Tag: jacob degrom

Why Carlos Rodon could be answer to Mets rotation questions

The Mets’ rotation didn’t get any younger this season.

In a win-now mode, the team last November added Max Scherzer, who turned 38 in July, and also featured the 35-year-old Carlos Carrasco and Jacob deGrom, who turned 34 in June. Chris Bassitt, who arrived in a trade from the A’s, turned 33 before the season.

It’s a fact team brass will have to weigh heavily this offseason. Mostly, that pertains to deGrom — and also to Carrasco and Bassitt — as the Mets consider how to rebuild a rotation that was strong for most of the season, but faded in the final weeks as the Mets squandered their NL East title chances and lost to the Padres in the wild-card series.

DeGrom at his best is the most electrifying force in baseball, but how long the Mets are willing to extend the relationship, more than the average annual value of a new contract, might be the largest factor in whether the two-time Cy Young Award winner returns.

Does owner Steve Cohen set a strict two-year limit on a deGrom deal? Three years? DeGrom has indicated he plans to opt out from his contract, and a team desperate for a marquee attraction with Cy Young upside might be willing to hand over the moon to get it.

DeGrom has started 23 games combined over the two seasons Cohen has owned the team, which included a nearly 13-month stretch without an appearance. The risk is significant.

Jacob deGrom exited his lone playoff start amid uncertainty about whether he would return to the Mets.
Corey Sipkin

Carrasco is a back-end starter these days, and for the $11 million it will cost the Mets to pick up his option for next season (the net outlay of the $14 million option when the $3 million buyout in his contract is considered), it’s sensible to keep him.

But that’s only if you believe Carrasco has enough left in the tank to approach the same effectiveness he showed this season, when he started 29 games and pitched to a 3.97 ERA.

Bassitt was maybe the Mets’ most consistent starting pitcher, but he’s now headed toward free agency as somebody who will turn 34 in spring training. Team brass loved Bassitt’s dependability this season, but if deGrom and Carrasco stay — with Scherzer signed for two additional years — can the Mets justify keeping another older pitcher?

All factors considered, the Mets might want to take a long look at Carlos Rodon, who can opt out from the two-year contract he received from the Giants last offseason. Rodon, who is represented by superagent Scott Boras, is likely to reject the $22.5 million option and aim for a multiyear deal (think: five or six) in the $30 million range annually.

Rodon does have a history of shoulder issues, but he’s thrived the past two seasons while making a combined 55 starts. Rodon, who turns 30 before spring training, would provide a younger (and left-handed) alternative to potentially replace deGrom or Bassitt. This season, Rodon led the major leagues in FIP (fielding independent pitching), which measures a pitcher’s ability to strike out batters and limit home runs, walks and hit batsmen. Rodon had 2.25 FIP, which is measured on roughly the same scale as ERA. Rodon’s traditional numbers  for the Giants this year were also strong, highlighted by a 14-8 record with a 2.88 ERA over 178 innings.

Chris Bassitt won 15 games while throwing a career-high 181 ⅔ innings this year, but the soon-to-be 34-year-old may not make for a good fit in an already-aging Mets rotation.
Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post

A dominant left-handed component to the rotation would be welcomed. David Peterson was effective in a fill-in role, but Rodon would have the potential to become a CC Sabathia-type presence.

The Mets had a lefty on their mind last offseason, but Steven Matz spurned a return to Citi Field to sign with the Cardinals, eliciting venom from Cohen toward the pitcher’s agents, whom he accused of “unprofessional” behavior. Matz was a disappointment for the Cardinals, pitching to a 5.25 ERA in 15 appearances before a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee ended his season.

Rodon’s talent, relative youth (compared to the other members of the Mets rotation this season) and left-handedness are all factors that could make him an attractive addition for the Mets this winter.

A worthy cause

The winner of the Roberto Clemente Award — honoring MLB’s top humanitarian — will be announced during the World Series. The Mets’ nominee was James McCann for his work with families of premature babies.

McCann’s wife, Jessica, gave birth in December 2017 to twin boys who arrived seven weeks early. The twins spent seven weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

James McCann was nominated for baseball’s Robert Clemente Award for the work he and his wife, Jessica, have done supporting the parents of premature babies.
Corey Sipkin

The McCanns visit NICUs in New York and at home in Nashville to lend support to families and distribute gift packages.

“The thing that is tough, and a lot of people don’t understand, when the baby is in there full-time, parents still have to go to work, they are not just sitting in the hospital all the time,” McCann said. “We go and visit … once in a while, we get a note from someone thanking us for the gift package that we left them. We’re just letting them know that as somebody who has been in their shoes, that as tough as it is right now, there’s brighter days ahead.”

McCann’s sons Christian and Kane, who weighed three pounds at birth, are fully healthy, according to McCann.

“They love baseball,” McCann said. “They will step over trucks and cars and legos to pick up a bat and a ball. They are obsessed. It’s incredible. Everything is normal as normal gets.”

McCann could join a list that includes Curtis Granderson, Carlos Delgado, Al Leiter and Gary Carter, all of whom won the Clemente award while playing for the Mets. The list of winners also includes Carrasco, who received the award with Cleveland in 2019.

