For everyone looking forward to 2010 and beyond (and I do assume, that’s “everyone”), John Sickels has posted an update to his New York Mets prospect list.
I encourage you to take a gander and then come back to suggest the lineups we may see in the near future. Sure, it may be unrealistic to conjure the future based on the stat lines next to various 18-year-old phenoms, but it’s a heckuva lot more fun than watching the current “product on the field”.
According to Adam Rubin, Mets insiders believe that John Ricco will eventually replace Omar Minaya as the Mets GM. Certainly, Ricco’s sudden plunge into the role of public speaker for the team is a supporting clue.
Also in Rubin’s report: Omar Minaya credits John Ricco for the Jeff Francoeur trade. (And here we thought it was Rubin who lobbied Minaya to acquire Francoeur … wait, I may be confusing something.)
This is an intriguing claim, considering that Continue reading
Last year, a determined and serious young man leapfrogged over AAA into the big leagues and became a fan favorite for his hustle, energy, and line-drive bat. Perhaps most importantly, Danny Murphy was “home-grown” — a ballplayer drafted by the Mets and developed in their farm system. There is something particularly endearing about a player who starts at the bottom, works his way up, and earns himself a spot with the hometown team.
And it doesn’t hurt to arrive in the midst of a hitting streak.
Think back to this time last summer, when Danny was giving it his all to learn left field “on the job”. He had his troubles, for sure — who wouldn’t? — but his tenacity was up to the task. He came to the park early to learn the nuances of fly ball catching, hitting cutoff men, and reacting to balls bouncing off the wall. We all watched young Danny transform himself from a minor league third baseman into a Major League outfielder over the course of 7 weeks. Some of his improvements were subtle, but they were expertly observed by Continue reading
Reports are that Billy Wagner is throwing 94 MPH and, barring a setback in Florida on Friday, could return to Flushing as soon as Sunday.
Naturally, the plan will be to showcase the lefthander, in the hopes of pulling off a late-season trade. But it should also be an audition for next year. Continue reading
In the old westerns, there would be an image of the cavalry arriving from the distance. But the men on horses would be moving TOWARD the camera, not AWAY.
In the case of the Mets, it appears the cavalry is moving away from our point-of-view. Or perhaps it is an optical illusion.
Carlos Delgado, who had been “very close” to returning, has suffered a setback — a strained oblique. His hip feels great, though. Yee ha. According to the new face of the Mets John Ricco:
“The thought is possibly in a couple of weeks he could be back swinging”
Well super-duper. A “couple” weeks takes us into September. And “swinging” is not necessarily “playing”.
While Billy Wagner is pitching well and should be joining the Mets this weekend in Flushing, there is no news on John Maine nor J.J. Putz. Further, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes remain in New York, rather in Florida rehabbing. And we’re all on the edge of our seats wondering what’s going on with Ramon Martinez … I mean, how long does it take to heal from a dislocated pinky?
In regard to all the disabled players, and the fact there are less than 50 games left in the season, Ricco went on to provide this breaking news:
“You’re going to run out of days at some point”
Ricco may speak slightly more eloquently than Omar Minaya, but the messages are just as mixed and useless.
As part of a flurry of moves intended to shake up the ballclub, the Milwaukee Brewers have designated Billy Hall for assignment.
Hall has another year and over $8M left on his contract, a hefty sum unlikely to be picked up by an opposing team.
In the past few days, Brewers also DFA’d pitchers Nick Green and R.J. Swindle; sent shortstop J.J. Hardy to the minors; promoted shortstop prospect Alcides Escobar and pitchers Jesus Colome and Jason Bourgeois; demoted pitchers Tim Dillard and Chris Smith; signed OF Corey Patterson; acquired pitcher David Weathers; and fired pitching coach Bill Castro.
Why are the Brewers making all these moves? Because GM Doug Melvin is making a last-ditch attempt to salvage the season, and give the team a shot at the postseason.
The 55-58 Brewers are in fourth place, 7.5 games behind the NL Central leading Cardinals, and one slot ahead of the Mets in the Wild Card standings. Things don’t look great, but Melvin is not about to give up on his team. The moves may not make a difference, but his feeling is that the way they were going wasn’t working, so a change was in order.
This is the same GM who last year fired his manager with 12 games left to play, in an attempt to end a late-season collapse. Remember how that turned out?
