|
|
|
In a minor-league rehab assignment, Jose Valentin had five hits, including three doubles, in 11 at bats while playing for Single-A St. Lucie this past weekend.
Valentin will next be promoted to Triple-A New Orleans, where he’ll play first base and left field.
…honestly, the sooner this guy gets back to Shea Stadium the better…
…according SNY’s Gary Cohen, among others, valentin played an integral role in motivating Jose Reyes and the team’s locker room…from what i can gather, he has a breezy, professional, inspirational way about him, and things have not been the same since he left in 2007…
Valentin has not played for the Mets in the regular season since July 20 of last season.
Prior to his injury, the Mets played eight games over .500, while playing just two games over .500 after the injury.
Similarly, Reyes hit .304 with Valentin by his side, but hit just .248 after his injury.
Cant reyes motivate himself by now..geez.
Talk about toughness from the stache..could have called it quits a while back but is still in there, that resilient attiude is what this team needs.
My thoughts exactly. I can understand when Reyes first came up that he might need a mentor (Wright had Super Joe), but he’s been in the bigs for what? 4 years now? Is he that much of a headcase that he needs someone constantly by his side to motivate him?? In that case, make Valentin the bench coach and be done with it. The last thing this team needs is another late-30s, injury prone veteran on the field.
yeah, praise him for that, and meanwhile everyone dumps on Pedro for doing exactly the same thing, except probably even tougher since he had a reconstructive surgery invented for his throwing surgery just to allow him to function again. Yet Matt wants him to “get healthy already and earn his money.”
I was also surprised by the “get healthy already and earn his money” comment. It’s atypical. I understand the frustration but the response is a little disappointing, considering the source. (It’s the kind of thing I typically expect to find in the Comments section between “FIRE WILLIE!!!” and “Del-GOD-NO Sux!!!)
exactly, I didn’t expect it from Matt, but there’s a lot Matt has done in the past couple of months I didn’t expect. It was kind of disgraceful in my eyes.
You know if it were our job to cover the Met’s 24 hours a day, I guess we would be a little testy too. Whenever I get tired of the junk posters on this blog I can just take a break, he can’t. So for now I give him a pass but I have noticed a change recently.
Lets not forget this guy was getting booed worse than Delgado at Shea not too long ago. I can’t let myself get excited about another 40 year old “savior” for this team. However, big props to Jose V. as his mental toughness is exactly what the guys on this team need.
Preach on, brother-man.
Bring back the Stache!!!
40 years old or not, I would rather have him in my lineup than Endy, Luis Castillo, Alou/Evans (everyday anyway). I would also rather have him on my bench and in my clubhouse than Fernando Tatis, Raul Casanova, and Damian Easley.
I’d rather see him at first than Carlos Kingman any day of the week.
Exactly! he can’t be any worse defensively, and if he bats over .215 he’s an offensive upgrade….
C’mon, kids, let’s be honest: Jose Valentin is not gonna be the savior. Yes, Reyes had a higher batting average when Valentin was there. To that I say: Valentin got hurt a little while after the Mets started stinking last year. They played 4 games under .500 from June 1-July 20, all with Valentin in the lineup.
So let’s not overstate his impact.
We all know this team’s problems: bad in-game manager, over-the-hill first baseman, inconsistent hitting up and down the lineup, inconsistent pitching from Perez, bad pitching from Pelfrey, not-quite-Santana-like pitching from Santana, injuries to Alou and Pedro, terrible relief work from Heilman, the fact that Luis Castillo’s batting average is entirely reliant on whether his ground balls get past the second baseman, and lack of organizational depth in the outfield.
So let’s not get into how Jose Valentin’s clubhouse presence will energize the Mets. You know what will energize the Mets? Good hitting. Good pitching. Good defense. Good baseball.
I know sports journalism loves a human-interest story, but I doubt Jose Valentin is going to light a fire under their butts. Though I do reserve the right to believe that a new manager very well might.
Yeah I think things are not looking good if we’re relying on Jose Valentin to jump start our offense. He was valuable in ‘06, yes, but, call me crazy, I’m not going to get my hopes up that anything will be different. Doing so just leads to too much heartache.
