A Bad April For the Mets

Author: Steven Chase

Editor: Brian Symons

April 2021 saw its ups and downs for the orange and blue. We saw the breakouts of players such as Brandon Nimmo, JD Davis, Marcus Stroman, Miguel Castro, and others. We also saw Jacob deGrom continue to show why he is the best pitcher in baseball. But, we saw players such as Francisco Lindor, Joey Lucchesi, and a few others struggle. The Mets finished April 9-11, amidst a three-game losing streak. To sum up April for the Mets, the best term is inconsistency; let’s get into it.

Firstly, let’s start off the good. Jacob deGrom comes to mind before anyone else. The April Pitcher of the Month posted a 0.51 ERA, 0.82 FIP, 0.57 WHIP, 1.38 SIERA, and a 1.48 xERA for this timespan. With the exception of possibly Corbin Burnes, nobody was particularly close to deGrom this month. This was to be expected by the 2 time Cy Young, and will most likely continue throughout the rest of the season. Additionally, the resurgence of Pete Alonso was seen to start off in 2021. Through May 3rd, Alonso has a 142 wRC+, .382 xWOBA, .578 xSLG, along with a few absolute moon shots. We have not seen this production from Alonso since the 2019 season, and I hope to see it continue throughout the rest of the season. In addition to Alonso, JD Davis and Brandon Nimmo have been electric to start off the season. Nimmo (148 wRC+) and Davis (198 wRC+) have been the Mets only hitters with above a .300 batting average, and have been a key part in all Met wins. To add on, Michael Conforto, who had an OPS under .600 to start the season, has brought his wRC+ back up to 118 to close out April.

Conforto, who bats third in the lineup, will need to keep this up for the Mets to win. On the pitching end, the bullpen has been electric. As of April 27th, the Mets had a 3.16 SIERA (2nd), 74 xFIP- (1st), 66 FIP- (1st), and 29.7 K% (2nd). A few stand-out performers throughout this span have been Aaron Loup (1.64 SIERA), Miguel Castro (1.69 SIERA), Trevor May (2.01 SIERA), and of course Edwin Diaz (3.62 SIERA). Diaz had a couple of rough outings in between some elite outings, which heavily raised his numbers. Evidently, even without Seth Lugo, the Mets bullpen has been elite. The bullpen feeds right into the starting pitching, which is good but not quite as good. Marcus Stroman (1.84 ERA, 3.51 SIERA, and 3.22 xFIP) has been very solid to start off the season. Considering that by summer, the Mets will have both Syndergaard and Carrasco back, Stroman is a great 4th starter. Following Stroman, Peterson has bounced back from a rough start in Philly to end April with a 2.85 xFIP and 3.22 SIERA. Although he has been overshadowed by deGrom and Stroman, Peterson has proved that he deserves the fifth spot in the rotation when fully healthy.

Now for the bad. The Mets have a .240 team BA, which is alright, but the concerns come from the teams .209 BA with RISP. This has been a large concern for the Mets since the start of 2019. Although he hasn’t been particularly bad, Taijuan Walker has had a confusing start to the season. Although he has a respectable 3.00 ERA, he has ranked towards the bottom of the league in hard-hit metrics; A 5.06 xERA and 4.33 xFIP shows that Walker has been somewhat lucky to be where he is to start the season. He should be in long relief once Syndergaard and Carrasco come back, as David Peterson has better metrics to start the year.

On the other hand, Jeff McNeil has been pretty unlucky to start the year. McNeil has a .235 batting average so far, which is unlike him as he came into this year with a .319 lifetime batting average. McNeil is middle of the back in max exit velo (59th percentile), but below average in barrels (21st percentile). He has a .335 xWOBA and a 105 wRC+, but things are trending up for McNeil as he had a 4 hit night in Philadelphia. Although things are looking up for McNeil, this is not the case for Francisco Lindor. The 341 million dollar man has not been comfortable in the box to start off 2021. Amidst an 0 for 21 stretch, Lindor has a .163/.284/.209 slash line along with a 51 wRC+ and .311 xWOBA. Obviously, the power has been non-existent for Lindor, and he has not been getting on base much either. Lindor has a 7.1 UZR/150, so his offense has not impacted his defense. But, the offensive numbers have not been pretty for Lindor. Personally, I am not very worried, as Lindor has gotten out of slumps like this before in Cleveland. But for now, it's ugly. Additionally, James McCann has also been a failed contract so far (3 years for 37 million dollars) as he has posted a 55 OPS+. Although he has portrayed a strong arm, he has done nothing at the plate. Finally, we will examine Joey Lucchesi.

Lucchesi has given up a great deal of hard contact and finds himself with a 4.30 xFIP along with a 10.13 ERA. Obviously, it's hard for a team to win if they have a pitcher giving up over 10 runs per 9 innings, and hopefully, Luccehessi will improve going into May and June.

