smg58

There's really no evidence that the park had a negative influence on the home run totals of the Mets, or their opponents. If anything, the Mets will wind up hitting and allowing a few more home runs home than away. (The current totals: 47 for and 81 against in 78 games at home, 41 for and 71 against in 75 games on the road.) Part of the ugly power shortage has to do with injuries, for sure, but you could argue that home runs were downplayed by the GM and the coaching staff. Jeremy Reed and Cory Sullivan were recruited as reserve/store in AAA outfielders presumably for their gloves, even though the Mets already had better secondary options for centerfield in Ryan Church and Angel Pagan, and Reed and Sullivan average a homer per a hundred AB's between them. Cora, likewise, was known not to be any sort of home run threat. If not for the late pickup of Sheffield, the Mets would have had zero power off the bench, and it certainly appears to have been by design. Church, Murphy, and Tatis cut down significantly on their strikeout rates, and became worse hitters for it. Were they acting on their own? And if David Wright deliberately tried to hit fewer home runs, anybody on the coaching staff who encouraged it (or knew about it and failed to discourage it) does not deserve to be brought back. As for Santos vs. Castro -- the bases were loaded, and Santos can't draw a walk.

Always rooted against him, but always respected him too.

I think if Murphy has a future as a starting player, it will be as a third baseman on another team. FK is right that his bat and not his glove should keep him from starting at first. I think he'll improve as a hitter, but not enough to hold down first base on a good team. It's also frustrating that he has the physical skills to be a very good defensive ballplayer, and overall range doesn't appear to be his problem, but his lapses in concentration and tendency to turn routine plays into misadventures are compromising him big time. I'd like to see Ike Davis get a full year in AAA. The Mets have made a habit of bringing up players early and counting on them (like Daniel Murphy, for example) before they were really ready, which is something a contending team with a high payroll should never need to do. I'm for bringing in a one-year fix, either trading for somebody like Lyle Overbay or signing Delgado if he's healthy and willing to come back for $6M or less.

The guy's 30, hasn't tasted the bigs, and is coming off his third straight .300 season at AAA for the Mets. Sure he has no power, but that just means he'll fit right in. Is there any good reason not to?

Oh good. Stoner has also been around long enough to be Rule V eligible, and he could at least be a viable bullpen option next year.

I hope they call up Bostick, or at least put him on the 40. He put up respectable numbers as a lefty coming out of the pen, and I think he's eligible for minor-league free agency in the offseason if he's not on the 40 (and I know he'd be eligible for Rule V). I think he has enough potential value to justify protecting him.

I certainly wouldn't mind bringing Pagan back as a fourth outfielder, but other teams could be looking at him as a starting centerfielder. The Blue Jays, for example, are going to need to move Vernon Wells to a corner, and with Rios gone they don't have an in-house option to replace him in center.

He could be a platoon second baseman on a decent club. As shortstop he doesn't cut it defensively, certainly not to the degree that you'd hope for from a guy with a dubious bat. The same could be said for Cora, so they should really think about bringing somebody else in for the reserve shortstop role.

The park is not the problem. This year's Mets have been overstocked with guys who simply can't hit home runs anywhere. Castillo, Cora, Steve Reed, Cory Sullivan, and Anderson Hernandez have 2 HR's between them as Mets (Hernandez had one with the Nats). If defense was supposed to make up for it, someone needed to tell Minaya that Castillo and Cora (as a shortstop) have been below average for several years, and as a shortstop Anderson Hernandez has never even been average. Reed and Sullivan don't play center when Pagan is in the lineup, which means their defense isn't good enough to make them assets. Plus, the most important role for National League reserve players is to pinch hit. I was actually encouraged by the potential pickup of Chris Carter; putting a masher (at least in the minors) with a dubious glove on next year's bench would be a huge breath of fresh air (and would make the team better if the alternative is more of Steve Reed). Also, efforts to get guys like Church, Murphy, and Tatis to strike out less have resulted in them being far less effective hitters. I'm not sure if that was the players' doing or Howard Johnson's, but if it is a function of the team's hitting philosophy then the philosophy has to be thrown out the window. That being said, I have no problem with pitching and defense. That shouldn't preclude pursuing Roy Halladay or Matt Holliday, of course.

The Rockies will need another starter on Friday, and they figure Contreras is still a better bet than Josh Fogg. They're hopeful Cook will be back by the end of the regular season. The call-ups, in addition to Giambi, include catcher Paul Phillips, LOOGY Randy Flores, and formerly valuable setup guy Joel Peralta.

