Tag: Johan Santana

Troubled Oliver Perez Should Stay With Mets

Oliver PerezThere’s no disputing the fact that something, and maybe everything, is going horribly wrong for Oliver Perez this season. He’s made five starts now and is pitching to a 1-2 record with a 9.97 ERA. Obviously, he’s hurting the team and shouldn’t continue in the starting rotation. The only debate right now is whether he should be sent to Triple-A Buffalo or stay with the Mets in the bullpen in an attempt to right the ship.

I believe that Perez should stay with the Mets in the bullpen. He doesn’t even need to pitch out of the bullpen, but he should stay with the Mets not be banished to Buffalo.

The Mets should bring up Nelson Figueroa to take Perez’ spot in the rotation for one start. This will give Perez a chance to continue his work with pitching coach Dan Warthen and Johan Santana. Figueroa could take Ken Takahashi’s spot on the roster. Perez will have the pressure off him for 10 games and have a chance to just work on finding himself.

Perez is going to be a part of the Mets for the next three seasons. His 3-year/$36 million contract that he just signed assures him of that. So the Mets need to go forward with Perez on the major league roster and show some confidence in him. I think he needs that right now. The going is tough for him but it’ll get better. You can see it on his face that he’s disappointed in himself.

There are examples of established major league pitchers that have gone to the minors and come back better for it. Steve Trachsel did it for the Mets. But you can also look at Barry Zito with the Giants from last season. On April 29, 2008 Zito was off to an 0-6 start with a 7.53 ERA and was moved to the bullpen. He skipped a start and came back much better. He finished the season at 10-11 record after the bullpen move, and that’s with a bad team that finished the season 72-90. Take a look at Zito’s 2008 game log here. I could see the same type of season for Perez this year.

The Mets made a prett sizable investment in Perez this offseason. They shouldn’t give up on him after one bad month. He should stay with the team and work with the best pitching coaches in the organization. That means he stays with the major league team and works through his problems.

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Marlins 4- Mets 3 April 29, 2009

42909I feel like I’m writing the same game recap that I wrote about yesterday’s game. Jorge Cantu hit the big bomb and the Mets bullpen failed. Or maybe it’s more like writing the same story that we saw for much of last season. I don’t know.

I was at the game today to witness this disaster of a game first-hand. David Wright was boo’d mercilessly throughout the game in case you didn’t catch that on TV. He looked more lost than I’ve ever seen him.

Another good start by Johan Santana was wasted, just like last season. If the Mets are going to make the postseason this year, they have to capitalize on Santana’s starts. It’s that simple. If they’re going to waste them like they did last year, we’re all in for a long season.

The only real positive offensive game by a Met was Fernando Tatis, who started at first base again. He was 3 for 4 with a home run that barely made it over the left field wall. Overall, the Mets left 14 runners on base as they’ve been doing all month including leaving the bases loaded in the ninth.

Jerry Manuel made several curious decisions in this game. But the most confusing was calling Omir Santos in from the bullpen to pinch hit for Ramon Castro with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth. That made no sense to me at all on several levels. I’ve always like Manuel but I didn’t like what I saw from him today at all. I’ll write more about that tomorrow.

The Mets lose the home series to the Marlins and drop to 9-12 on the season. They have a day off tomorrow and head to Philly on Friday.

Box score

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Game Preview: Marlins at Mets [Game 21] April 29, 2009

Florida Marlins logoFlorida Marlins (12-8 Road: 7-4) at New York Mets (9-11 Home: 6-5)  1:10 pm

Josh Johnson (2-0 2.20) vs. Johan Santana (3-1 0.70)

TV: SNY  Radio:  WFAN

What to watch: The Mets and Marlins play an afternoon game for the rubber game of the series. This is a premier pitching match-up and a re-match of a game in Miami that the Marlins won on a Daniel Murphy botched fly ball. Murphy will be in the lineup today so he better not mess this up for Santana again. That game was Santana’s only loss of the season. By the way, I’ll be at the game today. If you’ll be there too send me an email at my Contact page.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!

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Mets Beltran Won’t Slide And I Don’t Care

Flickr photo courtesy of P Pogo
Flickr photo courtesy of P Pogo

Within a five day span we’ve seen two examples of Carlos Beltran not sliding on plays that he clearly should have. You know what? I don’t care. It doesn’t bother me at all. The simple fact is that when you’re the best position player on the team with the highest payroll in the league you can make judgment calls.

On April 21st Beltran didn’t slide against the St. Louis Cardinals on a play at home. He stepped on Yadier Molina‘s foot and was tagged out. It was a bizarre play that Cards third baseman Joe Thurston made a great hustle play and throw on.

