negativeseconds

Final Thoughts

2005-03-20T08:35:00.000-08:00

Completely ridiculous. Thats the only thing I have to say about the impending Kaz Ishii-for-Jason Phillips trade. Ridiculous.

As you might have noticed, I haven't updated this site regularly so it shouldn't come as a surprise that this will be my last post here. Yep, negativeseconds is no more. Since this is my last post, I'd like to thank anyone who ever read the site. I hope it was as fun for you guys as it was for me.

Au revoir,
OFF

Los Mets

2005-02-28T22:33:00.000-08:00

Great, great article on Minaya and Los Mets:

Enter Omar. Besides his baseball acumen, the new general manager came with a narrative: The kid from Queens who’d grown up as a Mets fan was coming back to run the club. Even better, Minaya is Dominican—in a city with a surging Latino population, in a sport whose brightest young stars speak Spanish, in an industry where the executive ranks have always been 99 percent white. Suddenly, a franchise that had been humiliated on the field and dominated in the headlines by the Yankees had a charismatic leader, a man who immediately assumed one-name stature in the media: Omar.

I must confess, when the Mets hired Omar Minaya, there probably wasn't anyone who hated the move more than I did. As you already know, I believe in performance analysis, and to me anyone who didn't know or ignored the importance of OBP was not someone who I wanted as my GM. Ergo, I didn't want the GM of my team saying things like these:

I don’t talk about OBP...I’m old school, I’m not a stat guy, I’m a talent evaluator. The guys who taught me the game of baseball never talked about OBP...Give me talent and I’ll show you OBP.

Five months have passed since Omar was hired as the Mets GM, and I have to give credit where its due, and recognize I was wrong.

Le Joe Mac

2005-02-21T19:41:00.000-08:00

Newest Met rumour :

Few places have been affected by the economy more than Pittsburgh, so don't look for Dave Littlefield to have much payroll flexibility, but. He knows if he can land a Travis Blackley, Alfredo Simon, or Joe McEwing (Mets GM Omar Minaya is reluctant to deal him, but may if the right deal comes along), the Pirates still have a chance.

Omar, what are you waiting for?

Links

2005-02-17T18:12:00.000-08:00

I'm super late on this one, but for those of you that don't know, former ESPN minor league analyst John Sickels has launched his own website. If you enjoy prospect analysis and discussion, you'll definitely enjoy the site.

Pretty interesting interview with former Mets' Scouting Director, Jack Bowen.

Also, don't forget to check NYFS to get the best Mets' spring training coverage. I mean, where else are you going to get cool pictures like this?

Ah, how many days til Opening Day again?

Baldiris

2005-02-15T16:36:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of updates, but I've been terribly busy with school and work lately, I've barely had any chance to keep up with the Mets. Anyway, while surfing the web, I found this blurb at NYFS:

Aarom Baldiris reported today, married, in great shape looking like he lost 20 lbs or so, and confirming to NYFS that he will be playing both second and third base this year, before being worked primarily at second base during today's drills.

Wow. Great news. Baldiris has long been a favorite of mine. He has excellent plate discipline, and plays outstanding defense. While certainly the lack of power is a strike against him, a 21 year old 2nd baseman with a career 383 OBP in AA is a pretty valuable commodity. The question is, can he make the transition? JJ Cooper seems to think so:

Baldiris is a very good defensive 3B, and some scouts have said they believe he could make the transition with little problem. For now, he's a 3B, and he may develop the power to be a solid 3B, but he's good enough defensively with solid range and body control, to probably make the move to 2B in the future if that will help his development.

Draft 04: Tools of Ignorance [Pt. 2]

2005-02-03T01:04:00.000-08:00

The draft analysis continues:

4. Aaron Hathaway

Drafted in the 4th round out of the University of Washigton, Aaron Hathaway was regarded as one of the best defensive catchers in college baseball. Named the Cyclones starting catcher shortly after signing, the 6-0, 190-pound backstop lived up to his reputation during his short stint in Brooklyn. Exhibiting his strong and accurate arm, the former Huskie earned praises from everyone and was named the best defensive player drafted by the Mets this year according to Baseball America:

Aaron Hathaway is athletic for his position and has the arm to shut down the running game. He led the short-season New York-Penn League by throwing out 39 percent of basestealers.

Of course, this wasn't a surprise. After all, Hathaway had displayed his 1.9 second release time while at Washignton where he picked off seven runners and threw out 21-of-60 would-be basestealers on the season. Projected to be solid defensively, Hathaway's status as a prospect will depend on his ability to swing the bat. Understandably awful during his first exposure to wooden bats, the Mets will hope Hathaway refinds the stroke that made him an offensive star with the Huskies:

2002
303/382/417
0.79 IsoD 114 IsoP

2003
350/410/502
0.60 IsoD 152 IsoP

2004
317/363/518

0.46 IsoD 201 IsoP

As most of you know, batting average [AVG] comes from dividing hits by at-bats and it was created to measure the effectiveness of a hitter. Obviously, that was a long time ago, and since then, baseball has turned to On-base Percentage [OBP] and Slugging Percentage [SLG] to get a better read of a player's offensive contribution. The problem with that is, of course, that AVG still is a big part of both statistics. To account for it, someone somewhere created IsoD [OBP minus AVG] and IsoP [SLG minus AVG] . They essentially show how much of a player's total bases come from walks and extra bases respectively. Anyway, now that I've confused you enough, what does this have to do with Hathaway? If you look closely at his stats, you can see that while his lines weren't bad, they were greatly enhanced by his high batting averages. I may not much about college statistics, but one thing is for sure, its a lot harder to hit for a high average when using wooden bats than it is when using aluminum bats. We'll see how Hathaway responds to wooden bats and tougher competition next year, but chances are, his bat won't be more than average as a major leaguer. As a catcher, this of course isn't terrible news, but it nonetheless takes away from his value as a potential starter.

Over the years, the Mets have received fantastic offensive production from the catcher position. In a shift of organizational philosophy, the Mets traded away the offensive catcher and drafted the defensive wizard in Hathaway. We'll see how this works out, but I for one, don't think its a sound strategy. I'll talk more about whats left of the Mets' depth at catcher, and the other draft picks next time.

Draft 2004: Pitching is the name of the game [Pt 1]

2005-01-30T06:29:00.000-08:00

With the recent signing of 1st round pick Phillip Humber, the Mets have now inked their first seven draft choices. Following a philosophy that focused for the most part on selecting well built right-handers, the Mets stockpiled their system with several interesting arms. For all of you that don't remember, here is what Baseball America's Allan Simpson said about it two days after the draft madness:

Allan Simpson: I like the Mets draft. Humber is very solid, but several other picks have one or two tools that stand out. Matt Durkin (2) has the big 95 mph fastball, Aaron Hathaway (4) is one of the best defensive catchers in the country, Nick Evans (5) has big-time bat speed and Ryan Coultas (6) is one of the nation's best defensive shortstops--with enough arm strength that he could become a pitcher. The sleeper of the group may be righthander Scott Hyde (7), who struck out 191 with a 94-95 mph fastball while leading Oregon's George Fox College to the NCAA Division III national title.

Obviously, half a season is not enough time to analyze how or if these players will ever contribute at the major league level, especially since some of them have not even made their pro debuts yet, but if first impressions mean anything, the Mets seem on the right track. Like Simpson mentions, the Mets drafted a lot of interesting players and some of them have already showed some of their talent. So without further ado, here's the first part recap of the 2004 Mets' draft:

1. Phillip Humber

Selected third overall from Rice university, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Humber was the Mets' first pick this year and the first of three Rice pitchers picked in the first round. In three college seasons, Humber compiled a 35-8 record with a 2.80 ERA and finished second in school history in strikeouts. While not the flashiest pick, the big right-hander out of Texas has all the tools to become a future ace:

Scouts considered Humber the safest pick among the three Rice aces. He has three plus pitches: a 90-94 mph fastball that scrapes 97, a true 12-6 curveball, and a splitter that he uses as a changeup. Strong and durable, he has been injury-free and has the most resilient arm of the Rice first-rounders.

Since he just signed, Humber hasn't been able to make his professional debut just yet, but his college career speaks for itself:

2002
2.78 era 110 ip
10.6 k/9 3.5 bb/9 0.7 hr/9

2003
3.30 era 128 ip
9.7 k/9 2.7 bb/9 0.8 hr/9

2004
2.27 era 115 ip
12.1 k/9 2.9 bb/9 0.5 hr/9

As you can see, Humber improved with every year at Rice. Since his freshman year, he reduced his walk rate and HR rate while also increasing his strikeouts per nine innings. More importantly, in doing so, Humber displayed excellent mechanics. According to several reports from the NY papers, the team had Rick Peterson review film on the pitchers the Mets were considering taking with the 3rd pick and the only one who didn't have any mechanical flaws was the same one the Mets drafted, Phillip Humber. The Mets haven't decided where to send the big right-hander this season, but its presumed he'll make his professional debut in the warm climate and pitching friendly confines of the Florida State League [A-] before moving to AA-Binghampton.

2. Matt Durkin

A product of San Jose State, Matt Durkin had been well-regarded ever since he had a breakout year in his freshman year. After a subpar season in 2004, however, his draft stock fell a little bit and many thought he could be sleeper pick. The Mets overlooked his subpar 04 and drafted him in the second round hoping he'd find control of his breaking ball. Here's what JJ Cooper of Baseball America had to say about him:

Durkin has a very good fastball, but his stuff failed to produce the numbers that you would expect in his final two years in college. The Mets are encouraged that Durkin seems to have found the curveball that he had lost the last two years. If he has a solid breaking ball, Durkin could be an intriguing prospect

Here's a more informative scouting report courtesy of the guys at NYFS.

