Mets Merized Online

I created quite a firestorm the other day when I wrote… I’m just kidding, I always wanted to know what it felt like to write an intro like that…

One of our readers (Bayonne Met Fan) posted a link to a comment by Adam Rubin that read,

Look for Jacobs to even potentially chip away at Daniel Murphy’s playing time as the season progresses, assuming Jacobs makes the club. Manuel has been testing a 3-4-5 order of Wright-Jacobs-Jason Bay. Let’s say the manager goes to that lineup the first Saturday of the season and rests Murphy, and Jacobs goes 3-for-4 with a homer. Manuel would go back to that lineup again quickly.

When the Mets first signed Jacobs to that minor league deal back in February, I probably put his real chances of making the team as a bench player at less than 50%. Man, was I wrong…

If you were to consider the spring training battle for first base, and give the job to the clear winner based on their spring performance, than go ahead and pencil Mike Jacobs into the Mets Opening Day lineup.  In 27 plate appearances, Murphy has just four hits and is sporting a .194 on-base percentage. Jacobs, in only 20 at-bats has as many hits as Murphy, two homeruns, five walks and a .360 OBP to go with a .860 OPS.

I have no doubt that Jacobs’ .505 slugging percentage and .830 OPS against right-handed pitchers would make for a solid platoon with Fernando Tatis, and also add a solid middle of the order presence to our lineup, at least until Carlos Beltran returns from the disabled list.

If it was a true competition going in, and a true competition going out, than we may have ourselves a new face at first base on Monday, April 5th against the Marlins. Actually, it would be Jacobs’ second stint with the Mets. When we last saw him in a Mets uniform in 2005, he batted .310 with 11 home runs and 23 RBI’s in 100 at-bats, while posting a 1.085 OPS. Wow… I almost forgot just how fast he busted out of the gate that year.

According to a comment in a post by Marty Noble a few days ago, Mike Jacobs isn’t nearly as bad a defensive first baseman as some have suggested. Noble wrote,

“Mike Jacobs is handling his first base assignments more gracefully and reliably than the club anticipated”.

Additionally, Jacobs has agreed to don his old catching gear after being asked by the Mets if he would be willing to catch on a limited basis, according to a Adam Rubin of the Daily News who believes that Jacobs is now the leading candidate for the final bench spot with the Mets. It would certainly give Manuel more flexibility in managing his bench late in games knowing that he can pinch hit for Rod Barajas against a tough right-handed pitcher, and still keep Blanco on the bench.

If Jacobs does supplant Murphy at first base, would Murphy be a better utility player than Frank Catalanotto?

What exactly happens to Daniel Murphy should Jacobs wrestle the first base job away from him?

Well according to Joel Sherman of the NY Post, the Mets have an opportunity develop him into a Ty Wigginton type utility player. He believes that the Mets have miscast Daniel Murphy and have tried to make him something he’s not, basically asserting that Murph has neither the bat or the glove to justify a starting position anywhere. He writes,

To me the Mets are wasting development time when it comes to prepping Murphy for the job that will help the team the most: Which is to make him a jack-of-all-trades. I see Murphy as a lefty version of Ty Wigginton, someone who is not going to be a strong defensive player anywhere, but whose versatility and ability to hit to a fine degree make him a contributing player.

I can’t really argue with his logic, and when you consider that Murphy was just a place-holder for Ike Davis anyway, the Mets were going to have to confront this issue in 2011 regardless, so why not tackle it now?

The best case scenario from Murphy’s point of view would probably be a trade to an American League team who can better appreciate his offensive talents without waiting for him to learn and excel at any particular defensive position.

But as for Mike Jacobs, it’s now become abundantly clear that he has impacted the Mets plans going into the new season and only two weeks remain to see if that impact comes off the bench or as a regular first baseman.

In a new post to his blog, Adam Rubin of the Daily News, analyzes the Mets spring training battles and speculates on the potential Opening Day roster.

Regarding the rotation, Adam believes that Jon Niese is still the front-runner to be the team’s fifth starter and writes,

The smart money still has Jon Niese claiming the final slot in the rotation over Fernando Nieve, with Hisanori Takahashi only on the fringe of that race, despite the Japanese lefthander slated for a pair of Grapefruit League starts, on March 27 and April 1.

