19
2010
Parnell and Green Could Be Out, Beimel Still In Picture
An article by 
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 when spring training ends. I’d bet that we may see two to three of them each getting starts in April, with Jerry Manuel playing the hotter hand for the rest of the season. The fifth starter spot has been constantly in a state of flux for the past few seasons now, with over a dozen different pitchers trying but not succeeding in keeping a job in the rotation.
In the bullpen Adam writes that Bobby Parnell and Sean Green are in some jeopardy of not making the Opening Day roster, although Green would seem to be less vulnerable because his salary is $975,000 even if he’s in the minors.
I actually mentioned that both Parnell AND Green were dangerously close to losing their bullpen spots last week, especially when you consider the outstanding spring performances of Nelson Figueroa, Pat Misch, Ryota Igarashi, Hisanori Takahashi and Jenrry Mejia.
Rubin points to Francisco Rodriguez and Pedro Feliciano as the obvious locks, with right-handers Ryota Igarashi and Kiko Calero virtually assured of spots as well. Fernando Nieve is also close to locking up a bullpen spot leaving just two more spots that are yet to be decided.
He believes that Jenrry Mejia will most likely unseat Parnell with Green’s spot possibly going to free-agent lefthander Joe Beimel, whom he says the Mets remain in touch with. But if that doesn’t transpire, Hisanori Takahashi or Nelson Figueroa could make the team.
It’s starting to look more and more like Mejia could make the team, even though I’m still against such a move. Ironically, he could replace Bobby Parnell who was exactly in the same position Mejia now finds himself in. We had these same debates regarding Parnell last spring, and I wondered if promoting him to the bullpen would jeopardize his ability to be a future starter for the Mets. Now Parnell could find himself going back to the minors, and whether he returns as a reliever or starter is still to be determined. Now everyone is just as fascinated with Mejia’s fastball as they were with Parnell’s… Hopefully Mejia won’t suffer a similar fate…
I have a strong hunch that the Mets could possibly trade Sean Green to make room in the bullpen and create an opportunity for Misch or Takahashi.
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
Went to my first Mets game, a Mayors Trophy game at Shea, in '73. We beat the Yankees 8-4 and I was hooked. I marched in two Banner Day parades, and before the Grand Slam single, there was the "Hendu Can Do" grand slam - I was there. I've collected Mets memorabilia all my life and started Mets Merized Online to feed my addiction.
6 Comments + Add Comment
Recent Comments
- Des: on Series Preview: Mets @ Pirates: Bayonne -- you never let a bad...
- jessep: on Series Preview: Mets @ Pirates: Mets 5th in the NL in batting...
- Bayonne Mets Fan: on Series Preview: Mets @ Pirates: Bobby Ojeda again on pre game ripping...
- Petey Pete: on On The Road With Petey Pete: New Britain, CT & The Binghamton Mets: Well I made it, I'm sitting in...
- stick: on Enough Is Enough, Send Ike Down Already: and making those simplifications/adjustments are exactly the...
MMO Live Chat
Recommended Links
Write Your Own Mets Post
Advertisement
Advertisement
We Appreciate Your Help
Affordable Graphic Design
Joe. Who would even want green? And if someone does, what would we get for him? Maybe we’d be lucky to throw him on a package for a starter or something. I would just cut the losses and move on.
Everybody knows that a fifth starter is not needed until the middle of April due to the number of open dates. The only question seams to be wheather the Mets carry an extra position player (Carter – Murphy – Jacobs) or an extra reliever (take your pick) until then delaying the decision as long as possible.
Ooooo, can you just picture the breaking news:
Mets trade Scrub Green for Scrub X.
Lol Russell. Im all for getting rid of Green. But if the Nats couldn’t get ANYTHING for Dukes, who has marginal talent but is a horrible person, why would anyone take Green, who just sucks through and through? If he has options just bury him in Buffalo, or outright cut him.
I just finished commenting on this subject with some very close friends & family so if you’ll excuse me from retyping the whole thing I’ll paste it here for your commentaries (NB i was referring to Ruben’s commentary as my ref point):
Roster analysis
this is fairly close to how i’d call it; but Takahashi is my favorite for the rotation. based on how he fares in his 2 ST starts coming up, as I stated earlier, he may be my choice @ #3 since I like my opportunity for a series win if it contains SANTANA-PELFREY-TAKAHASHI as opposed to SANTANA-PELFREY-PEREZ!
I wasn’t aware Green still had options & since the Beimel talks are reportedly disintegrated, Parnell, is the lone “on the bubble BP candidate. Unfoertunately I’d say goodbye to our favorite “break glass emergency starter” Figueroa as despite his having an excellent Spring, he has the least upside & most downside. Niese, to me inherits that mantle
Unlike Rubin, I think Cora gets much fewer starts @ SS than Tejada before Reyes’ return when he’s most likeley shuffled off to Buffalo to play daily @ 2B; but we’ll see. the kid has excellent GAP POWER which should translate well to CITI.
Lastly, I was absolutely SHOCKED, yesterday when RALPH KINER, VOLUNTEERED HIS BELIEF THAT F-MART REMINDS HIM OF TED WILLIAMS @ BAT BASED UPON GEN PHYSICAL APPEARANCE BET WILLIAMS AS A ROOKIE & MARTINEZ NOW ALONG WITH THEIR COMPARATIVLY EASY SWINGS AT THIS SAME POINT OF CAREERS. Regardless, F-Mart shuffles off. With Beltran’s contract up in 2y, F-MART better get much better covering ground if he plans on inheriting that potential opening, as there’s some question about Beltran’s resigning due to past NYM blunders & the open animosity bet NYM & Boras. It certainly seems as if a morphing from a high FA content roster to a majority homegrown roster has been blueprinted. Within the forseeable future FA @ 1B,C,CF,2B may all be replaced with homies Davis,Thole, F-Mart,Tejada/Havens By the time Bay’s current 3Y deal is up, he may be the one of thelast FA signees on the roster, along with K-Rod(potential Mejia replacement?)
Nascar rules! I just wish that Dale was doing better this year.