Monthly Archives: August 2009
Yesterday, on SIRIUS-XM, Jim Duquette said the Mets have canceled their fall instructional league in an effort to save roughly $300,000.
“The Mets have made a decision, and some organizations do this,” Duquette explained. “The rumors within scouting circles are that they can’t afford it.”
The Mets later issued a release saying the team is instead shifting their instructional league to their academy in the Dominican Republic, as several teams have done, writing:
“We believe that by housing our minor league players in the Dominican, we will have more opportunities to have competition against opposing teams that have training facilities nearby. Over the past few years in Port St. Lucie, the competition has predominately been among our own players as a result of other teams leaving the area. This year’s approach will bring approximately 75 prospects to train and compete at our Academy and against players affiliated with other Major League clubs.”
In a post to his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin says a team official told him there is a lack of opposing teams in the Port St. Lucie, with the Cardinals purportedly no longer fielding an instructional league team Jupiter.
…i realize people will read this and deduce, ‘Oh, Mets must do this to save money because they’re broke, Maddoff, etc.,’ but it is possible for people to want to save money just for the sake of saving money, especially in an economy like this… i mean, i used my Stop & Shop card to save a few bucks on groceries this weekend, and it wasn’t because i lost millions of dollars in a Ponzi Scheme… this is not to say the Mets aren’t doing this because of Maddoff, i’m just saying, Maddoff cannot be the end-all, be-all of every single thing the team does… or doesn’t do… that’s all…
…the question is, like rubin suggests, how many other teams have moved their camps to the DR, like the Mets are doing… it sounds like it’s a decent-size number… if this is the case, and the Mets want their young players to compete against other team’s young players, then, sure, it makes sense to move south… and, if they happen to save $300,000 in the process, great…
…my advice to the Mets would be, any time there is a situation that could be interpreted as Mets are Broke, Must Save Money, it might be wise to frame it yourselves, get out in front of the story and set the agenda, before someone like duquette does it for you…
Tagged News |
Today in Port St. Lucie, Carlos Beltran ran the bases for the first time since June.
In order for him to increase his workload and return to the Mets, he will have to pass an MRI exam, which has yet to be scheduled.
Prior to today’s game in Chicago, Omar Minaya told reporters that Josh Thole will be promoted to the Mets in September.
Minaya did say that call-ups in general will be delayed until around September 6 due to the fact that the minor league teams are shorthanded.
…not that the big club has been playing shorthanded all year…
Jerry Manuel said before the game that Thole might be limited to facing right handed hitters.
…not sure I would agree with that either…I mean lets see what this kid can do without limiting his exposure, and keeping him healthy at the same time…
The Mets defeated the Cubs by the score of 4-1 this afternoon in Chicago.
For a full recap and box score, click here.
The Least You Should Know:
Nelson Figueroa was splendid this afternoon, pitching into the eighth inning and allowing just a run on six hits, and a career-best 10 strikeouts on the afternoon.
Figueroa helped his own cause with an RBI single as part of a two run fourth inning, which included an Anderson Hernandez triple.
The Mets knocked out Carlos Zambrano after slamming him for 11 hits in 3 1/3 innings.
Angel Pagan added three hits to the Mets 12 hit attack.
Another weird defensive play that the Mets fell victim to came in the eighth inning when Milton Bradley cued one out to Luis Castillo who appeared to catch the ball but he attempted to make a play at first, and Bradley was called safe – luckily Brian Stokes was able to induce a 4-6-3 double play to avoid any damage.
Francisco Rodriguez earned his 236th career save.
Other Observations and Notes:
Is it autumn already? 57 degrees at game time at Wrigley Field.
Everyone in the starting lineup had atleast one hit for the Mets.
Luis Castillo plays a strange second base to say the least at this point, but he has had a fantastic year at the plate.
Jon Lovitz performed “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch, then did the play-by-play poorly in the bottom of the seventh inning and top of the eighth inning for WGN – he didn’t know that he was sitting next to Bob Brenly.
In the two wins on this road trip so far, the Mets have 29 hits and have scored 14 runs – in the four losses, they have 33 hits and 10 runs.
Up Next:
The Mets head to Coors Field in Denver for the opener of a three game series against the Rockies, with Mike Pelfrey facing a pitcher to be determined, Tuesday at 8:40 pm.
The Mets close out their series against the Cubs this afternoon at Wrigley Field.
Angel Pagan will lead off, followed in order by Luis Castillo, Daniel Murphy, Jeff Francoeur, Jeremy Reed, Fernando Tatis, and Brian Schneider.
Nelson Figueroa (1-3, 5.40 ERA) will start for the Mets. Figueroa has generally struggled since being recalled from Buffalo, but he pitched well in his last outing against the Marlins on Tuesday despite taking the loss. Lifetime he is 0-4 with a 4.40 ERA in nine career appearances, four starts against the Cubs.
