Tag Archives: Mets

May 21

Sandy Alderson Doing Mets Disservice With Ike Davis Decision

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ALDERSON DOING METS A DISSERVICE IN STAYING WITH DAVIS

Perhaps Sandy Alderson knew of Andrew Brown’s strained oblique when he said there was nothing imminent about sending Ike Davis to the minor leagues. Assuming he did not, it is puzzling as to why he’s in no hurry to ship out his struggling first baseman.

Eventually, Alderson said, “everything comes to a head at some point,’’ but evidently it is not hitting .156 two months into the season. Either are Davis’ other miserable numbers.

Alderson said he’s interested not in results, but good at-bats. Sounds good in theory, but that won’t happen if Davis’ thinking doesn’t change, and there’s no indication of it happening soon.

About the minor leagues, Davis said that would not help because he needs to learn to hit at this level. Davis insists he’s a home run hitter, that he likes to hit home runs and strikeouts are part of the equation.

I can’t scream “that’s crap,’’ loud enough. Davis is so married to his pull-everything approach that improvement is almost impossible to attain.

Davis’ extraordinary wide stance offers no alternatives but to lunge, and he doesn’t have the discipline to lay off breaking balls down and away and fastballs up in the zone. Davis’ mechanics and approach must be torn down and built back up. It could take a month for that to happen, and it shouldn’t be a month up here.

Incredibly, Davis said he’s having positive at-bats, that in Chicago he just missed driving a few balls. But, the fact is he missed those pitches so they can’t be considered good at-bats. It isn’t as if he’s hit a lot of balls on the screws or driven them to the warning track.

Davis was 1-for-24 on the trip to St. Louis and Chicago; is hitting .103 (4-for-39) with runners in scoring position; and is on pace for 177 strikeouts.

So, you tell me how his getting out of his funk.

When he first came up, Davis showed a willingness to go to the opposite field. There’s none of that now.

Davis said he’s still playing good defense, but he’s delusional there, too. He should have been given an error when he short-armed Ruben Tejada’s wild throw in the dirt in Chicago. The ball did not take a short hop and was something he should have snared.

He was also flat out lazy Monday night on a obstruction call that opened the door to a big inning for Cincinnati in the first inning.

Davis’ head isn’t screwed on straight and he’s fallen into a myriad of bad habits that preclude good at-bats. Davis anticipates getting a month to work out of his funk, but how much lower will the Mets sink in that time?

For the past three years, the Mets had to settle for lousy at-bats and performance from Jason Bay because of his salary. Currently, Alderson plans to have the Mets settling from horrid performance from Davis despite a manageable contract.

OK, Brown is out, but what about Zach Lutz? What about making a move and adding Josh Satin to the 40-man roster?

It doesn’t matter what they do, except for standing pat, and Alderson hasn’t given a good reason for choosing that route. That decision is doing a disservice to the Mets and not helping Davis any, either.

As usual, your comments are always welcome and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

May 20

Mets Must Develop Consistency In Batting Order

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Constructing a major league batting order is a tricky enough task for a manager in the best of times, let alone with the limited and non-productive options in front of Terry Collins.

It was good to see Daniel Murphy back at leadoff Monday against Cincinnati, but somewhat surprised at first to see Rick Ankiel at second. Then again, Murphy won’t be doing a lot of stealing, so there’s not much of a need for him to work the count.

Then again, working the count might not be such a bad idea if it helps Ankiel get a better pitch and cuts down on his strikeouts. You also have to wonder if having a hot David Wright behind him will have pitchers challenge him by throwing more fastballs inside the zone, which theoretically is the theory of hitters protecting each other in the batting order.

Murphy is on a 14-for-28 tear over his last seven games and Ankiel has two homers since the Mets picked him up last week, so there’s life at the top of the order. Wright has also been swinging a hot bat.

Moving Lucas Duda to cleanup and dropping Ike Davis to sixth seems the best option, although I would drop Davis lower – to Triple-A Las Vegas. But, if he stays, let him stick at seventh. Sixth can be a RBI spot in the order, so why keep Davis there when he’s not producing? Until Davis shows he can produce, and he erroneously has said he needs to hit on this level and not in the minor leagues.

What Davis doesn’t get is this isn’t about the majors vs. the minors, but for him addressing his mechanics and approach. Staying in the majors won’t shake him of his bad habits and approach. That will take diligent work in the minors.

Assuming a full season for Ankiel, from him at second, and including Wright, Duda, Marlon Byrd, Davis and John Buck, the Mets have six straight hitters on pace for over 100 strikeouts. Five Mets who normally start are hitting lower than .240. Overall, the Mets have scored three or fewer runs in 10 of their last 13 games and 15 of their last 22.

