Yesterday while making my daily trek to MetsBlog, I saw a post referring to a post by Ted Berg on Josh Thole. He writes:

No one is accusing Thole of being the next Mike Piazza, but he can hit a bit. After a brutal start to the season in Triple-A, he posted a .410 OBP in May and June before his call-up. Though he lacks home-run power, it’s not unreasonable to suggest Thole is a better hitter than Barajas right now. He’s certainly more likely to get on-base. And he hits left-handed, which could add to the righty-heavy lineup a bit of that balance that Jerry Manuel loves so dearly.

The only things that should prevent Thole from playing more often are difficult ones to measure: Leadership, game-calling, defense behind the plate.

I don’t doubt that they’re important; Mets pitchers have been praising Barajas and Blanco all season for their approaches to opposing hitters. I just wonder how much they’re worth compared to an extra 50 points of OBP. In other words, does Barajas’ superior ability to handle pitchers overwhelm Thole’s superior ability to get on base?

He makes some good points in it, but when it comes to catching, I do believe that leadership, game-calling and defense are very important. I’m not convinced that Josh Thole is more deserving of playing time than Rod Barajas right now

Matt Cerrone, seemed to take a different tact looking at Blanco instead of Barajas as the potential odd man out.

…i wonder if the Mets will soon consider keeping Josh Thole over Henry Blanco… i know they love Blanco, and, right now, i guess he’s the team’s back-up third and first baseman, which is crazy in and of itself…

Again, good points, but I’m not entirely sure I agree.

We talk about team chemistry a lot on this site, and now that it seems we have some, I don’t understand why the sudden urge to change or upend it. I’m proud of what the Mets have accomplished thus far and many of those who doubted this team or had no faith have since changed their tunes. I wonder where the Mets would be  right now if not for the efforts of Henry Blanco and Rod Barajas?

I think it’s remarkable how from the very onset of Spring Training, Blanco and Barajas fit right in with this team. It didn’t take them long to join a Mets inner circle that included David Wright, Jose Reyes and Jeff Francoeur among others.

Reading the quotes after each game or listening to some of the post game comments from our starters, our pitchers have done nothing but rave about both of them, and do I have to point to the team’s 3.83 ERA this season as compared to 4.45 last season, to plainly see what an impact they have made in the staff’s performance?

Last night I believe I heard Gary Cohen say that the Mets now lead the Major Leagues with twelve shutouts… Twelve Shutouts!

Barajas and Santana were an incredible tandem Tuesday night, working together in perfect harmony as they confounded the Reds incredibly formidable lineup which is currently ranked number one in the league?

Berg refers to Thole’s Catchers ERA as being 3.00 this season and aptly cautions the small sample size of just three games, so let me add that is was 4.10 last season in 17 games.

Thole’s caught stealing percentage over his two limited seasons is 25%. Small sample size? I’ll add in this lesser know fact… In 48 games for AAA-Buffalo this season, baserunners stole a whopping 41 bases on Thole and he only caught six runners for a scary 18% CS rate. Can you imagin how he’ll be exploited once word starts spreading around the league? Thole was hardly lighting it up for the Bisons when he was called up batting .267 with 17 RBIs. He had more passed balls, six, than all the other catchers put together.

Sure, Thole has a higher on-base percentage than Rod Barajas, but does OBP have to be the end all in every single comparison between players?

I’m not knocking Thole, and I’m not knocking OBP either, I’m just saying lets look at the whole picture before making a judgment call on player valuation and not just focus solely on on-base percentage.

Do we really want to rely on young Josh Thole and his limited receiving skills to carry this staff through the heat of battle in what is shaping up to be a fierce divisional pennant race?

Look, I like Thole, but most of the scouts see Thole as nothing more than a platoon or backup catcher type… sorry to break all my fellow Mets fans hearts. Thole’s power is Rey Ordonez-esque at best, and just because he’ll have 10-15 more singles or walks over the course of a full season than Barajas or Blanco, it doesn’t make up for his deficiency in the one major area that all catchers should be judged by; his ability to perform defensively as a catcher.

I’ve seen enough of Blanco and Barajas to know that they are now fully meshed into the fabric of this team, and now is not the time to start tearing through that fabric with a machete.

