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M.I.A.

What's up everyone? It's been a little while since I last posted, but I just bought a new house and am in the process of making it move-in-able. For those of you who are homeowners, you know what I'm talking about. Between painting, trips to Home Depot, and putting together patio furniture, I've had nary a second to log in a post. Just a few thoughts on some recent Mets happenings to keep you going:

On the Mets acquisition of Richard Hidalgo from the Astros for David Weathers and Jeremy Griffiths: Regardless of which Hidalgo shows up for the Mets, this should be considered a good deal for us. Weathers had become a guaranteed earned-run-allowed of late, and was having a terrible time getting right-handed hitters out. Griffiths had a cup of coffee with the Mets in 2003 and was lousy. He had an ERA of 3.47 at AAA Norfolk before the trade, but sported a terrible 31/29 K/BB ratio. Hidalgo has had an up-and-down career, but is only 28, is a good defensive right-fielder, and should be an offensive upgrade over the Karim Garcia/Shane Spencer platoon.

On Mike Piazza being honored as the greatest homerun hitting catcher of all time: Very classy. This was very nicely done, as the world's greatest living catchers were all in attendance (Johnny Bench, Carlton Fisk, Yogi Berra, Gary "The Kid" Carter, "Pudge" Rodriguez, and Alan Trammell). Piazza was clearly very grateful and emotional, and the Mets crowd showed him their support, and showed why Piazza is and has been such an important part of this organization.

On David Wright: This guy is awesome. Even after going 0-3 with an HBP last night, Wright is hitting.412/.476/.706 in 12 AAA at-bats. He may be up at Shea before the year's out, especially with Todd Zeile struggling at the plate. Ty Wigginton, who is still hitting well, may slide over to third to accommodate...

Jose Reyes: The boy wonder is scheduled to make his return tonight at Shea against the Tigers, though I will believe it when I see it. Reyes struggled in his AA rehab assignment, but his success at the plate was of far less importance than his health, which appears to be fully restored. Reyes' mere presence in the lineup will provide a big boost, and here's hoping he picks up where he left off last season.

Avkash at the raindrops has been doing a great job keeping us posted on Mets prospects and draft picks, along with other Mets news. If he's not currently a daily stop on your blogroll, it's about time to make him one.

Hold down the fort for me, guys, I hope to be back in action by the middle of next week.

Eric | 10:57 AM EST | Comments: 3 | TrackBack: 1
Category: Mets

David Wright

In his first start at AAA Norfolk last night, David Wright, the crown jewel of the Mets farm system, went 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, and a run scored. His batting line is currently a gaudy .750/.800/1.000.

Local wrap-up of the game

Box Score (norfolktides.com)

The game wrap is very good, and even features a jab at Scott Erickson:

t was evident early that many in the crowd had come to see Wright. Normally when the game’s lineups are announced 15 minutes before the first pitch, there is hardly a whisper from the crowd. When Wright was announced, a cheer went up. And the turnstiles had already spun. The Tides had walk-up sales of 2,145, nearly twice the normal Monday walk-up.

Too bad the crowd of 6,585 had to sift through an utterly useless pitching performance by Scott Erickson, who is with the Tides on a major league rehabilitation stint for a hamstring injury.

Prentice Redman had a strong game as well, going 2-for-4 with a walk and a strikeout. The Tides lost the game 13-6 to Toledo, thanks mostly in part to future Met Scott Erickson's terrible outing. Erickson allowed ten hits and eight runs (seven earned) while striking out three in five innings of work. He allowed one homerun and now sports a tidy 8.00 ERA.

Regarding David Wright's call-up to AAA, there was a nice article in yesterday's Virginian Pilot (a local Norfolk paper) about their hometown boy. It's nice to read a local perspective of Wright's promotion. It even mentions his OBP and SLG at AA Binghamton, a nice touch.