I have a feeling that the winner of the competition for the fifth starter spot may still be undecided when spring training ends. I’d bet that we may see two to three of them each getting starts in April, with Jerry Manuel playing the hotter hand for the rest of the season. The fifth starter spot has been constantly in a state of flux for the past few seasons now, with over a dozen different pitchers trying but not succeeding in keeping a job in the rotation.

In the bullpen Adam writes that Bobby Parnell and Sean Green are in some jeopardy of not making the Opening Day roster, although Green would seem to be less vulnerable because his salary is $975,000 even if he’s in the minors.

I actually mentioned that both Parnell AND Green were dangerously close to losing their bullpen spots last week, especially when you consider the outstanding spring performances of Nelson Figueroa, Pat Misch, Ryota Igarashi, Hisanori Takahashi and Jenrry Mejia.

Rubin points to Francisco Rodriguez and Pedro Feliciano as the obvious locks, with right-handers Ryota Igarashi and Kiko Calero virtually assured of spots as well. Fernando Nieve is also close to locking up a bullpen spot leaving just two more spots that are yet to be decided.

He believes that Jenrry Mejia will most likely unseat Parnell with Green’s spot possibly going to free-agent lefthander Joe Beimel, whom he says the Mets remain in touch with. But if that doesn’t transpire, Hisanori Takahashi or Nelson Figueroa could make the team.

It’s starting to look more and more like Mejia could make the team, even though I’m still against such a move. Ironically, he could replace Bobby Parnell who was exactly in the same position Mejia now finds himself in. We had these same debates regarding Parnell last spring, and I wondered if promoting him to the bullpen would jeopardize his ability to be a future starter for the Mets. Now Parnell could find himself going back to the minors, and whether he returns as a reliever or starter is still to be determined. Now everyone is just as fascinated with Mejia’s fastball as they were with Parnell’s… Hopefully Mejia won’t suffer a similar fate…

I have a strong hunch that the Mets could possibly trade Sean Green to make room in the bullpen and create an opportunity for Misch or Takahashi.

I wonder if Mike Pelfrey and John Maine would create as much a stir as young Jenrry Mejia if they too simply decided to throw strikes whenever they got on a mound. I also wonder how long it will be before both of them realize it’s now or never if they intend to hang onto their rotation spots come June or July when the trade deadline nears and Mejia is lighting up the radar gun in Buffalo… or the Mets bullpen.

After mowing down the Red Sox on just six pitches Wednesday, the Mets blogosphere was abuzz with more comparisons to Gooden and Rivera and even Pedro. Craig Carton of WFAN, the biggest clown on live radio, said the Mets would be insane to send Mejia to the minors because as of this moment, he is the best pitcher in Florida hands down. What an idiotic thing to say even for him, but the point is clear, and Mejia has many Met fans in a frenzied exuberance.

Mejia has now pitched 8 1/3 spring innings, almost the equivalent of one game, and somehow he’s become larger than life. I decided to check how many other pitchers were doing as well and over 100 pitchers have performed better. In fact three of them are Mets. While Mejia has allowed one run, Nelson Figueroa has yet to allow any runs in eight innings, Pat Misch in seven innings and Hisanori Takahashi in six innings. No national sports journalists have penned any articles clamoring for either of those three not to be sent to Buffalo, and yet Mejia articles are rampant everywhere.

Jerry Manuel was his usual jovial self after Mejia’s one inning of work.

“Six pitches, five strikes? That’s good for him. It’s very, very encouraging to see a young pitcher that has struggled with command and control come into big league camp and throw the amount of strikes that he’s thrown. That’s impressive.”

Takahashi has struck out nine batters while walking none and has a 0.33 WHIP this spring and hardly a peep out of the Gangsta…

My stance hasn’t changed much since Mejia pitched another spring inning facing the heart of a dangerous, powerhouse Red Sox lineup; Josh Reddick, Tug Hullett and Marco Scutaro who all grounded out. But this tremendous feat didn’t go unnoticed by many of the Mets biggest critics including the always affable Peter Gammons and our own Kevin Kernan of the NY Post who wrote,

“Mejia should be at Citi Field come April 5. If he’s not, the Mets are wasting a golden arm and opportunity.”

Sometimes I get the feeling that all these seasoned and so-called savvy veterans have never experienced a spring training before. All of a sudden they’ve become like a kid in a candy store with eye’s wide open and mouths agape.

