The Metropolitan: Your long wait is over!
Presenting... Opening Day, Take 2!
Good Morning,
Well, the Mets should finally play baseball tonight. Happy Opening Day (Part II)!
Today, we’ll preview the big game and talk about the irritating four-day delay that preceded it. But first: If you enjoy this free newsletter, please consider sharing it with others:
And with that, we start with the news.
⏰ Catch me up on what I missed over the weekend…
🍎 PLAY BALL: After an offseason that ushered in a new owner, two GMs, a blockbuster trade, several free agent signings, and a franchise-record contract extension that was extended one more weekend due to the Nationals’ bout with COVID… the Mets will finally open their 2021 season tonight in Philadelphia at 7:05 PM EST.
⚾️ STARTERS: An up-and-comer named Jacob deGrom will take the mound against left-hander Matt Moore. The Mets plan on starting Marcus Stroman tomorrow and David Peterson on Wednesday. Taijuan Walker is now set to take the ball for the home opener on Thursday against the Marlins. And the club will wait to decide if deGrom can come back on normal rest on Saturday (after the team’s Friday off-day), or else Joey Lucchesi (perhaps with an opener) will likely get the nod.
😐 KEEPING BUSY: As the Phillies swept the Braves and tied a modern franchise record by allowing only 3 runs during the series, the Mets tried to keep busy by watching highlights in their hotel rooms and playing simulated games at Nationals Park.
🍪 COOKIE CRISP: Right-handed pitcher Carlos “Cookie” Carrasco continues to make progress in his recovery from a right hamstring tear. Originally forecasted to be out 6-8 weeks, he threw “everything” over 30 pitches to live batters this past weekend, and manager Luis Rojas hinted he could be ready to return soon: “You can be optimistic about how sooner rather than later he can be with us, but we still have got to wait and see how he’s responded.”
🏥 THROWING: Meanwhile, Rojas says right-hander Seth Lugo is throwing two days ahead of schedule and playing catch up to 75 feet. His original diagnosis put him out until mid-May.
💉 VACCINE: Michael Conforto revealed he was diagnosed with COVID-19 two weeks prior to arriving at Mets camp. He said the symptoms were mild. The Mets have told players they can get vaccinated upon returning to New York, which Conforto said will be a personal choice for each player.
GOOD THING: “Everybody has their own opinions on whether or not they’re going to go in, to get vaccinated. But what I will say is when we get home, anyone who wants a vaccine will be able to get one and I think that’s a good thing for the league, good thing for the teams,” Conforto said to reporters on Sunday.
💰 CONTRACT TALKS: While Mets fans hoped being stuck in DC with nothing to do, might lead to progress on contract extension talks with Conforto, it appears the negotiation will be a long process. The outfielder told reporters on Sunday that he understands the Mets can’t extend everyone (Noah Syndergaard, Marcus Stroman and, to some extent, Jacob deGrom are also extension candidates) and he doesn’t want to talk about it anymore with the season beginning.
💵 MORE EXTENSIONS: With deGrom’s 2022 opt-out date lurking in the background, the Mets engaged in “preliminary discussions” on an extension this offseason, per Andy Martino. However, those talks didn’t progress very far, according to the report.
⭐️ ALL-STAR GAME: After MLB decided to pull the 2021 All-Star Game out of Atlanta in response to Georgia’s new election law, manager Luis Rojas told reporters, “I stand behind what the commissioner said.”
🎤 MEET THE PRESS: Steve Cohen and Sandy Alderson will talk to the media at 12:00 noon today for their first press conference since extending Francisco Lindor.
📚 April 5, 1976: In a deal negotiated in the groundskeeper's office under the third base stands at Al Lang Field in Fort Lauderdale, Tom Seaver and the Mets agree to a 3-year deal, making Seaver the first pitcher in history to earn $200,000 per season.
Delayed gratification
🧓 by Jeffrey Bellone and Blake Zeff
We don't have to tell Mets fans that the baseball-delaying COVID craziness of the last few days has made for an unconventional -- and slightly irritating -- opening week of the season. Fans were counting the days for the season to start, and had adrenaline pumping after signing their new superstar shortstop to the largest contract extension in franchise history.
But what about the on-the-field impact of the four-day postponement? Aside from all of us having to wait a few days to start watching games, could the delay take a toll on the players or their results?
Here is our not-very-scientific-because-there's-no-precedent-for-it analysis of this four-game COVID-19 induced delay to the Mets' 2021 season:
Pros
✅ The Mets get to start their top guys — Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman — against the back of the Phillies rotation despite it being Opening Day. Philadelphia is coming off a weekend in which Aaron Nola, Zack Wheeler, and Zach Eflin led the charge in holding the Braves to only three runs over three games, which was the first time a team has done that to Atlanta since 2017. The Amazins will now miss both Wheeler and Eflin in this series.