Eric | 10:53 AM EST | Comments: 4 | TrackBack: 1
Category: Mets Prospects

Weekend Notes

THURSDAY

I couldn't bring myself to write something about the Mets loss last Thursday against the Twins, so I didn't. I'll only mention it briefly now for the sake of completeness. The Mets lost that game to the Twins 3-2 in fifteen innings, which was six innings more than I needed to watch. When Matthew LeCroy scored in the bottom of the ninth to tie the score, thanks in part to Mike Cameron's air-mail job over two cutoff men, I said aloud, "This game is over." My girlfriend insisted otherwise, and, based on the Mets recent history of come-from-behind dramatic victories, I thought it might be possible.

The Mets spent the next six innings proving my initial instinct correct. The loss wrapped up a three-game sweep at the hands of the Twinkies, and left my beloved Mets three games under .500 and their precious season teetering in the balance.

FRIDAY

Friday after work, me and my lady drove down to Ocean City, NJ, to see some friends at my buddy's beach house. We listened to the first half of that night's game against the last-place Royals. With the score 3-2, I hit the "CD" button on my car stereo and enjoyed the soothing sounds of the new Slipknot record, "Vol. 3 (The Subliminal Verses)". If you're a fan of Slipknot or of hard rock in general, definitely give this album a listen. After a few songs, I switched the game back on and the Mets were losing 7-2. I promptly switched back to Slipknot, and eventually arrived at Ocean City (exit 30 on the Parkway, if you were wondering, a long ways from my exit 160).

It turns out the Mets lost that one, 7-5. Jae Seo, in an effort to solidify his spot in the starting rotation, laid an egg, allowing nine baserunners in 4.2 innings and five earned runs (six total runs) in picking up the loss. The Mets left six runners in scoring position with two outs and left 13 total for the game, and once again couldn't get the big hit when they needed it. With his rocky start, Seo might be in AAA Norfolk before you know it, with the Mets seemingly determined to bring up Scott Erickson as soon as he is ready.

SATURDAY

I didn't see an inning of this game. I was on the beach, where it was sunny but a bit windy for my liking. By nature, I'm not much of a beach person. I'm of the belief that the beach would be much better if it were a pool. The sand ruins most of the enjoyment of the beach by blowing onto your stuff, sticking to you, and getting all over your house and shower when you return. The ocean, also, not really that much fun. It's pretty dirty, not great to swim in, and not really particularly useful to me for anything.

If there's one good thing I can say about the beach, thugh, it's that it allowed me to miss the misery of the Mets 3-2 loss to the Royals on Saturday. Suffice it to say, the Mets once again did not:

a) Get the job done with runners in scoring position
b) Get good pitching from David Weathers
c) Avoid getting the normally-stoic Art Howe so fumed that he actually threw garbage cans at the clubhouse door

Good for Art. He and hitting coach Denny Walling might be out the door before long, but at least fans in Houston might be getting a more animated manager than we did. I haven't even seen any replays of the game, but from what I've been able to ascertain from newspaper articles and today's radio broadcast, the Mets problems on Saturday were largely a result of these facts:

1) The Mets, on the whole, aren't any good at hitting
2) More to the point, they aren't good at hitting in the clutch
3) The Mets bullpen is old
4) As such, the bullpen at large isn't very good at getting opposing batters to make outs
5) The Mets defense is pedestrian at best, a comedy of errors at worst.
6) Art Howe is, by most measures, a crummy strategic manager

Much the way the planeteers' powers combined to make Captain Planet, the Mets powers combined to produce the skidmark that was Saturday night's mess. Art Howe threw some garbage cans, and yelled at his players in hope that they will turn this thing around. Which brings us to:

SUNDAY

I guess they listened to some of what Art Howe had to say. The Mets pulled out a 5-2 win over the Royals on Sunday, much to Kaz Matsui's chagrin, who tried mightily to give the game away. Tom Glavine pitched another gem, allowing two unearned runs and only five baserunners (four hits, one walk) in 7.2 innings. With the score 5-2 and two outs in the eighth, Art Howe pulled Glavine from the game. He must have had a brain fart, because he brought in Ricky Bottalico. Not Mike Stanton. Not David Weathers. Not John Franco. Bottalico struck out the only batter he faced, and Braden Looper pitched a scoreless ninth for his 12th save.

