Results tagged ‘ Carlos Muniz ’
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.
This is What Makes Jerry Manuel Successful
We were all holding our breaths last night, just waiting to see Joe Smith or Pedro Feliciano blow the save. When Eddie Kunz didn’t come in during the ninth inning I thought Jerry Manuel was off his rocker. But it worked. Just like all of the wierd moves he makes for no apparent reason, it worked. And that is what makes Manuel a success as a manager. He makes all the right moves, and he has a great presence in the clubhouse. All of the players respect him, and they all have a great relationship with him, but he isn’t afraid to get down and dirty when need be. Jerry Manuel takes a situation where you have one everyday outfielder, no second baseman, a backstop that is constantly taking turns getting hurt, and a pitching staff that is never has a full 5-man rotation, and he scraps together a playoff-calibur team with a bunch of no-names. Incredible.
2 trades were made in the past days. Adam Dunn was shipped to the D-Backs for 2 players to be named later. There are rumors that Micah Owings might be one of them. And Paul Byrd was traded to the Red Sox for a player to be named later or cash. I say neither trade will have an impact, because I predict the Dodgers winning the NL West, the Rays winning the AL East, and the Twins winning the AL Wild Card.
Gary Sheffield was placed on waivers after complaining he doesn’t like his DH platoon role in Detroit. Should the Mets place a claim? I don’t think so. Sheffield has an option for 2009 in his contract, and with Fernando Martinez around the corner, and the emergence of Daniel Murphy and Nick Evans, the Mets just need a rental. Sheffield also has a history of ruining the team chemistry, which throughout the bullpen woes and hitting slumps, remains the Mets high point. I say stick to what you have now. Let the prospects show what they can do in a pennant race, it will have to happen sooner or later. Ryan Church should be back soon so there really is nothing to do. When Wagner comes back the bullpen should be solid again, so I say no worries.
One last note, John Maine was taken off the DL and the Mets optioned down to AAA Carlos Muniz. Maine will start tonight and there is a possibility that he will then move to the bullpen, although I say the Mets rotation will stay intact.
Injuries
Tony Armas continues the team trend of getting hurt. He was placed on the 15 day DL with a strained abdominal muscle. Carlos Muniz was called up. I still think Muniz needs more experience in Triple-A and I think they should have called up Claudio Vargas. Now who will be the long man?
Moises Alou was inserted into the starting lineup in a Double-A game and he was supposed to play the whole game. Alou left the game, however, with a cramped hamstring. This will hopefully prompt the Mets to acquire another outfielder before the July 31 trade deadline. Who knows, Mark Shapiro, the General Manager of the Indians, said the Mets had the propsects wanted to acquire Sabathia, so why can’t they get Matt Holliday? Colorado is 6.5 games out of first place. Let’s see if they decide to shop him. With the injuries of Alou and Church, I am glad that Tatis and Chavez are performing so well. If they can’t keep it up, big deal. Fernando Martinez is off the DL, so he should be ready to make his big league debut some time soon. Look for that to happen.
Mark Mulder, who made his first start since September, 2007 last night, got injured and had to leave the game after just 16 pitches. Perhaps this will prompt the Cardinals to trade for a starter? I wouldn’t count on it, but maybe Jonathan Niese or Oliver Perez could go for maybe Chris Duncan. The Cardinals usually have him in Triple-A, and he can play outfield and first base with some power. He would be a nice fit for the Mets.
And Johan Santana actually got some offense for him last night! How cool is that?
Roster Moves
The Mets put Luis Castillo on the 15 day disabled list with a strained left quaid. He has played through it most of the year, but with many game-time decisions and much soreness in his leg. The Mets purchased the contract of Argenis Reyes from Triple-A New Orleans to take his spot on the roster.
Another move the Mets made on Thursday was sending down Carlos Muniz, the losing pitcher in last night’s 8-7 walkoff loss to the Cardinals. Chris Aguila was recalled from the Zephyrs, so the Mets have a 5 man bench again.
Pitching
I am not too excited about the Mets’ pitching situation. I am glad that they are not in a spot like ’06 where they had about 15 different starters because of injuries, but there have been some questionable moves.
For example, I do not understand at all why the Mets would send down Claudio Vargas to call up Carlos Muniz. Vargas is a veteran and was the one guy in that bullpen who could go 4 innings in relief if need be, and Muniz is just a nice prospect who needs more experience in the minors. Now Tony Armas Jr. has been called up to make a start, (he was pitching very nicely in Triple-A but couldn’t even compete for a roster spot in Spring Training because of a problem with his visa) and I have to admit, he did pretty well in last night’s 7-4 win over St. Louis. All the Mets really needed from him was a spot start because Oliver Perez will pitch in relief either tonight or tomorrow, and will start Sunday’s game at Philliadelphia to move his place in the rotation behind John Maine so they didn’t have two leftys back-to-back (the other being Johan Santana), but for now Armas will stay with the club as a long man. I don’t really think that is a good idea, as Andy Phillips was sent down to make room for him on the 25 man roster and now the Mets only have 4 position players on the bench.
Another questionable pitching move the Mets made was having Pedro Martinez start tonight on 4 days rest. Both he and Mike Pelfrey pitched during Friday’s double-header, and it would make so much more sense to have the younger guy go tonight. I just hope Pedro doesn’t get hurt, as another serious injury could mean the end of his career, which would be so sad at this point. Pedro is my favorite player.
One more thing. Have you noticed the Mets’ scoring patterns? The amount of runs they score usually depends on the pitchers. When Oliver Perez starts and gives up 8 runs in the first inning and the bullpen is also horrendous and there is no way the Mets can win that game, that is when they decide to score 6 or 7 runs. But when Johan Santana pitches and gives up 2 earned in 7 brilliant innings, the Mets score 1 and play sloppy defense, allowing at least a run on an error. I feel sorry for Johan, because at 7-7, he isn’t getting all that much good attention. But I feel he is having an All-Star season, and if he got better run support (which he truly isn’t asking for a lot of) he might be 12-4. He has also been the Mets’ most consistent pitcher this year, and he has certainly done the things the Mets asked him to do when they signed him to the biggest pitching contract in history, but he isn’t getting the credit he deserves.
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