Five months after traveling a metaphorical odyssey — a thrilling though somewhat tumultuous journey that ended two wins shy of a World Series — the Mets preceded the start of the 2000 regular season with an actual trip around the world.

The Mets jetted from Spring Training to Japan for the first official Major League Baseball games outside of North America. Joining them on this maiden voyage were their opponents in this two-game series, the Chicago Cubs. For nearly every player and coach, it was a stark diversion from normalcy. But to Mets manager Bobby Valentine, these were familiar grounds.

In 1995, Valentine took the reins of the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league and guided the once-downtrodden franchise to a revival. But his implementation of practice regimens and in-game strategies that countered traditional Japanese philosophies irked coaches and management and led to his dismissal after one successful season.

Valentine reveled in his return, enthusiastically showing off his command of the native language to the respective media corps. The players did their best to adjust to the surroundings — taking part in two exhibition games with local teams while getting their fill of the culture. Some even bravely rode the Tokyo subway system, which at times is so congested it makes the New York subway feel like an open meadow.

But no one was more uneasy than Benny Agbayani. Not because of where he was, but because of what potentially was coming. An outfield logjam caused by the insertion of promising rookie Jay Payton was likely going to send Agbayani, a fine contributor during the playoff run of ’99, to the minors in order to make room for a fifth starting pitcher once the club returned from its Far East excursion. So disheartened was Benny that he demanded a trade elsewhere rather than endure a demotion to Triple-A Norfolk.

He did get a boost of confidence at a dinner with Konishiki, a Samoan sumo wrestler who grew up in Benny’s native Hawaii.

”He told me, ‘Don’t give up,’ ” Agbayani recalled to the New York Times. ”He told me to stay focused, not to let them get me down.”

However, chances to prove himself were absent, as Benny watched on the bench — along with many bleary-eyed Mets fans back in the states — for an Opening Day first pitch at 5:05 am Flushing Standard Time.

The atypical nature of this game, in which New York was designated the “home” team, didn’t stop there. Starting pitcher Mike Hampton, the shiny new acquisition from Houston, was anything but in control. Visibly bothered by the Tokyo Dome mound, he permitted a staggering nine walks and 14 baserunners over five innings and left trailing 2-1.

Another unusual occurrence took place in the first inning. Rey Ordonez misplayed a grounder, putting an end to the sure-handed shortstop’s major league record errorless streak of 101 games.

Chicago increased its advantage to 5-1 by the bottom of the eighth before a sense of familiarity set in. Mike Piazza‘s two-run opposite-field blast initiated the power-hitting catcher’s 38-home run campaign, but did nothing to change the final outcome. Valentine then injected some controversy when he insisted a ninth-inning Cubs replacement, infielder Jeff Huson, was not listed on the lineup card written out by Chicago manager Don Baylor. Bobby’s protest was brief, and the squabble between skippers was brushed aside by the time finale reached its conclusion.

The next day, with the Cubs now designated as the home team, Mets starter Rick Reed allowed just one unearned run in eight innings. But New York bats could do little against Kyle Farnsworth. The game moved into extras tied at one. In the top of the 11th, the Mets loaded the bases with two outs and the pitcher’s spot due up. Valentine’s pinch-hitter of choice was his outfielder on the bubble. Benny had recently sought advice from the spirits in a fortune-telling ritual at a Shinto shrine (on top of the therapeutic dinner with the sumo wrestler). The message: “great good luck” or daikichi.

With a pre-swing leg hike patterned after Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh, Agbayani made the most of Danny Young‘s 1-0 pitch over the heart of the plate. It was hit well enough to break the tie. Center fielder Damon Buford drifted straight back, towards the fence. Sayonara.

Agbayani rounded first with the emotion of a little leaguer — maintaining hopes of staying a big leaguer. Valentine made no such promises following the 5-1 win. “He knows the situation we have to deal with,” he said. “I’m glad he’s here with us today.”

While Benny wouldn’t leave Japan with any added sense of security, he did take home a shotgun helmet — the trophy given for being the game’s top performer. The Mets were ill-advised to demote someone with that kind of armory. Luckily, they wouldn’t need to. Injuries soon piled up among the other outfielders, giving Agbayani the daikichi he really needed. His place on the major league roster would be secure for the rest of the season.

