Mets Twitter was up in arms last night when the news broke about LaTroy Hawkins signing a a one year deal with the Rockies for what seems like a very reasonable $2.25 million dollars. It looks like Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd has got this moneyball thing down pat. He gets himself a closer for far less than the open market price of $12 million annually. The Mets don’t need a closer, assuming Bobby Parnell will be ready for Spring Training. But Hawkins for that price was still a bargain for a late inning reliever. Consider that the Mets were almost on the hook for $2.4 million on Brandon Lyon last season, but cut him a day before his incentive bonuses kicked in. Also consider the Mets shelled out $3.5 million for Jon Rauch the year before. Give the Rockies credit. They’ve been down this road before with Hawkins in 2007, and he rewarded them with a solid season in the thin air of Denver posting a 3.66 ERA with a 1.21 WHIP in 66 appearances. Fare thee well, Hawk…

As we already reported yesterday, the Yankees have jumped into the pool of teams that are pursuing shortstop Jhonny Peralta. Andy Martino of the Daily News says that for the Mets, any rumor involving Peralta is bad news.  On a three-year deal, the 31-year-old is perfect for a team looking for a legit hitter, and an upgrade at shortstop.  Going into the offseason, there was some thought that Peralta’s Biogenesis suspension would reduce his value, but that does not appear to be the case. Martino sees Peralta as a test for the seriousness of the Mets front office. “An unexpected bidding frenzy would test the Mets’ budget, and willingness to re-engage in the hunt for real free agents, which they gave not done since the Omar Minaya years.” If the Mets get shutout on Peralta and Stephen Drew, they may just have to settle for Rafael Furcal who is a high injury risk, or resign themselves to another year of Ruben Tejada and Omar Quintanilla. Reyes Replacement Counter: 716 days and counting.

Where will Robinson Cano end up? (the Mets?) CBS Sports reported that the Yankees and their free agent second baseman are about $150 million apart in contract negotiations. Yes, you read that right. In comparison, the Mets and Hawkins were about $1 million apart. (Ducks) Cano is reportedly asking for $310 million over 10 years while the Yankees are offering about $160 million over seven years. I think Cano is out of his mind – or maybe it’s rapper Jay-Z who is filling his client’s head with these astronomical numbers. Cano is obviously the top free agent on the market and is coming off a fantastic season that saw him slash at .314/.383/.516 with 41 doubles, 27 home runs and 107 RBIs in 2013. But he’s 31 and is looking for a deal that will pay him trough 41. I think the best thing about that Albert Pujols deal was that it jolted the system and I don’t see GMs and owners ever duplicating that mistake again. Sorry, Robbie…

Finally, the Post caught up with Mets owner Fred Wilpon who said it was “painful” watching Mets games last season. The team’s owner was asked about the University of Michigan football team Monday and he responded: “What football team? It’s painful to watch that, but it was painful to watch a baseball game this year, too.” Hilarious… Trust me on this, Fred… I feel your pain… 🙂

The post Hits & Misses: Hawkins Outrage, Fred’s Pain, Jhonny Be Good, Cano Is Loco appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The top five teams in the NL in pitching all reached the postseason this year, and not coincidentally were the only teams in the league to reach or exceed the 90-win plateau. By contrast, two of the top five finishers in NL runs scored, Colorado and Arizona, finished well out of the running, finishing with 74 and 81 wins respectively. In the AL, the top pitching team was Kansas City, but the Royals fell short of the championship rounds by virtue of an anemic offense that wound up scoring more than 200 fewer runs than the league champion Red Sox. Outside of this exception, the remaining top six finishers in league ERA all made it to at least a Wild Card slot. On the offensive side, Baltimore was tied with Cleveland for 4th in the league in runs scored but failed to notch a playoff slot as their 10th-best rated pitching proved too big an obstacle to overcome. The Indians, a few notches better at 7th in the league, were able to get a brief taste of fall competition before being bounced by Tampa Bay in Wild Card play.

