Results tagged ‘ Brian Stokes ’
Noooo!
Don’t do it! Don’t make any trades, Omar! I am telling you, SAVE THE FARMSYSTEM!!!! Do not trade Eddie Kunz or Jon Niese or Bobby Parnell for Jermaine Dye or Javier Vazquez; do not trade them AT ALL! These men are the future of our club, how can you even consider it? Don’t trade Daniel Murphy, either, as he is potentially the next David Wright, or with the position issue, the next Ryan Braun. Don’t trade Nick Evans, or Mike Pelfrey. We must rebuild our farmsystem and build a good team. Everything in the world should strike a balance, and in baseball, that balance is between big name free agents and building a good crop of home grown talent.
There is one rumor of a trade, however, that I’ve heard and I support, although the Mets once again disagree with me. I’m not sure if its true, but rumors suggest that in order for the Rockies to trade Huston Street to the Mets, they are asking for Aaron Heilman and Pedro Feliciano. The Mets are completely open to making a trade for Street revolving around Heilman, but they don’t want to trade Feliciano. I would make this trade in a heartbeat. I understand that Feliciano is a rare solid lefty specialist, but Scott Schoenweis can easily have a bounceback year, and I thought the Mets were going after Brian Fuentes and Joe Beimel anyway? If they push the right buttons, this team can easily have a good bullpen in 2009. Here is what they have to do:
- Trade Heilman and Feliciano for Huston Street. If the reports are true that the Rockies would accept this with no extra players, go for it. Street is your set up man.
- Sign Brian Fuentes. He is a left hander who can be our closer, and we won’t have to spend extra money on Francisco Rodriguez.
- Sign Joe Beimel. No matter what, we have to sign him. You can’t rely on Schoenweis anymore until he proves himself, and although there is no way Beimel will have as good an ’09 as did an ’08, he is easily one of the best lefty relievers in baseball.
If played correctly our bullpen will look like this:
Closer – Brian Fuentes
Set Up – Huston Street
Middle Relief – Joe Smith
Scott Schoenweis
Duaner Sanchez
Lefty Specialist – Joe Beimel
Long Reliever – Brian Stokes
In my opinion we really have a surplus of relievers. Claudio Vargas, Tony Armas, and Nelson Figueroa can all be long relievers, and Carlos Muniz could be back. Jason Vargas might make an appearance, and who knows, we still have Kunz, Niese, and Parnell!
Omar Minaya has to really choose his cards wisely. With a little work, the bullpen can get better. It really doesn’t have as much cleaning up to do as it seems, as long as Minaya takes a conservative approach.
Castillo Up, Maine Down
After delaying his return from the DL for “the need of more rehab” (I think Castillo gave an extra day because he knew the Mets were better without him), Luis Castillo was finally taken off the DL. So who was the unlucky soul who got sent down? Argenis Reyes? Nick Evans? Brian Stokes?
None of them. They got lucky. With John Maine going down with a possible season ending bone spur in his shoulder, he was placed on the 15 day disabled list. The platoons will stay in place.
Stokes, however, will stay in the bullpen as the Mets plan to go with a 4 man rotation until they can get some September callups. With the back-to-back complete games (and so he doesn’t have to face the Marlins who beat him three times this season), Mike Pelfrey is in need of an extra day of rest, and so Pedro Martinez will go tonight against the Phillies, Oliver Perez tomorrow, an off day, Johan Santana, then Stokes will get a spot start before Pelfrey will start on 6 days rest. Once September rolls around, the Mets will probably just go with whoever is hot. Nelson Figueroa, Claudio Vargas, and Jon Niese are all possibilities.
Al Reyes, Ryan Church, and Luis Castillo
The Mets signed Al Reyes to a minor league contract the other day. He was released by the Rays earlier this year. Reyes will report to AA and will probably be called up later this year. He won’t be the Mets closer solution (Wagner should be back in 3 weeks) but he can still help the bullpen.
Ryan Church was finally taken off the DL and is starting tonight’s game in right field. He will share a right-lefty platoon with Fernando Tatis. Robinson Cancel was sent down.
Luis Castillo will be taken off the DL tomorrow, since his 20 day rehab stint is over. The Mets don’t want to do it, but they are forced to. Chances are Brian Stokes will be sent down, because Argenis Reyes has done such a great job.
Stokes to Start Tonight
It was announced yesterday that former Devil Ray Brian Stokes will get the ball tonight in the spot start of John Maine, who is ready to come off the DL soon. When asked why top prospect Jon Niese was not chosen, GM Omar Minaya said it was because he didn’t want to call up Niese for one game and then have to protect him on the 40-man roster. I agree with this reasoning, but there was also the point of the Marlins having a mostly right-handed lineup against a lefty Niese. Nice move, Omar. Now lets wait and see if you are proven an airhead again tonight.
In other news, Brian Giles was almost traded to the Red Sox, but he vetoed the deal, because San Diego is his home town. Could this perhaps mean that the Mets picking him up are slim? Even if Giles would allow a trade to New York, I doubt it would happen. Ryan Church was just cleared by doctors to play baseball again, and he will work out with the Mets tonight. I am thinking he will be in the lineup by this time next week, but there is still no timetable on his return.
And by the way, I am stunned by Aaron Heilman’s 6-up-6-down save performance last night. This guy is waaaaaaaay too inconsistent, and Brandon Eddy of metsblog.com threw around the idea of Heilman starting again. If neither Pedro Martinez or Oliver Perez return, I don’t see why Heilman can’t get a shot in Spring Training.
Pedro’s Replacement
It was announced yesterday afternoon that Brandon Knight will be Pedro Martinez’s relpacement for tomorrow night’s game. Knight is 32, and had a short career with the Yankees as a reliever. He was recently named to America’s Olympic team, so after this start he will have to go to China. Knight was 5-1 in AA Binghamton this season, and that was why he was chosen over Brian Stokes or Jon Niese. Claudio Vargas or Nelson Figueroa was going to be called up, but they both just pitched, so they wouldn’t have enough rest.
By the way, I can’t help but notice how well Ramon Castro is always hitting. I really think that if he had full playing time, he would be like Jorge Posada or Mike Piazza. This guy is an absolute beast at the plate, but he really doesn’t get enough time to prove how great a hitter he is. Seriously could have been the next Piazza.
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