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Following today’s game, Jerry Manuel announced that Johan Santana will make his first start of the spring this Thursday night against the Marlins.
Santana threw a successful side session today, in which he used all of his pitches, including his slider.
Thursday night’s game will air live on SNY.
Speaking of starting pitchers…
David Lennon of Newsday and Adam Rubin of the Daily News both write that Mike Pelfrey could return to the rotation on Saturday, following a side session on Wednesday.
According to SNY’s Kevin Burkhardt, if all goes well for Pelfrey on Wednesday, he will start on Saturday.
That said, the Mets have yet to confirm Pelfrey’s schedule.
Let’s see how the spindoctors turn this into a bad thing…
The universe is alligning as it should
i can’t wait till Santana has a few mediocre/rough starts for him early in April/May, and everyone gets on him again, and says he’s hiding some injury, or what not. It’ll be funny, because he’ll do exactly what he did last year. Which is be the best pitcher in baseball again for the last 4 months of the season and shut everyone up and turn everyone into adoring fans.
That’s always been his career pattern: .270 ERA in the second half and 3.47 in the first half.
You’re right, though, simple facts like these won’t quiet the masses of ignorance.
His improvement over the course of the season may be related to a lot of things, weather, the feel of his changeup, etc.
That’s always been his career pattern: .270 ERA in the second half and 3.47 in the first half.
You’re right, though, simple facts like these won’t quiet the ignorance.
His improvement over the course of the season may be related to a lot of things, weather, the feel of his changeup, etc.
Quick, now that he seems to be healthy, trade him for Manny! ;-)
Thank god this is surprising i laugh at yankee fans your franchise player is hurt while santana’s back.
Hopefully Pelfrey is fine and his arm is just sore due to being slightly overworked as he builds up strength.
On another note Carlton was in mid season form this morning trying to get a rile from fans regarding Mets pitching performances so far this Spring.
I am mainly concerned with Duaner’s arm speed.
Maine has always been his own worst critic and I’m sure he will fight his way through this as long as he’s healthy.
Perez well hey you can only hope for the best and pray now that he has a contract it will allow him to be the pitcher we al know he can be.
Putz’s last pitch to Bey was clocked at 96mph not bad.
Krod I expect knows how to prepare 4 season and come April 6 will be guns a blazing. (I Hope)
What’s the word on Feliciano?
it’s not Pelfrey’s arm, it’s a strain in a muscle in his lower leg
Sorry bout that thanks for the correction
for the big pelf it could be a brain strain if someone asked him what a donkey punch is lol
All I can tell you about Feliciano you probably already know, which is he hasn’t appeared in a WBC game yet.
hey heb jose oquendo wants his 2 dollars back
Too bad for him. He’s so small, I can just hold him at bay with one arm. He keeps throwing punches at me but his little arms don’t reach. I’m keeping the 2 dollars.
lol he thought you’d say that so he has alex trevino as backup
Uh oh, Trevino.
trevinio had that bandito mustache remember??
First prime time spring training game and Johan is making his first start. The happiest people in the world are SNY producers and advertisers.
Haha! I was thinking the exact same thing when i read this post!
some where bill web is pulling a “caddyshack” na nananananananana
Can the Mets sign a damned lefty releiver already! Beimel and Ohman have been sitting there doing nothing waiting for a team to scoop them up. I’m sick of reading these boxscores and seeing Duaner (i know he’s a righty) get shelled and seeing we have 1 lefty releiver in the entire bullpen and knowing that there are two good ones still available at bargain price. Tell me its just spring training but I’ll take my chances with Beimel over Sanchez any day. I’m not even trying to rag on Sanchez, I want the guy to win a spot. This is more about my frustration with the Mets. I’m paying a ton of money for tickets this year, they play in New York, they have a new stadium, you need a lefty releiver you sign him! Do we need one..maybe, maybe not, but when you pull off the garbage they’ve pulled off the past two years, I would appreciate a little extra insurance. It just pi.s.ses me off how stubborn this team is to spend money.
LoL, I understand your frustration.
All we can do now is hope Minaya knows what he’s doing and all will work out for the best in 09.
Go Mets!!!
Uggggh. Fail.
mr glass half full today arent we fromwhaticangather
mr gla$$ half full today arent we from what i can gather
*yawn* $140 million dollars later… bottom line is we don’t have a great need for a lefty reliever, I think the Mets think, that if Sanchez is able to be the real Sanchez, he can get lefties AND righties out, so why bring in a guy who can only get lefties out? Either way, the need to sign some guy is overrated, we have two guys at the back end who can get anyone out. You won’t see all the matching that went on last year, this year.
From your mouth to God’s ears.
Right now Duaner’s arm speed is my biggest concern.
I agree though a lefty just for the sake of a lefty is not what we need.
mr north jersey first off where in north jersey r ya ? secondly do u think dirty will be released? ( i wonder if he has any options or if he must clear waivers)
Good question I honestly don’t know. I believe Mets can ill afford to wait on Duaner to find himself at Majors but unless another pitcher steps up he might win by default.
As far as what part of N. Jersey I’m from lets just say Garrett Mtn is my neighbor.
