Mets Merized Online

Mets fans should be used to these types of games in 2009. If there is anything we’ve learned as fans this season it is to expect the unexpected. Francisco Rodriguez gave up 5 runs in the ninth inning on a bases loaded walk to Adam Dunn and a Grand Slam to Justin Maxwell to give the Nationals a victory in their last home game of 2009.

I’m not sure if K-Rod is a victim of not getting much work in the second half or if there is something wrong physically with him, but he seems off. He can not control his pitches right now and has me terrified every time he comes in in a close game. It is something worth watching for next season because if the Mets want to be playing in games that matter next season they are going to need him.

Lost in the Rodriguez debacle was a solid start from Tim Redding. Redding went 6 innings and gave up 1 run on 4 hits. Redding passed the ball off to Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano and Sean Green who were able to bridge the gap to K-Rod.

Redding may be earning himself a fifth starter role on the team next year. At the very least he should be brought in for a competition in the spring.

The Mets offense got things started in the top half of the second inning when Fernando Tatis hit a sacrifice fly to Elijah Dukes. Omir Santos continued the rally with a base hit to give the Mets the early 2-0 lead. The Mets got their other runs on a 6th inning RBI single by Carlos Beltran and a ninth inning RBI single by Santos.

All in all it was another tough loss in a season full of them. I’m sure the entire team can’t wait until the offseason. Sunday can’t come soon enough.

The Mets start their final series of the year on Friday night against the Astros at 7:10 EST.

Editor’s Note: Drew Costello originally wrote this for Mets Fans Forever

With the Mets eliminated from playoff contention for what seems like months, it comes as no surprise that fans have been turning their interests to football and season premieres of awful reality shows.  There are no personal milestones for Mets players to achieve, no spoiling of other teams’ playoff chances and no promising rookies to showcase.  So why do I keep tuning in to watch the games?  Am I such a Mets-ochist that I can’t turn away?  Am I anxiously awaiting to see a new way for the Mets to lose a ballgame (still waiting for the walk-off catcher’s interference call)?

There’s one reason why I’m tuning in.  It’s all because of my new favorite comedians, the blue (and orange) collar comedy team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.

Just as Bob Murphy, Ralph Kiner and Lindsey Nelson were the favorite Mets broadcasters of yesteryear, Gary, Keith and Ron are becoming the voice of this generation.  However, other than Ralph Kiner’s malapropisms, the only thing funny about the original trio was Lindsey Nelson’s wardrobe.  Gary, Keith and Ron are not only informative (as they should be), but they keep things interesting when the play on the field is not.

From the recent discussions on Gary Cohen’s long hair as a youth to Keith talking about losing weight so he can drink beer over the holidays to Ronnie’s impeccable timing after one of his partner’s quips, I never want to change the channel when I watch a game, regardless of what the score is.  Also, I’ll never get tired of Keith’s non-sequiturs and Gary calling him out on them.  They make embarrassing losses more tolerable, if such a thing is possible.

There are impromptu “What’s Keith Eating?” segments (see photo above) for us to enjoy as well as Gary and Ronnie giving the traffic and weather reports so that Keith can plan his quick escape from the stadium.  Also, you can’t watch a game now without an obligatory Seinfeld reference.  Sometimes the games being played in the booth are more entertaining than the game being played on the field.

Of course, if they didn’t have perfect chemistry, fans would unleash their venom on them, similar to the way I do for the ESPN team of Jon Miller, Joe “I created the second base position” Morgan and Steve Phillips.  Gary, Keith and Ron make it easy to believe that in addition to being colleagues, they’re also great friends.  Every chuckle they share in the booth is natural and unforced, making it easy for us to laugh along with them.

Losses to teams out of contention such as the Nationals can make a Mets fan question why he or she continues to tune in.  At least Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling (and don’t forget roving reporter and food sampler Kevin Burkhardt) give us a reason to watch.  I’ll miss not being able to laugh with them for another six months.  Somehow I don’t think Mandeep and Sharvarish (the owners of the NY NY Sports Sports store in the SNY commercials) will be able to fill the void left by our broadcasting trio over the winter.

Even though there is no cover charge and no drink minimum, the broadcast team of Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling is all I need to keep coming back to the SNY comedy club night after night.  Too bad it’s just a limited engagement.

