Collins Tabs Batista To Join Rotation, Will Start Tuesday Against Phillies At CBP

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• Hellobrooklyn May 5, 2012 at 8:48 am

  You and me both Joe D however I read an alarming quote from Hefner aboutnhis start. Apparently he doesn’t like pitching to corners to avoid walks so he pitches for contact and let’s the defense do their job. For one I m not sure Hefner has “the stuff” for this approach to be success in the big leagues. Secondly our defense is not that good. This may have played in the Citifield with the ugly blk walls pushed bac another 20 ft but not now .so unfortunately batista may be our best bet. I wish him luck ,they’re going to need it
• Angelo May 5, 2012 at 8:59 am

  i do not like this, either call heffner or give schwinden some more time , the guys need some runs .
• Gregg May 5, 2012 at 9:22 am

  If I were Alderson, I would have cut Batista a few weeks ago. How does a 6.79 ERA earn a spot in the starting rotation? I’d give the kids a chance, the Mets aren’t going anywhere with Batista in the rotation. They’d be better off bringing Ronny down from the broadcast booth to start.
• Matt May 5, 2012 at 9:38 am

  Well he’s better than Schwinden and Hefner, who are not major league pitchers.

  Look, this team has allowed the fourth most runs in baseball. Their pythagorean record is 9-16. This is not a good team.
• Metsie May 5, 2012 at 9:54 am

  Well they are sticking to their plan thats for sure…

  They retained Bautista as insurance in these situations. They didn’t know what Santana would be like and Young was definitly not going to be ready soon enough.

  But I too would prefer they gave hefner the start as a reward for his good performance last time and save Bautista for the pen which seems to need all the help it can get these days.

  Not saying Bautista is really a help but it is getting to the point that our starters are going deep enough and the Bullpen is being overworked becase of the ineffectiveness and having to replace themselves!

  I think this move is just an attempt to tread water until Young is ready to make his return.
  • Kramer67 May 5, 2012 at 10:48 am

    Young wont be ready till mid or late June, so you think the Mets are going to give Batista 6-7 starts until then? Might as well write the Mets 2012 epitaph now.
    • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 11:46 am

      They will try to reduce the numbers by juggling the rotation and skipping that 5th starter position when they can.

      Remember we are rebuilding so we aren’t trying to win and stay competitive it’s all abot the future!
      Which is why Harvey isn’t even a consideration!
      • any May 5, 2012 at 11:52 am

        Harvey isn’t a consideration because he hasn’t shown to be ready in AAA yet.
        • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 12:20 pm

          And even if he was he would not be brought up!
          • srt May 5, 2012 at 12:32 pm

            I don’t understand your comment here.

            Are you trying to say if the staff thought Harvey was ready, they’d still keep him in the minors?
            If yes, for what reason?

            We’re down one starter. I’d have to believe if they thought Harvey was ready, he’d be sliding right into that slot.
            • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 12:49 pm

              Becase their concept of his READINESS has little to do with how well he pitches down in AAA but How LONG he does it in AAA!

              They want him to have a full year at AAA which is why they have been saying all along it doesn’t really matter how lights out he pitches the earliest we would see him was September!

              I personally don’t agree with that mindset but it is what they have been saying from the beginning.

              They want to give him a year of AAA regardless of how well he is doing and the only thing that might change the timeline on when we see him is if he struggles down there and they keep him even longer than a year!

              But it has been pretty well known that nothing he could do down there and hardly anything that cold happen up here was going to bring him up before September!
              • srt May 5, 2012 at 12:58 pm

                IDK….I don’t recall seeing this FO specifically stating he had to have a year at AAA. Only that they felt he just hasn’t had enough time this year yet to demonstrate he’s close or ready. SSS and all….IMO, skipping triple AAA almost completely would be rushing any prospect that didn’t show complete dominance before that.

                I’d have to assume if he were lights out in just about all his starts for the first 3 months or so, we’d be seeing him closer to July than September.
                • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 1:02 pm

                  Go look at what they said the day they sent him down to the MiL side of ST!
                  They want him to have a year at AAA!
                  He is part of the future and they are not going to rush him for the here and now!
                  • srt May 5, 2012 at 1:16 pm

                    I have no problem not rushing him if the coaching staff feels he’s not ready.
                    Just to keep him down there for a year though if he was completely dominating would be another story.
                  • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 1:42 pm

                    Srt I have no problems not rushing him t thats leaves a pretty wide margin of definition!

                    I think if the gy is dominating AAA talent no reason to waste that good pitching in the Minors.

                    Someone else said it recently on one of the broadcasts,
                    When he is ready he will tell you and there is nothing to be served by leaving him down there longer (I think it was Darling who said it)

                    I fully agree with that!
                    I Don’t for a second think that Sandy does!
                  • srt May 5, 2012 at 4:43 pm

                    You’ll like this fact, Metsie.

