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What is Mejia Doing Here?

While the Mets started the season off with some very questionable moves (Gary Matthews Jr. and Mike Jacobs) they have managed to fix them throughout the course of the season. That is every move except the decision to keep Mejia in the majors. Mejia is the Mets top pitching prospect, a pitcher with good enough stuff to translate into an ace of a staff one day. Today, however, he is not on that level as he still has control problems and has yet to develop his secondary pitches. In order for Mejia to blossom into the pitcher the Mets envision him being, he should be sent down to the minors.

In the majors players do not have the luxury of working through their problems, especially in New York, because the club is expecting to win now. Growing pains are not something this Mets team wants to see, especially now that they are so close to taking over first place of the division. The Mets have shown as much, refusing to put Mejia in a tough situation. Instead Mejia has come in when the team is either winning or losing by a large margin. If the Mets needed Mejia in the majors you would expect them to use him in more important situations. If the Mets do not need him and instead want him to develop, sending him to Buffalo will be much better for him than mop-up duty in the Majors, even if it is against better competition.

It is not like the Mets do not have other options to replace Mejia in the bullpen. Right now Bobby Parnell has been pitching really well and could come up and be a great boost to the bullpen. Hell the Mets would probably be better off promoting Manny Acosta than keeping Mejia in the majors. Ultimately it makes little sense to keep Mejia in the majors, and all it is proving to be doing is affecting his confidence. The Mets have a star on their hand and they better make sure they take care of him or they could be out a potential ace.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

June 17, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, Evan Slavit, MLB, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | , , , , , | No Comments Yet

David Wright Makes #3 of the Best Third Baseman of 2010

Three out of the five third baseman on this list are having comeback years. One of the players career looked like it was over, one of them hasn’t had a good year since he was in the National League, and the last comeback player had a power outage last year.

3. David Wright, New York Mets: Wright has his groove back! After a disapointing season last year for him and his team Wright has found his way once again and is helping the Mets make a run at the first place Braves. Wright only belted 10 home runs last year and 72 RBI’s, but he still hit .307, which isn’t bad. The Mets expect Wright to be their power bat in the lineup though, which is why last year was a down year for Wright. Not to worry, Wright is leading the National League in home runs with 50 and has two more home runs than last year already, with 12. Wright has helped the Mets move to within a half a game behind the first place Braves. Wright is leading his team with average, RBI’s, home runs, on base percentage, slugging, and runs. If the Mets took Wright out of their lineup they would probably only be a .500 team this year.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network


June 16, 2010 Posted by homerunheyer | Bloggers, David Wright, Eric Heyer, MLB, NY Mets News | , , | No Comments Yet

The State of the Mets Rotation

Currently the Mets sport a rotation of Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Jonathon Niese, RA Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi. Dickey and Takahashi did not start the season in the rotation, but after John Maine and Oliver Perez hit the DL Dickey and Takahashi took over. As of right now Dickey and Takahashi are pitching very effectively and are a big reason the Mets find themselves seven games over .500. With the likely return of Maine the Mets should avoid tinkering with the success of the rotation and put Maine in the bullpen.

To start the season the Mets held out hope that John Maine and Oliver Perez would finally be able to put it together and prove to be reliable pitchers in the rotation; however, neither impressed during their time with the team.

Oliver Perez, probably the player the Mets had the most staked into after awarding him a 3 year 36 million dollar contract a season ago, played so poorly the Mets tried hiding him in the bullpen. Unfortunately he was not even effective there and, after he refused a minor league assignment, the Mets banished him to the DL.

Maine’s story is a little more promising. He did not pitch very effectively to start, but after returning to being primarily a fastball pitcher Maine was able to pitch well enough to keep the Mets in games. The problem was he still had trouble pitching late into games and sustained an injury that forced him out of a game after throwing just five pitches before landing him on the DL.

Maine has recently thrown in a rehab game and is working his way back to the majors. The question is: Should the Mets put him back in the rotation? Right now the Mets are clicking, and a big part of that is the current starting rotation. In addition the bullpen has been more effective as pitchers are pitching six and most of the time seven innings. In fact Pelfrey and Niese started back to back games where they pitched for nine innings. While Dickey and Takahashi will never be top-line starters, they are getting the job done right now and that should not be tinkered with, especially in favor of a player that struggles to pitch five innings.

