I came across an interesting read last week by Kevin Kernan of the NY Post. Kernan begins by pondering what the Mets will do in the draft now that they will have a top first round pick. He even wonders if there’s any chance that super prospect Bryce Harper falls into the Mets lap because teams will be reluctant to the Scott Boras client the $25 million dollar it might take to sign him.
Wouldn’t that be cool? However, it’s pretty unlikely and the Mets might be one of those teams to spend that kind of cash anyway even if he were to fall down to number six spot.
Kernan then shifts gears and wonders if the Mets problems will simply disappear once they are healthy.
Mets management believes the team’s problems are because of a slew of injuries. To an extent, that’s true, but there is no guarantee the injuries the Mets have suffered this year will all go away next season. There is no guarantee some of the same problems that plagued the Mets this year will not make a return engagement next season.
He goes on to state the obvious and surmises that the Mets are still short a cleanup hitter. The best part of the article for me was when he asked Jerry Manuel this question:
Why would a top-notch free-agent power bat would come to spacious Citi Field, a place where home runs go to die?
Here is Jerry Manuel’s response:
“I think you come here to win,” Manuel said. “That’s the key. Your power will keep defenses from playing you different. Even though if you hit a double and you have speed in front of you, you’re getting those power numbers and RBIs and those types of things. They know it’s big, but at the same time if you put together a group of players with the chance to win on this stage, and you got a good team. Again, you might not have the number of home runs, but you might have more RBIs than you had and that’s as critical as hitting it out of the ballpark.”
I think Kernan raises a valid question, and despite Manuel’s best efforts, he didn’t really answer the question and did a good job of ducking it.
After two straight collapses and a season that went up in smoke in June, why would anyone still consider the Mets to be a viable post season contender? It seems that they have yet to prove that they are even capable of fielding a .500 team. The only month we have to judge the Mets by when they were at full strength, was April and they finished that month 9-12.
Somehow, the Mets have to find a way to get a legitimate power bat in the middle of their lineup.
They cannot cross their fingers and hope and pray that somehow David Wright will re-emerge as a 30 HR hitter. Maybe he will, maybe he won’t. The Mets have no interest in helping the face of their franchise by lowering the fences as other franchises have done to accommodate their stars.
We can hope for the Mets to open their wallets and sign Jason Bay or Matt Holliday all we want, but it won’t matter if they have no desire to play in Flushing. It reminds me of when top free agents would simply use us for more bargaining leverage for a bigger contract, but ultimately sign elsewhere.
The Mets currently have no real appeal to a hitter. Wright has been chirping about the park all season long, and just this weekend the look of disgust on his face said it all, when he got into a homerun trot only to see his clout drop into the centerfielders glove.
The Wilpons wanted a pitchers park, but only seem committed to having just one top of the rotation guy at a time. Past world series winners built on pitching would feature two 20-game winners and a couple of 15-game winners, something that the Mets couldn’t muster even if the planets aligned for them.
So I ask all of you the same question…
Why would a premier hitter sign a free agent deal to play for the New York Mets?
Very troubling. I couldn’t think of one good reason why a superstar would want to play for us, but I can think of a dozen reasons why they wouldn’t.
players care about money. new york is a big market with big money. thats all the reason needed. plus one could argue that pitchers will want to come here at the same rate that batters want to avoid coming. and pitching wins championships.
I don’t even think the dimesions of Citi should be a problem for a premier bat. look at the wall in RF and the walls in RF. Zimmerman hit a inside out pitch over the RF wall off of Pelf. What about LF? Given, the walls in left are Fenway esq, but if a slap hitter like Castillo could hit a upper decker, so could Holiday, Adrian Gonzalez, Guerro, etc. Centerfield?Cameron Maybin hit one into the apple. You mean to tell me the aforementioned “Stars” can’t do what a 21-year old Maybin did? Remember a time when dimensions in places like the Polo Grounds and Veteran stadium looked enormous, but we loved it because it was classic and it was “baseball?” We need to stop complaining. The dimesions isn’t “too big” we’re just mad that we don’t have consistant power in the lineup this year.
Mets=21 HR
Opposing team=10,000,000 HR
I guess if the dimensions in Citi are “too big” the dimensions in other stadium are astronomical. How many homeruns have we hit in visting parks this past year?
Bet when we get the power, everyone will be clicking heels and dimesions will no longer be a problem. Right?
