Heading into tonight’s pivotal Game 2 of their Wild Card Series with the Padres, the Mets have made an injury-related change to their roster. Newsday’s Tim Healey (Twitter link) reports that left-hander Joely Rodriguez has been removed from the 26-man roster due to a shoulder problem, and righty Taijuan Walker has been added as the replacement.
The specific nature of Rodriguez’s injury isn’t known, and he didn’t pitch in yesterday’s Game 1. Due to the roster removal, Rodriguez is now ineligible to pitch until the NLCS, should New York advance that deep into the postseason. In the bigger picture, Rodriguez is also a free agent after the season, so a serious shoulder issue could hamper his chances of landing a notable contract this winter.
It’s a tough blow for both Rodriguez and the Mets, as David Peterson is now the lone left-handed pitcher remaining on the Mets’ playoff roster. New York is on the brink of elimination after losing Game 1, and with the margin of error so slim, Rodriguez’s absence could loom large given the number of several (Juan Soto, Josh Bell, Jake Cronenworth, Jurickson Profar, Trent Grisham) prominent left-handed hitters and switch-hitters in San Diego’s lineup.
The Mets have been thin on left-handed relief pitching all season, with Rodriguez serving as essentially the only reliable southpaw option. Control was an issue for Rodriguez, as his 12% walk rate helped balloon his ERA to 4.47 over 50 1/3 innings. A 3.54 SIERA paints a more positive view of Rodriguez’s performance, as other metrics as a 53.8% grounder rate, a solid 26.4% strikeout rate and excellent hard-hit ball numbers helped make him a valuable member of New York’s bullpen. Rodriguez also had virtually identical numbers against both left-handed and right-handed batters.
Walker and Carlos Carrasco were stalwart rotation members during the regular season, and the Mets opted to leave them off the roster in the three-game series rather than force either pitcher into a somewhat unfamiliar role. With elimination now looming, it’ll basically be all hands on deck for the pitching staff tonight and (the Mets hope) in a potential Game 3, as manager Buck Showalter will undoubtedly be open to all options in getting some critical outs.
Adios Mets! We hardly knew ye. You and the Rays can talk it out together tonight on a group Zoom chat. Talk about how great the playoffs were this season.
I actually feel some sympathy for the Mets. A great team, great players. To lose the division in the last few games is demoralizing. They have a lot of holes to fill next year, a price to pay for buying your team. Showalter has been a Godsend. As a Braves fan, I look forward to years of friendly competition in the future.
Curly, I’m probably just sore the Dodgers didn’t re-sign Mad Max. I’ll get over it sooner than later.
After last night, you should be thrilled they didn’t sign him.
You are right. You just helped me get over it. Thanks Von hah
Lol
@VonPurpleHayes A fascinating case of being ruined in the end by what originally bought you the veneer of legitimacy. Nineteenth century novels are built on this foundation.
The brilliant old pitcher who fell apart at the end of 2021 now falls apart even further. Nurture him in 2023 he might still be around in late September and in October—if you get that far.
Pretend that Time isn’t an issue, though, and once again you court this fate.
Will the Mets be smart enough to treat him as a Sunday pitcher? Will they treat him the way the Angels had the sense to treat Ohtani? I doubt it. The Mets under Cohen, Alderson, and Eppler are rich, of course, but they’ve made several extremely expensive mistakes. They didn’t even have the guts to get creative during the Atlanta and San Diego series—it was as if their moves were made only to avoid severe criticism, not optimize their winning chances. —So they’re not yet smart. Certainly not the way the Dodgers are, and not the way the Dodgers were in the middle of the last decade as they built this powerhouse.
We’ll see, but until a new front office establishes itself and removes or sidelines into irrelevance Eppler and the Aldersons, we’ll only see more deals such as those that brought in and made fixtures of Lindor and Scherzer.
Excellent post.
TrumboJumbo;
LOL
Along with the national baseball media that doesn’t understand the sport but creates narratives, you can use the overwhelming majority of the posts here analyzing MLB teams moves as the perfect contrary indicator.
Going into 2022 Spring Training posters were belittling Cleveland for not making trades and signing free agents because they needed help in so many areas.
Sam, this is how I feel the Angels will fare if they ever limp back into the playoffs. World Series dreams crushed in a microsecond…
TrumboJumbo;
You gota case of the “Outside Of Every Silver Lining There’s A Cloud” blues.
