A strong finish will win Jacob deGrom the NL Rookie of the Year

By Steven Inman

Always overlooked by fans, media and even his front office by pitchers such as Matt Harvey, Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard and even Rafael Montero. That is quickly changing for 26-year old Jacob deGrom who is coming into his own in his rookie season. With the way deGrom has pitched, he has penciled himself into the Mets future rotation and gives them a lot of flexibility in trading another young pitcher in the future for a bat. DeGrom has also put himself right in the middle of the National League Rookie of the Year race, a race that Wheeler and Harvey weren’t apart of.

DeGrom leads National League Rookies in strikeouts, innings pitched and ERA by a starting pitcher. He has been fantastic all year but even better of late. DeGrom has a 0.66 ERA over his last four starts.

His biggest competition for Rookie of the Year will come from the Reds Billy Hamilton and the Padres Jesse Hahn but as of now if deGrom continues pitching well, he will win the National League’s Rookie of the Year.

After being drafted in the 9^th round in 2010, Jake deGrom is an excellent parting gift by former GM Omar Minaya and his staff.

David Wright, Eric Young fall Short in Gold Glove bids

By Steven Inman

Photo by ESPN

Mets players David Wright and Eric Young Jr. were both nominees in their respective positions for the Rawlings Gold Gloves. Neither of them won however as the awards went to a pair of Colorado Rockies, Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez.

I’ve never been a big fan of the Gold Glove awards because it usually just goes to the biggest name guy who puts up the best numbers. Wright was looking for his third gold glove and overall he didn’t have his best year at third. I felt Wright’s best season defensively came in 2012 when he lost out to Padres 3B Chase Headley, (who actually cost his teams runs). This year Arenado was fantastic at third and defintly deserved the gold glove over Wright in my unbiased opinion. If you haven’t seen this rookie play third, I highly recommend it he is a treat to watch at the hot corner.

UZR had Wright saving the Mets five runs at third compared to Arenado’s 30. Advanced statistics have Arenado as the games best 3B.

Young in his first year playing everyday wasn’t all that great defensively either and it was kind of head scratching to me to see him be even one of the three nominees for this award. Fangraphs and UZR both had Young costing the Mets runs in left field.

Juan Lagares stared in center and definitely deserved the award in center field. Carlos Gomez who won the award also really deserved it but Lagares should have at least been one of the three nominees. I don’t want to hear about how he is a rookie either because Arenado won it in his rookie year as well.

Overall the Gold Gloves were improved this year but still have a ways to go before they can be taken seriously. Here is the complete lists of 2013 Gold Glove winners.

National League

Wainwright P
Molina C
Goldschmidt 1B
Phillips 2B
Arenado 3B
Simmons SS
CarGo LF
Gomez CF
Parra RF

American League

Dickey P
Perez C
Hosmer 1B
Pedroia 2B
Machado 3B
Hardy SS
Gordon LF
Jones CF
Victorino RF

Juan Lagares is NL Player of the week

By Steven Inman

Juan Lagares has been awarded National League Player of the week for the week ending on July 21st.

Lagares was 7-for-10 during the three-game series, during which he collected three extra base hits and drove in five runs.

In 11 games this month, he is batting .412 (14-for-34) with nine RBI.

Lagares has a big three run homerun Sunday that led to the Mets taking two out of three against the rival Phillies.

Lagares is the best defensive outfielder the Mets have right now and has gotten a lot better with the bat over the past month. He still is only playing against lefties and is not in the lineup Monday night against the Braves.

Lagares doesn’t walk more than twice a month so its still not clear if he has much upside as an offensive player but if he can hit around .255 like he is now, than he deserves to be a major leaguer even if it is in a reserve role.

I wonder if Lagares’ future is in a centerfield platoon with prospect Matt Den Dekker who doesn’t hit lefties. The two can cover ground as good as anyone in the game.

Harvey is awarded April’s NL Pitcher of the month

By Steven Inman

Before Thursday’s game vs. the Pirates, Mets ace Matt Harvey was presented his National League pitcher of the month award for April. Harvey was absolutely dominate in April going 4-0 with a 1.56 ERA in April, striking out 46 batters and walking 12 over 40 1/3 innings.

There is no reason to think Harvey can’t keep this up either. In his first May start, Harvey went 9 innings, struck out 12 and allowed just one infield hit in a no decision to the White Sox.

If Harvey keeps this up there is no reason to think he won’t be starting for the National League during this year’s all-star game at Citi Field in July.

AL MVP Debate: Trout vs. Cabrera

By Steven Inman

Every once in a while here on BrokeMets, we like to go around the league to focus on a baseball story that doesn’t involve our beloved Mets. To me, the most interesting postseason award besides R.A. Dickey winning the Cy young is the AL MVP race. There has much debate over who should win the award, Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera. Cabrera is the favorite after a Triple Crown season but to me Mike Trout deserves to win and I don’t think it should be even that close.

