Daily Archives: August 1, 2007
In a report for the Daily News, Roger Rubin gives an update on Carlos Gomez and Endy Chavez, both of whom hope to be back by the end of the season, though that still remains very much in doubt.
…though he isn’t mentioned in the report, from what i can gather, you can essentially say the same thing about RHP Duaner Sanchez…in spring, had we known both endy and duaner would be out for the year, i suspect a lot of what troubles the Mets right now would have been easily predicted…
…update…3:40 pm…
In case you are curious, the Mets won 60 perecent of their games this season with Chavez on the roster.
They’ve won 50 percent without him.
Bobby K sent in an e-mail asking…
“Now that July is over, the Mets have finished their second consecutive month with a losing record….I’m wondering when the last time was that a team with back to back losing months won the World Series. Maybe it was even last year’s Cardinals?”
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, both the Tigers and Cardinals had consecutive losing months last season - both in August and September - yet, both made it to the World Series.
…rarely does a player cause so much media buzz without having thrown one meaningful pitch…nearly every day i hear something about the progress of Pedro Martinez‘s rehabilitation…
…don’t get me wrong, i get excited anytime i even see pedro in an interview or long tossing, but every time i do it feels like someone is dangling a carrot on a stick in front of me, and although that stick keeps getting reportedly shorter, i dislike how it gets my hopes up for a pedro return that may or may not happen this year, despite the overwhelmingly positive reports…
…although the starting rotation has
been pretty solid this year, just having pedro’s energy in the dugout during the last month or so of the season would obviously be huge…however, to keep from getting too excited, i tell myself not to expect him back this year at all…by doing so, it prevents me from being disappointed if he faces any type of setback…
…so, keep me posted on his progress, but stop trying to predict the future by saying pedro will be back this year and possibly pitch better than ever…although that sounds great, even at his most optimistic, pedro hasn’t made such a claim…
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |In a report for Newsday, Ken Davidoff lists the Mets among the winners at the non-waiver trade deadline, writing…
“Luis Castillo brings energy to a lineup sorely in need of it, especially with Carlos Beltran not around for the moment. Sure, they could have used a starter and a reliever, but none of the former was available, and it wasn’t worth taking a bite out of the farm system for the overrated Chad Cordero.”
For what it’s worth, Davidoff also lists the Braves and Phillies among the winning group.
Castillo, talking to reporters prior to last night’s game…
“We’re a good team, and I’m happy to be here…I like the Mets, and I’m here…I hope to stay here. I want to stay here…We’ve got two more months left and I’ll try to help this team go to the World Series. That’s what I want to do. We’ll see what happens.”
Meanwhile, at ESPN.com, Jayson Stark quotes a team official as saying, regarding Castillo…
“I like that pick-up, but that doesn’t mean he’s the same guy he used to be. His hip is starting to wear out on him, and it shows. But one thing he’ll do is, he’ll give Reyes a chance to run like hell because he has no problem taking the first two strikes. And he’ll help them defensively, because he still plays great defense.”
…as glad as i am to see castillo on this team, because i do believe his defense and experience will help, i am equally disappointed that Ruben Gotay will no longer play everyday…however, i understand the position Omar Minaya was in…i mean, what if gotay eventually fails, then what…the deadline will have passed, and, as a first-place team, he will not have the chance to get a guy like castillo on waivers…so, if there was any doubt in gotay, as there should be, since he’s only 24, minaya had to bring on castillo…the thing is, now that castillo is here, he has to play…he had no choice, especially since Damion Easley was brought here to be a bench player, which is something else the team is lacking in…
…i just hope gotay is not pushed to the side, or sent back to triple-a, because, while he is learning on defense, he’s got a nice swing and a ton of talent and will gain that coveted experience behind castillo and company…
…castillo is the right acquisition, but gotay may actually be the better player…such is life in new york, staring down the barrel of a ton of expectations and another october, i guess…
In a recap of yesterday’s non-waiver trade deadline, at ESPN.com, ESPN.com’s Jayson Stark writes…
“The Mets hunted feverishly for back-of-the-bullpen arms and top-of-the-rotation starters, and never got anywhere in their runs at the likes of Gagne, Zack Greinke, Chad Cordero, Joe Blanton and Dontrelle Willis.”
