25
2012
Mets Drop The Ball In 6-1 Loss To Cubs
An article by Former Writers
Wright commits fielding error on infield pop-up.
After a rough Subway Series, the Mets traveled to Chicago to visit the great Wrigley Field to play the Cubs. Johan Santana started for the Mets and has been trying to regroup as he hasn’t pitched that spectacular since his no-hitter. He probably didn’t think he’d have a dueling war against the Cubs’ Travis Wood who only has one win this season and an ERA over four entering the game, but that was exactly what he had to do. Santana blinked first as after walking Geovany Soto with two outs, Joe Mather hit a two-run homerun over the ivory in left field to give the cubs a 2-0 lead. After getting his only one-two-three inning in the fifth, he had a nerve racking sixth. After back-to-back hits and then intentionally walking the bases loaded with two outs, he was able to get a ground out to end the side.
After throwing 102 pitches through six innings, he was pulled for a pinch hitter in the seventh. His line ends with two earned runs via that homer earlier, a total of five hits, three walks, while striking out six. He receives his fourth loss and now has an ERA of 3.00. It’s always terrible when Johan has a good start but no help from the offense. Throughout his six innings pitched, his offense only got him three hits and couldn’t score him a run. After Santana’s consecutive nine inning complete games, he hasn’t made it passed the sixth inning and has given up twelve runs in four starts.
Jon Rauch came into relief and was let down by his defense. David Wright started it off by committing a fielding error, then Rauch strikes out Reed Johnson, followed by a fielding error from Lucas Duda letting a run score and then a fielding error from Ronny Cedeno that allows another run to score. After Rauch walked Soriano, he was pulled to bring in Ramon Ramirez who makes his first appearance back from the disabled list. Ramirez allows two more runs to score that both get charged to Rauch before finally ending the tragic inning.
Justin Hampson made his Mets debut in the eighth inning tonight. He pitched a scoreless inning of relief, only allowing one hit, and striking out one.
The Mets offense was mostly absent. They only combined six hits between them and couldn’t score a run until two-outs in the ninth when Ike Davis hit a homerun into center field. Ike now hitting .191.
Despite his costly error and two strikeouts, Cedeno had two hits tonight. Like wise, Mike Nickeas had two hits, but struckout to end the game.
The other hit from the Mets was from David Wright who advanced his hit streak to 15 games. Wright is now hitting .358.
Notes
The Cubs have the worst record in baseball, and the Mets only got one run with six hits.
With Justin Hampson here now, the Mets finally have a second lefty in the bullpen to pair with Tim Byrdak.
Game Ball
Ike Davis saved us from a little more embarrassment.
Up Next
Dillon Gee (5-5, 4.27 ERA) opposes Randy Wells and the Cubs. First pitch set for 8:05 p.m.
About the Author: Former Writers
58 Comments + Add Comment
Recent Comments
- Heybatter: on Mets and Braves Suspended After Eight Tied 5-5, Will Resume Play Saturday: Rice will have to......Edgin pitched one inning...
- DrDooby: on Lutz Is The Easy Choice To Replace Davis, But Satin Is The Right Choice: Shh. And don´t tell them that Alderson...
- DrDooby: on Lutz Is The Easy Choice To Replace Davis, But Satin Is The Right Choice: Satin is the prototype organizational Quad A...
- Sach: on Scout Says No Way Flores Can Play Any Position But First Base: The Mets should have been playing Flores...
- DrDooby: on Scout Says No Way Flores Can Play Any Position But First Base: Since Flores won´t have much trade bait...
Need Tickets To The Mets Game?
Check Out These Great MLB Links!
Photographs From Gordon Donovan
5394 Fans Follow Us On Twitter!
1269 Fans Like Us On Facebook!
2341 Fans Read Our Feed!
1702 Fans Subscribe via Daily Email!
Where to begin? Just an ugly game tonight by the Mets.
Offense: They just never showed up tonight. Not to take nothing away from Ike’s HR which right now I’ll take them whenever he provides them but that was part Ike but probably part the pitcher just throwing strikes with a 6 run lead hoping Ike will just hit it at someone. It’s good if it helps Ike and he can continue to build on it. The lineup 1 through 5 went 1 for 18 with a walk and 0/RBI’s. Not going to win many games like that.
