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• Mr North Jersey March 19, 2011 at 3:49 pm

  If Scott Hairston can carry into the regular season what he has shown so far this Spring he may end up being a good pickup indeed.
• stick March 19, 2011 at 4:13 pm

  I think Capuano showed that he is OK to be a SP by now!
  • Metsie March 19, 2011 at 8:47 pm

    No one ever questioned that he had the ability to be a starter.
    The Question has always been will he hold up which really can’t be answered in ST.
    • stick March 19, 2011 at 8:58 pm

      that was just a crack related to what collins said at the beginning of ST (something about him not getting a start until Collins thought he was ready).

      Holding up, that is a question about every pitcher, but he pitched the bulk of last year OK, and finished strong. So who knows.
      • Metsie March 19, 2011 at 9:03 pm

        Ahhh Sorry! lol

        I’m not really worried about either Capuano or Young truth be told.

        It was the Hitting that killed us last year and I haven’t really seen much to think thats really changed especially with Beltran not playing at this point.

        I think they will probably hold up if they stay strict on the pitch count with them. Then the real Questions begin because I’m not sure the Bullpen is really all that solid especially if Perez has been able to stay in that mix…

        Today should have squashed that though.
• Bayonne Mets Fan March 19, 2011 at 4:20 pm

  Joe D,

  Let me ask you a question. Do you feel Camp Alderson would rather live and die with as many as their own players as possible instead just bringing up north the best 25 that gives us the best chance to win?

  What do you think?
  • stick March 19, 2011 at 4:55 pm

    not Joe, but my answer is No.

    first of all, logically when a GM fills holes in the off season, those guys are likely to be on the team. So it is meaningless that the new guys are “sandys” not “omars”.

    So, you have to look at the guys perceived as being dissed for being Omar’s kids.

    There was no BU catcher. No semi-proven experienced bench guys really. So Paulino, harris, Hairston pretty much needed to happen, and not displacing anyone.

    They wanted some experienced back of the rotation guys. mets had none, and I don’t think you can say he is bringing lesser talent north going with Young and Capuano vs. Gee.

    Pen guys? that seems to be a mix, but of course, that isn’t set yet.

    so the argument seems to come down to LOOGY (and 2/3 of them are omar guys), and 2B, right?

    so I am guessing you are assuming Emaus gets the job (Sandy guy) instead of your pick, tejada? Of course, if murphy gets it, still an Omar legacy.

    so far, to me, I can’t see any move where you can say the “better”guy has been passed over for a lesser guy.

    But, I also recognize that when it is a close call, options (being able to keep guys int he minors) will be the tie breaker.
    • t agee March 19, 2011 at 5:45 pm

      All GM’s would like to select their own team. This team was selected for him and he worked around it. Some of the players anyone would want, others not so much. A lot of building a team is having parts that fit well together, that can’t be done in one off season at all but he’s actually done a pretty good job of that.

      The pen should be good, the bench much, much better, the rotation hopefully the same and he can get to work on the rest of it in season and the next off season.

      Getting a well conceived roster put together with intelligent choices for the bench and depth takes planning beforehand, not just waiting to see who’s available every year.
  • Joe D March 20, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Yes I do believe that is true of Alderson or any new GM. I think it’s something that will be more prevalent in Alderson’s case because he didn’t have the cash available to go out and get a marquis player – a player that would put his stamp on the team. Instead he signed about a dozen minor players or reclamation projects that he hopes will yield a couple of impact players for him. The more of these players make the team, the greater the likelihood of that happening.

    I never thought any of the bottom rotation guys like Gee, Misch, Mejia had any chance of overtaking Capuano and Young, the best of the three Mejia, was dispatched to minor league camp. At the time Mejia was the only Mets starter that had yet to give up a run among all seven pitchers in competition.

    At second base, as I’ve said before in previous posts, Ruben Tejada was jettisoned out of the picture far too early and at a time where he was seemingly making all the other 2B candidates look bad defensively and offensively. Tejada was outhitting Emaus by over .150 points as well as Murphy, Hu and Turner. They couldn’t have him continue his excellent play and then not tab him, so they got rid of him.