…the Mets did not come away without a relief pitcher due to a lack of looking, that is for certain…nevertheless, i sense that many fans are disappointed…as am i, but i’m not sure what else Omar Minaya could have done…
…for starters, i do not get a sense they really pushed hard for Octavio Dotel, nor did a lot of teams…from what i can gather, most teams dubbed him as less than focused, with concerns about his velocity and command, and outside of the Braves, the Dodgers were most interested, but not to the extent of giving up a major-league ready pitcher, which is what kansas city was pushing for…so, if that’s the case, even if you wanted dotel, who on the Mets would have even met that value…
…to get Chad Cordero, it would have cost Philip Humber and either Carlos Gomez, Lastings Milledge or Fernando Martinez…from what i can gather, to get Eric Gagne, it would have cost at least pelfrey and a guy like Mike Carp, or gomez or milledge and a guy like Kevin Mulvey…
…the Royals did not want to trade Zack Greinke, though they were open to hearing out offers…the same went for Dontrelle Willis, and to get blanton, again, it would have cost milledge and, at least, pelfrey or humber…
…so, basically, of the people they had serious interest in, the legitimate, accessible options were gagne and cordero…
Cordero, who is 1–2 with a 2.60 ERA, is not eligible to be a free agent until after 2009.
Gagne, who is 2–0 with a 2.16 ERA, is a free agent at the end of this season.
In his report, Stark quotes a scout as saying of Gagne…
“His stuff isn’t nearly what people think it is…His changeup is elevated. The velocity he used to have on his fastball, he no longer has. So he has to rely on that changeup, and it just doesn’t have the stop and dive it used to have. For me, he’s not a difference-maker.”
In an article in The Journal News, Omar Minaya tells John Delcos that he is not done dealing yet.
Ken Rosenthal on Fox Sports lists several players who are likely to be available on waivers, including RHP Shawn Chacon, RHP Livan Hernandez, 3B Troy Glaus, 2B Mark Grudzielanek, RHP
Jason Jennings, RHP Byung-Hyun Kim, RHP Ryan Klesko, 1B Mike Lamb, IF Mark Loretta, IF Kevin Millar, 1B
Reggie Sanders, and OF Sammy Sosa.
Jerry Crasnick on ESPN offers a list of the top 9 players who may become available through waivers.
For a excellent primer on baseball waiver rules, check out Jayson Stark’s article on ESPN.
…thanks to the non-waiver trade deadline, MetsBlog.com was read by roughly 180,000 people yesterday, and viewed in total more than 220,000 times…it was a super busy day, to say the least…the site got sluggish 
towards the end, which i apologize for…there was a mad rush of people checking us out as the day got closer to 4 pm…in fact, there was a good five minutes where i was unable to upload a post…crazy…
…nevertheless, all the non-Mets-fan eyeballs are gone, they’ve had their trade fill and moved on, and now it’s just you, me and the regular readers with a team that is in first place by three games, with plenty of flaws, and roughly 50 or so games left in the season, most all of which are against the NL East…it’s looking like an old fashion pennant race, team, and i can’t wait…
During last night’s loss, RHP Jorge Sosa pitched two innings of relief, allowing no runs and no hits, while walking two.
Following the game, Willie Randolph told reporters that 
Sosa had been in the bullpen all night, and was never scheduled to start on Thursday.
Instead, according to Randolph, the team will most likely bring a player up from the minor leagues.
…Mike Pelfrey is not an option because he was demoted less than 10 days ago, a mark he must reach before his next promotion…
…as we all know, Philip Humber was slated to pitch monday, then tuesday, and had both starts scratched, supposedly due to food poisoning…
…Jason Vargas last pitched for New Orleans over the weekend, meaning his next scheduled start in triple-a would be on or around thursday, matching him up if needed…
…lastly, the 31–year-old Brian Lawrence signed with the Mets several weeks ago, is 8–2 with a 3.87 ERA in 10 starts for triple-a, and is said to have an agreement with the team that if another club offers him a major-league deal he can walk at any time… he last pitched for New Orleans five days ago…
Lawrence missed the 2006 season after undergoing surgery on his right shoulder.
In his last full season in the major leagues, Lawrence was 7–15 with 4.83 ERA in 33 starts for the Padres. He won 15 games in 2004, and 10 games in 2003.
Willie Randolph, on last night’s loss, while talking to reporters after the game…
“Well, get ready for tomorrow. It was a great game. It did seem like neither one of our teams
wanted to win it. We had a lot of opportunities, they have a lot of opportunities, some good pitching, some mistakes, but we had an opportunity to get it done and we didn’t.”
…i am seeing a lot of criticism about willie, and the pen, etc, but the Mets left 12 runners on base last night…12…look, every manager, every night, makes a move or two that can easily back fire, and every pitcher leaves a ball up in the zone, every night, but you hope to minimize that damage by actually having your team score enough runs to win, because the manager and pitchers cannot be perfect all of the time – and right now, that’s what people expect, which is totally unrealistic…
Tonight, Pedro Martinez will throw roughly 45 pitches in 
his first minor-league rehab start for Single-A St. Lucie.
He is also slated to throw for roughly 10 minutes from the team’s bullpen after his start.
As noted last night, SNY will air a one-hour pre-game show at 7 pm tonight, which will include live coverage of Martinez’s start.
SNY’s expanded pre-game show will also include a live Q & A with Mets GM Omar Minaya.