We knew Blanco and Barajas were never going to break the .400 OBP barrier… or .350… or .300… Catchers who hit like that go for $12 million a season, not $500K.

Our catchers are a gift… They have exceeded all expectations… Their impact on Santana, Niese, Dickey and Pelfrey cannot be understated.

Last season when Dan Warthen and Jerry Manuel blamed the catchers that included Josh Thole, Omir Santos and Brian Schneider for the demise of the rotation, I thought they were nuts. You know what? They were right.

Thole was never part of the equation for the 2010 Mets, neither was Omir, that’s why the Mets signed a half dozen catchers to ensure that they would not have to be relied upon this season.

That was good plan, and it turns out that Blanco and Barajas were more than enough.

I know that the internet and blogging has made GM’s of us all. One night on Twitter or Facebook will provide plenty of evidence to support that claim, but lets be astute enough to realize that our ramblings are the stuff of legend and fiction, and not based in the reality of a real GM’s thinking and philosophy.

When the Mets activate Carlos Beltran from the disabled list on July 15, there should be no debate about who gets cut… Minaya will make the right decision on that day, and it won’t be based on emotion, bloggers opinions, or OBP alone. Oh, and afterward, please spare me the tears on poor Josh Thole.

Thole has struggled in AAA posting a .203 AVG with 1 HR and 10 RBI in 21 games for Buffalo. It will be interesting to see if Thole gets a start in this series versus Washington, one would assume if he does, it’ll be Wednesday afternoon.

No word yet on the reasons for Blanco’s leave of absence but we hope all is well with Henry and his family.

Game Notes

Johan Santana took the mound today and had a nice bounce back outing after giving up a personal worst ten runs in his last start. Santana went 7.2 innings, the longest any Mets starter has gone all season, beating Pelf’s start yesterday by a third of an inning. Santana let up eight hits, but only allowed three runs to cross the plate. He struck out six Giants batters and walked zero. That made 32 straight innings by Mets pitchers without giving up a walk. That later ended with a walk by Frankie Rodriquez in the tenth. Santana, however, only walked away with a no decision after the bullpen gave up his lead.

Nieve, Feliciano, and Mejia all pitched to one batter each to get the last out of the eight inning. Feliciano had a blown save, sixth blown save for the Mets this season. The rookie Mejia has only given up two runs and struck out eight batters in the thirteen innings he’s pitched this season.

Frankie Rodriguez pitched the ninth and tenth innings, walking two and striking out one. Hisanori Takahashi came in the eleventh and shut down the Giants. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning with two strikeouts. Takahashi leads the bullpen in strikeouts with 28 K’s on the season. Takahashi ends up getting the win.

Mets bats couldn’t get much going in the game. Bay and Pagan led the Mets offense with two runs-batted in each. Wright and Francoeur combined for 0-7 with two walks and five strike outs.

Of course the biggest hit of the game was Henry Blanco’s walk-off homerun in the eleventh inning to give the Mets a 5-4 win. Three days ago there were no walk-off homeruns in Citi Field’s history. Now there’s two in two days. This was also the first career walk off homerun for Blanco. Blanco was later pied in the face by Alex Cora when being interviewed by Kevin Burkhardt.

Luis Castillo left the game in the eight inning. Bone bruise on his left foot, he is day-to-day. Cora will be starting tomorrow.

Turning Point

Henry Blanco’s clutch walk off homerun to clinch the win for the Mets.

Game Ball

Santana had a great, long start but Blanco’s homerun shocked everyone and was amazing!

On Deck

Oliver Perez looks to get the sweep against the Giants as the Mets take on the undefeated, defending two time CY Young champion Tim Lincecum. First pitch at 1:10 pm on SNY.

Usually around this time of year, once the Super Bowl has been played and sports docket is less than fulfilling for most of us, I start to get that itch for baseball.  I can almost smell spring when having visions of baseball, either at the ballpark or on TV.  And it’s usually accented with the hope that my team, the Mets, are going to head into the season as contenders again, hoping for their first world championship since 1986.

But alas, I feel more than a twinge of apathy right now.  Omar Minaya has once again given us false hope, as he signed modest slugger Jason Bay but then made no other significant moves.  Well, unless you consider Kelvim Escobar, Henry Blanco and Gary Matthews, Jr. significant.  I’m sorry Omar, but with each marginal move, you are increasing my own margin of apathy.