As the Mets bid farewell to Tokyo, a new challenge awaited: an 18-hour flight back to New York and three days to calibrate the body clocks before hosting the San Diego Padres in the familiar setting of Shea Stadium.

The post Reliving The 2000 Mets: Opening Series appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Adam83 asks…

Every time I read about how great our bullpen is, it’s amazing how often Carlos Torres and the job he did last year is ignored and never mentioned.  Isn’t he just as important to us as Familia and Mejia?  How many long relievers are better?

MMO replies…

Carlos Torres is certainly appreciated within the organization, but I agree he’s not making national headlines and his numbers would suggest he should be.  Torres has quietly provided that insurance arm out of the bullpen who can go long, serve as a specialist or close out games when the regular guy needs a night off.  In the two years he has pitched as a reliever for the Mets, Torres has appeared in 96 games and pitched a total of 128.2 innings.  His 2.73 ERA and 8.04 K’s per nine innings are impressive during that stretch and certainly proved the difference in a number of victories.

During the transition period for the Mets bullpen this season, the team let go of veterans like Kyle Farnsworth and Jose Valverde in lieu of the future which included Vic Black, Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia.  Critics argued that Torres was used too much during that time, but Terry Collins often had very few reliable options, which forced his hand in an effort to keep the team in games.  Thankfully, the youngsters emerged and Torres was able to pitch through to the end of the year, healthy.

You can’t blame Collins for his dependence on Torres, considering how often he could induce that much needed double play ball (13 DP in 2014) and bear down with runners on base (25.5 K/9 with runners on base).

The best part compared to his performance is his cost.  Torres made slightly above the league minimum this season and should remain relatively cost effective heading into 2015 which will help the team stay flexible in case other needs arise.

Many of his peers are hard throwers and those players will always garner more attention because they’re more exciting to watch, but Torres has quietly filled the many roles the team has asked him to and done so with a lot of success.  Now, if only the Mets could find a lefty reliever as talented and as cheap as Carlos Torres, than we’d be in business.

The post MMO Mailbag: Where’s The Love For Carlos Torres? appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

In their annual MLB General Manager Rankings, The Sporting News has Mets GM Sandy Alderson slipping all the way to No. 23 out of 30.

Patience is a virtue, to be sure, but the Mets under Alderson have not shown great ability to do much more than add young pitching to the organizational talent pool. The lineup remains as much of a nightmare as ever, and the list of players who have been mishandled in one way or another by the organization is long, from young players like Ruben Tejada to veterans like Kyle Farnsworth to those in between like Ike Davis. The philosophy is right. The execution is troubling.

Billy Beane ranked No. 1, and rounding out the top five were Ben Cherington of the Red Sox, Dave Dombrowski of the Tigers, Brian Sabean of the Giants and Andrew Friedman of the Rays.

Ruben Amaro Jr. of the Phillies was ranked as the worst GM.

The post Alderson Ranked No. 23: Philosophy Is Right, But Execution Is Troubling appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports reports that the Houston Astros have signed righthander Kyle Farnsworth to a major league deal.

The Mets released Farnsworth earlier in the week before his 45 day advance consent clause was set to expire, saving the team $750K for the rest of the season.  

“Hopefully, I’ll find a team to play against this team,” said a very bitter Farnsworth, who didn’t hide his emotions after receiving the news.

The scrapheap reliever – turned Mets closer – posted a 3.18 ERA in 18 appearances for the team with three saves.

I figured he’d latch on somewhere, but I’m shocked he got a major league deal…

The post Farnsworth Signs Major League Deal With Astros appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Tuesday night was brutal. Depressing. Infuriating. You name the negative emotion, I likely felt it. You likely did too. The first month of the season was a feel good story. But we were not naive enough to forget our team’s shortcomings. No production from SS, strikeouts from our big free agent signing and for some of you, our manager. Through all of this, we still sit here today with a .500 record at 15-15 through the first week of May thanks to stellar starting pitching that ranks 4th in the NL in quality starts. But it will take much more than quality starts to win games when you have an offense that ranks close to the bottom in most relevant categories. You need quality finishes as well. And our bullpen, as constructed, is not capable of providing that.

