The Undisturbed Met Ecosystem

[G-Fafif]

You know how we get at least a little excited every time we're introduced to a brand spankin' new Met? That little excitement's been dormant of late. The last totally new Met to be introduced into the ecosystem was Taylor Teagarden, on June 10. When we went through July with no subsequent MLB debut, it marked the fifth month in this century (June 2001, June 2007, June-July 2011, July 2014) without a wholly new Met.

If stability can reign a little longer, we may be on the verge of recent history.

MOST GAMES WITHOUT A NEW MET, 1993-PRESENT
63: Dale Thayer (5/28/2001) to Mike Baxter (8/8/2011)
62: Darren Bragg (5/16/2001) to Gary Bennett (7/24/2001)
52 and counting: Taylor Teagarden (6/10/2014) to ...

Haven't gone back before 1993 yet. Once you get to 1993, what's the point of going on?

[Frayed Knot]

Two questions pop to mind with this 'discovery'.

1) Will they break the record? -- It certainly looks likely right now. I don't see many call-ups until September (22 days away) and the first one back may be Dice-K anyway.

2) Who will be the mystery man to break the drought? -- Relievers are always a good guess. Zach Thorton from the Ike trade is pitching merely OK in Vegas, but somebody has to share the load and keep Torres from hitting 300 innings this year. Or maybe the just promoted Jack Leathersich for the honorary '3rd Lefty' role in September

[Ceetar]

my money's on Syndergaaaaaaaaaard.

[Frayed Knot]

Another common call-up type is the guy who can play all over including middle infield, which leads to the interesting candidate of: T. J. Rivera

The 25 y/o out of the Bronx via Troy University in Alabama (you know, that tried and true pipeline) is currently in AA where he's played 2B/SS/3B/1B/DH and is hitting .344/.379/.435 with a minor league career total of .314/.364/.409 across 1,500+ ABs
And while that's not a lot of walks or a ton of pop, he has hit for average at every stop and he's made every stop: Kingsport - Brooklyn - Savannah - St Lucie - Binghamton, since being signed by the Mets in 2011 after going undrafted. He would be the first eligible but undrafted player to make the Mets since 2004

[bmfc1]

Great point G-Fafif. The Mets have been using AAA as 26th, 27th and 28th members of the roster for awhile.

How about Matt Reynolds? Let's see him backup Flores and Murphy for the rest of the season.

[Edgy MD]

Anthony Seratelli.

My second guess is "Not Cory Vaughn."

My hope: Allan F. Dykstra.

[ashie62]

Danny Muno....

[G-Fafif]

53 and counting...

Less concerned, in this context, over who than when. If the NuMet drought extends through the Oakland series on August 20, it will reach 64 games, setting the modern (a.k.a as far back as I've bothered to look) standard for franchise stability.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

bmfc1 wrote: How about Matt Reynolds? Let's see him backup Flores and Murphy for the rest of the season.

Beat me to it, funnyman. Older than Flores, but still plenty prospect-y and offensively interesting. And since we're hipdeep in the "Can This Guy Who 'Can't Play Short in the Majors' Play Short in the Majors Sweepstakes," why not invite another contestant?

(Local boy/old boy Seratelli getting a taste of the majors would tickle me right in my ribcage's human-interest section, though.)

[G-Fafif]

Not having suddenly acquired Troy Tulowitzki or any heretofore non-Met this morning, today's 54th consecutive game with same old/same new Mets figures to push the current streak beyond the 53 that spanned Don Aase's debut on Opening Day 1989 to many-numbered Jeff McKnight's initial bow that June 6, definitively making this skein the third-longest of the last 25 years.

The Big Kahuna of this thing, if you go back slightly more than a quarter-century, is 82 games, from Mackey Sasser (4/10/1988) to present Phillie pitching coach/erstwhile Met lefty specialist Bob McClure (7/14/1988). That'll be a tough nut to surpass given September 1 isn't all that far off and one assumes (no matter what Felix Unger advises) that some fresh face will emerge under a blue and orange cap by then.

[G-Fafif]

Or the whole thing could end because of deGrom missing his next start.

[G-Fafif]

The unofficial record appears to be 91 games without a new Met, between Al Weis making his NYM debut on April 15, 1968 (the 24-inning 1-0 loss in the Astrodome) to the opener of the July 21, 1968, doubleheader started by Jim McAndrew, a 2-0 loss to Bob Gibson.

[Edgy MD]

No wonder everybody on FB hates this squad, what with familiarity and contempt and all.

[G-Fafif]

Now up to 64 games since the Teagarden party, the longest stretch without a New Met in more than 25 years, since Sasser-McClure in 1988.

