Mets

[Amazin69]

May as well get this started:

Atlanta (NL East) and San Diego (#2 WC) currently have identical marks of 74-65.

The Mets are 70-71, meaning that even if they sweep all their remaining games, the most they can reach is 91 wins.

Therefore the Tragic Number is 18, as that many wins would put ATL/SD out of reach, even if we're immaculate, henceforth. (Obviously, in reality, future Met losses will also advance us towards the TN.)

[BMW]

Originally Posted by Westheim

...

How many franchises have hit a one-run grand slam?

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by BMW

How many franchises have hit a one-run grand slam?

Meanwhile, the calendar finally becomes as big an enemy to the Mets as the Metsies themselves. They took 2 out of 3 but are still 5 games behind the Barves. Even if they managed to stumble over 4 (!) teams for the road WC berth that still means they have to win 4 out of 6 games (beginning with the first one) against the Giants and Dodgers. A short series will help them hide the TBAs in the rotation, but it probably helps SF/LA more.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Hey fellas! Get a piece of the crappy Yankees while they are hot! (That is, cold, having reverted to what they really are, which is bad.) You should be looking for a three-game sweep this weekend.

Originally Posted by Amazin69

You're kidding, right? The Yanks could sweep this bunch using call-ups from AAA. Maybe AA.

Au contraire, monsieur. It was close to a sweep; that middle game was a see-saw, one-run margin affair. It is relatively easy to sweep the Yankees these days.

[BMW]

Originally Posted by BBGiovanni

Meanwhile, the calendar finally becomes as big an enemy to the Mets as the Metsies themselves. They took 2 out of 3 but are still 5 games behind the Barves. Even if they managed to stumble over 4 (!) teams for the road WC berth that still means they have to win 4 out of 6 games (beginning with the first one) against the Giants and Dodgers. A short series will help them hide the TBAs in the rotation, but it probably helps SF/LA more.

The Mets don't really have a chance to win without one or two, maybe three catastrophes from other clubs. Never can really rely on a situation like that to pan out because, as we know, just playing really well guarantees nothing when the other clubs play above-.500 ball.

[BMW]

Lindor with three home runs. Which I love.

Matt Vasgersian - "he just vindicated all 341 million tonight". What a ridiculous statement. Please give me Gary Cohen.

He does that to win the World Series in the deciding game, absolutely. I'll endure a 341 million contract even if it goes Chris Davis on the Mets for a World Series trophy.

Nothing against Lindor here, he has time to justify that contract. It's that call by the ESPN booth is just ridiculous and out of touch with a home team's fanbase.

[Westheim]

Not sure what Vasgersian's salary is, but if it's more than $3.50 he has way less chance to vindicate it than Lindor.

That is $3.50 per season, not per inning or game.

[Magus978]

One loss closer to firing Rojas, Alderson, and Scott.

Never wanted a team to miss the playoffs more.

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Not sure what Vasgersian's salary is, but if it's more than $3.50 he has way less chance to vindicate it than Lindor.

That is $3.50 per season, not per inning or game.

SANTA MARIA!!!!!!!!!!

Bill Veeck said something like "baseball must be a great game to have survived all we've done to it", and that was before they had a national TV contract to employ people like Joe Buck Yourself and the rest of the crumbums that wreck national broadcasts.

[Amazin69]

About the only revelation I've had lately is that Javy Baez doesn't suck at everything; he just sucks one particular way, and applies it across the board.

He hits big home runs, but swings and misses all the time, at everything. (Yes, he's been improving, but still.)

He makes impressive stops in the field, but consistently throws wild.

He's great at avoiding the tag, but he tries to steal bases before the pitcher even goes into his motion, much less commits to home. Or he gets forced out because he wants to take 2B standing up, which means he has to decelerate, instead of using a pop-up slide. Or he makes the 3rd out of the inning at 3B, a basic blunder. Repeatedly.

But at the root, it's all the same: Baez always tries to do the spectacular, and neglects the basics. Spoiled-brat glory-hogging, and nothing more.

And he'll never change. Why should he? Some moron is going to give him $300 million (or more) for his occasional highlight plays, never mind how he screws up his team on the regular. Said moron could well be Uncle Stevie, in fact. Sigh.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

About the only revelation I've had lately is that Javy Baez doesn't suck at everything; he just sucks one particular way, and applies it across the board.

He hits big home runs, but swings and misses all the time, at everything. (Yes, he's been improving, but still.)

He makes impressive stops in the field, but consistently throws wild.

He's great at avoiding the tag, but he tries to steal bases before the pitcher even goes into his motion, much less commits to home. Or he gets forced out because he wants to take 2B standing up, which means he has to decelerate, instead of using a pop-up slide. Or he makes the 3rd out of the inning at 3B, a basic blunder. Repeatedly.

But at the root, it's all the same: Baez always tries to do the spectacular, and neglects the basics. Spoiled-brat glory-hogging, and nothing more.

And he'll never change. Why should he? Some moron is going to give him $300 million (or more) for his occasional highlight plays, never mind how he screws up his team on the regular. Said moron could well be Uncle Stevie, in fact. Sigh.

I mocked up his profile in OOTPB to coincide with your opinion of him. (Click for larger view.)

[Déjà Bru]

Heh, I ran the sim forward to the end of the season. Regard his projected fate in this fantasy! Perhaps this will relieve your animosity just a bit. (Click for a larger view.)