THE BRAVES PROVED LAST NIGHT THAT HITTING HRs IN CITI ISN’T THE OBSTACLE OUR CURRENT LINEUP PORTRAYS IT AS. THEY DON’T HAVE JUST 88 HRs DUE TO CITI. HELL, DON’T THEY STILL PLAY HALF THEIR GAMES ON THE ROAD? I DIDN’T EVEN SEE THEM CLEARING THE WALLS IN PHILLY, CINCY OR COL. NEXT YR, HPFULLY WITH A COMPLETE CONTINGENT OF FIRST CHOICERS(GUYS PICKED TO BE ON ROSTER IN APRIL NOT REPLACEMENT GRADE SUITED FOR STRIKE SEASON PLAY). WHAT 2009 WAS IS A “PERFECT DISASTER” LIKE “THE PERFECT STORM” THE INSTITUTING OF THE 80 PITCH DRILL, COMBINED WITH BIGGER DIMENSIONS JOINED WITH LESSER PLAYERS. THE MOST AMAZING STATS ARE THESE FOR THE TEAM IN 2009:
.270 BA #2 IN NL BEHIND LA(.275)
4.53 TEAM ERA #12 IN NL
1.47 TEAM WHIP, #14 IN NL
.335 OBP TIED W/PHL FOR #7 IN NL
.283 RISP, #2 IN MLB, TIED W/ATL FOR #1 IN NL
.228 RISP/2 OUTS #9 IN NL
.234 BASES LOADED #12 IN MLB
971K BY PITCHERS, #12 IN NL
579BB BY PITCHERS #30 IN MLB
46 TRIPLES HIT, #2 IN MLB
1,371 HITS ALLOWED, #11 IN NL
1,373 HITS GOTTEN, #3 IN NL
628 RUNS SCORED, #9 IN NL
88 HRS, OBVIOUSLY #30 TO THE 111 HIT BY SF IN #29 SPOT(47 HOME,41 AWAY)!
CONSIDERING THE NO-NAMES IN THE LINEUP DAILY AS WELL AS ON THE BUMP SOME OF THESE STATS ARE AMAZING ESP TEAM BA & TEAM BA-RISP
IT’S VERY INDICATIVE THAT WHILE WE NEED MUCH MORE SCORING, POWER, THE PITCHING IS STILL ONE OF OUR BIGGEST DEFICIENCIES IN A SO-CALLED PITCHER’S PARK. COL(CRYING OUT LOUD)
SOURCE:http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/stats/byteam?cat=Overall&cut_type=0&conference=MLB&year=season_2009&sort=702
IF U STILL HAVE A SENSE OF HUMOR, I’M THINKING THEY’RE COUNTING ON REYES INCR HR TOTALS DUE TO INSIDE THE PARKERS,LMAO!
Many excellent points raised. I would respond by asking:
Why would a very good pithcer sign a free agent deal to play for the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park?
They did.
Their top non home grown pitchers were trade acquisitions; Joe Blanton and Cliff Lee. Neither had no trade clauses. They havent signed one good pitcher since CBP. Mostly has beens like Pedro and Chan Ho. They went after Burnett and he signed with Yanks, and Wolf went to the Dodgers.
Other than a case or two where there were outlandish money offered, or the case where the likelihood of World Series play seemed probable, I’d venture now that a star athlete would not want to come.
Good point, Joe.
Neither of the hypothetical situations I offered are operative now. Uncle Bernie likely depleted the Mets coffers and the Mets simply are not good enough for a potential player to think World Series play would be a good bet.
I agree with both of you. Unless the Phillies overpay tremendously like the Yankees did with CC and AJ, no free agent ace pitcher will sign with them. Heck it took weeks of back and forth just for the Yankees to keep bidding against themselves just to get them to come to the new Yankee Stadium, and that was before we found out what a launching pad it was. The Yankees may have trouble signing a marquis pitcher in the future, unless he’s a cash whore like Mike Hampton was when he went to Colorado.
guys do go after the money. the park is too too big. it could have been a pitchers park if RC was 385. The walls do not have to be 16 feet high. It is overkill. And it does not make an average pitcher a good pitcher. average pitchers get smoked more than good ones.
