Category: Latest News

Link: Best Mets Draft Coverage

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As I wrote yesterday, I’m not that into following college or high school players as potential prospects for the Mets. But I do enjoy reading about the Mets picks and their qualifications. After watching a bit of the ESPN2 draft coverage yesterday and reading many draft recaps, I have to say that the best coverage of the Mets draft is available at MetsGeek.

Alex Nelson does a tremendous job of dissecting the players and their potential. He concentrates on first round picks Ike Davis of ASU and Reese Havens of South Carolina plus sandwich round pick Brad Holt. But he also goes into the perfect level of depth on the later round picks as well. Great job, Alex.

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June 6- Mets News- Wright, Church, Castillo, And Wagner

FLUSHING, NY - AUGUST 08: Mike Piazza of the San Diego Padres shakes hands with David Wright of the New York Mets on August 8, 2006 at Shea Stadium in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Nick Laham/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Mike Piazza;David Wright

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The Mets go up against the San Diego Padres for the second of a four game series tonight. It’s another late night game that’s tough to stay awake for. I’m still dejected from the way last night’s game ended… a hit batter to bring the winning run home in the bottom of the ninth. Unbelievable!

  • Willie Randolph is thinking about giving David Wright a day off. He’s played every inning of every game so far. I’m not so concerned about that. He’s a young guy and shouldn’t have a problem playing nearly every game. Wright played in 160 games last season. Read Bart Hubbach’s column at the NY Post.
  • Ryan Church played in last night’s game after asking for a day off in San Francisco on Wednesday. He said that he felt winded after light pinch hitting duty for a week and a half after his concussion in Atlanta.
  • Mets second baseman Luis Castillo is happy to be going up against Padres starter Randy Wolf tonight. He has a history of hitting him hard to the tune of .425/ .465/ .650. Read Marty Noble’s column at MLB.com.
  • Closer Billy Wagner looks up to Trevor Hoffman. Marty Noble wrote a good piece for MLB.com on this story.
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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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Rosenthal: Peterson, Johnson On Chopping Block Too

NEW YORK - APRIL 26: Manager Willie Randolph #12 (L) and pitching coach Rick Peterson #51 of the New York Mets confer in the second inning of a game against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium April 26, 2008 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City.

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Fox Sports Ken Rosenthal reports that Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson has fallen out of favor with some in the front office. Rosenthal says that if the Mets start dropping games at an alarming rate again that Willie Randolph won’t be the only one on the unemployment line.

He says that Peterson and hitting coach Howard Johnson would be fired with Randolph. That’s near total house cleaning.

Rosenthal says that it wouldn’t be long before another team picked up Peterson. He’s well respected in baseball.

Personally, I think that the value of coaching is overrated. It comes down to having players with talent much more than the influence of coach’s. I won’t be shedding any tears if Peterson or HoJo are gone.

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New York Mets Amateur Draft Strategy

The baseball amateur draft starts this Thursday and the Mets have plenty of needs in their farm system. Obtaining Johan Santana from the Minnesota Twins this off season drained several of the Mets top prospects. That trade included the Mets numbers 2, 3, 4, and 7 prospects. I still like the trade and the contract for Santana. I think he’s got the right stuff and fluid motion to avoid long term injuries enough to be successful over the next seven years.

That said, the Mets need to re-stock young players. Bob Klapisch wrote a good column today on the Mets strategy for this draft. Continue reading “New York Mets Amateur Draft Strategy”

Jerry Manuel: The Next In Line To Manage

Sports Illustrated baseball writer Jon Heyman reports that if the Mets do make a change at manager this season that bench coach Jerry Manuel is likely to become the interim manager.

Manuel was the 2000 AL Manager of the Year while with the Chicago White Sox and has a career record of 500-471 .515 win percentage. He manager from 1998-2003 in Chicago.

That would be a good decision if they make the move during the season. It would minimize the disruption to the team and give the front office a chance to work on a long term strategy. If Manuel has a major success, then he stays. If not, then the Mets move on to other candidates that make a fresh start during spring training next year.

Manuel’s experience with the team would allow some continuity while driving home the message that mediocrity won’t be tolerated. Changes will be made.

Report: Minaya Talking Trades

Aaron Heilman 03:45, 19 July 2007 . . Metsfan7 . . 700×680 (428,001 bytes)

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Paul Hagen of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that Omar Minaya has been talking trades for first basemen, left fielders, and right handed relievers. The names on his short list are: Kevin Millar, Jason Bay, and Xavier Nady.

All three would be helpful pieces for this team. Moises Alou is a great hitter, but doesn’t play enough to trust him to be on the active roster all season. He just breaks down too frequently.

Carlos Delgado is pretty much done in my opinion. So any help that we can get at first base would be a significant improvement.

Since the Mets don’t have too much left in the minors after the Johan Santana trade, the questions becomes: what do we have to give up? I don’t think that the Mets would consider moving Fernando Martinez. I would think that Aaron Heilman would have some good value, especially since he’s been getting himself together over this past week. He’d probably be the prime chip that the Mets would look to deal at the Major League level.

Thanks to MLB Trade Rumors for the tip.