All In With John Jastremski: Overreaction City, What’s Fair And What’s Not. 

The 2021 baseball season is a little over a week old, so naturally overreactions are running wild.  It’s the nature of the beast, it is par for the course.  Some overreactions are totally overblown.

For example, the Yankees lineup is not going to continue to stink throughout the regular season the way it has over the first week.  It may take a little longer than you’d like, but eventually a lineup full of talented players is going to produce.  The same could be said for Michael Conforto despite the fact that he is in a contract year.  He is too talented and too good a player to perform the way that he has.

However, there are a couple of early season narratives that I think are totally fair to analyze. In Yankee land, Gleyber Torres’ early season defensive struggles are a legitimate cause for concern. Gleyber Torres played poorly in 2020, offensively and defensively.  One of the major questions going into this season was whether or not he would be able to handle one of the most important positions on the field.

So far, Gleyber Torres has struggled. He cost the Yankees a game with his glove on Wednesday night and has been an adventure in the early going of the year.  By the end of this year, you need to know if Gleyber Torres can be the Yankee shortstop for years to come.

A week plus into the year, the jury is very much still out on that.

In Mets land, it’s been frustrating waiting for games to be played. It’s also been beyond frustrating watching the Mets squander Jacob deGrom gems.  Jacob deGrom has started two games this year and has been brilliant. 14 innings pitched, 1 run allowed, but somehow, some way the Mets are 0-2 in games started by their ace this season.

That simply can’t happen.

It follows this disturbing trend, since 2018 the Mets are 36-42 in games that Jacob deGrom has started. Let that sink in, 2 CY Young awards, total dominance and yet the Mets as a team are 6 games under .500 in games he has started. The trend has to change, if the Mets are going to take him seriously. If you’re going to win a division title, a pennant or for that matter a World Series, you have to win the games that are started by the best pitcher in baseball.

When Jacob deGrom is on the mound, go and win the games. It’s a week in, but know this.

The Yankees won’t find their way to the World Series if Gleyber Torres can’t handle shortstop, and the Mets won’t find their way to the postseason if they can’t win Jacob deGrom starts.  There is no overreaction in that…