Mike Nickeas Gets The Ax, Rob Johnson Promoted From Buffalo

27 Comments + Add Comment

• Metstheory22 July 25, 2012 at 5:22 pm

  He knows we can’t get rid of this contract no matter what.
  • BadBadLeroyBrown July 25, 2012 at 5:44 pm

    Why cant they get rid of Jason Bay and his contract???

    Sandy got rid of Ollie Perez and Luis Castillo in the same offseason and the Mets ate the $18mil owed to them. Jason Bay is due to make 16mil next year in the last year of his deal and he has been far worse than both of them combined.

    If we are building for the future Bay is clogging up a spot and costing us games in the meantime.
    • Metstheory22 July 26, 2012 at 9:12 am

      I think we all agree with that. I think they will wait till after season to see if we vcan trade him, if not release him like Ollie & Castillo.
• srt July 25, 2012 at 5:25 pm

  I’m getting rather tired of TC trying to spin Bay’s failures. I don’t care that he’s only had 100 or so at bats this season. He’s done. At worst, he should be platooned. At best, he should be cut.

  Rob Johnson….he’s not much better than Nickeas. In 2 weeks, the masses will be yammering about why we didn’t try to obtain a catcher at the deadline.

  Valdespin…..while I’d rather see him play in LF than Bay, he’ll be quickly exposed at the plate, not to mention his weak arm for an OF. Like the spark he’s provided when PH, but he hit into 3 double plays Monday when he was in the line-up. Someone needs to impress upon him the art of waiting for your pitch. Today with bases loaded in the 8th and one out, he’s first pitch swinging to ground out to the pitcher. Yes, we got a run out of it but could have been a bigger inning.
• gary s. July 25, 2012 at 5:26 pm

  We went from 1 game out for the 2nd wildcard to the KC Royals in 2 weeks.Nickeas for Johnson is just moving one stiff for another stiff.Something Alderson excels at imho.I guess if we lose sime in a row, SA might make another move for a stiff.Incredible. .
  • Joey D. July 25, 2012 at 10:30 pm

    Hi Gary,

    That is kind of scary. Remember, the Royals have been building from within for who knows how long now and was often touted to be a possible dark horse in the AL Central, only to disappoint over and over again.

    Have a friend in Kansas City who says they’ve always had a lot of highly touted prospects but only a handful really worked out.
• 86mets July 25, 2012 at 6:03 pm

  Why is it that Bay keeps getting AB’s when it’s been obvious for 2 1/2 years that he isn’t going to produce? Just because he’s making $16 million? I understand that to a point, but if you really want to win games you put the BEST players on the field regardless of salary. While Bay piles up at-bats and outs, the Mets are piling up losses when a clearly better player rides the bench (Valdespin). What’s worse is that by playing Bay he gets that much closer to his option year kicking in. I know it’s a longshot that it kicks in, but in theory, it could. Terry, put the best team on the field and stop adhering to some old baseball rule that young players have to earn their keeps before earning playing time, especially when that player has already proven to be more productive than your “vet”.
• DaMetsman from Washington State July 25, 2012 at 6:03 pm

  Swapping Johnson for Nickeas was done for two reasons and tells us something a bit deeper. First, It was done for the sake of change and to send a message to the rest of the team on the heels of the Duda demotion. Second, it was an accommodation to Matt Harvey, who has given much credit to Johnson for his development this season. But what this really says, is that Alderson & Co. are not going to give away prospects to get a right-handed hitting platoon compliment to Thole to play one out of every four games or so. If you give away prospect, you get a Justin Upton or more of a long-term solution, not the likes of Kelly Shoppach or Ramon Hernandez. As for Bay… The Mets have committed tremendous resources his way and must see it through. This was not Collins’ choice. It was the Wilpons under Minaya. If he throws Bay to the wolves, so to speak, he would lose the respect of his players. Nurturing under-performing players is the responsibility of the manager. Once Baxter returns, and if Bay continues to struggle, we will likely see a platoon of sorts in LF and in RF. The question is who will platoon with Hairston in RF? Will it be the struggling Nieuwenhuis or the exciting Valdespin (or will he be in CF and Torres DFA’d). Either Nieuwenhuis or Torres will be removed from the active roster. It could be Hairston, if the Mets decide to be sellers. Hefner did a good job today. Would Dempster do any better? Perhaps, but the Mets have a long-range plan, which likely includes Dickey, Niese, Gee, Harvey and Wheeler. A GM with a plan may move a Gee, a Murphy and others, but the payback has to be an Upton. And so it goes!
  • jerseymet July 25, 2012 at 6:19 pm

    Good points. Also the staff stinks. Perhaps another caller could provide a spark. This is Johnson’s chance to stay with the organization. Eventually I look for Sandy to bring in a top catcher, not just a value priced one.
  • Tommy2cat July 25, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    Agreed – very good points.

