NL East: 2023

[JCA-CrystalCity]

noah song to pitch simulated games.  Not clear if the sim games are on a Navy flight simulator or on a mound.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/06/nl-east-notes-marlins-phillies-mets.html

[imref]

Because of course, Nick Castellanos hit a HR on the day the bridge collapsed near Philly.

[imref]

Phillies go 13-2 over their last fifteen to gain no ground on Atlanta.

[welch]

The Mets: perhaps sellers by the deadline?

The Most Expensive Team in Baseball Is Not Getting Any Better

Nearly halfway through the 2023 season, the most expensive team in Major League Baseball history is closer to last place than first. After a dispiriting 7-6 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday, the Mets and their nearly $500 million roster — once luxury taxes are considered — were left with a 35-42 record, dwindling odds of reaching the playoffs and a growing number of questions.

The Mets have won only five more games than the Washington Nationals, a franchise mired in a rebuild and, for the moment, the only team keeping them off the bottom of the National League East. The Atlanta Braves, who have won the division five years in a row and lead it again as of Sunday, are 15 games ahead the Mets.

Even Manager Buck Showalter seemed to acknowledge on Sunday that his team has limited options to turn things around. Leading the Phillies by 6-3 entering the eighth inning, the Mets endured a disastrous four-run meltdown in which they surrendered only one hit. Instead of using some of his better relievers to close out the game, Showalter, saying they had been overworked recently, turned to less-established bullpen options.

The season is certainly passing the Mets by. A roster with stars such as Max Scherzer, Justin Verlander, Francisco Lindor and Pete Alonso had only a 16 percent chance of reaching the postseason after Sunday’s defeat, according to FanGraphs. Before the season, the Mets were expected to contend with Atlanta for the N.L. East title and even challenge for a spot in the World Series.

“Usually that’s what happens: We don’t play well, people lose jobs,” Lindor told reporters over the weekend. “But I don’t see us as a team that’s going to sell out. I see us as a team that’s going to contend, that’s going to be there. We’re built to be contenders.”

If they continue to lose at their current rate, they may not be in a position to add reinforcements ahead of the Aug. 1 trade deadline. Instead of shopping for a late-season push, they may be looking instead to shed players — and salary — to other teams with actual playoff hopes.

The only other option would be to ask the billionaire owner Steven A. Cohen to try to patch the Mets’ problems with trades that could mean further bloating the team’s player budget, which already includes a record $377 million 40-man roster and an estimated $105 million in luxury tax penalties.

Scherzer, 38, and Verlander, 40, are both multi-time Cy Young Award winners, but each has been alternately injured or pitching poorly. The rookie Kodai Senga has been better (3.52 E.R.A.) but he pitches only once a week in his first season from Japan. The rest of the rotation — Carlos Carrasco, Tylor Megill and David Peterson — have struggled.

The troubles of the starting rotation have only exacerbated by a bullpen that entered the season with holes, chief among them the injury to the star closer Edwin Díaz. Showalter’s usage of the bullpen hasn’t helped either: He saved David Robertson, the Mets’ best healthy reliever, for the ninth inning on Sunday rather than use him when the game was on the line in the eighth.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/26/sports/baseball/mets-phillies-showalter.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Sports

Bobby Jim Bowden adds:

As the Aug. 1 trade deadline looms, I think the Mets and Cardinals are two prominent teams that should be contemplating the unpopular strategy of selling to kickstart organizational reboots for future years. Both clubs have been big disappointments and find themselves on the outskirts of the National League postseason picture despite having star-laden rosters and, in the case of the Mets, a record-shattering payroll. Entering Friday, St. Louis is 31-44, putting it nine games back in the mediocre NL Central and 10 1/2 back in the wild-card race. New York is six games under .500, a whopping 14 games back in the NL East and seven back of the final wild-card spot.

https://theathletic.com/4632492/2023/06/23/mets-cardinals-trade-deadline-selling-verlander-scherzer-goldschmidt/

[rileyn]

The Mets have time to make a run at the WC.

[Natsinpwc]

The Mets have time to make a run at the WC.

They do but running out of time. Another loss tonight. The Marlins might fade but likely that teams like the Phillies and Padres will do better in the second half also and they are ahead of the Mets.

[imref]

Max open to a trade:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/06/max-scherzer-reportedly-open-to-waiving-no-trade-clause.html

[imref]

Phillies go 18-7 in June, fall two games further back of Atlanta

[blue911]

Phillies go 18-7 in June, fall two games further back of Atlanta

Braves 20-4
Marlins 19-7
Phillies 18-7
Mets 7-18


The Mets are buried.

