Tag Archive for Paul Sewald

Seek Your Level

So last year, the Mets were never once were any better than 11 games over .500, a point they reached just once, following a sweep of the Cubs in June. Their failure to exit that range-bound 6 or 7 over .500 while the rest of the division was worse during the season’s first months was the story of the year, until that club revealed all kind of other problems (injuries, underperformance, lapsed priorities and so on) when they ultimately revealed their level was not actually 6 or 7 games over but 6 or 7 games under.

So it’s with a small amount of trauma that I’ll note this team has so far twice had the opportunity to exceed last year’s high-water mark and twice failed to get there, and doing so with games that weren’t so fun to watch. We shouldn’t be losing to Paul Sewald, as nice a guy as he was (he once acknowledged me yelling “Sewald!” through the bullpen fence at the Cyclones park). If this is really to be as good a year as it looks like it can be, we can’t hover while the rest of the division struggles. Now’s not the time to hover–get to 20 over, a point at which hovering will likely get you to the playoffs.

Catching up again on the comings and goings, we saw Stephen Nogosek and his ridiculous 85 jersey come ago go, and recently welcomed back Jake Reed, who’s still wearing 72. James McCann’s broken hamate–a bad injury for a catcher who already can’t hit, I’d reckon–is out for several weeks and Patrick Mazeika is back. That’s notable only because Mazieka, unlike Nogosek or Reed, got reassigned a normal number and what was 76 last year is now 4.

 

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Catching Up

Wow. So quite a bit has happened since we last caught up. As I’d mentioned I’d sort of involuntarily “opted out” of the fraudulent 2020 season that while deeply unsatisfying in so many ways, is already one of the most consequential for us in orange-and-blue (and in red-white-and-blue too, but that’s another regrettable nightmare that mercifully appears very close to an end as well).

Let’s recap a few things I missed real quick

Goodbye Fred and Jeff

Beat it. I mean, GTFO.

I’m not overstating it even a little bit when I say the Wilpons’ stunning incompetence and inability to learn despite making the same mistakes over and over and over again had so badly damaged my enthusiasm for the club I was losing interest in something as natural and enjoyable as this goofy little project. I understand that there’s no sure bets in life and financial realities interfere from time to time, but it was never too big an ask that an owner avoid actively making the process of rooting for a team you love an exercise in futility and self-hatred. How hard could it be to sell the Mets to Mets fans?

Don’t answer till you consider these guys not once but twice failed to execute a sale of the team (remember the Einhorn debacle?) mainly because they couldn’t NOT interfere. I’ve been re-reading THE WORST TEAM MONEY COULD BUY recently and reminded that Fred was screwing things up back then too, a pattern that would continue for nearly 30 years. Stunning! Most recently the stealth coup that landed the Mets most recently with a green chair-throwing general manager who promptly mortgaged the future for a steroid case, let a terrific starting pitcher walk to a division rival, screwed up his only chance to name a field manager, and leaves a worse team than he found.

Thank goodness Steve Cohen had the sense to give Sandy Alderson a chance to rescue the team once again. Did you notice Terry Collins and Omar Minaya are also out? What a turn of events. I’m not on the Cohen Crack like everyone else quite yet but his performance so far indicates he’s at least diagnosed many of the same problems we fans have (how hard could that be?) and I’m confident things cannot possibly get worse than they’ve been.

Other Comings and Goings

Sandy and his non-existent front-office team so far have signed a decent relief pitcher (Minnesota’s Trevor May, who seems like a swell guy and as mid-career bullpenners go, not a bad shot), invited a bunch of intriguing guys to Spring Training (OF Mallex Smith, SS Jose Peraza, RP Arodys Vizcaino) and picked up a lottery ticket or two including a 6-foot-7 minor league reliever called Sam McWilliams. The qualified offer to Marcus Stroman was accepted raising the possibility they’ll have a No. 0 after all. This week they got contracts done or offered to fringe 40-man guys that by now include the exasperating Omar-Era Holdover Steven Matz and outfielder Guillermo Heredia whose garbage-time arrival in September wasn’t even noted in our numerical rosters till just now. Sorry about that. He wears 15. Brian Dozier, whom I’d forgotten was ever a Met, no longer does. Chasen Shreve got whacked. So did Paul Sewald.

