According to Jayson Stark of ESPN, a scout who has been watching Carlos Delgado play in the Puerto Rican Winter League are recommending he seek a DH job, as “he actually limps out there.”
In addition the same scout had the following to say about Delgado right now:
“He’s got no range at first — none…He can’t play first on a day-to-day basis. I think he can still DH, because he’s still got power. But to play first for a team like the Mets? Can’t see it.”
…part of me wants Delgado back because i feel they need his bat, especially with Carlos Beltran down for the first part of the year…but the other part of me wants to move on from him, and not take the risk at him going down yet again early in the year, because that would leave the Mets in the same position as they were in last year at first base…
Yesterday, Mike Puma of the New York Post suggested the Mets could turn to Fernando Tatis at first base in a platoon with Daniel Murphy, which you can read about here.
…i think a name that COULD work, provided he is healthy, is Xavier Nady in a platoon…he has played 75 games there in his career and in a part time role, he could do well there…he is incredibly streaky, and he basically missed all of 2009 after elbow surgery, but he is a career .308 hitter against lefties, and he is familiar with New York and many of the current Mets…
Let it GO, man.
Sounds like it’s time to move on!
We should have moved on after 2008.
I just can’t believe he’s not fully healed yet! Why would he try to trick us like that? Would he REALLY try to come back for another year, just to sit on the DL the entire year after he got hurt AGAIN???
And now that the sarcasm trip is over, I for one am very happy that we can FINALLY put the Delcrappo rumors to rest once and for all.
The guy is damaged goods and now everyone knows it, not just a few of us realists out there.
Sure he can still hit when he’s healthy, but he’s not healthy now, and probably never will be again. Been saying it for a few years now and it really doesn’t feel all that great to be vindicated, but I am happy that the Mets will finally give up on bringing back the ship that has already sunk.
There are plenty more out there that are still going down, and the Mets still have plenty of resources left to throw into those ships before they completely submerge! But at least they can quit wasting their time with him!
Good riddance. Guy never wanted us anyway.
“Guy never wanted us anyway.”
I’ve been harboring the same feelings since the day he signed with the Marlins. He’s first and foremost a businessman and will travel where he needs to go to get a check.
It is all about the money.
Forget him
if he is really limping, forget him. but get another 1B because we can have mathews jr, castillo, murphy and santos in the lineup. russel brayan is a better option IMO and he shouldnt cost that much.
opps..meant cant*
branyan isnt a better option branyan has back trouble
Matthews has some power(Plus he’s only gonna play for about a month), Santos has some too, so does Coste too (he may be on the roster), but I don’t understand why people assume that Murphy needs to platoon with someone! He had a pretty good second half, and he should have been a rookie this year, but he wasn’t. Let Murphy play at first!
wouldn’t delgado going down early in the season just leave the mets in the same position they already are in right now?
Yup. In fact, it would leave them in a worse position than they were last year because then they at least had Tatis on the roster to share the responsibility with Murphy. Now, Murphy would be on his own and Omar would feel pressure to do something about it on the spot. Nothing good could come from that.
Delgado is not an option for the Mets. Nady would be nice, but he missed all of last year. If they shouldn’t take a chance on Delgado, it doesn’t make much sense to take a chance on Nady. I say go with Tatis. He can play all four corner positions and would make a decent right-handed half of a platoon.
Similar to the Castillo situation at 2B, 1B should be considered closed with the addition of a right-handed player. Anything more than that is just not realistic. The focus of this team needs to be on pitching. This team will finish in the middle of the pack without another solid starter. That’s where the effort must be focused.
russel brayan is lefty they wont add another lefty if they add anyone to play first would be a right handed bat to platoon with murph, i like garko for that job but starting to look like they just gonna go with murph all the way with no platoon
I mean if this team is really looking for a DH type I’d almost rather sign Thome.
Move on completely IMO.
Bring in Nady/Garko and call it a day already.
Michael, you quote scout as saying Delgado is no longer a viable option as a 1B, then ignore that in your comment, and express that your concern is that he gets re-injured. You missed scout’s point that he cannot field or run and needs to be in AL.
He’s a DH or a stay-at-home-dad at this point.
Bring on Nady.
i think nady might be the best option too
Omar is the worst GM in baseball. He will probably sign Delgado to a three year contract any day!
– you are probably right!! ugh!!
While I agree that Omar is among the worst GMs in baseball right now, I don’t think he’ll sign Delgado to any more than one year. At this point I’d be surprised if even Omar would sign Delgado to play first.
I disagree that Omar is one of the worst GM’s in baseball, what has he done thats so horrific, all GM’s make good and bad deals, people forget where this team was before Omar got here, they were in the bottom of the barrel and he dug them out and convinced the Wilpons to start spending some cash around here, we’ll we did that and won the division in 2006, yea 07 and 08 ended with a really really bitter taste but we were highly competitive and right in the thick of things, last year nobody could see coming so I throw that year out the window, also lets not forget Omar traded…yes traded for one of the best pitchers in MLB history for a bag of chips, no not a FA pickup, traded, Im not the biggest Omar fan of late but he’s far from the worst GM’s in MLB.
What GM is worse? Remember it’s not just trades it’s the whole atmosphere that represents the organization. It includes the rest of the Front Office as well. And we keep hearing the push for a younger, faster, defense-minded team and I don’t see that happening. If Omar feels that he doesn’t have the autonomy he thought he had then he should get himself out of the organization just to give himself a chance for another job. If the Mets bomb again who will ever want to hire this guy?
