Category Archives: News
The Twins will designate RHP Jason Marquis by assignment, according to Jon Morosi of FOX Sports.
May 22, 5:18 pm: The Mets are not interested in signing Marquis, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post.
May 21, 6:40 pm: Marquis, 33, signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Twins during the off-season. He struggled with Minnesota this year, going 2-4 with an 8.47 ERA in seven starts, allowing 52 hits, 14 walks, and nine home runs with only 12 strikeouts in 34 innings.
Last season, Marquis went 0-1 with a 9.53 ERA in three starts for Arizona before breaking his leg in August. He went a combined 8-6 with a 4.43 ERA in 132 innings across 23 starts for Washington and Arizona in 2011.
In November, Ken Davidoff of Newsday (now with the New York Post) said the Mets were interested in acquiring Marquis to replace Chris Capuano and last August, Marquis told Andy Martino of the Daily News he “will definitely explore” the possibility of joining the Mets or Yankees this past winter.
For Michael Baron’s thoughts on Marquis struggles, click here.
According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Terry Collins said Ruben Tejada batted in an extended Spring Training game in Port St. Lucie yesterday.
Collins said Tejada did not play the field.
Last week, Collins told reporters Tejada had begun running in straight lines in Port St. Lucie, and could appear in rehab games as soon as Monday or Tuesday.
Tejada was placed on the 15-day disabled list on May 7 after straining his right quadricep muscle while diving into first base against the Diamondbacks on May 6.
Prior to the June 3rd Sunday night game against the Cardinals, Mets bloggers will gather at a tailgate party, where all fans are welcome to come, enjoy some barbecue and talk some Mets baseball.
Festivities will kick off at 3:30 pm in the Roosevelt Avenue parking lot, and will wrap up shortly after 7:00 pm to give fans time to get to their seats to watch John Franco become the newest member of the Mets Hall of Fame.
In attendance will be The 7 Line‘s Darren Meenan, Kerel Cooper from On the Black, Brian Erni and Vinny Cartiglia from MetsBlog, SNY’s Ted Berg and others.
In 40 games this season, Ike Davis is hitting .161 (22-for-137) with four doubles, five home runs, 15 RBI with ten walks and 41 strikeouts.
On Sunday, Terry Collins suggested Davis could be sent to the minor leagues, telling reporters “There is nothing etched in stone. We will never, never say something is not going to happen. What we’re trying to do is make sure is we wring the rag dry.”
According to Jon Heyman of CBS Sports, the Mets are giving Davis up to a week to figure things out before considering demoting him to the minor leagues.
This team does need a healthy, productive and clear-headed Ike Davis, but right now, he is hurting them more than he’s helping.
On the other hand, he is severely hurting the ball club and can no longer be hidden in the lineup. As Baron said, Davis is constantly changing his approach at the plate. His hands are never in the same position on consecutive at-bats and he is always out in front. Even with all of that and the glaring .161 average on the scoreboard, lately he is hitting the ball hard, it just isn’t finding spots to drop in, but that only seems to frustrate Davis even more. With all that being said, Davis needs to work this out, quickly, or this may not be a debate anymore, the only choice will be a trip to Buffalo.
Right now, it’s painful to watch, and as they say: desperate times call for desperate measures…
Here are several fan responses to the question on the MetsBlog Facebook page.
To see the rest of the fans comments and join the discussion on Facebook, click here.
In 15 games combined with Double-A Binghamton and Triple-A Buffalo, Elvin Ramirez is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA, allowing just ten hits and seven walks while striking out 26 in 22 innings this season.
Since his promotion to Triple-A, Ramirez, 24, is 2-0, having allowed just three hits while striking out ten in nine innings over seven starts.
Ramirez was originally signed by the Mets as a non-drafted free agent in 2004, but was lost in the Rule 5 draft to the Nationals in 2010. However, he was returned to the Mets last October after missing the entire 2011 season due to shoulder surgery last March.
In 2010, Ramirez went 4-4 with a 4.16 ERA in 80 innings with 72 strikeouts in 52 games between Single-A St. Lucie and Double-A Binghamton.
What lies ahead? The big leagues. And soon.
For complete coverage of the Mets minor leagues, be sure to check out SNY’s Mets Minor League Blog.
Nationals: Jordan Zimmermann takes the mound for the Nationals as they try to win their second game in a row in Philadelphia. Bryce Harper continues to get back at the Phillies for the hit by pitch by getting on base. He picked up two more singles Monday night and stole a base, giving him a .474 OBP against Philadelphia.
