Post by Strategist on Jan 14, 2020 2:45:50 GMT
2018 Review:
Record: 73-89 3rd in NL East. R/G Scored: 12th (NL) R/G Against: 10th (NL)
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: The lineup was a weakness going into the offseason with the best offensive players being LF Eddie Rosario, C Salvador Perez and 3B Travis Shaw. While all very solid players they are not lineup anchors. To fill out the rest of the lineup they had 2B Starlin Castro, 2B Jonathan Villar, SS Nick Ahmed, RF Gerardo Parra, RF Scott Schebler, and CF Ian Happ. I don't think that the Mets planned on 2019 was the year they planned on competing probably thinking they were 1 year away. The Mets did sign the Cuban defector Victor Victor Mesa but with his ratings he wasn't going to be useful this season.
Rotation: Led by up and coming superstar Luis Severino the Mets had a solid rotation 1-5 with Jack Flaherty, Eduardo Rodriguez, Luke Weaver, and Dakota Hudson.
Bullpen: Paired with the rotation the pitching staff was going to have to be the strength of this team if they were going to compete in 2019. Led by a 3 monster in Corey Knebel, Drew Steckenrider, and Justin Anderson.The Mets did make a trade to bring in veteran Josh Fields to provide even more depth.
Early Season:
What a rollercoaster ride early for the Mets. Going 19-10 in Mar/Apr, then 11-18 in May, followed by 19-9 in June. This all added up to the Mets being within a few games of division lead PHI and a good lead in the WC standings.
Mid Season:
I think the unexpected play of his team and the real possibility of making the playoffs and a chance at the division spurred Larry to help out his offense. Trading for 3B Mike Moustakas, SS Ehire Adrianza, and LF Steve Pearce.
Late Season/Conclusion:
Battled all the way down to the last few days of the regular season before finishing 93-69 3rd in the NL East 1 GB of both MIA and PHI and finishing 2nd in the WC. Beating PHI in the WC 4-3 to move on and face MIL. Played MIL close in 2 of the 3 games holding their vaunted offense to 3 Runs in game 1 and 2 runs in game 3 unfortunately just couldn't score enough runs and would get swept. Overall I think Larry had to happy with their overall performance and has to be excited about their future.
Lineup: 13th in runs scored. Schebler was a pleasant surprise leading the team on offense hitting .250/.346/.485 30 HRs and a 127 OPS+. Perez and Castro were also very good in more limited action. After that though there wasn't another hitter that started the season with the team to have an above average hitting season.
Rotation: 3rd in starters' ERA. The pitching staff as a whole was elite. The rotation was led by elite seasons by Severino and Flaherty. Severino went 14-7 2.82 ERA 219 Ks in 33 GS and 188 IP. Flaherty went 15-7 3.05 ERA 228 Ks 33 GS and 186 IP. All 5 main starters made at least 26 GS and finished with an ERA of 4.04 or lower. Great season 1-5 for the Mets' SPs.
Bullpen: Top 6 bullpen options all had ERAs under 2.79 and K/9 of 13.4 or greater. The only weakness was long relief but with how good the starters were didn't have a huge impact overall.
Future:
Salary Cap: 131.4 Mil on next year's cap. Should have somewhere between 30-40 Mil to use. No major FAs.
Needs: Larry doesn't need me to tell him but offense, offense, and offense. It should get a big boost from calling up CF Ramon Lauereano, and LF Bryan Reynolds. Add Moustakas for a full season who is a solid above average piece and you got the beginnings of a good lineup. Villar, Castro, Rosario, Happ, Andrianza, and Ahmed all should get at a little better ratings then last season but Perez, Schebler, and Shaw will get worst. With the cap space I would think that Larry would be very active in looking for that superstar type player to plug into the lineup with these guys to really push the lineup over the top and into the conversation for top 10 lineup. The Rotation should be amazing again next season with Flaherty, Rodriguez, Hudson, and Weaver all taking their game up a notch IRL. Flaherty moving into that elite ace category. Severino was hurt all season but should still get a very good SP2 type rating. Do have Joey Lucchesi that could be moved as part of a trade to improve the offense or as insurance against injury or poor performance.
Trades Overview:
2B Adam Hall, and C Blake Hunt to SD for RP Josh Fields - 6-3 2.02 ERA 83 Ks in 74 GP and 66 IP was great for the Mets this season. Hall is a mid tier prospect for the Orioles and has played well so far in the minors. Hunt is a low tier prospect. Not a terribly high price but fields is in the last year of his deal.
SP Drew Syly, SS JT Riddle, LF Drew Ferguson, and C Taylor Davis to BAL for SP Carter Stewart, RF Daniel Montano, and SS Marcos Gonzalez - Didn't trade much value away and didn't get much value in return. Although Stewart was a top 10 pick in 2018 but as he is going to play atleast the next 6 years in Japan I have no idea what kind of projections he will get until he comes back.
