Milledge: Jeffries, part deux?

No, not the unfulfilled potential. That remains to be seen. But the ability to generate discord in the clubhouse? That's starting already. As reported by David Lennon in Newsday here:

KNOW YOUR PLACE, ROOK!

The hand-scrawled message hung above Lastings Milledge's locker after Friday's 4-3 victory over the Nationals. At the bottom of the two sheets of paper was written, "Your Teammates."

At a time when the Mets should be focusing on the playoffs, it was a disturbing sign.

Milledge, as usual, ate dinner alone seated at his locker, facing inward, as the rest of the Mets crowded the clubhouse cafeteria. Someone had hidden Milledge's street clothes, and one player thought they had been replaced by a dress.

The reason? According to one person familiar with the situation, Milledge - whose reputation is deteriorating quickly - mouthed off to a veteran teammate in Atlanta. Friday's rebuke followed. Apparently, his teammates are becoming more and more annoyed by Milledge's attitude.

"How much does it take to finally wake up?" the person said. "How long before you realize the way you're acting is the opposite of how you should be acting? Fine. Stay asleep, then."

Pedro done for the year

with a torn tendon in his calf.

Guess that settles the question of whether he's starting game 1.

So now the rotation is:

Duque
Glavine
Trax
Maine

Relievers:

Oliver
Hernandez
Feliciano
Bradford
Mota
Heilman
Wagner

That's what I'm guessing, anway.

This too shall pass

Our Sept swoon may not be fatal. From Elias Sports Bureau:

The Mets have lost seven of their last eight games and are 11-15 in September. But don't fret, Mets fans, several teams have struggled in September/October but still won the World Series that year. Here are some examples during the wild card era:

2005 White Sox: 4-10 during one stretch in September, turning a 9½-game lead to 1½
2002 Angels: 5-8 over last 13 games of the season
2001 Diamondbacks: 14-13 in September/October
2000 Yankees: 13-18 in September/October, 2-13 in last 15 games, lost last seven
1997 Marlins: 12-15 in September, 2-7 in last nine games

Warm round of applause

for our new class A affiliate, the

Savannah Sand Gnats

Plan B?

According to Adam Rubin and the NY Daily News, Pedro's injuries and performance may not only force him out of Game 1, but the entire first round. Here's what they say the rotation could look like if Pedro's left out:

Plan B

Not only is Pedro Martinez likely out for Game 1 of the NLDS, it's possible he could miss the entire series. If that's the case, here's how the rotation shapes up:


GAME 1: Orlando Hernandez


The last time the Mets won a postseason game at Shea Stadium, El Duque was the losing pitcher. This time around, Mets will be relying on Duque's reputation as a big-game pitcher.


GAME 2: Tom Glavine


In his only postseason start at Shea, Glavine pitched seven shutout innings for the Braves in the 1999 NLCS. This is the game he was brought here to win 4 years ago.


GAME 3: Steve Trachsel


The man who drives Met fans crazy could be on the hill with season hanging in the balance. As strange as it sounds, he has been their most consistent pitcher all season.


GAME 4: John Maine


If the rookie comes up big here, Met fans can thank Anna Benson and her big mouth since Maine came over in the big Kris Benson-for-Jorge Julio deal.


GAME 5: Orlando Hernandez


If anyone told you in April he would be on the mound for the Mets' most crucial game of the year, you would've laughed. Now, you wouldn't want anyone else on the Mets in this spot.

3 out of 5 starts will be coming from the Benson trade. That one worked out nicely. Of course, I'm assuming they're 3 quality starts.

More Pedro stats..

Interesting info from Elias via ESPN.com:

The Mets are 28-26 (.519) in the 54 games Pedro Martinez has started in his two years with the club (17-14 in 2005, 11-12 in 2006), compared to 148-118 (.556) over the same span with any other starting pitcher.

Martinez is 0-4 with a 15.43 ERA in his last four starts. It's the second time in his career that Pedro has lost four straight starts. Martinez lost the final four regular-season starts he made for the Red Sox (Sept. 14-29, 2004).

Endy Chavez is so fast...

Hat tip to Zephyrs' Fan over at Mets Geek:

Endy Chavez can play all three outfield positions. At the same time.

Endy Chavez has to use a foam bat.

Endy Chavez is so fast, he can steal first base.

One time I saw Endy Chavez hop over the centerfield fence, get in a car, and drive 3 blocks to rob a home run from Andruw Jones.

Endy Chavez can hit a five run homer.

Endy Chavez was released by the Phillies ’cause he makes a better cheese steak than Pat.

I saw Endy Chavez hit an inside the park home run. Running backwards.

Endy Chavez taught Pedro his changeup.