[Natsinpwc]

Braves 20-4
Marlins 19-7
Phillies 18-7
Mets 7-18


The Mets are buried.

Yea. Looks bleak for the Mets and Padres. Cards are out of it. Looks like 8 teams for six spots in the NL.

[Natsinpwc]

Max open to a trade:
https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/06/max-scherzer-reportedly-open-to-waiving-no-trade-clause.html

Orioles!  Heads would explode here.

[Natsinpwc]

Don’t look now but the Braves are just a few percentage points behind the Rays. Have to give them credit after injuries to some do their pitchers.

[welch]

Yea. Looks bleak for the Mets and Padres. Cards are out of it. Looks like 8 teams for six spots in the NL.

Metsness.

[imref]

Yea. Looks bleak for the Mets and Padres. Cards are out of it. Looks like 8 teams for six spots in the NL.

Nats are coming on strong.

[imref]

Happy Bobby Bonilla day. 12 years to go.

[welch]

Happy Bobby Bonilla day. 12 years to go.

Metsness continues.

[bluestreak]

https://twitter.com/mlb/status/1676019455522947072?s=46&t=cW_gQyzD6QwtlKFFuCDtdw

.@ronaldacunajr24 is the first player since Rickey Henderson in 1986 with 40+ SB and 50+ RBI before the All-Star Game.

(MLB x @BudweiserUSA)

Agent needs to be executed

[Natsinpwc]

Marlins have the second best record in the NL. Braves now have the best record in MLB.

[Slateman]

Marlins gotta buy some hitting at the deadline

[welch]

Phillies have shut down their prized prospect starting pitcher, Andrew Painter, with a mildly sprained UCL. As best I can tell, the Boras organization wanted Painter to try plasma rich platelet injections and wait. Phillies seem to be negotiating treatment with Boras.

Five months ago, the Phillies touted Andrew Painter as the rarest of prospects — a 19-year-old phenom who had a legitimate chance to break camp in a big-league rotation. Now, after more elbow discomfort following a bullpen session, the Phillies just hope he can step on a mound again in 2023.

Painter, considered one of the best pitching prospects in the sport, was shut down Friday and sent for further testing. The club would not reveal the nature of the tests, what doctors would see Painter, or when the results might be available.

When Painter was diagnosed in March with a low-grade sprain of his right proximal ulnar collateral ligament, he sought additional opinions at the advice of his representatives, the Boras Corporation. It took about a week for Painter’s camp and the Phillies to agree on the diagnosis. Doctors did not recommend surgery at the time.

A further setback will naturally raise questions about whether Painter will require significant surgery.

https://theathletic.com/4674783/2023/07/07/phillies-shut-down-andrew-painter/

[Slateman]

Forgive me for being a dunce, but whats the issue here?

[welch]

Forgive me for being a dunce, but whats the issue here?

My hunch?

- Phillies top prospect pitcher has been shut down with a UCL injury. That usually leads to TJS.

- I noticed that Boras seems to have determined Painter's treatment in March, advising the platelet treatment that never seems to work. Seems not to have worked in this case. Just seemed odd that the Boras Company, rather than Philadelphia team doctors, are guiding treatment.

[blue911]

My hunch?

- Phillies top prospect pitcher has been shut down with a UCL injury. That usually leads to TJS.

- I noticed that Boras seems to have determined Painter's treatment in March, advising the platelet treatment that never seems to work. Seems not to have worked in this case. Just seemed odd that the Boras Company, rather than Philadelphia team doctors, are guiding treatment.

It’s a CBA thing. Players have the right to get a second opinion.

[Slateman]

It’s a CBA thing. Players have the right to get a second opinion.

Yea, not seeing the issue. The team doctors work for the team. They have the team's interests at heart.

Seems pretty smart for a young prospect to get a second opinion prior to getting surgery that will effectively keep him off a mound for almost two seasons.

[JCA-CrystalCity]

Song update

• Rule 5 pick Noah Song will have to join the MLB team soon and will also have to be on next season’s 26-man roster to stay with the team.

    “To see him go from a 90-93 mph guy at the complex to pumping mid-90s in a game, I think that’s what we all hoped would happen once he got out of the rehab mindset and more in the compete mindset.”

    Song, barring another setback, must be activated by July 28. The Phillies are treating him as a reliever now, but if they can keep him in the organization through the winter, they would attempt to make him a starter again. The short-term risk — dedicating a roster spot to a pitcher not ready for the majors — could be outweighed by the potential long-term benefits.

https://fantasy.fangraphs.com/mining-the-news-7-14-23/