Phillies: Roy Halladay takes the mound against the Nationals Tuesday night. Roy may be showing his age of 35 years this season. His walks rose from 1.3 to 1.7 per nine innings, and his strikeouts fell from 8.5 to 7.0 per nine IP. Those numbers remain very good, but with that slide comes a higher ERA. Roy remains a an iron man, however, having pitched the most innings and faced the most batters in the National League this year.
Braves: Brandon Beachy takes on the Reds tonight, sporting the best ERA in the majors at 1.33. While Mike Minor allowed four home runs Monday, including one to pitcher Mike Leake, Beachy allowed just one all season. In 54 innings this season, Beachy faced a bases loaded situation just once and gave up a sacrifice fly.
Marlins: The Marlins try to take another game from Colorado as they send Ricky Nolasco to the mound. The many injuries on Miami presents an opportunity for Austin Kearns. His four for four Monday night raised his averages to .362/.423/.638, with seven of his 17 hits going for extra bases. It helps that he’s seen mostly left-handed pitching this season.
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To send in a question to Ron Darling, Keith Hernandez or Gary Cohen, to maybe be used during tonight’s Ask the Booth segment, use this contact form:
In last night’s 5-4 loss to the Pirates, Johan Santana allowed four runs and eight hits while walking two and striking out seven over 6 1/3 innings.
Santana faced 28 batters and threw 96 pitches, 56 of which were strikes.
Santana was given a four run lead thanks to a four-run top of the second inning, but he ultimately relinquished the lead in the seventh innings thanks to a Michael McKenry two-run home run.
“We were trying to throw a fastball away [to McKenry] and it stayed pretty much in the middle of the plate and up and he put a good swing and it was out of the park.” Santana told reporters after the game. “I still feel that I have some work to do with my command, and especially with my fastball.”
Santana took his sixth no-decision in nine starts this season, and he’s 1-2 with a 3.24 ERA this season.
“The pitch he made to McKenry was a ball I’m sure he wishes he could get back,” Collins said. “It was up. You felt pretty good going into that.”
Since joining the Mets prior to the 2008 season, Santana is 41-27 with a 2.88 ERA in 97 starts – he has 29 no-decisions over that span.
Santana had general command issues once again last night. He lost command of his change-up in the fourth inning and was missing up with that along with his fastball and slider. In the seventh inning, he appeared to abandon his change-up and missed up in the zone with his fastball – he got stunned by McKenry’s home run and that changed the tone of the entire game.
If Santana does not have his change-up working, he is going to be hard pressed to find success with his fastball and slider, which is his third best pitch. But last night, he got zero swings and misses off his fastball thanks in large measure to poor location of the pitch. No matter what, he and his 88 mph fastball cannot afford to pitch up in the strikezone with that pitch whether he’s got the good change going or not.
In the eighth inning of last night’s 5-4 loss to the Pirates, Neil Walker led off and hit a routine fly ball to left-centerfield, but Kirk Nieuwenhuis bumped into Mike Baxter as he tried to make the catch and the ball came loose.
Walker reached third base and was driven home on a sacrifice fly from Clint Barmes.
“I didn’t hear him,” Baxter told reporters after the game. “I should have taken a look. It’s 100 percent my fault. That’s a fundamental of baseball. Kirk has the right of way on that ball. I’ve got to get out of his way on that ball. That one hurts. … I was calling for it. But it’s irrelevant, to be honest with you. As off-outfielders, your job is to know where he’s at and if he’s going to make a play on it, you get out of the way.”
Nieuwenhuis also took responsibility for the blunder.
“I should have looked over at him, took a peek, and saw where he was at,” Nieuwenhuis said. “That’s my fault. … It was pretty loud out there in the outfield by the stands a little bit. But it’s part of the game. You’ve got to deal with it. It’s not an excuse. You’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to make that play. It’s a routine play.”
I thought Terry Collins did an outstanding job immediately embracing Baxter while in the dugout during the top of the ninth inning. This is a kid who has found a niche and enjoyed a lot of success in a pinch hitting role, and so it’s important Baxter’s confidence not get shaken. It’s a moment where that can easily happen, but Collins recognized that and did what he could to ease Baxter’s mind. It doesn’t cure the loss, but whatever was said hopefully kept Baxter’s head on straight.
Last night in Daytona Beach, Pedro Beato pitched a scoreless inning of relief in St. Lucie’s 4-3 loss to the Daytona Cubs.
Beato has now pitched two scoreless innings during his rehabilitation assignment with Single-A St. Lucie.
Beato was placed on the 15-day disabled list just before the season started with a right rotator cuff strain. He was moved to the 60-day disabled list (and removed from the 40-man roster) on May 8th, retroactive to March 27, and so he would be eligible to return in five days.
