Disgruntled Mets Fan

I think it’s becoming clear that Omar Minaya is no longer the only guy calling the shots in the Mets front office.  Between his absence at the Carlos Beltran Drama Conference and the emergence of John Ricco as the mouth of the organization, Omar may well be on his way out.

The fact that the news broke today about Bengie Molina rejecting the Mets latest offer should not be looked at negatively.  If anything it shows a change in philosophy at the top of the organization that will help the team get better in the future.  That change is patience.

The Mets have continually displayed patience this offseason.  They haven’t over-payed for anyone.  They haven’t tied up tons of money for tons of years in an attempt to appease the disgruntled fan base.

Instead they’ve put their offers on the table, with a “go out and find a better offer” approach.

Molina wants a three year offer, the Mets offered him a year with a team option for a second.  How a thirty five year old catcher can think he’s going to get a three year deal is beyond me, and apparently beyond the Mets.

As early as last season, when Omar was the guy captaining the ship, you could have almost guaranteed Molina would have signed already, happily inking his name to the three year contract he’s asking for months ago.  Now it seems that times have changed.

If Molina finds a better offer, the Mets will likely beat it, meaning Molina will likely end up a Met before the start of the season anyway, but this way they won’t be bidding against themselves.

Perhaps while Bengie is out “shopping” the Mets can focus on the area they need to address the most, starting pitching.

I believe that at least one of Joel Pinero, Jon Garland and Ben Sheets will be a Met by the start of the 2010 season.  I’m certain we need at least one of them to fill the rotation, and two of them to bolster it.  After all, 80% of the rotation will be coming back from injuries or surgery and the other 20% is Mike Pelfrey.

Looking forward to some good news, but for now I’ll settle for good playing from the J E T S Jets Jets Jets.

Top of the eighth inning, tied at three.  Bases loaded, none out.

Brian Schneider, who I’m not sure why gets any at bats at this point, as his Mets career comes to an end, pops out to third base.  Then Jeremy Reed breaks his bat on a soft line drive to second base that results in a double play to end the inning and the threat.

It’s a disappointing result considering how promising the inning started.

Apparently not disappointing enough.

The bottom half of the inning was a lesson in bad fundamentals, as the middle of the Mets infield, Anderson Hernandez and Luis Castillo, committed a pair of errors that led to Washington’s go ahead run and the Mets second loss in a row to the last place Nationals.

The game started off in the right direction, as the Mets scored three runs in the first two innings, but starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey gave up yet another lead as he fell apart in the fifth inning, allowing the Nats to score three runs to tie the game.

It was another episode in a series of consistently shaky starts of Pelfrey, and it will be his last start of the season.  Jerry Manuel said yesterday after the game that Pelfrey would miss his start on Sunday, which was scheduled to be his last of the season.

Manuel said he hopes Pelfrey will take the time during the off season to reflect on his season.  I’m not sure why you’d want to reflect on a season where you go 10–12 with a 5.03 ERA.  I’d prefer to forget it.

Pelfrey has a lot to prove to the Mets organization next season.  He needs to improve to help strengthen the starting pitching staff overall, even if he’s lost his No. 2 tag.  He’s certainly performed like a No. 2 at times, but more consistently shows the stuff of a No. 4 or 5 starter.

I hope the Mets are willing to spend some money to pick up a legitimate starter to follow Johan Santana next season.

John Lackey is at the top of my list, but he might be the most expensive arm out there, and all signs point to the Mets being frugal in the free agent market.  You can’t spend all your money on one player when there are so many holes to fill.

It’s almost over…

That’s right Mets fans.  The Mets won a game.

They moved the Florida Marlins, the team that has dashed the Mets playoff hopes on the last day of the season for the last two years, one step closer to post season elimination by scoring two runs in the top of the 9th inning off Marlins closer Leo Nunez to come from behind for the victory.

Daniel Murphy and Jeff Francoeur got the party started with back to back singles to lead off the inning, Jeremy Reed followed with a walk while trying to sacrifice the runners over, and Corey Sullivan capped off the rally with a single to left field, driving in the tying and go ahead runs.

