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…by the way, this was my favorite quote from the conference call earlier this afternoon…
Mets GM Omar Minaya, on what’s next…
“We’ve been good on paper, but we haven’t won. This shows our fan base and our players that we care about winning. Our goal is to win a championship. We put in our part to get this done. This is a commitment to our players. Now, what we need now is a commitment on their part to get it done.”
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Wow. The Mets get it. What a breath of fresh air.
Hey Omar haters:
WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
I hate Omar for continually refusing to bring back Timo Perez.
They will reappear after Johan’s first bad start in June….
If those fans can boo David Wright and Jose Reyes, they can boo Johan Santana.
I don’t know why anybody would boo David Wright, but why wouldn’t anybody boo Jose Reyes by the end of the season? Not only was he not playing well, but he didn’t even appear to be making much of an effort–not running out grounders, etc. Why should he get a free pass? Wright may have struggled at the start of the year, but he always gave 110%
Johan is bound to hear some boos in his tenure with the Mets, but, as long as he tries his best and is accountable, the boos will always be short-lived.
As for Omar, he will also get criticized the moment the Mets do not live up to expectations in one way or another. Of course, that isn’t fair, but that is the way it is in NY. People are always looking for a quick fix, never taking into consideration that the team might be worse off if Omar makes a deal out of desperation.
RIGHT HERE!
That part where Omar was talking about the worst case scenario, he said he was looking at the paper…
Must have been a printout of the comment section of Metsblog.com and NYFS/Mets Refugees forums!
Today is a GOOD DAY to be a METS fan. I live in Vermont and am surronded by Red Sox fans. I think I hat them more than Yankee fans :} I cant walk down the street or go to the mall without someone saying Congrats on Santana. I LOVE IT !! The stat guys have the Red Sox as the favorites in the AL and Mets second or third in the NL. I think the SOX are done, they have a good team, but, wont repeat. I hope that the METS beat them again like in 1986!! LETS GO METS!!!!
sox done???
come on man they are solid in every way
well, this signing is a great move.
Also remember, there are proven disasterous moves by management, that will ONLY be forgiven IF santana continues to produce at his prior career levels. If he comes in here and is a (14-12) clip, the move will be criticized and compund the earlier moves, asking for his head.
This deal is huge, but could also be a huge blowup if he is hurt or just plain sucks. I dont believe the players given up will have much value in the ML for at least 5 yrs.
why would anyone bat castillo 6 or 7 he is the perfect 2 batter behind reyes . if you stack the lineup at the top then you eliminate a big part of the game the table setters
Where does it say “get after it” in this quote?
I agree. Great comment. I’m not even a fan with the highest expectations, but I know this is on paper the best team in the NL and maybe MLB. At least 3 15 game winners! Three all stars in the batting order with other great hitters. Great defense around the diamond except LF and 1B. 2008 here we come
This team is good, maybe the bullpen is a soft spot slightly but I guess we have to see how that turns out with Wise, Sanchez and whoever else will be invited to spring training.
I don’t know why everyone is so down on the Mets’ bullpen. Obviously there are question marks with Duaner missing 1 1/2 years to injury, Wise freaking out after hitting Pedro Lopez in the face, and Schoeneweis…well, being Schoeneweis, but what team has 7 certainities in their bullpen? As long as Duaner stays healthy–and I haven’t heard any reason why he won’t–he should be very good. Hopefully, the offseason helped Wise get some distance from that once ugly incident–and, let’s face it, as “quirky” as he may be, Rick Peterson seems pretty good at getting pitchers back on track. And, well, Schoeneweis started to do better at the end of last season, and had splits that showed that, if Willie had paid attention and used him as a lefty specialist, he might have been fine. Plus, there should be less of a need to overuse the bullpen, with the addition of Johan, and Maine and Ollie being a year more experienced (so, hopefully, able to pitch more innings). I think the big problem last year was that the bullpen was so overused, that they just fell apart near the end. In fact, depending on who is used as the long man, that might also help, since Willie never used Sele last year, essentially leaving the team to play one arm short in the bullpen (did Aaron Sele sleep with Willie’s wife, or something?)–that should help ease the burden on the bullpen, too.
