Letters to the NL East, part 2

Letters to the NL East, Part 2 of 5

Dear Lastings Milledge, Paul Lo Duca, and the Washington Nationals,

Ooo, A shiny new ballpark! Now lets see if you can use the revenue that usually comes along with a new ballpark and an increase in attendance to keep it filled for years to come. On paper you look like you might be a little better than last year, improving slowly. Someone has to fill out the bottom of the division, but luckily It looks like you’ll easily be able to stay ahead of the Marlins in that regard.

Milledge and Lo Duca, we get it, you don’t like how you were treated or the opportunities you were given or not given in New York. Unfortunately, that’s life in New York and baseball. Talk all you want in spring, but the season is starting now and it’s time for you to stop worrying about New York and start worrying about Washington. Turns out, I actually wanted both of you to stay on the team, but you both had to open your mouths enough to piss off the powers that be, which only hurt the possibility of you sticking around. Now that you’re in the political correctness capital of the country, no one’s watching you guys to see if you’re saying the right things.

Your Former Fan,

Optimistic Mets Fan

Today’s resignings

I have no problem with resigning Alou. In fact I wanted someone like him for next year. I want Alou, Beltran, and Milledge opening day. I wonder if this move was made with the thought of trading Gomez, but if not, Gomez(and Endy) can get a fair amount of left field time in when Alou is out.

I’ve never been a big fan of Easley, and while he had some moments last year, i’m not sure where he fits with this team. Unless they’re thinking of trading Gotay, this puts us in exactly the situation as last year with an overload at second base. Unless they’re thinking Easley off the bench, a job that he’ll hopefully play second-fiddle to Marlon Anderson. Does this effect the possibility of resigning Castillo? I hope not. (or the possibility of the A-Rod, Wright to second stuff?)

Good to see the Mets start making some news. The 2007 is officially over, and it’s time to forget that, and focus on the future and stop letting the Yankees take all of the attention.

Ceetar’s Ready To Watch the Mets Again

When the Mets start there game tonight after the break, Rickey Henderson will be the new hitting coach. I like Rickey, despite all his baggage. I thought Rick Down was a good coach, but I’m not going to be upset over the switch of someone I almost never see save for an occasionally spot with the SNY guys.

I think this can only be good. Rick Down certainly wasn’t the reason the Mets hit last year, they hit because they are good players. There’s always more Reyes can learn about base stealing from Rickey, and I’m sure so can Beltran and Wright. It’s just a shame Gomez is injured and will have to wait for those lessons. Rickey is also a superb hitter, and at the very least I’m sure he can lend some insight to some of the struggling bats.

I think the Mets are going to start hitting again anyway, but this move will basically give Rickey the credit. In general the Mets have had a rather lackluster first half. It had it’s moments, but it certainly wasn’t great. Now is the time to push towards the playoffs, get some distance in the division, rediscover that offensive stroke and fine tune the team. Pedro looks like he’ll be back, Alou supposedly will be back. Endy will be back. Maybe the Mets make some changes here and there, bench and bullpen and get better. They’re only looking at a pace to win about 91 games, but I think they’ll have a good enough second half to win at least 95.

Lastings Milledge will by all accounts be back with the Mets, hopefully over Ledee, tonight. It’s been almost a year since he’s had any real major league experience, and I expect that this time he’ll have more success. I kind of like the guy, he’s got some personality and excitement.

The Home Run Derby and All-Star Game are fun in their own ways, but I’m looking forward to the Mets again tonight. I’ll be at Shea for my 18th and 19th baseball games of the season tomorrow and Saturday for Endy Chavez bobble head night and Ralph Kiner night.

Continuing to Roll

I strongly feel that John Maine got snubbed, but I’m not surprised. He suffered because Billy Wagner deserves to be there too, is a bigger name, and was the 4th Met selected. I feel bad for Kevin Youkilis too, who certainly deserved to be there. I really feel baseball should attempt to honor guys like this, who would go to the game excited, and not guys like Manny Ramirez, who will go reluctantly, if at all. To make the All-Star game more meaningful, fill it with players that want to be there. We don’t necessarily need guys playing all out, colliding with catchers and getting into fights, but these young guys that want to be there will play hard, and enjoy playing. That’s what would make it watchable.

The Mets dropped the finale, missing out on sweeping the Phillies. It doesn’t matter, they had a bit of a sloppy day and left the Phillies with a little bit of hope. It’s misguided hope, as the Mets now have won eight of their last 10, and now hold a five game, six losses, lead over the Phillies. The Braves are four games back and five losses. I’d be happy with picking up one more game on each before the All-Star break. Colorado has been playing badly since sweeping the Yankees, and while they’re due to start winning some, the Mets can take two out of three easily, even with Vargas pitching one of the games.

Mike Pelfrey looked good, I’ve thought he looked good all year long, just not quite ready. He looked more ready this time, if not quite there. I feel like one of these days he’s suddenly going to develop some confidence, make a small adjustment with his pitching, and suddenly will start winning. I’d like him to start throwing more innings, but even three runs in five innings at a ballpark like that keeps the team in the game. Maybe if he keeps pitching like that, the offense will feel last pressured to score nine runs to win for him, relax a bit and just start hitting, and making plays behind him defensively.

