Jose Reyes is Not Pregnant
Good news, Mets fans: Jose Reyes is NOT pregnant.
Steve Popper was the first to report that news on Twitter early yesterday, and further blood work evaluated last night confirms it.
Whew! That would have been a major issue for the Mets, who already are without Carlos Beltran for the first few months of the season.
Though, I imagine Jose would have been able to stay on the field for the first trimester … but almost certainly would have been out of uniform by June. Even if he felt great, you’d have to think that his belly would have gotten in the way of reaching down for ground balls — not to mention the weight gain putting a strain on his already suspect legs.
In other good news for Mets fans, Hisanori Takahashi has cleared up his visa problem and can now take the mound in exhibition games. No word on whether he’ll be wearing Ken Takahashi’s old jersey.
Additionally, the Mets signed Kiko Calero — full post coming soon.
But there’s still more to cheer about — Ike Davis hit a grand slam and David Wright hit a homerun in his first at-bat as the Mets pounded the Cardinals 17-11.
Finally, things are looking up for the New York Mets!
Kelvim Escobar Already Injured
I tried … I tried so gosh darn hard to be positive, to remain upbeat, being that today was the day that “pitchers and catchers report” to Port St. Lucie.
Yet, hours before the doors to Tradition Field were opened, it was reported that free-agent Kelvim Escobar was joining Carlos Beltran among the walking wounded.
Escobar — who was shut down after throwing 5 innings in June last year — “cannot grip a baseball“.
Hmm … that’s generally a prerequisite to throwing a baseball. Unless he can maybe flick it somehow? Is it within the rules to kick it, perhaps off a tee?
As mentioned in the comment string by “hotspur” on AmazinAvenue:
if he couldn’t grip a baseball today, how could he hold a pen to sign the contract last month?
A mystery indeed … only The Shadow knows …
On a positive note, David Wright whispered that he expects the Mets to go deep in the playoffs in 2010, and win a World Series. No response yet from Jimmy Rollins’ corner.
Personally, I’m setting my expectations for the Mets a little much lower, with the hopes that they’ll happily surprise me. In fact, I’m simply hoping they can uniform 25 healthy players on Opening Day — everything else from there is gravy.
David Wright to Red Sox?
In an article on Boston.com, Globe journalist Nick Cafardo wrote under the heading “Apropos of Nothing”:
Seems like David Wright is no longer a great fit for the Mets (because of Citi Field), but he would be for the Red Sox (because of Fenway)
With the Red Sox still looking for a third baseman to replace Mike Lowell, and the Mets in need of pitching (where the Bosox have depth), is there a possibility that Wright could be moved to Boston? Read more
Will the Mets Land a Big Fish?
At MetsFansForever, Will Sommer asks several bloggers which “big” free agent will be signed by the Mets
Andrew Vazzano unearths a slice of good news from the winter meetings – that David Wright and Daniel Murphy were working out with Howard Johnson, and Jeff Francoeur may be with HoJo later in the winter.
Ted Berg wrote an uncharacteristically long post poo-poohing the concept of a #2 starter and arguing that the Mets should pass on John Lackey.
Bob Klapisch says the Mets are pretenders
We’re only a day and a half into the winter meetings, but Brooklyn Met Fan is already tired of the rumors.
Kerel Cooper responds to yesterday’s question, “Would You Want Pat Burrell?” :
If Steve Phillips Succeeded
BlueandOrange.net discusses what might have been had Steve Phillips succeeded in trading Jose Reyes and David Wright so many years ago.
John Delcos speaks from eyewitness testimony while supporting Marty Noble’s bombshell that some Mets didn’t mind losing
Delcos also sees a missed opportunity with Davey Johnson. I have to agree.
Roy Halladay “smells like a Yankee” to BrooklyMetFan
2009 Analysis: David Wright
Photo of David Wright by MetsToday reader Gary Sparber
Think about it: who else hits .307, leads their team in SLG, OBP, RBI, runs, hits, doubles, walks, SB, and total bases, but is judged to have a “bad” year?
But it’s true — for David Wright, 2009 was a bad year. Why? Because he put only ten balls over the fence, and we expect him to deposit three times as many beyond the dimensions of the playing field.
Yes, his fielding was way below the Gold Glove standard he set in 2008 — though, many would argue that he was undeserving of that fielding award. His RBI total was only 72, a major dropoff from the 124 RBI in 2008. But, that lower total is partially due to the fact there were 75 less runners on base (433) when he came to the plate (508 in 2008). Then again, there were an almost identical number of runners on in 2007 (428), yet he drove in 107 runs that year.
That’s an intriguing stat to me — “others batted in percentage“, or “OBI%”. As it’s described, it tells you the percentage of runners a batter drives in. So Wright’s OBI% in 2009 was 14.32 — a full 3.5 points below his previous years’ totals of 17.91 and 17.99. Does that mean he was less clutch this past year?
