Werried

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

The team that couldn't lose serieses just got embarrassed at home against a struggling team and has now 3 times failed to surpass the 11-games-over-.500 barrier. that to me is symbolic to reassure they won;t fade away like last year's team



--Escobar hitting .200

--Little production from our catchers and McCann is out for weeks

--Dom Smith is awful and probably needs 2 weeks in AAA

--bullpen depth weakened by injuries to May & Reid-Foley

--Drew Smith has had 2 failures in a row

--no off days till a week from Thursday including a West Coast trip

--Megill's ERA was wrecked by one outing but if we're honest with ourselves it's probably going to be closer to the 4.41 it is now than that 2.whatever it was last week. Plus he's hurt.

--Williams is going tonight vs. Mikolas in a big mismatch

--Is anyone comfortable with Walker? He opposes Matz on Tuesday Night Mets, who knows what'll happen but my pessimistic mood reminds me that it has potential to be embarrassing and demoralizing

[Fman99]

I'm only worried about some of these things. Proven hitters like Escobar will get on track. Bullpen arms will have ups and downs. We nearly had another strong late comeback yesterday and Mazieka I think will earn himself more time back behind the dish as Nido continues to scuffle.



These west coast road games will be an indicator of how well this team can handle a tough stretch with some guys playing below expectations.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

Seemed like the media was gearing up for a bunch of Kelenic revenge stories and had to pivot when he was sent down. Sewald revenge stories aren't as interesting -- though he did have the nice year here.



If Marte or Pete shows even a little bit of patience at the plate yesterday we win that game and all is good.



But I am worried about rotation depth if Tylor is out for a bit.

[smg58]

The injuries to the pitching staff concern me. Marte's vulnerability to offspeed pitches concerns me. Smith just looking lost concerns me. But I'm taking a glass-half-full attitude towards the offense in general, especially since we've been doing well in spite of it. I figure the hitting will go up and the pitching will go down, but hopefully they cancel each other out and we still have a team that is solidly in first.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

What I'm driving at is considering trading Smith for pitching.



There's a couple of trying-to-contend teams, like Minnesota or Boston, that could use more production from first base and if they could be convinced Smith's issue is not getting enough reps, you'd think they'd be interested.



No idea offhand whether they have pitching prospects or depth to burn

[kcmets]

I'm worried that the large division lead is slipping away and that this four-

game series with the redbirds de saint lou ain't gonna go so well.



I welcome this worry because it takes my mind off pandemics, World War lll

and The Great Depression ll.



#lgm #ygb #ymdyf

[roger_that]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: What I'm driving at is considering trading Smith for pitching. There's a couple of trying-to-contend teams, like Minnesota or Boston, that could use more production from first base and if they could be convinced Smith's issue is not getting enough reps, you'd think they'd be interested. No idea offhand whether they have pitching prospects or depth to burn

Maybe going at it ass-backwards? Instead of looking at teams that need a 1B man/DH, look for prospects that you want badly, and then see if that org. needs Dom Smith? Your way, you're talking yourself into making the move because you want to make the move.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Why don't you get on that list? I'm just spitballing on the most obvious moveable asset we've got and didn't think I'd need to specify I wasn't advocating moving him just to move em

[Chad ochoseis]

This is still the best team since 2015. I have more cahnfidence in this quick start than those from past seasons. We've beaten some good teams and Showalter is proving he's a great manager. There haven't been many mental mistakes this year, the weak ABs from Marte and Alonso yesterday notwithstanding.



Sucks to lose McCann. Weak as he's been hitting, he's the one player for whom we don't have a good everyday sub. I'm not all that comfortable with either Mazeika or Nido in the regular lineup.



I think we'd be selling low on Smith. I'd rather see how our depth starters work out.



I'm not worrying, yet. I wasn't much of a believer early on, as I figured we were getting Meh Max Scherzer in the same way we got Meh Tom Glavine, and I didn't see the FA pickups as difference makers. But Scherzer is still Scherzer and Canha has been solid. If this is the team at its worst, I'll take it.

[ashie62]

I am not concerned with Escobar. He has a good resume. With JD healthy there is that. I don't believe this team will earn a "professional hitters' tweet from Steve. The Mariners are a decent team that had a good weekend, it happens. I do have a sense of gloom about Walker and Megill. Both sucked at the same time, like last season but far earlier. They will need one of the two, or both to keep the wheels on. I Don't know what to say about Dom that hasn't already been said. Everybody has price, but can Dom earn a reasonable trade offer? He may be more valuable here in his utility role. LGM!

[TransMonk]

The start has been nice and they are a fun team to root for, but I'll have trouble going all in unless we get optimal news about Jake soon.



They've padded a nice lead which could help them get some down times. If the updates on Jake are another punt on a return plan before the ASB, I think the team is bound to fall back to average. They'll need him to return to keep up a playoff run.



