Results tagged ‘ Jon Niese ’
I’m Pumped
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.
Looking Good
So far, the Mets Grapefruit League record 3-2. Alone, that isn’t that big of a deal. But the Mets have scored 41 runs in 5 games. Only one game was bad. Here are the scores so far.
Mets 9, Orioles 3
Mets 9, Marlins 0
Mets 8, Cardianls 9
Mets 2, Tigers 7
Mets 13, Astros 1
In the loss against the Cardinals, the Mets were down 4 runs I believe it was in the seventh or eigth inning. They rallied to get on base, then Bobby Kielty hit a three run homer. The Mets rallied for another run after that but fell short. Those are the Mets I remember. Exciting rallies, never giving in, fighting until the very last out.
Right now, it seems there are three spots being faught over with the Mets in Spring Training. Those are the last outfield bench spot, the last bullpen spot, and the fifth starter spot.
For the last outfield spot, we have several candidates. The potentials are Nick Evans, Bobby Kielty, Cory Sullivan, Angel Pagan, Rob Mackowiak, and Jeremy Reed, plus there are some more guys in camp that have pretty much no chance to make the team, like Fernando Martinez. Martinez has been hitting well this spring, but due to the fact that he has been getting hurt in winter leagues and he can only play left field, he may not be called up unless somebody gets hurt. Jeremy Reed came over in the J.J. Putz trade, where the Mets lost Endy Chavez. At the time, he was supposed to be Endy’s replacement. Reed can hit for average but not power, he has speed, can play all over the outfield, and is known for his glove. All of these are qualities of Endy. Because of this, Reed has a very good case to win the job. One thing that he, Sullivan, and Mackowiak all have the same thing going against them: They are all left handed. The Mets bench is full of lefties and is in need of a right handed bat. That’s why Evans, a righty who can also play first base, and Pagan and Kielty, two switch hitters, are all a leg up. Nick Evans is a young prospect who burst onto the scene last season with 3 doubles in his Major League debut. He is expected to become a good power hitter in the future. Pagan is coming off an injury shortened season. Last year he played as the every day left fielder when Moises Alou got hurt and he also batted leadoff while Jose Reyes had an injury. But Pagan crashed into a wall in LA and that was it. Bobby Kielty is my favorite to win the last spot. He has played very well this spring hitting with power off the bench, which is in my opinion a major asset. I’ve also heard he is very good with the fans.
For the last bullpen slot, the Mets may choose not to occupy it at all. They want a right handed bat off the bench and they may opt to have Robinson Cancel, a catcher, on the roster instead of a pitcher this way Ramon Castro can pinch hit more often. If they do decide to carry seven relievers, they want a lefty. Right now Pedro Feliciano is the only southpaw in the Mets bullpen, but if Duaner Sanchez proves he can be an effective reliever again and Sean Green shows good crossover skills, Feliciano might stay in his current position. If not, there are several options including, Tom Martin, who is old, Ron Villone, who is also old, Casey Fossum, who is a good candidate as he can also start or pitch ling relief, and my favorite, Darren O’Day. O’Day is a submariner, so he can fill the void left by Joe Smith. I think having a pitcher with a strange angle like that really helps to trick up opposing hitters. The Mets also traded away Aaron Heilman so they don’t even have a sidearmer. O’Day was acquired in the Rule 5 draft from the Angels, so if the Mets don’t keep him on the roster then he has to go back to LA.
Lastly, the Mets have 4 main options for fifth starter. They are Tim Redding, Jon Niese, Livan Hernandez and Freddy Garcia. Redding is the only one with a guaranteed contract so he can’t get sent to the minors, however if he doesn’t win the fifth starter job then he can be the long man. Niese made three starts in 2008, two of them were bad and he only lasted three innings, but the other one he shut out the Braves for eight innings. He may need some more experience in the minors before he can be a big league pitcher, but I can definitely see him coming up later this year and staying for a while. I predicted earlier that Freddy Garcia will be the Cliff Lee of 2009, but that is only if he can make the roster. Don’t forget, Cliff Lee didn’t have that great of a spring last year, and he barely made the Indian’s roster as a fifth starter. That may be the case here. Garcia pitched in a game with the Mets this spring and got hit hard. Hernandez on the other hand saw 6 batters and got them all out. Right now I think he is the frontrunner. After all, he can also fix the Mets right handed hitter problem.
Anyway, I don’t think that these are very big problems to have. If the Mets choose the wrong guy they can always send him down and calll up someone else. The big thing in Mets Land that people are worried about is Johan Santana. I don’t think his injury is as bad as it sounds. The Mets are just being cautious about him because he is their ace. If he misses Opening Day I don’t think it is a big deal. It’s one game. I do wonder though who will pitch the first ever major league game at Citi Field?
Mets Are Not Active Enough
Trevor Hoffman signed with the Brewers. The Red Sox inked Rocco Bladelli and John Smoltz (hard to imagine him anywhere else than Atlanta). The Mets are doing nothing. They met with Scott Boras but there are reports that the Mets and Derek Lowe are still far from a deal. I don’t know much about Oliver Perez and his current standing with the Mets but I certainly do not feel that signing him would be a major acquisition, especially because last year proved his infrequency and he is not a solid, proven number 2 starter they need. I have also read that the Mets have made contract offers to Tim Redding and Randy Wolf. I would actually prefer the Mets sign them both than just Oliver Perez. That way, they have 2 veteran pitchers who can both pitch well at the Major League level, and that adds more depth. Right now I can’t see the Mets signing Derek Lowe. The reports are just to negative lately and I don’t think he is going to be willing to lower his price tag as significantly as the Mets would like.
