Category: General

Mets Catchers Worst in Last Decade

Mets fans know that 2017 is a make or break year for Travis d’Arnaud as the starting catcher. He’s always had a reputation as struggling to stay healthy and he’s never been known as a stellar defender. So if he doesn’t supply offense, he doesn’t have much game at all. His regression in 2016 to only playing 75 games and hitting .247/4 HR/ 15 RBI was startlingly poor. I have a feeling that a bad start to the season will put d’Arnaud on the bench permanently this season.

ESPN’s David Schoenfield takes a great look at the positions that teams have struggled to fill over the last decade. The Mets catchers are included with a frightening -14.2 WAA.

John Buck Continues Torrid Power Hitting

Mets catcher John Buck continued his assault on National League pitching yesterday by blasting a garbage time home run to left-center in the ninth inning of a blowout loss. Yesterday the victim was Phillies pitcher Jeremy Horst. But Buck has been taking advantage of NL pitchers all month.

Buck started to tail off a bit over the last week, so I thought his storybook month might have come to an end. But he lit up Horst for a garbage time homer to keep the fairytale alive for one more day.

Buck’s now third in the NL in home runs and first in RBI’s. The Mets haven’t had a catcher with this kind of pop since Mike Piazza left. Sure, Paul LoDuca had some solid seasons. But what Buck is doing right now is amazin’. Continue reading “John Buck Continues Torrid Power Hitting”

Former Met Jeff Kent Joins ‘Survivor’ Cast

Former Mets second baseman Jeff Kent is joining the ‘Survivor: Philippines” cast set to debut on CBS on September 19. Kent played for the Mets from ’92-’96 and was the 2000 NL MVP with the Giants.

His inclusion in the cast should make for interesting TV as he was known to have a prickly personality during his playing days. He was part of the ill-fated trade to Cleveland in ’96 with Carlos Baerga coming back to the Mets.

During Kent’s five years with the Mets, he hit .279 67 HR’s, and 276 RBI’s. Of course, he went on to bigger things with the Dodgers and Giants after leaving the Mets.

2012 Mets Still Exceeding Expectations

Sandy Alderson
Sandy Alderson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As Mets fans, we’ve come to expect second half disappointments since the 2007 season. So the 2012 season is nothing new for us. The collapse has come in July and August instead of September like it usually does. But the 2012 Mets are still exceeding my expectations.

Before the season I predicted that this would be a 65-70 win team. Currently, the Mets are on pace to win 73. That would be a solid season for the sad roster that the Mets put together this season.

Let’s face it. The Mets won 77 games last year and then lost one of the best players in team history, Jose Reyes, in free agency. They traded Angel Pagan to the Giants for a bag of balls. What did you really expect? Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch would come in and account for more than 7 wins between them. Continue reading “2012 Mets Still Exceeding Expectations”

Mets Fan Dies, Not Due to Team Losses

English: Mets fans of all races watch the Mets...
English: Mets fans of all races watch the Mets win. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Marylou Belles of Bethel, CT died this month. Her obituary states “She was also a lifelong NY Mets fan though surprisingly, that wasn’t what killed her.” And she died after giving cancer the finger for 27 years. RIP Marylou.

[Source: The PostGame]

Ike Davis Is Hitting – On the Road

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - FEBRUARY 24: Ike Davis #...

Much has been written this year about Ike Davis’ struggles at the plate. And he sure has struggled mightily. But when you look at his splits, he’s not hitting that badly on the road. He just can’t hit a lick at home. Going into tonight, his slash line for the season is .173/.236/.276. Really ugly!

But if you look at his home/road splits, he’s not hitting that badly on the road. He’s hitting a home run every 16 at-bats on the road this year. That’s better than his (short) career numbers of a home run every 25.8 at-bats. His slash line on the road this year is .286/.340/.490. Not bad.

Take a look at his home/road splits:

http://www.sports-reference.com/js/sr_share.js
Report from Baseball-Reference.com.

I’m not sure what to make of his road success this year in the same number of plate appearances and at-bats as he’s had at home. Do you?