The rehabbing ace is geared up for a big league return this season.
It was reported earlier today that Matt Harvey will be throwing off a mound in the near future. Although the next step of his recovery from Tommy John surgery will likely depend on how his arm subsequently reacts, Harvey is already thinking one step ahead. The rehabbing ace recently told the Post that he is determined to return to the big league mound this season, even if it's just for an inning.
This is not the first time Harvey has personally set an optimistic timetable for his rehab. In March, he declared on Twitter that "2014 Harvey Day will happen," much to the chagrin of his ballclub. Harvey was immediately told to delete the tweet, while Sandy Alderson later confirmed with reporters that Harvey would not pitch in 2014. The Mets even intentionally backed off Harvey's rehab in June, citing he's progressing too fast. Similarly, the Mets will likely continue to take it slow with their ace in this later stage of rehab.
While it's good to hear that Harvey's recovery is on the right track, there is absolutely no rush to get him back on the mound this season whether or not the Mets are in playoff contention. If the doctors do indeed give Harvey the green light, getting him one inning out of the bullpen in September is perfectly fine, especially if it helps getting that mental block out of this head. But if he's not ready, there is no reason for either Harvey or the Mets to force the issue.
Early yesterday afternoon, the Mets took care of the Phillies with ease, as they scored eleven runs and Zack Wheeler had a pretty good outing. With that, the Mets took two of three from Philadelphia in the series and kept their slim hopes of getting into the Wild Card or National League East race alive.
Jeurys Familia continued his perfect season at the plate in the victory, singling for the second time in as many plate appearances this year. This time, he drove in a run, too. MLB.com caught up with Familia to talk about his success with the bat.
Major League Baseball's non-waiver trade deadline is 4:00 PM EDT today. While the Mets and Rockies might not have anything in the works by then for Troy Tulowitzki or Carlos Gonzalez, Ted Berg reminds us that simply looking at the road splits for Colorado players does not mean they'll be terrible on another team.
One of the Mets' more attractive players figures to be Daniel Murphy. Has the second baseman played his last game with the team? For what it's worth, Murphy says he'll be fine either way.
No matter what they do before the deadline, Adam Rubin writes that the future is looking bright for the team. Rubin also highlighted Bronx native T.J. Rivera—a Mets infield prospect—in his farm report.
If Sharknado is a thing that interests you, Ted Berg has a breakdown of the Citi Field portions of it.
The Braves lost to the Dodgers thanks to a walk-off hit by Matt Kemp.
Around Major League Baseball
The Red Sox are having a disappointing season after winning the World Series last year, but they might end up the most active team of this trade deadline. The team sent pitcher Felix Doubront to the Cubs for a player to be named later. They might trade John Lackey to the Marlins, too. And Jon Lester seems like the hottest commodity on the pitching market, with rumors of a trade to the Orioles popping up but cooling down yesterday.
Does a July 31 trade deadline even make sense anymore?
Yesterday at Amazin' Avenue
Perhaps the Mets can contend in 2015 without acquiring a big bat. And it doesn't sound like the Rockies will part with either of their big hitters today.
The Mets and Nationals reportedly talked about a deal for the second baseman, though a trade sounds unlikely.
The trade deadline is just over an hour away, and the Mets have reportedly spoken to the Nationals about a deal involving second baseman Daniel Murphy.
Sources: #Nationals have expressed interest in #Mets’ Murphy as well as #Indians’ Cabrera. Deal for Murphy considered a longshot.
Murphy is having the best season of his career, hitting .295/.341/.423 and making his first All-Star Game appearance a couple of weeks ago. He's leading the National League in hits with 130 and in at-bats with 440, the former a tick in his favor and the latter a consequence of his drawing very few walks.
Murphy is making $5.7 million this year, his second season of arbitration eligibility. He could earn upwards of $10 million through arbitration next season, after which he'll be a free agent. He turns 30 next April, and could interest a lot of teams looking to upgrade their offense at second base.
The Mets have made lots of big deals in their history at or around the MLB trade deadline. Here are some of the biggest.
Today is the 2014 trade deadline. This is a day that can induce fun and anxiety for baseball fans. What your favorite team’s front office does or does not do today will tell you what they think of your team’s chances down the stretch. Since the fortunes of their team’s season have recently improved, Mets fans are now wondering what Sandy Alderson and company will do.
While we are on the topic of the trade deadline, Amazin’ Avenue takes a brief look at trades the Mets have made in the past. Included in this list are trades from when the deadline was June 15 (from 1923–1985), as well as deals done since the current July 31st deadline was established in 1986.
This list is non-exhaustive and is presented in chronological order. We will leave it to you to judge whether the trades were good or bad (although some are quite obvious, one way or the other).
June 15, 1969: The Mets obtain first baseman Donn Clendenon from Montreal in exchange for pitchers Steve Renko, Bill Carden, and Dave Colon, as well as infielder Kevin Collins. Clendenon was instrumental in helping the Miracle Mets win the 1969 World Series. He hit .252 with 12 home runs and 37 RBI during the season. He then had an amazing World Series in which he batted .357 with three home runs. Clendenon played with the Mets through the 1971 season.
June 15, 1977: Known in Mets’ lore as the “Midnight Massacre,” Tom Seaver is shipped to Cincinnati for pitcher Pat Zachary, infielder Doug Flynn, outfielder Steve Henderson, and minor leaguer Dan Norman. There is not much else to say here. Seaver would go on to pitch a no-hitter for the Reds in 1978. Dave Kingman was also traded on this date to San Diego in exchange for infielder Bobby Valentine and pitcher Paul Siebert.
June 15, 1983: The Mets obtain first baseman Keith Hernandez from the St. Louis Cardinals in exchange for pitchers Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. The rest is history: Hernandez became a mainstay at first base for the remainder of the decade and helped lead the Mets to the 1986 championship.
July 31, 1989: Mets sent fan-favorite outfielder Mookie Wilson to Toronto for pitchers Jeff Musselman and Mike Brady. Musselman played only one more year, and minor leaguer Brady never rose above Class-A. Wilson had been with the Mets for ten years at that point, and this trade represented the further dismantling of the 1986 team.