Francisco Rodriguez got the save, giving up one hit in the bottom of the 9th.  He struck out notorious Met killer Jorge Cantu on three pitches to end the game.

In addition to scoring the go ahead run, Francoeur also provided most of the Mets offense, hitting a three-run home run in the second inning.  Francoeur has been one of the few bright spots on this team since he came over to the Mets.  How he continues to hit, especially for power, with a torn ligament in his hand is a mystery to me.

Something tells me Ryan Church would have been on the DL for the remainder of the season if he was suffering the same sort of injury.

John Maine makes another start today.  I’d like to see him go a little deeper into a game tonight, since this will be his third start since coming back from the DL.

He’s pitched well, so well that I actually have some hope for his spot in the rotation next season.  I can’t say the same for the rest of the Mets rotation.  Mike Pelfrey has looked horrible lately, and Oliver Perez…

Anyone that’s been a Mets fan for more than 20 minutes knows what I think about Perez.  No need to even bring him up and depress ourselves more than we already are.

Let’s go 2010…

I was out of town for the holiday weekend watching the Greg Paulus Era begin at Syracuse University.  Even though Cuse lost to Minnesota in overtime, the game reminded me how much I love and miss football, and how much I can’t wait for this baseball season to be over…

I wasn’t able to watch the three game series against the Cubs, but the Mets took two out of three with strong pitching performances by Bobby Parnell and Mike Pelfrey.  Even Nelson Figueroa, who took the loss in the series, picked up another eight strikeouts, making his total 18 in the last two games.

In a season full of disappointment, we Mets fans have to look real hard for things that resemble good news, and normally, one good start from two young starters is not really good news.  Unfortunately, that’s how bad things are going, so I’ll take it.

Josh Thole has also provided a small bright spot in his two starts since being called up from the minors.  He’s 4-9 with one double and one stolen base.  Sure it’s a small sample size, but people have been saying Thole can hit all along, and it seems to be true.

He can ask Daniel Murphy about how a few months worth of scouting reports can turn a hot rookie into a struggling rookie real fast, but it’s still a good start.

David Wright and Luis Castillo are having solid years at the plate.  Both in the top ten in the league for batting average.

Wright’s season has been somewhat of a statistical enigma to some.  His lack of power is only as glaring due to the general lack of power throughout the line up.  I would take this kind of season from David year in and year out.

Castillo came into the season with something to prove, and except for a few bonehead plays on defense, he’s proven himself fully to me.  Sure Orlando Hudson would have been a good pick up, but locking up Castillo for the next few seasons may be Omar’s only bright spot this year.  It may well turn out to be the last good move he makes in his Mets career.

I’ll be back on the horse watching as much of games as I can stand it now that I’m back in town and doing a lot less drinking…

It was fun to relive my youth for a weekend.

Coming into this season, I drank the Mike Pelfrey Kool-Aid.  I may have even mixed a batch or two.  I invested my hope in his ability as a solid No. 2 starter, and argued with the naysayers, that may it turns out, have been correct.

The right hander has taken a step backward this season, and when you’re 6′-7″, a step backward can be pretty big.

In his still young career, Pelfrey has yet to put together a dominant stretch, although he’s put together dominant games here and there.  Last season he won 13 games in 32 starts, with a respectable 3.72 ERA.  It was a far cry from his first two years where he started 19 games and only won five with an ERA of 5.50.

Things seemed to be moving in the right direction.

Even at the beginning of this season, as Pelfrey started out at 4-1 in nine starts through May, things seemed to be going according to plan.

Since May however, Pelfrey is 6-9 with an ERA over 5, and last nights start was one of his worst to date.

With starting pitching a serious concern going into 2010, the question on my mind is, where will Pelfrey fit into the rotation next season?

My gut tells me that the Mets will wait Pelfrey out, hoping that he turns into the pitcher everyone thought he would be as he was coming up through the farm system.  I don’t think that’s a bad idea, I just think it’s a bad idea to consider him your No.2 starter if he’s still in a “developmental” stage.

