Daily Archives: February 17, 2010
In short, he lists, ‘Health,’ ‘Doubts,’ the Rotation,’ power, and ‘Defense,’ as concerns.
…i am actually most concerned with the defense, which i put under a larger category of Smart Baseball… the Mets have to play smarter, be it on defense, at the plate, on the bases or in the trainers room… this is the case for every team, of course, but the Mets have question marks at every position, and so they have little room for error… they must be heads up, every play, every inning… if so, those other issues fall in to place…
According to Brian Costa, in a post to his blog for the Star-Ledger, the following players were assigned designated parking spots at Tradition Field:
Johan Santana, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Jeff Francoeur, Jason Bay, Mike Pelfrey, Kelvim Escobar, Carlos Beltran, Francisco Rodriguez, Luis Castillo, Oliver Perez, Alex Cora and Henry Blanco
…this is seemingly meaningless, but it does provide a window in to status on the club, seniority, etc., and so it’s interesting that, say, pelfrey and perez get a spot, but John Maine does not… beltran has a spot, even though he’s only going to occasionally be in camp… of course cora gets a spot… or, as Ted Berg jokingly said on Twitter, his contract also includes access to heliport with a vesting option for private jet…
…interesting, despite us always clamoring for youth, it was the Mets oldest team over the last five season that got the furthest in to the post season… but, in the end, i actually think this speaks more to the talent, and not necessarily age… or, i suppose it points to the age of the specific talent… for instance, Moises Alou was an amazing hitter, but he was built on toothpicks and a light breeze… in reverse, youth for the sake of youth is not helpful either…
Jon Heyman of SI.com believes the Mets offered free-agent C Rod Barajas a minor-league contract.
Heyman quotes an American League scout who says, right now, the Mets only have four back-up catchers in camp, no starter.
In early February, Ben Yoel said on Twitter, according to his source, the Mets and Barajas’s agent might have been talking about a one-year deal.
Original Post at 5:04 am:
According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, “The Mets are making a hard push for free-agent C Rod Barajas,” while negotiating with him on a one-year deal, according to major-league sources.
…he’s not a very good hitter… but, he’s got decent power, probably enough to hit .270 and 20 home runs if everything goes well… more realistically, he’ll hit around 15 home runs, drive in 50 runs and bat .230 or so… he is most known for his defense… between him and Henry Blanco, the team will have a terrific, defensive catching duo, maybe the best in baseball… and significantly better than last season… Johan Santana will be very happy… and, hopefully, their knowledge and command of what they do will end up steering the rest of the pitching staff in a better direction as well…
In a report for ESPN.com, Jerry Crasnick puts Jose Reyes at the top of his list of nine players ready to make an impact after closing 2009 on the disabled list.
According to Crasnick, “The Mets were 21-19 and second in the National League East, one game behind the Phillies, when Reyes went down for the year with a leg injury on May 20… There’s no overstating the void Reyes’s absence created in the New York lineup.”
Yesterday, Reyes was at Tradition Field for an informal workout, where he did some jogging, took batting practice, fielded ground balls and did agility drills.
To see video of Reyes talking to reporters, and working out in camp, go here on MetsBlog.
For more on Reyes’s day in camp, read David Waldstein’s report for the New York Times.
According to Matt Pignataro, in a post to Seven Train to Shea, on Sunday’s Baseball Tonight, on ESPN, Bobby Valentine said he feels Reyes should bat third in the Mets lineup this season.
…i understand the temptation, especially since Angel Pagan looked so good in the leadoff spot last season… but, it’s only relevant about half the game… from what i can tell, the leadoff hitter ends up actually batting leadoff, i.e., nobody on, no outs, roughly 30 percent of his at bats… he ends up batting with nobody on, and either one, none or two outs, around half the time… over the last three season, jose is hitting .293 when leading off an inning, yet just .272 with runners on base… similarly, pagan is batting .291 when leading off an inning, but batting .330 when runners are on base… and so, i feel reyes is better suited physically and mentally to be hitting leadoff, with pagan batting second, and Luis Castillo hitting eighth…
…what’s more, i see no reason to mess with jose… he’s coming off a major injury, and the Mets need him to be comfortable and confident… he obviously sees himself as a dynamic leadoff hitter… so, let him be… let him do his thing… i just don’t think now is the time to experiment and challenge him…
In the Post report, Mike Puma writes, “Of course, a potentially good first step was signing Jason Bay… but Johnson also points to having Jeff Francoeur for a full season and the strides Daniel Murphy made in last season’s second half.”
…i tried to make this point all off season, in that last year’s injury-defeated lineup would have finished last in home runs regardless of where they played, let alone Citi Field…
…the return of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, and adding bay, all around David Wright, plus the continued development of murphy and francoeur, and the Mets will have no choice but to hit more home runs… so long as they’re all in the lineup, even with weak seasons, the Mets will finish in the middle of the pack of that one category…
In a post to his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin talks to Jon Niese, who has his eye on the fifth starter’s spot in the rotation.
David Lennon of Newsday explains why the Mets still have faith in Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Oliver Perez.
“We got criticized for not grabbing so-and-so,” Jerry Manuel told Lennon. “But if our guys hit their stride - like we have seen - there’s not many staffs that can be potentially as good as what they can be.”
In regards to a No. 2 starting pitcher, Fonzie Forever believes it will be Perez.
In an effort to continue MetsBlog’s projections, please take the following survey about Perez:
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