I don’t know what’s up with Oliver Perez. We all know he’s pretty much a head case, and when he’s made such good progress this year I’m not sure I want him pitching injured either. We’ve in a good situation right now, with a good lead. If he’s really hurting, we could DL him retroactively, he’d be eligible to come off by the games after the break, and we could get some help up here in the meantime.

Carlos Gomez has picked up a bit of a reputation as a hot dog, which is why Joe Smith asked Carlos Beltran how to say “hot dog” in Spanish. “Perro caliente,” Beltran replied. Gomez seemed to like the new nickname. I like it too.

Speaking of the All-Star break, I hope Ricky Ledee doesn’t see the other side of it. Lastings Milledge has starting playing rehab games, and I see no reason why he shouldn’t be with the team by then. Whether to try to contribute, or to showcase to be traded. Willie seems to be alternating Ledee and Gomez anyway, and I don’t know anyone that looks forward to seeing Ledee’s mangled picture up on the scoreboard.

11.11% into the season, and the Mets are on top

Apr 24, 2007 11:42 AM

The Mets are 12-6 after 18 games. They’re in first place. They’ve nearly got the best record in baseball. This sounds a lot like 2006, despite the miniscule half game lead. John Maine’s surprising with his good pitching, Heilman’s struggling in some spots, people are wonder when and if Lastings Milledge will be the everyday outfielder, and plenty of so-called experts are trumping up the Braves as one of the teams to beat to win the division.

I do worry about the range of the corner outfielders, but they’re both hitting very well. If Milledge was slotted in, we’d almost have to trade one of them, and who knows what we could get. I trust Omar Minaya, and I wonder if he’s shopping Milledge around at all. They can’t keep implying that next year Milledge will be the starting outfielder forever. Personally I’d rather have kept Cliff Floyd around than Alou if we weren’t going to play Milledge. There are other outfield prospects in the Mets system that they’re proud of, and it might be beneficial to get something out of Milledge now while his value’s still high off his torrid spring ; he’s not doing so bad in New Orleans either.

On the other hand, Jorge Sosa, Jason Vargas and Philip Humber are all doing pretty good down there too, and especially coupled with how the Mets starters are doing I’m not even sure where the biggest weakness is yet. Rather than trading someone now for someone that may or may not be a key for later, It’s probably a better bet to see what doesn’t hold up for the whole season and fix it then.

I still hear a lot of negativity from Mets fans, and with a winning percentage of .667 there is really little more you could hope for. Delgado and Wright have one home run between them in the middle of the order and they’re still winning. With the exception of one cold start, Oliver Perez has looked good since game 7 last year and Maine is more then we could’ve hoped for. There are three guys with good era’s waiting in the wings and the excitement when Pedro returns, even if it’s three months from now, is going to be great. I expect to be seeing a World Series game in person this year.

Bad Spring doesn’t mean Bad Season

Mar 28, 2007 05:11 PM

Just a couple of more days until the season starts, and the Mets still seem to have plenty to figure out after they tied the club record for most losses in spring training today. Duaner Sanchez is sidelined for at least a couple of months and after what amounts to about a year off, will he even be as good as he was at the beginning of last year? Will Heilman still be able to be good this year with his starting ambitions and his tendonitis? How long does Shawn Green get before he gets benched for Milledge, and is Milledge ready to be a major-league contributor? What about Jose Valentine and second base? Can Anderson Hernandez learn to hit major league pitching well enough to take his job if he struggles? The starting rotation is either old or mostly untested, which leaves one question. Is this going to keep the Mets from getting to the World Series, where both the organization and fans expect them to be?

I believe that it won’t keep them from it. Spring training games mean nothing, and the players know this. The beginning of the season is full of motivating to get pumped and get into the game. First they open the season by watching the Cardinals ceremony, reminding them of their failure last year, and I’m sure the reporters there that day won’t be hesitant to ask them about it. The next series, on Friday, is Atlanta’s home opener. While none of the current Mets really have connections to the Mets struggles at Turner Field and with the Braves, they’re still a division rival who wants their title as Champions of the East back. If that wasn’t enough they come home Monday to play the home opener in front of 55 thousand fans whose last glimpse of the Mets was watching Wainwright’s pitch go past Beltran for strike three. They open against the Phillies who many people have picked to win the division this year, Shortstop Jimmy Rollins included.

The Mets have enough offense to get some runs produced, plenty of speed, and good defense in most positions. While everyone points to the Mets rotation as the weak point of the team, they do it from a pessimistic standpoint. Who’s to say John Maine, Oliver Perez, and Mike Pelfrey aren’t going to be good this year? These statements aren’t made out of recent history, as there is very little of it, and most of it’s good. John Maine and Perez pitched well last year, and came through when they were needed in the playoffs. Despite being decimated by injuries, it wasn’t the Mets starting pitching that kept them from the World Series last year.

There were many candidates for the 5th starting spot in spring, and while most of them didn’t pitch so well, it is only spring. Pelfrey will get his shot by mid-April and if he doesn’t succeed, chances are one of these other guys has been pitching well in New Orleans and can come up and pitch.

Omar Minaya shouldn’t be forgotten either. It’s perfectly legitimate to expect that he could make some moves and bring in help where it’s needed mid-season. However, without having to even do anything, the Mets will bring in a top, Hall of Fame destined pitcher around the trade deadline in Pedro Martinez. Is anyone else involved in a playoff run at the time going to be able to do as much to improve the rotation?