That doesn’t mean I won’t root for the Mets.  After all, when fandom is in your blood, you can’t ever remove it.  But beyond the fact that this Mets team has as much chance to contend as the ’62 Mets, is the fact that I almost would rather not watch it all unfold.  Clearly there are better things I can find to do with my time, and the fact that I’m saying that and writing that really bums me out.

Would I feel differently had the Mets added the likes of Cliff Lee or Roy Halladay or Matt Holliday?  Probably yes, but even if they somehow added all three of those guys without magically depleting the farm system, there would still be holes, and that’s not good.  It’s not good for the Mets, their fans, or my apathy.

Even Bengie Molina, who slugged 20 home runs and drove in 80 runners, signed for less than what the Mets paid Brian Schneider last season. In fact, the $4.5 million that Molina got from the Giants was the biggest annual salary of an catcher in the free agent market.

Jason Kendall (Royals) and Ivan Rodriguez (Nationals) both followed Molina with contracts that will pay them an annual salary of $3.0 MM, and Miguel Olivo (Rockies) is close behind after netting $2 MM.

The bottom has dropped out for backup catchers as well.

Last season, the Mets paid Ramon Castro $2.5 million dollars to backup Brian Schneider. Castro just re-signed with the White Sox for a $1 million dollar deal, less than half what the Mets paid him.

Now you may look at the contract that the Mets gave backup Henry Blanco and think the Mets got themselves a bargain at $750K for one year. But a closer look at the contract and all the hidden bonuses tells a completely different story.

I decided to do some math regarding Blanco’s contract based on the following information from the esteemed Cots Contracts.

1 year/$0.75M (2010) signed by NY Mets as a free agent 12/3/09

Performance bonuses: $50,000 each for 60, 65, 70, 75 and 80 starts; $75,000 each for 85, 90, 95, 100 starts.

Roster bonuses: $5,000 each for days 1-80; $4,500 each for days 81-135; $3,500 each for days 136-150.

* Full $0.7M in roster bonuses to be paid if Blanco is released for any reason other than right shoulder injury

Lets assume that Blanco stays healthy for the entire season. Now that it has become clear that the Mets will not add another starting catcher, lets also assume that as half of a Blanco/Santos tandem, Blanco should easily start in 75 games.

Base Salary – $750,000

Performance Bonus – $200,000 (Corrected)

Roster Bonus – $700,000 ($400,000 for first 80 days. $247,500 for next 55 days. $52,500 for next 15 days.)

Total salary: $1.65 million dollars ( If he appears in 85 games it jumps to $1.8 million dollars)

Big difference, huh?

By the way, did you notice the clause that if the Mets trade or release Blanco, they must pay him the full $700K roster bonus as long as it’s not because of a pre-existing shoulder injury…

If you could have gotten Miguel Olivo for only $500 K more, don’t you think the Mets should have absolutely jumped at the opportunity?

Olivo batted .249 (Blanco .235) with 23 home runs and 65 RBI’s last season and is seven years younger than Blanco and calls just as good a game.

It seems like just another case of the Mets paying more for less.

It’s easy to be skeptical after the debacle of 2009, and I know many of you probably want to throw rocks at me for being so negative, but I just don’t see any real improvement beyond adding Jason Bay to the roster.  Gary Matthews, Jr.?  Henry Blanco?  Kelvim Escobar?  Um, okay.  And a guy the Mets have coveted, Ben Sheets, just signed with Oakland.

To make matters worse, I saw the complete MLB schedule that was printed in yesterday’s USA Today.  Aside from three games against Washington in early April, the rest of the first month of the season features games against potential contenders–including games against every 2009 playoff team: Los Angeles, St. Louis, Colorado and Philly.  Of course, interleague play does the Mets no favors when they have to face the World Champion Yankees twice, but they also drew Detroit and Minnesota this time around, the two teams who battled it out for the AL Central title last season.  And one more thing….the second half of September has the Mets facing Atlanta, Florida, Philly and Milwaukee.

Can we take a rain check on this season?  The Wilpons, Minayas and baseball gods sure are not making it easy on us, are they?  Well, at least we can go check out the Dave Matthews Band right after the all-star break.