Only moments ago, Jerry Manuel spoke to reporters before the game according to MetsBlog. Matt writes,

Jerry Manuel told reporters Jose Reyes felt discomfort while running yesterday, and will be re-examined today. Manuel believes the team and Reyes will make a decision regarding surgery as soon as tomorrow, though a team spokesman quickly dismissed that any such timetable exists.

I just can’t think of any other team handling one of their core players with as much dysfunction as the New York Mets have.

They have bungled the situation from day one including rushing him back which only worsened the original injury, and then in an attempt to rush him back again, caused Reyes to develop a second leg injury.

In the months that followed, they continued upon a reckless course of action so that they could prod him back on the field and proclaim he was healthy when in fact he was not.

Only two weeks ago, the matter of surgery came up again, but they insisted on delaying the decision and allowing Jose Reyes not only to continue his comeback, but to leave the final decision regarding his surgery to him rather than heeding the advice of medical experts.

The Mets can blame the lost season on the injuries all they want, but in many regards and with some of those injuries, you can blame the dysfunctional Mets for doing little to help these players, and almost always making the wrong call on a course of action. Especially where Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, John Maine and Oliver Perez are concerned.

What hurts the most about this pending Reyes decision is the fact that it will ultimately lead to off season surgery, a surgery that should have been performed months ago. If Reyes has the surgery now, he may not be ready to play again until late April or even May, and that’s assuming he suffers no setbacks, like the 7-8 setbacks he has had in the last five months.

Unbelievable.

As we approach the final four games of the 2009 regular season, any hope of spinning a positive ending to an otherwise dreadful season is pretty much lost.

Despite the writing being on the wall since mid-Summer that the Mets would not be involved in post season play for the third straight year, Mets fans clung to the hope that they would at least get a glimpse of the team’s future.

However, like the stars they were replacing the young guns, themselves began to drop off of the radar due to injuries.

By the end of September, the only two bright spots on the team were getting a  sneak peek at the potential future catcher, Josh Thole, and the privilege of watching Jeff Francoeur make strides at becoming the star player he once was in Atlanta.

Before the Mets begin wheeling and dealing this off-season, a meeting must take place between the Wilpons, Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel.

On paper the team will have three glaring holes at catcher, first base and left field. Those needs alone will be hard to fill, especially if the estimate that the team will only have between $15 to $25 million to spend on free agents.

On top of the three vacant positions already mentioned it is safe to assume that the team will also be in the market for another starting pitcher and an arm or two for the bullpen.

From there, a determination must be made on whether this team can be competitive next year given the limited financial resources or is it time to rebuild. Personally, now is the worst time to attempt to deal any members of the core, especially David Wright, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran.

For starters, all three are coming off down years in terms of production. Also, each spent at least 15 days on the disabled list. Trading them now would be selling very low.

Assuming the team chooses to go for it in 2010 they will need to be creative in filling all of their voids.

The key for Omar this off-season will be to not get caught up in buying high on players. This applies directly to the free agent catcher’s market where every available catcher is at least over the age of 32.

This is a position that the Mets should not commit more than a year or two to, especially with Thole and Santos waiting in the wings.

Moving on to the first basemen and outfielder’s market, outside of the superstars (Matt Holliday and Jason Bay) there is nobody to build a team around. Thus, the Mets must take a similar approach and only offer players one year incentive-laden deals and possibly include some sort of option for 2011 that vests when the player reaches certain milestones.

Unfortunately, guys like Bobby Abreu and Russell Branyan, who accepted one year deals last year, will be commanding more years and a bigger chunk of change after the solid years they put up in 2009.

Another intriguing position that the Mets will have to make a decision on is second base. If they are comfortable that this year was not an aberration then they should be set, otherwise they’ll have to look for a replacement. For more information on the market check out my colleague Dave Landon’s superb article, in which he looks at who the Mets should and shouldn’t pursue at second base.

Lastly, the Mets have to entertain the idea of bringing in a starting pitcher, preferably a number two starter, as their entire projected 2010 staff has a question mark over it. This is an area where the Mets really need to come up big in my opinion.

They already have numerous league average pitcher. They need a stud in the rotation, who can take some of the pressure off of Johan Santana. They need a pitcher like John Lackey or Brandon Webb to help anchor the rotation.

The dilemma is that signing a pitcher of this caliber would almost surely deplete most, if not all of the financial resources for 2010, if the monetary estimates are indeed correct.

