Long before the win became the most universally derided statistic in baseball, there was New York Mets pitcher Anthony Young. Young, who died this week at the age of 51, is most often remembered for the longest losing streak by a pitcher in MLB history — dropping 27 consecutive decisions. For sabermetricians, however, Young has another significance altogether — he’s the perfect example of why pitcher wins and losses are utterly meaningless. From May 6, 1992 to July 24, 1993, Young appeared in 77 games, starting 17 of them and finishing 37.
He notched 16 saves and four holds — but he just couldn’t catch a break when he was awarded the decision. He lost low-scoring nail-biters; he lost games in relief; he lost after throwing a lot of pitches and after throwing very few. A total of 448 days went by without Young’s name next to a “W” in the box score. Young finally broke through at Shea Stadium on July 28, 1993, when the Mets pulled out a 5-4 walk-off victory in the bottom of the ninth against the Florida Marlins.
Asdrubal Cabrera played part of one season with the Nationals.Upon hearing this news, I can presume that there's two things going on with Carbrera right now: 1) his ego is bothered at the idea that Mets management doesn't think that he has the range to play shortstop anymore and 2) while the guy replacing him, Jose Reyes, might be the better defensive shortstop right now, for Chrissakes, Reyes is currently hitting .193. Either way, with the Mets 8 games under .500 and like 12.5 games out of a wild-card spot, the last thing they need is a veteran player, who's still starting by the way, requesting a trade. To think too, this Cabrera stuff comes not long after the Braves All-star 1st baseman Freddie Freeman offered to move to 3rd base (a position he's never played before on the major league level) in order to keep hot-hitting first baseman Matt Adams in the lineup regularly.
During those 49 games in 2014, Cabrera hit .229 with five home runs. He mostly played second base, as Ian Desmond was the incumbent shortstop, and he was a fine second baseman. However, he always made it perfectly clear he saw himself as a shortstop, not a second baseman,
After the season, Cabrera moved on to the Tampa Bay Rays, where he played shortstop and hit .265 with 15 home runs in 2015, then he traveled north to the New York Mets. He’s played with the Mets the past two seasons, mostly playing shortstop.
Now, the Mets want to move him to second base, and the 31-year-old veteran isn’t thrilled about it, reportedly asking for a trade. Mike Puma of the New York Post has comments from Cabrera saying, “If they don’t have a plan for me, I think it’s time to make a move.”
Sandy Alderson hears you loud and clear, Mets fans.Finally, something that I can agree with when it comes Mets management: leaving Amed Rosario alone and not bowing to pressure from fans and the media to call him up. I don't care how great Rosario is racking it up in Triple-A, it's still Triple-A and frankly speaking, even if Rosario got called up and he continues to hit like he's doing now, that ain't saving the 2017 Mets. Because injuries have just about killed this team.
The Mets general manager is aware that your desire to see top prospect Amed Rosario in Flushing is at an all-time high, especially with second baseman Neil Walker (left hamstring) hitting the disabled list on Thursday.
After all, it's hard to ignore Rosario's dominant Triple-A stat line: .333 batting average, seven home runs and 45 RBIs.
But Alderson doesn't want to rush the 21-year-old shortstop's development.
"First of all, we have some good players here," Alderson said ahead of Thursday's series-opener with the NL East leading Nationals. "(Jose) Reyes is playing currently at shortstop, (Astrubal) Cabrera is coming back. It's not like we have a big hole in our lineup. If not more importantly, we review Rosario as a possible long-term answer for us."
There are a lot of players who would love to have the chances that Rafael Montero has had in the big leagues. It's clear that Montero, a prospect who was once thought to be better than Jacob deGrom, is not panning out the way he was projected to.A guy by the name of Tyler Pill is tearing it up in Triple-A and yet the Mets continue to force us to watch ne'er-do-well Rafael Montero start games and give us little to no chance of winning....sad, just sad.
The Mets may be privately admitting that, but for now, they probably have no choice but to stick with him.
Montero made his second major league start of the season on Thursday night and the 14th of his career. Most of the 26-year-old right-hander's starts have gone about the same: Gives up walks, big hits and suddenly the Mets find themselves in a big hole. While the damage was minimal in the Mets' 4-3 loss to the San Diego Padres on Thursday, his command was also minimal and it seems to be that way nearly every time he takes the mound in a major league game.
Yesterday, Major League Baseball released the ballot for the 2017 All-Star Game, which will be played at Marlins Park on July 11. A fan vote will determine the eight starters on each side and the designated hitter for the American League. The ballot features eight Mets and includes breakout players, long-shots, no-shots, and one notable omission.Notable Omission: Michael Conforto
.333/.308/.700, 0.8 bWAR, 1.3 fWARIn a season that’s seen injury after injury, Michael Conforto not being on the All-Star ballot only feels like a gut punch. Thus far, Conforto has been the Mets’ most dangerous hitter, driving the ball to all fields with a swing as sweet as cotton candy.
Mets converted third baseman Jose Reyes is absolutely lost at the plate so far thisI know that it's only been 9 games and there have been a few times where he's been a little unlucky, but I've never seen Jose Reyes look more awful than he has at the start of this season. Of course, the easy answer is to give Wilmer Flores more at-bats and play him at 3rd, but Reyes is better defensively and obviously gives you more speed on the bases too. Then too, I hate seeing Reyes bat 7th in the lineup--the guy's a certified leadoff hitter.
season, and Terry Collins seems like he’s ready to pull out his hair over the slumping veteran. The Mets are only nine games into the season, and small sample sizes can render early season trends meaningless by September, but Reyes is really stinking up the place.
In 38 plate appearances, Reyes has had two hits, one walk, and 11 strikeouts. Collins initially had Reyes batting leadoff, but he was dropped to the seven-spot Tuesday and Wednesday, and looks headed to the bench for at least the next two games against their division rivals in Miami.
One of those hits was off Clay Buchholz during a game in which the Phillies’ pitcher gave up eight hits to the 16 batters he faced in two-and-a-third innings before leaving the game with a forearm injury. A hit is a hit, but that one doesn’t inspire much confidence.
Reyes is putting a ball into play in only 7.7 percent of opportunities, the lowest in the league among qualified players who’ve had a hit (Russell Martin and Austin Hedges, we see you). He’s not even making productive outs, if you believe in that type of thing. He’s bad. You get the point.
Zack Wheeler had a forgettable return to the mound Friday, surrendering five earned runs over four innings on a brutally cold and windy night at Citi Field that had no semblance to the tropical paradise in which he had won his job this spring.
Wheeler’s fastball had early juice, but commanding his offspeed pitches was a challenge, and pretty soon the Marlins were jumping on his heat.The worst thing a starting pitcher can do is not give his team a chance to win and give Zack Wheeler credit for owning up to that last night. And granted it's only one start that you hope he can learn from, but with Matz and Lugo down, it's extra emphasis on hoping for the best from Wheeler.
It’s a performance Wheeler should discard, right after he appreciates the fact he was back pitching for the Mets following two frustrating years of rehab from Tommy John surgery.
Not every comeback will be a success story from the start. Matt Harvey, returning from surgery for thoracic outlet syndrome, was terrific in his 2017 debut a night earlier, but Wheeler is clearly at a different place.
“I wanted to come out here and dominate today,” Wheeler said after the Mets’ 7-2 loss. “Just put my foot that I’m back and I belong here. But something as small as controlling your offspeed [pitches], that is easy to fix. I’m not that down. It stinks that I lost, but it’s a long season and I will be better. ”
