213 Miles From Shea

Yesterday was another tough day in Mets world as Brandon Nimmo got injured sliding into second base during last night’s spring training game. Billy Eppler announced today that Nimmo has low grade sprains in both his right knee and ankle. He’s considered week to week. All things considered with how this week has gone in Mets world, this could have been a lot worse.

We will try again to distract ourselves from injury news with baseball and we got a good matchup to do that with tonight! Max Scherzer will take on Framber Valdez tonight! Valdez is coming off of his first All Star season where he tossed a league leading 201 1/3 innings including three complete games. He had a 2.82 ERA and 137 ERA+ and looks to be the ace of the Astros staff this year. We obviously don’t know how serious he is taking tonight’s game since it is a spring training game, but we are looking forward to watching our young prospects go up against one of the rising stars in baseball!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Can the Mets take Valdez yard? Valdez’s success last season came from his ability to keep the ball in the park. He lead the league with a 0.5 HR/9 and over his first five years has a 0.7 career mark. His highest mark by far was in 2019 at 1.1 HR/9 and that was the season his ERA was almost six. It would be pretty impressive if anyone can hit a homer off of him tonight!
2. Max Scherzer returns to the majors. Max Scherzer’s last start fell on the same day as Tylor Megill. The Mets wanted to give Megill and opportunity to stretch out his arm a bit against major league players (made even more important by the Quintana news) so Max agreed to pitch in a minor league game in the back fields. He allowed five runs, three earned, over five innings throwing around 70 pitches. After the game he talked about how it’s a different challenge pitching in low-key environments, and that the game against the minor leaguers is a good mental challenge. There was an additional advantage too – Scherzer will be the Opening Day starter against the Marlins, so playing in the Triple A game meant batters got to see him one time less this spring.
3. Tommy Pham gets more attention: Tommy Pham is one of the internal options for Nimmo depending on how much time it takes him to heal from his injuries. Curiously, Pham is starting in left field instead of center tonight. Pham has not had a tremendous spring hitting .129/.250/.161 in 36 plate appearances over 12 games. He also had fairly terrible 2022 for fielding with seven outfield errors.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets are starting the process of settling into a season without Edwin Díaz. Unless the Mets make a surprise move at the start of the season, they are hoping that Adam Ottavino and David Robertson can step up to a larger role. David Robertson pitched last night and allowed one hit and nothing else in an inning of work. It was his second scoreless inning in an official spring training game this year. 

In addition to the Díaz injury, the Mets have had a slew of additional spring training pitcher injuries which has opened the door for players like Zach Muckenhirn, who are trying break camp with the team. Zach pitched a scoreless inning last night as well while striking out two. He has struck out 7 batters in 4 2/3 innings while allowing four hits and no walks. He hasn’t allowed any earned runs this spring but has allowed four unearned runs. Here’s hoping tonight more Mets pitchers for the bullpen step up and show the Mets have options they can pull from. 

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Carlos Carrasco Keep It In The Park Challenge: The big difference between Carlos Carrasco’s 2021 and 2022 was homers. He allowed them at a 2.0 HR/9 in 2021 and reduce it to 1.0 last season. So far this spring he has allowed four homers in nine innings. That’s four of the ten hits he’s allowed. He’s only walked one batter and has struck out seven. The homers are starting to get concerning. So tonight we are watching for Carrasco to keep it in the park.
2. Welcome Back! Jonathan Araúz is starting for the first time since returning from the World Baseball Classic, playing for Panama in Taichung. During the WBC, Araúz had four hits in 15 at bats including a double. He also walked three times posting a .421 OBP in the first round of the tournament. Araúz is fighting for depth spot in the Mets infield this season.
3. How Has Canha Reached Base? Last year Cahna was a hit by pitch machine – which is not exactly a great thing, we want our players to stay healthy. While Locastro has been hit by pitches four times this spring already, Canha has not over 11 games. Let’s be clear – we aren’t rooting for Canha to get hit, this just seems odd after last season.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets play their first baseball game tonight since the Edwin Díaz injury. Díaz brought the excitement to Citi Field and we wish him a speedy and easy recovery. His injury has sent shockwaves through the Mets clubhouse and really throughout all of baseball. Here’s hoping that the Mets players are taking care of each other in what is probably a somber and subdued clubhouse right now.