I’m sure OM is a nice guy.
Just clueless. I’ve got the impression (my opinion) he gets beat a lot in deals.
The Mets won more games than anybody in the league 2005-2008. Then the got ravaged by injury last year. Clueless?
I do not throw 2009 out the window. To me, it has been symptom of a malaise. Granted, two years ago the Yanks missed the playoffs due to injuries. In its own right, I would discard 2009 as a bad statistic, but taken in the context of 2006-2008, to say the team lacks a killer instinct is to speak truth. Whose fault was this? Really hard to say. Probably just a bunch of things contributing all at once. After all, the 1986 Mets won on a lucky bounce. It’s really hard to tell what’s at fault here, but note the Phillies have managed to put it together. Randolph, Omar, Jerry? It seems like someone’s got to pay, but it could very well be something as ingrained as the team consciousness.
To break a malaise, I think you need someone like Johnny Damon and Curt Schilling were to the Red Sox, or the current Jets coach. You need people who really believe and really want. Remember Schilling pitching through the bloody sock game? Would we get that from the Mets?
taking up that theme one more step, maybe they need some guys who absolutely (however misplaced their hostility may be) loathe the Yankees, to come to the Mets and attempt to tip balance.
coincedentally, Johnny Damon is available on the cheap
What has OM done badly?
Let’s see…
1.Castillo signed to that big deal
2. Perez
3. Trading away Lindstrom and Henry Owens for crap
4. Trading Nady for Ollie and an old Roberto Hernandez
5. The whole J.J. Putz trade was a mistake.
6. The way he handled Heath Bell
7. Trading Brian Bannister for Burgos (ok, not as bad, but still bad)
8. Moises Alou….
You get my point?
This is more than just a GM taking a chance and it not panning out. This is worse.
Funny how he was a genius 2005-2007. Now he’s stupid. Wonder how that happens?
I agree, he was a genius when he reeled in Beltran, Pedro, Nady and the BEST pitcher in baseball at the time in Santana. I disagree with Zander about Putz because when the trade was made EVERYONE thought it would be lights out from the 7th inning on. Nobody remembers how terrible this team was BEFORE Minaya got here. Ever since he has been here the team has been VERY competitive to the point where we were picked to go to the W.S. last year before all the injuries. I don’t see this team needing too much except for a starter IF everyone is healthy. Beltran hopefully won’t be out for too long so we can prove we belong among the best right where we left off in 08 as last year i doubt ANY team could have survived so many injuries to key players as we did.
i think when Omar started he had “full authority” … and he made some decisions, brought in some talent, found some sleepers. I think as years went by and relationships became familiar, Jeff inserted himself more and more into baseball decisions, until now i read about decisions by committee and no payroll budget, but case by case approvals for FA contracts. Omar is not really GM anymore, just part of bizarre mess of organization by committee …
Does anyone think Murphy has the chance to be an everyday player?
Yes. But I’m biased.
No. I’m not convinced he’ll hit enough or play D enough for an every day player.
Why are you biased Koos?
I don’t think so, and it’s not his defense. He is very inconsistent at the plate. Doesn’t hit for enough power for 1B and just doesn’t walk enough.
hes 25 and hes got one full major league season under his belt. so its not reasonable to make that determination. he hit 12 this year. that could easily be 15 if he’d hit for a better average, which he should, and could easily be 20 in a couple years, which is enough power for 1B if hes a good defender, which i think he will be.
this is a big year for murph and i think he’ll come through and give u like 15-20HR and a .285 avg.
u get him more experience and he WILL walk more. hes got some adjustments to make but hes young.
Murphy has the right amount of intensity to help him improve during the off-season.
I think he will be fine as well, IF left alone for the year to adjust. The dude just hits, at every level he’s been at. Give him enough time and he’ll adjust. Keep moving him around and there probably aren’t many that could handle all of that. It’s just too much to ask, IMO, and they need to leave him time to figure things out. Give him some stability for crying out loud. As for defense, same goes. He’s young, he’ll get there. He just needs time to figure things out. He got better as the season progressed last year, just give the kid some time. I think he’ll be fine, and Nady would be fine as a bench player to spell everyone and help out with Beltran’s injury, but I’ve never thought he needed a platoon. The Mets should probably be given the benefit of the doubt in this case, as they know more about him than all of us do, but they haven’t really earned that confidence from anyone, now have they?
it better not be his defense! he made some great plays… and actually one of the greatest plays ive ever seen (even though i think the ump got it wrong)
no one knows how murphy will evolve…. for the same reason that drafting baseball players is one of the hardest things. but ill give him a vote of confidence. if a guy like ozzie smith, or omar vizquel can learn to hit given a chance, i would think a guy who is already a good hitter and smart, like murphy should be able to refine his game to a high degree
I think so, but with the absence of beltran for a while and not getting Molina…is that enough power from first? I say if Murphy plays a full season, I can see him batting .275-.300, 15-20 HR, 70-85 RBI, 40 doubles, all while playing decent defense… And he has room fir improvement, he is young. But for a 1B are those #s good enough? I think they would if the lineup included beltran and Molina, but who knows? I do know that platooning him last year was bad for him. I am pro-Murphy, but I think it’s Murphy or get someone else, a platoon will not work for him
I agree that he could actually develop into a nice player, that with Beltran out the team needs a power boost and that a platoon at first is a bad thing for him and the team.
