PORT ST. LUCIE — Mets general manager Billy Eppler made his first call to the Cubs about David Robertson last April. The reliever wasn’t traded until the actual deadline, Aug. 2, to the NL East, though he went to the Phillies.
It is not that relievers aren’t traded at this time of year, as the Mets strategize how best to weather the likely season-long loss of closer Edwin Diaz. But the type of bullpen arms moved now historically fall more into the Nick Vincent or Matt Wisler category.
The Twins did trade their closer, Taylor Rogers, to the Padres on the brink of last season. But that was after most of the usual winter work was wiped away by the owners’ lockout and also after the Mets’ last-second rejection of a trade that San Diego preferred (Dom Smith going west for Eric Hosmer, Emilio Pagan, Chris Paddack and cash).
As the 2015 season began, the Braves traded elite closer Craig Kimbrel to the Padres. But that was out of desperation to dump salary (Atlanta tied B.J. Upton, who was owed $46.35 million, to the deal) in combination with the star-collecting fervor of A.J. Preller in his first year as San Diego’s GM.
So even if the Mets were open to a big move right now (and they don’t seem to be), it would not be easy to enact because, as a few executives I asked noted, no club wants to send a message of surrender to its fan base before a game has been played by trading its closer.
Some clubs are delusional. The Rockies, for example, have never won a division title, but annually lead the league in thinking they are better than they are, especially to start a season. Thus, they are not going to rush to trade closer Daniel Bard.
The Mets already know their Edwin Diaz fate, but there’s little they can do externally about it.USA TODAY Sports
If the Mets are too overt in their overtures, it will smell like desperation and, then, as one NL executive summarized, “Forget about paying $1.25 for $1 [in a trade)], it will cost them $3.”
What also should not be dismissed is the analytic leanings of the Mets front office. The numbers show that it is hard to score multiple runs in an inning, so teams like the Mets think more relievers can handle even late-inning responsibility than is generally perceived.
The MLB save percentage last year was 77.1 percent when a team led by one run going to the ninth inning, 92.5 when leading by two and 95.9 when leading by three. Do the Mets believe a combination of Robertson, Adam Ottavino and Brooks Raley can equal or outdo those percentages in Diaz’s absence? Probably.
But imagine what April would feel like in New York if the Mets were blowing leads and the rest of a strong roster could not compensate for that. It could become the snowflake turning into an avalanche of bad mojo.
Of course, there’s no guarantee an outside addition would change the results markedly. Remember, it took Diaz a few years to find comfort closing in New York. Beware of obtaining a reliever from a team not used to performing in big spots: Many are not Clay Holmes, instantly able to flip from anonymity in Pittsburgh to excel in every-pitch-matters New York. Bard, Pittsburgh’s David Bednar and Edwin Diaz’s brother, Alexis, each failed in their biggest World Baseball Classic moment going into the final on Tuesday night. That’s small sample size for sure, but you can also argue those were the biggest moments yet in their careers. Ottavino excelled pitching between Bard and Bednar for the U.S. in the semifinals.
Brooks Raley can likely help fill the void left by Diaz’s injury.Corey Sipkin for NY Post David Robertson has experience as a closer.USA TODAY Sports
For now, Eppler most likely would try to improve the depth around Robertson, Ottavino and Raley. He had liked a five-man late-inning unit, with that trio plus Diaz and Drew Smith, because it all but assured the availability of at least one or two daily. That unit is down to a quartet, though the Mets have liked what they have seen this spring from John Curtiss.
Yes, the Mets were at Zack Britton’s recent showcase. But out of due diligence the Mets generally attend showcases, as they also did for Chris Archer and Ken Giles. This was an offseason in which teams not only spent, but also all felt they could upgrade their bullpens. Yet Britton, Giles and Corey Knebel remain unemployed — and not just because of the Mets.
The Mets undoubtedly are monitoring out-of-option arms they favor to see if clubs might expose them to waivers or make a small trade. I doubt the Mets would do this, but I can’t resist playing 31st GM so … if they felt Brett Baty is ready to play every day at third, could they use Eduardo Escobar ($10 million) for mainly a salary-for-salary swap?
These are all made up and might have to include others, but, for example, would Seattle favor Escobar as a bench piece over Tommy La Stella and trade Chris Flexen ($8 million), whose depth starter presence might enable the Mets to put Tylor Megill’s power arm in the pen? Is lefty Drew Pomeranz ($8 million and didn’t pitch last year after Tommy John surgery) healthy enough and would the Padres favor Escobar over Rougned Odor as a reserve?
It’s not a big relief move. But, at this time of year, those are rare.
DUNEDIN, Fla. — For three months, the 2022 Yankees seemed set to go down as one of the greatest baseball teams ever. They were on pace to match or break the major league record of 116 victories and, of greater consequence, to win their first World Series title since 2009.
Instead, they failed to win 100 games before they were swept by the Astros in the ALCS, and a loaded roster of forensic investigators would be needed to identify all the reasons why. But one player embodied the strange narrative arc of the 2022 Yankees as much as anyone did: Clay Holmes. He was Mariano Rivera over the first half of the season, and something substantially less than that over the second.