The Mets committed three errors in the game, two by the aforementioned Kaz Matsui. Both were throwing errors, and both pulled a Met first-baseman off the bag. Mets brass have apparently taken notice. In his article today, Jon Heyman thinks Reyes will be back at shortstop in 2005:

Jose Reyes will be among the first to regain his position while hurt. He'll replace Kaz Matsui as shortstop in 2005, assuming Reyes is healthy.

The Mets are now four games under .500 at 29-33, and are 5.5 games behind first-place Florida. A week ago they looked like buyers in the free agent market. Now they may be sellers. The Mets will NOTtrade David Wright in any deal, though may be interested in rekindling talks with Texas for Alfonso Soriano. I don't think he's a good fit, particularly in right field. He's a fine-hitting second-baseman, but we don't need one of those. He's only an adequate offensive outfielder, and the potential cost in dollars and prospects is not worth the return.

David Wright was finally promoted to AAA Norfolk. He was hitting .363/.467/.619 with 37 XBH (10 homeruns), a 39/41 K/BB ratio, and 20/26 in stolen bases.

Prentice Redman was also called up to AAA Norfolk. .297/.375/.585 with 41 XBH (12 homeruns) and 9/11 in stolen bases.

Terrific article in the NY Times today about Rick Peterson and how he came to be a pitching guru. Definitely a must-read.

Eric | 10:54 PM EST | TrackBack: 1
Category: Mets Game Notes

Rocca On

Lawrence Rocca of the Star Ledger, normally a miserable bastard with nothing good to say about the Mets, pens a nice article today about Kaz Matsui's troubles entitled A pothole for now, but soon a pot of gold. This article comes on the heels of Norm's epiphany, and why he won't be booing Matsui any time soon. Rocca urges Mets fans to be patient with Matsui, that his struggles in the field and at the plate are part of a lengthy adjustment period that should be expected. He has some insightful quotes from ex-Met manager Bobby Valentine, who is quite familiar with Japanese baseball:

"He's still getting used to the grass," Bobby Valentine said yesterday. "My guy plays on only one field where there is grass and dirt. On turf, he's a Rey Ordonez-looking guy. When he gets on that (grass) field, he looks like a Little Leaguer. It's amazing how different everyone looks, because it's so different."

Valentine, the former Mets manager who spoke via cell phone while riding the bullet train back to Tokyo after a road trip with his Chiba Lotte Marines, said it's not just the new playing surfaces that are affecting Matsui's defense.

"He's got to learn all the speeds of the runners in the league, which is very difficult," Valentine said. "That's what determines what hop you get it on, how hard you throw it to first. Most errors for young players are due to the speed of the runner. I think it's incredible that he's doing as well as he's doing. It's a tough adjustment. It takes time."

Rocca also does well to compare Kaz's transition to that of Yankee Hideki Matsui:

Through 57 games last year, Hideki Matsui of the Yankees was batting .250 with 16 doubles, three home runs, 18 walks, 34 strikeouts and had earned the nickname "Groundzilla."

Through 57 games, Kaz Matsui was batting .254 with 18 doubles, five homers, 27 walks and 58 strikeouts.

It should be noted that Hideki compiled his numbers batting deep in a far better lineup, in a far better hitter's park.

Right on. Hideki is having a terrific year for the Yankees this season, hitting .298/.406/.507. Valentine even works in a little ribbing of former GM Steve Phillips' trade of Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick in 2000. Check out the rest of the article, it might be the only thing Rocca writes this year that isn't best suited for wiping my ass.

Orber And Out

Come on, that was a pretty clever title I think. Anyhoo, Orber Moreno has apparently been placed on the 15-day disabled list with a right shoulder strain. Do you know what tipped me off first? When I saw the little red "DL" next to his name in my fantasy league. I quickly shot over to Rotoworld.com and, sure enough, there he was. According to Rotoworld:

This is a significant loss, as Moreno has a 3.20 ERA in 23 appearances this season. It's uncertain how much time he'll miss. "This sort of thing has happened before and I have to get an MRI and see what the doctor says and go from there," Moreno said.