Defense: Wright, you just have to make that play. That’s all to it. Duda well your simply not that good a fielder. I am not going to get mad that you was unable to field that ball. We know your there for your bat nothing more. Cedeno? I don’t know what to happened didnt really get a good look at the play myself but sounds like you should of had it.
Pitching: Santana pitched good as far as I am concerned. Gave up a 2 run HR but that was it over 6 innings. Rauch deserved a better fate seems like he is often on the mound when a defensive lapse occurs. Ramirez seems like at least for tonight you didn’t benefit from DL and Hampson if you read this (which my understanding is you do at times) welcome to the Mets Hope you can help us out.
2morrow try to end this 3 game losing streak.
LGM!
Defense: Wright, you just have to make that play”
Or, Or, How about show some leadership and make that a 2 hand attempt to catch the ball?? No? But, hey, he got a hit so… 358 baby…
No excuses for not making that play. He messed up. It happens to the best of them. As far as leadership goes all that matters is what those guys inside that clubhouse think of him.
uhh… What??? I thought it was his play on the field? now we’re back to inside the clubhouse?? Boy, what a jogging play and a hot dogging play do for your leadership eh… SMH
I agree I didn’t think I inferred otherwise. It was his play to make. As far as the leadership in the clubhouse it is not that were back to it that was always the case. I bring it up cause despite him messing up as one of the leaders as you mentioned on the team. It will always be about what the clubhouse thinks when all is said and done. Personally I think he is and has always been a leader. I understand you feel otherwise.
Being a leader doesn’t make one infallible. Even leaders mess up.
ohhhhh, so now leaders mess up?? By jogging?? Thank god it was DW and not jose reyes, gary cohen would’ve just killed reyes had he done that as a met
.. SMH…
Hey MNJ,
All three errors were horrific not sure why you would give Duda a pass because he is not that good anyhow. Am I misunderstanding your point?
One error should not get more attention than the others but I know why it is
Three errors in four plays is uacceptable.
Maybe Wright will take something out of this and use 2 fkn hands like he should.
What a disgusting way to begin a road trip against the crappiest team around. Sheesh!
Is Ronny Cedano now our starting second baseman? I thought Cedano was on the roster to be a back up middle infielder not the starting 2nd baseman??? If the Mets have given up on Daniel Murphy they need to send him down to Buffalo and play him every day so that he can go: 2-4, 3-4. or 4-4 in every game he plays then trade him to an American Leaue team.
Enough already! Get on with it!
And if we tossed Murphy aside why would Cedano play over Valdespin? I’d much rather have a young dynamic rookie play every day then an older utility player with no upside.
Really hate to break it to you and all the other trade Murphy to the AL fans; nobody in the AL wants a single s hitter to be their DH.
Say what they will but there is no reason they should lose to one of the worst teams in baseball, the Cubs. Really?? Santana pitched well enough for a win but they couldn’t get the job done. Horrible.
Its called baseball. Tell us how many times a good team swept the season series fro a bad team. Rarely happens. Your line is old worn out and shows a lack of baseball knowledge.
you know, after reading some of this posters i am somehow shocked to see what i am reading.. I mean, why can’t the mets lose to the cubs?? Can somehow rally explaing it to me? the mets are a middle of the road team who have been playing well over their heads and got to where they are by being resilient and lucky. let’s no make this team out to be the 1927 yankees, hell, they’re not even the 2006 mets.. This team is good enough to win games, not as if they’re world beaters, their SP is good, their offense is above avg at best, their bullpen, well, we know the story, let’s be happy to be where we are and move on to the next game, don’t act shock and surprise when we have a stinker like this, or act surprised as hell when we lose to an inferior team, i mean, after all, let’s not forget this team was pegged to finish last by many for a reason..
Bad defense, no hitting, hey, it happens, move on to the next game.. Jeez..
The Core salutes you! Like I said in the chat, aside from Wright, none of our other position players would be starting on most good teams.
Wheeler got hammered last night, but Beltran leads league with 20 homers, 56 RBI and seventh in batting with .310. Triple crown contender, hands down first half MVP.
Wheeler was not great, but he certainly did not get hammered last night.
and Beltran this year has nothing to do with Wheeler. If they hadn’t made the trade, Beltran is still going to be on St. louis, you just wouldn’t have Wheeler in AA.