The 6'4", 220lbs. righthander features a power fastball that generally sits in the 91-93 mph range and can touch the mid-90's. He also has a slider and changeup with good sink. The fastball is his bread-and-butter pitch though, which he throws with confidence and location on both sides of the plate.

So what to make of Durkin's 2004? A closer look into his stats tell us that other than a rise in his ERA, he's pretty much been the same pitcher throughout his three years in college ball. As you can see, his rate stats remained relatively constant:

2002

2.75 era 98.1 ip

7.8 k/9 2.2 bb/9 0.0 hr/9

2003
2.60 era 100.1 ip
9.9 k/9 3.8 bb/9 0.4 hr/9

2004
4.43 era 85.1 ip
8.4 k/9 4.0 bb/9 0.3 hr/9

Not bad. The increasing walk rate is a little bit worrisome, but other than that, Durkin has displayed good strikeout rates and excellent homerun rates. In fact, Durkin's stats were good enough over the past three years that Craig Burley of the Batter's Box ranked him the 14th best college pitcher using his adjusted pitching statistics [note: Humber was ranked 3rd]. Signed late last year, the product of San Jose State still hasn't made his professional debut but he is expected to start the year at the Florida State League.

3. Gaby Hernandez

Drafted in the third round out of Belen Jesuit HS in Miami, Gaby Hernandez made his professional debut with the Gulf Coast League Mets last year. Despite his young age [18], the right-hander forced a promotion to the NY Penn League playoffs with a dominating showing in rookie league. Already the Mets' 3rd best prospect according to Baseball America, Hernandez still has room for growth:

Hernandez has a 90-93 mph fastball, with sinking and running action. In high school, he had a few problems with his curveball. He would choke it off in the dirt or have it sail high and away; this probably hurt his draft status to some extent. But in pro ball, his curveball was much more reliable. Add the better curve to his fastball, changeup and sharp command, and you have a fine young pitcher. Hernandez could still gain some height and weight, possibly leading to increased velocity. If Hernandez can manage to stay healthy, he could definitely be a front-row starter, yes. He could make a lot of noise in 2005.

Considering that Humber and Durkin haven't made their pro debuts yet, it was up to Hernandez to represent the Mets' pitching class of 04 draft. The right-hander didn't dissapoint as he was spectacular in 50 GCL innings. How good was he? He had more strikeouts than baserunners. Yeah, he was that good:

2004
1.09 era 50 ip
10.5 k/9 2.2 bb/9 0.2 hr/9

[GCL-rookie]

Obviously, fifty-innings is such a small sample to draw any meaningful conclusions, but there is nothing about Gaby Hernandez that doesn't stand out. Excellent strikeout, walk and home run rates across the board, and only 4.5 hits per nine innings for the DIPS-haters out there. He's definitely someone who you want to keep an eye on next year. So what can we expect for Hernandez in the future?

J.J. Cooper: It's hard to exactly project Hernandez's ceiling yet, as he has a long way to go, but he could be a No. 2-3 starter it would appear. He has very solid stuff, with a great frame and good mechanics. Scouts in the GCL loved him, as he seemed to fill the role of staff ace with aplomb.

The plan for Hernandez is to start at Brooklyn this year, and eventually move to the South Atlantic League. That is, unless, you know the Cyclones find themselves in another pennant race.

***

In the next and final part of the early analysis of the Mets' 04 draft I'll take a look at the position players and those players who showed some promise last year. If you are more interested on the subject, you can always check the following links:

MLB: Scouting reports and video on Mets' draft picks.
Baseball America: Premiere scouting information source.
NYFS: Best Mets' minor league coverage on the Web.

Catching Up

2005-01-27T01:06:00.000-08:00

First thing is first. After failing to acquire Carlos Delgado, the Mets announced today they traded 1b prospect Ian Bladergroen for first-baseman Doug Mientkiewicz. Given that Travis Lee was available for free, I think this is a rather pointless trade. Don't get me wrong, I think Mientkiewicz is the better player, but he is not that much better that he's worth an interesting prospect like Bladergroen.

With that being said, I think this isn't such a bad deal. Mientkiewicz has his faults, but he brings some positives to the table. For starters, he is outstanding defensively. His UZR from 00-03 shows he saved 17 runs per 150 games, or worth roughly 2 wins on defense. He'll definitely help a Met club that allowed more balls through the right side of the infield than any team in the National League. While certainly his defense is great, his offense is below average for a first baseman. That doesn't mean Mientkiewicz is completely useless at the plate, however, as he's always hit for a relative high AVG and shown some good-to-great plate discipline.

"Doug Mientkiewicz will solidify our infield with his brilliant defense and brings a .363 career on-base percentage to our line-up," said Mets General Manager Omar Minaya in making the announcement.

I think given the low expectations, most Met fans will be happy with Mientkiewicz this year. Who knows, maybe he'll even surprise us and have a good year. I mean, this is a guy who is a season removed from a 300/393/450 line. Here is what some of the projection systems expect him to do this year:

ZiPS - .275/.372/.408
TonyJ -.259/.364/.390
PECOTA - .272/.364/.410

ROOGY. Earlier today I mentioned that since Koo could be an excellent option against left-handers, the team could pair him up with Scott Strickland to form a pretty good one-two punch. Acquired from the Expos in 2002, Strickland has struggled with injuries during the past two years. Finally healthy, he can be a darkhorse for a spot in the depleted Mets' bullpen this year.

"Barring lightning striking my forehead, I should be ready to roll," said Strickland, who returns on a minor-league contract.

Using a fastball/slider combo, Strickland has been murder against right-handed batters throughout his career. Possessing an above average fastball, Strickland was thrust into a closer role in Montreal, but struggled because of his inability to get left-handers out.

vrs RHB
158.0 ip 103 hits 50/204 bb/so 10 HR
1.00 WHIP .185 BAA

vrs LHB
78.0 ip 94 hits 56/37 bb/so 12 HR
1.92 WHIP .292 BAA

If used correctly, Strickland can definitely be an asset to a Met bullpen that while not bad certainly lacks a dominant reliever who can shut down potential rallies in 7th and 8th innings. He and Koo could definitely combine to pitch 70-80 high-leverage innings and excel in that role.
With the roster pretty much set, the bullpen competition is probably the most interesting thing to look for this Spring Training. Aside from these two, here are the other guys looking to earn a spot this February.

Bullpen Bloc

Orber Moreno. Definitely a favorite of this site. Moreno has a 90 mph fastball and a heavy sinker that allows him to be stingy with HRs and extra-base hits. Non-tendered and signed to a minor league deal, he needs to prove he's healthy to earn a job this spring. One little tidbit that I always like to mention when talking about Orber is that last year, he was 2nd only behind Anaheim's F-Rod in SLG% against among major league relievers. He's definitely a keeper.

Mike DeJean. DeJean is a lock to be in the Met bullpen this year. Acquired from Baltimore in exchange for Karim Garcia, the former closer impressed Met brass by pitching brilliantly during the last two months of the season. Under the tutelage of Rick Peterson, DeJean found the strike zone and promptly started getting groundball outs with his low-90s sinker and strikeouts with his hard splitter. He should benefit from the improved infield defense and the Mientkiewicz acquisition.

Tyler Yates. Hailed as a future closer, Yates surprised everybody by earning a spot in the Met rotation last spring. The experiment was a disaster as the big Hawaiian right-hander lacked the stamina to pitch enough innings. Moved back to a relief role, Yates had a modicum of success as a middle reliever. He has a fastball in the low 90s and a slider that's very inconsistent. More hype than anything else, Yates hasn't shown much to make anyone believe he's better than some other the guys on the staff. He's a favorite of Rick Peterson, so odds are he'll go north with the big league club.

Heath Bell. The best Mets' reliever you've never heard about. An undrafted free agent from Oceanside California, Bell has come a long way to make the big leagues. His minor league stats are impeccable. Bell doesn't have plus stuff like Yates does, but he doesn't need to. Using an unorthodox delivery, he's managed to strikeout better than a batter an inning while also being on the stingy side with walks and HRs. He at the very least deserves a long look this spring.

Blake McGinley. Another favorite of this blog. McGinley is a left-hander reliever with fringe stuff but with fantastic results. In four professional seasons, the product of Texas Tech, has managed to average 10.23 strikeouts per nine innings and only 2.22 walks in the same span. Unprotected by the Mets for the Rule V draft, it doesn't seem as if he'll get a chance to displace Felix Heredia in Spring Training but given the "magical" tendencies of the Run Fairy, he'll probably get a chance to prove his numbers are no fluke at some point this year.

Felix Heredia. Dubbed The Run Fairy™ by Yankee fans, Felix Heredia was one of the worst relievers in baseball last year. He strikes out too few batters, walks too many and gives up a lot of bombs. In other words, he's everything you don't want in a reliever. Frankly, the only thing keeping him in the major leagues is his salary. The best we can hope for is an awful Spring Training performance and a release before the games start counting.

Bartolome Fortunado. Acquired in the stupidity known as the Kazmir trade, Fortunato made his major league debut with the Mets last year. A right hander reliever with a good fastball and a filthy palmball, he keeps hitters off-balance and has shown some decent strikeout numbers. Unfotunately for the Mets, he's also 29 and not likely to get that much better. His control is a bit worrisome, but he's a good bet to be a decent third or fourth option in the bullpen.