Carlos Zambrano (7-5, 3.80 ERA) will start for the Cubs. It has not been the greatest of seasons for Zambrano, as he has struggled with his control for most of the year with 4.2 walks per nine innings. Lifetime he is 4-1 with a 3.67 ERA in eight appearances, seven starts against the Mets.
David Wright has joined the Mets in Chicago this weekend, and says he feels good and is thankful the Mets were cautious in his comeback from a concussion he sustained two weeks ago when he was hit in the head by a Matt Cain fastball at Citi Field.
Wright told Tara Sullivan of the Bergen Record:
“I feel good. It’s been a slow, gradual process, meeting with a lot of doctors and doing a lot of tests…It’s been a gradual process, but in the end I’m thankful they kind of did it this way because it took it out of my hands and allowed me to recuperate the way I should, and not on my schedule, which probably was the wrong way.”
Wright is eligible to return from the disabled list on Tuesday when the Mets are in Denver.
For more check out Sullivan’s article.
In an article in today’s Daily News, Bill Madden discusses the Mets injuries this year and the increased rate of injuries throughout Major League Baseball.
Madden reports that the Mets have had 22 players on the disabled list which ties them with the Texas Rangers, and have lost players for a total of 1,095 days which is second to the San Diego Padres.
According to Madden, the average amount of players to go on the disabled list has risen dramatically from 14.2 in 1996 to 17.7 per team in 2008.
…i personally think that the Mets would most certainly be in some sort of pennant race if not for the injuries, despite their starting pitching being shaky coming into the season and the various other question marks that they had back in Spring Training…
…besides the apparent mis-management of these injuries and the fact that they have managed to go through their entire depth chart at the Major League level, a key reason for their fall from the top is that they never had the depth at any level to overcome something like this, whereas a team like the Texas Rangers seem to have been able to stay in their pennant chase…after all, the injury replacement pitcher for the past two years has been Nelson Figueroa, not exactly a David Price or a Tommy Hanson waiting in the wings…Nothing against Figgy, but a mid 30′s pitcher at Triple-A does not present depth in the farm system nor does it present a savior…
…i think it’s easy to say that they traded their young talent away for guys like Carlos Delgado and Johan Santana over the past few seasons, but this team is perhaps the second richest team in baseball despite the losses with Madoff, and they should have the resources to develop from within, but based on what we have seen, especially this season, player development has been lacking overall and teams that win all have players on the field that were developed in their Minor League system…
Tagged Michael Baron |
Ken Rosenthal, in a post to Twitter, says he spoke to the agent for Jose Reyes.
According to his agent Rosenthal says that if surgery is required, then it will not be performed until the end of September and it would be done as a last resort, and not considered to be major.
…i don’t even know with Reyes anymore…he has been out since May with this torn hamstring tendon and if it isn’t a major operation, then why wasn’t this considered earlier to maybe bring him back at some point this season, or to maximize the amount of time he could rehabilitate in the off-season…if it isn’t major and therapy and rehab aren’t helping, wouldn’t surgery be the next option…
Tagged News |The Mets lost to the Cubs today by the score of 11-4 at Wrigley Field.
For a full recap and box score, click here.
The Least You Should Know:
The Mets held two leads in this game – a 2-0 first inning lead, and then a 4-3 lead in the fourth, but the Cubs exploded for six runs in the in the bottom of the fifth inning off of Bobby Parnell, who lasted just 4 2/3 innings and was completely ineffective for the third consecutive start.
The Mets had no answer to the eight runs the Cubs scored from the fifth inning until the end.
After two more hits Jeff Francoeur raised his average to .271 for the season.
Aaron Heilman pitched two innings of one hit ball against the Mets.
Other Observations and Notes:
At the very least, we are learning a lot about Parnell’s capabilities as a starting pitcher.
How many times are we going to see Met base runners thrown out at the plate at the end of the season? There have been way to many base runners either running through stop signs or Razor Shines unnecessarily sending them home, and as Tim McCarver said during today’s telecast, no injury can excuse the amount of Met base runners that have been thrown out at the plate.
Every day, I wish there was something positive that I could see in these games, but the games this group of Mets are playing are ugly from start to finish at this point.
Up Next:
The Mets look to salvage the finale of this series tomorrow afternoon, with Nelson Figueroa taking on Carlos Zambrano.
The Mets (58–71) continue their three-game series with the Cubs (64–62) today at 4:10 pm in Wrigley Field, with Ryan Dempster (7-7, 4.07 ERA) taking on Bobby Parnell (3-6, 5.08).
Pagan is batting .364 with three HR in the his eight games.
Dempster is 8-4 with a 5.54 ERA in 23 appearance against the Mets.
Parnell is making his fifth start since joining the rotation, during which he is 1-3 with an 8.82 ERA. He gave up five runs in five innings in his last start.
The Mets have lost their last three games in Wrigley Field.
Tagged News | ← Older postsNewer posts →