Make porn stache the manager !!!
i just want to see him in the mets dugout, whether it be a bat off the bench or in a coaching role. lets make some changes to this team, and lets start with the stache!!!
so now we’re going to pin our hopes to jose valentin?? come on
Why not? What else is there to do?
hey, March 30th whoever cared if this guy was even still alive, now hes a savior, welcome back soon stache
i believed him to be juicing in 06 and honestly if itll help him return to that role, go ahead, never stopped some other guys from breaking records or beating the met sin te world series, why not use it to at least just be a spark plug
the reason Jose was so valuable in ‘06 wasn’t because he had more power, he’s always had power, it was because he started hitting for avg. and not as much power. Even so, how was he using steroids if he was being tested? Or are you speaking of HGH, the miracle drug that does nothing?
well the fact that he broke down continuously all of last season and then the start of this season was a possible indication of it. perhaps he was just hot, regardless, i doubt he’ll return to 06 form, and obviously using the roids was a joke, just reaching for sum way to get this team going.
“Or are you speaking of HGH, the miracle drug that does nothing?”
You’re kidding, right? It’s common knowledge that it increases strength and mucular recovery. There’s also evidence that it improves eyesight. Yeah, none of that really sounds all that helpful to a baseball player…
I feel like a microcosm of the Yankees. “Quick! Gather as many players from a winning year as possible! It’s the only way!”
We should sign Scott Brosius and Paul O’Neil, in the case.
Go ahead and DL Church and bring up Carp. Then when Church returns you trade or release Delgado and let Evans and Carp platoon at 1B (If Alou ever returns otherwise let them both play.)
By the way just go ahead and trade Endy, he has absolutely no value to this team right now. We need hitting not a way backup OF. Let Valentin take his place for now.
Are we trying to at least get a wildcard or rebuild?? They don’t have a $137 million payroll to play 2 double A guys at firstbase.
Maybe in Sept if they’re way, way out of it. Otherwise that just shouldn’t happen.
And yea, lets trade Endy when his value is at its worst. Good thinking. His defense alone is worth keeping him around.
He can’t hit and our offense stinks. You don’t need a defensive replacement when you don’t have many leads to protect.
Besides that, what purpose does Delgado serve if by the time Church is off the DL he is still hitting around .200?
What does payroll have to do with it? You have already spent the money and it’s not producing. It’s not the offseason so you can’t just go out and spend more money on a replacement, there are none.
Again, the Mets have invested in a lot of short term stocks that were expensive and have failed. They come off the books this fall, why not see what you have in their replacements.?
Who is talking about full rebuiding mode? Replacing Delgado and covering for an injured Alou is rebuilding?
Playing 2 guys from Double A w/ the payroll and expectations this team has is naive this early in the season. It’s just not going to happen. Endy has another year on his contract and has minimal trade value at this point. And you don’t just cut him. Evans & Carp aren’t starting for us next year let alone this year. You should know how NY operates by now. And quite frankly, I’d still prefer Delgado in our lineup if he’s hitting 7th and Alou & Church are healthy than going w/ Carp or Evans, who are complete unknowns. Besides, they’ll sooner get a guy like Hatteberg if they did cut Delgado than go w/ Carp.
I am out of patience waiting for delgado to start showing some consistency at the plate. While I do believe he is trying hard, I think time has caught up with him. This team needs some youth to inject some energy… At this point we have nothing to lose. We are under .500 and not that far from last place…
HoJo even though you were one of my favorite players… you need to go as well. The biggest problem with this team is offense.
“consistant” offense..we can score 9 runs in a game but cannot score it or close to that consistantly
I agree, Delgado is not going to be a difference maker for this year’s team. Why not get rid of him and see what you have with Evans and Carp? Then you know what you have to have next season.
Again, what does payrole have to do with it? It’s already spent. You are not giving up when you bring up a guy from the minors to replace a guy who is batting .200.
