PLAY BALL!

Hopefully Johan can make us all forget '07.

Tracking the #s

Updated #s:

3.15 / 2.00 / 1.78 / 5.79 / not fit for viewing

These are the ERAs of Johan, Pedro, Maine, Perez, and two guys who surely will do more to help us this season by riding the bench than playing.

At least the top 3 seem to be settling in, especially Maine. I have little reason to expect that Perez will be any different than his binomial jekyll/hyde routine from last year, alternating brilliant outings with stuff more fit for a compost heap. At this point I just don't even begin to know who you pick as the 5th starter. As I've already mentioned I don't see how Duque can possibly adjust at this age to an entirely new delivery, whereas Pelfrey appears to have made no progress from last year. Additionally, I think Sanchez is much further behind in his rehab than they are letting on, and we'll be lucky to even see him for half the season, which is a big hole for the 'pen.

Perez

Perez has no control, continues to be same pitcher as always. He is very erratic and all over the zone, which is why he has both high strikeouts as well as walks, hits, and HRs.

X-man

Could be X-time again soon..

The Mets are in the market for outfield help, though. A club source said the Amazin's have approached the Pirates about bringing back Xavier Nady but have been rebuffed so far.

There is no question that with Alou and Endy injured, Beltran not 100% (is he ever???), no Milledge and no big bats off the bench Nady would be an upgrade at this point. I don't think he's quite as good as Mets fans seem to remember him as, but he would certainly help the team out a lot at this point.

Nice to see Santana and Maine both settling in. Pedro looks good too, so if Perez can settle down we're in good shape. I anticipate El Duque is useless this season unless in bullpen and even then I'm not sure, and Sanchez will probably spend a good chunk of time on DL this season. Even if he starts the season he seems so fragile at this point I expect he'll re-injure himself.

Not surprising

1. El Duque's new delivery is not a winner.

2. Delgado is being fed a steady diet of inside fastballs and choking hard. 5 for 5 Ks.

On another note, the same post article indicated a rumored trade of pagan for coco crisp. All I can say is this would be a bad trade. Coco crisp is perhaps the best defensive CF in AL, but his offense is atrocious. He can't hit for anything. We need to replace alou's bat more than his fielding. I'll gladly take an adequate fielder with a good bat to spell his absence. So far pagan seems more than adequate, although his (limited) career #s are not great.

Numbers

What are these #s?

7.2, N/A, 7.71, 11.57, 7.56

They are the ERAs of our 5 projected starters (assuming Pelf, not Duque) so far in spring training.

Granted, the number of IP is so low that the #s are somewhat meaningless (1 or 2 runs can be the difference between ERA of 2 or 8). However, the fact that all of our starters are sky high is troubling. Also troubling is the injury front, of course...

Alou to miss first month of season

I know, I know--shocking.

I hope F Mart is ready to jump from A to AA to the majors in the span of one year.

Adding insult to injury

Quite literally:

Right fielder Ryan Church's head hit first baseman Marlon Anderson's sternum so squarely during their violent, on-field collision Saturday that Anderson vomited on Church.

Talk about a rough incident. It's not bad enough you pass out and suffer a grade 2 concussion from the collision. You also have to get vomited on.

Poll time

OK, call it now: final order of NL East. I say: Mets, Braves, Phils, Nats, Marlins. I could easily see 2-3 and 4-5 swapping. Phils and Nats have horrific pitching.

Next question: when both are healthy, who will be starter of choice this year? Pelf or Duque? I was originally thinking Duque, but now I'm thinking Pelf. I read that Mets will want to make sure Pelf is a starter since they might lose Perez and Pedro next year, and have slim prospects. If Duque bitches about going to the pen they should remind him that he has been MIA the last two years at absolutely mission-critical times, so shut his mouth and do what the team asks for their best interest.

Pelf: 2 starts, no ER's

Here's the proof.

We now return

And the injuries and poor pitching keep piling up.

We interrupt our regularly-scheduled programming

I know this is a Mets blog, but I'm going to go ahead and comment on the Jets here for a moment since we're all AFC East fans and both sports are out of season right now.

The Jets finally get it. Games are won and lost on the line, and without solid O- and D-lines you've got nothing. I don't care how good your QB, WRs, and RBs are, if you don't have an O-line that can protect the QB and open holes for RB, you've got nothing. And if your front 3 or 4 can't get pressure on the QB without bringing exotic 5 and 6 player packages that bring the LBs and CBs up into the box, you've got nothing.

