New York Mets 2009

[syam24]

Saw a couple of the young'uns interviewed during the game on Fri, including Reese Havens. I also enjoy a minor league game on occasion, 'cause generally they're all busting butt all the time to get to the bigs.

 

[sonny10305]

Saw a couple of the young'uns interviewed during the game on Fri, including Reese Havens. I also enjoy a minor league game on occasion, 'cause generally they're all busting butt all the time to get to the bigs.

Yeah I got that backwards when I wrote yesterday about meeting some of the guys. It was Brad Holt I had the nice talk with, I met Havens but it was Brad who took the time to talk with me a bit.
He is going to be an amazing pitcher,fact is he already is with a killer fast ball

I asked him about his pitches and he told me he is working on his secondary pitches, he said needs to improve on his curve and and is making progress on his breakin ball. I asked him about playin in Brooklyn and he got big grin on his face and said he loved the fans, it was the first experience playin in front of so many people cheering him on. I told him get used to it cause we love the minor leagues here in New York and he will be in Flushing soon.
A very humble southern boy with an awe-shucks kinda attitude that melted me away. That really came out when I told him I had seen him pitch a 14 strike out game at Keystone. He said thanks but then humbled himself by reminding me how bad his next start was. Like I said, humble dude.
Loves NY but misses southern food.

 

[sonny10305]

THis is freakin awesome, a METS THREAD! I am a die hard Mets fan stuck in western pennslyvania (originally from Jersey) wow good job on this one Im loving it so far!
Just a few of my opinions....So far Castillo is hitting well and getting on base, who knows how he will do the rest of spring, but so far he looks like the castillo from the marlin days, which would be huge for us if he got on in from of reyes. Speaking of Julio, hes looking great so far, two bombs the other night down each line from both sides of the plate, gotta love that, one of them followed by beltran. All this said, pitching will still be the key in 09. if we can get some key guys to make the squad and contribute, such as former all-star Freddy Garcia, and former World Series MVP Livan Hernandez, I see us doing well. One stat will always stick in my head thought, 10 blown Santan leads...10!!! if we dont blow those games, we win the east by 7 games, save one, just one and we have a shot at the wild card. Needless to say im so happy about the signings of the two new closers. I was not sold on K-rod alone, because i think the save stat as a whole is overated, but with Putz ahead of him and a possible replacement if k-rod struggles, im more than confident. cant wait to read more!

Thacks for joining in the thread, I love hearing from other Mets fans.

I also like what I have seen so far from Castillo but I want him back in the 2 spot, Jose has got to lead off. I don't want him home run happy in that lead off spot which is exactly what is gonna happen. He will be back to poppin the ball up and swingin at every pitch, NO NO NO

As for Santana and the blown saves, that was really hard to take, as you wrote had it not been for that bull pen collapse, or as Sausy (a huge Met fan you will hear from in late march) called em "poison pen", we could have gone all the way last year. Plus ya gotta wonder what might have been had Maine stayed healthy.
Should be an interesting time with Putz and K-Rod in the 8 and 9 position.
There is also the possibility of Wagner coming back in late August.
BUT, we still have to hope and pray nothin is wrong with Santana, cause every day the talk is beginning to scare me. I would not be surprised if over the next couple of days we find out he came back to NY for an MRI on that elbow..
The only thing that gives me hope is that this soreness has happened to him before, it's just that with all the good things that have happened to our pitching I get a little nervous about anything happing to Johan.

 

[sonny10305]

The news on Santana got better yesterday, he threw a 35 pitch bullpen session
and was completely pain free.
It looks like hopefully the elbow has loosened up and will be fine after all.
In fact, the Mets had decided to send Johan back to NY for a precautionary MRI,
but after yesterdays workout decided it was no longer necessary.
Some have wondered if the bad weather in NY may have played a part in it,
but I'm thinkin if they were concerned for Johan's health, the Mets would have had him take the test. Johan also threw long toss which he does not normally do, so he is lookin a lot better now.
Thinking about it, Johan has had this same problem in he past and always works out of it, plus he has been throwing every two days in camp instead of the usual every 5 days. Add to that he had been working extra hard this spring cause he was planning on attending the WBC, all of this could have contributed to the soreness.