August 27, 1992: In a waiver wire deal, the Mets send pitcher David Cone to Toronto for infielder Jeff Kent and outfielder Ryan Thompson. Cone helped the Blue Jays win two consecutive World Series, and then went on to pitch a no-hitter as a member of the Yankees in 1996.
July 29, 1996: The Mets send second baseman Jeff Kent and infielder Jose Vizcaino to Cleveland for second baseman Carlos Baerga and infielder Alvaro Espinosa. Kent went on to enjoy a great career, later playing for the Giants and Dodgers. Baerga seemingly forgot how to hit once he joined the Mets.
August 8, 1997: The Mets obtain outfielder Brian McRae and pitchers Mel Rojas and Turk Wendell from the Chicago Cubs in exchange for outfielder Lance Johnson and two players to be named later (pitcher Mark Clark and infielder Manny Alexander). In 1996, Johnson set the Mets all-time record for hits in a season. Wendell was part of a very strong bullpen over the next several years.
Several moves were made in 1999, as the Mets were contending for the Wild Card:
July 23, 1999: The Mets obtain outfielder Darryl Hamilton and pitcher Chuck McElroy from Colorado for pitchers Thomas Johnson and Rigo Beltran, as well as outfielder Brian McRae. Hamilton played well for the Mets down the stretch, and McElroy was a nice addition to the bullpen, as the Mets won the National League Wild Card in 1999.
July 31, 1999: The Mets receive pitcher Kenny Rogers from Oakland in exchange for pitcher Leo Vasquez and outfielder Terrance Long. Rogers helped solidify the Mets’ starting rotation down the stretch.
July 31, 1999: The Mets trade pitchers Jason Isringhausen and Greg McMichael to Oakland for pitcher Billy Taylor. Isringhausen reinvented himself as an All-Star closer, and later returned to the Mets at the end of his career.
July 31, 2002: The Mets send outfielder Jason Bay and pitchers Josh Reynolds and Bobby Jones to San Diego for pitchers Jason Middlebrook and Steve Reed. Bay would go on to enjoy success with Pittsburgh and Boston. Mets fans do not have to be reminded of what happened upon his return to the Mets, from 2010–2012.
July 30, 2004: Considering themselves buyers, the Mets ship highly touted pitcher Scott Kazmir, as well as pitcher Jose Diaz, to Tampa Bay for pitchers Victor Zambrano and Bartolome Fortunato. This is the Zambrano whom Rick Peterson, pitching coach of the Mets, stated he could “fix in about ten minutes.” Zambrano was out of baseball a couple of years later, while Kazmir has since had a successful career in the majors.
July 30, 2004: The Mets obtain pitcher Kris Benson and infielder Jeff Keppinger from Pittsburgh in exchange for infielders Jose Bautista and Ty Wigginton, as well as pitcher Matt Peterson. Bautista has become a prolific home run hitter for the Toronto Blue Jays; it can be argued that what we remember most about Benson is his wife and her antics.
July 12, 2011: In what can be described as an “addition by subtraction” deal, the Mets send reliever Francisco Rodriguez to Milwaukee for minor leaguers Adrian Rosario and Danny Herrera. Mets fans will recall that Rodriguez was arrested in 2010 for assaulting his girlfriend’s father. Additionally, it behooved the Mets to get rid of the reliever in 2011 so as to prevent paying his 2012 contract.
July 28, 2011: The Mets send popular outfielder Carlos Beltran to San Francisco for pitching prospect Zack Wheeler. Beltran is considered by some to be the best centerfielder in the history of the Mets, but he would have been a free agent at the end of 2011. Beltran is still in the majors as a member of the Yankees. Wheeler came up with the Mets in 2013, and posted a 7–5 record with a 3.42 ERA. He is currently 6–8 with a 3.60 ERA.
This ends our look at some of the more significant trade deadline moves throughout Mets history. We will soon see what the Mets are planning for the remainder of 2014.
The Mets were quiet at the deadline, but that's not such a bad thing.
The trade deadline just passed, and in the weeks leading up to it we heard the obligatory speculative kerfuffle surrounding which players might or might not be traded, and to which teams. For our Metsian part, discussion largely centered on the merits of 1) trading away players such as Daniel Murphy and Bartolo Colon, and 2) trading for players such as Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez. Nothing, as we have now learned, happened.
I had (and still have) nothing to add to these discussions, per se; strong cases were made by both supporters and detractors of the myriad hypothetical trade scenarios presented around these parts over the past several weeks. To venture in with my Hot Takes would have done little to further the conversation.
Instead, I took a step back.
Each year as the trade deadline approaches, I undergo a process not unlike the one I experience on Thanksgiving Day: First, there’s the excitement and anticipation; next, a crescendo of happiness abounds as I partake in the discussion of all the delicious possibilities in front of us diners; then, I feel the sublime transcendence of dinner commencing; and finally, I am overwhelmed by the sudden onset of utter (and uncomfortable) fullness—that moment, if you will, in which I am unequivocally finished with the meal. Once I reach that final stage, my only sensible recourse is to step away from the table and allow myself time to digest.
Once I had some time to digest, I worked my way back to the foundation of my view on this and all other TRAID deadlines: It depends on the deal. I’m sure that comes across as equivocation to a number of readers, but to me, it is anything but.
I, as a postmodern Mets fan, have unprecedented access to information about the team—and, indeed, all teams, which means that I am, hypothetically, capable of dreaming up realistic trade scenarios. The problem, however, is the fact that I do not have nearly the level of access to information that Mets personnel do. I can never know, or account for, most of the variables that surely come into play during trade discussions and negotiations. In light of this, it’s hard for me to justify getting too worked up about what seems to me an obvious move (or non-move), when, in fact, that move may be neither possible nor wise.
Another point that prompts me each year to step back from the TRAID Day table and digest is that the net outcome—if there is such a thing—of many or most trades will not reveal itself until time has passed. In other words, it is difficult in many cases to immediately and accurately assess whether a trade is, in fact, “good” or “bad” for our favorite team.
Except for that Kazmir-for-Zambrano trade. That was, without a doubt, immediately a dipshit move.
