The Mets lose a bone crusher to the Rays to cap off nightmare weekend in St. Pete
And where in the world is Kevin Parada?
What’s Up with the Mets? ⚾️
The Mets suffered a devastating 7-6 extra innings loss in their series finale in St. Pete (Box)
Edwin Díaz suffered his first blown save since 2022, serving up a two out, two strike game tying home run to Randy Arozarena
The Mets scored first for the third straight day, this time on a two run first inning home run by Francisco Lindor
Luis Severino started for the Mets and gutted his way through five innings, surrendering four runs on four hits while walking six
Jorge Lopez, Reed Garrett, and Sean Reid-Foley both threw scoreless innings setting the stage for Diaz
Stolen bases continued to be an issue for the Mets, as the Rays ran wild and were successful on 7/8 steal attempts
Pete Alonso and Jeff McNeil combined to go 0-9 with four strikeouts
With a one run lead in the 10th, Jake Diekman failed to get an out and served up a two-run walk-off triple to Jonny DeLuca
Down on the Farm 🌾
INF Mark Vientos (Triple-A Syracuse): 1-for-4, HR, RBI
OF José Hernandez (Single-A Brooklyn): 1-for-4, 2B, 2 RBI
RHP Wyatt Hudepohl (Single-A St. Lucie): 3 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 K
Today’s Game 🗓
Match-up: Mets (16-18) @ Cardinals (15-19)
Where: Busch Stadium — St. Louis, MO
Starters: LHP Sean Manaea (1-1, 3.07 ERA) vs. RHP Kyle Gibson (2-2, 3.79 ERA)
When: 7:45 PM EDT
Where to Watch: SNY
Where is Kevin Parada?✍️
by Justin Mears
With the 11th overall pick in the 2022 draft, the Mets chose to go with what they perceived to be one of the most polished collegiate hitters available, Georgia Tech catcher, Kevin Parada.
With the Yellow Jackets, the Pasadena, CA native had slashed .341/.420/.636 with 25 homers, 130 RBI, and 30 doubles in only 112 games, and in 2022 was named the winner of the Buster Posey award given to the top collegiate catcher in the nation.
The Mets viewed Parada as an elite offensive player who could give their organization flexibility moving forward, and decided to select him over the likes of names like Dylan Lesko, Jace Jung, Spencer Jones, and Drew Gilbert.
Parada’s selection was met with a little bit of skepticism by some due to the presence of Francisco Alvarez in the team’s system. Obviously, in the MLB draft the objective is to pick the best player available, but in Alvarez the Mets had a hitter who had blasted 51 minor league home runs between ‘21 and ‘22 and was unanimously considered the premier catching prospect in the game.
Alvarez made his Major League debut during the final week of the 2022 season, and as a rookie a year ago connected on 25 home runs, making good on his prospect hype.
But when he suffered a torn ligament in his left thumb a couple of weeks ago, the Mets catching situation was suddenly thrust under the microscope.
His backup, Omar Narvaez was immediately thrown into a more prominent role, but he’s struggled mightily in essentially every aspect of his game thus far in 2024. In 43 at-bats he’s slashed just .186/.222./.233 with only two extra-base hits. Defensively, he’s had an even rougher go, as opposing baserunners are an astonishing 30 for 30 on stolen base attempts with him behind the plate, and he’s been nabbed for catchers interference multiple times.
When Alvarez went down, the Mets brought veteran Tomas Nido back to the big leagues, and while he’s at least thrown out 20% of attempted thefts, his bat has not been much better than Narvaez’. Since he’s been back the 30-year-old has slashed .179/.207/.321 with a home run and a double in 28 at-bats.
With the struggles behind the plate at the big-league level, it begs a reasonable question. Where is the polished college player the Mets took in the first round two years ago? This would seemingly be a golden opportunity for him to come up and make a difference at the sport’s highest level, but unfortunately, Parada has just not done enough in the minors to warrant consideration.
With the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in Double-A, Parada has looked dramatically outmatched, slashing .178/.295/.274 with two home runs. He’s struck out in more than a third of his official at-bats, and after a strong first half in Brooklyn a year ago, his start to 2024 is concerningly a continuation of what we saw after he was promoted to the Double-A level last year.
With Parada struggling to find his way at the penultimate minor league level, combined with the Mets glaring need for a legitimate catcher while Alvarez’ is on the shelf, it again throws the team’s 2022 draft strategy into question.
Steve Cohen has been adamant about his desire to build this organization through the draft, but it’s worth noting that the majority of the team’s top offensive prospects were acquired via trade. And it’s looking more and more like the team might want to have their top pick from 2022 back.
Notes: This weekend’s embarrassing mess… ✍️
by Michael Baron
The Mets were swept by the Rays this past weekend, and deservedly so. They held a lead in all three games, held a lead of multiple runs in two of the three games, but bumbled them all away in one form or another which made them look more like a last place team than the contending team David Stearns has said be believes they are.
There was a lot that went wrong. Andrew and Rich both colorfully detailed what happened Friday night and Saturday night, but yesterday was the culmination of all things bad for the Mets at Tropicana Field.
They couldn’t hold runners on, they couldn’t hit with runners on, they walked too many batters again, and still, they had a 5-4 lead with two outs and nobody on in the ninth with Randy Arozarena at the plate who, until that at bat, had missed every ball in the strike zone he saw over the course of the game.