    Why announce that they were in the competition and then dispatch both of them to the minors when they were each leading their respective battles?

    They are young and would benefit from more seasoning in the minors anyhow, but clearly they were never in the competition and were scurried away because they were making the others look bad statistically.

    In right field, the more Duda hits the ball the more Alderson continued to say Harris and Hairston would platoon if Beltran were to go down. Yes, both new guys are hitting the ball good, but lets not forget they hit a combined .193 last season and now they have to improve on those seasons in Citi Field. Duda was kept around because they still had a few split squads scheduled so they rewarded him. That said, don’t look for him on opening day unless they lose either Harris or Hairston to an injury. If Beltran goes on the DL, they might keep Evans over Duda so they could buy some time to trade him rather than losing him because he is out of options.

    The bullpen has been 85% revamped. Takahashi and Feliciano are gone, Pat Misch will probably be waived, and I dont believe Parnell will get that setup job when all is said and done. The interesting thing to me is Mike O’Connor who I thought would be the lefty specialist simply because he dominates lefties. Tim Byrdak will get that job. Byrdak dominates lefties too but as Collins said yesterday on many occasions they will face right handed batters and they absolutely torch Byrdak much like they do Oliver Perez. Not so with O’Connor who is more valuable because he is a cross-over southpaw.

    So to answer your question, will we be taking the best 25 players. My answer is no. I don’t think Emaus is a better second baseman than Tejada, I don’t see Byrdak as better than O’Connor, and I don’t believe Harris or Hairston is better than Duda. Neither of those players have ever been everyday players in the majors, Duda will be a very productive everyday player.

    But I don’t think Alderson did anything than any other new GM would have done in the same circumstances. He had to make the 2011 Mets not look like the 2009-2010 Mets anyway he could, and he inherited a lot of entrenched players he couldn’t move.
    • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 10:23 am

      Joe I will point out it may appear like that if the world was ending on Dec 31 2011 but the truth is it is probably not.

      The demotion of Mejia, Duda, Tejada, Gee and Misch (who is not going to be sent down as I believe he is out of options) says more about 2012 than Alderson’s preference for self picked roster members.

      As I said in another thread, Both Capuano and Young will do fine if they stay healthy but that health even if it manifests itself over the next season and a half is not something that should be risked in a renewal at the end of the current deal. If it was it could result in another 4 year 8 Mil per deal where the guy pitches one year and spends the other 3 on the DL.

      But if you look at the moves Sandy has made, (most being reclamation projects)
      If they do show signs of working they would be just the kind of ML READY players that could be traded to get more reliable and dependable players for the long haul.

      With those trade assets and the money that will come off the books after this season it puts Alderson into a good position to really transform the team in a rather short timeframe.

      Havens and Tejada could be the middle infield if Reyes can’t be extended or if no one shows any ability to play 2B in a routine way.

      Mejia and Gee with some more coaching and Pitching experience could easily be brought up as starters next season. Mejia is he continues his current numbers could even be our Ace and with both Capuano and Young showing well this year they could be part of the pitching component used to get one more from parts unknown.

      Duda’s current issues is his glove and maybe with regular playing time in the Minors he gets a little better with it so he can possibly replace Beltran after he is gone. And if not maybe FMart stays healthy or Flores overtakes him and that too would be a possible long term fill of a position.

      Sandy being a Marine knows full well the concept of not attacking before your force is ready and able to fight the main battle.

      All of his moves seem to be a marshalling of assets for the eventual battle we will be ready for in 2012/13.

      I know the fans have no patience whatsoever it’s all about the now but they had better learn from their mistake that WIN NOW usually leads to WIN NEVER!

