The Mets are looking to acquire two prospects in exchange for Jay Bruce, reports CSNPhilly.com's Jim Salisbury

According to Salisbury, the Phillies are interested in Bruce but are wary of dealing their prospects as they rebuild.

Previous Updates and Backstory...

Bruce is aware of rumors that the Mets may be looking to trade him, which is expected to happen once the team re-signed Yoenis Cespedes, he told NJ.com's Matt Ehalt.

"I don't expect anything from anybody. It's a business and they should do what's best for the team," Bruce told Ehalt. "I would love to come back, start fresh and have a full season in New York. I think it would be a blast. It's a great team and it was a lot of fun last year. I didn't play as well as I wanted to, but we still got into the playoffs and I felt like I was a part of that. The team made me feel very welcome. There's only so many spots, though. We'll see what happens."

The Mets will most likely wait for Mark Trumbo, Jose Bautista and Mike Napoli to be off the free-agent market before they deal Bruce, according to multiple reports.

The Phillies are still looking to add a left-handed hitter, team president Andy MacPhail recently told SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio. In early January, FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal said the Phillies the would be interested in acquiring Bruce if it meant not giving up significant prospects.

O's GM Dan Duquette recently indicated it may be time for Baltimore to move on from free-agent Mark Trumbo, because, "We like some of the other options, some of the shorter-term options on the market that look to be a little bit more cost-effective for the club," he told MLB Network Radio.

In December, Mets GM Sandy Alderson repeatedly told reporters he was not yet willing to pay part of Bruce's salary to help deal his left-handed hitting outfielder. However, according to FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal, Alderson may have to do so if he wants to trade Bruce before spring training.

MLB insiders continue to tell MetsBlog's Matthew Cerrone that the Rangers, Blue Jays and Orioles will be Sandy Alderson's best trade target.

According to Cerrone, in exchange for Bruce, the Mets can expect a low-cost, low-ceiling reliever or one or two minor leaguers if the acquiring team is picking up the bulk of Bruce's $13 million salary.

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It's kind of hard to trade a guy with power to a team in your division. I mean Bruce when he gets hot could win games against us. And this could be the difference between us making or not making the playoffs. I know that Sandy wants to get rid of his 13 mil per season which actually isn't that much. But I trade him to a team in the west or the AL even if that means getting less compensation. 

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Olney and some other guys ranked the Mets as having the 3rd best rotation in baseball after the Sox and Cubs, health knocked them down to third.

I am remaining optimistic on that tip. The unexpected success of the 2015 season pushed all of these guys into areas of fatigue ahead of schedule and it clearly threw them off. Pulling deGrom and Matz early for extra rest in 2016 was the right move. Who knows with Harvey and Wheeler but we have some damn good young guys coming up if they can't get it together.

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51 minutes ago, Rangers9 said:

It's kind of hard to trade a guy with power to a team in your division. I mean Bruce when he gets hot could win games against us. And this could be the difference between us making or not making the playoffs. I know that Sandy wants to get rid of his 13 mil per season which actually isn't that much. But I trade him to a team in the west or the AL even if that means getting less compensation. 

The only ones for which the slow market for Bruce is bad news is Freddy Coupons and that son of his. They wanna clear his money so The Coupons have less anal hemorrhaging when they add BP depth.

Duquette said he thinks they're gonna spend for BP either way.

 

I'll say it again, ad nauseum, I want protection for Ces, above and below him. If somebody guarantees that the guys they have will do that I'll be happy. I'm talking other than Walker and Cabrera and Jose. That's not good enough.

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I think for good balance getting rid of Bruce isn't a bad idea esp if Lucas Duda is the 1st baseman. You can't have that many low contact hitters with power. Streak hitters who go into  long slumps. The Mets need a contact hitter to balance things out. That hopefully will be Conforto but so far the jury is out on him. Many people in MLB including Wally Backman think Conforto is going to be a very good player and consistent hitter. 

