Daily Archives: August 28, 2009
Following tonight’s game against the Tigers, the Tampa Bay Rays announced that they have traded Scott Kazmir to the Angels for prospects Alexander Torres, Matthew Sweeney, and a Player to Be Named Later.
Torres was 13-4 with a 2.75 ERA in Single-A Rancho Cucamonga and Double-A Arkansas this season.
Sweeney was hitting .299 with nine home runs and 44 RBI for Rancho Cucamonga.
…this is clearly a salary dump to try and free up money for someone such as Carl Crawford, and the Rays have also questioned Kazmir’s work ethic recently which prompted the rumors leading up to the trade deadline and eventually the move that was made…
…the question I have is that if Tampa Bay has to clear salary for Crawford, what incentive does he have in remaining with the Rays if they have to free up so much to retain him by trading their Major League talent away…it should be interesting how his situation unfolds in the offseason…
Tagged Scott Kazmir |The Mets were defeated by the Cubs by the score of 5-2 this afternoon.
For a full recap and box score, click here.
The Least You Should Know:
This was a fantastic pitchers duel until the eighth inning, as Pat Misch, making his first start of the year lasted seven innings and allowed just a run.
The Mets took the lead in the top of the eighth inning when Fernando Tatis doubled in Angel Pagan, but Daniel Murphy was thrown out at the plate on the same play to end the inning.
The lead was short lived as Brian Stokes, who owned a 12 2/3 inning scoreless streak coming into today, was ineffective allowing a leadoff double to Milton Bradley, followed by an RBI single by Aramis Ramirez.
After Stokes walked Jeff Baker, Alfonso Soriano hit a three run home run which put Chicago ahead for good.
The Mets have now lost six of their last seven games.
Other Observations and Notes:
Great game until the end but another real tough loss- the Mets simply didn’t have any offense once again.
Stokes had been one of the few bright spots this season, but despite allowing the game winning run, I can’t get on him considering he’s been so solid this year.
Tatis may not be David Wright, but he has done an admirable job filling in for him at third base.
The Mets continue their weekend series against the Cubs tomorrow at 4:10 pm, with Bobby Parnell facing Ryan Dempster.
The Angels are close to acquiring Scott Kazmir from the Rays, reports Lyle Spencer of MLB.com.
According to Spencer, the Angels are expected to send prospects Alexander Torres and Matthew Sweeney to Tampa in the deal.
Kazmir had been 25–17 with a 3.49 ERA in 358 innings, during which he struck out 405 batters.
However, this season, in which he has spent time on the disabled list, he is just 8-7 with a 5.92 ERA, while going 2-0 with 21 strike outs in his last three starts.
The 25–year-old Kazmir will earn $20 million through 2011, after which he could become a free agent.
For the latest updates, keep an eye on MLB Trade Rumors.
Tagged News |Update, 5:20 pm:
According to Andrew Marchand on 1050 ESPN Radio, Reyes has been told by doctors that he should be ready for Spring Training if he has surgery.
Original Post:
The Mets have released an official statement regarding Jose Reyes, which reads:
“Jose Reyes continues to receive physical therapy for a torn hamstring tendon behind the right knee. Should he not respond to the physical therapy, surgery is an option.”
… like i wrote two months ago, from what i was originally told, by people who know reyes, he is having issues with the tendon that connects the hamstring and the knee, and surgery was an option back when this all first went down… apparently it is still on the table, which is what i have been saying for weeks…
… the question is, if he has surgery to repair the tendon, at this point, what will the recovery time be…
Tagged News |
The Mets (58–70) begin a three-game series with the Cubs (63-62) at 2:20 pm in Chicago today, with Ted Lilly squaring off against Pat Misch.
Angel Pagan will leadoff, followed in order by Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy, Jeff Francoeur, Fernando Tatis, Omir Santos, Cory Sullivan in leftfield, and Wilson Valdez at shortstop.
Misch (0-1, 4.09 ERA) is making his first start of the year for the Mets. In his most recent appearance last Sunday, he went four scoreless innings.
Misch has a career ERA of 7.36 against the Cubs, and hasn’t had much success at Wrigley in the past. In just under three innings of relief work, Misch has allowed three runs on three hits and two walks at the old park.
Lilly (9-8, 3.40 ERA) has given up just two runs in 12 innings over his last two starts. However, he hasn’t been given much run support, as the Cubs scored just once in those games. He is 2-1 in five career starts against the Mets.
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |
Yesterday, I appeared in an on-air segment during SNY’s Mets Pre-Game Live, where I was asked how fans feel about this season’s injuries, winning, losing and off-season expectations.
…frankly, i’m tired of always rattling off lists and poll results… so, i went in to today’s segment with one talking point, ‘Fans Want Change,’ and i did my best to work it in to each response… i think it’s important to hammer away at this in every opportunity we get, whether it’s me on SNY, or fans on other blogs, or callers in to WFAN…
Here is my exchange with SNY’s Chris Carlin, before yesterday’s game:
Chris Carlin: Matt, injuries have been a big part of the Mets this year. Are the fans more accepting of that, in regards to the results on the field.
Matthew Cerrone: Yeah, I think it’s at least made fans understand what’s going on… 69 percent of people who votes on MetsBlog said, ‘Yes, the injuries are an acceptable excuse.’… People understand what’s going on, but that doesn’t change the fact that we still want change. We still think there are ways to upgrade. A lot of fans still feel like the team can’t just come back next season and say, ‘Hey, we’re healthy, everything is fine.’ There are issues, people are identifying them, everybody has their solutions and we do think there is change here that can happen… and so, yes, it’s unacceptable, because it’s understandable, but it does mean we want to see things change going forward.
