Tag: Johan Santana

Mets Early 2011 – Next Few Weeks Could Impact Team For Years

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 08: Manager Terry Collin...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The Mets Are Teasing Us Again?

The Mets are now 22-24. A .478 winning percentage which leaves them about 4.5 – 5.5 games out of the wild card. At this rate the Mets will end up going 77-85. They will need to reverse this record to compete for a wild card. Maybe? So even after this weekends Subway Series we just have to find between 5 & 7 wins. Somewhere. It’s do-able but who will be doing it is the even bigger question.

Some Tough Decisions for Sandy Alderson.

If your team is only 5 games out of the wild card coming into the trading deadline what do you do? Your taking a big risk by holding onto free agents to be Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes. Trading Beltran and Reyes now may be the most logical thing to do although your telling the fan base your giving up on the year.

The loss of Reyes will be taken hard by the fans but we’ve never won with these players anyway. Now may be the time to unload them when their value is high. I wouldn’t want to be in Sandy’s shoes. Although, if it was me, I would make the tough decision to trade Reyes. I would really need to be overwhelmed with the package though, but if I could rebuild the starting pitching staff now…

My feeling is, Sandy Alderson, the former Marine, will pull the trigger on a trade for Reyes regardless of what the fans think. Reyes will never be more valuable than he is now. He brings energy to the club, is fun to watch and helps fill the seats but so does winning. I think we’ll forget Reyes pretty quickly if the Mets make a playoff run without him. Continue reading “Mets Early 2011 – Next Few Weeks Could Impact Team For Years”

Preview: D-Backs at Mets April 22, 2011

Arizona Diamondbacks (8-9) at New York Mets (6-13) 7:10pm

Joe Saunders  (0-2 6.32) vs. Mike Pelfrey (0-2 9.72)

TV: SNY   Radio: WFAN

What to watch: The D-Backs are playing pretty badly and just got out of the NL West basement by winning a series in Cincinnati. They don’t have much pitching but Justin Upton and Chris Young are both playing really well. Saunders had allowed 9 earned run in his last two starts over 9.2 innings.

Pelfrey has been almost as bad as Saunders allowing 7 earned runs in his last two starts over 10.1 innings. His 9.72 ERA is hideous and Pelfrey needs to do something tonight. His sub-par pitching is really killing this team for a guy that was supposed to hold down the #1 spot in the rotation until Johan Santana comes back.

Do the 2011 Mets have Any Shot At all of Making the Playoffs?

PORT ST. LUCIE, FL - FEBRUARY 17: Owner Fred W...
Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Let’s see… Johan Santana may be out for the year, Carlos Beltran is one slide away form blowing out both knees, Jose Reyes is one hard run from blowing out a hammy, and Krod is one fight away from prison. We have a rookie catcher, two pitchers coming back from Tommy John surgery, Mike Pelfrey’s Psychiatrist passed away so the yips may be back, the franchise 3rd baseman has yet to step up and be a leader, an ongoing hole at 2nd base and the team can’t/won’t be spending any money anytime soon. Did I miss something?

And let’s not forget the team is owned by the Three Stooges of Real Estate investing (Katz, Wilpon, Wilpon Jr.) who admit knowing nothing about investing and obviously even less about running a baseball franchise. I fully expect MLB to have to step in and take over the day to day operations of the team while it’s owners go through bankruptcy. You think it’s hard to take down a middle eastern dictator? Wait till you see the fight the Wilpons put up to keep the Mets. It’s gonna get ugly!

Don’t expect any help from the free agent market either. No free agent hitter in their right mind would want to play at cavernous Citi Field even if we had the money to spend. Pitcher’s looking to prolong their careers may consider Citi Field but are you, the fans, really going to spend your hard earned money to watch a bunch of retreads prolong their careers? Hit up Stubhub starting in June for $1 seats that season ticket holders will be trying to get rid of.

So with opening day upon us I proclaim the Mets will finish dead last and the current owners will be fighting well into 2012 to try and hold onto this team. I see little hope for this year and certainly see no hope for 2012 if the Wilpons are still the owners.

Although I am seeing a lot of positives coming from the current management team of Collins and Alderson, there are still an awful lot of flaws on this team and something current management can’t control… What happens in the owners box.