      A lesson I hope the Phillies learn this year!
      • Joe D March 20, 2011 at 10:31 am

        I’m not disagreeing with you, but the question that was asked if we were going with the “best” 25 players, and in my pinion we are not. Your points are valid and as I said twice, Alderson isn’t doing anything that any other new GM would also do. Puttting your stamp on a new team is the nature of the beast for any GM. I also mentioned that the kids would benefit by the extra seasoning, but dont include them in a competition when asked because it sends a wrong message to the players if that is not what you truly intended, especially in the cases of Mejia and Tejada who were both outplaying the field. I think we both see the situation the same way, I was simply responding to the question of who the best 25 would be.

        As for Misch, he and Acosta are both out of options, and it wont matter when they are replaced by Isringhausen and Byrdak who are non-roster invitees and assured of making the squad.
        • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 11:24 am

          But what I’m saying is it is a very different story when some of those 25 are kids.

          You could do as much damage to Mejia bringing him up (based on ST numbers) where if you can fine tune the few issues he had in the Minors where he builds the confidence FIRST, then his time on the ML Roster will not be about building confidence and about applying what he has learned. Then it is about maintaining confidence not aquirring it.

          You really want a kid to believe he belongs and not risk him LOSING confidence than to bring him up before he has it and hope he gets some pitching against the Major League batters.

          When dealing with prospects the Psychology is almost as important as the mechanical skill and technical detail of his talent. This is why the Phillies use the player makeup more than the numbers when evaluating talent! Because the Makeup prepares you for the rigors and stress of the Big Leagues. The Numbers are only as good as the competition fasced to create them.

          Now there has to be balance to that practice though.
          Keeping him down too long is just as bad as bringing him up too quick.

          Whats more (Especially true with Pitchers) If you have questions about the hitting in your lineup (and lets face facts without Beltran thats a REAL issue for us right now) You don’t want to put a kid into a position where he has to be perfect and maintain a sub 2.00 ERA to get a win.

          As for Tejada it’s an issue of depth and resource management.
          Sure he might be better than every other guy we are trying to use as our 2B but the Hitting coach on the Big club really is going to have his hands full both in learning the current lineup (Wright, Reyes, Bay, Davis, Thole, Pagan maybe even Beltran) that there would not be enough time to dedicate to the one flaw Tejada has exhibited which is hitting. He need more attention than he will get here.

          He would get more coaching attention in the Minors, Stay fresh with his fielding and since he has options could be brought up mid season if need be.

          Are we going with the best 25? Well maybe based on ST numbers (which are unreliable and I’ll speak to that in a minute) we are not. But we are going with the top 25 ML ready players who either do not have options or could rise to a level that makes trading for what we want possible where it was not the last two years.

          Onto ST numbers.
          KIDS will ALWAYS perform much better in ST than guys who have been in the league a few years. Again it is mostly psychological, the Kids have something to prove and the Vets tend to take things easy and leisurly doing no more than they have to and working on certain targeted aspects they wish to improve. How many times have we seen a Veteran pitcher bombed in ST only to have him say “I was working on my Curveball today and they hit it!” Or some batter work on his hitting mechanics (Can you say Bay?) where the results are not as important as the practice of refining the swing so you feel comfortable and get your timing? They know they will make the roster because of contract or service time and do not need to work to IMPRESS the way a Kid does.

          They have already realized their dream where a Kid is trying to break into that for the first time. It leads to a much harder work ethic that will disappear once the kid has a year or two under his belt or has established himself as a Major leaguer.

          The Kids ALWAYS seem to tear it up and look like surprises but once they make the team you remember why they were not considered a major player to promote in the first place. The Surprise becomes a FLUKE! A result of circumstances not readiness.

          Add to that the youth quotient where the younger you are the more in shape you are from the get go and therefore have a performance advantage over more seasoned players. Many of them played Winter ball. That means they were in game shape the second they reported.

          So in the end while a kid might play lights out in ST when most of the GOOD ML players are just taking it easy it makes some sense to ignore that outplaying and send him down to see if he can sustain it in a more controlled less pressure filled enviornment.