Holmes made the All-Star team in his first full season in The Bronx, and before the break he looked nothing like the pitcher with the 5.57 ERA that the Pirates had traded away. When Yankees manager Aaron Boone gave him the news that he was headed to Los Angeles for the Midsummer Classic, Holmes responded, “I’m glad it’s as a Yankee.”
The first sign of real trouble came on July 12, after Holmes had converted on 16 of 18 save opportunities. He imploded in the ninth inning while turning a 3-0 lead over the Reds into a 4-3 defeat, inflating his 0.46 ERA to a more human 1.37. In August, Holmes landed on the injured list with lower back spasms after he blew three saves and allowed seven runs in five appearances. A bullpen that had already lost Chad Green and Michael King for the season was suddenly in a state of disrepair.
Clay HolmesAP
Holmes later overcame a shoulder strain to become a reliable playoff option, though not reliable enough for Boone to summon him amid a Game 3 disaster in the ALDS against Cleveland that put everything on the brink. That’s OK, however, because Holmes helped beat the Guardians in Games 4 and 5 and didn’t surrender an earned run in six postseason innings. That’s enough reason to believe that he is all the way back and — with Edwin Diaz down for the year — now the most valuable closer in town.
As a compassionate peer, Holmes felt the impact of the knee injury Diaz suffered during a World Baseball Classic celebration and called it “a punch in the gut.” Unlike Diaz, Holmes couldn’t sustain his 2022 brilliance over the entire season. If the Yankees want to give themselves their best chance to finally unseat the Astros by securing home-field advantage for the inevitable October clash to come, Holmes will be vital to that pursuit.
Asked if he embraced the idea that he stands among the Yankees’ most important players in a potential championship drive, Holmes defaulted to the overall talent in the bullpen.
“For me, it’s not so much being caught up in the individual stuff,” he said. “I’ll just make sure I’m ready to do my job when the time’s called. I think there’s enough talent in this room that if we all do that at the end of the day we’ll go on some really good runs. … For anyone to accept any crazy amount of responsibility, whether it’s there or not, maybe isn’t the best way to look at it.”
Sure, there’s enough pressure in New York for any unnecessary add-ons. And though general manager Brian Cashman called Holmes “a really big, strong, intimidating presence on the mound,” he cited a number of relievers capable of taking the ball in save situations, including the likes of Jonathan Loaisiga, Wandy Peralta and King. Rather than a traditional approach to the closer’s role, the Yankees will likely go more by committee — with Holmes as committee chairman.
Clay HolmesCharles Wenzelberg / New York Post
“I know Clay will get a lot of opportunities,” pitching coach Matt Blake said, “but I think with how Booney has talked about it, there are a lot of guys who probably could close some games for us, whether it’s Wandy or [Loaisiga] or King. … If we’ve got a lineup that’s got a ton of right-handed hitters in the eighth inning and left-handed hitters in the ninth, it doesn’t make much sense for Clay to go in the ninth when he can face the [George] Springers, the [Bo] Bichettes, and the [Vladimir] Guerreros in the eighth.”
So be it. It should be noted, however, that during the seven championship seasons of the George Steinbrenner Era, the Yankees had singular forces in the role of closer. Sparky Lyle won the Cy Young Award in 1977. Goose Gossage led the AL in saves in 1978 and became a Hall of Famer. John Wetteland led the league in saves and was named World Series MVP in 1996. Mariano Rivera became the bullpen GOAT and the first unanimous Hall of Famer while closing games for the 1998, 1999, 2000, and 2009 title teams.
Can Holmes join that select group?
“He’s capable of being a dominant reliever,” Boone said before Holmes delivered a scoreless inning on nine pitches Saturday in a 5-2 loss to the Blue Jays.
The Yankees could sure use that dominance for six months this season instead of three.
I have noticed that even most baseball folks have become a bit ashamed of the clichés circulating at this time of year.
The three big ones:
1. Players claiming they “were in the best shape of their lives” (as if that should be award-worthy in an industry in which being in your best shape is mandatory and not being in top shape verges on disrespect to your teammates and your profession).
2. Those returning from injury defining how far ahead of schedule they were in their rehabs. (It was generally easy to be “ahead of schedule.” Teams were like airlines fluffing in an extra hour to the estimated time of arrival, so they could be late and still claim to be on time. Organizations don’t want to oversell or to get players to try to beat the quickest possible healing periods. So they say 18 months when maybe they mean 12 or 14 or 16.)
3. “We are really emphasizing fundamentals,” which leads to the obvious question: What were you accentuating before? Plus why, inevitably, are you still going to screw up your first rundown of the season?
Anyway, I have heard a lot less of this talk in spring training. The old tried-and-true clichés have been modernized.
