213 Miles From Shea

The Mets can’t beat the Nationals in a fake game either, as they dropped tonight’s game by the score of 5-4 after a late comeback by the Nationals.

But, like all Spring games, the score wasn’t the important part of the story. The Mets did not bring anything close to a starting roster to the Space Coast Stadium tonight as the Nationals started essentially what could be their starting lineup. If you are standing by a water cooler tomorrow and want to talk about tonight’s game, all you really need to know is:

• Mayberry had two hits against RHP, where he struggled last year, including a homer. More play like that and I imagine he will force his way into the lineup.
• Campbell smacked a homer further solidifying himself as a contender for that final roster spot, which I assume right now is his to lose.
• Colon had a good outing. Two clean innings, 2 K’s. In my opinion, he should open the season. But I would have told you that a month ago.
• Edgin had a clean 1.1 innings of work. He came in with the bases loaded with 2 outs and got out of it. He later walked a batter. For a player though who probably log something near a league leading amount of innings this year, I hope TC monitors how much he is throwing this month.

Players with Stocks On the Rise:

• Mayberry had an impressive debut. He’s slated to be the 4th OF, but he has hefty competition from Kirk and if someone gets injured, he wants to hold that spot rather than a call up.
• Campbell continued to show why he is a versatile part of this ball club.
• Edgin is going to be so critical for the Mets chances this year

Players with Stocks On the Decline:

• Tejada was already an extreme outside chance to be the starting OF this year, despite what the Mets communicate to the media. He hasn’t had a hit through the first two games, had an error yesterday and wasn’t spectacular tonight.
• Ynoa, who really should be getting more attention then he is, had a rough time out tonight in his Spring debut.
• Mazzoni who is in the middle of a crowded bullpen depth battle (as in who will get the call when someone goes down) had a messy outing his spring debut as well.

Tomorrow’s game is the game to watch this week, I’m sad I’ll miss it (how often do you say that about Spring Training?). In addition to it being Matt Harvey Day, where all the attention will go, Syndergaard, Gilmartin, Mejia and Familia will also be pitching. Gilmartin is trying to become the Mets other LHP in the pen, everyone else looks to  have a critical part in the 2015 squad. Lets Go Mets!

Two former Mets find themselves in enemy territory with Atlanta.

John Buck recently signed on the Braves as he continues to find his way back on to a major league squad. He was drafted in 1998 by the Astros and traded to the Royals in 2004. In 2009 he signed on with the Blue Jays and in 2010 with the Marlins. He was then part of the mega trade between the Marlins and Blue Jays to Toronto where he was later traded as part of the R.A. Dickey trade to the Mets. The Mets then traded him to Pirates with Byrd (where we got Herrera and Black). In 2014 he signed with the Mariners, was released halfway through the season and signed on with the Angels before going to the Braves. He put up some solid numbers with the Mets but his Mets legacy will go down as being part of both the Dickey trade and Herrera/Black trade.

Eric Young was acquired from the Rockies for Collin McHugh and brought speed and joy to the Mets. He is a great guy and put up some excellent speed numbers for the Mets, but that was it. He wedged himself into an OF controversy last year as the Mets had 4 OF including Young. Hopefully he finds his way with the Braves.

This series of articles will take us across every organization in baseball and look for former Mets in the majors and minors to see how they are doing, leading up to a “Former Mets Team” to see how the current Mets stack up with pieces we have all over the place. I am still looking for Mets team members on the Rangers, White Sox and Tigers. If you know any, please let me know!

If the season ended today…

…Nothing would be decided because the Mets played one spring training game, but let’s tear the stat sheet apart!

The main story of the game, at least for me, was Wilmer Flores leaving the game after being hit by a pitch in the wrist/forearm area. Terry Collins said it wasn’t a big deal after the game and may return as early as tomorrow. Besides that, it was a normal first week of Spring Training game. Pitchers had short outings and the offense had the upper hand as the Mets beat the Braves by the score of 8-2.

Good Stat Line Performances

• Lagares 1-2, 2B, BB
• Captain Kirk 4-4, R, RBI
• Reynolds 2-3, 2 R, RBI
• Monell 1-3, HR, 3 RBI
• Campbell 1-1, 2 RBI, 2B

It was a good day for the bats. Kirk is trying solidify himself as the additional OF behind Mayberry, and a 4-4 day at the plate does it. Reynolds is trying to lift himself up the SS depth chart, and a 2-3 day at the plate will also do that. Monell is trying force his way into the catcher depth chart behind Recker and his performance starts him in the right direction.

The only downside was Gee’s first inning where he allowed 2 ER. He finished with those two runs and 2 walks over 2 innings. Also leather rocket, although he kept it scoreless, still walked two batters.

In short:

Stock that went up:

• Captain Kirk
• Monell
• Reynolds

Stock that went down: No One. Its the first day Bruh.

