21
2012
Afternoon Spring Training Notes: Turner, Beato, Mejia and Spring Opener
An article by Hojo's Mojo
Here’s a quick update from Mets Camp this afternoon, just a few minor notes and happenings…
- It didn’t take long to find out who would be wearing Jose Reyes’ number this season. It turns out it’ll be new Bench Coach Bob Geren, who wore No. 17 when he was with Oakland.
- Mooooook! Ousted first base coach Mookie Wilson will remain with the organization at the minor league level as a roving instructor, according to team a team official. He will not be assigned to a particular team in the system.
- Earlier today, Collins said that he planned on giving utility infielder Justin Turner some time at first base so that he can give Ike Davis an occasional rest during the season. Turner had no problem with it and is very excited to get his first baseman’s glove. He has played only one game at the position in the minors. ”Obviously it’s a little different over there, but I’ll put some work in and get acclimated to it as quick as possible and see what happens.”
- That bullpen session that Jenry Mejia was expected to throw today has been delayed until the Mets get medical clearance from their doctors.
- Mark this down on your calendars. The Mets are going to pitch Johan Santana in Grapefruit League opener against the Washington Nationals in Port St. Lucie on March 5. The game will be televised on SNY and I know we’ll all be watching.
- Terry Collins is toying with the idea of converting Pedro Beato from a reliever to to a starting pitcher even though Beato strongly prefers to pitch out of the bullpen. Apparently the team is still considering it, but have not made an official decision yet.
That’s all for today, Mets fans….
Tuesday Morning Update
Elvis is in the building. Zack Wheeler, the Mets’ top pitching prospect, reported to minor league camp Monday and was swarmed by every beat writer in town. Wheeler, 21, said that he had been working to refine his changeup and now thinks it’s his best pitch. Wheeler is working out on the minor-league side of camp because he was not invited to big-league camp. I don’t recall L-Milz, Pelf or F-Mart getting this rock star treatment when they were top Mets prospects.
It’s been all good news for Johan Santana since he arrived to camp a week early. The Mets ace missed all of last season after having major shoulder surgery in September of 2010. After throwing a bullpen session on Friday, Santana has given the thumbs up and has reported no ill effects. He’ll be on the mound again this morning for his second bullpen session. This is getting interesting. The Mets desperately need Santana to give them at least 20-25 starts this season if they are tio have any shot at contending this season. Miguel Batista, Chris Schwinden or Jeremy Hefner are the Mets’ only options for every start that Johan misses.
Anthony DiComo of MLB.com tells us that R.A. Dickey is the last of the Mohicans:
Baseball’s knuckleball fraternity lost half its membership last week, when Tim Wakefield officially retired following a 19-year career. With Wakefield gone, Mets starter R.A. Dickey is the only knuckleballer left in the Major Leagues.
“I’m sad because I want him around,” Dickey said after reporting to Mets camp on Monday. “It’s fun to be able to watch somebody who does what you do.”
Jenrry Mejia, who is coming off TJ surgery, is in camp and is hoping to throw a bullpen session today. However when he was asked how his elbow felt, the right-hander replied, “Sometimes I feel tight. Sometimes I feel good,” he said. “That’s the situation.”
Pitching coach Dan Warthen indicated that a Tuesday bullpen was not yet a done deal because the team was waiting for Mejia’s initial medical examination to be completed. Recovery from Tommy John surgery is typically about 12 months.
Jose Reyes‘ uniform number (No. 7) has not yet been re-issued to any current player, but Jason Bay called first dibs on Reyes’ old locker at Digital Domain. Hopefully, Reyes left some of his magic from last season in that locker.
Finally, David Wright talked about expectations for this season, his glee over the shortened walls at Citi, and even about turning 30. Wow, 30, really?
About the Author: Rob Johnson
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NL East Standings
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Braves | 42 | 30 | .583 | - |
| Phillies | 35 | 37 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Nationals | 34 | 36 | .486 | 7.0 |
| Mets | 27 | 40 | .403 | 12.5 |
| Marlins | 22 | 48 | .314 | 19.0 |
Last updated: 06/19/2013
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I hope this “rock star” treatment wheeler is getting don’t mess up the kid, this is NY, this ain’t atlanta or st louis, this is a town where everything is bigger, including expectations, that is why not many make it in this city and thrive in others.. 2 to 3 years from now we’ll see what happens..
