I think another part of the Nimmo trade was revealed last night with Benge and Ewing having the opportunity to be out there together with Soto. As far as Semien - it does seem to the eye that he has been smoking the ball at least a couple times a game. Nimmo has cooled off since his hot start, and is now dealing with an ankle injury in addition to some hamstring issues a couple weeks ago. I loved Nimmo and was sad to see him go, but I am happy to watch the AJ Ewing experience for a while. Now if they want to bring up Morabito and move Semien to a bench role you won't hear me complain.
In his last 11 games, Nimmo has a .791 OPS, compared to a season-long .803 mark, so I think it's more of a rebounding from some bad games a few weeks ago, rather than "cooled off since his hot start."
4-26 the 7 games prior to last night, but I get your point. For me the team is the team and I am rooting for Semien (especially since he BABIPd me into a 4 leg parlay win last night).
Sorry. But to think that the team was so sure Ewing would jump from AA to the majors in just 6 weeks that they traded Nimmo for that reason is just fantasy.
There was something non-baseball driving that trade. What that was is completely speculative. But it wasn't the expectation that a pair of prospects would jump the line and both be successful with only minimal time in AAA. It just doesn' happen often enough to build a plan around it.
not that they thought Ewing would be up this year, but certainly within the timeframe of Nimmo's contract, and very likely by next year at which point you'd definitely have Soto, Ewing and Benge for the OF and no room for Nimmo. Especially if they see Vientos as a DH and want to leave space for Clifford to play 1b. It was absolutely a factor, much more so than any perceived non-baseball reasons.
Oh.. so now Clifford is also part of the equation? That is the unbridled prospect love that too many Mets fans exhibit. That blindly and arbitrarily assumes too many things: 1) that all three of Benge, Ewing, and Clifford were certain to not only stick in the majors, but do so as every day starters. That defies the realities of baseball. Outside of top tens, most prospects take longer to arrive and wind up being less than projected** 2) that the Mets were were somehow locked into Vientos as an every day player for the long term when he hasn't done nearly enough to warrant that kind of commitment. 3) that the Mets were willing to take a step back this year while waiting for Benge and Ewing to make it.
** For the record, the rankings and so-called projections the scouts make are based on what they see as the payer's ceiling, do not necessarily where he will end up. Then the writers home in on the positives and even embellish them. only for the fans to get even further carried away.
Stearns has been very clear that prospects need an opportunity. I am not speculating at all on whether the prospects will pan out, or when, but the Mets have an absolute need long term to replace high end contracts with league minimum ones. They have a potential power replacement for Alonso in AAA and maybe he's ready later this year or next (or never), but in my opinion they gave Polanco the 2 year deal in part at least to leave room and flexibility for Clifford in case he's the answer. Etc.
In my opinion, the Nimmo trade was driven partly by concerns of how his health might hold up and that his contract might become complete albatross, as he would have also become a ten-and-five guy later this season.
The non-baseball, again just my speculation, is that the owners are fully intent on getting more restrictive spending limits into the next CBA, with more severe penalties, possibly on the draft pick side of things. Trading Nimmo's 4-year deal for Semien's 2-year deal gets the out of the penalties earlier, even if it costs more in the short term.
It looked like that when I said meniscus tear last night in chat. Complicated outcomes depending on how big, where, and shape of the tear. I’ve had three. The first arthroscopy worked for a while, then it tore again running, so they went back in and clipped that off. Unfortunately that left not a lot cartilege and the bone-bone pain was exquisite. Knee replacement was next. My next tear on the other knee they just said were going straight to replacement.
Worth noting is that the surgery does not “fix” the cartilege. There is no blood flow in the meniscus, so the tear is not sewed together with it healing through time. They just cleverly cut the tear to try and keep it from growing. For an elite athlete, this is tough, especially a catcher who has to kneel constantly. This injury is a real downer for Alvarez.
