Tag: Brandon Nimmo

That’s the Ticket

Not that you’d necessarily want to, but you can’t buy a ticket to a Mets game this year.  Well you can buy packages of 20 or 40 or 81 games, but the old-school a la cart single-game ticket window hasn’t opened yet, and they’re not saying when.

Speaking as someone accustomed to creating my own season ticket one game at a time, that’s unusual. Individual tickets went up for sale in the first week of December last year, and several years before that. The last time I can remember tickets going on sale this late in the year, they were playing at Shea Stadium, and we lined up by Gate D on a frigid Sunday morning. Tim Teufel was there to make it all worth it.

It’s almost as if they knew that surrendering their most popular players through trades and free agency was going to do something to demand, and now, they must hustle to make it up.

I like Bo Bichette and happy the Mets got him and not Tucker. Right handed hitter, a batting champion candidate, hits lots of doubles. I’m not entirely okay with yanking third base out from under Baty when he’d finally had a decent year, but he hits well enough to play left.

The Mets still need a pitcher. There are the top-shelf free agents like Framber Valdez but I kinda like the under-the-radar guys too. He struggled early last year with an injury but Zac Gallen has been pretty good for years. I’m also not afraid to bring in Justin Verlander or Max Scherzer again. I think the young staff could use the right veteran, a la Orel Hershiser in 1999. Besides I’ve never even heard of our pitching coach, Justin Willard. They don’t even have a mugshot of him on the official site.

As noted in the comments it will be interesting to see what number they issue to Bichette, having assigned his No. 11 already to a different incoming free agent, Jorge Polanco. I feel like the Mets are too deferential to numerical identities formed on other teams. Neither the Rangers nor Orioles nor Dodgers replicated the respective jersey numbers of Alonso, Nimmo and Diaz, though it seems like they let them pick (To be fair, Frank Robinson and Roy Campanella may have something to with it, but I digress–I’d be happy to see Bo Bichette take up something new).

Diaz by the way is tempting the baseball gods by choosing No. 3. All relievers stop being effective at some point.

Requiring Retiring

Today out at Big Shea they are honoring one of the greats. Really, the greatest of the greats–the best homegrown offensive player in team history and a wire-to-wire Met good enough to go to 7 All-Star Games, and win a few Silver Sluggers and Gold Gloves. That distinguishes David Wright from say, the man whose many records he erased, the late Ed Kranepool.

This is a resume of a number-retiree, and what we’ll see today. It’s not what we’d been seeing with the Strawberry, Gooden and even Hernandez retirements, although Keith’s post-playing career as a figure in Mets history is a persuasive extenuating circumstance. And for god sakes, its not Gary Carter, even as they’ve held his number in limbo for more than two decades, presumably waiting for the right moment. Now that they’ve demonstrated 8 is kind of special they lack the courage to go back, which is very Wilpon-y. That they’ll solve the problem by recklessly retiring it is very Cohen-y.

But uni-number retirement shouldn’t be about waiting for the right moment. If there’s a moment to be waited for then that’s not a guy whose number you should be retiring.

The only solution, I’ve come to believe, is to do away with number retirements entirely. It doesn’t do anything that a statue couldn’t do or a well-managed Hall of Fame couldn’t do and it will arrest this urge to cashier perfectly good uniform numbers that’s only going to accelerate as the team attempts sustained success for one of the few times in its history. You can’t look at Francisco Lindor today and not consider him a retiree shoo-in. We’ll have Juan Soto for 15 years or whatever, he’ll take 22 with him when he goes. Even Brandon Nimmo is creeping into immortal territory, Met-wise. deGrom? Dickey? Diaz? It may never end.

Plus, I’ve argued this before, how does not issuing a number honor a guy? You’d do better to remember him through the guys who follow in his path.

I’ll say one more thing, and that’s to honor in proportion to the rest of the retired-numbermen, they must erect a giant statue of him outside the stadium just like they did for Seaver. The True Greats.

I know, Cohen would prefer building a casino there.

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Congrats to Brooks Raley for making it back from arm surgery and resuming his Mets career in No. 25. Richard Lovelady was DFAed to make room. Bad loss last night; not impressed with Mendy’s handling of bullpenny things this year.

Oil painting above was done by my dad shortly before he passed away.

 

Reinvention

So the trade deadline passed without any major moves for the Mets, just a lot of stitching up the corners. Will the new guys make a difference? Sure, as long as the other 22 guys already on the team continue doing what they can do well.

Until he broke out with three hits last night, I was worried about Nimmo who wasn’t even sprinting to first on walks with the same gusto. And if you stayed up late last night you also saw Paul Blackburn make his debut, wearing No. 58 and ringing up his WHIP score with guys on base every inning. He persevered though, with the help of a couple DPs and generally wasn’t hit hard.

