Tag: Daniel Murphy

Mets News Top Stories- April 8, 2009

NEW YORK - APRIL 08: Ryan Church #19 of the N...
Image by Getty Images via Daylife

The Mets endured one of the dreaded road days off yesterday in Cincinnati. If you’ve ever been there you know that its not one of the most exciting cities in the United States. The reports were that the most entertaining thing that the Mets could find to do yesterday was go to the movies. Apparently, the city is so boring that they decided to do a double feature and kill the whole day at the movies. If that’s not an indictment of a boring city, I don’t know what is. The Mets chance to enjoy the entertaining city of Cincinnati comes to an end today when they go back to work against the Reds.

Onto today’s top stories:

The Sporting News is reporting that Bronson Arroyo will start for the Reds against the Mets tomorrow. He’s been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome but he had a cortisone shot and is feeling good enough to pitch. Micah Owings was going to take his place in the Reds rotation.

Ben Shipgel of The New York Times recounts the whole Ryan Church concussion saga from last season. He talks about how the Gary Sheffield signing will impact Church’s playing time.  Shipgel says he can’t understand why the Mets are pushing Church so hard this season. It’s simple… They expect more from him than what they’re getting. The Mets think Church is capable of doing more than he’s shown.

Joel Sherman of the NY Post talks about the Mets bullpen and how Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church both played well on Monday. The Sheffield signing could push both of them to step up their games or lose playing time.

Saturday’s game against the Marlins won’t be televised for the first hour of the game. It’s scheduled to start at 6:10 pm because there’s a concert by rap star Flo Rida after the game. SNY is scheduled to broadcast the game but Fox has exclusive rights on Saturday’s until 7:05 pm.

Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated writes another column about how Mike Pelfrey and other young pitchers are at risk of injury or regression in performance because of their increased innings pitched at a young age. At this point, Verducci is pretty much making a living off of this theory of his that most major league teams don’t subscribe to. I’m not saying that Verducci is wrong about this. But he needs to find another topic to write about. He’s beating a dead horse now. We all know about his grand theory about young pitchers. Move on now Tom.

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Mets Over Reds 2-1 Behind Daniel Murphy

http://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/Javascripts/PisV3.jshttp://cdn.pis.picapp.com/IamProd/Resources/javascripts/DataV3.ashx?ImageId=821472&PublisherId=1326MLB: MAR 04 Spring Training - Mets at Nationals

I would’ve thought that Johan Santana would be the story of opening day for the Mets but he wasn’t. The story was Daniel Murphy. He had both RBI’s in a 2-1 win over the Reds in Cincinnati. The weather was miserable with temperatures hovering around 40 degrees and a light rain falling to start the game.

Santana cruised through the first five innings only giving up one hit. That changed in the sixth inning when he gave up a couple of hits. Surprisingly, Mets manager Jerry Manuel pulled him from the game much earlier than I would have. Sean Green, J.J. Putz, and Francisco Rodriguez finished off the Reds in the last 3.1 innings without giving up a hit.

Murphy was all the offense that the Mets needed today. He hits solo shot to right field in the fifth inning off Aaron Harang and had an RBI ground out in the sixth.

Its a great way to start the season with the Mets revamped bullpen making us much more confident going into the late innings with a one run lead.

Box score

Wright Call Lands Sheffield For Mets

David WrightThe newest Met, Gary Sheffield, spoke to the media today after the last exhibition game of the season against the Red Sox. Sheffield talked about how his uncle, Dwight Gooden, had spoken to him over the years about signing with the Mets. But it never quite worked out, until now.

One interesting fact that came out during the press conference was that David Wright called Sheffield urging him to sign with the Mets. Jimmy Rollins from the Philadelphia Phillies and Dusty Baker from the Cincinnati Reds had also put calls into Sheffield.It seems that Sheffield was most impressed that Wright made the effort to get in touch with him about signing with the Mets.

From ESPN:

“When you have the face of the franchise making a call to you, that means a lot,” said Sheffield, who’s one home run shy of 500. “You never want to tell other people you’re going the other way, but when he made that call I made my decision.”

Apparently, David Wright really has some clout around baseball now. That’s great for a young guy that hasn’t been around that long to have established himself. We’ll see how much Marlon Anderson, Ryan Church, and Daniel Murphy appreciate Wright’s call to Sheffield. They’re the ones that stand to lose the most by Sheffield’s presence on the team.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Gary Sheffield, Mets Agree On Contract

gary-sheffieldMike Francesa is reporting on WFAN that the Mets have agreed to a contract with Detroit Tigers castoff Gary Sheffield. Its a good low risk, high reward move that could play a big part in the 2009 season for the Mets. Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reported that two Mets scouts met with Sheffield in Tampa on Wednesday for a workout at a college field. They wanted to see what Sheffield could do in the outfield. He hasn’t played the outfield regularly since 2005 when he played 131 games in right field for the Yankees.

This move may spell the end of Marlon Anderson‘s tenure with the Mets. Anderson’s contract was a mistake. The Mets shouldn’t have given him a 2-year deal before the 2008 season. The Mets will have to eat the $1.15 million that they owe him for 2009.

Sheffield shores up the possibility that Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church can’t handle playing the corner outfield spots every day. It also relieves the Mets of their lefty heavy lineup that’s been a concern for Mets fans throughout the offseason.

The other teams that were reported to be interested in Shef were the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Philles. A point that I haven’t heard anyone address to this point is that signing Sheffield keeps him away from the Phillies. The Mets haven’t engaged in that type of activity much in recent years but its not a bad idea. The New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox have been doing this to each other for years. There’s no reason that the Mets shouldn’t try to keep useful players like Sheffield away from the Phillies.

Overall, I think its a good move that will pay dividends for the Mets. The key is to make sure that Sheffield gets enough at-bats in the outfield to keep him happy. If he’s not happy with his playing time, he can cause real problems for this team.

Audio: Mets Daniel Murphy And Jonathan Niese

Daniel MurphyThe Mets youngsters are in today’s audio clips. Daniel Murphy appears on Michael Kay’s ESPN Radio show. Skip ahead to the 6:30 mark to hear Murphy.

ESPN Radio- Daniel Murphy

Jonathan Niese joins WFAN’s Steve Somers to talk about what he’s been working on this spring to try to make the major league roster

WFAN- Jonathan Niese

Links: Mets News On Murphy, Church, Garcia, And More

Here are some links from all over the Internet about the Mets today:

  • Manager Jerry Manuel backtracks on yesterday’s statement about a Church/Tatis platoon in right field from the Daily News.
  • The starting outfielders are working out on Field 7 which is modeled after the Citi Field outfield dimensions from NY Times.
  • Jose Valentin is still trying to win a spot on the major league roster. But he’s okay with playing and coaching at Triple-A Buffalo if it comes to that from NY Times.
  • Daniel Murphy playing everyday in left field is the topic at Ontheblack.com.
  • Joel Sherman of the NY Post has two posts today about the RF and LF platoon issue. And he says that Freddy Garcia hasn’t looked great so far this spring.
  • The first game at Citi Field now will be between St. John’s and Georgetown on March 29.
  • Carlos Muniz joins the ranks of Mets pitchers working on a split finger fastball this spring.