Category: Spring Training

Mets Johan Santana’s Shoulder Recovering in PSL

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - FEBRUARY 24: Johan Santa...
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There have been quite a few reports about Johan Santana recovering in Port St. Lucie this month. The Mets are hoping to get 25 starts out of him this season while he’s recovering from surgery on his left shoulder capsule. It’s the same surgery that Mark Prior and Chien-Ming Wang had that kept them out for years and were never the same when they came back.

Dan Warthen has been in PSL and talked to Dan Martin of the Post about it:

I’ve been looking at video from when he’s been down here recently and comparing it to video from 2008, before he got hurt. It’s no different. Not even one percent. That’s extremely important.

Personally, I don’t think Santana is going to be able to make a significant impact on the 2012 Mets. He may be able to come back in June and work toward pitching every five days. But I’m concerned that he’ll never be the pitcher that the Mets expected to live up to his $25 million salary this season.

The rest of the team isn’t even close to strong enough to support the team without Santana running at full strength.

Mets GM Sandy Alderson on Twitter

Sandy Alderson
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Follow Mets General Manager Sandy Alderson on Twitter. He just started a new account yesterday and has two tweets about his drive to Port St. Lucie. And he gained nearly 10,000 followers in the first day that he joined.

The big news is that he’s cracking jokes about needing gas money for the drive to PSL. I’m not sure that jokes about needing funds is what the Mets would like to see from him with the Madoff trial scheduled to begin next month.

Alderson is a smart guy. I would guess that he’ll stay away from comments like that in the future and stick to tweets that are more closely aligned with what the organization would like to see him publicizing.

Mets First Batting Champion and Finish in Last Place?

NEW YORK, NY - AUGUST 09: Jose Reyes of the N...
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This was quite the interesting year for our New York Mets, from the worst start in club history to HatGate… with 9 games left to the season there are still a few things to look forward to. Hard to believe a team who has been out of playoff contention for months can have so much riding on the last 9 games of the season but it’s more about hope for the future than anything else.

Will Reyes Win the Batting Title?

Our first batting champion in Mets history? Although it won’t help our prospects of resigning him, but if the Mets do manage to resign Jose Reyes this will be a huge reason, maybe the only reason, why the fans will come back next year… to see our homegrown Batting Champion lead a new round of youngsters to a winning season.

Will the Mets End Up in Last?

I actually picked the Mets for last this year. They are 4 games out of last with 9 to play. They also happen to play a series against the Phillies and Cards before they end the season against the Reds. Will the Phillies cruise and give the Mets a break or will they go all out and try to bury the Mets? The Cards are in full blown Wild Card race mode so they will be tough to beat.

My Spring Training Prediction: Dead Last. A successful season would be if they take 3rd. 4th place and the season is a wash. So I’m hoping for 3rd. Last is not really looking like a possible outcome. Continue reading “Mets First Batting Champion and Finish in Last Place?”

Video: Weekly Mets Report – Predictions and Terry Collins

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - FEBRUARY 26: David Wrigh...
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In this week’s installment of the weekly Mets Report video with Kerel Cooper of On The Black, we talk about our predictions for the Mets this year. The Vegas line is 77.5 wins this year and check out the video to see if we took the over or under.

Also this week, we talk about our first impressions of Terry Collins as the manager of the Mets. He had a terrible ending to his managerial stint in Anaheim and gets another (and probably final) chance with the Mets.

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Mets Oliver Perez Hit Hard, Could Be Released

NEW YORK - APRIL 26: Oliver Perez #46 of the ...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

It was another bad day for Oliver Perez today and it could be his last as a Mets pitcher. He got rocked for back-to-back home runs when he entered the game with two men on base against the Nationals in the seventh inning. His spring ERA ballooned to 8.38 and his fastball never got above 87 mph. It’s just not working out.

I was in favor of holding onto Ollie at least until the end of spring training. But it’s become abundantly clear that there’s nothing to be gained by Perez’ continued participation in spring training.

The Mets were willing to eat Luis Castillo’s contract for $6 million yesterday. Ollie’s contract will be twice as difficult a pill to swallow at $12 million. The only saving grace is that both players are going to be free agents after the 2011 season.

I feel like I’ve seen this quote a hundred times from Perez during his Mets career. After today’s game he said:

“I didn’t do my job, and that’s why they scored four runs,” Perez said after the Mets’ 7-4 win over the Nationals. “That’s a really bad job.”

Pitching coach Dan Warthen talked to reporters after the game too. He’s frequently been in a position to be an apologist for Perez.

“I would like to see better stuff from Ollie,” Warthen said. “We have other guys in here that are working hard and doing a good job from the left side,” Warthen said. “He’s trying to make the left-handed job, and these other guys are doing a very good job right now. We have to evaluate that way.”

Today I changed my mind about Ollie. I’m ready to pull the plug and let him go. I had serious doubts before spring training that he would be able to recover his stuff from 2006. Now, I think he’s wasting time in Port St. Lucie. It’s time for Ollie to go.

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Mets Release Luis Castillo

Luis Castillo with the New York Mets on June 2...
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There wasn’t much doubt that this was going to happen at some point this spring, it was just a matter of when it was going to happen. Today, the news came out that the Mets finally released the chronically under-performing Luis Castillo. It came out from the beat reporters that Castillo asked for his release today, unhappy with the assemblage of talent trying out at second base to replace him. Even the $6.25 million left on his contract for 2011 wasn’t enough to save him.

Castillo’s contract was inexplicable from the start. The Mets picked him up from the Twins at the trading deadline in 2007 and went on to one of the greatest late-season collapses in baseball history. At 31 years old, he appeared to be on the downside of a former speedster’s career. His legs didn’t look fresh and he couldn’t cover the same ground in the field that he did in the late 90’s with the Marlins when we saw him steal bases against Mike Piazza at will with his running mate Juan Pierre.

Of course, Omar Minaya rewarded him with a long-term contract. 4 -years/$25 million. It was hard to believe that was really true. But it was. Continue reading “Mets Release Luis Castillo”

Video: Mets 2011 Promotional Video

Citi Field during the day

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Here’s the 2011 version of the Mets team video. They put one of these out every year to get fans fired up for opening day. And it always works for me. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m already fired up about opening day, or the video itself is that good. But I think it’s more that I can’t wait for baseball to get started after a couple of weeks of spring games.

The 2011 team video below is one of the best ones in recent memory. I love the slow motion. This one compares favorably to the 2010 promotional video in black and white.

http://service.twistage.com/plugins/player.swf?p=link&v=82168ded01695

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