The Mets have claimed right-handed reliever Heath Hembree off waivers from the Reds, per a club announcement. Ace Jacob deGrom was transferred from the 10-day injured list to the 60-day injured list in order to open a spot on the 40-man roster. The Mets have already been without deGrom for more than a month, and he wasn’t expected back until September anyhow. He’ll be eligible to return on Sept. 15.
Hembree, 32, was serving as the Reds’ closer earlier this summer before a rough few weeks caused his ERA to balloon up to a dismal 6.38 mark. Unsightly as that ERA is, Hembree was lights-out from late June through late July, pitching to a 1.42 ERA with a 19-to-5 K/BB ratio and racking up seven saves in a span of 12 2/3 innings. That hot streak obviously came in a very small sample, but it’s worth noting — and this is likely what drew the Mets to him — that Hembree has been among the game’s best in terms of missing bats all season.
Among the 321 pitchers who have thrown at least 40 innings this year, Hembree’s 38 percent strikeout rate is the game’s seventh-highest mark. He’s tied for 15th in that same set of pitchers with a 27.4 K-BB% and sits 18th with a 2.84 SIERA. He’s largely been done in by the long ball this season, serving up 10 dingers in 44 2/3 innings of work (2.13 HR/9). Seven of those home runs have come at the extremely hitter-friendly Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, however, where Hembree’s ERA is north of 8.00. He’s been much better on the road, and a change of scenery could do him some good.
As for deGrom, the Mets said last week that he’d go at least another two weeks without throwing, so it’s unlikely he’d have been able to return much sooner than Sept. 15 anyhow. Once he starts throwing, he’ll need to build up sufficient arm strength to get back to the mound and hopefully make a few starts for the Mets down the stretch as they look to pull out of the spiral that has seen them fall from a comfortable lead in the NL East to a sub-.500 record and a five-game gap between the now-division-leading Braves.
Good move 3.30 expected e.r.a this year and is averaging 14 K’s per nine.
Yeah, as a Reds fan I can say “good luck with that”.
And it’s not like the Reds bullpen is good …
I think FIP is getting pretty close to being retired. Just saw Hembree give up 5 to the Iowa Cubs last week. He wasn’t pitching well.
Didn’t mention fip
If you like Embree, the Marlins have Anthony Bass. I’m sure you can find a stat that makes him seem good on the back of his card. Just don’t pay attention to the actual game though. Like Embree, Bass has stats that prove he’s way better than he looks or the end of the game results and any eye ball or common sense test shows.
Wow, that’ll solve the problem!
The final sad move for the Mets
Does every move have to either push a team into dominance or be mocked? What nonsense. They needed an arm, they got one.
You dare question the mocking? Off with his head!
Meh, I just get really tired of it; hard for us Met fans to lighten up about things these days I guess.
Brutal 13-game stretch right now, too, with some tough close losses recently.
Hembree was actually decent for a couple weeks and was the closer that did decently in that role
John Greenleaf Whittier must have been a Mets fan…
For all sad words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these, “It might have been”…
Would it have mattered, don’t know… But having DeGrom fight through injuries in June for no good reason was maybe not a good idea.
They were on top of the division at the time and players have to play through pain. A lot of injury mismanagement from this team the last several years but I don’t think this is an example of that. Can’t shut down your best player in the middle of a pennant race just cuz they’re experiencing some soreness.
Braves gonna win this division by 10 at this point
As a Braves Fan idk about that. The Phillies have an easier schedule down the stretch especially the last couple weeks of the season. Phillies have sets vs Pirates and Orioles during a stretch where Braves have Padres and Giants. This is before a 3 game set between the two. Imo NL East comes down to last couple weeks. Hopefully Atlanta can create more distance than they currently have
Given how terrible they’ve been over the last month, I would be shocked to see deGrom again this year. There’s really no reason to risk it. They’re done. Not sure I’d really want to put much strain on Syndergaard, either, when he comes back.
