Unless the Mets surprise us all and spend at the high end of the free-agent market, their most important addition this winter just might be the hiring of what they’re calling a “Director of High Performance.”
The title certainly has a hopeful ring to it, considering the level of performance at Citi Field last season, but jokes aside, the creation of such a position is an indication the Mets are finally taking serious steps toward doing a better job of preventing injuries.
They’ve talked a lot about that over the years, especially the last couple as injuries have crippled them, yet in some ways it seems now the Mets were somehow still stuck in the dark ages.
At least that’s the impression I got after interviewing new manager Mickey Callaway last week and hearing him talk about all the injury-prevention methods the Indians employed during his time there as pitching coach.
From monitoring hydration levels of players via daily urine samples, to having pitchers wear high-tech Motus sleeves during workouts to measure elbow stress, to players filling out daily logs on iPads in regard to sleep and eating habits, etc., the Indians seemed to be miles ahead of the Mets with being proactive.
Callaway said as much when I asked him if the Mets had been using those same techniques.
“No, I don’t think they had been,” he said. “They’ve been doing some similar things, keeping track of how guys feel, but we’re going to try and step it up a notch. We talked about some of that stuff in my interview — how to keep these guys healthy.
“But it’s not just getting them healthy. It’s a daily process for keeping them healthy.”
If it sounds like interviewing and then hiring Callaway triggered a new era in injury prevention for the Mets, assistant GM John Ricco says that’s not the case.
“This was in the works before we hired Mickey,” Ricco said by phone on Friday. “This is something that Sandy (Alderson) and I have talked about for awhile.”
It’s easy to be skeptical about that, but you do have to believe last year was a tipping point in spurring significant change, when major injuries to Noah Syndergaard and Yoenis Cespedes, to name two of the most significant losses, may have been preventable.
Had the ballclub been measuring hydration levels, for example, they would have found out that Yoenis Cespedes barely drank water — and addressed it before he pulled quad and hamstring muscles the last two seasons, not afterward.
And if they had someone compiling and interpreting data on daily health and performance levels, you’d think someone would have insisted on Syndergaard getting that MRI he refused before blowing out his lat muscle.
Question is: why weren’t the Mets already doing more to get ahead of the curve regarding injuries?
Remember, they tried things like not having pitchers throw to bases during spring training fielding drills, which seemed like quite a reach for a solution, yet they didn’t utilize the high-tech Motus sleeves, which Callaway said he found incredibly helpful in dictating the safest way for the Indians’ pitchers to throw in spring training, between starts, etc.
One person familiar with the organization recalled that former pitching coach Rick Peterson, who believed strongly in the study of biomechanics, was pushing such technology 10 years ago.
After the Mets fired Peterson, however, “there was a backlash to all of that stuff because people got tired of hearing it,” the person said, “and then they brought in Dan Warthen, who didn’t believe in a lot of that stuff. Now it’s come full circle.”
Whatever the reasons, the Mets finally do seem to be trying to catch up. They fired long-time trainer Ray Ramirez, so they’re hiring a replacement, but more significant is the creation of the new “Director of High Performance” position.
Ricco says the person will oversee and interpret both medical and strength-and-conditioning information.
“The idea,” he explained, “is to hire a director who focuses on the big picture rather than the daily, hands-on stuff. We’ve got medical trainers, strength people, physical therapists, a nutritionist, but we don’t have anyone sitting on top of all that data being compiled, looking for trends and imbalances.”
Ricco indicated the Mets are trying to be as forward-thinking as possible with this hire, saying they’ve interviewed some “good candidates” with various backgrounds, and may wind up hiring someone from outside of baseball.
“A lot of advanced things are being done in other sports,” Ricco said. “Baseball might be a little behind in some of those areas.”
From all indications, the same could be said about the Mets. Maybe they’re about to finally fix that.