May by the way wore 65 in Minnesota, which belongs to the damaged Robert Gsellman.

And Now

The Mets have lots of possibilities again. Brodie didn’t necessarily screw up everything beyond what ought to have been decent chances this year and last, thanks mainly to the core assembled by his predecessor and successor.

Cohen has said he’d open up the checkbook so it seems likely they could add a pitcher like Trevor Bauer, reassembling a slate of strong starting pitching they had until Brodie interfered (and possibly interiting the No. 47 surrendered by Shreve). George Springer is available as is uni No. 4, uselessly occupied by Jed Lowrie for two friggin years. J.T. Realmuto (no. 10 in Philadelphia) might catch on, but someone new will at any rate.

We could see some new coaches (were the Wilpons so dumb that thinking did a hitting coach could work from home?) and front office personnel, a trade or two. I’ll try and pay attention.

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Rajai and Out

Those unpredictable Mets keep on churning the roster and you never know what’ll happen next.

This week, with Nimmo and Conforto out, we introduced Rajai Davis and Aaron Altherr as special guest outfielders and each of them hit a home run in their first plate appearance. Davis, who didn’t get an R designation on his nameplate despite the team already employing two other members of the Davis family (JD & Chili) wore No. 18, and Altherr took the 23 jersey most recently belonging to Keon Broxton. The Mets in the meantime signed Matt Kemp to a minor-league contract, then DFA’ed Davis to make room for the returning Conforto.

Should Kemp make it up here–and signing a veteran All-Star is becoming something of a Mets tradition given the recent history of Jose Bautista and Adrian Gonzalez and James Loney–they’ll need to find another uniform number than the 27 he’s previously worn over 1,700 games for Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta and Cincinnati. Juerys Familia has already kept 27 from Carlos Gomez.

The new additions and subsequent roster crush has resulted not only in Davis’ assignment but also cost Paul Sewald and Tim Peterson spots. The latter two escaped the scrutiny even of the Washington Nationals and have landed back in Syracuse.

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Stepping Out of A Hole

Well, what do you know.

Mickey Callaway hasn’t been fired and the Mets have started winning again. Those things no doubt will change at some point, maybe soon, but let’s enjoy it now while we can.

The injuries are slowly piling up, for example. Jed Lowrie and Yoenis Cespedes might never get here. Conforto is concussed, Nimmo is out with a sore neck and Cano might have hurt himself hustling. New Mets hero Rajai Davis is here and wearing No. 18; interesting inasmuch he was issued 11 in Spring Training, but that went to Adeiny Hechavarria. And with Seth Lugo joining Justin Wilson and Luis Avilan on the shelf, Hector Santiago arrived. He’ll be wearing No. 33.

Along the way we can close the book on Keon Broxton, traded to Baltimore for draft money yesterday, and perhaps on Paul Sewald, one of those organization relievers whose champions, if he had them, left the building a while ago.

Poor Sewald. Of the six pitchers who wore No. 51 in team history none have seen more action than Sewald’s 107 games and 128.2 innings, but all of them have at least as many wins, which is to say zero. He departs as the losingest pitcher (13) without a win in Mets history.

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Groovy Tuesday

New Mets are here including Daniel Zamora (still wearing 73) and Todd Frazier (still wearing 21), and Luis Guillorme (still wearing 13); taking the places of the still-ineffective Chris Flexen, the injured Justin Wilson and Paul Sewald, same as he ever was.

That the Mets added more hitters than pitchers on a night that Steven Matz started was somewhat remarkable though I suppose if Amed Rosario is feeling better that won’t last for long. But generally speaking, I like our chances better with a big bench than a big bullpen. The latter just seems to emanate from a point of view of doubt and failure; the former gives you options that could make the difference in needing to go as deep. It may not have ultimately mattered last night but it was good when we got Arietta out of there just by showing them the hitters left on the bench. More offensive options make a manager look good; fewer hitters and more relievers force them to make passive decisions and infect their club with a sense of dread.

Tonight is my 2019 Maiden Voyage to CitiField, where I’ll be for pretty much every home Tuesday game this season. Tuesday was a rough day of the week last season, when I also sat there and had to watch, and the club isn’t exactly off to a flying start on Tuesdays this year: Other than a win in Miami, the Mets have surrendered 14 runs on consecutive Tuesdays and are averaging 11 opponent tallies.

