Daily Archives: February 12, 2008
The Brooklyn Met Fan asks, “Have we officially entered the Jeff Wilpon Era?”
In a post to Amazin’ Avenue, Eric Simon reveals his site’s community projection for Johan Santana, who they believe will go 19–6 with a 2.71 ERA with 240 strike outs.
Speaking of Santana, at Mets Geek, Dan Scotto looks back at the off-season Market Shifts for Santana, such as on December 4, when Will Carroll wrote the following in Baseball Prospectus…
“Santana to the Red Sox is all but done. Jon Lester, a center fielder, Justin Masterson and Ryan Kalish are the package.”
…for what it’s worth, to will’s credit, people connected to santana were all but certain that johan was heading to Boston that day as well…i mean, they were essentially packing his bags…the same thing happened a few weeks later, as well…but that was it…in hindsight, to me, both events were strictly designed to smoke out Phil Hughes, which never ended up happening…thankfully…
In a post to his blog for the New York Times, Ben Shpigel lists Reason No. 4,782 as to why it is good to be David Wright.
Speaking of Wright, check out Rob Neyer’s blog for ESPN.com.
…wright clearly understands that all politics is local…
In early October, Carlos Beltran had both of his knees ‘scoped’ to repair damage to his patella tendon, which plagued him through much of last season.
Beltran, as quoted by John Delcos in the Journal 
News…
“I don’t feel 100 percent, but I hope to be by the start of the season. I couldn’t play anymore like that. I didn’t feel pain as much as I did weakness…I just want to be 100 percent and to be able to do a lot more.”
…instead of a jersey number, beltran should just wear the number that matches his health percentage…so, when we see him running down a ball in the outfield with 89 on his back, we know he’s 89 percent healthy…etc…
…last season, i wrote the following…a lot…
…to me, two things are clear, a) beltran can be a great player, but b) when hurt his results will suffer…the problem is that he appears fragile, and i don’t know that these injuries will ever truly go away…he seems like the type of guy who’ll always have some sort of minor agitation…he won’t be on and off the disabled list because i believe he plays through the pain, but there will always be some sort of tweak or tear giving him a headache…he’ll be healthy, locked in, he’ll get hot, and we’ll love him, but then he’ll slump, or get a nagging pain, and he’ll struggle, and we’ll want to boo…and i think this will be the script, over and over again, as long as he’s on the team…
…beltran is too valuable to this team to ever consider trading…he’s a tremendous talent…the thing is, it’s not 2001…i just don’t believe, at age 31, that he’s going to hit .300 and steal 35 bases…the thing is, he’s not going to hit just 25 HR, either…he’s more powerful than that now…and while he is still a very wise base runner, instead, to me, he is this team’s clean-up hitter…or, this team’s very athletic clean-up hitter, who may steal 15 bases, but who is unlikely to hit over .280…it’s all about expectations with beltran…i stopped expecting 2001 from him, and now i seem to appreciate his ability to be a clean-up hitter more…
By the way, in the report by Delcos, Beltran also explains why Johan Santana is such an effective starting pitcher.
In the Philadelphia Daily News, David Murphy talks with Phillies closer Brad Lidge, who is healthy and ready for opening day.
…not for nothing, brad, but you’ll never be ready for that circus…
Manger Charlie Manuel, on Lidge, as quoted by Murphy…
“I know this - I’ve got confidence in him. If we lose a game with a guy like that, we’re getting beat by somebody with a lot of talent and more than likely, if you keep sending him out there and sending him out there, you’re going to win more than you lose.”
In 67 innings for the Astros last season, Lidge was 5-3 with a 3.36 ERA along with 88 strikeouts and 30 walks.
…lidge was a disaster in 2006, but got it together a bit last season…on one hand, i wonder if the trend will continue and so this coming season he’ll be back on track…on other hand, if he could not handle the pressure and hitter’s park in houston, he’s going to get eaten alive in philly, who will rip him to shreds following his first blown save…
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