If the Mets were to sign Cuddyer, he would presumably take the spot of Eric Young Jr., who is coming off a disappointing 2014 campaign when he hit .229/.299/.311. While Young provided speed and quality defense (3rd best defensive WAR among left field with at least 500 innings, according to Fangraphs), he brought little else to the Mets' anemic offense. Besides Young, the only other in-house options for the Mets are Matt den Dekker (.677 OPS in 53 games in 2014) and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (.828 OPS in 61 games in 2014).
Cuddyer spent the majority of his time with the Rockies in right field, so another option for the Mets would be to move current right fielder Curtis Granderson over to left. Cuddyer also has experience at first base, so he would give the Mets some different options.
Cuddyer made $10.5 million in each of his three years with the Rockies, and is expected to command a similar salary this offseason. However, it is unlikely that a team will give him another a three-year deal, considering Cuddyer will turn 36 in March. Cuddyer's versatility as a corner outfielder or first baseman will make him an interesting target for a few other teams, such as the Brewers, Marlins, Pirates, as well as many American League teams that view him as a DH candidate.
Cuddyer suffered from an injury plagued 2014 season, limiting him to just 49 games. In those 49 games, Cuddyer continued his assault on MLB pitching, posting a slash line of .332/.376/.579 with 10 home runs. For his career, Cuddyer has an .803 OPS, which dates all the way back to 2001 when he broke in with the Minnesota Twins.
Joe Maddon is one of the best managers in baseball. But he'd be greater for some teams than others.
There are many good reasons why people that care about the New York Mets might want Joe Maddon to be the team's manager, some of which have to do with Maddon's accomplishments and intelligence, and some of which have to do with incumbent manager Terry Collins and his constant tiny-dog-in-crowded-elevator bearing. There are good reasons why Joe Maddon might want to manage the Mets, although most of those come down to New York City's wide array of excellent restaurants. It's a pairing that could make a lot of people happy, or anyway as happy as Mets fans allow themselves to get, and it almost certainly isn't going to happen. What little we know about what managers do, and how they help, suggests that this is less a tragedy than a simple bummer.
Here are two things that are both true and at least moderately contradictory. The first is that Maddon, who opted out of his contract with the Tampa Bay Rays after nine mostly successful seasons, is a very good baseball manager. The second is that no one -- if perhaps no one more than those that worship most fervently at the altar of managerial meaningfulness -- really quite knows what baseball managers do.
We do know what good baseball managers do better than non-good ones -- remain flexible, remain aware and informed, not do things that can only be answered by saying "that's baseball" in a huffy way at a postgame press conference. But we understand the manager's job mostly -- and maybe understand it most -- when we see it being done wrong. We might get a sense that one manager is being stiff and strange and maybe sort of stupid in his decisions. But we only really know it when it achieves the Matheny-an supernova we saw at the end of Game 5 of the NLCS, when the Cardinals saw their season end with a supremely rusty starter pitching as a reliever in a tie game, Matt Holliday and Matt Adams on the bench, and Daniel Descalso's Descalso-ass self standing at first base.
Terry Collins -- ruff! (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports).
If it seems like there's a notable amount of post hoc ergo propter hoc going on here, that's probably due to the huge amount of post hoc ergo propter hoc going on here. This is the way it goes in the dangerous and dull business of trying to reason our way into the specifics of a job done by people who do a job that's mostly invisible when done right, and who communicate almost entirely in starched and bloodless cliche. We don't know whether this is because they think only in starched and bloodless cliches or because that sort of non-communication is just part of the job. We don't know a lot of things!
And so if we know that Joe Maddon is a good manager, which is the consensus position on this particular wine-enthusiastic "weird wuss" with the avant-garde eyewear, we mostly know it because we haven't seen him do things like get Descalso all over himself on television. Maddon made reliably creative and rather shockingly effective use of the inexpensive and imperfect players under his command in Tampa, helping the young players improve and getting a great deal out of the few great players studded into the mix. The team and the community liked him. The eyeglasses really were pretty advanced for a man his age. He's good.
The question without an answer is how good. Maddon's teams won more than they lost, and if we don't know how much of that was on him -- what decimal-pointed scrapings from that overall won-loss record can be attributed to Maddon himself -- he clearly had something to do with that. Wherever Maddon lands, the mystery of this will mostly deepen. He will help a young and talented team develop and mature, although who knows how much. He will squeeze a few extra wins -- or at least prevent a few self-inflicted wounds -- for a team with more established talent, although there isn't a statistic for shootings-in-foot prevented.
But while Maddon would probably improve just about any team he took over, he'd help some teams more than others. His next employer won't be the Mets, according to the team's COO and gendercreep-in-chief Jeff Wilpon. There are a number of reasons why this is probably so, although the biggest reason would appear to be that the team's owners are some combination of unwilling and unable to spend money on the team, and both unwilling and unable to get out of the team's way, or their own.