RF Cesar Puello: DNP; I mean, can't Puello declare minor league free agency after the season if he's not on the 25-man? If Puello is not in the org next year because the Mets just let him walk, I might sue them for player development malpractice.
A strong outing from Matt Bowman and thirteen hits from the offense allowed the B-Mets to coast to a 9-4 victory Thursday night. Brandon Nimmo continues to display increased power since his promotion, knocking his 7th triple of the season and his 13th extra-base hit since debuting in Double-A. Not to be outdone, Dilson Herrera smacked two singles in five trips and is currently hitting .344, which is just awesome even without considering his age for the level.
St. Lucie has lost a lot of its intrigue ever since Nimmo, Matz, and Herrera were promoted out of there. There might not be a top 15 prospect on this roster right now. They're like what Binghamton was earlier this year.
SS Milton Ramos: 1-4, R, 2B, 3 RBI, BB; MLB.com recently put out their midseason list and tabbed Ramos as the Mets 11th best prospect. I don't agree and also found their list to be incredibly lazy.
LHP Jose Medina: 2.1 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, K; The 17-year-old is having a rough go of it in his stateside debut. His outing today lifted his season ERA to an Appel-like 9.64. But hey, he's got decent strikeout and walk numbers so maybe they'll promote him.
Star of the Night
Rafael Montero.
Goat of the Night
The horns go to Brandon Welch of the Brooklyn Cyclones. He allowed eight runs on six hits and four walks in two innings. Woof.
Just like their big brothers in Charm City, the Tides lost in frustrating fashion in extra innings...of course, this game featured 30 hits and 15 runs as opposed to the dour 1-nil affair at OPACY. At any rate, the big news was a breakout game from Henry Urrutia (hopefully). Urrutia notched his second three hit game of the year and knocked only his second double since completing his rehabilitation assignment. Urrutia added a steal for good measure. Though as the fortunes of one Cuban defector rise, they fall for another. Dariel Alvarez. Christian Walker shook off hisbrief funk with a single, a double and a walk while Francisco Peguero also doubled.
Tyler Wilson had his worst start since moving to AAA. Wilson allowed nine baserunners in four innings and allowed four to score. He struck 32 batters in 36 innings since promotion. Utility infielder Cord Phelps was called on to pitch in the bottom of the eleventh and lost the game.
Mike Yastrzemski continues to mash. Lil Yaz hit his third triple and first homer since moving up a level, but the Baysox were unable to keep up with the Mets. His partner in crime Glynn Davis ran his hitless streak to three games, though Garabez Rosa hit his 22nd double of the year.
Not much worth noting on the pitching front, but Ashur Tolliver was perfect in two innings of relief.
Frederick Keys 9, Winston-Salem Dash 7
The Keys scored three runs in the ninth to complete a comeback and prevent a sweep at the hand of the Dash. Jerome Pena and Trey Mancini each had multihit games and drove in five of the Keys' runs. Pena had two doubles and a triple while Mancini doubled.
Parker Bridwell has walked 19 batters in his last 25 innings, including three in four innings on this particular occasion.
Delmarva Shorebirds 3, Lakewood Blueclaws 6
The good news is that Mitch Horacek struck out eight batters in 3.2 innings. The bad news is that he also allowed ten hits and six earned runs. Haitian born hurler Williams Louico and Dariel Delgado threw five shutout innings the rest of the way.
Anthony Caronia continues to make light work of the Sally League. Caronia's batting average is now .422 in 20 second half games (.369 on the year, good for second in the league).
Aberdeen Ironbirds v. State College Spikes
The Ironbirds split a doubleheader with the Spikes.
Game 1: 2014 draftee Tanner Chleborad held the Spikes scoreless over five innings. Riley Palmer douibled and homered while Hector Veloz and Tanner Murphy each reached base in all three of their plate appearances. 3-2 Ironbirds
Game 2: Austin Anderson and Alex Murphy doubled, but the Ironbirds only reached base seven times...and Jamill Moquete was caught stealing one of those times. 8-2 Spikes
Before Mr. Met, the Mets had a much cuter mascot, Homer the Beagle. They had to get rid of him, though, because beagles are beagles.
There are 30 MLB teams, and not one of them has a live mascot. The Rays have a fishtank, but that's it. The Chicago Cubs do not have an adorable baby bear. The Baltimore Orioles do not have a warbling bird. The Diamondbacks don't fling snakes into the crowd every half-inning. Well, maybe the last one is a good thing.
Pictured above is Homer the Beagle, a dog I did not know existed prior to that above picture, apparently from the Hall of Fame. As a New Yorker and the owner of a beagle, I was absolutely delighted to finally learn of Homer's existence.
We needed to know everything about Homer, his floppy ears, and his ability to hold Mets-related banners in his mouth.
Homer was the mascot of the Mets in their inaugural year, a miserable team that played in the Polo Grounds and went 40-120-1. Despite a complete, utter lack of talent, they managed to attract over 900,000 fans in a city that had just lost the Giants and the Dodgers.
Trained by Rudd Weatherwax, who put multiple Lassies through their paces, Homer rooted on the Mets in 1962, their first season. Manager Casey Stengel hated him and refused to let the beagle sit on the Mets’ bench.
Homer was supposed to celebrate a Mets home run by running the bases at the Polo Grounds. According to Roger Angell’s book "Game Time," Homer performed well in rehearsals, but in his first real test he touched first base and second, then took a detour and raced to center field. He had to be wrangled by "three fielders, two ushers and the handler," according to the book.
Homer was fired.
Oh, well maybe not.
We blame the Mets for trying to convince a beagle to do anything besides "sprint around, smell something, and then sprint after the thing it just smelled," which accounts for 98 percent of beagle activity. The puppy got to second base and then realized there were hot dogs somewhere in the stadium and hey maybe if I run towards them I can put them in my mouth hey maybe if I run towards them I can put them in my mouth hey maybe if I run towards them I can put them in my --
By 1964, there was a real life Mr. Met. You can see a drawing of Mr Met on one of those pennants Homer was holding, but the man with the leather head did not have a physical manifestation at the time. The downgrade from adorable puppy to baseball-headed freak is enormous.