But what the Mets need is a proven veteran starter who is good as either a number 2 or number 3. Derek Lowe is obviously the top priority, but what if they can’t sign him? I think that a lefty would be preferred. Why? If that was the case, the Mets would have 3 lefties in him, Johan Santana, and Jon Niese, and only 2 righties in Mike Pelfrey and John Maine. Because if somebody went down with an injury, it is much, much easier to replace a right handed starter than a left handed starter. I personally like having a rotation with 3 righties and 2 lefties, that way it is nice and balanced. Plus, veteran lefties, while not packing much fastball life, seem to be masters of breaking balls, and injury resistant for the most part of their career, which in this day and age is a major asset.
So why not sign Andy Pettite? He turned down a 1 year $10 million offer from the Yankees because he reportedly wants $16 million. Randy Wolf wants $30 million for 3 years, or so I’ve heard. In my opinion, Pettite is better than Wolf anyway, and assuming the Mets can get him for $14 or 15 million, they might even be able to add in a second year for the same price and Wolf. But if they can only get him a 1 year deal, thats fine too. After all, it helps for this year and gives Jon Niese some time to progress. And don’t forget, we also have Bobby Parnell, and Brad Holt, who is projected as a Mike Pelfrey type pitcher, a fire baller who can be an ace some day.
I also really like the idea of bringing back Tom Glavine for a year or two. He really liked the Mets when he was with us, and now that Smoltz has signed, he doesn’t have to be pressured into retirement so that the trio of them and Greg Maddux can go into the Hall of Fame together. I think the Mets should pursue Glavine, but something tells me he will sign with an American League team so that he can pitch against Smoltz.
And lastly, if the Mets want a lefty reliever, why are they not going after Ken Takahashi? Before the new year, they had some interest in him. But according to this article on NPB Tracker, Takahashi hasn’t seen much of a market for himself.
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.
Why the Mets WILL Resign Oliver Perez
The Mets have to resign Oliver Perez. It is as simple as that. I know he will cost a lot more than last year, but the Mets need to give him that. Here is why. (more…)
Jon Niese IS the Answer
According to a Mets insider, Jon Niese is reported to be the fifth starter the Mets will need to call up. Niese had been doing great in AA this year so he was called up to AAA, where he is excelling as well. But I don’t care about his stats. They don’t matter. If the Mets call up Jon Niese they will absolutely, possitively, undoubtedly win the World Series. I guarantee it. Why?
Jon Niese was born on October 27, 1986. That was the exact same day the Mets won their last championship.
By the way, Ramon Castro was placed on the 15 day DL, and Robinson Cancel was called up. Nelson Figueroa was called up, too, and so Argenis Reyes is finally going back down. Its a shame. He was playing so well, but I guess the struggling bullpen is more important right now.
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.
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.
Mets Need to Make a Really Big Move
Over the past few days the Mets have made quite a few moves, placing Marlon Anderson and John Maine on the DL and calling up Dan Murphy and Eddie Kunz. Looking at possible waiver acquisitions like Rich Aurilia, and also scouting out Free Agent Freddy Garcia. The Mets did a lot of things over the weeked in order to improve the club and make a stretch for October. But they did forget one little detail. Getting swept by the Houston Astros is against the rules.
The Mets are not hesitating to call up prospects from the minors, and they are certainly being very bold in that they have no idea how these guys will perform. But you know what? It doesn’t matter how well Nick Evans or Dan Murphy hits, it doesn’t matter how well Eddie Kunz or Jon Niese pitches. It doesn’t matter who you call up from the minors at all. What the Mets need is veteran production. Guys like Brian Schenider need to start hitting. Sure, they were doing great in that 10 game winning streak, but then the All-Star break came and went and they cooled down. The Mets have now lost 5 of their last 6 games. Carlos Beltran seriously needs to pick up the slack. He needs to carry the team on his shoulders. Beltran is a leader on this ballclub, and needs to play like one. Remember back in ’05, Beltran’s first year as a Met? He hit 16 homers. Then he hit something like 25 and then last year the team record, 42. Now he is having a slump year. What will happen next year? Another 25 homer season? Carlos Beltran is way too inconsistant, and he is overrated. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Beltran, but he is just too expensive for this kind of production. I say he needs to be traded. Just think of the players the Mets could rake in, they could get a pitcher or a proven vet, maybe a even a mini-star in his prime, like Jason Bay, and it wouldn’t even cost them any prospects.
This teams needs a change. A really big change. And if they have any hope of making the postseason, that change needs to come now. Minaya made a gigantic mistake not trading at the deadline, now he will need to take advantage of the waiver wire. And let me say this. If the Mets make another collapse like last year, and they don’t make the postseason, Omar Minaya won’t have another chance to win it all. Lets just say he couldn’t take the heat of the kitchen but stuck around for one more cookie anyway.
Trade Deadline Part II
Well, the only other trade that happened today was the biggest. Manny Ramirez is now a Dodger. Jason Bay is now a Red Sox. And the Pirates got 4 prospects, including Andy LaRoach from LA and Brandon Moss from Boston. This was a horrible deal for the Sox, giving up arguably their best hitter (David Ortiz) on the team. The Dodgers got a total STEAL, they get Manny Ramirez for just Andy LaRoach and Bryan Morris. Unbelievable. And the Sox get Jason Bay for Moss and Craig Hansen. Both are just middle value prospects, and the Mets had to give up F-Mart or Niese. Maybe I like these three-way trades
The Mets did absolutely nothing when it came down to it, and I really have mixed emotions about this. I still am not really sure what I would have done, but if I could have gotten Bay for Fernando Martinez and Robert Parnell, which I think the Pirates would have done in a heartbeat, I would have done it. Omar Minaya is convinced, however, that he will be able to get a player off of waivers during August, but if he doesn’t, he is confident with the current club.
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