Mets Merized Online

Communication is important and it’s something that the Mets need to work on improving and fast if they want any success in the near future.  The last couple of seasons have shown how the lack of communication has hurt this franchise on and off the field.  The Mets promised things would be different this year, but it’s clear that not much has changed from a season ago.

Carlos Beltran’s surgery is a key example of the miscommunication that is running rampant in the organization.  We all know the situation, Beltran went to his own private surgeon, all the insurance paperwork was filed and the Mets signed off on it. Beltran even spoke to GM Omar Minaya who wished him luck the day before the procedure. The next day,  the organization and Minaya’s own assistant, claimed that they had no knowledge regarding the procedure. The Mets were embarrassed in the media yet again. Perhaps if someone had just picked up a phone or sent a fax or email they could have avoided the mess that resulted from the lack of communication. Instead they succeeded in showing that incompetence was still running rampant in the organization and more importantly they alienated one of their star players.

As Spring Training gets started the miscommunication continues.  Jenrry Mejia has impressed many this year.  Jerry Manuel has said that if Mejia’s success continues he would seriously have to consider giving Mejia a roster spot.  This goes against everything we’ve heard from the organization including Omar Minaya.  Yesterday Omar said again that regardless of what Mejia does this Spring he will be playing the minors at least at the start of the season.  Put yourself in Mejia’s position for a second.  The manager of the team is telling you to work hard and have good outings in Spring Training and you could very well be on the team when the season starts. On the flip-side, the General Manager of the team says no matter what you do, you are going to the minor leagues.  I don’t understand why Omar couldn’t just communicate the organizational plan regarding Mejia to Jerry Manuel directly. It only takes a couple of minutes for them to talk to each and it would have avoided the mixed messages and appearance of more dysfunction.

Jose Reyes’ situation is another example of miscommunication in the organization.  Reyes was given extra lab work and everyone thought that was it.  He was scheduled to play the next day but at the very last moment was scratched from the lineup and sent to New York because the doctors in New York were concerned about his results. Reyes was working out and getting ready to play that morning, but nobody said anything to Jose or Jerry Manuel until the last minutes before game time.

Does any other team have this lack of communication? How can you run a successful team like this?  If this team wants to win they could start by talking to each other and getting on the same page, otherwise it’s always going to be more of the same.

The last 2 weeks I wrote about how the pitchers and the players who patrol the infield must step up for the Mets to have success in 2010.  This week concludes with how the outfielders must step up.

Angel Pagan: For the first 2 months of the 2010 season it looks like Angel Pagan will be the everyday Center Fielder for the Mets due to Carlos Beltran’s surgery.  Pagan had a good year last year, he can field and he can hit.  Unfortunately Pagan also had some trouble with fundamentals, especially on the base passes.  Pagan must keep his head in the game, must be aware of how many outs there are and he needs to use better judgment when running the bases.  Pagan is going to be important in the beginning of the season for the Mets.  He cannot make stupid mistakes everyday that gives away outs.  If Pagan can play good fundamental baseball while filling in for Beltran the Mets will be in good shape to start the 2010 season.

Jeff Francoeur: Frenchy seems to have divided the fan base of the Mets.  Alot of fans love him and alot of fans don’t.  I’m in the former, I liked the passion he brings to the game, I like that he has taken some of the media pressure off of David Wright and I like that he is committed to helping this team win.  Francoeur showed last season that he was a gamer when he continued to play with a torn ligament in his thumb.  The season was over, it didn’t matter if he played or not but he didn’t want to let the team and the fans down.  Francoeur needs to work on patience at the plate.  I don’t want him to lose his aggressiveness at the plate but he needs to select better pitches to offer at.  He cannot swing a 3-0 pitch outside of the strike zone.  If Frenchy plays with the same intensity he did last year and can become a bit more patient at the plate he is going to be a valuable member of the New York Mets in 2010.

Jason Bay: Bay was our traditional 1 big splash in the off-season.  Bay so far has stepped up as a team guy.  Bay along with Francoeur have taken a lot of pressure off of Wright as far as the media is concerned.  Everybody who has played with has said nothing but good things about him and I look forward to seeing him play this year for the Mets.  Bay will bring much needed power to the lineup as well as support for David Wright in the lineup.

