4:55pm: McWilliams and Tarpley are on the COVID list, Healey tweets.
4:46pm: The team has officially placed Walker and fellow hurlers Sam McWilliams and Stephen Tarpley on the IL, Thosar relays. New York also activated outfielder Cameron Maybin, whom it acquired from the Cubs on Tuesday.
4:06pm: The Mets will place right-hander Taijuan Walker on the 10-day injured list, Deesha Thosar of the New York Daily News was among those to report. Walker is dealing with tightness in his left side.
The Mets now have four notable starters on the IL, with Walker joining Jacob deGrom (right side tightness), Noah Syndergaard (Tommy John surgery recovery) and Carlos Carrasco (hamstring strain) on the shelf. Nevertheless, the Mets have gone 20-16 and are in possession of a one-game lead in the National League East.
For his part, Walker – whom the Mets signed to a two-year, $20MM guarantee in free agency – has more than held his own in 2021. The former Mariner, Diamondback and Blue Jay, 28, has pitched to a 2.05 ERA over eight starts and 44 innings. That’s obviously going to be difficult production to replace, but the Mets seem hopeful Walker won’t miss much time, per manager Luis Rojas (via Tim Healey of Newsday).
After they sweep the Braves, they will still manage to win. Luck is on their side this year despite everything.
It’s a good sign that they are actually resilient and deep this year, and yes, lucky.
But this can’t last forever. The lineup last night had maybe 4 legitimate major league hitters in it, and no starting pitcher. Not going to win if that keeps up.
Perhaps the one thing saving them is the fact that other teams in this division have not lived up to expectations. They’d be in much worse shape if this were not the case.
It not luck. The Braves are just really bad. If we played the Padres we would have probably got swept. The Mets should run away with the the division if they get everyone back.
The rotation and bullpen is overachieving
But yea the Braves will finish in the bottom 5 this season.
Idk about bottom 5. I really like your superstars.
The Braves are only bad because Ozuna, Freeman and Morton haven’t heated up. They are also dealing with injuries in their rotation as well. You like to forget that. Right now the Mets are doing well, but if Atlanta gets hot, you’re screwed.
Everything that’s you said. It’s multiplied by 10 with the Mets.
Hopefully Lindor doesn’t end up like most signings the Mets do and start sucking. He’s definitely starting slow. Wheeler has a better AVG. Lol
@metsfan22 the sweep of the braves was more of the stars aligned just right. both the braves and mets are hurt and both teams are treading water atm. with that said nym just passed an early test beating the top team in the division with aaa team and lindor pressing but there is a lot of bb to go. imo the mets are getting tested early to see if there legit, every team in the nle if things go right can win the division so it’s going to be a dog fight. the real question is can nym weather the storm and be within striking distance come july 31.
A Mets fan celebrating a division lead in mid-May.
Yawn!
A Marlins fan….? They exist…?
There are more Marlins fans that have enjoyed a World Series championship team than Mets fans enjoying one since 1986.
Better not let the team find out… they’ll trade you too! Also, I find it hilarious that one poster on the internet is “Marlins fan base.” You have no idea how accurate you are!
I didn’t realize that Loria was still our owner. After all, our team has operated differently under Jeter. Can you say the Mets are different under Cohen? Nope.
Wilpon wouldn’t make the Lindor/Carrasco trade. Ever. Nor extend him. So yes. And before you blast that trade, it’s only a month and a half into his contract. He also didn’t recklessly throw stupid money at old overpriced free agents. So, yes again. I like a lot of the posters here despite any allegiance. You just sound like a 14 year old troll. Do you even live in south Florida? What’s funny is that you can talk about championships they won before you were even born, but you’re still the one looking up in the standings. Must really burn. It’s going to stay that way too. What’s even funnier is that the Mets have what, 13 players in the DL and have underperformed offensively when healthy and they’re still way ahead of the Marlins. This would have been their chance to distance themselves ahead of the actual contenders, the Phils, Braves, and Mets.
I’m not even saying I like what Cohen has done but he is certainly VERY different from the Wilpons…
The Mets aren’t any different under Cohen? Are you insane?
Exactly. They never would have made the Lindor trade and extension, and Cohen didn’t panic and spend just to spend. They did spend money just not like drunk sailors. This dude is just salty cause he spent the off-season bashing the attention the Mets got cause his below .500 team made the playoffs last year when they added extra teams. The Marlins have a great young core and smart front office folks. They will be good, but the fact that the injury riddled Mets are ahead of them even before their guys come back and DeGrom was taking a rest really chaps his behind.