1B Jake Burger to BOS for LF Steve Pearce - .227/.366/.361 103 OPS+ Struggled after the trade but was a smart short term move to try and get an upgrade for not a large cost.
RF Yusniel Diaz, SP Blaine Knight, and RP Sam Delaplane to TOR for 3B Mike Moustakas - .259/.298/.517 17 HRs and a 120 OPS+ in 68 GP. Definitely provided a lift to the sputtering offense and as Moose got a 4 yr 64 Mil deal this offseason IRL I think the 4 yr 80 Mil he signed for in our league prior to 2019 season was probably right on value. TOR ended up fading early and decided to rebuild a bit. Giving up a top 100 prospect Diaz and 2 lower tier prospects was not a bad price for 3.5 years of Moustakas who should be able to play 3B/2B and provide above average offense.
SP Tommy Romero, and SP Ljay Newsome to CHC for SS Ehire Adrianza - .246/.307/.304 in 24 GP for the Mets who were in major need of offense at almost every position and Adrianza was raking for the CHC with a .397 OBP but he couldn't keep up that pace after the trade. Giving up 2 low tier prospects I think it was worth it trying to upgrade your biggest weakness.
SP John Means to CHC for Giovanny Gallegos - 2-0 2.29 ERA 34 Ks in 20 GP and 19.2 IP was very good following the trade. As mentioned multiple times the Mets have great SP depth so trading that for a very good bullpen is a solid move.
FA Overview:
CF Victor Victor Mesa 3 yr 37.650 Mil - I think this was an overpay as most reports I read were that he was good and ranked among the best international players in 2018 but he was by no means a sure thing but I will admit there have been Cubans that have came in straight away and crushed. Puig and Cespedes come to mind. The only way that this contract would have been justified was to get something comparable to those 2 and the scouting reports didn't suggest that was going to be the case. I think that part of this signing was what I have pointed out before that the Mets didn't plan on competing this season and this signing was more about next season and beyond. With plenty of cap space it wasn't like it handicapped his team but as he didn't provide anything to his sim team and he played poorly in the low minors, the 1.25 (Team option for 3rd year) more guaranteed years look like a sunk cost at least for 1 more season. Maybe he will breakout in 2020. D Would have gone F but with all the cap space the Mets have and no serious FA coming up this season or next its not the worst risk in the world just looks like right now it isn't going to work out.
2B Ronny Rodriguez 1 yr 1.1 Mil - .247/.267/.454 95 OPS+ in 97 ABs. Just a bench bat but didn't kill the Mets when he did play. C+.
Overall: D. Very little participation and little production from the signings.
Record: 73-89 3rd in NL East. R/G Scored: 12th (NL) R/G Against: 10th (NL)
Starting the Offseason:
Lineup: The lineup was a weakness going into the offseason with the best offensive players being LF Eddie Rosario, C Salvador Perez and 3B Travis Shaw. While all very solid players they are not lineup anchors. To fill out the rest of the lineup they had 2B Starlin Castro, 2B Jonathan Villar, SS Nick Ahmed, RF Gerardo Parra, RF Scott Schebler, and CF Ian Happ. I don't think that the Mets planned on 2019 was the year they planned on competing probably thinking they were 1 year away. The Mets did sign the Cuban defector Victor Victor Mesa but with his ratings he wasn't going to be useful this season.
Rotation: Led by up and coming superstar Luis Severino the Mets had a solid rotation 1-5 with Jack Flaherty, Eduardo Rodriguez, Luke Weaver, and Dakota Hudson.
Bullpen: Paired with the rotation the pitching staff was going to have to be the strength of this team if they were going to compete in 2019. Led by a 3 monster in Corey Knebel, Drew Steckenrider, and Justin Anderson.The Mets did make a trade to bring in veteran Josh Fields to provide even more depth.
Early Season:
What a rollercoaster ride early for the Mets. Going 19-10 in Mar/Apr, then 11-18 in May, followed by 19-9 in June. This all added up to the Mets being within a few games of division lead PHI and a good lead in the WC standings.
Mid Season:
I think the unexpected play of his team and the real possibility of making the playoffs and a chance at the division spurred Larry to help out his offense. Trading for 3B Mike Moustakas, SS Ehire Adrianza, and LF Steve Pearce.
Late Season/Conclusion:
Battled all the way down to the last few days of the regular season before finishing 93-69 3rd in the NL East 1 GB of both MIA and PHI and finishing 2nd in the WC. Beating PHI in the WC 4-3 to move on and face MIL. Played MIL close in 2 of the 3 games holding their vaunted offense to 3 Runs in game 1 and 2 runs in game 3 unfortunately just couldn't score enough runs and would get swept. Overall I think Larry had to happy with their overall performance and has to be excited about their future.
Lineup: 13th in runs scored. Schebler was a pleasant surprise leading the team on offense hitting .250/.346/.485 30 HRs and a 127 OPS+. Perez and Castro were also very good in more limited action. After that though there wasn't another hitter that started the season with the team to have an above average hitting season.
