Daily Archives: August 11, 2009
The Mets continue their series against the D-Backs tonight at 9:40 pm, with Livan Hernandez (7-6, 5.08 ERA) taking on Max Scherzer (6-6, 4.01 ERA).
Cory Sullivan will hit leadoff tonight, followed in order by Luis Castillo, Fernando Tatis at third base, Daniel Murphy, Jeff Francoeur, Jeremy Reed in center field, Alex Cora at shortstop, and Brian Schneider behind the plate.
Again, Gary Sheffield will ride the bench…
The Mets have lost nine of their last 12 games, during which their starting rotation has a 5.57 ERA.
Hernandez has allowed at least seven runs during three of his last six starts, including his last start against the Padres.
Scherzer let up four runs in four innings against the Mets last week.
Andrew Marchand blogs on 1050 ESPN Radio about the future of Omar Minaya, Jerry Manuel, John Ricco and Bobby Valentine.
Marchand writes, “Minaya could be reassigned so Ricco is the face of the front office, while Minaya still plays a vital role in player personell.”
…i talked with someone close to the team today, who basically said ownership knows a change is needed, as they’re not happy with what has transpired since 2006, and they do not like the direction things are going… i have no idea what that specifically means, but, if i had to guess, it would mean something like marchand is writing about…
Marchand also writes about what he calls the The Bobby Valentine Brigade, i.e., the New York media.
Tagged Omar Minaya |
Shannon Shark of Mets Police re-lists 15 things the Mets should do to Citi Field, or as he calls them, “New rituals for a new building.”
Shark requests, ‘Organ music,’ writing, ‘The season started promising and then the noise idiots started getting carried away again. This will be an easy fix once I buy the team.’
…i’m with you, shannon… i noticed this over the weekend when watching the games in San Diego… sure, every now and then Petco would rip in to ‘Everybody Clap Yo Hands,’ but, for the most part, it was organ music… and, i wondered what it must be like to watch a baseball game in person, while also being able to have a conversation about the game without shouting…
Last night, Jerry Manuel had the following to after the game, when speaking about Mike Pelfrey, who allowed five runs in six innings against the D-Backs:
“He was OK, but nothing great… I would say when you see his stuff you still get excited, but there has to come a time of maturation or development where there has to be some consistently – and we’re just not getting that from him… He is a product of being inconsistent. The inconsistently is a concern, the stuff is not. We feel very confident that what he has is good enough to compete, but we need to see it on a more consistent basis, and we’re not seeing that.”
The thing is, the same can essentially be said for John Maine and Oliver Perez, as well… and, that would be OK, if Maine, Pelfrey and Perez didn’t make up the majority of what will likely be next season’s rotation.
The Mets have question marks in that rotation, let’s be honest. I think it’s unrealistic at this point to expect one of those three to magically figure it out during the off season, so to be relied upon to be a consistent, number two starter to team up with Johan Santana. Jon Niese was going to give one of those guys a run, as might even Bobby Parnell. That, however, does nothing to give Santana a legit partner in crime – in fact, it does the opposite.
The Mets cannot go in to next season again with Santana, a fifth starter like Livan Hernandez, two rookies and three guys named Hope, Potential and Someday.
Last off season, I suggested the Mets get a reliable, consistent, top-of-the-rotation starter, like Derek Lowe. Instead, they re-acquired the absolute opposite.
I believe Santana is the best pitcher in baseball. The Mets need to give him a true partner, a proven number two, who can be counted on every fifth day, anwho together will stop any looming losing streaks.
Yes, I too would love to believe Maine, Pelfrey and Perez will mature in to that type of pitcher, but the Mets can’t keep building their rotation around hope.
Tagged Mike Pelfrey |
In a report for Newsday, David Lennon wonders if the crosshairs will soon end up on Jerry Manuel.
…like i have said before, manuel’s fate is tied to omar… if omar stays, i suspect manuel will stay too… however, if omar is replaced, manuel’s fate is totally up in the air – as it should be… i do believe he’s done a good job, to date, considering the number of injuries he has had to deal with… that said, a lot will depend on how the team finishes… if the team quits on him, i bet he’s toast, as will be omar… also, players should be in the crosshairs too, in that scenario, because it will technically be the third year in a row this group of players went flat at the end of the year, there will need to be more than just a shake-up from above… i mean, maybe the late-season laziness is coaching, maybe it’s the players, but either way it’s unacceptable and way too frequent…
…anyway, if manuel is fired, i think it’s quite clear i hope for the return of Bobby Valentine… here’s the reality: if the Mets are going to have a limited budget this off season, and do not plan to make any major, big-name acquisitions, either because of money or a lack of supply, or a lack of talent to trade in return, Bobby V could be more than enough, on his own, to inspire and excite fans in the off season, because we’ll know 2010 will be entertaining if nothing else…
In today’s Daily News, Adam Rubin cites high-ranking, team personnel as saying John Ricco will ultimately emerge as the team’s next GM.
Ricco has been Minaya’s assistant GM since 2004.
