Month: June 2008

Moises Alou Return Is Delayed

Alou experienced a setback while running in his rehab from a strained calf. Now he won’t come off the disabled list until at least next Tuesday. Originally, he told reporters that he’d be back in the lineup on Friday in San Diego.

Moises Alou is almost as frustrating as Oliver Perez, but for vastly different reasons. Alou is such a solid offensive player, when healthy, that its difficult to see him have so much time on the disabled list.

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Temper The Pedro Hype

It was great to see Pedro Martinez re-join the Mets rotation after two months off recovering from a strained hamstring. If he can stay healthy, he’ll be a nice addition to the team… Not a great addition. He spent a significant amount of time on the disabled list in each of the last three seasons. And he’s 36 years old and eight years removed from his third, and most recent, Cy Young Award.

His influence as a clubhouse leader has been vastly overstated in my opinion. The Mets don’t need production in the locker room, they need it on the field. If he’s more important as a locker room influence then make him a coach. We need him to produce on the field.

Gerry Fraley wrote a nice column today for the Sporting News about this topic. His contention is that as long as Oliver Perez and Mike Pelfrey are in the Mets rotation, their problems aren’t cured. I have to agree with that contention. I like Mike Pelfrey and think he has the ability to be a solid starter at the big league level, but he is so unpolished that I think he needs more time in the minors.

Who knows what to make of Oliver Perez? I don’t think that anyone does this season. The Mets may just have caught lightning in a bottle last season with his 15 wins. If he can get out of the first or second inning in games, it’s just unacceptable. Pedro Martinez pitching every fifth day isn’t going to change that.

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Church: Late Round Draft Success Story

Ryan Church was the 14th round pick of the Cleveland Indians in 2000 out of the University of Nevada. Today Jerry Crasnick has a good column about at ESPN about late round picks that are active players making an impact.
Ryan Church
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This underscores my thought that the Mets are completely correct in staying within Major League Baseball’s slotting system for high round draft choices. You just never know what’s going to happen to young players and whether they will continue to improve enough to play in the big leagues.

If you can sign foreign players at 16 years old as free agents, for far less money, it makes sense to go in that direction. The Mets started their training facility in the Dominican Republic last year for exactly that reason.

There’s no need to spend millions of dollars on players that may never make the big club. Too many young players can dominate the game at a lower level but fail to continue to develop. It’s also difficult to judge which players will still remain “hungry” after their bank account hits seven figures. That’s probably the toughest thing to determine when scouting.

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On Deck: June 4- Mets At Giants

New York Mets (29-28) at San Francisco Giants (25-34) 3:45pm

John Maine (5-4) vs. Matt Cain (2-3)

TV: SNY  Radio: WFAN

What to watch: After the triumphant return of Pedro Martinez last night, John Maine tries to finish off the series win with a victory today. The Mets really should take a series from a team as bad as the Giants, even if it is on the road. Look for some of the veterans to get a day off for a day game after night game. I like the way the bench players have been going this season, so I don’t expect much of a drop off.

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Pedro Looks Great As Mets Over Giants 9-6

The game wasn’t as close as the score appears for those of you that didn’t stay up until 1:20am to watch the whole game. Pedro Martinez was fantastic going six innings and throwing his fastball in the low 90’s with regularity. I was shocked that he had that kind of velocity. I was also shocked that he went six innings.

The Mets had a long turn at bat in the fifth when they scored eight runs, the most of any inning this season. But Pedro came back out for the top of the sixth. He looked like he was starting to get a little shaky in the fifth and sixth but it was a great comeback game for him.

Offensively, one of the stars of the game was… Pedro Martinez. I’m not kidding. He went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run. Damion Easley was 3 for 4 with 3 RBI’s and a run.

Barry Zito was horrible again. It’s a real warning sign about signing pitchers to long term contracts. His contract may go down as the worst contract in baseball history. Although Kevin Brown and Mike Hampton have had awful contracts as well.

Scott Schoenweiss looked like he reverted to 2007 form in the ninth inning. He went .1 innings giving up two hits (one homer) and two walks for three runs. Billy Wagner had to quickly warm up and bail him out.

Box score

Video Highlights

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