The takeaway? Pitching wins pennants, to repeat an old saw, although we should throw in the added condition of having at least a league-average offense. This being the case, how much would the Mets have to improve to achieve a top-five quality mound staff to go with at least a middle-of-the-pack group of batsmen? The answer is maybe not as far as you would think.

The Mets finished the season with a 3.77 team ERA, good for 8th in the NL. A more revealing set of stats are those for Quality Starts, where the team total of 94 was tied for 2nd in the league (with Cincinnati), and relief ERA where the team’s figure of 3.98 was good (or bad) for 12th in the circuit. Clearly the ongoing Achilles’ heel of the bullpen was to blame for much of what proved to be yet another go-round of mediocrity for the Orange and Blue.

While addressing the absence of Matt Harvey will be foremost in the minds of many when looking at the team’s mound-staff for next season, clearly finding someway to finally shed the albatross of an underperforming bullpen simply MUST be achieved for the team to have a real chance to compete.

On the offensive side, the Mets finished with a total of 619 runs scored, 30 below the league average and good for 11th in the NL. While this is decidedly uninspiring, it should be noted that the Pirates also finished below the league average in scoring with 634, but were boosted to their first postseason slot in decades by a pitching staff that finished 3rd in league ERA, due in no small part to their bullpen which led the league in saves and trailed only Atlanta in relief ERA.

So while looking to boost offensive production remains an important goal, it would seem that by putting even greater emphasis on pitching, particularly on the relief corps, Sandy Alderson and crew would be doing more to actually move the Mets closer to postseason play. Some solid pieces are in place or potentially available in players such as Bobby Parnell, Carlos Torres, Scott Rice, Vic Black, Jeurys Familia and (hopefully) LaTroy Hawkins. Improvement will be needed from those who play the role of workhorse middle men a la Scott Atchinson and David Aardsma, and abysmal showings along the lines of what was obtained from the inconsistent Greg Burke and the now-departed Robert Carson and Brandon Lyon will have to be eliminated as much as possible.

Building a solid relief corps has clearly been a challenge for this organization, but with the development of Parnell into an apparently solid closer and the improvement of the ‘pen over the second half of the 2013 season (3.68 ERA, down from a first half mark of 3.83), there will hopefully be enough of a foundation in place to make it less of a daunting task than usual.

The post The Fastest Path To The Post-Season Is Still Pitching appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

There’s an old adage in baseball: you can never have enough good pitching. There’s another adage in life: you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

Beat both in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy and you’ve got something resembling the 2013 New York Mets.

In case none of that makes any sense, consider someone like Carlos Torres. In his last two starts, he’s gone 11 IP allowing 12 hits, two walks, two earned runs and striking out 11. He’s 1-0 over those two games—a quality candidate for long relief later on.

Also look no further than Jenrry Mejia. In Mejia’s debut he pitched seven scoreless innings, gave up seven hits, struck out seven, didn’t surrender a walk and earned the win.

Torres and Mejia are just a few of the productive commodities the Mets have stashed on their roster.

Now, you might be thinking to yourself, “Okay, if that’s the case, then why has the team been so mediocre? If the Mets have all this talent on the team, why can’t they put it together?”

That’s where the second ingredient comes into play. Terry Collins can sit in the dugout and watch young or talented or both players all season. That doesn’t mean he’s going to play them. Sandy Alderson can watch his dumpster dive players over-perform. That doesn’t mean he’s going to flip them.

I believe that most teams can make the postseason. It’s about whether you put the right combination of players out there. Making the right organizational moves can assist that endeavor. It’s taken too long for that to happen. It took too long and an injury to get Omar Quintanilla to play every day at shortstop. It took too long to decide to platoon Ike Davis. Juan Lagares is finally getting a chance to play every day.

Yes, Shaun Marcum was a failure. Yes, Brandon Lyon was a failure. There are players on this roster that can fill those voids though. Some of them aren’t pitchers. A player like Marlon Byrd can net pitching—something you can never have enough. I’m not saying he can bring back a top pitching prospect, but I don’t see a problem with trading him for a bullpen arm.

If the Mets are striving to follow the San Francisco Giants mold, they must keep solidifying their pitching.