[Amazin69]

LMAO! Have to like the line about "not the type to forge a connection to a city or its fans". I'll say! Recall, he'd been here less than a month when he was giving the fans a thumbs-down. Sheesh.

I grant you, being willing to fight the Yankees has helped repair things, but still.

(And how did the Bronx Bummers not sweep us, exactly? It's not that hard, as the Cardinals subsequently showed. I mean, I'm sure Luis "Arm Care" Rojas would have run Jake Reed out there against you guys, if you'd asked politely…)

And, while it's pretty pointless when you consider that even Gary "Orange and Blue" Cohen basically said "we're done" at the end of last night's disgrace, here's an update on the Tragic Number:

Mets are at 72-75, so even if we run the table, that's only 87 wins.
Braves (NL East) and Cardinals (WC2) both have 76 wins, thus the Tragic Number is 12.

And, let's face it, we're NOT going 15-0 the rest of the way. 0-15, maybe…

[BBGiovanni]

So, maybe we can root for the Mets to not push the Phools back into the pennant race, like they gift-wrapped a wild card berth for the other gross red team?

[Westheim]

Can we find out how you lose 15 of your last 17 (or thereabouts) games decided by one run ...?

Pretty sure Boom-Boom Diaz is responsible for half of them!

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Can we find out how you lose 15 of your last 17 (or thereabouts) games decided by one run ...?

Pretty sure Boom-Boom Diaz is responsible for half of them!

Seriously. If we'd just gone 8-9 in those games (instead of 2-15) we'd be 78-70 and leading the division.

"And on the Shea Anything podcast, [the hosts] will discuss if Luis Rojas is to blame for the Mets' September struggles." —Gary Cohen, last night.

1. I don't need to "blame" anyone. Just fire him, and we're good. "You're gone! …Luis who?" Simple as that.

2. "September struggles"??? Er did you miss that sterling 14-23 mark we put up from the ASB thru August 31? We didn't exactly start this month on a hot streak.

[Westheim]

I am probably the one blaming Rojas the least for the misery.

It's not his fault that the ever-changing Mets front office keeps shipping in players that turn out Boom Boom Diaz-sized turds. (Familia, Lindor, Baez, Carrasco ........)

[BMW]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I am probably the one blaming Rojas the least for the misery.

It's not his fault that the ever-changing Mets front office keeps shipping in players that turn out Boom Boom Diaz-sized turds. (Familia, Lindor, Baez, Carrasco ........)

Baez is hitting .400 in the last 2+ weeks, just how much of this is his fault and how much is scapegoating?

James McCann has given us a season worth of garbage and he'll be getting a pay raise to 12 million next year. And we're locked into that for 2023 too.

Dom Smith and Jeff McNeil have yet to show up this season.

And we gave 100 plate appearances to Almora-Maybin-Lee who literally (not figuratively) hit worse than our pitchers (.081 average vs.138). That three-headed monstrosity rates to 25 games where the Mets basically had a lineup with two pitchers in it.

[Magus978]

Just say the hell with it and clean house after game 162. Fire everyone, let all the free agents walk. I've seen enough of this entire roster. Trash across the board. You're stuck with Lindor and McCann, but everyone else should be fair game. Yes, EVEN deGrom. Especially if you can still get a nice prospect haul for him, as unlikely as that sounds. Time to face reality...the New York Mets are NOT winning a World Series with this current core. Admit you failed and stare down the next rebuild.

If you can replenish the farm system with a few trades, I say you commit to a rebuild and punt for awhile, even with the Lindor deal that could very well end up being an albatross.

I have always been of the idea that you can do a proper rebuild in New York. However, it takes 100% honesty with the fans and 100% support. Something I'm not sure can be accomplished at the moment.

[Westheim]

Hey, they didn't lose by one! They lost by two! Progress?

Originally Posted by BMW

Diaz is hitting .400 in the last 2+ weeks, just how much of this is his fault and how much is scapegoating?

I assume you mean Baez. He also had a 2+ week spell in June (with the Cubbies) where he hit .111; which one is it going to be more often than the other?

I have thought for YEARS when I saw him flailing and flailing and flailing, oh, dear baseball gods, please don't put him on the Mets, please, no, don't, please, I'm begg- Mets trade for him.

And due to the time difference and the Cubs' being what they are, I saw the Cubs *a lot*. And I saw Baez flail *a lot*.

Originally Posted by Magus978

Just say the hell with it and clean house after game 162. Fire everyone, let all the free agents walk. I've seen enough of this entire roster. Trash across the board. You're stuck with Lindor and McCann, but everyone else should be fair game. Yes, EVEN deGrom. Especially if you can still get a nice prospect haul for him, as unlikely as that sounds.

Nooo. Not Pete! I want to keep Pete ...!

...which would continue to ruin his career and prevent him from playing on a team that actually deserves his polar beary goodness, but that is not MY main concern.

Originally Posted by Magus978

If you can replenish the farm system with a few trades, I say you commit to a rebuild and punt for awhile, even with the Lindor deal that could very well end up being an albatross.

We have a farm?

The Lindor deal is already so dead it stinks all the way to Philly, where they paid Harper LESS for MORE years and get ... oh just look at their stat lines, they're hardly the same species..... -.-