213 Miles From Shea

Yesterday the Mets traded Byrd and Buck on waivers to the Pirates for Dilson Herrera and a Player to Be Named Later. For the Pirates, this deal is a major push to win now. For the Mets, in the short term, this clears the path for d’Arnaud (in the sense that they don’t have Buck on the bench) and in the long term brings another position player to look at. Keith Law (ESPN) is suggesting that the PTBNL is “solid” but I guess we won’t find out till after the season (waiver rules?).

But let’s focus on Dilson Herrera.

Dilson is 19-years old and projects to play at second base. He was named recently the best defensive second basemen by the managers in the South Atlantic League, but scouts comment that his range and hands play better at second, rather than short stop. He’s actually wildly regarded as more of an offense second basemen with raw power than a defensive one. (Raw in the sense that his “pop” isn’t really developed at this point, but not a lot of “strong raw power” which is usually what we think of when we see raw power). Anyway, here’s some quantitative data:

2011 (Ven. Summer League): 214 AB, 42 R, 66 H, 19 2B, 5 3B, 2 HR, 16 SB, .308 BA, .413 OBP
2012 (Gulf Coast & NYPL): 227 AB, 48 R, 65 H, 12 2B, 5 3B, 8 HR, 12 SB, .286 BA, .341 OBP
2013 (SALL): 423 AB, 69 R, 112 H, 27 2B, 3 3B, 11 HR, 11 SB, .265 BA, .330 OBP

Statistically, he had a power drop from 2012 to 2013, but his doubles amount on pace over the last two years. He’s also 19, so the results of any power he might have is still developing.

For the most part, he’s an intriguing prospect with some interesting numbers despite his small size (5 10). He is playing better defense at second this year than scouts thought he would and when he ages over the the next couple of seasons, it will be interesting to see how that translates into his numbers matching his potential.

Part of his intrigue though stems from a lack of position prospects in the Mets system at the upper level.

The Mets snapped their losing streak and broke up an interesting news week (Harvey’s injury, trading Byrd/Buck) with a win last night (and sorta ironically, on Byrd T-Shirt Night). Who needs Byrd as a source of offense when you have a pitcher in Jon Niese smack a 3-run double, and pitch a fantastic game where the Mets won 5-0 (Side note: I’m not actually advocating that starting pitching should also be our offense solution). Anyway Cole Hamels gets the start against the Mets today as Daisuke Matsuzaka will make his second start as a Met.

Matsuzaka had a rough go in his Mets debut but Daisuke also had to face the Tigers who have had his number in the past. In his debut he pitched 5 innings and allowed 5 ER however if you watched the game, there was a big difference in the poor start (first two innings) and his following 3 innings. In his career he pitched 12.0 innings allowed 4 ER against the Phillies who have the following numbers against him:

McDonald 2-15, 2B
Young 8-14, 2 2B, HR
Ruiz 0-4
Utley 1-5, 2B
Rollins 0-3

The Mets get another look at a familiar foe in Cole Hamels who is 5-13 over 27 starts and a 3.62 ERA. Against the Mets this year he has pitched 17.0 innings over 3 games with a 4.76 ERA (9 ER) and where he has allowed 16 hits, 11 walks and 18 strikeouts. The Mets have the following numbers against Hamels:

Murphy 8-29, 2 2B
Davis 6-21, HR
Byrd 5-19
Duda 1-13
Young 6-14, 2B
Lagares 4-7, 2 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Phillies play game two tonight as the Mets look to bounce back from dropping another game (and from yesterday’s terrible news regarding Harvey. Last night the Mets just struggled getting runners to come around a touch home plate. Tonight they look to reverse that against Kyle Kendrick against Jon Niese.

Jon Niese is 5-6 over 17 starts and 96.0 innings with a 4.03 ERA.  In that stretch he has walked 38 batters and struck out 72 batters. In his last two starts he’s pitched 13.0 innings allowing 2 ER striking out a total of 18 batters. He has made one start against the Phillies this year allowed 3 runs, 1 earned over 6.2 innings. The Phiillies have the following numbers against him:

Rollins 8-37, 2 2B
Mayberry 9-31, 2 2B, 3 HR
Ruiz 7-20, 2B, HR
Utley 2-18
Young 3-5, HR

The Mets bats will try to get back on track against Kyle Kendrick today who is 10-10 over 26 games this season with a 4.51 ERA over 159.2 innings and allowing a league leading 182 hits this season. In the month of August he has made 4 starts pitching 21.1 innings with a 5.91 ERA. He has pitched 3 games and 20.2 innings against the Mets this year with a 3.48 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Kyle:

Davis 6-24, 2 2B
Murphy 4-24, 2B
Duda 3-16, 2 2B, HR
Buck 3-16, 2B, HR
Lagares 2-2, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The battle for third place is on! Before the weekend the Mets were in the driver seat for third place but the Tigers did what the Tigers do. Yesterday the Tigers jumped out to an early lead against the Mets but the Mets came back to take the lead 3-2. The Tigers then nudged forward making it 4-3 and the score stayed like that for a while until the top of the ninth where the game ballooned into a 11-3 score. Tonight Zack Wheeler gets the nod as he goes up against Cliff Lee.