“Just being nominated and in that conversation is a special thing, but to win the overall award and have your name etched in that legacy would be incredible,” McCann said. “When we had the Roberto Clemente night , you see the names of past winners … it’s a special group of people.”

System shakeup

Tim Teufel’s 25-year tenure in a variety of instructiuonal roles for the Mets has come to an end, but he likely will serve as a team ambassador moving forward.
Getty Images

Tim Teufel’s departure from the Mets’ instructional ranks was surprising (he won’t be retained as the minor league infield coordinator) given his deep roots in the organization, but you can’t blame general manager Billy Eppler for wanting to import his own people.

In recent years, fan favorites such as Edgardo Alfonzo and Wally Backman departed from Mets minor league managerial roles as part of player development changes.

Teufel, 64, has served the organization well in various roles over the past 25 years and will remain a club ambassador. Omar Minaya, Mike Piazza, Mookie Wilson and Todd Zeile also served in that role this season.

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Jacob deGrom’s grit was the difference in this Mets’ win

The job description was simple for Jacob deGrom — extend his Mets career by extending the Mets season.

And he began as if chasing land speed records and perfection. He retired the first six Padres in order over the first two innings with fastballs that edged toward 102 mph and sliders near 94 mph. So for two innings, he was Jacob deGrom. Unhittable and generally unfathomable — a two-pitch cyborg.

The thing, though, is he is not currently Jacob deGrom. At least not in full. He could not hold the same stuff or dominance. But he had said late in the evening after a Game 1 Mets loss that he cherished these moments and all that comes with it. “That’s what we love doing, competing, and going out there in big situations,” he offered.

He put action to those words. DeGrom did not sustain mastery. But he never lost his fight. He never lost control of this game. When deGrom needed to find big outs, he did. After disappointment last weekend in Atlanta to lose hold of the NL East and Friday night to fall behind in this wild-card series, the Mets’ stars finally came out. DeGrom was part of the galaxy.

He held the Padres to two runs in six innings — dogged over dominant. DeGrom handed a lead to Edwin Diaz. In the seventh inning. And the closer authored five key outs Saturday and by the time he was removed the Mets had blown the game open en route to a 7-3 triumph.

This tied this series at one game apiece. The teams will play a decisive game Sunday night. If it all worked out perfectly for the Mets, both clubs would fly to Southern California in the wee hours Monday morning — the Padres in tears home to San Diego; the Mets still with a whiff of victorious champagne on them to Los Angeles to take on the MLB-best Dodgers in the Division Series.

saving win over the Padres, The Post's Joel Sherman writes.
Jacob deGrom displayed grit despite not having his absolute-best stuff in the Mets’ 7-3 season-saving win over the Padres, The Post’s Joel Sherman writes.
N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

But the Mets have work to do to complete the two-game winning streak necessary to launch into the next round. However, Job 1 was a one-game, season-saving winning streak Saturday night.

They produced this because Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso — empty at-bats last weekend in Atlanta and Friday night in Game 1 — both homered and both reached base three times. Brandon Nimmo had one terrific at-bat after another, slashing three opposite-field singles — one delivering a run in the fourth — plus a walk. Buck Showalter, who lost a decisive playoff game in 1995 by removing Mariano Rivera quickly as Yankee manager and another in 2016 as Orioles manager by never inserting Zack Britton, did not hesitate to get his best reliever (Diaz) into the game in the seventh inning.

And on the front end of the Mets’ first postseason win since World Series Game 3 in 2015, it was deGrom. He came out blistering, no sure thing when there was such concern about the blister on his right middle finger that abbreviated his previous start against the Braves. Beyond that, he had gone 0-4 with a 6.00 ERA in his last four regular-season starts, including allowing three solo homers in six innings to get the Mets off poorly in their pivotal series at Truist Park.

DeGrom had come off the injured list on Aug. 2. In the time since, the Mets were just 10-11 when deGrom and Max Scherzer started. The Mets had dreamed of getting to the biggest games and unleashing deGrom and Scherzer as the most formidable 1-2 starting punch in the game. But that malfunctioned in Atlanta and only worsened when Scherzer was strafed for four homers and seven runs in 4 ²/₃ innings as San Diego won the opener 7-1.

The Mets turned to deGrom, their 2022 season on life support. DeGrom announced himself with triple-digit authority. He threw 12 pitches in a 1-2-3 first inning, 10 were fastballs and seven of those were greater than 100 mph, including 101.6 mph to strike out Juan Soto and 100.9 for the first of three strikeouts against Manny Machado.

Jacob deGrom walks to the dugout after getting out of the sixth inning during the Mets’ victory.
N.Y. Post: Charles Wenzelberg

But Trent Grisham’s third-inning homer tied the score at 1-1 and a fifth-inning Jurickson Profar single tied it 2-2. Soto followed Profar with a single to put runners on the corners with one out. The tying run was 90 feet away. Degrom had essentially flip-flopped his pitching profile by this point. His fastball was no longer the early-game lethal weapon. This appears to be the endurance price for missing so much pitching time the last two years.