I would really like to see him just start every game and see what happens. I understand that first is where you try to get power, but until Ike gets here, you really can’t bring in anyone else. (Bay in LF gives the team enough power once Beltran gets back.) Delgado clearly isn’t an option. A platoon hurts Murphy’s development, so just let him play.
Only Beltran is going to help the team make up for Beltran (meaning only when he gets back from surgery are they truly going to make up for his loss).
The team is going to have to find ways to win in April…so, the Mets should be getting pitching. But, of course, we all know that.
it looks like he will be an everyday player. whether he will be any good at it is up for debate
Ahhhh! The X-Man! I am a big fan of his! He was great for the Mets in his short stint, and granted that “lightening in a bottle” could have been a streak that may not be repeated, but I would welcome him back. Even more so at first base with the reported news of Delgado’s limp. Although I am a big Delgado fan as well (mostly for his bat and clutchness), I would have to pass. Can’t afford a DH type on this team. (Time for AL Mr. Delgado).
X-Man’s versatility is slightly lessened now that we are stuck with GM Jr in some capacity. Even with that though, I would go with “X”.
nady i dont think would be ready for spring or the beginning of the season,then would have to spend time rehabbing then ya never know if he has a set back ,i like nady better then garko but i would go with garko at this point
If he is limping in January, that doesn’t neccesarily mean he will be limping in April. I don’t remember AROD limping when he finally started playing with the yanks this year. Teh limping isn’t an injury issue as much as it is a time issue. Carlos might be playing just to show case himself. if his bat speed is still there, i dont think its a bad bet picking him up for 1 year
If you’re right and he just needs time to heal then this is not a big deal, but if it is a sign that the injury could flare up right away we shouldn’t take the risk. Obviously the Mets would have to do their homework on that. Of course they would have to hire a competent medical staff in order to do that.
Sounds desperate to me.
Why not let some other team take the risk.
Of course he is showcasing himself. Why else would a potential invalid be out there? Greed.
I was up for bringing Delgado back until reading this. What about Gomes?
We HAVE to have someone at least platoon with Murphy. Murphy is just not that good.
Gomes
Sheets
Smoltz
Barajas
WC contenders? Maybe?
gomes would be a great platoon with murphy look what he does to left-handed pitching- very impressive
Johnny Gomes has never played first base, majors or minors. Why would the Mets put him there?
So you suggest Nady. Another guy coming off a serious injury. And he has hardly any experience at 1B. I just dont get it.
Let Murphy be already!
And why are Mets fans obsessed with players coming of of serious injuries after what happened to the team last season?
I agree with Nady being worrisome, but Murphy is not a major league caliber first baseman.
While I agree with you on Murphy I will say out of Delgado, Thome, Branyon, Nady, and Murphy I’d rather have Murphy. But, I’d condsider Thames or at least a Garmo platoon. Pena may be available at the deadline and given the 1B situation of the likely contenders we may be their only game in town. I don’t think Murphy will pan out, but at this point it is almost to the “let’s just see what happens” stage. Well, that and daily Rosaries.
“…I will say out of Delgado, Thome, Branyon, Nady, and Murphy I’d rather have Murphy…”
LOL, I am printing this one out!
Just kidding.
I figured you would say something. I am mellowing my comments and opinion somewhat out of respect to you. I figure you have at least a decent qualatative reason.
Thanks. At this point, I really do not see much alternative that would make much sense. Economically and feasibly. A lot of these names discussed (Delgado, Branyan, even Nady, etc) seem to be streaky hitters that would need steady playing time to get into a groove. I feel we could lead the league in strikeouts adding names like these to the lineup.
I don’t really see a qualified alternative out there, unless we can convince Olerud to come out of retirement. And Murphy is not Olerud.
I agree there are no real alternatives at this point whereas there are with the other problems.
Too many holes in the dyke for the little Dutch boy to cover.
… Delgado – no… NO!
With that said, I’m sure we will see him limping around the Mets infield soon.
Then in a game, Delgado will hit one off the right field wall, limp into first on what should be a double; then Tatis will come up and hit into a DP!!
OMG, why does this sound plausible? Omar and Jerry working in tandem—yikes.
STAY AWAY from Delgado he is old and still hurt…2 things we don’t need. I will take Murphy over him. But if we really must have a platoon or a bench guy just in case Murphy can’t cut it, then I vote for nady who was a met and can play 1b and OF.
Nick Evans
I am with you. Why not give Evans a chance? If the Mets REALLY need to platoon someone with Murphy at 1B then why not Evans? He seems to be a steady fielder and would be the right handed alternative at the plate.
Can we persue somebody where age or injury risk is not a factor? Especially after last season….
I’m sorry that would be inconsistent with Omar’s m.o.
Alou
Alou
Bay
Cora
Cora
Tatis
Valentin
O Hernandez
L Hernandez
Franco
Pedro
M Anderson
Redding
Escobar
wow id hate to have to go through that list and show you why youre wrong and then ultimately waste 45 minutes of my life when anyone could rip your argument to shreds with a few simple notions. one many of those players were/are not very old. many of them have no more injury risk than anyone else. and you only chose players for that list that you think fit the bill.
i think i already wasted my breath here
not to mention you wrote some guys twice…. like a lunatic or something
pretty sure he wrote the guy’s twice because we signed them twice. Alou we lost the draft pick when he was a Type A, then re-signed him. HUGE MISTAKE, one of Omar’s biggest if you ask me. Never should have signed him the first time. Cora, again, we have signed twice now. I think that’s where he was going with that.