Uh, let’s go Mets.

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Intervention

Scoring six runs and staggering to the finish every night is probably better than scoring 2 runs and staggering to the finish so on balance it’s pretty good start to the new year. But before we crown Brodie Van Wagenen for his genius consider the guys really making stuff happen were already in the organization, we’re short on pitching and have veteran infielders on the way to replace guys who are actually getting things done and if like me you worry about things, Robbie Cano, his three-hit Friday night notwithstanding, looks more like Robbie Alomar than Jackie Robinson so far. Combined with some sketchy decisionmaking by Mickey Calloway, the Mets are a barely disguised wreck with a pretty good offense, as I discuss with my friend Brian Joura in this week’s Mets360 podcast. Hopefully they get better. Hopefully the pitching improves with better weather.

Catching up on the first batch of transactions, Travis d’Arnaud is back, replacing the over-his-head Tomas Nido. It would have been cool to see him return in No. 7 rather than the 18 he was moved to when the Mets reacquired Jose Reyes. You might recall d’Arnaud came up wearing 15, then switched to 7 once undeserving coach Bob Geren gave it up. Then, the Mets reacquired Jose Reyes and d’Arnaud was on the move again.

7 is available again — Gregor Blanco wore it in spring training and maintains it in Syracuse–but d’Arnaud maintained at the time he switched from 15 that 7 was his preferred number and for what it’s worth, his play in that jersey was considerably better than min either of the other numbers.

Yeah, I know, it’s too late to save Travis d’Arnaud’s career but just to illustrate:

Number Dates AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BA OBP SLG
15 8/17/13-9/28/14 484 52 113 25 3 14 46 .233 .299 .384
7 4/6/15-7/4/16 321 38 86 17 1 13 49 .268 .336 .449
18 7/5/16-present 546 62 129 23 1 19 69 .236 .290 .386

You know what though? It’s not too late to save Chris Flexen. The chunky righty showed some promise amid ugly results in his first go-round in 2017, then got fatter and less effective last year, eventually requiring knee surgery. Over the offseason, Flexen addressed his expanded waistline and true to the cliche reported to camp in the “best shape of his life.”

Flexen in an address to Mets fans early in 2018 said he was happy with 64 but also expressed admiration for 27 and 33. The latter has been nominally available since another fat pitcher with an 7-ish ERA, Matt Harvey, was released. Rule 5er Kyle Dowdy wore it this spring before getting swiped by Texas in a procedural transaction.

Flexen as you may know is slated to debut today now that Jacob deGrom is getting his elbow examined and is out at least a week. The Mets should do the right thing, give him 33, and reserve 64 to guys like Elmer Dessens.

Other guys who came, and some who went, include Drew Gagnon (47), Paul Sewald (51) and now, Jacob Rhame (35) and Corey Oswalt (55).

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Bashlor No. 49

The moves are coming faster than I can mock them, but sadly not as frequently as the losses, for these cursed Mets.

Tonight Chris Flexen, who was here presumably as an emergency starter but didn’t get a start even amid an emergency, is headed back to Las Vegas while Tyler Bashlor is up from Class AA. Some prospect watchers have a thing for Bashlor so perhaps he stays for a bit but who knows. If we’re lucky he’ll craft together as good a few months as Hansel Robles, who once upon a time was a stealthy minor league prospect who slipped into the bullpen. Bashlor will wear No. 49, last belonging to Josh Smoker a year ago.

As for Robles, he was DFAed last week, as even the talent-starved Mets had had enough of waiting for him to regain the form that resulted in one of 2015’s biggest surprises. Without him, the Mets still gave up seven home runs yesterday. I was a fan of Robles back when. Tough customer with an ornery attitude, got under the under guy’s skin. One night during a rain delay in Washington, he signed a ball for my son. Thanks for that, Hansel, and best of luck in Anaheim.

 

When Robles departed, reserve outfielder Kevin Kaczmarski arrived, wearing No. 16, while Drew Smith, the booty in the Lucas Duda trade also came by wearing No. 62: It was only a few weeks back that Scott Copeland (who?) was wearing that number. Paul Sewald in the meantime is back at AAA and Jason Vargas is on the disabled list again, so we have that going for us.