    I thinks its a good time to take stock of what of what we want to keep & jettison those who are not contributing and show no signs of doing so.

    I would tell Dan Warthen that the bullpen better start producing, and leave it at that.
• BadBadLeroyBrown July 25, 2012 at 6:05 pm

  “A very ticked off Terry Collins fired off some no-holds-barred shots at his team’s POOR PERFORMANCE to begin the second half of the season. The Mets manager PROMISED that there would be CHANGES and he PROMISED they would come fast.”

  Which he is right….AGREED! AGREED! AGREED!

  “what stood out for me was how staunchly Collins defended Bay in his post game presser, and his strong words that Bay is his everyday left fielder, case closed.”

  And with that Collins loses all credibility…..

  What kind of mix messages is he sending his players? We’ll hold you accountable but not this guy…That’s a great way to cause division within a locker room against one another
  • Liz July 25, 2012 at 6:11 pm

    I watched him when he said that, but his point was that he didn’t have 100 ABs yet.
• Hitman July 25, 2012 at 6:15 pm

  “The Mets manager promised that there would be changes and he promised they would come fast”

  You’re a little late to the party, aren’t ya Terry?
• jerseymet July 25, 2012 at 6:29 pm

  This Front office has given players extended chances to prove that they belong. Ollie, Castillo, Beltran @ center, Carasco, Hopefully this will be Bay’s last chance. The Met’s are on the hook for another 21 million this year and next. Were he waived and picked up by another team the Mets would pay the bulk of his salary. Were Bay to vest his option for 2014 would the Mets be responsible for any of it beyond the 3 million buy out?
  • Donal July 26, 2012 at 9:34 am

    I think that has been discussed the last few days and, so far, I believe the answer is that the Mets are only responsible for the guaranteed money.
• Metfan Lou July 25, 2012 at 6:38 pm

  How come all the Met fans knew about this team but not TC? By the way that one win in the last 13 games sure screwed things up, it gave us just a little hope and then the door slammed shut again. Notice how quiet the Wilpons are. You know what’s a hoot-all those suckers including Bill Mahrf the a..hole who flushed 20 million bucks down the drain for a private box and parking space to watch at best a Dbl A team. What is the chance after the road games the Mets won’t come home? Bags for sale, Bags for sale, with and without pre cut holes. Get your bags here, 2 bucks.
• Mr North Jersey July 25, 2012 at 7:39 pm

  I am also guessing there is a bot of a comfort level developed between Harvey & Johnson since Johnson has been the starting catcher in most of his games this season including 8 of his last 9 starts and with the lefty facing the Mets tomorrow I’d be surprised if Johnson isn’t in the starting lineup.
• tlagee July 25, 2012 at 9:00 pm

  We came into this season knowing that Thole lacked power and was not a great catcher. He’s a gritty player – I’ll give him that – but he has backup written all over him.

  So knowing that we needed a starting catcher during the off season, Sandy has put the team in the position of replacing a .168 catcher (Nickeas) with a ML career catcher hitting .203.(Johnson – though he has a better average when he was in the mionors this year – .207)

  Sandy has been with us almost two years now. This is one position that needed to be addressed long ago and hasn’t.

  He also hasn’t really addressed second base or the outfield. He has adressed the bullpen and we all know how that turned out. Davis’ hole in his bat is killing us at first and it might be time to tade Ike and move Murphy back there.
• Russell Zanca July 25, 2012 at 9:50 pm

  Where we are with regard to catching is a bad joke. I still don’t know why Johnson wasn’t kept on based on how well he performed. All we heard was that he was the best defensive catcher of the three.

  My, my what a fall from grace since ol # 31 left us.
• sarge69 July 25, 2012 at 10:30 pm

  TC really has no option because of the lack of a RH bat to balance lineup against the heavy LH one every night, SA knew this and counted on Bay returning to form; how did that work?

  TC is really I believe just hoping that Bay breaks out but by allowing Bay an endless amount of slack to get his act together vs Duda, LH bats were too much anyway, and Nickeas plus possibly trading the only other RH power bat Mets have.