To this bunch you can add "Proven Closer" Roberto Hernandez, Cuban fireballer Alay Soler and minor league castoffs Juan Padilla, Grant Roberts, and Manny Aybar.

Koo

2005-01-26T14:42:00.000-08:00

Last time, I talked a little bit about Dae Sung Koo and how he might turn out to be a very underrated acquisition. The biggest reason I liked the signing were the glowing scouting reports about his ability to get left-handers out:

The reason why [teams are] interested in Koo is his unique pitching form and the nasty stuff that makes the ball very difficult for left-handed batters to hit. He hides the ball behind the glove until he starts a pitch, even after the wind-up, making it extremely difficult for left-handed hitters to beat.

Koo's stats didn't justify the hype, of course, but like I mentioned, most of them were compiled as a starter and thus not really relevant when discussing his ability to get left-handers out. Well, lucky for us Matt found out his L/R splits on a Japanesebaseball.com discussion.

236/284/339/624 94 hits 10 HR 96/25 K/BB 398 ABs vrs LHB
256/339/458/797 264 hits 50 HR 269/117 K/BB 1032 ABs vrs RHB

With numbers like this, Koo certainly projects to be one of the best, if not the best, option against the likes of Jim Thome and Carlos Delgado the Mets have in their bullpen this upcoming season. Combine him with a ROOGY like Scott Strickland, and I think the Mets' pen isn't looking as bad as people make it out to be.

Capitan America

2005-01-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

With rumors of an impending trade everywhere, there has been a lot of discussion around Met fans about the merits of Eric Byrnes and Mike Cameron. Well, maybe its time I chimed in.

As someone who doesn't get to watch the Oakland A's often, I always thought Byrnes was a good player. The few times I've seen him, he has made spectacular diving catches and always exhibited a devil may care attitude. With attributes like these, its no surprise he has become a fan favorite everywhere he's played. Nicknamed Capitan America in the Dominican, Byrnes has charmed an entire country with his golden hair and reckless style of play.

"It's awesome," Peña said. "Eric's come to another country, and people embrace him even more than one of their own. If he runs for president, he would win. They will never forget him for what he's done for this team and for this country. It's the coolest thing."

Coming off his best season in the major leagues, Eric Byrnes seems to be on a different path than the recently displaced Mike Cameron, who at age 32, is coming off one of his worst seasons ever. Common knowledge would indicate that Byrnes' best years are ahead of him, while Cameron has nowhere to go but down. Yet, the Oakland A's, seem more than willing to exchange the two even though the latter is older and more expensive. Why would Billy Beane do this? Glad you ask.

Eric Byrnes
age 28 position LF
333/474 1196 ABs

Mike Cameron
age 32 position CF
335/450 1572 ABs

If you take a quick glance to their 3 year splits, you may come to the conclusion that Byrnes is the better hitter. Of course, that doesn't take into account the fact that 119 of Byrnes ABs were compiled at the hitter friendly PCL [AAA], or the fact that Byrnes seems to have been protected by the A's against RHP. Essentially, they don't seem to be that far apart when it comes to hitting. If anything, regression towards the mean gives the edge to Cameron since we would expect him to rebound from his horrible season, while we'd expect Byrnes to either regress or stay in the same 800 OPS range.

For years, defense has stood out as the final frontier of statistical analysis. Sabermetricians like Bill James and the people at STATS inc introduced and tracked Range Factor and Zone Rating as ways to get a better feeling of a defender's range. Range Factor measures the number of outs made per game while Zone Rating the total number of outs per ball in a fielder's zone or area of responsability. Obviously both systems had their flaws since they did not account for the probability of a play being made. To account for this, Mitchel Lichtman or simply MGL as he is known around baseball circles, developed his own probabilistic model to evaluate defense. UZR, or ultimate zone rating, uses 64 zones to determine runs saved or cost in comparison to an average fielder. Obviously, the process is a little more complicated than that, but if you are interested you can check MGL's exact explanations on the subject in part 1 and part 2 of study.

So how is this relevant when discussing Cameron and Byrnes? Well, according to UZR, Cameron from 00-03 saved close to 30 runs every 150 games over the average fielder. Thats obviously an outstanding amount and worth around 3 wins per season. Byrnes' UZR, on the other hand, every single year at any OF position has been pitiful. In 04, for example, Cameron's UZR [+8] was still worth 3 wins over Byrnes' -21 UZR mark. Moreover, according to Tangotier's Fan Scouting Reports, Byrnes came in at a below average 44/100 while Cameron had a very impressive 68/100.

Many Met fans are skeptical of Cameron's greatness and wonder if age and the potential shift to RF may be a reason for concern. Well, here is what MGL has to say about it:

"Cammy is of course one of the best defensive CF'ers in baseball, and should, by all rights be one of the best in RF or LF. Remember that even if you are not used to RF or LF, it is still easier to play those positions AND, more importantly, your defense is measured against MUCH worse defenders. I would be surprised if Cameron's UZR in RF or LF were not +10 to +15."

As MGL mentions, the difference between Byrnes and Cameron is so great that it'd make absolutely no sense to exchange the two. Even in right, Cammy's defense would be a tremendous asset to the Mets, and this is without accounting the fly-ball tendencies of the pitching staff. Cameron's defense is the most compelling reason not to make the trade, but if nothing else, the fact that Billy Beane wants to acquire Cameron this badly should be more than enough reason to hold on to him.

Cameron

2005-01-12T13:48:00.000-08:00

According to a Newsday report, Mike Cameron isn't so thrilled about moving to RF for Carlos Beltran.

With Carlos Beltran taking his centerfield job, Cameron has conveyed to the Mets that he’d rather play centerfield elsewhere than play rightfield for them, according to an industry source.

Cameron is by far one of my favorite players in baseball, so I would be sad to see him go. However, if moving him allows the Mets to afford Delgado and also get something useful back, I'm fine with it. So with that thought in mind, who should the Mets trade him to? Personally, I'm leaning to a Cameron for Termel Sledge trade. What do you think?

Centerfield, Centerstage

2005-01-09T16:12:00.000-08:00

Obviously, the biggest news of the weekend is the signing of Carlos Beltran. By paying him $120 million over 7 years, the Mets lured in the 27 year old switch-hitting centerfielder to Flushing. Showing remarkable improvement in all areas of his game, including walks, SLG, OBP, SecA, and OPS+, there is no questioning that Beltran is a player on the rise. He can hit, he can play defense, and he is arguably the best base-runner in major league history. All of these attributes make Beltran one of the most complete players in the league and according to SLWTs, one of the 10 best players in baseball. Did the Mets overpay? You bet. But when dealing with big-market clubs, I don't think thats the appropiate question. To me, the question one should be asking is, does the Beltran limit the Mets' from going out and sorrounding him with other above average players? Given all the money coming off the books next offseason and in 06, I don't think it does, and therefore, I think this is a good deal. I've exhausted pretty much all of other my comments on the Beltran subject on Primer, but you can always check the sidebard for better and more accurate analysis by the other Met bloggers.

Moving on, in a move that will no doubt receive less fanfare than the Beltran signing, the Mets announced they had come to terms with Korean left-handed pitcher Dae Sung Koo. Despite reports he was headed to the Yankees, the Mets signed Koo to a one-year Major League contract with a club option for the 2006 season that will pay him $400k if he makes the big league club, and a little over a million including incentives.

"Dae Sung is a versatile pitcher who can start or pitch out of the bullpen," said Mets General Manager Omar Minaya. "I was in Sydney for the Olympics in 2000 when he beat Japan to win the Bronze Medal for Korea. He's a veteran pitcher who can help our staff in a variety of ways."

As Minaya mentioned, Koo can be used both as a starter and a reliever. In his four years with the Buffalo Orix of the Japanese Pacific League, he started 63 games and entered the game as a reliever for 47 other. The most intriguing part of Koo's signing is not his versatility, but rather his unique pitching style:

The reason why the Yankees is interested in Koo is his unique pitching form and the nasty stuff that makes the ball very difficult for left-handed batters to hit. He hides the ball behind the glove until he starts a pitch, even after the wind-up, making it extremely difficult for left-handed hitters to beat.

So why I'm spending most of my time talking about a pitcher who might not be more than a LOOGY? The answer is Shingo Takatsu and Akinori Otsuka. Last offseason, in two basically minor moves, those two were signed by the White Sox and Padres, respectively and both moves paid off as those two were among the best relievers in baseball. So how does Koo compare to them?

Otsuka
180.2 ip 126 hits 18 HRs with 36/241 k/bb
12.05 k/9 6.69 k/bb 0.9 hr/9
Ridiculous stats. Wow.

Takatsu
170.2 ip 160 hits 20 HRs with 53/122 k/bb
6.43 k/9 2.30 k/bb 1.05 hr/9
Not great, but not bad.

Koo
503.0 ip 454 hits 73 HRs with 213/504 k/bb
9.01 k/9 2.36 k/bb 1.30 hr/9
Man, thats a lot of HRs

As you can probably tell, Otsuka was phenomenal in Japan so his season shouldnt have been a surprise. A 6.00 k/bb ratio is great anywhere, even in little league baseball. I saw Otsuka pitch early in the year when the Mets came into town, and he was untouchable. His unique windup where he hides the ball in his glove with his front foot lifted before striding to the plate even forced Art Howe to protest the game. Given the scouting reports I have to believe Koo's and Otsuka's deliveries are somewhat similar although considering the discrepancy between their Japanese stats its difficult to imagine him achieving the same level of success. Koo's HR rate is very worrisome, but both his K/9 and K/BB are solid and compare favorably to Takatsu's. The caveat in Koo's performance is that he achieved all of this as a starter, and not a reliever. This means he faced both right-handers and left-handers and also pitched a lot more than both Takatsu and Osuka presumably allowing hitters to get a better look at his delivery.