From a baseball side, the Mets could use a normal start tonight from Kodai Senga. In addition to Díaz, Sam Coonrod, Bryce Montes de Oca joined the Mets injured list this week. José Quintana and Brooks Raley were already on that list. Out of the group of pitchers, Raley is the only who is likely ready for Opening Day. Senga is returning to the mound after his last start was scratched due to a finger injury.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Senga’s Second Start: In Senga’s first start he allowed one run from a hit and two walks over two innings while striking out two. Looking at his game performance – he was probably a mixture of anxious/amped/nervous to start as he walked the first two batters of the game. With that first start out of the way, we are looking forward to see a more stretched out, relaxed Senga today – hopefully dicing through the Nationals lineup with his ghost forkball.
2. Tim Locastro: Tim was brought into camp as an NRI and has just shined. In 14 games and 37 plate appearances he has a .355/.444/.581 batting line with five doubles and five stolen bases. He’s also been hit by four pitches so far. Every Mets team needs a bench player who steps up. Locastro and Mendick could be a useful 1-2 punch off the bench.
3. Another Start For Brett Baty: Venezuela is moving on in the World Baseball Classic so Brett Baty will get even more time to show the world his skill set. In 15 games and 36 plate appearances he has a .400/.500/.533 batting line with a homer and two stolen bases. If this continues for another two weeks he’s going to force conversations about breaking camp with the team.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets continue their spring training schedule today with another game against the St. Louis Cardinals! At this point in spring, it feels like we are scouting the Cardinals, Marlins, Astros and Nationals with how often we see these four teams.

Anyway, the Mets got what they needed yesterday – a great outing from David Peterson. He pitched four innings walking one batter and allowing no hits while striking out five. Either Peterson or Megill will be getting a lengthy time slot in the Mets rotation this year and both have looked pretty good this spring.

Today we turn to our new favorite day of the week! Justin Verlander Day!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Will Verlander Go Four Innings? Over his first two starts this spring Verlander has tossed 3 innings and 3 1/3 innings. In that stretch he has allowed two runs from five hits and no walks while striking out eight (great ratio!). So how far will Verlander go in today’s game?
2. Catchers Who Rake: A lot of the attention this spring has been on Francisco Álvarez. Tomás Nido has quietly been having a tremendous spring. In 24 trips to the plate he has nine hits including a pair of doubles and a pair of homers leading to a .375/.375/.708 line. Last season Nido had an OPS+ of 72, quite a bit better career mark of 60. He’s also had a 0.7 WAR the last two season combined, which is not exactly noteworthy except his previous four seasons he was at a -1.1 WAR. We’re not saying it’s Tomás Nido breakout season, but Tomás Nido better than average season could be the bump the Mets need.
3. Marte Playing Back to Back Games: Usually when there is a lineup change at last minute, it’s bad news. Yesterday the opposite happened as Marte got added into the lineup after it was originally posted. Marte had a scary moment in Sunday’s game where he was hit in head with a pitch. Starting back to back games is a positive sign that he’s doing alright.

Let’s Go Mets!

Happy Pi Day from a wintery day in New York!

While it’s winter weather up in the tri-state area today, the weather is nice, sunny, and in the low to mid 70’s down in St. Lucie today as the Mets take on the Nationals. The Mets will try to return to a .500 winning percentage this spring.

Yesterday the Mets fired on all cylinders, beating the Marlins 9-3 on the road. Darin Ruf had his first great day of spring, collecting two hits including a double and a walk in four trips to the plate. Mark Vientos had his first terrible day at the plate collecting three strikeouts.

The big story though from yesterday’s game was Tylor Megill who allowed no runs from three hits and a walk over four innings while striking out three. With Quintana down for an unknown, but seemingly lengthy, amount of time, we now have a rotation battle opening up between Tylor Megill and today’s starter David Peterson.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. David Peterson: Peterson has looked good so far in spring, allowing no hits and three walks in four innings while striking out four. He’s been sidelined with a foot injury and returns to the mound today. Last season Peterson pitched 105 2/3 innings over 28 games, 19 starts, with a 3.83 ERA, 3.64 FIP, 1.334 WHIP and a 101 ERA+. No matter what happens today, the position battle with Peterson and Megill will probably continue until the end of spring training.
2. Danny Mendick: The Mets signed Mendick as utility depth this off-season and he’ll see his third official game of the season today. Last Wednesday was his first game (exhibition against Nicaragua) in eight months. He’s been recovering from an ACL injury that happened during a collision on the field in late June last year. Before the injury he was hitting .289/.343/.443 over 31 games with a 121 OPS+. Could Mendick join the ranks of the lofted bench-mob players?
3. Two Walks or Two Jogs? Brandon Nimmo made his long anticipated Mets debut on Sunday and got two walks in his first two plate appearances. I wasn’t watching the game, but I’m assuming Brandon Nimmo took his patented jog to first base after ball four each time. Nimmo gets the leadoff spot again this afternoon!

