Category: Latest News

Mets Oliver Perez Calms Pitching Fears

Oliver PerezOliver Perez was the talk of Mets camp since he put up a major stinker in his return from the World Baseball Classic. The big news is that pitching coach Dan Warthen called him out publicly as not being in proper shape to pitch. The message was misconstrued by some as Perez being overweight, but the message was that Perez didn’t keep his arm working during the three weeks he spent with team Mexico.

Yesterday he put the hammer down against the Orioles for 6.2 innings of one hit (and one walk) ball. Clearly, he got the message that the Mets coaching staff was trying to convey. Even Johan Santana spoke to Perez about improving his concentration and using the last week of spring training to get good results in the games he pitches in.

If Perez had another meltdown yesterday, it would have been time for Mets fans and the front office to have major concerns about the starting rotation. John Maine has been inconsistent this spring in his recovery from off-season shoulder surgery.  And Livan Hernandez is the current fifth starter after being waived last August by the Minnesota Twins. He’s looked solid this spring but the Mets coaches need to keep a very close eye on him as the season progresses.

I don’t think that we’ll ever describe Oliver Perez as consistent. But the Mets need him to be better than he has been this spring if the Mets are going to be serious contenders to knock the Phillies from their throne.

Mets Cut Seven Players; Roster Taking Shape

Jose ValentinYesterday the Mets announced that they were releasing Ron Villone. As I wrote when they signed him at the end of February, it hasn’t looked like Villone has had much left for a few years now. His 10.80 ERA in 5 innings of work just solidifed that opinion for me.

Nelson Figueroa, Jose Valentin, Rene Rivera, and Andy Green were reassigned to the minor league camp. Carlos Muniz and Cory Sullivan were optioned to Triple-A Buffalo.

It looks like Jeremy Reed will be the fifth outfielder and Pedro Feliciano will be the only lefty in the bullpen. Bobby Parnell will likely make the major league roster to start the season. Its always nice to see some homegrown talent make it to the majors. But Parnell will need to prove that he belongs on the major league team by getting off to a good start in April.

I still believe that its going to become a problem with only one lefty in the bullpen. If you look at the Phillies’ heavy left-handed hitting lineup, the Mets need to match up against that lineup in the bullpen. If Feliciano is having an off-day, which he is prone to occasionally, the Mets need a backup plan to get lefties out. Will Ohman is still out there as a free agent. He’s rumored to be looking for a 1-year/$2 million deal which is far too much money for the Mets to spend on a reliever at this point. As the season starts, Ohman may reduce his demands as Joe Beimel did just to get back to playing again.

Mets WBC Returns: Wright, Putz, And K-Rod

David WrightThe World Baseball Classic has mercifully come to an end for the United States team at the hands of the Japanese team. The U.S. suffered a 9-4 loss last night at Dodgers Stadium. So we can finally get the whole team together for the Mets spring training.

The Mets are expecting Francisco Rodriguez, David Wright, and J.J. Putz back to the team to resume preparing for the 2009 season. The farce of a tournament is over. We don’t have to suffer through anymore 4-out saves for K-Rod or broken toe nails for David Wright.

Although the players got a few games played in for the tournament, it certainly wasn’t the same as playing five or six games a week in preperation for the season. There were a lot of days off between games as Chipper Jones complained about publicly to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The Mets have serious business ahead of them this season. Specifically, they need to redeem themselves for two late season collapses in a row. Playing in a silly exhibition tournament was poorly timed for Mets players that need to get ready for a fast start this year. There’s no room for error.

Mets Oliver Perez Due Back In PSL Today

Oliver PerezStarting pitcher Oliver Perez is due back at Mets spring training today from his short sting with the Mexican team in the World Baseball Classic. Perez was pretty bad for the Mexican team, pitching 6.2 innings and giving up eight runs ( seven earned) on 13 hits including five home runs.

We can thank the folks at Major League Baseball, the WBC, and Mexico team manager Vinnie Castilla for abusing Perez while he was there. Perez threw 85 pitches in his final game against Cuba on Monday.

At this point in the spring no starting pitchers are throwing 85 pitches in a game. In my mind, this is an outrage. And if Oliver Perez starts out the regular season poorly for the Mets there will be questions all season long about what could have been if Perez avoided the WBC exhibition games.

I won’t even get into how disgusted I am about Venezuelan team manger Luis Sojo abusing our new closer Francisco Rodriguez with 4-out saves. K-Rod hasn’t thrown a 4-out save in MLB in two years. And Sojo is doing it in an exhibition game? The Mets ownership and management have every right to be appalled by what’s happening to their players in this ludicrous WBC exhibition event.