But here is where I’m having a hard time….I read a report in USA Today a few days ago about the winners and losers of the winter meetings.  The Mets were not considered to be a winner or a loser.  Think about that.  By being neither, the Mets have cemented themselves as being apathetic and non-committal to the whole hot stove process.  And if you are not intent on improving your team, you are destined to lose more games than you win.  It’s that simple.

And then this morning, I read this piece on Yahoo Sports about Cuban defector Aroldis Chapman, he of the 97 mph fastball.  Dude had a throwing session yesterday in which big league scouts were on hand and here are the teams they mentioned that sent a representative: Yankees, Red Sox, Astros, Nationals, Marlins, A’s and Orioles.  Of course, there were 15 teams represented in all, so there is no telling if the Mets did indeed send someone, but the writer didn’t mention them.  That’s either because the Mets did not care enough to send a scout, or because the writer did not care enough to mention the Mets.  Either way, it’s adding more fuel to the apathy fire.  Because really, why wouldn’t you go overpay like crazy for a guy like Chapman, who not only throws 97 mph, but is a LEFTY who could neutralize those big bats of the Phillies.

I think the version of the Mets you see now is what you’re going to get in April, plus maybe the return of Carlos Delgado.  And wow, what a heartwarming thought that is during the hot stove league season.

However, as Newsday’s Ken Davidoff reports (Hat tip to MLB Trade Rumors for link), there were some red flags that popped up during Blanco’s physical, in regards to the condition of his shoulder, which made the team leery of guaranteeing him as much money as they did.

As a result, the team worked with Blanco’s agent to re-work the deal to the point where now the catcher is only guaranteed $750K.

Interestingly, enough as Davidoff points out, Blanco can actually earn more money ($1.525 million) if he earns all of his incentives. Luckily for the Mets, some of the incentives are pretty much unattainable as some of them would require Blanco to win the NL MVP award.

I don’t know what to make of this move. Sure, it’s refreshing to see the team take a proactive approach when it comes to signing off on players medical records.

However, maybe the team should have voided the deal all together, especially when you consider age and an otherwise unimpressive career line.

To be fair to the team this is a fairly inexpensive deal and if pitching coach Dan Warthen’s claims are true, maybe a veteran game caller, like Blanco will help improve the pitching staff’s performance.

Minaya has his priorities twisted. You fill in the blanks after you land the Great White, not aspire to bag a school of (dropout) minnows. He is a lousy fisherman and I am not alone in losing faith in the Mets fearless (clueless?) leader.

How else can a die hard Mets fan rationalize his first three signings: Alex Cora, Chris Coste, and Henry Blanco? Then again, what do I know? Perhaps the line was as long as the ones that formed in the wee hours of the morning on Black Friday. Perhaps Cora, Coste, and Blanco was much coveted door busters that Minaya sacrificed sleep over.

Speaking of snoozing, wake me up when he gets into the War and starts bidding on World Class talent, such as John Lackey-a must have for a team in need of an innings eater and bulldog. Not a trio of players that surely will still be in the bargain basement bin in February.

Moreover, Minaya’s rancid negotiating skills, the ones that overpaid by $20 million dollars for a nearly washed up second baseman, has reared it’s ugly head again by dolling out twice as much for Cora than the market could possibly bear (inked for the outrageous amount of $2 mill for someone who had both thumbs surgicaly repaired. Makes you wonder if Jeff Wilpon pays an iota of attention when he signs the checks).

What the heck was the rush to overpay for Cora?

Minaya should have been at Lackey’s doorstep at 12:01 when free agency opened, and bulled him over with a SUV fully loaded with greenbacks. He had his chance to set off a howitzer and instead pulled out his pea shooter. My fellow Mets fans, he is not fit to lead us into the new decade.

How about the fact, according to our esteemed Joe D., he doubled Blanco’s stipend after a retched .235 season? And Coste, a career minor leaguer, but fine author, is a catch that should have all Mets fans rushing to the liquor cabinet to rejoice with a celebratory libation.

You build a team with stars and impact players, not with leftovers. It is hard to believe Minaya is still steering our ship-albeit aground.

Anyone seen Steve Phillips lately?

