Results tagged ‘ Daniel Murphy ’
It’s Not Over Yet
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.
The Tony La Russa Method
Tony La Russa is easily one of the most recognizable managers in the game of baseball. He is also one of the most successful. He has won 2,461 career games, and is ranked third all time in that category. During his time managing, he has been known to do something almost forbidden in baseball: bat the pitcher eighth. This is supposed to get the offense jump started, by in essence adding a second leadoff man to bat ninth this way you have two leadoff guys in a row, three if your two hitter is good enough. In American League play with a DH, eighth is generally where a lot of managers bat their “worst” hitter. So this method makes a lot of sense. During the Mets Spring Training, Jerry Manuel has been batting the pitchers second so they can work on their bunting. Obviously, this will not be retained during the season, but it gets me wondering, why can’t Manuel bat the pitcher eighth, just like Tony La Russa?
There has been talk of batting Jose Reyes third and having Luis Castillo lead off. In that case, here would be the lineup:
1. Luis Castillo
2. Carlos Beltran
3. Jose Reyes
4. Carlos Delgado
5. David Wright
6. Daniel Murphy
7. Ryan Church
8. Brian Schneider
9. Pitcher
There are a lot of things wrong with this. First off, there are three lefties in a row at the bottom of the lineup, and then the pitcher. That is bad anywhere, but the bottom of the lineup with your weakest hitters is the worst place, because at the end of the game it allows an opposing manager to throw in any pitcher. If the three lefties were Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Raul Ibanez, then you are forced to pitch your lefty specialist, and if they come back in two innings then you are stuck. In that case, it works. But for the Mets, three hitters with something to prove – Murphy, who must show last year wasn’t a fluke; Church, who must bounce back from injury; and Schneider, who must stay the everyday catcher ahead of Ramon Castro – is a very bad situation to have at the end of your order. Furthermore, there has to be some way for Reyes to bat leadoff, and for Castillo to hit in a place where he can shine. If the Mets just go with a standard lineup, no gimicks, then here is what it will look like:
1. Jose Reyes
2. Luis Castillo
3. Carlos Beltran
4. Carlos Delgado
5. David Wright
6. Daniel Murphy
7. Ryan Church
8. Brian Schneider
9. Pitcher
Once again, we still have three lefties in a row at the bottom of the order before the pitcher. And if Castillo can’t produce, then we have an automatic out in between our cadalist and our big boppers. That’s a problem. You can move Castillo to the eight hole, but then you won’t have anybody for the pitcher to bunt over and there will be two automatic outs. It seems there is no place for Luis Castillo in the lineup. That is, unless you improvise. Hence, the Tony La Russa Method. Bat the pitcher eighth, and Castillo ninth. You then have some options as to who to bat second. Go with Beltran there, and move down everyody else up one spot from the standard no gimicks lineup. But then after David Wright hits clean up, we have 5 hitters who we are not sure if they can hit for power in 2009. So have Brian Schneider bat second? Daniel Murphy? Ryan Church? Well, Ryan Church batted second a few times last year and shined in that role. But he does have power potential. Seeing as he did have 12 homers last year before his concussion, he would be useful for the lower part of the order if he can bring back his power. However, Daniel Murphy would be an even greater candidate seeing as he is a good contact hitter who does not try to swing for the fences. He can hit fastballs and can take a pitch for Jose Reyes to steal. And who knows, if he has a whole year in the majors, he can hit a good 7-12 home runs, which is in my opinion, the perfect number for a number 2 hitter. So, here is the 2009 Mets lineup, if they choose to go with the Tony La Russa Method.
1. Jose Reyes
2. Daniel Murphy
3. Carlos Beltran
4. Carlos Delgado
5. David Wright
6. Ryan Church
7. Brian Schneider
8. Pitcher
9. Luis Castillo
This way, there are no more than two lefties or righties batting consecutively. Obviously, it changes depending on who the pitcher is that day, but as far as I know it doesn’t make a difference your handedness when all you are doing is bunting.
Which lineup looks best?
No More
Please, no more speculation. I hate it. I am tired of loads and loads of news about what COULD happen (but no way will it) and tired of reading about who is a closer that the Mets COULD have interest in. None of this stuff is going to happen! We won’t trade for Kevin Gregg, J.J. Putz, George Sherill, Huston Street, and sign Brian Fuentes. We only need one. And if we aren’t going to trade Jose Reyes or David Wright, why are people talking about it? I want to know what IS going to happen, no what could happen.
No more ‘”Manny wants to stay with the Dodgers” from anonymous GM’ and then two days later ‘”He reportedly wants eleventy kazillion dollars and will only sign with the American League” says Newspaper B’.
