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…it’s a pretty quiet day, so check out the following if you’re looking for something to read…
In a post to Mets Fever, Ed Ryan makes a case for signing free-agent Kevin Millar to fill a role on the Mets bench.
…the question is, ed, will the Mets feel the ridiculous need to carry three catchers again, while only using two, like last year…if so, there is no room for millar…if not, and i hope 
not, then millar is a good fit for a variety of reasons, though i think they like Alex Cora…
James at MetsGeek argues in favor of acquiring another left-handed relief pitcher, such as Will Ohman, Dennys Reyes or Joe Beimel.
…i used to think the Mets would sign a guy like this…however, i get the sense they are pretty excited about Sean Green, who they acquired in the J.J. Putz deal…i have heard a few people connected to the team as saying green can be used as a mid-inning, late-game ground-ball machine, who can come in to the sixth or seventh, get a double play, and let putz and Francisco Rodriguez close the door, with Pedro Feliciano and others serving in specialist situations…and, at this point, given some young arms, drifters on the open market, the Rule V picks, and other options, it may make more sense to use those financial resources in other places…
Lastly, in a post to Kiner’s Korner, Gene explains the need for ‘Knockaround Guys,’ like Todd Pratt and Lenny Harris.
Yeah, that’s the problem- the Mets are always looking for “drifters” and bargain basement garbage. There is no reason this team can’t pay 2.5 million for a good left-handed reliever. Absolutely no reason. With the revenue coming in, Fred is practically printing money! Spend it, or sell the team.
They gave Scott Schoenweis a 3 yr, $15 million deal, and he was a disaster, so it’s understandable to see some restraint on signing a guy like Beimel.
We do need another lefty reliever, especially considering that Ibanez is on the Phillies.
agreed about ibanez. how are we gonna get through the phillies order in the 6th/7th innings (with their batters alternating L/R with utley, howard, and ibanez mixed in) with only 1 lefty?
The difference is Ohman isn’t a one out guy, he can pitch to righties and lefties.
I addressed something like this the other day when I argued that the Mets never seem to have a long range plan. This is the way Wilpon works: he gets burned by a 3-year contract at $15 mil, so let’s go bargain basement. The wise thing to do is not necessarily turn away from guys who might command a contract with multiple years and multiple millions, but to define which guys are worth those contracts.
What does Ohman have to do with Show? What does Beimel have to do with Show? Nothing. If those guys don’t have a good track record, don’t sign them to lucrative, multi-year pacts. That was the problem with Show, not just the contract, but more the player who received it!
It’s like that scene in The Jerk where Navin Johnson (Steve Martin) thinks the psycho is shooting at cans, simply because he keeps hitting cans with his shots. A little analysis would be nice once in a while with this team.
it’s not just showenweiss.
History shows that, outside of closers, relievers are rarely consistent. The Rays didn’t have name relievers. In addition, there usually are guys available in season, like Arthur Rhodes was last year.
Since they got the #1 & 2 reliever, I have no issue with not overpaying for a guy just because he is lefty.
Get Starters.
Exactly. Paying big bucks for middle relief is just stupid.
no to kevin millar. the mets already have three players who can play first base in Evans, Murphy, and Tatis.
i would go for a relief pitcher that can pitch to both sides of the plate instead of another specialist.
I agree. If we sign a solid Left Fielder (and that doesn’t have to be Manny), we don’t have to worry about our bench because Evans, Tatis and Murphy are bumped down.
I’d be fine with Millar taking Marlon Anderson’s roster spot.
But they still need someone who can play SS in a pinch to fill what appears to be one bench spot remaining.
I don’t think Nick Evans is a given, he could be better off in AAA playing everyday than being a 4th LF option and once a week 1B…
between Reed, Evans, and Pagan I think we’ll only see one in the bigs at a time. Unless they move/cut Anderson in ST.
k now i’m just confused…Millar isn’t a catcher.
i think cerrone is saying that if the mets decides to carry 3 catchers again like last year, then there will be no space to add Kevin Millar to the roaster and on the bench. millar represents that right handed power bat off the bench and gives delgado a day off against lefty pitchers.
oooh ok that makes sense, thank you for clearing up.