Essex!
ahh ok i lived in vernon for 4 years back in the ’80’s
Born in E Orange, mostly raised in Livingston!
im a brooklyn boy !!!
=-)
I don’t agree with you at all. What reason do we have to beleive that Dauner will be effective this year. We already have guys that can get righties out (Putz, K-Rod, Green). I’m not even saying dump Dauner, but make space for one of the two guys. How is Beimel overrated, his stats are spectacular. What happens May 3rd if Feliciano gets hurt. I can tell you without hesitation that theres not gonna be a pitcher as good as Beimel left on the market for them. It’s not just what we need, sometimes when you can it’s nice to go above what you need. You don’t need two dominate closers in your pen, but its nice to have. You don’t need two lefties, but its nice to have. It’s not like this guy is demanding 4 years 15 mil, get the deal done!
Beimel is the definition of a tight-rope walker. The best thing he does is keep the ball in the park (not so tough in LA anyway).
Hitters hit .270 .347 .324 against him last season. That’s way too high of an OBP to sustain the ERA he had. He allowed almost a runner and a half per inning.
His numbers were really resulting from the guys who came in the game after him to put out his fires — after all, he pitched just 49 inning in over 70 appearances.
Duaner is better against lefties than he is anyway.
I was going to say something like that but Wanny2 said it better. 71 baserunners in those 49 innings, it’s a statistical anomaly that his ERA was so low. He can’t keep it up.
JJ gets lefties out just about as well as he gets righties out.
The whole lefty/righty thing, when it comes to pitchers and hitters, is tremendouly overrated in all aspects. Lots of great teams have been lefty or righty heavy.
The whole “handedness” thing, as TRS I believe has named it, is old-fashioned silliness, which will soon be out of fashion, just like primarily judging offense by batting average and pitchers by W-L record.
And read what Wanny has posted below….
The lefty/righty thing is the most overrated thing in the game, and is more and more overrated by fans and not teams. See the lefty-dominated champion Phils adding Ibanez.
very true kingman when we are through with em they will be wearing polyester leisure suits and we will be calling chase fuknutly “mr fabulous !!
Duaner Sanchez v. lefties last season: .200 .292 .330
Joe Beimel v. lefties last season: 278 .330 .311
hahahahahhahahaha, yet his stats are amazing
jeez wanny are those stats skewed in any way shape or form?? lol
Once again..I’m not raggin on Duaner. How about this..tell me the current Mets bullpen as it stands without putz, krod, green, feliciano..okay so lets say you put redding/vallone/livan/garcia(1 of them gets a spot)…its not like you got dominate guys in addition to this. Beimel been solid and has pitched in the post season over the past couple of years.
5th inning John Maine has been taken out bases loaded ryan howard 2-2 game 2 outs, who do you bring in? If you bring in Feliciano you’ve got a lefty loaded phillies club in a tie game for the next at least 3 innings and the Mets don’t have another lefty pitcher in the pen. This is why you could use another lefty.
Why would we remove those four guys from the pen?
The remaining pitchers will be a long man (Redding, Parnell perhaps, Stokes), Sanchez and perhaps a second from the former group.
I say take them out because they’re locks to be in the pen. Its no shocked if K-rod makes the team. I already added a long releiver, i’m assuming one of the losers for the 5th spot will peciled in there. Who knows how Stokes will be? If you hate Beimel so much, than why not Ohman. Why did the Mets let Reyes get scooped up by the Cards? I don’t need to see the mets take a chance with some rookies and older players for 2 bullpen spots, I saw that last year and it wasn’t pretty. You can’t assume that Putz and K-rod are gonna be locks every single night. What if one is tired and can’t go the next day. I like luxury. I say add another lefty who you know has had success. I am usually high on letting rookies with potential fight for a spot, but given the circumstances, I don;t want any tomfoolery this year.
How often does that situation occur? Are you going to build your bullpen over one bizarre circumstance.
So Feliciano finishes the 5th and starts the 6th perhaps. Sanchez is adequate v. lefties to get you through 6-7 if needed. Putz doesn’t care who bats against him in the 8th.
Anytime you go to your pen in the 5th inning it will be weakened.
I don’t think any team should construct it’s bullpen based on a “what if?” scenario that remote. 18 games against the Phillies, how many is Maine even going to start, 4? Is this situation going to come up in 1 of those games, 2 maybe? So you build a bullpen for that?
Alright I’ll just stop now, clearly you’ve got this one Wanny.
Well said Grave….you leave Maine in, and hope he gives you 6 full innings.
LOL! I was thinking the EXACT same thing as I read your post about Wanny taking this one!
It’s nice to know there are like-minded people out there!
You’re up, I gotta get back to work. If my wife finds out she has been home packing up for our move while I’m working late because of Joe Beimel… she won’t be so happy.
That said, Duaner was not very good v. lefties in 2006, .276 .362 .425, but he was nasty v. righties, .179 .275 .226.
No matter what Duaner does/is, Beimel is not very good.
If your content with leaving two spots to be won by aging unproven pitchers (Stokes, Redding) and unproven rookies (Parnell, Neise, Whoever), then your just setting yourself up for another heartbreak. This scenario is not so crazy given that John Maine barely makes it past the 5th half the time and the mets still don’t even have a #5.