For those claiming to be in improved shape, there are new workouts and/or trainers and/or diets that lead to “feeling more dynamic” or “feeling more explosive.” The pitchers all went to a pitching lab or guru, and have developed better mechanics or spin. And some days it has felt as if every pitcher this offseason went to the Cutter Genie and added that pitch to his repertoire.
There’s no better time than spring training to work on the fundamentals that often seem to elude teams once Opening Day arrives.Getty Images
Injured players have pretty much bought into the organizational groupthink. Few, if any, try to John Wayne it any longer and insist they will beat timeline projections — because so few teams even give firm projections. They are all looking at the big picture now. Which is smart, yet less fun.
You know what I also have heard more than ever, as if every team is operating under the same self-help manual? Team officials bragging about having the “best vibes” ever in their camps. This usually begins with a disclaimer such as “I know you hear this a lot” or “I know I have said this before” or some other such thing. Then I am told about how the organization really emphasized makeup and this is the best group of guys they have ever had. The environment is loose and fraternal, yet serious and down to business.
The leadership has never been better, and the dysfunction has never been more absent. It is one Disneyland after another — a 30-way tie for the Happiest Place on Earth. Side note: Which teams at this time of year ever have copped to having substandard leadership and a poor atmosphere and a phalanx of indifferent bad actors populating the clubhouse?
But the champion platitude more than ever is each team claiming their prospects are: 1) more advanced, and/or 2) greater in number and/or 3) going to make a difference this year. This usually comes with the disclaimer “despite what the ranking systems say.” If you have never heard a curse word used in front of “Baseball America,” then go talk to an executive whose organization ranks in the bottom two-thirds of that publication’s club-by-club prospect rankings. Within the game, that magazine is known as BA, but the executives who claim to have the most underappreciated or misunderstood group of prospects in the game fit nicely into our current national mindset of AA — Aggrieved America.
And for every executive in survival mode — which means every executive — there is nothing they want to push harder than their prospects. It means selling tomorrow when they all want to be employed tomorrow. Not only that, but it is a direct pitch of a less expensive tomorrow to their bosses. Plus, they have figured out that fan bases love homegrown players like they love the backup quarterback — the guy we haven’t seen yet who just has to be better than the guy who is playing now.
After hitting six homers last spring with the Pirates, former Yankees minor leaguer Diego Castillo hit only 11 more the rest of the season before Pittsburgh traded him in December to the Diamondbacks.Getty Images
Annually, we forget how deceiving spring statistics can be and that most prospects don’t actually hit at the highest level, if they even hit at all.
Spring stats? Remember that Kyle Higashioka delivered seven homers in a shortened spring last year, and Diego Castillo (the infielder traded from the Yankees for Clay Holmes) and Mickey Moniak each hit six. In the most recent six-week spring training, in 2021, Red Sox prospects Bobby Dalbec and Jarren Duran excelled, yet neither has fully established himself as even an average regular.
So I get the excitement around the Yankees for Jasson Dominguez and Anthony Volpe, and around the Mets with Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio. It is that time of year, and prospects are what excites folks most at this time of year — not just with the New York teams.
When I stopped in Cubs camp, it was hard to miss that there is a New York tinge to the club. Marcus Stroman and Jameson Taillon are two-fifths of the rotation. Michael Fulmer is in the bullpen. Mike Tauchman has a chance to make the roster as a backup outfielder.
Plus, the Cubs, as they have been rebuilding, made three high-profile trades with the New York clubs: dealing 2016 champions Javier Baez (to the Mets) and Anthony Rizzo (to the Yankees) at the 2021 deadline and sending Scott Effross to the Yankees at last year’s deadline.
Why don’t we use 3UP to take a look at where the prospects the New York teams traded to the Cubs stand?
Hayden Wesneski pitched well for the Cubs after the Yankees dealt him at the trade deadline and appears to be rounding into a solid option at the back end of Chicago’s rotation.Getty Images
1. Hayden Wesneski: He was acquired by the Cubs last year straight up for Effross, who after Tommy John surgery possibly is going to miss this entire Yankees season. Also, Wesneski plus J.P. Sears and Ken Waldichuk (who were used in the ill-fated Frankie Montas/Lou Trivino trade) would have represented Yankees rotation depth with Montas and Carlos Rodon already down to begin the season.
All three are projected to be back-of-the-rotation types. One scout who saw Wesneski both in the Yankees organization and this spring with the Cubs said, “He can excite you,” but said the righty can have inconsistent mechanics leading to command issues.
Cubs manager David Ross called Wesneski “the front-runner” over Javier Assad and Adrian Sampson to nab the No. 5 starter spot. Wesneski had a strong post-trade cameo with the Cubs in 2022: He appeared in six games (four starts), and pitched to a 2.18 ERA in 33 innings in which he allowed 24 hits, walked seven and struck out 33.
“We saw what he could do last year,” Cubs pitching coach Tommy Hottovy said. “He’s worked hard this offseason to put himself in the best position to come in here and show us what he can do and that he’s ready for that step. He’s got all the stuff you want for a starter: The workload. The mental approach. How he goes about his business. … You see how good his slider is. It’s one of the better sliders in the game. I think not only how it moves, but how he commands it and throws wherever he wants. He can throw it to both sides [of the plate], so he can use it to both-handed hitters.”