Zack Wheeler is 6-2 over 12 starts with a 3.49 ERA over 69.2 innings with 62 strikeouts. He’s 2-0 over his last three starts pitching 19.0 innings with a 2.37 ERA, 4 BB and 21 strikeouts. In his one start against the Phillies this year he allowed 2 ER over 4.2 innings. The Phillies have the following numbers against Wheeler:

Brown 0-3
Rollins 2-3, HR
Ruf 0-2
Utley 1-2
Young 0-1
Bernadina 0-2
Mayberry 1-2

Cliff Lee is 10-6 over 24 starts this season pitching 170.2 innings with a 3.16 ERA. He has made 4 starts in the month of August going 0-2 and 26.0 innings with a 3.81 ERA and 26 strikeouts. Lee has had two very different starts against the Mets this season. Back in April he allowed only 2 ER over 8.2 innings of work. In July, he allowed 5 ER over 6.0 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Lee:

Buck 16-55, 3 2B, 4 HR
Byrd 10-28, 3 2B, HR
Murphy 8-26, 4 2B
Duda 6-18, 2B, HR
Lagares 2-3, HR

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets signed 16 year old Ricardo Cespedes yesterday, actually on his 16th birthday. Cespedes just made the cut to be signed this year by 8 days. If he was 8 days younger, teams would not be able to sign him until next July.

According to Baseball America, Cespedes has “a nice swing and a line-drive, gap-to-gap approach”. The Mets reached an agreement with him in July but had to wait until his 16th birthday to sign him (which makes sense). Anyway, at the age of 16, Cespedes is already 6 feet tall and 2 inches. He’s an outfielder right now, and speculation is he will start in center field.

Before you get excited, the reason you don’t hear a lot of press around these signings is the how far down the charts these guys are. It’s essentially like giving 725 K (Cespedes’s contract) to a high school sophomore/junior and their have been few players that have accurately projected into stars from that age.

The Mets try to get one from the Tigers today as Dillon Gee takes on Rick Porcello. Yesterday was much hyped as a pitching matchup and for the most part it was as Harvey went into the 7th allowing 2 runs and Max was fantastic. Sadly for the Mets, the lumber was a slumber and didn’t do much thus leading to a 3-0 Tigers win.

Dillon Gee is 9-8 over 25 starts this season with a 3.60 ERA over 152.2 innings. Dillon is 2-0 in the month of August pitching 28.1 innings with an ERA of 1.27, 20 strikeouts and 4 walks. Not surprisingly, Dillon Gee has never faced the Tigers before however he has faced a few members of the Detroit squad:

Infante 2-8
Fielder 0-1
Anibal Sanchez 0-1

The Mets bats draw Rick Porcello in today’s finale, who is 9-7 over 24 games this season with a 4.52 ERA over 135.1 innings. He has pitched 15.1 innings in his last three starts with a 6.46 ERA. He has pitched 3.2 innings against the Mets in his career and has allowed 7 earned runs in that stretch. However, few active players with the Mets have faced him:

Buck 0-8
Murphy 2-3, 2B
Duda 0-2
Turner 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

In what may possibly be the first time ever, the two starting pitchers of the All-Star game meet up again for a regular season game with their same respective teams. Previously the only way this was possible was if an interleague game from May/June was postponed and made up later in the season. Anyway, Matt Harvey takes the mound against Max Scherzer. For both pitchers 2013 was their first All-Star game and they both got to start for their respective leagues. The American League eventually won that game, and both Harvey and Scherzer put on a show.

Matt is 9-4 with a 2.25 ERA over 25 starts and 171.2 innings of work. In that time he was struck out 187 batters and walked 31. Two starts ago he pitched a complete game shut out, the following start he showed he was human allowed 4 ER over 6 innings and in his last start he allowed 2 over 6 in a game the bullpen let slip away. Harvey has never faced the Tigers nor anyone on the Tigers roster in a regular season game.

