Mets Fans Forever

Johan Santana

Author: Will Sommer

Well the season hasn't even started and I'm already pretty worried. Johan Santana might not be ready for opening day. Let us all hope that Santana is ready by April 6th. This is what Dan Warthen had to believes that Santana's desire to pitch for his native Venezuela in the World Baseball Classic prompted the Mets' primary starter to "push too hard" to prepare, and that the tightness that Santana now feels behind his left elbow is a result of the push.

No injury news is good news. Especially when the best pitcher in baseball might miss the start of the season.

Port St. Lucie in the Spotlight

Author: Bob Bagley; Contributor to Baseball Betting

As spring training picks up momentum there are lots of things happening in the Mets camp. Here are just a few:

    * Fernando Martinez has been cleared to take batting practice after originally thinking he would be limited strictly to conditioning drills. Martinez is suffering from a strained right elbow he injured while warming up prior to a Caribbean Series game. He didn’t play that game as a starter, but hit the winning home run as a pinch hitter. He is slated to begin a throwing conditioning routine early in March. He will begin the regular season in Triple-A Buffalo, with the goal of being promoted to the Mets by mid-season.  "I want to be in New York," Martinez said. "I'm working for that. I want to see what it's like up there." It’s a good baseball tip that he will arrive in the Big Apple sooner rather than later.

  * Luis Castillo had some difficulties in the Dominican Republic with his airline connections prior to arriving to training camp. Manager Jerry Manuel expects to spend a lot of time helping the second-baseman reach his potential in camp. "I plan to spend a lot of time with him…," Manuel said. "He's a guy that I'm going to do everything I can to get him going; to get him through this early part of the season ... It will be interesting. It will be a little fun project for me."

  * Jose Reyes welcomed his third daughter, Joselyn, on Valentine’s Day. He has yet to bring a son into his “home lineup.” Manuel commented that the All-Star shortstop needs to come to grips with possibly batting lower in the Mets order. "The whole idea of this spring training is that the team is first," Manuel said, "and that's my job, to kind of put you in a position where it benefits the team."

Spring training is a special time when teammates take on new roles that maybe they hadn’t foreseen. It’s a time for the past to be put behind and the promise of new beginnings to be the focus. After the late-season meltdowns of recent memory, the Mets are more than anxious to look forward. As a unit they need to develop a sense of loyalty and responsibility to one another that makes a good team great.

 

So Long Shea

Goodbye & thanks for the memories.

Thanks to bluenautica

Q & A with Toby Hyde of MetsMinorLeagueBlog.com

Author: Will Sommer

Is Fernando Martinez showing his true stuff in the winter league?

That's a qualified yes.  I don't think the version of Martinez who's been playing in Binghamton the last two years has been any less real than the Martinez who had a really nice winter in the DR when he hit .314/.376/.542 in 41 games.  For one thing, he was healthy for an extended period.  Secondly, he's matured - both physically and as a player and learned from his time in AA and starting to put it together.  I think Mets fans can be optimistic that Martinez's strong winter demonstrates that he's ready to make another leap forward.

In your opinion, when does Martinez gets the big league call?

Sometime in 2009.  

Who is the "dark horse" to make it to New York this year?

Good question.  Does Fernando Martinez count?  Seriously, the likeliest prospect-y reinforcements are names most Mets fans know: Martinez, Eddie Kunz, Bobby Parnell, Jon Niese and Nick Evans.  Outside of that quintet SS Jose Coronado, RHP Dillon Gee and RHP Tobi Stoner have relatively longer chances to see Citi Field in 2009. 

Whatever happened to Nathan Vineyard?

There were rumors, starting as nearly as I can tell with the administrator of the Mets' Scout.com site that Vineyard had essentially quit following his surgery by failing to show up for his rehab, getting out of shape, and losing communication with the Mets. None of that is good, nor do I have anything to add. We'll see whether he shows up for Spring Training, and if so, what kind of shape he's in. Given the uncertainty around Vineyard, I left him out of my Top 41 rankings. 

Catcher Josh Thole can he make it as a starter? What does he need to improve on in order to start? 

That's a qualified yes to the first.  On the second, Thole has shown tremendous plate discipline as a professional with a line drive stroke.  He could always stand to drive the ball a littler more.  Moreover, defensively, he's only really been catching fulltime as a professional for a year.  He must continue to improve all of the mechanics of catching from setting up behind the plate, his footwork and exchange on his throws, framing and blocking pitches and handling a staff.
 

If you were GM of the Mets, where would you put Bobby Parnell? In the bullpen or in the minors as a starter?

I don't think these options are mutually exclusive.  Parnell will get a chance to win a bullpen job in spring training.  Failing that, he will head to Buffalo, where he could well continue to start.  Starting would allow for more repetitions for Parnell and would give the Mets more flexibility moving forward.  For example, Carlos Marmol worked as a starter for AAA Iowa in 2007 before his big league callup.  With the MLB Cubs, he has worked - brilliantly  and exclusively - out of the bullpen. 
 

Did the Mets make a mistake trading Maikel Cleto for Putz? 

No.  Cleto has a big arm and little else.  Maybe he grows up to be a bullpen ace, but odds are he'll never be as good as a healthy Putz.  Moreover, the Mets are built to win now.  Putz helps the MLB team in 2009, Cleto would not.  That time certainty has value. 
 

Spring Training- Starting Pitchers

Author: Will Sommer

I will have a 5 part series on what I think will be the Mets opening day roster. First up is the starting rotation.