Big sigh of relief here, lets hope we have heard the last of that..

 

[sonny10305]

tell me about it, i was so releived to see that yesterday. On another note, watched some of the game yesterday until most of the starters were gone, very very impressive. The offense is looking great so far, and only 1 run allowed from the staff. Although Delgado's HR would not have been out at Citi Field or Shea for that matter, im still happy to see the power is still there. We wont mention the horrible footwork and the angle the right fielder took to that very catchable ball, lol

Yeah I was happy with that game as well.
Good to see all those pitchers getting work in.
Maine was ok, but did not see much of that curve ball he said he was putting back in. He still having the same ole problem of getting that third strike. Still seing 3-2 then foul ball foul ball.
The rest of them did ok although Sanchez still worries me.

It is gonna get really interesting and a lot of fun now that most of the regulars are gone to play in the WBS. I am looking forward to seeing all of those irregulars out there.

 

[sonny10305]

So we have seen a couple of spring training games and had a chance to see some of the pitchers who are trying to win that fifth spot in the rotation.
I had originally thought Garcia would be the guy to get it, but now that I have seen him pitch in a couple of games I don’t anymore. He never really recovered from his surgery; his fastball is a joke barely making it to 80MPH. His curve was decent and I thought he had a fairly decent breaking ball. The breaking ball will be a major pitch for him now that he can no longer throw gas. On top of all that his pitch count was too high. I will be surprised if he even makes it to opening day.

Gee wasn’t much better, Reeding has a better shot, Niese got battered around by the Tigers but I have only seen him pitch a couple of innings.
I really think now our man could very well be Livan Hernandez who has been awesome

Meanwhile Pedro Martinez has been throwing 91MPH pitching for the Dominican Republic in the WBC.

I am not gonna get into the Santana horse show; I am so confused by a different report every day. I just don’t understand why he doesn’t just have the MRI and be done with it. That is odd to me.

 

[sonny10305]

We lost another one

Fernando Tatis has agreed to be the replacement for Alex Rodriguez on the Dominican Republic team for the WBC.
Good grief when is this gonna end.
The Mets now have more players in the World Baseball Classic, 16, than any other team in MLB.

Have any of you been watchin the classic?
I thought I could get into it but I can’t and I LOVE baseball.
It just seems to me that the teams playing should not even be there. I mean piss poor baseball at it’s worst.
Make it go away.
one cute story to come out of it is that David Wright's locker is two away from Jimmy Rollins separated by Derek Jetter. Derek said he will referee David and Jimmy and they will have to get by him to get at one another. The boys are all friendly and respectful of one another and are just havin a little fun, David joked Tuesday that he and his new teammate, Phillies' shortstop Jimmy Rollins, "signed a three-week treaty, I guess. We promised not to talk about who's the team to beat.
David went on to say "I have so much respect for Jimmy and the Phillies," Wright added. "You don't have to necessarily go out there and like a team, but you respect what they accomplish. Especially when you put on this uniform (Team USA), it (the rivalry) is very small in the grand scheme of things.

"Once these three weeks are up, I'm sure it's going to be the same old rivalry."

Gotta love David


In other news,The Mets continue to watch and consider Ivan Rodriguez (I-Rod) as a possible backup to Brian Schnider, and yesterday, Rodriguez made it known that he'd be happy to join them.
That probably won't happen unless the Mets can move Ramon Castro, who is owed $2.25 million this season. My biggest concern with Castro is his health, I am watching him in spring training to see how he is doing, I like the guy but only if he is healthy. As for pudge…no thanks

 

[Sausy]

Loved that story about David,sonny!So glad to be back on the boards here with you and all our other great Mets fans and baseball lovers!

I hope Castro stays,he has done a solid job when he gets an opportunity to play.Pudge Rodriguez may be pounding the ball now,but I don't think he really would be a good fit at this point.

