Nice to Met You: Davy Andrews of Fangraphs

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I’ve known Davy Andrews, on and off, for over a decade, which paradoxically makes it harder to write an introduction about him. Just know that we used to work together at Baseball Prospectus and nowadays he writes for Fangraphs and he’s a good egg. Davy would also like to let you know that he answered these questions before it came out that Pete Alonso “wants seven years and, one imagines, the gross national product of planet earth.”

You’re a smart guy - why did the Mets miss the playoffs this year?

The end of the season was brutal, but I mostly have boring answers for you. FanGraphs projected the Mets for 86 wins, and according to their Pythagorean record, they played at an 86-win pace. (Their actual record was 83-79 - ed.) I don't think you can say they underperformed so much as that they were always a couple players short. Baseball Prospectus's Injured List Ledger says no team in the NL lost more value due to injuries than the Mets this season. If Kodai Senga's healthy (or his recovery goes better), they make the playoffs. However, a deeper team would have done a better job of absorbing that injury. Our projections ranked the Mets rotation 19th before the season; they didn't trust Sean Manaea's second half brilliance in 2024 and they saw Frankie Montas as an innings-eater. Likewise, center field was going to be a rough spot even if Jose Siri had stayed healthy. I'd also remind you that a lot went right for the Mets too. Pete Alonso put up his best season in a while. He, Lindor, Soto, and Nimmo all stayed healthy enough to play full, and good seasons. Luis Torrens did a great job of covering for Francisco Alvarez. Every year, a bunch of teams fall a couple good players, a couple muscle strains, a couple lucky bounces away from making the playoffs.

Do you feel like the Mets should break up their core? Or should they keep the “Fab Four”?

I'm biased here, but no way, man. Pay Pete. Make sure Lindor wears a Mets cap on his Hall of Fame plaque. I think what the Dodgers have shown us in the last couple years is that there's more than one way to throw money around. You can sign good players, which the Mets are doing. But you can also afford to take big risks on volatile or injury-prone players. That way, you have tons of depth and are somewhat injury-proof. If the Mets let Pete walk or dump Nimmo because they just don't think they'll play well over the next several years, I will be sad, but I will understand, to some extent. But make no mistake, they can afford to keep them, and they can afford to build a good team even if their aging curves are sharper than expected.

You used to be, if not still are, a Nationals fan. Are you happy for Juan Soto now that he gets to stay with the same team for 5-15 years?

Absolutely. As sad as I am that Juan Soto didn't get to spend his entire career with the Nats, the fact that two different teams thought trading him away was the smarter move is an indictment of the way baseball is structured. He is a treasure. Cherish him.

What’s your writing process like? You get an idea, you realize there’s enough material to fill the pages so to speak, then what? Do you listen to specific music while writing, for example?

Sometimes I'll just sit down and write the introduction and keep on going from start to finish. But that gets tricky. If you get stuck in one section, your whole article is stuck until you figure it out. Sam Anderson once referred to the early stage of writing as Chunk Mayhem. A lot of what I write lends itself to that approach. If I'm writing something silly, then I'll know the jokes I want to hit, so it's easier to just write them out, then figure out how they fit together later. Likewise, if I'm breaking down a hitter or a pitcher, I'm running through so many heat maps, splits, Baseball Savant searches, spreadsheets, video clips. It can be hard to keep track of all the threads, so it's better to get them down one at a time and let them tell me how the narrative should play out once they're on the page. The phrase Chunk Mayhem pretty much never leaves my brain.

As for the logistics, I write in Microsoft Word on a MacBook. There is a big desk in my apartment, but it's my wife's, and even when she's at the office, I rarely write there. I tend to write sitting on the floor, sitting on the couch, laying across the bed. Right now, I'm sitting on an ottoman with the computer in front of me on the couch. None of this is great for my spine. I am trying to be better about sitting in a chair at the desk or the kitchen table. I am failing.

I never used to write to music, but now that writing is my full-time job, sitting in silence all day long gets oppressive. I can't listen to stuff that's too wordy or too energetic. It will distract me. Unfortunately, that means a lot of my favorite bands are out (sorry, the Mountain Goats and all of punk rock). I am very, very open to recommendations for writing music. Soundtracks are great when you're on a deadline because the drama really pushes you forward. Matt Sussman of BP once recommended the Batu ta Batu soundtrack, by Oklo & Surtimen, and it's amazing writing/researching/doing epense reports music. Erik Hall also recorded a couple electric piano versions of famous classical pieces that are brilliant and moving on their own, but also wonderful for writing. Am I writing like five times more than I'm supposed to here?