Of course the ace of this rotation will be Johan Santana. A Cy Young candidate every year. Any rotation that has this man will be a good rotation. Look for him to have 20 wins this season. The number 2 starter will be Mile Pelfrey. He's coming off a break out season. However, I am worried about Pelfrey. Statistics show that a person under 25 years of age and who pitches more than 200 innings is in for a rough go the next year. (see: Justin Verlander) Hopefully this so called "curse" doesn't happen in Flushing.

The number 3 starter will be re-signed Oliver Perez.  He just had 10 wins last season and again did not eclipse the 200 inning mark. He needs more wins, but more importantly Perez needs to pitch at least 200 innings, so the bullpen does not have to go into the game in the 5th or 6th. Hopefully Perez can learn the meaning of consistency.

The number 4 starter will be a healthy John Maine who was probably injured most of last year. The one thing Rick Peterson did that Dan Werthan didn't was give Maine some extra days off. Hopefully Maine is telling the truth, and is almost 100% healthy. If he has a good season that would be great. I don't think though he'll reach 30 starts because of his health.

Now to the number 5 starter- the only spot up in the air. Jon Niese, Tim Redding, and Freddy Garcia are all fighting for one spot. Forget about Livan Hernandez he has no shot he's just in case all the above fail which they won't.  As of right now it would be Tim Redding. But something tells me if he manages to stay healthy Freddy Garcia will be number 5, and Redding will be placed in the long reliever role. Niese will get seasoning in AAA, and be called up to start when needed. He only has 73 innings under his belt in the last two seasons. Garcia has already stated that he won't accept to go to the minors if the Mets ask him to go. Freddy can be a dominant 5 starter.

So here is the rotation as I predicted:

Johan Santana LHP
Mike Pelfrey RHP
Oliver Perez LHP
John Maine RHP
Freddy Garcia RHP (Keep in  mind the first 4 starters alternate lefty- righty.)

 

James View of the Mets Roster

Author: James Sukharev

With pitchers and catchers already having reported at spring training, baseball season is already underway. The Mets appear to have only one spot on their 25 man roster up for grabs. As of now I envision our depth chart to look something like this… 

C - Brian Schnieder

1B - Carlos Delgado

2B - Luis Castillo

SS - Jose Reyes

3B - David Wright

LF - Daniel Murphy

CF - Carlos Beltran

RF - Ryan Church

Bench - Alex Cora, Marlon Anderson, Jeremy Reed, Ramon Castro, Fernando Tatis  

SP - Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez, John Maine, Tim Redding

RP - Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green, Duaner Sanchez, J.J. Putz

CL - K-Rod 

…meaning that the last spot is going to be fought for between: Livan Hernandez, Freddy Garcia, Brian Stokes, Eddie Kunz, Carlos Muniz, Nick Evans, Angel Pagan, and Ramon Martinez.  

The offense seems to be pretty much figured out so unless Evans, Pagan, or Martinez show up big this march, don’t expect the Mets to pass on an opportunity to really add some depth to their bullpen. 

Watch out for the battle over the final spot in the starting rotation as Freddy Garcia, who according to Kevin Burkhardt of SNY, is said to expect a spot in the Mets rotation or else he will “pitch some place else.”  

I find his statement to be a bit over-the-top considering that Garcia has only started 14 games in the last two seasons without much success, but considering that Tim Redding and Livan Hernandez seem open to pitching in the bullpen, it would only be logical to say that the job is there for the taking. With Redding having signed a $2.2 million deal, Hernandez figures to be the final spot on the roster.  

However, Manager Jerry Manuel could very well be looking to add some speed or a solid right handed bat for late in the game. Look for Nick Evans and Angel Pagan to give Hernandez a run for his money.

Generation K

Author: Clare Lafferty

As I was watching the Caribbean World Series last night on MLB Network (which I must say, I am really enjoying), a familiar name strode to the mound. Bill Pulsipher was pitching for one of the teams involved. Wow – a name from the past that brought up not too happy memories.

Pulsipher, along with Paul Wilson and Jason Isringhausen, were called Generation K. The three pitchers, all drafted by the Mets, were supposed to bring the team into contention with their strikeout pitching performances. But, that never was to be the case.

Pulsipher never did pan out as that top prospect for the Mets, having major issues with injuries and depression problems. He finished his MLB career with a 13-19 record. Wilson only pitched in 1996 for the Mets and finished his career also with a losing record at 40-58.

We all know what happened to Izzy. After being traded to the Athletics and then onto the Cardinals, Isringhausen has become a dependable relief pitcher, now closing in on 300 saves.

I remember those days – there was such promise. We were so convinced that the Mets were going to run away with the division with all that pitching. But, it never panned out.

There are several players with Mets ties in the series – I have seen Timo Perez, Anderson Hernandez and Robinson Cancel playing so far. All this Caribbean series is doing is whetting my appetite for the real thing that happens in the next few weeks.

Maybe we are going to experience another Generation K – this time in a positive light with K-Rod. Let’s hope that this K-Man is the real deal for the Mets.

Oliver Perez back with the Mets

Author: Will Sommer

Oliver Perez today agreed to principle to a 3 year $36 million deal. The deal does not include a 4th year option.

This is a very good deal for the Mets. At first, Scott Boras, and Perez wanted 5 years $65 million. The Mets got him for only 3 years and $36 million. I hope Perez does well, at his best he's better than Johan Santana, at his worst he's like Jose Lima. Hopefully he can become more consistent this year, So it looks like the roatation is set. It will probably look like this:

1. Johan Santana
2. Mike Pelfrey
3. Oliver Perez
4. John Maine
5. Tim Redding or Freddy Garcia.