smg58

Nice to see Hefner bounce back after the disaster against the Phillies.

So the one guy on the team whose power numbers haven't plummeted is the guy who doesn't listen to the hitting instructor. Doesn't that say more about the hitting instructor? I don't like it when people associated with the Mets say negative things publicly about players on the team. That's poison. This reminds me too much of what the Mets said about Angel Pagan last year. Pagan doesn't appear to be holding the Giants back any. Oh, and you never want to sell low on a guy. You certainly don't want to be the ones lowering the guy's value, either.

Not only should he have never slid, but the right hand that the ump had the clearest view of never touched the bag. The left still beat the throw, but Texeira ought to answer for doing some fundamental things wrong in a very critical situation. The ump should never have been given the opportunity to get the play wrong.

They'll be in a much better position to spend money after 2013, that's for sure.

I do think the Mets have to be realistic about their chances of extending Wright and Dickey. One way or the other, you don't want to repeat the situation with Reyes where he just played out the string and left.

I wouldn't give him a raise or multiple years, but if he'd come back for the same price I'd seriously consider it.

Before discussing free agency, I'd need to know how much spare change we have to work with, and whether that number will change if we extend Wright and/or Dickey. I wouldn't pay full price on Justin Upton off this season, but I check in on him at least. Willingham and Cuddyer were not put on the market in July and have team-friendly deals (especially Willingham). I wouldn't hold my breath. I'd ideally like a leadoff hitter plus a slugger, but I'd sacrifice one for the glove of Bourjos if the price is right. The Angels could have sold very high on Bourjos this past offseason if they wanted to; instead he got off to a rough start, Trout got the call, and he was basically Wally Pipped. I think his numbers would look a lot better if he got regular ABs, but he can't command as much on the trade market now. There might be a buy-low opportunity there. I think Duda should be traded to the AL, and Nieuwenhuis should be kept as a platoon starter. But that depends on what resources are available.

Trading DLed players requires league approval. I don't see that being an obstacle here. Valentine has talked about liking to have "his players," so I don't doubt he had some say in this. But this could backfire on him if Beckett and A-Gone finish strongly.

Vic Sage wrote: my problem with Fatscessa's rant isn't that its not factual or accurate -- it basically is, as far as that goes -- it's that it's not TRUTHFUL. The truth is that anybody looking at this team before the season started (at least anybody not looking through blue and orange colored glasses) would've had a hard time seeing a .500 team much less a playoff team, and most pundits predicted they wouldn't be... hell, i bet even Fatscessa predicted they wouldn't be (i don't listen to him anymore so i don't know what he predicted, but it seems likely enough that i'd bet it were so). So why all the outrage that they're 10 games under as September approaches? We're just about where everybody thought we'd be. Why the forced, phoney, fake vein-popping outrage? To get people to listen and talk about him, that's why. and here we are, doing it. move along, nothing to see here. no rubbernecking. I was hopeful for .500. Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I surprised? No. One thing that I think gets lost in this is that as horribly as the team has played for the last month, they're still within a game of two division rivals who came into the season with infinitely higher expectations. Yeah, a lot of people (certainly myself included) got their hopes up when the team started well. It didn't work out, oh well. But if they can pull themselves together enough to finish ahead of one or both of the Phillies and Marlins, that would still be something for me.

Weird: http://mets360.com/?p=12368 RIP, Bob. It's actually a well thought out article, despite the extremely unfortunate timing. I don't remember much about Myrick actually pitching, other than he was one of the first Mets to be called up when I started following the team. He's indelibly linked to my first memories of baseball, when I was six or seven years old. R. I. P.

He will get the opportunity to redeem himself (or at least justify a roster spot) because the money is a sunk cost, but I have to think/hope the leash will be extremely short if he can't do better than this.

Eric Young Jr., who was rumored to be coming this way for Justin Turner in the preseason, has a .316/.377/.448 line.

The wind must have been blowing out tonight. My hitters hit seven home runs, but my pitchers allowed nine.

Beato had one bad outing. Granted, it was a terrible outing in a meaningful situation, but it's not sufficient grounds to part ways. He still has some upside. Shoppach would be a decent pickup for about $750k in the offseason, and would be regardless of where he finishes this year. But the Mets will probably have to offer more than that to keep him from testing the market. And if he hits the open market, what was the point of this?

