MVN - Most Valuable Network

One Hitter Shy

Like most Mets fans, I can’t help but feel that this winter is leaving me an empty feeling. The job is still incomplete, although not by much. It’s not the pitching as I’ve stated more times than necessary. I feel the Mets are just one hitter shy.

I’m still surprised that some quality hitters are still on the market. Namely, Craig Wilson and Cliff Floyd. The Mets bench is still pretty thin in comparison to their pitching depth. They need something and I believe that either one of these two guys can provide the answer to the question of who their power off of the bench will be.

In Craig Wilson we saw a player who is very versatile and has the ability to provide a lot of pop to with bat. He provided a steady bat in the Yankees line up and he has a special bonus.

Remember what happened last year against left-handed pitching? Wilson is a guy who, for his career, battered lefties all over the park. He is the inexpensive answer against them. Of course, the Mets already answered that with the signing of Moises Alou.

So what do the Mets do to get the left handed power that Green no longer possesses? Surely Newhan is not expected to be a force off of the bench. What about Floyd? We’ve seen what Cliff can do when he’s healthy. After he had surgery on his achilies, Floyd had the best year of his Mets tenure.

Although snubbed for a gold glove, his defensive ability was apparent. He knows how to play and he knows how to judge his body and his limits. Even when injured, Cliff was able to provide solid defense. Yeah, his range was limited and offense was lacking, but not far off from a healthy Shawn Green.

Some will say that he is best suited for an AL team and he says he wants to start. The Mets can use his services to spell Green or Alou, should the need arise, and it will.

The question is will he produce much more than Endy Chavez, top outfield prospect- Lastings Milledge or newcomer Ben Johnson? Probably not, but he is a New York proven left-handed power hitter who brings great chemistry to the team that was a game shy of going to the world series. If he was healthy, what do you think would have happened? I think any of those pitches thrown to him would still be trying to find a place to land.

The Mets have a chance to really make themselves into a fierce team up and down the line up and on the bench, with some very good and talented pitching, as well as a deep pen. After these pitching signings are confirmed, quite possibly the deepest pen in the league. They could be a fierce offensive team. All they are is one hitter shy.

A Call to Arms

Good day to all and night to the late readers. It’s Kevin Collazo bringing you the latest updates on our Metropolitan Baseball Club of New York.

Well, it seems that the theory of never having enough arms is more true than ever. Although the Mets have a stacked pen and plenty of starting options, they are on the verge of landing another erratic arm with tons of talent in the form of former Devil Ray and Brave, Jorge Sosa.

While some are already trying to compare him to Oliver Perez, and maybe there is something to it. The 2006 records and numbers are similar. We all know that this was a horrible year for Perez because we have his 2004 Cy Young try out for referencing his great ability and success.

What do we have on Sosa? Well in 2005 he went 13-3 with the hated Braves with a 2.55 era. He also hit 3 homers last year and walked twice in 20 ab’s so the guy has more than just an idea on how to hit. Anyone who has read my posts knows that I feel if you are going to bring a player to NY then they should be very versatile, especially if they are pitchers in the National League. How much has Glavine’s ability to make good contact helped his career? How about Mike Hampton and his still wildly insane contract? It definitely helps you become more successful and of course increases your value to a team.

Something else I like about Sosa is that he can come out of the pen or start, now either way, he will need a lot of work done but he could be good here. All I can say about him is that when the team is good, he is good, and when it’s bad, you get last years 5.42 era.

If signed, he could come out of the pen and cover for the first half until Mota comes around (Who I would like to see gone.) and trade one of the two by mid-season- moving Humber, Pelfrey or Williams into the rotation. The latter three you want to remain on this team. Far too much upside and ability.
I feel a trade would have to be done to give room in that pen because as it is right now there are 6 spots to fill with about 10 candidates trying out. Those spots were vacated by Darren Oliver, Chad Bradford, Royce Ring, Guillermo Mota*, Pedro Martinez* and Steve Trachsel.

(* temporary absence)
The fill-in options, excluding potential signings, would be:

John Maine^, Oliver Perez^, Dave Williams^, Philip Humber, Michael Pelfrey, Aaron Heilman, Jason Vargas, Jason Standridge, John Adkins, Adam Bostik, Ambiorix Burgos, Steve Schmoll and last but definitely not least Juan Padilla.

(^ most likely to land the rotation spots)
This is going to be a very deep pen that is only going to be strengthened by the additions of Scott Schoeneweis and Jorge Sosa. That’s a lot of arms to fill in those spots with, but as we all know, it’s a great problem to have. I’m sure Willie would agree.