Trout and Cabrera both had awesome years but Trout had the more worthy season. Trout is the better all around player. Cabrera and Trout had similar years offensively but the edge offensively would go to Cabrera. Cabrera led the American league in average, RBI’s and homeruns. That being said the reason I believe its Trout is because he beat Cabrera in every other category.

Trout scored a league high 129 runs this season while stealing 49 bases despite spending the first month of the season in the minor leagues. Just for comparison Cabrera stole 4 bases. People talk about how Cabrera’s team made the playoffs and Trout’s didn’t. Well Trout’s team plays in a much better division and the Angels won more games than the Tigers. While the Angels were battling Oakland and Texas down the stretch, Cabrera was feasting on the Royals and Twins pitching.

The biggest argument I can make for Trout is defense. Trout was an elite centerfielder this season for the Angels while Cabrera was a well below average player defensively at third base for Detroit. Trout’s defense saved the Angels around 12 runs this season according to fangraphs while Cabrera was worth negative ten runs on defense at third. That is a huge difference and that’s the tipping point to me. If Cabrera was a DH this season he would have been worth ten runs saved and yet, he would get less MVP votes for not having a position. Miggy would have been more valuable to the Tigers as a DH yet it would have hurt his MVP chances. The system is a little flawed isn’t it?

Trout made a few homerun robbing catches this season in centerfield, having the greatest rookie season of all time. Trout at the young age of 21 is the best player in baseball now and while he will be in MVP discussions for a long time, it would be nice for him to get his deserved recognition tonight. MLB Network will broadcast the award announcement at 6 p.m.

The biggest argument for Cabrera is his triple crown. It is a big accomplishment in that it hasn’t been done in a very long time. That being said the Triple Crown shouldn’t automatically make a player the MVP. Five of the last six Triple Crown winners didn’t win MVP. It’s not like Cabrera’s offensive numbers were that much better than his competition. If Josh Hamilton or Curtis Granderson on the final day of the regular season hit two homeruns then Cabrera doesn’t win the Triple Crown and Mike Trout probably wins the MVP. The Triple Crown doesn’t mean Cabrera is the best player in the league. Offensively it was all Cabrera but the MVP is the most valuable player offensively and defensively and overall Trout had a better season than Cabrera.

BREAKING: R.A. Dickey wins the NL Cy Young Award

By Steven Inman

After much anxiety and speculation, Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey won the NL Cy Young Award tonight. Dickey, 38, went 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA in a league-high 233 2/3 innings this season. He also led the league with 230 strikeouts with a rate of 8.9 K/9. The voting is done by the Baseball writers association of America. (BBWAA) Dickey was named first on 27 ballots and second on the other five of those cast by two writers representing each league city to score 209 points, based on a voting system that rewards seven points for first place, four for second, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. (7-4-3-2-1)

We have been doing a poll here on BrokeMets and 89% of you believed that R.A. Dickey deserved the Cy Young award.

It marked the fifth time a Mets pitcher has been honored. Tom Seaver won the award in 1969, 1973 and 1975. Dwight Gooden was the winner in 1985. The voting wasn’t really that close either as Dickey beat Clayton Kershaw 209 to 96. The runners up were Kershaw, Gio Gonzalez and then Johnny Cueto in that order. Writers vote for five guys on their ballot. There are 32 writers who vote, two from each national league city. David Price winded up winning the award over Justin Verlander in the American League in one of the tightest races ever.

Dickey was speechless when finding out he had won the award. “I was the first player cut out of camp in 2010,” Dickey told MLB Network. “But I was able to get a shot with those guys and I was able to seize an opportunity. Now Dickey is the first knuckleballer to ever win a Cy Young award. The Mets exercised a $5 million team option on Dickey for next season. General manager Sandy Alderson is attempting to sign Dickey to an extension, although Alderson has not ruled out trading Dickey if the sides cannot agree.

I still believe the Mets will trade Dickey because I’m still skeptical that they can resign the 38-year old knuckleballer. Dickey has reiterated that he wants to remain in New York. “I’ve loved nothing more in my baseball career than being a New York Met.” It remains to be seen if Dickey will stay a Met but for now he should enjoy the award. Dickey’s 2012 season was one of the most remarkable stories in New York Mets history.

NL Cy Young will be announced at 6:45pm tonight

By Steven Inman

Both the American League and National League Cy Young awards will be announced tonight on MLB Network starting at 6pm. MLB is doing a new thing this year where they announced the three finalists for the award before it is announced. The American League finalists are Jered Weaver, Justin Verlander and David Price. The National League Finalists are Clayton Kershaw, R.A. Dickey and Gio Gonzalez. The American League is expected to be announced first and the National League is expected to be announced around 6:45 p.m.

