I know there is a bad feeling surrounding the Mets with the whole Madoff thing and Johan Santana getting hurt, but I'm getting why everyone is putting the Mets in bottom tier of baseball. Sports Illustrated even went as far as to predict them finishing below Washington in the NL East. I'm sorry but tell me what Washington did to get out of the NL East basement. Jayson Werth? My friends and I would discuss how someone is going to make the mistake of giving Werth a ton of money to anchor an offense. Losing a guy like Adam Dunn hurts their lineup more than getting a Jayson Werth. But this isn't about Washington.
I've seen Vegas win totals range anywhere from 74 to 76. I'll happily take the over and be on my way. I'm a pessimistic fan at heart but last year was a disaster season for the Mets and they still won 79 games and I don't know how you look at this year's team and don't think they are going to be better. Santana being out is a blow but I don't think that alot of the "question marks" going in to the season are going to play out in favor of the Mets:
Jose Reyes: I'm a big believer in the contract year. Unfortunately I do not think Reyes will be a Met next year because they won't be able to afford him
Carlos Beltran: He definately not going to be a Met next year but he is also playing for one more big contract. I think Beltran is soft and could have played through some of his injuries and didn't. If this was any other year, do you really think he'd be pressing for Opening Day. I expect him to be in the lineup throughout the year.
Jason Bay: Granted, he just got hurt and we don't know the extent yet but I'm going under the assumption that it's going to be a 15 DL stint and he's back. Bay will never be a 30+ homerun guy at CitiField but he is a professional and in a way his season was very much like Beltran's first season. It's tough to remember now but he put up some solid seasons after he got used to New York. Bay is going to be fine.
Brad Emaus: Addition by subtraction. He has to be better than Luis Castillo.
Josh Thole: I don't consider him a question mark. He's decent enough putting the bat on the ball but he's not here to be an offensive catcher.
The Pitching Staff: It's lacking the number 1 with Santana out but Pelfrey is solid, Niese should be acclimated with a full season in the big leagues and not fade down the stretch again, R.A. Dickey...ok...I consider him a question mark. He pitched over his head last year. Even if his ERA is a run higher I'll take it this year. They are injury risks but Chris Young and Chris Capuano have been solid MLB starter in their career. Coming to CitiField is the perfect spot for them to resurrect their careers. I don't imagine they'll both stay healthy for the whole year but only one of them has to make it until Santana comes backs.
Bullpen: I'm not too worried about K-Rod. He was on his way to having a solid season before it got derailed. Bullpens are crapshoots year to year. It feels good to be rid of the Raul Valdez and Fernando Nieve types. The Mets were right not to re-sign Pedro Feliciano. Jerry Manuel worked him in to the ground the last few years and he's already starting the season on the DL with the Yankees.
I'm not saying the Mets are going to compete for a Wild Card or anything but all these magazines and websites are putting the Mets down with the dregs of Major League Baseball. The Madoff this has cast a black cloud over the franchise right now but it shouldn't have a direct effect on what happens between the lines. I'm pencilling them down for 82 wins, 1 game above the Marlins for 3rd in the NL East.
Showing posts with label Mets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mets. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Why Do The Mets Hate Me?
The Mets are not a good baseball team. There is no bill of goods that could have been sold to Mets fans that would have made us believe that they had a shot to compete for the playoffs this year. I understand that it's only 8 games in to the season and I really hope I'm eating crow for this in September but I'll bet you I'm not.
They went out and got Jason Bay. That's great. You can always use more offense but going in to the season, the Mets had one pitcher (Johan Santana) that will probably finish over .500. You can make a case for Pelfrey to finish (at most) at .500 or a game over but that's not impressive if you consider he is probably their "number 2" starter. Going in to the season anyone with any common sense knew that nothing good could possibly come out of having John Maine and Oliver Perez make up 40% of your rotation. Omar Minaya says that after weighing what was out there against what we know Maine and Perez can do based on them each winning 15 games a few years ago it was worth the risk. It blows my mind to think that me and the Mets front office are watching the same players.
