Doc and Straw to be at Old Timers Day and the Mets can't overreact to one bad day
New York shouldn't feel forced to make a bad trade this early, while two '86 legends will be in the building on Old Timers' Day
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾
The Mets open a six game homestand when they welcome the Phillies to Citi Field tonight
Dwight Gooden has committed to pitching in the Mets’ Old Timers’ game later this summer
Darryl Strawberry will attend the Old Timers game as well but is unlikely to play in the game
Roster Moves 📰
The Mets optioned LHP Thomas Szapucki to AAA Syracuse
Who’s Hot 🔥
Carlos Carrasco has allowed two runs or fewer in six of his eight starts heading into his outing tonight against Philadelphia
Following a poor start to his season LHP Joely Rodriguez has not been charged with an earned run in 12 of his last 13 appearances
The Mets are averaging 5.16 runs scored per game in the month of May
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (29-17) vs Phillies (21-24)
Where: Citi Field — Flushing, NY
Starters: RHP Carlos Carrasco (4-1, 3.50 ERA) vs. LHP Bailey Falter (0-1, 3.75 ERA)
When: 7:10 PM EDT
Where to Watch: WPIX
The Mets can’t overreact to Wednesday’s disaster 📝
From day one in 2022, the Mets have been one of the best team’s in baseball and have built a considerable lead in the National League East before the calendar has even hit Memorial Day. But the circumstances surrounding their disappointing rubber game in San Francisco have served as perhaps the first significant test multiple levels of the organization have encountered thus far.
Already missing ace Jacob deGrom, the Mets have lost righties Max Scherzer and Tylor Megill both for weeks and months and not days. And thanks to the snowout in Denver last Friday night that pushed Carlos Carrasco back to the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader, he was unavailable to start on Wednesday.
So, needing a starter for the final game of their west coast trip, New York summoned young southpaw Thomas Szapucki to San Francisco.
And we all saw how that worked out.
The Mets are not being shy about their ambitions to make a World Series run in 2022 and they’re well aware that the roster they’ll bring into tonight’s game with the Phillies on May 27th may not be good enough to accomplish that. But it’s also going to change quite a bit before the stretch run. deGrom, Scherzer and Megill should all come back at some point. And in the meantime, a rotation with Chris Bassitt, Carrasco, Taijuan Walker, and David Peterson should enough to competently stay afloat. And, Three off days in the next two and a half weeks help mitigate the immediate need for a regular fifth starter which helps them buy time to get their arms back into the fold.
That buys the Mets time, which is important. Sure, teams that are already cognizant that they’ll be sellers like Cincinnati and Oakland would trade a starter today. But at what price? Not one the Mets should feel forced to pay today.
And look, that’s not to say what happened on Wednesday was in any way acceptable. Losing—especially noncompetitively—is not something this culture of Mets’ leadership is going to accept.
But despite fans spending the last two days snowballing about what could and inevitably will go wrong from here (that’s what a Mets fan is about - fearing the worst!), let’s give this team the benefit of the doubt.
Wednesday was only the second time all year they’ve lost back-to-back games. This team has consistently shown they can get off the mat. And while it’s still going to be a while before they get all of their starting pitchers back, the smart play here is to continue trying to navigate that month internally, watch the waiver wire, make some smaller deals to bring some bodies in, and begin formulating a strategy for the trade deadline.
With an owner that is finally committed to nothing short of winning a title, bet on the Mets’ shopping list at the deadline being high end. They’re not likely to cut corners to fill their holes. If they trade for a starter it will be an impact pitcher. And they have both the money and the prospect capital to make it happen. But with other items potentially on the deadline list—i.e. reliever, catcher, impact bat for the DH spot—why would the Mets expend more resources to secure a pitcher today—when they don’t HAVE to—and have less available to fill other holes later?
We all saw it, Wednesday sucked. But that doesn’t mean today or tomorrow will.
Stay the course for now.
Down on the Farm 🌾
Jake Mangum (OF, No. 22 Prospect, Triple-A): 4-for-5, 2 2B, 2 R
Francisco Alvarez (C, No. 1 Prospect, Double-A) 4-for-4, 2 HR, 2 RBI, 2B, 3 R, BB
Raul Beracierta (OF, Single-A) 1-for-2, HR, 2 RBI, BB, 2 R
Box Scores: Triple-A | Double-A | High-A | Single-A
Around the League 🚩
The Angels selected the contract of former Mets’ OF Juan Lagares to the major league roster
The Yankees signed free-agent INF Matt Carpenter
Miami acquired utilityman Luke Williams from the Giants in exchange for IF Hayden Cantrelle
Nester Cortes fired another gem for the Yankees as they defeated the Rays 7-2
Aaron Nola went 8.1 and struck out 10 in Philly’s 4-1 win over Atlanta