And nothing is precisely what the Jets had last year, for these reasons. I was furious when the Jets let Kendall go last year, and the short-sightedness of their decision showed all season as our QBs ate turf. Mangold is still not where I thought he'd be (and certainly a huge step down from Mawae); and D'Brickashaw Ferguson, Shaun Ellis, and DeWayne Robertson have all been huge disappointments. Adding Faneca and Jenkins is a huge step in the right direction. Unfortunately because they were cheap with Kendall last year (wouldn't give him a measly extra $1 M per year), they've had to overpay for Faneca. But they had no choice, and I'm glad they finally seem to be acknowledging the importance of the line.

Spring waning

One can only hope we improve on what's happened in spring training so far. First, Duque is still injured. Now Sanchez has some pain. Then Maine gets tagged badly, as did Johan today. And on a HR, which is ominous given that Johan led the AL in HRs yielded last year.

This team needs a fast start to '08 season. If we don't jump out to an early 3-4 game lead in NL East by the end of April, I'm not sure they have the confidence to pull ahead during the season after the debacle that was last year.

Injuries

The two people that are guaranteed to be injured this year, El Duque and Alou, are apparently already banged up.

Orlando Hernandez revealed he had a right toe ligament replaced in the offseason, not surgery to treat a painful bunion as the Mets had announced. The toe surgery was so extreme it shortened El Duque's third toe, causing a difficult adjustment on the mound this spring. The bunion is still there, which only makes it tougher.

Moises Alou had a large bandage and ice pack on his right wrist after yesterday's workout. Alou wouldn't give any details, other than to joke that he hurt himself "punching" Jose Reyes.

Phight

Phillies claiming they expect a brawl with mets sometime this summer. Willie Randolph loves it, says let's do this.

Go, Carlos Beltran!

"To Jimmy Rollins: We are the team to beat."

That quote says it all.

Now, go back it up.

He's Baaaack (Hopefully)

Pedro is stating he feels like he did 5 years ago.
His 2003 stats: 14-4, 2.22 ERA, 29 starts, 3 CG, 186.7 IP, 147 H, 1.039 WHIP, 47 BB 206 K
2nd in Cy Young voting
I'd buy that for a dollar!

Clemens story keeps getting weirder and worse

McNamee claims he also injected Clemens' wife with HGH!

Why I already hate Citi Field

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it will look awesome and will be a huge upgrade in appearance over Shea. But I still have 41,000 reasons (45,000 if you include standing room) to hate Citi Field. Going from 55,000 down to 41-45 K is a HUGE drop in capacity, and will put us squarely in line with mid-market teams. Keep in mind also the Mets averaged 47.5 K this year. One of the things I really liked about Shea was that it could hold a huge number of fans, and as well they could keep ticket prices reasonable. Now, with this smaller stadium artificially driving up demand and prices, fewer people will get to see each game and they'll have to pay a lot more for it.

I don't even necessarily mind higher ticket prices, but at the end of the day this is New York. We're supposed to have the best of the best. Whereas the Yankees are doing that (~55 K in their new stadium, and inclusion of over-the-top amenities), the Mets are not.

This stadium is too small for NY, and a disservice to loyal Mets fans.

Mets tix

Are Mets tix already sold out, or have they just not yet posted a lot of them online? If you try to purchase single-game tickets there are only about 8 or so games all season that have any available, and they are all upper deck only. I can't believe they already sold out almost every game, although it is the last year of Shea.

Pshew!

Was it just me, or was that whole rigamarole a little too close to the wire for comfort?

Gotta admit, I got a touch of the SHK's thinking that the Mets would botch the contract and cause the deal to fall through...

In other news...

PLD is injured for at least 6 weeks, Nats need to find another catcher. What a lousy last few months for him. First, busted in Mitchell Report. Next, injury. Now, Mets pick up the best pitcher on the planet, and he's not on the team.

METS LAND SANTANA!!!!

This, I think the saying goes, changes everything.

Humber, Mulvey, Guerra and Carlos Gomez for Santana. We still have to work out the $ with Johan, and the years.

We hold onto F Mart and Pelfrey.

I love it.

BTW, not much to say other than that this is mad redemption for Omar. I mocked him after we traded Lastings and then didn't have the pieces to get Johan. Except we did have the pieces, and apparently Omar guessed right. Good on him.

Mets getting closer to Johan?

According to Buster Olney, action is imminent. He says that Boston is backing away, taking Lester off the table. He also cites this Joel Sherman column, that thinks the Mets are rising as a possible destination because the Twins tried to squeeze too much out of the Sawx and Yanks, both of whom seem to be pulling back from Santana Sweepstakes.

All is not yet lost with this offseason.

Focus

This Post article has Delgado repeating the Mets '07 story.