I don’t think you trade a good player in the middle of a winning season. I also think you don’t keep a 35-year-old outfielder when you’re in the middle of a rebuilding year. You’re 11 games out of the wild card spot and you’d need to pull off one of the most miraculous second half’s in team history. I’m sorry. I’m just being realistic. The Mets have a better chance of competing for the next few years with another bullpen arm than they do of making a run with Byrd this season.

This isn’t to discredit what Byrd’s been doing. He’s been good for the locker room, good on the field and good for this organization. That only adds credence to the idea that some team will be interested in acquiring him for something the Mets could always use more pitching.

Trade Byrd. Keep Bobby Parnell.

What do you think the Mets should do by the trade deadline?

The post Mets Need More Pitching More Than They Need Marlon Byrd appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

With the New York Mets (41-50) about to embark on the second half of the the 2013 season, I hit up two dozen of our MMO writers for their overall grades by position for our Mid-Season Report Cards.

For added measure we also included Terry Collins, Sandy Alderson and Mr. Met who was the only one to score an A+. 🙂

So without further ado, here’s our 2013 Mid-Season Mets Report Cards.

Terry Collins  C-

TC has been dealt a limited hand but has done a solid enough job overall. His bullpen management remains terrible. His opinion changes rather quickly. Just because you´ve been names a starting player on Monday doesn´t mean you´ll still be one on Saturday. That said, the players seem to enjoy playing for him and usually play hard – even if it´s not always obvious due to their limitations. – Andre

Sandy Alderson  C-

If you accept that 2013 is and was always going to be a transitional / building year, hopefully the final one in terms of financial austerity and waiting out contracts, then Alderson has done a pretty good job overall over the past calendar year. Yes, the team remains a mediocre 75-win caliber team all things considered that´ll probably finish 4th yet again this season. However, if you deduct the Santana & Bay contracts from this year´s payroll, the Mets are 3rd to last in the majors overall with only the Astros & Marlins spending less on their product on the field. So, not contending should not come as a surprise when prospects get moved at a rather slow pace and no money is spent while the group of remaining players lacks high-end talent beyond David Wright, Matt Harvey and to a lesser degree Bobby Parnell. – Andre

If the goal that Sandy himself established in 2010 was to see a renaissance in 2014 that will usher in years and years of sustainable success then you have to give him a near failing grade. Nobody I speak to among scouts, baseball insiders and baseball journalists see 2014 as anything other than what we’ve seen in the last three seasons. Wheeler was never going to be a difference maker, and winning franchises need more than two core players to achieve sustainable success. In three seasons we have more holes than we did in 2010 and no immediate help on the way. He has yet to develop any of his own minor leaguers as the cream of the crop came from trading players that he inherited. Sure it takes time to develop a farm and more than three seasons, but I’m using his timetable not one that I conjured up. The heat is on Sandy. – Joe D.

First Base  D-

The Governor needs to step in and declare first base a disaster area. Ike Davis was once looked upon as a core player and the first baseman of the future. Not anymore. Sadly, there are few in-house options that can give the Mets the 30-homer bat they desperately need from this position. Josh Satin should be getting the majority of playing time, but he doesn’t have that kind of power, but can get on base and drive in runs with his line-drive stroke. – Joe D.

Second Base  B-

Daniel Murphy has improved his defense and while he´s been hot & cold on offense still is at least an average bat offensively at second base. He´s a solid average piece. With Wilmer Flores mashing at AAA, the Mets will face a big question here soon. Keep the solid average piece as he enters his later arbitration years ? Go with the higher upside bat with the defensive question marks? – Andre

The Wilmer Flores situation will come to a head very soon. – Joe D.

Shortstop  C-

Ruben Tejada has been the other big disappointment. He has gradually regressed from his nice 2011 / early 2012 form and was a well below average player over the past calendar year. He´s still young and thus some hope remains. Quintanilla is a limited talent but has made the best out of his opportunity playing steady defense and providing a decent enough bat that this spot isn´t a liability right now. – Andre

Shortstop? What shortstop?

