213 Miles From Shea

The Mets only have three spring training games left in the schedule and today they make the cross-state to take on the Rays at Tropicana Field. The west coast of Florida is still dealing with devastating impacts from Hurricane Ian. The damage from the storm has prevented the Rays from using their normal spring training home, Charlotte Sports Park. So the Rays have pivoted to hosting their spring training games in their home ballpark, Tropicana Field.

The most notable news for the Mets happened in the back fields yesterday. Jeff McNeil bounced around to multiple games, getting nine at bats. To put that in perspective, he had 13 at bats during the World Baseball Classic. Brandon Nimmo got five at bats and hit a triple. The Mets tied in the actual spring training game 2-2. Will the Mets actually get a decision today?

Three Things To Watch For:

1. How Deep Does Scherzer Go? Scherzer makes his final start today as he prepares for Opening Day. His last time up in the rotation he pitched seven scoreless innings, bringing his official spring total to 11 2/3 allowing one earned run while striking out 14 batters.
2. I Don’t Know is on third: Who’s the Mets third basemen in a few days? The Mets are quickly coming to the end of Spring Training and Baty has done everything to show that he should be starting at third when the camp is over. Eduardo Escobar hasn’t had the greatest results at the plate so far this spring and he gets the start today. In eight games and 25 PA’s he is hitting .136/.240/.182.
3. Please Heat Up: Tommy Pham has had ample opportunities this spring to show the Mets what he’s got. With camp winding down he has hit .154/.267/.179 over 15 games and 45 PA’s. In total he has six hits this spring. Four of those six hits happened in back to back to back to back games from March 5th to March 12th. Since then he has only two hits and is 0-6 over the last two calendar days.

Let’s Go Mets!

In one week the Mets will make the long journey from St. Lucie all the way down to Miami to open up the regular season. Only one more week! We will now see pitchers make their final spring starts. Some will be in the few remaining spring training games, others will do bullpen sessions, some will start in minor league games.

Yesterday Senga made his third start of the season, allowing two runs from two hits and three walks over four innings while striking out three. It was also the second straight start for him that we barely saw the ghost fork at all, but he got more work on his other pitches. Tommy Hunter had the surprise pitching performance, adding two more scoreless innings bringing his spring total to eight. He is not on the roster yet and needs to be on the roster by Saturday to prevent him from opting out. For what it’s worth, the Mets still haven’t moved Edwin Díaz to the 60-day IL yet, which would open up a spot on the roster.

Anyway we still have a game today! Today is one of those rare days that the Mets will not play the Marlins, Astros, Nationals or Cardinals as they make the trip to see the Braves.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Prospect Time: The Mets welcome Mike Vasil to the mound today, making his first spring training start. Vasil was drafted by the Mets in the 8th round back in 2021 and made some noise last year in the minors. For the St. Lucie Mets he posted a 2.19 ERA over eight starts and 37 innings. He was then bumped up to Brooklyn where he struggled a bit with a 5.13 ERA over 33 1/3 innings. He had hitters fooled in St. Lucie with a 18.0 K/9 which dipped down to a still very respectable 9.5 K/9 in Brooklyn. The Mets then sent him to the Arizona Fall League where he pitched 15 1/3 innings with a 2.93 ERA and 10.6 K/9. He’s tall (6’5″) with a mid-90’s fastball. We are excited to see what he does this season and today against a formidable Braves lineup.
2. Return of Pete: Alonso returns the lineup today after being away from the team for the last couple of weeks with team USA in the WBC. Before Alonso left for the tournament he was hitting .286/.423/.714 over eight games and 26 plate appearances. He collected six hits and three of them were homers. The WBC wasn’t kind to Pete though as he had only two hits in 14 trips over five games and had to battle quite a bit for playing time. We are sure that he is hungry for playing time right now as he takes one of top prospects in the Braves system this afternoon.
3. Catching up with the catchers: The inevitable happened right before yesterday’s game – Francisco Álvarez was sent to minor league camp. This was expected, especially when the Mets signed Omar Narváez in the off-season. Tomás Nido has been quietly having a tremendous spring and looks to carry the Mets until Álvarez is ready later this season. Nido has played in 12 games this spring with 35 plate appearances hitting .382/.400/.706 with three homers. Nido gets the start today and we expect to see a lot of Nido and Narváez over the last few spring games.

Let’s Go Mets!

For the first time since March 15th the Mets will have a weekday spring training game during the traditional early afternoon time. It’s also the first time in a while that the Mets feel whole again. The Mets sent a large contingent of players to probably the most exciting World Baseball Classic tournament ever for the better part of this month. With the tournament’s tremendous conclusion last night there’s only one thing to focus on now – Opening Day.