Hard to say. Part of the reason for the drop in OBI was his concurrent drop in homeruns — it’s hard to drive in runners from first with a single (19 of his 39 doubles and 2 of his 3 triples came with the bases empty). Had he hit his usual 30+ homers, that’s an extra 20 RBI right there, putting his RBI total at 92, and there’s a good chance at least half of those would’ve been with at least one runner on — meaning, he likely would have reached that milestone 100 RBI figure.
But that’s the crux of the matter, isn’t it? Why did David Wright fail to hit the ball over the fence more than a dozen times?
The answer isn’t as simple as a glitch in his swing, though that’s part of it. More likely, it’s a combination of Read more
David Wright was NOT Disciplined
Despite at least one newspaper article to the contrary, David Wright was NOT BENCHED for disciplinary reasons on Sunday afternoon.
I’ll state it again, so that it is perfectly clear: the fact that David Wright stopped running about 15-20 feet before reaching home plate on Jeff Francoeur’s two-out single on Saturday had absolutely nothing to do with Wright being out of the lineup on Sunday.
In fact, it was a scheduled day off for Wright, planned at least 24 hours in advance of Sunday’s contest. That was confirmed by Howie Rose on WFAN during last night’s radio broadcast, and has also been confirmed by Manuel himself.
Furthermore, Manuel absolved Wright of some of the blame, and pointed the finger at Razor Shines. From that same article linked to above:
Manuel put some of the blame on third-base coach Razor Shines for telling Wright he could slow down going into home, but Manuel refused to totally excuse Wright’s lapse.
Scary, isn’t it, that the 3B coach would tell a runner to slow down in such a situation? With less than two outs and no play at the plate, I can understand it — you want to make sure the player doesn’t pull a hammy or something. But with two outs? Mysterious guidance from one of the men paid to lead the team.
So Wright wasn’t benched for slowing down, and some of the blame was passed over to the coach.
Now, whether it’s a good thing or a bad thing that Wright was NOT disciplined is up for you to decide. There’s another manager named Manuel who once benched his All-Star for disciplinary reasons, but there’s no proof that the move helped HIS team understand the importance of such things, nor did it help establish his status as the man in charge — right?
David Wright is Unorthodox?
At first I thought this was the reason Wright played on the high holy day of Yom Kippur. Then I realized I had read the quote too quickly, and also realized Wright isn’t Jewish (though he and many Mets had plenty to atone for).
Jerry Manuel had this to say about David Wright’s problems at the plate, per The Daily News:
“There are some mechanical issues we are trying to address with him,” Manuel said. “David is a gifted, unorthodox type of hitter. Sometimes what you find is that type of hitter has stretches of being really, really hot and stretches of not being very good. Because you’re unorthodox, when you’re not good, everybody can point out flaws. That’s kind of the trick or the difficulty you have in trying to make those corrections.”
I’m not sure what it is about Wright’s hitting that is “unorthodox”. To me his swing looks pretty solid, with mechanics that are similar to that of many other good hitters. At times he has a bit of a loop, but it’s no more pronounced than any other big league hitter. In fact at one point while discussing Wright’s style, my good friend (and former MLB scout) Lar Gilligan of Akadema / ProPlayer Academy commented that D-Wright “looks almost TOO mechanical, TOO ‘textbook’ — it’s like his swing is a direct product of constant training at a hitting school”.
David Lennon posted this additional quote from Manuel:
“It’s a little loop that will make him susceptible to balls up and in,” Manuel said. “There seems to be a lot of pitches recently that have been right where he’s looking and he’s fouling them off.”
I’m still not getting what is “unorthodox”. A loopy swing may be considered by some hitting instructors as a flaw, but there are just as many who think a “little loop” is perfectly fine, and necessary to lift the ball (as in, over the fence) and generate bat speed. Heck, Ted Williams felt a slight uppercut (the product of a loop) was necessary in order to defend against the baseball coming at the batter on a downward plane from the mound. In any case it’s not unusual.
This is not to say I disagree with Jerry Manuel. Rather, I’d like him to further elaborate on what he means by “unorthodox”. Saying he has a “loop” isn’t enough to differentiate him from anyone else — and it’s certainly not a Dave Kingman-like loop, when it occurs (I see a mix of “loops” and short strokes directly to the ball — both during his hot streaks and his cold streaks). Perhaps there is something unusual about his mental approach? Or the way he zones for pitches? Inquiring minds want to know.
Manuel Perpetuates Blame Game
Ah, now it’s all clear. Perhaps I was too harsh on Frankie Rodriguez, Johan Santana, and Carlos Beltran. By blaming others, finger-pointing, and driving the bus over their teammates, they were merely carrying out the ethos set in place by their field general.
