I agree that Holmes would be the guy I'd want back. The Mets had a potentially outstanding top 3 in the rotation with Holmes, McLean and Peralta. While they were losing games with those 3 in the rotation, it was mainly because of the offense and not the pitching. It was not unreasonable to expect some regression to the mean from the offense (and it appears we are starting to see that), and if this pitching could continue, there was true hope for a turnaround. I think Holmes injury put a huge damper on that, more so than losing Lindor even. I'm still optimistic that they will get back into the playoff race. It sure would help though if we could win the games that we are supposed to (like a 5-0 lead with McLean on the mound).
my comment on the Jim Bowden article was something like "tell me you haven't watched the Mets play without telling me you haven't watched the Mets play." Clearly if he had he'd know it was the offense that had been struggling not the bullpen although perhaps we can be generous and say he doesn't think they need offensive improvement now that the prospects have been called up? Murukami definitely got away.
With hindsight, we would all love to have Murakami on our team.
I will say that, in the offseason, I advocated for Stearns to sign Okamoto to play 1B for the Mets. He's mainly playing 3B for Toronto and his defense seems fine (as I suspect it would be at 1B). Bichette wasn't even on my radar back in the winter. Baty at 3B and Okamoto at 1B worked for me. Okamoto has 10 HR and an OPS+ of 101.
Monday morning quarterbacking not withstanding...Stearns refused to even negotiate with Alonso due to post-prime projections versus cost. He then signed a post-prime Polanco, who had a significant injury history in prime, for $40 million/2 years to play a position he never played. Simultaneously, despite having an extremely wealthy owner, he passed on (or lost out to the last place White Sox) a pre-prime Japanese slugger who cost less than Polanco. Now, nobody may have known this guy would rake like he has, and maybe nobody knew that he could field 1B at close to league average. But, just digesting all those facts, and combining it with the Mets having no power aside from Soto, and basically no offense aside from Soto, well, that makes me kind of nauseous. Actually, really nauseous. I wonder how it makes Stearns and Cohen feel. Manaea, Williams, Semien, Bichette, this is a lot of swing and miss for a team looking for more contact.
I agree that Holmes would be the guy I'd want back. The Mets had a potentially outstanding top 3 in the rotation with Holmes, McLean and Peralta. While they were losing games with those 3 in the rotation, it was mainly because of the offense and not the pitching. It was not unreasonable to expect some regression to the mean from the offense (and it appears we are starting to see that), and if this pitching could continue, there was true hope for a turnaround. I think Holmes injury put a huge damper on that, more so than losing Lindor even. I'm still optimistic that they will get back into the playoff race. It sure would help though if we could win the games that we are supposed to (like a 5-0 lead with McLean on the mound).
my comment on the Jim Bowden article was something like "tell me you haven't watched the Mets play without telling me you haven't watched the Mets play." Clearly if he had he'd know it was the offense that had been struggling not the bullpen although perhaps we can be generous and say he doesn't think they need offensive improvement now that the prospects have been called up? Murukami definitely got away.
All Bowden had to do is look at MLB team stats and see that the Mets are at the bottom of MLB in hitting.
Murakami has been unbelievable. I would even take Okamoto.
If you get players that have an injury history, they will get hurt.
With hindsight, we would all love to have Murakami on our team.
I will say that, in the offseason, I advocated for Stearns to sign Okamoto to play 1B for the Mets. He's mainly playing 3B for Toronto and his defense seems fine (as I suspect it would be at 1B). Bichette wasn't even on my radar back in the winter. Baty at 3B and Okamoto at 1B worked for me. Okamoto has 10 HR and an OPS+ of 101.
For some of us, it wasn't hindsight
https://mets360.substack.com/p/a-potential-2026-roster-for-the-mets
Like your lineup, Brian. Too bad about Lopez though!
Bowden is a shoot from the hip guy who gets clicks by being brash. Is what it is, and it ain’t Will Sammon or Tyler Kepner.
When the poll was posted on 5/17 asking which player would finish with a lower wRC+, Bo Bichette had a 55 wRC+ and Marcus Semien had a 74.
Now, Bichette has a 74 wRC+ and Semien has a 70.
All it took for Bichette to get out of his early-season malaise was to compare him to Semien.
Sometimes a little patience… Not long ago Vientos and Benge were looking bad. Semien and Bichettem still,ight bounce back. It’s a long season.
Mets DFA Kimbrel and promote Jonah Tong. Also, Minter is close to being activated and they'll need to clear a spot on the 40-man.
Maybe Tong pitches tonight, goes down to be replaced by a fungible reliever - let's call him Alex Carrillo - who gets released when Minter returns.
Monday morning quarterbacking not withstanding...Stearns refused to even negotiate with Alonso due to post-prime projections versus cost. He then signed a post-prime Polanco, who had a significant injury history in prime, for $40 million/2 years to play a position he never played. Simultaneously, despite having an extremely wealthy owner, he passed on (or lost out to the last place White Sox) a pre-prime Japanese slugger who cost less than Polanco. Now, nobody may have known this guy would rake like he has, and maybe nobody knew that he could field 1B at close to league average. But, just digesting all those facts, and combining it with the Mets having no power aside from Soto, and basically no offense aside from Soto, well, that makes me kind of nauseous. Actually, really nauseous. I wonder how it makes Stearns and Cohen feel. Manaea, Williams, Semien, Bichette, this is a lot of swing and miss for a team looking for more contact.