Category: Minors

Oliver Perez Rotation Spot Appears Safe

I feel like I’ve written this same post before. Oliver Perez is the kind of pitcher that will give you a decent start or two and then blow up like he did yesterday. Can we just say that we’ve learned that by now? As Denny Green would say “He is what we thought he was”.

There are some viable alternatives to Perez. R.A. Dickey is pitching really well in Buffalo and Hisanori Takahashi has done much better than expected as the long man. But that’s not the problem.

The problem is what to do with Perez if he isn’t in the rotation. He can’t come out of the bullpen if he can’t throw strikes. That just won’t work. The Mets could come up with some “injury” that Perez has like they did last season. Perez got rocked by the Braves on Aug. 18 for 4 ER in 5 IP. Then he completely imploded against the Phillies for 6 ER over 0.2 IP on Aug. 23. That was the last we saw of Perez in 2009 because of a convenient knee injury. Continue reading “Oliver Perez Rotation Spot Appears Safe”

Mets’ Daniel Murphy To Minors After DL

New York Mets Daniel Murphy walks to the dugout against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets beat writers all had posts about Daniel Murphy recovering from his strained knee ligament in Florida, then going to Triple-A Buffalo when he comes off the disabled list. The plan is for Muphy to play first base immediately just to get some at-bats. Then they’re going to work with him on becoming a utility player.

The odd thing is that you don’t see many 25 year-old utility players out there. It’s usually older players that have been around for a while doing that job. I wouldn’t be happy about it if I was Murphy. That really cuts into his earning potential. Utility players are typically the lowest paid players on a team. His long-term earning potential in the Major Leagues is cut significantly by being pigeon-holed as a utility player. I’m sure he seems himself differently than the Mets organization does.

If Murphy comes back to the big’s after transforming himself into a utility player, who’s roster spot is he going to take? Frank Catalanotto and Fernando Tatis would be the obvious players to go. They’ve both been rotting on the Mets bench in April. Catalanotto has 20 at-bats this season and Tatis has 29. Continue reading “Mets’ Daniel Murphy To Minors After DL”

Mets’ John Maine should go on Disabled List

New York Mets starting pitcher John Maine leaves the game after being injured against the Atlanta Braves in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsWhen John Maine left Friday night’s game in the fourth inning, I thought it was something pretty bad to force him out of the game. It turns out that he was having spasms in his left (non-pitching) elbow that was causing pain. He told reporters that he’s expecting to make his next scheduled start on Wednesday at Citi Field against the Dodgers.

The problem is that Maine shouldn’t be making his next start. He should be headed for the disabled list. Even if it’s a faux injury like Oliver Perez had last season, he should take some time to get himself right at Triple-A Buffalo.

Something is clearly wrong with Maine this season. If you look at the radar gun readings, he just doesn’t have the same velocity that he had in years past. Maybe it’s the bone spur surgery that he had on his shoulder. Maybe he’s injured and doesn’t want to admit it. There’s no way to tell.

In four starts this season Maine has only pitched 16.2 innings and given up 25 hits, including 4 home runs, and 10 walks. His WHIP is a ridiculous 2.10 right now. Right-handed batters are hitting .421 against him. This just can’t continue. Continue reading “Mets’ John Maine should go on Disabled List”

Mets Catchers Barajas, Blanco Not Cutting It

The Mets made a big mistake when they signed Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco. They should have gone with a platoon of Omir Santos and Josh Thole.

Image courtesy of Wikimedia

The problem that I had with Brian Schneider in 2008 and 2009 was that he was an automatic out. Now, I’m starting to long for the days of Schneider hitting .218. After watching Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco over the last three weeks, I’m wishing we had a .218 hitter behind the plate.

Mike Pelfrey has been astounding so far this season and he’s given credit to his personal catcher, Henry Blanco. And everyone seems to like what Barajas is doing in the field as well. But let’s not forget that catchers have to bat! Barajas and Blanco are rally killers.

I wrote last October that the Mets needed a youth movement at catcher. As it turns out, I was right. Although Omir Santos and Josh Thole haven’t done much hitting at Buffalo in the early season. But they aren’t doing any worse than Barajas and Blanco. Continue reading “Mets Catchers Barajas, Blanco Not Cutting It”

Ike Davis Era Begins For Mets

Ike Davis
Image by slgckgc via Flickr

It’s always exciting to have a highly touted prospect make his Major League debut. That’s happening tonight for Ike Davis and the Mets. Unfortunately, it comes at the expense of Tobi Stoner getting optioned back to Triple-A Buffalo. But Mike Jacobs is the one that really paid the price by losing his position.

Much has been written about Davis and we’ll all be following his progress closely in the coming weeks. You can read a good summary about Davis’ stats at Fangraphs. But they threw in a line at the end that’s critical and we’ll get back to that in a minute. Even Beyond the Box Score chipped in with an opinion on the Davis promotion today. Their take is that this is another example of the Mets rushing their best prospects a la Jenry Mejia and Fernando Martinez. Continue reading “Ike Davis Era Begins For Mets”

Mets’ Ruben Tejada Sent Back To Minors

MLB: Mets vs Astros MAR 21

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe Mets sent shortstop Ruben Tejada back to Triple-A Buffalo after last night’s win against the Washington Nationals. Tejada got his first career major league hit in the game as well.

Tejada played in 3 games, going 1 for 6. He looks like he’s got some skills in the field and his stroke at the plate is solid as well, especially for a 20 year-old. Although it’s too bad he’s leaving, I have a feeling that we’ll be seeing more of him this season.

The good news is that Tejada leaving the active roster makes room for Jose Reyes to return today. I was hoping thinking that Luis Castillo might go on the disabled list to make room for Reyes so Tejada could stick around.

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Mets’ Ike Davis is on the Rise

Ike Davis
Image by slgckgc via Flickr

Mets first base prospect Ike Davis is having a big spring. His slash line to date is .500/.560/.909 after having an excellent season in the minors last year. We listed him as one of the five Mets prospects that could have an impact on 2010. It’s a great situation for the Mets to have an heir apparent at first base.

The big question is what the Mets will do with Daniel Murphy when Davis supplants him at first base. That’s “when”, not “if” Davis supplants him. There’s no question in my mind that Davis will be ready to square off against major league pitchers at some point this season. That poses a big problem for Murphy.

Regular readers here know that I don’t think Murphy is a full-time solution at first base. After the 2009 disastrous experiment in left field, it doesn’t look like Murphy is going to crack the lineup anywhere else either. Murphy looks to me like he could make a decent career in the major leagues as a pinch hitter/role player. But I don’t think he can hit enough to play every day and he certainly doesn’t appear to be able to play the field other than the infield corners.

Continue reading “Mets’ Ike Davis is on the Rise”