In any case, Bill Hall will likely clear waivers. At the Major League minimum, he might be worth auditioning for a 2010 job. Not as a starter, mind you, but in a super utlity role. I would not expect him to stop swinging and missing, nor would I expect to see him hit 35 homeruns again. But he brings other things to the table — namely, versatility, a good glove, strong fundamentals, hustle, and occasional pop. He is a younger version of Fernando Tatis, and someone who would be nice to have on the bench.
But, I think that another team in contention will take a chance on Hall for exactly that reason. In addition, he is an emotionally driven player, and will be motivated to prove the Brewers wrong. My bet is he signs with someone like the Cubs or Cardinals and has a big September, doing just well enough to fool some team into signing him to a two-year deal over the winter. (Not unlike the time Scott Schoeneweis parlayed the end of the 2006 season into a 3-year, $11M contract.)
As if things couldn’t get worse for Mets fans, Pedro Martinez made good in his first start in 2009, allowing the Cubs 3 runs on 7 hits in 5 innings en route to his first win as a Philadelphia Phillie.
Yes, Pedro fulfilled the prophecy of being “only” a five-inning pitcher. But, he doesn’t need to be much more at the back-end of the Phillies rotation. And anyway, how many starters on the Mets not named Johan are a lock to pitch five innings these days?
But who cares, right? The Mets aren’t going anywhere this year, anyway. Pedro would have stolen valuable innings from people who could help the team in the future, such as Tim Redding and Elmer Dessens.
For once, the Mets were on the right side of a poorly played baseball game.
The Diamondbacks gave the Mets several runs by way of 3 passed balls, 2 wild pitches, 2 errors, and 4 bases on balls. In addition, Arizona was unable to make the most of prime scoring opportunities, leaving over a dozen runners on base (14 to be exact).
Oliver Perez followed up his best start of the year with a more typical Ollie outing — 5 1/3 IP, 7 K, 6 BB, 6 H. Miraculously, he allowed only one run. Was that the product of good pitching, poor hitting, or dumb luck? You decide. In any case it was far from impressive, as Ollie was in constant trouble.
The Mets offense, though, made the most of every opportunity handed to them. They scored three runs on balls that escaped the catcher, and came through with three clutch hits in RBI situations — and that was the difference in the ballgame.
Pedro Feliciano, in the right place at the right time, scooped up his fourth win of the year despite allowing two hits that scored two runners inherited from Sean Green.
Frankie Fantastic was no more effective than Ollie and Feliciano, but somehow muddled his way to his second save of the second half and 25th of the season.
K-Rod was a Cory Sullivan misstep away from blowing yet another save. Stephen Drew hit a low liner in the left-center gap that Sullivan speared just before it hit the ground. Had he missed that ball it might’ve gone past him to the wall, and possibly led to more than just one run in the final frame.
David Wright was 3-for-5 with 2 runs scored, though he might have mildly injured himself during the contest. Cory Sullivan was 2-for-4 with two triples, a walk, and an RBI from the leadoff spot. Fernando Tatis went 3-for-4 with a walk, a run, and an RBI — just when you think he’s played his way out of a job, he pulls out a game like this to keep himself in the mix.
Arizona catcher Chris Snyder had a tough time behind the plate, particularly in the 6th inning, when he committed one passed ball and allowed two wild pitches to give the Mets free bases. The passed ball was tough: Snyder was set up inside for a fastball, and pitcher Jon Garland threw the ball several inches outside. In addition to reaching across his body, David Wright swung at the pitch, which may have distracted Snyder. Fastballs are the toughest to block, because you don’t expect them to go in the dirt and they move the fastest. Snyder experienced a similar issue on one of the other wild pitches — it looked like it was a fastball in the dirt.
There were two things wrong with Snyder’s approach toward the balls in the dirt. First, he tried to catch them with his glove. Bad idea — it’s always best to send the glove directly to the ground, between the knees, and try to absorb the ball with the body. Second, his feet behind him were apart instead of together, so when the ball when “through the wickets”, it continued to roll to the backstop. These techniques can be learned with proper practice, just like any other defensive position.
The Mets can’t lose on Thursday as they have a day off. They return to Flushing on Friday to face the Giants. First pitch will be thrown by Bobby Parnell at 7:10 PM. Barry Zito starts for San Francisco.