Endy Chavez can pitch with both hands.

Endy Chavez doesn’t cry.

Albert Pujols keeps an Endy Chavez Topps rookie card in his locker for good luck.

The new stadium for the Mets in 2009 will be called Endy Chavez Field.

When the Expos moved to Washington, Endy Chavez carried the team on his back. The entire team. And the bat boy.

Between innings, Endy Chavez dresses up as Mr. Met to entertain the fans.

Endy Chavez is Willie’s favorite player!

Roger Clemens has a clause in his contract that he never has to face Endy Chavez.

Pedro

Well, this should lock up Glavine as #1 starter. Pedro couldn't pick a worse time to fall apart. This underlines my comment to Crawford post below, that I don't want to trade any of our young pitchers at this point. We desperately need as much starting pitching as possible heading into next year.

Furthermore, when are we finally going to not end a season getting our asses kicked up and down the field by the Braves? This is the same type of season-ending meltdown that has cost us a playoff spot in previous seasons, and will be a problem in future years when the Phils or Marlins are a lot closer to us down the stretch. While Mets clearly have a solid GM in Minaya, Phillies' Gillick has quite a track record as well, so I don't expect Phillies to go anywhere but up next year.

Crawford coming to Flushing?

I dreamed about it here.

Now Joel Sherman writes that it might actually be a possibility. Could a young all star and a true 5 tool player be coming to the Mets? Would it be worth trading a front line pitching prospect (Humber or Pelfrey) for him? Probably. If we could get him for Milledge and Heilman its a definite go.

If we trade for Crawford and sign Soriano to play second, that would be sick:

SS Reyes (S)
LF Crawford (L)
3B Wright (R)
CF Beltran (S)
2B Soriano (R)
1B Delgado (L)
C LoDuca (R)
RF Green (L)

Continuing to dream...

Mets No-mentum

Well, the losing continues. While I have no doubt the Mets will play better and more focused once playoffs start, I do think this losing streak matters despite what Randolph says. We can't hit and we can't pitch. I can understand a few down days after clinching, but it should be a priority to play well heading into playoffs.

"Last night, the Mets fell for the sixth time in seven games and for the ninth time in 12, getting blasted by the Braves, 12-0, at Turner Field in the Mets' eighth shutout loss this season." (From NYPost.com)

Who's #1?

Hmmm, so Pedro might not be #1 starter.

Also interesting to watch is whether Beltran truly is feeling comfortable or still injured. We are going to need him to be near 100%, he claims to be ~80% right now.

Some notes

1) Philip Humber had a successful MLB debut last night.

2) Milledge might make the post-season roster, according to Willie.

3) Wallace Matthews, following SHK's lead, would like to see Glavine be the game 1 (& 5) starter.

4) Rey Sanchez of Newsday has an article about the possibility of Soriano coming to the Mets next year, and it sounds highly possible. Soriano obviously is close to Willie, and also states about 10 times "I don't need to go to New York." If he said it once I would've taken it at face value. By the 8th time, I just wanted to tell the guy, "OK, we get it, you don't want to scare off other clubs from bidding on you because they think you're going to sign in New York and they don't have a chance. Point taken."

Pick 4

I tried to post this earlier but blogspot screwed me. In any case...

If you were Willie, who would be your post-season starting four? I'd pick Glavine, Pedro, El Duque, and Trax.

I like Glavine #1, rather than Pedro, since Pedro is too emotional and doesn't pitch well on short rest. If we have to play a critical game 5, I'd rather have Glavine pitching.

Trax or Maine is a toss-up for me. I think Maine was my clear favorite but has given back the lead with last two starts. Also not sure what we'll get out of a rookie in playoffs. I think the Mets should've dumped Trax earlier this season, but at this point he's what we've got.

The only thing I don't like about the above 4 is the age: those are all old guys who probably won't pitch well on short rest if all of our series go long. That's one reason having Maine instead of Trax might be good.

There's no crying in baseball!

The recent 3-4 run innings that Pedro and Glavine keep giving up in the middle part of the game are not encouraging heading into playoffs. Hopefully they both have another gear they're just keeping in reserve that they'll dig into for playoffs.

The New Orleans Zephyrs

are our new AAA affiliate. The news is now official.

Meanwhile, we've apparently lost the Hagerstown Suns, our A ball affiliate, to the Nationals. Back in the market for another team, I guess.

Minor League Machinations

Looks like the Mets have been out-maneuvered on this one. They're losing Norfolk to the Orioles. Columbus is affiliating with the Nationals. The Yanks are taking Scranton. And the Mets are going to be stuck with New Orleans. Terrible travel schedule for the N.O. team, which has to make West Coast swings, and much harder to move guys up and down between Binghamton and New York.