To conclude, the Mets have had their good and bad moments in 2021. Even though the first 20 games have seen them 2 games below .500 they have one of the best rosters in the MLB, and things will improve once the team is fully healthy and Lindor’s bat comes around.

METS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

The First Week of Baseball

Author: Zachary Patlin

Editor: Brian Symons

Baseball is finally back and well underway in this full 162 game schedule to play out deep into September. Some overlying themes or storylines from the first week of baseball are fun to look at as we continue through the long grind of the season. They include players, teams, and personnel.

The first storyline is Ohtani pitching and hitting at the same time. After coming back fully healthy from Tommy John’s surgery, Ohtani looks to pitch every Sunday, while at the same time hitting approximately 5 days a week, including the day that he pitches. What does he do after throwing 100 MPH in the first inning of his first start? Just hits an absolute laser at 115 MPH out to right. If he can sustain doing both hitting and pitching at a high level, he can be the most fun player to watch in baseball.

The second storyline comes from the same team, and that is the best player in the game Mike Trout. Trout, coming off of arguably his worst year as a pro (which isn’t saying much because he was still top 5 in AL MVP voting) looks to be locked in early in the season. He believes that his swing is back and I cannot wait to see the numbers he is going to put up this season.

Next, we stay in the same state as we move the San Diego Padres, which have two major storylines early in the season. The first of the two is the IL stint of Fernando Tatis JR. Tatis is the face of baseball, and after an awkward-looking swing went to the IL with a shoulder injury (He came back last night and hit a scorcher of a home run against the Dodgers). The second storyline from the Padres is of course the no-hitter thrown by Joe Musgrove. The native San Diego pitcher was stellar last Friday, hitting just one batsman and dominating with 10 punch-outs.

The last storyline is to not get carried away over the two New York teams. Firstly, the Yankees are flat out struggling but are so talented that they will be fine over the long haul. Although their starting pitching and pen look strong, their offense is non-existent thus far. They are primed to bounce back and dominate the rest of the season. Moving on to the Mets, they seem to have been the same old Mets we see every year. DeGrom threw 8 one-run innings and was awarded the loss to the Marlins. Their lack of run support for the best pitcher on the planet is concerning. But, after this deGrom outing, the Mets have turned it around, with great pitching and timely hitting the Mets are in first place in the NL East and have won 3 in a row.

Baseball has been so much fun to watch early on, with many storylines to follow as the season continues. Don’t get carried away over the results, or lack thereof, because it is just the opening stretch of a very long season. This looks to be a great upcoming season and I cannot wait to see how it plays out.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

Who Will Be the Mets Manager By The End of The Season?

Author: Frank Caggino

Editor: Brian Symons

One of the biggest takeaways from Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson’s early-season press conference, was Sandy’s response when asked about Mets manager Luis Rojas. Alderson said the Mets have not picked up Rojas’ 2022 option. This shows that the new owner and new front office will be watching Rojas closely. Luis has not done himself any favors in the first week of the season. Rojas has made multiple questionable decisions that have not been successful. The manager was not terrific last season, but 2020 was a year unlike any other.

Most Mets fans were willing to give Rojas a pass because of the uniqueness of the 2020 season. The season started, then stopped, and then did not begin again until later in the summer. There were only 60 games and the schedule was different than normal year, with every game being against local teams. Last year, Rojas decision-making was not the best and his demeanor was not loved by Mets fans. The front office also did not give him the greatest roster with the tight budget the previous owner had.

While some Mets fans wanted the Mets to get more star players, this team is significantly improved on paper. Their performance in the first week of the season does not resemble a team that is improved. Rojas has not made the most out of this roster and their very first game of the season was a perfect example. Kevin Pillar batted leadoff and Dom Smith was on the bench. Brandon Nimmo leads the league in on-base percentage and batted eighth in the first game of the season. To make matters worse, Rojas took out Jacob deGrom after only 77 pitches when earlier in the day he said Jake could go 100 pitches. deGrom had been pitching well and the bullpen wound up blowing the lead and the Mets lost. The other main head-scratching move by Rojas was having Jonathan Villar bat sixth multiple times and playing him over Luis Guillorme. If the Mets continue to struggle, it will be interesting to see if Rojas finishes the year as the manager.

The one thing that Rojas has to his advantage is the limited managerial replacement options. If the Mets were to move on from Rojas, who will replace him? There are no candidates that stand out which could make replacing him risky. There have been worse managers than Rojas, and the Mets cannot make another mistake with who their manager will be. Obviously, it is still early, but if Rojas wants to be the manager next year, he has to adjust to help get the Mets back to the postseason.

METS ARE OUR UNIVERSE