This could've been different. The Mets could've bred a series of Homers, gleeful dinger-loving dogs, capturing the hearts and minds of New York while the staid, tradition-obsessed Yankees refused to sully their stadium with such low-minded, lovable gimmickry. Instead of a kitschy apple emerging from a hat, the pup-adoring crowds would rise and chant HOOOO-MER! HOOOO-MER! HOOOOMER! as the gleeful beagle -- Homer VII, by this point -- bounded around the bases.
Sadly, the Mets didn't realize what could've been. Also, they couldn't train the beagle, because beagles are beagles.
The Mets’ signing of Chris Young to a one-year, $7.25 million contract last winter was not exactly the most popular transaction in team history. Coming off a season in which he hit just .200/.280/.379, the 30-year-old was seen by many as too high risk to justify his salary. And on the whole this year, Young’s detractors have unfortunately been correct.
At his best, Young excelled in two areas: outfield defense and hitting for power. For several years—and as recently as 2012—defensive metrics loved his work in the outfield, much of which came in center. And on a year-by-year basis, his isolated slugging—slugging percentage minus batting average, a good indicator of power—hovered around .195. That didn’t make Young an elite power hitter in comparison to his peers, but it was nothing to sneeze at.
In 271 plate appearances this year, Young’s power has dipped significantly. He’s posted just a .151 isolated slugging, the lowest single-season mark of his career to date since he played his first thirty big league games in 2006. And his defense has not been fantastic, whether by the metrics or watching him play on television and in person.
But the Mets have held on to Young, and while he’s not getting everyday playing time, he’s still getting chances to stick around. And in July, Young posted a .731 OPS, easily his best mark in any month this season. For reference, major league left fielders have produced a .728 OPS this year.
Month
G
PA
BA
OBP
SLG
OPS
April/March
12
42
.205
.262
.410
.672
May
27
100
.198
.303
.326
.629
June
25
80
.208
.263
.347
.610
July
18
49
.238
.327
.405
.731
One month of success limited playing time doesn’t erase three months of struggle, but has Young shown enough at the plate lately to justify semi-regular playing time over the remainder of the 2014 season?
The Mets have a rookie named Eric Campbell who is playing very well so far. He's hitting .328 with a .370 OPB and a .422 SLG in his first 48 games. I follow the prospects closely but I don't remember hearing about him before the season started and he wasn't in your book. Who is this guy and why didn't you write about him?----Juan P, Paterson, New Jersey.
That's true, I didn't write about him in my book this year. Or last year, or the year before. He had a pretty decent 2013 season in Triple-A and I should have put him in this year given that he had a spring training invite. That was an oversight on my part. However, I did have him in my 2011 book, with the following comment:
Eric Campbell (not to be confused with the former Braves prospect of the same name) was drafted by the Mets in the eighth round in 2008, from Boston College. He didn’t do much in 2009, but in ’10 he had an impressive campaign in the Florida State and Eastern Leagues, showing a knack for making contact, with decent strike zone judgment and moderate power. He played first base in 2009, but played mostly third base and left field in ’10; he’s not great at either spot, but won’t kill you. I don’t think he’ll hit enough to be a regular as a corner player, but he could fill a bench role eventually. Grade C.
He hit .263/.371/.400 in two years of Double-A at Binghamton. At Triple-A Las Vegas he hit .326/.437/.490 in 153 games over parts of two seasons. Keep in mind that Las Vegas in particular and the PCL in general are really good places to hit, but he did post a really nice BB/K ratio in the minors (86/80 for Vegas) along with defensive versatility and occasional pop.
Interestingly, the BB/K ratio is one thing that has not carried forward to the majors: he's at 8/33 right now.
No, I don't think he's really a .328 hitter over the long haul, but that doesn't mean he can't have value. If he can get some of the walks back, hit .250-.260 with a decent OBP and occasional pop (which seems plausible given the entirety of his track record), his ability to play multiple positions would make him a valuable role player in this era of short benches and huge pitching staffs.
And I always root for the eighth round picks. I love it when those guys make good.
This week in 1999: Todd Hundley returns to Shea while the Mets fulfill Bobby Valentine's prophecy.
The Mets had just completed a road trip to Chicago and Milwaukee that featured grueling weather but successful results, five wins against only one loss while leapfrogging the Braves for first place in the NL East. When they returned to Shea on August 6, it marked another return of note: Todd Hundley, in town with the Los Angeles Dodgers for four games.
The switch-hitting catcher provided some highlights for mid-1990s Mets teams that ran low on that commodity, such as setting the record for most homeruns hit by a backstop (41) in 1996. Then elbow injuries slowed Hundley down, and the team's acquisition of Mike Piazza made him redundant, as did the failed experiment to turn him into an outfielder.
Hundley also clashed with manager Bobby Valentine. Many players had done this, but few in as ugly and public fashion as him. When Hundley's production fell off late in 1997, Valentine heavily implied to the press that his catcher partied too much. Whatever Hundley got up to off the field, his struggles were probably more due to ligament issues that required Tommy John surgery in September of that year. In 1998, while still recovering from that surgery, Hundley was wounded further when he was told point-blank by Mets ownership that the team wouldn't trade for Piazza, only to watch them do exactly that the next day. Conveniently timed whispers about Hundley's nocturnal activities bubbled up immediately after the Piazza deal went down, rumors that Hundley assumed were started by his manager.
In the following offseason, Hundley was sent to the Dodgers in a three-way deal with the Orioles and Mets that sent Roger Cedeño and Armando Benitez to New York. During spring training, Valentine gave a TV interview in which he manager implies some ethnic animus on Hundley's part toward himself and Piazza. ("Todd does a lot of that Italian stuff.") "I'm going to try and meet him in a dark alley and talk about it," Hundley growled.
Thus, much was made of Hundley's return to Shea by a press corps anticipating (and perhaps hoping for) an ugly confrontation. When asked about how Hundley would feel about being on the same field as him again, Bobby Valentine responded, "Why would I give a shit?" But no fisticuffs ensued, as Hundley spent most of his time extolling the virtues of a city he clearly missed ("To me, the skyline of Manhattan is god's country") and signing autographs for boatloads of fans during batting practice. Valentine studiously kept his back to such scenes.