I wrote the following yesterday, here, “If the Mets decide to let Minaya go, from what I understand, they’ll be most inclined to make Ricco the new GM, but pair him up with a strong, heavy-weight talent person, like a Gerry Hunsicker, and do like the Yankees did in the 90s, who teamed up a young business-mind in Brian Cashman with a veteran talent-mind in Gene Michael.”
In addition to Cashman, Rubin also points out how Rays GM Andrew Friedman, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein and Rangers GM Jon Daniels have similar academic, and not scouting, credentials, like Ricco.
…this is the new model, it seems… the game has changed, and the job of the GM is seemingly less eye-ball, talent evaluation, and more business, budgets, contracts, management, etc., though the talent end is still very much needed… and so, the new trend seems to be, to have a strong scouting and player development wing, which makes recommendations to the administrative GM, who then delegates and makes things happen… all while a separate person runs the off-field, stadium and marketing operations…
In his report, Rubin also looks at how much money the Mets will have to spend this off season, while detailing Ricco’s experience in baseball.
Speaking of management…
According to the Buffalo News, Omar Minaya said yesterday that Adam Wogan would temporarily replace Tony Bernazard.
Tagged Omar Minaya |
Billy Wagner threw 14 pitches in a scoreless inning yesterday for Single-A St. Lucie.
He has not allowed a run in five rehab appearances.
…according to eyewitnesses, wagner hit 92 mph on the radar gun, but had good command, while mixing in some off-speed pitches as well…
…from what i can gather, wagner was supposed to pitch again tomorrow, making for back-to-back appearances… however, that has now been delayed to Wednesday and Thursday…
Jerry Manuel told reporters last night that he met with specific players individually, immediately following the game, to discuss their sloppy play and poor effort.
“We were a bad team tonight,” he said.
“It was a very poor effort on our part, very poor effort. Despite maybe not having what we’d like to have, you know, this is still the major leagues and we have to perform better than that.”
…to me, it looked like the team put it on cruise control, or they ‘phoned it in,’ as my dad loves to say… usually i disagree with him, but, last night, he would have been right…
“This is also a time of evaluation, going forward you have to say, does this fit, or does this not fit,” Manuel said, “and, you have to respond accordingly.
…excellent point, jerry… in that, certain players are playing for a job next season, like Daniel Murphy and Angel Pagan, and so each of them making lazy mistakes is a bad sign… it’s one game, but these are the things that will be watched closely over the next week or so… remember then end of 2005, and then 2006… finish strong, gentlemen… finish strong…
“The physical errors are going to 
happen,” David Wright told reporters following the game. “But when you relax a little mentally and don’t think out there that’s when you get yourself in trouble. So we’re going to have to clean that up.”
Manuel said David Wright and Jeff Francoeur may be fatigued, and in need of a day off – in addition to Thursday’s off day.
Manuel said Wright will likely get today off.
“It’s obviously been a grind,” Wright said. “You want to play every game, but sometimes you get a little banged up.”
…i feel badly for wright… i try not to feel badly for these guys, because they get paid big bucks and this is their job, but, damn, man, this had to be a rough season on him… that said, like Jerry Manuel has pointed out, wright will hopefully come out on the other side of this for the better, having survived a difficult year…
The Mets (52–60) lost to the D-Backs (51–62) by the score of 7 to 4 in Arizona last night.
For a full recap and boxscore, click here.
The Least You Should Know:
The D-Backs scored five runs against Mike Pelfrey, while the Mets made a series of poor defensive plays and could muster just two runs on a double from Fernando Tatis in seven innings against D-Backs RHP Doug Davis.
Misc., Etc., and Other Stuff:
The Mets were awful tonight, there is no other way to put it. What’s worse, they look as defeated as we do. I’m not going to say they aren’t trying, but their manager called it a ‘poor effort,’ which says it all. Frankly, it looks like they’re coasting, and have certainly lost focus.
I can handle losing, and like a no-name team, but I have a difficult time tolerating sloppy, such as making bad judgment on shoe-string catches (Pagan), not covering the base (Murphy), weak throws in to the infield (Pagan, again), and all around lazy base running. The thing is, this is what you get with a team full of bench players and young men trying to find their way.
This is my concern with Pagan. He has the tools to put up decent stats, it seems, but I have questions about how he plays the game. Baseball is more than stats, it’s also about instincts and decisions, too.
It’s time for Mike Pelfrey to get his act together. I am willing to give him a pass on this one, he just had a kid, I’m sure he’s off his game, lack of sleep, lots of emotions, etc., he was pitching on extra rest, out of rhythm, that’s fine. But, I’m tired of talking about his ‘stuff,’ I’m tired of being enticed by potential, only to see him sleep back in to old habits. Eventually, he needs to step up and grow in to that next level. He will be watched closely over the next month, I am sure.
In Case You Missed It:
To watch SNY.TV’s Post Game Extra, featuring clips from the game; quotes from Jerry Manuel and Mike Pelfrey, and analysis from Ron Darling and Gary Cohen, use the video player in the sidebar of MetsBlog.com.
The Mets continue their series against the D-Backs Tuesday night at 9:40 pm, with Livan Hernandez (7-6, 5.08 ERA) taking on Max Scherzer (6-6, 4.01 ERA).