So do the Mets have a shot at the Playoffs this year? Do you really have to ask that question? Really?!?
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Video: ESPN 2011 Mets Preview

ESPN in the United Kingdom
Image via Wikipedia

Tim Kurkjian previews the Mets from Florida. Basically, his take on the position players is that they look good on paper. The problem is that the recent injury histories of Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran make it difficult to believe that they’ll be in the lineup all season. He doesn’t even mention Jason Bay and his awful, injury-shortened 2010.

The take on the Mets rotation is that they’re fairly pedestrian without Johan Santana at the top. It’s hard to argue against that. Kurkjuan doesn’t think the Mets have the pitching to hang with the Phillies, Braves, and Marlins this year. Frankly, I agree.

Check out the video below.

http://espn.go.com/videohub/player/embed.swf

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Report: Mets’ Johan Santana Out For 2011 Season

Johan Santana won’t be back to pitch in 2011 according to a report in The Record by Steve Popper and Bob Klapisch. The report states that Santana’s throwing sessions haven’t gone well and that the Mets are considering pulling the plug on his rehab and re-evaluating the work that he should be doing at this point.

Originally, Santana was supposed to be doing rehab from his left shoulder surgery last September with an eye towards return in early July. Santana himself even reiterated that timetable in a Feb. 17 radio interview with Mike Francesa of WFAN New York.

The Mets already thin starting rotation is pretty much in shambles without Santana coming back this season. Let’s face it, nobody wants to see Chris Capuano getting 30 starts this year and that’s the painful reality of today’s news.

You never know how a season is going to go for a team before it starts. I think most people are predicting the Mets finishing third or fourth in the NL East. And I believe that’s a fair assessment of the team and the division. Without Santana, the team’s best player and highest paid player not pitching at all in 2011 those predictions could be lowered. It’s going to be a sad state of affairs for this team going through the fourth year of a seven year contract without Santana pitching at all.

In addition, Mets ownership can’t be happy with the prospect of Santana’s $22.5 million salary going up in flames either, considering their financial situation. Presumably, the Mets have insurance for all or a portion of Santana’s salary in case of injury. But given this ownership group, I wouldn’t put it past them to be forced to swallow the whole salary because of a bad insurance policy.

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Mets Pitching Report – January 2011

Johan Santana pitching for the New York Mets o...
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With just 6 weeks until Spring Training the Mets biggest worry will, by far, be their pitching staff. With the hope that the Mets can bring on one of the two free agents they are targeting, the pitching staff lines up as follows:

Mike Pelfrey, RA Dickey and Jon Niese, followed by either Chris Young** or Jeff Francis**, then Dillon Gee or Chris Capuano. (**this is assuming the Mets can obtain Young or Francis who are free agents).

In 2010, the Mets had question marks in their entire pitching rotation. The only person that could be counted on was Johan Santana. This year you can add Santana to the list of question marks for this pitching staff making the “ENTIRE” pitching staff a question mark.

Pelfrey, Dickey and Niese combined for 30 wins last year. Somehow this pitching staff will have to find another 45 wins to have a respectable season. Continue reading “Mets Pitching Report – January 2011”

Mets 2011 Salaries Page

July 23, 2010 Los Angeles, CA..Mets Johan Santana in action during the Major League Baseball game between the New York Mets and the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Mets defeated the Dodgers, 6-1..Josh Thompson/CSM.

http://view.picapp.com//JavaScripts/OTIjs.jsThe Mets roster and salary page has been updated to reflect the 2011 roster to date. You can see that the Mets are committed to about $122 million so far with the additions of D.J. Carrasco and Ronny Paulino in free agency. Also, Angel Pagan’s contract hasn’t been resolved yet but will likely be prior to arbitration.

There really isn’t a lot of room for the new Mets brain trust of Sandy Alderson, J.P. Ricciardi, and Paul DePodesta to make moves. Unfortunately, that means that we’ll likely have to suffer through another subpar season.

The other problem is that Johan Santana is taking up 18% of the payroll and won’t be able to play until July because of shoulder surgery this offseason. That’s a killer for any team, much less a struggling team like the Mets.

Things look really good for 2012 though. I’m sure that’s why Alderson and friends decided to come to the Mets. They have a chance to do a complete makeover of this team with half of the payroll going off the books. They’re going to have some fun spending the Wilpon’s money next offseason.

If you want to get a primer for the players that will likely be available in free agency before the 2012 season, check out MLB Trade Rumors. The big names will be Prince Fielder, Albert Pujols, Mark Buehrle, Edwin Jackson, Heath Bell, and Booklyn’s David DeJesus.

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