Daily Archives: February 3, 2010
In a post to HotStove.com, four Mets bloggers discuss Jerry Manuel’s future with the Mets, and who they’d replace him with, should he be fired this season.”
According to Tom Hoefner, from the Rational Mets Fan, ‘The New York Mets are officially America’s favorite whipping boys.’
Ed Leyro of Studious Metsimus wonders why Jon Miller won the Ford C. Frick Award for broadcasting, and not SNY’s Gary Cohen.
According to Ted Berg, on TedQuarters, “Excellent players signed to reasonable contracts are the new market inefficiency.”
Ed Ryan of Mets Fever takes a closer look at Kelvim Escobar.
Matthew Mayer of Defensive Indifference predicts the team’s Opening Day roster.
Lastly, go to Fan Exchange to post your pre-season MLB predictions.
Mack from Mack’s Mets does a terrific job ranking the team’s 10 best minor-league pitchers, from Dillon Gee to Brad Holt down to Ryan Coultas.
- Gee, with his ‘Tom Glavine-like control,’ could be a fifth starter for the Mets in 2012;
- Kyle Allen could be St. Lucie’s best pitcher this season;
- Robert Carson has big-market stuff;
- Jeurys Familia is someone to keep an eye on.
- Holt was learning new pitches last season, and is still the team’s best starting pitching prospect, despite a difficult time in Double-A last year.
- Jenrry Mejia is a ‘a closet closer.’
…gee was invited to big-league camp last spring, and a lot of people took notice of him, including Jerry Manuel, who seemed to really enjoy saying his name… mack says glavine, but i recall thinking of Rick Reed, in that they had a similar repertoire, velocity, command and temperament on the mound… he was supposed to have surgery on his shoulder, but he instead chose not to undergo extensive rehab… it’ll be an interesting season for him… he struck me as a thinking man’s pitcher last spring, so i am interested in seeing how he adjusts to advanced hitters, because he lets up a lot of hits and lives in the strike zone, which is one of the reason he walks so few batters…
The 23–year-old Gee pitched in just nine games for Triple-A Buffalo last season, missing the final three months of the season with a shoulder injury.
He was 1–3 with a 4.10 ERA, while striking out 42 and walking 16 in 48 innings, in Triple-A.
According to the San Jose Mercury News, 38–year-old free-agent infielder Rick Aurilia is looking for a minor-league deal, and would like to sign with either the Mets or Yankees.
Aurilia was born in Brooklyn, NY, and went to St. John’s University.
He hit just .213 in 60 games for the Giants last season, though he hit .283 in 407 at bats in 2008, while playing all four infield positions.
… he’s well beyond his prime, to say the least, but he was still a fairly sound player last season… that said, i do not think he offers enough pop, or is great enough on defense, to find a home on the Mets bench… though, it would not surprise me to see him get a minor-league invite…
In the first game of the Caribbean Series last night, Mets OF Fernando Martinez went 0-for-3 in Escogido’s 2-1 win against Puerto Rico.
Martinez told Jesse Sanchez of MLB.com that he thought he might get the chance to start in center field for the Mets, when he first heard news that Carlos Beltran would miss the start of the season due to knee surgery.
“But they get Gary Matthews Jr., and now I’m not sure where I am,” Martinez told Sanchez. “I just can’t give up.”
…i think the job was always going to be Angel Pagan’s to lose, but i like fernando’s attitude… for what it’s worth, i talked with a team official the day the Mets acquired matthews, and it didn’t sound to me like fernando was ever considered an option, if for no other reason than i don’t think they see him as a center fielder… this is not to say the team must feel he is incapable of handling the job… i just think they really want him to get a full, healthy, uninterrupted, productive season under his belt in Triple-A, while feeling no pressure to produce in the big leagues… just play, kid, play and produce…
Martinez hit just .191 in the regular season this winter, but hit .387 with two home runs in the playoffs.
“I know I’m a big league player, and I can perform at a high level,” Sanchez quotes Martinez as saying. “It’s in my hands, so I have to keep working hard and maybe earn a spot. Maybe I make it to the big leagues with the Mets or maybe another team, but I know I can do it. I just have to keep working and waiting for my opportunity.”
To hear from Martinez’s coach in Winter Ball, Ken Oberkfell, who also coached Martinez in Triple-A Buffalo last season, read Sanchez report for MLB.com, here.
The Mets have re-signed 31–year-old free-agent 1B-OF Val Pascucci to a minor-league contract, according to Baseball America.
To learn more about Pascucci, check out Ted Berg’s TedQuarters, on which he writes, among other things:
“Boss, if you’ll recall, is a large, right-handed three-true-outcomes masher that plays first base and the outfield corners… He earned folk-hero status among certain Mets fans by dominating Triple-A pitching in 2008 while the Mets were carrying Marlon Anderson as a bench ‘bat’ all season… By most accounts, he’s not much of a fielder, and since most of the higher-ups in the Mets organization didn’t seem to even bother learning his name the last time around, I can’t imagine he’ll see any time on the Major League roster in this one.”
Last season, Pascucci hit .248 with a .348 OBP, 19 HR, 25 doubles and 77 RBI in 126 games in Triple-A for the Padres and Dodgers
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