I don't know if the Mets have remained determined to not bring back Pedro Martinez...but he is pitching a hell of a lot better for the Dominican team than all the fifth starter tryouts(Garcia,Niese and Redding) have shown in camp so far.I am being patient with John Maine,and hoping that the elbow tightness is behind Johann Santana and he indeed can pitch opening up the season.Though the elbow situation has had me crossing my fingers and toes that everything was essentially still okay ever since it has proved problematic in camp.

 

[sonny10305]

Welcome home sausy, great to see you back.

A lot of my attention is on the Mets pitching right now. What I have seen so far in spring training is not very good. Both the starters and the relievers have not shown me much as yet.
Pefrey Is aiing but is expected to pitch next Saturday if his bull pen session on Wednesday turns out well. But the really good new is that Santana has been pitching well and will pitch Thursday night against the Marlins. I can’t wait to see him pitch.
You mentioned Pedro and yes he has been working very hard and has been pitching well but the Mets have said again they have no interest in him, which may be a mistake, I would not have thought that way earlier but the fifth starting position has no front runner as a mater of act pretty much all of the candidates for that job have been pitching poorly. I am not concerned yet but I thought by no we would have seen one of em stand out and shine, But none have.
Another troublesome effort came out of the WBS when Ollie Perez in a game against Australia where he pitched two innings, gave up 4 runs and 7 hits. If that were not bad enough he also threw 63 pitches.
On the good side was Putz who was awesome and looked great.

Those spring training games with 16 Mets players gone to the WBS have been fun to watch, I mean a lot of fun. Yeah we have been losing a lot of games but that is to be expected. After all, the Met are using mostly minor leaguers to play against the major leaguers on the other teams. So I did not expect to win many games. But to watch those guys scrappin an playin there hearts out to get notice is awesome. I mean can you imagine hat that must be like for those kids.
One bright note yesterday when Nick Evens hit that grand slam the Mets went on to come from behind and win. Now THAT was fun.

 

[Scrub]

SAUSY

..........

WELCOME BACK​

Hello Sonny

 

[Sausy]

Welcome home sausy, great to see you back.

A lot of my attention is on the Mets pitching right now. What I have seen so far in spring training is not very good. Both the starters and the relievers have not shown me much as yet.
Pefrey Is aiing but is expected to pitch next Saturday if his bull pen session on Wednesday turns out well. But the really good new is that Santana has been pitching well and will pitch Thursday night against the Marlins. I can’t wait to see him pitch.
You mentioned Pedro and yes he has been working very hard and has been pitching well but the Mets have said again they have no interest in him, which may be a mistake, I would not have thought that way earlier but the fifth starting position has no front runner as a mater of act pretty much all of the candidates for that job have been pitching poorly. I am not concerned yet but I thought by no we would have seen one of em stand out and shine, But none have.
Another troublesome effort came out of the WBS when Ollie Perez in a game against Australia where he pitched two innings, gave up 4 runs and 7 hits. If that were not bad enough he also threw 63 pitches.
On the good side was Putz who was awesome and looked great.

Those spring training games with 16 Mets players gone to the WBS have been fun to watch, I mean a lot of fun. Yeah we have been losing a lot of games but that is to be expected. After all, the Met are using mostly minor leaguers to play against the major leaguers on the other teams. So I did not expect to win many games. But to watch those guys scrappin an playin there hearts out to get notice is awesome. I mean can you imagine hat that must be like for those kids.
One bright note yesterday when Nick Evens hit that grand slam the Mets went on to come from behind and win. Now THAT was fun.

Thanks,sonny.:hugs:I really missed commenting on your insights,which I rarely have any real disagreement with because as much of a dedicated Mets fan you are,you can't help but be honest and critical if you think it's warranted.

Good news regarding Santana,pitching pain free and getting ready for his first spring start.I think he'll be fine once he gets some live action under his belt.Maine will take a little time but he'll find his sharpness,just needs to relax and get comfortable again after the offseason surgery on the bone spur irritating his rotator cuff.It stinks about Pelfrey's little setback,but that doesn't concern me too much.Ollie Perez still scares the shit out of me,as his start in the WCS harkened back to the wild,volatile,unpredictable Bad Ollie.