Max is 18-1 this year. Seriously. 18-1. That’s a 94.7 winning percentage. He has pitched 25 games and 172.1 innings with a 2.82 ERA, so his time on the field this year has been very similar to Harvey. He has struck out 185 batters and walked 38 (seriously these numbers are incredibly close). In his last three starts he is 2-0 over 21.0 innings of work with a 2.57 ERA. In his career he has pitched 12.2 innings against the Mets with a 4.26 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 1-5
Young 1-4
Buck o-3
Byrd 1-2, 2B

Lets Go Mets!

The Tigers come to town tonight and start a weekend series with the Mets. The Mets actually had a day off yesterday, crazy I know, after splitting a two game series with he Braves. The real story for the Mets tonight is their starting pitcher, Daisuke Matsuzaka. As I tweeted yesterday, half-a decade ago, I’d be very excited about this signing. I do like this signing for this point of the season if Daisuke can soak up some innings from our young guns. Recently he hasn’t been successful in the majors. Last year he was 1-7 over 11 games with a 8.28 ERA. The year before he was 3-3 with a 5.30 ERA over 7 games. He’s been alright in the Indians minor league system this year posting a 5-8 record and a 3.92 ERA over AAA. The Tigers have the following numbers against Matsuzaka:

Hunter 5-18, HR
Cabrera 4-9, HR
Martinez 1-6
Santiago 2-4, 2B
Jackson 1-4, 2B

Doug Fister gets the nod for the Tigers tonight. Fister is 10-6 with 3.63 ERA over 25 starts this season. He’s o-1 in his last three starts over 18.1 innings where he has posted a 4.42 ERA. He has never faced the Mets in his career but a few Mets have faced him on other teams:

Buck 1-2
Byrd 0-3
Omar 0-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets and Braves finish off their two game set this afternoon as the Mets try to sweep Atlanta. Last night Wheeler had his pitches working early, but the Braves were able to keep it close. Thanks to some timely hitting and defense, the Mets were able to get it done. Today they look to contend with Alex Wood as the Mets send out Jon Niese.

Jon Niese is 5-6 over 16 starts this year with a 4.25 ERA over 89.0 innings of work. On August 11th he returned to the majors to 6 innings, 4 earned runs and in his last start he allowed only one earned run over 6. The Braves were not kind to him this season scoring 7 ER over 4.1 innings and then 3 ER over 3.1 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Niese:

Freeman 8-24, 2 2B, 2 HR
Heyward 9-22, 2 2B, 2 HR
J Upton 8-15, 2B
McCann 1-12
Schafer 0-8

The Mets draw Alex Wood for the finale who is 2-2 with a 2.61 ERA over 21 games, 6 starts and 51.2 innings in his rookie season. In the month of August he’s been on a tear allowing only 2 ER over 18.1 innings. Against the Mets he’s allowed 5 ER over 7.1 innings. The Mets have the following numbers against Alex Wood:

Byrd 3-4
Myrd 2-5
Buck 1-3
Lagares 0-2
Satin 1-2

Lets Go Mets!

The Mets finally, FINALLY return home tonight…but it’s against the Braves. In case you missed yesterday’s game, Dillon Gee was fantastic shutting down the Twins over 7.2 innings and the Mets offense was able to put some runs on the board to support him. While the Mets have been away for the last 11 games, the Braves have been caught up in a rivalry with the Nationals regarding plunking each others players. Tonight Brandon Beachy starts for the Bravos as he goes up against Zack Wheeler (Happy Wheeler Day!).

Zack Wheeler is 5-2 with a 3.43 ERA over 11 starts and 63.0 innings of work. In his last two starts, he’s pitched 12.1 innings, allowed 2 ER and struck out 16 batters, most in his last start where he struck out 12 over 6. He has had two very different starts against the Braves. In his major league debut, he held the Braves scoreless over 6.0 innings and in his second start, he allowed 4 runs, 3 earned, over 6 innings. The Braves have the following numbers against Wheeler:

Freeman 2-3, 3 BB
C Johnson 1-5
Simmons 1-4, 2 BB
J Upton 0-6, 2 K
Gattis 0-3
Heyward 0-3
BJ Upton 1-3

Brandon Beachy is 2-0 with a 4.50 ERA over 4 starts and 24.0 innings of work. The last time Beachy faced the Mets was back in 2011 where he allowed 4 ER over 4.1 innings. This year, he is 3-4 over 9 games in the minors with a 2.92 ERA. The Mets have the following numbers against Brandon:

Buck 2-9
Byrd 3-5, HR
Gee 0-1
Turner 0-1

Lets Go Mets!