The current bullpen has 3 or 4 players which can be counted as ‘reclamation’ projects. Can Jose Valverde close again? Can Kyle Farnsworth close at all? Can Daisuke Matsuzaka even pitch out of the bullpen? Was career minor leaguer Scott Rice‘s 2013 an anomaly? The Mets are operating on a budget, I get that. You need to take a flyer or two on the roster and hope for the best. But 50% of the bullpen? And when one or two struggle, the remaining guys wind up getting overused when the manager loses faith in someone.

No, this can’t continue. Want to kill the psyche of our young arms? Have them pitch 7 innings of shutout baseball and come away with nothing. So what are our options? I see three options that we could implement today, all of which involve replacing Dice-K as he was not signed to be a bullpen guy in the first place and seems uncomfortable in the role (ie- 2 innings to warm up).

1) Recall Vic Black from AAA. We were counting on him in the Spring to be the 8th inning guy and he seems to be in a rhythm lately in Vegas. Given that Black is already accustomed to the bullpen role and it is the least disruptive to the existing system, this is my preferred alternative.

2) Move Jenrry Mejia to the pen, and call up Rafael Montero or Jacob deGrom. I am sick of hearing what Mejia ‘wants’. If the organization believes that he is not well suited for a starting role (and this is a big if), then send him to the pen. We’re not dealing with a HOF player here, so I don’t get the sense of entitlement. Management signs your paycheck, do what they ask you to do. Now, throw this option out the window if they still feel he is a top of the rotation kind of guy. My gut tells me, though, that this is not the case.

3) Make a deal. No more flyers. We have depth in the minor leagues. Let’s use it. This is my least favorite of the options, primarily due the time it could take to exercise it effectively. Our bullpen will still be an issue next year, so it is not like the dollars are wasted on this year alone. I love the guys in the minors, but if a proven, young 8th inning guy can be had for someone not named Noah, I would be inclined to listen hard.

Let’s not let the dream of winning baseball in 2014 quickly evaporate. The bullpen is our weakest link, Sandy. Make a move. And do it quickly.

The post The Bullpen Fix Can Not Wait appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

May 7

A team insider told Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, that righthander Jenrry Mejia is being judged on a start-to-start basis. There are some in the organization who have viewed Mejia as a reliever all along.

Mejia previously had communicated to the front office that he would prefer working in Triple-A as a starter rather than working in the majors in relief.

However Rubin adds that the belief is that he would back off that preference if he were bounced from the rotation.

Mejia now tells Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal that he would be fine working as a late inning reliever

Diamond points out that in 91 professional starts, Mejia has only lasted into the seventh inning twice, despite averaging over 100 pitches per start and adds:

Granted, it has only been a month. That said, as a closer, Mejia could concentrate all of his effort into one crucial inning, rather than pace himself for an 100-pitch game. The evidence suggests he might be better suited to be a closer than a starter. If Mejia succeeded, he would almost certainly make the Mets a better team.

“Everything is on the table,” said Assistant GM John Ricco. “We have a lot of good young arms, it’s our job to manage them.”

Shifting Mejia to the bullpen would open up an opportunity in the rotation for Jacob deGrom or Rafael Montero in the short term and perhaps Noah Syndergaard later in the season.

May 5

Terry Collins said that righthander Jenrry Mejia will make his scheduled start on Friday against the Philadelphia Phillies at Citi Field, but acknowledged that the debate over whether he should work as a reliever will continue.

Statistical splits show that opposing batters are hitting .160 the first time they face Mejia in a game and .239 the second time around. However, hitters are scorching Mejia for a .438 batting average the third time through the order.

Asked if that strengthens the case for making Mejia a reliever, Collins responded, “Especially when you have starts where they are five innings, 4 2/3, five innings, it’s always in the conversation.”

Mejia has made it known that he does not want to work in relief.

According to Adam Rubin, Mejia has previously told the Mets that he would prefer being a Triple-A starter to relieving in the big leagues.

