In the piece, Sherman spends a lot of time dissecting all the events that played into A-Rod becoming a Yankee. The Red Sox came within a whisker of signing Rodriguez. It wasn’t until Yankee third baseman and post season star Aaron Boone tore his ACL playing off-season baseball that the Yankees were in on bringing A-Rod to the Bronx. As is their habit, the Bronx Bombers were all in.

Rodriguez, a Met fan when he was growing up, hoped his people could swing a deal where he would land in Flushing. As things turned out, A-Rod would be coming to New York only to the other part of town.

As a Met fan, the piece that interested me the most indirectly involved the Mets. First, as part of the deal between the Yankees and Rangers, the Yanks gave up Alfonso Soriano and a pinstripe prospect from a list of five. That list included pitcher Ramon Ramirez, outfielders Rudy Guillen and Bronson Sardinha, shortstop Joaquin Arias and second baseman Robinson Cano. The Rangers chose Arias.

Stop and think what may have happened in Texas had they chosen Cano. The reports the Rangers had on a young Cano were that the future Yankee second baseman was talented but moody, so the club decided to move in another direction.

Arias has played in parts of six major league seasons, three with the Rangers, one split between the Rangers with a cup of coffee with the Mets and the last two with the San Francisco Giants. In just over 800 at bats Arias has a major league batting average of
.272.

With the deal complete, Sherman reports the Rangers and the Mets engaged in serious discussions about moving Soriano. The Mets wanted Soriano and were willing to part with their shortstop, Jose Reyes, to get him. Texas owner Tom Hicks vetoed the proposed deal fearing a fan revolt in Texas should he move Soriano immediately after relinquishing Rodriguez.

If the Rangers had selected Cano rather than Arias, and had Hicks not nixed the trade with the Mets, the Rangers would have fielded a double play combination of Jose Reyes at shortstop and Robinson Cano at second base. Now that’s enough to make your head spin.

The post Talkin’ Baseball: A Brilliant Infield Duo That Never Was appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

The Mets (67-83) lost 8-5 to the Giants (70-81) on Tuesday Night

Zack Wheeler took the ball for the Mets, but struggled with his command against the team that traded him back in 2011. Wheeler managed to work around a leadoff walk in the 1st, but 4 walks in the 2nd (including one to the pitcher with the bases loaded) allowed the Giants to put up 3 runs in the 2nd inning.

New York fought back against former Met Yusmeiro Petit, getting a run in the 3rd before taking the lead in the 4th behind RBI hits from rookies Wilmer Flores and Matt den Dekker. MdD ran himself off of the basepaths by taking a reckless turn around 1st after his single, but the ensuing rundown ultimately allowed the go-ahead run to score.

The next inning, Wheeler’s 6th walk of the game helped Buster Posey drive in the tying run with a grounder to Murphy. In the 7th, Angel Pagan  gave the Giants a lead they would never relinquish with a long homer to left. San Francisco tacked on 2 more in the 8th and 1 in the 9th.

The Mets tried to put together a rally in the bottom of the 9th, but after Daniel Murphy‘s RBI single made it a 3-run game, Lucas Duda and Andrew Brown both flied out to end it, giving the Mets yet another loss.

Wheeler was very disappointing today. He ended up going 5 innings and throwing 107 pitches, giving up 4 runs on only 3 hits thanks to a whopping 6 walks.

In case you’re wondering why Yusmeiro Petit left the Mets, we traded him for Carlos Delgado during the 2005 offseason. Remember when we used to make moves for impact players? According to our front office, “significant steps to improve the roster” are on the way, but given the track record of the Wilpons and Sandy Alderson when it comes to being honest, I am quite skeptical.

Speaking of Sandy, Angel Pagan really killed us tonight, driving in three, walking twice, and leaving the yard in the 5th. I guess the Andres Torres experiment didn’t work out. And whatever happened to Ramon Ramirez?

Travis d’Arnaud left the game early with a sore shoulder after being hit by a foul ball. His propensity for injuries is quite frustrating given that he is seen as our teams “future”, but hopefully he’ll be back tomorrow or Thursday. We have to hope that these injuries truly are all freak injuries— injuries that are not an indicator of an injury-riddled future for the young catcher.

