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How Did We Get Here?

Diamond Dad Sep 09 2015 02:07 PM

A colleague of mine commented to me that I must be pleased with the Mets season so far, and I said, "Oh, yes!" Then he said (and he's to be forgiven since he's not a big baseball fan) that the Mets were expected to be good this year, so it's nice that they lived up to expectations. I said "thanks," and then started to think back. How did we get here? Think back to March, during Spring Training. The most optimistic Mets fan (me) would have said (did say) that the Mets had a shot if things broke right for them. In particular: ==The starting rotation would have to hold up and be really, really good -- Harvey, deGrom, Wheeler, Neise, and Colon. In particular we needed Neise to have a good year and Colon to be solid. And if there were any problems, then we'd be able to dip into the minors for Syndergaard, Montero, and Matz for depth. ==The bullpen, led by Jenry Mejia, would have to be really good, with Familia pitching the 7/8 along with Parnell (when he got back), and Vic Black. Josh Edgin would need to step up, and the new guy, Blevins, the lefty specialist, would need to get us some big outs. ==Danial Murphy would need to have another .300/20/90 year with 45 doubles and a ton of key RBIs. ==David Wright would need to have a comeback year and live up to his historic numbers. ==Lucas Duda would need to repeat his 30 homer year and be a big force in the lineup ==Travis d'Arnauld would need to stay healthy and be a big hitter in the lineup ==Wilmer Flores would need to hit 20 homers, hit .275 with 70-80 RBI to justify his shaky defense ==Granderson would need to have a whole year as good as his best two months last year ==Obi-Juan Lagares would need to step up his offense, while maintaining his brilliant defense ==Michael Cuddyer would need to have another batting champion-type season and be an anchor in the lineup And we'd have to survive with a thin bench. Lord help us if we had any major injuries to the starting 8, because there was not much there in reserve defensively. Maybe the kid Dilson Herrera could come up if needed, but otherwise, there's not much for this year. Michael Conforto is at least a year away -- although he looked darn good in Spring training. - - - - - - - So -- The starters have been good, but not great. Harvey has been human -- but good. deGrom has been great but has only 12 wins. Neise has been inconsistent at best. Colon has been up and down and average, but OK, solid. Wheeler missed the whole season. Montero never pitched. Matz came up and then got hurt. Only Syndergaard has really contributed -- and he has been inconsistent at times. The offense could never score for the starters, who either lost or took no-decisions in a ton of games where they allowed only 1-2 runs. Here we are on September 9th and Colon leads the team in wins with 13 -- to go along with 11 losses. Mejia got suspended. Blevins got hurt. Parnell never came back healthy. Edgin imploded. The bullpen was a shambles most of the year except for Familia, who stepped up into the closer role. Murphy has been below average and hurt a little Wright got hurt early and missed most of the season Lagares underperformed both offensively and defensively Duda had streaks, but was not as good as last year and was hurt twice, missing big chunks of time d'Arnauld started hot, then got hurt and missed more than half the season Flores has performed OK offensively, but was predictably inconsistent defensively and ended up on the bench more than expected and was nearly traded. Cuddyer never got hot, then got hurt and has been nursing injuries all year while underperforming. Granderson has been solid -- and batting leadoff. We were right about the bench-- we had no depth. So . . . Except for Familia, deGrom, and Granderson (and maybe Harvey and Flores, and throw in Syndergaard), the whole team has underperformed and been hurt a lot. If we were 10 games back right now, we would have plenty of excuses and we would not be at all surprised, given the above. Our guys just didn't perform up to the levels that we expected/hoped, and we had more than our share of bad breaks and injuries. It's no wonder we weren't close to making the playoffs. And yet . . .

Ceetar Sep 09 2015 02:12 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

I'd say Flores over-preformed expectations, but mostly that the pitching has been as good as expected with some different members. That kept them around through the injuries, combined with a hot start that included Wright for portions, Duda, d'Arnaud, etc. They added pieces into the deadline to help plug the gaping holes, guys trickled back, and they clobbered the Nats head to head. They're on pace for 90+ wins, so I don't want to say it's only because the Nats suck, that's why they're running away with it, but they'd have been competitive regardless.