And quite frankly, the fish are lucky to be facing our AA team
I have no idea how we lead the division with all of the injuries
Playing 6 less games helps.
The Braves not being able to beat our AAA squad also helps a lot! Thanks!
Lol we could lose all 6 games and we would still have a better record than you do now! But thanks for the laugh.
The Marlins blowing 5 saves and also Ron Kulpa helps keep you in first place too.
After all, we know who looked better head-to-head….and we have injuries too, when you didn’t have many for that series.
The Mets are 4 up on the Braves. So in theory losing 6 in a row could allow the Braves to surpass the Mets. I will say that the Mets are the better team right now. Braves pitching is killing them.
The Marlins have injuries, too? Literally the only players they have on the IL are Marte, Lewis Brinson (benchwarmer), and Elieser Hernandez.
Mets currently have four of their eight positional starters, three of their back-ups, and 4/5 of their starting rotation on the IL. Wake me when the Marlins begin to approach that.
And ‘we know who looked better head-to-head’? They’ve literally played two games and split them.
I know it’s your schtick to trash the Mets and pump the Marlins, but please at least try to keep one foot in reality.
@rct Jazz Chisolm, one of the hottest hitters on the team just came back from the IL 2 days ago. Injuries abound league wide. No one gets an award for being hurt. Just enjoy the Mets success. They are battling every night.
@rct
L:ike mentioned, Jazz just returned from the IL. Also, Brian Anderson was on the IL for a bit. Also, Alfaro, our starting catcher is on the IL.
Also, we have some kid named Sixto Sanchez who’s been out all season. You may have heard of him, but some of you Mets fans seem to only know what’s going on with your team and no other team.
There’s an ole saying that goes “the more you know”.
In his defense sixto has not been on the major league roster as he was sent down before start of the season if i remember right then was put on the IL.
But prospects could be great and fall off a cliff the next year look at Andujar. Yes he got hurt but even this year they call up so many over him including trading for odor instead of bringing him up. Also (and i feel horrible for him) look at Gimenez on the Indians he is off to a bad start too.
Sixto got to camp late with visa issues and then a false positive Covid test. He was doing well in the minors but the plan was stated… He would have two more starts to build some strength and come back. We had several early days off and needed a 4 man rotation.
Now we lost Elisier, still waiting for Sixto, Jazz who is taking the game by storm (sorry that he’s way more exciting than Lindor :at least for now I’m not banking on forever:) Marte was performing like a super star and went down. Since he’s been down you can see our team performance lag behind. When Jasrado and Marte are there together things were a lot of fun.
Up until recently and definitely the whole month of April the Marlins were the only NLEast team with a plus rum differential (it’s back to +2 now). At once point around May 10th or so it was +26 while every NLEast team was negative. Even the Mets. The Pythagorean W/L had the Marlins with the fifth best record in baseball (3rd in NL).
Now my main point is I don’t personally expect them to win the division. But writing them off is a mistake. Getting Marte back. Having Jazz now. If Brian Anderson continues to wake up and Aguilar continues to carry the team then things could get interesting. As Duvall continues to do that thing where he’s cold a bit and then wins you a couple games by himself. Trevor Rogers at this rate is competing for the Cy Young. Sixto and Elisier should be back. Max Meyer could be called up. Maybe Edward Cabrera finally gets healthy. And the team finally brought up Anthony Bender. Remember that name when he’s one of the better closers in baseball. As long as Donny stops trying to cram Bass Cimber and Blier down our throats we just may win some games. The rebuild is going well. Donny just has to stop mismanaging the bullpen so bad. Pop needs more work. Bender is amazing. Floro just blew up but minus that game he’s a top relievers. Yimi so far is closing fine. Don’t count them out. Don’t bet on them to win anything major… But If you have to face the Marlins don’t to expecting an easy series win.
PS: so many guys in the minors raking. Jerar. Jesus Sanchez. Lewin Diaz. And pitching prospects already dominating ahead of schedule. Now they just need to get Bleday going.
@Flyby
As mentioned by @ludafish, Sixto was sent down to make up for lost time to build his arm up, and we only needed a 4-man for the start of the season with so many days off. Everyone knew that Sixto would be back up when we were back to the part of the schedule that needed a 5-man. However, Sixto went down and Elieser went down.