Green is much better against righties then lefties… still seems like we need a lefty
and am I the only one that thinks S-Weiss shouldn’t have went?? lefties did not TOUCH the guy. and he was used in the wrong way last year. if he was just used as a lefty specialist like he’s supposed to be, he would be fine.
I tend to agree. Last year the problem was Wagner was the only one in our bullpen who could get both lefties and righties out so people like Schoeneweiss were used to much against both righties and lefties (29.2 IP against lefties, 27 IP against righties) when he should have only been used against lefties. This year we have both Putz and Rodriguez who can get out both so a guy like Schoeneweis would fit in much better. It seems like we will add another lefty specialist, but I doubt we will get one who as as affective against lefties as Show- .178 BAA and a .81 WHIP.
amen brother. i think that was a bad trade. especially for a guy that prob won’t even make the major league rooster.
That was it? The only problem w/our Pen?
Well, I didn’t necessarily mean that it was the only problem with our pen, but in a way, it absolutely was the only problem. If guys like smith and heilman were as effective against lefties as they were righties, and guys like feliciano and schoeneweis were as effective against righties as they were lefties, we would have had the best bullpen in the league. Obviously that is unrealistic but if they were even close our bullpen would not have been an issue:
Felicialno- .210 BAA, 1.02 WHIP lefties, .357 BAA, 2.21 WHIP righties
Smith- .192 BAA, 1.07 WHIP righties, .320 BAA, 2.25 WHIP lefties
Heilman- .222 BAA, 1.29 WHIP righties, .308 BAA, 2.06 WHIP lefties
Schoeneweis- .178 BAA, .81 WHIP lefties, .333 BAA, 2.00 WHIP lefties
Those differences are mind boggling and the fact that there was only one guy who could get out both was the biggest, and really only problem the pen had.
Right now the Pen is fine w/KRod,Putz,
Green,Sanchez,Feliciano & Parnell or Stokes
Especially because the last 5 won’t have to
try and do jobs they can’t.
Again, You have Johan 200-220inns,
Pelphrey 200inns,Maine 180inns AND
Hopefully Lowe 200-220inns.
Not a whole lot of need to give any other RP
more than a one yr deal.
I agree that getting a legit number 2 like Lowe who will pitch 200 + innings would be the biggest help for the pen. All I was saying about Schoeneweis is that if we do end up getting another lefty specialist (and I’m not saying we absolutely need one) is that whoever we get will not be as good against lefties as Show was. I still feel that he would have been a solid pitcher if he only faced lefties and the way the back end of the pen is set up this year, he would have been able to do that.
you hit it on the nose man, well done.
“however, i get the sense they are pretty excited about Sean Green, who they acquired in the J.J. Putz deal…”
The problem is he is a specialist. Righties can’t sniff him but lefties pound him.
Exactly, it’s basically the same issue we had last year. Except not we have nothing but righty specialists, outside of the 8th and 9th innings of course. We need at least one guy who can get more than one out in middle relief.
while I would like another lefty for depth and long term building of a quality pen (Putz and Dauner Sanchez both could leave after 2009) I am much more comfortable with the ability of Putz and Stokes to get out lefties than I was with Heilman and Sanchez last year.
I dont see how Green factors into the lefty conversation, Bradford and Joe Smith were never very good against lefties and Green will likely be the same.
to me Green and Feliciano make a quality pair of specialists, while Stokes, Putz, and even Sanchez will have to get out batter from both sides of the plate.
the problem is Putz likely will be used exclusively in the 8th inning. So we’ve still got anywhere from 1-3 innings to be concerned about.
Also even though it’s a small sample size Stokes was horrible against lefties last year.
can’t over use sean green…
Should have picked up Millar 2/3 yrs ago.
Don’t need another Lefty RP.
Signing Lowe would be the best help to our
middle inn.RP.With Santana,Lowe&Pelphrey
you should get 650quality inns..
We need a quality, Righty RBI guy who is a corner OFer! Oh,yeah,right we’ve been over that already.
Green has really uneven splits against righties and lefties. He seems like basically an older/slightly better version of Smith, a roogy.
