knickabocker88 wrote:Buck is too loyal to the vets, dangerous to platoon the kids. Mess with their confidence and stunt their development by not giving them regular ABs.
If Marte can get on track, I think the turnaround will be sustainable.
It's just one game, but good call on Marte!!
MLB pitching is so much better than it was, even just 10 years ago and hitting is hard. I think a most players are going to go through slumps now and again, even guys like Lindor & Alonso.
For comparison, and it's maybe not a fair comparison, but the Braves have 4 players with a .900 or better OPS. All of them under 30. The Mets best hitter, Pete Alonso, who's having a great season, has an .876 OPS. The Braves have one guy over 1,000 (Acuna is ridiculous) and 4 guys over 900. Mets have one guy over .800 That's not even close.
And don't get me started on the ridiculous Rays who have a team OPS of .850 - probably not sustainable, but that's nuts. Team OPS+ of 138. That's better than the 27 Yankees (127) or the 76 Reds (120/129 without pitchers).
The Mets have good hitting through depth. They have a player who can hit above average at every position and some pieces to move around for days off or lefty/righty, but outside of possibly Alonso, none of these hitters are stars. It's not bad, but it's not elite. The Braves are an elite hitting team right now. The Rays are preposterous. No guarantees those 2 teams keep it up.
The bats need to keep hitting and the pitchers need to perform, but they're not out of it. I still think this is a playoff team.
Now it's all about the off-season for my Knicks. (and rooting for Boston to crush Indiana).