Not trying to defend his list (besides Alou, I can go on all day about that one), just explain it though.
You are so wrong.
injury risl is always a factor amazingsince70. thats the nature of athletics… i think mets fans are more likely to assume witchcraft but the fact of the matter is that things happen, and guys get injured…
MOVE ON!
Garko or Nady seem much much better options right now.
I wouldn’t mind them inviting Delgado to ST to see if his limp goes away and his range improves with more specific rehab. But they cannot guarantee any money until he shows he can move a little bit more.
That would be a good approach on Delgado.
What do you think of giving Gomes a shot at 1B?
What if we signed Branyan to be our everyday 1st baseman and we put together a package like Murphy, Pagan, and Kunz for a pitcher?
I would like to have brayan on the mets, he has legit power and shouldnt cost a lot.
you will see a lot of upset people if you sign branyan. if you have ever seen branyan he is a lot like having lets say jeromy burnitz. branyan is 100% not a guy i want to waste my time on… ill take him as a backup… maybe but thats about it
I really don’t want to hear about any more position player backups, platoon, relief pitchers, etc, etc. It’s enough procrastinating! If this team wants to contend this year, they MUST get at least one formidable starter. This offseason is completely slipping away and they have let just about every starter sign elsewhere! Omar really needs to stop with the non-essentials (backup catchers, relievers, stiff 4th outfielders) and he needs to address the starting staff. I can’t see any way that this team could seriously compete with the staff as currently constructed. The offseason is fading slowly, and before we know it, it’ll be spring training and we’ll be hearing about which awful in-house starter will be contending for the rotation.
You’re absolutely right. We are a third place team at BEST with this staff and could be battling the Nats for fourth. We MUST get the staff issue resolved this week/early next week.
I’m afraid to say with the young developing pitching staff and the renewed front office focus, we could be looking up at the Nats in the early goings…
Agree. This could be a very happy summer for the Mets, or it could be very ugly.
must is such a strong word.
only addicts think in such black and whites. and as ive stated before mets fans are addicted to free agents.
i will be holding FAA meetings starting monday in the church basement if anyone is ready to admit their problem
how can we say let’s bring delgado back after reading this? We can’t take a chance on somebody that has no range and is limping, defense is important.
Delgado may not be limping come opening day.I wouldn’t be against signing him to a non guaranteed incentive contract. Forget Nick Evand. I saw him last year at 1b ( I think it was gainst the Schenkees) and that was all I needed to see from him. I am not a belkiever in Murphy either.
Will the press conference announcing Delgado’s signing be on Thursday or Friday?
Depends on how the Jets do today!! ;-)
It will be Wednesday.
The press conference announcing Delgado’s “two week” stint on the DL will be Friday.
Damn my typing just outright stinks. Anyway I agree that the priority right now is pitching.
Perfect. The worst right-side infield in baseball. Sign him up!
If this article is true, which i am always in doubt of the media i.e. heyman, gammons, then it is a no brainer, DO NOT SIGN HIM. I am also 100% against a platoon at first with tatis. Omar is that guy who cant let go of his gf from high school, he’s gotta move on already. Let murph play it out or sign nady as a platoon. Priority is pitching though and needs to be on sheets. Assuming he is healthy, a 1/2 of santana/sheets would be deadly and would mask any power issues we may have.
So Delgado has been limping and has shown no range? The funny thing is that Delgado has been playing DH all this time because Carolina plays on artificial turf.
So how did the scout based his evaluation, on the 7 innings he played once after a 7 month layoff??
Don’t believe everything that you read, specially if it’s about the Mets.
Isn’t the fact that he can’t play the field at all, once every couple days even on turf enough to cause you concern?
Nady is exactly what this team doesn’t need: another injury-prone player!
I knew it… I think the mets should give up on Delgado and find a better fit to platoon with Murphy. If Nady can’t be had at a low price than trade with BSox for Lowell. Boston will pay all but 3 mill of Lowell’s contract.
It’s time to say goodbye to Captain Boredom and move on.
Go after a player who plays hard because that’s what they get paid for, and not someone that decides he hates the manager so therefore he won’t play hard for him.
sign sheets, hudson and brayan.
reyes ss
hudson 2b
wright 3b
bay lf
brayan 1b
francouer rf
pagan cf
thole c
trade murphy or put him in the bench, same with castillo. brayan and hudson shouldnt cost more than 10mm combined.
Mets are not going to put a 6 million dollar player on the bench. Nor are they going to eat the 12 million he’s got left. Unless they can find a team stupid enough to take him and nearly all his contract, you can forget Hudson.
Putting Murphy on the bench serves no purpose at all. Send him to AAA so he can play every day and learn the position.
learn what position?? 1B?? isnt ike davis taking over 1B in 2011?..I said put him in the bench because he had success pinch hitting last season.
hah it “serves no purpose at all”…?
If you’re trying to say that the purpose is to get him off the field, then I totally agree.
But as far as his development is concerned, which is obviously what I was referring to, it doesn’t help him or the team if he sits on the bench. Especially since this is a position he’s very new at.
As for Ike taking over 1B in 2011, well that may be the plan, but it’s always good to have a back up. We don’t really know if Ike will be ready by next year, miss this whole year with an injury setting him back or if he just doesn’t pan out (or is traded for Moises Alou, Jose Lima or some other retred we’ve had and jettisoned already.)