It was a good start! Lets Go Mets!

A lot of Mets have made their way up north over the last few seasons, although one on the list below doesn’t really count.

Let’s get that one out of the way first. I’m not sure if technically Jose Bautista counts as a Met or not. he was on the Mets roster for some time, between trades that brought him to Pittsburgh. Do you count a player who never made an appearance with a team? Probably not. Oh well. I got a paragraph out of it.

The two big names the Blue Jays have that used to be Mets are Dickey and Reyes. Dickey was traded to Toronto after winning the Cy Young with the Mets. The traded netted the Mets with d’Arnaud, Syndergaard, and Becerra. Dickey has been solid for the Jays and it’s hard not to root for him. Reyes ended up with Blue Jays after being traded from the Marlins. Although he isn’t the Reyes that he used to be, it is interesting to think about what the conversations around this off season would have been if the Mets still had Reyes.

The Blue Jays still have Josh Thole from the Dickey trade (although no Nickeas who was granted free agency after last season). Rounding out the group is Greg Burke. Burke made his debut with the Padres in 2009 and then returned to the majors in 2013 with the Mets were he put a 5.68 ERA over 31.2 innings. He then signed with the Rockies and this year with the Blue Jays.

This series of articles will take us across every organization in baseball and look for former Mets in the majors and minors to see how they are doing, leading up to a “Former Mets Team” to see how the current Mets stack up with pieces we have all over the place. I am still looking for Mets team members on the Rangers, White Sox and Tigers. If you know any, please let me know!

I think I’ve spent more time this off-season focusing on Flores than any other player in recent memory. Can he hit to stay in the starter spot? Can the Mets trade for someone better than him? Is there anyone on the market better than him? During the Queens Baseball Convention, Wally Backman spoke incredibly high about Flores’ skills. Let’s take a look at what he did last year:

2014 Stats: 274 PA, 28 R, 13 2B, 1 3B, 6 HR, 29 RBI, .251 BA, .286 OBP

And lets see what the computers think he’ll do:

PECOTA (BP): 314 PA, 30 R, 16 2B, 1 3B, 9 HR, 37 RBI, .255 BA, .288 OBP
PECOTA (MLB.com): 479 AB, 51 R, 14 HR, 58 RBI, .255 BA, .288 OBP
MLB.com: 450 AB, 54 R, 12 HR, 50 RBI, .262 BA, .304 OBP
ZiPS: 570 PA, 73 R, 24 2B, 4 3B, 17 HR, 80 RBI, .266 BA, .300 OBP
Steamer: 510 PA, 476 AB, 48 R, 22 2B, 2 3B, 15 HR, 57 RBI, .248 BA, .286 OBP
ESPN: .264 BA, 35 R, 8 HR, 32 RBI

Average: 465 PA, 468 AB, 48.5 R, 20.7 2B, 2.3 3B, 12.5 HR, 60.7 RBI, .258 BA, .293 OBP

Wow, that ZiPS projection is a leap. If he puts up those numbers, its going to be really difficult to complain about Flores as those numbers probably put him in the top 5 shortstops in the league. Looking at his average line though, that’s acceptable. Those are pretty solid numbers coming out of short. However, those numbers are not a long term solution.

The Rays have one former Mets on their roster in the form of Allan Dykstra. Dykstra has been in the Mets minors for a few seasons and was granted free agency this year, which led him to the Rays. Before the Mets, he was with the Padres.

He put up solid numbers with the Mets, but wasn’t enough to move up the majors as the Mets have had a large amount of hitters similar to Dykstra over the last few years. I really wish I had more to say, but I don’t.

This series of articles will take us across every organization in baseball and look for former Mets in the majors and minors to see how they are doing, leading up to a “Former Mets Team” to see how the current Mets stack up with pieces we have all over the place. I am still looking for Mets team members on the Rangers, White Sox and Tigers. If you know any, please let me know!

Lucas Duda was one of the best story lines from last season. Initially in a platoon split with Ike Davis, after an early season trade Duda was able to hit 30 homers and etch himself in as a first basemen that didn’t play terrible defense. Let’s take a look at his excellent season:

2014 Stats: 596 PA, 74 R, 27 2B, 30 HR, 92 RBI, .253 BA, .349 OBP

Do the computers think he will flash that type of power again? Let’s take a look:

PECOTA (BP): 532 PA, 63 R, 24 2B, 1 3B, 20 HR, 69 RBI, .242 BA, .335 OBP
PECOTA (MLB.com): 514 AB, 71 R, 22 HR, 78 RBI, .241 BA, .335 OBP
MLB.com: 525 AB, 68 R, 28 HR, 80 RBI, .248 BA, .339 OBP
ZiPS: 562 PA, 75 R, 26 2B, 1 3B, 26 HR, 92 RBI, .260 BA, .359 OBP
Steamer: 619 PA, 533 AB, 68 R, 25 2B, 1 3B, 24 HR, 75 RBI, .234 BA, .331 OBP
ESPN: .248 BA, 71 R, 27 HR, 76 RBI

