Josh Thole leads the league in hitting at .393. The way he is raking in the Venezuelan League the Mets catching job should be his. There doesn’t appear to be any alternative. He rippled together another 6-game hitting streak, going 9 for 24 for the week and hitting his second homer of the season. His OBA is .504 with a 24/10 walk to K rate and his slugging is .554. He also drove in seven runs during this 6-game hitting streak. He’ll face better pitching in the major leagues, so spring training will be the key. Jesus Guzman had a 7 for 15 three game hitting streak to help the Leones with their four game winning streak. With the Giants lack of offense they have to find a place for his bat. Unfortunately, his best position is also played by Pablo Sandoval. Rusty Ryal made his Venezuelan debut a good one going 4 for 10 with one dinger in his opening week.
The Mets could have a sleeper starting pitcher with their pickup of Lance Broadway from the White Sox. He continues to pitch well, giving up only one run in his six inning start last week. He’s only given up two hits in his last 12 innings of work. He leads all pitchers in ERA that have qualified with enough innings pitched with a 2.65 ERA. Edwin Moreno picked up three saves last week to up his total to 12, which is tied for the top in the league. Guillermo Moscoso struck out five batters in his three innings of work last week. In 10 bullpen appearances his ERA is 1.46.
For more International Baseball visit my site, My World of Baseball.
*Mets Merized Online Needs Your Help*
Its ironic with Omir Santos making the Topps rookie team that we have a better rookie catcher prospect coming up in Thole. Even though the Mets farm system is rated near the bottom I am really excited about Thole, Ike Davis and hopefully someday F-Mart.
Mark C. (Lifetime Mets Fan)
Broadway has so much to prove before you even consider him as a sleeper for 2010.
I agree that Thole is ready to be a MLB hitter, but not a good enough catcher. I went through his fielding stats and he’s thrown out about 13% of base stealers. It would be worse in the majors.
TO BE FAIR MATT WEITERS WAS ROBBED
Thole can definitely hit. He hasn’t caught that long. He’ll get it. His hitting progress makes me more certain we do NOT have to chase and sign 34 – 35 yr old catchers to multiple-year contracts.
We do Plan B, add 3 of Marquis, Garland, Sheets, Wolf, Washburn, and maybe risk it with Bedard or Harden + the position guys we’ve chatted about that would provide exceptional defense and speed…and we can be an 85 – 90 win team in 2010.
Plan B does not stretch the envelope into dreamland and is cost-effective.
If Thole does make the team he had better start. I dont want to see another promising prospect waste away on the bench for days at a time(F-Mart,Evans). I think he needs to stay down in AAA for one more year so he can learn how to catch, throw runners out(13% sucks), and maybe work on his power stroke a bit.
Morning, Mets faithful: yes, he should start the year in AAA if he’s not platooning with Santos at the start of the season. But you look at this kid, and you see a hitter, not a catcher yet, but definitely a hitter.
i do think that sometime in 2010, we’ll see him contribute. And i think he’ll be a productive hitter, not a power guy for sure, but not a slap ‘n judy gut either.
As he gets used to ML pitching, he’ll knock more doubles (especially at CitiField) and the occasional HR also. He will have a very OBP and OPS as time goes on. Kind of reminds me of a Kevin Youklis-’light’.
Broadway First:
I was very impressed with Lance Broadway’s presence on the mound. He appeared comfortable and in control. He locates his pitches well. From what I saw, he’s capable of developing into a very competent mid-to-back of the end starter or long relief man.
As for Thole:
He’s a hitter, no doubt. Whether we can survive his on-the-job training at the catching position is another question altogether. A strong defensive catcher pulls all of the other strings together to create a tight infield. I did not see that from his last year. I saw a young catcher who required further instruction and seasoning.
It depends on our goals for this year. If we want to make a run at deep playoff contention, he probably should start the year at AAA and Omir Santos should be paired with a one-year retread while Thole continues to develop his defensive skills. If we want to continue to develop talent at the major league level, then by all means bring him on board. I don’t have a problem with either scenario, and remain grateful that this young talent is in our organization.
The good news is the Mets due have some promising young players coming up in the system.I hope they dont sell the farm,or rush the kids let them take it 1 step at a time.Omar’s fast tracking players i believe has hurt there long term development.Look what they have done to Evans,he should be considered the right handed 1st baseman to pair with Murphy.But they call him up and sit him on the bench while Tatis plays.He also made the team out of spring training but because of lack of playing time and the nmbers they had to send him down.Let Thole-Davis-FMart-Tejada-Bowman stay in Buffalo for most of the year.Evans should be playing 1st and a little leftfield for the METS but give him the atbats.
I agree with your regarding Evans. Why did the Mets bring hom up and sit him on the bench without an at bat? Jerry’s doghouse stinks and hurts young players that should be given some playing time. It made no sense to sit him in a busted season.
Yeah, Tommy2cat, it is great to have a kid with Thole’s potential in the System. We’ll see him soon. That much i’m sure about.
i also agree with Steve that we should develop our young guys and call them up when they’re ready and to be slotted into games, not to sit on the bench.