2. Pete Crow-Armstrong: The Mets have a lot of internal regret about obtaining Baez on July 30, 2021, for Crow-Armstrong barely a year after using the 19th overall pick in the 2020 draft on the center fielder. The Mets didn’t make the playoffs, and Baez left in free agency. And as Crow-Armstrong emerged last year after missing all action in 2020 due to COVID and most of 2021 following shoulder surgery, the Mets were left more circumspect about trading their better prospects at last year’s deadline. The Mets have seller’s remorse that they traded Crow-Armstrong without fully understanding what they had.
Pete Crow-Armstrong has already impressed the Cubs with his speed and defense, but the former Mets first-round draft pick feels he will eventually prove himself a reliable source of power, too.Diamond Images/Getty Images
Between Low-A and High-A last year — his first full season playing in the minors — Crow-Armstrong hit .312 with 46 extra-base hits, including 16 homers. Plus, he stole 32 bases. But he did strike out 102 times versus 36 walks.
“He’s a free swinger,” Ross said. “He’s got to calm down as he ages, but man, does he have some special talents.”
There are no doubts about Crow-Armstrong’s speed and defense. Ryan Dempster, a Cubs broadcaster and special assistant to president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer, said he watched Crow-Armstrong replace Gold Glove-caliber center fielder Cody Bellinger in an early spring training game and asked, “How many times do you take Cody out of center and you get no worse?”
The low-end projections for Crow-Armstrong, who turns 21 next week, are a Kevin Kiermaier type — a lefty batter who really can defend center field, but with a league-average-type bat. That is valuable. Ross wondered whether there was some Kenny Lofton in Crow-Armstrong, especially because of the speed on the bases. But will the bat come?
“I don’t think I was trying to make any sort of statement [in spring],” Crow-Armstrong said. “People know that I could play defense and they know that the bat is behind the glove. I see what they see. I see a little bit more just because of what goes on in my own mind and what goals I have set for myself. … I’ve told people for years that I’m being patient with myself in terms of the power, and I showed a lot of that last year. I think I’m really damn close to being a more complete hitter than people give me credit for.”
In successive days while in Arizona, I was in Mariners camp, Giants camp and Cubs camp, which meant each day I saw a former Mets first-round draft pick lefty-hitting outfielder with lots to prove: Jarred Kelenic, Michael Conforto and Crow-Armstrong. Kelenic played just 56 minor league games for the Mets before being traded; Crow-Armstrong played just six.
Jarred Kelenic has struggled at the plate since arriving in Seattle from the Mets in exchange for Edwin Diaz and Robinson Cano, but at only 23 years of age, the promise that once made him the No. 6 overall pick in 2018 still exists.Getty Images
In Mets world, this is how that worked: Kelenic was drafted by the Sandy Alderson regime and traded by Brodie Van Wagenen. Crow-Armstrong was drafted by Van Wagenen and traded by Zack Scott, who was working under the returned Alderson. Kelenic was drafted and traded under Wilpon ownership. Crow-Armstrong was drafted under the Wilpons and traded during Steve Cohen ownership.
“There is a whole new regime that owns the Mets from when I was there,” Crow-Armstrong said. “Brodie and his squad started my career. I am grateful they drafted me, but, yeah, I definitely hold a little, I wouldn’t call it a grudge, but I carry the chip with me, you know? But again, it’s all personally motivated. It’s not anything external. I couldn’t care less about who traded me or why they traded me. I’m here now. And I love it here.”
3. Kevin Alcantara: MLB.com ranks Crow-Armstrong as the Cubs’ top prospect and Alcantara second (Wesneski is fifth). Crow-Armstrong is ranked 28th among all prospects and Alcantara is 87th. Crow-Armstrong likely will begin this year at Double-A and Alcantara at High-A. In the Cubs’ dream scenario, they are two-thirds of a super-athletic, long-term outfield that’s in the majors by midway through 2024.
Alcantara, who turns 21 in July, is a toolshed. One scout said, “He has everything you want. There are a lot of guys in the minors who have a lot of tools. It is always who can translate it to the majors.”
When the Yankees traded Alcantara as the key piece for Rizzo at the 2021 trade deadline, they knew they were dealing a high-ceiling lottery ticket who — if he reached that ceiling — could be a terrific player.
Only 21, Kevin Alcantara has already impressed Cubs president Jed Hoyer as the most talented player in camp this spring.Getty Images
Hoyer called Alcantara “the most talented guy” in camp.
“He hasn’t had a single BP session where he hasn’t gone over 115 mph [off the bat],” Hoyer said. “He’s crushed balls. He can fly. He’s got a great personality. Can he translate that back to be successful in the majors? But in terms of his ability, he’s really, really fun to watch. Great kid. Cash [Yankees GM Brian Cashman] told me at the time of the trade that he’s a really great kid. Teammates gravitate toward him. Everyone down [in his minor league system] there comments on this intelligence.