Carlos Beltran: Beltran will be missing at least 2 months of the season which is very unfortunate for the Mets.  When he comes back he comes back there will be a lot of eyes on his performance.  Beltran to me is the player you want on a team.  He’s an excellent fielder and he can hit both for power and average.  There isn’t really anything to complain about when talking about Beltran.  He steps up every year and every game and I expect to see the same when he does return.

There you have it.  I hope you readers have enjoyed this series of articles, hopefully everyone will step up and we’ll have a great 2010 season.

Last week I wrote how it was time for the pitchers on this team to step up to plate for the upcoming 2010 season.  This week I’ll be looking at how the infield needs to step up and make 2010 a successful season.

Rod Barajas: With the signing of Rod Barajas we finally (hopefully) are done signing catchers and unless something drastic happens this spring Barajas is going to be the Mets starting catcher come opening day.  Now obviously Barajas wasn’t part of the dreadful 2009 season, but he is still going to need to step up to help this team for 2010.  Barajas with the exception of Johan Santana is going to have to take control of this pitching staff and get them to throw a good game every five days.  We all know Ollie Perez, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey are head-cases, he is going to have his work cut out for him this season, but a good catcher can make all the difference.  Barajas does call a good a game and to me that is more important than what he is going to do offensively.  I want him to have good at bats and produce offensively the way he has done over his career, but I want his head focused on getting the most out of our pitchers. Of course he can’t be the everyday catcher hitting below the Mendoza line but if he stays true to form he can hit some homerun’s and help our offense score some runs.

Daniel Murphy: Last year was a hard year for Murph, there is no doubt about that.  He had to learn two unfamiliar positions last year. Murphy is a workhorse and is always ready to play and I like that about him.  Murph now has some experience playing first base, he has been getting schooled by Keith Hernandez who is one of the best defensive first baseman to have ever played the game so it’s time to step up and improve your defense.  Now I understand he won’t have the instincts of a natural  first baseman that has played the position so well for so many years, that comes with time and experience, but he still needs to play solid defense with good fundamentals.  He showed flashes of that last season, but there were also mental mistakes that he cannot make this season.  He also needs to improve on his offense.  When Murphy came up in 2008 and Mets fans fell in love with him he was a very patient hitter, he worked counts and didn’t swing at bad pitches. But in 2009 he strayed from that approach. Hopefully this season he will go back to the way he approached hitting in 2008 and help this team win.

Luis Castillo: Castillo stepped up last year and improved his game a lot from 2008. Castillo came to Spring Training early and in shape ready to prove that 2008 was a fluke.  We all remember the dropped fly ball against the Yankees and at the time it was bad but Castillo stood up and took all the abuse from the fans and faced the media for days after that and still had a good season. In fact he improved his game after that error.  His defense remains a problem because of his decreasing range and to be honest I don’t know how you can improve that aspect of your game when father time is getting on you.  The one thing Castillo needs to do is use his veteran experience to help this Mets team win.  Keith Hernandez did an interview with SNY a couple of weeks ago about his tutoring Daniel Murphy and one thing he said caught my interest.  Keith said that when he first arrived to the majors, his second baseman helped him out, gave him signals when to move closer to the line or go off the bag based on what the next pitch was going to be. Keith asked Murph if Castillo did anything like that with him last season and Murph told him no.  Keith told Murphy to go and talk to Castillo and get on the same page defensively. Castillo is a veteran and needs to help the younger players like Murphy if he can.  This is a team sport and you help other guys on your team improve so that your team can win games.