Average: 571 PA, 524 BA, 69 R, 25 2B, 1 3B, 24.5 HR, 78 RBI, .246 BA, .340 OBP

It looks like he will have a power drop, but that is also typical in computer models after a 30+ homer season with the exception of a few players. The question for the Mets is, will he get 571 PA’s? If the Mets go through with the plan of having Cuddyer getting start at first, it will galvanize the amount of AB’s he’ll get, and cut through these numbers.

Curently there are three players who have joined the organization that lives on the other side of town: Capuano, Beltran and Chris Young.

Capuano had a solid year for the Mets in 2011 reaching a total of 186 inning sand a 4.55 ERA. Before that, his last time in the majors was in 2007 where he posted a 5.10 ERA over 29 games. In 2010 he then posted a 3.95 ERA in 24 games, but only 9 starts. He was able to use his success with the Mets to sign a two year deal with the Dodgers where he pitched better the following season and about two-thirds of a season load hte year after. In 2014 he split his time between the Red Sox Bullpen and the Yankees Rotation.

Beltran was such a critical player for the Mets for so long, I was happy to see him have success with the Cardinals after we traded him to San Francisco (he also netted us Zack Wheeler, so Beltran was the gift that kept on giving). He did well enough with the Cards to warrant a new contract with the Yankees, and he’ll try to rack up some more numbers as he moves on towards the end of his very nice career. If he has an amazing year this year, slamming 27 jacks, he’ll be up to 400 in his career. If he plays in 2016, he stands a decent shot at recording 400 Homers, 500 doubles overall, and maybe 2500 hits. After this year he should pass 1400 runs and 1000 walks.

The Mets signed Chris Young as an experiment last year. Didn’t really work out for us but the Yankees are still rolling with it.

This series of articles will take us across every organization in baseball and look for former Mets in the majors and minors to see how they are doing, leading up to a “Former Mets Team” to see how the current Mets stack up with pieces we have all over the place. I am still looking for Mets team members on the Rangers, White Sox and Tigers. If you know any, please let me know!

Last year was the tale of two seasons for d’Arnaud. He struggled immensely at the start of the season, was sent down the minors, and then came back strong. If he can repeat the second half of the season again, the Mets will be in good shape. Let’s take a look at the numbers he put it up:

2014 Stats: 421 AB, 48 R, 22 2B, 3 3B, 13 HR, 41 RBI, .242 BA, .302 OBP

And now let’s look at how the computers think d’Arnaud will respond in 2015:

PECOTA (BP): 360 PA, 39 R, 18 2B, 1 3B, 12 HR, 46 RBI, .251 BA, .315 OBP
PECOTA (MLB.com): 504 AB, 63 R, 19 HR, 68 RBI, .252 BA, .318 OBP
MLB.com: 435 AB, 54 R, 15 HR, 58 RBI, .253 BA, .309 OBP
ZiPS: 399 PA, 50 R, 20 2B, 2 3B, 14 HR, 49 RBI, .255 BA, .313 OBP
Steamer: 497 PA, 52 R, 24 2B, 2 3B, 18 HR, 61 RBI, .252 BA, .311 OBP
ESPN: .255 BA, 57 R, 17 HR, 52 RBI

Average: 418.7 PA, 470 AB, 52.5 R, 20.6 2B, 1.7 3B, 15.8 HR, 55.7 RBI, .253 BA, .313 OBP

It looks like the computers see a significant improvement in batting average and on-base percentage for next year. What I’m more surprised about is the different predictions for power numbers, ranging for a decrease down to 12 homers and as high as 19 homers. I would love to see some of these higher numbers come true.

The Red Sox have one player from the Mets organization: Dana Eveland.

Losing Eveland actually puts the Mets in an interesting position. Right now the Mets only have one left-handed pitcher and the Mets were hoping to sign Eveland to a minor league contract and have him compete for a bullpen spot. Last year was his first time in the majors since 2012 and he had probably the best year of his career with a 2.63 ERA over 27.1 innings. Wishing Eveland the best of luck in Boston!

(Before joining the Mets, Dana played in the majors with the Brewers, Diamondbacks, Athletics, Blue Jays, Pirates, Dodgers and Orioles).

This series of articles will take us across every organization in baseball and look for former Mets in the majors and minors to see how they are doing, leading up to a “Former Mets Team” to see how the current Mets stack up with pieces we have all over the place. I am still looking for Mets team members on the Rangers, White Sox and Tigers. If you know any, please let me know!