smg58

It's not like we've had a close look at Beltran to see how his legs are holding up. Beltran was an elite centerfielder once, but Byrd was not so bad there himself and has not had the same injury record.

Edgy MD wrote: Not getting with the suck agenda at all, Ike Davis walks and raises his post-recall OBP to, like, .500. It's pretty much how his stint in Vegas went. He started out by drawing a lot of walks, and eventually he got better pitches to hit and the home runs followed. I'm encouraged.

You get the sense that the Giants saw something in Cain's mechanics that they really didn't like. There's an MRI in his immediate future.

My gut is that he'll wind up like Capuano, and be an asset for the team that signs him for next year.

Edgy MD wrote: You trade Byrd, you better have an answer who is playing right for the Mets this October. Well Satin does have to play somewhere.

The Cubs received Ivan Pineyro, who just made the jump to high A. http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=606335 Not bad peripherals, and his second start at high A was much better than the first. There are obviously no guarantees, but he has at least a realistic chance of being a useful player and Hairston is hitting .172.

And when he's not hitting at all, to boot.

I have no idea how Flores is doing with the glove, but he looks to be ready with the bat. As for Murphy, I still think he'll wind up back between .290 and .300 but right now I think we'd be selling low (barring a hot streak between now and the deadline). I'd still ask around, but my gut tells me to wait.

Fman99 wrote: Went to bed when Q lined out with the bases loaded in the 11th. Nice news to wake up to today. Anyone who watched Buck at the plate and then walked him on purpose -- twice -- should have their head examined. That's all I'm sayin. Gibson took overmanaging to a new level. There should be a list of basic rules about intentional walks. One, you don't give a bad hitter a free pass. Two, while loading the bases for a double play has some merit, filling the open base with two outs only makes sense when the batter you walk is clearly better than the guy you pitch to. Any hitter becomes more dangerous when you have no place to put him.

Edgy MD wrote: Understandable that the bullpen would be gassed. You can send the starters out a day or two early when the travel schedule is brutal. You don't get that luxury with the bullpen. In retrospect, maybe sending out for a fresh arm or two might have been warranted. David Aardsma hadn't pitched in six days, and had come into the game with a 1.12 ERA and currently has a .462 OPS against lefthanded batters. Yeah it's a small sample size, but in what universe is Josh Edgin the better option to finish the inning? If Aardsma could get Chad Tracy to pop out, why was pitching to Denard Span unacceptable?

I didn't think it was an awful play by Cuddyer. It's no different than trying to steal a base in that spot, really, and Byrd needed to stay alert, quickly get himself in a position to throw, and throw a perfect strike on one bounce to get the out. The fact that Byrd did all that doesn't necessarily make it a bad gamble, just an unsuccessful one. Quintanilla also did a super job twice getting the tag down very quickly (the first time was on the pickoff).

It's weird thinking that our lineup looks too righthanded against a righty pitcher.

The Rockies are three games out in a weak and wide open division. And Gonzalez is signed through 2017, so there's no urgency on the Rockies' part to get something for him right now. Maybe in the offseason if the Rockies think they can get more for him than his next four years are worth, but Cargo is not going anywhere right now. Stanton is going to get moved sooner or later, but 28 other teams will want him. The Mariners made an offer for Justin Upton (which Upton vetoed) that would have been very painful to top, and Upton is not Stanton. Since everybody else knew that they Mets' payroll was going to be limited for at least a few years, presumably Alderson did as well. Cerrone saying he'll bolt if the Wilpons don't open their wallets right now strikes me as projecting his own opinions onto Alderson, which is a good way to start rumors without actually saying anything meaningful. Where Alderson went wrong this offseason was not having a plan B when Upton and Bourn went elsewhere. I think the best approach, money or not, is to figure out who around the league is being undervalued. Even if his current performance is smoke and mirrors, grabbing Eric Young was the right idea -- his best stretches in Colorado had come when he was getting consistent ABs, which he'd have no difficulty getting here, and it's not like the Mets have any even mediocre leadoff options otherwise. But he'd also been on the table for a year and a half. If Byrd can keep his OPS around .800, he has value. Marcum also just boosted his value considerably, especially if last night is repeatable. They won't get us present day All-Stars, but they can get us guys worth having. As long as you don't equate anything less than Giancarlo Stanton with a box of Gobstoppers, that is.

This might have been a good day to start Young at second, and get Lutz and Brown both in the lineup rather than have Valdespin face Sale. Lefties have a .615 OPS against Greg Burke. Lefties have a .732 OPS against Josh Edgin.

Couldn't lay off outside fastballs, and his good start got forgotten quickly. I still think he has upside but he took no advantage of his chances here.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: They have one great pitcher (Matt Harvey) and one great hitter (David Wright). The Mets' only other good hitters are 27-year-old, fielding-challenged Lucas Duda and 35-year-old Marlon Byrd. Agree with the big picture ... the premise. (No surprise) But Neyer left out Murphy, a good hitter, better even than Byrd. Well, this year? Murphy's wOBA/OPS+: .310/101 Byrd's wOBA/OPS+: .344/126 Byrd's getting on-base more and slugging MUCH more. That's how much I'm following this year's Mets. Still, I'd bet Murph over Byrd by season's end. Byrd just needs to keep this up long enough for the Mets to get somebody with a bit of long-term value for him next month. As for Murph, I expect he'll wind up with an AVG between .290 and .300 and a .750 or so OPS.

Unusual double play when Rollins stopped between first and second, but Murphy handled it perfectly and we're one out away.

He could play first against lefties, although I'd like to see Brown play left and Young play second.

Two more home runs yesterday.

The downside to this is if the coaching staff in Vegas can straighten Ike out in a week, what does it say about the coaching staff in Flushing?

And suddenly, the ball is carrying in our favor.

Young put his speed to good use there.

You hope it's nothing major, but Niese's body language said pull him immediately.

Byrd beats the throw but man that was an impressive play by Simmons.

Young drew an 11-pitch walk and Murph was ahead 1-0. The hit-and-run needed to be on there. Instead it's a DP.