In some cases, I can understand defending a person, but not when he’s the fan of a division rival. How can anyone not know the facts about a team that their team plays so many times? That’s when a person is a bit too far into his own team and has no concept about other teams to be making comment. I am a Marlins fan, but I also make sure to know what our division rivals are doing because we play them 76 times during the season and it is those rivals that are the starting point for playoff hopes. Not knowing what your division rivals are doing is inexcusable to me and has no defense. If this were the fan of a team in another division, I could accept the defense, but then it would be a case of why comment when you don’t know the division. @rct made a gaffe and has to live with that. He needs to pay attention to his division rivals instead of being overly consumed with the Mets to not know what their rivals are doing. I understand that Mets fans are spoon-fed that SNY and PIX Mets Hyperbole, but they’re adults. They should know the difference between fairy tales and real world material.
So again, the Marlins have had their injuries. Everyone in the NL East have been bitten. The Mets are not the only ones…even though that’s the fairy tale narrative that their broadcast team and Cohen’s Mets PR Hype machine are pushing with that Mets are ahead (in mid-May) despite the fictional belief that they are the only team in the NL East being bitten by the injury bug.
Fishfan… why so bitter? Relax dude, it’s only a game
The hits keep on coming for the Mets. Hopefully, we can the team at full strength by July.
Reminds me of the ’19 Yanks.
One thing to remember about the ’19 Yankees is many teams in the AL were quite bad so they were able to mask their shortcomings. I feel the same thing with the Mets this year given how bad the division is.
Yeah they beat up on the O’s but struggled against the Rays.
@ybc as cheap as the rays are gotta tip your cap to them, they hold there own against the powerhouses called nyy and bos.
Same for the A’s. You can never count them out and they were always good spoilers for contending teams.
thumbs up that’s a good counter point i forgot about the a’s
I hear what you’re saying.
But it isn’t like they are (or were) playing the Long Island Ducks & St Paul Saints or whatever.
The Mets keep struggling with injuries, at full health They win the division unless the Braves can pull it together.
There are other teams in the division. Just saying. Braves aren’t even the 2nd best team right now.
Philly can give them problems, but I don’t really see the Nats or Marlins making a big run. I honestly think by season’s end, Atlanta will be back on top with the Mets and Phillies fighting for second.
@rct I can’t imagine the Mets offense being this bad all year. And I can’t imagine the Braves pitching being this bad. So I agree with your assessment there: they will be fighting for the division. I’m still not sure what to think of the Phillies. Some nights they look like a contender. Other nights they look like a sub .500 team.
@von at least your team has hope, say what you will about dd but he has put winners on the field. yes the phils have some holes but holes that can be fixed in an offseason or two. imo the phils and fish are teams you shouldn’t sleep on. heck i can see either team sneaking a division chip if the mets stay hurt and if atl can get out of atl’s way.
Yea I agree there. This Phillies team is better than they’re playing. And the Marlins are being overlooked far too much. Solid squad.
As I’ve pointed out. Until sometime around May 10th the Marlins were +26 run differential. No one in the NLEast had a positive number. Our Pythagorean W/L was something like 20-12. The run differential was 4th in NL (the entire freaking west was up. Giants had the best at like +44. Dodgers and Padres weren’t so hot) and only a couple teams in the AL were looking good by that metric but few ahead of the fish. It was proof we were being overlooked. Even losses for a moment weren’t affecting it much as it was a couple 2-1 losses or 3-2. Then boom. Sandy implodes. Pablo Implodes. A bullpen game implodes. Rogers keeps it together. After the win tonight I believe we are like +2. I don’t know about the rest of the East.
But the point is. We are missing important guys (yes everyone is I know) but it they get Sixto back by months end like planned. Jazz is back. And hopefully mid June Marte comes back (Marte was the soul). BA and Dickerson need to wake up too. It’s a lot but Al together they found ways to win.
Again my point like you said is dont sleep on them. Yimi looks like a good closer. Aside from the one bad night couple days ago Floro has been a top reliever. We finally called up Bender. Pop have up 7er in 0.2ip and in his other 12ip hasn’t been touched. Holloway as a reliever has about been perfect (so let’s put him back there). Don’t sleep on us. Im not saying playoffs. But don’t sleep on us.