Very well said. A healthy Sanchez, and using the Show properly makes for a very deep and strong bullpen – Wagner, Pedro 2 and Show from the left-side, and Heilman, Sanchez, Wise and Sosa from the right side…I don’t foresee the problems the media likes to dwell on.
you’re right on point when you say the bullpen is the soft spot. but, i think that 5th starter is also comeup short. pelphery still need seasoning, and if mets add either fogg, loese or hernandez that would help. also, we still need another contact hitter with power.
Actually, right now, the 5th starter is Duque. The rotation is Johan, Pedro, Maine, Ollie, Duque. It is possible that the Mets add another starter and put Duque in the pen, but it looks like Pelfrey will begin the season in AAA, as he should.
Everything is in place to make the last year at shea a special one.
amen, brother!
I also like how Omar said they’ve been getting calls from all the players saying how excited they are.
Listening to the call, it’s pretty scary that the deal almost didn’t get done, considering how some were chalking it up as a done deal.
Well, for what it’s worth, after saying that, Jeff Wilpon said “Omar is exaggerating a little bit.” Someone was playing to the press – either Omar trying to make it seem more theatric, or Jeff trying to make it seem like the Mets never would have lost this. I think it was a done deal the whole time – I don’t see how the Mets or Santana could have NOT signed this deal
I would bet you are right, metsdude13. Let’s face it–every one of us was worried until the deal was official. I think Omar might just have felt the same way–he just wasn’t able to relax until it was a done deal.
I wasn’t worried. I exercised a little something that eluded most fans on here…Common Sense. You don’t make the deal if you aren’t going to sign him.
to me we will live and die with our bullpen. our offense is good. not philly good but very good. our defense is excellent, especially up the middle. Our starters are better than the competition but at the end of the day we will go as far as Wagner/Heilman/Sanchez et all take us.
Will Wagner hold up? will Sanchez be a factor? Heilman?
you get my point.
Will Wagner hold up? Your joking right? Wagner let a total of 2 games get away from him all year he was 2-2 with a 2.63 era. The man is a rock, im tired of hearing BS about Wagner.
I know what you mean, nagel100.
While Wagner doesn’t have a ton of blown saves he doesn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me. He *used* to be automatic, now I get nervous if he is coming in to close a 1-0 game.
That’s the nature of the closer role. Everyone’s going to remember the four or five times he fails, and forget the 40 saves and the 1.00 WHIP.
Takes a special breed to weather that pressure. The candor and cockiness about Wagner that annoys us are part of what goes into making him a big-time closer.
Yeah but he was shut down dominant like no other closer in recent Mets history in the first half, and then hit a pretty steady decline for the second half of the season, and he was absent in a few big games down the stretch due to back spasms. Perhaps having Santana will allow him some extra rest earlier on, but he was as much a culprit of “the collapse” as anyone on the roster.
it’s cuz we are Mets fans and are used to bad closers recently….
“As much a culprit of the collapse as anyone”? I don’t buy it. His ERA in the second half was 3.90; not good for a closer, but if the Mets’ pitching staff as a whole had managed a 3.90 ERA in the second half, we would have won the division by 5 games.
Absolutely, Gil. Another example of Willie’s mismanagement of the bullpen. He needs to accept that Wagner–like practically every reliever in baseball–is a 1 inning pitcher, and that’s it. It’s like he feels that, because he played with Goose Gossage, who often collected 2 or 3 inning saves, that closers today should do the same. It’s a different era, they no longer do that–right, wrong, neutral, whatever! Willie needs to accept that and move on. If he does, the Sandman will be fine.
I agree Wagner is solid.. the best closer in the division.
I think the OP was referring to Wagner’s risk of injury. Which, you have to admit, is significant. But if that’s this team’s biggest problem, I’m happy.
I’d still like to see the addition of Livan and Kenny Lofton. I think those are both good ideas. But we can go to war with what we’ve got and be very, very confident.