Let’s Go Mets!

Yesterday was a rough day for the Mets. Carlos Carrasco got tagged for three runs, two earned, over four innings due to two homers (his major weakness this spring). Joey Lucchesi, who could be competing for an expanded role with Quintana out, was tagged for three runs from three hits in one inning.

And then there were the injuries. Starling Marte left the game after getting hit in he head with a baseball. He passed a concussion check at the end of the game and the Mets said they would reevaluate him today. Montes de Oca, who was having a tremendous spring, left with the trainer after his velocity was just off in this outing.

The goal is simple for the Mets today – have a healthy Monday.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Tylor Megill: Megill, Peterson and Lucchesi are all fighting for a rotation spot. Lucchesi is more likely going to be in the bullpen anyway, so this is really between Megill and Peterson. So far in two games and 4 1/3 innings, Megill has allowed one run from one hit and two walks this spring while striking out three. We are hoping to see a solid outing from Tylor today.
2. Ronny Mauricio: After a couple of tough days at the plate, Mauricio bounced back yesterday in a big way. Ronny hit his fourth homer of the spring raising his slugging to .870 over 13 games and 25 trips to the plate. It is still unlikely that he is up in the majors this season. He’s 21-years old and can use more time in the minors. If continues what he’s doing right now over the whole year, he’s going to force some interesting conversations next spring.
3. Eyes on the Backfield: Max Scherzer will make a start today as well, but in the Triple A game against the Marlins. We figured this was going to start sooner or later, especially with the amount of times the Marlins, Nationals and Mets all player each other on the east coast of Florida.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets play their first game after making first round of spring training cuts last night. There were no surprises in the first round of cuts – most of the players are prospects who the Mets just wanted to get an extended look at. Everyone involved in roster battles are still in Mets camp as the Mets play their 15th official spring training game this afternoon.

The Mets are coming off of a loss against the Nationals last night and the outcome of the game might be the least important aspect of that game. Brett Baty continued his excellent spring going 2-2 at the plate and stealing a base. Vientos continued to make noise playing first base while going 3-4 with a double. Mauricio went 0-3 with a walk and stole a base. The Mets put all of their infield talent on the field last night and shined.

Three Things To Watch For Today:

1. Nimmo’s Return: Brandon Nimmo is scheduled to finally play in a spring training game today! Nimmo has made it clear from the start of camp that he wanted to slow down spring this year. Nimmo has been one of the most important hitters in the Mets lineup, putting up a 145, 131 and 130 OPS+ over his last three seasons. His first season back in 2017 was the only season where he had an OPS+ under 100.
2. Start #3 For Cookie: Carlos Carrasco bounced back in his last start, and we are looking for him to continue that trend today. In his first start he allowed two runs from two hits over two innings. In his last start he allowed one run from four hits over three innings. Homeruns made the big difference for Carlos between his first two seasons, he gave them up at double the rate in 2021 compared to 2022. So far this spring he has allowed one homer in each start.
3. Darin Ruf: Over the last two days Mark Canha and Mark Vientos have both seen time at first base. Ruf gets another shot at first today. In official spring training games Ruf is 0-6 so far with four strikeouts. He’s also grounded into one double play. This was not a position battle we were anticipating but it’s starting to become one now.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets maintained their .500 winning percentage yesterday winning the first game of the day and losing the night cap. The more important game was the afternoon game where Verlander tossed 3 1/3 innings allowing one run from three hits while striking out five. Starling Marte made his spring debut going 2-2 with a double and a homer. The Mets learned the hard way last year how important Marte is to the lineup. A healthy Marte on Opening Day would be a huge boost.