Who would have ever thought the day would come that bloggers would be the ones preaching patience and common sense, and that the journalists would become the Twitter happy cornballs.

Can we at least consider the possibilty that Figueroa, Takahashi and Misch might all be deserving of a roster spot, or at least wait two more weeks before declaring a winner, and most of all, can we ultimately select the player who actually pitches the best this spring.

On Wednesday, the Washington Nationals finally washed their hands of outfielder Elijah Dukes and released him. Can you imagine that… The worst team in the National League cutting bait with the promissing, but troubled, young outfielder not because of any off the field incident or behavioral issue, but simply because he simply wasn’t that good…

And here come the Mets! Or at least many of their bloggers…

It didn’t take long for all “Let’s Sign Dukes” posts to rear their ugly heads, and surprisingly enough, it’s the saber-crowd and those who wax poetically who have posted the loudest appeals.

Nevermind the fact Dukes had a -9.6 UZR/150 and his WARP was -0.1, those things only matter most when building a case against solid citizens like Jason Bay and Jeff Francoeur…

According to Nats GM Mike Rizzo, he made countless attempts to trade Dukes but could not find one interested team in the whole lot… not one.

They wanted so desperately to rid themselves of him that he was cut outright even though he still had minor league options… wow…

But before the plague starts to spread and more fans start clamoring for Omar Minaya to jump on Dukes and sign him, I caution all of you to read his rap sheet as reported on Wikipedia:

In 1996, Dukes’ father was convicted of second-degree murder. One year later, Dukes was arrested for the first time. Dukes has been arrested at least three times for battery, and once for assault. According to court records, he fathered at least five children with four women between 2003 and 2006.

On May 23, 2007, it was reported that his wife filed a restraining order after he threatened to kill her. On June 12, a 17-year-old foster child who was living in the care of a relative of Dukes accused him of impregnating her. Police said the sex was apparently consensual. When the girl confronted Dukes, he allegedly got angry and threw a bottle of Gatorade at her.

Dukes has received anger-management training. When Dukes was traded to the Nationals, the team also hired an ex-police officer in the role of “Special Assistant: Player Concerns”. This person accompanies Dukes everywhere to ensure that he keeps himself free of trouble.

Wouldn’t he fit right in the Mets clubhouse along with David Wright and Johan Santana?

Have you ever seen Dukes play? Of course you have, we played the Nationals 19 times last season, so you must be fully aware of his lackadaisical play in the field first hand, not to mention his complete and total lack of any baseball instincts whatsoever.

He had one of the worst fielding percentages as an outfielder last season at .965… and to prove it was not a fluke it’s exactly the same fielding percentage he posted in 2008 as well. Can you imagine someone this bad, roaming the wide open spaces of Citi Field? And yet his biggest proponents are the same ones who moaned and groaned all offseason about Jason Bay’s defense. Remarkable… 

You may remember his tirade with Mike Pelfrey in 2008 that ended with him giving the Mets fans seated behind the Nats dugout at Shea, the universal arm gesture for performing an unnatural sex act against oneself.

You may also remember (see image) last season at CitiField when he lazily misplayed two fly balls that allowed four unearned runs, leading to a Mets victory. When a team official asked him to remain at his locker and speak to reporters after the game, he responded:

“If they don’t like it they can (expletive),” Dukes said. “Why should I talk with them if they don’t know what the (expletive) happened?”

Dukes would be about as perfect a fit on the Mets as Howard Stern would be at a church social.

Can you imagine Dukes mixing it up with the always pointed New York media? Although maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea if he shows Wallace Matthews the Bronx..

Jon Morosi and Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported yesterday that Tampa Bay Rays RHP Andy Sonnanstine could be on the trading block.

There will probably be plenty of trade rumors surrounding Rays right-hander Andy Sonnanstine over the final few weeks of spring training. But no one has made a formal inquiry yet, one major league source said Monday afternoon. Among the teams that could use another starter: the Diamondbacks, Mariners, Mets, Twins, Dodgers and Nationals.

Tampa Bay's Andy Sonnanstine

I’m not so sure that Sonnanstine is even worth our while at this point. I look at him and I look at Mike Pelfrey or John Maine and wonder if there is any real difference, or if Sonnanstine is even an improvement.