Wilmer Flores also left the game early. Terry Collins said that it was mostly a lineup move, but Flores did seem to be having trouble with his ankle again. On the bright side, he swung the bat well today, as did his fellow rookie Matt den Dekker.

How great was Jerry Seinfeld tonight? The handful of innings he spent in the booth with Gary, Keith, and Ron were gold… the Mets might want to try to get him on the air a bit more often.

The year is winding down, and it’s really getting pretty ugly. Again, each loss helps us in terms of our draft pick, and it looks like we will be able to sign a top free agent without losing that pick this offseason… if Sandy is so inclined. Let’s see what “The Plan” has in store for us. Sandy has been talking about 2014 for so long that he must improve the team this winter… or else.

The biggest Mets news of the day? Matt Harvey might be able to avoid Tommy John, which is great, assuming that they are responsible and don’t let him pitch if it will put his long-term health at risk.

The Mets will try to even their series against the defending champions tomorrow. Aaron Harang (0-1, 4.50 ERA) will take the mound against Matt Cain (8-9, 4.24 ERA) at 7:10 PM in Flushing.

The post Wheeler Struggles Against Former Team, Pagan Has Big Night In 8-5 Giants Win appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

No, this isn’t another post telling you that the Mets have the worst bullpen in baseball, No need to rehash all that again and again. Instead lets talk about solutions.

Yesterday we read that Padres closer Huston Street will be one of the players expected to be on the market as the trade deadline nears. There’s no doubt that Street will significantly help any team in search for some late inning relief and apparently all one needs to do is take on his salary and throw the Pads a bone or two. Street is owed about $4 million for the rest of this year and the team holds a $9 million dollar option for 2013. He’s definitely worth looking into and hey, would the Padres have any interest in Jenrry Mejia or Darin Gorski? You won’t know unless you ask.

Yesterday I saw a cool piece on ESPN New York by Eric Simon and Matt Meyers who took turns ranking the current relievers in the Mets bullpen.

Rank the Mets relievers in terms of importance.

Meyers: Starting from the top, I’ll go Bobby Parnell, Frank Francisco, Ramon Ramirez, Tim Byrdak, Jon Rauch. Call me crazy, but I think Parnell, who has always had bad luck on balls in play, is the best reliever the Mets have, and Terry Collins should use him as much as possible. Ramirez is also key because of his changeup, and when he’s on (like he was in 2011), he can shut down righties and lefties. I’m of the mind that the Mets bullpen is better than it appears, but the team really needs Ramirez to come around.

Simon: I’ll disagree with the first half of your last sentence, and tweak your ranking slightly. I’m good with rating Parnell and Francisco one-two, but I’d rate Byrdak third-most important, and newcomer Justin Hampson fourth, ahead of Rauch and Ramirez. I think what you saw in the Yankees series was the value that one team got from having two effective lefty relievers and the value another team (the Mets) lost by having only one.

I was actually a little stoked when I saw Simon rank Justin Hampson so high and I gotta tell ya, I agree with him. I’ve seen enough of Jon Rauch this season to realize that last season wasn’t just an off year for him. Instead it was an indication that his career was in steep decline and most of the important metrics backed that up.

Tim Byrdak is what he is and these days every team needs a LOOGY who can come in and neutralize a tough lefty batter late in the game. Byrdak does his job extremely well, but lets face it, he’s a one-batter (maybe two-batter) reliever at best.

Ramon Ramirez? What a disappointment. I loved that deal. That said, I’m not giving up on him just yet.

Bobby Parnell is an enigma. Such incredible metrics and such disastrous results when called upon to close out a game. How can someone who looks so good on paper perform so badly in the ninth? Maybe there’s something to this clutch thing? Nah.

So here’s my bullpen rankings:

1. Frank Francisco – I only counted three closers with more saves.

2. Bobby Parnell – Stop over-thinking everything and just pitch.

3. Tim Byrdak – He is what he is and get’s it done.

4. Justin Hampson – We got a live one here.

5. Ramon Ramirez – You’re killing me dude.

6. Jon Rauch – Face it dude, love the tats, but you’re in steep decline.

7. Miguel Batista – Why he gets called on in late innings is still a mystery to me.

Care to play along?