The Mets will keep Terry Collins, who is not quite a bad manager and not exactly a good one, until his contract runs out, and they will do it for some combination of 1) because they said they would, 2) because it would cost money they mostly don't have to do otherwise, and 3) because they think he is the best man for the job. And while Maddon is unquestionably a superior manager, the Mets -- and not just the Mets -- are exactly the sort of team that ought not to hire Maddon, and which Maddon will likely be savvy enough to avoid. The Mets simply have too many other problems, and too little available money to spend on them, to divert any percentage of that into paying for the things that Maddon does. The Mets need a shortstop and a leftfielder more than they need Joe Maddon, and absent a change in ownership it's by no means clear that they have the necessary money for even one of those, let alone all three.
Maddon, and perhaps all good managers, does his job best in the margins. By eliminating a certain number of the Mike Matheny Blues Implosion moments to which other managers are prone, Maddon helps. By using every player on his roster in the most advantageous possible way, he helps some more. But this is the sort of thing that will make the most difference to either a team with the longest of ways to go or a team for which a few small things might change everything.
Maddon could help shape the Chicago Cubs into a contender, or he could -- with a few fewer tinkerings and a little less Descalso in the monitors -- get the St. Louis Cardinals back into the World Series. Wherever Maddon winds up, he will probably help a great deal, even if the exact specifics of how he does it will remain opaque, cliche-shrouded and subjective. But he'll help some places more than others.
Jenrry Mejia apparently wasn't the only Mets relief pitcher with a sports hernia. The team announced this afternoon that fellow reliever Jeurys Familia underwent successful surgery yesterday to repair bilateral sports hernias. The 25-year-old had a 2.21 ERA and 3.07 FIP in 77.1 innings over 76 appearances and was arguably the Mets' best relief pitcher this season.
A sports hernia is a painful, soft tissue injury that occurs in the groin area. It most often occurs during sports that require sudden changes of direction or intense twisting movements.
Familia's performance in the second half of the season wasn't quite as good as it was in the first half, though this injury might not have affected his performance at all. Looking ahead to next year, Familia figures to be part of a strong bullpen that also includes Jenrry Mejia, Carlos Torres, Vic Black, Josh Edgin, and Bobby Parnell, among others.
28 years ago tonight was game 6 of the 1986 World Series and MLB has made the entire thing available for you to watch for free on Youtube. Seriously, for free! Jackpot!
The only Mets news yesterday was the announcement that Jeurys Familia had surgery to repair bilateral sports hernias and should be ready to go for spring training.
David Roth writes that Joe Maddon doesn't need the Mets (and given Jeff Wilpon's statement on Friday, the Mets feel they don't need him).
Around the Playoffs
The Giants beat up on the Royals, evening up the series with an 11-4 victory.
Joe Maddon is prepared to sit out 2015 if he has to wait for a better situation to open up.
Rays owner Stuart Sternberg has discussed moving the team to Montreal, as there's a thought that the Tampa Bay market will never support an MLB team.
Mo'ne Davis threw out the first pitch in last night's game, a perfect strike from the pitcher's mound. Sign her up, Sandy!
Pat Gillick admitted that the Phillies are rebuilding, though they don't have the right architect to do it.
Yesterday At AA
Watch Game 6 of the 1986 World Series for free a day after the 28th anniversary of the game.
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.
Adam Rubin reports that Lucas Duda may be part of the MLB tour of Japan this November. I'm sure the Mets first baseman will be a big hit overseas.
SB Nation's Fake Teams fantasy blog is getting a head start on the 2015 season and they project Travis d'Arnaud to be quite valuable -- in both fantasy and reality -- next season.
Around the Majors
Tragic news struck the baseball world on Sunday when we learned that Cardinals outfielder Oscar Taveras had been killed in an automobile accident in his native Dominican Republic. Taveras, at just 22 years old, was among the most promising young players in the game.
The Giants defeated the Royals 5-0 last night to wrap up the San Francisco portion of the World Series. Madison Bumgarner pitched all nine frames for the first complete game shutout in the Fall Classic since Josh Beckett accomplished the feat 11 years ago. The Giants lead the World Series 3-2 and have a chance to clinch their third title in five years with a victory on Tuesday in Kansas City.
Here's a fun video of the Giants imitating their manager Bruce Bochy. Kevin Burkhardt even chimes in at the end with a Star Wars reference.
Around the NL East
Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports talked with Giancarlo Stanton about the slugger's meeting with Hank Aaron as well as the healing process that his face is going through.
Seitzer, 52, was named hitting coach for the Blue Jays less than a year ago to replace Chad Mottola, who had also only served in that role for one season. Seitzer had previously been a batting coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Kansas City Royals, where he was a colleague of manager John Gibbons. He also has a connection with current Braves president Jon Schuerholz, who drafted and watched Seitzer play when he served as the Royals' general manager.