The simple fact is that the Wilpon’s strategy was flawed. They wanted a pitcher’s park to play off the tradition of the Met’s past pitching prowess. But you can’t win games with the former pitching stars, you must have bonafide pitching talent today. They built a pitcher’s park, but failed to sign star pitchers except for Johan (and Johan is known for giving up his share of HR’s). So now the top pitchers on our opponennts can shut down our offense, but we don’t have the pitchers to shut them down.
The result is top hitters will not want to come here and the Met’s ownership doesn’t want to spend on top pitchers. The park that they built is a fiasco and the downfall of this team. How long will it be until David Wright asks to be traded?
MASK, IT’S MY TURN TO AGREE WITH YOU, SEE MY POST EARLIER ON THE THREAD WITH SOME SUPRISINGLY GOOD TEAM STATS ALONG WITH SOME EXPECTED CRAPPY ONES(PITCHING). LAST I’D HEARD OR READ WRIGHT WAS STILL PINING FOR A LIFETIME CONTRACT. HE’S STILL SOOOOO YOUNG & INNOCENT.
Good to be on the same side of a discussion. David is amazingly loyal to this organization. I just wonder how long it will be until he gets worn down. We have been seeing signs of it starting to happen.
With the current management AND ownership of this organization, I would think any premier player would think twice before signing with us, especially concerning the mishandling of injuries this season. But I think we should dial this conversation back a bit. First of all, no one in a position of power for this club has spoken publicly in quite some time, so we have absolutely no idea what, if any, the offseason plan is. I think most fans agree they are desperate for pitching, and at least 1 slugger. But, no one in a management role has acknowledged this need, and in fact Manuel let it slip we will be playing “small ball”. Second, let’s just say the Wilpons are going to open the wallet and go after big names this offseason, who will lead the charge in signing those players, Omar? With Omar’s track record I have very little confidence he will get the job done. Again, I would love to be wrong about this and the Mets sign some big talent so we can be serious contenders, but I think we have seen some convincing evidence this season that has a very slim chance of being reality.
Ace, Agreed it is all very bleak and hard to see how this will all be turned around. It is as though we are on the Titanic with this team and the iceberg is straight ahead.
It will be very interesting to see what “leadership” does about recruiting players during the offseason. There is a story today that Jason Marquis wants to come very badly to the Mets. That seems like an easy one falling into our laps. He may not be the greatest starter but would certainly fit into the troubled Mets rotation as an obvious improvement. If they don’t take advantage of this easy one, then there is no hope at all that they will actually take on more difficult acquisitions.
yeah mask I really hate posting bleak replies, but I have just lost all confidence with the ownership/management team of this club. I have been a fan for close to 30 years and I hate to see this happening. As far as the Wilpons go, I think their silence speaks volumes and I do not plan to attend any games unles they make some marquis moves this offseason. Lack of revenue of ticket sales will certainly cut deeper into the Wilpons wallet, and hopefully force them to place the Mets on the auction block. As for Omar and his management team, (what a group of clowns) I have lost all trust in him. The Wagner deal was the “cherry on top” of his failures. I mean all he had to do was NOTHING….!!!
If we could get Jason Marquis that would help, he has a solid “good” performance through his career. He’s not great, but a “good” consistant starter would be a great boost to our rotation. But again, Omar is going to broker this deal if it comes to the table….back to square 1….
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION…
ACE, YOU STATE,”With Omar’s track record I have very little confidence he will get the job done. Again, I would love to be wrong about this and the Mets sign some big talent so we can be serious contenders, but I think we have seen some convincing evidence this season that has a very slim chance of being reality.” WHILE I’M ON RECORD AS AN OMAR GUY, I MUST DISAGREE WITH YOUR READING ON HIS EFFECTIVNESS IN SIGNING HIS TARGETS. WHILE I GRANT U THERE IS SOME DISAGREEMENT AS TO WHOM HIS TARGETS HAVE BEEN, AS FAR AS I CAN RECALL HE’S ONLY MISSED ON 2 PRIME TARGETS, DELGADO & LOWE.
