With the Mets current 5 game winning streak, and another game tonight as part of a doubleheader, there is no doubt they are doing great right now. If they sweep the Rockies tonight they will be only 3 games out of the Wild Card. Omar Minaya cannot give up yet. This year is like many other years for the Mets. They are far back but then make a great run to get back in it. I guarantee it that in a month or two they will be driving me crazy, they will keep losing but still be in the race. But maybe the Mets will make a trade today or tomorrow.

 

Ryan Garko was the perfect fit for the Mets, a good, affordable, young player who is under contract and can hit. The only problem is that Daniel Murphy has found a home at first base and he may even stay there when Carlos Delgado comes back. Murphy is playing gold glove defense in fact, so I would like to see what happens then.

 

But the Rays want to shed payroll. They have been linked in rumor to be shopping Scott Kazmir to the Mets, but we don't want him. Carlos Pena is also available, and I heard Carl Crawford can also be traded in an offer they can't turn down. We don't need Pena unless he can play some other position than first base, which as far as I know he can't, but Kazmir and Crawford would be absolutely PERFECT fits. Admit it, Oliver Perez sucks, and Jon Niese may not be full-time ready for the bigs. We need a lefty. We need a new starter anyway, because Livan Hernandez is starting to fall off the table, and Mike Pelfrey is not that consistant. Scott Kazmir is having a bad year, but pitching coach Dan Warthen is good at fixing guys like him. He is a good buy-low candidate. As for Crawford, we need a left fielder. We never had a left fielder, all year. At first it was supposed to be Daniel Murphy, but he stunk there so he got moved to first base. Since then we've had Fernando Martinez, Gary Sheffield, Cory Sullivan, Nick Evans, and Jeremy Reed. None have worked. We don't have a left fielder for next year, either, unless you think F-Mart will magically be a viable option next year. Crawford is the ideal player for Citi Field; great defense, great speed, and a line drive hitter who has decent pop in his bat. Imagine all the triples we'd have between him and Jose Reyes. It would be so much fun to watch! I say trade the whole farm. Trade Jennry Mejia, trade Brad Holt, trade Ike Davis, whoever it takes. How many prospects like them actually wind up being successful major leaguers? And more successful then Scott Kazmir or Carl Crawford? Not many. The chances are so slim that they will be a star, I say make a trade.

 

This season isn't over yet, this hot surge has gotten me even more pumped for this year. 

I went to turn on the TV yesterday to play some video games, and it was already set to ESPN2's Scott Van Pelt Show. Naturally, I watched it for a minute or two just to see if what they were talking about was interesting, when I heard Ryen Russillo say that Mark Buerhle had a perfect game through six innings. I flipped through the channels to see if the game was on TBS or something, but it wasn't. So I started playing The BIGS 2, but every 5 minutes I am constantly flipping back to ESPN2 to see if they were talking about Mark Buerhle, but no. So around 4:00pm when the Scott Van Pelt Show was over, I turned off the video games to watch my favorite show, SportsNation. But then I remembered that the MLB Network had live look ins for really important moments like when a batter is about to hit for the cycle, or, you know, just IN CASE, a perfect game. So of course I flip to the MLB Network. And it is the top of the ninth, just in time for you know what. The very first thing I hear the announcer say is that Mark Buerhle is perfect through eight. Then I get really excited and the next thing I know the center fielder makes that amazing catch. I got so excited about that catch that all day today I've been running around the house, camp, wherever I am and looking for something to jump on top of like I am D. Wise. Then Buerhle gets behind the next guy 3-1, and I say to myself, "Oh no, is he giong to walk him?" But of course he strikes him out. And then Jason Bartlett (someone please explain to me why he is batting ninth) grounds it to the shortstop Alexei Ramirez. It seemed like forever for that ball to get to him, I thought he would boot it. And then I thought he would blow the throw. But no, it was good, a perfect game. Congrats Mark.

 

And by the way, I would like to note that I have Mark Buerhle on my fantasy team in the MLBloggers League. Do I get some kind of prize or something? Do I automatically win the whole thing? :D

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

This has nothing to do with Buerhle, but it pretty much sums up the Mets whole season so far in two minutes. Enjoy this video posted on YouTube by tstrongmets20.