Its not even need, but it’s luxury. For once can we not take gambles. The mets have enough gambles. Your telling me you wouldn’t want to have Beimal or Ohman as your 2nd lefty releiver.
I’d probably take Ohman — he’s been serviceable the last couple of years v. righties too (not really his career trend, though).
What I don’t want is any more specialists. You don’t need 7 relief pitchers if the ones you have are capable of pitching entire innings.
I agree you can’t build a bullpen based on 1 starter.
The reality is Mets will likely give Duaner as much time as possible to find himself and get it together.
Just hope he doesn’t cost us too many games in doing so.
It’s not like anyone is stepping up to challenge his roster spot at this time.
Once again Wanny beat me to it. All of the above ruckus was about Beimel. Ohman’s a better choice for the reasons Wanny mentioned. But failing Ohman, yes I’m content with 2 of the 7 bullpen pitchers being relatively unproven. It’s a major league wide phenomenon. The Yankees spend 70 mil more than us and sport a bullpen of Rivera, Marte, Bruney, Albaladejo, Veras, Ramirez and Robertson. Hardly 7 sure things.
But why have two unproven when you don’t need to? It looks like this pen’s gotta have to pitch alot of innings this year. Why not load up.
I think you’ve portrayed it fairly well in that it’s a luxury. Could they do it? Sure. But I think most teams use middle and long relief as a way to break pitchers into the majors, realizing that they won’t be exposed a lot. If the Mets season unfolds as you project, with the bullpen being overly taxed, this team has the resources to acquire a “decent” middle reliever from a team that has fallen out of contention. No urgent need to acquire one now, when he might rot on the bench if things don’t go as poorly as you suggest.
Why give up minor league talent for a more expensive and probally worse pitcher, when you can sign this guy now. If this was 2007 offseason I would agree with you maybe, but after you know whats happened, I think they could stand to add a little extra bulk.
Sorry, got hungry. While I respect Ohman’s work, I don’t know if I’d consider him enough of a sure thing to give him what he wants. If Omar wanted him, I have to believe he would have at least made him an insulting, minor league contract/spring training invite offer, and to the best of my knowledge he hasn’t even done that.
I guess my bottom line is, I don’t think any team can reasonably be expected to plan and implement the plan for the worst case scenario of every aspect of their roster.
If I understand correctly, you’re concerned about the bullpen based on the way last season unfolded and therefore you want to “foolproof it” as best as possible. That’s fair.
But I think subtracting Schoeneweis, Heilman and Ayala, and replacing them with Green, Putz and Rodriguez does that quite well, not only because I consider all 3 of them an upgrade, but also because it pushes the guys who remain into less critical roles, which in my opinion increases their probability for success.
Johan is the best
well he is the best we have – the best we ever had is still the franchise
good evening my friends its time for yer daily dose of “this day in mets infamy with rusty” so lets get goin
happy b-day wishes go out to
former bullpen coach and pedro confidant Guy Conti (1942)
also to the guy who admited that riodger clemens tried to push windstal on him when he and andy were yankmee’s C. J. Nitkowski (1973)
and thats it i guess – oh yeah Mo Vaugn ate a whole domino’s bacon ch-ee-seburgeer pizzia (2001)
One positive of all this performance enhancing/congressional testimony/player v. trainer saga for me is that I’ve learned that CJ Nitkowski is a good interview subject. He seems to be a straight shooter and I’ve enjoyed his input on the FAN.
agreed 100% heb he blew all those pro roger guys out of the water with his candor
Thanks Rusty!
Just wondering, what did Mo have for the main course after he finished that appetizer??
the main course was rico brogna and dessert was darryl boston cream pie
mmmmm darryl boston cream pie !!
LOL! I hope Mo isn’t reading this…if he is, I hope Darryl Boston is far, far away from him….
i can rest easy tonite kong i made u laugh lol -btw hopefully the band im in will be giging soon – its kinda like the dead kennedys meets rush metallica mahavishnu orchestra with a dallop of roxy music and type o negative on the side
uh guys did dirty get shelled bad today? – and if he did i wonder if that opens a door for rocky cherry or signing ohman or bemiel
1IP, 3 H, 1BB, 2 K, 2 R, 1 ER…..pretty typical for Duaner I am afraid…
me thinks dirty will be a pirate before spring training breaks
Well, that is far better than him being a Phil, Brave, Marlin or Yankee!
true – damn we better not release him – i have visions of anderson hernandez and ruben gotay in my head lol
ok guys im outts here !!! cyas tomorrow same kong time same kong station
Have a good one Rusty! The band sounds like an interesting combo….try to add some Jay-Z, Bob Marley, Hank Williams, and Sinatra and you will have ALL bases covered!
I was going to add Willie Nelson but I realized between Bob Marley and Hank Williams, you’ve got Willie’s input covered.
Rusty, good luck with your mates, tough business. Many here won’t be interested, but some of us are so keep us up to date as to how things go.
Good for Johan.
First delivery should be in the environs of Hanley Ramirez’s neck…