Centerfield

Was that going to be Monell's big league debut? Man I hope that kid doesn't get Moonlight Grahamed.

It's all just speculation, but I feel like Wally's personality would not be the type that Alderson would mesh with. The stuff I heard about the front office having a say in the lineups, I imagine Backman would not take well to it. But who knows. I guess it's a possibility. It would certainly be fun wouldn't it? It might be the first time we see a manager charge the mound and have to be restrained by his players. Then Keith and Ronnie would run down from the booth and pile on.

A week? Poor batmags' mother hasn't gotten the call all season.

In keeping with the spirit of this thread (and a few others) I've never really thought Matt Harvey was all that either. I mean the guy gave up a HR to Chase Utley, and Utley is hitting .100. Totally overrated.

You really think Backman is a threat to Collins? I don't know much about his managing style, but I just get the hunch that Wally is not an Alderson-type of manager. Two more hits for Matt Reynolds. It's getting harder and harder to ignore what he has done this spring and early season. I'm rooting like hell for Wilmer. I think it's bullshit that he's getting booed. But he is going to have to pick his game up pretty fast. I think he will do it though. And by mid-season I think Alderson is going to sit there and think to himself "What do I do with all of these productive shortstops?"

Hi I'm Dilson Herrera. I dislike being compared to Bartolo Colon.

Was it Frayed Knot that started the Murphy thread last week? Lol. Granderson: Hey CF, FUCK YOU.

What I'm basically saying here is that the only reason Granderson isn't getting skewered by the fans and media is because he's white.

The disconnect between you and me is that you are focused on what to do about the issue (productive thought). I am all about grumbling and pointing fingers. I am not advocating for Granderson's release. I haven't thought things through enough to see if this is a good move. I'm advocating for increased complaining about Granderson.

Edgy MD wrote: Edgy MD wrote: He's looked very different to me. Significantly less slugging, and significantly more on-basing. Yeah, but his value, or efficiency, is about the same. The numbers posted by me and others say not really. Really? His OPS this year, walks and all, is worse than it was last year.

Edgy MD wrote: I imagine the average team filled with average guys goes to about 81-81. I don't think that sucks. Of the 17 RF'ers who qualified last year, Granderson was 13 out of 17 in OPS with .714. That is below average. The median was Brandon Moss of Oakland, at .772. Edgy MD wrote: Nor do you rip the guys who get you there. You look to replace the sub-average guys, which right now, are at catcher, second, third, and short. Hopefully, some or all of that can be solved internally. The Mets have three productive hitters. Wright, d'Arnaud and Duda. Everyone else has an OPS in the .600's. Within the lineup, some of the guys' recent history suggests they will improve (Murphy, for the last three years, has been at .735), some are young and you hope to improve, but Granderson is old, expensive and not likely to improve greatly on his current performance (realistically, he will end up in the low .700's). This is not enough for a corner OF'er making the type of money he makes. There are many reasons the Mets are in first place, but Granderson is not anywhere near one of those reasons. Edgy MD wrote: Average guys have held the fort for great teams forever, so the excellent players can put them over the top. No use having Jack Clark if you've got Johnnie Lemaster and Rennie Stennett in the infield. Replace them with average guys instead of pokes who undermine Clark's every effort, and the 1980 Giants are a very good team. Sure. But very seldom are they the second highest paid player on that team. And if they are, they are a disappointment. Imagine at the Granderson press conference, Sandy were to say "We are hoping he can be a middling player, so that we can surround him with excellent, young, cheap talent." The Mets' biggest problem on the field is hitting. The Mets' biggest problem off the field is lack of finances. When you put those together, Curtis Granderson, with his big contract and lack of production, is the Mets' biggest problem. Edgy MD wrote: The Mets would be fools to release Granderson, no matter what resources they had. Any team would be. Releasing him is a different story. I don't have any solutions yet. I am still trying to get everyone to recognize the problem.

Ceetar wrote: I don't really care how much he's making, nor do I care what position he plays. I care about the aggregate of the entire team. Then you are not smart. And it is difficult to have an intelligent conversation with people who are not smart. Ceetar wrote: And I know those billion walks become runs if the other guys, like Cuddyer and Flores and Murphy and Plawecki and Herrera and Pitcher start doing their job at the plate. Really? The pitcher? I refer to my earlier statement. A lot is being made of the walks throughout this thread. Even if you take into account the walks, it does not bring his overall value to anything close to what you would want from a corner outfielder, much less a corner outfielder taking a big chunk of the team's payroll.

Granderson has an OPS of .711 since joining the Mets. He is a corner outfielder making 15 million per year. This is ok with you guys? We shouldn't be comparing him to league averages. We should be comparing him to middle of the lineup threats.

It's a wonder that he doesn't get more grief from the fans and media. Maybe everyone gives him a pass because he is likeable. But he's terrible. If Jason Bay is the standard for terrible contracts, Granderson is not far off. I was hoping that last year was an aberration, and that this year would be a "bounce-back" year. But then I looked at his stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/grandcu01.shtml There is a good sample size of suck there. You can't win with light-hitting SS production out of a corner OFer (who's arm also sucks). You can talk about Wilmer Flores if you want, but if you are looking to improve the 2015 Mets, you should be starting with RF.