Centerfield Sep 09 2015 02:20 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

Through July, the starting pitching and bullpen overperformed and the Mets were lucky enough to win enough close games to stay close. The offense sucked, but given what you wrote above, it was to be expected. The only reason we were close was because he Nats were underwhelming. Then they traded for Yoenis Fucking Cespedes and made the National League their bitches. *I realize it wasn't just that. d'Arnaud came back. Duda went insanely hot for a week and a half, and now we have Wright. But mostly it's been Yoenis Fucking Cespedes.

Benjamin Grimm Sep 09 2015 02:23 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

All I know is that I flew to Lima, Peru on July 20, thinking that the Mets were having another middling season. I came back to the United States on August 5, with the Mets in first place and the exuberance was in place and accelerating. To me it felt like landing in Oz, but without the trouble that stems from dropping your house on a witch.

Lefty Specialist Sep 09 2015 02:31 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

We got here because the rest of the NL East is terrible. I mean, REALLY terrible. Even when they couldn't hit their way out of a brown paper bag, they were beating up on the bad teams, while holding their own with the Nats. They were a .500 team that was in contention because the Nats couldn't get out of their own way. On July 30th, they were 52-50 but only 3 games out after dropping a crushing 8-7 loss to the Padres. But even at their worst, they never fell more than 4.5 games behind the Nats this season. Now once they got everybody back and added Cespedes, Johnson, Uribe and Conforto, they took off. 20-8 in August. The Nats stayed stuck in second gear while the Mets blew past them. Pretty simple.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Sep 09 2015 02:43 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

1) Depth in starting pitching. 2) A lineup that wasn't great and didn't always perform but avoided "black holes" -- except those on the bench. 3) Eventually and effectively replacing the bench's black holes. 4) Alertness in the market for relief help, all year long. 5) Yoenis Fucking Cespedes

Edgy MD Sep 09 2015 02:56 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

It has to be repeated, that while the starting rotation has been somewhat less than great (maybe fourth or fifth best in the National League), they certainly were great for the 10 weeks that they had to be, allowing the team to tread water just long enough to get to the magic time when three hitterowskis were acquired, two were healed, and one got promoted. The funny thing is that as little as the Plawecki/Monell/Recker/Campbell/Herrera/Nieuwenhuis/Ceciliani et al crew gave the team as a B-squad forced into too much A-squad duty from late spring to mid-summer, it's kind of cool to have most of them around now as a C-squad. REDEMPTION FOR EVERYBODY!!

Edgy MD Sep 10 2015 10:54 AM Re: How Did We Get Here?

Also, for meaningfully long segments of that 10-week period where good pitching every day was keeping them alive even as the offense tried to sink them, Curtis Granderson was utterly NOT sucking, and was usually the only thing the team had going offensively, apart from the pretty-good-for-a-pitcher offense they were getting out of the nine hole. To me, just as remarkable as the surge was them staying in good enough position that it mattered through those long periods of noodle-battedness.

TransMonk Sep 10 2015 12:00 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

I'll throw in that the 11 game winning streak in April has played a huge role in how the season has evolved. I think it upped expectations for the fans, players, press and management early in the season and allowed them to remain relevant in the divisional discussion even when the offense began to sputter in May and June. Had they gone even 7-4 over that span, they would have been under .500 in late July and maybe certain moves don't get made.

Farmer Ted Sep 10 2015 12:12 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

Terry Collins, managerial savant.

RealityChuck Sep 10 2015 05:48 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

Let's face it. It's Washington. Most experts in the spring thought the Mets were pretty much a .500 team, with a chance of maybe getting a wild card if things broke right. The team was pretty much what people thought it would be on July 30: 52-50. But the Nationals were only three games better. On paper, they should have been running away with the division. Then the Mets got Cespedes, Flores started hitting, and d'Arnaud and Wright came back. Johnson was an big pickup, and Clippard fixed some bullpen problems. But the Nationals underperformed all year, so that when the Mets started putting it together, they couldn't keep up. The sweep in Citi caused them to start panicking and pressing. That series was their Black Cat game, and suddenly the Mets were in their heads.

Edgy MD Sep 10 2015 06:08 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

I'm an expert, and my money was on the Mets.

Fman99 Sep 10 2015 08:18 PM Re: How Did We Get Here?

They have the biggest dicks. So they win the most. It's SCIENCE.