 

 

A couple of days ago there were the rumors of Roy Halladay. There still are. But there was one rumor in particular that caught my attention. The Blue Jays supposedly made an offer to the Mets about Roy Halladay. This caught me off guard, as I didn't think the Jays were making offers, just listening to them. But the Mets would get Roy Halladay, and they would give up top prospect Fernando Martinez, lefty pitcher Jon Niese, righty reliever Bobby Parnell (who is currently on the big league roster and has been there all season), and Double-A 17 year old shortstop Ruben Tejada. There were reports saying that this was not at all true. For all we know the Bluue Jays made it up to make the Phillies hurry and possibly give up more, or maybe the Mets made it up and rejected it to give their prospects extra confidence. Whatever it was, if it was really a true offer, I would have accepted it in a heartbeat and if Omar Minaya really rejected it then I would fire him. Here is why:

 

• No question, Roy Halladay is one of the top 3 pitchers in baseball. Him along with Johan Santana would definitely be the best 1-2 punch in the majors, and possibly in history. I am convinced that whoever acquires Roy Hallladay will make the playoffs, and that is no exception to the Mets. According to MLBTradeRumors.com Halladay could demand to be traded after this season if he is traded this season. That is a little scary because you think you are getting him for 1210 since he is under contract, but if that was the case he would probably just veto the deal in the first place because of his no trade clause. If the Mets acquired  Halladay it would signal to all the fans and even the players that the season is not yet over and we are still in this.
• Fernando Martinez is a bust. Sure he is still young but so far he stinks, he hasn't helped this team at all. He is hurt and even if he comes back it will be too late to help the Mets. If they are convinced Jeff Francoeur will be great for the future, and that Nick Evans will be good in the future, and Carlos Beltran is still under contract for two more years, we don't need F-Mart. Besides, Halladay will surely be a Type A free agent so we will get draft picks, or  we could trade him again and get another top prospect.
• I do think Jon Niese will be a good pitcher, and he could come up this season, maybe even this month to help the Mets. But Roy Halladay will obviously be better. You will never get someone for free. Jon Niese will not be an ace ever, maybe just a two or three starter at best. So he is a small price to pay.
• Bobby Parnell has a great fastball, but that is it. No secondary pitches, and his control is limited. I don't know why the organization is so high on him. Especially since we have other pitching prospects like Eddie Kunz and Dillon Gee on the fringe of coming up.
• Ruben Tejada is 17, so we don't know if he ever do anything important. He is a shortstop, and we have Jose Reyes, so we don't need him. From what I've heard he is a good, not great, fielder and a terrible hitter. That isn't that hard to find. We have other good shortstop prospects like Reese Havens and Wilmer Flores. Flores is according to some people and even better prospect than Fernando Martinez. Others say he is the organizations's number two prospect. Whatever, he is supposedly really good. He is also 17, but he is supposed to be a great hitter. I heard that they plan to move him to a different position, but if something happens to Reyes and we need him there I don't see why he can't go back.
• We would get to keep our top pitching prospects in Brad Holt and Jennry Mejia.

 

 It sounds like a no-brainer, but it was probably never really offered to the Mets in the first place. Anyway, just this rumor has gotten me excited and I know that someone important must have started it. Look, it was not some MLBlogger with nothing better to do making a story up. It was an important person, someone high in the MLB ranks who has the power to get this rumor circulating. So there has to be at least some validity to it, something that maybe means the Blue Jays like the Mets prospects, or the Mets want Roy Halladay. Whatever it is, it has gotten me pumped that something could be on the horizon.

 

Phony Berna-Tard

 

In other Mets news, the Director of Player Development was with the Double-A affiliate, the Binghamton Mets, when he took his his shirt off and challenged the players to fight him. I heard that he was drunk and some of the players, including underage ones, were also drunk. I bet this guy wouldn't actually dare to fight any of the players. I bet you could pick out any one of the players and they could beat this guy up. After all, who are the ones that lift weights and train and play a professional sport? I would love to see this guy actually fight anyone. How about the owners of the Mets? How about the general manager? This guy is the Director of Player Development, and I've heard he has better relationships with the owners than Omar Minaya does. That's crazy. This whole thing is stupid. It is macking a mockery of the Mets. They spent the majority of the Michael Kay show on ESPN Radio yesterday talking about this, and that show is like 3 hours. This whole thing is retarded. And the worse part? They haven't even fired Bernazard yet. And I've heard they don't plan to either. In a press conference yesterday, GM Omar Minaya said that the Mets would investigate the matter. Thats all he said. He said the word "investigate" at least 10 times. This is obviously not under control. But this also pumps me up. It makes me think, "Hey, maybe they will fire him. Maybe they will fire Omar, maybe they will fire the manager. Maybe they will fire the coaches, or the medical staff. Maybe they will decide they have to win just to get this off the back page, maybe they will make a trade." Now I am not endorsing firing anybody (except the medical staff, it is ridiculous how many injuries we've had), its just that this is not working and there needs to be change.