Jose Reyes: Perhaps after Johan Santana, Jose Reyes is the most important player on the Mets. Whether he is our leadoff hitter or batting third to start the season, Reyes must stay healthy and must grow up this year.  I’m not talking about the handshakes or celebrations, I like those and I hope Jose brings the celebrations back in 2010.  What I don’t want to see from Jose Reyes is the sulking, pouting player we see at times when things are not going the way he wants them to go.  In the last game Reyes played at Citi Field he thought he hit a home-run, but it went off the wall and instead of running hard for a triple he did a home-run trot that only resulted in a double.  Jose at times has also not run out ground balls as hard as he could have and that cannot happen in 2010.  He’s got major league experience and he’s a veteran on this team, and he needs to act like one. I think Jose has started his maturation process as evident by his willingness to bat third if Jerry Manuel wants him to.  I remember last year Reyes did not seem very receptive to the idea and he let the media know about it, but this time he has no problem with not leading off, he just wants to win.

David Wright: David’s the first to admit that last year was not a good one for him and he hopes to rebound in a big way in 2010.  There’s not a lot to criticize about David, he plays the game the right way and he always tries to improve his performance.  If I had to find a fault it’s in his leadership ability.  Now I’m not saying David is not a leader, he cares about this team more than any other player and he talks to the media day in and day out win or lose. He says the right things to the media but I’m tired of his “they played better baseball than us” reasoning. It’s time for David to step up and become the leader we know he can be.  David seems at times to be hesitant about becoming the leader on this team. We saw glimpses of his leadership ability last year when he got in Pelfrey’s face to try to help the big man, it was a good sign and I was hoping to see more of that last year but that didn’t happen.  For years David has been called the leader by the fans and most of the press, it’s time for him to accept it and lead this team to victory.

Next week I’ll talk about how the outfielders need to step up to the plate for 2010, have a good week, baseball season is getting close and closer.

Pitchers and catchers are arriving in Port St. Lucie, workouts will be starting shortly and soon exhibition games will be played in Florida.  The Mets will be trying to erase the 2009 season and focus on winning in 2010.  There a lot of question marks coming into the 2010 season for the Mets such as their rotation after Johan Santana, Daniel Murphy’s ability to be a productive 1st baseman both offensively and defensively, Luis Castillo being able to play the way he did last year and of course who will be our starting catcher.

Unfortunately the Mets were not the busiest of teams during the off season and they did not sign the free agents a lot of fans wanted them to.  It’s time to move on from that as the Mets are going to have to make due with the team they have, a team that was predicted to make the World Series in 2009 by many sports journalist including Sports Illustrated. We’ll have to stay healthy and perform better than last year if we expect this team to win a championship.

Some early thoughts on pitchers…

Johan Santana: He was lights out early on last season, he played hurt, he always wants the ball but there is one thing that has bothered me about Johan over the last 2 seasons.  What has bothered me about Johan Santana is his tendency at times to throw a teammate under the bus in a passive aggressive way.  It’s no secret Santana should have won many more games than he did in 2008 but didn’t because of the bullpen.  It’s quite reasonable that he would be upset; I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Having said that I would rather he spoke to his teammates privately instead of slyly insulting them to the media. Another instance comes to my mind from last year in a game against the Brewers. Fernando Martinez was playing center field and as he tried to get to the ball he took a face plant, Johan was visibly upset in the dugout, shaking his head and at the same time showing up the young prospect.  I’m no F-Mart supporter but he was not ready to be in the big leagues and he was playing out of position.  The last thing F-Mart needed was one of the best players on the team showing his disgust on live TV for the media and fans to see.  Santana should have talked to him privately.  Now Johan doesn’t do this often so for 2010 I hope Johan steps up by being a slightly better teammate.

Mike Pelfrey: Big Pelf took a big step backwards last year.  He was inside his own head far too much, could not pitch with guys on base and allowed too many balks. Pelf needs to realize he’s a big league pitcher now.  His job is to get guys out and let your infielders and outfielders worry about the guys on base.

John Maine: Maine for the last 2 seasons has suffered injuries, but even when healthy he has a hard time getting out of the 5th inning.  Maine has shown that he can be brilliant on the mound as we saw in September of 2007 in a gem against the Marlins. Maine needs to focus and stop over thinking from pitch to pitch. You can see how he frequently thinks too far ahead when he pitches, always thinking about the next one. He needs to stay in the moment and not worry about the next pitch or hitter.