Even with them keeping Maine and Perez to start the season, there are a two things the Mets could have (or still can) do to make me happy that doesn't involve any trades or free agent signings. I'll speak for the whole Mets fan base with these:
1. They should have kept Nelson Figueroa and sent Jenrry Mejia down to AAA as a starting pitcher to start the year. Someone with any Common Sense Index had to know the Mets were going to have starting rotation problems. Figueroa could have stepped in as a spot starter or came in and gave 3 or 4 inning out of the bullpen after John Maine finishes throwing his 100 pitches and 3 and 1/3 innings. And I know the Mets strive to be like the Yankees but does it even have to reach down to messing with a good young arm. The Mets say they like Mejia as a starter. So what good would have come out of them having Mejia pan out as an 8th inning guy? Having the front office go back and forth about whether or not to start him or keep him in the pen. Then maybe have him lose all his mystique like Joba Chamberlain. Maybe come up with a cool name for his pitch and inning counts as they convert him back to a starter. The Jenrry Policy? Mejia Regulation? And to top all of this off, the Phillies claimed Figueroa off waivers. So apparently he wasn't good enough to make a team with obvious pitching deficiancies but he's good enough for the best team in the National League.
2. Bring up Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez. That's just throwing us a bone. Fernando Tatis and Mike Jacobs are not doing it at first. Ike Davis raked in Spring Training and is continuing to do so in AAA. I am a Daniel Murphy apologist and I was okay with him coming in to the season as the Mets first baseman. As it is, Murphy is not going to be ready for a few weeks. What's the worst that happens bringing Ike Davis up? He gets his cup of coffee and he gets sent back down if he doesn't perform better than Murphy would and the best case is that your first basemen of the future is ready now. I'm not saying Tejada is any great shakes but this is more a way to officially end the Luis Castillo era. To me, he's the face of this failure. I get bad feelings everytime I see him. What is Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews Jr doing in centerfield that is blocking Martinez from playing until Carlos Beltran gets back (for the record, I do not think he's coming back)? Fans like to see the young guys. For better or worse, we have shown up for Alex Escobar, Lastings Milledge and Martinez' first starts at Shea. When your team isn't good, fans at least can get in to seeing the young guys. By throwing these average re-tread type players out there every night you're not doing your ticket sales or the product on the field any favors.
They went out and got Jason Bay. That's great. You can always use more offense but going in to the season, the Mets had one pitcher (Johan Santana) that will probably finish over .500. You can make a case for Pelfrey to finish (at most) at .500 or a game over but that's not impressive if you consider he is probably their "number 2" starter. Going in to the season anyone with any common sense knew that nothing good could possibly come out of having John Maine and Oliver Perez make up 40% of your rotation. Omar Minaya says that after weighing what was out there against what we know Maine and Perez can do based on them each winning 15 games a few years ago it was worth the risk. It blows my mind to think that me and the Mets front office are watching the same players.
Even with them keeping Maine and Perez to start the season, there are a two things the Mets could have (or still can) do to make me happy that doesn't involve any trades or free agent signings. I'll speak for the whole Mets fan base with these:
1. They should have kept Nelson Figueroa and sent Jenrry Mejia down to AAA as a starting pitcher to start the year. Someone with any Common Sense Index had to know the Mets were going to have starting rotation problems. Figueroa could have stepped in as a spot starter or came in and gave 3 or 4 inning out of the bullpen after John Maine finishes throwing his 100 pitches and 3 and 1/3 innings. And I know the Mets strive to be like the Yankees but does it even have to reach down to messing with a good young arm. The Mets say they like Mejia as a starter. So what good would have come out of them having Mejia pan out as an 8th inning guy? Having the front office go back and forth about whether or not to start him or keep him in the pen. Then maybe have him lose all his mystique like Joba Chamberlain. Maybe come up with a cool name for his pitch and inning counts as they convert him back to a starter. The Jenrry Policy? Mejia Regulation? And to top all of this off, the Phillies claimed Figueroa off waivers. So apparently he wasn't good enough to make a team with obvious pitching deficiancies but he's good enough for the best team in the National League.
2. Bring up Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez. That's just throwing us a bone. Fernando Tatis and Mike Jacobs are not doing it at first. Ike Davis raked in Spring Training and is continuing to do so in AAA. I am a Daniel Murphy apologist and I was okay with him coming in to the season as the Mets first baseman. As it is, Murphy is not going to be ready for a few weeks. What's the worst that happens bringing Ike Davis up? He gets his cup of coffee and he gets sent back down if he doesn't perform better than Murphy would and the best case is that your first basemen of the future is ready now. I'm not saying Tejada is any great shakes but this is more a way to officially end the Luis Castillo era. To me, he's the face of this failure. I get bad feelings everytime I see him. What is Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews Jr doing in centerfield that is blocking Martinez from playing until Carlos Beltran gets back (for the record, I do not think he's coming back)? Fans like to see the young guys. For better or worse, we have shown up for Alex Escobar, Lastings Milledge and Martinez' first starts at Shea. When your team isn't good, fans at least can get in to seeing the young guys. By throwing these average re-tread type players out there every night you're not doing your ticket sales or the product on the field any favors.
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