The Interesting 2018 New York Mets (Who Will Probably Fall Into a Pile of Scorpions Again)

Familia to A's for 2 fringe prospects

Keith Law has thoughts

http://insider.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/24160093/mlb-mets-get-weak-payoff-trading-jeurys-familia-early

The Mets are putting Noah Syndergaard on the DL. He contracted hand, foot and mouth disease.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 22, 2018

In better news:

The Mets promoted top infield prospect Andres Gimenez to Double-A Binghamton today. He's just 19 years old.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 22, 2018

Also: Jerry Blevins, actor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrDn3AdBTSQ

DeGrom splits since April 21st:

14 Games Started (3W - 5L, 6 no decisions)
1.28 ERA
0.95 WHIP
119K:24BB

Jeff Passan: It's all about the Wilpons

https://sports.yahoo.com/10-degrees-everything-dysfunctional-mets-leads-back-ownership-group-fails-150426129.html

nimmmmmmmooooooooo

Brandon Nimmo is this year's Mets winner of the MLBPA Alumni's Heart and Hustle Award, presented annually to the players from each team who best "demonstrate a passion for the game of baseball and best embody the values, spirit and traditions of the game."

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 24, 2018

Jeff McNeil's minor league purgatory is at an end. Source confirms the Mets are calling up the 26-year-old infielder, who has hit .342 with 19 home runs and a 1.028 OPS over two levels this season. McNeil is a former 12th-round draft pick.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 24, 2018

Philip Evans also up; presumably Cespedes to DL, never to be seen again

that's the guy who keith law poo-poohed on twitter and peter alonso stuck up for

(which in a roundabout way led to total dick move by klaw which has really tainted my view of him)

Ty Kelly DFA'd

Reyes is staying all year, right

Mets are preparing to announce Cespedes will be placed on the DL. As of this morning he was leaning toward season ending surgery.

— Mike Puma (@NYPost_Mets) July 24, 2018

Official: season ending surgery with 8-10 month recovery.

so go to the player for the truth in future, not the front office or staff

nah, go to francesa

Regarding Jose Reyes in the lineup today, Mickey Callaway said he has to "do the right thing" keeping players such as Reyes sharp, and that there will be plenty of playing time for Jeff McNeil in the future.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) July 25, 2018

https://media.newyorker.com/photos/59095adcc14b3c606c1051ec/master/w_727,c_limit/lovehate-580.jpg

First series win since May!

who's goin'?

https://www.amazinavenue.com/2018/7/26/17617346/mets-trade-rumors-asdrubal-cabrera-zack-wheeler-wilmer-flores-devin-mesoraco-jose-bautista-new-york

I expect Cabrera to go although I don't think they will get too much back. I think everyone wants to see McNeil get a shot at 2B. Would rather they not trade Wheeler since he is finally hitting his stride, but am completely expecting them to screw up that trade. There seems to be a need for Flores/Bautista/Mesoraco as everyday players at the moment, considering how depleted the outfield/catcher depth currently is. I guess you could make a case for Smith/Alonso at 1B.

mets sign austin jackson

they must fucking hate dom smith

Mets in June: 5-21

Mets in months not June: 40-38

The #Mets signed Austin Jackson because they want someone who can catch the ball in CF and get a few hits. Nothing more than that. Mickey highly values a good defensive CF. They miss Lagares.

— Wayne Randazzo (@WayneRandazzo) July 27, 2018

MLB Trade Rumors:

The Mets feel that Zack Wheeler has “turned a corner” and would like a return in a trade which they feel is reflective of that improvement, tweets Fancred’s Jon Heyman. To this point, however, “no one has come even close” to meeting the team’s asking price, Heyman adds, making it seem likelier that Wheeler stays with the team through the deadline (and, quite likely then, into the offseason). With six shutout innings today, Wheeler now has a 3.20 ERA and a 63-to-23 K/BB ratio across his past 70 1/3 innings (11 starts) dating back to June 1. The 28-year-old is earning $1.9MM in 2018 and is controlled through the 2019 season.

guess i'm gonna fire up the TV archive

Mets television announcers Keith Hernandez, Ron Darling and Gary Cohen took turns reading verbatim from the team's media guide in the late innings -- the SNY network played the theme from "Masterpiece Theatre" in the background.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGJ8OiqRhO4

Jose Reyes allowed two home runs last night.

He's hit two today.

— Anthony DiComo (@AnthonyDiComo) August 1, 2018

i think we're reaching the point where degrom needs his own thread

Even I feel bad for the guy.