Jason bay could see the wizard of OZ and he’d still the same garbage player we unfortunately got..
DW, turning 30.. nice.. hopefully he’ll have a good half to increase his value and we can acquire more talent for the majors and minors.. a 30 year old 3rd baseman with a iffy back is usually NOT GOOD NEWS…
The Bigger they build this kid up the harder he is going to fall if he shows any sign of adversity!
He’s got so much pressure on him now just imagine what kind of pressure he will face when he makes his first start!
Metsie, i’ve been saying the same thing, but of course, people think i’m hating on the kid because he’s sandy greatest achievement so far..the pressure of NY is huge for major league veterans, imagine what it’ll be for a kid when basically the face of the franchise is install upon him from the first start..
Well they misunderstand (actually they know they just say that) that we are not down on the kid nor do we make any projections for him, we hope he does well!
The problem and the arguments are about them using him as an excuse to say Sandy is doing a good job after only 68 Abs to his credit!
The arguments are not about getting kids it is about the fact that getting them doesn’t mean we are World Series bound or that it has fixed this team in any way shape or form UNTIL such time as they make the roster and do their stuff to make that WS happen!
It really just more of the “I Know I have no leg to stand on using Nimmo and Wheeler as the reason Sandy is a great GM” so “I’m going to change the subject to about the PLAYER to get away from the argument about Sandy that I can’t really win!”
happens a lot around here!
“I can’t win that point let me steer it to something else and hope no one notices the switch and bait!”
If Alderson or Depodesta was so concerned about making a mistake with Nimmo he they never would have drafted him. Statistically speaking the HS OFer taken in the first round is a very unsafe choice. Way more busts than hits by far, but the HS OFer who does hit, oftentimes hits big and for a long time.
Compare and contrast the success ratio of college first basemen. It’s off the charts. Every other college 1st basemen taken in the first round makes the All Star team and 1/3 of them get HOF votes. Why? Cause there pretty much good to go right away. They have a proven track record of seeing ball and crushing ball and the athletic ability required to play 1B, as well as the skill and technique are very close to Major League ready the day their drafted.
Nimmo is a high risk selection that Alderson/Depodesta are gambling on the skills catching up with the tools over a lengthy development period. He’s exactly the kind of draft choice we haven’t had enter the system in 25 years. Think that doesn’t have something to do with the fact that we haven’t developed a star RFer since Darryl or a star LFer since Cleon?
Is Nimmo Paul O’Neill or Shawn Abner? Both came out of HS and only time will tell but if he doesn’t work out it doesn’t mean it was the wrong draft philosophy what it means is it was the wrong guy because one Paul O’Neil that hits is worth 10 one or two dimensional college bats that make it up here and have mediocre overall careers.
Ah, the opening of camp, when every player has found the missing link and is in the best shape of their life!
as to Wheeler, if he really did master a change that is a better pitch than his already excellent FB, then he is going to move up very fast.
Tell me about it. I’m interested to see why he’s so confident about it.
David Wright’s 30…
David Wright’s 29.
And Kingman is 26!
I’ve been wondering. If all the Mets get out of Johan is 20 starts, that could take them to the break. We’ve been heating about Schwinden or Batista, and feeling sorry about the depth. But if Johan makes it through 5 more months why not Mejia for that role?
**hearing
my expectation is that if they get 15-20 starts out of him, they won’t be from the beginning of the year, and they won’t be contiguous.
more like staying in PSL for most of April, then starting in May with a couple of 2 week breaks for R&R along the way.
but honestly, who knows coming off this kind of injury? I still am going with the “assume he never pitches again and plan accordingly” idea, and considering anything he gives you as found money.
Man though, if he beats the odds and can actually pitch most of the season effectively, what a huge boost that would be to the team’s chances.
Yes, they could pace Johan around July / August with Mejia, IF Johan is contributing and Mejia is re-habbed by then. i think we’ll see Mejia at some point this year. i was ideally hoping May/June, but looks like it may be July / August.
I really can’t see Mejia getting pushed back to the majors coming off the TJ, and not having pitched much the last 2 years.
Would not bother me at all to see them work him back in slowly then let him finish out the year inthe minors, go into a carefully planned winter season, then let him compete for a job next ST.
“Jason Bay called first dibs on Reyes’ old locker at Digital Domain. Hopefully, Reyes left some of his magic from last season in that locker.”
