One of the more frustrating things so far about the 2013 season for the Mets, has to be the ongoing struggles of first baseman Ike Davis. Many of us including myself, were simply salivating of the thought of a breakout season for Davis this year, especially after the way he ended the 2013 season leading the National League in home runs and RBIs.

With the exodus of Prince Fielder and Albert Pujols to the American League, some even envisioned a possible All Star berth along side Joey Votto at Citi Field for the Mid-Summer Classic.

All those glossy expectations are now out the window and instead of celebrating a great season for our first baseman of the future, we are left wondering if Ike Davis will be a part of the solution or the future at all. Trade rumors and speculation are already abounding.

Manager Terry Collins can’t make up his mind what to do with his struggling power hitter and after vowing to leave him in the cleanup spot for as long as it takes, he was dropped to the seven spot of the order two days later.

Andrew Kahn, who has written for the Wall Street Journal, Newsday and ESPN, sheds some light on the matter in a comprehensive article today which you can read here.

Using Baseball-Reference’s “Similarity Scores,” he gathers a list of players who compared with David through their age 25 seasons. Among them you will find Carlos Delgado, Mo Vaughn, Eric Karros and David Ortiz to name a few.

However, the key difference between Davis and the other players in the chart, he writes, is that they had a breakout season. “A year in which they performed close to how they’d perform over the rest of their career at age 25 or 26.”

He tackles the question I posed in the title, and does a good job of concluding that if Ike Davis is ever going to be the player we all thought he would be and thus save his career, then this is the year to prove it. Read Andrew’s full article here.

For those of you that missed it, there was a strange play that took place during the Detroit Tigers’ 7-5 win over the Kansas City Royals on Wednesday night. Quite frankly, I’ve never seen anything like it before. Here’s what happened along with the accompanying video from MLB.com.

During the third inning with the Tigers trailing 4-2 and base runners Prince Fielder on third and Victor Martinez at second, Jhonny Peralta lined a single to right field to score Prince Fielder. It should have ended there, but Martinez rounded third and started chugging to third, opting to test the powerful arm of Jeff Francoeur.

The former Met fired a bullet to home that essentially made Martinez a dead duck. But instead of trying to barrel over Royals catcher Salvador Perez who had the plate blocked and was waiting for the slow-footed Tigers DH to make contact. Only a few feet from home plate, Martinez suddenly decides to make a hard right turn and proceeds to head to the dugout. The home plate umpire ruled Martinez out for running outside the baseline and there was never a play at the plate.

There’s something seriously wrong here. I get that the oft-injured Victor Martinez was probably thinking of trying to avoid another stint on the DL, but still… There’s something wrong here. Seems like fans were denied a good old-fashioned baseball staple – the play at the plate.

In the wee hours of Saturday morning, righthander Chien-Ming Wang tossed six shutout innings to lead Chinese Taipei to a 4-1 victory over Australia. The 2013 World Baseball Classic is officially underway.

As the tournament kicks off, the sentiment from most fans I run into is that they view the WBC as a “big pain in the ass”. Some fans resent the fact that their team’s top players have bolted their Spring Training camps in Arizona and Florida just so that they can begin training and competing in the WBC. “What a damned nuisance.”

I beg to differ.

I believe the WBC should be embraced by MLB fans and players alike. It’s in the game’s best interest to promote our national pastime throughout the world and open it up to new markets for a variety of reasons. The least of which is uncovering new and brighter stars from an ever-increasing talent pool. We’ve seen this happen before.

In the history of baseball, breaking the color barrier in the late 1940′s and expanding the game to Latin America in the 1960′s did more to popularize the game and produce more stars than anything else MLB has ever done. The WBC can be another watershed moment for baseball.

In an interesting article about the this subject by Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports, he mentioned that the WBC Championship Game in 2009, was the sixth most watched sporting event that year, drawing more than 82 million viewers world-wide. And yet fewer MLB stars will participate in 2013 than in 2009. Many of the stars who were invited to participate decided to opt out. Too bad.

Many Mets fans moaned yesterday when it was reported that David Wright had left Port St. Lucie to represent Team USA. Not me. I applauded him.