Contest: Mets 2009 NL East Finish

MPS 2009 Mets Annual MagazineI’m starting a contest today to find out where you think the Mets will finish this season in the NL East and the reason you think that. Will the Phillies win the division again? Are the Braves or Marlins good enough to overtake the Mets?

There are two prize giveaways of the Maple Street Press 2009 Mets Annual Magazine. The contest is restricted to entries from the continental United States only.

You can also purchase your own copy of the magazine directly from the Maple Street Press. The magazine is also available at many New York area newsstands and book stores.

http://contestmachine.com/embed/survey_js/7BZC3DRNHJ

Johan Santana Spring Debut Looks Good

Johan SantanaJohan Santana took the mound for the first time this spring and looked pretty good doing it. He went 2.2 innings giving up three runs on four hits after throwing 47 pitches. He did give up a long home run to Dan Uggla to left field. But his pitches looked pretty sharp.

Santana’s fastball was in the low 90’s and his changeup was excellent as usual. There doesn’t appear to be any need to worry about the sore elbow that kept Santana on the sidelines for the first few weeks of the spring.

Oh, and by the way the Mets lost the game 16-8 after Tim Redding was torched again. More on the race to see who can lose the fifth starter spot in the rotation later.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Maple Street Press 2009 Mets Annual Magazine

Maple Street Press 2009 Mets AnnualThe folks at Maple Street Press were kind enough to send me a copy of the Mets season preview magazine from Maple Street Press (MPS). The magazine is 128 pages packed with Mets information to get you fired up for this season.

Before I get too deep into this I’ll tell you that this is not a paid advertisement from Maple Street Press. The magazine costs $12.99 and can be purchased at many newsstands and book stores in the New York area. You can also purchase a copy from their website at Maple Street Press. Also if you read this post to the end, you’ll see that MPS sent me two copies to give away to readers of The Mets Report.

Here are my thoughts on the magazine. For a Mets fan, it’s great to read a detailed season preview that’s more than just a couple of cursory pages about the team like the national preview magazines that cover every team. This covers everything from the last couple of disastrous seasons to historical teams and a lot of information about Shea Stadium and Citi Field.

The highlights of the magazine are:

  • “New Home, Old Worries: Can The Mets Change Their Stripes at Citi Field?” by Greg Spira and Matt Silverman- This introduction to the magazine sets the stage for the 2009 season with all of the information about offseason trades and free agent signings. This is a great way to kick off the magazine. Very strong writing and coverage of the team. The one oddity of the article is that the authors specifically mention that the Mets have a new $800 million revenue stream called Citi Field yet are keeping their payroll at the same level it was a year ago. There’s absolutely no mention of the Bernard Madoff scandal that reportedly bilked the Mets owners out of several hundred million dollars. That was one of the biggest stories of the offseason and there’s not one word in the article about it?
  • “There Are Some Words: The ’69 Teams Turns 40, But It Never Gets Old” by Greg W. Prince- In my mind, Prince is the most creative, talented writer covering the Mets today. Hands down. MPS did a great job of securing Greg to write an article for the magazine. I would’ve been disappointed if he wasn’t represented here. As always, Prince turns in a well written and unique description of a topic that we’ve read and talked about for 40 years. Not many writers can cover a story that’s been covered so completely with a unique take on it.

The lowlights of the magazine are:

  • “Keys to the Citi: New Home Promises A Whole New Ballgame” by Tara Krieger- Unfortunately, Krieger turns in a very pedestrian story about Citi Field. Maybe it’s me, and I’ve already read too much about the new stadium and seen too many pictures. But I really didn’t get anything out of this article that I didn’t already know. I think that the hardcore Mets fan would want more than we get here.
  • “Seconds Anyone? The Susan Lucci Playoffs” by Howard Megdal- This article was disappointing because Megdal is a pretty good writer. The concept of this article pitting historical Mets teams against each other in some sort of contrived playoff was poor. Honestly, I was bored after about four paragraphs. You can skip this part of the magazine and won’t be missing anything.

Overall, I recommend the magazine for purchase despite the lowlights described above. Remember that this is 128 pages packed with Mets information. The Krieger and Megdal articles only account for about 10 pages, so the success rate is really high. Reading about Doc Gooden’s outstanding early career brought back some great memories for me of his starts being must-see TV.

Lastly, as I mentioned earlier in this post I have two copies to give away this week to readers. Watch the site for a contest that will be starting tomorrow.