It’s been a wild few days. Players we expected to be traded (David Robertson, Mark Canha, and Tommy Pham) were traded. Players we thought were unlikely but possible to be traded (Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, and Dominic Leone) were traded. Now the Mets turn an eye to 2024. For the rest of the season we are looking at how players on the roster fit into long-term plans. The Mets are also five games below .500 and six games out of the Wild Card. They also face a team this week in the Royals who are 32-75 with a -169 run differential (for comparison, the Mets are -10). Let’s see what happens!
Tonight’s starter is part of that 2024 plan. José Quintana makes his third start since returning from the injured list. He’s pitched a total of 11 innings, allowing five runs, four earned, while striking out eight (3.27 ERA, 2.64 FIP). Quintana also went from 77 pitches in his first start to 94 in his second, a positive sign. A not-so positive sign though was going from no walks his first time out to walking three batters. There are currently on three members of the Royals who have seen Quintana in a major league game. Two of them (Greinke and Lyles) are pitchers. Salvador Perez is 19-for-66 in his career against Quintana with four doubles, a triple, two homers and 14 strikeouts.
The Mets bats will get probably their final look at Zack Greinke as his stellar career starts to come to a close. Over 20 starts (101 2/3 innings) he has a 5.49 ERA, 5.06 FIP, 1.279 WHIP and an 80 ERA+. In the month of July he’s allowed 12 runs over 14 1/3 innings from 15 hits including five homers. Teams have just been racking up the hits against him this year and it shows as his xBA is in the 5th percentile. The Mets have the following career numbers against him:
- Omar Narváez 2-6, K
- Francisco Lindor 1-3, 2B
- DJ Stewart 1-3
- Daniel Vogelbach 0-3, 2 K
- Pete Alonso 1-2, 2B
- Danny Mendick 0-2, K
Three Things To Watch For:
- How does the team readjust? About an hour or so before the trade deadline, Max Scherzer talked to The Athletic and stated that the Mets were focusing more on 2025. This reality will be a jolt to players like Francisco Lindor, Pete Alonso, Brandon Nimmo and Jeff McNeil. Ultimately though, the future of this team, and whether they compete or not in 2024 is dependent on what they do next. With the baby Mets, they are more than capable to make some magic happen.
- Francisco Lindor has been on fire. On Sunday Lindor went 3-for-4 at the plat with a homerun, his second in two days. Since July 25th Lindor is 9-for-23 at the plate with two doubles and two homers while walking four times (.391/.482/.739). Lindor has the ability tonight to set the tone for this series in Kansas City.
- How much playing time does Danny Mendick get? The Mets should be playing their young prospects a lot more in the coming weeks. Mendick is not part of that group, but can play all over the infield and went 2-for-3 with a double on Sunday. For context, he’s 3-for-17 on the season. The Mets should not prioritize playing Mendick, but it feels like a very Mets and plausible that he’ll see consistent playing time like he has over the last week.
Let’s Go Mets!