The Mets plan to use Koo as a specialist against left-handed hitters so we can expect a rise in his strikeouts per nine innings, and if we are to believe the scouting reports, even better results. Koo is by no means a sure thing, but given the low-risk involved in the transaction, I think its a good one. I mean, he can't be any worse than The Run Fairy, right?

For more information on Japanese relievers, you can check an article written by Thomas at the Batter's Box as well as Japanesebaseball.com

Hitting Machine

2005-01-02T17:22:00.000-08:00

On Thursday, Baseball America released its Mets' top 10 prospect list, and here it is:

1. Lastings Milledge, of
2. Yusmeiro Petit, rhp
3. Gaby Hernandez, rhp
4. Ian Bladergroen, 1b
5. Ambiorix Concepcion, of
6. Alay Soler, rhp
7. Shawn Bowman, 3b
8. Victor Diaz, of
9. Jesus Flores, c
10. Matt Lindstrom, rhp

As most of you know, the Mets' system took a big hit in the last couple of years with both promotions [David Wright and Jose Reyes] and asinine trades [Jason Bay, Scott Kazmir, Justin Huber, and Matt Peterson] so its no surprise this list looks less than thrilling. With most propects playing below AA, the list reflects the fact that "the Mets’ future is now playing elsewhere and the present doesn’t look too appealing." Sadly, thats nothing but the truth. Either way, these lists are interesting because they provide with great topics. The most surprising thing on the list to me was Victor Diaz's low ranking and I guess it provides a good introduction for the number three prospect in my list.

3. Victor Diaz

Acquired in the Jeromy Burnitz trade, Victor Diaz came with the reputation of being a good hitter since the day he was born. Selected as a "draft and follow" in 37th round of the 2000 draft by the Dodgers, he has done nothing to dispell that notion as he has hit for a high average in all but one of his minor league stints [a 150 AB trial as a 20 year old in one if not the toughest hitter's league in the minor league- the Southern League].

Age 19 354/403/533 16/23 bb/so 27 XBHs 195 ABs
Age 20 350/412/521 27/69 bb/so 38 XBHs 349 ABs
Age 20 211/259/336 07/42 bb/so 11 XBHs 152 ABs
Age 21 291/358/462 27/60 bb/so 32 XHBs 316 ABs
Age 21 354/386/520 08/32 bb/so 17 XHBs 175 ABs
Age 22 291/333/491 33/133 bb/so 56 XBHs 528 ABs

With batting averages that were north of 350, it was no surprise Diaz has had his share of batting titles. He won one while making his professional debut in the Gulf Coast League, and was leading the South Atlantic League in the same category before being promoted in 2002. As a doubles hitter who hit line drives into the gaps, there was some question as to whether he'd ever develop consistent 20 HR power. Diaz erased those doubts by posting a 27 HR campaign this year between Norfolk and the major leagues. Obviously, if you are being traded for Jeromy Burnitz, that means not everything is perfect with you. With Diaz, that problem is two-fold: plate discipline and lack of postion.

Weakness: Diaz will never be a selective hitter. His increased power came with a corresponding jump in strikeouts. He doesn't run well and that shows in the outfield, where he makes the routine plays but little more. Conditioning never has been his forte.

Drafted as a second-baseman, the Mets moved Diaz to the OF because they figured his defense in the OF would be less of a problem. The problem with doing that was that they effectively reduced his value by moving him to a less demanding position. As a second-baseman, even with terrible defense, Diaz projected to be an elite secondbaseman in the Jeff Kent-mold. As an OFer, he projects to be average and he still brings bad defense to the table. With that being said, thats no reason to rank him below Ambriox Concepcion on a prospect list. J.J. Cooper of Baseball America thinks differently, and gives us his reason for such ranking on his Met prospect chat:

Q: Ricardo from Los Angeles asks:
Why is Concepcion ranked above Diaz?

A: J.J. Cooper: Diaz has produced more than Concepcion, obviously. But I put Concepcion about Diaz because, as I see it, Concepcion's ceiling is higher. We're talking about the difference between an athletic corner outfielder (who can handle center field) with a potentially strong bat, and a poor defensive left fielder who still has questions about if there really is a position for him. The questions about Diaz' defense mean that he has to really produce with the bat to start at the major league level, and with his free-swinging ways, he'll have to show major power production to make up for what projects to be a .330-.340 OBP. Concepcion also has some questions, but his ability to be a solid defensive outfielder with some more versatility gives him a little more leeway.

Certainly defense has its value, but honestly, I don't see any reason to say Ambiorix Concepcion is in any way better than Diaz at this point. Nevermind the fact that Diaz is in AAA and has proven he can hit in difficult hitting environments while Concepcion has yet to play in A ball. Nevermind that Concepcion's walk ratio wasn't any better than Diaz's last year. This whole discussion can be put to bed with one single sentence: Diaz's OPS in AAA was higher than Concepcion's OPS in Rookie Ball. Think about that for a minute. Still not convinced, well okay:

Diaz, Victor
SAL [A-]
Age 20,
350/412/521 27/69 bb/so 38 XBHs 349 ABs

Concepcion, Ambiorix
GCL, [R]
Age 20
305/338/475 13/27 bb/so 25 XBHs 259 ABs

So at the same age, Diaz had the edge in average, plate discipline, and power while also playing against tougher competion. When confronted with these stats, I don't see how anyone can think Concepcion at this moment is a better prospect than Victor Diaz. Maybe he'll be next year with a good showing in an actual full-season league, but not right now. Not when compared to a guy who has 310/358/486 minor league career line in over 1000 ABs. Not when compared to the guy who should be the Mets' opening day RFer next year.

Quantity, Not Quality

2004-12-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

Maybe its just me, but I've always believed that you can judge a GM not by the big moves he makes, but rather the little ones. Don't get me wrong, I love the Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltrans, but a part of me is much more interested in those minor league deals no one cares about. Be it the release of Marco Scutaro or just simply a non-roster invitee, I think those deals give us a greater insight into a GM's mind. Wanting to appease my thirst for small transactions, Minaya keeps stockpiling minor league free agents like its going out of style. In today's press release, the Mets announced the addition of three more minor league invitees.

Shortstop Chris Woodward and righthanded pitchers Manny Aybar and Joe Nelson each signed minor league free agent contract with the New York Mets today and all three will be invited to Spring Training next February in Port St. Lucie, Fla.

So who are these guys? Lets take a look. Chris Woodward is a former Blue Jay shorstop who last year hit to the tune of 235/283/347 . He doesn't hit for much average but has decent pop for a shorstop. Presumably he's going to be competing with Super Joe McEwing for the ss back up role. Manny Aybar is a 32 year old journeymen who pitched in Mexico last year. Currently pitching in the DWL, Aybar has pitched 54.1 innings allowing 54 hits and a 58/17 k/bb with a 3.31 ERA. Joe Nelson, who despite the rumors isn't related to Nelson de la Rosa, was last seen pitching for the Red Sox AAA affiliate in Pawtucket. He's a right-handed 29 year old who in 8 minor league seasons has had a very solid 8.57 K/9 but whose 4 walks every 9 innings is a big problem. Last year in AAA, those two went up. His strikeouts per nine innings reached a Benitez-esque 14.5 but much like the former Met closer, his walk rate evidenced some wildness [15 walks in 30 innings]. Expect Woodward to make the team while Aybar and Nelson to serve as insurance down at Norfolk.

If you are like me, and are more interested in minor moves, you can check the Metropolitans blog for some Aaron Heilman action. But then again, if you are interested on whats happening with the big fish on the FA market, you can always check Kaley at Flushing Local who refuses to get Guerreroed again.

Before I forget, yes, I haven't forgetten about my incomplete top prospect list. And yes, I'll be getting around it eventually, but for now, here's some answer to prospect mail:

Mike writes:

So far you've listed Bowman and Bladergroen as your 4th and 5th prospects. Assuming Diaz, Milledge and Petit are ranked as the top three, where does that leave Brett Harper?

Certianly Harper produced big time this year, but considering his injury history and the fact that he has never produced like this, I had to rank him 6th on my list. With that being said, I still think he can be an useful part in the near future, and thats why I even wrote an honorary prospect review on him:

Brett Harper

The Mets selected Brett Harper in the 2000 draft, but the draft and follow did not sign until May 2001. Through his three years with the organization, Harper, the son of former MLB catcher Brian Harper, had shown some signs of being able to hit for average, but his power had gone missing as he entered the year with a career .094 IsoP [SLG - AVG] and only 5 HRs in 607 minor league at-bats. Not exactly promising. In addition to his Rey O-esque power, Harper also struggled to stay healthy, playing in only 48, 53 and 75 games in his first three seasons. Despite all of this, the Mets promoted him to St. Lucie and Harper didn’t waste the opportunity. In 60 games, the left-handed first-baseman had a Todd Helton-esque performance hitting for average, power and showing discipline at the tune of 350/.440/.564 in 220 Abs in the Florida State League, arguably the toughest hitting environment in the minor leagues. Aside from the excellent batting average, what was most impressive about Harper’s performance were his peripherals. He showed excellent plate discipline by walking once every 10 Pas and his power was more than solid with an IsoP above 200, and more than 30 percent of hits for extra bases. Given his previous history, Harper’s season drew several opinions from scouts:

Few guys I talked to didn't have a strong opinion about Harper, but those opinions were all over the board. A few guys thought he was a potential top-20 talent because of his ability to hit for average (he has an above .300 average for his minor league career) while showing solid power . But others view him as a pinch hitter at best at the major league level who swings almost from his heels to get his power. He has a lot of work to do defensively, and he struggled when he moved up to Double-A. Defensively he's projects as a DH and backup 1B right now who will have to work to improve to be an everyday 1B.

