A July Review of The Mets

How are The Mets holding on to the top of their division? Any other team in the top 3 of their division in baseball (minus NL East – obviously) would absolutely D-O-M-I-N-A-T-E it. Mind you, we’re also doing this with a shaky offense and a bullpen that occasionally goes on a figurative strike. If their fellow little league opponents in the NL East are at least moderately aggressive by the trade deadline, to quote Ralph Wiggum from The Simpsons, “Ha, ha, I’m in danger.”

Mets Offense: Starting at the top of the Mets offense, Pete “Polar Bear I strike out with the bases loaded in a 3-0 game against a reliever way past his prime” Alonso. He has 15 homers this year. Great! He’s on pace for 30, nobody else on the Mets is on pace for more than 18. Alonso has a .257 batting average this year, most on the Mets among qualified players (players who average 3.1 PA/game).

Brandon Nimmo and JD Davis are two un-qualified players batting .330 and .390 respectfully. Nimmo just came back and Davis is on his way back.

Francisco Lindor is mixing highs with lows this season, with more lows than highs but hopefully, he could hit upwards of 15 homers in the second half. Dominic Smith is the best offensive player on this team. He’s the most consistent and clutch. He could give you anything. Single, double, triple (only if it’s hit in Fenway Park or the Polo Grounds), and yes, the nuke.

Somehow James McCann hit 7 homers this season. Did YOU know that? I didn’t. When did he do that? HOW did he do that? It’s a shame to see Jose Peraza and Jonathan Villar not in the everyday lineup anymore. Jeff McNeil came back and Luis Rojas gave Luis “the Bearded Wonder” Guillorme the third base job half the time. I wanna see McNeil outta there, but more on that later.

Another player who had his moments is Billy McKinney, he’s a great player, mostly because he has the power-speed combo. Probably just a bench bat for the Mets, because I don’t see an opening in the lineup right now. Even with an injury, we have Kevin Pillar there. Again, I hope Tomas Nido gets red hot again but James McCann is just not great. I value an offensive catcher (preferably with a strong arm) more than a defensive catcher by far, that’s what we thought we were getting with McCann, well, that didn’t work.

Mets Pitching: The one bright spot for the Mets, wait, no, only sometimes, wait, no, only the starting rotation actually and Edwin Diaz, wait, no, no Edwin Diaz there, only the starting rotation, wait, no, only Jacob DeGrom, Marcus Stroman and Taijuan Walker. All of them have a sub 2.60 ERA and all of them should get All-Star nods, how many did? Just one. When I read this stat, I had to do a double-take: Marcus Stroman has 78 strikeouts this season, which is already really good, then I read Taijuan Walker has 87 strikeouts, which is even better, and I then I read – Jacob DeGrom: 146 Ks. That is out of this world amazing, oh yeah, with a 1.08 ERA. The bullpen has all been really solid, all middle relievers have been shutting opponents down lately. Jeurys Familia, Aaron Loup, Miguel Castro and Drew Smith are those relievers. Castro has the highest ERA at 4.01 but that largely reflects early this season and a few homers given up here and there. Edwin Diaz is a really good closer, although I don’t know why Luis Rojas puts him in for non-save situations. He has a 6.39 ERA in non-save situations and a 0.90 in save situations. I understand if once or twice over the course of the whole season that there are no more arms that are rested in the bullpen, but when two or three guys are rested, and Diaz comes in during a tie game or something, he’s bound to be unsuccessful.

Now, something has happened with Jacob DeGrom. You’re probably reading this thinking “WHAT??” and even though his 1.08 ERA in 92 IP this year don’t show it, his last three starts do. He had given up a total of 4 earned runs over his last 12 starts. But, he had given up 7 earned runs over his last 3. Just to put all the facts on the table, he had had short stints on the IL over the season and he is subject to the kind of media pressure that Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris were during the 1961 season, when Maris hit 61 homers. Yes, DeGrom may be used to this because he is and was the best pitcher in baseball for the last four seasons, but he is on pace for a historic season, this is different. Your guess is as good as mine but I think that there’s some injury bugging him but he wants to continue this season. There are no kinks in his windup but that may be part of his masterful act. He will sit out for the All-Star Game, and in his starts where he had the gas to go an inning or two more, he was pulled. When a pitcher is dealing as well as DeGrom, a manager simply cannot bear to take out his once-in-a-generation talent after 6 or 7 innings and 80 or 90 something pitches. Now, I think he’s scheduled for one more start before the All-Star break and that will be monumental to prove my theory or not.

The All-Star Game will be a very needed break and potential recovery period for him. I hope he gets on the mound and pitching at his level soon because even the team he’s carving up loves to see Jacob DeGrom pitch.