Chris Carlin: OK, so, with those changes, what are fans looking at as far as priorities for the Mets off season.
Matthew Cerrone: It’s all over the road. One of the slogans I use for MetsBlog is: One Team, One Million GMs. And, I think, if you took one million fans and put them in a room, you’d probably get one million ideas…
They feel like the Mets need a front-end starting pitcher to match up with Johan Santana, they need another bat either at first base or in the outfield, and, of course, there are questions about management and the coaching staff…
To me, I don’t think it’s about blame so much. For me, it’s about where this team is going. And, I hope the team asks itself, ‘Where do they want this franchise going, what’s the plan and what are the goals, and who are the best people to get them there?’ If the current team in its entire form are the guys best to get them where they want to go, great. But, I think a lot of fans will disagree, and do feel like there are some changes that can be made.
…by the way, to watch my clip from yesterday’s pre-game show, use the video player in the sidebar of MetsBlog.com…
Tagged News |The day after it was announced Johan Santana would have season-ending surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, I wrote:
…if santana had been struggling with a sore elbow since the All Star break, as the team said, then why on earth was he allowed to step on a mound… i understand if the Mets were in a pennant race… but, the Mets have been out of it for weeks now… weeks… i don’t understand…
However, in his latest Rumblings & Grumblings for ESPN.com, Jayson Stark quotes Mets Asst. GM John Ricco as saying, “I don’t personally feel like we put Santana in any jeopardy… Knowing what we know now, I still don’t think we would have made that call to shut him down weeks ago.”
In the end, Stark feels, despite what could be the case with other players, the Mets have a defensible case in the way they handled Santana.
Injury-guru Will Carroll of Baseball Prospectus feels the same way, writing in his recent Under the Knife column, “The news on Santana was exactly what I’d expected and had talked about as a possibility since he came over from Minnesota… It’s hard to say that the Mets did anything wrong here from a medical basis.”
By the way, Carroll also gives updates on Jeff Francoeur, Oliver Perez, Jorge Posada and other injuries from around MLB, while Stark reveals his player awards for this season, among notes and numbers from around the game.
Tagged News |According to pictures in this post from First Cuts, Jeff Francoeur writes bizarre messages on the knob of his bat, such as, “When In Rome.’
Benjamin Tulis of Hot Foot lists 10 things the Mets could have bought for $88 million, i.e., the same amount of money they are spending on players who are on the disabled list this season.
Ted Berg of SNY.TV writes about Chris Carter; how the Mets spend money; the case against the non-prospects; and Matt Murton, who was designated for assignment by the Rockies.
According to Berg, “The Mets don’t exactly have a starting left fielder lined up for 2010, and it would behoove them to bring in as many inexpensive, talented outfielders as they can. Murton is one of those.”
Meanwhile, in a post to Amazin Avenue, Sam Page compares Francoeur and Murton, saying, “If the Mets want to be a cheap team, they need to start valuing players like one.”
… sam, the Mets problem isn’t a lack of spending… to call them cheap is unfair… they will have spent more money on players this season than any other team in the National League… how is that being cheap… instead, the real problem is with how they spend money… they need to allocate their resources in a more effective way… in fact, go back and read berg’s column, as he discusses this very point…
Similarly, Brooklyn Met Fan compares Daniel Murphy and Angel Pagan.
In a post to Kiner’s Korner, Robert explains why, though the Billy Wagner trade might not be popular, ‘it was wise.’
Ed Ryan of Mets Fever thinks his expectations are too high for Mike Pelfrey.
Lastly, according to Mets Online, while Mets fans can live with the injuries, they cannot live with lies.
Tagged News |In a report for Newsday, Jim Baumbach writes about the mystery surrounding Jose Reyes, whose current injury went from a one-day concern in May to scar tissue and inflammation in July.
Today, in a report for Newsday, David Lennon refers to Reyes’s injury as a ‘torn hamstring tendon.’
In the end, Baumbach asks, “What kind of player will Reyes be when he returns next season? And what kind of effect might this injury have on him physically, and mentally? These are questions neither Reyes nor the Mets know the answer to. The answers could go a long in deciding the team’s fate in 2010.”
…as i said over the weekend, from what i understand, reyes has been pretty idle for the last week or so… and, furthermore, the team, and some players on the team, are not happy about it… the buzz from Citi Field suggests much of jose’s delay might be in his head, not his leg, in that he might be gun-shy to push it for fear of making things work…
…i can’t help but wonder how this might have played out had the Mets immediately put jose on the disabled list, when he first complained of tightness in his calf back in May… instead, they waited, he tested it, they waited more, he played, they waited, tested, then the DL, more testing, more waiting, and here we are, with questions about the team’s handling and questions about reyes…
For more, be sure to check out Baumbach’s report, here.
Tagged News |
Erin Arvedlund is writing a new book, Too Good to Be True, which details the evil deeds of the disgraced New York hedge-fund manager Bernie Madoff.
According to Arvedlund, Fred Wilpon will be forced to sell the Mets as soon as 2010, due to roughly $700 million in Madoff-related investment losses, explains Jon Friedman in a must-read report for MarketWatch
“It’s a matter of when. It could be as soon as next year,” Arvedlund writes, according Friedman’s report.
However, Friedman quotes a team spokesperson as saying, “The numbers speculated continue to be inaccurate… The team is not for sale in any respect.”
Arvedlund has been investigating Maddoff since 2001, when she wrote a story for the New York Times about Maddoff’s ‘hedge fund.’
Tagged News |
