Comments on: Jordany Valdespin: Second Baseman Of The Future?

By: any

any — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 18:24:00 +0000

that is one thing about Omar. You can argue if you want about FA signings vs. draft picks. But one indisputable thing is that he very poorly managed the roster during the season (and sometimes off season) in terms of losing guys for nothing, not keeping depth players, etc. Even something as simple as losing O’day for 1 start by a guy that you are waiving the next day anyway. What GM loses 2 guys effectively for 1 spot start, when there was someone in the pen that could have started and then gone to a committee to finish it out?

and for castillo, regardless of what poor moves led to the need to make the trade, at the time it was a good (and needed) deal. But not just offering him arbitration (getting a pick or at worst 1 more year), knowing he needed surgery, was insane.

By: t agee

t agee — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 17:12:51 +0000

The trade for Castillo didn’t hurt because as usual our prospects busted. What’s new about that?

The fact that Luis could not play the way he had before is what hurt. Remember we lost the post season by ONE GAME, the next year, which he was unable to prepare for due to his rehabbing BOTH knees from surgery we lost it by TWO games.

When you are hurt you simply cannot play baseball the way you always have, you have to change the way you do things. It used to pain me to watch Luis have to do a pushup to get off the ground to avoid putting weight on his knees.

So yeah, he played hurt and he played hard. Did the best he could and overall did fairly well but the idea of playing him with two knees needing surgery next to Delgado who covered next to nothing at 1B led to loads of GB’s going into RF and that was the difference of way more than 3 games in 2 years.

Way more.

By: t agee

t agee — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:55:34 +0000

We traded Keppinger for Gotay in July 2006, straight swap, about the same time we traded Matsui for Marrero. The thinking had to be that Gotay was going to be better and he was pretty damn good in 2007 and certainly the equal of an injured Castillo WITH upside as a 24 year old. Very very shortsighted and stupid move in trading for and then signing Luis when you had a young guy making nothing, uninjured that you had just traded for last year because you liked him better than a guy the Organization had, as usual, rushed up here before he was ready a year BEFORE Omar arrived, decided he wasn’t any good when all he had done was hit WELL over .300 w/an OB of 50 points higher and a .400 SLG as a 2nd basemen. Exactly the position you needed help at. You just cannot make this s**t up.

You make all these trades, all these free agent signings, all that wasted money, 2 blown pennants by 3 games to go through Matsui, Easley, Gotay, Keppinger, Valentin, Castillo, and the guy that played the best was the guy you got rid of for Matsui in the first place. Desi Relaford, the guy with the brightest future was either Keppinger or Gotay. One was traded for the other and the other one was cut the next year with the 24M man rehabbing from surgery on BOTH friggen knees. Just incredibly idiotic, imbecillac, and utterly lacking in any kind of a coherent strategy for THIS YEAR or any year.

It’s like I got my Daddy’s credit card and I’m going to buy an antique just for the sake of having one.

By: Dennis Ribant

Dennis Ribant — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:53:31 +0000

a very inaccurate stateent and a very flase assault on Castilo. Castillo was a fine addition in ’07. You seem to have a hatred for Castillo. So let me ask you this…Was it Castillo’s fault he was offered a 4 year deal after ’07? Then your claim if we had a guy like Valdespin we wouldn’t have had to trade for Castillo….. Again false…We had a guy like that which ios why we had to make the trade. Maybe you think Ruben Gotay wasn’t a minor leaguer. I think you need to broaden your mind a tad. Every player brought in by Omar wasn’t bad. The 07 deal wasn’t bad, unless you have the gall to tell us that giving up that eventual back up catcher was disastrous! the signing in 08 was. You need to differentiate between the two.

By: vinnie papandrea

vinnie papandrea — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:05:59 +0000

That’s the problem with my fellow Mets fans, the guy makes one play in the first spring game and we declare him the 2nd baseman of the future. PLeeeaasse

By: t agee

t agee — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:05:15 +0000

It was immediately corrected by Darling. Straight steal. With 2 strikes you cannot ask your hitter to swing at the next pitch no matter what. 1-0, 1-1, 2-0, 3-1 are great counts to H+R on and you’d prefer to put it on with a GB type pitcher who’s around the plate, not a pitcher who’s up in the zone and missing.