The Mets also got some promising news on the day off yesterday. Brandon Nimmo tried out his ankle and knee in various exercises and officials are encouraged by what they saw. He is still considered week to week. The positive news was welcomed after what the Mets endured last week.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. From the Stands to the Mound: Kodai Senga was in the crowd during Japan’s walk-off win against Mexico earlier this week and returns to the mound for the Mets today! In two starts so far he has pitched five innings allowing two runs from four hits including a homer while walking two and striking out seven. Most likely he will have one more tune up start after this to get ready for the regular season.
2. Francisco Lindor: Lindor was on fire in the World Baseball Classic with a .450 batting average and a .500 on base percentage. Lindor was also having a tremendous spring before the classic, going 7-18 at the plate with two homers. He picked up right where he left on Monday, his first game back in the Mets lineup going 1-3. The Mets have a superstar at shortstop and the league better watch out if he brings this level of play into regular season games next week.
3. Stealing Bases: Starling Marte got the start yesterday and stole his second base of spring. Last season he stole 18 and was caught nine times. Between the bases being larger and the pitch clock, we wonder how many additional bases he’ll steal this upcoming season. In addition to stolen bases, Marte is having a tremendous spring hitting .353/.368/.588 over 19 plate appearances.

Let’s Go Mets!

Yesterday’s spring training game featured David Peterson and Tylor Megill trying out, in the same game, to be the Mets fifth starter. Going into the game both Peterson and Megill had been dominant this spring. Peterson allowed no runs over eight innings. Megill allowed one run in just about the same amount of time. Peterson dominated in the game, allowing one hit and no run, despite walking four batters over four innings. Megill struggled, allowing six runs, three earned, from six hits and five walks. Peterson probably has the upper hand right now, but there is still at least one more turn through the rotation before a decision needs to be made.

Today the Mets will pivot from looking at the battle for fifth starting position to players just getting their work in. Justin Verlander makes a start today and the Mets are welcoming back their players from team Puerto Rico and Venezuela from the World Baseball Classic.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better: We expect Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer to have a friendly rivalry throughout the season. Max Scherzer over the weekend casually tossed a seven inning outing allowing four hits and no runs. What will Verlander do today? So far in spring he has allowed two runs from six hits over 11 1/3 innings while striking out an absurd 16 batters.
2. Welcome Back! The Mets welcome back a lot of familiar faces today. Francisco Lindor was on fire during the WBC, collecting 9 hits in 20 AB’s, hitting .450/.500/.550. Eduardo Escobar went 1-10, but his one hit was a homer. Omar Narváez didn’t get too much playing time, going 1-4 over two games. We expect all three to start seeing a significant ramp up in playing time.
3. Tommy’s Turn In Center: We’ve been expecting Tommy Pham to get a turn to play in center since Nimmo’s injury and today’s the day! Pham has played in 13 games this spring with 39 plate appearances and is hitting .152/.282/.182. Baseball Reference uses an opponent quality stat, quantifying the level of play Pham is hitting against based on that pitcher’s previous season. Pham’s opponents are at a 7.3, which is some where between a double and triple A. That being said, we’ll be focusing more on his time in the field. Last season he had -6 outs above average, his second straight year with that mark. He has only recorded a positive outs above average back in 2017.

Let’s Go Mets!

Yesterday’s win felt almost like a regular season game. Max Scherzer faced off against the ace of the Astros, Framber Valdez. Scherzer went seven innings allowing four hits and no runs (surprisingly deep into the game at this point in spring). Valdez went 4 2/3 allowing only one run (quasi-deep into the game at this point in spring). Drew Smith got a hold striking out the side. Tommy Hunter continued his amazing spring getting the save after striking out two and allowing a hit in the ninth inning. Just a great day all around for the Mets.

Today’s game against the Cardinals is an important one for the Mets major position battle – the 5th starter. Both David Peterson and Tylor Megill are scheduled to pitch today! Further Mark Canha is getting the start in center as the Mets look at their short term options for Brandon Nimmo.

Three Things To Watch For:

1. David Peterson: Peterson pitches in his fourth spring training game this afternoon looking to build on his spectacular start earlier in the week. So far this spring he has allowed no runs and no hits while walking four batters and striking out nine batters over eight innings. With Lucchesi getting optioned to the Mets minor league camp a couple of days ago, Peterson has a better chance of making the Mets roster now either in the rotation or in the bullpen.
2. Tylor Megill: Megill, similar to Peterson, has done everything in camp to show he can be the Mets fifth starter. He has pitched 8 1/3 innings over three games allowing one run from six hits and three walks while striking out six batters. We are looking for Megill having another solid outing this afternoon and to make the choice of who should start difficult for Buck Showalter.
3. Put me in coach. I can play center field: Last week Mark Canha was getting reps at first place as a possible depth option off the Mets bench. Now he’s getting a turn in center as the Mets explore their options if Nimmo has to miss an extended period of time. Canha played 11 games in center last year including seven starts (71 1/3 innings) with a perfect fielder rating. In 2021 he played 187 2/3 innings in center with the same rating.

Let’s Go Mets!

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!