With the addition of Johan, I no longer see Livan as an option. He is strictly an innings-eater–he no longer pitches effectively. His only purpose would be to eat innings, to spare our bullpen, if we hadn’t obtained another “bulldog,” like Johan. I’d rather go with someone like Lohse (if he could be had for a 1 year contract, at a reasonable salary). Maybe Josh Fogg, though the Twins are supposedly looking at him to take Johan’s place in the rotation. Last year was the first time he was about average (ERA+ of 97, or 3% below the league average pitcher), but even though such stats account for ballpark effect, I can’t help but think he’d benefit from the move from Coors to Shea. Maybe even Shawn Chacon for the right price. Hell, I think I’d rather go with David Wells. All this, of course, is only if they need another starter because they want to use Duque out of the bullpen. If it is just to have insurance, in case of injury (or, rather, for WHEN Duque gets injured :) ), I’d rather just let someone like Pelfrey fill in. Or have Sosa start and bring up a minor leaguer for the bullpen.
As for Lofton, I’ve seen that he is being considered by the Mets and, all else being equal, I think he’d be a decent addition–but isn’t our bench already incredibly lefty heavy? So far, for presumably 5 bench spots, they have lefty-hitting Marlon Anderson, lefty-hitting Endy Chavez, switch-hitting Ruben Gotay who is MUCH stronger from the left side (to the point where he should maybe consider giving up switch-hitting), switch-hitting Angel Pagan (also better as a lefty, though not tremendously so), and righty-hitting Ramon Castro, who is the backup catcher, so cannot be used as a pinch-hitter until there is no other choice. What about a righty-hitting option like Kevin Mench to serve as a possible platoon partner with Church in RF? Or maybe Bobby Kielty, for the same purpose?
these constant Wagner complaints are getting embarassing…
The guy has been a top 3 closer for over a decade
The bullpen should be better with a healthy Sanchez and some contributions from guys like Wise or who ever may be with the MLB team on opening day.
By the way, Sanchez was the Dodgers closer for a while, so he’s no stranger to closing games if the need arises.
If mets gtet off to a slow start, willy is gonna be feeling that heat. and rightfully so.
wow i cant believe this is us when all confidence was lost a week ago. not that we need it but we good definatly use some touching up to do. such as true #5 pitcher ::cough cough:: livan so he can take the job from his brother. haha sibling riverlry at its finest but livan is what we need just for durability. i think people underestimate the potention of Ambiorix Burgos and Joe Smith. They showed real promise from the little i saw from them but look great to me.im still pushing for a guy like mench but could possibly be incosistant. how bout a trade for willy mo pena?? mabe gotay for pena? hits is a lefty killer w/ good defense great arm and crazy power when we may need it. he was considered top prospect on the reds then traded to boston for broson arroyoy and had great hype towards him. thought to be starter once trot nixson was gone but they signed drew. then the nats got him for nothing. i was hopeing we could do the same. i love gotay but he could be the type of player the nats need.
Only real question i have is the bullpen.
is is good enough in 2008?
Will Wagner hold up? Will Sanchez be a factor?
Middle relief/? etc.
This is where the rubber meets the road to me.
I have hopes but don’t print up any World Series tickets for a while.
just once I would like to see no negative comments in a post here…
when they win its “they could have won by more”
when they steal the best pitcher in both leagues its “well now we need bullpen”
give me a break, can we just enjoy the moment?
I’m still giddy and the feeling hasn’t fully sunk in yet that the Mets traded for Santana and signed him. I mean, it was Hank Steinbrenner that made the comment that he wanted Santana then in came the Red Sox and I thought no way any other team would pull Santana away from those two teams.
In came the Mets and I kept hearing how the Mets didn’t have a good package and that they couldn’t compete with the Yanks and Red Sox offers. Well, the Mets were the most active and they did everything, including playing the waiting game with the Twins. The Mets waited the Twins out and got their man.
And still … The feeling hasn’t fully sunk in and it probably will when I see Santana on Wednesday, putting on the Mets shirt and cap, giving his speech. I don’t tear up over sports things alot … But getting a young, left hander that has won 2 Cy Youngs that will be the ace of the Mets staff will be enough to get me to get teary eyed. lol
GO METS!
“give me a break, can we just enjoy the moment?”
