Pel Free

[Benjamin Grimm]

I'm saying that they're deeply screwed if ONE more guy goes down. Any team would be screwed if they lost five.

[Edgy MD]

Most teams would be scrod if they lost two also. (Some rare times it's a blessing in disguise.) I'm nonetheless not as convinced that how they played it was such a bad move, and am intrigued to see how it will shake out.

I don't know. I mean, maybe Hefner is good. The Mets drafted him twice, and his minor league track record is strong.

[nymr83]

Harvey homered today!

I still wouldn't call him up yet.

[Guest attgig]

http://www.rotoinfo.com/comments-latestfromTwitter-123550.html

getting TJ apparently.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

SNY, Rubin, Martino affirm the same.

[Guest vtmet]

I think they see it as worthwhile to shuffle through the ready-to-serve options in order to, if nothing else, keep the top prospects on the healthiest timetable. Harvey, yeah, but maybe first Batista and Schwinny and Dylan Owen and maybe Hefner, Olson, and/or Cohoon. You get some faceplant starts, but sometimes you find something while shuffling through the options like that. They found Gee that way, and found Niese and Jae Weong Seo. Which is to say that I don't think they're kidding themselves, but more likely being painfully deliberate. In defense of Schwinny, he has been getting it done in Buffalo. So have Olson and Hefner.

Good points with Schwinden, other than a rough patch when he got promoted to AA Binghamton, he's done a respectable job in the minors. Decent WHIP, not too many walks or Homers, etc...Eventually some of these guys could fill roles in the major league bullpen even if they don't work out as starters in the majors (instead of wasting money on FA bullpen arms)...

One thing as a side note, his baseball reference page lists his twitter name; which apparently B-R is listing with many major/minor league players now...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=schwin001chr

[Guest vtmet]

Edgy DC wrote: I'm not advocating promoting Harvey --- and as far as I can see, nobody save Ashie is --- but there's certainly no evidence beyond speculation that promoting Jenrry Mejia led to his injury. I don't know why that's supposed to be such a bleedingly obvious notion that two words sum it up.

and in Harvey's case, he's got plenty of innings between NCAA and the minors already (over 400 innings so far, 160+ minors, 239 NCAA)...IMO, innings wise he's ready, but just might need a few more outings to polish his strikezone management a bit...He's had 5 AAA outings so far: the last one was stellar, before that was pretty decent and 2nd start was pretty solid as well...he had 2 "bad" starts where he allowed 7 walks and 10 runs to the Pawtucket Sox in 8 combined innings (the PawSox have a pretty solid International League offense)...I'd like to think that if he has a couple more solid outings that he'll get the call sometime in mid-May...

http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=518774

http://thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?P=Matt-Harvey

By the way, Harvey got drafted 7th overall in 2010; the guy that the Mets are facing tonight (Drew Pomeranz) got picked 5th overall in the same draft and is making his 7th MLB start...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/pomerdr01.shtml

[Guest attgig]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Does it look like he'll be ready by mid-May? If so, that's only about three weeks from now. I think we can get by with Schwinden or Hefner until then. Niese, Dickey, Santana, and Gee had better stay healthy. If not, this lack of depth will become a whole lot worse than it already is.

http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=MLB&id=3950&line=356491&spln=1

Chris Young - S - NYM - Apr. 22 - 11:41 am et
Chris Young (shoulder) could begin a rehab assignment with High-A St. Lucie within two weeks.
Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen said Young "feels great" after facing batters in extended spring training. The veteran right-hander is obviously a huge question mark, but it sounds like he could be MLB-ready sometime before the All-Star break. He has opt-out clauses in his contract on June 1 and July 1 if he is not promoted to the majors by those dates. Apr. 22 - 11:41 am et
Source: ESPN New York

he should begin his rehab starts next weekend.. if things progress well, and he gets his stamina up relatively quickly... 3rd week of may? latest June1.

at least best guess on my part.