The CORE! maniac, i’ve said all along, this team has so far exceeded all kinds of expectations, when we lose the way we did last night it should come as no surprised to any of us… This team is just not that good defensively anyways, if anything we should be surprised we haven’t had many games like last night’s …
Ohh, and about beltran… At this point, let it go… Sandy’s greatest acquisition is zack wheeler so.. Beltran was not gonna sign with us etc.. I am pass that already.. Don’t give the saber gooners any ammunitions to come bash us..
Yeah youre right. I just wanted to let the haterz know they were wrong and that Beltran wasn’t finished like most said.
Good for Carlos. Class act and hope he plays long enough to add to his impressive resume and get to the hall of fame.
I’m thinking it’s a little early yet to be writing off Wheeler though.
Alex makes some good points – saw many arguments around the blogs on this last night after that debacle of a game. I wouldn’t call this team ‘lucky’, but they have been resilient. Right now, I’d consider them a .500 type club with post season a real long shot. Lots of baseball left to play but as currently constructed, just don’t think we have enough pieces yet.
Big surprise to me so far is the good stellar SP. I really thought that would be their downfall. Turns out, it’s mainly the BP. Almost god-awful, except for Byrdak and FF to a point.
I’m thinking it’s a little early yet to be writing off Wheeler though”
SRT, noone is writing him off, but let’s say that this season carlos finishes 300+ 35+ 120+ what would the equivalent of pitching that’d be?
18+ wins sub 3.00 ERA 200+ K’s? something like that right? Or no? Either way, i think carlos will have strong consideration to be a HOF if he can keep this up for a few more years, and he very well can… Wheeler? as you say, book is out.. And remember, this is NY.. Patient is a lil bit thinner with fans than say in SF or KC ..
“but let’s say that this season carlos finishes 300+ 35+ 120+ what would the equivalent of pitching that’d be?”
Are you seriously doing a straight up comparison? That simply doesn’t work.
What if Wheeler goes on to sport a 3.00 ERA with something around 190 Ks a year in his time with the Mets? What if this is Beltran’s last good year?
Stop playing fantasy baseball and deal with the realities of the situation. You can’t just look at every good player and say “why don’t we just throw money at him”? That is how we ended up in this mess.
Alex, I hesitated to go down this road since you already said ‘Beltran was not gonna sign with us etc……
Sure, we could have had him for 2 more months last year. Still think we would have not gone to post season even with him. No way he was signing here after that. Not after the Mets accusing him of a ‘secret’ surgery and looking into voiding his contract, among other things.
Don’t think his time in NY was a very happy one for him.
- took him a year to acclimate to NY and it showed in his first year play here. Met fans gave him no love, often booing him.
- there are some idiot Met fans that still blame him for the Wainwright curve and not going to the WS.
- had some great years putting up great numbers until his knee problems started up again. After that, the relationship was all downhill. IMO, Mets screwed around with his injury from the onset and as I said above, just got worse after that.
I don’t think it’s any coincidence he’s having the year he’s having now away from NY and the Mets. Beltran was and will remain one of my favorite NY Met players of all time. On that SNY special the other night – Mets All Star lineup – Carlos rightfully was named best CF. Of course he couldn’t be there but he pre-taped an acknowledgement for the honor. Did you hear it? He’s just class all the way around.
Wel Srt you mentioned his pretaped acceptance for the all time Mets CFer…
And that showed he actually did love playing here and he even suggested that ht felt he lets us down in that acceptance.
All this talk about how he would not have resigned with us is just bunk because all of the controversy was when Omar was running the show and all Sandy would have had to say if it came up was That was Omar, Not me! There is a new sherrif in town!
Now how much are we talking about and for how long?
Then a deal gets done!
Hi Metsie,
I had the same reaction seeing that taped thank you.
Never expected to hear him apologize to the fans because he felt he let them down to his injuries. It’s one thing for a former player to thank fans but that…., what class!
I think a lot of fans don’t give guys like Reyes, Wright and Beltran credit ( I bet Santana has this feeling as well!). They all EXPECTED and wanted to win us a World Series in NY which is probably the most electric place on the planet to be a World Champion!
They know the Injuries hurt us in that goal and they were as disappointed as anyone.
It is also true that they saw the potential on the horizon and wanted to be here to be a part of it.
Unfortunatly the FO subscribed to the same beliefs that many of the Moneyballers around here had that the team was a shambles and we had nothing in the Minors to fix it.
Notice how you don’t hear that kind of talk anymore it’s belief has been shattered like candy glass in an A-Team Episode!