The Blue Jays have recently adopted a policy of only signing their coaches to one-year deals that expire at the end of each season. Indeed, Shi Davidi confirmed that Seitzer has departed from the club and was on a one-year contract. Essentially, unless extended, coaches are free to leave the club in a horizontal move if they please. Manager John Gibbons, however, is signed to a "permanent" two-year contract where if he is not fired by January 1 of one year, another guaranteed year is added to the deal.
We heard a lot about Kevin Seitzer's coaching influence on the TV broadcasts, especially at the beginning of the season. Indeed, he did stress making gap-to-gap contact at the plate and worked with his batters to hit the ball the other way to beat shifts. Coaches, especially at the major league level, probably do not make that much of a difference on wins and losses overall, but they can have tremendous effects on individual players. Seitzer seemed to have worked wonders for the pull hitter Jose Bautista in 2014, but his hitting philosophy did not go over well with Colby Rasmus. Although not popular with Rasmus, Seitzer was popular around here, with 87% of readers voting that the Blue Jays should retain him for the 2015 season.
The man who will replace Kevin Seitzer will become the Blue Jays' fourth hitting coach since 2012. I wonder what effect the recent high turnovers in the coaching ranks will have on the organization and whether that is just normal turnover or if it reflects something deeper about the way the club works.
UPDATE
Shi Davidi writes that the rest of the coaching staff will return to the fold in 2015 save Bob Stanley, who will be re-assigned within the organization, probably as a pitching coach somewhere in the minors. Mike Wilner was told that Seitzer and the Blue Jays had trouble coming to terms on his contract renewal. There isn't a lot of detail, but I have a feeling that it has more to do with term than dollars.
Yoenis Cespedes, who would be a good fit for the Mets, is reportedly on the block.
Rumors are swirling that the Red Sox are considering trade options for 30-year-old Yoenis Cespedes. After firing agent Adam Katz to join the Jay-Z-led Roc Nation, Cespedes is reportedly looking for a contract at more years and money than the Red Sox are comfortable with.
Cespedes took Major League Baseball by storm after coming over from Cuba in 2012, posting a .861 OPS and hitting 23 home runs in 540 plate appearances for the Athletics. He was traded to the Red Sox midway through the 2014 season in exchange for Jon Lester and Jonny Gomes. So far in his major league career, Cespedes has accumulated 8.5 fWAR over three seasons on the strength of a solid .263/.316/.464 batting line, to go along with a slew of highlight-reel outfield assists.
Last offseason, Sandy Alderson brought in Chris Young and Curtis Granderson to fill the Mets' outfield woes, but to little success. The Young experiment ended with an August release, while Granderson, despite a few good stretches, was generally considered a disappointment considering his contract. So the Mets are, once again, left with a gaping hole in their outfield.
That's where Cespedes might come into play for the Mets. While his on-base skill left a lot to be desired, especially by Alderson's standards, explosive power from the right side, and the ability to play outfield are arguably two of the Mets' biggest needs coming into the offseason. Acquiring Cespedes can meet both. If Matt Harvey and David Wright return to their 2013 form, or something close to it, the Mets' window to contend could start as soon as next season. In this scenario, having Cespedes in the middle of the batting order may be enticing enough for Alderson to pull the trigger, even if he ends up being only a one-year rental.
Two Mets prospects, outfielder Brandon Nimmo and shortstop Matt Reynolds, have been named to the Arizona Fall League All-Star Game. The Fall-Star Game, as it is also known, will be televised live on MLB Network on Saturday, November 1 at 8:00 PM EDT.
Nimmo, who is hitting .233 with 5 RBI and 11 walks in the AFL, split time between the High-A Savannah Sand Gnats and Double-A Binghamton Mets in 2014. He hit .238/.339/.396 in 279 plate appearances with Binghamton. Nimmo is also MLBPipeline.com's number 60 MLB prospect.
Reynolds is hitting .278 with three home runs, 9 RBI, and 10 walks in the AFL. He spent the majority of the year with the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s, hitting .333/.386/.479 in 301 plate appearances. Reynolds got the attention of both the organization and the media with his impressive hitting in 2014 but ultimately was not called up to the majors.
Your Tuesday morning dose of New York Mets and MLB news, notes, and links.
Meet the Mets
The Red Soxmay be looking to move Yoenis Cespedes, Bill Madden reports. Unfortunately we will not be running an AAOP contest with this in mind, so you'll just have do one with your friends.
Jeurys Familia underwent surgery to correct his sports hernia. Best of luck in to Jeurys in his recovery!
Brandon Nimmo and Matt Reynoldshave been named to the Arizona Fall League All-Star Game. The game isn't actually an all-star game, so much as a showcase, but congrats to them either way on their accomplishment.
Ned Yost believes that his team is going to reach Game 7. In unrelated news, Ned Yost thinks bunting as many times as possible is the way to win games.