This just in: Jason Bay on the 15 day DL with a sore hammy
I keed I keed
LMFAO!!!!
‘…don’t recall L-Milz, Pelf or F-Mart getting this rock star treatment when they were top Mets prospects’.
You could be right. I can only assume that’s because during those years, the major league club was not predicted to end up finishing in last place going into those seasons. So therefore right now, all eyes are probably turned to the prospects on the farm as more ‘savior’ types than in years past.
Those guys didn’t get traded for Carlos Beltran either.
thats part of it but only a small part.
People are looking for hope, we had other players to look to for that when those guys were drafted!
All MLB players too!
All we have on the MLB level is hope that the guys we have will come out of whatever funk/problem they were last in!
If the future is where the hope lies it makes sense to market that future and throw the kids up there to stem the dissapointment tide!
Not saying they are wrong to do so just worried that they are putting too much pressure on a kid who needs to be thinking about his pitching not what kind of pressure is going to be put on him once he gets here!
Well dealing with the Press is a part of every major leaguers job so better to acclimitize him to it in ST where every things optimistic until the Press gets wind of something juicy.
All the new guys get jumped. FA’s, trades, #1 draft choices, promising rookies all of them. They just hadn’t had a chance to get their hands on him until now. Now that they have they’ll move onto someone else and follow that up with the usual interviews of building on last year, rebounding, rehabbing, replacing guys ect ect ect.
Stil now the guy is more worried about screwing up than he is about getting better because he sees what it is expected of him and loses sight of the goals he is charged with meeting to reach those lofty expectations!
They should NOT HYPE and instead protect their kids!
Hype the guys you don’t expect much from this way maybe some dumb GM buys it and trades for him!
Good idea there Metsie. I don’t know that the Mets are hyping Wheeler I just think to the Press he’s a curisoity and an easy story to write.
If he’s so easily distracted he wouldn’t be in professional baseball.
LOL Pelfrey in in professional baseball! Need I say more?
And for the record I don’tblame the mets directly for it…
It is what happens when there is no real MLB GOOD TIME SPRING TRAINING story to tell!
No talk of challenging for a pennant, Wild Card the Press is going to go mad, have to start digging up some dirt to find anything to write about. Hope Mr. Met doesn’t have any skeletons in his closet.
Johan is such a wildcard.
I look at the team as being 2 SP short of being playoff contenders (for real). If Johan comes back to be one of them, that really means they are one Dickey like out of nowhere guy from pulling it off.
Of course, they need the incumbents to step it up, but that is reasonable to expect. pelf was better the year before, Gee got that first full year out of th eway, and I think this is the year that Neise can finally put it all together.
I know that many people expect the opposite on all those guys, but the potential is there. if they tap into it, and the offense does what it is capable of, this will be an interesting team.
HUGE, and i mean, MT EVEREST HUGE IFS….. This team is going nowhere fast.. even the GM knows it, he’s praying for everyone to have CAREER YEAR in order to have a shot.. how often does a team have eveyone having career year in the same year? yeah, not gonna happen, this team is a good GM and at least 5 good players away from contention..
not praying for career years. Simply acknowledging that the guys on the roster have to play up to their potential. Normal years for the established guys, and progression (development) from the younger guys. IOW, exactly what every other team needs to be compete 9with the rare exception of a team that is so overloaded iwth talent that they can cover for some duds).
Oh, and goes without saying, staying healthy and on the field.
Yeah, why not expect ‘normal’ years for some guys, ‘career’ ears for others, and ‘progressive development’ years for the kids–when the Mets have been dogged by quirky injuries or Citi paranoia from 2009 through 2011 that has plagued many of our regulars over those years?
Just looking for some happy ‘normalizing’ trends to happen to the team for once.
It’s been awhile!
Here is my prediction on Johan:
1 – He will need more time early before he comes up. Cold Weather will not be his friend!
2 – He will have his stuff but will not be consistent especially early and need to be on a short hook
3 – We will see flashes of the Ace on good days and then see some really bad ones in between
4 – By Summer he will start looking like Santana of Old as the heat losens up everything and he has built up some arm strength
5 – As we get further away from the Playoffs he will start missing games again or have his role reduced (maybe every 6th day with the rotation jumping around him) to try and minimize the stress and hopefully save him for a better season next year!
6 – I don’t think he will pitch well enough to unload him on anyone!
7 – next year he will be a damn good #2 or 3 Pitcher but his Ace days will be over!
