Category: Pitching

Mets Should Pay John Maine Now

Mets pitcher John Maine before a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.Image via Wikipedia

The New York Mets should continue the recent trend in baseball by locking up their young talent with long term contracts. The Mets have already done that with Jose Reyes and David Wright. So this practice wouldn’t be out of character for the team. Other teams have started getting in on this as well. Last month the Rays signed Evan Longoria to a six year deal.

John Maine deserves a long term deal now. The benefit is avoiding a contentious arbitration hearing where the team is forced into a antagonistic role of pointing out the players faults. The Mets have done a great job of avoiding that until this season when Oliver Perez beat the Mets in arbitration to earn $6.5 million this season. Continue reading “Mets Should Pay John Maine Now”

Flurry Of Roster Moves Shakes Up Mets

WFAN’s Mike and the Mad Dog just discussed several roster moves for the Mets today:

  • Mets purchase the contract of Claudio Vargas
  • Mets purchase the contract of Fernando Tatis
  • Mets activate Matt Wise from the disabled list
  • Angel Pagan was placed on the 15 day disabled list
  • Nelson Figueroa was designated for assignment
  • Jorge Sosa was designated for assignment

The purchase of Fernando Tatis’ contract is a bit of a surprise. Luis Castillo must be hurt enough so that the Mets feel like they need some infield insurance. Tatis can provide that if Castillo is out for a week or more.

Claudio Vargas will pitch Wednesday against the Nationals. Who knows what we’ll get from him? He was released by the Brewers for a reason, so don’t expect miracles from him. We should be thrilled to get five innings out of him. He was on the street a month ago.

The Nelson Figueroa dream comes to an end for now. He was a great story but just couldn’t get major league hitters out consistently. He was fantastic the first time through the order and may have been more suited for a relief role.

I’m ecstatic that Omar Minaya designated Sosa. This is best for the team despite the fact that they may have to eat $1.5 million of his salary if he doesn’t accept a minor league assignment. Joe Smith earned the right to stay on the team. I would’ve been livid if Minaya kept Sosa instead of Smith. It would have displayed a lack of concern for winning now. Not to mention the fact that it may have adversely affected Willie Randolph’s ability to keep his job. Good job Omar!

Links: Jose Reyes and Oliver Perez

Jose Reyes– Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports writes about Reyes growing up in New York with the Mets. It’s a well written piece focusing on quotes from Reyes and Damion Easley. Despite the way that last season ended, particularly for Reyes, I’m convinced that he’s got a huge career ahead of him. He’ll be known as one of the best leadoff hitters ever by the time he’s finished playing.

Oliver Perez– Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes about Oliver Perez from the angle of his contentious arbitration hearing and impending free agency. The column contains plenty of Perez directed fluff from his agent, Scott Boras. Determining Perez’ value in free agency should be interesting because he’s such a wild card, no pun intended. He’s brilliant at moments and dreadful the next moment. I suppose Perez’ value will really depend on what other pitchers get on the free agent market in this coming off-season. Certainly, C.C. Sabbathia will be the big fish in the pond of free agency. Even though he’s had a tough start to this season, he’s got potential to be the #1 starter on most teams. After he signs, that will play a big part in determining how much value Perez has.

Just Say No To Turnbow

New York Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson before a Mets/Devil Rays spring training game at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.Image via Wikipedia

Derrick Turnbow was designated for assignment by the Milwaukee Brewers and some stories have surfaced in the media that the Mets management is considering picking him up. The Brewers transaction took place on May 2nd and they have 10 days to trade him, place him on release waivers, or send him outright to the minors. Turnbow has no options so he could refuse an assignment to the minors.

The bottom line with him is that this is the third consecutive season that he’s been really bad. The Mets really don’t need another project on their hands in the bullpen. Rick Peterson has his hands full as it is.

“The Jacket” needs to concentrate on Jorge Sosa, Aaron Heilman, and Oliver Perez. There isn’t room for another problem pitcher. We all know about the famous line about how he could fix Victor Zambrano in ten minutes. He couldn’t do that… and he can’t fix Turnbow in ten minutes either.

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Santana vs. Other Met Mid-Career Acquisitions

Baseball Crank has a great chart comparing Johan Santana against other mid-career pitching acquisitions the Mets have made. The comparison is through their first seven starts.

Santana looks pretty good but doesn’t compare to some like Al Leiter who was lights out in his seven starts in 1998. 

Thanks to The Hardball Times for the link.

Pedro Martinez Isn’t Close To Returning

Pedro Martinez waves goodbye after signing some autographsImage via Wikipedia

I’ve been scouring the Internet today looking for an update on Pedro Martinez’ injury status. This is his sixth week on the disabled list since straining his hamstring in his first start of the season.

Finally, this evening MLB.com posted an update on what Martinez is doing. He’s still throwing side sessions from a bullpen mound in Port St. Lucie. He hasn’t faced live hitters yet but expects to as early as this week.

He’ll need to throw a simulated game or an extended spring training game first. Then he’ll need to make some rehab starts in minor league games. It could be a while before he’s back.

A month ago Pedro was making noise to Dominican newspapers about how he’s going to surprise everyone and be back in New York before the end of April. It’ll be interesting to see what the Mets do with the rotation when he gets back. Mike Pelfrey or Nelson Figueroa will be out. Pelfrey could go to New Orleans and work on his control. I’d prefer to see Figueroa stay in the rotation but he’s probably better suited to come out of the bullpen than Pelfrey.