[Ceetar]

I think Alderson said something like May 15th-June 15th for Young.

Alderson also present skepticism that Santana will be reliably able to go on 4-days rest. I hope this means he's looking to acquire another rotation guy, but I'm not sure anything worthwhile is available.

[Edgy MD]

They sort of have to go forward with the expectation that they'll get nothing from Young.

[Frayed Knot]

Harvey gets hisself some BA's 'Hot Sheet' love for his 2-0 week.
But they're still not high on any promotions for him in the near future.

Team: Triple-A Buffalo (International)
Age: 23
Why He's Here: 2-0, 2.08, 13 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 1 HBP, 3 BB, 15 SO
The Scoop: Harvey hasn't dominated the upper levels of the minors yet, as his ERA sits at 4.85 through five Triple-A starts this year after posting a 4.53 ERA in 12 Double-A starts last year. At times, like this past week, he shows flashes of frontline starter potential, with a plus fastball and a plus slider. Harvey is one step away from the big leagues, but there's still work to be done with his command and his changeup to be able to master Triple-A and be big league ready, so it wouldn't be a surprise if he spent the majority of the season in the International League.

[duan]

it's a bit much that we're getting ourselves in a tizzy over Pelfrey when a fair few people were advocating non-tendering him.

I think the mets have a justifiable holding plan in trying the guys on the 40-man first - especially when Chris Young might be ready in 4/5 starts. In the 4/5 starts you'll probably have one where your offense clicks anyway and scores 7 runs and another when they fail and score 1, meaning that's it's 2/3 that are up for grabs. I think that's an acceptable risk for not fucking with roster stuff without trying the incumbents.

[Ceetar]

well Pelfrey opens up a 40man spot.

[Guest attgig]

speak of the devil..
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/43752/young-nearing-game-competition

Chris Young, who underwent surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his right shoulder last May 16, is close to entering game action. Pitching coach Dan Warthen said there has been no acceleration of Young's return as the result of Mike Pelfrey expected to be lost for the season because of Tommy John surgery.

Young is scheduled to throw a simulated game Monday in Port St. Lucie, Fla. If he passes that hurdle, he should advance to a Florida State League game five days later -- May 5 against Dunedin at Digital Domain Park. Young will pitch at a higher level of the minors as well before joining the major league team.

Chris Schwinden is the current occupant of Pelfrey's rotation spot. And Terry Collins said he's not a one-start plug.

"He's going to get an extended look," Collins said about Schwinden. "We brought him here for that. And we'll give him an opportunity to show us what he can do. But we were very impressed with Jeremy Hefner the other day. I thought he threw the ball very good. So we had some options here. We'll just see what happens down the road."

Collins effectively ruled out seeing Triple-A prospects Matt Harvey or Jeurys Familia in the foreseeable future at the major league level.

"We're not going to push Familia or Harvey," Collins said. "They're going to spend, I'm sure, the majority of the year in Triple-A. One of the things I thought Sandy [Alderson] did that I thought really helped was bringing Chris Young back. I think C.Y. will probably be ready middle of May, end of May. And if that's the case, we've got ourselves a pretty good pitcher coming up."

Why the conservatism with Harvey and Familia?

"You've got to pitch consistent," Collins said. "I've spent too many years in Triple-A with good pitchers to know that numbers aren't always the true indicator of whether they can pitch here. So Matt Harvey, the one thing he's got to show us is that he can throw all of his pitches for strikes, regardless of what the results may be. With his arm and his stuff, if he can pound the strike zone with all of his pitches, he's going to be effective."

Schwinden, 25, went 0-2 with a 4.71 ERA in four starts last September.

"Last year, when he first came up, the games he pitched early, he fell behind in the counts and got roughed up a little bit," Collins said. "The game against St. Louis, he was strike one against a lot of guys. That was a big advantage for him. When you pitch in this ballpark [Coors Field], you cannot fall behind. You've got to attack the hitters. You've got to get ahead."

