Roster

Roster getting closer to completion. Joe Smith is in as a reliever, and it's been speculated that he's the person to whom Minaya is referring when he keeps saying he expects someone will step up big this year.

Also, rotation will be glavine - duque - maine - perez - glavine - duque.. Pelfrey to be brought in as #5 later. I like this idea, it gives us glavine and duque against los bravos. We need to F the braves early and often.

I like signing of Fernando Tatis. Although he might never be healthy or live up to his potential, he possibly gives us some slugging potential that we can bring up from minors during the season if necessary..

War DC!

Dark Commenteer called. From his 12/29/06 post:

So, it looks like we're going with the Glavine, Hernandez, Maine, Perez, Pelfrey rotation...

It was far from settled at that point. Would Humber or Mulvey jump up to grab a spot? Would the Metties trade Perez or slot him for the pen as several other ML clubs (i.e., Padres) wanted to? Would Pelfrey be needed to shore up the late inning crew?

Luckily, Shea Hey Kids has our very own prognosticator. 1st place for the Mets this year, DC? What say you?

Sanchez

Great, so Sanchez is basically done for at least the first half of the season. Plus Heilman's got tendinitis, and El Duque could fold at any time. If this pitching staff makes it until Pedro / Sanchez / Mota's return it will be a miracle. At this point I have a hard time seeing how we won't need to trade Milledge for a legit starter, but who knows.

Not resigning Bradford for 3 years at $10 M total is still a mystery to me. Why in the world would you let go one of your best guys from last season, for relatively small dollars?

Looks like we'll need to be driving in 6-7 runs per game this year.

Park headed to the pen; Pelfrey the 5th starter?

From NorthJersey.com,

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Chan Ho Park had finished off his third straight perfect inning when he got back to the dugout expecting a pat on the back and instead got the word that he was done for the day. What he wasn't told was that those three innings were his last as a starter.

Confused and disappointed, Park found himself waiting around and finally heading into Willie Randolph's office to meet with the manager, pitching coach Rick Peterson and general manager Omar Minaya. Behind closed doors, the Mets tried to appease him and convince him to accept this role.

And without any official announcement, this likely means that the role that Park hoped for was decided -- although the Mets kept a straight face on the worst-kept secret. Mike Pelfrey almost certainly will be the Mets' fifth starter, a spot he has earned with a stellar spring training and the potential that even the aces of the Mets' staff no longer possess.

Park made 38 relief appearances in 1996, his first full season in the major leagues, but has been in only five games out of the bullpen since then. And he did not seem pleased with the prospect of doing it again.

"To be honest, I feel more comfortable as a starter," Park said. "That's who I am. I've been here 13 years. Yes, I have experience as a reliever and have had some success with it. But I signed with the Mets looking for a job as a starter, that's for sure. If they ask me to be a reliever, honestly, I'm unhappy. I'm not happy."

Not happy, but willing at least for the moment, Park will head to the bullpen.

Spring training

Brief look at spring training so far:

Nice upside surprises:
1. Lastings Milledge, leading the team in BA (.375). Tied with Reyes for most hits (15).
2. Most HRs: Jose Reyes (3), who is also #2 in RBIs (7), #2 in avg (.349), tied for #1 in runs (9), easily #1 in SBs (7), and tied for 2nd most BBs (4) with only 2 SOs. If spring training is any indication, he will have an even more impressive season this year than last. I expect a big improvement in his OBP, something Rickey Henderson has really been stressing with him.
3. David Newhan: .273, 6 R, 3 2Bs, 1 HR, 9 RBIs
4. Glavine (1.29 ERA), Smith (2.16 ERA, 8 Ks to 2 BBs), Perez (3.86 ERA, 13 Ks to 3 BBs)

Disappointing:
1. Beltran (.216), Green (.190), and LoDuca (.154)

As expected:
1. Wright (.316, 1 HR, 4 RBIs). Looks like he'll have a solid season, hopefully build on 1st half of last year.
2. Alay Soler blew, Chan Ho Park still can't pitch, Burgos still has zero control despite great velocity and nice Ks (10) to BBs (3) ratio, and Humber still requires a lot of work.

Alay Soler...

...we hardly knew ye, and now we never will with the Metties releasing you. What little time we had together was too long anyway. As we predicted last season, when he had that atrocity of an outing at Yankees stadium while Minaya was at the game, we knew he would be buried so deep in the minors it would be years before he would resurface again, if ever.

dirty sanchez

Not the best news about sanchez here, apparently his work ethic is causing problems.