The post Ranking The Mets Bullpen appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

This has been due in part to injuries, but it has also been the product of the Mets organization’s unwillingness to deal with mediocrity.

Jack Egbert, the “power-hitting” Jeremy Hefner, Chris Schwinden, Rob Johnson, Omar Quintanilla, Jordany Valdespin, Vinny Rottino and even Kirk Nieuwenhuis all started the year in the minors and weren’t expected to be big-time contributors this season.

Especially in the bullpen, we have seen much turnover. That’s because the bullpen has been the team’s Achilles heel all season.

Manny Acosta

Michael Baron of MetsBlog reports that the Mets bullpen is 12-14 collectively this year and that this is way too many decisions for a bullpen through the first two months of the season. Too many times, the bullpen has blown a late lead, which resulted in either a late win or, more often, a loss.

Recently, D.J. Carrasco and Manny Acosta were designated for assignment after their abysmal performances. Though both were under contract, the Mets brass grew tired of their underachieving, especially Acosta, who showed flashes last season of being a capable reliever.

Ramon Ramirez appears to be next on the list if he can’t right the ship. Elvin Ramirez is heading to Flushing, and spring training sensation Josh Edgin may get the call soon.

Baseball is a “what have you done for me lately” business. If a player—especially a role player—struggles, there is usually someone waiting in the wings to take his place.

In the case of Ike Davis, the team has been patient, since Davis has shown in the past that he can provide pop in the middle of the order. But as Davis continues to struggle and Scott Hairston and Mike Baxter keep hitting, maybe Davis gets sent down and Lucas Duda plays first base.

I would much rather see the young players—and even the minor league veterans like Rob Johnson and Vinny Rottino—get a chance than see the same guys struggle all year.

The injury bug seems to be biting the Mets, but it’s not as bad as what the Phillies are going through, especially with the most recent injury to Roy Halladay. The Mets have a chance to pull away from the Phillies, despite losing two of three to Philadelphia this week.

Let’s see where this uncanny cast of characters can take us this summer. We are likely to see even more names, like Chris Young and Jenrry Mejia, join the big club at some point.

If everyone pulls their weight, we could be seeing the makings of an improbable playoff run forming before our eyes.

The post From Left Field: Two Months Of Turnover appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Dillon Gee went pitch for pitch with Cliff Lee, but the bullpen imploded as the Mets lost 10-6.

Game Recaps 

Dillon Gee had a good outing on the day, scattering six hits while giving up two runs, walking one and striking out five. Gee had good control on the day, and the only two hits that hurt him were a Ty Wigginton home-run and a Brian Schneider double. Gee threw 110 pitches, 72 for strikes. Bobby Parnell would come out with a runner on second, and allow a two-run home run to pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz to tie the game up. Parnell’s final line would read one-third of an inning, one run allowed and no strikeouts. Jon Rauch came out to pitch the eighth, and gave up one run on two hits, striking out one. Tim Byrdak came in to pitch in the ninth, and went one third of an inning, allowing one run while walking one. Ramon Ramirez came out, recorded no outs and gave up three runs on three hits. Chris Schwinden was the last bullpen arm used today, and gave up two runs on two hits in his two-thirds of an inning.

The bullpen today performed about as poorly as a bullpen could, with every arm allowing at least a run. Hopefully this was just a product of the long strech of games with no off-days as well as some heavy use the last three days.

The Mets offense today struck early on Lee, just as they had in their previous matchup against him, putting a run across in the first inning on a David Wright RBI double, scoring Daniel Murphy who had walked. The Mets wouldn’t put across another two runs until Lucas Duda hit a two-run homer to right field in the sixth. The Mets would strike back in the ninth inning

Biggest Moment Of The Game:  When Bobby Parnell gave up the two-run home run to pinch-hitter Carlos Ruiz. The home run felt like a deflating moment after the Mets had rallied to put across two runs in the inning before

Goat(s) Of The Game: The Mets bullpen. After Gee pitched a quality six and two-thirds innings, the bullpen managed to allow an inherited runner to score, as well as eight more courtesy of Bobby Parnell, Jon Rauch, Tim Byrdak, Ramon Ramirez and Chris Schwinden.