Coming into the World Series, everyone was focused on the Royals' excellent bullpen, and rightly so. But they've been outclassed by the Giants so far.
Many people, including yours truly, have written about the excellent bullpen of the Kansas City Royals, and very few have written about the considerably less excellent bullpen of the San Francisco Giants. The Royals led all of baseball in reliever fWAR; the Giants were 28th. (Side note about the above linked chart: WOW was the Mets' bullpen awful.) The Royals had two relievers in the top eight in FIP and three in the top 25; the Giants' top qualifier was Jeremy Affeldt at 37th. (Yusmeiro Petit didn't have enough innings.) Throw in the turmoil at the back end with Sergio Romo being replaced at closer early in the season by Santiago Casilla, and relief pitching seemed to be a clear advantage for the Royals.
That narrative, like so many others, has been turned on its head by the Even Year *Magic* of the Giants. Having Madison Bumgarner go deep into games certainly doesn't hurt, but San Fran's bullpen has allowed only three earned runs in 14.2 innings (1.84 ERA), while the vaunted Royals relievers have given up twelve in 19.2 innings (5.49). They have been asked to do a lot, with no Royals starter going more than James Shields' six innings last night and Shields (in Game 1) and Jason Vargas not even getting to the fifth. We're not here to talk about KC's struggles, though, but rather SF's excellence.
First, let's get the bad out of the way: Jean Machi and Hunter Strickland were objectively terrible by any measure in Game 2, giving up three runs between them without recording an out. Even with those performances included, the Giant relievers' RE24 during the series is 2.0, far outpacing the Royals' -5.0. Take Machi and Strickland out of the mix, and the Giants' mark shoots all the way up to 6.4. They've been led by Javier Lopez and the aforementioned Petit, who have thrown 3.2 scoreless innings in total. Tim Lincecum (remember him?) also put in 1.2 perfect innings before straining his back in Game 2 but is apparently fully healthy and ready to go for Game 6 and a possible Game 7.
Petit has been the big story this postseason, dominating in Game 4 and keeping the Giants in the game until Brandon Finnegan and the Royals imploded. (For good measure, he managed just the sixth hit of his career as well, the first in the World Series by a reliever since 1993.) He's struck out 13 batters in 12 innings while allowing only four hits. Below is his batting average against profile for the postseason.
Pretty darn good, eh? All in all that's four hits on 38 at-bats, a .105 average. What's the secret to his newfound success, though? Before 2013, Petit had never posted a FIP under 5.21 in 2008. A quick look at pitch usage reveals a trend:
Year
Fourseam
Cutter
Curve
Change
2007
53.65
21.27
10.95
13.97
2008
53.89
21.53
13.63
10.95
2009
53.70
17.95
14.48
13.88
2012
59.78
19.57
14.13
6.52
2013
52.25
20.93
20.51
6.32
2014
48.83
17.71
23.33
8.85
Petit reallocated a significant portion of his fastballs to his curve, and it's made quite the difference. Opponents have hit only .154 and .170 on the curve the last two years, down from well over .200 previously. It was working during his impressive streak of retiring 46 straight batters, an MLB record. Examine the pitch that got him the 46th, on a strikeout:
That's some serious movement – his curveball falls about ten inches below his fastball on average. With Petit complementing the established Affeldt and Casilla (and Romo in the mix as well), the Giants may have found themselves a big three to match the Royals' for years to come.
It was a season marked by timely power hitting for the backup catcher.
Coming into the 2014 season, Anthony Recker did not figure to have much of a role beyond being the backup to young catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud. After a fairly successful 2013 as the second catcher, Recker looked to follow it up with an even better campaign. His 2014 season was characterized by timely, unexpected hits.
In May, he appeared in more than half of the team's games, starting 12 of them. Despite this, he had an abysmal performance at the plate for the month, posting a dreadful 42 wRC+ in 51 plate appearances. He amassed only four extra base hits during this time. With his struggles running concurrent with d'Arnaud's, the Mets needed to find a way to eliminate the offensive black hole the catcher position was creating.
On June 7, after a loss in San Francisco, the Mets sent d'Arnaud to Triple-A and recalled Taylor Teagarden, seemingly leaving Recker as the starter by default. However, with Recker's ongoing struggles, Teagarden received more of the starts. Then, onJune 24, d'Arnaud was recalled, ending Recker's short opportunity to start games. From this point on, his playing time diminished.
During the month of July, Recker only had 17 plate appearances. In August, the trend continued as he only had 23 plate appearances. This month was different, however, because of what he did when he played. On the 11th in Philadelphia, the Mets' final game of the season in Citizens Bank Park, he hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the top of the 7th, leading the Mets to victory. Then, on the 31st, Recker launched a tie-breaking three-run home run in the bottom of the 6th against the Phillies, once again propelling the Mets to a win.