Sam,
Yes, being..stike that…STAYING a Halo fan is not healthy. I agree. Probably had something to do with me warming up to the Dodgers the past few years..I still can’t even admit it to some friends…It’s even worse than you think haha
Tough day to be a Blue Jays fan too….
@Trumbo, I don’t think I’ve seen you take such pleasure from another team’s misfortune. You’re always upbeat. You must have an extra dislike for the Mets. 🙂
It’s only because I am pulling hard for the Dodgers this year and did not want them and the Mets to cross paths. So yeah, no mercy!
LordD,
The Mets to me have been the 2nd best team in the NL this year. The Dodgers almost have it too easy with SD and I am stunned at last nights outcome. I know anything can happen in the playoffs (any game actually), but I am praying for the Mets quick departure. The Dodgers don’t want any part of the Mets. Max will not let a repeat of last night happen again. Don’t want that guy pitching against them.
Facing a healthy Scherzer and deGrom is something no team wants in a series.
That is precisely how I see it. Those 2 can put you in an 0-2 hole in the NLDS real fast.
Wheeler and Nola extremely underrated 1 2 punch. Both horses. Both pitching well.
Why don’t you want the Dodgers to get the Mets in the division series?
Darn, they stuck around for another day.
Let’s hope this doesn’t age well. Win or stay home.
Think you jumped the gun there on the Mets Trumbo.
This collapse is all on Eppler. The offense is mediorce and the bullpen sucks. If he went out and got guys like Soto, JD Martinez, Sean Murphy, Contreras, etc,., and got relievers like Josh Hader, Hunter Harvey, Brad Hand, they would be in the second round already with a by
There’s no collapse. Padres had the Mets number all season. Braves are one of the few teams better than the Mets. Mets are a top 5 team getting crushed by bad matchups. That’s just baseball. I think deGrom and the Mets take it tonight FWIW.
Kind of hard to not call it a collapse when the Mets went into September with the division and season series lead over the Braves, played a relatively soft schedule, and still blew the division lead. Especially when you factor in the Mets had their top 3 SPs lined up to face the Braves last weekend and still got swept. Had the Mets just taken one game in that series, they would have won the division
101 wins is not a collapse. They finished the season by crushing the Nats too. Calling it a collapse is simply taking away from how good the Braves are. Mets are really good. Braves are incredible.
@VonPurpleHayes 101 wins is a collapse, the Phillies barely sneaked into the playoffs and they have a better chance at going farther than us who had 15 more wins then them. The amount of wins they have means nothing
Again, I don’t see it as a collapse. Mets played well down the stretch. Braves just flat out beat them in good games. But it doesn’t matter. They didn’t win when they needed to.
A collapse is usually the combination of one team surging while another falters. The Mets lost nine combined games against the Nationals, Pirates, Cubs, A’s, and Marlins in September. One more win in those nine games and their NL East champs. Again, hard to not call it a collapse
I didn’t see the Mets falter much outside of Scherzer in game one. They played well even though they weren’t getting the wins they needed. That’s why I don’t call it a collapse. Also I don’t see the Pads winning game 3. So Mets are fine.
That is a collection of cherry-picking right there. They played well; the Braves were significantly better… that’s it
@ronk325
not true. if the Braves had lost won game in the mets series they would have played the marlins series differently, not just mentally, but the last game they played their bench and pitched their bullpen the entire game
Mets went 17-10, played .629 ball against those “weak” teams since Sept 1. They also went 66-44 playing .600 ball since having the 10.5 game lead on the Braves back in June. Nothing there is a collapse. They played 3 games in Sept vs the Braves and lost them. That’s not a “collapse” That’s Baseball
Attention mlbtr readers: I am looking for Mets22.
Lol. 22 won’t be around until he becomes Mets23 next spring. He’s probably thinking about how much fun he’s going to have next season insulting Braves fans and ranting about how the “NL East race is over” in April or May.
“If he went and traded for basically every available good player, the team would be better”.
Nice take.
@Cam the Padres were able to get all these great players, why couldn’t the Mets have?
Those players stunk down the stretch. Mets fan complaining about Ruf and Vogelbach as if any trade deadline bat had a huge impact. Most of them didn’t. Even Soto stunk.
Where is the Mets troll?
Snort##, whine,,, slurp….yum, yum, gobble, gobble, drewl, slobber…
I am here, next year, you are mine!