With that kind of performance the Mets had no choice but to promote Harper to Double -A Binghamton. There, Harper continued to show solid power with almost half his hits going for extra bases, but struggled to hit for power and his walk rate took somewhat of a hit. Understandably there was some adjustment period, so Harper will get another chance to show 2004 wasn’t a fluke next season when begins the year as the starting first baseman for AA-Binghamton.

Free Ramon Castro?

2004-12-23T13:32:00.000-08:00

I just came back from dim sum and imagine my surprise when I read this.

Seemingly contradicting the family-oriented atmosphere at Shea the Mets had been promoting last season, the team quietly has signed troubled former Florida catcher Ramon Castro to a minor-league contract, a major-league source said.

The off-the-field thing aside, I think this is a pretty good move by Omar. Castro is no Pudge, but he is an excellent defensive catcher who hit for very good power in the minors. Hailed as the Marlins' catcher of the future by BP, Castro has struggled to show much at the major league level, but his trackrecord suggests he's capable of being an above average offensive catcher

AAA - 957 AB 307/359/563
AA- 256 AB 256/318/418
A - 1068 AB 267/333/391
R - 123 AB 276/373/407

Pretty good for a catcher. At best, Castro is in line to become Piazza's successor next year, and at worst it costs the Mets nothing but lunch money. Considering that Matheny and Blanco got guaranteed millions, this is an excellent signing. Good job, Omar.

You Don't Target Middle Relief, It Just Happens

2004-12-22T13:48:00.000-08:00

Sometimes being lucky is better than being good. Twice in this offseason, Omar has chosen to do without a good reliever, and twice he has gotten lucky by getting him back. Like Blake McGinley before him, Orber Moreno is still a Met.

The New York Mets announced today that they have signed righthanded pitcher Orber Moreno to a minor league contract and invited him to major league spring training camp.

While I wasn't happy with the decision of non-tendering Moreno, I have been pleasently surprised with Omar's approach to building the bullpen. You see, most fans believe that throwing money at "Proven Veteran Reliever" in the mold of Mike Stanton and Steve Kline is the way to a reliable bullpen, but as Peter Gammons shows us, that is not always the case. For the most part, relievers are unreliable, so for a team with limited resources [everybody but the Yankees] it makes little sense to commit $3 million for a guy like Weathers when guys who can do the same job are available at the minimum down in the minors. Avkash, of the excellent but now defunct Met blog the raindrops, tells us what smart organizations should be doing in light of these circumstances:

[What] a smart organization does in light of the unpredictable nature of bullpens [is to collect] a bunch of young, cheap, and interchangeable arms with good predictive indicators, i.e. strikeout rates. You then mix and match until you find something that works.

Obviously, its hard to imagine a team with a rookie manager in a big city like New York employing this strategy. With that in mind, a better strategy would be to target guys who have are above average but had off years, sign them to $1M contracts and reap the benefits of their regressions to the mean. With an excellent pitching coach, a pretty good pitcher's park and a CF that catches everything, there is no reason not to follow the model these guys having been using successfully for more than a decade now.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same.

2004-12-21T09:27:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of the offseason, there were two bullpen guys that in my mind should have been shoo-ins to be on the 25 man roster next year, Orber Moreno and Blake McGinley. For some God-forsaken reason, these are the two guys that Omar has decided to do without. Look, granted, these guys aren't perfect and they definitely could be replaced, but under what thought process are they worse than Bartolome Fortunado, Tyler Yates, Pedro Feliciano, et al?

Orber Moreno

It wasn't too long ago when Orber was destined to become a future elite closer for the Kansas City Royals. A myriad of injuries, however, have kept him from fullfilling that promise. A while back, after the Royals got tired of waiting for him to recover, the Mets took a flyer on him. Though no longer as hyped, Orber still possessed the attributes one looks for in a good reliever: He throws hard, still strikeouts more than a batter per inning, and he keeps the ball in the park.

After dominating the minor leagues for a year, Orber got his chance with the big league club this year and kept doing the same things he's always done: getting injured and being extremely effective against opposing batters.

1998 33 ip, 0.82 ERA 10/50 bb/so
1998 34 ip, 2.88 ERA 12/40 bb/so
1999 26 ip, 2.10 ERA 4/30 bb/so
2001 21 ip, 4.71 ERA 8/25 bb/so
2003 52 ip, 1.90 ERA 17/58 bb/so
2004 33 ip, 3.37 ERA 11/29 bb/so

Although he's mantained low ERAs, great WHIPs and excellent K/BB numbers, the most important thing Moreno does is keeping the ball in play. In 465 minor league innings, he only allowed 2 HRs. Last year at the major league level, he allowed none and only three extra-base hits. Yes, Moreno, more than likely will keep getting injured, but as long as he keeps getting hitters out, he deserves a spot on the 40 man roster.

Dustan Mohr

2004-12-20T21:44:00.000-08:00

Dustan Mohr was non-tendered.
Dustan Mohr had a 394 OBP at Pac Bell last year
Dustan Mohr is a righty
Dustan Mohr can play CF in a pinch
Dustan Mohr should be a Met

The Mets could do a lot worse [read: Alou, Moises] than the three-headed platoon of Victor Diaz, Eric Valent and the SuperBest friends, and yes, Dustan Mohr.

Other interesting names from the partial non-tender list: David Eckstein, and Wade Miller. The Mets havent announced their non-tenders yet, but hopefully that list wont include Vic. Zambrano or Orber Moreno.

Open Thread

2004-12-19T04:55:00.000-08:00

Delgado or JD Drew?

Carlos Delgado
Age 32 LHB 1b

Last Three Years
269/372/535 69/115 bb/so 58 XBHs 458 ABs OPS+ 153
302/426/593 109/135 bb/so 81 XBHs 570 ABs OPS+ 160
277/406/549 102/126 bb/so 69 XBHs 505 ABs OPS+ 128

UZR: Around +10 from 00-04
Reputation: Average defensively

Projections
263/389/507 93/138 bb/so 60 XBHs 499 ABs OPS+ 138
SWLTs ~[+20]

JD Drew
Age 28 LHB rf

Last Three Years
305/436/569 118/116 bb/so 67 XBHs 518 ABs OPS+ 158
289/374/512 36/48 bb/so 31 XBHs 287 ABs OPS+ 133
252/349/429 57/104 bb/so 38 XBHs 427 ABs OPS+ 110

UZR: + 8 from 00-03
Reputation: Above Average defensively.

Projections
286/400/512 75/89 bb/so 46 XBHs 418 ABs OPS+ 143
SWLTs [+35]

Pedro! Pedro! Pedro!

2004-12-15T17:44:00.000-08:00

I'm speechless, Pedro Martinez is a Met.

I think this is an excellent move. It's a bold one, no doubt, but one that makes sense in a lot of ways. Pedro doesn't come without question marks, but this is a move the Mets needed to make. Whether you like it or not, the Mets have been an irrelevant franchise since they decided to pass on A-Rod four years ago. Instead of paying one of the best players in the game, they wasted that money on Mo Vaughn, Kevin Appier, Tom Glavine and Roger Cedeno. Just last year, they had another chance to be relevant again, but they were gun-shy about Guerrero and now he's winning MVP awards in Anaheim. Well, it seems as if third time is the charm for Wilpon and the Mets. Pedro is a Met and aside from his kiler fastball and devasting changeup, he brings instant credibility to a moribund franchise. He makes them relevant again.

I'll try to write something about it tomorrow, but in the meanwhile check the sidebar for more eloquent and thoughtful responses on the move.

Pedro Martinez is a Met. Rolls nicely off the tongue, doesn't it? Kudos Omar.

"Score it 6-3. Reyes to Delgado."

2004-12-12T01:29:00.000-08:00

According to the bastion of veracity and objectivity that is the NY Post, the Mets have extended offers to Carlos Delgado and Moises Alou. Although reports out of NY were that the Mets preferred Sexson, I had always suspected that Minaya would target Carlos.

As alluring an option as Sexson is at first base, Delgado appears to be the Mets' top choice. A week ago The Post reported GM Omar Minaya and special assistant Tony Bernazard had placed phone calls to Delgado directly to express the team's interest.

Delgado won't come cheap as he is reportedly seeking 4 years and $64 million guaranteed, but I think that if the Mets offer him a fair deal [3/$36M] they could land him. Mark Hale believes "the Mets' offer for Delgado is somewhere in the neighborhood of three or four years for at least $10 million-$12 million per season." I have said it before and I'll continue saying it, if the Mets land Delgado and don't deal any prospects, this offseason can and should be qualified as a success. Even if it includes Alou.