Other Thoughts:

Lucas Duda broke out of his 0 for 16 slump with a 3 for 4 day, including two home runs and three RBI. Both of his home runs came off lefties.

Every Mets offensive player struck out at least once today, with Rob Johnson taking the horns twice.

The Mets made a flurry of defensive as well as mental errors in the eighth, leading to the explosion.

On Deck

The Mets will have Thursday off, and will be sending LHP Johan Santana (2-2, 2.75) to the mound to face off against the St. Louis Cardinals and Adam Wainwright (4-5, 4.45)

The post Bullpen Wastes A Solid Effort From Gee In 10-6 Loss To Phillies appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Through the use of the scorecard, let’s take a look at how Andres Torres did this week:

I honestly don’t think I’d ever expect to say Andres Torres would win the Player Of The Week award, but he did well this week and produced for the Mets. While I still don’t feel he should replace Kirk Nieuwenhuis, he did quite well this week. I will also note he had a stolen base.

Honorable Mentions

These players, although not winning the Player of the Week award, had a very strong showing this week and deserve to be recognized. We will also show how strong a showing they had through the use of the scorecard.

Daniel Murphy

David Wright

Ruben Tejada

Frank Francisco

Bobby Parnell

Ramon Ramirez

Not So Hot

The Not So Hot area mentions a few players who did not have a good week this week.

Jon Niese

Chris Schwinden (now demoted)

Manny Acosta

Jon Rauch

Josh Thole

Ike Davis

Player Of The Week Scoreboard

This area shows the scoreboard of the Players of the Week, and who has won already this season and how many times.

David Wright – 1

Kirk Nieuwenhuis – 1

Johan Santana – 1

Andres Torres – 1

Trivia

To finish off the Player of the Week announcement each week, I’ll be asking you a trivia question. The answer will be announced during the next Player of the Week announcement, as well as the first person who answered correctly. Another question will then be asked. Last Week’s Answer is: Harry Chiti. Alex68 was the first person to correctly answer the question. So here is this week’s question:

When the Mets won Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, what Met pitcher was warming up in the bullpen to pitch the next inning if Mookie Wilson had made out?

The post MMO Player Of The Week: Andres Torres appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Through the use of the scorecard, let’s take a look at how David Wright did this week:

Despite missing three games due to a pinkie injury, Wright still had two home runs, five runs batted in, and a .571 batting average. During those three games he missed, his impact was noticed, as the Mets went 1-2 without him, while going 5-1 with him. This is the David Wright that we all want playing out there, week in and week out.

Honorable Mentions

These players, although not winning the Player of the Week award, had a very strong showing this week and deserve to be recognized. We will also show how strong a showing they had through the use of the scorecard.

Ruben Tejada

Daniel Murphy

Johan Santana

Jon Niese

Jon Rauch

Frank Francisco

Not So Hot

The Not So Hot area mentions a few players who did not have a good week this week.

Ike Davis

Jason Bay

Miguel Batista

Ramon Ramirez

Player Of The Week Scoreboard

This area shows the scoreboard of the Players of the Week, and who has won already this season and how many times.

1. David Wright – 1

Trivia

To finish off the Player of the Week announcement each week, I’ll be asking you a trivia question. The answer will be announced during the next Player of the Week announcement, as well as the first person who answered correctly. Another question will then be asked. So here is this week’s question:

In the 2000 NLDS, most Met fans remember that Bobby Jones won the clinching Game 4 with a one-hitter, and many fans remember that John Franco saved Game 2 for winning pitcher Armando Benitez to even the series when he struck out Barry Bonds. But what pitcher won game 3 of that NLDS for the Mets?

The post MMO Player Of The Week: David Wright appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Johan Santana had a good, albeit short outing, the offense provided no support and the bullpen was wild in the Mets 4-0 loss to the Nationals.

Game Recap

Johan Santana took the mound today, and despite some early-inning control trouble, managed to navigate his way through five innings. Santana was much more dominating then his stat-line will attest to, going five innings allowing one run (that scored on a wild pitch) on five hits, walking three and striking out eight. Santana continues to look better and better with each start, from spring training until now. While his velocity was around 88-90 MPH for the day, he was using all of his pitches and avoided trouble until the fifth. To boot, Santana went four pitches beyond his 95 pitch limit.