Yes, offense is a problem. But how can people complaining about offense say in the same breath they want 2 double A guys out there playing. How is that going to help. Letting 2 double A guys take their lumps will be just as counterproductive.
Because Delgado is a nonfactor at this point. Why not bring up those guys and see what you have? Maybe one of those guys can hit .260? That would be a 60 point improvement and it would shake up the team. It’s worth a try, it’s not like Delgado is suddenly going to wake up this season and hit .260 and have 30 HR.
Delgado is on pace for about 29 homers and 78RBI’s. Carp & Evans won’t match that and Church & Alou would see even less pitches to hit. I know people are frustrated with Delgado but playing two Double A guys in June is ludicrous.
With an OBP of .294. Besides based on his normal plate apperances he is on pace for 24 and 74. Do I think that AA guys could come in and hit that many HR? No. That many RBI’s, only if the rest of the lineup continues not to produce thus leaving runners on for the 7 spot. Think how many RBI’s he would have if he were hitting .265 with a .333 OBP?
I still want Delgado over double A guys in a possible wildcard push. If it’s late in the season and they are out if it, then fine but it’s too early to write the season off and regardless of what you think, playing 2 double A guys would send the message that they are cashing it in this season. They may try to upgrade LF knowing Alou is always hurt. And Delgado getting DFA’d by the All-Star break is also possible. But their replacements, if they’re still in striking distance will be established major leaguers like a Millar or Hatteberg.
I still disagree, maybe it sends a message to the rest of the team or gets a different attitude in the clubhouse. It’s worth it just to try because at this point he is a nonfactor.
addition by subraction… just look at marlins… GMEN
That would shake up the team a bit..Highly unlikely if they are JUST discussing demoting heilman…Really dont know what they are waiting for.
trade endy and delgado? to which team? no one wants delgado, “his bear is weird” and endy is no more than a gold glove with a little league bat
I am sure there would be a market for Endy. It would not be much but he has no value to this team right now. You are not going to send him to AAA and we need more than just a no hit backup OF right now with Alou out.
As for Delgado, offer picking up almost all of the salary in return for another salary dump. Similar to the deal for Mota. If not then just release him.
I like it. Especially the Carp Idea.
Never mind, Dany 1986 agreed with me. I must be wrong, LOL.
dude…….
porn stache!
porn stache!
porn stache!
Best attempt to be optimistic…
It looks like the Mets are playing just about everyone at 1B/LF, which at least is a recognition of the problems that Delgado is worthless and Alou is perpetually absent.
Valentin is old just like the rest of them, but at least he is a switch hitter and can fill in at 2B also.
Jose Valentin, Jose Lima, makes no difference right now. this team is just in depression.
after controversies, the threat of losing jobs and close door meetings, other people usually come out fighting. Nope, not our team. They came out to get punched in the face. *sigh*
yea willie wanted out of the meeting because he had a baseball game to coach!! laughable. the man was gunna go down to the field and say and do nothing. he should have stayed in the office.
The power of the Stache!
I’m willing to try anything to turn this team around, let’s sacrifice a chicken while we are at it, maybe it will get Delgado going.
Who would much rather see Valentin and second base than Castillo?
Valentin
Me. Without question.
Me three.
Me too.
Just look at my name. It’s the countdown to days he has remaining on his contract. The guy is a bum. Even the RBI single he had against Colorado on Saturday, look at where the outfielders were playing him….about 90 ft behing 2B. Can’t have that.
cmon, he’ll hit A homerun this year. wait he already did that. OUTFIELDERS IN ON THE GRASS!
infielders***
Please stop.
“played an integral role in motivating Jose Reyes”
Jose Reyes is not a little kid who needs a big brother to help him deal with the mean ol’ major leagues. He’s a grown-up, major league ballplayer in his 6TH (!) season. We’re supposed to waste a roster spot every year so Jose has someone to mentor him? Self motivate Jose. It’s time.
“the sooner this guy gets back to Shea Stadium the better”
Enough of these stories too. I don’t care anymore who is NOT here. It’s about the players who ARE here. One or two players returning is not going to make a difference if the current roster can’t overcome their stink of failure.
