Category: Roster

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”

Jon Niese is “Nice”

Mets starting pitcher Niese leaves the game against Braves in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsOk, I have to admit I really was down on this pitching staff early this year. I thought that Jon Niese would never make it as a fifth starter and that we would be going through one retread pitcher after another in our quest to find that decent fifth starter who can also eat innings.

Neise was Nice! This was a solid 5 1/3 innings of 5 hit, 1 run pitching that will lock down the fifth starter position. I will accept a game pitched like this from our #5 starter any day of the week.

The 116 piches and 5 walks allowed prevented him from staying in the game longer and getting the win. If Niese can improve on his “Nice” he could turn in a decent year.

With Johan Santana holding his own, Mike Pelfrey turning into Superman and even Oliver Perez showing signs of life, having four of our five pitchers in good form is a pleasant surprise. Good enough to win the division? No. Good enough to stay in the race until the trading deadline in July? Definitely! Continue reading “Jon Niese is “Nice””

Mets Payroll and Roster

CAF Give As You Earn material, May 2009
Image by HowardLake via Flickr

Sometimes I think that I should stop worrying about other people’s money. Then I realize that it’s only the Wilpon’s money that I’m concerned with. Those of you that read this blog regularly know that I frequently reference the Mets payroll. In doing so, I often find that I’m referencing abstract numbers that we all “sort of” know. For example, we all know that Johan Santana is making about $20 million per year.

A long time ago I had an idea that I wanted to add a page to this site that would give everyone the payroll numbers for the Mets. I started to do it but never finished. So I dedicated some time this week to putting it together and embedding it on the site. You can see the Roster page has been added now.

Google Docs is fantastic for tasks like this. I was able to embed the spreadsheet in the page and keep it updated remotely in Google Docs. I think it’s a perfect setup for the site.

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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’ Intangibles

Chicago Cubs at New York Mets

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsLike many other famous people before him I’m wondering if Ike Davis will eventually get so big in New York he will only go by one name. Madonna, Oprah, Shaq…Tiffany?? The list goes on and on as to the famous people who are only known by one name. Ike could very well be that name in New York. Only time will tell.

After only three Major League games I’m convinced that Ike is just what the Mets need. No, he’s not a savior by any means but he does make the team fundamentally better in so many intangible ways.

Ike will make David Wright and Jose Reyes better defensively by allowing them to be more aggressive on plays to first base. No longer will they have to worry about making the perfect throw to get the out at first. Just get the ball to Ike as fast as you can. Continue reading “Ike Davis’ Intangibles”

Mets’ Mike Pelfrey 2010 Early Season Success

Mike Pelfrey’s 3-0 start to the 2010 season has Mets fans buzzing that he’s finally developed into a legitimate #2 starter. It looks like the split finger fastball is the big difference.

Courtesy of Wikimedia

The biggest surprise for me this season has been Mike Pelfrey’s astounding success through his first three starts. His ERA is down to 0.86 after his start against the Cubs last night. It’s a huge turnaround from the regression he experienced in 2009 with a 10-13 record and 5.03 ERA.

The only physical difference is that he lost about 25 pounds in the offseason. But that can’t account for his tremendous early success after such a disappointing 2009. He wasn’t exactly overweight before this year.

It looks like the biggest difference is the development of the split finger fastball this year. He seems to have quickly developed a feel for it to get a nice, late sink on it. His motion with it is so deceptive because he doesn’t appear to deviate from his motion when throwing a fastball, which always had some sink on it anyway. I’m curious to know if Dan Warthen had any role in his development of the split finger. Continue reading “Mets’ Mike Pelfrey 2010 Early Season Success”

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”