I just think that this seeming aversion of the Mets to pursue Pedro is short-sighted potentially.If he can still be an effective pitcher,there would be NO better fifth pitcher in any rotation in MLB.He won't cost Manny money....give him incentives thatmake his salary competitive,even with the possibility of an option if he pitches well you really couldn't do better if he can make the tranition to more finese pitcher than power.If he can pitch at a competitive level he will pitch somewhere and help someone with playoff aspersions...why not the Mets?

Loved your story about David Wright and Jimmy Rollins....did you see in the Daily News today the fun goings on between Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox,David Wright and Derek Jeter?They all have an intensity(like Wright/Rollins once they start playing against each other Met vs.Philly)playing against each other but together they like and respect what the others bring to the game.The comments of Derek Jeter towards David Wright was very impressive and it is so terrific that in the New York area we have two such great players and people representing our area and their sport.

SAUSY ​

..........​

WELCOME BACK​

I missed ya,Scrub...thanks!

 

[sonny10305]

.Maine will take a little time but he'll find his sharpness,just needs to relax and get comfortable again after the offseason surgery on the bone spur irritating his rotator cuff

It got a lot worse for Johnny yesterday, he did not pitch well at all. He went 3 innings and allowed 5 runs on 5 hits The good thing I got out of it is he seems to have gotten his velicity back which tells me his shoulder is better. So it's John's old problem of mind over matter. He has often had a mental problem rather bthan a physical one and that is what I think is going on now. He should be able to work that out once he gains confidence in his ability again and not worry about his injury. Right now his control and location are suffering.

I just think that this seeming aversion of the Mets to pursue Pedro is short-sighted potentially.If he can still be an effective pitcher,there would be NO better fifth pitcher in any rotation in MLB.He won't cost Manny money....give him incentives thatmake his salary competitive,even with the possibility of an option if he pitches well you really couldn't do better if he can make the tranition to more finese pitcher than power.If he can pitch at a competitive level he will pitch somewhere and help someone with playoff aspersions...why not the Mets?

I completly agree, and like I said that's only a recent thing with me, after last years performance or lack of it I wanted Pedro to retire gracefully. But he seems to have rebound and is pitching great again. Yesterday once again he threw 3 great innings.I just wonder if he can go longer than 2 or 3 innings which was a problem for him last year. Last year he had proplems in the early innings giving up hits and walks but this year in the WBS he is not doing that. The Mete have said they are not interested, and proud Pedro has said he would love to be a Met again but will not call them.

Loved your story about David Wright and Jimmy Rollins....did you see in the Daily News today the fun goings on between Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox,David Wright and Derek Jeter?They all have an intensity(like Wright/Rollins once they start playing against each other Met vs.Philly)playing against each other but together they like and respect what the others bring to the game.The comments of Derek Jeter towards David Wright was very impressive and it is so terrific that in the New York area we have two such great players and people representing our area and their sport.!

I only watch the teams in the WBS that have Mets players on them I find the other teams pretty much boring. So of course I saw all the USA games and there have been shots in the dugout of David and he is having one hell-of-a great time. He is so excited to be there and it shows. I am so happy and proud for him.

 

[sonny10305]

Hello Sonny

Hey there sweetheart, ready for another season ?.
Mets and Phillies, should be awesome

^I'd so sniff that jock.
<Watches from afar,dreaming of Varitek and Wright gettin it on!

Well, your just so bad.

 

[sonny10305]

The only good pitching news is the release of D Sanchez. I never wanted him back this season, I would have preferred we hung onto Joe Smith. Sanchez never rebound after his surgery. when I first saw him pitch this year he was throwin an 80MPH fast ball. I thought OMG he’s got to go. So bye bye
I dono yet if the Mets plan on replacing him, more to come I guess.
I am also standing my prediction that Billy Wagner will be back with the team in late August. He would fit in nicely as our 7th inning guy and then gracefully hand the ball to Putz.