This year is contaminated…
Where are you my pretty?
Back off a bit gentlemen……
Ain’t over till it’s over.
Are you the fat lady singing?
I just want them out so the Dodgers don’t have to contend with them. They already have San Diego’s #.
it’s definitely over!
At least the Patriots can say they are hated because they’ve won. The Mets are hated just because they’re ugly.
And they decided at the deadline they should get a little uglier so they got on the horn with the Pirates to land Shrek.
I understand putting your best available pitcher on the roster when the season’s on the line, but having a lefty available is important and Peterson just went a couple innings last night. If Lucchesi was ramping up to come off the 60-day anyway, he should’ve been activated. If they didn’t intend to use Hunter the rest of the way, they should’ve DFA’d him to clear a 40-man spot for Lucchesi.
Or transferring Hunter to the 60-day would work the same way
I’d rather have Tai instead of Joely.
Nice they added Walker. Are they going to pull him in the 5th inning with the lead and deny him a W? How about Carrasco? Going to pull him the same way? Terrible, inconsiderate, coaching! Hope they get beat!.
slogar1;
If you don’t know that baseball has managers…….
Managers coach, Take your weak replies & go bug someone else.
Inconsiderate coaching? Lol, what is this tee-ball?
Walker was already over 80 pitches on Wednesday. They pulled him prescisely so he could be activated for this series. If he stays in then he’s not available at all this series. I’m sure Walker would choose pitching in a playoff series over staying in for an extra inning in a meaningless game to pad an antiquated stat that has little to no bearing on the modern game.
Walker threw 81 pitches with his team leading 7 – 0 and 2 outs away from the W. How do you figure, if he gets the final 2 outs, he’s ineligible for the playoffs? How do you know Walker didn’t want to win his final start of the season? If you’re going to argue, make valid points instead of the guesswork. The move even baffled the announcers, genius.
Because this isn’t fantasy baseball. Players don’t care about stats as much as fans do. Maybe to some extent, but they wanna win games and get a championship. Especially with pitching wins being one of the silliest and pointless stats that’s tracked. He threw 81 pitches three days ago, that was probably the absolute limit for him to be available today, and it was honestly probably over the limit. Sure, he only needed two outs but you don’t know how many pitches that would take. One guy gets on, another grinds out an at bat, next thing you know he’s over 100 and now his arm won’t be ready until the NLDS. It was the right move and it would’ve been done sooner in the game if they Braves clinched sooner. It was a meaningless game and the fact that they were up 7-0 is even more reason not to waste quality arms. Any pitcher in baseball would choose a shot at pitching in the playoffs over having to rest for the series just to add a W to the back of their baeeball card. That’s the silliest take I’ve ever seen. He must’ve been on your fantasy roster or something.
And managers are managing to win games not be “considerate” and help hand out participation trophies. Making sure one of your better pitchers is rested and available for a playoff series is much more important. And let’s be real, Walker isn’t gonna be chasing down any milestones or record books.
@Chris G.
Disagree. sure every players dream is to win a WS. but wihtout production that results in stats they dont have a roster spot
Considering that the game has changed so much, and starters do not go through lineups the third time or past 100 pitches, isn’t the 5 innings rule a bit dated for being win eligible? A reliever can get a win without any eligibility rule, so why have one for starters anymore? Maybe reevaluate Saves too, who deserves a “Save”, the guy who came in for the eighth to take care of the best hitters or the guy who pitched the ninth against lesser hitters? Seems like the 8th inning guy saved the game.
How did “saving” Walker’s & Carrasco’s arms work out for you? LOL
@WampumWalloper
See Sandy Alcantara about that 5-inning rule.
@slogar1 Carrasco is one of the worst pitchers in the league. Has decent starts vs the bad teams and pitches horribly vs any team over .500. He shouldn’t even be on the roster and I can’t wait for him to be gone
@lgfMets, In 4 starts, one each against the Mariners, Phillies, Astros and Cardinals, Cookie threw 18.2 innings and got blasted for 28 earned runs, a 13.84 ERA. In 25 other starts including two against the Braves and Two against the Padres, Cookie threw 133.1 innings and gave up 39 earned runs, a 2.61 ERA. He is a 4th/5th starter, definitely not “one of the worst pitchers in the the league” and he threw 4 clunkers against strong teams. I’m not sure there is a team in baseball that would not snap him up, including the Braves.