“He wants to be really good. He has every ingredient to be a really good player. It is going to take time. He’s 6-foot-6. He’s filled out this year a little bit more. He has longer levers. That takes longer to develop. I do think he had a sneaky good season last year. Myrtle Beach is a graveyard for hitters. It’s really hard to hit there. You look at his home/road splits. He had good numbers overall and we wanted to keep him there for the full year.”
With Low-A Myrtle Beach last year, Alcantara played 59 games at home with a slash line of .242/.352/.393 for a .745 OPS. In 55 road games, he hit .306/.368/.518 for an .886 OPS.
“He hits the ball extremely hard,” Ross said. “He’s a freak athlete who goes and gets it with a great arm. It [his swing] doesn’t look long and slow. He can keep it compact, which is impressive with how big he is.”
Giancarlo Stanton, in midseason form, blasted a 118.6 mph line drive to left that skipped past outfielder Cal Mitchell to score two Yankees runs.
Giancarlo StantonUSA TODAY Sports
No sign of relief
Relievers Jimmy Cordero, Wandy Peralta, Albert Abreu and Demarcus Evans combined to allow nine runs in 2 ²/₃ innings.
Peralta faced three batters, allowed a home run to Drew Maggi and did not record an out.
Caught my eye
In the sixth inning, former Yankee Miguel Andujar drove a ball to center, and Oswaldo Cabrera — trying to prove he can be a center fielder, too — initially broke in.
He then reversed and sprinted back, the ball falling just out of reach for a double.
Friday’s schedule
Domingo German is expected to get the start, and Isiah Kiner-Falefa will play center field at 1:05 p.m. in Lakeland, Fla., against the Tigers.
TAMPA — The Yankees have invested more than a half-billion dollars into their team since they were swept out of the playoffs by the Astros.
At this juncture, it sounds unlikely they would add significant contracts to the payroll.
The Yankees are up against the $293 million luxury-tax level.
If they exceed the threshold, Hal Steinbrenner signaled it will not be by much.
“A decade-plus ago, I always used to say that you shouldn’t have to have a $200 million payroll to win a championship, right? Because nobody had it,” the Yankees owner said Wednesday at Steinbrenner Field. “Times have changed, I will acknowledge that.
“So I will say that you shouldn’t have to have a $300 million payroll to win a world championship because nobody has, including Hosuton.”
Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner in the Yankee dugout during Spring Training.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
According to FanGraphs, the Yankees’ 2023 estimated luxury-tax payroll, as of Wednesday, was $292,481,667.
If they exceed the tax level of $293 million — instituted this year amid the spending of Mets owner Steve Cohen — they would be taxed at an 80 percent rate for every dollar they spend above that threshold.
Steinbrenner disputed the estimated number and said, “For all I know, we may be over it.”
The exact number will depend on a variety of factors, including major league call-ups throughout the season that will gently raise the total.
Still, the Yankees have not sailed past the fourth and final luxury-tax threshold like the Mets (with a $374 million luxury-tax projection) have.
The Yankees’ budget only trails the Mets’, with the Padres (an estimated $275 million) rounding out the top three.
The Yankees, who this offseason committed $360 million to Aaron Judge, $162 million to Carlos Rodon, $40 million to Anthony Rizzo and exercised a $15 million option on Luis Severino, have not added external help in left field, where Aaron Hicks and Oswaldo Cabrera have been battling.
“Do I think we’re good enough to win a championship now? Yes,” Steinbrenner asked and answered.
Hal SteinbrennerCharles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Here are some nuggets from Yankees’ spring training on Monday:
Blank Slate
Tanner Tully, a 28-year-old who debuted last season with the Guardians, got the start and threw 2 ²/₃ scoreless innings in the 1-0 loss to the Twins at Hammond Stadium.
Yankees pitcher Tanner Tully throws a pitch against the Minnesota Twins.USA TODAY Sports
The soft-tossing southpaw has not been scored upon in 5 ²/₃ Grapefruit League innings.
Time’s Up
Jake Bauers, a 27-year-old first baseman, struck out on a pitch-clock violation.
He apparently was not ready and in the batter’s box at the 8-second mark of the pitch clock.
After he was called out, he remained in the box for a few moments in disbelief.
Caught My Eye
With Kyle Farmer on first base in the fourth inning, Deivi Garcia threw a pitchout, anticipating a steal attempt that didn’t come.
With the new rules that encourage more action on the basepaths, the pitchout might make a comeback this season.
Deivi Garcia’s pitchout attempt didn’t work against the Twins.AP
Tuesday’s schedule
Gerrit Cole is expected to make the start against the Blue Jays at Steinbrenner Field.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — After a relatively calm first few weeks of camp, a finger, a hamstring and a rib have threatened to disrupt the Mets’ pitching staff before the middle of March.
The Mets are hopeful that Kodai Senga (finger) and Brooks Raley (hamstring) will bounce back quickly, but the concern is higher for Jose Quintana (rib) as the team consults doctors.