Yeah, we all really want to read 150 comments that all say: “yay, happy go mets yay”
Yeah that means you players. Stop acting like millionaire prima donna’s who have the division wrapped up and cut out the late night partying and get your noses to the grindstone. Any slacking off running to 1st base needs to be rewarded with a shower of loud BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO’s. Come on Mets fans lets do our part to inspire them by cheering loud every game.
Seriously, I don’t want to hear anything about what effect the collapse is having, unless its “because of the collapse, Jose Reyes will never take anything for granted again.”
sorry for the double post .
Where is Gipper913? He hates Omar. Regarding a Timo Perz issue.
Ummm….no. You’re confusing me with someone else.
I have issues with Willie. While I like Willie as a personalityand want him to do well, I worry about his managerial skills. Too often he goes with his gut over baseball common sense and he is stilll learning the NL game (ie.e real baseball strategy). Worst of all during the collapse, he seems to expect the playesr to play the way he did or the way Wright or Jeter do now…rather than instilling that work ethic in the team….he just sits backs and assumes it. That said, now is not the time for Willie-bashing.
Omar I have no problem with. never had. And certainly not over Timo freakin Perez!
Our slogan should be “We have Santana now!”.
Our Team
Our Time
Our Santana :)
Catch the rising Johan.
Santana like it ought to be.
I updated my rosters on MLB the show, and I must say! YES! Here is the postgame wrap up the Mets beat the phillies 2-1 in 11 innings. Johan went 8.2 innings, 4 hits 1 er, 1 bb, 12 Ks, feliciano went 0.1 innings 1 so, wags went 2.0 innings and got the win. Brett Myers was really dealin for the phillies going 8.2 innigns awswell with 1 er and 2 ks cholie brought in fabio castro who gave up a game tying run to luis castillo in the 9th to drive in jsoe jose jose. Lets me say, I attempted another walk off bunt for endy in the bottom of the 10th and wes helms throw beat him by half a step. the mets won with brian shcnieder on 2nd and reyes on first from a massive ball off the wall for wright! WOW I CAN NOT WAIT FOR THE SEASON!!!!!!!!!!
you are a real winner
I AM!
Cerrone,
Can we have an age minimum for the comments section???
Yikes.
Saw this on Mets Fever (I said church should bat 3rd yesterday and everyone laughed at me) – I waited to complete this post until I saw what players from the major league roster were traded. Since none have been lost, I will present what I think would be the best line-up, when the everyday players are in the game.
I know most people expect Ryan Church to hit in the seven spot but I think that would be a waste of his hitting style. Church is a prototypical gap hitter with very little home run power, these type of hitters have been primarily slotted into the three spot in a traditional line-up. Before tuning out please hear me out. After the 2006 season I was one of the first to want Lo Duca moved down in the line-up, at the time it was heresy but as the season unfolded it became apparent that it was where he belonged.
Jose Reyes and Luis Castillo are the best table setting tandem the Mets have had since the late 80’s. A funkless Reyes with a high on base percentage, coupled with great speed is perfect in front of an injury free contact hitter like Castillo. Infielders tighten up and even if they don’t make an error it’s near impossible to double these two up. Castillo is extremely patient, allowing Reyes to steal second and move to third on a ground ball. With these two the pressure is on the defense, which can easily result in an error making it a first and third situation. I’ve heard some say that maybe Church should hit second and put Castillo in the seven spot but I think that would be a mistake.
Last year, in his first season as a regular player Ryan Church hit 43 doubles and only 15 HRs. With runners on base, a gap hitter like Church would have more chances to drive in runners and sustain rallies in the third spot. The only player with a similar hitting style that played for the Mets was Shawn Green and despite hitting almost .300 for the year, he drove in very few runners, because he was slapping the ball around with no one on base and then getting stranded himself. If Church hits in the seventh spot I believe he will be in the same situation. With Alou and Delgado in front of him, even if they’re on base they don’t have the speed to score from first on a double, then Schnieder and the pitcher will be up, leaving at least Church if not others stranded. But if he hits third, a double with Reyes and Castillo on base would score them both and he’ll be on second with four power hitters behind him.
I would hit Wright fourth behind Church to go lefty, righty. Wright has the power for the clean-up spot and can hit for average, he also has the demeanor to handle the spot. He has become a great situational hitter, knowing when to swing for the fence or just drive the ball into the outfield.