                    Corbin – today’s D’Backs pitcher – never pitched in triple A.
                  • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 9:01 pm

                    LOL Srt, that does seem to be a bit extreme!
                    I agree some AAA experience is desireable. You shold give them some test to see what they can do vs guys who are most likely MLB bound…

                    But I think performance is the key and if that performance is consistently high might as well challenge it in the MLB. No better way to start a rookie’s career than when he is in a groove and on his game!
      • Des May 5, 2012 at 11:53 am

        Metsie — We’re not trying to win and stay competitive? Puhleeze. Those are not our primary goals, and indeed they might be sacrificed, but we are trying to win.
        • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 12:22 pm

          Collins may be trying…
          The Players may be trying…
          Sandy is not if he was he would be actively looking to trade for a Pitcher to take Pelfrey’s place!
          • srt May 5, 2012 at 12:34 pm

            I believe there was a post here a couple of days ago where Joe D said they were burning up the phone wires looking for a replacement. Not sure where he got his information from but I’m assuming he’s got his sources.
            • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 12:59 pm

              in the same article I believe Joe also said Bautista and Acosta were done as well….

              Not saying by any means Joe just made it up but have you heard anything regarding possible trades yet?

              Truth of the matter is this should have been dealt with before the season started!
              This is what happens when you shore up your roster with cheap one year contracts instead of investing in something longer term.

              Sure you might get something good but it’s gone (or more expensive) as quickly as it came and yor stuck filling the SAME holes every year (see the Bullpen which we shored up last year and again this year) leaving you little money to spend on fixing the newly created holes!

              Pelfrey is an unexpected injury…Can’t blame them for not predicting that…
              What would we have done if Santana didn’t come back the way he has?
              We knew full well THAT was a possibility! Pelfrey going down has left us in the same position we would have been in if Santana had done it.
              Why weren’t we prepared for that which would have left us in good position now that Pelfrey went down and Santana is pitching well?

              And what do we do if Santana re-injures himself? You know that is STILL as much a possibility as it was before the season started, Maybe more so now that he has some wear and tear on his shoulder!
              • srt May 5, 2012 at 1:14 pm

                ‘Not saying by any means Joe just made it up but have you heard anything regarding possible trades yet?’

                No, I have not. Doesn’t necessarily mean they’re not actively pursuing it, as Joe suggested.
                Remember, we didn’t hear anything about the Pagan for Torres/Ramirez trade either until it was almost a done deal. We’ll just have to wait and see on this.
                • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 1:37 pm

                  Doesn’t neccesarily mean that they are either does it?

                  Point is they have done nothing at all to date!
                  Will they? How good will what they do be and how many games did it cost us compared to doing it in the offseason when this should have been all taken care of?

                  So inaction cost us at least TWO games and possibly more!
                  Why did we find ourselves in this position?
                  Did we not expect Santana might not be ready or could re-injure himself?
                  Why were we in this situation?

                  Becuse the only time we shored up the starting pitching was on two guys coming off injury who were signed to one year deals,

                  This notion that these one or two year deals is the way to go is what led us to this point!
                  And it is also a main cause of the Bullpen issues as well!
                  We had limited funds is the excse but we were forced to se those limited funds on reupping the one gy we brought in last year to the pen, had to spend more on new guys to replace the guys we didn’t keep and left and of the two One year Starters we have last year all we have left is the one who didn’t make it through the season!
                  • srt May 5, 2012 at 1:51 pm

                    ‘Doesn’t neccesarily mean that they are either does it?’

                    Hence my comment of we’ll just have to wait and see.

                    I don’t spend as much time trying to read between the lines as some seem to do. As fans, we’re never going to be privy to what all goes on behind the scenes.
• Mr North Jersey May 5, 2012 at 10:44 am

  I was looking to see if there was more other than what Collins said yesterday on why Batista rather than Hefner but couldn’t find anything. I’m wondering if this will be Batista’s last chance to show why they should keep him on the team before going to another choice e.g., Hefner.
  • any May 5, 2012 at 11:20 am

    that is what I think. Off day coming up, so they can skip his turn, then go with someone else the next time needed (Hefner maybe).

    entirely possible that if (when?) he sucks again in a short outing Tuesday, he is cut loose for another BP arm immediately afterwards.
    • srt May 5, 2012 at 12:37 pm

      We better hope we don’t need a long man during the next 3 games. If we do and they have to use Batista, I’m assuming they’ll go to plan B for Tuesday’s starter. Which actually would be fine with me. I’m not looking forward to Batista starting against the Phils on Tuesday.
      • Metsie May 5, 2012 at 1:03 pm

        Which is exactly why I said in the doubleheader they should have started Hefner in the first place so they could keep Bautista around for the pen in case of an Extra Inning game or a shortage of Pen arms because they are playing two games in a row.
      • any May 5, 2012 at 9:17 pm

        well, they did show batista warming up today. though as a SP, it would be his normal BP throw day.