I wouldn’t say a nasty homegrown pen, but there’s definitely potential within. The Mets should convert Mark Cohoon into a reliever, most specifically into a LOOGY.

I’m on the fence about Carson. He never really got a fair shake on what he could do on the ML level, being sent back and forth between the minors and majors, but I’ll say this: should he shake his control issues, he’ll be a plus second lefty with Edgin.

Mejia should get his shot as a starter. No more games. A look into some footage and there’s something about his windup and delivery I dislike that the Mets should look into. He lacks that leg drive in his delivery that will take him into the next step. I’m surprised no one has yet to point that out. You see the leg drive with Harvey, but not Mejia? He’d probably be better with a Gallardo-esque type of delivery. Oh yeah, dropping the curve and changeup and developing the 12-6 curve and a circle-change would be beneficial.

As for the mid-80s Mets, what was more exciting than Keith hussling to grab a sac bunt to throw the lead runner out at 3d or 2d base – he was the perfect leader of that team.

“It’s almost like people are miserable, and they want to bring you down to their level.”
- kevin mcreynolds – on NY fans

When the Mets traded him to Toronto, on Aug. 27, 1992, Cone called it “the end of the arrogant Mets. The end of the mid-’80s, flourishing Mets.” When Cone was asked that day if he knew how that end came about, he replied, “Well, yeah, the heart and soul was bred out of it. Numbers and production have taken a front seat while what a guy’s intangibles are, what personality he brings to the Mets, is left on the backseat. You need people who are fixtures, with personality and guts. When things are down, those are the type of guys who fight back.”

There is no more damning statistic of how soft the Mets turned than this: They have a losing record in one-run games every year after 1988. They have been bullies in games decided by three or more runs in that time, with a .539 percentage in such games (215-184). In one- and two-run games, though, they have played .417 baseball (171-239). Trying to explain the disparity, Cone once attributed it to the Mets’ “tight booty.”

“We were desperate to have a Latin on the team,” says one Met official, “especially with the great Latin American population in the city. We thought New York would love him.”

Problem was, Samuel hated New York and was even less comfortable in center-field. Since trading Dykstra and then Wilson (for Jeff Musselman) six weeks later, the Mets have auditioned 17 players in centerfield, and none has held the job for a full season.

By July 31, 1989, the Mets were seven games out. They panicked again. McIlvaine traded Aguilera, Tapani, West and two lesser pitching prospects to the Minnesota Twins for Viola. Again Cashen would come to regret his endorsement.

With McIlvaine as director of scouting in the early ’80s, the Mets built the foundation for their winning teams from a superlative farm system. A snapshot of their minor league system at the start of the ’83 season included Aguilera, Dykstra, Gooden, Magadan, McDowell, Mitchell, Myers, Strawberry, Mark Carreon, Ron Darling, Tim Leary, Randy Milligan, Greg Olson, Calvin Schiraldi, Walt Terrell and other future big leaguers. Since the time Scioscia hit that home run off Gooden (and as McIlvaine had become more involved on the major league level), the Mets have not had a single player in their system who has 100 hits in a big league season and only one pitcher who has won as many as 10 games in a given year. That pitcher, Tapani, has done so four times—for Minnesota.

“I didn’t want to give up Aguilera,” McIlvaine says. “He was just getting comfortable closing games. West had a good arm, but I knew he didn’t have what it takes inside. Tapani is the one who surprised me. I thought he was a five-inning starting pitcher who couldn’t go two days in a row if you put him in the bullpen.”

The Mets’ farm system was drying up, and here was McIlvaine squandering what little was left. “This one,” he said at the time, “could backfire right in my face if Viola doesn’t perform up to expectations.” The Mets made up just one game on the first-place Cubs after the trade, with Viola going 5-5. He spent two more years in New York—going 38-32 overall, including a combined 13-20 in August, September and October—before leaving as a free agent. “That’s the kind of thinking,” Wilpon says of the shortsighted trade, “that doesn’t work out. Frank never worked out, to put us over the top.”

Viola was tormented by the carousel of grotesque fielders the Mets annually put on display. “I’m not surprised to see what’s happened to the Mets,” says Viola, who bolted after the 1991 season to sign with the Boston Red Sox. “I saw it coming. What happened is they had too many people out of position. And I mean starting from the front office on down.”

I used to crash into my fence catching fly balls pretending to be him

if a SP only gives u 4.2 innings a game…that stresses ur BP

if a SP gives u 7.1 innings a game…it can make a mediocre BP look great….

if u have a poor catcher who cant block pitches in the dirt….that affects the effectisveness of certain pitchers….

infield and outfield defense also contribute into the outcome…

if u have a groundball pitcher who has no faith in his infield, and goes away from his groundball inducing pitches in favor of his weaker pitches….he gives up more flyball outs that turn into HR

( Mike Pelfrey )

so many factors go into the results….

this is why in my opinion, a catcher who is great defensively, calls a great game, knows his staff really well is worth much more than one is who poor behind the plate but hits well

this is why the rays get a jose molina to work with their staff and their catchers…

Sandy’s refusal to deal with the catching problem in my opinion shows his lack of knowledge or interest.

Going with Mike Nikeaus as ur 2012 opening day backup catcher sealed the deal for me.

Inexperienced Josh Thole + More inexperienced Mike Nikeaus was a recipe for disaster.

Not a surprise that our bullpen was ranked 3rd to last in ERA this year and again lost over 25 games

the last time our pen had a great year was when we had Paul LoDuca behind the plate…the last time our pen even had a decent year was when Rod Barajas was behind the plate…Both were ranked as good catchers to work with. Rod also helped mentor Josh thole that year…when he left, josh’s performance dipped drastically from a defensive perspective.

I totally agree with you. It seems tht these days bullpens are built mostly of retreads from another team or just failed starters. What happened to bringing up a guy and exposing him to the bigs via the pen? Bullpen has become a total guessing game.