Regardless of whether he *should* need motivation, he apparently *does*. If its makes 60 point difference in his average and fewer errors by having Valentin around, keep him around.
Make him a coach then.
Valentin will be a coach someday – and a good one at that. His physical ability would make him a far player, but his baseball intelligence and unbelievable instincts make him a very good player (when healthy). That intelligence will make him a very good manager, should he want to pursue that option.
FAIR player
my bad
Jose Valentin may not be the savior of the Mets, but he is a start. Even with Valentin’s balky knee I would rather have him at second base than Castillo. With Delgado’s batting average dipping under the Mendoza line maybe the Mets can get rid of Delgado in a package or by buying him out.
Valentin as first base would not be a bad idea.
If we are weighing who to buy out or replace here between Castillo and Delgado, and money is no object, I think the answer is Castillo. The guy should not be a major leaguer. At least Delgado still has the ability to change a game with one swing of the bat. Castillo can’t hit, can’t run (anymore), has limited range, and makes some bonehead plays.
Delgado has the same problems, but at least he has a little power. Dump Castillo.
Is it just me or does everyone in the minors play 1B and Left field? If that is the case, why do we still play Delgado every day?
It’s interesting that Delgado has hit timely home runs – in his 3-game home run streak, 2 out of those 3 gave the Mets the lead (once against the Braves, once against the Rockies). Too bad the homers haven’t happened often enough, and his batting has sucked the rest of the time.
Exactly. Not only do we have Evans and Valentin, but also Carp and Murphy too. There is no excuse. End the Delgado era. We have to pay him no matter what. Do they actually think he will turn it around, or is it just Omar’s ego? Methinks the latter.
I dont think it can be dimissed that with Valentin around this team’s locker room was more sound, he appeared to be the driving force in outing Julio Franco, so perhaps he might just be the glue that binds things together, one thing you can’t overlook, this team was mediocre in 2005, mediocre until Valentin become a starter in 2006 and mediocre when he went down in 2007.
It is mediocre now. He might not bat them to great heights but perhaps he is a good conduit for the coaching staffs message and routines to get to the players.
Bottom line is if we want Jose Reyes to have the career we expect of him, Jose Valentin either needs to play until hes 70, become the manager, OR REYES NEEDS A PSYCHIATRIST LIKE THE REST OF THIS TEAM OF HEAD CASES. Im so sick of these posts of old injury prone veterans being the saviors of this team only for them to get hurt again. How about the saviors of this team being REYES,WRIGHT,BELTRAN,MAINE,SANTANA,AND PEREZ. How about our younger players step it up and stop being cry babies and we stop relying on 40 year olds who can barely walk, how about that?
you forgot church..
You are right, I did. Church is definitely included
Reyes is a big baby. No other way about it. A lot of us have been saying it since he pouted his way through the 2007 Season. Talent he’s a 10. Maturity he’s a 10-year old. Suck it up Reyes you big, rich, baby.
Show us where Reyes has been saying he needs Valentin back…and he slumped, he did not pout, but please continue down the road of making stuff up to make the situation either more comfortable for yourself or just worse for the sake of argument.
Anyone with Eyes would notice Reyes is hitting .300 with a .900 OPS in May, his troubles at the plate appear to have been overcome.
I believe it has been pointed out that Reyes’ number since being benched in 07 were not up to his level. On numerous broadcasts since then the crew has made mention of this fact as well. This is not fiction.
Maybe it’s not affecting him as much as we think. I don’t think Reyes is asking for a mentor, that part is speculation. I am just saying that his play has been mediocre since the benching and one would tend to take that as him not being mature enough to handle the pressure of being a MLB player as much as he should.
That makes no sense however. If he were still sulking over being benched last year then how does that accomodate for the nights that he has done well? Willie come give him a big pep talk those nights or Valentin call him up on the phone?
Who knows? I think that’s what we’re all trying to say in our own convoluted way.
It’s like a passover question: “Why is Jose different on this night than all other nights?”
At this point, I’d try anything to get this team going. Send him on up!