Oliver Perez: He might be the most frustrating out of the bunch in the rotation. He has no-hitter stuff and we have seen flashes of that, but we have also seen Ollie far too often self destruct.  He signed a big contract last year and he arrived to Spring Training overweight and out of shape.  Ollie also has a tendency to change his delivery mid game all of the sudden even if he’s in a good groove.  Ollie seems to have already started stepping up to the plate for 2010 as he’s been working out extensively before Spring Training in Arizona.  He also has gotten himself in much better shape and dropped some excess pounds. Ollie needs to listen to his coaches. He needs to stop experimenting with his delivery and stick with the one that works.  He needs to prove that he was worth that big contract and that all this potential was more than just talk.

K-Rod: It seemed that after Luis Castillo dropped that ball at Yankee Stadium, K-Rod’s season went in the wrong direction.  He didn’t have a lot of playing time in the 2nd half of the season due to save situations being few and far between. I think it was one of the reasons why his production was so bad in the second half.  Some have said he quit playing hard since this was the 1st time in a long time he was not going to the playoffs or in the hunt for the playoffs.  Pedro Feliciano has said that he would tell K-Rod to tell Warthen and Jerry that he needed to pitch but K-Rod did not follow that advice.  K-Rod makes a lot of money, he’s an important player on this team and he’s a veteran player and if he feels he needs to pitch every couple of days to be able to perform when needed than he needs to step up and say it.

Next week I’ll share my early thoughts on some of the position players that need to step up to the plate.

Spring Training is upon us, and as pitchers and catchers are getting ready to report to Port St. Lucie, I just don’t feel any excitement so far.  Usually at this time of year I’m looking forward to Spring Training and the upcoming baseball season, but so far I don’t feel any the usual excitement and anticipation stirring inside me.

2009 was just awful to be a fan of the New York Mets.  Injuries and incompetence ran rampant and by July we were out of playoff contention.  For me October 4^th, 2009, the last regular season game, could not come fast enough.  The day after the season ended we all know how Fred Wilpon, Omar Minaya (who may or may not be the General Manager) and Dave Howard did a media blitz promising that 2010 would be different.  The mistakes handling injuries would not happen again the 3 Stooges promised us. They also promised that they would spend what was needed in improving the season.

Well, it’s February 9^th, 2010, and before the new season even starts the Mets already have already embarrassed themselves and us with the handling of Carlos Beltran’s knee surgery. As usual, the Mets made their one traditional big move by signing Jason Bay, and then filling in the rest of the blanks with a bunch of backup catchers, reclamation projects and overpaying bench players like Alex Cora because he’s a nice guy. It’s the same tired script we’ve seen again and again under the Minaya era.

The truth is I wasn’t expecting the Mets to make good on the promises they made after last season ended. My blinders are off, but I was hoping they would prove me wrong.  I sit here and see how nothing has really changed from the 2009 season and it fills me with despair and hopelessness for 2010. Will the Mets lose 90 games if everyone stays healthy?  Most likely they won’t, but I don’t see them winning over 85 games this year and it’s hard to envision them making the post season.  The way this team is currently operates, just doesn’t seeming like a recipe for success.

The Mets are going into the season with two backup catchers who will log more playing time than they deserve, Daniel Murphy who will keep first base warm until something better comes along, an immovable second baseman that the club doesn’t want but refuse to dump his contract, and their fourth outfielder will most likely be their everyday centerfielder on opening day. The problems with the rotation are well documented.

You can call me negative and say that it’s only February, but we were saying a lot of the same things in early 2009.  The Mets have alienated me, my hopes aren’t high for 2010, but because I love this team I will be watching and going to games, hoping that they prove me wrong.

As Hojo’s Mojo posted yesterday afternoon J.J. Putz in an interview last week said that:

“When the trade went down last year, I never really had a physical with the Mets.”

In 2008 Putz was ineffective due to injury in his pitching arm.  Can anyone name a franchise in any other sports that runs a team like this?  Before a player comes to your team you give him a complete physical, especially when he has a known injury. The Mets have one of the best medical staffs in the country and yet they continue to not use that staff in the way they should.