I see. It's too bad about Puello. I once had really high hopes for him.

Is my memory messed up or was there a time where we did not like Nelson Figueroa? Maybe I'm confusing him with Heath Bell.

What happened to Puello?

Syndegaard was named the PCL player of the week. Hopefully he is going to show the Mets he is ready. I'm wondering if he can hit at all.

I wonder if we are nearing the end of the Wilmer Flores, SS experiment.

Frayed Knot wrote: The biggest problem is that first trip through the lineup. Even on the nights where it's not 9-up/9-down it's often pretty close to it. A lot of the fattening up on the starters comes during innings 4-7 which makes the vs-starters numbers look a lot better. Looked at another way, NL stats for runs scored for innings 1-3 are just a shade lower as compared to innings 4-6 [421 vs 445] while Los Mets are scoring at exactly half the rate. I assume that part or even most of that is flukey, but it would be nice to see them put up some crooked numbers early on one of these nights (one of these crazy old nights) or at least just not go down so meekly to middle/back of the rotation starters on a regular basis. What he said. I feel like we look like we are going to get no-hit every game for the first 3 innings.

Frayed Knot wrote: Biggest sin of last night was Carlyle giving up halfway to home whilst Recker was hustling his ass off to retrieve Carlyle's WP. If Buddy doesn't practically stop on his way to home only to gear up again too late then he's at the plate waiting for the on time and accurate throw and we probably get the out on Ozuna. Absolutely. The errors, the baserunning mistakes, lack of hustle. Wins and losses aside, this team is doing some dumb shit out there. I know this sounds alarmist for a first place team, but they need to address and get this out of their system. Train wreck!

Understood. I was addressing LWFS. He is my real enemy in this thread. I hate him.

Edgy MD wrote: Centerfield wrote: This is the first game I can remember in a while where I feel like the manager gave it away. I understand sitting Cuddyer because he has looked lost. But you cannot play Recker and Tejada in the same night. Especially on a night where we are starting Montero. You don't pitch to Stanton there. Make someone else beat you. Tejada should have sat down after Flores pinch hit. And you absolutely fucking do NOT bunt Tejada there after the Murphy double. Of the Marlins 4 runs, one was driven in by Stanton with 2 bases open. Another came in on a wild pitch. The last one came after Torres walked two hitters. It's enough to make you rip your hair out. I agree with a lot of this. And you left out batting Tejada sixth. But there are also execution problems to nail them for. Murphy should have scored on the dropped fly, and Terry should have pulled him when he did not. Tejada should have gotten that bunt to the right side. I forgot about the Murph play. Edgy is right. Terry should not accept that. No one remembers the Castillo drop if the MFY's are not running hard. This was an embarrassing game.

The "had he executed" line of reasoning is not a valid defense to a bad decision. I can pinch hit Bartolo Colon in a sacrifice fly situation and justify its failure with "Had he executed like we know he's capable of...". It still does not make it a good decision. A decision is based upon whether or not you maximized your team's chances of success. And for the choices I cited, Terry Collins did not. 1. The Lineup: 6-9 in that lineup are lifeless. Like I said, it is one thing to rest a regular or two. Resting three in one day while starting a spot starter is putting yourself at a big disadvantage before the game even starts. And like Edgy said, batting Tejada 6th? This is a joke. 2. Pitching to Stanton: Yes, had Montero made a better pitch, it is possible that Stanton would have rolled it over. But regardless of whether Montero made a good pitch or bad pitch the guy behind Stanton is far more likely to roll it over than Stanton. And if Ozuna rolls it over with Stanton on it's a double play. The guys in the booth expected the walk. Recker expected the walk. I think everyone in the ballpark was expecting the walk. Everyone except Collins. Keep in mind, we gave an IBB to Adeiny Echevarria in a tie game and a base open, but we pitched to Mike Stanton. 3. Tejada staying in over Flores: When you pinch hit Flores, you now have two shortstops in the game. Which one do you keep and which one do you sit? If you are up you can keep Tejada. If you are tied or if you are behind, you need more runs. You keep Flores in the game. Had he done so, it would have been a pinch hitter batting after the Murphy double and not Tejada. 4. Tejada Bunt: I can understand the temptation to bunt here since Tejada is not a very good hitter. (This is why you take him out of the game earlier). But he is also not a very good bunter. We have seen this over the years. Everyone assumes he can bunt because he is little, and a middle infielder and Latino. But he sucks at bunting. And Murph is not a good baserunner. Even if you think the bunt is the right call here, with the personnel you have up there, the chances of it being successful are small. This was an awful call. Sure, there were tons of execution problems too. Torres looked like crap. Granderson had the error that started it all. And the Carlyle wild pitch. But the mistakes made by the manager are ones that are absolutely avoidable.

This is the first game I can remember in a while where I feel like the manager gave it away. I understand sitting Cuddyer because he has looked lost. But you cannot play Recker and Tejada in the same night. Especially on a night where we are starting Montero. You don't pitch to Stanton there. Make someone else beat you. Tejada should have sat down after Flores pinch hit. And you absolutely fucking do NOT bunt Tejada there after the Murphy double. Of the Marlins 4 runs, one was driven in by Stanton with 2 bases open. Another came in on a wild pitch. The last one came after Torres walked two hitters. It's enough to make you rip your hair out.