Hundley was greeted warmly by the Shea crowd during his first at bat, receiving a standing ovation in memory of all he'd done for some mediocre Mets teams. They were even more appreciative when he went down on strikes three times, as Octavio Dotel fanned 10 batters over seven brilliant innings. The Mets scraped out a pair of runs and hung on for a 2-1 victory.
Back in early June, when an eight-game losing streak threatened to end the Mets' season before it began, Bobby Valentine made the prediction that his team was good enough to win 40 of its next 55 games. The statement was dismissed as insanity at the time. But the Mets' win in the Dodgers series opener fulfilled Valentine's prophecy to the letter. In the 55 games since the manager gazed into his crystal ball, the team went exactly 40-15. A press corps that once maintained a Bobby V Death Watch can only shake its collective head in utter disbelief.
"I didn’t want this to turn into something where every week was a referendum on whether or not I was going to get fired," Valentine explained. "So it was like, Let’s have a deadline and see what we all can do….When I talked about 55 games, I remember saying, ‘Who knows, maybe we can win 40 of them.’ Now we’ve got the chance. Now let’s see how we do over the next 55."
The media was so impressed by Valentine's powers of prognostication that they let it slide when the Mets dropped the next three games to the underachieving Dodgers, an outcome that would have induced panic a month prior. First, the newest members of the bullpen, Billy Taylor and Chuck McElroy, imploded in the ninth inning and turned a thin Mets lead into a 5-4 defeat. The next day, Rick Reed threw only 26 pitches before straining his middle finger (an injury that would land him on the DL), and the relief corps fell apart completely in a 14-3 blowout that saw Matt Franco take the mound for the second time that season. The Mets were then held in check by the Dodgers' ace Kevin Brown in the finale, a 9-2 loss.
The home team shrugged it off in their next series hosting the San Diego Padres. Tony Gwynn had just collected his 3000th hit a few days earlier when the Padres came to town on August 10, but the New York press was less interested in asking Gwynn about this feat than asking him to react to former teammate Jim Leyritz. After being traded to the Yankees, Leyritz blasted Gwynn for not traveling with his team while rehabbing a calf injury and accused him of drawing too much attention to himself about his impending milestone. Normally accommodating to a fault, Gwynn canceled a pregame press conference, weary of all the questions. "I just need a day," he begged.
The Shea crowd offered Gwynn a standing ovation. They were less kind to Kenny Rogers when he allowed three runs to a weak San Diego lineup, and to Mike Piazza, who heard boos after going 0-for-4, extending a slump that began in the losses to the Dodgers. "You can take it a couple of ways," Piazza said after the game, which the Mets won 4-3 despite his struggles. "You can take it badly, or take it as a challenge. I know that. That’s why I signed here….You’re going to fail seven out of 10 times. If you didn’t, what would be the triumph? What would be the drama of the challenge?"
The following evening, growing pains on the part of Octavio Dotel (five runs in less than five innings) were offset by stellar long relief from Pat Mahomes and a late outburst from the offense in a 12-5 victory. In the final game of the series, Al Leiter was given an early 6-0 lead, only to give three of those runs back. But Leiter, a notoriously bad hitter, regifted himself a six-run advantage by hitting a bases-loaded double against Woody Williams. The Mets cruised the rest of the way for a 9-3 win.
The sweep of San Diego ensured that the Mets would head out on their next road trip with a share of first place. Their next challenge would be a trio of West Coast swings in quick succession. In days of yore, California was where Mets' seasons went to die. To keep pace with the Braves, they'd have to buck that historical trend.
There were deals that could have been made, but Alderson didn't find any that appreciably helped the team.
The Mets had two prime trade candidates who were garnering interest, but did not make any moves Thursday as second baseman Daniel Murphy and starting pitcher Bartolo Colon both stood pat.
It was the third straight year the Mets did not do anything at the July 31 trade deadline, which left many Mets fans wondering why no moves were made. However, with the talent the team has in the farm system, general manager Sandy Alderson did not feel he was getting fair value for his players, according to Matt Ehalt of NorthJersey.com.
"While we were active in conversations—although not super active—we didn’t make any deals, I think going in we didn’t intend to be sellers and we didn’t intend to be buyers necessarily. We were looking at the market and what it would dictate. We set a price on some of our players, and under the circumstances they weren’t met. We’re happy with the team that we have."
Alderson did say there were potential deals that could have involved significant players on the Mets and other teams.
"We had conversations regarding significant players both from the Mets and from other teams in return. We never agreed on anything. In terms of moving anybody off of our major league club, we were a little bit careful about moving people off of the team, where we couldn’t get somebody who was major league ready, or able to be plugged in, in return"
Ultimately, Alderson did not pull the trigger for two reasons. The first reason was that the Mets were not willing to part with their pitching prospects.
"In order to potentially improve the club some significant way as opposed to some incremental way we would have had to have been prepared to deal some of our young pitching. At this particular stage we’re not prepared to do that, at least in the deals that were presented or available to us. I think if we’re going to trade some of our young prospects, we’re probably better off doing that in the offseason."
The second reason was because of the team’s record and standing in the National League East and NL wild card.
"I think our record and our standing in the division race and the wild card race had an impact, which is to say we’re neither here nor there at the moment. I think taking into account where we stand led us to set a price on the players we have. We felt comfortable where we set that level. We took the standings into account."
Alderson did say he took the same approach with this trade deadline as he did the last few deadlines. He said he feels more confident about this team, which also had a big impact on his decision-making.
You can listen to the full audio of Sandy Alderson's comments below.
A graphic designer has reimagined all of the MLB teams' logos as if they existed in the Star Wars universe.
A graphic designer named Mark Kenny has reimagined all of the Major League Baseball team logos as if they represented base ball (in space it's still two words) squads from the Star Wars universe. For the Mets, he went with Lando Calrissian and the Cloud City Mets:
You can check out the rest of the logos on Kenny's Instagram page. Feel free to post your favorite in the comments.