Unfortunately for the Mets and us fans Putz also revealed something even more troubling.  Putz says that he continued to feel pain and the Mets forced him to be quiet and tell the media that he felt fine.  I don’t know what is more worrisome, the fact that the Mets acquired a player who had a known injury and did not give him a full physical before completing the trade or that they are now in the practice of encouraging players to lie to the media.

I have often question the Mets integrity and accused them of not telling the truth and it seems I was right to do so.  I am not happy to be right about this as I now have to question whatever the Mets say for the foreseeable future.

That leads to this season with the Mets coming into 2010 with a lot of question marks.  Are they telling the truth that Johan Santana is feeling good and will be ready by Spring Training?  Is Johan lying to the press on how he was feeling after last week’s mini camp?  Yesterday Jose Reyes had a training session which he ran and afterward said he was feeling like the old Jose Reyes.  The Mets said they were encouraged by this workout but once again I have to question if they are being 100% truthful.

The Mets did release a statement that went by the numbers yesterday saying:

“J.J. underwent an exam during Spring Training and an additional exam and MRI before he was cleared to play in last year’s World Baseball Classic.”

While the Mets didn’t say it they are pretty much calling Putz a liar.  With all this incompetence it makes sense that free agents are avoiding the Mets like the plague, would you really want to play for this team?  I would like to take the side of my team and agree with them that Putz is lying but after seeing the way this team has been operating over the last couple of years I think I have take Putz’ word on this one.  I am surprised however that the Mets didn’t just go and blame a beat writer for this.

For the last 2 off seasons Met fans have been debating furiously with each other on whether or not the Mets should sign Orlando Hudson.  I believe the pro Hudson fans last season wanted him for the simple fact that Hudson is not Luis Castillo.  Whatever other skills Hudson possessed did not matter to Met fans who wanted to run Luis Castillo out of town after his horrible 2008 season which saw him become a double play machine, a liability on defense and he made many appearance on the disabled list that year as well.

2009 was a bounce back year for Castillo.  Castillo finished 2009 with a .302 batting average, a vast improvement from 2008’s .245 batting average.  Castillo had a slight spill down the steps of the dugout late into the season but he did avoid the disabled list something that most of the Mets can’t claim.  Of course Met fans won’t forget the dropped fly in that Yankee game but 2009 was a good season for Castillo.

I was pro Hudson last year and I’m still pro Hudson.  It’s not because Orlando Hudson is not Luis Castillo, it’s because Hudson is the better player.  Looking at their offensive stats some would argue that but here is where I see Hudson helping us:  He has more power than Castillo and he can hit a single to the outfield.  If you really watch Castillo’s at bats most of his singles are either infield singles or they are just out of reach of the infielders which results in outfielders playing a shallower outfield against Castillo which means runners on base can only advance one base.  With Orlando Hudson batting that will force both the infield to back up and the outfielders to play deeper in the outfield.  Hudson will most likely bat behind Jose Reyes who we all know has a lot speed and on a deep single Jose can run 1^st-3^rd or from 2^nd-home, thus allowing more runs scored.

Another reason I’m so high on Hudson is his defense.  Castillo as he has gotten older has lost a bit of range each year in the infield.  This is really important now because of our 1^st base situation.  Reports from the scouts in Puerto Rico on Carlos Delgado are that the very little range he had is gone.  Now those same scouts are reporting that Delgado has been seen limping after playing 1^st in winter ball and that the Mets might pass on Delgado.  If that is true Daniel Murphy will be our first baseman with a possibility that Tatis will play 1^st.  For those that don’t know that is Tatis’ worst position.  Now Murphy was good at 1^st last year, he made some nice plays but he lacks the instincts of a 1^st baseman since he hasn’t played the position that long.  The Mets are going to need a 2^nd baseman to pick up the slack and Hudson is that guy.