Beltran would be next, hitting fifth would take a little pressure off Beltran, who I think tends to tense up at times. He would still be in a position to drive in runners but not the focal point of the offense. He would be positoned in between Wright and Delgado where he would be protected, but as a switch hitter create a problem for managers regarding pitching changes at a critical point in the line-up. He is hitting for slightly more power then average compared to Wright, making them a good four/five combo.
I would have Delgado hit sixth, a pitcher on the rocks who already allowed a few runs off a Church double, Wright single and Beltran deep fly out could now be knocked out of the game by one mighty swing of Delgado’s bat. I do believe Delgado will rebound this year, but I still think at this point in his career he is an all or nothing home run hitter, who would fit perfect in the sixth spot. Delgado would get the protection he needs from Alou, while strecthing the line-up out even more, placing more pressure on the pitcher. Beltran between Wright and Delgado would put two tough hitters from the same side back to back depending on the match-up.
Alou is a hitting machine who is probably the only player on the team that doesn’t need protection. He has the greatest potential to be productive hitting in front of two automatic outs in the catcher and pitcher. As I said before, he would provide protection for Delgado and could drive-in anyone still on base, while having the best chance of driving himself in as a solo run. Alou hitting in front of Church would end up with him stranded at third because he doesn’t have the speed to score from first on a Church double and then Church would be stranded on second. Church hitting seventh seems like a waste of a great gap hitter while hitting Alou that deep in the line-up puts a tremendous amount of pressure on a pitching staff.
So here’s how my 2008 line-up would look
switch-Reyes- .280/ 36 doubles / 12 triples / 12 HR / 78 SB
switch – Castillo – .300 / 19 SB / 19 doubles
left – Church – .272 / 43 doubles / 15 HR / 70 RBI
right -Wright – .325 / 42 doubles / 30 HRs / 30 HR / 34 SB / 107 RBI
switch – Beltran – .276 / 33 doubles / 33 HR / 3 triples / 23 SB / 112 RBI
left – Delgado- .258 / 30 doubles / 24 HRs / 87 RBI
right – Alou- .341 / 19 doubles / 14 HR / 49 RBI
left- Schnieder – .235 / 21 doubles / 6 HR / 54 RBI
pitcher
u brought up some very good points and that lineup looks very intriguing
good points but you are basing the whole offense on the ability that Ryan Church is a great doubles hitter. Alou is almost as good a doubles hitter when you project his doubles to a season. I think you do make a valid point in that Church would be a good number three hitter but I do believe that Alou might be getting wasted in the 7 hole. I believe he is a slightly better HITTER than Church at this point. He def. is more experienced and knows what to do in all situations although Church has him in the speed category by a little. Church hitting third would also make for a very different line-up if he ends up sitting against lefties or hitting lower in the lineup against righties and I think that’s a great thing to do in theory….but not so much when you are dealing with human beings who tend to like their lineup spot or general lineup spot. Either way, I’m not too opposed by that lineup by would actually like a lineup in which Alou would hit 3rd and Church 7th (i guess)….of course as long as Alou is healthy…
i dont want to take credit for this, this was from Mets fever .com I jsut agree with it
The only thing worse than really long posts advocating putting your second worst hitter in the 3 hole is posting it on every single thread.
Answer me this question: If Castillo is in the second hole, we are going to ask him to do a lot of 2 hitter stuff to get Reyes in scoring position, or hopefully, 3rd base. Who do you want up there with Jose on third and one out? Your “great” gap hitter?
Also, with Castillo and Reyes on base, why do I need a double from your “great” gap hitter?
Also, why do I want Beltran, Wright and Alou to get about 25 fewer at bats on the year so I can get my “great” gap hitter up more often?
Lastly (and I could go on and on), if Reyes creates so many more fastballs by being on base, do I want to waste all of those perks on Castillo and Church? I’d rather see Wright and Beltran get some of those groovers, but that’s just me. Maybe gappers are more important than dingers.
you are arguing with a guy who on the previous post admitted that he spent his Saturday night alone playing video games
Agreed. I think the proven players should be stacked together to ensure the highest % of runs scored. Otherewise, Church, and unproven (in NY) player will be stranding Reyes/Castillo tandem and make a possible 3-4 run inning, a 1 run inning.