This finally gives Art Howe a real excuse not to bring Moreno into a tight game. If he was actually used in high leverage situations, I would consider this a big loss. As it is, Moreno was only used in blowouts and/or when the Mets had run out of pitchers older than him. This might be the break the Mets needed to get Scott Erickson to the big leagues. Please kill me.

Update: Moreno will be replaced on the roster by Tyler Yates.

Give It Away

Last night's 2-1 loss to the Minnesota Twins at the Metrodome was a textbook 2004 Mets defeat. It featured the following ingredients that have become all too familiar sights:

1) A strong pitching performance, in this case a five-hit, four-walk, one-run affair by Tom Glavine

2) Anemic offense, in this case everyone.

3) Piss-poor defense, in this case perpetuated, as usual, by Kaz Matsui.

Matsui was charged with only a single error last night, but he bungled at least two other plays that could very reasonably have been E-6s as well. The error was a result of rushing a grounder in the ninth in an attempt to turn an inning-ending double-play, and was actually atypical of his standard fare. More often than not, his errors are a result of poor and/or seemingly-lackadaisical throws. He actually ranges to his left quite well, but always takes a few more steps than necessary before unleashing his noodle-arm.

If you watched the replays last night, Tom Glavine was sporting a look similar to the one he paid Roger Cedeno last year after each blunder he made. Speaking of which, did anyone see the replay of Cedeno getting kicked out of the game last night? First, he was completely hosed on a check-swing call. He began arguing with the plate umpire, who motioned for him to get back in the box. After much jawing, Cedeno finally returned to the plate, and angrily tapped the dish with his bat, breaking it. He then threw the bat away and walked towards the dugout to retrieve a new one. The ump saw this, and promptly ejected Rog from the game. Roger, infuriated, stormed back and ejected the umpire from the game. Realizing he lacked the executive authority to throw an official from the contest, he argued some more before being restrained by manager Tony LaRussa.

End tangent...

As exciting as Mets victories are to watch, losses like this one are agonizing. The Mets have a lot of difficulty scoring runs, even off of LAIMs (League Average Innings Munchers) like Brad Radke. It doesn't help when the Mets doesn't use the DH rule to their advantage. Typically, this extra spot in the lineup is best used by someone who can actually hit the ball. Instead, Art Howe uses Mike Piazza as the DH, leaving Jason Phillips at first and Vance Wilson behind the plate.

Jason Phillips has been hauntingly inconsistent at the plate this season. He had an awful April, followed by a terrific May, and is having a pitiful June thus far.

JASON PHILLIPS BATTING - 2004

MONTH    AVG   OBP   SLG
APRIL   .162  .275  .221
MAY     .278  .350  .569
JUNE    .125  .160  .125


Players like Phillips are very frustrating to watch, and I've just about lost patience with him. Though better defensively than Mike Piazza, he has horrible range at first base, and he's not exactly Vance Wilson with the glove at catcher. Vance Wilson, while not exactly Mike Piazza with the stick, is nevertheless hitting .255/.333/.451 in 51 at-bats this season. Neither Wilson nor Phillips are very good hitters, and Phillips is very clearly not a good fielder (at least at first base) so why play both of them at the same time?

Especially when you have a left-fielder in Cliff Floyd who can barely walk. Of course, this comes as no surprise from an organization that demotes a player with the second-best OBP on the team (Danny Garcia, .386) and promotes a 37-year-old never-was outfielder with a career .302 OBP (Gerald Williams).

The Mechanix

More good news on Philip Humber, the Mets top draft choice yesterday. According to the Bergen Record, when pitching coach Rick Peterson was reviewing film on the pitchers the Mets were considering taking with the 3rd pick, all of them had one mechanical flaw or another. Except one, that is. Philip Humber was the only pitcher he saw with flawless mechanics.