Would adding solely a number two starter be enough to cure the Mets woes? The answer is probably not, but it certainly would make them more of a threat in the National League.

Beyond additions to the team there are a few potential contract extensions that could take place over the next three months. One of them involves Jeff Francoeur, who is rumored to have been offered a three-year deal.

This is a tough call. On one hand Francoeur has done an admirable job during his short time with the Mets and really has a passion for the game. Yet, this is the same player, who hit .239 in 2008 and .250 in the first half of 2009.

It would best suit the Mets to give him another year in the Big Apple to ensure that he doesn’t regress. If he performs well next season then it would make sense to approach him with a two to three year deal.

Another player rumored to be getting a contract extension is Pedro Feliciano. Feliciano has been a rock in the Mets bullpen ever since he returned to the team in 2006. 2010 will be Feliciano’s final arbitration year, after which he will hit the free agent market.

It wouldn’t be unreasonable for the Mets to offer Pedro a two year deal to cover his last arbitration year, as well as one year of free agency. Keep in mind that if such a deal were made, Pedro would be 35 years of age by the contract’s end. This is around the time that some player’s arms begin to wear down. This is definitely a concern, especially for a guy who has appeared in 86 games in back-to-back seasons.

Thus, if Feliciano were willing to go with a two year deal then it would behoove of the Mets to lock up one of the game’s best middle relievers.

With the Mets’ off-season beginning in only five days, it should be interesting to see how they construct their team for 2010.

It feels great to be back again after being sidelined for almost a week with a nasty flu and no internet service as well. However, it doesn’t feel all that good analyzing another ugly loss for the Mets, this time at the hands of the surging Nationals who won their second straight against the Mets. The Mets have made losing an art form. I’ll make this recap short yet not so sweet…

Mike Pelfrey started the game and was somewhat solid when you look at it in 2009 Mets terms. Pelfrey gave up just three runs on eight hits in seven innings, which classifies as a gem coming from the Mets rotation. It was vintage Pelfrey, a couple of ill-fated mental lapses sandwiched in between a few perfect innings. All three runs came in the fifth inning, with the big blow a two-run homer by shortstop Ian Desmond. It was a sinker that didn’t sink, otherwise known as a flat as a pancake fastball.

The Mets handed the victory to the Nats in the bottom of the eighth inning when Anderson Hernandez, who just came into the game to replace Wilson Valdez, made a costly throwing error which gave the Nats runners on first and second. The runner on second came around to score as Luis Castillo followed up with a throwing error of his own giving the Nationals the 4-3 lead.

Angel Pagan led the hit parade with two singles, a double, two runs scored and an RBI. As the season winds down, Pagan has shown no signs of slowing down and continues to make a strong case for the everyday leftfield job.

David Wright had a couple of hits, but was robbed of a third hit thanks to Elijah Dukes who made a spectacular grab of a deep drive to end the game with the tying run on first. Game over.

Speaking of Wright, I didn’t get a chance to weigh in on his lack of hustle last week. Shame on you David! I never expected an act like that from you. Have Omar, Jerry and the Mets broken your spirit too? Well that’s too bad! You, my friend, are getting paid millions to play the game, so play the game hard and play the game well.

The Mets will try to salvage the last game of their series today at 4:35 PM, when Tim Redding faces fellow New York native, John Lannan.

After dropping two straight to the Nats, the Mets and the Nationals play again in a game featuring Redding vs Lannan. This afternoon’s game is the last one in the season for the Nationals at home, so that would be what the Mets will be playing for (if you really have to justify it). Today is more of a treat (in a wierd way) for the Nationals fans in a wierd way as they get to see a former National in Redding. The real treat for them though has been Lannan. Now he has a 3.96 ERA on the season, but against the Mets this year he has been lights out with a 0.36 ERA and 2 complete games. Seriously, this guy has our number.

The lineup today:
Pagan
Hernandez
Wright
Beltran
Francoeur
Tatis
Santos
Valdez
Redding

Lets Go Mets! Beat the Nationals!

5 games left. That should say enough about every Met fans feelings right about now. For anyone who’s looking at the glass half full, I think it’s a safe bet that we have more wins than the Knicks will have later on this year. You live and you learn, and what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. So let’s hope the Mets can improve off this season.