With Jenrry Mejia waiting in the wings, Jon Niese ready for his opportunity, and good spring performances from Nelson Figueroa and Hisanori Takahashi, I really don’t see where he would fit in.

Then of course there’s the question of what we would have to give up to acquire him.

Mike Silva of NY Baseball Digest posted an interesting article speculating a possible Chris Carter swap for Sonnanstine. However, despite Sonnanstine’s non impressive performance in the Majors thus far, I strongly doubt that the Rays would simply trade him for a career minor league corner outfielder with a bad defensive reputation.

Sonnanstine won nine games last season and posted a 6.77 ERA in 99 innings pitched with a 1.67 WHIP. Hardly the kind of numbers that jump out at you, but at 27 years old he still has time to improve.

The Mets passed on guys like Joel Pineiro, Randy Wolf and Jason Marquis this offseason citing that they felt those pitchers were not better than what the Mets already had in the house. 

Sonnanstine seems like an even worse option than any of the pitchers the Mets passed on, so why would you want to give up multiple prospects to get Sonnanstine when you could have gotten better pitchers without having to give anything up?

Here are some questions I asked of Mets beat writer, Brian Costa of The Star Ledger, during his live chat yesterday.

Joe D: Will Bobby Parnell get lost in a numbers game and start the season in Buffalo? Will he ever revert back to starting as opposed to relief?

Brian Costa: I don’t think he’s in danger of not making the team, but in that bullpen right now, nothing is certain. He may one day become a starter, but I wouldn’t expect it to happen anytime soon.

Joe D: Has anybody taken a leadership role in the clubhouse in the absence of Beltran and the departure of Delgado? What can you tell us about Bay?

Brian Costa: I think Wright has steadily become more of a leader. He’s not a guy who’s going to stand up and shout or anything, but you can see him going over to the mound when a pitcher is struggling in a game and talking to guys on a one-on-one basis in the clubhouse. Bay is a great guy, but I wouldn’t expect him to be a loud voice in the clubhouse, partly because it’s not his nature, partly because he’s the new guy.

Joe D: What more does Nelson Figueroa have to do to earn a spot on this team, and would the Mets risk losing him and designating him before opening day?

Brian Costa: Figueroa has had a great spring, so if he keeps that up, that’s all he can do. But it’s not just about what he does. There are things out of his control that will determine whether there’s a spot for him. I don’t think the Mets want to risk losing him, but the priority is to take the best 25 for Opening Day.

Joe D: With Barajas and Blanco starting on the Mets, and Thole and Coste in Buffalo, where exactly does that leave Omir Santos? Is there any buzz regarding a possible trade or will he simply be released?

Brian Costa: No, there’s no reason for them to release him. They’re open to trading him. If they don’t, they’ll probably carry three catchers in Buffalo.

 Joe D: Do you think the Mets will let Carlos Beltran walk when his contract is up? Just before his surprise surgery, there were rumblings about an extension and him ending his career as a Met.

Brian Costa: Way too early to say. We don’t know how Beltran will recover from his injury. We don’t know what F-Mart will look like in 2011. And from Beltran’s side, who knows how the whole surgery debacle will impact his thinking?

Joe D: Luis Castillo delivered a nice offensive season last year and we can probably count on similar production this year. Yesterday, he made a great play ranging to his right toward second base, and I’m wondering if there’s a chance we can see improved range from his this season?

Brian Costa: Sure, he can improve, but his range is still limited.

Joe D: What’s the story with Kiko Calero? Is he healthy and how does he look? Will he be an option in the 2010 bullpen?

Brian Costa: I didn’t see him pitch Sunday, but he appears to be healthy. He might need some time to get his arm in shape, but he’s definitely an option for the bullpen.

Joe D: I have already seen a significant improvement with Wright’s power and wonder if it’s a product of HoJo’s mantra of pulling the ball which goes against last year’s spring training edict by Manuel of going to the opposite field.

Brian Costa: I think that certainly helps. Honestly, I don’t see Wright’s power as a huge question mark this year. I think last year was an aberration and he’s too good to have another year like that.

You can follow Brian Costa via his Twitter where he posts frequent updates from Mets camp.

Earlier this week, Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated revealed that Bud Selig has setup a task force of fourteen people whom he refers to as the “special committee for on-field matters”.

The purpose of this committee is to review certain areas of concern within the game and make recommendations regarding the implementation of some changes. Among those issues that are being considered is a radical divisional realignment plan. The purpose of the plan is to improve the competitive balance in the game.

