Opposition research: Jeff McNeil
Throughout baseball history, there have been players who can’t seem to decide if they are stars or not. They will turn in or two seasons that make it seem like they’re stars but also have seasons in which they look far more like good, but not great players. (Ask an older Yankees fan about Roberto Kelly and see what they say.)
Jeff McNeil is one of those players. He got a late start to his career, debuting at age 26 for the Mets in 2018, but he quickly acclimated to the league, accumulating 3.0 WAR in just 63 games. The following season, he had an OPS of .916 along with 23 home runs and made the All-Star team. Seems like a star player, right?
He hit .311 during the shortened 2020 season, but slumped in 2021, with an OPS of .679. In 2022, his stardom seemed back on track when he won the NL batting title and made the All-Star team.
McNeil took advantage of his strong season, signing a four-year/$50 million contract extension with the Mets. The Mets may have paid for a star, but that’s not what they got the next three years. His batting average never rose above .270, his high-water mark for home runs was 12, and he averaged 2.0 WAR each year, mostly due to his defensive versatility.
To top things off, McNeil reportedly had some problems with teammate Francisco Lindor .
While both players have brushed it off as “no big deal,” when a non-star has a conflict with an actual star, it is inevitable that the non-star will soon find himself on another team. The Mets traded McNeil to the A’s this offseason, eating most of his contract in the process.
The move to the American League has seemed to agree with McNeil, since he’s batting .314. So maybe the Mets will be paying for a star season after all!
Pennant year song battle
It’s a Mistakeby Men at Workprevails for another week, easily getting past Goodbye by Kristina DeBarge.
The next contender is from 1993 and reflects the Athletics ’ frequent changes in home city. It’s I Get Aroundby 2Pac.
Vote for the winner!
Non-Phillies thought
If you recall, when the Phillies beat the Braves in the 2023 NLDS, Orlando Arcia didn’t take the L very well . Jaylen Brown of the Celtics may be topping his crash out, complaining to anyone who will listen, that the Celtics’ loss was due to poor officiating.
I’ve had to listen to Knicks fans call Joel Embiid a “flopper,” while Sixers fans counter that Knicks guard Jalen Brunson gets entirely too favorable of a whistle and spends most of the game foul baiting. As it turns out, just about every NBA fan thinks that star players on other teams are floppers who get generous calls from the officials.
However, the refs didn’t really come into play in game one of the series on Monday, as the Sixers lost a nailbiter 137-98. A playoff game shouldn’t really be a “schedule loss,” yet this one kind of was. The only good news is that it still only counts for one game, and the Knicks might come into game two feeling overconfident.
Additional thought about the series
The A’s are in first place in the AL West, but that’s mostly because they’re the only team in the division with a winning record. They’re mediocre on offense (18th in majors in runs scored) and in run prevention (14th in runs allowed). Designated hitter Brent Rooker has been in a season-long slump, and their best hitter, catcher Shea Langeliers will miss at least some of the games on paternity leave.
If the Phillies can continue their recent run of competent play – it certainly helps that the starting rotation is performing far closer to expectations – this is a good opportunity to further climb out of their early season hole.
