Good Morning,
If you are like Timmy Trumpet and haven’t spent much time at a major-league ballpark, last night was the game to experience. In a contest that unfolded like a dramatic film over a crisp 2 hours and 19 minutes, the Mets gave a packed Citi Field crowd plenty to cheer about—raising the team’s patented apple with a home run, stealing a long ball away with one of the best catches you will ever see, while shutting down baseball’s top offense thanks to a vintage performance by Jacob deGrom, who was nearly outdone by a musical guest and unhittable closer.
Atlanta won, so the Mets remain three games up in the National League East. But last night wasn’t about the Braves; it was about Steve Cohen’s team making a statement that they are going to be tough out come October, no matter who is lined up on the other side of the diamond.
Before last night’s game, we learned Brett Baty will likely miss the rest of the regular season due to a thumb injury. This news came on the eve of active rosters expanding for September. Unfortunately, this doesn’t mean we get a peek at top prospect Mark Vientos. The Mets replaced Baty with the speedy Terrance Gore in time to make him postseason eligible, while reportedly calling up Adonis Medina and Deven Marrero to the big club. We will talk more about all of this in a bit.
It’s a jam-packed newsletter today, as I also have some quotes to share from Steve Cohen’s recent appearance on The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman.
But first, let’s recap last night’s thrilling win.
▼ IN SHORT: Jacob deGrom was dominant, Starline Marte mashed a two-run homer, Brandon Nimmo stole a homer away from Justin Turner and Edwin Díaz answered the trumpet call to nail down an exciting 2–1 victory for the Mets [Box Score].
🤯 HIGHWAY ROBBERY: Let’s start with the catch. Holding a one-run lead in the seventh, deGrom threw a 100-MPH fastball that Justin Turner smoked 104 MPH the other way for what looked like would be a game-tying home run until Brandon Nimmo got in the way.
The ball traveled 410 feet and would have been gone in 19 of 30 ballparks. Statcast gave Nimmo a 15% catch probability based on his path to the ball, including the distance, timing and proximity to the wall.
Gary Cohen said it best in calling it “The Catch of the Year!” Given the circumstances, it sure was. Think about it from the Dodgers perspective: they were one robbed catch away from matching Jacob deGrom with essentially their third/fourth starter. Who knows what happens if they tie the game in the seventh.
For Nimmo, it’s another reminder of how far he has come as a center fielder. I wrote at length about some adjustments he made in 2021 to improve his positioning. Since then, he has quite literally taken off. Remember this catch back in June?!
“I think that’s the biggest thing is getting experience and also the hard work we’ve put in with gaining a foot per second,” Nimmo said of his improved defense, via NorthJersey.com. “A lot of spring training work as well, going back on balls and playing a little bit deeper and all the analytics that go into it as well. They had me in the right positioning there on the right field side and that allowed me to make the play.”
🍎 deGROMINATOR: While deGrom was surely energized by Nimmo’s incredible catch, he didn’t need his defense to do too much in mowing down the prolific Dodgers’ offense. Pitching into the seventh inning for the first time this season, deGrom struck out nine and allowed only one run via a long ball by Mookie Betts, who offered some high praise after the game:
deGrom kept Mookie and the Dodgers off balance by deploying his curveball and changeup with more frequency.
“He went more 50-50 with his secondary versus the fastball tonight,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said, via MLB.com. “It’s something that we need to keep in the back of our minds that, yeah, he can go to the secondary [pitches] if needed.”
Los Angeles got a sneak peek at how daunting the Mets could look in the playoffs when Buck Showalter can dial up deGrom for seven, Ottavino for one and Díaz for the final three (or more) outs.
It’s that middle piece, the bridge between deGrom and Díaz, that might not always be traveled come playoff time, but was necessary last night. Ottavino was up for the task, putting down Joey Gallo and Cody Bellinger before a long battle with Mookie Betts that ended with a tantalizing slider off the plate to strike him out and end the inning.
