New York Mets Fan Blog

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K-Gone?

As everyone knows by now, K-Rod will have season ending surgery following a fight with his father-in-law. Presumably due to embarrassment the Mets are looking to completely cut ties with the closer.

The Mets are hoping the incident will give them the ability to not only withhold the remaining money owed to him this season, but to also allow them to void the remainder of his contract.

All I can say is wow. Only the Mets, right? It seems the Mets are always in the news for all the wrong reasons. How does one franchise continue to embarrass itself on a regular basis?

Of course, this had to happen during K-Rod’s best stretch in his brief tenure with the Mets. It is the perfect example of the Mets doing all the wrong things on and off the field.

Now we have to hinge our remote playoff hopes on Takahashi’s ability to close games.

This news is tough to hear on its own, but what makes it so painful is it is compounded with everything else the Mets have done since Beltran’s strikeout in game seven of the NLCS in 2006.

Remember that? The playoffs, success, hope.

I think that is the biggest problem for this team. When something goes wrong no fan can look at it as an isolated incident. It is just another thing to tack on to the list. It is why more and more I think the Mets need a complete overhaul at the end of the season. Fire prominent members in the front office and coaching staff and more importantly replace them with people outside of the organization. There should be no trace of 2007 on this team, with the only exceptions Jose Reyes and David Wright.

It is time for a new look for this franchise.

August 17, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, David Wright, Evan Slavit, Jose Reyes, MLB, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | , , | No Comments Yet

In a Slump?

For the first time since early last season, the Mets lineup featured all of their stars. Reyes, Castillo, Beltran were all in the line-up together, ready to lead the Mets to a playoff berth for the first time since 2006. Unfortunately their arrival did nothing for the Mets, who fell to the Diamondbacks 13-2 in one of their worst games of the season.

So what is wrong with this Mets team?

Despite popular belief, not a lot. It is easy to freak-out right now. The bats are cold, K-Rod is anything but lockdown, and Pelfrey has stunk to the tune of a 6+ ERA since his stellar start to the season.

Even with all of these problems, the Mets will be fine. It has been 5 games since the All-Star break. The Mets have lost four of those and haven’t looked good doing it, even struggling to get their one win this road trip. The biggest problem: the bats. But that is something that won’t remain a problem for long. The Mets have too many All-Star players to let this slide continue.

Reyes has finally returned from injury and if all goes well he should add a spark. Beltran is working his way back and when he gets into a groove can carry this team. More importantly, when he proves he can play everyday, Francoeur will finally be shown the bench. I like Francoeur and think he has been a terrific fielder, but when you have an OBP below .300 you are a detriment to your team. Ike Davis looks to be heating up, and Bay has to start hitting eventually. Even through this tumultuous season for Bay, he has gotten on a few hot streaks.

As you can see, even though the bats are struggling this road trip, there is no reason to believe that will continue. They are in transition right now with players returning from injury, and some regulars cooling down. It has been horrible timing, but there are 162 games in a regular season for a reason.

What worries me more is Pelfrey, Takahashi and K-Rod. Pelfrey has gotten worse and worse each outing. It is not that he doesn’t have good stuff, but like last season he has lost confidence. I could easily see this spiraling down in a situation like last season. If Dan Warthen and Jerry Manual want to prove they are good at their jobs they will find a way to fix this. Manuel is awful at managing in-game situations, but his strength is supposed to be motivating his players…well let’s see it.

Takahashi has shown us he cannot handle a starting job. He does not have good enough stuff to make mistakes. He needs to go in the bullpen where he can pitch 1-3 innings. Unfortunately there is no one ready to take his spot outside of a trade, and if all the Mets need is a fifth starter, it is not worth giving up good prospects to get it. I have faith the Mets will find a solution to this problem, I just hope they are smart enough to not give up the farm.

For K-Rod I have no confidence in him and probably never will. Unfortunately he is our best option and while he has blown a league-leading five saves, he gets the job done more times than not. We can win with him, it just won’t be pretty.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

July 20, 2010 Posted by slavite | Bloggers, Carlos Beltran, Evan Slavit, Francisco Rodriguez, Jason Bay, Jeff Francoeur, Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, MLB, Mike Pelfrey, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | , , , , , , , , , | No Comments Yet

The Good Old Days

With the Braves series wrapping up I feel what left a lasting impression on me was how quick and easy the Braves won the first two games after taking a lead into the ninth inning. Seeing Billy Wagner come out and throw heat, overpowering the Mets hitters to a 1-2-3 inning the first night was just magical.

Ever since Wagner’s injury, the Mets have had problems with the ninth inning. In 2008 when he sustained the injury, the Mets were not the same and again struggled down the stretch resulting in a collapse…though only 3.5 games that time.

I distinctly remember going to the first game we found out Wagner was injured. Santana had pitched magnificently to help the Mets to a 4-1 lead over the Phillies, just to have the bullpen combine to blow the save without Wagner and ultimately lose the game.

With word that Wagner would not make it back for the 2009 season, the Mets went out to sign the best closer on the market, K-Rod, and trade for a second closer in J.J. Putz. The result: an early injury to Putz and a miserable second half for K-Rod.

While K-Rod has been better this season, he has still come out to throw some stinkers. Even when he does get the save he makes sure to make it close.

Putz has left the Mets to have a respectable season with the White Sox, and in more disappointing news, Wagner has left to the rival Braves to give them a top-notch closer.

I never understood why the Mets were so determined to ship him out last season. Aside from saving money on his salary there was no reason to. Its not like they brought in great prospects. Chris Carter was the best pick-up and after refusing to call him up earlier this season, it seems likely he will be demoted once Beltran returns.

Keeping him would have gotten two draft picks from the Braves as he was a type-a free agent. I understand there was a fear that no one would want to sign him, but it was a risk worth taking.

by Evan Slavit at the Sports Fan Blog Network

July 12, 2010 Posted by slavite | Billy Wagner, Bloggers, Evan Slavit, Francisco Rodriguez, MLB, NY Mets Stuff, New York Mets, Original Content | , , , , | 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

   

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