Alvarez now, ugggh. I was looking at Alvarez's stats earlier. I know catchers are hard to come by, but Alvarez has not repeated his rookie breakout. I can live with Torrens weak bat with his stellar defense. I now add the final piece of the Baby Mets to the hand of four of a kind. This should be the final straw. There is no surprise. Robert, Polanco and Alvarez are all big injury risks and they are all hurt. We are going nowhere, so let the kids play and lets see what we got. Who cares if Cliffords numbers arent great. Let him sink or swim. Morabito, bring him up. Wenninger, bring him up.
They cant be any worse than the level of inept play that we have had this season. If there ever was a season to write it off early, this is it.
Exactly right. On the one hand, one ten-game hot streak (say 8-2) just about gets them just shy of .500. On the other hand, the ASB is 55 games away and they would have to play .581 ball over that stretch, which is a big ask for this team's offense as currently constituted. But if they can at least tread water until the injured players come back, there's still a shot at making this season interesting.
If he wanted to get Benge into the lineup, he should’ve just put him in centerfield and not gone and signed Robert Jr. Nimmo was a good player for them. Someone said to me the other night that a number of Mets objected to his politics. I’d never heard that before. Alvarez, on the other hand is turning to the reincarnation of Travis d’Arnaud who is never healthy enough to stay on the field much
I'd never heard it before yesterday either, but there was a comment on another site to that effect (only that said it was his wife's politics). Wondering if a story broke in Texas about this? Otherwise, where did this come from?
Stearns has said on several occasions that a team's improvement doesn't always come from the top player, it can also come by raising the floor of the roster. He has also said repeatedly that any time they have an opportunity to improve the roster, they will do it.
Wouldn't Paul DeJong have been an upgrade, however tiny, Ibanez? Two days after DeJong's opt-out, Mauricio gets hurt and the Mets could have taken him without dropping Ibanez. Instead, they added the previously-DFA'd Vidal Brujan back to the roster rather than DeJong. Yeah, I know they're both all glove, no bat. But DeJong does manage to catch lightning in a bottle every now and then.
I think another part of the Nimmo trade was revealed last night with Benge and Ewing having the opportunity to be out there together with Soto. As far as Semien - it does seem to the eye that he has been smoking the ball at least a couple times a game. Nimmo has cooled off since his hot start, and is now dealing with an ankle injury in addition to some hamstring issues a couple weeks ago. I loved Nimmo and was sad to see him go, but I am happy to watch the AJ Ewing experience for a while. Now if they want to bring up Morabito and move Semien to a bench role you won't hear me complain.
In his last 11 games, Nimmo has a .791 OPS, compared to a season-long .803 mark, so I think it's more of a rebounding from some bad games a few weeks ago, rather than "cooled off since his hot start."
4-26 the 7 games prior to last night, but I get your point. For me the team is the team and I am rooting for Semien (especially since he BABIPd me into a 4 leg parlay win last night).
Sorry. But to think that the team was so sure Ewing would jump from AA to the majors in just 6 weeks that they traded Nimmo for that reason is just fantasy.
There was something non-baseball driving that trade. What that was is completely speculative. But it wasn't the expectation that a pair of prospects would jump the line and both be successful with only minimal time in AAA. It just doesn' happen often enough to build a plan around it.
not that they thought Ewing would be up this year, but certainly within the timeframe of Nimmo's contract, and very likely by next year at which point you'd definitely have Soto, Ewing and Benge for the OF and no room for Nimmo. Especially if they see Vientos as a DH and want to leave space for Clifford to play 1b. It was absolutely a factor, much more so than any perceived non-baseball reasons.
Oh.. so now Clifford is also part of the equation? That is the unbridled prospect love that too many Mets fans exhibit. That blindly and arbitrarily assumes too many things: 1) that all three of Benge, Ewing, and Clifford were certain to not only stick in the majors, but do so as every day starters. That defies the realities of baseball. Outside of top tens, most prospects take longer to arrive and wind up being less than projected** 2) that the Mets were were somehow locked into Vientos as an every day player for the long term when he hasn't done nearly enough to warrant that kind of commitment. 3) that the Mets were willing to take a step back this year while waiting for Benge and Ewing to make it.