2B. If he could learn second base he soil likely be a net offsnsivs asset. Given Castillo’s defensive it wouldn’t take much. The Cards did it with Schuemaker. He was a light hitting OF. They shoved him in at 2B and now he’s a decent 2Bman whereas he’d likely be on the bench as an OF.
I was very optimistic a year ago when they were supposedly trying him in Winter ball. I think the way the story went (?) he tweaked a hamstring and then they asked him stop playing winter ball.
Next thing ya know, he’s in left field…
If Murphy went to AAA to play, it would be at 2b or 3b. Ike should be ready for 1b by next year, so there would be no point in playing him at 1b there this year. If you play Murphy at 3b this year, it would be to rebuild trade value as a 3rd baseman. If you play him at 2b, it would be to play at 2b next year if you don’t think any of our young guys will be ready next year. Then it opens up a better chance of them finally trading Crapsickle.
I’m not sure he has the mobilty for 2B though. I’m also opposed to moving people around just to find them a position (ala Greg Jeffries or Todd Hundley.) IMO, it never works out well. I’d much rather they traded him away and brought in very good 2B like Hudson. Much less problems that way.
Mets are far to enamored with their players and love to move them out of position so they are a defensive liability just to keep their bat in the line up. It’s way past time to put a top defensive team on the field even if it means a bit less O.
Did you just write…”in very good 2B like Hudson. ” ??
i hope delgado feels better soon!! good luck carlos!
Nady, Hudson, Sheets, Smoltz what will that cost?
1, 5, 8, 2=16
isn’t that about whats left in the budget
i’m starting to feel like it’s all meangingless anyway. i feel like this team is not going anywhere till we loose OMAR, after he’s fired and they bring Valentine back i find it hard to think positive
thats not a knock on the players… Santana, Wright, KRod, Reyes Beltran inc are great talents and awesome to watch, but the front office doesn;t know how to build a winner. IMO
honestly, who thinks the mets can win with a lineup of
reyes
castillo
wright
bay
murphy
franceour
santos
pagan
i just dont see it. and its not even like our rotation is good enough to make up for it
get hudson and brayan. I dont know why brayan hasnt been link to the mets, the guy has a lot of power, can play 1B, 3B and the outfield.
Because Branyon is awful. He’s had 1 good half of a year. That’s it. He’s put up over 20 HR only 2 times in his career. He’s been a part time player his entire 11 year career. He has a career .234 batting average. Your reading that correctly .234 batting average.
He’s a very good bench player though. He’s pretty solid defensively at 1st and 3rd and can handle the OF….. If he came in on a 2 million dollar contract he’d be a decent pickup, Fernando Tatis with more pop. Problem is with him he can’t hit lefties. His career batting average vs lefties is .210…..
Garko would be the best fit as he holds a career mark of .308 against lefties.
The rotation is a disaster.
Who thinks we can win with
Santana
Maine
Pelfrey
Perez
somebody to be named later.
I thought this rotation was riddles with ? going into last year and it’s far more so this year.
This is Omar’s biggest failure this year.
I think we can win with that rotation because the mets won with a rotation of:
Tom Glavine, Steve Traschel, Pedro, El Douque, Maine, Ollie P, Zambrano
Tom Glavine, John Maine, Ollie P, El Douque, Pelfrey
Johan, Maine, Ollie P, Pelf, Pedro
Those were the rotation when the mets won 97,88,89 games.
If your point is the mets need to add another arm to the rotation then Yes i agree 100%. I wanted lackey but he was vastly over paid by boston, pienerio and the rest who have signed i didn’t really want.
Wow. You cannot be serious can you?
First, Zambrano started 5 games for the Mets in 2006.
Second, what was the rotation for the Phillies? The Braves? The Marllins? in all of those years. These rotations have all VASTLY improved.
And when you add this year, include the Baby Nationals, who may out-pitch the Mets in 2010.
I agree Koos. Don’t forget that the Phillies also have the best every day line up in the NL to boot. Get get any kind of production in the pen and they’ll run away with the division.
Well because that won’t be the lineup for the bulk of the year… I think a team who’s lineup looks like Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Bay, Beltran, Francour, Murphy, catcher is fine. Beltran isn’t supposed to miss much time. I still wish the mets and jerry manuel would take a new approach and bat reyes 2nd. I know he won’t but it would be best for the team and the lineup with Castillo still on the team.
reyes was supposed to be out for a few weeks last year..he ended up being out the whole year.
all im saying is that after last year, i cannot trust anything the mets report about when a player will be back and ready to play. for all i kno, beltran can be out for much longer than we expect.
Not just Reyes 06. Everyone was out for just a couple weeks and were expected to be ready before that time was up and they all wound up missing significant time.
At this point, I’d be surprised if Beltran doesn’t miss the whole year, and I’d say there’s 2/3 or 3/4 odds that he has micro fracture surgery in April.
