Thursday, May 28, 2009
Murphy Deserves First Crack (Flushing University)
If Daniel Murphy's future is not at first base, then it also isn't with the New York Mets. So forget about renting a first baseman in Carlos Delgado's absence and give the kid a chance. Read more here ...
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Roster Moves: Finally!
What the hell has Omar Minaya been waiting for?
The MSM finally jumped all over this in the last day or so, but the Mets have been pathetically slow to admit that a player is injured and to put him on the disabled list. Jerry Manuel has been playing short-handed in some form or fashion for the better part of three weeks now, and these roster moves still won't give him a full team. Carlos Beltran is out until at least Friday with a bone bruise; I expect that he will pinch-hit once over the weekend, not play for another three or four days and finally go on the DL late next week.
Reyes is the key to the 2009 season. If he is hobbled or even limited for a long period of time, the Mets will struggle to reach the 85-win mark when all is said and done. (Yes, I still think they're only an 87 to 89 win team anyway.) There is simply no competent replacement for him offensively or defensively, which Minaya tacitly admitted to when he purchased someone named Wilson Valdez from the Indians instead of looking for a temporary internal solution.
Church is a prime candidate to be non-tendered in the off-season anyway, so his loss isn't nearly as damaging to the Mets' fortunes. With Daniel Murphy playing first base and Gary Sheffield in left field, the Mets can use Angel Pagan, Jeremy Reed and super-prospect Fernando Martinez is center field and right field. Pagan and Reed are better cast as fourth and fifth outfielders, so Martinez has a chance to permanantly wrest the starting job away from Church.
STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
John Maine
Livan Hernandez
Tim Redding
RELIEF PITCHERS
Francisco Rodriguez (closer)
JJ Putz
Brian Stokes
Bobby Parnell
Sean Green
Pedro Feliciano
Ken Takahashi
CATCHERS
Ramon Castro
Omir Santos
Brian Schneider - DL
INFIELDERS
Daniel Murphy
Luis Castillo
David Wright
Ramon Martinez
Fernando Tatis
Wilson Valdez
Carlos Delgado - DL
Alex Cora - DL
Jose Reyes - DL
OUTFIELDERS
Gary Sheffield
Carlos Beltran
Fernando Martinez
Jeremy Reed
Angel Pagan
Ryan Church - DL
The MSM finally jumped all over this in the last day or so, but the Mets have been pathetically slow to admit that a player is injured and to put him on the disabled list. Jerry Manuel has been playing short-handed in some form or fashion for the better part of three weeks now, and these roster moves still won't give him a full team. Carlos Beltran is out until at least Friday with a bone bruise; I expect that he will pinch-hit once over the weekend, not play for another three or four days and finally go on the DL late next week.
Reyes is the key to the 2009 season. If he is hobbled or even limited for a long period of time, the Mets will struggle to reach the 85-win mark when all is said and done. (Yes, I still think they're only an 87 to 89 win team anyway.) There is simply no competent replacement for him offensively or defensively, which Minaya tacitly admitted to when he purchased someone named Wilson Valdez from the Indians instead of looking for a temporary internal solution.
Church is a prime candidate to be non-tendered in the off-season anyway, so his loss isn't nearly as damaging to the Mets' fortunes. With Daniel Murphy playing first base and Gary Sheffield in left field, the Mets can use Angel Pagan, Jeremy Reed and super-prospect Fernando Martinez is center field and right field. Pagan and Reed are better cast as fourth and fifth outfielders, so Martinez has a chance to permanantly wrest the starting job away from Church.
STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
John Maine
Livan Hernandez
Tim Redding
RELIEF PITCHERS
Francisco Rodriguez (closer)
JJ Putz
Brian Stokes
Bobby Parnell
Sean Green
Pedro Feliciano
Ken Takahashi
CATCHERS
Ramon Castro
Omir Santos
Brian Schneider - DL
INFIELDERS
Daniel Murphy
Luis Castillo
David Wright
Ramon Martinez
Fernando Tatis
Wilson Valdez
Carlos Delgado - DL
Alex Cora - DL
Jose Reyes - DL
OUTFIELDERS
Gary Sheffield
Carlos Beltran
Fernando Martinez
Jeremy Reed
Angel Pagan
Ryan Church - DL
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Pelfrey Gets By With Help From His Friends (Flushing University)
Despite astoundingly low strikeout totals to start the season, Mike Pelfrey has begun to re-establish himself as the type of starter the Mets hoped he would be. But unless he starts striking more batters out, will he be able to sustain this level of performance? Read more here ...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Roster Moves: Delgado Out Indefintiely
The Mets are dealing with their first major injury of the 2009 season, as Carlos Delgado is undergoing hip surgery because of a torn labrum and a bone spur. There's no definitive time-table for his return, but there is some concern that Delgado may be out for the rest of the season.
Losing your cleanup hitter is never a good thing, but the timing is actually advantageous for the Mets. Daniel Murphy's future in New York may be at first base, so the Mets have a golden opportunity to give him a month or so of relatively low-pressure exposure to the position to see how well he takes to it. With Gary Sheffield and Jeremy Reed both hitting well and Angel Pagan now looking for at-bats (he was recalled to replace Delgado on the active roster), there would be no shortage of candidates to play left field while Murphy works out at first.
Of course, Fernando Tatis has been tearing the cover off the ball lately and Murphy has been slumping, so there's no reason to hand the job over just yet. What has bothered me the last few days has been how Jerry Manuel has been spelling Tatis when he's not playing first base. The Mets have an excellent defensive outfielder in Reed, who has virtually no experience at first base. The Mets have a comically bad defensive outfielder in Murphy, with no experience at first base. Guess who has been seeing more time there?