Third Base  A

David Wright has hit at or slightly above his already lofty career norms in spite of no protection around him in the lineup and played Gold Glove caliber defense. It´s time to surround him with better talent. – Andre

The worst part of signing Wright to the ginormous contract, was not going the extra hard and surrounding him with the guns to battle the NL East. So he’ll unfairly get the the blame for results in the standings and this was exactly what I hoped wouldn’t happen – Joe D.

Catcher  C+

Mostly manned by John Buck and Anthony Recker, things looked promising through the first three weeks of the season, but quickly went into a deep decline after that. Mets catchers are now batting .213 with a .277 OBP and 103 strikeouts in 347 at-bats. Very Thole-esque wouldn’t you say? – Joe D.

Left Field  C-

It started out with Lucas Duda and now has Eric Young Jr. and in about two more weeks it will be a combination of the two. What’s a manager to do. The bottom line though is that left field has produced the second highest OPS for the Mets so far at pedestrian .783. Keep on drawing those walks Lucas. Despite missing nearly a month, Duda is still second on the team with 38 walks which accounts for a huge chunk of the OPS. I need to see more of EY until I’m convinced he’s not the player his first 950 MLB plate appearances say he was. – Joe D.

Lucas Duda has proven he is not the long term answer in LF. Certainly not defensively. Possibly not offensively either. Eric Young Jr. has played some here recently and looks like the spark plug the team had been missing. – Andre

Center Field  C-

Cowgill flopped. Valdespin didn´t do much either. Nieuwenhuis has been up & down. Lagares has shown great defense but also some rawness offensively. – Andre

I can’t believe Sandy Alderson has me missing Andres Torres. – Joe D.

Right Field  B+

Marlon Byrd has had quite the unexpected comeback season. He single-handedly made right field a strength for the team so far this season, which of course means it may be time to move him. Right? Isn’t how this works? – Joe D.

Starting Rotation  B+

Matt Harvey has been great. Jeremy Hefner has far exceeded expectations and has done well. Dillon Gee has been up & down – but pretty much as expected overall. Jon Niese is the third biggest disappointment of the year. Though injuries and bad luck & bad weather have played a key role. It´ll be a big key getting him back to 100% going forward. Marcum was rarely healthy and performed between mediocre and terrible. Zack Wheeler remains a work in progress though the upside is huge. Getting him to be more consistent is another key going forward. – Andre

Bullpen  C

Bobby Parnell has emerged as a lights out closer which is very nice. Most other relievers have been unspectacular though better off late. The injury to Jeurys Familia was a big blow structurally as he could have been that 2nd power arm a good team needs in the pen. Josh Edgin has been too inconsistent. – Andre

I knew this group was in trouble again when after three weeks they already shuffled ten different players off or into the pen. Wow… Bullpen Revamp 3.0 was looking like another failure. By the time May ended it was in familiar territory ranking last in the majors in ERA, BAA and WHIP. Collins burned out his two best middle relief arms resulting in Lyon getting cut and Rice going from great to scary. Edgin had a short hiatus in the minors after a demotion, but has looked better. But largely, the bullpen has been a one-man show. – Joe D.

Bench  C+

Considering all the fluctuations in the lineup, the bench pieces have done a solid enough job. Unfortunately, too many bench pieces have been pressed into starting roles they´re probably not suited to fill. Mike Baxter being one example. – Andre

Andre pretty much nailed it. With most of the solid bench options now pressed into starting duty, I’m fearful as to what we’ll get in the second half. – Joe D.

The post MMO Exclusive: 2013 Mets Midseason Report Cards appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The team recently made the announcement through their official Twitter page stating,

The #Mets asked for unconditional release waivers for RHP Brandon Lyon.

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 9, 2013

If Lyon accepts, he will become a free agent.

Lyon was designated for assignment after giving up a 14th inning run in the Mets loss to the Diamondbacks on the Fourth of July. He was taken off the roster to make room for fellow reliever, Greg Burke.