Placido Polanco 2B – Much chatter surrounding the Phillies signing of Polanco to a 3-year deal at the ripe old age of 34. But as one of our readers pointed out it’s the conditioning you have to take into consideration. It looks like Phillies GM Ruben Amaro Jr. cited Polanco’s conditioning as the reason he’s not worried about the 3 year deal who’s $6 million annual salary he considers a bargain rate. It makes sense. The Mets gave $24 million to a younger Castillo who was out of shape and two months removed from multiple surgeries on both knees. Plus Polanco can hit the ball past second base unlike Castillo. The new Phillies second baseman had 47 extra base hits in 09 compared to (gulp) 16 for Castillo, and he had a career high 72 RBI last season matching Mets team leader David Wright.

Takashi Saito RP - The Braves bolstered their bullpen big time as the follow up the Billy Wagner signing with Saito who agreed to a $3.2 million dollar deal for the 2010 season. Saito had a tremendous year for the Red Sox last season posting a 2.43 ERA, a 1.35 WHIP and a 52/25 K/BB ratio in 55 2/3 innings pitched. He’ll most likely take over as the setup man and bridge to closer Billy Wagner. Speaking of Wags, I think all the chirping from disgruntled Mets fans regarding Wags betraying the Mets is absolute nonsense and needs to come to an end. Your anger should be directed at Omar. Refocus.

Carlos Delgado 1B – Don’t bury your Delgado jerseys in the attic just yet, according to Jon Heyman the Mets are keeping close tabs on him in Puerto Rico where he continues to rehab and get back into baseball shape. We may not have seen the last of Dos Carlos. The Mets also have zero interest in Nick Johnson and won’t sign Adam La Roche who wants a multi year deal. I hope those Double-A stats Ike Davis piled up translate well in the Major Leagues, because that’s where the Mets are hoping he’ll be in 2011.

Final Tweet – I find it interesting to see how Mets fans react to players when an NL East rival acquires them as compared to those players that the Mets get.

Billy Wagner – He’s washed up. He’ll probably blow his elbow out again. He’ll be blowing saves for the Braves now. He’ll betray them too. I’d rather have Carter and Lora than the two 1st round picks. The Braves bullpen still sucks.

Takashi Saito – He’s as old as a fossil. He’s a fluke. Didn’t we have this guy last year? He don’t have the makeup to be a setup man. He’s an injury risk. We don’t fare well with Japanese players anyway. Who the hell is Saito?

Placido Polanco – The Phillies got burned. He’s on the wrong side of 30. He can’t play third. That contract was terrible. His numbers are declining. He’s an AL type hitter, watch him tank in the NL. Gold Gloves mean nothing he’s overrated defensively.

Benny Blanco from the Bronx - I love his game calling ability. He has a shotgun for an arm. He’s ten times better than Schneider. Who cares if we doubled his 2009 salary, it’s not our money. This was Johan’s call, they are close friends.

Ya gotta love Twitter.

The Mets appeared to be closing in on a deal with free-agent catcher Henry Blanco. The Venezuelan newspaper “El Nacional” reported Blanco had left that country Sunday for a physical with the Mets.

Blanco, 38, hit .235 with six homers and 16 RBI in 204 at-bats with San Diego last season. He would presumably be the favorite over Omir Santos, Chris Coste and Josh Thole to open next season as the backup catcher.

I don’t know what this means for Omir Santos, but at this point it’s not looking good. The thing of it is, given the choice, I’d take Santos over Blanco 99 times out of 100.

First off Santos is ten years younger. Do we really need a 38-year old player on the team? Second, Santos has more power and performed quite well defensively last season.

Blanco is a career .228 hitter playing mostly his entire career in hitter friendly parks. Now, one year older and in decline, how well could he possibly translate playing in the vastness of Citi Field? 

One good thing this signing might indicate, is that the Mets must be seriously considering prospect Josh Thole for a starting role at some point next season. The only benefit I see in bringing a catcher like Blanco on board, is to serve as a mentor for Thole who is still relatively new to the catching position. From that point of view, Blanco would be more valuable than Omir Santos.

However, some believe that this signing does not entirely mean the Mets are out of the Bengie Molina sweepstakes. What the Blanco signing also does is to give the Mets a little more leverage in potential negotiations with Molina.

Stay tuned…