Tag: Carlos Beltran

Carlos Beltran May Try To Run Today

This is the big day that we’ve all been waiting for. Well, maybe not. The day we’ve all been waiting for is the day that Carlos Beltran actually re-joins the Mets and is in the lineup. In lieu of that, we’ve been waiting for the day when Beltran starts running again.

Today is that day. The reports from Port St. Lucie, where Beltran has been rehabbing from knee surgery, are that he’ll try to run today for the first time. If so, it should be another three weeks or so before we start looking at a timetable for his return to the Mets’ lineup.

Beltran has already missed 100 games over the last two seasons. Anytime a player signs a 7-year contract, you have to believe that there will be a couple of bad seasons during that contract. And those bad ones will probably be towards the end of the deal. That’s exactly what’s happening with Beltran and we can probably expect the same from Johan Santana in a few years. Players are bound to break down at some point.

It seems like it’s been so long since we’ve seen him play. To jog your memory, here are Beltran’s career averages over 162 games:

.283/.360/.496 28 HR’s 107 RBI’s 30 SB’s

Mets Links: Mike Pelfrey, Carlos Beltran, Hubie Brooks

New York Mets at New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium in New York

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/PicAppPIS/JavaScript/PisV4.jsThe past week has been the best that I’ve felt about the Mets since September 2008. They went into Philly on a great run, even without their best player Carlos Beltran. The month of April was really on the backs of Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana, for the most part. But the offense did start to come alive towards the end of the month. Here are some month-end links for you for this Sunday.

  • NY Sports Dog– This post has an interesting scatter plot of Pelfrey’s called strikes comparing April 2009 to April 2010
  • Amazin’ Avenue– Sam Page created a stat to measure which Mets player would be the best fighter in a brawl and Henry Blanco came out on top
  • On The Black – A poll to determine the fan pick for Mets player of the month in April
  • ESPN – Adam Rubin writes that Beltran doesn’t appear to be anywhere near returning to the team from his knee surgery
  • Daily News – This is a funny piece on reporter Kevin Deutsch in Philly taunting fans with “Let’s Go Mets!” chants while wearing a Mets jersey and hat
  • Daily News – Catching up with Hubie Brooks
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Mets Links: Carlos Beltran and Bobby Bonilla

Bobby Bonilla 1990 Home
Image by BaseballBacks via Flickr

That’s a strange title for a post. Isn’t it? We haven’t heard Bobby Bonilla’s name for a long time and we’ve probably been the better for it. It’s a great way to start a Mets Links post though.

Here are the links:

I Heart Mets – They pick up a great story from CNN of how Bobby Bonilla is going back on the Mets payroll next year. It’s part of his deferred payment plan after he was waived by the Mets in 2000. The team owes him just over a million dollars every July from 2011-2035. What a deal!

Daily News – You have to love these occasional post from Mike Lupica about the Mets. He even writes with an air of superiority to the rest of us. This one start out like a fluff piece on Jose Reyes coming back and how well he’s starting to play. Then it turns ugly on Carlos Beltran. Lupica writes that Beltran is a bad contract and he’s staying away from the team so he can come back at 100% for his contract year in 2011. He also likens Beltran to Jason Giambi’s bad deal with the Yankees. It’s a bizarre turn in the column, even for Lupica.

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Mets May Bat Jose Reyes Third in St. Louis

Jerry Manuel has been talking publicly since spring training about hitting Jose Reyes third in the order until Carlos Beltran comes back. That may become a reality this weekend in St. Louis.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

There’s been a lot of chatter since the beginning of spring training that Jose Reyes would begin hitting third in the Mets’ lineup. Jerry Manuel told reporters that in spring training. He said that he likes the idea to “lengthen” the lineup without Carlos Beltran. The reporters keep bringing it up to Jerry, and it sounds like it might become a reality this weekend in St. Louis.

First, let me say that I have no problem with this at all. And I hope that Reyes hitting third in the order is successful until Beltran gets back next month. The baseball season is so long that it invites experimentation with the lineup to find the best configuration. But baseball has become so prominent in the public domain that it also invites people like me to comment or express my own opinion or dissatisfaction. I’d like to take this opportunity to do that… Continue reading “Mets May Bat Jose Reyes Third in St. Louis”

Dear Minaya: Break Up The Mets Core

David Daniels writes that the Mets core is broken. Omar Minaya needs to make some creative moves to fix a team built around stars that aren’t performing.