John Maine’s best career move looks like a transition to the bullpen. He has a lively fastball, but not a ton else and like I keep mentioning, he has trouble going deep into games. In the bullpen only one or two strong pitches are needed to be effective. It would be great to convert Maine into a set-up guy, or if we are lucky an eventual cheaper option to K-Rod at closer when Frankie’s contract is up after next season.

While Dickey and Takahashi’s effectiveness might wane as the season continues, John Maine is not a good replacement. He has had numerous times to prove his worth, and outside of 2007 has failed to do so.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

June 15, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, Evan Slavit, Francisco Rodriguez, Johan Santana, John Maine, Jon Niese, MLB, Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

Young Guns

For all the heat Omar Minaya got over the off-season, it is about time we give him some credit. While it was definitely warranted to question him in the past, Minaya has looked over a farm system that has provided some quality players for the big league team this season. I am talking about first baseman Ike Davis, and starting pitchers Mike Pelfrey and Jonathon Niese.

Ike Davis has solidified first base for the Mets, a position that has not seen a full season of production since 2006. Carlos Delgado never picked up his play in 2007 and while he went on a tear the latter half of 2008, his bat was pretty much non-existent the first half of the season. With the injury to Daniel Murphy the 2010 season was looking like much of the same with journeymen Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis splitting time at the position. Luckily for the Mets Davis had hit well enough in Spring Training and the start of the season for the AAA Buffalo Bisons that there was little resistance to calling him up. While he is barely hitting .260 on the year, he has still provided power with 7 home-runs, great defense, and more importantly…hope for the future.

Pelfrey has flat out dominated from the start of the season. I do not think it is a stretch to say that I feel more confident when he takes the mound than when Johan Santana does. All Pelfrey has done is go 9-1 on the season with a 2.39 ERA. He has given the team the 1-2 punch they have needed, and gives the team loads of confidence every time he takes the mound.

Finally there is Niese. He came up last season and pitched pretty well, but suffered a nasty hamstring injury during his third start since the call-up. The fear was he would not be able to recover enough to warrant a spot in the rotation to start the season. That fear was put aside early as he pitched so effectively during Spring Training that Jerry Manuel put him in the second spot following Santana. During the season Niese has managed to keep the optimism going with a stat-line that reads: 3-2 3.61 ERA 45 K/ 19 BB. To follow that up, Niese had only one blemish in his last start, a double in the third inning. Despite that hit Niese was perfect in a complete game effort where he shut-out the Padres.

Since David Wright and Jose Reyes were called up quite a while ago, the Mets have failed to add impact players to their big league team. This is Pelfrey’s third season, but following last year his career did not look as promising. While it has only been a few months, at this point it looks like Minaya has done a better job with the farm system than anyone has given him credit for. Not to mention the great acquisitions of Angel Pagan, Rod Barajas, Henry Blanco, Hisanori Takahashi, and RA Dickey.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

June 14, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, Carlos Delgado, David Wright, Evan Slavit, Jon Niese, Jose Reyes, MLB, Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

Rod Barajas Makes #3 of the Best Catchers of 2010

There aren’t many big name catchers in the majors anymore, there are only a handful that come to mind as top tier catchers in the league.

3. Rod Barajas, New York Mets: Barajas has been a major contributor for the Mets this year. So far Barajas is making the Mets look like geniuses for picking him up from the Blue Jays. Barajas already has 11 home runs which leads his team and 30 RBI’s which is third on the team. If Barajas keeps up these numbers he will have career highs in those two categories. Barajas’s average has been a little low only hitting .267, but I think the Mets will take that with the much needed power he has been producing for the team. Will this power last from Barajas? His career stats say no, and I would have to say no also. I do think Barajas will still have respectable numbers once the season is over though.



Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network


June 9, 2010 Posted by homerunheyer | Bloggers, Eric Heyer, MLB, NY Mets News, New York Mets | , , | No Comments Yet

Another disappointing loss

For Mets fans, heartbreaking losses are nothing new. In fact, they seem to have almost become routine. Last night was no exception, as the Mets wasted a phenomenally gutsy effort by Johan Santana who threw 123 pitches over seven innings and left with a 1-0 lead. Unfortunately for Santana, the Mets bullpen was unable to hold the lead as Francisco Rodriguez (the pitcher formerly known as K-Rod) blew yet another save to cost his team a victory.