A new story line might also be developing – Canha got reps at first base yesterday. The Mets are fairly thin at first after Alonso, with Ruf penciled in as one of the main alternates. But Ruf has struggled in his first week playing games. Could the Mets be testing out some ideas if they decide to cut or trade Ruf? This is something to keep an eye on for the next two weeks.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Senga’s Second Start: In Senga’s first start he allowed one run from a hit and two walks over two innings while striking out two. Looking at his game performance – he was probably a mixture of anxious/amped/nervous to start as he walked the first two batters of the game. With that first start out of the way, we are looking forward to see a more stretched out, relaxed Senga today – hopefully dicing through the Nationals lineup with his ghost forkball.
2. Let The Kids Play: Vientos, Mauricio and Baty will all be starting in the Mets infield tonight. Vientos will be starting at first. Right now his only path forward to break camp with the team is to usurp Ruf at DH. As stated earlier, this is something we want to keep an eye on for the next two weeks. Vientos and Mauricio also combined last night to 0-6 with three strikeouts and a walk – a rare off night this spring.
3. Get On Base By Any Means: Locastro will be leading off for the Mets for a second straight night. He is the only player on the Mets, and possibly in baseball, that gets hit by the pitch more often than Mark Canha. Last night he got hit by a pitch while going 2-3 with a double. He’s having a tremendous spring slashing .391/.500/.609 over 28 plate appearances. Will he get hit by his 5th pitch this spring tonight?

Let’s Go Mets!

We are eating good today! We woke up to some exciting World Baseball Classic games. We just had a Mets game in the early afternoon and we get another Mets game this evening!

This game will feature Elieser Hernández who the Mets acquired in trade back in November. The Marlins sent Hernández and Brigham to the Mets for Jake Mangum and Franklin Sanchez. Hernández in an interesting acquisition for the Mets who need starting pitching depth. Over his five year career, Hernández has pitched in 90 games and 287 2/3 innings with a 5.04 ERA, 5.51 FIP, 1.321 WHIP and an 83 ERA+. Last year was rough for Hernández who had a 6.35 ERA and 64 ERA+ over 62 1/3 innings. Hernández will be farther down the depth chart going into 2023, somewhere behind Megill, Peterson and Lucchesi. In his first two games this spring he has tossed four innings, allowing two runs from five hits and two walks while striking out three.

Outside of Hernández, this is the prospect game of the day with Álvarez, Vientos, Mauricio and Ramírez all getting the start.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Mark Vientos: Vientos has had made the most of his extended audition this spring. In 26 at bats he has eight hits including a pair of doubles and homers leading to .308/.308/.615 batting line. The Mets have a fairly major logjam on the right side of the infield with Lindor, Escobar, Baty Mauricio and Vientos. With all the time he’s getting right now, there are more teams than just the Mets paying attention.
2. Ronny Mauricio: Mauricio had a winter to remember. He hit .287/.335/.468 with five homers in 203 plate appearances winning LIDOM MVP honors. This was a huge improvement over his previous season where he hit .244/.277/.367. This spring he picked up right where he left off this winter with six hits in 16 trips to the plate including three homers. He’s not ready yet for the majors, but he’s making a lot of noise right now.
3. Francisco Álvarez: The most exciting prospect the Mets have in camp! He’s off to a slow start, collecting only one hit and one walk in 12 plate appearances so far, but he’s also finally getting lots of quality time catching Mets pitchers. He’s starting behind the plate again tonight and will continue to see an uptick of catching time while Omar Narváez and team Venezuela are playing in the World Baseball Classic.

Let’s Go Mets!

The Mets return to regularly scheduled spring training baseball twice today! First up is an early afternoon game against the Astros at home in St. Lucie.

The Mets in general have had an abnormal spring training week. Usually spring is a time for routine, workouts in the morning, games around 1 PM, games in the backfields, etc. Instead the Mets have had an off-day on Monday with their star players traveling to their respective national teams, a night exhibition game on Wednesday, another exhibition game yesterday and a 1 PM / 6 PM split squad set up today. What a week!

The best way to return to normal spring action is with one of the most exciting additions the Mets made this off-season: Justin Verlander!

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Back to the new rules: On Wednesday the Mets and Nicaragua played for 2:45. Not too bad by last year’s standards except the Mets only recorded one hit. Yesterday the Mets and Venezuela played for three and a half hours. This was definite shift from the games earlier this spring with the pitch clock which are generally under two and half hours with a bunch of hits. Today the Mets return the pitch clock, the new throwing over to first rules and the new regulation size bases.
2. Justin Verlander: Verlander makes his second start in a Mets uniform today. Last week he pitched three innings allowing two hits and a run while striking out three. He tossed 35 pitches, 28 of them strikes. The Mets are now 20 days from Opening Day. I am curious to see how deep he goes today. Four innings? If he’s economical with his pitches does he push it to five?
3. 18 Innings: The Mets are playing a lot of baseball today with a depleted roster thanks to the World Baseball Classic. Starters in the afternoon and evening game should get a much longer look today. Who takes the advantage of the long look today?

Let’s Go Mets!