Me no likee either.

I've always thought, and still think, that Thole could be the backup catcher on a good team. We've seen enough of him to know what to expect. Murphy is still a bit of a puzzle. His .299/.342/.423 line this season is almost identical to his career line (.295/.344/.437). He's a known commodity with the bat, and those numbers would be rock solid if his glove at second was at least average. He's lugging a -8 in runs saved from the Fielding Bible at second, but on the bright side it's not really a worse number than what it was in May. I don't think the Mets necessarily need to improve on him; I certainly wouldn't move him for less than a starting player, and the team has bigger issues. Like the outfield, for example... Bay has been horrible this year, and while injuries have factored in, he still hasn't given the Mets more than mediocrity for their $65 million. Torres' one good year with the bat is getting further and further away. His glove keeps him from being awful, but he's hardly inspiring and I wouldn't give him a raise to come back. Duda, quite frankly, needs a .900 OPS to make his outfield defense tolerable, and that ain't happening. He's dealable to a team looking for a first baseman or DH, but he won't boost his value playing out the string in Buffalo. Nieuwenhuis hit as well as a guy with a very high K rate in the minors and little AAA experience could be expected to hit. He has talent, but it's raw. I think he'll improve next season, but how much is an open question. I think the glass is half full with the pitching. A rotation of RA, Johan, Harvey, Niese, and Gee is actually pretty decent, especially with Wheeler getting closer to a call-up. Familia and Mejia might be in a position to help out in either the rotation or the pen -- but they should decide before training camp whether they want Mejia to pitch as a starter or reliever and then stick with it. The best thing you can say about the pen is that it can't get any worse. I'd bet on Ramirez bouncing back, but that second year they gave to Francisco is going to hurt. Parnell is what his numbers say he is, which is really not bad but nod good enough to be the closer. Alderson needs to find one or two diamonds in the rough to make the pen competitive, but that's not impossible. And there's always the question of whether or not the Mets are willing to spend. It's possible that the team will use whatever money it has lying around this offseason to extend Wright and Dickey, and that they may have to wait for Bay and Santana to come off the books to get aggressive again on the spending. But we'll see.

I would have thought that the general lack of power exhibited by the Mets this season would have dispelled any notion that the dimensions were the problem.

It's tough to really argue if you don't know what's being offered for whom. If we can't do better than a marginal prospect for somebody like Hairston, I'd hold on to whatever faint hope exists for this season. I would agree, though, that holding on to a replaceable righthanded platoon player because you think it will help your chances of re-signing him is silly.

I had a feeling, given the way that they offered more money instead of no-trade clauses to their incoming free agents, that the Marlins would start dealing if they weren't contending. There are seven or eight obvious reasons why they haven't been a big draw, the first six or seven of which have to do with the economy, but Marlins fans (such as they are) had every right to be skeptical of Loria's intentions. As for Hanley, it's not a secret he's been underachieving lately, and there are defensible baseball reasons for deciding he's not worth his contract and passing him off to anybody who'd pay him in full. On the other hand, a mediocre Hanley still upgrades the Dodgers' infield. And it's not unreasonable to hope he's a change of scenery away from returning to form.

Duda's complete lack of defensive ability is hurting the Mets way more than his bat is helping. Davis has more upside, and I think we've already seen the worst stretch he'll have in his career.

Brian Fuentes just got released by Oakland. He's been terrible so far this season, but he has a history of being streaky and he'd be worth a minor-league deal to see if he can get his groove back. I wonder if Street's relationship with Geren played a role in the Mets not looking at him in the winter. The Rockies dealt him to the Padres for a marginal prospect while eating payroll. The Padres basically have him for $7M this year, plus a team option for $9M.

Harvey could be a viable bullpen option if the price is wrong on our alternatives.

Wilton Lopez of the Astros has very quietly been rock solid for the Astros for three years running. He'd be the first guy I'd ask about. The Padres bought low on Street, and are now in a good position to sell high. Hopefully not too high if we wind up buying. Lidge on a wait-and-see minor league deal makes some sense.

Frayed Knot wrote: Best INNING of the year !! This.

Beato was pitching very well in Buffalo, and Hefner hasn't exactly forced the team to keep him here. Hard to argue with the move.