21
2011
Rapid Rant: Wow, I Must Have Missed This…
An article by 
Michael Baron of MetsBlog just posted the following:
During last night’s broadcast, Sandy Alderson said he expects to go into Spring Training with a similar rotation to what is in place now, citing the need for growth among pitchers such as Mike Pelfrey and Jon Niese. However, he also spoke about the importance of knowing who the closer will be before the season starts and suggested next season’s closer is not currently on the roster.
Maybe it’s a good thing that I was distracted whenever Sandy Alderson made those statements because honestly I was already dealing with a bad case of nausea anyway, but WOW, just WOW!
Are we going to play that old Mets standby that Mike Pelfrey will mature and get better next season? Really? We’ve been waiting six freaking years for that to happen already…
Remember the awful start Mike Pelfrey (4.55 ERA) had to this season? He was actually worse (4.62 ERA) in the second half of this season. Seriously, Pelfrey is just a Livan Hernandez type innings eater at this point.
So next season we’ll have Pelfrey fronting the rotation for the third straight season?
Followed by some combination of Gee, Niese, Capuano and Dickey?
Sorry, I’m not counting on Johan Santana who was supposed to be back in June, then July, then August, then September, now never… Obviously, Santana is in no shape to pitch and who knows if he ever will be. For crying out loud he’s still just pitching in simulated games – three innings at a time. But please, don’t call any of this a setback, it’s just standard Mets operating procedure…
It’s pretty sad that after a losing season like this one, and a whole bunch of newly freed up cash, that the front office basically tells us that what you see, is what you’ll get in 2012!
I suppose that now they expect us all to line up and buy season tickets before they all sell out?
Sometimes this is so hard….
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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You think that’s bad—last night I saw Kevin interviewing Wally Backman who was in full Mets Uniform!! You’ll excuse me until he’s out of town, I hope.
I don’t know what the alternatives really are. Non tender Pelfrey and sign an injury rehab case? Then deplete AAA depth to fill that hole? I don’t have any real faith that Pelfrey will put it together next year but I’m sure Borass will be trying anything he can think of to help Pelfrey have a big walk year and if he did, that would net us a supplemental round pick. At the very least he gives us 200 IP which lightens the load on the pen which is not a small consideration.
Niese and Gee are in the same situation of picking it up. Dickey will probably give you a chance 80% of the time and Santana? Who knows. Schwinden, Batista, Owens, Cohoon provide AAA depth and a Young or Capuano type signing will fill in behind. What else can Alderson do? There’s no one else ready. If/when Mejia’s back he’s probably destined for the pen. There’s no one else there.
Free agency has CJ Wilson and that’s about it. Salary dumps don’t appear to play a big part in this offseason. CC’s not going cross town. Who you gonna get?
This is why it’s so important to draft the best players possible, and to do so you have to keep your draft choices, not just throw them away.
I’m sure it was this exact situation that caused the Beltran trade. With Wheeler at least we have a chance to avoid the same old “well who are we going to get for the rotation” in 2014.
When you think about it we could have done a deadline deal or two in 2009 and maybe had something ready in 2012.
Yeah T Agee we could’ve made a deadline deal in 09 but that deal would’ve been made by Omar.I rest my case.
Nothing I can add to this comment. Pretty much said what I thought.
Probably why Sandy’s comments last night in the booth didn’t phase me that much. I think we all know what 2012 will be. Not unless we’d be willing to trade prospects for some better pitching. That might happen but I wouldn’t be counting on it. The arms they are counting on to ride to the rescue just won’t be ready April ’12.
Dickey has been our best pitcher by far this season.
His WAR is 4.6, which is 16th best among all SP pitchers. He’s probably the only current pitcher I don’t have any concerns about.
Maybe the one thing we can hope for is that Pelfrey is good every other year, and that, combined with a last year before a contract… Well, here’s to hoping and wishing…
Lots of cash coming off the books yes but not a very good free agent market to spend on.I wouldn’t go by what Alderson said lastnight either.He’s not going to say on air that Pelfrey sucks and he’s outta here.I would be shocked if Pelfrey isn’t non-tendered this offseason.I expect Pelfrey,Pagan,Parnell,Murphy and possibly Wright to be wearing different uniforms in 2012.
Alderson’s Pelfrey remark left the door open. Not mentioned were Cappy and Santana. Should Santana pitch, someone is out of the rotation. Cappy wants to stay in New York so Alderson should sign him if the price is right.
Look for Alderson to give a set up reliever a chance to close.
I would hate to see Pelfrey come back but the Mets seem to be continuing their pitching woes next year. They might have no options though. Santana hasn’t shown that he will actually be ready or any good next year. Capuano is going to want more than one year and definitely isn’t worth more than a one year contract. Niese could be back but then again could be injured again. Pelfrey is horrendous but he hasn’t gotten injured and thats looking pretty good to Mets management at this point. The Mets are going to suck next year no matter who they sign to play positions on the field because their starting pitching is going to suck and drain their horrible bullpen which is going to fall apart like usual. It sucks but I don’t see the Mets paying big bucks for pitching this offseason even though they need it. There really aren’t many good options available in the free agent market for starters that are going to be worth their contracts anyways.
Think about it. Why do they want to change the dimensions of the park. You have to have a draw for the fans if you are going to be a 4th or 5th place team and the draw will be more homeruns at Citi. So our record could suck but it will suck with The Big Apple bobbing up and down. People that own and run sports teams are showmen first and team owners second. Sounds cynical but I bet I am pretty close to the mark.
Re: Alderson’s remarks about the pitching staff:
Repeat after me: As long as the Wilpon’s own this team, The Mets will be in limbo.
Sad but true Rich!
as long as the wilponzies own this team,the mets will be in limbo.
You got your GM. The Wilpons tricked fans into believing a new GM would change things. It’s their excuse to keep payroll down.
Santana Niese Gee and Dickey. If we’re lucky we keep Pelfrey for a cheap price. Capuano is brutal. Hopefully Harvey will be ready by midseason. If we’re even luckier, so will Familia.
Those are our hopes. There’s nothing worth a damned coming from outside the organization.
Realistic Met fans weren’t tricked. We realized a magician, let alone Sandy – wasn’t going to turn this franchise around overnight. No point in throwing good money after bad.
same old same old.
there was more to do than just remake the ML roster. He also needed to put in a defined organizational structure and philosophy (top to bottom) for how to work, and consistent player development.
Most people that were paying attention never thought Sandy was brought in to do a quick fix (gild the pig?) of the ML roster and that was it.
Even the Omar fans seem to recognize that the overall organization just was not functioning properly (from the top down, and the wilpons count!).