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8 hours ago, Rangers9 said:

I think for good balance getting rid of Bruce isn't a bad idea esp if Lucas Duda is the 1st baseman. You can't have that many low contact hitters with power. Streak hitters who go into  long slumps. The Mets need a contact hitter to balance things out. That hopefully will be Conforto but so far the jury is out on him. Many people in MLB including Wally Backman think Conforto is going to be a very good player and consistent hitter. 

The Mets are insanely overloaded with left handed corner outfielders. It's the one thing we'd have a surplus in even without Bruce. He's most expendable thing because of that and his contract.

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Yeah, it seems they're still very high on Conforto working out. If he shows he can be that guy he's shown flashes of than that will be yuge. But the time is now.

 

With Cespedes back last year I thought Duda was gonna have a break out year. But at this point he has to show he's even healthy, and then prove he can be consistent. We'll see.

 

The opportunities are there for a guy or two to take advantage...... and step up to the plate {get it? :unsure:}.

 

Conforto, Duda, d'Arnaud, Wilmer: Who advances to make the lineup what it needs to be to protect Cespedes and stretch the lineup out?

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I thought Duda had turned the edge to be productive but he obviously slipped back-

D'arnaud I have soured on with all his injuries and underforming plate - also teams taking liberty with his throwing-some of which the pitchers share the blame

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2 hours ago, faba said:

I thought Duda had turned the edge to be productive but he obviously slipped back-

D'arnaud I have soured on with all his injuries and underforming plate - also teams taking liberty with his throwing-some of which the pitchers share the blame

My understanding with 1B is that when (not if) Duda goes down again, they're cool with giving Wilmer some extended time at the position so they can wait and see if Smith warrants a call-up over the summer. All signs point to him being the go-to option at some point as long as he doesn't regress; and if he does regress my guess is they'd look to bring in another bargain option like they did last year with Loney.

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Speaking of Smith see the link for some news and info. 

 

Wilmer started to look really good at the plate, especially against LH pitching, towards end of the summer before injuries slowed him down. But really he's a bench guy with limitations. A platoon with him and Duda could be productive but you'd lose some D with Wilmer

 

Smith is a smooth looking player in the field and at the plate but will prolly not approach the power that Duda has. It's not his way of hitting but looks like he could be a good contact line drive hitter with pop and maybe get up to 20-25 hrs down the road.

 

It's all gonna work itself out and as long as we stay healthy we'll be okay. Having extra good players is a good thing

 

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/213931912/2017-top-10-first-base-prospects/?topicid=151437456

 

.

 

 

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Mets have seventh-best farm system in MLB

https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/mets-have-seventh-best-farm-system-in-mlb/213989902

 

Yeah, I'm not paying ESPN Insider for the rest of that.

 

Gavin Cecchini looks like a nice prospect and I liked what I saw last year. Let's see if he ends up better than Herrera. He's a gamer.

 

It would seem that Sandy has had a couple of good drafts more recently.

 

And as mentioned here already, it's nice to see Dunn and  Szapucki making strides.

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Sandy Anderson just said the following at the Baseball Writer's Dinner, where he gave Bartolo the "Toast of the Town" award:

"You know, when Michael [Fulmer] was up here [to accept the AL ROY] I was really hoping he wouldn't mention the Mets. Now, I must say, us and the Tigers both benefitted from that trade. However, if Dilson Herrera is up here next year to accept the Rookie of the Year....I might be in trouble."

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18 hours ago, JohnJ said:

Mets have seventh-best farm system in MLB

https://www.sny.tv/mets/news/mets-have-seventh-best-farm-system-in-mlb/213989902

 

Yeah, I'm not paying ESPN Insider for the rest of that.

 

Gavin Cecchini looks like a nice prospect and I liked what I saw last year. Let's see if he ends up better than Herrera. He's a gamer.

 

It would seem that Sandy has had a couple of good drafts more recently.

 

And as mentioned here already, it's nice to see Dunn and  Szapucki making strides.

It is interesting how quickly they have moved back into the top 10 of farm systems. Shrewd drafting by Alderson and team over the last several years. Of the top 10 teams on that list, many of those teams bulked up their systems by making trades and stockpiling talent. The Mets did not have that luxury. 

It is nice to be a playoff team AND still having the support of a strong farm system in tow.

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