Not wanting to ruin my feel-good momentum by talking about Moises, I'll leave you with some good news. Our "main man" Jose Reyes is establishing himself as one of the best players in the DWL and is scheduled to start at shortstop for the Dominican All Stars when they face their Puertorican counterparts today. In his brief time with the Gigantes, Reyes is showing why he was consistently ranked one of the best young talents in the game just a year ago. Through 92 ABs, his line stands at 315/376/486 with a 9/4 bb/so ratio, his usual stellar defense and 5 stolen bases. A walk every 10 ABs and more walks than strikeouts? We'll take it. No signs of the injury either. Here's how some other Met prospects are faring in the winter leagues:

Jose Parra
0.53 ERA 17 ip 6/18 bb/so 15 hits [9.5 k/9 3.0 k/bb]
Second in saves in the Dominican League. Has been dominant.

Yusmeiro Petit
2.18 ERA 45.1 ip 7/48 bb/so 37 hits [9.5 k/9 6.85 k/bb]
A 6.85 k/bb? Are you kidding me? Easily the best pitcher of the league.

Blake McGinley
2.95 ERA 21.1 ip 4/23 bb/so 21 hits [9.7 k/9 5.75 k/bb]
Goodbye.

Victor Diaz
267/347/511 11/26 bb/so 7 XBHs [4 HRs]
Pretty good. The reports on his defense havent been good though.

Aarom Baldiris
220/270/288 4/17 bb/so 2 XBHs [0 HRs]
Ouch. Apparently he has been shut down by Magallanes.

Comment allez-vous ce soir?

2004-12-08T21:28:00.000-08:00

I'm in a terrific mood today, so no Minaya bashing tonight. Some quick thoughts on the Mets moves and arbitration offers or lack thereof:

Leiter: Good. The Senator had a nice and shiny ERA last year but that was all smoke and mirrors. I wouldn't be surprised to see him be decent with the Marlins but it was obviously time to cut bait. Thanks for the memories, Al.

Hidalgo: Ah. I would have tried to make a deal in which the Mets could offer arbitration and he would have agreed to decline it. I thought that for a 1yr/$5M or less contract he would have been a good gamble. Alas. This isn't necessarily a bad thing though. Not committing money to a guy like Hidalgo means the Mets are home free to go for bigger and better things [JD Drew, Magglio] but then again it opens the possibility for disaster [the A-bomb known as Moises Alou].

Bottalico, others: Bah, other than Ed Wade and Steve Phillips, who cares about middle relievers?

DeJean: It depends which DeJean is going to show up. The guy who put the A-W-F-U-L on Goddamnawful with the Orioles or the groundball, strikeout machine he was with the Mets? For $1.15 million the Mets get a chance to find out. My money is on neither. He'll be average. Nothing exciting or better than Moreno and co. Whatever, I told you I was happy tonight.

Delgado, Omar and Other Things

2004-12-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

Well, my practice set is finally finished so I can get back to blogging.

First thing is first, according to Mark Hale, Mets' management has finally decided to call the best 1b on the market and official FA choice of this blog, Carlos Delgado:

"According to a source familiar with the discussions, Mets special assistant Tony Bernazard and GM Omar Minaya each personally placed phone calls to Delgado a few days ago to let the free-agent slugger know that the Mets are interested."

I've already touched on his offensive production before, and according to early projections I've seen on him he projects to hit 263/389/507 at Shea stadium next year. Needless to say that is a very conservative projection, but one that would still put Delgado at roughly 40% better than the average hitter. Another projection has his hitting alone to be at least 3 wins better than the average 1b for the next couple of years. Thats phenomenal and worth anywhere from $6-10 million a year to a large market club like the Mets. Of course, after the Mike Piazza experiment, the Mets are probably looking for a little defense from 1b. Well, no problem, over the last four years, Delgado has had a positive UZR and was ranked the 6th best defensive 1b in baseball this year [+12/150 games]. Feel free to comment on this below, but I've already made my mind up, unless Carlos Beltran is willing to come to Shea, Carlos Delgado should be the Mets' priority this offseason.

Speaking of Beltran, I've read things about him around the Met blogsphere that have me puzzled. Sure, Carlos when measured by OPS or RBIs [wha?] isn't going to stand out, but that doesn't mean he isn't one of the 10 best players in baseball. Look, don't get me wrong, just a few months ago I thought the same thing, but once you realize how good his non-OPS skills are, you'll be convinced too. I'll have an article on this and my new favorite stat [SLWTs ] later on this week. Speaking of things I should be writing soon, I'll also try to write something on the three top prospects in my list and the performance of some of them in the Winter Leagues.

Finally, Omar Minaya was in the Dominican yesterday for the second time in a week....I wonder what he was doing there?

The Run Fairy™

2004-12-03T13:15:00.000-08:00

I'm completely speechless. The Mets managed to trade Mike Stanton, mortal enemy of leads and Mets fans everywhere, but in his place they have acquired possibly the worst reliever in baseball. Flabbergasting. Seriously, how incompetent do you have to be to trade Stanton and get worse in the process? I really can't understand how people can even try to defend this deal. Sure the Mets saved money, but come on, who's going to care about that million bucks when we witness The Run Fairy's™ magical powers? Yeah, getting rid of Stanton is a stroke of genius, but not when Felix Heredia and Pedro Feliciano will be the designated left-handers in the bullpen next year. Or what, do you feel confident that any of these two buffoons will be able to ever get out Jim Thome and Bobby Abreu? You can talk all you want about Stanton, but at least he was a credible bullpen option. Should he have been pitching the 8th inning? No way. But as a fifth or four option out of the bullpen he was okay. Thank you Omar, you have done the impossible, you have made miss Mike Stanton.

accounting is dead.

2004-12-02T18:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry for the lack of updates, I'm sure you guys are just dying to know who the next ranked prospect in my list is but my accounting practice set is taking most of my time these days. I'll try to update post something this weekend.

PS. accounting ~~is awesome~~ still sucks.

Hey Doc

2004-11-29T22:35:00.000-08:00

Although not as glamourous as the Pedro Martinez rumors, there was another story about the Mets this weekend that is just as important. On Saturday, the excellent Mets beat writer Adam Rubin of the Daily News reported that the team had rehired prominent doctor/model David Altchek to replace their doctor Andrew Rokito.

Just before the 2002 season, the Mets auctioned the rights to be the official medical staff of the team and eventually signing a three-year deal with the New York University Hospital for Joint Diseases (NYUHJD) that paid them roughly $4 million. As a result, Altchek, the team physician for over 10 years, was let go. At time, the general manager Steve Phillips admitted that the change was at least partially motivated by profit.

"We feel that we have a stronger business relationship with this deal as well as maintaining the high quality of care for our players," Phillips said in February when he announced the switch. "There was no lack of quality care given by David Altchek."

In addition to the revenue, the Mets also received the services of the Andrew Rokito-led group from NYU Medical Center-Hospital for Joint Diseases at no cost. In return, the hospital got the exclusive right to "promote itself as the the team's official hospital" as well as "free tickets and periodic visits from players." Obviously the switch was met with skepticism and criticism from people around baseball like union officer Gene Orza, super-agent Scott Boras and several players, including fan-favorite Turk Wendell:

"These arrangements suggest the medical care is not based on a person's expertise but on the depth of his pockets," said Gene Orza, the chief operating officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

"It's certainly a sign of the times," Boras says of selling team physician rights. "But it's hard to believe a team might sacrifice the best possible medical care for a small amount of revenue."

"If you've got a $90 million payroll," Wendell said of the Mets, "are you going to go with the highest bidder or someone you know is the best possible doctor? No knock on those (NYU) doctors, but if you have a guy who knows the players and their (medical) history and they like him, why change?"

Faced with the criticism of subjecting their players to substandard health care in order to make a few extra dollars, the Mets went on an all out public relations "damage control." Emphazing their pledge to provide the best health care for their players had not been at all compromised by these arrengements, David Howard said the following:

"To suggest that we would place the health and well-being of our most valuable asset at risk for the sake of a sponsorship agreement is absolutely ludicrous. We have received extraordinary health care, because we did our due diligence in looking for the best possible care," Mr. Howard said of the deal with the New York University-Hospital for Joint Diseases. "At the same time, when we make a decision like this, we put an extraordinarily powerful stamp of approval on that medical entity. The health-care providers recognized this first."

After an inordinate amount of injuries over the last three years, there is no denying that the team regret ever signing that deal. Although Jose Reyes' hamstrings and Vladimir Guerrero's bad back diagnosis have received the most publicity, the problem has had even deeper consequences. Fellow Met blogger 3AM, did some research on the topic and found out by going through the MLB transactions that the Mets have had a lot of injuries in the past two years:

Who's on First?

2004-11-28T23:03:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned before, first-base has not been has not been an asset for the Mets ever since John Olerud left. Well, the next prospect in our list is hoping he gets the chance to change that.

4. Ian Bladergroen

Another product of the 2002 draft, Ian Bladergroen was signed as a "draft and follow" in 2003. Listed at 6-5 and 210 pounds, the left-handed hitting Bladergroen fits the profile of the typical slugging first-baseman

Age 20 285/354/416 21 XBHs 21/51 bb/so 274 ABs [R]
Age 21 342/397/595 29 XBHs 25/54 bb/so 269 ABs [A-]

After a decent start in the New York-Penn League, Bladergroen finally showed why he earned the nickname of "The Blade" during his time with the Capital City Bombers in 2004. Before going down with a wrist injury in July, the Lamar product was helping the Bombers post the highest winning percentage of any full-season team in the minor leagues this year. Hitting for power and average, Bladergroen did more than turn a few heads around the league. Here is what opposing manager Ken Joyce said about him:

"He was aggressive and would chase a bit like a young slugger," said Charleston (W.Va.) manager Ken Joyce, "but he had a real nice swing and legitimate big-time power. His swing path put the bat in the (strike) zone for a long time."

