Mets Merized Online

The reason why I don’t get into the off-season that much or even Spring Training is because there’s so much more to what goes on behind the scenes than we ever know. I like to just pay attention, whatever happens, happens and I get ready for Opening Day and good times. However, this Mike Jacobs things has be going crazy. The Mets are in a unique situation this year. The team that “has no minor league system,” has guys opening the eyes of many to the true talent that lies within the farm system. It’s exciting of course, but I don’t get caught up in prospects until I see what they can do on a major league field. There’s...

I created quite a firestorm the other day when I wrote… I’m just kidding, I always wanted to know what it felt like to write an intro like that… One of our readers (Bayonne Met Fan) posted a link to a comment by Adam Rubin that read, Look for Jacobs to even potentially chip away at Daniel Murphy’s playing time as the season progresses, assuming Jacobs makes the club. Manuel has been testing a 3-4-5 order of Wright-Jacobs-Jason Bay. Let’s say the manager goes to that lineup the first Saturday of the season and rests Murphy, and Jacobs goes 3-for-4 with a homer. Manuel would go back to that lineup again quickly. When...

In a new post to his blog, Adam Rubin of the Daily News, analyzes the Mets spring training battles and speculates on the potential Opening Day roster. Regarding the rotation, Adam believes that Jon Niese is still the front-runner to be the team’s fifth starter and writes, The smart money still has Jon Niese claiming the final slot in the rotation over Fernando Nieve, with Hisanori Takahashi only on the fringe of that race, despite the Japanese lefthander slated for a pair of Grapefruit League starts, on March 27 and April 1. I have a feeling that the winner of the competition for the fifth starter spot may still be undecided...

The New York Mets are really hoping to surprise some people this season after the dismal, injury-riddled 2009, but a portion of that expectation is resting on the rehab from surgery on the right knee of Carlos Beltran. According to the New York Daily News, Beltran is likely going to be back in the lineup before early May. “Every day I’m improving,” Beltran told the paper. “I don’t feel the same way I did last year. At the same time, it’s hard for me to say when I’m going to be ready. Doing this is no problem, but the big test will be when I start doing baseball activities every day, when...

 Mike Pelfrey was at it again Wednesday, tantalizing Met teammates, management, fans and writers with his Grapefruit League performance against the Red Sox. ‘Big Pelf’ has seemingly been on the precipice of greatness since being drafted by the Mets in the 1st round, 9th overall, in 2005. But nearly five years later questions remain about the talented young hurler… Yesterday, I treated myself to multiple articles from Anthony McCarron from the Daily News and Steve Popper from the Bergen Record regaling the Met fan base with Pelfrey’s exploits against the Red Sox. Both articles were excellent and gave positive reviews of Pelfrey’s...

I wonder if Mike Pelfrey and John Maine would create as much a stir as young Jenrry Mejia if they too simply decided to throw strikes whenever they got on a mound. I also wonder how long it will be before both of them realize it’s now or never if they intend to hang onto their rotation spots come June or July when the trade deadline nears and Mejia is lighting up the radar gun in Buffalo… or the Mets bullpen. After mowing down the Red Sox on just six pitches Wednesday, the Mets blogosphere was abuzz with more comparisons to Gooden and Rivera and even Pedro. Craig Carton of WFAN, the biggest clown on live radio, said the Mets...

Yes here comes another post about the Mets personnel choices.  We are two weeks away from first pitch so why not.  This post will not be about whom I feel should make the team; my problem is with how the Mets make their choices. Besides the “core” that everyone keeps talking about.  By this I mean Wright, Reyes, Bay, K Rod, and Santana. Should anyone’s job be safe right now?  Has anyone else on this team really proved that they are a lock to make the opening day roster?  I say, absolutely not!  I am a huge John Maine fan, I have been won over by Frenchy, and I salivate over Jon Niese’s potential.  The problem is that,...

On Wednesday, the Washington Nationals finally washed their hands of outfielder Elijah Dukes and released him. Can you imagine that… The worst team in the National League cutting bait with the promissing, but troubled, young outfielder not because of any off the field incident or behavioral issue, but simply because he simply wasn’t that good… And here come the Mets! Or at least many of their bloggers… It didn’t take long for all “Let’s Sign Dukes” posts to rear their ugly heads, and surprisingly enough, it’s the saber-crowd and those who wax poetically who have posted the loudest...

Grapefruit action seems to be dulling the panic that echoed throughout Mets camp following news of Jose Reyes missing possibly 8 weeks of action due to a thyroid condition. Frankly the club has shown many positives in pre-season action, the negativity was clearly premature and their greatest area of concern, pitching, has shown great promise. That said, I tend to withhold all judgments until regular season action begins in less than a month. Preseason is a nice barometer, but like a digital scale in Kirstie Alley’s house, completely unreliable. I decided to look at the Mets three cornerstone players in Reyes, Beltran and Wright,...

In 2000, Mike Hampton helped the Mets win the National League pennant.  After the Mets lost the World Series to the Yankees, Hampton left New York for the better school systems in Colorado.  (The $121 million given to him over the course of the eight years he signed for had nothing to do with it.) Apparently, Hampton wasn’t the only pitcher to turn down money from the Mets in 2000, only to sign with Colorado.  According to Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports, fireballer Ubaldo Jimenez was offered $20,000 by the Mets to sign with the team after he turned 16 in 2000.  Why did he turn them down?  Yet again, school was cruel to the Mets. The...