@ludafish
I kind of like that so many are underestimating the Marlins. It’s what they did last year. I like the direction of our team. If this year turns into a 5-team dogfight in the NL East that lowers everyone’s win totals, and everyone underestimates us, we could sneak in. Not likely, but very possible. I’m rooting for the 5-team dogfight that lowers win totals just to see what happens.
Go Marlins!
A few games over .500 might be good enough to win the NL East
I thought that would be the case coming in because the teams were so good, but it’s turning out it’s because they’re so bad. The only division in baseball without having a single team with a pisitive run differential.
Marlins have a positive run differential. Before a mini losing period around 5/10 they actually had the third best differential in the NL at +26. It has their Pythagorean W/L at something like 20-14 or so. In the meantime no other team was very close (some one had a -8). Things change. Now the Marlins only have +2 and that’s because Alcantara really XXXXX the bed with Pablo sort of doing the same. Then they have Holloway a start (I didn’t like it. He’s been lights out as a reliever. Leave him there). Floro also recently have up 5er after only giving up 2 in 20ip.
But at this moment and for most of the season the Marlins have had a positive run differential.
The NLEast when healthy (Mets have DeGrom and such, the Braves has Soroka, the Marlins have Jazz and Marte and possibly Sixto, and I’ll be honest I haven’t followed the Phils and Nats as much) but the talent is there and to call it a bad division is laughable. Have you seen the NL central? When the NLEast starts pumping out NL titles for fun Soon enough revisit this comment.
To be fair, when I posted about the run differential, the Marlins were at 0. Now they’re at 2. If they lose by 2 or more today, they’re right back at 0 or in the negatives. This isn’t an insult to the Marlins, as they’re probably the most consistent team in the NLE right now. I’m just pointing out that clearly no one is really gaining any momentum in this division. The battered Mets just took 2 of 3 from the Braves which is huge, but even with that the Braves are only 3 games out of first place. Everyone is in this thing.
@Fred
I’m rooting for that low win total. It gives the Marlins a chance.
@Fred. Preseason, I believe I read ‘experts’ were predicting something like 98 wins for the Mets. As tough as this division is, I think 88 takes the top spot.
Last season, the Marlins didn’t get to play so many games early due to various teams’ Covid issues, that I truly believed it helped them. I’m hoping the early cancelations and myriad of injuries plays into the Mets favor later on as well.
A .500 record around June 15 would be pretty amazing, especially if Carrasco, Syndergaard, deGrom, Walker, Conforto, Nimmo, McNeil, Lugo, Davis (man, this list is ridiculous!), Pillar and Almora can come back healthy.
Add to that, if Alonso, Lindor, Smith and McCann ever heat up?
All the at bats and playing time will only benefit the current starters later this season. I just hope we don’t lose any of these relief arms due to these stupid 7 pitcher bullpen games. I don’t understand not calling up Yamamoto and Eickhoff (sp) to piggyback a game as a 2 headed 5th starter with Walker out now.
Friday – Stroman
Saturday – TBD
Sunday – tbd
DeGrom is, for some ungodly reason, making a rehab AAA start today. (Thursday) That pretty much keeps him out until Tuesday. If he’s healthy enough to start a AAA game Thursday, he’s healthy enough to start SUNDAY instead for the big club.
Saturday could be the Yamamoto/Eichkoff day, deGrom Sunday with 4 extra days rest (instead of starting at AAA Thursday), Monday is Peterson’s regular day.
Syndergaard looks good today. He’s 4 weeks away. Lugo 2 weeks. JD end of the week. Carrasco next month. We will be fine
Syndergaard looks good today. He’s 4 weeks away. Lugo 2 weeks. JD end of the week. Carrasco next month. We will be fine
@Brooklynmetsfan 2
Other than an injury, has there ever been a pitcher in MLB history to look bad in a bullpen or simulated game session?
I guess not ? But, Syndergaard pitched in a real game lol
Yeah, because Minor League hitters are every bit as good as MLB hitters. No simulation there. I agree…lol…at you.
Yes. They just don’t talk about it unless they turn around and pitch a shutout after it. At least once a season, there’s a guy who pitches a gem and instead of saying he felt great warming up or in his between start bullpens, he says he just didn’t have any of his pitches working until the game started.
