The 2010 season opener is just 6 days away for the Mets.  In 6 days the Mets will stop playing Spring Training games and play games that really matter.  This Spring hasn’t been a great one.  Carlos Beltran didn’t make it to the field, Jose Reyes was sidelined for 3 weeks, and there’s still questions going into the season that have most Met fans worried about 2010 before it even starts.  I know the numbers aren’t [...]

Mets fans will never stop hoping for the best possible results this season, especially before the games even begin.  Our desire to root for a winner is so great, oftentimes blinding us to the realities of the situation.  We hope that Reyes and Beltran will return on schedule.  We hope that our starting pitchers will pitch to their potential.  We hope… Hope is high.  Expectations are low.  There are the optimists and pessimists, as well [...]

As was the case a year ago, the Mets once again enter the season with high hopes and plenty of demons to exorcise from the prior season. And much like last season, Mike Pelfrey, John Maine and Oliver Perez will be counted on heavily to deliver the best performances of their careers. That’s not really asking for much when you review their career numbers, and yet neither of them would rise to the occasion in 2009. [...]

I was ready to accept the fact that Omar Minaya made a really horrible decision when he re-signed Oliver Perez last year to a 3-year deal worth $36 million.  I was a Perez fan back in the 2006 playoffs, especially when he did a commendable job starting Game 7 of the NLCS.  Of course, since then Ollie has battled injuries and inconsistency, mostly the latter.  And he was really pretty bad last season, ultimately finishing [...]

I knew I wanted to write something about the Mets’ starting rotation after reading an article in The Sporting News about the Mets being one of this off-season’s “losers,” citing the fact that they did not address the “gaping holes” in the starting pitching rotation.  Well, yeah, but we are likely going to go into the 2010 season with a starting staff of Johan Santana, John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, Ollie Perez and Fernando Nieve.  And [...]

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 [...]

            Many will say “Yes” but as usual, I don’t agree with the majority of what I’ve been hearing. The team has done little to improve, operating under the belief or the “company line” that guys such as Big Pelf will improve or that John Maine, and the ever-enigmatic Ollie Perez are going to return to their 2007 form. This may be asking a lot for a team that has yielded multiple disappointing seasons for the [...]

In a new column by Buster Olney of ESPN, Oliver Perez tops his list of key number two starters for 2010. he explains why, but not before taking a shot at the Mets spendthrift ways. The expectation within the Mets’ organization is that the team has finished its winter spending, and this would seem to be confirmed by their reluctance to entertain an offer from catcher Yorvit Torrealba to play for the Mets on a [...]

Check out this beautiful photograph of Johan Santana by Adam Rubin of the Daly News. (via The Ropolitans)  Despite all the ups and downs, and ranting and raving of this never-ending off season, you look at a photo like that and everything else almost seems to melt away. Santana after his pitching session, “This is big for me. I feel very happy I’m very excited about this season.” Adam reports that Santana threw 24 pitches and [...]