"We need to stay focused an extra six weeks," Delgado said yesterday of his team that choked away the NL East to the Phillies. "We kind of assumed that we were going to win. If you look back at 2006, it was kind of a magical year for us, maybe we thought it was going to be the same way (in 2007)."

"We kind of didn't play it out the last few weeks," Delgado said.

"If I see it next year, we definitely are going to be more aware of it," he said. "We are going to make it better in 2008. No one is going to hand you anything on a silver platter. In this game you have to go out and get it."

This reasoning behind the '07 meltdown has been offered by multiple players on the Mets. Bottom line: this is inexcusable and speaks volumes about the character of the players and coaches. GOOD players and coaches already know this to be true, they don't sit back and wait for victory to come to them, they go after it EVERY SINGLE GAME. Did you ever see Michael Jordan ease up on the gas? How about the Patriots? Red Sox? Or even the Yankees despite an onslaught of early injuries this year and a hideous start out of the gate? Those teams, unlike the Mets, had the proper character in their players and coaches. I could excuse a lack of focus on a young team, but with as many veterans as the Mets have and with one of the oldest teams in MLB, there is no excuse. This to me is a culture that must be ingrained in every player from the top of the organization down, from ownership to GM to coach to player, and it just disgusts me that it is not taking place on the Mets. It doesn't really bode well for '08, unless they make some major personnel changes.

Santana still in play

While it doesn't sound great, at least the Mets are still in the hunt. Omar must've made his best offer and hopes that no one else will pony up the players + $ needed to land Johann. If it turns into a buyer's market, maybe the Twins reconsider the Mets offer. From Buster Olney's blog:

The Twins continue to stay in contact with the Red Sox, Yankees, Mets and Mariners about a Johan Santana deal, but those talks have moved so slowly it's now possible a trade may not get done "for several weeks," a source with knowledge of the discussions told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark.

The most surprising aspect of those talks to some baseball people is that the Mets remain in the mix. It may be because the Twins would like to move Santana to the National League if possible. But while the Mets have made a four-for-one offer built around center fielder Carlos Gomez, indications are that the teams remain far apart.

Offseason

While Omar sits around and proclaims his satisfaction with his current rotation, other NL teams are taking steps to improve. D-backs just got Haren, pairing him up with Webb, giving them a lights-out 1-2 punch. If we don't get Bedard or Santana or Kazmir, I think we're not in playoffs next year, figuring that Phillies beat us in NL east again.

PLD on "the list"

Lo Duca was among those included in the Mitchell Report, leading one to wonder if Omar knew and that's why he's gone now.

Missing the point entirely

I am sick and tired of hearing Omar say the Mets pitching staff is fine, on the basis that we have Maine and Perez.

Minaya was referring to 26-year-olds John Maine and Oliver Perez, who, in his mind, both turned a corner last year.

Whether or not Maine and Perez have "turned a corner" is only a secondary point. The main point is Pedro, Duque, and #5. It is an absolute FACT that El Duque will be injured at some point next season, and most likely when we need him most. It is also a fact that we have no clear #5 starter, since Pelfrey seems incapable. Finally, and most importantly, you can't possibly know what to expect out of Pedro in terms of durability. I am pretty comfortable saying that if he is healthy, he'll be a legit #1 after seeing the way he pitched in September. But can anyone honestly feel comfortable that he will be in a position to pitch the whole season and post-season after coming off major surgery? That's a huge gamble in my mind, especially when your #2 is guaranteed to be injured.

Finally, Perez for me has only "turned a corner" when he stops his binomial distribution of pitching: either a gem or a bust. He needs some more stability and consistency. When he's on, he's simply unbelievable and perhaps our best pitcher. But without consistency, he can't be better than a #3 or #4 on a team that truly wants to contend for WS.

Los Mets

Of course everyone who follows the Mets has heard or made the observation that Omar seems to prefer Latino players. This list from a Page 2 article does nothing to dispel that notion:

Nearly five years ago, when Jose Reyes debuted as New York's spark plug of the future, fans were excited. When, nearly three years ago, the Mets added Carlos Beltran and Pedro Martinez, fans were elated. When, however, Minaya added Perez and Chavez and Valentin and Ambiorix Burgos and Orlando Hernandez and Eli Marrero and Julio Franco and Ricky Ledee and Jose Lima and Sandy Alomar Jr. and Jorge Julio and Duaner Sanchez and Geremi Gonzalez and Miguel Cairo and Jorge Sosa and Ramon Castro and Luis Castillo and Jose Offerman and Carlos Delgado and Ruben Gotay and Guillermo Mota and Moises Alou and ...well, the bloom is off the rose."