Spring Training Stats

[Centerfield]

Sure. Like spring training records, spring training stats don't mean a heck of a lot. But still, worth taking a look. Your 2018 Spring Training Mets:

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Player+hitting&game_type='S'&season=2018&season_type=ANY&league_code='NL'&sectionType=sp&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1520862576573&team_id=121&playerType=ALL

A few things:

*Nimmo. Had really high hopes for him coming into this season and the kid hasn't disappointed. Always had the good OBP in the minors, but now the power is starting to emerge. In 2017, he had 3 HR's over 200 PA in Las Vegas. He has 2 HR's, 2 triples, 2 doubles over 36 PA this spring.

*Plawecki also continues to rake. Has been killing it since he went town to LV last year and hasn't stopped. Would love to see him continue this and take over the starting catcher job.

*Cheech. Would love to see him keep this up. Nimmo and Cecchini have been considered Alderson busts, but maybe they just needed time to break out. Cabrera and Reyes haven't done a lot, so maybe Gavin will force the issue a bit.

*Lagares 2.0. Of the four young guys I was high on coming into spring, only Lagares has fallen short so far. I don't know. Maybe he gets hot before the season, but so far all his new swing has done is increase his K rate.

*Adrian Gonzalez looks like crap. Old. Slow. Get 90 minutes of treatment every morning just to perform at this level. Maybe after Conforto gets back, Nimmo stays a regular and Conforto shifts to 1B.

*Nice to see Yo crushing the ball.

[Edgy MD]

Good summary.

I think it's more likely that Bruce floats to first base (experience, age), but yeah.

[Centerfield]

Edgy MD wrote: Good summary. I think it's more likely that Bruce floats to first base (experience, age), but yeah.

Crap. That is totally what I meant. What a stupid I am.

[Edgy MD]

It's kind of remarkable that Callaway hasn't made any cuts yet. I imagine that most every team has.

Reading a little bit between the lines, I guess I'm reading that a lot of these players are new to himself and his coaches, so they want as much time to evaluate as possible, even for some of the guys who likely won't be appearing until perhaps later in the season.

Notable that they have a new staff at AAA too.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Mickey was asked about cuts yesterday and replied something to effect of having seen so little good fundies it was hard to assess.

[Centerfield]

So, some team stats:

http://mlb.mlb.com/stats/sortable.jsp#elem=%5Bobject+Object%5D&tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Team+hitting&game_type='S'&season=2018&season_type=ANY&league_code='MLB'&sectionType=st&statType=hitting&page=1&ts=1521208714924&team_id=121&playerType=ALL&sortColumn=ops&sortOrder='desc'&extended=0

The Mets are 23rd out of 30 teams in runs scored. 27th in OPS. Remember last year when all we did was hit HR's? Well we kinda stopped doing that too. 20th in HR's.

But wait. Don't panic. Why? The worst offensive team in all of baseball? Your Washington Nationals. Last in OPS, last in HR's, second to last in runs scored. Basically, unless they're facing Wheeler, they stink!

Pitching stats:

21st in team ERA. 24th in WHIP. We are middle of the pack (15th) in strikeouts though.

The bad news? Washington's pretty good at pitching. #2 in ERA, #1 in WHIP. #1 in BAA.

So a couple of takeaways.

Glass Half Full: We've played 12 of our 22 games against Washington, Houston and the Yankees. These pitching staffs are 1,2 and 5 in MLB. So maybe our offense is skewed by having faced the best pitching. Throw in Miami (#7) and that's 17 out of 21 against teams in the top 7. So the offensive numbers are definitely skewed and should not be trusted.

Glass Half Empty: The pitching staffs of Washington, Houston, Miami and the MFY's have benefited from basing our punchless offense. Those pitching staffs are probably not as good as their numbers suggest.

At 5-15, the Mets have the worst record in all of baseball. The Miami Marlins are 12-6 and have the second best record in MLB. You figure both of these trends will start to correct as the spring wears on.

[A Boy Named Seo]

The regulars are catching up now, but Evans, Kaczmarski, Borenstein, etc. got quite a few ABs, so I put a little less stock in the team stats. I worry more about the slow starts of Gonzalez, Reyes (cause we know his slow start lasted like 3 months last year), and Cabrera. We already know Frasier's gonna hit .219 anyway, he's just missing the pop.

[Guest 41Forever]

Geography is not kind to the spring training Mets. As more teams head to Arizona, St. Lucie has a smaller cluster of nearby teams -- Mets, Cards, Marlins and now the Astros and Nationals. Two division rivals, which is a challenge. Otherwise you have to travel a couple hours to Orlando and more to Lakeland and then the West Coast teams.

I miss Dodgertown.

[Edgy MD]

Cabrera seems to be quietly getting it done this spring.