The best way I see the mets getting the most production out of first base is a Garko and Murphy platoon. You can get a combined 280 avg. 25 hrs. and 100 rbi’s out of first base with acceptable defense all the while paying around 5 million for both.
im just scanning threw reading some of the comments,,you know one thing i really liked about murphy,,,,,he started out hot,then slumped when pitchers made ajustments to him,then after a long and it was a long slump he did something thats not easy at the major leauge ,,he made his own ajustments and got hot again, tho the season he had was not overly immpressive,but in my eyes that was, the fact that well i dont know this for sure and you hear this about allot of players,they say he is one of the hardest workers on the team,,,,well i hope thats true because if thats the case i can see him improve allot at his new position,and i can only see his hitting numbers get better i dont see him getting any worse,,,with all this in mind i wouldent have any argument adding a right handed bat to #1 if he flops against leftys to plkatoon’
#2 if im 100% wrong and he flops against everyone to take his job and be the everyday firstbasemen,, nady is a good player and might not be ready at the start of the season but since murph will start the year on a full time there maybe we can wait for him to be ready,and hope he stays healthy once hes back, some of the other names ive seen are lefty and the mets are not gonna get another lefty because they have faith in murph,,,garko who i feel personaly is the mets best option,had a bad year last year but hit left hand pitching well,plus hes still young and can have a good come back year and play well, im not expert by all means but if the mets sighn garko i will be a happy mets fan and a happy mets fan is hard to find
i want no part of delgado… but since this team does have omar minaya the worst gm on the planet i assume he will get 10M from the mets lol
time to move on…have a stop gap this year because murphy is a bench players…so let him have his crack and then look to get a full time 1B for the future through free agency in the next year or so
A couple of things, first of all, I do agree minaya IS the worst gm in baseball, he’s got 150 million thrown out there and most of the high paid players are/were not worth it, other than santana (giveaway) beltran (moneytalks) delgado (cancer/had 2 good years) I haven’t seen really productive players year in and out he’s brought in here, we haven’t produce any good player under his watch from the famr since 2004 that he’s been the gm, and he can givin away contracts to old broken down player looking for ‘veteran leadership’, he should’ve been fired as soon as ollie sign that contract, now we’re stuck wit most of his dumb desicions for at least 2 more years, I’m glad he’s a lame duck and has been taken a lot of his power to sign players the way he did it b4, other wise we’ve had molina for 3 years, piñero for 4 years and so on.. once he’s gone he’ll never, ever get another gm job, he wasn’t fired coz the wilpons stupidly gave him that 3 year extension and they don’t pay money if ur not on the team (see castillo).. he prob will be very soon, I see the light, john rico is my fav candidate, he’s got theo epstein written all over.. and other thing, delgado, stay the hell away!!!!!!!!!! We don’t want u sulking up the clubhouse, we got enough of that wit castillo
A part of me wants Delgado back due to his bat, but 100% or not I think its time to move on. Not counting 2009, in 3-years only 1-division title and 08 if not for Delgado we wouldn’t as come as close, but with that said its time to move on. Delgado is NOT the reason for the failures of this team, but something just wasn’t working with the core we got. Delgado is the oldest and a FA so it makes sense for him to be the first to go. Lets remember it isn’t always who puts up the better stats that’ll help your team win. We need to rebuild without rebuilding. Meaning don’t give everyone away to start over, but rebuild in the sense with new players with your core. I’d like Delgado back due to his bat like I said in the opening if this post, but I do feel we need a change.
Who will tie Delgado’s shoes?
He cannot bend over!
He may trouble tying his shoes.
We will need a designated shoe-tyer on the roster
LOL! +100
Delgado is done. I’ve said it now for 2 years it’s time for him to begin the DH part of his career. He can still handle the wood and hit for power. He can’t handle the grind of fielding 1st base on a near every day basis anymore. He was never good over there to begin with and now he’s gimpy…
I say thanks for the magical 2nd half of ’08 and for the good year in ’06…. See ya in the AL.
Exactly, thanks Carlos for those memories, its time for us to move on, man he did hit some BOMBS for us though.
I remember being at the game a couple years ago when he went 5-5 and had the game-winning hit to sweep the Braves…the one Omar Infante messed up, lol…
Good times with Carlos, but I agree it’s time to move on. Heck after this season I’d also be willing to trade Beltran for either a MLB pitcher or a few top prospects. I’d love a future lineup of:
Reyes, ss
Thole, c
Wright, 3b
Bay, lf
Francoeur, rf
Martinez, cf
Davis, 1b
Havens, 2b
Santana, Pelfrey, Mejia, Holt, Niese
im guessing the mets thought delgado earned that 11M option he got last year LOL playing all of 25 or so games haha.. which was a joke to begin with no way should they have given him that team option… guys no worries because finally omar will be fired after or in the middle of this season, i promise that
mark i just read your post about batting reyes 2nd,, that dont make sence he is considered one of the best leadoff hitters in all baseball,and castillo as much as most hate him is a exelent #2 hitter,reyes gets on steals a base whatever and no one is better then castillo at moving runners around the bases,the mets will not with out any doubt bat reyes 2nd
I would bat Castillo leadoff too. He works the count and makes the pitcher work hard right out of the gate. I never liked the “moving the running over” aspect of the game.. It means you are just throwing away an out. I think this why the Mets are not a high scoring team. Also, Reyes has some power. Instead of hitting doubles and triples with no one on base, he can actually drive Castillo in. It’s not like Castillo is slow. He can still steal like 20 bags a season.
Reyes hits something like 70 XBH a year…. Castillo is on base at a .400 clip. THat would lead to a ton of scoring opportunities.
The only thing is reyes’s steals might go down a little bit… Other then that he’d be a great #2 hitter.
