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August 20, 2010 Opinion and Analysis John Delcos

John Delcos: Questions for 2011

NOTE: Following is an article by John Delcos, which was posted a few days ago on his own site “New York Mets Report“. The former Journal News Mets beat writer is also an occasional contributor here, and has chosen this particular piece to share with MetsToday readers. Please feel free to comment, and direct your questions to John.

Let’s face it, we’re down to miracles and hoping for historic comebacks now. The Mets lost with their ace the other night and find themselves 11 games behind Atlanta.

How many days before spring training?

As far as I’m concerned the next six weeks should be about laying the ground work for 2011, a time to find some answers. Here are the most important issues:

JENRRY MEJIA: Mejia is pitching in Double-A, experiencing no shoulder problems and will be recalled when the rosters expand Sept. 1. He should immediately be slotted into the rotation to find out what is there. And, if he takes his lumps, well, that’s part of the learning process.

MIKE PELFREY: Can he finish strong? Once again, Pelfrey has shown us two personas. After a 9-1 start he’s 1-5, but has pitched well in his last two games. It is important to see if he learned anything during his horrid July that he can build off of.

JON NIESE/R.A. DICKEY: Just keep on doing what they’ve done. Two of the bright spots need to build on their success.

RUBEN TEJADA: Can this kid hit in the major leagues? Let’s give him steady playing time to find out. No need to platoon with Luis Castillo as we know all about him.

CARLOS BELTRAN: It would be nice if he finishes strong and ups his trade value, but who are we kidding? Who’s going to trade for that $18.5 million contract? I’d see what he’s capable of doing in right field.

JASON BAY: It is a lost season for him. There’s no need to bring him back. What’s he going to accomplish? Hit 10 homers? Make sure he’s healthy and start again next year.

HISANORI TAKAHASHI/BOBBY PARNELL: As of now, it appears Takahashi is the closer. If that’s the case, leave him there and let him take his lumps and see what is there. The assumption must be made that Francisco Rodriguez is not coming back. If the Mets decide Parnell is a better fit long term for the closer role, then give him the ball. The goal should be to end the season with an idea of your closer for 2011.

IKE DAVIS/JOSH THOLE: Both of these guys will start next year so give them the time. I especially want to see them hit against left-handed pitching. No more platooning in that situation.

John Delcos has covered Major League Baseball for over 20 years, including more than ten in New York on the Yankees and Mets beats. You can read Delcos on his blog, New York Mets Report, where he hosts a chat room for each Mets game.
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  1. tomterrific August 21, 2010 at 12:28 am
    Joe, this piece by Delcos was also posted the other day on MetsMerized and frankly I don’t know why it ended up there, either. This is guy who is supposedly an insider because he has lockerroom credentials and yet almost all of his posts are of the “no s—t, sherlock” variety. There are no insights in these observations that any fan blogger couldn’t have put forward. Enough.
    • Joe Janish August 21, 2010 at 12:39 am
      Tom, thanks for the feedback. We make it really easy for visitors to avoid posts by authors they don’t want to read by posting their name / byline directly under the title. And in this case, John’s name was IN the title.

      As I’ve mentioned to you before, there are many, many visitors of MetsToday who do not read Metsmerized and NewYorkMetsReport. It is for those people that we re-post John’s work.

  2. Nick August 21, 2010 at 1:26 am
    Thank you for this posting. Appreciate someone recapping a lost season. So sad to see this on August 21st…
    It seems like a no brainer, but lets see how much of this we actually get to see.