It’ll be interesting to see if we trade any of these guys for needs this off season. There’s no doubt that if we go after the likes of Crawford or Granderson (fuhgeddaboud Halladay), we’d have to give up some MLB guys and ’some’ of our key prospects among the like of FMart, Mejia, Tejada, Niese, Holt, Davis, Thole.
At this point, and ironically given FMart’s iconic status as ‘THE’ prospect for 2 – 3 years now, i’d trade FMart, Pelfrey, Pagan, maybe Tejada before i’d touch any of the others to get OF help.
But, i doubt we get Holliday and if we did, i wouldn’t scream in ecstasy because of my doubts about the guy in our ballpark.
So, i say we have to go out and get help. And i continue to wax between Pierre or Crawford or Granderson. I’d prefer one of the latter 2 guys, but Pierre would be easier to pry away and cheaper to get.
From Metsblog.com:
Buster Olney of ESPN.com believes the Red Sox will need to trade Clay Buchholz and minor leaguer Casey Kelly in a deal to get RHP Roy Halladay from the Blue Jays.
According to FoxSports.com, there is no way the Red Sox will part with both Buccholz and Kelly, however.
…from what i can gather, out of people connected to Toronto, the Blue Jays will ask the Mets for at least Mike Pelfrey and Ruben Tejada; they’ll ask the Yankees for at least one of Phil Hughes or Joba Chamberlain, and one of Austin Jackson or Jesus Montero; and they have already talked about Chad Billingsley with the Dodgers… according to people who know halladay, the only way he will approve a deal to Los Angeles is if he decides to not push for a contract extension, and instead plans to pitch one season and then take his talent to the open market… otherwise, if he insists on a contract extension, like santana, halladay is far more likely to be traded to the Cubs, Mets, Phillies or Cardinals, followed by the Yankees and Red Sox, since, despite what the team says, the Blue Jays would prefer not to send halladay to the American League… they’ll do it, if they have to, but it’s not their first choice, for obvious reasons…
Olney quotes a team executive as describing this year’s market for Halladay as, ‘Santana 2,’ because of the similarities with Minnesota’s situation with Johan Santana before 2007.
…olney estimates halladay could be in for a $60 to $80 million contract
i agree the Halladay saga looks very similar to the chase for Santana. And the Yankees go after him only if the Red Sox look like they’ll get him.
Who else would we have to trade to get Doc? Pelfrey, Tejada (who looks like he’ll be an MLB 2B), Martinez, Mejia, Davis or Thole?
i fear ANY clubs we talk to would begin with Davis and Thole. Those 2 guys had great 2009’s and a great Fall/Winter season.
If the Jays wanted Pelfrey, Tejada, Mejia, Davis, and/or Thole for Halladay, who among us Met fans, salivating for a true Ace, would agree to that?
Then, we have to dole out 20 – 25mm/yr for 3 – 4 years.
i would agonize over it. i would be very reluctant to include Davis or Thole in any deal. Ironically, at this point, i would deal Martinez.
What do you people say?
Broadway is a sleeper!! Every time he goes to pitch at the major league level he falls asleep on the mound. The man has no out pitch and will be a career minor league pitcher.
People talk about Thole’s catching. He’s 23-years old. Did he look that bad in the Majors that calls for him to be sent back down? People are bringing up his throw out batter’s percentage. He only played for two months. Why aren’t people talking about Thole asking Sandy and Brian questions, wanting to be a better catcher? What about the kids confidence, showing that he is capable of driving in runs? I mean, that’s why other teams have breakout stars compared to the Mets. Because they once they see that have a good players, no matter their age, they give them a chance to shine. We on the other hand say that our best hitters need two years in the system instead of putting them in their and seeing what they have and giving them the exposure.
People talk like F-Mart is a bust..already. Given, he didn’t hit for power and he didn’t have a good time coming up, but he provided key hits in Citi Field when the keys players went down. He came threw against in a game in afternoon game at Yankee stadium. Give the young players sometime.
I haven’t heard anyone say, well, what if we surround Thole with a Holiday, Lackey, a Gonzalez, Hudson or a Phillips and see how he plays under a real team. But the point is giving him a chance. Murphy struggled and no matter how fight he showed at the end, it’s like off with his head. Other teams let their players grow and their young players come back and become good hitters and have value.
I’m all for playing the young guys but they have to be put in a position where they can be successful. Bringing them up too early or playing a position they’ve never played before just opens THEM up to criticism when it’s really the Front Office that should take the hit. It’s hard enough to prove you belong in the Majors. Some of the games biggest stars have gotten off to bad starts got sent down and came back but only this organization asks them to learn a new position too. Why? because of the constant neglect of the farm system. (this by the way is the reason for the apathetic play in the field as well.) Both problems could be solved by having competion at every position so we dont have to bring guys up too soon. Thole is not ready to catch 80 games this year at the Major league level. The real crime is that after 5 years of this regime no one else is either. Give him a year.
If his bat is ready and rocking the can in ST, i bet the Mets will give him on-the-job-training as catcher and he’ll platoon with Santos.