Photo: Getty Images
In September, his playing time increased every so slightly. On the 7th in Cincinnati, consistent with the rest of his season, Recker hit a go-ahead two-run home run in the top of the 6th, putting the Mets ahead for good. He performed to a 169 wRC+ in 29 plate appearances for the month, finishing the season strongly.
Overall, Recker's 2014 was marked by sporadic playing time and limited offensive production. Even with low expectations for a backup catcher, his final line of .201/.246/.374 with a 33.9 strikeout percentage and 75 wRC+ was not very impressive, especially compared to his 2013. However, his penchant for the go-ahead home run gave Terry Collins a reason to give him playing time to occasionally spell the budding Travis d'Arnaud. Recker's defense was solid throughout the season, throwing out runners at a 37% clip, a number way above league average. His framing, on the other hand, was among the worst in baseball, according to Baseball Prospectus. Compared to other backup catchers from around the majors, his performance in 2014 was above average for the amount of playing time he received.
Recker is set for arbitration this winter. Even with catching prospect Kevin Plawecki waiting in the wings, Recker will most likely return to the Mets in a backup role in 2015.
Desired 2015 role: Backup catcher who plays about once a week and performs well.
Expected 2015 role: Backup catcher who plays sparingly and struggles when called upon.
Mets outfielder Juan Lagares looked like a C+/C type prospect in the minors, but his defensive ability has turned out to be terrific and could/should keep him employed long enough for his bat to grow further.
A few weeks ago, three emails arrived in a five-day period asking about New York Mets outfielder Juan Lagares. This one was typical but the others were along the same lines.
I don't remember anyone projecting Juan Lagares as a regular, but I think he's done pretty well for the Mets this year. Do you think he can get better? How did you rate him as a prospect?----LC, St. Louis, Missouri
Someone asked a similar question in a comment thread at the same time, so Lagares must have been on people's minds for some reason.
Answering the second part of the question first, here are the two comments filed for Lagares, first from the 2012 Baseball Prospect Book after he had such a good '11 season:
A Dominican outfielder signed in 2006, Lagares had a breakthrough season in 2011, hitting a combined .349/.383/.500 between High-A and Double-A, then following up with a .303/.343/.485 performance in the Arizona Fall League. He’s always had enough bat speed to hit well, but horrendous strike zone judgment and problems with breaking pitches held him back. He is still very impatient, but not quite as bad as before, and Mets sources report that he made some legitimate improvements with his swing. Lagares’ BABIPs last year (.379 at St. Lucie, .439 at Binghamton) were much higher than anything he’d posted before, and while I’m sure he made some genuine adjustments, it’s probable that a great deal of good luck was also involved. He runs pretty well but most scouts see him as a left fielder whose bat will have to carry him. I’m intrigued enough with his tools and youth to give him a Grade C+, but some regression seems likely in ‘12.
2012 was less impressive, as he hit .283/.334/.389 for Double-A Binghamton, though he did steal 21 bases. The report entering '13 was shorter:
He regressed. It seems clear that Lagares did make legitimate progress in 2011, improving his plate discipline in particular, but the hits didn’t fall in as often last year and he lost some of his good BABIP luck. His lack of home run power is a handicap and he needs to use his speed better, but he still has a shot as a reserve. Grade C.
As you know, Lagares hit .242/.281/.352 in 392 at-bats, wRC+76, for the Mets in 2013. That was not very good, but he held his job due to his defense (more on that in a second) which boosted his fWAR to 2.9. In 2014 he improved his bat to .281/.324/.382 with 13 steals in 416 at-bats wRC+101. He retained the excellent glovework, boosting his fWAR to 3.8, which made him the most valuable regular in the Mets lineup according to WAR.
Okay. . .so what do we make of this?
As an offensive player, Lagares' performance in the majors is very much in line with his minor league performance. He's a line drive hitter with below-average power and mediocre plate discipline, but makes enough contact and runs well enough to ring up a decent batting average when his BABIP die rolls go well.
My guess is that he will continue to show gradual improvement, perhaps showing some increase in home run power eventually, getting to the point where his wRC+ marks are consistently around league average. He could even have a season or two when he hits .300+, but without more power it could be a pretty empty .300.
The defense keeps Lagares in the lineup even when he's not hitting, and frankly the glovework is a real surprise. Not that it isn't legitimate. . .I think the gaudy defensive metrics so far are real and that he's an outstanding defender. . .but it is something that didn't particularly stand out most of the time when he was a prospect.
In the Arizona Fall League in 2011 it was his hitting that everyone talked about, not the glove, which drew little comment (at least that I picked up on). My old game observation notes said that he ran well but that his arm looked pretty weak and nothing stood out as hugely positive, or negative, in terms of instincts, route-running, or other aspects of defensive play.
Of course, that was just from seeing him play a few days in the AFL. Perhaps these observations were faulty due to my own blindness or misleading due to a small sample size, although Baseball America's report in their 2012 book was similar, noting that he moved well in the outfield, but his overall speed was "fringy" and his arm "plays best in left."