The Colorado Rockies, take two We're off to Coors Field to face the Rockies. The calendar flips over to September, and these games are quite meaningful, at least to our opponent. I guess we have to start taking solace in playing spoiler. 72-59, .550 2nd place in NL West, 6 games behind the Dodgers tied for the wildcard lead with the Giants A week ago, the Rockies had a clear lead in the wildcard and would get within two games of the Dodgers for the division lead. But five losses in a row, including three to the Giants to put them back even with them, have sent them reeling. probable lineup: ........................................AB.....HR..RBI...SB....AVG..OBP..SLG Carlos Gonzalez............CF..176......8....19.....9... .290 .359 .528 Seth Smith, or..............LF...247....11....38.....4... .296 .387 .506 Ryan Spilborghs.................303......8....45.....9... .254 .321 .419 Todd Helton.................1B..448.....13....70.....0... .326 .412 .502 Troy Tulowitzki.............SS..440.....24....73...16... .284 .366 .536 Brad Hawpe.................RF..429.....19....76.....1... .298 .383 .531 Ian Stewart, or.............3B..355.....19....59.....7... .231.319 .462 Garrett Atkins....................311......8....39.....0... .225 .308 .334 Clint Barmes................2B..452.....21....68....11... 243 .295 .454 Yorvit Torrealba.............C...126......2....14.....0... .278 .350 .365 Since we last left them, Tulowitzki has been red hot (1.006 OPS in August), and Carlos Gonzalez had been scorching (1.146 OPS) before a couple of minor injuries took him in and out of the lineup last week. Dexter Fowler had to go on the DL, but the Rockies have more than enough outfield depth to absorb the loss over the short term. Hawpe has cooled off some, although the Mets could use somebody for whom an .814 OPS in August would be considered cooling off. Barmes has had a power surge even though his average has dropped 20 points. Yorvit Torrealba has been hitting better than Chris Ianetta lately and has been getting most of the starts behind the plate lately as a result. bench: ........................................AB.....HR..RBI...SB....AVG..OBP..SLG Chris Ianetta.................C..269.....14....49.....0... .219 .331 .431 Omar Quintanilla.........INF....51......0......2.....0... .157 .271 .176 Eric Young, Jr...............OF....19......0......0.....0... .263 .263 .263 Eric Young Jr. is the son of the journeyman player. Like his dad, he plays second base and the outfield. The recent call-up has seen some action in center as Gonzalez and Fowler nursed their injuries, but it's possible he might get a start at second as well in this series. the rotation: .......................................IP......W......L.......ERA.......K.......WHIP.......SV Tuesday vs. Pelfrey: Jorge de la Rosa L.........148.2....12......9......4.72....152........1.41........0 Wednesday vs. Redding: Ubaldo Jimenez R..........181.1....12.....10.....3.33....158........1.22........0 Thursday vs. Misch: Jason Marquis R............131.1....14......9......3.60......86........1.28........0 we'll miss: Jason Hammel R...........137.0......8......7......4.40......93........1.48........0 Aaron Cook R...............145.0....10......6......4.47 ......75........1.47........0 the pen: Huston Street R..............53.2......3......1......3.02......62........0.93......33 Rafael Betancourt R.........43.1......1......3......3.12......47........1.25.......1 Matt Daley R...................38.1......0......1......3.76......36........1.17.......0 Juan Rincon R.................28.2......3......2......6.28......28........1.50.......0 Franklin Morales L............29.2......3......0......3.03......30........1.15.......0 Adam Eaton R................49.0......3......5......8.08......35........1.88.......0 Josh Fogg R....................43.0......0......2......3.35......25........1.12.......0 Joe Beimel L...................49.1......1......5......3.47......33........1.34.......1 People have been using the word "ace" lately to describe Ubaldo Jimenez. He certainly held his own this past week splitting a pair of pitchers' duels with Tim Lincecum. Cook has actually been on the DL, although the MRI was favorable and he might be back relatively soon. Josh Fogg got a recent start in his place, but they've been working with four starters whenever the schedule allows. Otherwise, the pitching has tailed off a bit, especially in the bullpen. To be fair, they've had to plug in a lot of holes, and the deadline pickups of Beimel and Betancourt have given them some badly needed depth. But the seven runs the pen gave up yesterday to the Giants, especially the grand slam that Edgar Renteria hit off Betancourt, hurt. September call-ups: Their main prospects were Gonzalez and Young, and both are already here. The most intriguing call-up is likely to be Jason Giambi. He probably won't do more than pinch hit, but as spare bats off the bench for the stretch run go, they could do worse. X-factors: Still none on their end. With Livan departing we're down to Cory Sullivan. Park differences: ....................W L ERA OPS oppOPS home:..........36 26 4.61 .844 .769 away:...........36 33 3.89 .734 .715 The Rockies have started to struggle a bit on the road, and are probably very glad to have most of their remaining games in Denver. Still, Coors Field is a good place for the Mets' bats to stay relatively hot.