Yesterday Beltran didn’t slide on a steal attempt at second base because he thought that he heard David Wright hit the ball. He slowed up and was tagged out on the throw. Of course, the crowd boo’d him. He admitted after the game that he should have slid.

I’ve heard some people talking about how this is a bad influence on the younger players on the Mets. If any of the younger players on the Mets think that they’re the best position player on the team they should feel free to make judgement calls that are afforded to veterans like Beltran.

Of course, I’d like to see Beltran show the fire and go all out that everyone else wants from him. That’s not the way he is and I’ve accepted that along with his .406 batting average, outstanding defense, and 1.067 OPS. He’s kind of a soft player, not the kind that we like in New York. But he’s also an excellent player, maybe not one of the great ones, but very good.

Frankly, if he can avoid taking a few hits along the way this season he may be able to stay healthy enough to play 161 games like he did last season. That’s no small feat by the way. I’d rather see Beltran playing nearly every game this season than worry about one play and whether he slid or not.

In case you haven’t noticed, Carlos Beltran isn’t the problem with this Mets team. If you feel compelled to boo the home team, make note of every starting pitcher not named Johan Santana. Make sure that you notice Daniel Murphy stumbling around left field like a little leaguer and David Wright‘s .371 slugging percentage. Those are the problems with this team not Carlos Beltran.

Mets 4- Nationals 3 April 24, 2009

42409Johan Santana was fantastic again. It’s hard to believe that a pitcher can be this good consistently. He went 6 innings giving up 1 run on 6 hits and had 10 strikeouts, including the first six consecutive batters. He’s totally in the zone this season.

The Mets put together 4 runs over four different innings. The team left 13 runners on base including 9 in scoring position. That continues to be a problem. The offensive leader tonight was Fernando Tatis. He was 2 for 3 with a double and 2 runs scored. It was good to see him get going tonight. We haven’t seen enough of him so far this season.

Francisco Rodriguez did give up a 2-run homer to Jesus Flores in the ninth. But he hadn’t pitched in six straight days, so I’ll cut him some slack on that. He didn’t look sharp at all.

The Nationals are always good to play to end a losing streak and that was the case tonight.

Box score

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Game Preview: Nationals at Mets [Game 16] April 24, 2009

Washington Nationals logoWashington Nationals (3-11 Road: 0-6) at New York Mets (6-9 Home: 3-3)  7:10 pm

Scott Olsen (0-2 9.00) vs. Johan Santana (2-1 0.46)

TV: SNY   Radio:  WFAN

What to watch: The Mets are in a 4-game losing streak and coming off a sweep at the hands of the Cardinals. The Nationals just won 2 of 3 at home against Atlanta. Olsen’s last start was a no decision against the Marlins and was a very good game, 7 IP and 2 ER. Santana hasn’t given up an earned run in his last two starts. He’s been terrific. The Mets need to get things turned around starting tonight. Olsen is the first lefty starter they’ve faced this season. Both Fernando Tatis and Gary Sheffield will be in the lineup.

Don’t forget to visit The Mets Report Live Game Chat during the game to chat with other Mets fans!

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Mets Starting Pitching May Force Roster, Coaching Changes

Oliver PerezAfter the Mets humiliating defeat in St. Louis yesterday, manager Jerry Manuel spoke to the media about some possible changes to the roster in the near future. Manuel said that they’ll go one more time, as is, through the pitching rotation. If the starting pitchers, other than Johan Santana, can’t overcome their problems the Mets will make changes.

Manuel said that he would like to immediately add a 13th pitcher to the Mets roster. The logic being that the starters are pitching so few innings right now that it would keep the existing pitchers in the bullpen from getting burned out early in the season. Manuel admitted that he’s concerned about how many innings the bullpen is logging already.

Another issue is to figure out which position player will pay the price by losing a roster spot to add another pitcher. I suspect that Jeremy Reed is the most likely candidate. If it was up to me, I would option Daniel Murphy for reasons written before on this site that I won’t go into again.

Adam Rubin of the Daily News reports that the Mets are already considering making changes to the coaching staff. Rubin also notes that the Mets are considering optioning Mike Pelfrey or Oliver Perez to the minors. That would be quite a shake-up, moving the #2 or #3 starter to the minors!

Although some of these ideas sound desperate, I’m glad that they’re not just going with the status quo because it’s April. The Mets have a lot of seats left to sell and this team isn’t inspiring me to go out and buy more seats. That doesn’t even mention the fact that the last two seasons have been lost to one or two games, so they can’t just give games away even if it is only April.

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