Degrom's dominance + lack of run support is such common knowledge this year that the cy young voters will have to take it in to account. Scherzer may not even be able to help the Nats make the wild card this year, so I wonder if this means Aaron Nola overshadows them both.

as close as the three of them are, i guess i'd be surprised if the guy with single-digit wins is successful

otoh degrom deserves a cy bonus and the wilpons deserve to pay for it 10 times over, so

Best ERA in MLB + 19 straight quality starts = 5W-7L

Very joe Morgan voice

Weeeeeeenssss

saving the marginal arms

https://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/mets-to-limit-pitchers-gsellman-and-lugo-for-remainder-of-the-season-1.20345760

mook and i dodged a bullet by not going last night, as Votto didn't play and there was a 100-minute rain delay in the top of the first.

It has happened, but deGrom is currently on path to make history.

The most WAR in a season where WAR > Ws is 6.2, set by Ted Abernathy in his 6-W 1967. At 6.5 WAR and 5 Ws, if deGrom's season ended today, he'd set the record https://t.co/VDiSTdEDp0 https://t.co/ql6sSx58nE

— Baseball Reference (@baseball_ref) August 8, 2018

8 K thru 5 and has a 4-0 lead... in danger of winning

beware of Wilpons

https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2018/08/10/the-wilpons-think-that-the-mets-stink-because-theyre-too-analytics-heavy/

Wright is starting a rehab assignment:
https://www.amazinavenue.com/2018/8/11/17679326/mets-david-wright-rehab-assignment-st-lucie-new-york

Austin Jackson has been on fire lately.

Nimmo: 5-for-5 and a HBP

Plawecki Grand Slam was absolutely crushed. Need a gif of that.

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/3/5/6/290558356/081518_nym_plawecki_grandslam.gif

something bad happened to nimmo when he checked his swing -- maybe a wrist issue

Nothing broken, hopefully it’s ok? The rest of game 1 was an absolute treat.

Oh and thanks for the gif!

Not even a rain delay could stop Degrom's complete game that brings his ERA down to 1.71

Jacob deGrom threw his first complete game in a Cy Young season.

The final at-bat -- a game-ending groundout from Nick Williams:
Pitch 106: 98.3 mph
Pitch 107: 99.0 mph
Pitch 108: 99.1 mph (groundout)

Those were, successively, his three fastest pitches of the game.

— David Adler (@_dadler) August 18, 2018

Continue to be impressed w/Jeff McNeil.

Any chance they are resigning deGrom?

they don't have to -- they've got him for another two years, after which he will be heading into his age-33 season

me during sex: hurt me

her: You’ve been traded to the Mets

me: wait—

her: you have a sore elbow. Mets expect you to miss one start.

me: stop

her: It’s a torn UCL. Tommy John surgery. 12-18 months recovery.

— JB (@JB_August) August 19, 2018

Nimmo to DL, what a surprise

McNeil 4 for 4 again tonight. Cory Oswalt has been a surprise, and may actually turn out to be a good long guy in the bullpen if tonight's performance is anything to go by.

Jeff​ McNeil​ has had​ a truly odd career. McNeil, a 13th​ round​ pick​ in​ 2013​ who didn’t​ even​ play​ high​​ school baseball, struggled with injuries for most of his minor league career before finally keeping healthy in 2018 and breaking out. So it seems appropriate that McNeil would have an equally unique approach at the plate, one that is truly rare among MLB players.

To get a sense of the oddity of McNeil’s approach, look at this plot of zone-contact% versus zone-swing% among players from 2018 with at least 90 plate appearances (McNeil had 95 PA entering Monday).

https://cdn.theathletic.com/app/uploads/2018/08/21073840/z-swing-versus-z-contact.png

There usually exists a slight trade-off in terms of Z-Swing% versus Z-Contact%: swinging at everything in the zone generally results in more whiffs, while swinging at fewer zone pitches allows hitters to be more selective, resulting in higher contact. But McNeil has completely bucked that trend, swinging at more zone pitches than anyone in baseball in 2018 while making contact at the rate of more selective players.

In his young MLB career, McNeil has displayed elite plate protection: per Baseball Savant, only 9.4% of pitches to McNeil have resulted in a called strike, the 4th best figure in the MLB in 2018 among batters who have seen at least 300 pitches. Making frequent and consistent zone contact is a good skill to have – according to Baseball Savant, hitters have run a .388 wOBA on zone-contact pitches in 2018 (McNeil is at .379 on the year on those pitches) – and McNeil is one of the best in baseball at generating zone contact.

McNeil is simply a contact machine – he swings at everything, and he contacts everything. 50.3% of pitches to McNeil end in contact – the highest figure in the MLB (min 300 pitches). More pitches to McNeil have not reached the catcher’s glove than have. On contact, McNeil is running a .346 wOBA and a .352 xwOBA, both of which are below average (league wOBA on contact: .361, xwOBA: .377) – but since McNeil generates more contact than any other hitter, he provides above-average value at the plate (.339 wOBA compared to a league average .317 wOBA) despite below average quality-of-contact and walk rates.

I wonder how the Mets can devalue or trade him?