He’s in his walk year so it’s in both of their best interests that he comes back
Whose walk year? DeGrom isn’t a free agent yet
@ Ted – I think he’s talking about Syndergaard.
Unless Syndergaard doesn’t come back because he had a another setback (rather than the Mets just being cautious) I’m not sure it moves the dial too much for him this offseason, especially given that he’s probably not going to be starting. The way I see it, he’s always been in line to either get the QO from the Mets or a short term, incentive heavy deal from somebody else. Obviously it wouldn’t be a bad thing for the Mets and other teams to be able to evaluate him a bit down the stretch though,
Probably better for the Mets to just rest Thor and then give him the QO. Maybe have him toss a few BP innings to brush off some of the rust.
I’m not sure ‘walk year’ applies much to Syndergaard considering how much time he’s missed. They’ll QO him and he should take it. No one is giving him a long term deal and I doubt anyone is giving him a higher AAV pillow contract. But who knows because his situation is so odd.
NL East crushed him last season. Don’t expect much.
I can’t imagine they’ll let him pitch again this season.
This team isn’t going to go anywhere untill the manager is fired. Decisions that seem so obvoius are hard for Luis Rojas. Decisions like keeping Stroman in to the 8th inning when he was already over 100 pitches and then proceeded to give up 2 runs, putting in Castro during high leverage situations when its clear that he implodes almost everytime out there, and he bats Conforto way up in the lineup when he never comes through in the clutch and only gets hits when the team is down by 6 runs in the 9th inning
It isn’t the manager. The Mets everyday line up isn’t any good. Despite what Mets22 says the Dodgers have a way better everyday line up.
I don’t think Rojas has done a great job, but he’s not a major reason why they are where they are.
Players like Rojas and that’s really what counts. I despise a lot of his decision making but he’s really not the problem. This was a poorly constructed team from the outset with a bad allocation of financial resources that will continue to hurt them next year.
It is exactly that. It’s lacks speed, really has little in the way of power hitters and for too many years not a very heady team fundamentally. Davis’ Murph-like blunder on Smith’s soft liner into the shift which resulted in a double play. Inexcusable.
The fact that Rojas was holding the fort when everyone was injured shows that he’s not a bad manager. When a team can’t hit, there’s nothing a manager can do. It’s easy to point blame, but this is a poorly constructed lineup. That’s not on the manager.
He’s not making the decisions. Most managers don’t. The analytics department develops a rigid plan of who pitches for how long and in what situations as well as the lineup, the hitting approach–hunting low fastballs like it’s 2017, apparently–who pinch hits when. It’s all pre-planned. Maybe when they start using the HD cameras to make realtime decisions based on what actually happening, it will work. For now, we have the plan and no deviation despite what the eyes tell you. And, that’s not Luis’s fault. He’s there to sell it to the players and implement it.
True. Lineups probably come from on high, but gotta figure in game management is Rojas though. But I agree that getting players to buy in is 99% of a managers job these days. Not sure if I like it that way.
Analytics works for the Dodgers. There is nothing wrong with the front office and field manager working together for a common goal. It’s better than the old days when managers went by gut instinct, hunches, and buried slumping players on the bench.
This is really unfortunate. deGrom was in the middle of a historic season. Wish we could have seen him finish the year out.
Paging Metsfan22. I’m sure he thinks the Mets are still primed to win the NL East. Playing against the Dodgers and Giants seems to be going well. Can’t wait to hear some predictions for next season.
This season doesn’t count. Too many injuries and it rained a lot and everyone else got lucky. Mets will win 135 games next year, guaranteed!… there, hope I filled the void a bit.
It’s a disgrace and everyone knows it.
You got the first part right…. I took everything to go wrong for us to be 500. Imagine if everything goes right like the giants this year.
That’s your just one of your many problems Metsfan22. Every year you think every player on the Mets will be healthy and have a career year while boasting other teams won’t be healthy and struggle. Doesn’t work that way. Wise up and Google Einstein’s definition of insanity.