Mets 13 position players if we only sign needs and not wants:
Beltran
Church
Tatis
Reed
Murphy
Schneider
Castro
Delgado
Castillo (or new 2B)
Reyes
Wright
Cora (or a diff. IF backup)
Millar (RH 1B/OF platooner/PH)
Cmon, no one can really expect Muprhy to hit 300 let alone 370 in a full year and you cant rely on Tatis to produce anything like last year (see Jose Valentin, etc) so a guy like Millar or another righty of that kind of ilk makes sense for the bench.
As far as needing a second lefty in the pen…the answer is….maybe….if said lefty is a “specialist” the answer is NO and if they are a legit reliever like green (not smith or feliciano or schow the specialists) than YES. One specialist in the pen is enough, we don’t need 3 from last year and we certainly dont need two from the same side of the plate.
Finally some stuff worth chatting about today.
I agree that Millar would be a great fit off the bench. He has good plate idsipline and can get some good at bats in off of the bench. I also agree that 3 catchers is silly so I would be all for that move.
As little faith as have in Fenliciano, there might be something to pouring our focus on other positions. he changes we made already significantly improvments to thwe pen. If we give sanchez a little chance to get closer to his old form, the 8th and 9th in lock down and if Green can get ground outs in the middle innings, two lefty specialist might be unneeded. We also got a power arm to try out in the Show. deal to try out.
I would rather see the mets spend the money locking up the rotation and bringing in one more bat (preferably from the right side of the plate).
I agree with above….if we were gonna keep a lefty it shoulda been Schow BUT $$ was an issue….feliciano is horrendous, couldnt even get lefties out except in mop up times, 2 years 2 diff excuses for his bad 2nd half’s…when its the 3rd this year hopefully he gets released then.
Feliciano was bad when over used.
Schoenweiss is just a bad pitcher.
Again, With a legit 2/3SP like Lowe here–
No need for more than 1 LRP.
I agree with you. Can’t believe from these postings that that many people believed in Show – he was alousy pitcher, jinx, ineffective-plain bad. Don’t care what his numbers were against lefties – i had no faith in him in big spots regardless of who he was facing. Anybody forget last game of the year and who gave up winning HR to Fla-don’t have to think long. Good bye-good riddance….
The mets don’t seem to hot on him but Joe Beimel seems to be the way to go. We know his capabilities against lefties and righties, but lets remember the only thing we’re looking for is a solid left handed guy to come in in middle relief situations. Beilmel gives you stability in those situations for a decent price, although we haven’t heard much about his asking price in negotioations.
2 years 3.5 mil each? + 4 mil 3rd year option 750 K buyout.
Beimel got by on smoke and mirrors last season.
71 base runners in only 49 innings (71 appearances and 49 innings — yeesh) means he pitched into an awful lot of good luck to keep his ERA down.
The key to specialist is that he has to come in and get his one hitter out. Beimel’s OBP against when facing his first batter last season was .366 compared to his .347 overall number.
That means 36% of the time he comes into face a lefty, that lefty gets on base. No thanks.
Feliciano was terrible last season. But for comparison sake, in 2007 when Feliciano was a very good situational lefty, his first batter had an OPS of .256 (and .304 overall).
OBP, not OPS.
I believe Omar is hoping Sanchez returns to form as another cross over guy to add to Krod/Putz. He was pretty good the first half of last year and then obviously ran out of gas the second half.
Sanchez-Putz-Krod is a pretty good 7-9 combo and really nixes the need for another LOOGY.
Im sure I read that somewhere, either here or in another media outlet btw.
I’ve read that as well, Omar is relying on Sanchez to be better than last year. (maybe relying is too strong a word) He said something like ‘Dauner is the kind of guy you have to wait to come back to form’
That said, I think a full year of Stokes in the pen will be a plus. He didnt struggle against lefties.
Best cast scenario Stokes, Sanchez, Putz and K-Rod gives you a rotation of 3-4 quality relievers every day. If one struggles then you have to balance overuse with inferior results by others… If two struggle then it will be like last year when Wagner was healthy.
Stokes did too struggle vs. lefties last year:
BAA: .316 OBA: .379 SLG: .509 OPS: .888
his splits in the minors are much more even so maybe it was just skewed because of the sample size.