The Mets should of kept Mike Montgomery, Luchessi is not a major league pitcher, id call up Yamamoto and convert Sean Reid-Foley into a starter, SRF has been lights out
@metsin7. I’m not sure if it’s ever been discussed, but in spring training, I watched Lucchesi using some kind of substance in his glove to help grip his “churve”.
With every new ball, he’d reach into his glove a press his finger against the same spot in his glove.
I have not seen him do it during the season.
Maybe he should start
I think he has been ok once through the lineup. Rojas needs to use that. Start Reid-Foley or Gsellman, then go to Lucchesi in the right part of the order for 6-9 hitters, then back again to another long man. That ‘should’ add up to 7 innings. Need to make some roster moves and bring up Yamamoto and Eichkoff.
I have to give credit to the front office for having all these relievers that can go multiple innings. Just imagine if Carrasco and Lugo were healthy? Might be time to go get another veteran long man/former starter. Is Colon still pitching? Lol
You can’t be a major league with just two pitches unless one is a knuckleball. On top of that, Lucchesi is said to be tipping his pitches, but the issue is more that his two pitches have different arm slots/release points. Unless you throw a half dozen or so different pitches like Mike Mussina or Masahiro Tanaka, it is essential for all pitches to have the same arm slot, motion, and release point. Otherwise, you may as well tell the batter what is coming. Lucchesi needs to work on having repeatable, indistinguishable motions for both his churve and his sinker, and, if he want to face a lineup more than once, needs a third ;pitch as well. A changeup with the same movement as the sinker and same speed as the churve would be nice. I would assume every coach has suggested this since he was in high school.
Sam MacWilliams
… has Covid.
This is getting friggin ridiculous. It’s everyday another Met hits the IL
Hopefully Lindor doesn’t end up like most signings the Mets do and start sucking. He’s definitely starting slow. Wheeler has a better AVG. Lol
There’s still time to convert it to a Bobby Bonilla style contract so they can pay Lindor out until he’s 80.
@phantom x lindor will come around and his early struggles will be an after thought. lindor is to good of a player in his prime years to be playing this bad, imo lindor is pressing and trying to prove why he was worth the trade and extension, heck i saw it with matt holiday his first year with the cards and in the end of the deal was underpaid.
Lindor always starts slow.
This isn’t true. Lindor has a .767 career ops in March/April and .883 career ops in May. So if anything, he typically starts the year strong.
Mets fans need to relax. Lindor will find his way he has plenty of time to. You just need to accept his isn’t elite offensively like they make him out to be. He’s above average offensively with the smoothest glove. He’s super young and can possibly turn in to the elite offense player everyone wants… He’s also a leader and a marketing dream. Just hopefully be gets well over that Mendoza line soon and things change.
I think Lindor will pick it up soon also, but his best offensive years are probably behind him. He is, as you say, an above average hitter with a slick glove (at a premium position).
I think he’s still spooked by those NY rats.
@ludafish I think so too, but I think there’s cause enough for concern. It’s been two months. He’s looked completely lost with little sign of coming out of it. Will he come out of it? Probably, but there’s plenty of reason to worry.
27.5 isn’t super young for professional athletes, if you look at aging curves, players generally tend to peak @ 27ish.
COVID list? Probably time to close up these comments.
lol thumbs up on that take, it’s sad that as a whole we’ve became so immature that threads have to be shut down because of an illness and say it’s an x-files type conspiracy.
Nobody has run away with the division, which at this point you’d like to see your team do as these teams beat up on each other and hang around .500. The Phillies are better than they’ve shown, they’ve been under achieving the last few years. The Mets have what, 13 players on the IL including most of their offense and 3 front of the rotation potential guys, one of whom is the best pitcher of his generation save Kershaw and Scherzer. Given that, I like their chances… but being a 39 year old Mets fan has taught me to stay on my guard. They win and lose in spectacular fashion. This season kinda reminds me of 2015 when they had lights out pitching and were wasting it with a league average offense. Cespedes made a huge difference and with the 13 players they have coming back, there’s a fair chance that at least one of them can play that part.
As a Marlins fan, I’m rooting for the 5-team dogfight and let’s see where the chips fall in September. That gives the Marlins a serious chance, especially as they are underestimated and overlooked.
Every team in the division has a serious chance. And while it’s easy to say “it’s early yet,” I think if you’re a fan of any team in this division, you’re gonna see some pretty fun baseball from here on out.