But of course, when a team finds ways to lose, as the Mets had up until that point, said team usually gets what they deserve.
The walks are killing the Mets
The Mets threw 25 innings on the mound this weekend. They struck out 27 and walked 19. 16 percent of the batters they faced reached base via an unintentional walk.
Couple that with the 29 hits they allowed and that’s 48 unintentional base runners in the three games. 42 percent of those base runners came around to score.
It’s not too hard to figure out the fundamental reason why they got swept this weekend by the Rays.
Now, I did appreciate the effort from Luis Severino on Sunday. He didn’t have his best stuff after giving the Mets eight stellar innings in his most recent start before. Despite allowing six walks and four runs, he navigated through five innings and Carlos Mendoza did the right thing by not only trying to limit how much the bullpen was exposed, but also trying to get Severino a win who again, was trying to gut through the afternoon.
Still, in the end, the walks are maddening and just aren’t big league if you ask me. It wasn’t just Severino on Sunday - the bullpen walked three batters of their own.
The 146 walks allowed is the worst mark in the major leagues.
Can anyone hold a runner on?
Francisco Lindor became visibly upset on a couple of occasions on Sunday when a Mets pitcher failed to hold a runner at second base.
Simply put, the league is running wild on the Mets pitching staff. It’s not hard to figure out why, either.
They aren’t checking runners. They’re too slow to the plate. They have consistent patterns with runners on as well.
I am not a pro, nor am I the smartest guy in the world. But that’s simple to pick up as someone watching, in this case, from 1200 miles away.
Whether it’s been Francisco Alvarez, Omar Narváez, Tomas Nido, or the next guy, they’re not allowing the catchers an ability to throw runners out attempting to steal. Much of the time, they don’t even throw or it’s not even worth throwing. Runners are getting walking leads on the pitchers and quite frankly, making them look bad in the process.
It most definitely is not the catchers inability to throw runners out.
Opposing baserunners are an astounding 52-for-55 against the Mets stealing bases so far in 2024. The three runners they’ve caught are the third fewest in the game and the 52 stolen bases against them are, by far, the most allowed in the game. The next most? The Rays at 36. That’s a 16 stolen base gap between them and the next worst!
Where in the world is <insert name here>?
There are a lot of issues with the Mets offense. A lot a lot. There was some hope JD Martínez would provide the necessary length and offer protection for Pete Alonso. But he doesn’t play every day and that hasn’t really happened when he’s played either.
There are some occasional bright spots, but in the end here is what notable members of their lineup looks like:
Brandon Nimmo: .221/.375/.369
Brett Baty: .269/.339/.375
Starling Marte: .274/.321/.403
Pete Alonso: .206/.295/.420
Francisco Lindor: .207/.280/.393
Jeff McNeil: .231/.313/.308
DJ Stewart: .186/.380/.424
Tyrone Taylor: .288/.312/.425
Harrison Bader: .278/.314/.330
There is almost no power here. Look at those slugging percentages - five of them are below .400. Those on-base percentages are generally uninspiring as well.
Individually, it’s not necessarily clear how to put all those puzzle pieces together. It’s simple to say “Alonso hasn’t been good,” or, “More of 2023 from McNeil,” or, “another slow start from Lindor,” and so on and so forth. All of that is true and deeply concerning, especially from the three I mentioned.
But when players have trouble getting on-base and hitting for power in the manner the Mets have, that’s what helps lead to a ton of runners being left on-base.
In their last 16 games, the Mets have left 115 runners on-base, and they’re 6-10 during that span. In addition, the team has a .296 on-base percentage and a .355 slugging percentage. That has equated to 3.9 runs per game during that span which is below the threshold teams need to be consistently successful.
Again, it’s not hard to figure out what the problem is with the offense.
They’re a singles hitting team which, while they don’t strike out that much, are not getting on-base enough and not hitting for nearly enough power. And I am not talking about home runs. I am talking about gap-to-gap hitting and being more of a first-to-third offense in an effort to create more runs.
In the end, they’ve played seven games during this 16 games stretch during which they’ve been shutout twice or scored two runs or less. They’ve lost four games during which they’ve allowed four runs or less, which means those four games are unquestionably winnable with more offense.
Around the League 🚩
Oneil Cruz homered and doubled in Pittsburgh’s 5-3 win over Colorado
The Nationals homered three times to outslug the Blue Jays 11-8
Anthony Santander went 3-5 and drove in five runs—highlighted by a 9th inning grand slam—in Baltimore’s 11-1 win over the Reds
Shohei Ohtani homered twice to help the Dodgers complete a three-game sweep over Atlanta
Nick Gordon went 4-4 with a homer and three RBI in Miami’s 12-3 win over Oakland
The walks are killing this team especially since they can't throw out a base stealer. Disaster written all over that. Teams are taking too much advantage of Mets pitchers unable to hold on a runner.
I can't believe the Mets passed on Spencer Jones in the Draft !!! As far as Diaz goes I don't know why Hefner the Guru never taught him a third pitch so he would be unhittable - change , curve , splitter , etc. It would be great if he added a change. The Guru has failed miserably at teaching the pitchers how to hold runners on obviously.