Daniel Vogelbach and Michael Perez aren’t going to win the Mets a World Series.
Sure, each gamers may contribute ought to the Mets get there. It’s not laborious to check Vogelbach stepping as much as the plate towards a right-handed reliever and delivering a 400-foot euphoria bomb into the Citi Field crowd, immediately turning into a postseason legend.
Perez has already performed in a World Series, although it got here through the strangeness of the 2020 season and he by no means acquired an at-bat, simply performed protection as a late-game substitution. There is totally a world the place Perez doesn’t make the Mets’ postseason roster. That all hinges on the well being of James McCann, Tomas Nido, and possibly Patrick Mazeika. Those three have shared the Mets’ catching duties this 12 months, however McCann and Nido have each gotten dinged up and Mazeika is within the dreaded Quad-A zone, too good for Triple-A however not fairly an on a regular basis large leaguer.
The Mets perceive that their pair of strikes this week aren’t flashy, not Juan Soto, and never the forms of gamers that whet followers’ urge for food for an enormous deadline transfer. On Saturday, when requested for a primary impression of Vogelbach, who was within the Mets’ clubhouse for the primary time, supervisor Buck Showalter didn’t sound like a person who had simply discovered the gem he was on the lookout for.
“As advertised, as expected,” Showalter mentioned of Vogelbach’s character. “He’s somebody that’s well thought of in the game, on the field and in the clubhouse. He should be a good fit for us. I like people who don’t take themselves too seriously but take the game seriously.”
Most of Showalter’s preliminary pleasure — possibly happy is a greater phrase than excited — got here from the truth that Vogelbach already knew so many gamers on the group.
“Taijuan [Walker] brought him in there like his escort,” Showalter shared. Walker and Vogelbach have been teammates with Seattle in 2016 and 2020.
“So, there were a couple big men in my office.”
Showalter’s responses have been most likely becoming for a supervisor who, almost definitely, simply acquired a platoon bat with no actual defensive place. Vogelbach, a left-handed first baseman/DH, has a 33 wRC+ towards lefties this 12 months and a 149 wRC+ towards righties. Sending him as much as the plate towards a same-handed pitcher borders on legal endangerment at this level.
When Billy Eppler mentioned the Vogelbach commerce on Friday, he hit all the fundamental factors. Good energy, kills righties, unbelievable swing selections. The plate self-discipline stuff ought to comply with him wherever he goes, but when the ability slumps or righties determine him out, Vogelbach fairly actually turns into ineffective.
For Perez, whose profession 52 wRC+ means he’s 48 % worse than the typical hitter, Showalter was much more tepid.
“We’ll see, [bench coach Glenn] Sherlock is familiar with him,” Showalter reported. “I’ve heard a lot of good things about him. He has the potential to help us if we have a need.”
The Mets have a number of guys who can catch, however none of them have been significantly good hitters this season. McCann, Nido and Mazeika have mixed for a heinous .197/.243/.260 slash line getting into Sunday’s recreation with a league-worst 48 wRC+. When they thought Nido, a extremely revered defensive catcher, may miss a while, they responded by getting a catcher who’s solely marginally higher at hitting.
Showalter is aware of his catchers can’t hit their means out of a paper bag. He put his personal spin on the scenario by creating the fallacy of depth, pointing to the truth that a number of gamers have performed the place, which doesn’t imply they’ve performed it nicely.
“I love the depth of it,” he started. “They’ve done a good job defensively, throwing, calling the game, presenting the ball. Offense has kind of come and gone. I thought McCann was getting strength back in his hand and was getting ready to get going again before he had this [oblique] injury. He’s close to going out [on a rehab assignment] too, which is encouraging.”
When it occurred, that indirect drawback was anticipated to maintain McCann out till at the least late-August, maybe into September. Rolling with Nido — the pitching employees’s most well-liked catcher — and a few mixture of Mazeika and Perez because the backup ought to hold the Mets afloat for a pair weeks. But except they need to make the massive deal for Cubs’ catcher Willson Contreras earlier than the Aug. 2 deadline, they may vie for playoff positioning and maybe play postseason video games with an out penciled subsequent to the catcher’s spot within the lineup. Even if McCann is totally wholesome by then, that doesn’t imply his .183 common goes to magically enhance.
“Billy [Eppler] and our front office have always been very proactive about seeing the potential need we might have and trying to get ahead of it rather than waiting until it’s there and we’re forced to do it,” Showalter mentioned.
In a distinct query about Jacob deGrom, and whether or not the group looks like they’re ready for deGOAT to point out up or in the event that they’ve grown accustomed to successful with out him, the skipper gave a solution that would simply be utilized to the remainder of the roster as nicely.
“You can’t really operate like that because sometimes that never shows up,” he started. “Sometimes that just doesn’t happen. So then what do you do? I like our guys and what we have. Instead of going, ‘What are we going to do?’ we know we have an opportunity to uncover some other guys that provide depth for us.”
They’ve already gotten began on uncovering some depth externally, and with all due respect to Vogelbach and Perez, they’re not going to do an entire lot to maneuver the needle. Unless extra strikes are coming, or deGrom can really come again and switch hitters into mud, the Mets should push their chips in somewhat tougher.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com