Also among rehabbing Port St. Lucie players:

� Jenrry Mejia, who had Tommy John surgery the same day as Young's shoulder surgery, is due to throw 75 pitches in his next outing, in a structured setting. After that, Mejia could enter a game-type setting as well.

� D.J. Carrasco, who fired two scoreless innings for St. Lucie on Thursday as he returns from a right ankle sprain, still needs to work back-to-back days in the Florida State League during his rehab assignment.

� Pedro Beato (shoulder) is four to five days from facing hitters for the first time.

[ashie62]

I count on Chris Young for zero...it should be Schwinden>Harvey.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

As I was saying, Schwinden sucks. He ought to be the 5th or 6 th option, not 1 st or 2nd.

[duan]

Whatever about Scwinden, Manny Acosta is definitively pitching his way off the roster

[Guest The Second Spitter]

A's will deal Bartolo Colon.

Suggest somebody better before you tell me that it's a stupid idea.

[ashie62]

Not a stupid idea

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The Second Spitter wrote: A's will deal Bartolo Colon. Suggest somebody better before you tell me that it's a stupid idea.

Give DiPoto a call/Josh Collmenter a try? ALSO, Unless his agent has some, um, unusual demands, Oswalt won't cost a prospect; Neither would a few other, presumably available, retread arms-- like Doug Davis or the unimpressive Scott Kazmir-- require prospect-sacrifice. Lastly, Aaron Cook is with the Sox in the minors, but has an opt-out clause if he's not part of the major-league rotation within a few days. (Not that I want any of those, in particular.)

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Gimme Hefner. Gimme Cohoon. Gimme veteran retread behind Door #2, sight unseen. I'd 5-6 guaranteed starts from Batista over 1 more from Schwinden. Schwinden starts make me angry far beyond proper proportion.

[Chad ochoseis]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Give DiPoto a call/Josh Collmenter a try?

DiPoto would be a definite improvement over Schwinden.

[Bunt the First Two]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Gimme Hefner. Gimme Cohoon. Gimme veteran retread behind Door #2, sight unseen. I'd 5-6 guaranteed starts from Batista over 1 more from Schwinden. Schwinden starts make me angry far beyond proper proportion.

Gimme Hefner, Mark Cohoon
Start Jon Rauch, that tattoed goon
On two days rest, start Dillon Gee
Just keep Chris Schwinden far from me!

Garret Olson, Dylan Owen
Where's Jon Adkins?! Get him throwin'!
Brian Lawrence! Brian Stokes!
Why you laughin'? These ain't jokes!

I confess before you all
My heart was cruel, my mind was small
I pierced a voodoo doll with pin
Cut Pelfrey down, and brought on Schwin

So blue is blue and black is black
And God I want my Pelfrey back
Or Hamulack, Nieve, Misch
Oh, Ollie P., for thee I wish!

Pitchers come and pitchers go
Pitchers wind and pitchers throw
And if they miss, we curse their name
And if they're hit, we rain down blame

So move on Schwinden, try your luck
The Met fan is a fickle fuck
Some day when the runs rain down
We'll pro'bly want you back in town

[batmagadanleadoff]

Bunt the First Two wrote: ... So move on Schwinden, try your luck The Met fan is a fickle fuck Some day when the runs rain down We'll prob'bly want you back in town

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Now that's entertainments.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Batista starting on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

[Edgy MD]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Batista starting on Tuesday in Philadelphia.

I guess he deserves a second go, but I confess my surprise. Thought for sure when they shrunk to an 11-man staff, it meant another starter would be called up in a few days.

[TransMonk]

Does this mean the coaching staff may have doubts about Hefner's ability to start against big leaguers?

Batista is a known (all too well) quantity.

[Theoldmole]

Bunt the First Two -- great.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Terry saying (in the Daily News this morning) that the goal is to have Chris Young join the Mets rotation by the end of May. If that comes to pass, then that means maybe two or three more starts for what is currently the Batista spot in the rotation.