Everything went wrong? Interesting. Alonso, Smith, Nimmo, McNeil, Davis and Conforto have been playing regularly for quite some time now. The Mets “fantastic core.” What’s your excuse for them?
Thank you @Cosmo2. That was great.
Can you do @WhyNot next? It should be easy. Ever since the Mets have been on this downward spiral, his comments are basically crickets chirping.
Syndergaard is the perfect option for the Rangers in the off-season,, sign him to two years 18-22 million with a split favoring the ’23 season No stress for next year, and he gets to build back his strength and innings. in 23 season he has banner platform year and gets his mega-deal at age 30.
18-22 per? Cuz he’ll probably get the QO from the Mets; he’s not signing for less than that.
2/40 with an 18m for 22 and 22 million for 23 might work, Helps him increase value with low stress, helps RAngers bridge to Leiter in late ’23. Signing could be very beneficial to both sides.
Yea that could do it. I don’t know how long it’ll take for him to get back into form but I think he’s got a really good career ahead of him once he does.
The Mets have been living on borrowed time for most of the season. It wasn’t long into the season that 7 of their Opening Day 9 were on the IL. They were getting production from guys brought in to fill holes: Peraza, McKinney, Mazeika and his RBIs without a hit. But ultimately, they cannot situationally hit. Nimmo has gotten jumpy and swung at the first pitch to end an inning leaving guys in scoring position at least 3 times in the last 10 games. Villar might be their best base stealer but he gets picked off at the most inopportune time. At least three times this year. Really? Didnt he learn after the first time picked off? Tell Alonso to pass on the Home Run Derby and spend the All-Star break learning how to hit the ball where it is pitched. Go to right field if it is an outside pitch. Get some RBI from other than a home run. Most players approach at the lAte have been horrendous all year. Tell deGrom to show them how to situationally hit. So frustrating to watch these night after night.
I think the idea of situational hitting is way overblown. This teams main problem is simple: at least 3 of its best hitters are underperforming terribly (Smith, Lindor, Conforto). Just can’t win like that. On top of generalized poor team construction and injuries, that doomed us.
I don’t think it’s overblown because it’s been a problem going on 3 years.
It’s really both. They have it in their heads that in every situation, going for the home run is the right approach to producing the most runs in the long run. Maybe it was with the 2019 live ball but, even now, they are getting K’s rather than fly balls with runners on thirid and less than two out. And, Lindor, Conforto, McNeil, and Smith have all underperformed versus career, and, in except for Lindor, recent season numbers. It’s hard to score runs when you can get a hit with runners in scoring position, you can’t score runners from third without hits, you’ve had a well above average number of injuries, and most of the lineup is underperforming.. Maybe you can get away with one of those but not all four.
I’m just not sure that “situational hitting” is even a thing. Many players are on record that they don’t change their approach according to situations, as the art of hitting is complicated enough as it is without the extra burden of having several different approaches. Has anyone even looked at the actual stats for the team and players left on base? Is it even unusually high? If so can it simply be explained by a high OBP/low BA split? Is it all just supposition? Maybe the offense is just bad?
While stats can be argued, I think we all can agree that these are human beings that play the game. And when you consider that, we know that that some people can mentally handle any situation and others cannot. Sorry to say this about any player, but they seem to be mentally soft when it counts the most. Marlins used to see that with guys like Derek Lee or Kevin Gregg or Ricky Nolasco, among others. They look like they’re ‘All World’ when the pressure is off, but when it’s on, they melt under the pressure.
As for Lindor, has anyone considered that his move to the NL East has led him to have to face tougher pitching than he did in the AL Central? Over there, Cleveland had most of the good pitchers during his time there. In the NL East, the good pitching is spread out within the division to where he has to face them.