In spring training Collins said he wanted consistency in the batting order, but realistically hasn’t had many options. One thing he could do is keep Ruben Tejada eighth, which is prudent considering his .219 average.

Collins has waffled before, but if there’s no replacement for Davis – and general manager Sandy Alderson said that is not imminent – here’s hoping he sticks with this indefinitely.There might be minor tweaking depending on specific match-ups and working others into the lineup, but overall hopefully nothing dramatic.

Look at it this way, there’s nothing working with all the juggling. The Mets have used seven different hitters batting leadoff, fifth and eighth; eight number six hitters; and 11 at seventh.

There’s nothing stable there, and that must change.

As usual, your comments are always welcome and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

May 18

Mets Weighing Ike Davis Demotion

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If, and when, the Mets demote Ike Davis, it shouldn’t be interpreted as the franchise giving up on him. It should be looked at as tough love, that they are doing what is in the best interests of themselves and their frustrated slugger.

The Mets must make this decision, whether he’s the future or not. If he is the future, then the Mets must make him right. If he’s not the future, then the Mets should stop spinning their wheels.

DAVIS: Could be optioned soon.

DAVIS: Could be optioned soon.

I don’t believe the Mets will bail on him long term because, 1) he’s shown flashes of success, 2) they have more urgent needs in other areas so they can afford more patience, and 3) he has a manageable contract.

Davis will need to work on mechanics and approach when he’s sent down, and the Mets will have to judge him on those and not stats, as you can make them say anything you want.

Davis just looks uncomfortable at the plate and this wide stance is such that he’s awkward looking. It makes him prone to lunging and getting off balance.

His approach is just plain bad. He should look at striking out as a disease. His pitch recognition is poor, which is how you explain his reaching for low-and-away breaking balls. Until Davis proves he can adjust and hit this pitch, there’s no reason why any pitcher will throw him a fastball.

Finally, he has to understand it is better to put the ball in play than to walk back to the dugout. There’s nothing sexy about striking out, and good things happen when you go up the middle.

Reportedly, the Mets are close to pulling the trigger on this, but are weighing their call-up choices. If and when the Mets make this move, it likely won’t be for Josh Statin because he is not on the 40-man roster and bringing him up would require some juggling.

The likely choices would be Andrew Brown and Zach Lutz. Because Brown was sent down when the Mets signed Rick Ankiel, he’s not eligible to be brought up until next week.

Undoubtedly, Davis will put an incredible amount of pressure on himself trying to snap out of this funk and attempt to stay, but that would only make things worse.

When you look at the Mets’ roster, Davis is one of the few players you can look at and realistically project he will still be here in five years. However, if he doesn’t get things fixed soon, you can also realistically project he won’t be here next year.

May 17

Mets Must Option Ike Davis; It’s The Only Way To Save Him

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The Mets’ lineup for today’s game in Chicago has Ike Davis batting clean up, just where Terry Collins promised he would. Collins said Davis will hit fourth today and tomorrow, but doesn’t know where he’ll bat – if he bats at all – Sunday against left-hander Travis Wood.

“Through this weekend,’’ Collins told reporters yesterday in St. Louis after Davis went 0-for-5, including four strikeouts. “I told him last week that this week, when we play against right-handed pitchers, he’s going to hit fourth. That’s where he belongs. And that’s where he’s supposed to hit.’’

DAVIS: We've seen this reaction a lot.

DAVIS: We’ve seen this reaction a lot.

That is, of course, if he’s hitting at all, which Davis is not. He takes a 0-for-22 slide and .157 average into today’s game. Davis already has 45 strikeouts and is on pace for 192. Here’s another way to look at things: If his strikeouts were hits, he would be batting .354.

I realize this is a different era, but Davis’ strikeouts are inexcusable. He didn’t seemed concerned about them when I spoke with him earlier this spring, telling me he’s a home run hitter, that he likes to hit home runs and strike outs are part of the package.

That’s nonsense, and in some ways, just as selfish as Jordany Valdespin’s styling after hitting a meaningless home run.

No matter how you slice it, a strike out is a wasted at-bat. So many things can happen if you put the ball in play: you can get a hit; reach on an error; drive in a run; or simply advance the runner into scoring position.

You don’t do anything when you strike out, and the worst thing about Davis now is that he doesn’t grasp that concept.

Mets hitters average just under ten strikeouts a game, which,means they aren’t putting the ball in play for a third of the game. No wonder they are losing.

Everybody in the normal starting line up but Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy are on pace for over 100 strikeouts, and the double-play combination is on pace for nearly 170, so it’s not like we’re talking that great an improvement.

I don’t know what Collins will do after this weekend, but the Mets need to move Davis, and I don’t mean to seventh in the order.