C and 3B have been black holes offensively this season and I don't trust the SP past Max and Bassitt to be consistently good.

[roger_that]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Why don't you get on that list? I'm just spitballing on the most obvious moveable asset we've got and didn't think I'd need to specify I wasn't advocating moving him just to move em

I'm not that knowledgeable about other teams' pitching prospects. On principle, though, I'm very leery about trading good position players to get pitching. I'd rather give a start or three to our best AAA pitchers and see if we can't catch lightning in a bottle than lose a hitter as good as Dom can be. To swap a hitter for a pitcher, I'd have to feel very sure I was getting a good one. The other way around, I'd be willing to gamble.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'd agree with that generally too. I just don't wanna see the Mets cough up a good start again and our club looks pretty wobbly all of a sudden

[kcmets]

I'm wobbly worried. This is a big four-game series to me.



Sweep the double dip tomorrow and we'll revisit the worries.



#lgm #ygb #ymdyf

[Edgy MD]

Pete checks his swing just a few inches earlier, and the Mets tie and have a better-than-even chance of winning yesterday, and we might be having a different conversation.



The team seemed dead in the water for a big chunk of yesterday's game. I'm not sure why. But all I can ask of a manager is that, if they can't win it for me, to keep it close enough for the tying run to get to the plate in the ninth.



The tying run made it to third, and it took our cleanup hitter swinging at two sliders out of the strike zone to beat us. Since that behavior had a-typical of him over the last six weeks, I'm going to look past it for now and try to take comfort in the notion that Buck has involved everybody, and so all sorts of guys can step up on a given night. But Pete always makes me worry, even when he's leading the league in RBI. Big men with big sticks and big talking tend to fall big.



Also notable that, after very rarely ever using the same reliever on consecutive days, when Buck started experimenting with it in this series, it blew up in his face. I'm curious to see if he backs off of that.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I think the overuse-the-relievers biz related to the staring pitching werries, Buck also stayed with Bassitt and Carrasco longer than ultimately ideal, probably.



I wonder if we'll see Szapucki soon, I peeked for a moment at Syracuse starters and he seems to be the only one whose numbers wouldn't scare you to death

[Gwreck]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I wonder if we'll see Szapucki soon

In addition to or instead of Peterson?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Maybe both, I dunno

[Edgy MD]

As for the Smith-expendability, it strikes me that these Cards may be in the shortstop market and taking a look at Guillorme.

[nymr83]

Edgy MD wrote: As for the Smith-expendability, it strikes me that these Cards may be in the shortstop market and taking a look at Guillorme.

Great, send Mikolas over! we'll throw in a slightly used Nick Plummer

[Edgy MD]

I'm not pitching a deal, but if one were to go down, I think the return would be more Matz-like.

[kcmets]

Less worried

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I'm werried till they get to 12 over and I know what happened to scherz

[Edgy MD]

I'm werried that they seem reluctant to deploy their Joely missile in May as frequently as they did in April.



Yankees getting the batter of that challenge trade so far.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Maybe the Brewers. Because the Mets no longer hold a first round playoffs bye.

[Lefty Specialist]

So they're cruising. 33-17.



But Peterson had a 9 run lead and couldn't get out of the 5th inning. Trevor Williams is a long reliever getting stretched out. Szapucki certainly didn't seem ready for prime time.



No timetable for Scherzer, and deGrom...who knows. Even Megill seems to be at least a few weeks away. Just don't know how they're going to get through a Dodgers/Padres/Angels 10-game road trip with a scotch-taped-together rotation.

[Edgy MD]

Trevor has over 100 starts at the big league level. Peterson, even after yesterday's start, has a 3.03 ERA on the season.



Restraint is a virtue here. If you have the luxury of having faith in your process and giving problems a chance to solve themselves from out of that process, you'd be surprised how often that gets the job done. It certainly works as often as making reactive acquisitions does.



With a pad between yourselves and the other teams, it gives you a chance to do both — let the problem solve itself (either by the internal options stepping up or injured options returning to form), and if it doesn't, then make an acquisition.



Restraint, baby. Them's my principles. In my scenario, deGrom, Scherzer, Megill, and Lucchesi all return on the same day, and the Mets, with a double-digit lead on their division, wonder, "Holy shit, what are we going to do with all this pitching?"



Joe Girardi will just resign in hopelessness that same day.

[Edgy MD]

Five-shutout innings on 80 pitches for the in-house solution this evening. And he surely could have gone more if it had been deemed necessary.

[Gwreck]

Big test for Trevor on Sunday at LA. I think he's up to it.

[Chad ochoseis]

I'm concerned about the direction this team is moving in. We won 10-0 last night, but only managed half as many runs today.