 

But whatever happens in the next week or two, I am excited about the rest of the season. 

So I was thinking, with all the injuries the Mets have, they must have some sort of plan for when they come back. But what if they didn't come back? What if they all went into a truck to go to a rehab clinic together, and the truck drove off a cliff into a lake and they all died? Then what would the Mets do? They would be without Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, John Maine, J.J. Putz, Billy Wagner, and Fernando Martinez. Thats your center fielder, your first baseman, your shortstop, a starter, two relievers, and a top prospect. If I was the Mets GM, and I had to piece together this roster with guys in the minors and current free agents without making trades, here is what I would do.

 

1. Sign Julio Lugo, assuming he goes through waivers. He could platoon at shortstop with Alex Cora, who needs some time off.

 

2. Sign Miguel Sano. He just passed his age investigation and could replace Jose Reyes as an All-Star shortstop in a few years.

 

3. Call up Nelson Figueroa, and keep him in the Majors. Not just for a spot start, but for good.

 

4. Call up Jon Niese, he is ready for the bigs.

 

I don't know what else I would do, but I do know that with all those guys dead, I wouldn't have to pay them. So I could basically sign whoever I wanted. I would finish the year with this team and see if we could do anything, then I would sign all the best free agents on the market, and slowly begin the rebuilding process.

Blegh. I have to admit though, that was a nice catch by Carl Crawford.

 

Anyway, here are my first half awards for this season.

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE

 

MVP: Albert Pujols

Cy Young: Dan Haren

Rookie of the Year: Pablo Sandoval

Manager of the Year: Joe Torre

Biggest Surpise (team): Chicago Cubs (not an award, more like a deward for them)

Biggest Surprise (player) Raul Ibanez

 

AMERICAN LEAGUE

 

MVP: Mark Teixiera

Cy Young: Zack Grienke

Rookie of the Year: Rick Porcello

Manager of the Year: Ron Washington (because nobody expected the Rangers to do anything this year but he is keeping them in a pennant race, and he doesn't even have a gigantic payroll)

Biggest Surprise (team): Texas Rangers

Biggest Surprise (player): Brandon Inge

I called Prince Fielder last night. It was in my post yesterday. So the number was a little off, but then again not everyone has a Josh Hamilton round. I got it right, I have the luck this year. I am a genius. :)

 

So my next prediction will also come true, you know it. The National League is finally going to win the All Star Game this year. I think they have better pitching. They have a better bench, because if they need a home run, they just have Ryan Howard or Prince Fielder pinch hit and BAM! right into the next county. The four first baseman thing is strange though. It will be interesting to see how it works out, because Charlie Manuel wants to put his own Howard into the game, but then everybody will want to see Pujols stay in the whole game and hit a walkoff home run or something. Pujols used to play third base. Could he get a shot there? After David Wright,  the NL only has Ryan Zimmerman there. Although I think they would sooner put Freddy Sanchez at third. Any way, I can't wait. I just know the NL will win. Remember, I called it.

The Washington D.C. Little League travel team has just fired their manager, Manny Acta. I don't understand why though. Do they really think this will help them make a playoff push? From what I heard, there thinking was something like "the team was underperforming." Granted, you probably are underperforming if you have the worst record in all of baseball, but you'd have to have a radar built into your head if you can find someone who thought the Nationals were going to have a good year this year. After a while, really bad baseball can be just as entertaining, if not more entertaining then good baseball. Everybody wants their team to win, but then again if you root for the Nats then you probably want your team to build for the future now. If you think about it, Manny Acta was doing a good job. The universal goal is to go to the playoffs and win the World Series. If you can't do that then the next goal is to win the World Series next year. Thats the next best thing. And to get better, you need to draft good players. So at this point, if you were the Nationals, wouldn't you want to do as bad this year as possible, so you can have the number 1 overall draft pick next year to get Bryce Harper? If you haven't heard of Bryce Harper, he is 16 years old and is supposedly already hitting 500 foot homers. He is the top hitting prospect not in a major league organization. I would do whatever it takes to sign Stephen Strasburg, and then try to get Harper. Together they would possibly bring a winning team to Washington in 2011. Just my thoughts.