8 – That will be good enough to trade if we eat a major portion of his contract and we might get something for him but hardly a top prospect!
You’re a bit more optimistic than I am.
I’ll not be surprised if he doesn’t make it back at all. He’ll make every effort but I just have no confidence that shoulder isn’t done.
However, if he does make it back and shows some production, you never know about a trade. We’d have to eat a good chunk of the contract but it’s not out of the realm of a possibility. Look at AJ Burnett.
Not making it at all is definitly a possibility! But if I read my Santana right he will say whatever he has to say to them to come up with the club even if he is feeling pain he will say he is fine!
They can only make decisions based on what he tells them!
And he will say anything to come up with the club!
I’m in agreement with you on if anyone can make it back or at least give every drop of effort trying, it’ll be Johan.
Goes without saying I’d love to be wrong on my pessimistic prediction.
there is a REASOn why Johan was an Ace, and it wasn’t just about his stuff or his selection of pitches!
A Good fastball is a good fastball no matter who throws it! Parnell has a good fastball but he is no ACE!
An Ace does have to have good pitches don’t get me wrong but what seperates him from the average starter is the Attitude needed to succeed!
Halladay doesn’t have the nastiest stuff in the league but he has the attitude that gets the batter out with whatever he has!
This is why I yell at all the guys who say Makeup is irrelevant!
It’s the difference between ACE/ALL STAR and everyone else!
Command is the physical foundation that accounts for a lot. It’s a necessary ingredient.
Attitude and makeup, when combined with command, make an ace.
An ACE wins even on days when he doesn’t have good command!
So how much does command really play into the wins?
yes you have to have it more often than not!
But if you have the Attitude that an Ace has it doesn’t really matter if you have it or not on any given day he still finds a way to succeed!
My own view is that command is more important than attitude. Since neither of us can prove our case, it’s just a set of conflicting opinions.
Cold weather was not his friend even when he was 100%. Remember the loyal fans getting on him when he first go there when he had a non Santana like game early in his first year?
The man is a gamer and working hard will not be a problem, lets hope the results equal his effort. For all the players for that matter.
i’m probably in the minority here, but i do think that Bay, finally, will be productive this year; 30/90 say. i think the friendlier confines of Citi will no longer play in his head and if healthy, he’ll put up some nice #s.
i also expect, yeah actually expect, Captain Kirk to man CF for us NLT a May timeframe. The way i see it, he would’ve been up last year, the way he was posting good stats in AAA, if he hadn’t gotten hurt. Maybe, a great ST will propel him even sooner into the CF mix.
Of course, our lineup will become very Lefty-heavy with Captain Kirk–but that’s another story.
TC live on SNY right now. Regarding Johan ‘in my mind, in my heart, he’ll be ready. But we’re taking it slow’.
If he is ready, I’ll be surprised. And if he is, gotta chalk that up to the type of competitor Johan is.
TCs hoping for 25 starts. That’s really optimistic, IMO but I’ll take it!
We could easily get off to a slow start.
Johan’s makes his first start May 1st
Torres slow to start hitting
Murphy, Duda and Thole’s D costs a couple games each
But by some time in June things start to roll.
Johan’s back, Murphy and Duda are comfortable out there. Nickeas may be doing more catching and hitting more than anyone thought. Kirk, Mejia Valdespin could all step up. Lutz, Lagares, Raul Reyes, Den Dekker and maybe even Ratliff you never can tell.
Evey team has a hot streak and if ours could get us past .500……..well the NL is a lot weaker this year than last. Milwaukee and St. Louis aren’t the same. Arizona’s not going to surprise anyone this year and could easily go backwards. Pittsburgh doesn’t have the horses and Cinncinati could open a big lead in the Central. Atlanta may be hurt by overtaxing their pen last year and Philly may not score any runs. Come the ASB we’ll see where we are but without any positional cornerstones in the farm system, if the opportunity arises to land some top notch talent at the break you gotta do it and that could mean Johan, Wright, Ramirez, Rauch or Francisco get dealt. Maybe a taker is found for Bay. Anythings possible.
Enjoy the season, root for the Team but the best thing by far for us this year would be continued development below and adding a big piece to the farm and getting something really meaningful from the 12th, 35th, 65th and 88th draft choices so we can hunt the division right from day 1 next year and for many years to come.
Well with Reyes gone we will now be ateam that goes as Wright goes!