You dont place outs in the middle of a rally. Church should be 7th, and push everyone up. I may give delgado back #4 and keep beltran #5, since he is already saying publicly he is back and healthy….give him the job & the chance to prove it. He will always be a better #4 than Beltran. And Beltran is a #3, on any other team except DW’s team.
You are already making church a starting OF in the big city. He doesnt need to hit 3rd at the smae time, otherwise, you are setting him up to fail right away.
I agree with everything other than batting Delgado #4 again. Hopefully, he does better than last year, but Delgado is still on the downside of his career. Beltran is far superior, so should be hitting higher up. Frankly, the only reason I hit Delgado ahead of Alou is because, if he hits after him, you have 3 lefties in a row at the bottom of the lineup–Delgado, Church, Schneider. Considering how lefty heavy the bench is, that is not an option.
I agree with you guys, but side with MetsFan1976 – make Delgad oearn the cleanup slot, if at all.
I think it’s a very well thought out plan.
I’d truely like to see Willy post the line-up, to see it.
However, many times over, I’ve heard Keith mention, the number 3 spot, is for the BEST hitter in the line-up.
Given that Wright’s BA in the 3 spot, is likely to be much better, thus driving in Reyes and Castillo more often that Church would, I likely see this actually creating more runs than your line-up.
But, I still would certainly like to see Willy put Church in a 3 hole, on off days for Alou or Delgado, to see, if in fact he can EARN his spot up in the order, and prove, that him hitting in the three hole, with all his doubles, would in fact be better for the team.
Wow. I actually read that entire post. I appreciate all the thought you put into that and agree with some of your points but here is my argument against or rather another option. The following wil be as lengthy as yours. Using your theory on the #3 hole why not put Alou there? The 3rd spot in the line-up is tradionaly used for a good average hitter with some pop. Alou is a career .300 hitter and is always a HR threat. I think Church could actually be a better number 2 hitter than Castillo. I would use the following line-up:
1-Reyes
2-Church
3-Alou
4-Wright
5-Beltran
6-Delgado
7-Castillo
8-Schneider
9-Pitcher
This way you have Church who bats .280 in the 2 spot with some speed, Alou with great average behind him, and the seventh hole is always great for a SB threat which leads me to Castillo there. I know most people think Castillo is a perfect #2 hitter but he doesnt have the best plate discipline nor average. Also Alou and his great career batting average is wasted in the 6th hole.
Most likely though Willie will go with the following:
1-Reyes
2-Castillo
3-Wright
4-Beltran
5-Delgado
6-Alou
7-Church
8-Schneider
9-Pitcher
I would rather swap Alou to #5 and Delgado to #6 but you dont want back to back lefty hitters in Delgado and Church. Unless you bat Schneider 7th and Church 8th with Alou 5th and Delgado 6th. Wow this is confusing. Plenty of time and Willie knows better than all of us anyway.
Now for rotation.
???
Santana, and then Pedro but who is #3 and #4? Maine then Perez or Perez then Maine? I put Perez after Pedro to split up the righties and make it righty, lefty, righty. I also would sign Livan Hernandez for the 5 hole to eat some innings with El Duque to the pen but if El Duque stays the #5 thats fine.
Whew! I’m done. Sorry people.
I agree Alou could be a pretty darn good #3 hitter, but he will almost defiantly get hurt at some point this year. Also, the reason Id want alou behind delgado is because as stated earlier, alou dosnt really need protection while delgado clearly does. I agree with some posts above that church should earn it. I really think he can do well there though. ALSO I DID NOT WRITE THAT! THAT IS FROM METSFEVER.COM I AM JUST SPREADING IT AND I AGREE WITH IT!
Only thing wrong with having Alou in front of Wright is Alou in front of Wright. On the basepaths that is. He would clog them up for Wright’s and Beltran’s speed. As for Castillo, it’s his plate discipline that makes him a good 2 hitter, as well as his ability to bunt for a hit, and his bat control to be able to hit and run.