Why not make Brooklyn the AAA team and drop New Orleans to A ball?

Dumped!

According the WSJ, Norfolk has dumped the Mets in the hopes of establishing a relationship with a team that is located nearer to them, like the Nationals or the Orioles.

The Mets are apparently considering adding the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre (PA) Red Barons as an affiliate, but will potentially be competing with the Yankees for that relationship. The Red Barons were dumped by the Phillies. The Yankees dumped the Columbus Clippers. And now both NY teams may want to affiliate with the northeast Pennsylvania Red Barons.

I don't know if it helps of hurts that the Red Barons are right down the road from Binghamton, and that the Mets' AA and AAA teams would be a 50 minute drive from each other.

A-rod

I know this is a Mets blog, but I couldn't pass up this story about dissension in Janks clubhouse. This is definitely not the kind of thing Torre wants hanging over the club headed into postseason, could be a major distraction. Meanwhile, our M-E-T-S mets mets mets dugout couldn't be more relaxed and happy.

Boom! Goes the lumber

I would have loved to seen last night's Dodgers-Padres game. The teams are separated by one game coming down the home stretch, and going head-to-head for the division title. Add to that that the loser is by no means guaranteed a wild card slot, with the Phils right on their heels.

So what happens? Down four runs in the bottom of the ninth, the Dodgers go back-to-back-to-back-to-back to tie the game. Then they go down a run in the top of the 10th, and win it on a 2 run HR from Nomar in the bottom of the 10th. That's going to make for some sick momentum and mojo for the Dodgers.

Oh, and an intersting side note, the Dodgers' closer Saito got lit up in the top of the 9th to turn a one run deficit into a 4-run deficit. And then, with the season on the line, Trevor Hoffman gave up back-to-back home runs on two pitches to cough up the lead in the bottom of the 9th, when all the chips were down. These were two guys whose numbers were better than Wagner's a month ago. Meanwhile, Billy Billy Billy has converted like 17 straight save opportunities?

NL East Champs!

Savor it. Enjoy it. This team put its boot on the neck of the competition and never released the pressure. Congrats to the boys.

Southpaw blues

The Mets are now 5-12 in their last 17 games when the opponent starts a lefty.

Beltran

Nice summary of Beltran's year, if a little glowing for one tremendous season.

Willie

Gotta love Randolph:

Asked after last night's game about whether he had things to do in Pittsburgh, Willie Randolph replied, "Yeah. Maybe sip a little champagne. Be nice. Smoke my cigar and keep going. Keep going, man." (From NYPost.com)

Willie's musings on the playoff rotation

Sounds like Trax has the inside route over Maine right now...

Willie Randolph said he may use John Maine in the bullpen the final week of the season, giving him some comfort level there in case the Mets need him in that role in October.

"Right now he's starting Sunday. After that we'll see where we are," the manager said. "There might come a point in time the last three or four or five days or whatever - his last start - I might put him in the bullpen. It's a possibility."

In other news, espen ran a nice memorial page on the end of the Braves' run in the NL Beast. While I'm shedding no tears, that organization deserves real credit for taking a franchise that was moribund in the '80s and putting together the longest streak of its kind in the history of MLB.

Step up

It's time for players who want to make the postseason roster to step up and earn it. Unfortunately seems like the offense, starting pitching, and relief pitching have all mailed it in for the last week. It will be interesting to see who on the pitching staff really steps up and stands out down the stretch.

NL BEast

The NL East is almost certainly going to be the division to beat in NL over the next few years, if Florida decides to pony up some cash and keep their young stars. Between Mets, Phillies, and Marlins it should be competitive down the stretch, reminiscent of some of the old Mets-Cards-'Spos battles.

Stats

Check out Mets stats since all-star break. Their BA throughout lineup is tremendous, almost everyone batting between .290 and .310, top to bottom. Even scarier are Reyes' #s, great total production. He's also batting .410 for the year (#1 on mets) with RISP and 2 outs..

Playoff rotation?

I hate to say if for Johnny Maine, but I'm thinking our four-man playoff rotation will leave him on the outside looking in:

Pedro
Glavine
Duque
Trashel

Trax is useless in the bullpen, as he's already proven. He can't get loose quickly and can't adapt to having his "routine" broken. Will Willie upset the apple cart by leaving a long time veteran home, denying him a late-career playoff run, for a rookie? Doubt it, especially since Maine has been better but not decisively so. And Willie loves veterans.

So who is in the bullpen if the Mets hold 12 pitchers?