Also of interest is the fact that Humber was actually drafted out of high school in the 29th round in 2001, but elected to attend Rice instead. The team that drafted him? The New York Yankees.

And last but not least, a little bit of swagger never hurts, so when asked about his devastating curveball, Humber replied:

"I feel like I've got the best curveball in the country. I haven't seen a better one."

If you've seen the scouting video on MLB.com, you can see that Humber's hook is very reminiscent of Kerry Wood's, with lofty 11-5 action and late break. This kid looks to be the goods.

We're #3!

Thanks to their abysmal last-place finish in 2003, the Mets had the pleasure of selecting third overall in this year's MLB Draft. As was expected, the Mets chose Rice RHP Philip Humber. Baseball America had this to say about the Mets' choice:

Scouts considered Humber the safest pick among the three Rice aces. He has three plus pitches: a 90-94 mph fastball that scrapes 97, a true 12-6 curveball, and a splitter that he uses as a changeup. The run on his fastball is inconsistent and the pitch flattens out at times, but his curveball is a big-time strikeout pitch and his splitter keeps batters off balance. Strong and durable, he has been injury-free and has the most resilient arm of the Rice first-rounders.

Humber's staffmates Jeff Niemann (Devil Rays) and Wade Townsend (Orioles) were also chosen within the first eight picks. Humber is very polished, and could be at Shea by this time next season. He should probably be starting at AA Binghamton (likely) or AAA Norfolk (less likely) sometime this summer.

His stats in 2004 look like this:

ERA   W-L    IP    SO   BB  HR  WHIP
2.27  13-4  115.0  154  37   7  1.08

 K/9   BB/9  HR/9  K/BB   AVG   OBP   SLG   OPS
12.05  2.90  0.55  4.16  .209  .289  .308  .597

The batting numbers (AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS) are what hitters have done against him, lest you think he's the next Brooks Kieschnick. All of his numbers are very good, particularly his K/9 (the NL average this season is 6.55), BB/9 (NL average is 3.38), K/BB (NL average is 1.94), and HR/9 (NL average is 1.06).

Since the outcome of balls that are put into play (and not hit out of the park) are largely out of the pitcher's control, strikeout, walk, and homerun rates are all great indicators of future success.

Knowing the Mets propensity for babying prospects, we may not see Humber as soon as some might like. If he pitches well this summer, he may have an outside shot at the back end of the starting rotation at Shea next Spring.

Two jacks beat a save every night

The words uttered by Mets closer Braden Looper as a crowd of reporters left his side to speak with the hero of the day, Todd Zeile. For the second consecutive day, Zeile sent me into a curse-laden tirade, and both were of the good variety. "YOU'RE THE F!@#ING MAN TODD ZEILE!" I proclaimed to anyone unfortunate enough to be within earshot as Zeile's 8th inning, three-run homerun cleared the hitter-friendly power alley wall at Citizen's Bank Park, tying the score at three apiece.

Two innings later, after Karim Garcia's double narrowly missed going over the fence in right-center, I was at it again. "YOU'RE THE F!@#ING MAN TODD ZEILE!". The words flew out of my mouth as if placed there by Lucifer himself. This time, their impetus was Mr. Zeile's second homerun of the night, third in two games, an opposite-field two-run job that wouldn't have been out of most parks, certainly not Shea Stadium. But it had enough oomph to get out of this park, and a shaky bottom of the 10th later, the Mets had themselves a 5-3 victory and a series sweep of the Phillies.

Of course, it wouldn't be a Mets dramatic victory without a ridiculous Art Howe quote, so check out this gem, RE: Todd Zeile is awesome:

"If he keeps going like this, he's going to have a hard time convincing me he's walking into the sunset, because I'll be right there at dawn waiting for him," Howe said.

Priceless. The only topper would have been if he added, "And then we would really battle."

The Marlins just completed a reverse-sweep of the Reds (i.e. got swept), and the Mets are back where they started before last weekend, 3.5 games out of first place, with a critical series coming up against the World Champs. Despite Josh Beckett's absence from the rotation, the Mets face a tough group of arms in the next four games.