That says a slow start followed by a more reasonable May, a Very Hot June, only to see them level off in July and slide to 20-30 games out the rest of the way if they aren’t already there by July!
The Key is going to be what Bay does!
If he comes out hot early and stays there untiol Wrights usual pick up we might not be in the cellar by July!
but the best thing by far for us this year would be continued development below and adding a big piece to the farm and getting something really meaningful from the 12th, 35th, 65th and 88th draft choices”
Sigh… i guess you haven’t been paying attention to the pirates and the royals… year after year they stock up on draft choices as well, that does not guarantee that the players will be any good in the majors.. stop this nonsense.. Every team needs FA to come in and help out, good ones, unlike the ones we’d be signing. if wheeler and CO bomb out we’re set back 4 more years to hop new kids can be good.. again, see pirates and royals..
I guess you been paying attention to the Mets. Year after year they go get a high priced free agent that does not guarantee the player will be any good on the Mets. Stop this nonsense. Every team needs a solid farm system to build off of, a good one, not the one we were building.
If a farm hand bombs out it does not set you back 4 years. Not if you built a good system that is regularly developing major league talent. What you and some others don’t get is that it isn’t about 1 player. It is about the process. If Wheeler or Harvey bomb but we get 3 or 4 major league quality every day players over the next 2 or 3 years, then the system is working. If we get 1 Cy Young winner but a bunch of AAAA players and worse to go with him, then the system is failing.
Free agents, on the other hand, are all about the individual. If that 1 free agent bombs, then you are stuck with him for most of his contract.
D’OH! that first sentence should read
“I guess you haven’t been paying attention to the Mets. “
I guess you haven’t been pying attention either….
Every year BUT TWO where we signed a big FA we were in the playoff hunt missing by only a game or actually making it!
The two exceptions were 2005 and 2010!
But 2005 was the start that led to 2006-2008!
So, we didn’t make the playoffs those years, despite our big name free agents? Just checking.
Yep and in no time in recorded history have we ever made the playoffs WITHOUT big names have we?
So what was your point again?
Name the year we did if you would be so kind?
69? No! Seaver, Agee (FA hadn’t been invented yet!)
73? Same thing except replace Agee with Staub! (Still no FA!)
86? Hernandez, Carter ring a bell?
99? Leiter, Hershiser, Piazza Olerud and Henderson ring a bell?
00? Piazza Leiter Etc etc…
06? Do I really have to make this list?
Hmmm
Don’t see any starless FA Free playoffs there except in the two years before Free Agency was invented!
“Yep and in no time in recorded history have we ever made the playoffs WITHOUT big names have we?
So what was your point again?
Name the year we did if you would be so kind?”
My point is relying on Free Agency is what gets into trouble and developing our own stars is how we get out of it.
“86? Hernandez, Carter ring a bell?”
Ya. How did they become Mets? By trading prospects from our reconstructed farm system. Hey, thanks for proving me right.
“99? Leiter, Hershiser, Piazza Olerud and Henderson ring a bell?
00? Piazza Leiter Etc etc…”
And how did we get Piazza, Olerud, and Leiter? Also, what about Fonzie? And Hersheiser was middle of the road as a pitcher for the Mets.
“06? Do I really have to make this list?”
No, because the only name on the list is Beltran. Wright and Reyes both played well that year and Delgado was obtained through a trade. So ya.
Once again, you make a lot of noise just to prove me right.
No developing your own stars is a yearly task that has nothing to do with free Agency or the players on the MLB roster and buying FAs make the few you do find that much beytter and into winners!
Buying stars does not GET you into trouble not developing kids does!
Especially if thats all you try to do and forget about buying the stars you need to lead them!
If you think otherwise then show a met team that has ever won without stars to do what I said they do!
If you can’t well no point in continuing any further right?
I never said don’t use free agency, but it shouldn’t be Plan A. And buying stars slows down your ability to develop kids by
1) costing you draft picks
2) locking into a big money long term deal means that spot on the roster and on the field will not be opening up for the foreseeable future, even if you have a kid ready to bust out and the “star” at his position is failing.
No you just said using it ruins your team!
I will quote so I can’t be confused for SUMMARIZING your thoughts…
“My point is relying on Free Agency is what gets into trouble…”
You HAVE to rely on Free Agency!
And if you just got here as a GM and have no kids you have to rely on it MORE because your still building up the Minors with the Kids you need later on!