The other night it was Huascar Brazoban making his Mets debut, wearing R.A. Dickey’s former 43. Tyler Zuber has been assigned No. 54 but is still in the minors.

One way the Mets made room for the new guys was cashing out Jake Diekman and Adrian Houser, trading Josh Walker to Pittsburgh and Cole Sulser to Tampa Bay and releasing Ty Adcock. Will Adam Ottavino survive the pending return of Sean Reid-Foley and Reed Garrett?

We are Pham-i-lee

Catching up on recent Mets news, the club signed outlaw/outfielder Tommy Pham to a one-year deal and lists him wearing No. 28, which is unfortunate for Darin Ruf who’s the incumbent reserve outfielder/DH who also wears 28. Pham’s been a bit of an inconsistent performer who’s been moved around a bit; I thought he might have been a candidate to acquire last summer when he played for the Reds, but he wound up going to Boston instead.

Pham’s worn 28 with St. Louis, San Diego and Cincinnati so in the rare event he and Ruf both make the club I’d guess Pham takes 28.

You can probably search the archives of this site and find me advocating to move Jeff McKnight McNeil, who seemed at times unhappy and miscast, but I’m pleased to have been proven wrong. He signed a four-year extension this week that’ll keep him in blue and orange through age 35 and heightens the chance he, along with Brandon Nimmo, will be long tenured one-team-only Mets.

Barring injuries, Nimmo will no doubt overtake Todd Hundley as the club’s most prolific No. 9 of all time–he’s still about 1 season’s worth of games and at-bats behind Hundley and already leads all 9s in on-base percentage and runs scored.

McNeil’s shot at uni number immortality would seem to be the best three-numbered Met of all time. Ron Darling probably holds that title today.

 

Correan War

Woke up this morning to the shock that the Mets had given a 12-year contract to Carlos Correa, the free agent infielder who’d almost signed with the Giants for 13 years but for an unnamed injury concern. That solidifies 2022-23 as the most spectacular offseason the Mets have ever had and worries me a little because I’m a worrier at heart. What if things go wrong now? Will they trade Eduardo Escobar or turn him into a designated hitter? What of the young players like Brett Baty and Mark Vientos?

There was something satisfying to the 2015 Mets with so many homegrown players, now we’re down to Brandon Nimmo, Jeff McNeil and Pete Alonso, I think. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not about to complain, it’s just a thought. Most of us I’d say were ready to go to war with what we had 24 hours ago is all I’m saying.

In addition to Correa, who looks likely to take No. 4 belonging most recently to Terrance Gore, the Mets dressed Kodai Senga in No. 34. I’m excited about him, like I’ve been with most of the imported newbies. He’s also going to be a key figure for this team.

Zimmo!

I couldn’t be happier the Mets were able to retain Brandon Nimmo, who was something of a small superstar last year and a rare centerfield commodity on the market. His 8-year deal would practically assure he stays a Met throughout his career even if he’s destined to wind up in left field.

The Mets also added veteran reliever David Robertson to a 1-year deal, shoring up a bullpen that appears to be losing Trevor May, Seth Lugo and maybe also Adam Ottavino though it doesn’t appear that any of those palookas have a deal with someone else yet. But Trevor Williams just signed with Washington. Drew Smith will be back.

The new bullpen will have a bunch of new faces. There’s John Curtiss who was signed last offseason, spent 2022 recovering from elbow surgery, and still hasn’t been assigned a number.

Also on the 40 are brief visitors from last season Bryce Montes de Oca (63), Yoan Lopez (44), and Stephen Nogosek (85). Plus new guys awaiting number assignments: Jeff Brigham, Zach Greene (pinched from the Yankees in Rule 5), Stephen Ridings (waiver claim from the Yankees); Brooks Raley (trade with Tampa Bay), Tayler Saucedo (waiver claim from Toronto), and William Woods (waiver claim from Atlanta).

Elieser Hernandez might fulfill the Trevor Williams role. He came over with Brigham from the Marlins in a skirt-Rule-5 trade that cost the Mets fancypants prospect Jake Magnum.

The Mets already list Robertson as No. 30–that’s been his figure for most of his career and supersedes what we were discussing below about Raley taking 30. As pointed out in the below comments, Raley is now listed in 43, most recently belonging to unforgettable infielder Yolmer Sanchez.

 

 

 

Cy Old

It didn’t take long for the Mets to address the vacancy of Jacob deGrom as Steve Cohen threw a pile of money at Cy Young winner Justin Verlander who joins 38-year-old Max Scherzer at the top of the rotation. Verlander will be 40 next year so I’m tempering my expectations while still fretting over the prospect of retaining or replacing Brandon Nimmo, securing a reliable designated hitter, and making sure the club has a rotation that’s young enough and deep enough to count on. Carlos Carrasco, the current No. 3 starter, will be 36. Then you’ve got the relatively unproven arms of Tylor Megill and David Peterson. Another arm would be nice.