So, deGrom relied to a greater extent on his slider and preserved his fastball for particular spots. It helped him strike out Machado and Josh Bell to retain the 2-2 tie in the fifth and, after Alonso homered to give the Mets the lead in the bottom of the inning, deGrom went 1-2-3 in a nine-pitch sixth in which he threw just three fastballs — none reaching triple digits.

But his job was done at any speed. There is still no guarantee he will make another start this season. DeGrom said he is opting out after the 2022 campaign. He did, though, help guarantee the Mets another game — a decisive one Sunday — and a chance to get to the Dodgers. That would bring more starts for Scherzer and deGrom.

DeGrom might not be fully deGrom at present. But on Saturday night, he was fully up for a season-saving fight.

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Mets turn back clock to their summer of fun

Somehow, it is as if September has represented an anticlimax for the Mets following a thrilling summer replete with full houses, dramatic moments, blaring trumpets, Jacob deGrom’s return and signal victories including two straight at Citi Field against the Yankees, four out of five against the Braves, two out of three from the mighty Dodgers and a rally to remember in Philadelphia. 

The temperature has cooled, the crowds have gotten smaller, the opposition is playing for nothing but pride and future employment opportunities. The Mets have not been able to rise above the elements even while in the midst of a pennant race and seeking to nail down the club’s first postseason invite since 2016. 

“You don’t want to be Captain Obvious,” manager Buck Showalter said. “Our guys don’t have to be reminded about what’s going on and what’s at stake. This is not, ‘Woe is me.’ It’s just the opposite.” 

The lead-in to this one was as opposite from the way the Mets had played through the guts of the season while at one point building a seven-game division lead over Atlanta.

Losing seven of 11 against a motley crew of Nats, Bucs, Marlins and Cubbies had cut the lead to one-half game. The Mets hadn’t been able to get Edwin Diaz into a game with the lead since Sept. 1. 

Everyone wants to give the Mets the benefit of the doubt, but there is no recent foundation of success that facilitates generosity of spirit. Has this been a lull? Has this been a slide? Has this been the beginning of an unthinkable 2007- or 2008-type catastrophic collapse? 

Francisco Lindor celebrates in the dugout after his two-run homer.
Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

Or maybe this has represented just a slice of a season in which all but the most exceptional teams endure the ebbs and flows of the 162-game marathon. Check out the Yankees and their parabolic 2022. 

“We’re all trying to solve that riddle. You’re never as good as someone may portray us, so you’re never as bad,” Showalter said as the Mets restored some sort of order with Thursday’s 7-1 victory over Pittsburgh on Roberto Clemente Night — shouldn’t the Pirates have been at home? —while extending their lead to one game over Atlanta. “There are three or four teams that were painted as the ’27 Yankees at some point this year. 

“You want to shorten the bad times and stretch out the good. We’ve done a good job shortening the challenges. This is one. There are a lot of teams that struggled in September and were real good in October. Right now, we’ve got to get to October.” 

If the Mets can cut if off now, the route becomes less treacherous and with fewer potholes. There is no question that the clearest path to the World Series is winning the division, avoiding the best-of-three wild-card round, and setting up a rotation that features deGrom and Max Scherzer at the top. This is what is at stake for the Mets, who are tied in the loss column with the Braves, New York with 17 games remaining and Atlanta 19, including three at their place in the penultimate series of the season. 

Pete Alonso celebrates in the dugout.
Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

The Mets looked like they were playing the summer game on Thursday. Carlos Carrasco struck out a season-high 11 batters in six innings in his second straight start in which he allowed just one run. This was noteworthy for the Mets, whose starters had pitched as many as six innings in just five of the 11 immediately preceding games and whose team trailed by at least three runs after three innings in all three of their defeats this week to the Cubs. 

After the right-hander fanned three in the top of the first, the Mets immediately put two on the board on a two-out double from Daniel Vogelbach, who might have experienced whiplash in going from folk hero to zero in 60. That’s what going 5-for-42 with a .119/.260/.119 slash line over a 16-game stretch will do for you. 

Vogelbach was one of three bats added by GM Billy Eppler at what recently has appeared like a Bizarro Deadline. Tyler Naquin entered Thursday 8-for-45, with a .178/.278/.289 slash line over his last 22 games before going 1-for-4. Darin Ruf, who needs hits more than consonants, was 2-for-35 at .057/.125/.057 in his last 17 games. 

The Mets got a couple of hits from Pete Alonso, and another RBI from Vogelbach. Mark Vientos, who later pinch hit for Vogelbach, ripped a run-scoring single for his first major league hit in his 11th at-bat. Francisco Lindor, who idolized Clemente and a number of the previous Clemente Award winners introduced on the field that included Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado, hit his 24th home run to establish a single-season record for Mets shortstops. 

“To do it in front of them on this night was special,” Lindor said. “Setting the record is, too, but it would mean a lot more to win the World Series.” 

There is much work ahead. One victory over the Bucs does not a stretch drive make. But though there was a touch of the fall in the air, this seemed like one of those Summer Nights.

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