After doing nothing at the trade deadline, the Mets stay home to host the San Francisco Giants, who also did nothing at the trade deadline. This is a slightly bigger deal for the Giants because they are an obvious playoff contender with an obvious hole at second base. It wouldn't be surprising to hear that they put in a call to Sandy Alderson regarding Daniel Murphy, but even if that happened, agreeing on a price is the hard part of making a deal.
So here the Giants are, fighting to hang onto the second Wild Card spot or perhaps win the division, and their second baseman is either rookie Joe Panik or the unbelievably ineffective Dan Uggla. While the Mets can be excused for hanging onto a pair of players (Murphy as well as Bartolo Colon) whose contracts extend to 2015, the Giants kind of had to do something to address a glaring need.
It's not as though the team didn't make any trades this season. Last week San Francisco dealt for Jake Peavy, but the veteran acquisition is more of a buy-low opportunity than something that will give the Giants a big boost towards the playoffs. Although it doesn't look like Matt Cain will be recovered from his elbow injury in time for this season's pennant chase, his healthy presence would make Peavy a candidate to be designated for assignment.
Who are these guys?
As a 23-year-old who was hitting .321/.382/.447 at Triple-A Fresno this season, Panik seemed like the ideal man to step up and take the second base job from Brandon Hicks. That's not how things were supposed to work out, though. Marco Scutaro was supposed to have the second base job when he popped off the disabled list in mid-July, but he quickly hurt and his back and was sidelined again. In his place Panik has replicated the strikeout and walk figures that made him a solid prospect, but he's seen his power and BABIP slide into oblivion. With some more at-bats, Panik may yet find himself as a useful contributor.
Someone who may not ever again be a useful major league player is Uggla. After finally being released from the Braves after he was replaced in the starting lineup by Tommy La Stella, Uggla found himself picked up by a Giants team that desperately needed help at the keystone. Uggla hasn't even been with San Francisco for two weeks, but he hasn't shown anything to support the notion that a change of scenery will do his bat some good. That magical change of scenery potion likely isn't powerful enough to turn around your season when your strikeout rate is creeping up towards 30 percent and your power that made you such a special second baseman earlier in your career is nearly nonexistent.
Vogelsong is always a fun story because of the way he disappeared from the majors from 2007 through 2010, bouncing around Japan and the minors before finally earning another starting gig with the Giants when Barry Zito got hurt in 2011. That season was a magical one for Vogelsong, as he ended up sticking around the whole season and pitching to a 2.71 ERA. He hasn't reached those heights again, but he has to be happy with his life as a major league rotation guy after it appeared six years ago like he would never pitch in bigs again.
Niese doesn't have the type of story that Vogelsong does. He's only been with one franchise for his entire career and he's never pitched poorly enough to have to contemplate a move to another continent. That said, Niese's role with the Mets, as with that of Dillon Gee, could be in jeopardy as early as this winter. As we all know, the Mets have a glut of pitching prospects that are all going to be awesome, and Niese hasn't pitched lately as well as he did earlier in the season. The lefty may be on a team-friendly contract, but he's also been less effective and more expensive than players like Jacob deGrom and Zack Wheeler lately.
Saturday: Jake Peavy vs. Jacob deGrom
Peavy will be making just his second start as a Giant against the Mets this weekend. In his first, he pitched pretty well against a strong Dodgers lineup. Three earned runs in six innings is even better when you consider what Peavy was doing with the Red Sox. A 4.71 ERA and just 7.27 strikeouts per nine innings make it hard to believe that this was once a pitcher who was capable of winning the Cy Young award. When Peavy did that, he was playing in San Diego, and that fact probably played a role in the Giants acquiring him. Pitching in the National League West is way easier than doing it in the American League East. If his first start with the Giants is any indication, this one is a change of scenery (and leagues) that could work out for San Francisco.
When tales are written of the 2014 Mets and their trials and tribulations, one of the highlights brought up will certainly be the performance of deGrom. After being called up in the middle of May alongside higher rated prospect Rafael Montero, deGrom improbably stuck around and has since gone on a run of brilliance so beautiful that it brings to memory Harvey Days of years past. With each deGrom outing, the Mets' fan base grows even more confident that the former shortstop is for real and that the team's second ace has been discovered out of nothing.
One of the strangest statistical anomalies of this season has got to be Bumgarner's home/road splits. Even though he plays in the pitcher's haven of AT&T Park, the lefty ace has a 5.60 ERA at home and a 1.75 ERA on the road. The strangeness has only intensified lately, with Bumgarner allowing nine runs in his last two home outings (versus Pittsburgh and Arizona) and just one run in his past two road outings (in Philly and Miami). Even with Lucas Duda hitting the way he is, the Mets still aren't known for their bats, so the trends say that they will be smashed by Bumgarner on Sunday.
I'm not sure how much Colon likes pitching for a Mets team that is at best a longshot for the NL Wild Card, but he had to be at least a little miffed that the Giants traded for the underachieving Peavy instead of for him. Or maybe he's just happy he didn't have to pick up and move. I'm not sure, but I do know that Colon is hot again, and if he pitches like he's capable of (he rarely disappoints at home), the Giants' front office could be left regretting some things.
We've been pretty critical of the Giants' front office so far in this preview, but it's hard to deny that picking up Hudson after his horrific ankle injury with the Braves last season was a pretty brilliant move. The 39-year-old hasn't been as good in June and July as he was in April and May, but he's still more than serviceable. The combination of a low walk rate (just 1.42 free passes per nine) and high ground ball rate (57 percent) is a recipe for success that works no matter how hard you throw.
We'd probably look at Dillon Gee's last start a little differently if Josh Edgin had just been able to retire Chase Utley at the end of the seventh inning. As things stand, five runs were charged to Gee even though only two were driven in off of him. The righty has now allowed 15 runs and five home runs in his last three starts. If he doesn't figure out a way to keep the ball in the yard soon, Gee could find himself on the trade market along with Colon (but for opposite reasons) this winter.
Prediction: Mets take three of four from the Giants, who haven't really been all that good since their torrid start to the season.