With more than 40 percent of his hits going for extra-bases, there is no denying that Bladergroen, has tremendous power potential. At age 21, he is neither young nor old for the Sally League but like Bowman before him, the only question is how his plate discipline will hold up at at the higher levels. Here is what John Sickels, ESPN's minor league expert, says about him in his Down the Farm mailbag section:

His plate discipline is only adequate (25 walks, 52 strikeouts in 261 at-bats), and there are some concerns about his ability to make contact and work the count effectively against more advanced pitching. He doesn't have a great glove, but if he hits they will find a spot for him. We need to see how he holds up against pitchers who know what they are doing, but so far his career is off to a fine start.

Among the leaders in most of the offensive categories and on pace to brake the Cyclones' RBI record, Bladergroen's season was cut short on July 1st after injuring his left wrist. To repair damaged cartilage and ligaments on it, he underwent surgery which according to team doctors would take eight weeks to heal and another eight to rehab. Scheduled to begin next season at the pitching friendly Florida State League, he'll get a chance to prove this "Blade" hasn't lost its edge.

The Hot Corner

2004-11-25T14:15:00.000-08:00

Just a few months ago, the Mets had one of the best farm systems in baseball. However, the asinine trades of the July deadline combined with the promotion of David Wright, hit the farm system hard. Although there are few bonafide blue chip prospects left, the Mets do have some interesting prospects in the low minors. So without further ado, here are, in my opinion, the five best prospects in the system:

5. Shawn Bowman

For 42 years, the Mets' search for a thirdbaseman had been nothing short of puzzling and frustating. After going over 128 third-sackers without much success, the Mets finally found an answer for their hot-corner woes in phenom David Wright. Although not as hyped as Wright, the Mets do have some interesting prospects down in the minors in Aarom Baldiris. Shawn Bowman and recently drafted Nick Evans. Of the three, Bowman probably has the most potential, and that is why he comes in at number five in the list.

The Mets signed Shawn Bowman after drafting him in the 12th round of the 2002 draft from high school in Canada. Originally drafted as a shorstop, he's made a quick and seemless transition to third base impressing scouts and fans alike. According to a scouting report in NYFO's website:

"Hands down Bowman is the best defensive third base prospect I can ever remember seeing", says one NL scout. "In fact, if he continues to better himself at the plate, he's got the defensive skills to move David Wright over to first base, that's how good that kid is. He looks like Brooks Robinson."

No, the Mets are not moving Wright out of third base. But the fact that someone, anyone thinks Bowman could potentially be able to move "the franchise" to 1b speaks volumes of the defensive prowness Shawn Bowman posseses. The hot corner has typically been a source of great offensive production over the years, so if Bowman has any chance of displacing Wright, he'll have to do a little more than play defense.

Age 18 121/216/152 1/13 bb/so 0 HRs 33 ABs [R]
Age 18 203/260/268 10/49 bb/so 0 HRs 138 ABs [R]
Age 19 258/338/449 39/121 bb/so 19 HRs 396 ABs [A=]

Signed in late August of 2002, Bowman had to wait a year to make his professional debut in Kingsport last year. Although he was quick to adapt to his new position, he struggled mightly at the plate failing to hit for power or average. In 2004, after correcting some mechanical flaws, Bowman was promoted to the Capital City Bombers, the Mets low A ball affiliate. There, he finally showed tremendous power from day one. Bowman, one of the youngest players in the league, hit 19 HRs on his way to a breakthrough season and posted a better OPS than David Wright did at the same age and league:

Bowman, Shawn. Age 19 [A-]
258/338/449 19 HRs 37 XBHs 39/121 bb/so 396 ABs

Wright, David. Age 19 [A-]
266/367/401 11 HRs 43 XBHs 76/114 bb/so 496 ABs

When evaluating prospects, aside from age and league, two things come into my mind: Control of the Strike Zone, and Power. These two skills tend to be the best indicators of whether or not a players' minor league statistics will translate to big-league success.

The most important quality in any player is Plate Discipline. It can break or make a prospect. Although there are some exceptions, the reluctance to take walks will usually stall player's development at higher levels as pitchers will usually use a hitters' aggressiveness against him. Generally it is believed that if a player walks in 10% of his at-bats, he has adaquate plate discipline. Here's how both Bowman and Wright did based on this rule of thumb:

Bowman 0.098 BB/AB
Wright 0.153 BB/AB

Advantage Wright.

The next quality a prospect must possess to be considered an "elite" prospect is Power. Given that many prospects initially possess only gap power and develop HR power as they mature , its usually not a good idea to focus solely on home run total or slugging percentage, especially in the low minors. For that reason, some people use XBH% to determine which player has the better power.

Bowman 0.363 XBH%
Wright 0.326 XBH%

Advantage Bowman.

Though he hit for more power, Bowman's season wasn't as good David Wright's. Superior plate discipline gives David the edge here, but by no means does it diminish the former's season. Although strikeouts are a concern [he struck out in almost a 1/3 of his ABs], his excellent defense, and tremendous power potential combined with his young age make Shawn Bowman one of the most intriguing prospects in all of baseball. If he is able to cut his strikeouts and walk just a tad more, there is no telling where he'll end up. Who knows? Maybe even playing third base for the New York Mets.

Rule V

2004-11-25T13:07:00.000-08:00

I started doing a Rule 5 preview, but when researching for it, I found that the Blue Jay's excellent blog The Batter's Box had one. So instead of writing one myself, I advice you check out theirs instead.

If thats not enough, Rotoworld's Matthew Pouliot chimes in with a Rule 5 preview of his own. Enjoy.

baseball etc

2004-11-22T19:50:00.000-08:00

Its official. Benson is a Met. While that was pretty much old news, Kevin Czerwinski, who seems to have a love/hate relationship with the team, clues us in on some Met news:

In other news, Minaya said that the Mets can approach filling the void at first base via free agency or trade, though the club has not had discussions with representatives for former Blue Jays slugger Carlos Delgado. He added that he wouldn't necessarily wait until the Winter Meetings to try and improve the team.

Minaya seems to have subtle ways of pissing me off. How can you not have called Carlos Delgado's agent? I'm sorry, but when you spend weeks trying to acquire Steroid Sammy, there is no excuse for not calling Delgado.

Minaya also said that he expects the coaching staff to be named shortly, likely on Tuesday. Manny Acta, Mookie Wilson, Sandy Alomar, Sr. and possibly Guy Conti are all expected to join pitching coach Rick Peterson.

Well....it sure beats Larry Bowa. Click the link, I promise you won't be dissapointed.

Also, if you have some time, check out THT to find an excellent analysis on the Benson signing by Met fan Studes.

Finally, why do I get this feeling that Theo is going to end up with JJ Davis this offseason? Speaking of Davis, I'm working on a rule V [yes, I'm going to keep calling it this] preview. Hopefully, I'll have it up by tomorrow.

Coming to a ballpark near you...

2004-11-21T09:54:00.000-08:00

The deadline to protect players not on the 40 man roster was Saturday and not surprisingly, the Mets didn't protect Blake McGinley. Considering all the dead weight on the roster, I think this is a pretty bad idea and the first strike against Minaya. Having said that, I understand why he wasn't protected. The Mets are not a performance analysis type organization and they don't believe that minor league statistics predict major league performance with any reliability. Does this excuse the refusal to lose Blake? Absolutely not. Good organizations don't depend solely on one set of evaluations to make decisions. Good organizations don't throw away minor leaguers with excellent statistics just because Wayne Lydon and Todd Zeile need to be protected. Good organizations give a chance to guys like McGinley. Then again, no one said the Mets were a good organization...

In other news, the Mets signed Kris Benson yesterday to a 3-year, $22.5 M deal. Certainly they overpaid, but as always, those 2 or so million won't prevent them from signing anyone. Benson is no ace, and his ERA seem awfully high for a guy who's going to make more than 7 million the next three years, but this isn't a "typical Met signing." For starters, Benson, unlike some other Met pitchers [Glavine, Trax I'm looking at you] is young and has some potential. He has pretty good stuff, including a filthy curveball and a 90+ fastball. More importantly, his peripherals last year were pretty good. His DIPS ERA was 3.80, easily one of the best in baseball. Basically, he throws strikes, doesn't walk many and doesn't give up that many HRs. With the help of Shea, a hopefully better defense, and Uncle "10 minutes" Rick, this could be a good signing. Here's what Dan Szymborski's ZIPS say about him:

Benson, Kris - 2005 ZiPS Projection (30)

-----------------------------------------------

W   L   G  GS   IP    H   ER  HR  BB  SO   ERA

-----------------------------------------------

9  10  27  27  164  164   73  14  56 113  4.01

Finally, Jose Reyes and Victor Diaz have been dazzling in their Winter League debuts. Through the 19th, our "main man," as Avkash likes to call him, was hitting .358 with a 438 OBP, a HR, a double and 2 walks in 14 ABs. Reyes also had 2 hits in yesterday's game, but I don't know in how many ABs. Equally impressive was last year's rookie of the year, Victor Diaz who through 42 ABs is hitting a robust .357 with a 449 OBP, 3 homers and a 6/12 bb/so ratio.

PS. I finally got around adding some links to other Met and baseball blogs. Check them out.

I hate Minaya

2004-11-16T17:29:00.000-08:00

Sorry, I haven't updated anything, but I've been quite busy lately. Moreover, these Sosa rumors have me completely depressed. Ugh.