“Of course, I’ll miss being here and I’m sure I’ll have to catch up a little bit once I get back,” Wright said. “But for me, the chance to represent Team USA, to go play for your country, was something that I just couldn’t pass up. I had so much fun the last time. I wanted to do it again.”

By the way, before Wright left, he took care of business and lined a two-out single to plate Justin Turner with the go-ahead run in the Mets 6-2 win over the Tigers.

One more thing. Rosenthal makes a great point in his article when he said the U.S. loses on every level when its stars decline to participate.

“The reluctance of aces such as Justin Verlander, Clayton Kershaw and David Price is understandable, given the fragile nature of pitching. But position players such as Buster Posey and Prince Fielder? And youngsters such as Mike Trout and Bryce Harper? C’mon.”

The WBC isn’t a nuisance. It’s an opportunity.

I’d like to express my thanks to Joe D. for posting this article for me on such short notice. It’s an honor to contribute to such a prestigious site for Mets baseball.

This Fan Shot was contributed by Robert J. Loewen.

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Without further ado, I present the first ever FPM All-Stars… 

Catcher – Yadier Molina

Yadier narrowly edged out Buster Posey simply because only 37 players were successful when stealing bases with Molina behind the plate in 2012. He threw out a ridiculous 47% of runners attempting to nab a base. Did I mention he put up some dynamite offensive numbers as well? He’s hitting .321, to go along with 20 HR and a .888 OPS. His WAR, for you sabermetric fans, is currently a 6.8.

First Base – Prince Fielder

Every team deserves a prince. Fielder put up very solid offensive numbers again this year hitting .304, to go along with 27 HR and 101 RBI. Any guy that swings the bat with the intensity of a kid trying to knock the candy out of a piñata will always have a spot on the FPMASs. With that monster swing, he only struck out 77 times in 537 AB this year – awesome.

Second Base – Robinson Cano

Is there any question regarding who would be the second baseman on this team? No need to go through the stats, but he’s hitting .299 with 30 HR this year. There’s always next year Aaron Hill.

Shortstop – Derek Jeter

Does this guy get old? He’s having one of the finest offensive seasons of his career, to go along with his solid defense at the all-important position of shortstop. Jeet is currently hitting .323, to go along with 30 2B and 15 HR. I love that his uniform is always dirty, and there’s always room on the FPMASs for future Hall of Famers.

Third Base – Miguel Cabrera

Can you say Triple Crown? Barring some sort of ridiculous slump we will have our first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. He is currently hitting .333, with 41 HR and 130 RBI. Triple Crown winners can play whatever position they want on FMPASs, but Miguel will be a third base. 

Left Field – Josh Hamilton

Josh Hamilton is the best player in baseball – period. I don’t care if he’s listed as a center fielder, he’s playing left field for the FPMASs. Ryan Braun might be upset with me, but nobody can argue with a stat line of .287/42/123. Josh Hamilton will retire from this game as a legend, and legends are always welcome on the FPMASs.

Center Field – Mike Trout

I really had a hard time with this one. My heart was yelling Andrew McCutchen, but my brain kept whispering Trout. They both play a ridiculous center field. They both hit for average and power. It really came down to the stolen bases. Mike Trout was simply the better all-around player this year. For a rookie to put a team on his shoulders, when Albert Pujols is on the team, says enough. For you sabermetric fans, Trout leads the league with a 10.1 WAR.

Right Field – Giancarlo Stanton

The player formerly known as Mike. This guy hits moon shots. I watched him at batting practice down at Citi Field in early August, and his upper deck blasts were jaw dropping. I would love to see how many homeruns this kid could hit in a season if he could stay healthy. Only three right fielders had a higher WAR than Stanton this year, and Jay Bruce may play on a better team, but Stanton is a better player.

Designated Hitter – Edwin Encarnacion

Who can argue with 40 HR, 120 RBI, and a .280 batting average from your DH position? ‘Nuff said.

Starting Pitcher – R.A. Dickey

Come on…you knew I was getting a New York Met on this team somewhere. Dickey has been one of the very few reasons Mets fans have had to smile all year. With 18 wins, 205 Ks, 2.67 ERA, and in the discussion for a Cy Young award – Dickey is the clear choice as the FPMASs starting pitcher. Now we gotta get Molina one of those crazy big catcher’s mitts for when Dickey throws his “Dancing Destroyer.”