Bad news for Angel Pagon who is going to have surgery to repair a bone spur in his right elbow. That will prolly keep him out for 6 to 8 weeks.
That poor kid has no luck at all, it’s always something keeping him from making the team.
In the good news department, Ryan Church who many were worried would not come back strong is now batting .308 this spring.

 

[sonny10305]

Ok, so this is the kind of stuff I live for when watching baseball.
In the WBS game with USA and Venezuela, David Wright (USA) was on deck waiting to face K-Rod, (Venezuela)
The idea of that just gives me goose bumps and imagine how David felt waiting in the on deck circle. But it was not to be, there were two runners on base, at the plate was Kevin Youkilis,who as you know is the first baseman on the Red Sox which has given K-Rod fits in the past. Then it happened, the catcher cut down the back end of a double steal, throwing out Derek Jetter at second base for the second out and then K-Rod fooled Youkilis with an 84-mph breaking ball to save Venezuela's 5-3 victory

David did not get his shot to face K-Rod, I would have loved to see that happen but not nearly, I am sure, as much as David did.

 

[sonny10305]

Ok, so I need to vent and I thought why not here.

As most of you know Johan Santana pitched last night for the first time in the Grapefruit league game against the Marlins. Like all Mets fans I was excited to watch him pitch for the first time especially with all the talk about his elbow.
After the game I got a couple of text messages and a few calls from some of my jackass friends tellin me stuff like “Hey man your boy didn’t do so good”
Lets set the record straight, anyone who says Johan pitched badly
knows nothing about pitching ...... , NOTHING!!!

He pitched two and two-thirds innings, reached his pitch count and left the game.

HE DID NOT LEAVE THE GAME CAUSE HE WASN’T PITCHING WELL, HE LEFT CAUSE HE REACHED THE PRE DECIDCED PITCH COUNT.

Johan threw 47 pitches, 32 of them for strikes. He pitched very well, he had the ball out in front, threw all of his pitches. He made a few mistakes, I thought the ball was high a few times, usually you will see him pitch at the knees or lower.
He did give up a home run with a missed fastball but it was to Ugly Uggla, who is a beast and the best hitter in the Marlins team. No excuses, I’m just sayin.
It shows how fearless he is, if he wants you he will go after you without fear of contact.
I liked what I saw, I was not expecting a no hitter, I got what I wanted which is an obviously healthy Johan Santana. The next idiot who tells me Johan failed yesterday is gonna get my foot up his butt.To them I also say, learn something about the art of pitching, then we will talk.

Now the guy who really failed was Redding, now that was a bad outing, He allowed 9 runs in less than two innings. I felt bad for the dude, cause I know how much he wants to make that 5th spot.
What I saw was he needs to get his fastball down, and stop overthrowing his breaking ball. Location was another problem, it was obvious he was having trouble when you see Schneider is bouncing all over the plate trying to catch the ball, cause the pitch was not coming in where he was sitting. I saw Brian reaching out of the strike zone too many times, and blocking balls In the dirt. A lot of pitches were on the opposite part of the plate.
So all in all a really bad outing and this was his second bad start, he has a lot of work to do. The only good thing I saw was his pick off move which was excellent.

The fifth position is no closer to being chosen than it was, there just is no standout.
I still think if anyone is ahead it would be Hernandez.
Garcia has a lot of problems, but first of all he needs to find his fastball.
Niese could challenge Hernandez if only he could throw strikes.

It was good to see Jose Reyes bouncing around in the dugout; he will be back in the lineup on Saturday now that his WBC team got eliminated. If team USA loses one more game, D Wright and JJ Putz will return as well.

Oh, and a shout out to Charlie Samuel,
why the hell is Valentin wearing number 99???
Is THAT the best you can do,
come on.

Ok, I feel better now, thanks for listing guys.

