Getty Photos
Pete Alonso blasted 40 homers for the Mets final season. Francisco Lindor hit 26. These are acceptable numbers for a 1-2 punch in a significant league lineup.
However the Mets weren’t almost as profitable in receiving bop past their All-Star first baseman and franchise shortstop. Eduardo Escobar’s September surge bought him to twenty homers, however the next-highest whole was 16 apiece from Brandon Nimmo and Starling Marte. Total, the Mets completed tied for fifteenth in MLB with 171 homers.
That raises the query of whether or not the Mets want further long-ball threats in establishing a roster and lineup for subsequent season.
“If the general manufacturing is there, that’s what issues on the finish of the day,” Mets GM Billy Eppler stated at this week’s winter conferences whereas noting the Mets completed tied for fifth in MLB with 4.76 runs per sport. “You may place some arguments on must you attempt to hit the three-pointer? I want [multiple] methods the place you'll be able to beat groups, whether or not you beat them by contact, perhaps you beat them by some pace and base-running … otherwise you beat them by energy.
“I type of prefer to attempt to serve all of these if potential and actually create steadiness since you by no means know who you’re going to face on a selected day, and the venues that we play in change. Typically these sure traits can get enhanced in sure venues or they'll get mitigated in sure venues, so I feel steadiness is type of the way in which I prefer to journey essentially the most.”
The Mets’ lineup excelled in different measures. They ranked second within the majors with a .332 on-base proportion and their .412 slugging proportion ranked eighth, a stable quantity — particularly contemplating the staff was middle-of-the-pack in homers.
However the Mets positive appeared underwhelming — whereas getting outhomered 7-3 — in getting swept over three video games in Atlanta throughout the season’s last week, a efficiency that determined the NL East. Then got here one other energy outage in shedding to the Padres within the best-of-three wild card collection.
Nonetheless, the Mets gained 101 video games and have been largely profitable in controlling the strike zone, led by disciplined approaches from gamers akin to Nimmo, Mark Canha and late-season addition Daniel Vogelbach.
“For us to complete prime 5 in runs per sport in a ballpark that's notoriously non-offensive, I feel that’s a bit bit taller job due to the venue,” Eppler stated. “So when you'll be able to put balls in play or be second in on-base, I’m not likely beholden to at least one [approach] or one other.”
Re-signing Nimmo — with an eight-year, $162 million contract — is an effective begin.
However don’t underestimate the potential affect of rookie Francisco Alvarez, who brings a mixture of uncooked energy and plate self-discipline the Mets crave.
From there, the Mets may need to bundle gamers in a commerce for a giant bat. Eppler isn’t tipping his hand.
“We’re going to nonetheless be energetic on the position-player entrance,” Eppler stated. “Whether or not that yields any individual who’s extra power-oriented or any individual who’s extra contact-oriented, one of many issues we usually attempt to keep true to is having good selectivity within the batter’s field and good decision-making.”
Employed assist
Except the Mets plan to offer David Peterson or Tylor Megill a full-time beginning job, Jacob deGrom’s departure for the Rangers has left the staff with no homegrown pitcher within the beginning rotation.
This appears laborious to fathom after a decade by which Matt Harvey, deGrom and Steven Matz — all of whom have been drafted by the group — helped anchor the rotation. Two different pitchers who arrived in trades at younger ages into the low ranges of the minor leagues (and may very well be thought-about homegrown) have been Zack Wheeler and Noah Syndergaard. From that heralded group of 5, solely deGrom actually delivered on his promise, no less than whereas nonetheless with the staff. Wheeler has since emerged as a prime pitcher with the Phillies.
The very best case is the Mets may have younger starters — akin to Dominic Hamel, Mike Vasil and Junior Santos — able to contribute in some unspecified time in the future in 2024, however for the quick time period, the staff is discovering out simply how costly it may be to construct a workers with out homegrown choices.
A Corridor of Fame voice awaits his flip
Longtime Cubs radio play-by-play voice Pat Hughes this week gained the vote for the Ford A. Frick award, which carries induction into the broadcaster’s wing of the Corridor of Fame. Gary Cohen was a finalist for the award, and can once more be eligible for nomination subsequent yr following modifications applied in April to the voting course of.
Beforehand, Cohen would have needed to wait three years for one more look on the poll.
“I’m very blissful for Pat,” Cohen stated. “He’s a really good man and really deserving.”
Cohen, 64, has labored Mets broadcasts since 1989, when he started teaming with Bob Murphy (a Frick award winner) within the radio sales space. Final season was Cohen’s seventeenth alongside Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling on SNY. The trio might be honored at subsequent month’s Baseball Writers’ Dinner for his or her longevity. Final season, they matched Murphy, Lindsey Nelson and Ralph Kiner as baseball’s longest-tenured three-man crew. Murphy, Nelson and Kiner labored Mets broadcasts collectively from 1962-78.
Hybrid work
One other return to normalcy from the pandemic occurred with this week’s winter conferences in San Diego. The occasion was canceled in 2020 due to COVID and final yr as a result of lockout. I keep in mind one staff official predicting two years in the past that the winter conferences would disappear without end as golf equipment turned more proficient conducting enterprise on Zoom calls. What has emerged is a pleasant mix: Groups groups can meet with free brokers on Zoom, however nonetheless notice the significance of in-person contact for a lot of their offseason enterprise. The winter conferences have been as bustling as ever.
Post a Comment