I really don't like the idea of playing Wright on alternating days. Either he's healthy enough to play, or he isn't. Regarding Putz, I said this on May 14: "Putz has 20 innings in 33 games. That's a ridiculous workload to give a reliever coming off an injury. You have to protect your relievers sometimes too." So yes, I do think Manuel has to take some responsibility for what happened in his case.

In case you needed another reason to hate the Yankees, they put a waiver claim in on Chris Carter. It won't ultimately affect his coming to the Mets, but we won't get to see him this season. Then again, he's probably much less likely to get hurt this way.

Hard to believe somebody with a .791 career OPS and a good glove has had as hard a time staying employed as Murton has. He hasn't even been up long enough to be arb eligible. There's no reason to think he couldn't be a reserve/platoon player on a good team. Why not give him a look?

Odd tidbit about Anderson Hernandez: He has a .784 career OPS batting righthanded and a .532 OPS batting left. Why does he bother switch-hitting? I'm also surprised by the huge disparity in his defensive metrics between second base and shortstop. If he was just a little better at short I'd feel more comfortable keeping him around, but he's actually a liability.

Assuming the Mets didn't have any more money to spend, they would have had to have handled the offseason a lot differently to free up money for an extra position player, certainly somebody like Teixeira at a position they already had filled. Was Rodriguez so much of an improvement over the other much cheaper closers on the market? Should they have had as much confidence in JJ Putz's health that they had when they made that huge deal? I can understand balking on Derek Lowe (PS Minaya will be vindicated on that front), but didn't they know enough about Oliver Perez to not over-commit to him? They also have shown too much confidence too quickly in their minor league players. Murphy lulled the Mets into a false sense of security with his play after the call-up last year, but even then he was an exception. If guys begin the year in AA or lower, assume at least two years before they're major-league ready unless you know they have nothing left to prove in the minors. (That means no to Davis or Thole being part of next year's team.) Getting back to Murphy... he played second in Arizona, got hurt the first week in Puerto Rico, and came to camp having forgotten everything he learned about playing the outfield. Still, I think they would have contended without the injuries. The Mets were doing fine on Memorial Day. I don't regret missing out on anybody big in the offseason, except maybe Ibanez, and even he is coming back to earth. Manny would have been a massive PR disaster, and Dunn's glove takes away most of what his bat gives (and actually, he's even worse at first base than he's been in the outfield).

I can't see the Rays declining Crawford's option. If nothing else he's still very dealable at that price. I'm hoping Holliday's merely ordinary first half will discourage potential suitors in the AL.

They stretched the budget a bit the last two years and don't have much to show for it. At this point, though, it looks like their unwillingness to be buyers at the deadline had more to do with realism and less with money (i.e., they had to know that nobody on the DL was coming back quickly enough to justify taking on an expense). The combination of the economy and a struggling team probably left them with more empty seats in the new stadium than anticipated, but things are less bad on the economic front, and they know the fans will support a winning team if they put one on the field. Maybe they'd like something closer to $130M than $140M, but I see no reason for them to do anything drastic, or to believe that they will.

The good news is that the corner outfield options are very good. Sure I'd love Holliday, but a good relative bargain is possible in that bunch as well. First base... Well unless we can get Lyle Overbay from the Jays (preferably while also getting Roy Halladay), the best available guy is the one we currently have (assuming he's healthy). That's an ugly looking list. Catcher... V-Mart won't be bought out, that's for sure. And that leaves basically nothing. Here's where some creativity is required.

The Boston Herald is reporting that one of the players is Chris Carter, a lefty OF/1B with some pop who keeps getting stranded in AAA. There are some concerns about his defense, but he appears to have a good enough bat for an NL bench.

The Mets take money off the books, plus they get guys that will hopefully offset the loss of the picks. All's well that ends well.