They wanted to be here but it takes two to tango and the FO for whatever reason you want to make did not want to dance! So they did what anyone facing unemployment does…Look for another employer!
What if”
See that? What if? exactly, BELTRAN is doing it.. and did a helluva job for the NY METS, wheeler can be what you said, but we’ve seen many, many pitchers FLAME OUT once they become major leaguers, he can be a bust just as many of his fellow peers before him… Plain and simple…
Stop playing fantasy baseball and deal with the realities of the situation. You can’t just look at every good player and say “why don’t we just throw money at him”? That is how we ended up in this mess”
Right? we should throw less money to crappy players like rauch, carrasco, FFF, and then sign a bunch of $1 million type players to see if maybe, just maybe one of them pans out… That’s the way to go donal… Great business execution…
What? LOL. Not sure how you got this out of why I said…..
If you want to disagree that Beltran would have signed here had he been offered a contract, that’s fine. I don’t agree.
I’m never said Beltran didn’t put up great numbers when he was here, in fact I said just the opposite. What I did say however is don’t think he was all that happy with the NY Mets.
Just for the record, never played fantasy baseball in my life.
SRT, that was for donal… You’re not this dumb
Sorry. You didn’t use the reply button to Donal and your comment appeared right under mine. Thought you were directing that at me.
Also, when I was typing my response, Donal’s wasn’t up there yet. Notice mine and his is only a minute apart. Would be helpful if you used the reply button to exactly who you’re responding to.
SRT, got you.. Saw that… Here’s jon heyman’s tweet as me and maniac mentioned beltran:
Jon Heyman@JonHeymanCBS
carlos beltran was the best signing of the winter. at $13M a year for 2 years, an absolute steal. #STLcards
No argument from me on Beltran. Looks like the Cards aren’t missing Pujols all that much.
I gnash my teeth about Beltran as much as the next fan, but don’t we have to admit this was something of a whopping surprise?
Given his age, injuries, etc.?
Russel: I expected he had something left in the tank. Didn’t really expect him to be raking this well. One year older but his knees must be feeling pretty good right now.
Hi Russell,
How could Beltran be something of a surprise after last season?
He hit an even .300, hit 22 homers while Citi Field and AT&T Park both resembled Yosemite National Park, had a .385 OBP (for those who like that stat), drove in 84 and scored 78 himself in 142 games – which (minus the home runs) means his bat was worth .9859154 runs per game (for those who like to extend stats to the ultimate decimal point
) on rejuvinited, abiet more slower, knees. And despite those knees, he only made one error in right field and still managed ten assists (and who knows stopped how many runners from attempting to advance).
Would we be worse off tomorrow if we still had Beltran instead of Wheeler today? Yes, but with our farm system and the youngsters Neise and Gee (plus the ageless Dickey) would not having Wheeler be crucial to our future? No. Could we have continued doing well last season (before the injuries) had we kept KRod and Beltran? That has been already been debated to death so it has to be each his own with that.
Should we have then at least attempted to re-sign Carlos for two years? Well, after seeing Kirk showing so much promise I would have said no – except that Kirk wasn’t slated to be our centerfielder for the next two and Torres was. So under those circumstances (and not anticipating Bay’s injuries in left) are we better off having a fleet footed Torres in center in lieu of a slower Beltran as was the Mets plan? Well, that is a question of which is more important -the extra speed that Torres gives us with his glove with his anemic bat or the limited range but still golden glove and throwing arm that we have with Carlos along with his bat from last season and again now?
So if Torres wasn’t signed for two years I would have said thank you to Carlos
Yes, Beltran was tremendous player for the Mets and is having a great season.
So what? Weren’t you one of the ones crying about 100 losses this season? Do you think Beltran would have made a difference there? His production would have been wasted if you had gotten your wish.
Besides, as has been pointed out many, many times, Beltran wanted to leave. He didn’t really want to come here in the first place.
“Do you think Beltran would have made a difference there?”
Yep!
Here is one difference…
We are currently 25th in the league in HRs
With Beltran we would be 11th!
Metsie, don’t forget, that with beltran in the lineup, he would automatically take the pressure off other hitters etc
Hi Alex and Metsie,
The only way we are better off not having Beltran in the lineup is that it helped the front office meet it’s goal of reducing the payroll. That was their number one priority and unless things change, I see us becoming the Oakland of the east coast with great talent being sent off when a big contract looms due to either arbitration or free agency.
Oh I didn’t forget but look at who I was replying to….