 

And tonight is the home run derby. No, Bryce Harper is not in it. I wish. I can't believe they have Brandon Inge, Nelson Cruz, and Joe Mauer in it this year. I bet there will be bad television ratings. Joe Mauer is not the moon shot monster I want to see with the likes of Ryan Howard and Prince Fielder. And Brandon Inge and Nelson Cruz? Sure, they are having great years but I bet the casual baseball fan doesn't know who they even are. As for Carlos Pena, I am glad he is in, he is an entertaining home run hitter to watch, but he did not have to be chosen for the All Star Game. There is no rule that says you have to be an All Star to be in the Home Run Derby. Ian Kinsler got snubbed big time. I am predicting Prince Fielder to win it this year with 43 home runs. We'll just have to wait and see. 

It proves how bad your team is doing when they trade a player for virtually himself. That's what the Mets did yesterday. They traded Ryan Church for Jeff Francoeur. The only major difference is that Church is lefty and Francoeur is righty. They say Francoeur has a better arm but Church has a cannon too. Also, Francoeur is younger and they hope he can become a big star. I say that won't happen. He is 25, the Braves thought he was the next Mickey Mantle, but he has been mediocre the last two years. The Mets made this deal for the sake of making a deal. They wanted to shake things up. I don't love it, I don't hate it. I'll see how I like it after it pans out.

So last night I went to see my first night game at Citi Field (I had seen three day game there this year). It was a good night, as the Mets actually won for once, by a score of 5-4.

 

But it felt like I was in Dodger Stadium. The section I was sitting in was full of Dodger fans, and I actually had trouble finding Mets fan (save for the extra-fat lady sitting next to me who overflowed into my seat). One thing that drove me nuts about this was that when Manny Ramirez came up to bat, the whole stadium booed, except my section was cheering. Disgusting.

 

 

I had never paid attention to the advertisements in center field, but we got to the park a little earlier than usual so I was just looking around. There was the the gigantic Budweiser sign. There was the Fox News advertisement, and the SNY tv logo. And then I noticed the one in the top right corner.

 

I couldn't believe my eyes. "Hospital For Special Surgery, Mets Official Hospital". Are you kidding me? The Mets actually have there very own official hospital now? This is ridiculous! I know the Mets have half a team on the disabled list, but is this supposed to be funny?

 

Then during an inning break, they had the "KissCam" where they find views of couples and let them kiss on the Jumbotron. At one point they found Sean Avery, the hockey player. He looked pissed, like he would give the camera man the finger. Then they found Donald Trump. He stared at the camera for about twenty seconds, then the crowd starts booing so he kisses his daughter and laughs. That was fun to watch. 

 

But this game was so LONG. Three and a half hours. By the end of the third inning it was 8:30 already. At the rate the game would end at 11:30 (assuming it didn't go to extra innings). It wound up ending at 10:40. I got to bed around 11:30. I was exhausted.

 

Oliver Perez made his first start since coming off the disabled list (Thanks, Hospital for Special Surgery!) He pitched 5 innings, gave up 4 hits and 2 runs. He walked 7. Ouch. He reminds me of AJ Burnett. Watch, one day he will pitch a no-hitter but walk 10.

 

I am going back on Saturday. Anything I should look for?

 

(By the way, I think the hopsital sign in center field is a jinx.)

Right now the Mets have countless injuries to key players like Calros Beltran, Jose Reyes, J.J. Putz, Billy Wagner, John Maine, and Carlos Delgado. This is arguably the worst thing that can happen to any team. It has hampered the Mets so far, putting them below .500. Could this turn out to be blessing in disguise?

 

The good thing about all of this is that the Mets get to see some of there prospects in the majors. Guys like Fernando Martinez, Nick Evans, and Argenis Reyes would not be in the majors if not for the injuries. The question though is, is it good to see how they can do and to see if they are ready, or is this really just hurting there self-esteem? Sometimes young players excel when they first get called up, like Fernando Valenzuela and Mark Fydrich. Other times, the news can over-excite them and mess up there mechanics, which is what happens to players tabbed as "AAAA" players.

 

Towards August when guys start to come back from the DL, we will definitely see these replacements sent down. One by one, they will go back to the minors and either continue to learn and get better in preparation for a return to the bigs, or see there batting averages funnel down into nothing as their baseball career comes to an end. Now we start to wonder, whose fault is this?

 

Is it the player's fault for not being good enough, or is it the general manager, Omar Minaya's fault for expecting too much of his aspiring stars? Could he be jumping the gun too early?