** For the record, the rankings and so-called projections the scouts make are based on what they see as the payer's ceiling, do not necessarily where he will end up. Then the writers home in on the positives and even embellish them. only for the fans to get even further carried away.
Stearns has been very clear that prospects need an opportunity. I am not speculating at all on whether the prospects will pan out, or when, but the Mets have an absolute need long term to replace high end contracts with league minimum ones. They have a potential power replacement for Alonso in AAA and maybe he's ready later this year or next (or never), but in my opinion they gave Polanco the 2 year deal in part at least to leave room and flexibility for Clifford in case he's the answer. Etc.
In my opinion, the Nimmo trade was driven partly by concerns of how his health might hold up and that his contract might become complete albatross, as he would have also become a ten-and-five guy later this season.
The non-baseball, again just my speculation, is that the owners are fully intent on getting more restrictive spending limits into the next CBA, with more severe penalties, possibly on the draft pick side of things. Trading Nimmo's 4-year deal for Semien's 2-year deal gets the out of the penalties earlier, even if it costs more in the short term.
It's a meniscus tear for Alvarez. That makes 4 Opening Day starters on the IL right now.
It looked like that when I said meniscus tear last night in chat. Complicated outcomes depending on how big, where, and shape of the tear. I’ve had three. The first arthroscopy worked for a while, then it tore again running, so they went back in and clipped that off. Unfortunately that left not a lot cartilege and the bone-bone pain was exquisite. Knee replacement was next. My next tear on the other knee they just said were going straight to replacement.
Worth noting is that the surgery does not “fix” the cartilege. There is no blood flow in the meniscus, so the tear is not sewed together with it healing through time. They just cleverly cut the tear to try and keep it from growing. For an elite athlete, this is tough, especially a catcher who has to kneel constantly. This injury is a real downer for Alvarez.
And none of those starters is close to a return.
Alvarez now, ugggh. I was looking at Alvarez's stats earlier. I know catchers are hard to come by, but Alvarez has not repeated his rookie breakout. I can live with Torrens weak bat with his stellar defense. I now add the final piece of the Baby Mets to the hand of four of a kind. This should be the final straw. There is no surprise. Robert, Polanco and Alvarez are all big injury risks and they are all hurt. We are going nowhere, so let the kids play and lets see what we got. Who cares if Cliffords numbers arent great. Let him sink or swim. Morabito, bring him up. Wenninger, bring him up.
They cant be any worse than the level of inept play that we have had this season. If there ever was a season to write it off early, this is it.
Make it to 500 by the AS break and who knows? It’s a long season.
Exactly right. On the one hand, one ten-game hot streak (say 8-2) just about gets them just shy of .500. On the other hand, the ASB is 55 games away and they would have to play .581 ball over that stretch, which is a big ask for this team's offense as currently constituted. But if they can at least tread water until the injured players come back, there's still a shot at making this season interesting.
If he wanted to get Benge into the lineup, he should’ve just put him in centerfield and not gone and signed Robert Jr. Nimmo was a good player for them. Someone said to me the other night that a number of Mets objected to his politics. I’d never heard that before. Alvarez, on the other hand is turning to the reincarnation of Travis d’Arnaud who is never healthy enough to stay on the field much
I'd never heard it before yesterday either, but there was a comment on another site to that effect (only that said it was his wife's politics). Wondering if a story broke in Texas about this? Otherwise, where did this come from?
Stearns has said on several occasions that a team's improvement doesn't always come from the top player, it can also come by raising the floor of the roster. He has also said repeatedly that any time they have an opportunity to improve the roster, they will do it.
Wouldn't Paul DeJong have been an upgrade, however tiny, Ibanez? Two days after DeJong's opt-out, Mauricio gets hurt and the Mets could have taken him without dropping Ibanez. Instead, they added the previously-DFA'd Vidal Brujan back to the roster rather than DeJong. Yeah, I know they're both all glove, no bat. But DeJong does manage to catch lightning in a bottle every now and then.