Please… no more 1 batter pitching LOOGYs. Feliciano is enough. Let Sanchez strike out a left handed hitter. And if he can’t go out and get a guy like Juan Cruz.
Brandon Lyon is another available guy. His career splits show he’s equally effective against lefties and righties and in his last two seasons was better against left handed hitters.
Lyon or Guardado would be great additions. As for the offense if we could get Wiggy and Grudzy I would be satsified.
so you want 2 MORE closers and 2 starting 2B’s as backups….yeah and id like 3 more aces in the rotation too…..for someone with THEREAL in their name sounds like fantasy to me….
Lyon and Guardado are hardly closers. Guardado has not done so in years and Lyon has not proven effective in that role — and I dobut either are shopping themselves as such.
how can anyone in the right mind say sanchez was good in the first half of last year and then also say Schow su-cked….Schow was our best reliever in the first half, by far, especially after the Wagner BS streak in May.
Sanzhez was never good last year and if he is given one of the 7 RP slots this is gonna be a long year….if he is one of 8 or 9 pitchers brought in to COMPETE for the 4 remaining bullpen slots (krod, putz, green the others) than fine, and if he wins it great, and same with stokes, no one from last year gets handed a spot in this years pen, thats what we did last year with the 07 rejects minus my favorite worthless mota and look what happened….bring em all back just make them compete and earn it, no more free pas-ses for a guy like sanchez who currently is as good of a pitcher as I am
Before the break:
3.57 ERA in 40.1 innings pitched
After the break
6.00 ERA in 18 innings.
thats how i can say he pitched well in the first half
DID HE PITCH BETTER THAN SCHOW…..NO!
As far as bench backs I’d much rather have Hinske than Millar.
Everybody posts their views on their ideal team so heres mine.
Delgado
Wright
Reyes
Beltran
Church
Sneider
Left Feilder (Dye, Manny, Byrnes possibly Dunn)
Eckstein-He’s a cheap alternative at 2nd. I think him and Murphy can work together and feed off his vetern presence. This also allows for there to be no need for a utility infeilder. Along with 2 cause capable at 2nd. As we all know Eck is expierience at short for a game or 2 when Reyes is off. 3rd can also be handeled by Tatis or Murph for the same once in a blue moon rest of Wright. Same to go with 1st.
Bench:
Castro
Tatis
Murphy
Pagon or Reed
Millar(#1 PH and back-up at 1st, who knows what to expect from Delgado)
Pitching:
1.Santana
2. Pelfrey
3. Lowe(hopefully, but if not get Perez)
4. Maine
5. Redding/Marqouis/mabe Sheets
Bullpen:
K-Rod
Putz
Beilmel (say 2 years 3.5 mil per 3rd yr. option 4 mil 750 k buyout. If not go with Rhodes/Reyes. Or see if George Sherril is availible from Balitmore.
Sanchez
Feliciano
Green
Stokes/Parnell/ Muniz (in that order)
**also have Figueroa, Niese and Kunz ready is someone goes down
I’m not sure Eckstein represents much of an upgrade over Castillo.
And Murphy can’t play 2B and he sure isn’t going to learn to by sitting on the bench.
Those of us (which does not include me) who want to see Murphy at 2B will have to accept that he would need to spend the season in the minors — if he is even physically capable of playing the position (there are doubters).
You seem fairly critical on every post you make considering you never put fowarth your own ideas and opinions. But ok,
Thats why I suggested working Murphy there. He is a natural infeilder and has worked there before. I am however suggesting him and Eck share time so he can learn from a vetern infeilder to also fill some gaps.
I tend to agree with the earlier comment- The Mets believe Sanchez will be a force again, but this time as a 7th inning guy
How did I contradict that in my post?
I still believe Sanchez can be a fairly productive pitcher.
i like it
I like Millar but no need for him when you got Murphy & Tatis. Freddy Coupon needs to stop being cheap and get Manny or trade for someone like Ordonez.. Attendance will not come close to 4 million this year and it wont be because the economy. It will be because inflated ticket prices. Do something right get Manny you piece of garbage.