YANKEELAND
Thoughts on the Yankees’ manager search:
First, who says Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t have some of his old man in him? Even George never fired a manager after he won the World Series, as Hal says would have been the case with Joe Girardi.
I’m not sure I believe that, but the more I talk to people with knowledge of the Girardi situation, the more I do believe there were real issues between the manager and the players — even manager and the coaches — that created a level of tension that management saw as unhealthy.
I also believe that’s what led to friction between Girardi and Brian Cashman as well. We all know by now the GM believes strongly in analytics, but Yankee people insist he never tried to dictate lineups to the manager and won’t be doing so with whomever he hires now.
“Joe didn’t handle pressure well,” one person close to the situation said. “He’d get tight, and that carried into the clubhouse, and it led to questionable decision-making in games. That’s what this was about.”
As for who will replace Girardi, here are my odds on the four candidates interviewed so far:
Rob Thomson, 4-1: Starting to think he’s the favorite. Well-respected by players and front office for his work ethic, knowledge — perhaps he’s Girardi without the warts the Yankees found so offensive.
Hensley Meulens, 6-1: Some think he’s being groomed to take over for Bruce Bochy in San Francisco, which would say a lot.
Chris Woodward, 8-1: At 41, the youngest of the candidates so far, he comes highly recommended by Dodgers’ GM Andrew Friedman, which carries significant weight with Cashman. Coaches third for LA, managed New Zealand team in WBC.
Aaron Boone, 10-1: GM Brian Cashman is said to like him a lot, and of all the candidates he did the best with his post-interview media session. But Steinbrenner said he’d have a hard time hiring a manager with no coaching or managing experience.
Eric Wedge: 50-1: Unless Cashman sees him as a possible bench coach for a manager with no experience, I’m still not sure how he got an interview.
LAUNCH THEORY
Some tidbits from my sit-down with Callaway on Monday that didn’t make the cut in my original column:
His Indians’ staff threw more curveballs than any in baseball the last two seasons, so I asked Callaway if that was a strategy to combat the new launch-angle styles of hitting in the game now.
“It was mostly because our pitchers had really good curveballs, and I wanted them throwing their best pitches as often as possible,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of research, looked at all the data, and it shows that throwing a breaking ball is not the bad pitch for the elbow that everybody thought it was.
“It’s more the fastball. All these research studies are showing it’s the fastball that causes elbow injuries. The velocity and the torque and stuff like that.
“But, yes, high fastballs and breaking balls in the dirt are a way to combat that launch-angle style. In order to create a good launch angle, you’re not going be able to handle the up fastball or the breaking ball in the dirt.
“I think that will work for this Mets’ staff too. We’ve got guys with good curveballs and really good four-seam fastballs they can elevate at the top of the strike zone. It’s funny, because pitching coaches in the past used to say, ‘keep the ball down, keep the ball down.’ We tried to do the opposite in Cleveland.”
A HELLO TO ARMS
Also, Callaway has been watching video of his new players, so I asked him for a quick thought on the top starters.
Noah Syndergaard: “The best stuff in the major leagues. You throw 101 with a 95 mph slider…and you pound the zone. Unbelievable.”
Jacob DeGrom: “I like his aggressiveness. It seems like he uses his stuff to the best of his advantage. Obviously another guy throwing very hard with very good off-speed stuff. Seems like he just attacks the zone.”
Matt Harvey: “Obviously a guy that’s had great success, and needs a little bit of direction right now. And I’ve been around a guy like that, Ubaldo Jimenez (whose last really strong season was in 2013 with Callaway in Cleveland, before moving on to Baltimore).
“It seems like a very similar case. You just get confused in what’s going and you’re not sure how to right the ship. And it can be a very simple process.”
Steven Matz: “Unbelievable stuff. When I see him, I see Rich Hill. A guy that can really spin the ball, and he has great life on his fastball.”
Zack Wheeler: “Another guy that has great stuff. Good deception. A guy that needs to attack the zone more than he has in the past, and limit the walks.”