Rotation: 3rd in starters' ERA. The pitching staff as a whole was elite. The rotation was led by elite seasons by Severino and Flaherty. Severino went 14-7 2.82 ERA 219 Ks in 33 GS and 188 IP. Flaherty went 15-7 3.05 ERA 228 Ks 33 GS and 186 IP. All 5 main starters made at least 26 GS and finished with an ERA of 4.04 or lower. Great season 1-5 for the Mets' SPs.
Bullpen: Top 6 bullpen options all had ERAs under 2.79 and K/9 of 13.4 or greater. The only weakness was long relief but with how good the starters were didn't have a huge impact overall.
Future:
Salary Cap: 131.4 Mil on next year's cap. Should have somewhere between 30-40 Mil to use. No major FAs.
Needs: Larry doesn't need me to tell him but offense, offense, and offense. It should get a big boost from calling up CF Ramon Lauereano, and LF Bryan Reynolds. Add Moustakas for a full season who is a solid above average piece and you got the beginnings of a good lineup. Villar, Castro, Rosario, Happ, Andrianza, and Ahmed all should get at a little better ratings then last season but Perez, Schebler, and Shaw will get worst. With the cap space I would think that Larry would be very active in looking for that superstar type player to plug into the lineup with these guys to really push the lineup over the top and into the conversation for top 10 lineup. The Rotation should be amazing again next season with Flaherty, Rodriguez, Hudson, and Weaver all taking their game up a notch IRL. Flaherty moving into that elite ace category. Severino was hurt all season but should still get a very good SP2 type rating. Do have Joey Lucchesi that could be moved as part of a trade to improve the offense or as insurance against injury or poor performance.
Trades Overview:
2B Adam Hall, and C Blake Hunt to SD for RP Josh Fields - 6-3 2.02 ERA 83 Ks in 74 GP and 66 IP was great for the Mets this season. Hall is a mid tier prospect for the Orioles and has played well so far in the minors. Hunt is a low tier prospect. Not a terribly high price but fields is in the last year of his deal.
SP Drew Syly, SS JT Riddle, LF Drew Ferguson, and C Taylor Davis to BAL for SP Carter Stewart, RF Daniel Montano, and SS Marcos Gonzalez - Didn't trade much value away and didn't get much value in return. Although Stewart was a top 10 pick in 2018 but as he is going to play atleast the next 6 years in Japan I have no idea what kind of projections he will get until he comes back.
1B Jake Burger to BOS for LF Steve Pearce - .227/.366/.361 103 OPS+ Struggled after the trade but was a smart short term move to try and get an upgrade for not a large cost.
RF Yusniel Diaz, SP Blaine Knight, and RP Sam Delaplane to TOR for 3B Mike Moustakas - .259/.298/.517 17 HRs and a 120 OPS+ in 68 GP. Definitely provided a lift to the sputtering offense and as Moose got a 4 yr 64 Mil deal this offseason IRL I think the 4 yr 80 Mil he signed for in our league prior to 2019 season was probably right on value. TOR ended up fading early and decided to rebuild a bit. Giving up a top 100 prospect Diaz and 2 lower tier prospects was not a bad price for 3.5 years of Moustakas who should be able to play 3B/2B and provide above average offense.
SP Tommy Romero, and SP Ljay Newsome to CHC for SS Ehire Adrianza - .246/.307/.304 in 24 GP for the Mets who were in major need of offense at almost every position and Adrianza was raking for the CHC with a .397 OBP but he couldn't keep up that pace after the trade. Giving up 2 low tier prospects I think it was worth it trying to upgrade your biggest weakness.
SP John Means to CHC for Giovanny Gallegos - 2-0 2.29 ERA 34 Ks in 20 GP and 19.2 IP was very good following the trade. As mentioned multiple times the Mets have great SP depth so trading that for a very good bullpen is a solid move.
FA Overview:
CF Victor Victor Mesa 3 yr 37.650 Mil - I think this was an overpay as most reports I read were that he was good and ranked among the best international players in 2018 but he was by no means a sure thing but I will admit there have been Cubans that have came in straight away and crushed. Puig and Cespedes come to mind. The only way that this contract would have been justified was to get something comparable to those 2 and the scouting reports didn't suggest that was going to be the case. I think that part of this signing was what I have pointed out before that the Mets didn't plan on competing this season and this signing was more about next season and beyond. With plenty of cap space it wasn't like it handicapped his team but as he didn't provide anything to his sim team and he played poorly in the low minors, the 1.25 (Team option for 3rd year) more guaranteed years look like a sunk cost at least for 1 more season. Maybe he will breakout in 2020. D Would have gone F but with all the cap space the Mets have and no serious FA coming up this season or next its not the worst risk in the world just looks like right now it isn't going to work out.
2B Ronny Rodriguez 1 yr 1.1 Mil - .247/.267/.454 95 OPS+ in 97 ABs. Just a bench bat but didn't kill the Mets when he did play. C+.
Overall: D. Very little participation and little production from the signings.