This Week in Mets Quotes: Not Quite Dead Yet

Your 2023 New York Mets: You’ve got to dig yourself out.

“I don’t think you can look at a point in time and say, ‘OK, you have to do it. You have to do it now. I think we’ve been saying that all year. You never want to wait around. You dig yourself into a hole, and you’ve got to dig yourself out.” -Justin Verlander [MLB]

Schrödinger’s Mets.

“I think everybody knows when the trade deadline is. Nobody has given any indication of what exactly we’re going to do. I think we need to stay together here in the clubhouse and keep doing what we’ve been doing, which is coming in here with optimism every single day, doing what we can do individually to win a ballgame, doing what we can do as a group to win a ballgame and see how far that takes us.” -Justin Verlander [MLB]

Alvarez is closing in on Johnny Bench’s record with 26 HRs for a catcher aged 21 or younger.

“I’m not putting too much mind to [the record]. I want to continue to go out there. The games are still meaningful, and I expect to get more home runs. I don’t know how many home runs Johnny Bench hit, and I’m not focusing on that right now.” -Francisco Alvarez [MLB]

Alvarez’s teammates are less modest when talking about him.

“He’s having fun. When you’re having fun, the stage is never too big for you. He’s educating himself. He’s learning. He’s having fun. He’s staying in the moment. He’s not letting the ups and downs affect him. That’s a dangerous combination.” -Francisco Lindor [MLB]

“He’s in the game right now. The way he is hitting right now, he’s pretty hot. It’s fun to watch.” -Carlos Carrasco [MLB]

“What [Alvarez’] done, statistically, has been incredible. Nineteen home runs, and he [hardly played] the first month [of the season]. He’s such a student of the game, which is cool to see.” -Mark Canha [MLB]

An example of Alvarez being a student of the game.

“I was rotating my front foot too much. Now that I have more control over it, I feel like I have better control of my swing.” -Francisco Alvarez [MLB]

...and then there’s Buck complementing him in his own way.

“[Alvarez] having a good year. I’m proud of him. We have a lot of baseball to play. There are a lot of people who are proud of their players — nobody more than we are.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

Congratulations to José Quintana on his return from injury.

“It felt great out there. There were really a lot of emotions around me and my debut. I was so excited to make it here at home — it was great. Every inning, it felt better and better.” -José Quintana [MLB]

“[It was] very encouraging, with those two flares in the first inning — it’s part of baseball but I know talking to [Quintana] in the dugout, he felt better and better as the game went on. Keep in mind, this guy hasn’t pitched in a Major League game since last [October]. Big day for him to get back out there, and for us. I thought he handled himself well. I would have taken that outing. He showed all the things he’s good at — command of the fastball and attacking hitters.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

“I heard the fans, playing my first game as a Met. We went for the sweep, which we haven’t seen too many this year. We really wanted this game. … But we’ll be ready for the next one.” -José Quintana [MLB]

A common refrain this season unfortunately.

“I’ve been inching closer to where I want to be.” -Justin Verlander [MLB]

Verlander’s opponents concur.

“Yeah, he had his good stuff tonight. It’s just a veteran guy who threw the ball well.” -White Sox first baseman Gavin Sheets [MLB]

Great story about Cookie’s Kids where Carlos Carrasco hosts pediatric cancer patients once per month at Citi Field. White Sox RP Liam Hendriks saw the group and wanted to join.

“It was really nice. [Hendriks] came over and he wanted to do this. There’s a lot of people who can see that [and realize] if we can make it, they can make it, too.” -Carlos Carrasco

“It was great today, being able to talk to him about his stuff, what [Carrasco] went through and kind of relate the stories and then to hear some of the kids talk about their treatment plans and everything, it’s always really cool. It takes the edge off. … You’re trying to remove the stigma of going through treatment and not being able to talk about it.” -Liam Hendriks

“It’s part of a club that no one really wants to be a part of, but also everyone wants to be a part of at the same time. Once I got diagnosed, one of my first things was honestly to Google celebrities who had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, or athletes or anything like that. Seeing the amount of people that have gotten over it that you may not have heard about … it’s very interesting to read those guys’ stories of how they went about it.” -Liam Hendriks

I don’t know how the Mets didn’t just call it a season for Diaz from the start rather than making this a year long (albeit only ever once and a while) story.

“I don’t think that it’s fair to the trainers, medical people or to our fans, and most importantly to Edwin [Diaz]. Edwin is meeting every benchmark of a very serious injury. … We’re taking it step by step. When he pitches, we’re going to be sure that we have crossed all the right hurdles to get there. There is still some unknown there. He is doing his part. He has been diligent.” -Buck Showalter [MLB]

Nice profile on Tyler Stuart who leads the minors in ERA.

“Obviously, the job’s not finished. We still have two months left in the season, so I’m just going to keep at it, keep grinding at it and keep the foot down. But overall, it’s a good feeling. Deep down, I always wanted to be a starter. That just kind of suited me better. I feel like I get better as the game goes on. I can reach that fourth, fifth, sixth inning — just seeing the third time through the order, I feel like I get more locked in.” -Tyler Stuart [MLB]