May 4

Well that sucked… By now I should be used to a bullpen performance like we saw last night, but for me it never gets any easier. After the way the team battled back from Jenrry Mejia‘s meltdown I was thumping my chest as we headed into the bottom of the ninth. I thought it was going to be a great comeback win in a ballpark that has been giving the Mets fits since… forever. I should have known better.

Mets closer Kyle Farnsworth has now been scored on in three of his last four appearances. Four earned runs on seven hits including two back-breaking home runs in just 3.1 innings pitched.

Mets quasi closers have combined to blow six saves in 12 opportunities so far this season. In other words, whenever we take a three run or less lead into the ninth inning, there’s a 50/50 chance that we’ll blow the lead. How do you like them odds?

Now the buzz is that we should make Daisuke Matsuzaka the new closer. Why not, right? As long as we get him up in the bullpen around the seventh inning so that he can get warmed up we should be fine, right?

The Mets bullpen has allowed 13 home runs through the first five weeks of the season. Only the Houston Astros bullpen has allowed more homers (16) in the majors.

Opposing hitters have a .755 OPS against Mets relievers.

Back on Opening Day, when we suffered our first bullpen implosion of the season, Mets GM Sandy Alderson had this to say about the state of the pen:

“The bullpen has not been good over the last several years. It needs to get better.”

Easier said than done for Sandy who has struggled to put together an effective bullpen since taking over the team at the end of the 2010 season.

Mets National League Bullpen Rankings

• 2009 – 3.89 ERA Ranked 8th
• 2010 – 3.59 ERA Ranked 5th
• 2011 – 4.33 ERA Ranked 15th
• 2012 – 4.65 ERA Ranked 15th
• 2013 – 3.98 ERA Ranked 12th
• 2014 – 4.08 ERA Ranked 12th

Alderson hasn’t run from his track record. “It’s been nothing short of abysmal,” he told Marc Carig of Newsday last month.

Since 2011, the Mets have had only three Mets relievers have logged at least 30 innings and posted an ERA below 3.00, Bobby Parnell did it twice and LaTroy Hawkins was the other. That’s pretty pathetic.

On Friday, Sandy hinted that Rafael Montero and Jacob deGrom will be ticketed for the bullpen “sooner rather than later.”

“I think we’re at the point where anything is possible.”

When asked if they would need to begin their transition to relief while still in Vegas, Alderson stated that it’s a “first step, but not a necessary step.”

Safe to say that the veteran reliever experiment is quickly coming to an end. Those last-ditch effort, scrapheap signings of Jose Valverde, Kyle Farnsworth and John Lannan did little to revamp the bullpen.

I always felt our best options were all internal anyway. So hopefully things will get better soon.

One last thing. Last night on our game thread and on Twitter, Mets fans were unfairly calling Sandy out for not going after Joel Hanrahan. The fact is he won’t be ready to pitch and contribute at least until June at the earliest. Even if we had signed him, it wouldn’t of helped us in the least last night.

Anyway, lets try and avoid the sweep tonight.

The post Mejia Now Open To Late Relief, Mets Judging Him Start To Start appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

There are quite a few posts out there this morning gravitating around LaTroy Hawkins and the Mets decision not to re-sign him. Andy Martino of the Daily News however, takes the most pointed approach.

Hawkins, who signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Rockies, is second in the league with nine saves and has a 2.38 ERA and 1.05 WHIP in 12 appearances with no blown saves.

In stark contrast, Mets closers have blown five saves in 11 opportunities with seven different relievers having had a chance to save a game after just one month into the season. 

Regarding the Mets offer to Hawkins, the veteran reliever told reporters, “the Mets did not even come close.” Although his first choice was to stay with the Mets because he enjoyed his time there.

Martino writes that surprised by the size of the Rockies’ offer, the Mets did not believe that a 41-year-old pitcher was worth that investment. And while that makes sense in a world without context, it proved short-sighted, and failed to account for Hawkins’ continued arm strength and health, and for his results.

If Sandy Alderson was serious about his 90-win goal, he asks, shouldn’t they have splurged on a modest one-year deal for a player who fit so perfectly?

