Here’s a video from YouTube that appears to be from a group developing business in Florida. The clip has some good scenes of Tradition Field and the March 22 game that Johan Santana pitched.
Audio: Mike Pelfrey, Mets News From ESPN Radio
Mike Pelfrey joins Don La Greca on ESPN Radio to talk about his performance this spring. He also touches on comparing Jerry Manuel to Willie Randolph. And he admits that he occasionally lies about how he feels when the manager or coach asks him on the mound. I liked that he also plays COD (Call Of Duty).
Skip ahead to the 28 minute mark to listen to Rich Coutinho on Oliver Perez‘ poor performance today. They have some audio from Dan Warthen talking about Perez being out of shape. They discuss the fact that Perez gained weight since he left the Mets three weeks ago and the affect its having on his pitching.
Flickr photo courtesy of Alan Cordova
Mets Release De Los Santos; Cards Waive Royce Ring
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The Mets decided to let Valerio De Los Santos go despite liking what the lefty brought to the table. He had a good power arm and worked well with the Mets younger pitchers. He pitched in 4 games this spring to a 4.15 ERA. It’s surprising that they couldn’t find a spot at Triple-A Buffalo for him. Ron Villone looked awful against the Tigers today. I just don’t see him filling the situational lefty role for the Mets this season with any kind of success. So far this spring he has a 10.80 ERA in 5 games.
In other news, the Cardinals waived former Met reliever Royce Ring. He’s always had decent success against left handed hitters (.229 BAA for his career). Although he only pitched in a small number of games for the Mets, he did have a good run in 2007. Last year he was terrible for the Braves though. But I think he could certainly compete against Ron Villone for the lefty specialist role in the Mets bullpen. It would be worth checking into if he clears waivers to see if the Mets can get him to agree to a minor league contract.
Video: Astros Top Mets, Pelfrey 8-0 3.24.09
Mike Pelfrey got ripped for 10 hits and 6 runs in 4.2 innings yesterday. I thought that Pelfrey was starting to roll but you never know what exactly is happening for pitchers in spring training. In some games they’re just trying to work on a specific pitch, their mechanics, or location. So don’t take too much from this bad start.
Mets, Citi Field Opening Day Tickets Still Available
If you didn’t get your hands on opening day tickets for this season you can still get them if you’re willing to buy a five-game ticket package. The Mets announced today that they still have some tickets for opening day if you buy season tickets or a five-game package that’s pretty decent. You get a choice of four other games in April and May to buy tickets from. The other games you can choose from are:
April home games:
April 15-16, Padres
April 17-19, Brewers
April 24-26, Nationals
April 27-29, Marlins
May home games (Monday through Friday only):
May 6-7, Phillies
May 8, Pirates
May 11-13, Braves
May 25-27, Nationals
May 29, Marlins
Its too bad that the May games are during the week only but that’s a small price to pay to get into the first game ever at Citi Field. The first series against the Phillies at Citi Field in May is a good one to go after.
Just go to the Mets official site to buy tickets.
Mets Assign Freddy Garcia To Minors
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Freddy Garcia has accepted an assignment to the Mets minor league camp today. Apparently, they decided not to waste anymore time at the major league level on Garcia. His 16.71 ERA in 7 innings of work failed to impress.
Livan Hernandez is now locked in at the #5 sport in the rotation to start the season. That decision became inevitable when Jon Niese was assigned to the minor league spring training last week.
The Mets are hoping that Garcia will report to Triple-A Buffalo to continue his work, or possibly remain in Port St. Lucie for an extended spring training according to the Daily News. I can’t see Garcia asking for his release at this point. There’s no way he’ll catch on with another team at the major league level based on his performance with the Mets this spring. The best he could hope for is another minor league contract with a team that may be closer than the Mets to needing a fifth starter. We’ll have to see how this plays out.
Mets Off-Day: Maine, Garcia, Hernandez Working
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While most of the Mets are enjoying a relaxing day off in Florida, several of the starting pitchers are working hard today. Livan Hernandez and Freddy Garcia are going up against each other in a minor league game. And John Maine canceled a golf game to work on his mechanics.
It seems like Hernandez has all but locked up the fifth spot in the rotation. The Mets even insist that they’ll use five starting pitchers to begin the season. I’m not sure why they would do that when they really don’t need a fifth starter for several weeks. Hernandez has proved himself able to work as well as possible with well below average stuff. He’s got a 3.07 ERA in 14.2 spring innings. You certainly can’t ask for more than that from a fifth starter.
Contrast that with Freddy Garcia, who looks like he’s got a long way to go before he’s ready to face major league hitters. He’s got a 16.71 ERA in 7 innings of work so far. The only way you could describe his work this spring is “ugly”. He’ll have a big decision coming up soon. That’s whether he wants to pitch at Triple-A Buffalo and hope for an opening with the Mets at some point this season or if he wants to be released. If he’s released he could get a shot at a job at the major league level somewhere else. Honestly, I don’t even think that the Dodgers would take him now. And they’re really hurting for starting pitchers.
John Maine is working on an ERA over 10 so far this spring and just really looks out of sorts. I don’t take too much from that because I’ve seen what he can do when he’s healthy. But there is reason for concern that he just hasn’t been able to recover from the offseason shoulder surgery that he had. He’s locked into the #4 spot in the rotation no matter what right now. But if he has a couple of bad starts at the beginning of the season we’ll all need to be concerned.
The Mets Report 