Fairly optimistic injury updates were issued Saturday on Senga and Raley, but the injury update that has not come that appears the most serious. Quintana, the middle-of-the-rotation starter who exited a game last Sunday with what the Mets originally termed a “small stress fracture on his fifth rib on his left side,” still is in New York after undergoing additional testing.
General manager Billy Eppler said he believes the Mets will be able to reveal more about Quintana’s situation by Wednesday, which would be 10 days after it was reported.
“We just need to sit down and talk to doctors, and we’ve got to wait for some doctors to be available,” Eppler said before the Mets lost 10-7 to the Nationals at the Ballpark of the Palm Beaches on Saturday night.
Jose QuintanaCorey Sipkin for NY Post
Asked if the nature of the diagnosis has changed, Eppler declined to answer, saying he wants to wait until the team and Quintana have all the information they need.
The Mets were more direct concerning Senga, who was scratched from his scheduled start Saturday with what the club called “tendinitis at the base of his index finger.”
The 30-year-old from Japan is day to day, and manager Buck Showalter said he “probably” could have pitched if it had been a regular-season game.
According to Showalter, Senga had felt discomfort the last few days. Major League Baseball and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball use a different size ball, which Eppler said has caused similar issues for players with whom he has dealt.
Senga, who twice unleashed his ghost forkball in his initial stateside start Sunday, is set to begin his first season of a five-year, $75 million pact.
“If you just squeeze a baseball really tight for a lot of time and you’re not used to squeezing it that much and that much repetition, [you can feel pain],” Eppler said of Senga, who the Mets still believe will be ready by the start of the season.
David Peterson, who threw a bullpen session Saturday, is seen as the front-runner for a rotation job should Quintana not be ready for Opening Day. If Senga needs to be pushed back, Tylor Megill likely would be the next swingman thrust into the rotation.
Kodai SengaAP
The Mets’ bullpen is on steadier ground than their rotation, but Raley gave them a scare. The only left-handed reliever who has been expected to break camp with the Mets, Raley was removed from the Team USA roster at the World Baseball Classic after he sustained a low-grade hamstring strain, the Mets said Saturday.
Raley, a 34-year-old acquired from the Rays in a December trade, experienced tightness in that hamstring after he threw a scoreless inning in an exhibition against the Angels on Thursday.
Low-grade hamstring strains typically take a couple of weeks to clear up. The Mets did not release a timeline for Raley, who is expected to rejoin the team in Port St. Lucie on Tuesday. Showalter said that if everything goes according to plan, Raley will be ready by the March 30 regular-season opener in Miami.
“The picture didn’t really present where we thought it was really problematic,” Eppler said of Raley’s scan.
If Raley is not ready on time, the Mets could open the season without a lefty reliever in their big league bullpen. They have been stretching out both Peterson and Joey Lucchesi as starting depth.
Virtually all of the Mets’ high-end (and even lower-end) relievers are right-handed. Edwin Diaz, Adam Ottavino, Robertson and Drew Smith will break camp with the team as back-end righties.
Brooks RaleyCorey Sipkin for NY Post
Stephen Nogosek (who is out of options) and Zach Greene (a Rule 5 pick) are righties who likely will crack the bullpen, too, because otherwise the Mets could lose them.
Among the non-rostered lefties in camp, T.J. McFarland might be the most likely option if the Mets chose to add to the bullpen internally.
McFarland, a 33-year-old who has 10 years of big league experience and pitched for Showalter in Baltimore, has remade his arsenal and now is leaning heavily on a slider that he says has more break.
“I made some changes, and the slider’s moving a lot more,” McFarland said. “It was just a grip change, thought-process change, but immediately after I started throwing it, I gained like 12 to 13 inches of horizontal movement.”
Through the first week of Grapefruit League games, the 21-year-old has given decision-makers plenty to think about.
Getting the start at shortstop on Saturday, Volpe ripped a double off the left-field wall and smacked another line drive to third base that resulted in a double play in the Yankees’ 14-10 loss to the Rays at Steinbrenner Field.
He is now batting 5-for-15 (.333) with a 1.042 OPS through five games, though spring training results alone are not going to win him the job.
“It’s hard to answer what the criteria is,” Boone said after the game. “But we’re paying attention.”
Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe hits a homer during a spring training game against the Pirates earlier in the week.Charles Wenzelberg / New York Post
Asked if there was a scenario where Volpe could break camp with the team without someone else being hurt — Isiah Kiner-Falefa and Oswald Peraza are his main competition in the shortstop battle — Boone answered, “Sure, yeah.”
Entering spring training, Kiner-Falefa was the incumbent, though Peraza made a strong impression with a one-month cameo at the end of last season.
Volpe is viewed by many as having the highest ceiling of the three, but he spent most of last year at Double-A Somerset before finishing the season with 22 games at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Asked about Volpe’s lack of Triple-A experience and professional at-bats overall (1,259 career plate appearances), Boone said that would be one of the factors in the ultimate decision.