However, digging further we note this report a year later from Rob Castellano at Amazin' Avenue in April, 2013, noting that Lagares' defense had improved a great deal, "to the point that there are instructors within the organization that feel he's on the level with, or even above, Matt den Dekker."
The shift in reports implies that there was a significant change in 2012. Although minor league defensive statistics are problematic, this change does show up in the numbers: he split 2011 between left and right field for St. Lucie and Binghamton, with decent but not outstanding numbers. In 2012 he played center field and right field with dramatic improvement in both fielding percentage and range factors. Again, minor league defensive stats can be troublesome, but these changes persisted in 2013 and he's been outstanding with the glove since reaching the Show.
So, the bottom line: Lagares looked like a C+/C type prospect in the minors, but his defensive ability has turned out to be terrific and could/should keep him employed long enough for his bat to grow further. He may never be an outstanding hitter, but as long as he can field like this, he won't need to be to stay employed.
Oscar Taveras' funeral was attended by thousands of mourners, including close friend Carlos Martinez. The Cardinals left the lights in right field on at Busch Stadium in tribute to Taveras. Jorge Arangure wrote about the perils of driving in Latin American countries.
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.
A season to forget have many wondering if the seven-time All-Star's days as a top third baseman are over.
Barring something unforeseen, David Wright will see his name atop virtually every offensive category for the Mets when he hangs up his spikes. However, the 31-year-old's career has now come to a crossroads courtesy of a ballpark ill-suited to his strengths, mounting injuries and a career-worst season in 2014. For someone who was universally praised as everything a general manager would want in a player—on the field and off of it—Wright has gone from future a Hall-of-Famer to a question mark entering 2015.
Much has been made of the nagging shoulder injury Wright first sustained back in early June and how that affected his swing, approach, and overall play. Originally diagnosed as a bruised left rotator cuff, Wright appeared in each of New York's first 79 games before missing seven games between June 26 and July 5 with shoulder discomfort. A cortisone shot over the All-Star break would carry Wright through July and August, but a second MRI ultimately convinced the Mets and Wright to end his season on September 9.
Considering most players of Wright's stature don't simply deteriorate to such an extent overnight, many point to his shoulder as being the prime reason he hit just .269/.324/.374 with eight home runs in 586 plate appearances last season. His OPS of .698 was 190 points lower than his career average of .888 heading into 2014. He would end the year with a 100 wRC+, yet another career low. However, a deeper look inside the numbers shows a fairly alarming consistency in Wright's season before and after he suffered his shoulder injury.
2014
AVG
OBP
SLG
BB%
K%
OPS
ISO
Pre-injury
.270
.329
.365
7.6
21.6
.694
.095
Post-injury
.268
.319
.383
6.7
17.6
.702
.115
Interestingly, Wright's hottest stretch of the season came just before the All-Star break, not long after he injured his shoulder. After enduring an almost unfathomable 2-for-49 skid from June 3 through June 15, Wright hit a scorching .375/.418./.681 with four homers over a 19-game stretch to close out the first half. Unfortunately for Wright and the Mets, it would be his last significant hot streak of 2014. He would hit just .238 in 46 second-half games with no home runs and only 15 RBI, bottoming out in August when he batted .232/.283/.242.
Two weeks after being shut down for the season, Wright opened up about his injured shoulder, telling reporters that the second MRI showed stretched and damaged ligaments which were causing instability in his left shoulder. A six-week program of rehab and rest was prescribed, the conclusion of which will show if he ultimately will need surgery. Obviously the worst case scenario, an operation on Wright's shoulder could knock him out of action for more than three months, bringing his recovery time to the edge of spring training in February.
So what really happened to Wright in 2014? After hearing the full extent of his injury, it stands to reason the continued instability in his shoulder played a part in his struggles from June onward. But that doesn't explain it all. After homering on Opening Day, Wright did not hit another long ball until May 10, a span of 34 games. Although below his career average, he enjoyed a relatively healthy .325 BABIP and owned a line-drive rate of 23.4 percent, leading to a conclusion of bad luck being involved. Wright continued to rip left-handers in 2014, to the tune of .367/.412/.508 but his struggles against right-handed pitching (.241/.299/.335) helped to sabotage his final numbers.
With only eight home runs, Wright's HR/FB% was understandably low at 5.1%, the worst mark of his career by a wide margin. Although much goes on within the mechanics of a player's swing, not to mention his head, it was fairly obvious to the naked eye that Wright had significant trouble catching up to fastballs in 2014. The numbers bear this out. With the obvious caveat that Wright struggled across the board last season, FanGraphs.com shows his runs above average against fastballs was actually negative at -7.4 in 2014, the only time he has carried such a value against the heater in his career. His inability to drive the ball from the first day of the season was an alarming trend that only worsened with his shoulder injury.
