The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: August 9
The Good
There isn’t much that I’d define as “good,” but how about we go with “encouraging” instead? Let’s apply that to the fact that General Manager Omar Minaya has decided to infuse a touch of youth onto the roster. I don’t know if there’s anybody who doesn’t like Alex Cora, but we all know he wasn’t going to start the amount of games necessary for his vesting option to kick in, and he wasn’t very effective anyway. Jesus Feliciano is a guy who I’ve never seen swing so hard to hit a ball 6 feet in front of him. The Mets welcomed Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez back to the Majors, and Luis Castillo has been delegated to a bench role. Is this the answer? No. But it is encouraging that some young guys are here to play.
The Bad
Can anybody answer what the hell’s going on with Mike Pelfrey? Anybody? 
Bueller? I remember how, after a month of a half into the season, Small Pelf was a part of early Cy Young and All-Star game discussions. Any discussion concerning Pelfrey now pretty much always starts with “I don’t know…” Why? He’s a guy with all the talent in the world, and clearly has the ability to be an extremely effective pitcher. His fall from grace this year has been nothing short of alarming, and if the Mets are going to at the very least make the last two months of the season remotely interesting, they need him to return to form.
Other problems with the team pretty much all concern the heart of the order. I’m talking about Carlos Beltran, David Wright, and Ike Davis. This trio are 11-62 over the last week, with Ike responsible for 6 of those hits. Together, they have 3 RBI. If you’re head didn’t just completely explode, and I hope it hasn’t, you’re probably thinking that that is completely unacceptable. Because it is.
The Ugly
Jose Reyes has been absolutely brutal with the glove - and more confusingly, his arm - last week. The only thing that’s worse than Reyes making an error is the fact that it seems as if it always leads to at least a run, and usually more.
Someone needs to teach Jerry Manuel how to use a bullpen. After walking Chipper Jones in the Mike Pelfrey game, why he was left in to pitch to Brian McCann, who already had 2 hits on the day, is beyond me. How about leaving him in long enough to hit a batter with the bases loaded to force in a run? The only thing I’ve been able to say whenever the manager makes a mistake like that is: “Oh, Jerry.”
Then, there’s this:
Seven Players Total Over $100 Million In 2011
Looking ahead to the offseason, I have totaled up the numbers of the contracts for players that are on the books for next season. The most interesting part of it is the fact that it only takes seven players for the Mets to exceed the $100 million mark.
Johan Santana: $22.5 million
Carlos Beltran: $18.5 million
Jason Bay: $16 million
David Wright: $14 million
Oliver Perez: $12 million
Francisco Rodriguez: $11.5 million
Luis Castillo: $6 million
The Mets total payroll for 2010 was only about $126 million!
Not only is this a starting point for the offseason, but the Mets still have to figure out what to do with four key players in Jose Reyes ($11 million club option, $500,000 buyout), Pedro Feliciano (FA), Angel Pagan (Arb. Eligible), and Mike Pelfrey (Arb. Eligible).
Whether it be Omar Minaya or a new general manager, they are going to have the huge task of finding ways to remove some of these high-priced veteran players that should not be on the team (Perez, Castillo, etc).
The Mets can choose to non-tender Jeff Francoeur, as he earned $5 million in 2010 in arbitration and will again be arbitration eligible this year. John Maine’s $3.3 million will almost certainly be off the books next season as well. The Mets also still owe $1 million to Gary Matthews Jr. in 2011.
It’s quite simple. The Mets have their work cut out for them this offseason. Fans are demanding changes and something will need to be done.
If GM Omar Minaya had shown restraint in his other salary commitments — say, not giving Luis Castillo four years and $25 million or Oliver Perez three years and $36 million or guaranteeing seven years to Carlos Beltran — he likely would have had the flexibility to pull off an Oswalt-type trade now. It’s far more about no discipline than no money.
Its Finally Here, Baseball is Back
Today marks the start of the 2010 Spring Training season for the New York Mets. At 12 noon SNY will begin their coverage of the Mets first spring training game vs. the Atlanta Braves from Port St. Lucie, and at 1:10 pm, what seemed liked an eternity will have finally arrived, baseball season.
Today’s lineup, as per AdamRubin of the Daily News, will be as follows:
- Gary Mathews Jr-CF
- Luis Castillo-2b
- Jose Reyes- ss
- David Wright-3b
- Jason Bay-LF
- Mike Jacobs-DH
- Jeff Francoeur-RF
- Ike Davis-1b
- Chris Coste-c
Nelson Figueroa will start the game.
For today, the disaster of 2009 will be a distant memory. We will forget about the Carlos Beltran fiasco, or the JJ Putz interview. The criticism of the Mets off season moves or lack thereof, will be behind us. Articles about who should have been signed, posts of who were signed and what their impact may be, for today, will be set aside. As today, it will be about baseball, the game itself and the team we love.
So today, no matter what your expectations for the upcoming season are, just sit back and enjoy America’s favorite past time, the start of a new season, and the mark of a new beginning for the team you love to root for, The New York Mets.
The great Rogers Hornsby once said:
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring”
Its been a long winter but today, baseball is back.
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