Managers and players are quick to point out that baseball has a long season, and they are absolutely right. Even so, losses like last night’s are especially painful, and they reveal many of the problems that have plagued the Mets all season.

One key issue facing the Mets so far this season has been a lack of offense. When the news of Carlos Beltran’s knee injury came out during Spring Training, most Mets fans expected the offense to struggle, and that has certainly been the case so far. With the news that Beltran could be returning to minor league rehab within the week, however, Mets fans finally have a small glimmer of hope for their offense.

Unfortunately, the Mets bullpen looks like it could be a more troublesome spot. Through the first month of the season, the Mets bullpen looked as if it would be a strength of the team. As the season has gone on, however, the Mets collection of castoffs and journeymen has struggled more and more. This shouldn’t really come as a surprise, as there must be a reason that most of these players weren’t wanted by any other teams.

One player who Mets fans thought they could count on was their closer, Francisco Rodriguez. Like the rest of his bullpen mates, however, Rodriguez has been struggling, as last night’s appearance was Rodriguez’s third blown save. To make matters worse, Rodriguez’s velocity appears to be down and his ability to overpower hitters seems to have disappeared.

As the season goes on, the Mets don’t appear to have any viable alternatives to the players listed above. Instead, Mets fans will likely have to hope for K-Rod to return to his 2007 form, and also hope for Beltran’s return to energize the offense.

by Nathan Eagan at the Sports Fan Blog Network

June 3, 2010 Posted by nathaneagan12 | Francisco Rodriguez, Johan Santana, New York Mets, Original Content | | No Comments Yet

Mike Pelfrey Makes #3 Suprise Starting Pitchers of 2010

There have been many suprisingly good starts by pitchers in 2010 that haven’t had good seasons the past few years. Is it a fluke, or are these pitchers for real this season?

3. Mike Pelfrey: Pelfrey is going nuts this season! Move over Johan Santana, Pelfrey is the new ace of the Mets this season. Pelfrey is 8-1 with a 2.39 ERA. Over the last two years Pelfrey has been known as an alright pitcher hovering around the .500 mark with wins and losses. This season has been a totally different story, no one expected Pelfrey to emerge as the teams ace. If it wasn’t for Pelfrey pitching the way he is the Mets would be way out of the division race.

Click here to read the full article – By Eric Heyer of Sports Fan Blog Network


June 2, 2010 Posted by homerunheyer | Bloggers, Eric Heyer, MLB, Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets News, New York Mets, Original Content | | No Comments Yet

The Mets hidden problem

Most Mets fans would quickly admit that they follow a very flawed team. They lack reliable starting pitching beyond Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana, their offense without Carlos Beltran has been inconsistent at best. One problem that hasn’t received enough publicity, however, is the presence of New York’s free-swinging right-fielder, Jeff Francoeur. Many members of the media, and many Mets fans, immediately latched onto Francoeur upon his arrival last season as a glimmer of hope in an otherwise awful season.

While many people who follow the Mets might consider Francoeur to be an asset, a look at his stats reveal that this is simply not the case. According to fangraphs.com, Francoeur swings at a mind-boggling 44% of the pitches that are thrown out of the strike zone. To put that another way, Francoeur turns half of the pitches that he sees which aren’t in the strike zone into strikes. Francoeur also swings at an incredible 60% of the total pitches he sees. With statistics like these, it’s not surprising that he is unable to have successful at-bats. After Francoeur’s successful rookie season, it is clear that pitchers around Major League Baseball quickly realized that throwing Francoeur a strike was not necessary in order to get him out. Francoeur has done nothing but confirm that impression, as he continuously swings at pitches that are well out of the strike zone. As if to make matters worse, Francoeur has an uncanny ability to make contact with pitches out of the strike zone has led to a parade of weakly-hit popups. Until Francoeur displays the ability to work pitch counts and swing at hittable pitches within the strike zone, it’s unlikely that he will ever develop into a productive Major League Hitter.

Although Francoeur is, by all accounts, a great guy and an even better teammate, the fact that he is nearly an automatic out who longer serves as a serious power threat outweighs any of the benefits that his personality might bring.

by Nathan Eagan at the Sports Fan Blog Network

June 1, 2010 Posted by nathaneagan12 | Jeff Francoeur, Original Content | , | No Comments Yet

   

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