This might explain why Wright's percentage of fly balls hit to right field in 2014 was high at 63.8 percent, none of which reached the other side of the fence. On the flip side, Wright's percentage of fly balls hit to left field was just 15.3 percent. As seen below, too many of Wright's fly balls hit to the opposite field were towards the right field corner, showing an obvious lack of drive and power behind them.
In addition to his problems with right-handers, several key figures stand out when looking at Wright's 2014 struggles. After seeing his strikeout rate normalize after a significant spike from 2009-2011, it jumped back up to 19.3% in 2014. In addition, his walk rate plummeted to 7.2%, the first time he had walked in less than 10% of his plate appearances since his rookie year in 2004. Together the numbers conspired to drag his walk-to-strikeout ratio down to 0.37, a drop of 33 points from 2013.
Wright's offense was not the only part of his game that took a dip. His UZR/150, a career-high +17 in 2012, dipped down to +1.4 though he was +13 under DRS. He also stole just eight bases and grounded into a career-high 22 double plays. Add it all up and you get a player with a fWAR of just 1.9, the second-lowest of his career (1.7 in 2011).
Wright may no longer be capable of being the 8.4 fWAR player he was back in 2007, but with a salary of $20 million next season and $107 million still to come over the next six years, the Mets certainly need him to look more like the 6 fWAR player he was as recently as 2012 if they hope to compete.
Desired 2015 role: Starting third baseman and star player who is the driving force behind the club's hopeful leap to contention.
Projected 2015 role: An All-Star who is still among the best third baseman and one of the top 15 players in the majors.
The infielder of the future split time between Queens and Las Vegas last season.
All too often in 2014, the Mets had questions regarding the middle of their infield. Not often enough, the answer to that problem was Wilmer Flores. With starting shortstop Ruben Tejada proving to be ineffective at the plate for the second straight season and Daniel Murphy seeing his future with the Mets remain in doubt, Flores showed enough when given the chance to warrant a more serious audition in 2015.
Flores' season got off to a surprising start in Queens on Opening Day. No, his 0-for-4 with a pair of strikeouts against the Nationals wasn't much of a surprise. The interesting part was that he was on the field at all. Flores was slated to begin in the year with Triple-A Las Vegas, but Daniel Murphy went on paternity leave at the outset of the season, inciting the rage of local media.
Anyway, Flores was sent back down when Murphy returned, but he came back up in May when the club had had enough of Omar Quintanilla. During May and June, Flores saw sporadic playing time, once starting four games in a row, but otherwise just being used as an extra bat. Over the two months he hit just .237/.266/.316 and was sent back down at the end of June when the Mets decided they'd be better off with an extra outfielder.
Fortunately for Flores, though, he kept slugging away in Las Vegas and the Mets continued to get nothing but inconsistency out of the shortstop position. With a slash line of .323/.367/.568 in Triple-A, it was hard to keep the man down for long, and he reappeared in the majors at the end of July for an extended cameo.
With the Mets floundering in the National League East standings, Flores was allowed to start pretty regularly for the final two months of the campaign. Although the 23-year-old showed much of the same for most of August, in September he finally started to show some power at the big league level. Flores hit .278/.313/.500 for the month, with the big highlight coming on September 16 against Miami.
A double and two home runs isn't too bad for a guy who had yet to show that kind of pop. Perhaps even more exciting were Flores' defensive figures for the year. Playing mostly shortstop for the Mets, he saved 7.4 runs above average according to FanGraphs. It's a small sample, sure, but it's nice to see from someone who had previously been written off as a major league shortstop.
On offense, Flores proved to be the same contact-oriented player that he's been in the minors. Although he only walked 4.4 percent of the time in the majors in 2014, Flores posted an impressive 11.3 percent strikeout rate. That combined with a .265 BABIP make a .251 batting average seem like a fluke.
Base on Flores' career minor league figures, he'll never be much of a walker, but if he can keep his strikeout rate down and work on his power, he may be a valuable middle infield contributor in the not-too-distant future.
Desired 2015 Role: Full-time shortstop with an above average bat.
Expected 2015 Role: Part-time middle infielder whose bat and glove are still developing.
Members of the team stopped by a Staten Island elementary school for a service project on the anniversary of Hurricane Sandy. While there, borough president Jim Oddo took a little (whiffle ball) batting practice off of Vic Black.
Speaking of Vic Black, he is healthy and should return to regular training soon.
In the wake of Joe Maddon apparently becoming the Cubs' next manager, Bill Price from the Daily News feels it's been a long time since the Mets have really gone for it.
The switch-hitting outfielder got less at-bats than in 2013, so that's something.
The Mets did all they could to relegate Eric Young Jr. to a smaller role in 2014. They brought in Curtis Granderson to replace Marlon Byrd. Chris Young was imported on a one-year deal to fill in at either left or center field. Juan Lagares was given an opportunity to thrive as an elite defensive center fielder.