You’re good. What’s the coolest perk that comes with writing for Fangraphs?

I mean, it's just amazing to have a job that I love. I never thought that would be possible for me. I guess I'd say access to the other people at FanGraphs. If I'm struggling with something, I can reach out to smart people like Ben Clemens or Michael Rosen and ask for their thoughts, which is amazing. I very much want to pass that on to other people. If anybody reading this has a question about baseball (or whatever), my DMs on Bluesky are open!

You’re in a band with other baseball scribes. Between you, Petriello, Epstein, and Clair, who lives the rock star lifestyle off stage the most? 

Michael Clair, without a doubt.

If you were tasked with starting a new baseball hall of fame, who would you induct first and why?

To me, the obvious answer is Jackie Robinson. That said, if I were in charge of starting a new Hall of Fame, it would be the Silly Name Hall of Fame, and we would waive the five-year requirement in order to induct Dicky Lovelady as soon as possible.

How do you think the ABS system is going to go next season? Will it be universally praised? Endlessly tinkered with? Disappointing? 

We are baseball fans. We will find something to complain about. But the challenge system went over great in the minors and during spring training. I think it will go well. I think the real danger is that it goes so well that MLB figures if partial robot umps are good, then full robot umps will be even better. And full robot umps would not be better. 

If you can change or add one Major League Baseball rule, what would it be?

The obvious answer here is that they need to finally fix tag plays so that players aren't called out on replay because they lost contact with the base for one nanosecond. I think the fun answer is that it's time to cap the rosters at like 11 players so that everyone has to play both ways. It's the OOPS! All Ohtanis league and it's coming to a city near you.

You know your way around a kitchen. If Rob Manfred came over to your house on extremely short notice for dinner, what would you make?

Rob Manfred? MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred is coming to my house, and I'm supposed to cook for him? Dude is a millionaire many times over and he's showing up at my apartment uninvited and on short notice? He can stop and grab some takeout on his way in.

David Peterson and Luis Torrens were named as NL Gold Glove finalists. Yes, Torrens qualified - catchers that play in 71 of their team’s first 141 games are eligible. The Mets haven’t had a gold glover since Juan Lagares in 2014. Petey’s competition is Matthew Boyd and Logan Webb. Torrens’ is Patrick Bailey and Carson Kelly. The winners will be announced on Sunday, November 2nd. 

Jeff Albert did indeed get a fancy pants title - “Director of Major League Hitting”. Hitting truly is cinema, I’ve always said this.

First base coach Antoan Richardson - who Juan Soto credits for turning him into a stolen base threat and in working on his defense - technically didn’t agree to return to the Mets just yet, according to Will Sammon. The Mets invited him to return, but the team and Richardson haven’t yet agreed on a renewal. Get it done fellas.

The Mets signed left-handed sidearmer Joe Jacques to a minor league deal. Jacques attended Manhattan University and is a Red Bank, New Jersey native, which is all well and good, but he has a career 5.46 ERA in 25 games in the majors. He spent 2025 in Triple-A. It’s a lottery ticket, if anything - I guess having a lefty submariner is cool to have at your disposal to give an opponent a different look.

In Arizona Fall League action, the Scottsdale Scorpions fell to the Salt River Rafters 12-9. In the loss, Mets prospect LF Chris Suero went 2 for 5 with a home run, a run scored, three RBI, and a strikeout. RHP Austin Troesser permitted two earned runs in one and two thirds innings, walking and fanning one. RHP Brett Banks tossed a scoreless frame with one strikeout.

CF Nick Morabito talked to Sam Dykstra. He’s Rule 5 eligible unless the Mets want to add him to the 40-man roster. He makes a compelling case.

Tim Britton at The Athletic got some 2015 Mets (and Sandy Alderson) to talk about that intense fifth game of the NLDS against the Dodgers.

Well, on this day in 1969, the Mets won their first championship. 

25 years ago tonight, Mike Hampton tossed a complete game three-hit shutout against the Cardinals to send the Mets to win the World Series. Was Hampton the best Met player ever to only play one season for them?