Tag: Fernando Martinez

Mets Stand Pat at 2009 Trade Deadline

Flickr photo courtesy of Eric Kilby
Flickr photo courtesy of Eric Kilby

I have to say that I’m surprised that the Mets didn’t even pull off a minor deal at the non-waiver trade deadline. Of course, there will still be trades for players that have made it through waivers until August 31. After the brutal week that GM Omar Minaya had, he could have used a trade to take the attention away from his lack of mass communication skills.

Victor Martinez going to Boston wasn’t shocking. But I had hoped the Mets would make a splash by landing him. The Mets will need a catcher and first baseman next season and nobody better than Martinez could fit that bill.

I thought that the Mets would have tried to land some Major League talent who is under contract for more than this season. Apparently, the Mets brain trust is married to their prospects. They better pan out. That’s all that I can say.

I haven’t seen anything from Bobby Parnell, Jon Niese, or Fernando Martinez that would prevent me from trading them for a proven Major Leaguer that’s under contract for more than half a season.

I’m not saying that the Mets should have gone all out to make the playoffs this year. But they could have tried to fill some huge holes in the lineup that they’ll have next season. Left field, first base, and catcher are all question marks for next season.

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Mets Turn Down Roy Halladay Trade

Flickr photo courtesy of Keith Allison
Flickr photo courtesy of Keith Allison

Jon Heyman of SI.com wrote on his Twitter account today that the Mets were offered a deal by the Toronto Blue Jays for Roy Halladay. The deal would have sent Fernando Martinez, Jon Niese, Bobby Parnell, and Ruben Tejada to the Jays.

As much as I’d like to see Halladay in a Met uniform, it doesn’t make sense to unload four big prospects for him right now for the Mets. The 2009 season is all but over for the Mets so they shouldn’t be in a position to be buyers right now.

They can get their hands on Halladay after the 2010 season as a free agent anyway. So to give up young players wouldn’t be a prudent move for the Mets as a team. It’s too bad though. I’d love to see Johan Santana and Halladay together for a couple of years.

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Mets July 2009 Injuries: F-Mart, Beltran, Reyes, Delgado, Maine

Flickr photo courtesy of Keith Allison
Flickr photo courtesy of Keith Allison

The list of Mets injuries is still pretty long and includes some of the players that are key to the team having a successful season. Omar Minaya had a review of player statuses with reporters yesterday prior to the Mets return from the All-Star break in Atlanta.

Fernando Martinez: Out 6-8 weeks. He had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Carlos Beltran: He had another MRI during the All-Star break. He still has a significant bone bruise in his right knee. Team medical staff still hasn’t cleared him to begin jogging.

Jose Reyes: He’s running lightly and hitting. Reyes could be back by the end of July

John Maine: He threw live batting practice yesterday. The plan is to get him into rehab games within the next 10 days and back with the Mets by the end of July.

Carlos Delgado: He’s been hitting lightly. The plan is still for him to return in August.

The injury situation is so bad that I see it hampering the Mets motivation to make a big trade this month. There’s so much uncertainty about how these critical players will perform during this season that it doesn’t make sense to unload big prospects to make a run this season.

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Brewers 6 – Mets 3 June 30, 2009

The Mets went down in defeat for the fifth straight game. Even with Johan Santana on the mound, the Mets played one of their worst games and suffered one of the most embarrassing losses of the season.

The game looked great in the first inning with David Wright hitting a 2-run homer to get things started. But the Mets imploded in the fourth when Santana walked the Brewers pitcher, Fernando Martinez did a face plant in the outfield on a routine fly ball, and the Mets kicked the ball around the field like little leaguers on a play at the plate. The Brewers took a 5-2 lead and the game was gone.

Santana flipped out in the dugout between innings but he was more to blame than anyone. It was his walk of the pitcher that got things started for the Brewers and his wild error throw to third after the play at home. I don’t know who he was yelling at but he should look at himself in this case.

Martinez ended up hitting his first major league homer in the ninth but it was another ugly loss. Pitching coach Dan Warthen was thrown out of the game for arguing balls and strikes with home plate umpire Jim Wolf. The Mets have had problems with Wolf before this season so I wasn’t surprised to see them getting on him throughout the game.

After the game Jerry Manuel had a 30 minute closed-door meeting with the players. He said afterward that it was a “family meeting” and the purpose was to make sure that they understand that they have what it takes to win. Oddly, he just told reporters days ago that the Mets need to trade for a hitter.

6.30.09

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Report: Mets Possible Trade Targets 2009 Edition

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Buster Olney of ESPN.com reports today on the Mets possible trade targets. He focuses his attention on first base. But I’m not so sure that the Mets wouldn’t look at someone like Victor Martinez of the Indians or Matt Holliday of the A’s. The problem with getting a first baseman is that if Carlos Delgado is able to come back from the disabled list this season, there’s no place for him to play.

I still don’t think that the Mets will do anything until mid to late July anyway. At this point in the season they’ll be held up by teams for too much value in return. I think the economy will keep teams from taking on payroll like they have in the past. So as we get closer to the deadline, teams that want to unload players won’t find the number of suitors that they have in seasons past.

The potential trade targets that Olney mentions for the Mets are:

  1. Nick Johnson
  2. Aubrey Huff
  3. Jorge Cantu
  4. Dan Uggla
  5. Mark DeRosa

The Mets are going to have to look at someone that can move away from first base if Delgado gets back. Huff and DeRosa along with Martinez would be the players that I think are the most likely. The Orioles will get a nice look at Fernando Martinez this week. Hopefully, he has a good series to generate some interest for a trade for Huff.

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Mets Church Returns; Brown Designated

Church!
Image by team doster via Flickr

Ryan Church returns to the Mets today after coming off the disabled list for a strained right hamstring. Emil Brown was designated for assignment after his only start yesterday in Washington.

I’m glad the Mets chose not to send Fernando Martinez down and keep Brown with the team. From what I’ve seen, Brown doesn’t look like he adds much to the team other than a right-handed bat. It makes sense to keep Martinez playing every day for a while and let Church and Gary Sheffield split time in right field, at least for now.

From MLB.com:

“I think it was being at peace with things, and knowing I had some days to rest up,” Church said. “Basically it was getting treatment and staying off of it. But once I got down there, in the balmy 120-degree weather with the humidity, it loosened up real quick.”

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Pirates 11 – Mets 6 June 4, 2009

The Pirates completed the sweep of the Mets returning the favor for the Mets sweep at Citi Field. Mike Pelfrey was absolutely awful with the worst performance by a Mets starter in two years. He went 3.2 innings giving up 9 runs (8 earned from a Daniel Murphy error). Pelfrey walked 4 and gave up 9 hits, just an abysmal job.

The Mets offense was pretty good putting up 6 runs, which is normally enough to win a game. Carlos Beltran back from the flu had 2 hits, a double and a home run. David Wright also had 2 hits after his second prolonged slump of the early season. Fernando Martinez had 2 hits as well with Ryan Church looming to come off the disabled list on Sunday. Martinez is trying to make a case to stay in the big leagues.

After the game Beltran told reporters that he is embarrassed by the Mets display in Pittsburgh in the three game series. He didn’t call anyone out in particular, which is good, but someone had to say something after this kind of disaster.

6409

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