Closer – Fernando Rodney

This guy is lights out and wears his hat cockily tilted to the side. Love it. With 43 saves, a ridiculously minuscule 0.66 ERA, and 68K in 68 innings pitched – I will be tapping my right arm as I walk out to the mound in the ninth inning to replace Dickey.

* * * * * * * *

So there it is, the first ever FirstPitchMitch All-Star Team. The baseball gods are happy with my choices, but what about the readers? Use the comment section below if you have any conflicting player choices you would like to share.

It’s a great debate. It’s one that isn’t stale and what I find fascinating about it is well two things. #1 – Nobody knows the answer because nobody knows who the General Manager is, and #2 – The school of thought at stake here is whether or not you believe in statistics versus emotion.

There’s absolutely no way a Mets fan should be able to deny that not wanting to trade Ike Davis for Prince Fielder is fueled first and foremost by emotion. I don’t blame you. We like homegrown talent.

If you’re basing your decision on talent there’s absolutely no possible way you can make a realistic argument for Davis over Fielder. You just cannot. You can’t even use age to support your theory because Fielder is only 26. You can use his contract situation, but I’d have to think in a utopian world where Fielder comes to NY in the off-season it’d be with an extension. 

It’s near impossible to make an educated guess on *any* roster decisions going forward. You, myself, Cerrone, Joe D, Greg Pomes…and the players themselves have *no* idea who is staying, who is going and who is coming in. It depends on the driver of this out of control ship. 

So here is how I evaluate it as somebody who examines statistics more than emotion. This debate is more about how we should be looking at non-Mets talent, and how we also need to start looking further into the players wearing the Mets uniform. 

Home Runs: The important factor here is not how MANY homeruns a player hits but if he has that kind of power. That kind of power forces pitchers to deal with hitters in the lineup differently. Does Fielder have more power? Absolutely, if you think it’s a question you’re foolish. 

Strikeouts: What Mets fans will learn actually if the Mets hire a guy like Alderson or Hahn is that Strikeouts are…. outs. They are practically no different from a ground out or a deep fly ball to CF with nobody on. They are just an out. So you shouldn’t be examining how many times a player makes one SPECIFIC type of out… you should be looking at how many OUTS they contribute. 

Sure a strikeout is frustrating because to a fans eye it looks bad… but if half of David Wright’s Ks were split between ground balls in the infield and shallow fly balls in the outfield… nobody would complain. Yet they all add 1 out in the inning. 

So with that said Ike Davis made an out about 64% of the time he came to the plate. Fielder made an out about 60% of the time. That’s what’s important… not the certain type of out they make.  

Walks: I don’t even know why this is a debatable topic. One guy is a proven power hitter and one guy was in his rookie year. A large part of why Fielder walks so much is due to his reputation and rightfully so. 

Defense: Here is where you will need to answer some questions as a Mets fan. You can’t deny that Fielder is an eye sore at 1B… but what you need to be able to tell me is, how many runs does Fielder cost you at 1B and how many runs does Davis cost you?

If you can’t answer that question then you can’t give me an educated guess on whether Fielder hurts you at 1B. Does he force more runs from the opponent than he produces for his team? I’d find that very hard to believe.

The people that try to use defense as their basis for supporting Davis to me, are the people who just really like Davis (not blaming you). Your defense at first base impacts the game how often? Making great plays at 1B are fine, but how often do you make the great play and how often are you just making routine plays at 1B?

If you’re telling me Davis is so far more superior than Fielder, I retort by asking you how do you know? 

How many games have you seen played by Davis? Now how many have you seen by Fielder? 

The problem with defensive statistics is that a large part of defense is judged based on opinion of a scorekeeper, and opinion of the fan watching the game. You strike out, you strike out. But who says a certain ball is more playable over another?

Is Davis a better fielder at 1B than Prince? I’d guess so, but what are you basing your decision on for saying that with certainty? You certainly are not using errors committed, because Fielder has 11 errors combined in the past two years compared to Davis’ 9 last year.