See Davis, Tejada, Niese, Gee, Duda, Murphy, Harvey, Mejia, Familia
He was doing what you wanted but had to buy more early until they were ready!
And he did manage to get you three awfully good seasons to watch in the meantime and despite all the money it cost we had the highest attendance in recorded met history!
Which paid all the bills!
“No you just said using it ruins your team!”
No, I said relying on it. Huge difference.
“You HAVE to rely on Free Agency!”
No, you don’t. you should utilize it, but when it is your go to move, you are only digging a deeper hole.
“And if you just got here as a GM and have no kids you have to rely on it MORE because your still building up the Minors with the Kids you need later on!”
In that situation you do not sign long term deals or try to buy “stars”.
“And he did manage to get you three awfully good seasons to watch in the meantime and despite all the money it cost we had the highest attendance in recorded met history!
Which paid all the bills!”
Ya, thank God he Wright and Reyes. The problem is, he gave us 3 seasons of falling just short at the expense of building a better foundation. So, 3 years of smoke and mirrors costs that much and more of lousy baseball.
Ahh I see another semantical change of statement!
USING something is relying on it if you can’t win WITHOUT IT!
If you can’t win without using FA to get starts then you MUST RELY on it!
Just stop. You can’t argue facts so you’ll just make noise until people get tired of arguing with you. You will make any silly little statement to try and make it look like you’ve sprung some clever trap.
You are not nearly as smart as you claim you are (303 IQ is still hysterical, by the way). the facts are against you and no matter how hard you try and manipulate what other people say, you’re still wrong at the end.
You might be forgetting about year 5 (2009) where presumably we might have had a couple of guys ready to step in and a certain very large part of those teams did came from our farm. Reyes and Wright
Maybe you make the decision to go plan B for a closer/OFer and keep your draft choice instead of Wagner, or Alou. Maybe that draft choice makes you think twice about signing Bay with a guy in AA. Maybe you platoon Evans in LF or look at the nontender list for a good match or maybe you get a placeholder for a year and keep your draft choice.
Omar couldn’t (and wasn’t) expected to make up for the rotten condition of the farm in two years. Hell we had just come off the dismantling of “the worst team money could buy” part 2 a year before he got here.
He knew what the job entailed, that’s why he spoke about getting “younger and more athletic.” in all of his early interviews. It was sheer impatience and not just on his part either. All of our baseball decisions have been made for business reasons for two decades now and that’s not on him. Everything around here is about this years attendance.
The job just couldn’t be done on both sides at the same time because fixing one part mean”t taking away from the other part with the result being that neither got fixed.
Sure if everything worked out perfect we could have gotten one. 2006 was the weakest the NL has been in years and the Division was the weakest since I don’t know when but we still would have crashed unless every top prospect hit, and hit quickly and that’s just a fantasy scenario.
Hey, if the Wilpon’s had given Minaya the draft budget the Pirates and Royals ownership gave to Huntington and Moore Omar probably goes a different route and we have a 4 tool catcher and a 5 tool RFer, an all around good 2nd basemen, at least a another young 2nd or 3rd starting pitcher and a workable situation in LF.
That’s just 4 more top talents over 6 years that could have been produced with the nine 1st or 2nd round draft choices he spent on attaining the success he did have.and he probably uncorks a couple more out of Latin America because of how much less was spent on the payroll.
This team wouldn’t have anywhere the needs that it does if Minaya had been building a team for the long haul.
He’d be sitting on a dynasty right now.
Tag all that aside because the stars got hurt, Where did they go just using kids to replace the STARS that got hurt?
What happened in 2009 if just relying on Kids with no stars to lead when all was said and done?
I have no problems developing kids you know I feel that way but the bottom line is KIDS are NOT ENOUGH!
Wasn’t enough in 86 either!
Look at what they all just said about Carter and his contribution to what they were!
Were they just being nice?
Or does having a GREAT PLAYER you have to PAY to get help the kids become stars that much uicker then if they are thrown out there and have to figure it all out on their own!
WHY did generation K fail? Was it just injury?
Or was it a total lack of Veteran presence on the mound that could go out there and show the kids what needed to be done and talk to them in between innings so they knew how to get it done?
Kids are great, Kids are cheap and Kids can contribute a very long time!
But only if they have the veteran STAR presence there to take them under their wing and show them the way!