What about some highlights?
AT&T Park is considered one of the nation's premier baseball venues, but the Giants could stand to improve the beer cups.
The Mets were swept by the Bay earlier this season, but that didn't stop Keith and Kevin from having a good time. "That's not a... Oh! Look at the kitty on the boat!"
Maybe if the broadcasters were paying attention, they would have cared to remind Curtis Granderson that AT&T Park is supposed to kill left-handed power.
The Mets’ anemic offense showed up again at Citi Field on Friday night, as the team managed just a pair of hits against Ryan Vogelsong, who threw a complete game against them. One of those hits was a solo home run by Lucas Duda in the eighth inning, but by that time, it was too little, too late.
As the Mets’ offense did nothing, Jon Niese had a pretty quirky start. He gave up five runs but managed to throw eight innings and took the mound for the ninth before Terry Collins turned to the bullpen. In the second inning, he got into trouble after giving up a leadoff double and, on the comebacker that followed, botching a throw to second base that would have retired the runner caught between second and third.
So the Giants had runners on the corners, and Brandon Crawford singled off Niese to plate the first run of the game. And after a sacrifice bunt by Vogelsong, the Giants scored another run as Hunter Pence grounded out. Unfortunately, that was more than enough for the Giants to top the Mets.
Neither team did much of anything at the plate from then until the seventh inning, which led to an incredibly quick game. But Niese gave up three more runs in the seventh. He retired the first batter he faced, but Crawford tripled, Niese hit Vogelsong with a pitch, and Pence tripled to plate both runners. Matt Duffy tacked on a run-scoring single to make it five-zip Giants.
The only highlight of the evening was the aforementioned Duda home run, his twentieth of the season. It was an opposite field shot, which is always nice to see, and The Dude is having quite the year ever since taking over as the team’s primary first baseman.
Big winners: none Big losers: Jon Niese, -15.7% WPA, Daniel Murphy, -11.1% WPA, Teh aw3s0mest play: Lucas Duda’s leadoff single in the sixth, +6.0% WPA Teh sux0rest plays: Daniel Murphy grounds into a double play in the fourth and Jon Niese lines into a double play in the sixth, -9.3% WPA each Total pitcher WPA: -15.4% WPA Total batter WPA: -34.6% WPA GWRBI!: Hunter Pence
The Keys and Ironbirds won last night, but the rest of the O's minor league teams came up empty.
Norfolk Tides 2, Toledo Mud Hens 5
Chris Jones started for the Tides and gave up all five runs (three earned) in seven innings pitched. He was let down by his defense as both 1B Christian Walker and 2B Jimmy Paredes made errors in the field. Suk-Min Yoon, just activated from the disabled list, pitched one inning with one hit allowed.
The Tides offense managed just two runs despite 13 hits. They were all singles, which is kind of amazing. DH Henry Urrutia and Paredes had three hits each, while catcher Steve Clevenger had two hits.
Bowie Baysox 8, Binghamton Mets 9
Binghampton scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth to steal this game away from the Baysox. The offense got off to a quick start with a three-run homer from 2B Buck Britton. They also got home runs from SS Garabaz Rosa and and CF Glynn Davis. It was a big night for Rosa, who also had two doubles. LF Mike Yastrzemski singled and doubled, and catcher Michael Ohlman went 0-for-4.
Jake Petit started for the Baysox and only lasted four inning with three runs allowed. He gave up two home runs, and was pulled after a laborious fourth inning and 88 pitches thrown. Marcel Prado and Jason Gurka both gave up runs in relief, then closer Oliver Drake gave up the lead on a double and a triple, then lost the game on a wild pitch.
Frederick Keys 5, Wilmington Blue Rocks 2
Branden Kline had a good night for the Keys, pitching six shutout innings. He struck out three and walked three, which isn't great. All six hits he allowed were singles. Both Wilmington runs came with Jesse Beal pitching in relief.
3B Jason Esposito homered as part of his three-hit day, and SS Adrian Marin singled and doubled.
Delmarva Shorebirds 4, Lakewood Blue Claws 7
The Shorebirds scored three runs in the third inning to take a lead in last night's game, but then the bats fell asleep as the Blue Claws came back to win. Catcher Chance Sisco had three hits in the game. CF Josh Hart, 3B Drew Dosch, and 2B Jeff Kemp all singled twice.
Bennett Parry, back from his adventures in Aberdeen, gave up five runs in just 4 2/3 innings. Dosch made a critical fielding error with two outs in the fifth inning that allowed two runs to score and the inning to continue. That hurt Parry, who gave up only four hit in his outing.
Aberdeen Ironbirds 5, State College Spikes 4 (10)
David Hess started for the Ironbirds and gave up just one run in four innings, then Luc Rennie (formerly of the Shorebirds) gave up four more runs in six innings of relief.
The Ironbirds were down 4-3 in the ninth but scored one run in the ninth to tie it and another in the tenth to win it. 3B Austin Anderson had three hits, including a double. 2B Federico Castagnini had two singles. Catcher Alex Murphy had one hit, and Cory, son of David Segui, went hitless.
For more on these games as well as the games of the Dominican Summer and Gulf Coast Leagues, check out MiLB.com.
Today's Games
Norfolk Tides @ Buffalo Bisons, 7:05 pm Tides SP: Steve Johnson (#TEAMSTEVE)
Matt Harvey made his return to the mound yesterday, tossing 15 pitches in the bullpen. Things got a little weird between Harvey and the Mets but the righthander is a huge key to the organization's rise back to prominence.
The trade deadline came and went on Thursday without a trade and Sandy Alderson defended the team's decision to stand pat. David Wright realizes just how important this winter will be for the team.
Great piece in the Post on Jacob deGrom's transformation from light-hitting college shortstop to Mets top of the rotation starter.
Toby Hyde updated the Mets minor league stocks for July. One of the players there is Dilson Herrera, who may just be the team's second baseman of the future. Michael Conforto has been in the spotlight playing in Brooklyn but has kept his cool and just hit.
At The Good Phight, David Cohen is fed up and says that Ruben Amaro needs to be fired from his job as the Phillies' General Manager after the team stood pat at Thursday's trade deadline.