Delgaaaadit ™

2004-11-10T17:56:00.000-08:00

Ever since John Olerud left to Seattle at the end of the magical 1999 season, first base has been a huge problem for the boys of Flushing. The Mets have tried everything and everyone to replace the excellent production Olerud took with him. A fallen star, two catchers, a couple of third basemen, and several outfielders have all tried but eventually failed to replace the popular first-baseman. At no point was this more evident than during the past season, in which the Mets got perhaps the worst defensive and offensive production at 1b in the history of the game:

2004
275/361/471 All 1b
237/326/268 Mets' 1b

Yes, that was not a typo. Mike Piazza, Jason Phillips, Todd Zeile, and Craig Brazell among others were truly that awful. So awful in fact that even Joe McEwing, he of the 59 OPS+, slugged for a higher percentage that the pathetic collection of Met first-baseman did in 2004. To this McEwingesque offensive display was added the the star-crossed Mike Piazza experiment. Needless to say, this move was a total failure since not only did Mike not hit as a 1b, he was also unquestionably the worst defensive first-baseman in the majors this year. I guess the best thing you could say about this group is that since they were so awful both defensively and offensively, there is no possible way the Mets couldn't be better at first base next year. Moreover, given that there is no other position at which the Mets would have more potential for an upgrade than first-base, and no one in the farm system that could be viewed as a long-term solution, Minaya has to make acquiring a first-baseman the club's biggest priority. So who should they acquire? Glad you ask.

Carlos Delgado
344 /470/664 123/104 bb/so 41 HRs 99 XBHs 569 ABs
279 /408/540 111/136 bb/so 39 HRs 71 XBHs 574 ABs
277 /406/549 102/126 bb/so 33 HRs 69 XBHs 505 ABs
302 /426/593 109/137 bb/so 42 HRs 81 XBHs 570 ABs
269 /372/535 69/115 bb/so 32 HRs 58 XBHs 458 ABs

Over the last 5+ years, Carlos Delgado has been one of the best kept secrets in baseball. A left-handed slugger, Delgado combines both power and patience to be one of the elite hitters in the league. According to ESPN's scouting report, he has "enourmous power to both alleys" and "shows patience in search of his pitch," having drawn more than 100 walks in four of his last five seasons. In 2003, he led the league in walks, RBIs, OPS, OPS+ and several other offensive categories in way to another MVP type season. Delgado, who missed a total of only 30 games from 1999 to 2003, was finally hit by the injury bug this season. After a decent April, a rib-cage injury slowed him down in May and eventually landed him on the DL through June. After missing about 30 games, Delgado came back to the Blue Jays' lineup and he came back with a vengance hitting .305/.408/.625 with 22 homers, 16 doubles and 63 RBIs after the All-Star break.

Despite his outstanding numbers, signing Delgado is not a slam dunk. Age, health, Shea are legitimate concerns as to why signing him wouldn't make the most sense. However, the biggest hurdle the "Delgado to the Mets" movement faces is the price. How much is Carlos Delgado worth?

Bright Tangerine Cuban Sunset

2004-11-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

Back in July when the Mets were "battling" for first place, the then general manager Jim Duquette made a signing that not a lot of people remember. I'm talking about the signing of Cuban pitcher Alay Soler. So who is this Cuban fireballer and what are the chances he'll succeed? Well, I did a bit of research and this is what I found out.

Soler, an ace with the Cuban national team, last season was 10-4 with a 2.01 ERA in 125 1/3 innings, with 28 walks and 102 strikeouts. He defected to the US in November of 2003 and after outbidding the Reds, Devil Rays and Cubs for his services, the Mets signed him to a 3 year deal worth 2.8 million dollars. At the time, Duquette had this to say about him:

"Soler is a big strong right-hander with a power arm," GM Jim Duquette said. "He has command of all of his pitches -- fastball, curveball, changeup and a slider. We are happy to add a player with Alay's international experience to our organization."

Moreover, Jorge Oquendo, the Reds' Latin American scouting director, and someone who has followed Soler very closely, had this to say about the Cuban:

"He's an outstanding pitcher," Oquendo said. "He's a Roger Clemens-type pitcher. He throws his fastball 93to 96 mph. He throws a splitter at 88-89mph, and he's got an outstanding changeup. He's got three solid pitches, with command."

Obviously, we should take these quotes with a grain of salt. After all, the track record of great Cuban pitchers in the major leagues is not encouraging and scouts do tend to hype foreign talents. Off the top of my head, here are some of the stats of the more recent high-profile Cuban defectors who have pitched in the majors:

4.16 era 1404.1 ip 102 era+ Livan Hernandez
3.96 era 876.1 ip 116 era+ Orlando Hernandez
3.86 era 359.1 ip 115 era+ Danny Baez
4.86 era 241.1 ip 95 era+ Jose Contreras
6.55 era 44.0 ip 66 era+ Adrian Hernandez

I'm not sure we can reach any conclusions about Soler using only five pitchers. But if the paths of these pitchers are an indication, his upside is a slightly above average innings eater 4th starter and his downside is a journeyman pitcher. Given that the financial commitment was pretty insignificant [to the Mets anyway], I think signing Soler was a good gamble. According to what I've read, the Mets are planning to starting Soler at Binghamton [AA] and they are hoping he makes a quick ascension through the system.

Currently, Soler is pitching for the Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Winter League. He's made two starts and his numbers so far are pretty impressive: 3.00 era 9 ip 1/17 bb/so . In his first start, the Cuban right-hander provided a glimpse of why the Mets are so high on him by striking out the 1st six hitters to face him. He struck out 10, walked no one and allowed only one hit through 5 shut out innings. If he continues to mantain that K/BB ratio, not even Al Leiter's veteran leadership will be able to keep Soler from getting a spot in the rotation.

Jim Thome? No problem!

2004-11-08T18:52:00.000-08:00

Last time I wrote an endorsment for the liberation of Blake McGinley because I feared that the Mets might not realize what they have in him. Well, it turns out I, as usual, was wrong. Kevin Morgan, one of Minaya's assistants and the Mets' minor league director, has noticed and has nothing but praise for the southpaw. He tells Marty Noble on the 11/4 Baseball America write-up:

"He's not overpowering, but he has above-average command," Morgan said. "His curveball is his best pitch, particularly against lefthanded hitters. He throws a changeup and a fastball and mixes them intelligently. And we like what he's shown us lately."

Given that his best pitch is a curveball which gives left-handed fits, you'd expect McGinley to be some sort of left-handed specialist. After all, bullpen specialization has become a fashionable trend, as more teams have become aware of the platoon differential and constructed their bullpens around potential late-game matchups. While tedious to the average fan, this strategy does have its merits. However, one of the problems with exploiting such game plan is that there are only so many roster spots and having a LOOGY usually is taxing to a bullpen. Ideally, when looking for a left-handed specialist, you want one who is death against LHB but good enough against righties that you don't have to take them out after one or two batters. So, is McGinley one of those guys?

"He's still learning," minor league director Kevin Morgan said. "We don't want to limit his experience. We know he handles lefties. The more righthanded hitters he faces, the better he'll be against them."

Oh did I mention that he usually goes 2+ innings? Yep, the guy can pitch. It'd be in the Mets' best interest to give this guy 50-70 innings next year and groom him to become Mike "Game Over" Stanton's successor. Not only will he be better, he'll also be cheaper too. Free Blake McGinley!

Free Blake McGinley!

2004-11-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

As you might already know, after 14 seasons with the club, John Franco will no longer pitch for the Mets.

The Mets told me I’m not in their plans on the field, and that’s fine. Sometimes you have to move on.... It’s been 15 years, and who knows, maybe later on I’ll come back again.

Not bringing Franco back was a no-brainer so I'm not willing to give the Minaya clan any credit for that. However, if they are able to resist going the "proven veteran" route, and instead give a youngster a chance to at least compete for the job, all might not be lost. Instead of foolishly wasting money on someone like Steve Kline, I want the Mets to give Blake McGinley a chance.

Blake McGinley

1.46 era 12.1 ip 3/16 bb/so 0 hr [winter leagues]
4.05 era 26.2 ip 7/28 bb/so 1 hr [AAA]
3.72 era 72.2 ip 15/83 bb/so 9 hr [AA]
1.02 era 79.1 ip 20/83 bb/so 0 hr [A+]

Although his ERA has been climbing up, the thing to look for are his peripherals [K/9, BB/9 and K/BB] which prety much have remained constant. With a very healthy K/9, you would expect Blake to throw some serious gas, right? Well, wrong. Here is what JJ Cooper of Baseball America said about him when 3AM asked about him:

To quote someone I asked about McGinley "He may NP his way all the way to the big leagues." It's impossible to explain McGinley's success, as he has fringy stuff, no trick pitch and not even a particularly deceptive delivery, but something's working very well. You can't deny that K:BB ratio, so he gets a chance next year to prove he can do it against Double-A hitters.
http://www.baseballamerica.com/chat/112103metschat.html

To me, there is nothing worse than watching a pitcher, especially a reliever, nibble around the strikezone. I have always believed that pitchers who have the ability to get ahead and stay ahead of hitters have an advantage. I believe Blake McGinley is one of those pitchers. Whether Blake McGinley is on the opening day roster next year or not should go a long way towards clarifying what direction the Minaya Mets are taking.

voila

2004-11-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

Given the lack of Met blogs [ha] and my complete apathy for accounting, I've decided to create a blog of my own.