Daily Archives: May 16, 2006
In his notebook at the Daily News, Adam Rubin writes that OF Fernando Martinez, the 17-year-old who signed with the Mets for $1.4 million last July, will most likely miss two weeks with a thumb injury…
In 118 at-bats for the Single-A Hagerstown Suns, Martinez is batting .322, best among all Mets minor leaguers, with two HR, 11 RBI, 10 doubles and 25 strike outs compared to 11 walks…
Over at the Mets Minor League Report, Toby Hyde recaps the night in Mets minor league action…
Among other comments, Toby writes of strong performances by Tides 2B Anderson Hernandez (remember him), who was 4–for-5 with an RBI and a run scored; and Tides RHP Evan MacLane, who won the International League’s Pitcher of the Week, allowing just one run over 14 innings while striking out 16…
In 20 at-bats in five games since starting his rehab in Norfolk, Hernandez is batting .400 with two strike outs, two walks, two stolen bases and four runs scored…
Toby also provides a rant on what he refers to as, “The absurd hype surrounding Mike Pelfrey in the NYC media.”…
In 21.2 innings pitched, Pelfrey is 0-1 with a 4.15 ERA at Double-A. He has allowed 30 hits, walked nine and struck out 24…
“This savior type hype is bad for the Mets,” Toby writes, “and bad for Pelfrey.”…
In 32 games this season, Cliff Floyd is batting just .195 with three HR and 14 RBI, though he is striking out at a lower rate than last season…
Floyd did not play the last two games during the team’s recent series in Milwaukee. His manager, Willie Randolph, told reporters that he hoped to allow Floyd a few days to clear his head…
Floyd is expected to be in the lineup tonight…
As Michael from The Metropolotians recently pointed out, Floyd’s batting average against left-handed pitching has dropped each of the last three years, going from .262 to .239 to .224 to .095 this season…
…michael argues that floyd may officially be a candidate for a platoon situation, resting him on days when he faces a lefty…the thing is, cliff isn’t hitting righties either…i understand the idea, but he clearly has a fragile ego, and i just don’t think it’s wise to knock him down a peg…notice how willie didn’t come out and say cliff was sitting these past two days because the team was facing a lefty…he framed it as a mental vacation for his slugger…willie knows that cliff is delicate…a platoon will not help his case…you either play floyd, or you trade him…i don’t think there is another option…
…i tried to look through his stats to find some sliver of hope, and all i could find was that for the first month of this season, floyd was hitting the ball well and not striking out all that often, only 10 percent of his plate appearances…since may 1, however, he is swinging at bad pitches, appears to be pull happy, but he’s actually striking out less, only 8 percent of the time…that’s not only not bad, but it’s pretty damn good…
…my sense is that cliff is pressing, but the slump is not yet in his head…one thing willie has shown he can do well is play psychologist with his players…hopefully he knows cliff well enough to trust a few days off will do the don well…
…though the team has yet to make an official announcement, it appears that Brian Bannister will be unable to return to action without at least testing his hamstring in a rehab start, thus the the buzz from shea is that Jose Lima will start on thursday against the cardinals in st. louis, while Jeremi Gonzalez will start on friday against the yankees at shea stadium…Pedro Martinez will most likely start on saturday against the yankees, giving him five days rest between starts, followed by Tom Glavine on sunday…
…the mets are off next monday, may 22, so they will have an extra day to get their house in order as the team gets set to square off against the phillies at home before traveling to florida for three games…
Mets RHP Victor Zambrano underwent successful elbow surgery, which turned in to another Tommy John surgery, at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan yesterday, according to multiple reports…
Zambrano’s surgeon, David Altchek, initially set out to repair a torn flexor tendon and remove bone chips from the pitcher’s elbow, but found a torn ligament that required a more intense procedure…
…what a mess…what an absolute mess…
The headline to Adam Rubin’s column at the Daily News says it best, as it reads, “Zambrano Could be Finished.”…
This will be Zambrano’s second recovery from Tommy John surgery since 1996…
Rubin lists Darren Driefort, Chad Fox, Scott Williamson and Tim Spooneybarger, among others, as recent examples of pitchers who have undergone a second Tommy John surgery…
…and if you’re asking, “who are they,” that is exactly the point…
According to Altchek’s office, the standard recovery time for a professional athlete after this type of surgery is 12 to 18 months…
…yikes…
As Rubin and others point out, Zambrano is still within his initial six-years of major-league service and is arbitration eligible, meaning that his pay next season must be at least 80 percent of what he’s getting paid this season, which comes to roughly $2.5 million. Come this off-season, the Mets could offer him a contract, allow him to reach arbitration or, instead, non-tender him and wish him the best of luck. There is always the possibility that nobody signs him, which is likely, at which point the team can bring him back as a free-agent at whatever price they see fit, which is often what happens in these situations…
…they paid for the surgery, which, at this point, i think is enough…the experiment is over…