My choice for MetsMerized Player Of The Week is… Jeff Francoeur!

I was hoping a few weeks ago that they would shut down Jeff Francoeur because of his injury. It doesn’t matter anymore with only 5 games left in the season. But please, somebody tell Jeff that the games don’t matter for the Mets anymore and that losing isn’t that bad because we’ll get a better draft pick.

Jeff batted .292 (7-24) on the week with 1 2B and 2 HRs. He scored 5 times and drove in 5 runs. His 2 HR, 5 RBI, and 14 TB led the team while his 7 H, 5 R, and 5 RBI were tied for the team lead. For a guy playing with an injury, he’s tearing it up.

I still don’t think the Mets handled this situation well, but you have to give Jeff Francoeur credit for playing his heart out and posting some great numbers with the Mets since the trade. He’s shown me that there is the potential for a .300/25/100 season. That may be asking for alot, but just think about it. There were no errors on the week for Jeff, and he is the first player to win the award for a third time. Kudos to Jeff Francoeur!

Honorable Mentions:

Luis Castillo: .389 (7-18, no XBH), 3 SB, 3 RBI, 7 TB

Nelson Figueroa: 1 GS. L, 7.0 IP, 2.57 ERA (2 ER), 2 H, 5 K, QS

Past Award Winners:

One Hit Wonders: Ryan Church, Johan Santana,  David Wright, Fernando Tatis.

Been There, Done That Twice: Luis Castillo, Angel Pagan, Daniel Murphy.

Three’s Company: Jeff Francoeur.

Of Note 9/20-9/27

5 games remaining folks…

Nelson Figueroa is seriously pitching for his life. The guy’s throwing out almost identical stats every game. Can he succeed as a major league 5?

Talk about extremes –> Pat Misch gets lit up one start, and then throws a complete game shutout. I can’t take the pressure of making decisions.

Jon Niese, where art thou now?

Parnell can succeed in the bullpen.

Mike Pelfrey disappoints me.

I wish we could trade for Felix Hernandez.

Justin Duchscherer <– Cheap option for a SP next year. I’d rally for him.

Last week it was revealed that after the last game of the season (which cannot come soon enough for me) that Jerry Manuel will sit down with Omar Minaya along with Fred and Jeff Wilpon to discuss the future of the coach staff which consists of Howard Johnson (hitting coach), Dan Warthen (pitching coach), Luis Alicea (1B coach), Razor Shines (3B coach) and Sandy Alomar Sr. (bench coach).  Word going around is that Howard Johnson’s job is safe which is not a surprise to me as the Wilpons love him and have kept him in the organization for many years since he has retired.  Warthen’s job is also safe apparently.  I can imagine that the coach most likely to get the axe would be Shines as he done a horrible job as the 3B coach.

When Omar Minaya signed onto to be the Mets General Manager the main condition was that he would have 100% autonomy on baseball decisions which has included hiring the coaches.  He hired Willie Randolph’s coaches while he was manager and he had final word on Jerry’s coaches this season.  However, since the ill-fated press conference in which he insulted the Daily News beat writer Adam Rubin it seems the Wilpons have lost faith in Omar Minaya and his ability to be a successful GM for this team.  Since that press conference Omar has hardly been seen in public, hardly talking to the press, when he does have press conferences if questions start getting off topic Mets public relations guy Jay Horowitz abruptly steps in and ends the press conference.  Last week the Mets released Ramon Pena and Luis Aguayo, two of Omar’s friends plus the firing of Tony B earlier this year shows that Omar does not have the autonomy he once had.

Jerry needs to step up in this meeting and tell the Wilpons that if he is going to have any success next season and beyond he needs to pick his own staff that he trusts who have no ties to the Wilpons or Omar only to Jerry.  I personally believe that the entire staff including Jerry should be let go but that would only occur in a perfect world and as we know as Met fans we don’t live in a perfect world.  Jerry will be back, we know that much.  Howard Johnson has done a horrible job as the Mets hitting coach this season and since he took over as hitting coach in 2007.  This isn’t me jumping on the bandwagon of firing Hojo, I wrote this piece earlier in the season that you can read here.  I wrote that piece when it was “only April.”  Howard Johnson advised David Wright earlier in the year to change his approach to the plate, I believe he is one of the reasons why David’s season at the plate has been so erratic and his power is done.  Obviously by the end of May when he had 43 strikeout’s there was something wrong with David at the plate.  He never once told Wright to go back to his old approach, he’s said it himself on interviews with SNY.  He feels for David this new approach is the best.  I never see HoJo after someone has a bad at bat talking to that guy in the dugout, going over the plate appearance, instead he sits in the dugout, chewing his gum or seeds or whatever nodding his head.