While I think Valentin is better than a few of the players on the team right now, I really do hate the ‘just wait until _____ gets here.’ Pedro, Alou, Valentin, etc etc. What when they do get here? And what about when they get injured again?
I am torn about this… Last year, Valentin showed that he has very little left. Why hog up a roster spot with him? He’s not even on the 40 man, so you’d have to make a move there.
On the other hand, do we need him and Pedro to change a bit of the attitude here?
I am starting to come to grips with the fact that this is going to be a mediocre season and they will ride it out with what they have. Then, you can retool, reload or whatever, mix in some youth, and get a better product on the field in 2009. I know it is early, but the team is structured in such a way that even if they did do well in 2008, due to age, contracts, etc., 2009 was going to look a lot different teamwise.
As for Jose, man, his head is real jumbled right now. We are starting to see signs of him hitting, but the fielding… yikes.
I refuse to believe that this team’s success on the field and a high clubhouse morale rests on the shoulders of one Jose Valentin.
I’m sorry, but it’s just can’t be that simple.
The Mets clubhouse crumbled into chaos and finger pointing when they lost Ray Knight who was a power broker of personalities while here for Davey Johnson.
A single guy can effect the day to day mood at times, just keep guy lose and more at ease.
Though I agree that Knight was a key in the clubhouse, The drop-off known as the ‘87 mets were a far more complicated story than just the absence of Ray Knight. You still had Kid, Mex, and Mookie in the clubhouse. And c’mon…whatever kinight contributed in the clubhouse was aptly replaced on the field by a guy who went 30/30 that year.
- Doc’s drugs.
- Carter’s decline.
- Major injuries to the pitching staff.
- Cashen’s need to make a great team better (trading for McReynolds) and having it blow up in his face.
It was a powder keg of issues…not just Ray Knight’s absence.
Yeah, we’re going to be saved by Pedro Martinez and Jose Valentin. In 2008. Good luck with that.
any other suggestions?
Bring back Pedro’s midget. Oh wait he’s dead.
remember when our second baseman hitted 18 homeruns in just 300+ at bats, we could only dream about it now
Remember when anderson hernandez was our opening day second baseman, and he couldn’t hit a fastball, or any other pitch for that matter? Those were the days.
I’ll take Stache every day of the week.
You left out gold glove caliber defense.
Perhaps the most underrated part of Valentin’s 2006 season was his defense (which people were worried about).
Valentin has a hard nosed approach to the game. He hit 18 HR out of the 8-hole. That is what gave the Mets so much strength in their lineup…its length.
sounds more useful as a manager! Those are adjectives you won’t use to describe Willie, and for sure he doesn’t have a positive influence on JR.
Of course, it continue the aging process, aince they already have a fill in 1B/LF on the roster who is about 15 years younger.
Heck, maybe Omar can pull a bombshell off and trade Castillo, and plug Valentin back in for the rest of the year!
Right then Valentin of course gets injured on day 1 because he is 402 years old and Anderson Hernandez is starting at 2nd. Great plan.
They have other options in the minors that they can use.
As long as Castillo is gone, I don’t care if you play 2B!
Again, I don’t see the hate for a role player Castillo. He still gets on base and plays good defense. There is no one in the minors that could do even what he is doing when he is struggling.
Castillo is the least of our offensive probs… If wright | beltan | delgado produced consistently we would never even mention him… granted his numbers aren’t great but you can definitely live with them…
Exactly, his numbers would look much better if Reyes was not bipolar. We did not bring him in to do much more than what he is doing.
thereal,
that’s not a horrible option. anderson hernandez can’t be worse than luis castillo at this point. i would make that swap today.
You honestly think a guy who is hitting .195 with a .252 OBP on a AAA team in a hitters league is going to hit .260 with a .361 OBP?
Take your personal vendetta else where.
That’s no typo Anderson Hernandez numbers in triple A are horrible… Castillo is the least of our offensive probs. How about Delgado come up yesterday and get a hit rather than a sac fly…
stickguy,
I am completely with you on this. His defense isn’t what it used to be. He can’t hit for average. He can’t hit for power. He has lost speed. He has lost range. He hasn’t bunted in the clutch situations that we’ve called upon him to bunt in.