John Lackey says he will honor his 2015 contract despite it only being worth the big league minimum due to a strange injury clause.
The A's releasedJim Johnson, eating the $10 million he was owed this season.
If you read an article or find a link that you think would be a great addition to a future edition of Mets Morning News, please forward it to our tips email address tips@grission.com and we'll try to add it in.
As the Mets’ future brightens, their longtime star looks ahead while struggling through a frustrating season.
There isn’t much David Wright hasn’t seen since he burst onto the New York scene ten years ago. The highs, lows, laughable, and shake-your-head moments have all been a part of the 31-year-old’s daily routine since making his major league debut on July 21, 2004. Through it all, the Mets’ captain has stayed true to his blue-and-orange roots with class and professionalism. But make no mistake, he wants to win badly and as Mike Vorkunov of the Star-Ledger notes, the importance of the upcoming offseason is already on Wright’s mind.
“No question. I think that we get to this winter and we have this ability with a surplus of young talent—especially young pitching—to make a move. And on top of that you have a guy that’s a proven ace of the staff coming back, a guy that’s a proven closer coming back from Tommy John. More time and development for Travis d’Arnaud—where he’s taken tremendous steps and strides forward—Lucas Duda, tremendous strides forward. You get to the point where you see Matt Harvey coming back, you see Bobby Parnell coming back. And then the development of some of those young players.”
While Wright will leave the trades and free-agent signings to GM Sandy Alderson, a bigger question is starting to emerge: Did the Mets waste the prime years of Wright’s career?
As Lucas Duda and Travis d’Arnaud begin to emerge as key pieces to the future, Wright is suffering through the worst uninterrupted season of his career. In the 14 games since the All-Star break, Wright is hitting .170/.241/.289 with no homers and four RBI. Following last night’s 0-for–3 effort in the Mets’ 5–1 loss to the Giants, Wright’s average is down to .270 for the year, the lowest it has been this late in a season since he finished 2011 hitting .254—a year during which he missed 60 games due to a stress fracture in his back.
Even more worrisome is the disappearance of power and run-production. Not only is Wright slugging a career low .391, but he is only walking 8% of the time, his lowest figure since his rookie season. Surprisingly, Wright’s BABIP is still a solid .319 while his line-drive rate stands at 23.8%, which is actually higher than his career average of 22.9%. However, his HR/FB%—which currently sits at 6.7%—is his lowest mark ever and far below his career average of 13.3%, negating whatever positives his line-drive rate is yielding.
So, what gives? Is Wright in the midst of a serious decline at the age of 31? Or is the seven-time All-Star simply suffering through a down year? Wright has been playing the last six weeks with a bruised left rotator cuff, yet he insists it has nothing to do with his struggles. That’s a typical response from Wright in regard to poor performance—that is, he’s not making any excuses—but you have to wonder how much his offense is being restricted by the pain in his shoulder. Whatever the reason for a down 2014, the Mets cannot afford to have their captain and face of their franchise be a question mark as they continue to sell their bright future to an exasperated fan base.
Wright himself senses the Mets are on the cusp of something special and that good times in Queens are just around the corner.
"I think we’re getting to the point where we’re really close...I think we’re getting close to that where we are a piece or two away."
The Mets do appear to be getting close, but is this just a bump in the road for Wright or something that may affect his performance—and the Mets’ likelihood of competing—for the foreseeable future?
Although they both fell short of the finish line, the Mets' Jacob deGrom and Giants' Jake Peavy were in hot pursuit of history at Citi Field.
Before the wheels came off in the seventh inning for Jake Peavy, he and the Mets' Jacob deGrom were in a pitching duel for the ages: a perfect game and no-hitter (respectively) for the first six-plus innings of Saturday night's game between the Giants and Mets at Citi Field. The game ended with deGrom's Mets winning 4-2.
If they had been able to make it to the ninth inning, the two pitchers would have replicated the May 2, 1917 performances of the Cincinnati Reds' Fred Toney and Chicago Cubs' Hippo Vaughn. Toney would get the win and the no-hitter as Vaughn "imploded" in the 10th, giving up two hits and a run.
While the hit -- a Daniel Murphy double over the head of left fielder Michael Morse with one out in the sixth -- off Peavy would open up the floodgates, deGrom pitched very well even after allowing a hit. The 26-year-old had his best game in what's been a breakout season, striking out seven and only allowing one walk in 7 1/3 innings.
Peavy seemed to be derailed when third baseman Pablo Sandoval -- who broke up deGrom's no-hit bid the half inning before -- had to be patched up after crashing into the left field wall trying to run down a foul tip, stopping the game for several minutes. Soon after, Peavy surrendered his first hit of the day. Then a second misplay by Morse would send him into a tailspin and the Giants into the losing column.
The Battle of the Jakes featured an outstanding pitcher's duel into the 7th inning before the Mets busted out for 4 runs.
Jacob deGrom matched up with Jake Peavy tonight and the battle between the two similarly first-named pitchers was an outstanding one. Luckily for the Mets, it was Peavy who cracked first, as they defeated the Giants 4-2 at Citi Field. The energy in the stadium sounded electric all evening, as fans were engaged in the excellent pitching duel on the field. And boy, was it an excellent pitching duel.
Through seven innings, the two pitchers traded zeroes and left both offenses completely stymied. Jacob deGrom was fantastic all night and his stuff looked incredibly sharp. The righthander allowed his first baserunner in the 5th inning, a walk to Brandon Belt, and then allowed his first hit, a two-out double to Pablo Sandoval in the top of the seventh. Peavy, meanwhile, didn't allow a Mets baserunner until Daniel Murphy doubled over Michael Morse's head in left field in the bottom of the seventh. That hit set forth a Mets rally that broke the scoreless tie between the two clubs and resulted in all four of the Mets runs scoring. DeGrom continued throwing into the eighth before allowing a pair of runs but Jeurys Familia got him out of the jam and Jenrry Mejia locked things down in the ninth to complete the victory.
GameThread Roll Call
Nice job by MetsFan4Decades; her effort in the GameThread embiggens us all.