 

Let's look at baseball's best left handed pitcher, Johan Santana. He was left off the Houston Astros 40 man roster in 1999 and was selected by the Marlins in the Rule 5 Draft. They later traded him to the Marlins, who would still have all the strings attached for that year. One of the rules was that Santana must be on the Major League roster for the entire 2000 season, or else he must be offered back to the Astros. Well that year he put up a 6.49 ERA, but the Twins realized he was a great pitcher, so they kept him up. The next year he had a 4.74 ERA. Getting better, but still not that great for someone who was a top prospect. In 2002 he was sent down to the minors for about two months. When he came back, he was terrific. That year Johan Santana posted a 2.99 ERA. And from 2003 onward, he had a WHIP of 1.15 or less. And in case you are unfamilar with that stat (Walks and Hits per Innings Pitched) let me say that having a WHIP under 1.00 is like having an ERA under 3.00. Very good. So it turns out that Johan Santana was put into the majors a little premature, but a nice lengthy trip to the minors was all that it took to put a top prospect over the top to become a Cy Young Winner.

 

 Now let's look at another pitcher, Mark Prior. He was the top talent in the 2001 First Year Player Draft, and was getting the same the same kind of hype Stephen Strasburg is getting. He made his major league debut in 2002, the very next year. Obviously, this is pretty early and another year or two in the minors couldn't hurt. But perhaps when he did come up, regardless of whether it was too early or not, the Cubs loved him, and they pretty much overworked him before his arm could develop enough to pitch in a 162 game season. Since his debut, he has had seven injuries involving his arm, elbow or shoulder (it was really eight but one was because he was hit by a line drive and that really cannot be prevented and was just a total coincidence). Now Mark Prior is pretty much out of baseball.

 

So what I am trying to say here is, instead of overworking our young prospects and essentially relying on them to carry the major league team until others come back from injuries, why don't we leave them in the minors and sign some washed up old veterans for the league minimum and called up some no-hope minor leaguers who would never make the Majors anyway? This way the players we care about can continue to develop and who knows, maybe we will find a diamond in the rough among all the new guys.

 

I don't think Omar Minaya should trade the farmsyetem for somebody like Adam Dunn or Aubrey Huff. I think it is time to realize that the Mets will not make the postseason this year, and they should not try to make it for at least two or three more years. They have to take the pressure off of top prospects to make it to the bigs, and I think perhaps a rebuild has to at least be an option. Trade Carlos Beltran for prospects, someone like Justin Smoak of the Texas Rangers would be a nice fit as the Mets do not really have a first baseman in line. Trade Jose Reyes, you could acquire three top prospects for him, one would definitely be of Alcides Escobar value. If you want to hold onto Johan Santana I can understand,  but I seriously think that you can bring in a boatload for him. He has about six years left on his contract I think, and he will definitely be among the top pitchers in baseball for years to come. He would bring in more than the normal yield. In fact you might be able to get six or seven prospects for him (I know that no team has six or seven TOP prospects but maybe you can get two or three along with four mid-level prospects). And in the mid-2010s when all these players have developed the New York Mets could become a dynasty similar to that of the 1990s Yankees.

 

Of course, none of this will happen because Omar Minaya even attempts this he would be fired in seconds.

For what it's worth here is who I voted for during the All-Star balloting:

 

American League

 

C: Victor Martinez

1B: Mark Tiexiera

2B: Aaron Hill

3B: Evan Longoria

SS: Jason Bartlett

OF: Ichiro Suzuki, Scott Podsednik, Carl Crawford

Final Man Vote: Ian Kinsler

 

 

National League

 

C: Yadier Molina

1B: Albert Pujols

2B: Chase Utley

3B: David Wright

SS: Hanley Ramirez

OF: Carlos Beltran, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Braun

Final Man Vote: Shane Victorino

This has been on my mind for a while, so now that I am back to blogging I want to share it up here. Here are some baseball people who stole each other's face.

 

J.J. Putz and Tim Redding

 

 

 

Cody Ross and Zack Hample

 

 

 

Tim Lincecum and Bronson Arroyo

 

 

 

 

Curtis Granderson and Cameron Maybin

 

 

 

 

Albert Pujols and Johan Santana

 

 

 

Hal Bodley and Vince McMahon

 

 

 

Any others?

OK,  I couldn't resist coming back with the season in full swing! I checked MLBlogs for everyone's thought on the All-Star Game and I saw a live chat. So I went in and I decided to come back to blogging! So check back, I will start talking about the Mets again!