Well that’s what spring training is about and I can’t wait for that first day where I can grab the ball, glove, my bat and cleats and just enjoy America’s favorite past time. I love this game.

Mets Believe in Perez

This was first reported about 3 hours ago but the significance of this warrants a post. Especially when the world didn’t believe that the kid was still able to play major league baseball.

Oliver Michael Perez was signed to a 1 year 2.3 million dollar contract. It is slightly better than his previous one of 1.9 million and I’m surprised he didn’t get a bit more than that. Granted he gave up a ton of runs and his numbers overall for 2006 looked terrifying, but let’s not forget that he was far more than impressive since coming to the Mets.

The Mets haven’t had a no-hitter in team history. I’m pegging Perez to change that and I’m picking Glavine or Pedro to grab the perfecto. Yes, a no-hitter and a perfect game in the same year, and why not?

Glavine showed he still has great ability and for the first time in a long time, Pedro will be completely healthy (knock on wood) and in Oliver Perez, the Mets have a guy who can do it all. He can blow the heater passed the best of them, baffle you with his change-up or he can dazzle you with his sickening slider that falls off as if the earth was flat.

The kid has all the tools and now all of the resources to succeed. He has two locks for the HOF in the rotation, maybe three with El Duque and his post season triumphs. He has great hitters and a gold glove winning center fielder and quality corner fielders. The left side of the infield will have their own collection of golden leather and the right side is far better than anyone gives credit for, even myself. (See original posts about Carlos Delgado for reference)

So who can say that this kid doesn’t have a chance? Not the Mets, that’s for sure as they made it a point to tell this kid he was worth it. As soon as the All-Star break this year, expect a well deserved multi-year contract to be in place for this ace in the making.

Ya Gotta Believe: 2007 Mets

With all the over blown talk about the Mets needing an ace for a starting pitcher, it seems to me that many Mets fans, and baseball fans in general, have been jaded and are actually believing that to be the case. I, for one, am not falling for that pitiful excuse for judgement. The Mets are much improved.

Look at these players. Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner, Paul LoDuca, John Maine and Oliver Perez. Now let’s think of what these players all have in common.

They all were new to the Mets organization in 2006. It was their first year with the Mets. Anyone who knows anything about NY sports will tell you that there is definitely a period of adjustment for the players before you see them come into their own.

While we all knew what we were getting out of Carlos Delgado, no one expected him to have such a horrendous slump for nearly 2 months, but he overcame that and went on a home run barrage that had not been seen this side of NY since before Piazza’s prime.

I’m scared to think of what Delgado’s numbers could have been if he had remained closer to his .301 avg from his year with the Marlins. While his career avg is a bit misleading, due to one phenomenal year which saw him hit .344, I’ll chalk the .265 avg up to his first year in the insanity that is NY.

Billy Wagner had “struggled” for the first half (38 games). “Struggled” in a sense, meaning that he he blew 4 saves. That was probably due to him walking 17 and that is unacceptable for a closer. That and the memory of him blowing a 4-0 lead in the 9th against the crosstown rivals. He came out of the first half with a 2.43 ERA and 18 saves out of 22 chances. Then came the second half (32 games) where he posted a 1.99 ERA and saved 22 out of 23 opportunities and the most dramatic difference was his 4 walks allowed.

The boo birds were out for Wagner, and I am not a fan of them at all, but it was an understandable frustration. It doesn’t help them in any way, but I can see why the “murder” of boo birds were out and about. What amazed me was his poise and the fact that he didn’t let the fans get to his head. He still worked extremely hard to make adjustments and improve on his game and he did that in abundance. Now he just needs to improve on his post-season game and we could have a lock down closer for the ages.
In Paul LoDuca, the New York born and Mets fan growing up, we had a catcher who was loved on every team he played for. (On and off the field apparently, but hey, girls love him and I won’t delve into that.)

Paul has replaced the eventual Hall of Famer, Mike Piazza, on three different teams now. Do you know that John Thomson? Three different teams have asked and traded very good talent to get this guy to replace their departed lock for the Hall of Fame. You are apparently the ONLY person who doesn’t want to pitch to this guy and your career will suffer for it. Good luck this year as the AL will ruin any shred of a respectable ERA you thought you might have had.

Paul’s bat was as impressive as ever and more so than advertised. The guy can flat out hit and does all of the things you want a ball player to do. He is the epitome of a catcher.