          If he does THEN you entertain bringing him up to replace someone who is not maintaining what he did in Spring and only have to deal with the rookie issues of PRESSURE that all rookies go through once they have been promoted.

          Mejia may be one of the few that already has that experience.
          But as I said unless we know this team is going to hit there is no reason to ruin his confidence due to something not under Mejia’s control.
• Jerry M March 19, 2011 at 7:47 pm

  Great Emaus is the annoited one. He had 2 BB Today, has no RBIs and is hitting .207 . Murphy has 9 RBIs 6 Doubles and is hitting .324. Wow on opening day Emaus will walk. He then will hope someone will hit him in. Murphy had 3 Hits today and one RBI. Walks is what we need at 2nd base right, an offense position. Comeon.
  • Hitman March 19, 2011 at 8:16 pm

    Jerry, Emaus may be hitting .207 now, but look around. There’s some guys who up until now haven’t been hitting their weight in ST like Jose Reyes, who as of today is now hitting .200. Not to make excuses, but who says that Emaus won’t catch fire from here on out or even to start the season?
    • Jerry M March 19, 2011 at 11:28 pm

      Hey scouts say he will not hit and average around .214. Hes a minor leagurer who hit in Vegas where the air is thin.
    • sarge March 20, 2011 at 12:15 am

      Jose doesn’t have to impress the mgr to make the team whereas Eamus does, there that was simple.

      I say give the job to Turner, Murph might be hiting good but he can’t turn the DP and the last thing you want is him making a really rookie bad throw and Jose getting hurt so he needs to be utility/bench player.

      Wow, we went up north with GMJ and Jacobs last year and now the bench looks killer, what a change with a gung ho, stickler to details and talent for mgr and a GM that is not looking to prolong any washed up vets career.
      • t agee March 20, 2011 at 12:29 am

        Turning Shea Stadium and then Citi Field into a senior citizens center was the absolute last thing I ever would have expected from Minaya. Isn’t he the guy who said we were going to get “younger and more athletic?”

        Who needs a talent evaluator anyway when all he does is go after established ML baseball players. Anyone could do that. Shame he couldn’t have brought over some decent A+ and AA minor leaguers in 2005-2007 in trades. That would have helped a lot both with injuries and under performance in 2007-2010.
        • Des March 20, 2011 at 12:32 am

          Part of the blame goes to Tony Bernazard who underperformed in not developing and evaluating talent very well. Only Tony thought that Tony was doing a good job.
          • t agee March 20, 2011 at 12:41 am

            Tony was also sweet talking Jeff while undermining Willie to the players. That had the biggest effect on the 2007 Mets. He also got Omar to get rid of the Scout that signed Reyes (Who’s running the DR for the Marlins now) and replace him with Ramon Pena who immediately signed his nephew Francisco Pena who can’t even get any playing time in the DWL. Then Pena got canned and we had to bring in a whole new crew in 2009. The whole IFA situation is as bad as the draft situation. Is it really any wonder we have had so many freaks running around here the last few years?
        • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 9:42 am

          I don’t know where you get this from…Maybe just a misperception on your part.

          http://espn.go.com/mlb/stats/rosters/_/sort/average_age/order/true

          We are 14th ranked in age and All the teams you think are doing things correctly are 1-11!

          Philly, Boston, Dodgers, Yankees, Atlanta And Texas.
          • t agee March 20, 2011 at 12:32 pm

            Misperception on my part? More like miscomprhension on yours.

            Haven’t you noticed the attrition of long toothed past their prime players over here? Many of whom couldn’t stay on the field in seasons we lost the post season by one or two games.

            Average age is misleading as well. We have had numerous players too young, under developed or other wise unable to contribute at the ML level for years now skewing the average age argument. Milledge, Fern, Gomez, Humber, Pelfrey, Parnell, Thole, Tejada and Mejia among others were too raw to contribute when they arrived. The list of players past their prime is well known to all. What this team was lacking was those younger type veterans ages 26-31 during the Minaya era.