[G-Fafif]

MEET NO METS
Longest Stretches Without a New Met

Al Weis: April 15, 1968
Jim McAndrew: July 21, 1968 (1)
91 Games

Mackey Sasser: April 10, 1988
Bob McClure: July 14, 1988
82 games

Keith Hernandez: June 17, 1983
Ron Darling: September 6, 1983
79 Games

Rick Anderson: June 9, 1986
Kevin Elster: September 2, 1986
79 Games

Charlie Williams: April 23, 1971
Jon Matlack: July 11, 1971 (2)
74 Games

Bob Apodaca: September 18, 1973
Jack Aker: June 16, 1974
70 Games

Bobby Pfeil: June 26, 1969
Jim Gosger: September 7, 1969
69 Games

Taylor Teagarden: June 10, 2014
64+ games

Dale Thayer: May 28, 2011
Mike Baxter: August 8, 2011
63 games

Darren Bragg: May 16, 2001
Gary Bennett: July 24, 2001
62 games

[Frayed Knot]

Bob Apodaca: September 18, 1973 Jack Aker: June 16, 1974 70 Games

To have a season start (much less get to nearly the mid-point) where no player is new to the team is just stunning. Since we've been keeping the 'Met Count' thread to track our way to the 1,000th player it seems like four or five in the first week is more like the norm these days even if it's just a couple of middle relievers!
The hot stove much have been mighty cold that winter.

[Edgy MD]

Transactions from the 1973-1974 offseason.

October 24, 1973: Willie Mays announced his retirement.
No new Mets that way.

December 20, 1973 New York Mets traded Jim McAndrew to the San Diego Padres for Steve Simpson.
I would call that subtraction by subtraction.

March 26, 1974: New York Mets sold Buzz Capra to the Atlanta Braves.
No new players, but HEY! New money! The Braves would convert Capra from reliever to starter and get a great first season out of him, with a ninth-place CYA finish, which is more CY support than any Met got in 1974.

March 27, 1974 New York Mets released Jim Beauchamp.
Just when he thought he was going to get #24 back from Mays!

April 6, 1974: New York Mets released Rich Chiles.
The third outfielder shed in one offseason, so you'd think the beneficiary would be some new guy, but nope, it was Schneck, Theodore, and Kranepool. Same old, same old.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Extremely smug of the Mets to think they'd had it all together after that magical '73 run with one of the worst offenses in the league.

[Frayed Knot]

They had a ton of injuries in '73, some of whom were just getting back in time for the stretch run, so I guess by the time September rolled around they figured they had an overload.
But 71-91 suggests otherwise.

[Edgy MD]

Maybe they were expecting (hoping for) Ayala and Boisclair to come on like a ton of bricks. But neither debuted until late in the season.

[G-Fafif]

1974 and 1989 were similar in that apparently everything was viewed as fine, nothing to tinker with here as the season following a title of some sort approached. No new Mets in '74 until June and only one -- Aalphabetical Aase -- in '89, also until June. the Mets had made a big trade during the preceding offseason, sending Wally Backman away for three minor league Twins (giving Gregg Jefferies space to find himself), but none of those Minnesota farmhands ever saw Flushing. By the end of 1989, the dam burst and plenty of New Mets (Viola, Samuel, Musselman among them) had been introduced.

1974 did bring early looks at Swan and Apodaca, who were cameoists in September '73. Also, Bob Miller had returned at the tail end of the pennant race and was, shall we say, "like new" in '74, leading the pitching staff in appearances a dozen years after he contributed mightily (1-12) to legendary futility.

[Edgy MD]

I didn't like installing Jefferies at second. I imagined a four-man/three-position platoon. Essentially a Backman/Elster platoon, with Johnson and Jeffries shuffling to accommodate.

Position	vs. LH	vs. RH
2b	Jefferies	Backman
3b	Johnson	Jefferies
ss	Elster	Johnson

While Jefferies earned his playing time with his 1988 late-season run, he didn't really earn Wally Backman's job, and I think outright giving him the position of a popular guy who just hit .303 really set him up to fail.

[G-Fafif]

Tonight the streak reached 70.

Tomorrow the streak likely ends. Murphy to DL, Herrera called up.

[Edgy MD]

Wow, fuck AAA, here comes Dilson.

I guess Josh Satin can stop wondering if what the organization thinks of him.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

HUHWHATHUHDILSON?

[Edgy MD]

Adam Rubin wrote: Herrera will become the first position player in Mets history to start a season in Class A and make his major league debut the same season. He also will become the first Colombia-born player to appear for the Mets, and the 14th overall for any ballclub in major league history.

This can't be true, can it? Didn't Ron Hodges, for instance, initially come straight from A-ball? How about Timo Perez?

[G-Fafif]

Streak officially at an end, the gap being 71 games from Taylor Teagarden to Dilson Herrera, sixth-longest in Mets history. All about it here.