“It’s all things we talk about as a group and as we get towards the end of spring and we’re starting to make the decisions about rosters and stuff, there’ll be a lot of voices that have thoughts and opinions,” Boone said. “That’s part of his case and case against and story. Yeah, it’s all part of the equation that you gotta make a decision on at some point.”
Anthony VolpeCharles Wenzelberg / New York Post
The Yankees are still three-plus weeks away from having to make that decision, and plenty of things could change before then that would alter the equation.
Through the first week of games, though, Volpe is off to a strong start.
“He’s a good player,” Boone said. “I can’t say I’m surprised, because I think we all expected him to handle it all well. Just a good player that loves the game that’s into the game that’s into all the little things about the game.”
I’m ascared that we’ll soon read full-screen graphics listing major league leaders in extra inning games lost without allowing a baserunner, and strikeout leaders, both batters and pitchers, with just two strikes as per pitch-clock ruling.
I’m fearful that our TV screens during baseball games — already filled with more distracting, artificial clutter than you can shake a pitch count at — will be so additionally surrounded by data that the obstructive, needlessly superimposed strike zone box will seem like an old reliable friend.
I’m afraid that because the commissioner of baseball, team GMs, team managers, players and the MLBPA could not, for the good and welfare of The Game, be convinced to play the game faster and smarter until they placed baseball on life support, soon to rest in pieces.
I’m convinced that MLB has become nothing better than an annually adjusted, unsanctioned medical experiment, and its fans, trending older and thus fewer, are no more essential than lab rats.
And here we thought Rob Manfred’s plan to speed up the game with automatic bases-on-balls (saving seconds per season in exchange for the removal of in-play baseball) would fix everything!
Rob Manfred has ushered in new changes to MLB this year. AP
Then again, Manfred indulges bat-flipping, home-plate-posing and all other acts of rank, in-game immodesty as the best way to sell The Game to kids. That, and gambling on baseball.
This is the first season which longtime fans will enter without knowing what the hell is going on, what’s eligible for more replay reviews and dubious decisions, and what’s eligible for just extended arguments, debates and foresight-less happenings that will force MLB to make it up as it goes along.
Stolen base totals (at these salaries, who needs to run anymore?) will be artificially stimulated by limiting get-back throws to first. In other words, the fast runner at first will barely have to trot to second after two pickoff throws, as the catcher will concede the base as a matter of offseason legislation.
And the bases have been enlarged, apparently because players such as Manny “$350 million extension” Machado have so much trouble seeing them: Why else would they feel the need to jog in their direction?
That’s baseball, Suzyn!
I’ll guess that stepping out of the batter’s box to adjust one’s batting glove (even after a pitch has been taken) in just one season surpasses the time it took for the dinosaurs to depart.
Batting gloves are not an intrinsic part of the game any more than any outside additives. But no need to add pitch clocks or to ban batting gloves, ban the needless delays batting gloves cause!
MLB instituted a pitch clock this season in order to speed up games.Getty Images
It still strikes me that Manfred, had he been raised a baseball card-carrying devotee of baseball, would have rejected as anathema to the game MLB’s recent changes — starting with the insane suggestion that the 10th inning begin with a runner on second base. Say, who leads the bigs in artificial, bogus RBIs?
To think of all the historical, sensational, extraordinary extra-inning games that have been eliminated from the future because managers and their modern analytics smoke salesmen choose to play the first nine innings in super slow motion.
Why not flip a coin after nine innings? Have a seed-spitting contest? Guess, the way they now do after replay determines that a foul ball down the line hit the chalk?
Spring training games, thus far, have been averaging well under three hours? Great.
But they could’ve been played at the same pace and not have been devalued or denuded of baseball just by eliminating senselessly designated per-inning relievers — both managers dueling as to which transient call-up or Closer of the Week would finally blow the game long after the park emptied.
But the fantasy of prescripted outcomes — the total dismissal of the here-and-now — not only caught fire, it persisted! As Ron Darling said, “They pay all the big money to the starters then expect the relievers to win the games.”
But it perhaps serves as a significant clue to Manfred’s foresight that without knowing what the heck it was all about, he had MLB sign on as a cross-promoter of FTX, the cryptocurrency fools’ bait now fully scandalized as a Ponzi-like scam.
But if you admire double- and triple-talk, here’s what Manfred said about being suckered by FTX:
“The FTX development was a little jarring. We have been really careful moving forward in this space. We’ve been really religious about staying away from coins themselves as opposed to more company-based sponsorships. We think that was prudent particularly given the way things unfolded. We will, I think, proceed with caution in the future.”
MLB is using bigger bases this season. AP
Huh? What? Does he play everyone for fools? If he’d exercised caution rather than quick-buck greed, MLB would have avoided FTX!
Are there Mosquito Rules? Force majeure — “greater force” — dispensations?
Two out, bases loaded, bottom of the ninth, down a run, two strikes. A poison malarial bee or flying squirrel swoops into the batter’s right eye. He jumps out of the box to swat it away. Strike three! Batter’s time clock has expired!