✅ By starting today instead of over this past weekend (which had been considered after the Nationals’ positive test results were announced), the Mets can maintain their original rotation plans. The worst case scenario would have been playing a doubleheader during the first weekend, which would have forced the team to use extra arms out of the gate. Now, manager Luis Rojas can bring today’s starter deGrom back on Saturday, using the off day to skip the fifth starter, as they had originally planned to do when they had last Friday originally scheduled to be off.
✅ Opening Day will be televised the way it should be: with the SNY theme music and graphics, as Gary, Keith, and Ron describe the action. Nobody wanted to hear A-Rod talk about what it would have been like if he owned the team during an ESPN telecast. By skipping the originally-scheduled Opening Day match-up, Mets fans can enjoy the first game on their local broadcast.
Cons
🔻 This one's more of a fan thing, but we imagine some players will care, as well: The Mets will be playing their opening day tonight, but it will have less of the pomp and circumstance of actual Opening Day. There likely won't be pre-game on-field introductions, as the Phillies have already opened a home series before this (sweeping Atlanta in three games, as mentioned earlier). And the game is not even being played on Opening Day. While the Mets and their fans have been waiting with giggly anticipation for this game... for the Phillies, it will just be an ordinary in-season series.
🔻 To that end, the Mets can be expected to play their first game of 2021 with some rust, and maybe even some butterflies. But their Philadelphia opponent already has three wins, and is essentially a well-oiled and adjusted machine. The Mets do not have the luxury of shaking off the cob webs against a team that has already swept a defending division champion.
🔻 Will there be an effect on the starting pitchers? Jacob deGrom is from another planet, so you assume he'll be fine. But could other guys who planned to pitch late last week be thrown off their rhythm by having to wait an extra four days? MLB history certainly has examples of pitchers getting skipped a turn and pitching on nine days of rest instead of five, and having their routine thrown off. And we’ve seen in the playoffs where long layoffs can sometimes impact pitchers. But the truth is, it's hard to equate a pitcher coming off a full season versus one making his first start. Either way: We'll soon find out!
🔻 To catch up with the rest of the league, the Mets will likely need to play those annoying 7-inning doubleheaders as make-up games — which could mean sitting some key players who may be too tired to go two games in one day, rethinking who should pitch in them, etc. Of course, the Mets may well win these games. But the bigger point is that this seemingly small schedule change has implications beyond simply having to wait a few days to start the season.
In the end, we don’t know how the schedule change will affect the Mets. But here’s what does seem clear: These are a lot of new variables to introduce — all because of something the Mets themselves had no responsibility for.
Ultimately, the biggest “pro” of this whole thing? We will find out how all this shakes out in just a few hours. The New York Mets are playing official baseball again tonight!
Enjoy it, and we’ll see you back in this space tomorrow, to talk all about it.
⚾️ Matt Harvey looked decent in his Orioles debut, allowing two earned runs, while striking out four and walking one in 4.2 innings against the Red Sox on Saturday.
⚾️ Philadelphia’s Zack Wheeler was dominant on Saturday, pitching 7 shutout innings, striking out ten and allowing only one hit. He also went 2-3 at the plate, with a double and 2 RBIs for the Phillies.
⚾️ Last night, the Angels’ Shohei Ohtani became the first starting pitcher to hit a HR in an American League game since the DH was instituted in 1973. Unfortunately, he had to leave the game early, after a collision at home plate while playing the field (but the Angels say he is fine, per Buster Olney).
⚾️ MLB announced late last night that the Nationals will begin their season tomorrow vs. the Braves in Washington. The team’s most recent round of COVID-19 tests included no new positives, per Joel Sherman.
🔗 Mets shouldn’t hesitate to spend big on Michael Conforto, by Ken Davidoff, NY Post: “If I ran the Mets, there’s fewer players I’d like to lock up for the foreseeable future than Conforto, the homegrown All-Star who has never represented the organization in anything besides an exemplary manner.”
🔗 Mets 2021 Season Preview and Prediction, by Danny Abriano, SNY: “With the additions of Francisco Lindor and James McCann, New York boasts one of the deepest and most dynamic offensive attacks in baseball… on paper, the Mets are one of the two best teams in the division.”
🔗 The best athlete in the Mets’ farm system, by MLB Pipeline: “PETE CROW-ARMSTRONG: If it’s possible for a prep pick coming straight out of the Draft to have a high floor, then Crow-Armstrong fits the bill because of his athleticism. Last year’s 19th overall pick has plus speed and gets even better grades for his defensive work in center, where he covers plenty of ground. There’s a decent chance he could slide right into a Major League outfield right now and provide value if he didn’t have to hit. The Mets saw that when they used the 19-year-old in 11 Grapefruit League games this spring.”
And…to remind you of the excitement you felt on Thursday about your new franchise shortstop, here is some soothing footage of Francisco Lindor taking grounders…
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Lets Go Mets
Still annoys me, and probably some other Mets fans, that the CHEAPO wilpons and bvw let Wheeler walk..... LETS GO METS !!!