Thank you, you made my point. If you weren’t going to use him in the playoffs, why pull pull him after only 73 pitches and a 2 run lead? He had just pitched 4 shutout innings, nice reward.
Let the offseason begin !!!!
Mets going for their 3rd straight offseason title.
@VonPurpleHayes
Is it only 3? It seems like they have more offseason titles than that. Didn’t they win offseason titles all those years of the “Five Aces” leading into the last couple of offseasons?
Haha very true. 5 aces era.
#lolMets will never die!
Hmmmm…
Brandon Nimmo 3 for 4 in the game when the SP struggles with the strikezone; 1 for 8 in the two games where the SPs had control and pounded the strikezone against him. Mets end up scoring 1 run total in those two games. I will sarcastically say that I am shocked by this.
What does Nimmo get in free agency? I figure the Mets hyped overrating of Nimmo will make some team overpay for him for 7 years…and regret it after the first 2 seasons. What’s it going to take to sign him – 7 years for $154 million….based on Mets Hyperbole, Mets PR hype and Mets Fan Kool-Aid Goggle-vision?
@MarlinsFanBase Nimmo’s easily getting 5/110m as a base.
He’s a 130 OPS+ player at a weak position, coming off a 5 WAR season, and was in surprising good health. Even taken as a 4 WAR CFer turning 30, he’s not terribly far off Springer, who got 6/150m at 31-36.
Springer was a 5 WAR per 650 PA player the Jays knew would have to move off CF fairly quickly. He made it into about 3/4 of his team’s games in the previous five seasons.
Nimmo is also a 5 WAR per 650 PA player who only makes it into roughly 2/3 of his team’s games, and will stick in CF now that the Mets are positioning players intelligently.
He’s also a year younger than Springer, which helps compensate for missing those additional 8% of games, or about 15 games per year. Translated into wins, those 15 games are worth roughly half a win.
I don’t doubt Nimmo is sick of Alderson playing him into the ground at the Wilpons’ bidding, so I’ll be amazed if he comes back short of an offer way above market, particularly since Alderson is still in a position of importance with the Mets. He’ll surely want to go to a team with an established medical group. San Francisco might be the place, if they’re not after Judge. Or Los Angeles, or Houston, if they’re in the market.
Figure 5/110m as the absolute minimum—but Nimmo’s agent will be asking for Springer money, or 6/150m. Given how weak the position is, how many teams have holes there, and how Nimmo is viewed as an energetic, intelligent pro, he just might get it. That the Mets didn’t extend him years ago when he might have been had for something like 3/45m, particularly when his health was running poorly, is shocking malfeasance.
–Anyone who seriously undervalues players like Nimmo is refusing to understand the game, for some reason.
@JackStrawb
I actually played ball into Division I. I know baseball. I don’t value Nimmo much because he only has one thing he does – walks against pitchers who are struggling with the strikezone. He’s a poor defender; poor hitter when you pound the strikezone; poor baserunner, despite having nice speed.
As I said for the last couple of years, he’d be held under control in the postseason because teams that make it have pitchers that pound the strikezone, and when a pitcher struggles with it, they aren’t in the game long. Nimmo showed it this postseason. So my next statement is that the team that signs him to the contract that both you and I pretty much expect, that team will regret it after two seasons.
As for Alderson and him, Nimmo has only been given so many opportunities and pretty much been forced out there because Alderson drafted Nimmo to be some stud, so, like all GMs that fudge up a 1st round draft pick, they stick with the guy to avoid eating crow. Had Alderson been gone from the Mets, Nimmo would have been long gone from the Mets, and sure as heck wouldn’t have been given the opportunities to play and stay with the team like he has been with the Mets under Alderson.
As for the comparison to Springer, I won’t entertain it because it’s laughable. It’s almost as bad when certain posters were comparing Nimmo to Harper and Trout based on WAR (which is a ridiculous stat that even its creators admit is flawed). He’s not in Springer’s league when it comes to performance. Some of the stats you pull are what people said about Jason Heyward to justify the sucker contract he got from the Cubs. Nimmo lines up with him more….except with far less defensive ability and running speed.
But with all that said, I think we both pretty much agree with what he’ll get in a contract. I feel sorry for the sucker that pays it. I sure as heck hope that Kim Ng isn’t dumb enough to buy into any Mets Hyperbole that Nimmo has benefitted from, and that she stays far away from him.