            It is ridiculous to compare us (or anyone) with the NYY. Their starting infield alone makes more than most teams pay for everyone. Philly used their farm to address imminent offensive decline with an older power pitching rotation. Not to play LF or 2B everyday.

            Atlanta will soon have the youngest average age with the departure of Lowe, Proctor, Hudson, Chipper and Wagner and the replenishing of the team with B+, A and A+ graduates of their farm system like Hanson, Beachy, Minor, Kimbrel, Shafer, Freeman and Heyward being added to their solid core of younger veterans, Prado, Jurjens, McCann, Mclouth and just a couple of guys trending north of 32, Hinske, Uggla and Gonzalez.

            Atlanta also has 5 of the top 100 prospects in baseball in their minors and Boston and Texas have monster farm systems allowing them to select the right for them guy rather than settling for “who can we get to play _____?” every year.

            Nice cherry pick though.
            • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 1:29 pm

              Have you noticed how many long toothed past their prime players the Yankees, Phillies and Boston has?

              Or are you just ignoring that since they don’t jive with your theory!

              Your theory ONLY works for the METS!
              It blows apart when you look at the team who have actually won anything recently!

              Look at the list again and explain how those WINNING teams are not older than us?
              And why your theory doesn’t hold true for them!
              • t agee March 20, 2011 at 7:29 pm

                You mean guys who are going to the Hall of Fame? That can stay on the field? That put up good numbers? That were their during their primes? That are added to with high ceiling young talent? That might man a position for a year or two until a prospect is ready so as not rush them?

                Same thing? Not by a long shot.

                Nice try though.
              • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 9:19 pm

                Yeah you know Hall of famers like Utley…How is he doing?

                I hear Castillo may be taking his place!
                How many games did Rollins play last year? 162?
              • t agee March 21, 2011 at 8:41 am

                Obviously Metsie your only interest on this topic is to have yet another debate for the purpose of ignoring any and all relevant points of view. If you don’t believe that drafting and developing Utley has been a big part of the Phillies success, then I can’t help you.

                The fact that their looking at Castillo now really has nothing whatsoever to do with any points I may have made but it does show that the Phills have nothing nearly ready at MI. Something we already knew but it’s important to realize that Philly is looking at Castillo as a back up, a placeholder, insurance, and their paying all of 400 K to get it. We looked at an INJURED Castillo and thought WOW, we should make this guy our 2B for four years and give him 24M to do it.

                Most everyone understands the difference here.

                What is your point? That Castillo is replacing Utley on Merit? That our free agent has outplayed the player the Phillies drafted?
              • Metsie March 21, 2011 at 10:03 am

                The point was that you said the Mets were nothing but OLD guys who get hurt and I showed you the PROOF they are not as OLD as all the guys you believe have constantly grown talent to replace thir old vets.

                Truth is they haven’t! Their home growing is more recent than our only if you IGNORE the fact that Wright, Reyes, Davis, Thole, Niese and Pelfrey are all playing for us and home grown!
              • t agee March 21, 2011 at 1:03 pm

                Metsie, if I understand you correctly, your equating the Braves keeping Chipper, the NYY keeping Jeter (Or Posada) and the Red Sox keeping Ortiz (or Wakefield) with us signing Alou or Bay or Pedro or Castillo or GMJ or Sheffield or anyone else?

                Those “long in the tooth” players had great years with the team their with. Multiple great years, in their prime, won multiple World Series with their team.

                They also didn’t take anything away from future teams by costing a draft choice.

                How is that in any way even remotely similar to us signing the guys we did?
              • Metsie March 21, 2011 at 3:11 pm

                How much did the Yankees OVERPAY Jeter for no other reason than the fans wanted him resigned?

                It’s no different than what Omar did when he signed guys from other teams, overpayed all because the Fans wanted a BIG NAME brought in…

                Common Denominator?

                OVERPAY because FANS WANTED!