Manny Acosta was brought in after Santana walked his first batter, and proceeded to walk the next two batters. In an act of serendipity, he got former Met Xaiver Nady to line into a double play, and Daniel Murphy flicked it to Ruben Tejada to complete it. Acosta would get out of the inning with a line-out to center to end the sixth. Acosta would return for the seventh and allow one hit and a walk before his day ended. Acosta’s final line was one and one-third innings, three walks and one hit, no strikeouts. Terry Collins called in Ramon Ramirez from the bullpen, and then was ejected for probably arguing the inconsistent strike zone. Ramirez would strike out his first batter, but then walk in a run and induced a pop-out. Ramirez would finish his day allowing one run on two hits, walking two and striking out one. Jon Rauch come out for two-thirds of an inning and pitched a clean line. Miguel Batista came out for the ninth, gave up a hit, hit a batter and then walked another. Tim Byrdak was brought into a bases-loaded, ninth inning jam, got two outs and then walked home ANOTHER runner before getting a flyout. Byrdaks final line is 1 IP, 0 hits, 1 run, 1 walk, 1 strikeout.

The bullpen was horrible today. Walking seven, hitting a batter and walking in two of the four runs.

Offensively, the Mets couldn’t buy a hit off of Stephen Strasburg. Ruben Tejada had a hit in the first at-bat of the game, and the Mets wouldn’t get another hit until the sixth inning. Strasburg was wildly effective, walking three and hitting Ronny Cedeno. The Mets were a victim yet again of inability to drive in runners in scoring position, or even get runners on base. The batters were just out of sync, making weak contact when any contact was made at all.

Turning Point

Every misplay of a ball by Josh Thole. Those misplays lead to extra bases, a run scoring and even a loss of a strike.

Player of The Game

Johan Santana deserves the player of the game, more than any one player deserves to be the goat. Johan pitched an admirable five innings, and the lack of offense and poor bullpen showing left Santana winless for the 2012 season

Game Notes

Josh Thole had a poor game blocking the baseball, but did manage to throw out Danny Espinosa at third base.

The Mets outfielders and infielders have not been good on the year in hitting the cut-off man and making the correct throws. They are allowing extra bases to be taken, and routinely the cutoff men are dropping the throws and getting lucky the runners don’t advance

The umpiring today was horrible for both teams. Strikes in previous innings became balls in later innings, and on a Jason Bay at bat in the sixth, strike 2 was about 4 inches outside, and strike three was in the opposing batters box.

Despite losing two of the last three, the Mets are tied for first place with the Nationals.

Up Next

The Mets will have off on Thursday, but will travel to Philadelphia for their first road series to face off against the Phillies. R.A. Dickey will face off against Cliff Lee, and game time is 7:05 P.M.

The post Johan Santana Good – Bullpen, Not So Much In Mets 4-0 Loss appeared first on Metsmerized Online.

Torres is coming off a disappointing season after a breakthrough season in 2010, and at 33 years old he’ll be hard-pressed to rediscover that form at the plate. Defensively he is above average at all three outfield spots and also has good speed which will come in handy at Citi Field.

The steal of the deal for Alderson might be Ramirez who may now be the leading contendor for the Mets setup role in the bullpen, and he can also close if the need arises. The 30-year-old righthander had a 2.66 ERA in 66 appearances for the Giants last season.

Both Torres and Ramirez are in their final year of arbitration and will become free agents after next season. On the surface the deal looks like a good one for the Mets and even if Torres ends up becoming a fourth outfielder, I still like the deal because of how badly the Mets needed a reliever like Ramirez in the bullpen.

As for Angel Pagan, he got his shot and lets face it, he blew it. He regressed in the field, at the plate and on the base paths. Pagan, 30, hit .262 with 32 steals and a .322 on-base percentage in 2011 after having a career year in 2010 with a .290 average, .340 OBP, 11 home runs, 69 RBIs and 37 steals. He also became a problem in the clubhouse and had become a loner who was always pouting.

All in all, a good deal.

The post Angel Pagan Traded To Giants For Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez appeared first on Metsmerized Online.