If the Mets honestly believe Davis is their future first baseman based on the 32 homers he gave them last year, then sending him to the minor leagues is their best option so he can straighten his head and shorten his swing. If the Mets don’t believe he’s their future, then sending him to the minor leagues is their best option because it will give somebody else a chance to play.

Davis said he’s been hitting the ball well during this slide, which is puzzling, and he’s not even in agreement with Collins on what’s the problem. Collins said Davis is missing off-speed and breaking pitches, but Davis says otherwise.

Collins said teams are giving Davis a steady dose of off-speed pitches. Davis said that’s only partially true. He’s missing fastballs early in the count and becomes vulnerable for the off-speed pitches with two strikes.

“It’s not the off-speed that I’m missing,’’ Davis said. “I’m missing the fastballs. When you miss the fastballs, they have pretty good off-speed pitches in the big leagues. `And when you have two strikes, you’ve got to protect [against] the fastball at 97 mph. And then there’s a good off-speed pitch. The bottom line is I need to hit the pitch earlier in the count that’s over the plate, and hit it in fair play.’’

Huh? Did you get all that? If you did you should get frequent flier miles for following him all over the map.

Overall, Davis is missing the off-speed pitch because that’s what he’s getting. There’s not reason why a pitcher would throw him a fastball. Yes, he’s missing them, too, when he gets one.

One scout told me Davis isn’t doing anything right at the plate, that he’s pull happy and doesn’t use the entire field, let alone go to left. He said Davis is in love with the home run, which is killing any chance he has to become a solid hitter.

Is it too late for Davis to live up to the expectations?

Davis can be salvaged, but not on this level. When he gets home he’ll hear the booing just as Jason Bay heard them and the pressure will only intensify.

The Mets must send him to the minor leagues and keep him there until he changes his approach. Minor league results are meaningless; the Mets must see a change in style. Davis must learn to be patient and wait for his pitch. He must eschew the low-and-away breaking stuff; he must stop trying to pull everything.

If his approach improves and he’s making consistent contact, the home runs will come. If he stays on his current approach, he’ll soon be an ex-Met. Josh Statin and Zach Lutz can be brought up, if nothing else, to see what they can give the Mets. As of now, it can’t be any less than what Davis gives  them.

Your comments are appreciated and I will attempt to answer them. Please follow me on Twitter @jdelcos

 

May 15

Terry Collins Spins Into Damage Control

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Terry Collins is a smart guy who made some pretty out-of-bounds comments Monday night. Some might even call them stupid.

COLLINS: Spins into damage control.

COLLINS: Spins into damage control.

I leaned in that direction when I came down on Collins for ripping the fans in his response to a question on if the Mets were leaving Jordany Valdespin out to dry after his actions last weekend.

“I don’t answer to fans,’’ Collins said reporters in St. Louis. “They don’t play this game. They have no idea what goes on. They have no idea what goes on in there. They have absolutely no idea what it means to be a professional teammate at this level.’’

Collins also went on to say he didn’t care about the perception of the Valdespin incident, ranging from the player celebrating his meaningless home run in a blowout loss, to the manager anticipating the payback plunking, to the player’s dugout tantrum.

There’s no mistaking what Collins meant, but it should be noted this could have been alleviated had he danced around the question and later vented his true feelings in an off-the-record session with the New York traveling media. Had he done so, Collins’ comments wouldn’t have left his Busch Stadium office.

Speaking on WFAN this afternoon, Collins was in full damage control, saying: “The New York fans are maybe the most knowledgeable fans that I’ve ever been around.

“When the question was asked, it pretty much was … Look, as much as I respect everybody’s opinions, it’s my opinion that counts and what’s best for this club. I can’t be influenced by outside people who aren’t here, and that’s pretty much all I meant. Certainly I misused the words. I shouldn’t have said ‘fans.’ I should have just said ‘people.’ ’’

However, what are fans, if not people?

Collins might have meant fans and media lumped together when he said “people,’’ but either way, why take on a foe when you don’t have to?

If you want to give Collins benefit of doubt, which I don’t have a problem with, you have to recognize his frustration and the pressure he’s under. His is not an easy job, made harder by the cards Sandy Alderson dealt him. We can go on item-by-item of all Collins doesn’t have to work with, and then add the headache that is Valdespin.

To understand fully what Collins is dealing with, you have to hear what Valdespin said last night. Valdespin was sent up to pinch-hit in another blowout loss. After taking a couple of pitches, he stepped out of the batter’s box and took a deep breath.

When asked after the game what he was thinking about, Valdespin said what he would do if he hit a homer.

Yeah, after hearing that, I’m willing to give Collins a pass on Monday’s comments. He deserves it for having to deal with Valdespin.