After signing a one year, $750,000 contract at the beginning of the season, Lyon has produced a 2-2 record with a 4.98 ERA and 1.63 WHIP in 34 1/3 innings over 37 games.

During his 12 years in the league, the 33 year old veteran has accumulated a .472 win percentage (42-47) with a 4.16 career ERA.

The post Mets To Release Brandon Lyon appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Sidearm reliever Greg Burke is due to rejoin the Mets on Friday in Milwaukee to replace Lyon’s spot on the active roster.

Lyon had a 4.98 ERA in 34.1 innings pitched for the Mets this season and has allowed ten earned runs in his last eight appearances.

He allowed a 14th-inning RBI single to Martin Prado today in the Mets’ 5-4, 15-inning loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Mets signed Lyon in January to a one-year, $750,000 contract loaded with incentive bonuses. He had 37 appearances for the Mets and was due to start getting $100,000 bonuses for each five appearances beginning at 40.

Who’s ready for another bullpen revamp next offseason? Just kidding, this bullpen hasn’t been nearly as bad as the last two seasons. But if they flip LaTroy Hawkins and David Aardsma as I suspect. another bullpen revamp may be exactly what we’ll get in the Winter.

Enjoy your independence, Brandon…

The post Mets Designate Brandon Lyon, Recall Greg Burke appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Recker ties game with a homer in the 13th, but the celebration didn’t last long for Mets

The Mets played their hearts out and battled hard, but ultimately they would fall to the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 5-4 this afternoon at Citi Field in a 15 inning marathon.

Here’s the short and sweet…

Dillon Gee started and delivered a quality outing holding the D’backs to two runs in seven innings while striking out six. He left with the game tied at 2-2.

LaTroy Hawkins and Bobby Parnell followed with a scoreless inning each, but a heck of a job by Carlos Torres who came in and threw blanks at the Snakes for three innings.

In the 13th inning, David Aardsma gave up the tie-breaking run after walking Cody Ross with the bases loaded. Then with the Mets down to their last out in the bottom of the inning, Anthony Recker blasted a solo shot to knot it up again and the games goes on.

In the 14th, it would be Brandon Lyon‘s turn to allow the D-Backs to take the lead, this time it was Martin Prado who drove home the run. But the Mets wouldn’t go down without a fight and Kirk Nieuwenhuis would tie the game again with a solo homerun of his own… Wow… Onto the 15th…

The D-backs finally took the lead for good when Scott Rice allowed a Cliff Pennington RBI single in the 15th inning. The Mets almost came back again, but almost doesn’t count, and Brad Ziegler held them off  for the save. Boo!!!

Quick Hits: The game lasted five hours, 46 minutes. Dillon Gee has a 2.47 ERA over his past seven starts. Josh Satin extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a sixth-inning single. He has reached base in 15 straight games. LaTroy Hawkins has not allowed an earned run in his past 13 appearances. John Buck was ejected for arguing a strike call.

The Mets now head to Milwaukee for a weekend series with the Brewers. Zack Wheeler (1-1, 5.06 ERA) opposes Johnny Hellweg (0-1, 20.25) in an 8:10 PM start.

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

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The Mets defeated the Diamondbacks at Citi Field on Tuesday night by a score of 9-1. Jeremy Hefner earned his third win of the season with another solid start, and New York handed Patrick Corbin his first loss.

The game started slowly for both teams, with both Hefner and Corbin dealing out of the gate. Anthony Recker broke a scoreless tie with a solo shot to left in the bottom of the fifth, giving the Mets the lead until Martin Prado tied it with a bomb of his own in the seventh. In the bottom half of the seventh, Josh Satin (who else?!) gave the Mets the lead with a double, and after Andrew Brown walked, the Mets had the bases loaded with none out. Naturally, mother nature would have none of it, and the tarp came on the field.

A couple hours later, the game resumed and the Mets promptly blew the game open behind RBI hits from Recker, Omar Quintanilla, Eric Young, and Juan Lagares. The Mets would have had another run if not for a terrible call at home plate, but the game had been decided nonetheless. LaTroy Hawkins and Brandon Lyon tossed scoreless frames to finish off the D-Backs (but not before Quintanilla could tack on another RBI in the eighth), and the Mets sealed their second straight win over Arizona.