All that didn't stop us from seeing a whole lot of Young Jr. this season. The left fielder logged 316 plate appearances and batted .229/.299/.311 with 30 stolen bases. Thanks to Young Jr. being more effective on defense than in 2013 and only being caught stealing six times, he was worth 1.2 fWAR. I suppose that made him a better player than Chris Young in 2014.
I think I overrated how bad Young Jr. was because of how good other people thought he was. Terry Collins loved putting him in the leadoff spot despite that horrible on-base percentage. Commentators loved the way he hustled and bustled and showed off those socks. He's certainly does have a good attitude and appears to be a team player, but none of these things make Young Jr. more than a decent bench player.
Especially when he's not stealing bases. After swiping 17 bags before injuring his hamstring in late May, Young Jr. stole just 13 bases after his mid-June return. Promotions of Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Matt den Dekker prevented Young Jr. from playing full-time in the latter months of the season, but you'd still like to see more action out of a guy whose calling card is speed on the bases.
As for Young Jr.'s bat, it was consistently bad throughout the season. The only month in which he posted an OPS over .700 was June, when he hit .300/.364/.375 in just 40 at-bats. The good news for fans of Young Jr. is that his outfield defense went from 6.3 runs below average in 2013 (according to FanGraphs) to 5.7 runs above average in 2014. His defense has been up and down throughout his major league career, so we can't be sure if Young Jr. will continue being a plus defender in 2015.
Desire 2015 Role: Fifth outfielder who can cause some trouble late in games.
Expected 2015 Role: Probably starts occasionally because the Mets don't have a prototypical "leadoff guy."
While wildness persisted at times, Vic Black nearly perfected the art of pitching out of trouble this year.
Entering the 2014 season, Vic Black was among the favorites to lock down a spot in the bullpen. However, a rough and wild spring, during which he allowed 13 hits and 10 walks in just 9.1 innings of work, earned him a trip west to Las Vegas instead of north to New York to work out the kinks.
Black spent April and most of May in the bullpen for the Triple-A Las Vegas 51s. His control issues persisted, as he walked 17 batters in 18.2 innings. Yet, he was able to keep most of those baserunners off the scoreboard and posted a tidy 1.45 ERA over 17 appearances.
The Mets recalled Black on May 26 to take the bullpen spot of Jose Valverde, who was released after his latest disastrous outing in a long string unspeakable appearances. Once back in New York, Black begin to flash the potential the Mets saw when they acquired him late in the 2013 season, along with Dilson Herrera, from Pittsburgh for Marlon Byrd and John Buck. While the wildness continued at times, Black was able to flash his high-90s heater and devastating curve to become a very effective bullpen weapon and a master of pitching out of trouble. Of the 26 runners Black inherited upon entering a game, he allowed just one of them to score.
In 41 appearances for the Mets, the 26-year-old Black finished 2-3 with a 2.60 ERA in 34.2 innings. He whiffed 32 batters while issuing 19 free passes. He notched 12 holds and his fastball averaged 95.7 mph over the course of the year.
Injuries slowed him towards the end of the year. In late August he missed two weeks while suffering with a slightly herniated disc in his neck. He returned on September 8 and had two ineffective outings in which his velocity had dropped off a few miles per hour. He was shut down for the season on September 13 with a rotator cuff strain.
Desired 2015 role: A healthy, hard-throwing seventh inning-shutdown reliever a la Kelvin Herrera in Kansas City. Black-Familia-Mejia has a nice ring to it.
Projected 2015 role: Solid bullpen option for the sixth and seventh innings. Wild bumps in the road persist, but occur less frequently with more experience at the big league level.
The center fielder's talents will be recognized in this year's The Bill James Handbook.
It's not often that Mets position players are honored by baseball experts, so today should be a happy day for Mets fans. Juan Lagares has been named the top center fielder in baseball by The Fielding Bible Awards. Unlike the Gold Gloves, of which 18 are handed out each season, there are only 10 Field Bible Awards. That makes this accomplishment even more special for Lagares, who Mets fans have been lucky enough to watch shine all season long.
Here's John Dewan of Baseball Info Solutions on why Lagares deserves recognition:
In 2013, Juan Lagares started only 88 games in center field, yet he saved 26 runs there defensively for the Mets. He finished second in the 2013 Fielding Bible Award voting. This year he started 105 games, blew away the field with another 28 runs saved, and won his first Fielding Bible Award. His throwing arm in center field is superb and deeply respected by baserunners; he had six Outfield Arm Runs Saved in 2014. But it's his ability to cover ground that sets him above the rest. He saved 20 more bases on deep balls than an average center fielder (+20 Plus/Minus), the highest total among all center fielders. This is true despite the fact that, generally speaking, he plays on the shallow side. He had a +11 total on shallow balls, second best among center fielders. His +9 on medium hit balls was fourth best. Lagares finished first on every ballot except one.
Terry Collins -- ruff! (Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports).