I believe that the American League comes down to Price vs. Verlander. Weaver missed too much time due to a back injury earlier in the season. I would vote for David Price but either guy is very worthy of the award.

Dickey is definitely the favorite for the National League Cy Young. He had a career year winning 20 games and leading the league in strikeouts and innings. To me it shouldn’t even be that close as Gio Gonzalez wasn’t even the best pitcher on his own team. The best pitcher on the Nationals this season was Stephen Strasburg. Clayton Kershaw had a good year but he was much better in 2011 when he won the award, I think it hurts Kershaw’s chances a little bit that he also won just 14 games compared to Dickey’s 20.

Dickey is attempting to be the first knuckleballer to win the Cy Young award.

Keep in mind that these are baseball writers voting on the award. They are humans and they might lean toward Dickey for his amazing story. Dickey has the numbers to back up his case anyway but we will find out tonight. Whether Dickey wins or not BrokeMets will have the full details on what happens later tonight.

Chase Headley tops David Wright of a Silver Slugger Award

By Steven Inman

MLB announced that Padres 3B Chase Headley beat out Mets 3B David Wright for the NL silver slugger at third base. This award wasn’t really a surprise. While David Wright got back to putting up David Wright type numbers after a down year, Headley had an even better year including career highs in homeruns and RBI’s despite playing all his home games in pitcher friendly Petco Park. Headley was also dealing with constant trade rumors all the way up to the trade deadline on July 31^st.

While I had a major problem with Headley taking the Gold Glove from Wright, this award is completely legitimate. Headley had an awesome year and was the best 3B offensively in all of baseball. Unfortunately for Mets fans Headley is now two for two over Wright in awards this week. Wright got robbed of the gold glove but congrats to Headley for edging Wright for the award.

BrokeMets talked about it earlier but the gold glove carries too much weight into offense as Wright was clearly the better defender this season and should have won the gold glove last week. If the gold glove award counts offense then why even have a silver slugger award? That being said both players had awesome 2012’s and should continue to play well next season. Both the Mets and the Padres are very fortunate to have these third basemen in the middle of their lineups.

The last main award a Met could win is the NL Cy Young where Mets GM Sandy Alderson said today at the GM Meetings in California that he believes R.A. Dickey will win. That award will be announce on November 14th.

R.A. Dickey is one of three finalists for the NL Cy Young

By Steven Inman

MLB announced today that Mets RHP R.A. Dickey is one of three finalists for the NL Cy Young award. Dickey joins Gio Gonzalez and Clayton Kershaw as the other finalist for the award that will be given out a week from today, Wednesday, November 14^th, 2012. We have talked about the award before and 88% of you believed Dickey deserved to win the Cy Young. We are going to put the poll out again except now Johnny Cueto has been eliminated from the race. Dickey went 20-6 with a 2.73 era. Dickey led the league in Innings pitched (233.2) strikeouts (230) and complete games with five. Dickey is definitely the front runner for the NL Cy young award but it’s up to the voters now.

David Wright got robbed of a Gold Glove

By Steven Inman

Not trying to sound biased here, but David Wright got absolutely hosed for the NL gold glove at third base. The award came down to Chase Headley vs. David Wright. Headley had the best year of his career offensively and that was definitely the difference maker as he took the award home. Despite having the best year of his career defensively David Wright will not take home his third gold glove.

David had previously won the award in 2007 and 2008. He was definitely the favorite for the award this season after the year he had.

David had some throwing issues over the past few years including some questionable side armed throws, but in 2012, that appeared to be behind him. Both Headley and Wright finished with 10 errors this season but there are more stats than just errors to determine a quality defensive player.

The only stat that Headley had over Wright was fielding percentage, Wright (.974) Headley (.977)

Wright’s 15.4 UZR (defensive metrics) was nearly double that of Brewers 3B Aramis Ramirez who finished second in that stat at third base with an 8.2. Ramirez finished third behind Headley and Wright for the award.

Headley actually rated as a negative defender by Defensive Runs Saved, with his work viewed as having cost the Padres three runs. In Ultimate Zone Rating, he fares considerably better (6.0) but still rates fifth-best in the NL, well behind Wright. The point is Headley is an average defender at best and won the award because his offense and fielding percentage was .003 better than Wright’s.

Headley had 41 more chances at third then Wright which gave him the better fielding percentage. Wright may have had more difficult chances at third which reflects on the better advanced defensive metrics.

The voters should have looked at more than just fielding percentage and offensive numbers. If they can’t then they need to be replaced by someone who is more competent in their voting. This seems to happen every year. Keep in mind Wright was also snubbed as the all star game starter this season for Pablo Sandoval despite having the superior numbers.

Headley is a good player who had a great offensive year and he deserves the NL Silver Slugger at 3B but not the gold glove. I was a little surprised that he was even in the top three with Ramirez and Wright but in the end David had the best year of his career at third and that is extremely promising for the Mets going forward.