Wait’ll Manfred hears that he can quadruple the number of doubles by moving second base to just five feet from first!
Now we await TV’s treatment of Rob Manfred Baseball. Already given to turning our screens into zipping, multi-colored nightmares suffered by stock market floor brokers, will clocks be added to “The Game With No Clocks”? Will John Smoltz speak faster to make up for lost time?
Will the mascots’ Sausage Races in Milwaukee be shortened or eliminated?
Finally, will the 11th inning begin with runners on second and third, two runs in?
March jargon madness
’Tis the season when invention oversupplies need. What good is the NCAA basketball tournament unless it’s immersed in algorithms and overly complex math to distinguish the worthy teams from the unworthy? To separate the bubble teams from the Double Bubble teams and those who have yet to set foot on campus?
So last week we could read, right here in these pages, that “North Carolina has a NET ranking of 47, a 1-8 record in Quad 1 games, plus three Quad 2 losses.”
Reader Michael Christadore: “Was I having a nightmare or did I just land on Mars?”
Must escape Chuck!
Is there a place for spots fans to hide if they no longer care what Charles Barkley thinks about anything?
Charles BarkleyGetty Images
NBC’s “Sunday Today” show last week included good, strong stuff on the involvement of the NCAA Tournament-bound Alabama basketball team in the near-campus shooting death of 23-year-old mother Jamea Harris. Just one question: Would NBC News have pursued the story if NBC had owned the rights to the NCAA Tournament?
Why would ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith spend his time understanding hockey when he still doesn’t understand basketball beyond loud, rotten guesswork? And don’t get me started on football.
TAMPA — During the first day of workouts for pitchers and catchers last month, Gerrit Cole pointed out that this was his first normal spring training since he signed with the Yankees in December 2019, which he said gave him some extra comfort.
In the weeks since, that has been noticeable around the Yankees’ complex.
The $324 million ace has been a frequent presence for his teammates’ bullpen sessions and live batting practice sessions.
When he hasn’t joined coaches behind the mound for those events, he has often been taking them in from a different view, either among his teammates near the on-deck circle or keenly observing from the top step of the dugout.
Manager Aaron Boone has sensed the added comfort in how Cole has gone about his business through the first two-plus weeks of camp.
Gerrit Cole pitches during the Yankees’ spring training game against the Tigers on March 3. Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post
“There’s no question he’s more entrenched in that room,” Boone said.
“It’s awesome,” a smiling Cole said Friday night after throwing three scoreless innings with four strikeouts in his spring debut, a 5-3 loss to the split-squad Tigers at Steinbrenner Field.
After Cole signed his nine-year, $324 million contract to don pinstripes, his first spring training in 2020 was interrupted when COVID-19 shut the world down.
There were still restrictions in place during the 2021 camp and then spring training was delayed and condensed last year because of the lockout.
Now, as Cole enters his fourth season as a Yankee, he is getting to experience a normal spring training for the first time with the organization.
“It’s like I’m not wasting any brain power learning people’s names, I know where I want to eat, I know how long it takes to get to the field,” Cole said. “It seems like things are more familiar. I find myself being more curious about the game and spending more brain power on the game, as opposed to making sure I’m not showing up late or calling somebody by the wrong name and I’m not looking like I’m assimilating here because people are always looking at me. I want to do things right. I’ve got that kind of boxed up.”
Gerrit Cole has been able to be more engaged with his Yankees teammates this spring. Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post
Cole has not sacrificed any intensity on days when he is pitching, but otherwise the difference has been evident to those around him.
“I think it’s just the evolution of Gerrit in this rotation, in this [organization],” pitching coach Matt Blake said. “He’s much more settled as a Yankee and I think he knows where his position is amongst the group. He has a good feedback mechanism for the rest of the guys, likes to be out there and support them and give his advice on things and just be a sounding board for them, more than anything. He’s in a good spot right now and in a good rhythm, so he’s got time to go out and do those things.”
The unusual nature of Cole’s first three spring trainings with the Yankees did not necessarily affect his performance during those seasons.
This is Gerrit Cole’s first normal spring training with the Yankees.Charles Wenzelberg/NY Post
In his first three years in The Bronx, he pitched to a 3.28 ERA with 594 strikeouts across 455 innings.
But there is no denying that feeling more at ease off the field this spring — in addition to the way he pitched under pressure last October with a strong postseason performance after questions about whether he should be the ALDS Game 1 starter — could only stand to benefit Cole on the mound.
“I think it’s just the less stressors you have in your life worrying about, ‘What are all the different things I have to consider as a Yankee, with the contract, with the expectations and everything that goes along with it?’ ” Blake said. “Finishing the year strong last year, answering the bell when people were talking down the stretch and in the postseason. I think that should settle him.
“Then obviously adding Carlos [Rodon] as a support system for him, he doesn’t have to be the only guy — not that he was before. I think he feels amongst the group that there’s a good dynamic with all those guys. It’s a nice position for him to be in right now.”
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