Ever feel like the team is playing “Station to Station” baseball? I sure do and after looking at some of the teams overall statistics, there is a reason why. The team has no power and no speed, but they get tons of hits and walks. So, guys are constantly sitting on base waiting for a hit or walk to move over one spot. No wonder we have no nails left on our fingers. We are counting on these guys to consistently come up with these 3-4 hit innings just to get a run in. How can a team possibly keep up that kind of pace while maintaining a winning record? The statistic that backs this argument up the most is the Mets are 14th in team Left on Base just ahead of Atlanta and St. Louis. Please keep in mind that Atlanta and St. Louis have a combined 96 more RBI’s than the Mets and lead the NL in that category, so they get a pass.
Am I dreaming or did the organization move in those Citi-Field walls? Wasn’t Ike and Duda supposed to hit a combined 80 home runs this year? Dan Murphy doesn’t have one yet and he is second in the league with the longest home run drought. “Station to Station” baseball can actually work if the team had a little speed (plus the briefly mentioned power) but they are dead last in stolen bases in the NL with 14. What’s worse is they have been caught 12 times. That’s a lot of outs on the bases in 37 games.
We can probably blame some people, but that isn’t going to increase the teams run total. Blame Sandy, for not constructing a team with enough power. Blame Wilpon, for gambling and not having enough money to give to Sandy. Blame Omar for only drafting line drive hitters. Blame Ike and Duda for not taking Steroids. Blah Blah Blah, who gives a crap, so let’s talk about how to change this.
I don’t think trades are happening anytime soon and most teams aren’t just going to trade a 30 HR guy unless they are completely out of contention late in the season. There is no one coming up the minor league pipe anytime soon that will give the power the team needs. The only option right now is adjust what you have. Jason Bay is coming back and the next 2 obvious targets are Ike Davis and Lucas Duda.
Out of the 3 guys, Duda is the least of my worries. His production is starting to tick up and as he gets more comfortable those home runs should start to come. That leaves us with Bay and Ike. Bay is going to get his shot, but does he even want to be on the team? His injuries just seem to drag out. He did hit a couple HR’s before he was hurt but that was just a small sample size. My perception is he is just not part of this team anymore. He knows it, the team knows it and the writing is on the wall for him.
Now we got poor Ike. The team’s leader in HR’s at 5. Ike is completely demoralized and he needs to be demoted. He is so bad that the team doesn’t need to worry about replacing him. He needs change of scenery and a change of pace. If he was going to adjust at the MLB level he would have done it by now.
So what are your thoughts? Is it true there is a Sandy philosophy to force the “Station to Station” approach? How should we stop it, he is the Emperor. Should we alter the batting lineup and drop Ike to eighth or boot him off completely? Pipe up and let us know and I will tweet these suggestions to Sandy Alderson who will never read them.
Here are some numbers to chew on. Mets rankings in the NL: 7th in runs with 152, 5th in hits with 328, 3rd in doubles with 67, 15th in triples with 4, 15th in home runs with 23, 8th in RBI with 145, Last in SB with 14, 6th in CS with 12, 4th in walks with 131, 3rd in K’s with 300, 3rd in BA at .264, 2nd in OBP at .337, 12th in SLG at .379, 5th in OPS at .716.
16 comments
Stick
5/17/2012-11:32am at 11:32 am (UTC -4)
3rd in doubles is at least encouraging. And that should be leading to more runs.
I never thought the team would steal much, but I did not expect them to be so bad in HRs.
so, if you want more HRs, you either change the players (not much hope of that), or get the ones you have to hit for more power.
so, I am fully no board with Ike going down with his snappy .150ish BA. Not that his replacement is likely to hit a ton, but maybe they can still fix him.
Duda should be going on a HR binge soon. So not really worried there, since at least he has the power to flash.
Kirk, Torres, Bay, etc. will hit an occasional HR, but not getting many out of them. DItto for Tejada.
so that leaves Murphy and Wright, the 2 guys with high BAs. So, do you want to mess with them?
I would say yes to try and get murphy to turn on some balls and up the 2B/HR #s. sell out a bit IOW, especially hitting 5th.
But, DW I would not touch. no way do I want to see him going back to the big swing hacktastic ways.
So HRs will tick up a bit, but they are going to have to be a bit more aggressive on the basepaths, live off of doubles, and mostly, keep getting some big hits with RISP (especially the 2 out ones!)
kingman 26
5/17/2012-11:57am at 11:57 am (UTC -4)
“How can a team possibly keep up that kind of pace while maintaining a winning record?”
They probably can’t.
It’s been a great start, and I hate being right so often, but the team has the precise horrible bullpen some of us predicted as you don’t replace KRod and Izzy with Francisco and Rauch and not take a big step back.
And Ceetar’s fantasies aside, the offense is mediocre at best as many predicted, as Reyes and Beltran were not replaced. Moving in the fences was dumb and a cheap way to try to appease fans, but a silly move for a team traditionally pitching-dependent, and again with almost all top prospects being pitchers.
They aren’t going to keep winning every 1- and 2-run game, the Marlins are coming together, and Philly will eventually be healthy.
I think .500 still is the only reasonable expectation for this team.
Stick
5/17/2012-12:02pm at 12:02 pm (UTC -4)
I disagree about the fences. I think it was the right call to make the park play fair (neutral? whoever you want to look at it). I just don’t believe you should make your home park extreme just because of a current player, or try to make it geared too heavilty toward pitching or hitting. No band boxes, no grand canyons.
srt
5/17/2012-12:47pm at 12:47 pm (UTC -4)
Agree about the fences as well.