Really no point in making a comprehensive explanation to someone who is just going to change the subject, State a lie as a fact to ignore the facts you present….
Cause you know Donal and Beltran are texting Buddies so he knows full well what Beltran felt about coming back and it’s a known fact in donal fantasyland that beltran didn’t like it here…despite everything he has ever said to the public!
Joey….You must make the distinction of financial issues from the fans…
They cut the payroll by 50 Million did it make it cheaper for you to attend the game?
Niether you or me nor any fan has gained a thing by thier lowered payroll.
The only one who benefitted is named Wilpon and truth is many fans feel they would be better off if they were forced to sell the team…
Any talk of finances is not relevant to the fans being better off. Not unless the money was re-invested in someone like Beltran that would make this season a much better ride right now!
The ONLY reason why some fans like this frugal approach is because 99% of thier enjoyment of Met baseball has little to nothing to do with the game being played and more to do with the armchair GMing they like to play as if it is some sort of Yahoo Fantasy league!
This guy is slumping but normally he is a big bat for you?
In reality you give that guy some time to get himself sorted in Fantasy Baseball you merely replace him in the lineup with some other guy you have because unless there are 32 members in the fantasy league you probably have two potential all stars for each position so it works there….
Does not work in reality!
Moneyballing works for Fantasy leagues and stratomatic but it is proven to not work in the MLB!
Who is the most winningest team in the past 20 years? The guys who spent the least or the guys who spent the most?
And while you can win without spending a lot of money it sure doesn’t last long!
Spending a lot does not guarantee you win either but at least by spending the Fans have hope and continue to go see you until you spend on the right players to win the World Series.
Again the same debunked nonsense.
It helped them reduce payroll by…having them pay his 2011 salary anyway? Ya, they sent a boatload of cash to the Giants.
But hey, at least they saved on the money he is making for the rest of that contract! Oh, ya, that was the final year of his deal that included a non-arbitration clause.
So, where was the money being saved on that deal?
And I will again ask the question that no one, including Joey D, alex68 and Metsie has ever answered straight up:
If the goal of Alderson coming to the Mets was all about cutting payroll (this is you theory, not mine), why was he even brought here? Why was he allowed to bring Ricciardi and Depoodesta? And why was he allowed to increase the amount of scouts we use?
If it was all about cutting payroll, why not just have Ricco (who is still the assistant GM) do it himself?
Are they paying him what they paid last year?
No?
Then they reduced Salary by getting rid of him!
Hi Metsie,
Of course even the Wilpons are not better off with the payroll being cut. I just mentioned that it was another one of their short-sighed objectives and I am sure just one of a series of overall organizational cuts being made.
Found the attached which you might have read but indicates that we are both right as far as increased attendance in relation to how much it can have an impact on the team’s financial struggles and (in my own words) “frugal spending”.
Joe
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-02/new-york-mets-main-financial-challenge-may-be-fielding-competitive-team.html
Remember maniac, with this GM at the helm, we have gotten NOTHING, so they’re basically saying: “save us wheeler one kanobi, You’re our only hope!” Lol…
Again, there was one idiot in here who were saying somehow DW was the season MVP so far back in may, so i am not ready to proclaim anyone MVP or CY as of yet, but it sure looks as if beltran will be there at the end…
Ah, Alex and Maniac,
With the kids having played well last season and again this year, I notice more fans becoming less patient with the moves made (and not made) to help the team shore up some holes so we can truly contend down the road. No longer are as many talking about:
1) This being a rebuilding period
2) The payroll being the problem now that we no longer have the contract commitments to Reyes, Beltran, KRod, Castillo and Perez
3) Money Ball
4) Two-year contracts for the likes of Carasco and Francisco.
5) Being better off without KRod because the owners saved $17 million.
6) The front office being a great evaluator of talent based on those championship Oakland clubs from almost a quarter century ago.
7) Saber Metrics as a tool to to put together a roster
The front office being a great evaluator of talent based on those championship Oakland clubs from almost a quarter century ago”
Uhh, what??? so 25 years ago he took a team full of steroid junkies and won a championship, what talent was there in that? You’re way off, the man is way past his time in baseballm hasn’t won sh** in the past 25 years and you somehow think he’s a great evaluator? Really? Rauch, boyer, thayer, bucholtz, carrasco, hu, eamus etc… You have got to be kidding me…
“You have got to be kidding me…”
Hi Alex,
Huh?
