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The New York Mets are in 1st place in the NL East. As of July 11th, they have a 4 game lead on the 2nd-place Braves and a nearly 80%-chance at the postseason per Fangraphs. Could it be possible they’ve actually been unlucky?
Continue reading “Luck and the 2021 New York Mets”
In today’s MLB, it feels like superstar players are being traded every year. Teams are looking to jumpstart a rebuild, and the best way to do that is often by trading their best player. However, how often does a team actually get a return value worthy of the superstar himself? In this study, we looked to identify potential superstars who could be traded in the future and what their ideal return package should look like.
Continue reading “To Trade or Not to Trade?”
All MLB pitchers were starters at one point in their careers.
Growing up through Little League, college, and the Minor Leagues, anyone who is eventually good enough to pitch in the majors was likely the superstar ace of most of their previous teams. However, at the highest of levels, many pitchers have to make concessions to their new reality – the fact that they may be better served – and better serve their teams – coming out of the bullpen as relievers.
Continue reading “Making the Switch: Which Starters Should Come Out of the Bullpen?”
Even before the Pandemic, baseball attendance was declining.
Edwin Díaz was supposed to be the best reliever in baseball.
The Mets have cooled down in the couple of weeks since their historic 15-1 stretch, but have still done enough winning to keep themselves firmly in the playoff picture. While they’re a team that’s been known to have the injury bug over the past few seasons, this season things have been very different. Jacob deGrom, Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman, Zack Wheeler, and Steven Matz are all (for now) healthy, and the intact rotation is the top-5 unit Mets fans always assumed they would have “if they stayed healthy”.
Continue reading “ReinforceMets: Impending Returns to Fuel the Playoff Push”
The Mets have a really amazing pitcher named Jacob. He’s one of the best arms in the league, shutting opponents down with such regularity it’s become boring. He’s an imposing figure on the mound, standing 6 feet, 4 inches tall. And his last name isn’t deGrom.
On August 19, after a brutal 8-1 loss to the San Francisco Giants, the New York Mets, defending champions of the National League, were 60-62. Their playoff odds were 6.7%, per Fangraphs. 6.7%! It wasn’t quite the home stretch to the 2016 season the Mets had visualized when they entered the year looking to defend their pennant and complete the path to redemption in the World Series. When they re-signed Yoenis Cespedes on January 26, they looked poised to do it, with a rotation that was being hailed as potentially one of the greatest of all time, and a mostly-intact offense from last season’s number one NL offensive team in the second half. Baseball wouldn’t have it that way.
The New York Mets are coming off of a very pleasantly surprising season in 2015, making a thrilling run to the World Series after not previously making the playoffs since 2006. They also have plenty of cause for optimism in the future, with a young and still improving pitching rotation that could already be considered the best in baseball. However, some of the moves (and non-moves) they’ve made this offseason have the fanbase scratching their heads and even calling for the owners to sell the team. Why?
Continue reading “Are the Mets Squandering a Billion Dollar Opportunity?”
It’s been quite a week for both the New York Mets and Washington Nationals, though the two teams have seen very different results. The Mets, currently riding a five-game win streak that included a sweep of the Nats, are back in first place in the National League East for the first time since early June, despite the returns for the Nationals of injured starters Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth. Many factors allowed the Mets to sweep the Nats this weekend, including their fireballing young trio of Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard, the overall – and sudden – ineptitude of the Nats’ offense (see figure below, courtesy of ESPN, for an overview), the addition of two-time Home Run Derby champion and 4.2 WAR outfielder Yoenis Cespedes to a suddenly-deep Mets lineup, and the magma-hot bat of Mets first baseman Lucas Duda, who had an incredible run that saw nine home runs hit in an eight-game span, and was awarded co-National League Player of the Week for his efforts.
Continue reading “How Conventional Wisdom Helped the Mets Sweep Matt Williams”
Corner Three 