I don’t think right now as of this writing the Mets will get Hudson.  First they have to trade Luis Castillo who makes a lot of money the next two years.  If I was a general manager I would be worried that last year was a bit of fluke and Castillo revert back to 2008.  Furthermore he is and will be an injury risk for the rest of his career.  The Mets would have to pay most if not all of his salary for the rest of his contract.  I think it will be financially irresponsible of the Mets to trade Castillo, pay most of his salary and have to pay Hudson for this year.

If the right trade was offered and if the money was not an issue I would hope the Mets pull the trigger on Castillo and then sign Hudson but that will not happen this year.  I think Castillo will not revert back to 2008 but I also think that hitting .300 will not happen again.  I would be ok with that if it wasn’t for the fear I have that his defense is going to hurt the Mets more than his skills at the plate.  Only time will tell, hopefully I’ll be proved wrong.

It only took the Mets 14 days into the New Year to embarrass themselves and their fans.  Of course I’m talking about the whole debacle over Carlos Beltran’s knee surgery.  Once again the Mets completely mishandled the news of an injury to a key player on their team.  Some that should have been simple has exploded in the face of the Mets… again.

Go back to last year and the press conference from hell where Omar Minaya called out Adam Rubin and accused him of trying to obtain a job with player development. The announcement that the Mets decided to fire Tony Bernazard should have been a simple one.  The Mets could have easily put out a press release informing the media that after Omar Minaya’s “investigation” the organization decided to part ways with Bernazard.  Instead the Mets made a bad situation worse and added another distraction to the team.

As school children I’m sure a lot of us would ask why we need to know history and the answer always was “those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” I guess the Mets never heard that saying because last week was another example of the Mets not learning from history and to top it off the recent history of last year’s Bernazard disaster.

It’s been almost a week and there are still a lot of questions regarding how Carlos Beltran’s surgery occurred.  The bottom line for me and I’m sure most fans is a simple one: Carlos Beltran had surgery on his knee, he will not be able to resume baseball activities for at least 12 weeks and he won’t be back for awhile.  All the Mets had to do was tell the press and the fans why he had surgery, the result of the surgery, and when they expected him to be back on the team.  The Mets did not need to put it out in the universe that Carlos Beltran went out on his own and got surgery on his ailing knee.  Now the Mets have started a war of words with their Center Fielder and his agent.  Like many wars this war was unnecessary.  Beltran had the surgery, it was done, and the Mets even if they did not approve of the procedure should have simply lied and put on a happy face to the public.

It’s 19 days into the 2010 and already there was a scandal and unfortunately with the current way the club is run I’m sure there will be many other embarrassing moments to come, hopefully the Mets will prove me wrong.

This past week Carlos Delgado played baseball for the first time in months in Puerto Rico.  The Mets as we know are down on that beautful Island right now scouting him, deciding whether or not to offer him a contract for the 2010 season.  Reports coming out of Puerto Rico is Delgado doesn’t move well.  It seems that hip is still a problem and that is exactly why the Mets need to avoid bringing Carlos Delgado back. Delgado so far has only played 5 innings in the field and the rest of the time he was the DH for his team.

I understand that when healthy Carlos Delgado brings a lot of power to a lineup.  We were told that Delgado’s hip injury was similar to Alex Rodriguez’s injury but A-Rod returned in less than 2 months, Delgado had the surgery, supposedly suffered a setback and never returned to play again.  If the Mets are going to spend the money on a veteran 1st basemen to platoon with Daniel Murphy there are others out there instead.

If the Mets do sign Delgado and he gets hurt that’s it, there is no backup plan, Daniel Murphy is the everyday first baseman.  Now this is not an attack on Murphy, he was put in 2 positions that he never played before and was expected to deliver the goods. Having said that Murphy does not have any real power at the plate.  The Mets with the addition of Jason Bay need one more power bat in the lineup.

Signing Delgado would also be going backwards.  The team has stated on more than one occasion that they want to get younger and faster.  Delgado is only getting older and if the reports are true slower.  I think at this point in his career Delgado is better suited for the American League when he can be the designated hitter.  I would rather go out and sign a younger guy like Adam LaRoche, he can hit and field a bit and brings some power.