What made you think I actually subscribed to those thoughts? Was just repeating exactly what many of my friends had been saying since November, 2010 and claimed resolving some of the past problems and the new philosophy of the new front office (based on it’s past reputation) was going to usher in good times once again.
Many of them sincerely believed Alderson’s winter 2010 signings were going to surprise us because of his thinking “outside the box” and able to spot under-valued talent that would fit in with the team – like me, they didn’t at first recognize that he had little to do with player moves while Bill Rigney was in charge). When all but Byrdak failed, the claim was since we didn’t spend much, we didn’t lose much and that these players were then only roster spot fill-ins till the young kids developed. Many also claimed Capuano was a success looking at it from an economic and not competitive view since he never made a start and that not much is expected from a fifth starter anyway.
There was also strong anger about the way the Mets spent their money the past two decades trying to win now by signing over the hill players to multi year contracts like Vaughan, Zeile, Alomar, etc. instead of letting the young kids break in. That I have to agree with and we don’t know if Omar, under the same financial flexibility, would have allowed the likes of Gee, Parnell, Davis, Thole, Duda, etc. all come up within a few years of each other or again gone for the veterans. – But that doesn’t excuse this front office for all of it’s mistakes and planning.
I don’t see Murphy as a single hitter and if I see gap power there with 30+ doubles 12-15 home runs annually with a .300 avg then Major League scouts must see it too.
Murphy has never had an extended slump before every major league player does at some point. he only way they come out of it is to play… I can remember Mike Schmidt going through slumps like 2-50 with very limited slugging percentage many different times during his career.
Albert Pujuils this year…. . The Angels didn’t say, “Hey Albert aint hitting lets play our veteran utility guy over him.” My point is, if Murphy is the starting 2nd baseman give him a chance to play his way through this slump. Either the Mets are behind a poor defensive but solid hitting 2nd basmean or they aren’t. It just kills me seeing Ronny Cedano srating and hitting #2. Crazy!
Hi Lifelong,
Agree with you about Murphy. I’m a big supporter of him and can’t understand why he isn’t just being allowed to bat his way out of his slump. Perhaps having him bat in the fifth or sixth hole played a part in it instead of having him towards the front where he always produced.
But being benched is only messing up his timing even more. And not having his bat is why, even with the Sunday comeback, our run scoring of late lacks some punch, even with Davis starting to find his stroke.
The Mets problems aren’t at second base and they should concentrate on the bullpen and bench. Bay is expected back around the all-star break and even though he is not the player we hoped for, his bat was showing signs of coming around prior to his two injuries. He is still better in the lineup than Torres and the outfield should be Bay/Kirk/Duda against lefties and righties since Torres can’t seem to hit either and this will allow Kirk to better develop (rebuilding, remember?)
I really hope Murph is back in the lineup. Cedeno is totally average, and I trust Murph to get big hits when needed.
As much as I believe in these ’12 Mets (a lot of it is, duh, simply desire on my part), I do think a few devastating losses heading into the ASB is exactly what we cannot afford. There is no times to start winning like this moment.
Like to see the starting lineup tonight:
1. Newie
2. Tejada
3. Wright
4. Duda
5. Murph
6. Davis
7. Hairston
8. Thole
9. Gee
After watching last night’s game, my suggestion is to put Murphy into the lineup at either 2B or 3B to improve the defense!!! It was a circus out there.
P.S.: Let’s forget about yesterday and play for today and tomorrow. Drowning in a river of tears is just self pity. It doesn’t win baseball games even if it makes us temporarily feel better.
I really think the issue with Murphy is twofold….
One I think he is fatigued. Remember he just came off of another knee injury and you get your power from your legs. That could explain the lack of power this year so far.
He has only played 1 full season of baseball and that was two years and two knee surgeries ago in 2009. And he is playing a much more physically demanding position at 2B than 1B. Your pretty much running all over the place on every play which is why you never see a really fat infielder!
Second (and I mentioned this about Ike Davis recently) when you have so many left handed batters who require a different type of approach than RHBs do, The pitcher get a lot more work on thier LHH approach and start to become more effective against our LH hitting batters.
Since we don’t have the ability to put any power hitting RHHs into the lineup all of our LHHs are suffering.
All of our LHHs are hitting below .269 and teams are taking advantage of our lefty hefty lineup! And guess who the best BA LHH on our team is? Thats right it’s Murphy!