The pitchers have done a horrible job this season with Warthen as their coach.  The walks are up, ERA’s are up as well.  Pelfrey has regressed from the pitcher we saw towards the end of last year.  Ollie was worse than ever.  Clearly whatever Warthen is coaching is not working with this staff.

Razor Shines is a bad judge on sending guys home or keeping them on 3rd but he is reportedly Jerry’s friend, Jerry trusts him and I think he could make a good bench coach for Jerry next year.  Bench coach is overlooked but I think he could actually help Jerry, especially at times when Jerry doesn’t play aggressively enough.  Luis Alicea doesn’t seem to have any knocks on him, so we could keep him at first.

Jerry needs to realize the Wilpons are keeping Omar on because they refuse to pay him to stay home, he is the GM in name only right now in their eyes.  Under Omar so far none of the 2 managers have had any chance to fully pick their staff, the guys who answer to them.  This is Jerry’s chance to be the 1st manager under Omar to pick his staff.  He needs to step up and say that this is his team, he has to work with these guys all season long, he needs to be able to trust that they will not have ulterior motives and that they are there to help him lead the Mets to a championship.

Nats rookie Ross Detwiler recorded his first win going 6 innings and giving up 1 run on 7 hits and only 1 walk. Nelson Figueroa was the tough luck loser going 6 innings and giving up 2 runs on 6 hits and one walk.

It felt like the old days when the Mets could not beat a rookie pitcher to save their lives. Detwiler appeared to have good stuff and the Mets weak lineup was no match for them.

The Mets got their only run when Fernando Tatis singled home a run in the sixth inning. Other than that, Detwiler was in complete control and was able to get the victory when Mike Morse homered off of Figueroa in the bottom of the sixth. Morse’s homer ended up being the game winner.

It was difficult to watch the Mets struggle to score runs off of one of the worst teams in all of baseball. As a team the Mets had runners in scoring position in six different innings, and yet didn’t get one run to cross the plate. Even for this team that is bad. As Jon Heyman tweeted last night, “lengthen the season by 20 games, and the Mets would fall below the Nats.” Now that is just flat out embarrassing.

The good news is the season is almost over and we can soon turn our attention to how to fix what happened this year. Also keep this in mind, the Phillies are in the midst of a collapse. With their loss Monday the Braves are now only 4 GB. On September 21st the Phillies were leading the NL East by 8 games.

The Mets continue their series against the Nats when Mike Pelfrey takes on J.D Martin at 7:10 EST.

Editors Note: Drew Costello originally wrote this for Mets Fans Forever

The word around baseball is that Chris Carter, whom the Mets were allegedly going to receive as the player-to-be-named-later in the Billy Wagner trade has been designated for assignment. This is significant because if you can recall, Carter was previously placed on waivers over the summer with the intent of shipping him to the Mets.

However, the Yankees claimed him in an effort to cause roster management issues for the division-rival Red Sox. Being that this is the second time, the Red Sox only have two options.

They can either release him, which would make him a free agent or they can put him on waivers.

If the Red Sox took the first route then the Mets would have just as good of a chance of acquiring him as the other 28 MLB teams, potentially vying for his services.

If Sox were to take the latter route, which involves placing Carter on waivers. The Mets would have to wait for every team in the American League, as well as National League teams with a worse record then theirs to pass on a waiver claim.

Either way there is no guarantee that the Mets will be able to get him.

This seems to indicate one of two things to me. Either Carter was never actually involved in this trade or Omar Minaya made yet another roster management blunder. More details regarding the situation should be made available within the coming days.

To be honest, while I do not endorse making poor trades, the truth of the matter is that this trade was done solely to shed Wagner’s remaining salary.

No offense intended to Carter, but the career minor leaguer is not all that great of a player and probably wouldn’t have fit into the Mets’ 2010 plans anyways. However, it certainly wouldn’t have hurt such a depleted organization to have some depth at the Triple-A level.