Another look at what LoDuca has done for the Mets is with the young guns. John Maine already vouched for him saying that he was the best catcher he ever threw to. Ah but what does John Maine know about pitching in the bigs. He only pitched 26 consecutive scoreless innings last year with LoDuca behind the plate.

Add that regular season and the playoffs and the Mets may have something very special here. The kid has made the necessary adjustments to perform at the major league level and with the guys on this team, he has a legitimate chance to put up great numbers in this rotation.

Dave Williams, the former starter and reliever for the Pirates was traded to the Reds for Sean Casey and then to the Mets for minor leaguer, Robert Manuel. Young with great stuff, great all around ability and a great mind-frame for the game of baseball, Dave Williams has a very good chance of making this rotation. Especially with the 10.8 million dollar contract on the table for Scott Schoeneweis to solidify the long relief role.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see a first half rotation of Glavine, El Duque, Perez, Maine and Williams. When Pedro recovers, I expect him to come out of the pen for a while. Bold prediction, yes, but there is a ton of money invested in him and he knows it. He wants to win and by coming out in spurts, it allow his injuries to fully heal by not pushing them in significant innings as a starter. They can use him much the way they used Heilman when they needed a lock down before a closing situation. It’s safe to say that there are few pitchers who can dominate any given situation with any of their pitches. That’s precisely what Pedro Martinez can do. Only when the Mets are sure that he is 100%, will he be back as a starter. That move will likely send Williams to the pen.

Now Williams still has a ton of upside and may prove to be the sleeper in the entire bunch. Who knows what may become of the aged top of the rotation. Last year we saw El Duque tired often and then injured, Pedro Martinez had his limbs hanging from a thread and even Glavine was troubled with numbness that still may require surgery. If it gets any worse, he may need to be shut down and you will need another capable lefty to take his spot and I honestly love the way Williams pitches inning to inning and batter to batter. He changes his speeds extremely well and has great movement as well as good speed on his fastball in the high 80’s to low 90’s. He listens to advice and performs well under pressure. He can hit the ball better than Glavine at this stage in his career and that is something that tends to go unnoticed. He isn’t fazed at all by the big city lights either and that is something I wouldn’t be able to say about the wannabe Grammy winner over Cy Young winner Zito. Williams has a two thumbs up from me if they don’t throw Heilman in the rotation, which they likely won’t due to uncertainty with the erratic Burgos, repaired Padilla and mending Duaner Sanchez.

Last is Oliver Perez, who is in a similar boat, who has already displayed his stellar talent in 2004 and provided foreshadowing for the NY Mets. I’m still baffled as to how the Pirates, an organization in dire need of talented pitching, could trade him for a very replaceable player like Xavier Nady. Oh well, their loss, NYM’s gain.

It’s no surprise to me that the organization has been in the bottom of the standings for so many years now. They do have talented infielders and some pitching, but it is laughable to see that they traded a potential Cy Young winner for a player who has very limited defensive ability, although Nady is a great guy, the talent is not up to par with that of Oliver Perez.

So the Mets fans got to see what Oliver Perez is about in the last few games started and then the post-season. Hell, even my co-writer Shari has agreed that the Perez losses have been fun to watch as well because he just humiliates the batters. The only problem was that, early on, he had a tendency to dominate himself as well and would pitch his way off of the mound.

The issue with him was mechanics and it was very visible, from the first mound visit by Rick Peterson, that is was easily correctable. Why do I say that? Well from the very next pitch and 3 innings that followed, Perez was untouchable. Whatever Rick Peterson said to Oliver was probably from one of the pages read out of the “10 minute Fix” book that was misplaced during Zambrano’s tenure. It’s ok, fellow Mets fans, because Perez replaces the loss of Kazmir. We can finally close the book on that trade now.

All the Mets need is QUALITY pitching. Not an ace for 126 million dollars. Not a sub par pitcher for 40 million dollars. They have the talent. They have the open rotation and bullpen spots. They have the coaches and they have the division title to defend. The organization has finally put faith in their players and in their coaches and they are earning their money now. These key guys now have a year under their belts with a world class organization. Adding that priceless experience to the ever so talented bunch of Reyes, Beltran, Wright and Milledge (I’m hoping) and that will propel them to the elite teams for years to come. Watch them make a HUGE difference as the Mets reach the 2007 World Series, and WIN.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, download the latest podcast of 360 the Pitch on Outsider Radio. Host extraordinaire, Brandon Rossage puts me on the hot seat with my take on everything from steroids, to Hall of Fame controversy and of course all that is our New York Mets.

It’s a show you don’t want to miss, so break out those mp3 players and listen to one of the best shows out there, on Outsider Radio.