Are you people really debating the lineup???
Bsmitty and Gary Coleman…. both great posts very interesting reads. You can make arguements for both of them. I love Church, but I also think Alou is probably the best pure hitter on the Mets. The guy is just a machine. Its almost stupid how hard it is to get him out when he is in a groove. All things considered, I probably go with the classic Reyes/Castillo/Wright/Beltran/Delgado/Alou (Alou and Delgado are interchangable to me, whichever you prefer to bat 5th is ok by me)/Church/Schneider.
I think a lineup with church batting 3rd or Alou batting 3rd could be extremely productive also though. But the way that both Wright and Carlos took off once they were hitting 3rd and 4th respectively, I would want too see their production over 600 or more at bats. David Wright could be in for a monster breakout season. I know he has been awesome, but I really could see a .335/.445/.575 line with another 30/30 year and an MVP. This guy really is awesome.
Why would anybody care how many rbi’s Church gets as long as he gets the ones from the seventh hole? Wright has been a monster batting in the three hole, as well as Beltran in the fourth. Why would anybody mess with that just so Church “could” have a chance at a few more rbi’s? Besides, as everyone says, he doesn’t hit lefties that well, so what are you going to do, move him out of the three hole when a lefty is pitching? No, a lineup has to be stable, not moved around every other day.
Also Alou seventh? It’s second and third, two outs. Who are you going to pitch to, Alou or Schnieder? Not a jab at Schnieder but there’s no question who you pitch to. Now put Church 7th, the answer becomes less clear. You might pitch to Church. Pitch carefully to him but still pitch to him. Thats where his rbi’s are going to have to come from. Especially when they intentionally walk Alou or Delgado (whomever is sixth) in front of him.
i think that church would be a good #3 hitter if he was still in Washington, or if he was in KC or Pitt, but he is now in NY with the big boys……. I agree that putting church at #7 would be wasting his talent, but by putting him at #3 u’d be wasting the talent of Wright, Beltran, Alou, and Delgado……. so putting Church 7th and wasting some of his talent is a sacrifice that i think you need to make so that you don’t waste the talent of 4 other guys….
besides, I think Wright followed by Beltran is more likely to produce a run while Reyes is in scoring position with one out than Church followed by Wright is.
and with Church’s struggles against lefties, it would be easier to replace him against lefties if he was batting 7th rather than 3rd
I think people who don’t think Wagner is an excellent closer get a bit of tunnel vision.
Every closer, the ones we revere as unbelievable put there teams and their fans through 9th innings with a man on 2nd and 3rd, its part of baseball.
I know Wagner was better when he was younger, but he’s been great, look at his numbers.
No complaints here Billy Boy.
Right on 7train, great post.
I still have more confidence in Wagner shutting the door than Looper or Armando. Everyone goes through a bad stretch, unfortunately, Wagner had his at the end of the season, it happens.
Seriously, Omar has put together arguably…
1. The best offense in the NL (1-8)
2. The best rotation in NL, possibly the bigs
3. Very solid pen, anchored by an ACE closer in Wagner
4. A quality bench with great role players – speed, hitting, power and defense
5. A manager in WILLIE and pitching coach in PETERSON that know how to do their jobs (ok…save for the end of last year)
…..oh yeah, and JOHAN SANTANA!!!
The D-backs have at least an argument on the best rotation in the NL. And the Red Sox have a better rotation hands down.
A lot depends on whether Maine and Perez continue to improve, or at a minimum replicate what they did last year. Except for having lousy second halves.
Willie…I still like Willie and think he will improve as a manager but he’s gotta start making some better decisions. Everything else I love…the rotation (now)..the ‘pen (and effective and healthy Duaner would make things sweeeet)….the bench i absolutely love headed by Endy and Marlon….and I’m a uuuge fan of Rick Peterson.
Let’s see if HOJO can do the job as hitting coach well. I was really hoping that Rudy Jaramillo (Rangers hitting coach) would get the job since he would’ve brought a lot to us. Either way, I think HOJO should be fine.
