No doubt that you’ve all seen or heard of the defensive woes of Ruben Tejada to start the season. This is frontpage news. The shortstop committed his fourth error yesterday. One person on twitter actually told me it was time to bring up Wilfredo Tovar. I thought he was pulling my leg, but he was serious. That’s not happening and there’s a good chance that Tovar might be worse offensively AND defensively. It was only two years ago when the masses were putting Tejada’s defense above any Mets infielder including Jose Reyes. Everybody calm down. Players can slump in the field as easily as they do at the plate… Ask the captain, David Wright. Nobody knows that better than him.
Apparently, all that Ike Davis needed to get his season going was a good clean shave. After taking a razor to his grizzled face, Davis put his his 1-for-16 slump in his rearview shaving mirror and responded responded with two hits and a walk. Why do bloggers always think they know the cause for a player’s slump? Lately, I’ve been reading some of the most ridiculous assumptions and presumptions I’ve ever seen before throughout the Mets blogosphere. I think we’ve hit the saturation point. Luckily there’s still 5-6 good sites posting original and thoughtful content, but otherwise it’s mostly all regurgitated and reworded stuff. My Top 6 for originality not counting us? That’s easy, Studious Metsimus, Faith and Fear, Kranepool Society, Real Dirty, 2 Guys Talking Mets, and my partner in crime New York Mets Report.
So how long did that everyday outfield of Lucas Duda, Collin Cowgill and Marlon Byrd last? I had the over/under at April 15th and took the under, but geez not even two games and Plan A was blown to smithereens. When’s the last time you saw anyone use the word “smithereens” in a Mets post?
Jack Leathersich picked up his first save of the season, Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom got off to roaring starts and my three prospects I projected for breakthrough seasons are all on track to do just that. It was good to see Steven Matz back on the mound and four innings he looked dominating until he tired and was pulled from the game. As promised we have ramped up our minor league coverage with a 12 man team that will give it to you straight and often. A big shout out to friend of MMO Josh Satin, who is off to a quick 4-for-8 start in Vegas. He doesn’t get enough credit for for his bat despite a career .858 OPS in the minors. The thing of it is that he’s a corner infielder and is blocked at the major league level.
There was a great article on Mets outfield prospect Cory Vaughn a few days ago by Lynn Worthy of PressConnects.com. Vaughn’s a good sleeper candidate for Double-A after finishing second in the Florida State League in home runs and third in extra-base hits (51), while leading St. Lucie in homers, RBIs and total bases in just his second pro season.
Travis d’Arnaud may have switched organizations, but he’ll still be wearing a Las Vegas 51s uniform this season and is off to a killer start. He considers being a top prospect an “honor,” he told reporters before the game, but it means nothing to him until he gets to the big leagues. “I haven’t done anything in the majors. I have to keep working hard and one day I’ll get there and become a great player,” said d’Arnaud. A great player? I like the sound of that. Keep swinging, Travis and you’ll be here soon enough. But for now, John Buck‘s got things covered quite well. Buck is putting Uniform No. 44 back in fashion again.
Don’t touch that dial….