It really should be no surprise that the Mets offense is struggling. For years they’ve been lacking in the fundamentals necessary to manufacture runs. No team speed, can’t bunt to move runners up, can’t hit and run, don’t sacrifice at-bats to move RISP, constantly hitting into the shift rather than taking advantage of the wide-open side, when’s the last time they scored on a sacrifice fly?
Offense is pretty much Walk, Strikeout or Homer.
Interesting that former players (Recker, Satin) are now openly calling out the team for these same shortcomings – pointing out how frustrating it is to watch this team.
Mets and their injury reports are hilarious…. Same story every time. Player gets hurt, manager tells the media he’ll be back in a couple days… ends up missing the rest of the season and then the doctor operates on the wrong arm.
This Mets season is worse than all the Others because the Team was actually in 1st Place most of the Year until the trading deadline when they didn’t do squat. The Division was very weak and their inactivity and losing after the ASB actually encouraged the Phillies and Braves to be buyers instead of sellers. This collapse is classic and self inflicted. They shot themselves in the feet. LOL
If they had done more at the deadline they’d still be out of first place, they’d just miss the playoffs AND have given away half the future. Add Bryant and Kimbrel and this team is still looking up at first place. Moving prospects for big names would’ve been catastrophic.
Cosmo,
So you are justifying the Mets FO having punted the season at the deadline. I believe they could have should have done much more.
They didn’t punt. They balanced this year with the future. Who would they add who would’ve put them in first place now? Why give away the future when the team isn’t that good and is likely to miss the playoffs anyway? You can’t “go for it” every year. There is only so much future to give away. They need to think beyond this year.
Agree with Cosmo here. Why sacrifice the future for a potential shot at a first round loss? Mets improved their team at the deadline, they just didn’t sell the farm to do it. Sometimes you just need the talent you have to step up, you can’t just keep buying more.
I don’t think getting Baez is “punting”. He’s a rental but that’s a win now move to me. But that’s none of my business.
Welp, at least the Mets will get to see the 2021 CYA winner tonight!
It’s obvious I’m not a Mets fan. However a famous person once said It’s not Over Until Its Over. To all Met fans quick question why did Mets pass on Springer? I know he’s injured but when Healthy he’s very productive and great in October. Were the Mets afraid to spend because other big contracts due soon like Thor and Conforto? Also why trade for Baez instead of Bryant? I hope it’s not because of Lindor only. Don’t worry Met fans you have Cano back next year unless you want Stanton for him.
For the Mets sake, I hope deGrom isn’t headed for surgery after all this back-and-forth with his health status. That would be the ultimate black eye for the organization.
mlbnyyfan:
How can you assume the Mets “passed on” Springer? Or that they didn’t try to acquire Bryant? Teams have a value that they think a player is worth and don’t exceed that number by much, if any. Plus, maybe the Mets offered more, but Springer wanted to go to the Jays, and wasn’t enamored with the idea of playing in NY.
And Maybe the Mets felt the cost for Bryant was too prospect-costly. There’s so much we as fans don’t know that goes on in these negotiations, that it’s kind of silly to say things like team whatever should have signed so-and-so. Maybe they tried and failed. Who knows?
Giants gave up #9 and #30 prospects for KB. Not exactly a haul.
Teams don’t look at prospect rankings. Every team has an evaluation of every prospect out there. It would seem the Cubs thought more highly of Canario than those that do prospect rankings.
Besides, no one at this point can know how well that trade will work out for the Cubs in the future. But whatever, it’s obvious the Cubs like Canario, and Kilian way more than fans do.
Heath Hembree! Really? Who’s next, Norm Charlton??
If things keep going this way maybe… is Sam Malone still retired/fictional?
I bet Jesse Orozco can still get lefties out. So what if he’s like 94 years old.
Glavin and Smoltz
You know I’m all about trading Stanton for Lindor. Bigger trade Stanton, Torres, Sanchez, Britton for Lindor, Thor and McCann. You know when healthy Lindor is the speedy lead off hitter Yankees can use.
This the mlb, not fantasy baseball.