                Does it really matter what the REASON was for fans wanting? Or is the key point OVERPAID for OLD TALENT?
      • Des March 20, 2011 at 12:34 am

        Murph had some problems throwing and anticipating bad hops, but who in a position of authority on the Mets said he can’t turn a DP?
        • Des March 20, 2011 at 12:35 am

          I don’t mean MMO posters, I mean paid Mets talent evaluators.
          • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 9:44 am

            The reports are his Pivot footwork is bad and it is the thing he seems to be working on most. If he doesn’t get that chances are likely he will get taken out and re injure that Knee.
            • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 9:45 am

              Taken out = Hard Slide just to clarify…
  • Des March 19, 2011 at 8:18 pm

    Impressions and lineups can change overnight. If Murphy keeps hitting, there will be no keeping him out of the lineup. His hitting now reminds me of when he first came up. But we all know that Omar and his managers started screwing around with Murphy and Ryan Church. While I was fond of Willie and Jerry, they should have been canned for their handling of some players. Omar should have been canned to, for either initiating the mishandling or tolerating it.
  • Metsie March 19, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    Well if Murphy could get his fielding percentage to be higher than his BA he might actually get a chance to start at 2B LOL

    I would love to do an experiment one day where Met Fans were shown a game but only got to see them play the field.

    After I would ask them who would stay and who would go.

    Murphy would be one of the first cuts made if they didn’t get to see him hit and had to judge him on everything else!

    He may learn the position sometime in midseason but as of now he will not get it because guys like our Substitute Ace and Dickey both need defense behind them or they will implode!

    The guys on SNY even said something similar today when discussing it.

    And no I said the same thing three weeks ago!
    lol
    • Des March 20, 2011 at 12:27 am

      Metsie, you’ve got a point. Word out of spring training is that Murphy could back up Wright and Ike at the corner positions and be a PH. Collins said Murph played a good 3B. We know he can play 1B. In any case it looks like he’s made the team, largely on his great hitting.
      • Metsie March 20, 2011 at 9:37 am

        And Des don’t get me wrong, he has earned his spot on the roster. Wright/Ike will not play every game and when he doesn’t Murphy will be the man!

        And I agree, he will be used as a late inning PH and in THAT case we may see him guarding 2B after that so as not to burn up another sub.

        My real concern is that his hitting will suffer with the lack of steady PAs.
        and if that does happen some consideration of sending him down and teaching him to be a catcher might be the next best Plan B.

        Catcher is not a very hard position to learn defensively it is more about Practice and reaction than skill.
        If that happened then next year it would not be a real problem to get him ABs as he could have three locations in his utility belt and may provide the power Thole hasn’t really exhibited to date.
• Hitman March 19, 2011 at 8:17 pm

  “Oliver Perez is getting a bigger chance to make the team than O’Connor is.”

  I wouldn’t say that now Joe…
  • Des March 19, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    Just as they did with Castillo, I think Sandy and Terry are looking to justify to the owners the move that we think is inevitable. If both Luis and Ollie were prematurely cut, and by some remote chance made magic happen elsewhere, both Sandy and Terry had
    better update their resumes.

    We all know Ollie and Luis are just two former (as in once-upon-a-time) major league players, but Sandy and Terry deserve the shot of seeing it for themselves.
• Kranepool7 March 20, 2011 at 12:20 am

  Nice job that you listed Capuano as one of your three ups even before his impressive start today. It’s great to have a couple of new starters that can throw strikes. I hope Capuano and Young can stay healthy all year. But man oh man if they both have solid years how will we afford to re-sign them both, plus Mike Pelfrey too.
• sarge March 20, 2011 at 12:33 am

  I think that Ollie has to go so that Connor can make team BP cause you need lefties in the NL East so I hope that SA and Terry wring out the towels filled with tears for Ollie and let him go to another team or to the Mexican League cause it was with the Mexico Int Team that he hurt his arm when used stupidly by their coaches.
  No excuse for him but he needs to go get his head and arm together somewhere else.

  I was hoping that Gee would make it but as stated you have pitchers, Young and Capuano, who have not pitched a lot