And if you don’t all you get is wasted talent and unrealized potential!
because it take a lot ore than just TALENT to succeed in professional sports, It takes the WINNING ATTITUDE and WORK ETHIC that only a Star player who has WON and WORKED and been there can show them!
What kids in 2009 Metsie? We didn’t really have any major league ready kids to step in.
Fern and Niese weren’t yet ready and none of the 25-28 year old’s did anything that year or afterwards. We had a talent gap of ready prospects. It can happen to even the best organization but in our case can be traced back to before Omar was here and the rotten drafts of the last 10 years.
Santos was bsically a kid.
Hernandez too
F-Mart, Evans, Thole, A Reyes, and Cancel
On the Pitching side
Misch, Parnell, Nieve, Niese, Stoner, Broadway
Takahashi could be consider an MLB kid if you don’t count his japanese league time.
granted it was a bit too soon to expect a MiL system started in 2005 to be ready in just 4 years.
Pelfrey was the quickest of that bunch and everyone thinks he got rushed and I can’t deny that possibility!
Regardless of all that, most of those kids have been here awhile.
Which one is part of our Future at this point?
Niese, Thole (borderline at best) and who else? Parnell?
Like I said to Donal no one has an issue developing kids but getting free agents doesn’t stop you from doing that!
Even when you trade a very late 1st rounder for the Veteran who makes the kids you already have BETTER!
You need those FA guys in this day and age and anyone who thinks otherwise are just as out of times as the guys who refuse to use some Sabers are!
You CAN NOT just build a team with youth!
Only one team has EVER done it and they did it by selling off all their FAs for huge packages of Prospects not just one like we did with Beltran!
The rest is about good drafting with the picks you have and nothing about having or not having Free Agent STARS has any bearing on that!
Having them makes the kids you do get better once you have developed them and they play with those stars!
The Pirates and Royals haven’t been drafting for top talent for 20 years Alex. They’ve been doing it for 3-5 years. Previously they were drafting like we have been. As cheaply as possible.
It takes a while and some of the guys your counting on fall by the wayside and that’s why it’s so important to be counting on numerous top talents for every spot on the 25 man roster. Develop them all the best you can and see where you are when they start getting close. Make a few trades to fill in where your weak and to upgrade and get better when you can. Then when your ready to win get the FA or two to drive yourself over the top while having pieces on the way to take over for those FA’s because their shelf life is very short and their no sure thing either.
Prospects get hurt, stagnate, wind up on drugs, get arrested, retire, join the Priesthood, all kinds of things. Counting on just one guy for every position of future need more often than not means not having anyone when the time comes.
If Fern, Holt, Havens, Ike, Pena, Tejada, Lagares had all hit we’d be in great shape right now but that’s fantasy to think that all the top talents you sign or draft are going to make it and without an actual core of 5 or 6 top players you can plan to have here all at the same time for 4 years or more the FA’s aren’t going to make enough of a difference and it’s not like their a sure thing either.
When they bust, they not only cost you baseball games, they also take away the chance to get the types of guys that could make a big difference down the road.
The one’s that are usually found in the first and second round as well as internationally.
Wright sings the same old tune every spring. But his video was still better than the one on Metsblog with Jon Niese talking about his nose job.
Cue the Theme song.
“Somos Familia!”
http://www.metsblog.com/2012/02/21/video-jeurys-familia-bullpen-session-today-in-psl/
Don’t like hearing that about Mejia. Don’t know if I like him testing out the elbow in a bullpen if he is waking up with tightness still. We don’t need him to rush and wind up injuring the arm again. He’s our closer of the future, take the time for him to heal and then let him start throwing. We don’t need him this year in the majors, no reason to rush him before he’s healed.
#17 being worn by Bob Geren. Wonder if he requested that or just took what was handed to him.
I remember a couple of times with GKR on SNY the good natured ribbing on Keith for all those who have worn #17 since he left. He was good natured about it but you could tell he had some thoughts on that better left off the air.
The fact that the Mets haven’t retired Keith’s number IMO shows the incompetence of the Wilpons as owners. I understand why Carter’s number isn’t retired,he was only here a short while and gave us 2 great years but Keith was the guy that gave the franchise credibility and helped mold that that team into a champions.
Why would Beato not want to be a starter? Isn’t that where the $$$$’s are, if successful? Or does he think it’s easier to be a closer, where the $$$$’s are also good? Curious.