We’re already waiting for the rest of the Mets starters, John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Jon Niese (hopefully) to develop.  Having four of your five starting pitchers as question marks is no way to build a championship franchise.  It’s time for the Mets to wake up and address this.

The Mets are spending too much money for them not to be building toward a championship.  If they want to be a second tier team for a few years, they should cut payroll and let the fans know that’s what’s going to be.  Sure it will be tough to take, but it’d be better than having a $100 million plus fourth place team.

I know I know, the injuries…

BS…

The starting pitching is atrocious, and it needs to be fixed if this team will ever compete.

A lot of people, myself included, are giving the Mets somewhat of a pass for this abysmal season due to the $90 million on the disabled list.  It’s hard to find someone to blame (except maybe the trainers) when the team taking the field doesn’t even resemble the team that took the field at the beginning of the season.

The truth of the matter is, the Mets injuries may be just what the doctor ordered for the organization.  It may be masking a failure that was coming anyway.

The pitching staff, save for Johan Santana who was pitching through injury for half the season, has completely underachieved.

Mike Pelfrey is the only pitcher in the original starting 5 that has an ERA under 5.0, and if he continues to pitch this season there’s no guarantee it will stay that way.

The fifth starter, a spot that may not have a lot of importance on a deep staff, should have been doubly important to the Mets, who went into the season with one ace and three number three starters.

The organization addressed the problem with a trio of over-the-hill or never-was starters, Livan Hernandez, Tim Redding and Freddy Garcia.  Garcia was cut in April, Hernandez was cut this month, and Redding is now the third starter due to injury.

I know you can’t plan for this many injuries, but my point is the starting rotation was weak before the season started.

There was only a small sample of how the team would fare if all their pieces were in place this year.

Carlos Delgado went on the DL on May 11th.  The team had a .548 winning percentage with a 17-14 record.  Delgado’s bat is one the Mets haven’t been able to replace all season, as is evident by their glaring lack of power in the middle of the line up.

By extrapolating that winning percentage out to today, and the Mets would be sitting in second place with a record of 70-57.  Sure it’s better than what they’ve got now, but they’d still be trailing the Phillies.

Jose Reyes went down ten days later, but he was not exactly lighting the field on fire in his limited time before his injury.  He was only batting .279 with a .355 OBP in 36 games while swiping 11 bases.  Sure, it’s good production, but nothing to write home about.

Alex Cora’s numbers filling in at short stop were similar enough to make Reyes’ absence a little easier to deal with, and Angel Pagan’s emergence as a solid lead-off hitter made it even easier.

The Mets were able to stay somewhat competitive, staying at or around .500 ball, showing moments of greatness at times, until June 22nd.  That’s the date Carlos Beltran went on the DL.

The Mets were 35-33 at that point, but have consistently underperformed, going 22-37 since then.  Is this the fact that Beltran was such an integral part of the teams success?  Or was his injury the straw that broke the camel’s back?

His bat was on fire this season, and has been sorely missed.  He’s a true five tool player, and a nagging knee injury has threatened his career.  I hope we see him back at full strength next season, but it’s not definite.

In my humble opinion, the Mets at full strength may have made the playoffs, but they were never a championship caliber team.  They were likely not even the best team in the NL East, especially after the Phillies traded to get Cliff Lee.

The injuries are simply masking the problems that were there anyway, and may be there for years to come.

It’s been said that the Mets are on a budget for next season, so these problems may be here for a while.  One solution may be trading away some of the core players that we’ve grown to love so much in New York.  If I had to part with anyone, it would be Jose Reyes.

He’s a great defensive short stop, and a spark plug every time he takes the field, but he’s severely over rated as a lead off hitter.  Sure he steals a lot of bases, but that’s not the job of a lead off hitter, his job is purely to get on base.

Reyes has a career OBP of .337.  You don’t have to look far to find what I would consider a great lead off hitter, Derek Jeter.  Jeter has a career OBP of .387, and has put up one as high as .438.

The rest of the core, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana, would all retire as Mets if I had any say.

I’ve been looking forward with hope for 2010, but the truth is, we may have a lot more disappointment in our near future.