By: alwaysnextyear

alwaysnextyear — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:52:59 +0000

I get fuzzy with the years (old age sucks), but was that the year Keppinger got his leg hurt right before they were going to call him up? He was a player that would have fit this profile I think (not projected to be a start, but a more than adequate guy in the system, for cheap, to plug the hole temporarily)

By: alwaysnextyear

alwaysnextyear — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 15:51:16 +0000

you got one too many bench guys on the list, since you forgot to include the BU catcher.

If castillo makes the team as the starter (banging my head on the desk here for a minute, so hold on … OK, done), then Emaus is not on the team. Hu will be the BU MI, with Harris the emergency 2B guy (think, Tatis in the past). Evens will back up 3B and 1B, plus be available for the OF.

By: t agee

t agee — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:50:34 +0000

I agree Steve, They could feel we’re better in the beginning with Castillo/Emaus and who knows maybe we could get something for Castillo (other than salary relief) if a team winds up in abind like we did in 2007. Playing him next to Davis is not as bad as playing him next to Delgado but you cannot bat him 2nd. He is a #8 hitter or would really be better hitting ninth with the pitcher at 8.

By: t agee

t agee — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:46:27 +0000

Valdsespin is a little old for his league and a couple more leagues to get through, learn to take a few pitches, settle down somewhat but it’s great having someone like that in your system, keeps you from making the poorly thought out free agent move for the wrong guy for too many years and too much money. Great for AAA depth, ML back up, pinch hitter, runner defensive replacement. If we had a guy like this in AA or AAA in 2007 we don’t make the Castillo trade and I’m sure we win one more game at least.

By: theonlymaskman

theonlymaskman — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:11:55 +0000

Valdespin gives us something to potentially look forward to in future years. We need players like that in the minor league system. I like the ideo of Hu comig north with the team. Just think of all the lame jokes about “hu’s (who’s) on second?”. I also took note of Ron’s comment about Mejia’s last season being a regression due to the time pitching in relief. His opinion is that Mejia is now a year behind in progression towards a starting role compared to where he should be. Thanks again Jerry Manuel for managing the team to save your own butt instead of doing what is right to develop players for the future. Hopefully we’ll get better management than that from Collins.

By: Dennis Ribant

Dennis Ribant — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 14:04:55 +0000

It could be that Alderson/Collins are hoping and praying that if they say enough nice things another team will beleive it and trade for him!!! Nah?

By: steve

steve — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 12:59:25 +0000

Mejia’s curve is not new. He threw it last year just not enough

By: Bayonne Mets Fan

Bayonne Mets Fan — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 06:44:07 +0000

But then it was later corrected. That was my first reaction as well, but either it was Keith or Ron that pointed out that Harris was doing a straight steal.

Besides, you don’t hit and run with 2 strikes….It just doesn’t happen. With 2 strikes you just send the runner.

By: Clayton Collier

Clayton Collier — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 06:34:12 +0000

Gary Cohen even called it a Hit and Run so it is hard to argue against the man in the booth

By: any

any — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 02:07:21 +0000

Let’s see how his fiery meshes with Wally’s fiery in Bingo this year.

23 in A+ is not particularly young, so making the next 2 steps and being ready in 2 years sounds about right if he is going to do it.

By: Jim Mancari

Jim Mancari — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 01:08:40 +0000

You’re right Matt. I was looking more at his skills than his performance today. The talent is unquestionably there. Let’s see how he develops over the next few years. Like I said, he could be used as a trade chip somewhere down the line if the Mets are content with their second base situation.

By: Jim Mancari

Jim Mancari — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 01:07:06 +0000

Wow, I didn’t realize that either. It looked so natural. Thanks for the heads up, I’ll make the change.

By: Matt

Matt — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 23:52:48 +0000

Lets not overreact to a 1 for 3 day with that game-tying RBI double coming against a pitcher with no Major League experience (he was 0 – 2 with a strikeout against major league pitchers prior to that double). Valdespin has been awful defensively in the minors (55 errors in 222 games…28 in 175 at 2B including 9 errors in 28 games in AA last season). He looks like he needs at least 2 more seasons in the minors before he could even get a cup of coffee with a major league team.

By: Bayonne Mets Fan

Bayonne Mets Fan — Sat, 26 Feb 2011 21:41:53 +0000

Hu’s wasnt a hit and run. There was 2 strikes and Harris was stealing so it looked that way. Even I was fooled at first but you don’t hit and run w/2 strikes.

Just wanted to clear that up. Also good job by Mejia, new curveball is work in progress but looked nice.