🎺 TRUMPETS: I have to admit, as fun as it is to see Timmy Trumpet walking around Citi Field like a kid in a candy store, shaking hands with fans, passing out toy trumpets and playing his viral Narco song when his new friend enters the game, I was worried the Mets might be tempting fate.
Imagine Freddie Freeman watching this spectacle from the dugout. It’s one thing to blast a player’s warm-up music over the stadium speakers, it’s another to put on a WWE show in the middle of the game. I’m sure Freeman wanted to send a ball 500 feet in response. But instead, he pulled a soft grounder to the right side and represented one of the three easy outs Díaz would record to secure the win.
The Mets are good and having fun doing it. A fate well deserved for this organization.
🔥 OFFENSIVE SPARK: There are so many storylines to this season it’s easy to overlook one of the ignition switches to the offense, Starling Marte. He has been everything the Mets could have hoped for when they signed him in the offseason, hitting 35% above league average and coming through with clutch hits like his two-run homer last night that proved to be the difference maker.
Marte has four home runs and 11 RBIs over his last 15 games, while slashing .310/.375/.621. Most importantly, he continues to hit left-handed pitching, leading the team with a 148 wRC+. As the Dodgers send out a never-ending line of southpaws, Marte has three hits in the first two games of this series.
Some more news and notes from yesterday…
👎 THUMBS DOWN: Top prospect Brett Baty suffered a UCL tear in his right thumb diving for a foul ball over the weekend. He originally thought he had simply jammed the finger, but after an MRI on Wednesday, he learned it was much worse. The 22-year-old corner infielder will undergo surgery today and will likely miss the rest of the regular season since this injury has a typical return time of five weeks.
This obviously changes how the Mets approach expanded rosters in September. Yesterday, they called up Terrance Gore as an immediate roster replacement for Baty. Gore has playoff experience as a pinch-runner, so the front office was obviously looking ahead in making sure he was on the 40-man roster in time to be postseason eligible.
⚾️ ROSTER EXPANSION: Naturally, Mark Vientos is an attractive candidate among the fanbase to replace Baty, or at least be one of the players who benefits from expanded rosters. However, Andy Martino reports the team favors defensive versatility over adding another right-handed bat to the bench, which is why they called up infielder Deven Marrero instead.
“What would you do with him?” Showalter said of Vientos. “What would you do with Ruf?”
By MLB rule, teams aren’t allowed to carry more than 14 pitchers on the expanded active roster, and Medina makes 14 for the Mets.
Carlos Carrasco is expected back this weekend, which means another roster move is coming. They could keep David Peterson around to spread out the top starters or provide an added left-handed arm in the bullpen. The carousel of relievers in the back of the ‘pen will undoubtedly continue to spin throughout the month.
With Gore on the bench, the Mets are short an infielder until Luis Guillorme is healthy enough to return. There aren’t many 40-man-ready options besides Vientos, which makes it a bit surprising they would opt for Marrero, who requires a corresponding 40-man roster move, especially when they might only need him for a short period of time.
🔜 REHAB: Tylor Megill will make a rehab assignment for Double-A Binghamton on Thursday as he works his way back from a strained right shoulder. Showalter told reporters that Drew Smith “is not far behind him.” And Luis Guillorme will play a rehab game on Sunday.
🎧 STATE OF THE UNION: Steve Cohen made an appearance on The Show with Joel Sherman and Jon Heyman yesterday. It’s a great listen (starts at the 15:48 mark), but here are some highlights:
▪️On the possibility of wooing David Stearns to New York: “I’m really not thinking about that right now. I’m trying to get through the season. I think Billy has done a great job. Billy’s a real detailed person. I really appreciate the effort he has put in, coming into a new organization, trying to figure out what’s going on and learning the personnel. He’s done a great job and I’m really pleased.”
▪️On Sandy Alderson’s future role: “Sandy is going to continue to be part of this. He’s been invaluable to me and he will continue to help me any way he can.”