Long guys: Oliver, Maine

6-7 innings: Bradford, Feliciano, Mota, R. Hernandez

8th inning: Heilman

9th: Wagner

Very interesting question: do the mets carry 12 pitchers? With lots of travel off-days in the playoffs, I doubt it. Which means one these pitchers is getting left off the post-season roster.

Who will it be? Maine? Mota? R. Hernandez? Or does Maine get in the rotation and Trashel gets left home?

Astounding

Reyes' ITP HR last night was like a magic act. When he crossed home plate I thought he'd been running from second, not the batters box. I don't think I've ever seen an ITP HR where an outfielder didn't fall down. And Reyes could've scored standing up, easily, if he wasn't such a dirt hog.

Wow.

Williams

Williams continues to look very strong, certainly making a solid case to be on the postseason roster. Could be Pedro, Glavine, Maine, Williams, El Duque. I like our chances with that plus our deep bullpen, best in majors.

Closing stretch

Well, it's that time of year where teams are fighting to grab the wild card, and when the Mets usually puke it up against Los Bravos. Fortunately we have mounted such a massive lead this year that we are in no danger of losing first place.

However, it would be nice to see the Mets finish strong, much as they've played over the last 3-4 weeks. I think having momentum headed into playoffs is key, especially to make sure we don't have mental lapses or anything short of top focus and effort, required to guarantee victory in short five-game series.

Houston, we have a problem...

Almost all sports articles have mentioned this by now, but it's worth repeating that Houston is the one NL team I do NOT want to see in a best-of-five (or any) playoff series. With Clemens, oswalt, and pettite, that would completely shut down our offense and we do not have pitching to match. Fortunately they are still 3.5 back in wild card with about 6-7 teams ahead of them, but you never know...

Just a little economics tidbit...

Omar and Willie combined are making 1.43 million this year. Meanwhile, the Mets are still paying Art Howe, who alone is making 2.34 mil this year. Guess the labor market is a lot less efficient than I thought.

It's "State the Obvious" Time

I can't possibly do Carlos Beltran justice by describing how great a catch he made to save tonight's game against the Astros. Oh, those Beltran-hating Houston fans must've been sick.

Now lets see how bad he hurt himself.

Silly but fun hypothetical

Wilpon will likely not want to spend the money, but could you imagine if the Mets signed Alfonso Soriano in the off-season? Imagine this lineup (w/2006 stats and another month to play):

S(R) Reyes (.300/16/70, 55 SB)
L Chavez (.314/3/33)
R Wright (.299/23/101)
S(L) Beltran (.286/39/112)
R Soriano (.292/43/84)
L Delgado (.268/34/96)
R LoDuca (.319/4/41)
L Green (.279/11/56)

While we're at it, and with no disrepect to the great job Endy's done, let's talk about the "perfect fit" in LF and in the lineup: Carl Crawford. Great contact bat, decent pop, gold glove fielder, great base stealer, only 25 years old. Why would the D-Rays trade him? Who knows. But maybe an offer of Lastings Milledge and a young pitching prospect (not named Pelfrey or Maine) would get their attention. Humber and Milledge, for example, would save Tampa 3 and a quarter Mil in '07, 4 and a half mil in '08, and 7 and a half mil '09 before either of the young players they were getting back would get a real salary bump. If they graded Milledge & Humber as possible standouts, maybe they'd go for it. They'd be getting two potential stars and $15.25 Mil for one established star. Of course with Crawford the Mets wouldn't need Milledge, and they have a lot of quality young arms. I could part with one of them for an All-Star who is only 25. Let's take a look at Crawford's current contract:

Signing bonus: $500K
2005: $500K
2006: $2.5M
2007: $4.0M
2008: $5.25M
2009: $8.25M team option vs. $2.5M buyout
2010: $10M team option vs. $1.25M buyout

The Mets would have Crawford locked up through 2010 but the team can opt out of the big back-end payments ('09 & '10) or renegotiate. Of course, he may well be worth $10 Mil in 2010. What would the Mets '07 lineup look like with Soriano & Crawford?

S(R) Reyes (.300/16/70, 55 SB) Age 24
L Crawford (.309/16/67, 45 SB) 26
R Wright (.299/23/101) 24
S(L) Beltran (.286/39/112) 30
R Soriano (.292/43/84) 31
L Delgado (.268/34/96) 35
R LoDuca (.319/4/41) 35
L Green (.279/11/56) 34

That's just silly.

And BTW, the farm would still look good. We'd still have potential young starters in abundance: Maine, Pelfrey, Bannister, and possibly Mulvey, O. Perez, Soler and Heilman. Carlos Gomez would hopefully be ready to slot into the outfield in '08 or '09 for Green. Jesus Flores looks like a possible catcher of the future around '09. And Mike Carp bears some watching as a 1B down the line.