Because yet again, Jerry Manuel does his own finger-pointing to explain the Mets’ miserable season. When asked about the possibility of losing 90+ games this season, Manuel was quoted last night during the SNY postgame (and recorded on MLB.com):
“You have to go back to the health issue,” manager Jerry Manuel said. “If you don’t have those pieces in place, it’s difficult to do anything, and do anything well and do it consistently.”
(hat tip to TheRopolitans)
See? Blame game. It fits nicely. I absolves Teflon Jerry from responsibility. He can blame the circumstances around him for the Mets’ dismal record, as if he is somehow separate from it. How can he possibly win baseball games when he doesn’t have the “pieces” ?
Funny, though, that this time last year the media and much of the fanbase couldn’t congratulate Manuel enough for leading the Mets into the Promised Land (well, they never guessed ANOTHER collapse would occur in the final days). He was some kind of Zen wizard, regaling journalists with his koan-like bits of wisdom, and managing the Mets with a measured balance of father-like encouragement and stern discipline.
Heck, one journalist referred to Manuel as a magician, and suggested he could win “Manager of the Year”.
Carlos Delgado was a one-man wrecking crew because Jerry motivated him to do so. Fernando Tatis hit like Ted Williams for a month because Jerry gave him the chance. Daniel Murphy looked like the next Wade Boggs because Jerry “worked so well with youngsters”. Jose Reyes was fulfilling his superstar promise because Jerry knew how to keep him focused. Carlos Beltran and David Wright were MVP candidates because Jerry was giving them just the right amount of rest. Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez turned their seasons around because Jerry had them working with Dan Warthen.
And if by some miracle the Mets did NOT make it to the postseason, everyone knew exactly why — because the bullpen would fail.
Huh … sound familiar?
Even amidst all the miracles Manuel was spinning on his way to sainthood, there was a built-in excuse. It would be the fault of the men in the bullpen — not the man managing it — if things turned sour. Jerry’s irresponsible abuse of arms from June through August would be forgotten when the relief crew collectively and colossally collapsed. It would be the fault of Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman, Scott Schoeneweis, or the injury to Billy Wagner, if the Mets blew it again. Anyone but Jerry.
This is the culture that Jerry Manuel created — one where the team learns to find reasons why they lose, rather than creating solutions to win.
How Bad is Mets Power Outage?
Quick, what do Miguel Olivo, Garret Jones, David Wright, Gary Sheffield, and Grady Sizemore all have in common?
All four players lead their respective teams in homeruns, but have hit less than 20.
Here’s where it gets scary — the season totals for these four:
Olivo (Royals), 19
Jones (Pirates), 19
Sizemore (Indian), 18
Wright and Sheffield (Mets), 10
Now, homeruns aren’t everything, but they do have a significant place in today’s game of watered-down pitching and emphasis on offense. And 20 is just a number — though most would agree it is something of a benchmark. A player who knocks at least 20 balls over the fence is generally considered to be a “power threat” — the type of hitter one needs to pitch carefully to in tight situations.
Yes, the injuries to Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran had something to do with the Mets not having a 20-HR hitter this year (though the pace of each suggested barely hitting 20 through 600 ABs). But Wright’s 15-day stint on the DL wasn’t the reason he is unlikely to reach that milestone. Further, the only other players on the Opening Day roster who had hit as many as 20 in a season were the 40-year-old Sheffield and Fernando Tatis (whose 34 in 1999 smell mysterious).
And before you point to vast expanse of Citi Field, consider that opponents have hit 75 homeruns in Flushing — or, a dozen more than visiting teams have hit in Coors Field. Chew on that one for a moment.
In fact, the Mets have hit 46 of their dingers in their home stadium, compared to 39 on the road. So Citi Field may have stolen a few fly balls, but that doesn’t explain the lack of power when visiting other parks.
Now consider this: there are currently 71 in MLB right now with at least 20 homeruns. In fact, 19 of them have 30 or more. Not one is a New York Met.
With a shade less than 20 games left in the season, there’s a very real possibility that the Mets finish the year as the only team in MLB without a 20-HR hitter. I’m not sure of the last time that has happened to an MLB team, but I know it hasn’t happened to the Mets since 2003, when Cliff Floyd and Jeromy Burnitz hit 18 apiece. You have to back another ten years, to 1993, to find a sub-20-HR guy lead the team (Bobby Bonilla, with 19, if you care).
Can a Major League team make it to the postseason in this day and age without at least one power threat? Some may argue a playoff-bound team requires at least three. Going into this offseason, the Mets are likely to let Delgado go, leaving Wright and Beltran as the only players under contract with the potential to hit 20 homers in a season — though they have an arbitration / non-tender decision to make with Jeff Francoeur, who has hit as many as 20 HR once in his five-year career. Assuming Francoeur returns, will those three “sluggers” be enough power to contend in 2010?
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