▪️On re-signing Jacob deGrom: “I haven’t had a direct conversation with Jacob on this…. He has been very clear he wants to opt out. He has earned that right. It’s part of his contract and it’s certainly his prerogative to explore what the market is. At the appropriate time we are going to sit down and talk. He’s been a phenomenal Met. I think he’s the best pitcher in baseball and we are going to do whatever we can to bring him back.”
▪️On Edwin Díaz: “I had Diaz up for dinner a couple weeks ago. Terrific guy. Extraordinary season. Just a great person. Great demeanor for the role. So calm. Just comes in, does his thing. Very likable. I would love to have him back.”
▪️On payroll and budget: “I am cognizant that I am part of a community. I don’t want to just be flippant about what I’m going to do relative to what is going on with the rest of the baseball community. I have to live in this world. I can’t just act like it doesn’t exist. We are almost at $300 million. You should be able to build a pretty good team at $300 million. And if you can’t do that, then that’s a problem.”
“Nobody has an unlimited budget. The numbers could get extraordinary. We will have to figure [what to do about all of the impending free agents] out. And we will.”
▪️On the Yankees: “Do I want to kick their butt? I don’t need to kick their butt… I really believe there is room for both of us in this city. It’s a big city. I just don’t worry about the Yankees. I don’t feel like I’m competing with them. I feel like we are trying to establish our own identity, our own brand. I really don’t think about them.”
🚦 And separately, if you’re bothered by the traffic around Citi Field, Steve Cohen hears you:
🗓 UP NEXT: Clayton Kershaw (7–3, 2.64 ERA) will make his first start since injuring his back on August 4. He will likely be on a limited pitch count. The Mets will counter with Chris Bassitt (11–7, 3.34).
After Los Angeles leaves town, the Mets will welcome the Nats to Citi Field.
◾️ Out of Town? How about what’s going on in our local community? I should do this more often. So today I want to pass along some info about a baseball tournament in Long Island over Labor Day weekend.
The New York Girls Baseball (NYGB) organization announced it will be holding the fourth annual Maria Pepe Baseball Tournament. This annual all-girl travel baseball tournament will feature over 200 girls from 20 baseball teams across the East Coast and Canada. The event is “part of a movement to empower girls to believe in themselves through participation in sports and to build gender equity in the game of baseball.”
This year’s tournament was made possible, in part, by generous contributions from the New York Mets and Nike. For more information, please contact Peter Kauffmann at peter@bluejacket.nyc. You can attend the event for $10.
🔗 How years of work led to Mets’ Brandon Nimmo’s big moment, by Andy Martino, SNY: “The agent Scott Boras has his own explanation for why his client Brandon Nimmo has made such dramatic improvements as a center fielder during his Major League career. ‘They don’t have fences in Wyoming,’ Boras says, referring to Nimmo’s native state, where high school baseball wasn’t even available to Nimmo. ‘He knows how to play the ones in New York.’”
🔗 Enjoy Jacob deGrom’s brilliance now with his Mets future uncertain, by Jon Heyman, NY Post: “That deGrom is the best isn’t really up for debate now, at least when he’s out there. The question is about how long he will favor us with his genius — and, of course, what he will get on the open market, which is the only place we know for sure deGrom is headed next. And those questions remain unanswered (though I will attempt here to provide some financial guesses, anyway.)”
And we close this one out with a joyous Brandon Nimmo (how do you not love this guy?)…
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And please check out our newsletters about the Knicks and Isles, too.
Last night was delightful on every level. Ticked off every box. That was baseball how it oughtta be. I love getaway day games and am looking forward to watching the Mets face their third southpaw in a row. Obviously, Kershaw is no ordinary lefty but the Dodgers sure are giving the Mets a lot of practice in this area. Thank you, Dodgers. It's September 1st, Mets fans, and they are in the stretch run. The Mets may not look as pretty as the Dodgers but we have our own brand of resilience and determination that rivals any team in baseball. #LFGM
Enjoyed this newsletter a lot. One of your best. LGM.