Category: Pitching

Video: Pedro Martinez’ Return

The ESPN Baseball Tonight crew talks about Pedro’s return and Joba Chamberlain’s first start for the Yankees. I think that Chris Singleton might be giving Pedro a little too much credit for the Met success over the past week. But it sure is nice to have Pedro back after watching Oliver Perez stink up AT&T Park last night.

http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/player.swf?mediaId=3423452

Zemanta Pixie

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”

Video: Rosenthal On Pedro’s Return

Pedro Martinez re-joined the team in New York today. Hopefully, his influence will be felt immediately on the team. There have been a few up’s and many more down’s so far. We need Pedro to make his presence felt quickly.

Watch Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal talk about Pedro and what he brings to the Mets.

Hot Corner: Mets miss Pedro
Hot Corner: Mets miss Pedro

Mets In the News Today: Delgado, Church, And More

Here’s a summary of what’s happening for the Mets in the news today. Joe Torre and the Dodgers come to town for a four game series that has a few interesting story lines.

  • Carlos Delgado– He’s been on the bench for two straight games. I would guess that he’ll start tonight against righty Brad Penny. The way I see it is that the Wilpons told Willie Randolph to start playing his best lineup no matter what. Randolph realized that if he kept up his blind respect for Delgado’s career numbers, he might lose his job. Willie’s always the last one to figure these things out. It’s amazing to me that he can’t see what’s going on with this team. He just pays way too much homage to veterans. As Jim Leyland said “I’ll take talent over experience anytime.” I don’t necessarily like Fox Sports Dayn Perry but read this column about players not earning their pay this season.
  • Ryan Church– He hasn’t been at Shea Stadium for two games in a row because of the concussion that he sustained in Atlanta. There have been plenty of newspaper columns about the Mets handling the situation poorly by flying him to Colorado, pinch hitting him, and then flying back to New York. I come down on the side of the team on this one. I’m sure they went on how Church said that he felt at the time. Read the NY Times article here.
  • Pedro Martinez– He threw well in Port St. Lucie last night. But the question becomes: what roster move do they make next week to get him off the disabled list? There’s plenty of speculation like sending Mike Pelfrey down to get himself together. There’s also speculation that the Mets may keep both Claudio Vargas and Mike Pelfrey on the roster and make one of them a long man. I suspect that would leave Joe Smith as the odd man out in the bullpen with a one way ticket to New Orleans.
  • Marlon Anderson– His leg injury has the Mets considering making a play for Scott Hatteberg to be a lefty off the bench who can play first base. Read Marty Noble’s column for MLB.com. It’s a bad idea in my opinion. Hatteberg complained about coming off the bench and didn’t hit well in that role. I would consider Hatteberg if the Mets were looking to get Delgado off the roster whether via trade or release.
  • Moises Alou– His calf injury is progressing well and it looks like he’ll be off the disabled list on schedule next week. That’ll send Nick Evans back to Binghamton most likely, possibly New Orleans.

Former Mets Transactions: Sosa and Julio

There was some activity on the transaction wire today for former Mets pitchers Jorge Julio and Jorge Sosa.

Julio was designated for assingment by the Cleveland Indians to make room for Jake Westbrook coming off the disabled list from a strained muscle.

Sosa was signed by the Houston Astros to a minor league contract. He’ll report to Triple-A Round Rock tomorrow.

Martinez Rehab Start Tonight

St. Lucie Mets

Image via Wikipedia

If you’re in the Port St. Lucie, FL area tonight you should head over to Tradition Field to check out the Vero Beach Rays vs. St. Lucie Mets game. You won’t see a much better game than this one. The Rays top pick in last year’s draft David Price is pitching against Pedro Martinez.

There aren’t many Class A games with pitching matchup’s like that. I wish I was there for this game. It’s the old (Pedro) against the new highly touted prospect (Price).

Pedro has already told the Mets that he feels ready to pitch at the Major League level. But tonight will be a good test for him. I’d like to see him have some level of success tonight before making a start next week in San Francisco.