Are you using Zone Rating? If you are, Fielder’s ZR was better than Davis’ last year. Or maybe you’re just using Range Factor which would just add to the sillyness of this debate because the guy plays 1B and by nature of the position is involved in enough plays that his RF is skewed anyway.

So what are you basing it on other than… emotion? The only other item you could use is that occasionally Davis has the ability to make a more spectacular play. Awesome…but you don’t build a team on that idea. That type of play is so few and far between that to use it as a basis for argument is simply forming your facts around your opinion.

There’s nothing out there that can REALLY tell you having Ike Davis at 1B with a glove on his hand and a bat in the other outweighs the same idea with Prince Fielder. So if we’re being honest, there’s no logical way you can use defense to support your theory of Ike Davis over Prince Fielder.

Overall:  At some point we as Mets fans are going to have to understand that you cannot fix this franchise by keeping the same players and keeping the same mindset as in the past. You want a new look to this franchise but… not if it means getting rid of Wright, Reyes, Beltran, Santana, Pelfrey, Niese, Pagan, Davis etc. You can’t have it both ways you know? 

With that said, I think this is an impossible question to answer. If the Mets new GM comes in and says he can turn this team into a championship team within 2 years, then if this offer is on the table…you take it. You have to with the current makeup of this roster. If the new GM comes in and says be patient, we’ll be competitive but we are not ready to go all the way yet… then frankly you hold onto Davis and see what happens with Fielder’s contract in comparison to how Davis performs in his sophomore year. 

The toughest part about being a fan of any team is checking your emotion at the door. This is why in large part I respect Bruce Bochy. Pablo Sandoval is arguably the most popular Giants player next to the Freaky Franchise, and he sat him in the playoffs because at the time he was not helping the team. 

When you check your emotion at the door, you are able to make more informed decisions on your talent. This is why it’s never a good thing when a GM falls in love with a player, or when ownership falls in love with a coach.

So as the Mets are about to give a tour of Citi Field to who I hope is the next General Manager of this franchise, we as Mets fans are going to have to learn to adjust our thinking. Phillips, Duquette, and Minaya are gone. Our thinking was in response to their management styles.

Alderson is a complete opposite to all 3 of them, and that will take some getting used to on all of our parts.

If it is Alderson, one thing I expect we will learn very quickly is, you can’t make educated decisions on players if you’re allowing your sports heart to be involved in the process.

Ike Davis had a solid rookie year hitting .264 with 19 HR and 71 RBI (just three behind the Mets rookie record set by Darryl Strawberry in 1983).

He played a Gold-Glove caliber first base and is booming with potential.

I have been hearing some possible free agent signings and trades over the last week. Most appear unlikely due to contractual issues or financial constraints. But one that caught my eye was a possible deal that would send Ike Davis to the Brewers for Prince Fielder.

At first, I thought to myself, “I would never want the Mets to make this trade.” But after giving it some thought, it might be a deal they may want to consider.

Before I go on, I’d like everyone to know that in my opinion, Davis could blossom into a terrific power-hitting first baseman. The Mets have lacked a true power threat for the past few seasons and could use a jolt in the power department.

Enter Prince Fielder. Though Fielder had somewhat of an off year in 2010, the man’s got raw power. He averages 37 HR per 162 games and has driven in over 100 runs in three of his five full seasons, including 141 in 2009.

Now why would the Brewers trade such an impressive talent who is only 26? Well the business aspect of baseball comes into play.

Fielder will be a free agent after the 2011 season, and let’s be honest: There’s no way the Brewers will have the budget to re-sign the big guy. Rather than let him walk for just compensatory draft picks, the Brewers would be smart to trade him for a high-level prospect.

Enter Ike Davis. Davis has proven he can hit major league pitching but suffered from a few stretches of inconsistency this season. Scouts have compared him to an Adam LaRoche-type player (above average power, solid glove, will strike out a good amount, hit somewhere between .260 and .280).

So would trading a young Ike Davis who “projects” into an Adam LaRoche be worth Prince Fielder?

I will be the first to say that I am extremely torn on this possibility. I enjoyed watching Davis for us this year. He had some clutch hits and hit some monstrous home runs.