Look: This team cannot have it two ways. You’re either spending on the details that give you a better chance to win this year, or waiting yet another season to be taken seriously. The shame will be if the Mets do continue to surprise the league, but are undermined from earning that second wild card because of decisions like allowing Hawkins to depart.

Collins spoke about Hawkins last night, saying “What he did in that clubhouse with some of our young pitchers, you can’t replace it.”

“We were lucky to find a couple of veteran guys in (Kyle) Farnsworth and (Jose) Valverde, but we miss LaTroy Hawkins in that clubhouse.”

Martino lists a few red flags that went unnoticed or were outright ignored by Mets brass. One of them was the doubt surrounding Parnell last fall as he recovered from neck surgery and was still walking around the clubhouse in a neck brace during the final month of the season. “Might the wisdom of insurance have occurred to someone then?”

After Hawkins signed with Colorado, the Mets made a more expensive run at Grant Balfour, who instead chose a two-year, $12 million deal with Tampa Bay…They are paying Bartolo Colon, who turns 41 in three weeks and is in, um, different physical condition than Hawkins, $20 million over the next two years.

Remind us again why $2.5 million was a crazy, unreasonable, can’t-possibly-do-it number for a player of the same age?

What are your thoughts on Hawkins, the decision-making process that led to him leaving for Colorado, the size and value of his contract, and the comments made by Terry Collins?

The post Mets Manager Says He Misses LaTroy Hawkins In That Clubhouse appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Despite Ike Davis starting on Thursday night against the Braves and starter David Hale, Terry Collins insists that Lucas Duda is still the starting first baseman and will continue to get the bulk of the playing time.

“We made a decision and you don’t have much credibility if you keep changing your mind every other day because somebody goes 2-for-4,” Collins said before the game.

“We’re not going to do that. I told Ike the other day he’s going to play (last night); matter of fact, he came in to make sure he was in the lineup (Thursday night). I said, ‘Hey, I told you you’re going to play, you’re going to play.’”

Duda has struggled since being named the starter, but did single as a pinch hitter last night to raise his average to .217 after entering the game with a .182 average and .705 OPS in 24 plate appearances this season.

On the flip side, Davis went 0-for-3 with a walk on Thursday, although he had some very good at-bats and looks better at the plate of late.

I think Collins is just doing what he can with a situation that was plopped into his lap by the front office. After Sandy Alderson targeted first base as his top priority, said he had seen enough to make an appropriate evaluation and to expect a radical change, and then failing to resolve anything, what we have is this… Whatever this is.

Last season, Mets first baseman produced a league worst .234/.353/.368 batting line, and so far this season they’ve produced even worse delivering a .188/.297/.406 slash.

Yesterday, Maggie Wiggin of MetsBlog offered her analysis of the situation and wrote:

Mets first basemen have a .730 OPS, which ranks 16 out of the 30 MLB teams. They are also in the middle of the pack in home runs, runs scored and RBI. Duda alone would rank similarly, with his .773 OPS coming in at No. 13 among starting first baseman in baseball.

However, I believe she’s including pinch-hitting production which does skew the numbers considerably, and if you were to look at wOBA or wRC+, which I feel are better measures especially if we’re doing small samples, you’ll be able to better see that first base production is still league worst much as it was last season.

Compounding the issue further is the fact that we still have Josh Satin languishing on the bench. He’s actually the one first baseman the Mets have that would be All-World against lefthanded pitching. But the platoon we all thought was coming never materialized and he’s been an odd fit. In fact, on Wednesday, with a righthander on the mound, Collins chose to pinch-hit the righty Satin rather than Davis who was also on the bench. Satin struck out. That’s not exactly a case of Collins setting up Satin to succeed – or the Mets for that matter.

There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to what the Mets are doing here. They’re just flying by the seats of their pants.

On a side note – Jose Abreu – remember him? Well through his first ten major league games, the 27-year-old Cuban has an AL-best 14 RBIs and seven extra base hits among his 12 hits overall, the most recent of which were his two home runs last night, giving him four for the season. He is batting .300/.383/.725 and has played every game at first base and not DH where so-called experts pigeon-holed him in the days leading up to his signing. Abreu has already become a folk hero when earlier this week he ripped a foul ball that literally had the cover torn off in mid flight. Life imitating art.

