My apologies for not posting this earlier, but like most of the news out of Port St. Lucie this spring, it took me a long time to understand and extract the logic.
Let’s just run through specific personnel.
Nelson Figueroa (cut) – He’s not a Cy Young candidate. He’s barely an MLB-quality 5th starter. However, he had a spectacular spring, he had a great winter campaign, he had an outstanding Continue reading
All signs are pointing toward Mike Jacobs starting at 1B while Daniel Murphy is on the mend. Is that the way it should be? Continue reading
So much has happened in the past 24 hours, it’s taken me some time to let it all settle in my head. Let’s go over some of the incidents and decisions made by the Mets since yesterday.
First, Jose Reyes will start the season Continue reading
Some good news out of Port St. Lucie for Mets fans: Jerry Manuel has announced that former Cy Young Award Winner Johan Santana will get the ball on Opening Day — April 5th against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field in Flushing, NY.
I know, it’s April Fools, and you may think this is all a joke … but believe me when I tell you this is absolutely, completely, 100% the truth. If you don’t believe it, you can go to Mets.com and read it for yourself; it’s also been reported on ESPN.
That’s right, no punch line. It’s official.
Hopefully this news will give you something to look forward to, and cheer about in four days’ time.
The Florida Marlins have acquired LHP Nate Robertson from the Tigers in exchange for minor league lefty Jay Voss. The Tigers will pick up all but $400K of Robertson’s $10M salary. Nice deal for the Fish, if you ask me, since Robertson slots right into the #3 spot of the rotation and costs them the MLB minimum.
If the Mets were to get Robertson, he’d probably step right in to the #2 spot. Scary.
The Athletics picked up Chad Gaudin, who had been released by the Yankees earlier in the week. Gaudin is fairly inconsistent, but like Nate Robertson, might have stepped right in as the #2 starter had the Mets signed him. Did I say “scary” ?
In other news, Ryan Garko was waived by the Mariners. I imagine that will send all the Garko-loving Mets fans into a frenzy, particularly with Daniel Murphy injuring his ankle. Personally I don’t get the excitement surrounding Garko, who is below-average in the field, slothlike on the bases, and has below-average power for a first baseman. In other words, he’s the righthanded-hitting version of Murphy. But he had that one year where he hit 21 HR, and has posted a career .350 OBP, so some people get giddy. Whatever.
Veteran clubhouse clown and sometime slugger Kevin Millar has been released by the Cubs. I would’ve like to have seen Millar as a Met three years ago, two years ago, and possibly last year. Now? Not so much … may be time for the original “idiot” to call it a career.
As for the Mets, the following transactions have taken place in the last 48 hours:
Pat Misch has been waived; he’s likely to go unclaimed and report to AAA. He gave up only 2 runs in 13 innings this spring, but stats don’t mean anything in spring training. See Perez, Oliver.
Chris Coste was waived and claimed by the Nationals. I suppose the Mets will remain the last team he’d ever thought he’d play for.
Manny Acosta has been claimed off waivers from the Braves and assigned to the Buffalo Bisons. I like this move, as Acosta throws hard, has some closing experience, and gives the Mets some legitimate bullpen depth in AAA.
Alex Cintron has appeared, presumably from under a rock somewhere in Port St. Lucie. Is there time for him to beat out Russ Adams for a temporary backup infielder spot until Jose Reyes is ready?
Unlike past years, the Mets have a number of open slots for the 25-man roster — most of which correlate to the pitching staff. Let’s look at how the Opening Day roster shakes out and make some predictions.
First, we’ll count down the guaranteed spots: Continue reading
That headline is giving me a feeling of deja vu all over again …
Luckily, spring training games don’t count. Luckily, spring training stats don’t matter.
Unluckily, a pitcher who has shown zero progression through six weeks of spring training is unlikely to suddenly switch into a Cy Young candidate.
Oliver Perez allowed three homeruns in his first two innings of work, including a blast against the wind off the bat of Brendan Ryan.
Brendan Ryan.
The same Brendan Ryan who has hit a total of 7 homeruns in nearly 850 MLB plate appearances. The same Brendan Ryan whose career path more resembles Fred Stanley than Fred McGriff.
BTW, Albert Pujols did not make the trip to Port St. Lucie.
Beyond the numbers marking this outing as ugly, there are other concerns regarding Ollie Perez. First, his mechanics Continue reading
Mike Pelfrey gave up 12 hits and 6 runs in 5 innings of work on Sunday, and has allowed 7 homeruns in his last two ST outings. His spring ERA is around 8. Should you be concerned with these numbers?
Not necessarily, but there is some cause for concern. Yes, some of the homers were wind-blown. But, at the same time, it’s pretty difficult to hit a homerun on a ground ball — so regardless of the wind, the fact Pelfrey is giving up so many fly balls is a bit disturbing. The balls in the air not going over the fence haven’t exactly been bloopers, either — he’s giving up frozen ropes. Again, is this cause concern?
Pelfrey will tell you “no”, with the explanation that he is “working on things”. After all, his job in the rotation is secure, so spring training is a good time to try new pitches. Maybe he’s getting ripped on pitches that he’ll shelve before the regular season starts, for example.
Taking all this into consideration, there are still some things that concern me — things I see from the man on the mound, not in the numbers.
For one, I see Continue reading