Thursday: A.J. Burnett vs Jae Seo
Friday: Carl Pavano vs Steve Trachsel
Saturday: Tommy Phelps vs Matt Ginter
Sunday: Brad Penny vs Al Leiter

METS.tv

The Mets have reportedly paid $54 million to get out of their current television contract with MSG and FSN. They will still be carried through the 2005 season, though the original contract had them on-air through 2011. This move vaults the Mets in a new direction, with the following possible destinations:

1) Start their own network, a la YES. This might be ideal, but it is an awful lot of work. The Mets have given themselves a year and a half to work on this, but you can't exactly snap your fingers and have a smooth-running cable network. As the Yankees found out, you have to secure advertising, additional programming to fill up the schedule, and broker deals with all of the cable and satellite networks to carry your network. The greatest challenge would be finding enough Mets-related programming to actually show on the network. The Yankees have a storybook history, rife with World Series championships, pennants, Hall of Famers, retired numbers, color barriers, and so on. The Mets would run out of programming after Day 1.

2) Team up with YES. Not very likely, but the Mets could opt to align themselves with the Yankees and YES. The Mets would gain partial ownership of the network, and would be carried on a separate channel with a different name (think MESS).

3) Team up with a media company to start a network. According to Newsday:

Co-ownership of a network with a media company such as Cablevision or Time Warner is a strong possibility.

"A joint venture would give you an edge in distribution and a leg up on cutting other deals," said one industry source.

4) Re-up with cablevision at an increased rate. Cablevision is paying the Mets around $45 million this season to broadcast their games, and the Mets could ask for $60 or more after 2005.

The benefits of starting their own network go beyond simply making more money. According to the Bergen Record:

Major League Baseball directs that one-third of local television revenues go into a revenue-sharing pool. But critics say team owners who control a broadcast network - the Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, and Cubs are among the examples - can get around the rule by artificially deflating the amount that a team "pays itself" for TV rights. The Yankees still list a $55 million payout for TV rights, for instance, even though the Yankees' TV revenues have increased dramatically since departing MSG.

So not only can you generate more revenue, thanks to a loophole teams are able to hold on to more of it instead of forking it over to the Pittsburgh Pirates of the world who direct approximately zero of it towards on-the-field talent. Lets hope that more revenue for the Mets will equal more money spent on development, scouting, as well as wise free agent acquisitions.

Switcheroo, Part Two

As I mentioned the other day, the Mets are at least considering the possibility of swapping the defensive positions of Jose Reyes and Kazuo Matsui in 2005. It apparently gets weirder, as Sam M pointed out in the comments. In his article today, Peter Gammons gives us the following nugget straight from bizarro world:

Don't be surprised if the Mets ask Kaz Matsui to switch places with Jose Reyes next year. But first they think they can address Matsui's vision problems; part of his problem defensively is that he hasn't been able to pick up the catchers' signs and set himself.

Huh? As Sam was also quick to point out, how was this not a problem when he was winning all of those gold gloves in Japan? This does nothing, of course, to explain his noodle-arm-itis.

Rain Is Our Friend

I'm not sure what that means exactly. Rain suspended play of Monday afternoon's game between the Mets and Phillies for like a day and a half, but when all was said and done, the mighty Metropolitans stood victorious, prevailing 5-3. It was the first win for the Mets since beating the Phillies last Tuesday.

Goggles continued his torrid hitting, cranking his third homerun in two games, and Mike Cameron, a.k.a. the human out machine, actually chipped in a two-RBI double in the eighth inning to give the Mets some cushion. Matt Ginter pitched three scoreless innings in between two rain delays, but was pulled for Orber Moreno when the game finally resumed in the fourth inning.

Moreno pitched well, but, as is customary of Mets pitchers these days, was betrayed by his defense or, more specifically, Mike Piazza's defense. I know I have to cut Piazza some slack, as he's obviously learning a new position, and is obviously not a very gifted athlete without a bat in his hands. In the long run, this will be for the best, but for the time being, it is becoming increasingly difficult to watch.