HERE ARE THE FACTS AS I SEE THEM, FIRST, HE EVENTUALLY GOT DELGADO CHEAPER THAN NYM INITIAL OFFERING ONE YR LATER. CHEAPER BY RECKONING THE FL OFFERS & NYM OFFER WERE DOLLAR EQUIVELENT. SUPPOSEDLY BERNAZARD SCREWED THE POOCH BY INSULTING CARLOS; BUT THE EQUALIZER WAS THE METS OFFERED TO PAY HIS STATE & LOCAL INCOME TAXES TO EQUATE TO FL OFFER IN A NON-LOCAL TAX STATE. WE ASSUMED THEIR CONTRACT( AFTER TRADE), TAXES BECAME DELGADO’S RESPONSIBILITY, FEW PEOPLE EVER REALIZE THAT. SECOND, A 4Y/60M DEAL FOR A 37 YR OLD NON-ACE PITCHER LIKE LOWE WAS A DESPERATION OFFER SIMILAR TO WHAT WE GAVE PEDRO. LOWE, IF U RECALL WAS OMAR’S FIRAST SP TARGET, NOT PEREZ. WHILE LOWE’S 15 Ws THIS YR SEEMS TO JUSTIFY THIS YRS SALARY, I DOUBT YRS 3 & 4 WILL BE AS JUSTIFIED. I WOULD STILL ARGUE THAT PEREZ’ RAW(28 YR OLD LH) TALENT WAS MORE VALUABLE THAN HIS COMPETITORS WOLF,GArland,SHEETS. WE’LL NEVER KNOW WHAT MAY HAVE BEEN IF NOT FOR WBC RE. PEREZ. PEDRO,BELTRAN,WAGNER,SANTANA,K-ROD WERE ALL OMAR F/A TARGETS ALL WERE SUCCESSFULLY BAGGED! YOUR REF TRACK RECORD ISSUES?
Good question. We will simply have to shrink CIti field, no two ways about it,
[...] a post to Mets Merized, Joe D asks, “Why would a premiere hitter want to play in Citi [...]
The park is not the problem. Just cause Mets with their current lineup can’t hit HR doesn’t mean a quality power hitter won’t. Look at Zimmerman’s HR plus all the HR hit at Citi this year by opposing teams. The park is not the problem. If a quality power hitter wan’t just to hit HR then they would sign with Texas, Phillies, Yankees, or any other team that has HR friendly walls. This is a non arguement against a hitter coming to Citi. If you are confident in your hitting abilities then it shouldn’t matter where you play unless you and your agent are only concerned with your stats that would allow you to demand more money down the road. If this is true then you don’t want that kind of selfish player. You want a hitter that wants to win first of all and the numbers will come with a good team around you.
The lack of HR has been a media and blog driven thing cause of David’s problems. The Braves and Nats proved that you can hit HR and you don’t have to be a Dunn or Pujols to do it so please drop the “Why would a hitter want to come here to Citi if his HR are going to go down posts” cause that is not the issue just something to write about.
If David was close to his avg for HR then this would not be a issue, David has to see why he has changed his batting style to fit Citi and just go back to the way he hit before cause the RBI’s will come as will the doubles and HRs.
Wasn’t it Howard Johnson that helped him tinker with his pre 2009 batting stance?
Don’t know who tinkered with David’s stance but ultimately he is responsible and as much as he might respect HoJo’s insight, there was nothing wrong with David’s swing last year and he should of played out the year at Citi before trying to change his approach based on a couple of batting sessions and a game or two. You have to have a lot of at bats over the season to see what should be done plus weather might have a factor to do with it but either way David,I believe, jumped the gun on his hitting at Citi not to mention the effect on his away numbers and strike outs this year. Pleas David just do what you did before and you will be the player from the last 4 years.
CAPSLOCK=DISABILITY ACCOMODATION
SARGE, NEVER MENTIONED IS THE POSSIBILITY DAVID MAY HAVE ESCHEWED HIS HR OVER BA STROKE FOR CHARITABLE CONSIDERATIONS. REMEMBER, THERE’S SOME SORT OF SPONSORED CONTEST BASED UPON HIGHR BA WITH JETER, THE WINNER’S CHARITY GETS DOUBLE THE PRIZE MONEY. JUST AS THE HR DERBY SCREWED UP HIS STROKE IN ONE WAY, THIS CONTEST MAY HAVE SIMILAR EFFECT, DELIBERATLY.
Wow, I see what your are saying 62FAN but ultimately David needs to go back to what helps the team, the Mets, and not how Citi is configured cause I don’t see Francouer changing his hitting style, not comparing him to David, so you just hit it hard where it is pitched and then take your doubles, triples, singles and HR’s when they come and they will. Come on David you have to erase this season from your mind set and start your 2010 season hitting as you finished the 2008 season. PLEASE!