 

[syam24]

Calm down, forget about the stuff from your Bozo texters, as you said, Johan did fine for first time out. These pitchers are just exercising and working their pitches. As long as he remains pain free, it's all good! Have watched some of the WBC games and became pretty interested in a few of them, much more than I anticipated. The "backup" Mets, i.e. Kielty, Evans, Marlon Anderson, and the rest have hit pretty well, considering most of the real lineup is not there for support. At least management has gotten a real opportunity to look at some of the youngsters who will be making their way to NY in the future against some more established guys. Hopefully the pitching will start to clear itself up in the not too distant future, have about 10 more days, by my thinking, before I have to start worrying about it. Stay relaxed, it's early....

 

[sonny10305]

Calm down, forget about the stuff from your Bozo texters, as you said, Johan did fine for first time out. These pitchers are just exercising and working their pitches. As long as he remains pain free, it's all good! Have watched some of the WBC games and became pretty interested in a few of them, much more than I anticipated. The "backup" Mets, i.e. Kielty, Evans, Marlon Anderson, and the rest have hit pretty well, considering most of the real lineup is not there for support. At least management has gotten a real opportunity to look at some of the youngsters who will be making their way to NY in the future against some more established guys. Hopefully the pitching will start to clear itself up in the not too distant future, have about 10 more days, by my thinking, before I have to start worrying about it. Stay relaxed, it's early....

Thanks, it's great to hear from someone who gets it.

I am relaxed and lovin those spring training games watching those kids play their hearts out to get noticed.
By the way, have ben watching Nick Evans? that dude is on fire.

The thing about Johan has calmed down, more and more media people are now sayin what we said and the jokers who played down Johans performance have gone back under their rocks. So it's all good now.
I was also interested in seeing how he would feel the day after and it looks like he had no ill effects at all from his start. All good news,
Johan did everything I was hoping he would do, including throwing 90+ MPH and most importunely his slider, cause that's the pitch that puts the most strain on the whole upper arm. Johan has three pitches,the fastball and changeup, which is a straight arm slot where ya just pull back, but when you throw a slider there is more torque oh that whole shoulder area, you can feel it. so it was great to see him throw that pitch.

 

[syam24]

Looks like a pitching casualty may open the door for a return of Pedro Martinez!!??
STORY:

Scratch Tim Redding from the mix of pitchers in the hunt for the fifth spot in the rotation.

Omar Minaya said that Redding has felt weakness in his right shoulder - admitting it after his struggles Thursday night - and will be shut down. Minaya said that Redding will not be able to be with the team at the start of the season.

And he then tried to dance around the possibility of adding a certain pitcher who is available and healthy and would love to fill the spot - Pedro Martinez. Minaya said that there have been no negotiations, but would not answer when asked if there have been talks.

 

[sonny10305]

Looks like a pitching casualty may open the door for a return of Pedro Martinez!!??
STORY:

Scratch Tim Redding from the mix of pitchers in the hunt for the fifth spot in the rotation.

Omar Minaya said that Redding has felt weakness in his right shoulder - admitting it after his struggles Thursday night - and will be shut down. Minaya said that Redding will not be able to be with the team at the start of the season.

And he then tried to dance around the possibility of adding a certain pitcher who is available and healthy and would love to fill the spot - Pedro Martinez. Minaya said that there have been no negotiations, but would not answer when asked if there have been talks.

Yeah, Sausy and I have discussed in this thread the possibility of Pedro coming back. He is certainly pitching well but the Mets insist the door is closed and they have no interest. Pedro has said he would love to pitch in NY but will not make the first move and contact the Mets. What-a-ya-gonna-do
Martinez is still seeking a guaranteed, one-year contract worth $5 million, plus incentives We still don't know if Martinez can pitch more than five innings in a single game, but he did pitch three innings each in two games with just two days rest for the Dominican this week. It is worth the shot and worth the time.

I had not heard that about Redding, but he was done anyways, he proved he is not ready and could never make the adjustments needed in the time left.
The Mets don't need a fifth starter yet, actually they don't even need one on Opening Day. But on April 12, someone will need to take the mound against the Florida Marlins.
Yup, those pesky Marlins and I worry a bit that right now, no one the Mets have in camp looks to be up to the task.