Alex Cora is also going to be out for awhile, but unlike Delgado he has no one to blame but himself for his injury. An unnecessary head-first slide into second base on Sunday resulted in a torn ligament in Cora's thumb, which will lead to an extended stay on the shelf. It also led to the frightening specter of Fernando Tatis playing shortstop for a few innings as Cora's replacement on Sunday.
Ramon Martinez will take over the utility infielder's role for the Mets while Cora is on the disables list. Too bad, because Cora had been hitting well in Jose Reyes's temporary absence and was building a case for replacing Luis Castillo at second base when Reyes returns.
(By the way, Castillo is hitting .205/.302/.250 since being moved back up the top of the order on May 7. Hey Jerry, some of us still think that Castillo should be batting eighth!)
As for Cora's injury: too many baseball players today insist on the head-first slide, which does not get you to the base any quicker and does not make you any more difficult to to tag. Did anyone happen to catch Pagan's foot-first slide into home last night to tie the game at 2-2? He might be the only player on the Mets with enough baseball acumen not to slide head-first in that situation.
Finally, some housekeeping. Tim Redding is back and in the starting rotation, pitching out of the slot that initially belonged to Oliver Perez and was being filled by Jon Niese. He's better than Livan Hernandez, but that's not saying much. Nelson Figueroa came and went again, and to be honest I can't even figure out what part on the pitching staff he was on.
STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
John Maine
Livan Hernandez
Tim Redding
RELIEF PITCHERS
Francisco Rodriguez (closer)
JJ Putz
Brian Stokes
Bobby Parnell
Sean Green
Pedro Feliciano
Ken Takahashi
CATCHERS
Ramon Castro
Omir Santos
Brian Schneider - DL
INFIELDERS
Fernando Tatis
Luis Castillo
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Ramon Martinez
Carlos Delgado - DL
Alex Cora - DL
OUTFIELDERS
Daniel Murphy
Carlos Beltran
Ryan Church
Jeremy Reed
Gary Sheffield
Angel Pagan
Losing your cleanup hitter is never a good thing, but the timing is actually advantageous for the Mets. Daniel Murphy's future in New York may be at first base, so the Mets have a golden opportunity to give him a month or so of relatively low-pressure exposure to the position to see how well he takes to it. With Gary Sheffield and Jeremy Reed both hitting well and Angel Pagan now looking for at-bats (he was recalled to replace Delgado on the active roster), there would be no shortage of candidates to play left field while Murphy works out at first.
Of course, Fernando Tatis has been tearing the cover off the ball lately and Murphy has been slumping, so there's no reason to hand the job over just yet. What has bothered me the last few days has been how Jerry Manuel has been spelling Tatis when he's not playing first base. The Mets have an excellent defensive outfielder in Reed, who has virtually no experience at first base. The Mets have a comically bad defensive outfielder in Murphy, with no experience at first base. Guess who has been seeing more time there?
Alex Cora is also going to be out for awhile, but unlike Delgado he has no one to blame but himself for his injury. An unnecessary head-first slide into second base on Sunday resulted in a torn ligament in Cora's thumb, which will lead to an extended stay on the shelf. It also led to the frightening specter of Fernando Tatis playing shortstop for a few innings as Cora's replacement on Sunday.
Ramon Martinez will take over the utility infielder's role for the Mets while Cora is on the disables list. Too bad, because Cora had been hitting well in Jose Reyes's temporary absence and was building a case for replacing Luis Castillo at second base when Reyes returns.
(By the way, Castillo is hitting .205/.302/.250 since being moved back up the top of the order on May 7. Hey Jerry, some of us still think that Castillo should be batting eighth!)
As for Cora's injury: too many baseball players today insist on the head-first slide, which does not get you to the base any quicker and does not make you any more difficult to to tag. Did anyone happen to catch Pagan's foot-first slide into home last night to tie the game at 2-2? He might be the only player on the Mets with enough baseball acumen not to slide head-first in that situation.
Finally, some housekeeping. Tim Redding is back and in the starting rotation, pitching out of the slot that initially belonged to Oliver Perez and was being filled by Jon Niese. He's better than Livan Hernandez, but that's not saying much. Nelson Figueroa came and went again, and to be honest I can't even figure out what part on the pitching staff he was on.
STARTING PITCHERS
Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
John Maine
Livan Hernandez
Tim Redding
RELIEF PITCHERS
Francisco Rodriguez (closer)
JJ Putz
Brian Stokes
Bobby Parnell
Sean Green
Pedro Feliciano
Ken Takahashi
CATCHERS
Ramon Castro
Omir Santos
Brian Schneider - DL
INFIELDERS
Fernando Tatis
Luis Castillo
David Wright
Jose Reyes
Ramon Martinez
Carlos Delgado - DL
Alex Cora - DL
OUTFIELDERS
Daniel Murphy
Carlos Beltran
Ryan Church
Jeremy Reed
Gary Sheffield
Angel Pagan
Thursday, May 14, 2009
2009 Amateur Draft Coverage at Flushing University
More news: I'll be assisting Mack from Mack's Mets as he spearheads Flushing University's coverage of the 2009 Amateur Draft on June 9 and 10.
Mack has profiles of over 500 prospects that he has culled from personal interviews and personal scouting reports, as well as opinion from some of the best sources on amateur baseball in the country. FU's coverage will feature the best analysis you're going to get of the Mets' early-round selections - and I expect there will be plenty of debate over who actually gets picked! More details as they emerge.
Mack has profiles of over 500 prospects that he has culled from personal interviews and personal scouting reports, as well as opinion from some of the best sources on amateur baseball in the country. FU's coverage will feature the best analysis you're going to get of the Mets' early-round selections - and I expect there will be plenty of debate over who actually gets picked! More details as they emerge.
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