Obviously, competitive balance has been mostly an unrealized goal in baseball for the past two decades. The divide between the “haves” and the “have-nots” continues to expand with no end in sight.

However, the suggestion of a ”floating realignment” where teams will change divisions year to year, based on geography, payroll and opportunities to contend, is absolutely ridiculous and makes no sense whatsoever. A floating realignment might lessen many of the long established natural rivalries of the game for one, and the expectation that it will improve competitive balance seems flawed.

Imagine a season where the Red Sox and Yankees are no longer in the same division. As much as many New Englanders would welcome such a move, wouldn’t you be destroying one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports?

And how does putting the Red Sox or Yankees in the AL Central for example, help create competitive balance in that division?

This latest and hopefully last proposal by Bud Selig is by far the craziest of them all. It has also sparked a boatload of alternate realignment plans all across the blogosphere and I’ve yet to see one that wasn’t as significantly flawed as the one Selig’s committee proposes. They are all bad.

From a Mets fan perspective, any alignment plan that puts the Mets into the same division as the New York Yankees would be an abomination. Especially with the Wilpons at the helm and calling the shots. It would truly take another “miracle” for the Mets to win a division.

I assume this floating realignment plan would completely make inter-league baseball extinct and just a memory after all of the success it has enjoyed.

Then of course there’s the problem of the designated hitter.

The fact of the matter is that no realignment plan would be ideal, and even if there was a perfect plan it would do little to improve the competitive balance in the league.

As long as you have one team spending $200 million and another spending $60 million, competitive balance is just an unreachable star.

How can you have competitive balance in the worlds largest game of Monopoly when some players start with $1,500 dollars and others with just $15 bucks? How can the team with $15 bucks ever get his hands on Boardwalk and Park Place?

You can blind yourself to what I’m going to say all you want, but I’ll still say it…

Only a salary cap with built-in, agreed upon minimum and maximum limits can bring competitive balance to the league. Anything else is really just “fantasy baseball”.

The Mets go into the 2010 season with plenty of question marks regarding a number of different things. One certainty however, is their ace Johan Santana who delivered four solid innings against the Marlins today in his second start of the grapefruit season.

Many of us, including myself, have been anxiously awaiting for that one quintessential moment this spring when Santana would show everyone that he was truly back from his elbow surgery.

His first spring start wasn’t exactly the thumbs-up performance we were all looking for, but today, Johan Santana gave us the all-clear sign when he pumped his fist after picking off the runner at second base to end his four sharp innings of work.

The Marlins gave Santana little trouble as he held them to four innings of shutout ball, allowing three hits and striking out four. This performance followed up a superb outing by his fellow southpaw, Oliver Perez, who threw four hitless innings on Saturday against the Tigers.

Despite the solid stint by santana, the Mets fell to the Marlins 5-1 thanks to an ineffective John Maine who looked terrible as he surrendered five runs in only two-thirds of an inning. Maine blamed the performance on not being used to coming into a game in relief.

How does that saying go… two out of three ain’t bad.

LGM!

Andy McCullough of the Star-Ledger reports that Carlos Beltran expects to begin playing in rehab games by early April.

By April, Beltran believes he will be able to play in rehabilitation games. Then it would take about a week to 10 days before he could rejoin the club. Acclimating to baseball will be easy. Getting to that point will take some time.

By Beltran’s estimation, if he were to start playing rehab games by April 3rd or 4th, he could be on target for a return sometime around April 16th.

Looking at the schedule, the Mets will be on the road in St. Louis for the start of a three game series. I doubt the Mets would have him fly out there, so maybe (and I emphasize the word maybe) we could see Carlos Beltran take the field on Monday, April 19th ti kick off a 4-game series against the Cubs followed by a weekend series against the Braves.

Beltran firmly believes the Mets have the players to stay afloat until him and Reyes come back.

Manager Jerry Manuel doesn’t sound to worried about the Mets starting the season without Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran.

“I think and fee that we’re in a position to sustain a hit. I think our young players are a lot closer.I’m not concerned, thinking that we’re going to be a bad team. I’m not concerned about that.”

Anyway you slice it, this is very encouraging news and it’s good to know that Beltran is back on our radar and sounding very optimistic and enthusiastic about an April return.