Add to that the fact we certainly aren’t hogging all the lefty pen help from the rest of the league we are much more easily nullified by lefties from the pen!
Tejada will help us a bit now that he is back. Hairston is usefull when we play a LHP but totally useless vs RHPs and the truth of the matter is when you look at hairstons splits they are as good as they are from his PHPAs and when played regularly not all that good!
He is not an everyday player! He is a role player and does better when he is in that role.
I understand starting Cedeno at 2B vs LHPs, hitting .346 and .355 vs LHSPs but the truth of the matter is his power and RBIs this year are all against RHPs and RHSPs.
So we are not getting anymore power out of Cedeno than we were with Murphy.
If I’m right about the fatigue then spelling Murphy now and then to keep him fresh is fine for now.
He will be fine once he gets his second wind. His Power will also start to come as the weather gets warmer and the ball travels a bit further.
The main concern shouldn’t be what we do about 2B it should be about finding a RH Power hitter who can play LF. Bay isn’t it and Hairston is useless vs RHPs
Even a guy like Carlos Gonzalez would be a really nice solution. Not sure what it would take to pry him from the Rockies, probably a lot.
Thats the thing to buy at the deadline…They won’t fix the pen there and should use the MiLs for that, Murphy will be fine with regular rest.
Well Donal,
I don’t think Podesta and Ricca are on the 40 man major league roster payroll so that has nothing to do with the conversation. And don’t forget, Sandy also fired ten percent of the club’s administrative staff while hiring his son Byrn as a scout. So often private interests take the place over professional duties,.
But to separate theory from fact regardng the team’s goal over the past 20 months to cut roster payroll, attached are a few of the many articles from the time frame which quote both Sandy and the Wilpons along with summarizing the reality of the financial situation at hand.
Note there are also indications that Sandy was unprepared for the reductions he was told would have to be put in place But the bottom line is the goal was to reduce roster payroll.
http://blog.nj.com/mets/2012/01/the_mets_low_payroll_could_be.html
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6590444
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/592010-sandy-alderson-states-this-years-payroll-is-significantly-higher-than-they-want
http://www.metsfever.com/2012/02/fred-threw-sandy-under-bus.html
http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2011/11/mets-shifting-payroll-projections.html
And then there is this interview Sandy had regarding his feelings about fiscal responsibilities when with San Diego:
http://www.utsandiego.com/sports/sullivan/20070823-9999-1s23sullivan.html
“I don’t think Podesta and Ricca are on the 40 man major league roster payroll so that has nothing to do with the conversation.”
Yes, it does. You said he is here to cut payroll. Why did he bring them here then?
“And don’t forget, Sandy also fired ten percent of the club’s administrative staff while hiring his son Byrn as a scout. ”
Admin staff aren’t scouts. A lot of companies are outsourcing their logistical work now because it is an easy way to save money. Not very nice, but efficient.
“So often private interests take the place over professional duties,.”
And so often personal agendas and bias make people say nasty things with no evidence.
“But to separate theory from fact regardng the team’s goal over the past 20 months to cut roster payroll,”
No, the goal was to build up up the franchise to respectability. Cutting the bloated payroll is a painful first step to that.
“attached are a few of the many articles from the time frame which quote both Sandy and the Wilpons along with summarizing the reality of the financial situation at hand. ”
Oh, look, a bunch of articles all written before Spring Training. And one by Medgal.
Has anything important happened since all of those articles were written?
“And then there is this interview Sandy had regarding his feelings about fiscal responsibilities when with San Diego:”
So what? Oh my goodness, a GM wants to be mindful of team finances and make sure they are getting what they are paying for. What a travesty.
You did not prove that Alderson is here just for cutting payroll at all. You just stated things well know happened and added your own unfounded interpretation to them.
Joey D: To be fair about 1 thing…. you make it sound like Alderson hired his son who had no experience etc. As though he fired people just to get his son a job.
Bryn has been the coordinator of scouting for Oakland and while I’m not suggesting he’s some no brainer hire based on experience, I am suggesting he has experience to get a job as a scout.
Hi Jessep,
Never inferred that Bryn had no experience or wasn’t the right man for the job – he might very well be. Though the moves are not related to each other, during work force reductions to me it appears as being indifferent to those being put out of work and hiring one’s own son (who is still working) at the same time. Recognize it is business and Byrn might very well have been the best candidate, but call it the Studs Turkel in me.