What is it wit this new york teams and cho-king!!!!!! First the mets in the playoffs un 2006, then 2 years straight they chok-e away the division, and now after having a 17-6 lead wit 2 min left in the second quarter the jets get blown out!!!!! Jesus..
Don’t forget the Yankees up 3-0 in 2004 !.
That’s really how it all started.
Lmao, yeah.. ur right.. jesus.. well, to be fair they at least exercise their demon by winning it all last year, the mets going on 24 years and the jets.. 40!!!! Wow.. although sanchez and revis r the future.. the too like us have some young and exciting players, let’s hope this year we make an excited ride like the jets but let’s finish it
That was the mother of all chokes…MUCH worse than our choke in 2007. I still don’t consider 2008 a choke…
Well, even thought they come back from 8 games against the phillies in september we had a lead of 4 games in the loss column, and we needed at least 1 more victory against bad teams like florida, nationals, or braves, and they beat us many times in sept to make us surrender the division n the wild card.. oh, and that game where d.wright (ur beloved) struck out wit men on third and no outs on a 6 feet of the plate ball where he later said “he made a great pitch”..
You’re pinning an entire season on one pitch? Wow…don’t get me wrong, I cursed Wright for weeks after that stupid mistake, but even the best players screw up from time to time. That team played WAY above its potential for so long…we had no SP behind Santana, no LF or RF, and our bullpen was absolute trash (with or without Wags). Fate finally caught up to them.
But in the big picture, this team has a HUGE monkey on their back. Nobody will leave them alone until they get back to the playoffs, and ultimately back to the NLCS to get a shot at the WS. That’s just the way it goes…
Again, I don’t think we play above our head.. we have the best cf, a great season from wright, delgado and reyes, and overall our team wasn’t bad, the bullpen betrayed us true, but something should’ve been done to prevent it, and minaya didn’t addresed it until the offseason, that’s why he should’ve been fired along wit jerry after 2008.. but hey, I was being negative and a hater when I said that.. boy, was I riiiiight.
Where you seriously surprised by the Jets/Colts outcome though? I mean come on…it’s Peyton Manning versus a team full of rookies. No reason to be upset with this team AT ALL.
I’m not at all, I’m not even a jets fan, but the point is the had a lead, and they cho-ke it away.. so.. it didn’t matter if they were rookies or not, that’s a chok-e job n the newspaper will say so as well..
The NY newspapers have some of the most ridiculous sports columns around. I don’t think it’s a choke job. We’re talking an less-than-two-touchdown lead with about 32 minutes of football to play against a team with Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, Pierre Garcon, and Joseph Addai. Revis cannot guard all of those guys, lol.
And how can you cay it didn’t matter if they were rookies or not? The rookie head coach thing is overblown, I agree, but Sanchez/Revis/Green/etc. are all in uncharted territory on the road against arguably the best team in football. I think they were in over their heads thinking they ACTUALLY beat this team a few weeks ago.
Ur selling the jets very short, if u wanna use 1 excuse use the fact that almost the whole secondary and shonne green got hurt, but other than that sanchez played well, ryan coached ok, but if not they had a chance to beat them, they let the lead slip away and went away from the pa plays when they should’ve executed more, anyhow, ur write about the ny writers being a joke, but hey, no good news is news, negativity is what a writer wanna write, and a reader wanna read
No doubt…people LOVE controversy and drama.
I don’t think I’m really selling them short…they’re a good team. I just think they somewhat overachieved by making it this far. Don’t get me wrong…they’ve definitely got to be in the discussion for favorites next season. The rest of the AFC has to be going “great, another contender. what’s next, the Dolphins?”
It’s a good problem to have…having a team full of rookies play THAT well and get so far. Lot of excitement going into next season, on top of opening a new stadium!
Yep, honestly, I’m not a fan, but they def did all the right moves to create that team, and pretty much everyone is coming back.. let’s hope is the mets who celebrate this year in ny..
omg i really cant belive some of the stuff im reading at all, met fans just throwing the guys who accually had some impact on a bad team last year and fans want to like just throw em under a bus,,lol ,,,they wanna pay castillo to sit him on the bench,which as a bench player with one position makes no sence at all,not only that he only hit 300 stole 20 bases when runners where needed to be moved they got moved he did everything that he was asked to do last year and did it well,i agree there are allot of others id rather see at second base for the mets but hes are second baseman and some support wouldenbt hurt the guy,as for murphy, i saw send him to the minors????? well he accually led this team in homers last year with less at bats then most ,he only hit 12 homers yes but he was not a full time player for the hole year….hes a hard worker will get better at first base and will have a better year with the bad….hes not no all star but hes a good player and still young and will get better
i lost a ton of respect for castillo when he dropped the popup against the yankees. i understand everyone makes mistakes and i usually can forgive players of mistakes. but when u are making millions of dollars to play baseball, u catch an easy pop up. not to mention that his defense has been horrible and if we had an option to pick up a gold glove second baseman (which we do) then we should!
Branyan is a bum!