  TC simply can’t just blindly give Bay unlimited at bats to break out unless he too is now following the FO mantra that this season is lost so lets play Bay anyway!

  Same every game, other than Tues game, starter comes out and BP allows tack on runs.
  Defense is once again roaring it big head at 2b, Murphy please stay down on ball.

  Wow, I never thought THIS team could go 0-6 at home.

  Great game by Hefner who threw strikes and moved ball around.

  When is the Hudgens philosophy of falling behind in count then swinging at bad pitches going to be ended, team already know about building up pitch counts but this team does not have the consistent hitters to hit behind in the count, how many are hitting under ,250 playing everyday?
• Alex68 July 26, 2012 at 7:28 am

  Well, TC said there’d be changes, there you go, Rob johson, a light hitting Catcher has been promoted in favor of the super light hitting nickeas.
  Lol, you seriously cannot make this up…
• jdon July 26, 2012 at 9:08 am

  Johnson has been catching Harvey in the minors. Since these two guys are interchangeable anyway, I wonder if that had something to do with it. I am confused. I thought the Bay contract in the final year was contingent upon him getting a certain number of ABs. Where did i get that idea? I was kind of hoping they could cut him loose after this year.
  • jdon July 26, 2012 at 9:09 am

    I meant Nickeas and Johnson are interchangeble. Maybe they are just easing Harvey’s transition some.
  • Donal July 26, 2012 at 9:39 am

    Bay is guaranteed through next year. The vesting option is for 2014 if he gets either 500 PAs each of the next 2 years or 600 PAs next year.
• METS62FAN July 26, 2012 at 10:54 am

  I BELIEVE THIS CHANGE OF BACKUP CATCHING OPTIONS HAS MUCH MORE TO DO WITH HARVEY’S COMFORT LEVEL THAN COLLINS’ NEED TO REARRAING DECKCHAIRS. STEVE SERBY’S INTERVIEW IN TODAY’S POST SHOWS THIS AS HIS FIRST Q&A…

  The Post’s Steve Serby fired questions at Mets phenom Matt Harvey, who will make his major-league debut tonight in Arizona.

  Q: Describe your mound temperament.

  A: (Buffalo Bisons catcher) Rob Johnson in Triple-A … told me, “When you’re out there, have perception.” Make people think that you have a purpose for every single thing that you do. If you throw a ball, maybe you meant to throw it. The hitter looks at you. Maybe say you give up a two-run homer, you step back on the mound like nothing happened, and you’re going after the next guy. He told me a lot of the good guys that he’s watched and caught, you could never tell. While I’m on the mound, I try and keep everything even.

  Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/serby_special_with_matt_harvey_pitKVeMCNwrGkNOk5WlJFL#ixzz21jxBMw2F
  NAME DROPPING A CATCHER’S NAME FROM AAA IS
  A FIRST FROM MY EXPERIENCE LEVEL AS A MET FAN OF 50+ YRS(PRE GAME 1,’62) MY VERY FIRST MLB RECOLLECTION WAS GAME ATTENDENCE @ EBBETTS’
• 4136forever July 26, 2012 at 11:05 am

  I concur with the need to dump Bay, eat the contract, unless some foolish AL team will take him. As for the catchers Mr. Alderson missed the boat this Spring when Ivan (Pudge) Rodriguez was available. Yes, he is at the end of his career, but he would hit .250+, provide much better defense and knows how to guide pitchers. Now for the pitcher staff. Has anybody noticed that EVERY TIME our Pitchers get to an 0-2 count, they either nibble at the outside corner and full behind 3-2 and/or get spanked on a fat pitch over the middle of the plate or an outside pitch that gets too much of the plate. Whatever happened to busting a batter inside or just plain attacking him in the strike zone to finish him off. The pitching has become so predictable that every opposition batter knows to look for an 0-2 pitch on the outside part of the plate and spank it . This happens batter after batter, game after game. Why does our Pitching coach, Mr. Warthen not see this and correct the problem? Maybe because HE IS THE PROBLEM. Every young pitcher on this staff has under developed and /or regressed under Warthen’s tutoring. Want to fix our Pitching, GET RID OF WARTHEN !!!!!
• theonlymaskman July 26, 2012 at 2:06 pm

  Yes, it is amazing that Warthen continues as the pitching coach considering the regression that has taken place in pitching performance on this team. He must be hiding behind the protective shield of injuries. As you pointed out, why doesn’t this staff pitch inside?