I am sick of it. I hate rumors that constantly change. And who are the people that keep saying them? Newspaper columnists. You know, those “professional” bloggers for the Miami Herald of the New York Times. They are always citing anonymous GMs, scouts, players, and “insiders”. What do they know anyway? I understand that people can have the right to remain anonymous, but then why should we trust you? You are just some scaredy cat phony who wants to make false rumors. If you are right, come out and show us! And then there are the “proffesional bloggers” who keep on rolling out speulation, and making a living off of it. They do no more than us folks at MLBlogs.
I mean, I’m not saying I am jealous. And lets face it, most of the stuff we blog about is news that we get from our team’s website. Like, “Daniel Murphy gets hurt in AFL game (true story, and its on Metsblog, linking to here) or “World Series Game 5 postponed due to rain”. We are not insiders. We are normal people, all blogging about the same things.
But we give our opinions. OUR opinions. Not a GM without a name’s opinions. So why is it that those big newspaper proffesional bloggers get all the attention, and they go starting false rumors?
People have too much time. I guarantee that there aren’t Phillidelphia bloggers blogging about the offseason and speculatings. They are in the moment now.
All I’m saying is that the World Series can’t end soon enough, because I can’t wait for free agency to start so people can shut up and listen to what is actually happening, FOR REAL.
Do Not Trade Beltran
There have been some rumors popping up over the Internet that the Mets are considering trading Carlos Beltran. One rumor is him to the Yankees for Robinson Cano and two pitching prospects, one of them probably Ian Kennedy.
But as far as I am concerned, Carlos Beltran is the best defensive outfielder in all of the Majors and he is in the top 10 offensive outfielders. As much as people want the Mets to make a trade and as much as you could get for Beltran trading him is not the answer. There are already enough outfield problems as there is and trading Beltran not only would open up another hole out there but it would lose an outfield mentor for Daniel Murphy. With Church injury prone and Murphy/Evans inexperienced and Moises Alou (if he can come back) is not going to be a good defender at all.
People are saying that there is not enough power at the bottom of the lineup. Well trading Beltran would remove power from the top of the lineup too. And Beltran is a quiet leader. In the dugout and the clubhouse he is a guy younger players look up too and he can get real fiery in a competitive spirit. Remember when Jimmy Rollins said last year the Phillies were the team to beat? At the beginnning of this year Beltran said at the end of an interview, “and to Jimmy Rollins this year the Mets are the team to beat”. This sparked a fire between the Phillies and Mets and there were rumors that the two teams would have a brawl on April 9 (the Mets home opener). There was no brawl (I was looking forward to it and Chase Utley breaking his neck and missing the season!) but teammates never looked at Carlos the same way.
Carlos Beltran is important to this team. You can’t trade him. You need to stick with what you have and don’t trade anybody. Release guys like Heilman and Luis Castillo and build from the ground up with your prospects like Eddie Kunz and Bobby Parnell.
I guess whoever sparked this rumor also has too much time on there hands (see previous post).
What I Would Do In The Offseason
Free Agents to let go: Alou, Pedro, Tatis, Easley
Resign: Oliver Perez, Rincon, Ayala, Matt Wise (Remember him? He was on the opening day roster but got hurt and came back and played one game and got hurt again and we never heard of him again. But he has GOTTA be better than Heilman at this point, right?), Delgado
Free Agents to Sign: Orlando Hudson, Tim Wakefield, Jon Garland, Teixiera, Manny Ramirez
Trade: Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, Castillo, Delgado
Trade For: Huston Street/Bobby Jenks/J.J. Putz, ANY relief pitcher, prospects, middle infielders for bench, cash
I figure outfield would be fixed with Manny and Evans/Murphy would play left if we can’t sign him or if someone gets hurt. You need to resign Oliver Perez, he could fill a huge hole, Rincon and Ayala did nice jobs for he most part. If we sign Teixiera and Delgado we can trade Delgado for someone good like a bench infielder to replace Easley. Street, Jenks, or Putz could obvisiously fill the closer role (forget K-Rod, he will be too expensive, especially with Manny and Tex, and he will blow out his arm), while Hudson could play second and be a clubhouse leader and Garland can join the rotation. I already blogged about Wakefield and Heilman sucks beyond repair, at least he sucks in New York. Sanchez will never be the same, and everybody knows that Castillo needs to go and trade is the only way because of that stupid extension. Unless we release him, but then we won’t get anything back (addition by subtraction?).
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Or how about we just sign Manny, CC Sabathia, K-Rod, Teixiera, and every other big free agent, and then pay for their contracts by winning the World Series! That sounds perfect!
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.
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