Courtesy of killrbeez via Flickr

It seems that every year it’s the same old story. We can’t seem to get our All-Star center fielder and All-Star shortstop on the field together. Whether you want to call it back luck, bad management or you just chalk it up to the fact that these two are injury prone, we can’t afford to keep both players if they keep going down so much. What to do…?

If I were Omar Minaya, I would trade one of these injury prone superstars to get a top line starting pitcher. If I had to trade one, here’s who I’d trade:

Carlos Beltran? – At 32 years-old and with two years left on his contract, if he can get back by May, get some playing time under his belt and show off the five-tool, Gold Glove, All-Star center fielder that he is, a trade involving Beltran by the July trading deadline could bring back at least a #2 starter and some major help for the minors. Re-stocking the minor leagues for future trades should be a priority and a front line pitcher would certainly help us now. Of course we would need a strong defensive center fielder to replace him to cover such a large outfield at Citi Field. Is F-Mart that guy? I’m not sure but he certainly stacks up to Reyes when it comes to nagging injuries.

Continue reading “Dear Minaya: Break Up The Mets Core”

Mets Links: Jose Reyes Thyroid Dominates News

Mets Spring Training - José Reyes

There are few stories coming from Port St. Lucie this week other than Jose Reyes and his thyroid condition. The fact that he’ll join Carlos Beltran on the disabled list come opening day has led to thoughts of another lost season and Mets’ minor leaguers getting a shot at the big leagues. Some of the biggest names in sports journalism have gotten into the act including William C. Rhoden and Joe Posnanski.

Here are the links:

  • NY Times – William C. Rhoden writes that Reyes’ thyroid problem should lead the Mets to look at rebuilding the team. “The Core” just isn’t getting it done.
  • Joe Posnanski – Joe writes that Reyes is one of the most exciting players in baseball and the Mets are due for something good to happen.
  • Daily News – John Harper writes that the conflicting messages about Reyes’ thyroid condition have to do with the players not trusting management on injury issues anymore
  • NY Post – Mike Puma writes that Reyes was blindsided by the Mets statement about his thyroid condition that made it sound worse than it is.
  • Daily News – Adam Rubin reprints a good piece about Ruben Tejada, who may get the opening day start at shortstop
  • Baseball Nerd – Keith Olbermann writes about the ridiculous story that Reyes’ thyroid problem was caused by eating too much shellfish
  • Fangraphs – R.J. Anderson writes that the Mets’ decision to work Jenry Mejia out of the bullpen is a short-term fix designed to save Omar Minaya’s and Jerry Manuel’s jobs more than for the good of Mejia and the franchise
  • Fanhouse – Josh Alper writes that the Mets signed Jason Bay instead of John Lackey because they were more concerned about Lackey’s ability to stay healthy
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Mets’ Jose Reyes Out 2-8 Weeks

Jose Reyes

Image by penner42 via Flickr

It’s been a strange few days of Jose Reyes injury news. First, he went back to New York for tests but it was nothing serious. Then we find out today that it is serious enough to keep him out of the lineup and on the disabled list to start the season. You have to wonder how this story took such a dramatic turn for the worse for the Mets.

We’ll definitely be seeing too much of Alex Cora at shortstop… again. Don’t get me wrong. I like the guy and he must be tough as nails to play as long as he did with the thumb injuries that he had last year. I just don’t want to see him playing short every day. Ruben Tejada would be interesting to see, but at 20 years old he may not be up to the task.

Reyes is the most exciting player on the Mets team. The Mets are lucky that this injury announcement came after the big single game ticket sales date came and went. You have to wonder if there’s a correlation between the timing of those two events. It’ll be very interesting to see how many empty seats there are at Citi Field without Carlos Beltran and Reyes in the lineup every day for the first month or two.

This could have a big impact on the futures of Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya. The two seems to be clinging to their careers with the Mets by a thread as it is. It’s been pretty clear from their public statement that the Mets need a fast start for them to survive into the second half of the season. A fast start will be a lot more difficult now when they’re leaving spring training without their fastest player.

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