But I also realize the presence that Prince Fielder would have in the middle of the Mets order. There’s no telling if Davis will develop the raw power of Fielder. I wonder what the Mets would do if the Brewers were willing to pull the trigger on this deal (another major consideration).

When looking at this deal, it would make sense for both teams. The Mets desperately need a consistent power threat, and the Brewers would solve their first base vacancy for the next few seasons.

Like I said, I’m glad I am not in charge of making this decision, but I am curious to what the fans think. Feel free to let me know if you would make this deal or place your confidence in Ike, and of course why or why not.

While watching tonight’s latest mishap I conjured up a potential trade that I thought would be a good start for a discussion amongst Mets fans. How about this?

METS GET:

1B Prince Fielder

INF Taylor Green

BREWERS GET:

1B Daniel Murphy

SP Jenrry Mejia

SP John Maine

SP Bobby Parnell

To me, the Mets and Brewers are a perfect match to make a deal. The Brewers are looking to trade Fielder and his upcoming salary increase, and in return are looking for young starting pitching. The Mets, are in desperate need of a legitimate power source to plug in between Carlos Beltran and David Wright next year.  And with Delgado, Schneider etc. coming off the books, the Mets can afford to take on Fielder’s contract.

No doubt this deal would cause a controversy throughout the Mets fan base (honestly, what deal doesn’t?) But in my humble opinion, the pros greatly outweigh the cons in this particular situation. Let’s first look at possible negative outcomes of this trade:  We are giving up young pitching talent which we so obviously need. Yes, trading Mejia, Maine and Parnell take a big chunk out of our pitching prospects, but barring additions or substitutions to the above package, we would still have (a healthy) Jon Niese, Brad Holt, Dillon Gee, Scott Moviel, Micheal Antonini, and Dylan Owen down in the farm continuing to grow and develop. The solution (albeit not an easy one) is for the Mets to draft wisely, and continue to re-stock the farm system over the next few years to make up for those lost in this trade.

While the deal above would more than likely require the Mets to give up a little more, this has a possibility of happening. Mejia is a stud prospect who could eventually team up with Gallardo in the Brewers rotation and be a good #2 or #3 starter. While he may be many years away, there is no denying the talent this kid has. Maine is coming off a injury riddled season, but before his injury Maine has been a decent starter, and at times shown flashes of being more than that. He could easily slide into the Brewers #3 or #4 slot next season, giving them immediate production from the trade. Murphy could either fill in for Fielder in Milwaukee, or be used as trade fodder, while Parnell would be the only way this deal even gets considered. He is major league ready, and could fill in their rotation or bullpen next season, which is exactly what the Brewers are looking for.

The pros to this deal are more than just the jolt Fielder would give the Mets offense, but the jolt he would send through the entire organization and fan base. Omar making a bold move such as this would show the team (not to mention all of us clamoring for his head on a silver platter) that he is not going to tip toe quietly into the night, but is going to give us a legitimate chance of winning in 2010. Fielder is a pure slugger, and someone who would be able to, night in and night out, be able to rocket the ball out of our cavernous home ballpark. The middle of the Mets lineup would once again strike a bit of fear into opposing pitchers (Beltran, Fielder, and Wright) and would give an anemic offensive team a bit of life.

Let’s face it- the Mets are built as a “win now” team. Unless we trade Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes and Johan Santana and completely re-tool and re-build, we will be a “win now” team. Omar needs to make bold, creative moves that create the team into a contender again. Adding Fielder would make the Mets relevant again, and sweep away all of the negative comments that seem to cloud the team every day. The tabloids and media would no longer be talking about the ineptitude of the franchise, but the possibility that the Mets might actually be relevant.

I believe that getting Fielder would be a step in the right direction this offseason. The deal would prove to potential free agent targets (Rich Harden? Erik Bedard? Bobby Abreu? Xavier Nady?) that the Mets mean business and are not the laughing stock of the league.  A lineup of Reyes, Castillo, Beltran, Fielder, Wright, Abreu, Francoeur, and some catcher (Ramon Hernandez? Gregg Zaun?) would provide a much better lineup than we have trotting out this season..