So as the Mets get set for a weekend series at Anaheim, the scene of that notorious 3:00 AM axing six years ago, prepare yourselves to get treated to more of the Lucas Duda and Ike Davis show with the exception of tonight because wouldn’t you know it, Josh Satin is expected to get the start.

Lets Go Mets!

The post First Base Follies To Continue appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Despite the Mets 2-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday, there was one bright spot worth noting, and surprisingly it came from the bullpen.

After a solid start by Jon Niese who tossed 6.2 innings in his return to the mound, the Mets bullpen took over with Gonzalez Germen, Kyle Farnsworth, and Jose Valverde combining to throw 3.1 scoreless innings.

Gonzalez Germen came on in the 6th inning with two outs and men on 2nd and 3rd. He walked the first batter on four pitches, but after that he was perfect. Germen got a groundout from Zack Cozart with the bases loaded to get out of the jam, and then stayed in for the 7th. He coaxed a pop out and two strikeouts, and his stat line for the day: 1.1 IP, 0 R, 0 Hits, 1 BB, 2 Ks.

Kyle Farnsworth came in to pitch the 8th inning and while he did give up a hit to Ryan Ludwick and a walk to Jay Bruce, he also got three big outs from some threatening Reds. He struck out Brandon Phillips, got Joey Votto to fly out and finally Todd Frazier to ground out. Farnsworth, who was called up when Bobby Parnell went on the DL, ended up with the following stat line for the day: 1 IP, 0 R, 1 Hit, 1 BB, 1 K.

Jose Valverde was the third Mets reliever to deliver the goods, and he has yet to allow a run in three appearances this season spanning 3.1 innings pitched. Valverde, like Farnsworth, assumed a new role when Parnell got injured, taking over as the team’s closer. His only blunder was a harmless single to Brayan Pena. Other than that, Papa Grande got Cozart to fly out, and then struck out Chris Heisey and Roger Bernadina. His stat line for the day: 1 IP, 0 R, 1 Hits, 0 BB, 2 Ks.

With the way the Mets bullpen has been struggling to begin the season, it was nice to see some solid performances as the Mets closed out their homestand. Just taking a positive out of a Mets loss.

The post Efficiency From The Mets Bullpen appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The New York Mets defeated the Cincinnati Reds tonight at Citi Field by the score of 4-3. This was the first win of the season for the Mets, now with a 1-3 record on the season.

Jenrry Mejia started for the Mets and had a solid outing despite some control issues. He allowed just one run on four hits, tossing 101 pitches through 6.0 innings of work. Mejia’s pitch count was effected by his 5 walks and 8 strikeouts. All in all, it was the perfect start to show off Mejia’s strengths and effectiveness.

The player of the day was Lucas Duda. After being announced starting first base for the foreseeable future, Duda went 2-3 with two home runs, driving in all four of the Mets runs. It was a huge day that is sure to build his confidence, as fans were chanting “Lucas Duda” throughout the night.

John Lannan gave up a two-run homer in the 7th, giving Mets fans a scare. The Mets were able to hold on though, with a great outing by Kyle Farnsworth, and the save from Jose Valverde; his first save with the Mets.

After Mets hitters struck out 38 times through their first three games, the got it together tonight and struck out a total of just four times.

Eric Young Jr. went hitless again in the in the lead off spot tonight, and is now 0-12 on the season. Travis d’Arnaud is also hitless through his first four games.

All of the Mets hits game from the top of the lineup. Daniel Murphy and Lucas Duda each had two hits on the game, while David Wright and Curtis Granderson each collected a single for a total of six Mets hits.

Being at the game, Mets fans were really energetic despite the low attendance number and the gloomy weather.

The Mets really needed this win. Hopefully it’s gives them a huge boost in confidence and propels a nice long winning streak.

The Mets will host the Cincinnati Reds tomorrow at 1:10 PM and look to win their first series of the young season. Dillon Gee will be on the mound looking for his first win.

The post MMO Game Recap: Mets 4, Reds 3 appeared first on Metsmerized Online.