Still think it’s more of a pitcher’s park even with the fences in but much more even in that regards than it was before the fences were brought in.
SaltyGary
5/17/2012-12:18pm at 12:18 pm (UTC -4)
I’m with Stick on the fences. It really hasn’t had much of a impact. I think it was important just to get rid of the perception.
My biggest fear of this team was the bullpen because they would be overused due to the starters not being able to go late in the game. Add that reality with the fact that they have to keep these 1-2 run leads every single time, and it becomes a unfair task.
I haven’t really looked at the bullpen numbers but if we took away our knowledge of them losing the lead I wonder where they rank with other teams. Maybe they are actually doing well or at least average, but they are consistently being put in a unfair position.
I may have time to do a little digging today. 2 days from vacation and I’ve tied up most of my loose ends at this point.
trs86
5/17/2012-12:29pm at 12:29 pm (UTC -4)
I disagree that Reyes’ offense wasn’t replaced. The combination of Tejada and Murphy has more than made up for the lack of Reyes. It isn’t like Reyes was going to continue to play like he did last year and also he wasn’t the same in the 2nd half anyway.
SaltyGary
5/17/2012-12:29pm at 12:29 pm (UTC -4)
Hey Stick based on your Kirk being benched concern in the other thread, I just don’t see that as being a issue.
So Bay comes back and you put Torres in CF and Kirk in RF or the other way around, whoever has the better arm I guess.
Throw Dude at first keeping Murph at second and thow Ike down to the farm. Ike will probably need a month, it’s not going to be a 2 week stint and he’s cured situation. Over that time I am sure Bay will get a ouchey again or something else will happen. Dude did ok at first last year and he would probably be more comfortable.
Stick
5/17/2012-12:35pm at 12:35 pm (UTC -4)
not too worried about Duda at first, but I really do not want to see Bay getting any ABs vs. RHP.
SaltyGary
5/17/2012-12:38pm at 12:38 pm (UTC -4)
They are going to give him that last shot. He started perking up a little. I just would not be surprised that if he doesn’t do anything for a month his butt will get dumped too.
It’s weird Omar always seemed to hold on a little too long and Sandy is the exact opposite. Emaus got 2 weeks, Carrasco got 2 days. They really don’t play around and I think there are enough players in the outfield right now where they would dump Bay if it made sense. They arleady consider that contract a sunk cost.
Stick
5/17/2012-12:45pm at 12:45 pm (UTC -4)
he perked up a little, but I looked into his numbers last week, and it was all vs. LHP. vs RHP, he had most of his PAs (37 vs. 16? something like that), with 1 RBI, 13Ks and about a .630 OPS. Not good.
but in those ABs vs. LHP, something crazy like a 1.25 OPS, with 4 RBIs.
just give him the hairston role, and keep him away from RHP. ANd if he doesn’t smoke lefties, they won’t even be able to dump him for pennies on the $ at the trade deadline.
SaltyGary
5/17/2012-12:50pm at 12:50 pm (UTC -4)
I’ve been hoping that Becket would go on a drunk tirade or throw some chicken on a ump so we can trade Bay for him…
I think in the teams eyes, the money’s gone and it’s not going to effect any decision. No one will trade for him unless they are dumping another crappy contract. If the DFA him the most they would get in return in league minimum but they would be out from the option.
If I had to put odds on it I bet 80% chance he is gone by trade deadline.
srt
5/17/2012-12:45pm at 12:45 pm (UTC -4)
Good stuff – and spot on.
Solution? Don’t think there is one this year – not unless some combo of Wright/Bay/Ike/Duda start hitting the long ball.
Can’t manufacture speed from a team who doesn’t have any – outside of maybe Wright, Torres, Baxter.
I think what we’re seeing is what we’re getting this year. They have to figure out a way to get some of these LOB home. Otherwise, finishing under .500 will certainly be a reality.
Prismo
5/17/2012-4:32pm at 4:32 pm (UTC -4)
If there was any question as to whether the Mets read RDM during games….that question no longer exists.
NJstuckinTX
5/17/2012-10:57pm at 10:57 pm (UTC -4)
Speed corrects station to station baseball correct, not power? They don’t have any speed options other than Torres and maybe Wright. Maybe they should hit and run more often?
The walls are fine.
I wonder what the runners left in scoring position would look like if you minused out Ike. I do like Salty’s suggestion of Duda to first, Kapt K to RF, Torres in CF and I guess Baxter/Spin/Bay in LF.
As for power and the rest of the nonsense… Certainly demote Ike. There is no guy riding in on a stallion, shirtless. Or with a shirt. The only option in a power hitting guy is a Lind or someone like that who is on the outs. But that doesn’t solve much, as Lind barely plays 1B. Maybe an OF, move Duda to first until we see if Ike isn’t the next Gen K or not.
gategem
5/17/2012-11:59pm at 11:59 pm (UTC -4)
When Duda played first last year Ron Darling remarked that Duda was clumsy and lacked quickness and agility. Darling recommended Duda move to the outfield where this would be less of a problem (the important thing is not to confuse quickness and agility with running speed). If you didn’t see him play and just studied the stats you didn’t see his poor footwork, stumbling over his own feet when trying to move quickly, etc. With Duda and Murphy on the right side I pity the Mets pitching staff. Leave Duda where he is. It may take him longer to get there but he seems to catch most routine fly balls.
NJstuckinTX
5/18/2012-12:02am at 12:02 am (UTC -4)
Having seen him flub almost every non-routine fly ball, I am content to roll with Murph/Duda on the right side o’ the infield.