I think Willie is a terrible manager and is too stubborn to change and improve. I used to think that he was good with the players, but terrible with strategy, but I think he is bad at both now. Of course, I have read that he is undermined by Tony Bernazard, Omar’s assistant, being all buddy-buddy with our numerous Latino players (if not everybody), so I suppose I can hardly blame him for problems with his players, if that is true.
Willie has no clue how to use a bullpen (which he probably learned from Joe Torre), which was probably the most significant contribution to the collapse. He also insisted on staying even-keeled (there’s the stubborn streak I mentioned above) when the Mets were falling apart in September. Granted, these are millionaires who shouldn’t have to be told to play hard, but if they stop doing so, somebody needs to call them on it. I bet Willie would’ve done so if he hadn’t been told to do so by the media, first.
I say we convince Matt to get a metsblog.com message board going since it is tough to create topics and follow them up in these comments. We already have enough comments that would make the message board somewhat busy. Also, I think we should KEEP the comments and ADD a messageboard.
just a thought…
I agree! as well as having an option where you can print out all the posts from the day without all the ads and such in it so you can print it out and read in it your bed or something after you come home from school/work. Another cool option would be to get metsblog updates sent to your phone. but the message board would be great
metsblog updates to my phone would be AMAZIN
Yeah I totally agree.
It’d be easier to have my diverse discussions, although I’m not sure that’s what cerrone is really looking for. He gets enough comment traffic as it is on just the topics that he presents himself.
Eh, you can delete that “my” from the first sentence. I guess I changed my thought mid sentence
Matt, DO IT!
message board would be cool, good idea =)
heh, I feel important. Listen to us, Matt…listen!
That is a great quote, Matt. Omar really did put out a challenge here. The Mets blew it last year because they were complacent and assumed they would win the division. And when things started to fall apart, nobody seemed to care, so nothing ever got straightened out. They need to be accountable and, if they do take responsibility, they should avoid making the same mistakes. They were clearly the best team in the division last year, but while the Phillies realized the urgency of the situation, the Mets played like they were in one of those kiddy teeball leagues, where they do not keep score because it does not matter who wins or loses.
I do think, though, that Willie should have been targeted, as well as the players. Granted, Omar took away his option of bringing in Mota to blow games, but Willie’s bad decisions were directly responsible for several losses, in a season where the Mets finished only 1 game out of first place. He needs to know that, if this team underachieves, he will be gone.
the way i took it, I think his message was inteneded for Willie.
it’s a nice subtle way of saying if you can’t win with the players i got you then you gotta go Willie
Totally agree. In fact, has Willie said anything in reaction to the trade?
He’s got the horses now. Omar is telling Willie and ‘The Jacket’ — we want to be in the winners circle!
Really? Because Omar said this was a commitment to “our players” and now they need a commitment on “their” (which would refer to the players) part to get it done.
I do think Willie will be held accountable if they underachieve again, but I don’t see how he was included in the above quote.
Man, the first thing I think when I wake up every morning now is “was it a dream?”
Omar and the Mets front office has done there part. Now its up the players to get the job done
Mets 08 camps
I agree with the quote, but, coming from a GM, it translates to “I’ve always done my job. The players finally need to do theirs.”
Whether or not that was true in the past is immaterial — it’s definitely a true statement now.
so true
but i think omar and willie are really under the microscope now
Ya know what would be a great slogan for the Mets this year? In a blatant rip-off of Jim Thome when he was with the Indians in the mid- to late-90s, it should be “It Don’t Mean A Thing, Unless We Get The Ring.” Kinda brings them back to Earth, and puts the focus on the team goal. Get the team goal, and the other stuff is gravy. Don’t get the team goal, and nothing else matters.
Go G-Men!
That is a perfect statement by Omar – puts the “bored” guys on notice and also puts Willie “WTF is a Double-Switch?” Randolph on notice as well.
That is the attitude I like to see.
Never forget, Omar is a professional and skilled front office executive, but he spent his youth sneaking into Shea and, like us, is a fan – a Mets fan, at heart. I think, sometimes, it seeps through.
i agree gipper omar has li a fire under these guys heine’s btw loved the mets prayer i am a dyed in the wool atheist and even i was saying it but u forgot a key line “spirit dos equies and and hassler
Mea culpa.