***

Hey! I’d like to invite you all to a special night of baseball, guaranteed to come without a Mets loss. This Thursday at 7 p.m., head over to Two Boots Midtown East, for an event thery’re calling “Reading, Writing and Rusty” where Greg Prince (Faith & Fear in Flushing; PIAZZA; AMAZIN AGAIN); Dave Jordan, author of co-author of the terrific John D’Aquisto biography FASTBALL JOHN; and me (ONCE UPON A TEAM) will be on hand to promote our various projects, sign books, eat pizza and discuss Rusty Staub. Two Boots has great pizza! 7 p.m. June 28: 337 Lexington Ave., between 39th and 40th Streets in Manhattan, convenient to Grand Central Terminal. More details here and here.

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Seaworthy?

Well it took less than a week before the Mets required reinforcements, as righthander Paul Sewald was recalled from AAA Las Vegas following last night’s game and reserve Ty Kelly designated for assignment.

And though we feared that recent history would result in Sewald retaining the ghastly No. 79 he wore during spring training, good sense prevailed and Sewald will suit up in the somewhat less controversial No. 51, last seen on the back of Jim Henderson last year, Jack Leathersich the year before, bullpen predecessors Rick White, Mike Maddux, and Mel Rojas, and a ton of coaches. Fun fact: The only position player ever to appear in a Mets game wearing No. 51 was Lance Johnson in a one-game issue on Mookie Wilson Day in September of 1996 (Mookie, then a coach, and Johnson, then wearing No. 1, switched for the occasion). Johnson had three hits including a triple that day.

For the Mets the move to 13 pitchers would presumably give additional hitting opportunities for little-used bench guys like Michael Conforto and T.J. Rivera, but I’d suspect the move has more to do with the unsteady performance of the low-end bullpen guys like Josh Smoker and Rafael Montero and the fact that there’s just 2 off-days among the next 32. Eventually, I’d like to see Brandon Nimmo get that Ty Kelly role but he’s I guess we have to get through this next batch and see what happens. At any rate, we need to hit more.

Ty never got back to me on my suggestion he switch to No. 11, by the way. I’m telling you right now, it’s harder to DFA a guy wearing 11 than a guy wearing 56. Think of your career, man.

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Fake News? Ty Ballgame, updated

New-arriving information indicates the news I passed along yesterday regarding Ty Kelly may not be entirely accurate, and by “entirely” I mean, entirely. Can anyone clear this up? I’ve asked Ty himself to check in.

Thanks to alert reader Chris who passed along a tip: Ty Kelly is back in uni No. 55, after having arrived at camp assigned 56.

I haven’t confirmed this independently and should have asked the reader for the dope.

Kelly as you may remember was issued 55 a year ago when he made his Met debut but lost his number, along with a big-league job, when the Mets re-acquired Kelly Johnson last June and gave the 55 jersey he’d worn for a glorious half-season in 2015. When Ty Kelly reappeared later in the year he was wearing 56, which also happened to be the uni on Kelly’s back during the recent World Baseball Classic, when he represented Isreal.

Whether Kelly resurfaces with the Mets remains in question as he lost his 40-man roster spot in February and resigned a minor league contract and so would need a 40-man space to open up before he returns. That said with Juan Lagares expected to miss time with an injury and a mostly right-handed bench the switch-hitting, multi-position playing Kelly could be in demand.

I’m also wondering if Kelly is really changing numbers why he wouldn’t pounce on the still-available 11, which matches his Twitter handle and the double Ls in his last name.

It’s been a long Spring Training, a long off-season, in fact, with little to speculate on but the butt-end of the Met bench and bullpen, what Tim Tebow is up to and, perhaps, who gets Juerys Familia’s spot for the length of time he’s suspended. It’s been so boring, in fact, my friend Jason is wondering whether there will be any new Mets at all when the curtain rises a week from today.

That brings us to the possibility that Paul Sewald comes north. Like Kelly he’s a recent ex-resident of the 40-man but he’s had a good spring. Would he stay in 79? Stay tuned.

Sewald was optioned just after I wrote this. Sorry, Paul!

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