Mets Minors 4.13.2011  BUFFALO 4, SCRANTON/WILKES-BARRE 0: Jenrry Mejia tossed six scoreless innings helping the Buffalo Bisons win its second straight game. Mejia (1-0) struck out five batters and walked three while rendering three hits. Manny Acosta pitched a scoreless ninth inning and gave up one hit. Jason Pridie and Justin Turner each collected three hits. Ruben Tejada, Lucas Duda, and Pride each had an RBI. The Bisons scored three runs in the sixth inning. [...]

Spring Training is only about two weeks old, but already some players are starting to leave an impact on the new manager, Terry Collins. Regardless of a 2-3-1 record, the team seems to be coming together nicely, especially since the main focus of this offseason dealt with off-the-field issues. Stats really don’t mean too much in spring. Rather, a player’s quality of at-bats and defensive presence get noticed more. A few of the young players [...]

The Contenders: Luis Castillo- .235/.337/.267, 0 HR, 17 RBI, 6.7 UZR/150, 0. 6 WAR, $6 million, 35 years old Daniel Murphy- .266/.313/.427, 12 HR, 63 RBI, 1.0 WAR, $400K, 26 years old Brad Emaus- .290/.397/.476, 15 HR, 75 RBI (between AA and AAA), $400K, 25 years old The Underdog: Justin Turner- .316/.374/.487, 12 HR, 43 RBI (at AAA), $400K, 26 years old The Long Shots: Ruben Tejada- .213/.305/.282, 1 HR, 15 RBI, 1.2 UZR/150, -0.4 [...]

Andy Martino of the Daily News gives more evidence that Ruben Tejada is not even considered in the mix for the second base battle this spring. He begins with comments from Terry Collins on the newest Met, at least for now, infielder Brad Emaus, the Rule 5 pickup from the Blue Jays. “Obviously, with J.P. (Ricciardi, a former Toronto GM) involved, we had real, real good information about him, what kind of player he is. [...]

Today Ken Rosenthal reported that the Brewers would listen to offers regarding several players, one of those players is Rickie Weeks.  Weeks has one year left on his contract.  In 2010 Rickie Weeks will be making $2.75 million dollars.  The Mets we know need someone at second base as it’s highly likely that Castillo won’t be playing full time if at all for the Mets in 2010.  Also I believe that Ruben Tejada would benefit [...]

As Sandy Alderson continues to hire his buddies and show no urgency in hiring a manager, he needs to consider bringing Orlando Hudson to the New York Mets. Hopefully Alderson will finally cut loose the dead weight  that is Luis Castillo.  The Mets should have signed Hudson in 2009, but instead they let him go to the Dodgers.  Once again the Mets had another chance earlier this year to sign Hudson, but Omar didn’t.  Since things are [...]

Mark Simon of ESPN is one of my favorite stops when I surf for Mets news each day. It’s not only that he always makes great points and draws logical conclusions, but the depth of effort and research he puts into each of his posts is unmatched. Today I found a Mets post filled with more of his gems including this one: Mets second basemen had offensive numbers that were almost unprecedented. The following data [...]

Mike Pelfrey went seven and one third innings of quality baseball, and key offensive contributions from David Wright and clutch hitting from Ruben Tejada gave the Mets the win, 4-3 versus the Brewers. Game Notes Mike Pelfrey went seven and one third innings today, giving up three runs on five hits, walking four and striking out two. Pelfrey was wild today, throwing roughly half his pitches for strikes. Pelfrey gave up a long home run [...]

Wins and losses mean very little these days for the Mets since being mathematically eliminated last week. That said, I was stunned by how the team responded after Chase Utley’s dirty take-out slide of Ruben Tejada last night. What ever happened to pride and respect? Once again, the Mets shrunk in the face of adversity and took it on the chin. Once again I watched as the Mets get knocked down, thrown at, spiked and [...]

2010 pointed out the Mets lack of a solid overall bench, and the mismanagement of some call ups and how they were used is also a major area of concern for me. Jesus Feliciano cannot successfully be the fifth outfielder for the Mets. His lack of pop or any kind of doubles power makes him a decent defensive outfielder. Keeping him on the bench instead of a defensive wizard or a great hitter is stupid. [...]