While it’s true, that if others were pulling their weight, this wouldn’t be an issue….the fact remains that others aren’t pulling their weight. Oh, and we have 1311 days left of this.
I know you can’t use errors alone to judge a players defense but he has less errors than Hudson or Utley. He is also 2nd on the team in steals and #4 in OBP. He is leading the team in walks and has the least amount of K’s all while he is struggling. Is he an allstar, no. He is a role player. Pick on the stars that are struggling not our light hitting 2nd baseman.
Whoever said to sacrifice a chicken, just might be on to something . . . we need some voodoo baseball mojo
I stuck up for you, Jobu. You no help me now…I say f**k you, Jobu. I do it myself.
loll
mother nature craps on jobu
Everything those hoping Pedro and Valentin to do should are parts of Willie’s job description. I don’t know about you guys, but I would get fired for that.
your job is probably vastly different than that of a baseball manager and does not include you posting on metsblog…
Wow, all of the Reyes bashing. Do you guys have dinner with him every night to have such keen insights? Just because someone has been in the majors for a few years doesn’t mean they wouldn’t benefit from some mentoring. If Reyes is a steadier player due to Valentin being there, why does that make him a “head case” or in need of a psychiatrist? Do you guys *ever* take advice from someone who has more experience than you, or do you know everything already? I hope I’m not considered a “head case” just because I have more to learn. Sheesh.
This is his SIXTH season in the Majors. When does he stop needing a babysitter? When he’s a 10-and-5 veteran?
Who says he needs a babysitter? Has he come out and asked for a babysitter? You guys act like you know exactly what he needs, when you don’t know him at all. If he can glean any information from Valentin to become a more complete major leaguer, I’m all for it. Why you guys think that means he needs a babysitter is beyond me. Maybe Castillo should babysit for him again, so we can read all the posts about their late night clubbing again. Sheesh, part deux.
YEAH! Yet another old, injury-prone Latino.
JUST WHAT THEY’VE BEEN MISSING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Not to mention the prime goat in the 06 NLCS. Cretin couldn’t even make contact when it counted. But THIS is the guy to suddenly motivate a team full of goats and chokers?
Oh, and if Reyes can’t play w/o his mentor or his daddy or whatever the hell their relationship is, it’s yet another reason to ship him out. Lets get some self-motivating adults in this clubhouse please!
Reyes for Kazmir?
Reyes is the baseball version of an idiot savant
Boy, you’re leaving a floating, hangin curve ball over the plate with this comment…
instead of castillo, we should have had a platton with valentin, easily and gotay in second base,…damn I hate when castillo is batting, he cant pull a freaking ball
You must really hate Easley and Gotay because they are all hitting worse than he is and they really can’t play deffense. In fact every single player you mentioned (using last year’s stats for Valentin) are worse hitters than Castillo.
Let’s call a spade a spade here. None of those players are worse hitters than Castillo.
Who are you more confident in at the plate?
Castillo vs. Easley
Castillo vs. Gotay (last year)
Castillo vs. Valentin (last year)
It depends on the situation.
And based on this season’s numbers and career averages YES Castillo is a much better hitter.
How do you platoon 3 players?
Somewhere Nelson 2XDay must be having himself a good ol’ belly laugh at Fred’s latest mess
Why?
You really don’t know?
You know, if Nelson REALLY cared, he could have jumped in anytime to make the buy, he was however just looking to get a bigger offer than Wilpon would give.
wow. so it has come to this.
Our savior is a 40 year old middle infielder who hits .240 for his career and has a 2 to 1 K/BB ratio.
How about barry bonds folks? stick him at 1B.
Regardless of how old he is, how much better or worse he is than Castillo or if he is needed to mentor Reyes, the one thing I observe with Valentin is that everytime he is asked to play, he plays with heart and passion. I have never come away after watching him play that he mailed it in, was bored or whatever else some of the other players are labeled as doing. I think Valentin would provide some spark, even if it is short lived.