Yes to Nady
NO to Delgado
NO to Tatis
Get rid of Castillo
“Get rid of Castillo”
You mean release him? If they sign Hudson, I’m all for it…but you gotta sign Hudson first because if you get rid of Castillo you lose all leverage.
i like murphy alot im all for letting him start full time…
Amen. If they’re willing to show confidence in John Maine by giving him $3MM, why can’t they do the same by letting Murphy have the 1B job by himself for one season? Ike Davis should be ready in 2011, so signing somebody makes no sense…
I’m still disappointed with the Matthews trade because we gave up one of our best relievers for a 4th outfielder who creates problems when he doesn’t play every day…I’m hoping they regain my confidence by signing Sheets or Garland soon.
well im glad at least someone agrees with me,,lol i just dont get it,i understand some might have all the confidence in the world in this kid but they need to give him a chance it was his first full season in the bigs ive seen alot of stars have worse first full seasons,
Castillo.. another of minaya’s greatest trade.. ugh.. I can’t get that drop ball against the yankees out of my sistem.. that represented our season last year, we drop the ball.. lol..
Actually, we gave up virtually nothing for Castillo…Luis was good last season, but I just want him gone because I think he is preventing the youth movement from continuing. I’d LOVE Hudson for two years until (hopefully) Havens is ready.
I wouldn’t call the Castillo pickup a bad trade…in fact, Minaya hasn’t really had any bad trades with the Mets yet. It can be argued the Lindstrom and Matthews trades are bad, but there’s no denying his worst moves have all been overpaying guys to stay in NY.
Again, minnesotta wanted to get rid of him, that’s why we got him, and to top it all we (well, only minaya) thought he was worth 4 more years, this guy has brought a aura of defeat to this team is not even funny.. minaya doesn’t wanna get rid of him, is more like the wilpons r, and the reason maybe he represents everything that’s wrong wit the mets
Minaya thinking he is worth 4 years is absolutely ridiculous, I agree. However, I think it’s pretty obvious Minaya has been trying to get rid of Luis for the last two years. To say he doesn’t want to get rid of him is about as crazy as Gammons saying Bay would rather play in Beirut.
I don’t think Minaya represents what’s wrong with the Mets, I think it’s guys like Castillo (may have misunderstood what you were saying there). I agree it’s time to move on from Castillo, Delgado, TATIS, etc.
Yeah I said castillo represnet what’s wrong wit the mets, and why we often get laughed at.. his sulking is horrendous, I can’t wait till he’s gone!
Castillo will be 34. Hudson will be 32.
Castillo is signed for 2 years. You want Hudson for 2 years. Havens is 2 years away.
How is Castillo preventing a youth movement? And since Hudson us 32 how is he not?
Oh, and btw, the reason so many mets fans are down on murphy and don’t wanna give him a chance is becoz evryone except a few of us who knew he was gonna struggle thought he was gonna be the next d.wright in left.. and after he struggle in lf, and on his way to first we all lost faith, and here we are, 1 year later he’s a bum, get rid of him and all that, while me who didn’t want no part of him last year in lf, say give him a shot, and I think he’ll have a great year for us..
What about Mike Lowell at first base?
i have not been a huge daniel murphy fan, but the fact of the matter is that there is anything much better than him out there. sure, there are some right handed bats out there the mets can sign to platoon; but outside of that, there is no one readily available that is significantly better. signing delgado would be an absolute disaster for this team. it would be almost as bad as the mets trading for lowell
“dwright5_godsend: I don’t think Minaya represents what’s wrong with the Mets”
are you kidding me? omar is the reason for all of this… he is by far the worst gm of all time… when he walks into the stadium and 90% of the fans are booing him thats kind of a problem… his contracts are horrible… he does the worst trades… i can go on… and on… and on….
I’m not saying Omar is great by any stretch, but he had a good 2005 and 2006 and even thought ehy choked the divison away in 2007 and 2008 those were winning seasons. He can’t play the game. He can only put players on the field who he feels can win. Last season was just bad luck.
He does the worst trades? How do you do a trade? You make a trade. I guess getting Johan Santana for nothing was a bad trade? Getting John Maine for Kris Benson was awful. Landing El Duque for Jorge Julio was shameful. Getting Carlos Delgado for Mike Jacobs and Paul Lo Duca for nothing were unconscionable. Jeff Francoeur for Ryan Church, why bother? And when Ollie won 15 games in 2007 everyone said that trade was a steal since Perez was a throw-in.
Face it, love him or hate him, Mianya has made some good moves. Sure you’re gonna combat this with the Matt Lindstrom trade for Jason vargas, etc. Not such an earth-shattering deal really. Or Heath Bell for Ben Johnson. Heath Bell sucked in his short tenure in NY and they had Billy Wagner.
Delgado is cooked. I want no part of him. Murph is a good hitter, looked decent at 1B. Let him play there for three months, and if he’s not cutting it (and we’re not 28 games out) by the break, pick someone up on the cheap. Let’s focus on pitching.
I couldn’t agree more that I would absolutely welcome back Xavier Nady with open arms to come back and platoon at 1B and even be a 4th or 5th OF depending on how GMJ turns out. Another name I’d like to throw out there that has the same versatility as Nady that I’m sure got mentioned before me but unfortunately I didn’t read through all 166 comments, is Ryan Garko, he played corner OF and 1B while in Cleveland, and for a respectable line too, and I’d give him a pass for what he did in San Fran, I read that him and Bruce Bochy got off on the wrong foot right from the start…
I’m cool with Nady. I imagine he would be ok with a platoon considering he was hurt and likely won’t get a starting job in the OF anywhere. Plus it gives depth if someone goes down.
In this case they still need another backup IF no?. Are they looking at Cora and A. Hernandez ?
But then the bench when healthy is stacked. WHEN healthy is the big key I guess
Cora, Hernandez, Nady, Mathews, Pagan, Blanco.