Honestly, I don’t think it’s impossible to teach control or for someone to learn it.. But it certainly ain’t easy.

I would rather find somebody who knows how to work in and out….change speed….work the batter than someone with a “high ceiling” just because he blows up the radar. MPH is an overrated number that at the end of the day can or can’t translate to W/L. Pedro used to hurl mid to upper 90′s….now what? We need pitchers….not just guys who throw what the catcher calls. That’s why Johan is so dominating. His changeup is sick even though his velocity isn’t what it used to be. He knows how to work the plate, and use what he’s got to the best….even on off days. He doesn’t try to overpower guys with the MPH.

Let’s just wait and see what Omar can do at other positions before making these cut-and-dried statements about what the Mets can and cannot do with Murphy at first.

1) You say 1B is the easiest to find offense for, but that is not the case if Omar can’t get a Dunn-Fielder-Gonzalez. When you move down to the 2nd tier of first basemen you have to take into account any hit on defense vs. a marginal uptick in offense vs. the upside of a young player like Murphy. Omar may be able to more easily upgrade catcher, 2nd or LF than first base. It all depends on what’s on the market each year and how well a farm system matches with a potential trade partner.

2) I think upgrading the pitching through a Lackey, middle reliever or even a Marquis might be easier than getting a power-hitting first baseman.

3) The statement that 24-year-old rookies do not develop is patently ludicrous. I can’t believe someone would make a statement like that.

4) The idea that you can pencil in Davis right now as the starting first basemen for next year is also ludicrous. You can start with Murphy and if he struggles and Davis starts off well, then you consider bringing him up in June and making him the first baseman. Not now after less than a year at AA.

5) Francessa’s comment that “you can’t win with Murphy at first” which you are parroting is frankly just an opinion, a bunch of bull, and patently false. You CAN win. As we said, it all depends what they do elsewhere.

BTW, Helton had just 15 HRs this year and Loney had just 13. Moreover, Loney’s OPS wasn’t much higher than Murphy’s. Francessa is just dead wrong.

Hey, we know you don’t like Murphy. Lets just wait and see what Omar can do at other positions before c

And I never was a fan of the pitcher vs. thrower debate. I am on the other side of the fence. Too often, egomaniacal pithing coaches like Peterson get their claws on prospects, and push them into becoming “pitchers.” The result is a sharp drop in velocity. Even since Rick, look at Pelfrey and Perez, where did their fastballs go?? Perez used to hit 93-95, I remember Pelfrey in Binghamton hitting 96-97. Furthermore, guys like Figueroa and Livan get hit hard on average. Seems like the Mets could use more “throwers” with high celings. In the gamut of “pitchers,” you can find your Madduxes but you can also find Trachsel, junkballers who need every pitch to be perfect as to avoid getting hammered. Meanwhile, guys like Lincecum, King Felix, Verlander, Beckett, Lester, Lackey, Greinke, etc. are doing fine as power throwers (I consider gas and a curve and one other pitch to represent a power pither, while a medium FB with a slider and change to be a “pitcher.”) Under Met development, more guys are molded into generic “pitchers,” which then results in mediocrity. Why hasn’t someone taught Maine a curveball yet? His changeup is just a slow fastball…

Finding offense from 1B is easier than finding the pitching needed to offset the lack of offense. After Santana, and that assumes he is 100%, then what? Where do you find a #1.5 and a #2.5 given the current cast of characters. I think finding a Dunn would be easier than getting Halliday and Lackey + 2B and C with offense or a Holliday (25 – 30 hrs).

Murphy is a 24yo rookie that played good to very good defense at 1B. But he was a 24 yo rookie and they typically do not develop. Yes you can find counterexamples to that statement, but as a rule they do not. Boggs and Appling are the only two 25YO rookies that ever made it. The rest did squat. Grace was a 24YO rookie, but he had a much higher OPS+ than did Murphy.

They would be infinately better off having Murphy go to the WL for 2B and give 1B to Davis next year. At least Davis would get his rookie ABs out of the way faster and Murphy cannot be that much worse than Castillo defensively. Murphy’s offense at 2B (while not Joe Morgan) would be a major positive.

If they are serious Murphy cannot be penciled in as their 2010 1B. It is the easiest position to locate servicable offense. It is the low hanging fruit. Given that Murphy was #22 or 23 in OPS that, IMHO, is not servicable offense.

The Twins didn’t win with Meinkotvich (sp???). They won in spite of him. Big difference.

Exactly. And thanks for reiterating our point (mine and Mark’s) which is you DON’T have to have a set number of HRs to win and make the playoffs.

The idea is to score more than the other team and you can do that by either of two ways — increasing run production or preventing the other team from scoring.

So if the Mets go with Murphy at first, not only are there other spots where they can increase offense (LF, maybe 2nd and catcher) but they can improve defense and pitching as well.

ERA+ = 122 (SF#2 at 120, NL = 101)

WHIP = 1.255 (StL #2 at 1.296; NL = 1.378)

Runs allowed: 611 Tied for 1st with SFG.

Plus, their OPS was good enough for 4th.

Looking at ISP = SL% – BA:

LAD: 0.412 – 0.270 = 0.142
NYM: 0.394 – 0.270 = 0.124
NL: 0.409 – 0.259 = 0.150