Verlander will be the first Mets 35 of any substance since Dillon Gee (2010-2015) even though eight guys have worn it since him, most recently the emergency catcher Michael Perez.

Going, Going, Dom

Dom Smith, who on his best days looked to be a challenger for Pete Alonso and on his worst an AAA outfielder/first baseman who couldn’t fulfill the glaring need for a left-handed hitting DH, was nontendered by the Mets last night, ending a career with the club that started as a first-round draft pick in 2013. Smith was tossed aside along with Sean Reid-Foley, the bulldoggish reliever who came over from Toronto in the Steven Matz trade.

Dom Smith departs as the Mets’ all-time leader in home runs among guys who wore No. 2 (with 21, surpassing Marv Throneberry‘s 16!) but it should be remembered that Smith spent the early part of his career wearing 22 where his 25 jacks rank a distant third to Kevin McReynolds (122) and Donn Clendenon (45).

You could make a case that Smith was the Mets’ all-time No. 2 but Mackey Sasser is the best compiler (most plate appearances, most RBI and the highest batting average). Free-agent Justin Turner would be third. Of the brief visitors let us not forget Juan Uribe, though my all-time No. 2 remains Bobby Valentine.

Reid-Foley was released while undergoing rehab from Tommy John surgery. Smith had his own injury woes over the years including a famous sleep disorder and an ankle sprain. The acquisition of Daniel Vogelbach and his more cost-effective salary sealed Dom’s fate.

These moves came as the Mets shore up the fringes of the 40-man roster which as of now has just 33 guys, so there’s a lot more to come, presumably more impactful than the quintet of DFAed relievers they’d also recently acquired. They are William Woods, a righty fringe prospect from the Braves; two former Marlins arms, righties Elieser Hernandez and Jeff Brigham; Stephen Ridings, a towering righty from Long Island who pitched last for the Yankees; and Tayler Saucedo, a lefty snatched from the Blue Jays. None of these guys have assigned numbers yet. Hernandez and Brigham cost the Mets a low-level prospect in hard-throwing Franklin Sanchez.

They Mets made no moves to protect their eligible prospects from the forthcoming Rule 5 draft–outfielder Jake Magnum seemed the likeliest–but it would seem the Mets could add this way if they so chose while keeping an eye on resigning or replacing dudes like Seth Lugo, Jacob deGrom, Brandon Nimmo, Chris Bassitt, Taijuan Walker and Adam Ottavino.

Losing Nimmo

The 2022 Mets were built to win but are they built to last?

Although closer Edwin Diaz signed a new 5-year deal already, there could be three starting pitchers on their way out: Jacob deGrom who apparently has interest in Texas; Chris Bassitt, who rejected the qualifying offer, and Taijuan Walker who didn’t get a qualifying offer.

Then there’s Brandon Nimmo, who could depart for Colorado on the verge of becoming the undisputed all-time No. 9 in team history.

He’s pretty much that now, I’d ague, even if Todd Hundley has a season’s worth more games played, more home runs (123-63) and way more RBI (388-212). But Nimmo has the superior OBP (a 9-best .385) and his slugging percentage is just a tick below Hundley’s at .441 to Todd’s .447. Nimmo is in fact 4th overall in career OBP among all Mets, so he’s not the kind of guy a contending team wants to lose.

The Mets have a lot of decisions to make including replacing president Sandy Alderson. I’m pretty much out of ideas myself, so what do you think?

 

Not Half Bad

The Mets reached the All-Star Break still leading the East and having endured dreadful starts by some guys (uh, Lindor) and injuries to many others but only hit the magic 10-games-over-.500 mark once, and retreated from that pretty rapidly, and still with questions as to who’s going to pitch twice a week, which reliever is going to be most reliable, and who’s going to be traded where and for whom as they address the challenge of improving.

Because as good as things broke for the First-Half Mets, the SHaMs will have to be considerably better.

There’s been signs of life from Lindor in recent weeks and reuniting the lineup with Nimmo and Conforto (will someone remind him there’s a massive contract to still play for?) are encouraging trends. That said we’re also too frequently running out palookas like Robert Stock (the club’s first-ever No. 89) and waiver-wire roster-riders like Geoff Hartlieb (assigned Jacob Barnes’ since-surrendered 40) and Nick Tropeano (52) who won’t likely be positives for a pennant-winner over the long haul, so I’m expecting something of a massive trade or two in the days and weeks ahead.

There are 75 games to go. The Mets realistically need to shoot for winning 45 of them. Go SHaMs!