Thoughts:

As I said last night (or rather this morning, after yesterday’s midnight finish), Satin is absolutely raking. He had another huge hit tonight, delivering the decisive RBI in the seventh. Eric Young is producing as well; these new guys are fun to watch.

Anthony Recker has a pitiful average, but he seems to have a knack for driving in runs. It feels like he gets a hit a lot more often than 15% of the time…

Another great start from Hefner tonight. The rotation is starting to step up, and with Wheeler in the big leagues and Rafael Montero and Noah Syndergaard not far behind, fans have to be excited about the state of our pitching. Hopefully, Jon Niese comes back healthy soon (although the pessimistic Mets fan in me fully expects disastrous results from his MRI scheduled for later this week). If the pitching can establish itself as a great strength, the team will be able to trade for bats (as well as spend a little on bats, if the Wilpons are being truthful when they say they are not broke) and become a contender at some point in the near future.

Lastly, can anybody remember a season where it has rained more often than in 2013? It feels like every game has had at least a drizzle, it was really coming down out there during the seventh.

The Mets will attempt to clinch a series victory tomorrow when they face the Diamondbacks in the third game of their four-game series a Citi Field. Matt Harvey (7-1, 2.00 ERA), our second best hitting-pitcher after Anthony Recker, will take on Randall Delgado (0-2, 4.05 ERA) at 7:10 PM.

The post Mets Stay Hot As Bats Come Alive Late In 9-1 Win appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

RHP Gonzalez Germen is on his way to NY. A corresponding move will made prior to Tuesday’s game.

— New York Mets (@Mets) July 2, 2013

Well, that happened! Brandon Lyon or Josh Edgin could see themselves DFA’d for Gonzalez German.

Germen, who I recently complained about because he took up a spot on the 40-man roster with minimal MLB action. I guess the Mets were listening…

The 25-year right-hander tossed two innings earlier in the year with the Mets and allowed three earned runs. In 42.2 innings pitched in Las Vegas this year, he has a 5.70 ERA (27 earned runs) and has allowed 47 hits and ten walks.

The post Mets Re-Call Gonzalez Germen, Corresponding Move To Be Made appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Yeah…This was such a joke of a game that I insinuated in the shout box that I didn’t even think it deserved a recap. But it happened — and what’s done is done. Zack Wheeler, our touted prospect, took the mound against the Nationals for his Citi Field debut and it was rocky, to say the least. Wheeler looked to be making an effort to throw more pitches over the plate, although his strike:ball ratio (54:35) didn’t particularly show it. Unfortunately for him, he was knocked around for five earned runs and failed to finish the fifth inning, where he was lifted in favor of David Aardsma.

Two of his five runs came the hard way, as Adam LaRoche and Jayson Werth each took the young man deep for a solo home run. The other three runs crossed the plate in the third inning off a combination of hits and a walk. Wheeler struck out five, and his velocity was slightly down at times — which I really hope was not a result of some adjustment Warthen had him make due to his “tipping pitches.” That being said, I really hoped my John Maine comparison was a one-game thing, and not the norm…

There are going to be games like this for Wheeler — and there will likely be games where he dominates too. The question is how frequently we’ll see the dominant Wheeler in comparison to the one that struggled today. Three major league starts does not define a career, however.

There were little bright spots to speak of in this game regardless, however, as Brandon Lyon made an effort to ensure that another top Mets prospect wouldn’t get a win. After Aardsma and Josh Edgin pitched us into the seventh without allowing anymore damage, Lyon was obliterated for six earned runs — although one of them scored as an inherited runner when Scott Rice allowed a base hit. Fan favorite Anthony Recker allowed a two-run home run in the ninth, but got the next three outs easily.

The Mets had a few chances to score in this game, but failed to come through until the ninth, when John Buck ripped a two-run home run. Too little, too late…

Shaun Marcum looks to build on his first win when the Mets take on the Arizona Diamondbacks tomorrow evening.

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