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Letters to the NL East, part 3

Letters to the NL East, Part 3 of 5

Dear Atlanta Braves,

I know Omar has a problem with not trusting young guys, the recent Gotay/Tatis situation shows that, but in Atlanta the problem is probably the crux of the season. Your rotation is old. Glavine was very hit or miss last year, and we all know which side of the fence he was on on the last day of the season. He’s not going to get better, or healthier. The same thing could be said about Smoltz, who while slightly younger, is still old. He also is already having health issues at the beginning of this season, and while he says he feels good and is on track to start April 6th, how will he feel on August 6th? You traded your young catcher for Teixeira at first, who might not even play 200 games for the team. Hudson is 33 this year, and probably your most reliable starter, Hampton is going to be 36 and he can’t stay healthy as it is.

Granted, you do have some young players, particularly position players, but we all know it’s pitching that wins. You don’t have Leo Mazzone as a pitching coach anymore, and your rotation is a mixture of age and brittleness. It won’t last all season, and you’re going to find too many games pitched by 6th, 7th and 8th starters. On top of that, many of these guys aren’t going to be able to make it deep in games, which is going to stress and tire a bullpen that isn’t that great.

You’ll have some good stretches where things are clicking, pitchers are healthy, and everything is coming up roses. However, by the end of the season the biggest thing you’ll be striving for is if you can beat out Philadelphia for second place.

Your longtime enemy,

Optimistic Mets Fan

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I Trust Omar Minaya

“To me, it’s about quality. It’s not so much getting a guy. We will not be afraid to give our young kids a chance to pitch instead of going out there and paying a lot of money for a guy who gives a lot of innings – but they’re not quality innings. There’s a lot of demand for those guys. I’ve gotten a lot of hits on our young guys.”

This quote from Omar Minaya means a lot to me. Despite some issues I’ve had with him and some of his decisions, I’m actually pretty comfortable with him as a GM. I’m not afraid of starting the season the way the Mets are now. Pedro, El Duque, Maine, Perez, Pelfrey is fine to me. I think Pelfrey continued to grow last season, and his September was good. I think he’s a good player with confidence being one of his bigger issues last year. Maine, in my opinion, is excellent, and I’d actually lean towards him as being the 2nd starter, as little as those designations really mean anything. It’s not even so much talent, as it is that El Duque’s not going to pitch 33 starts next year, he never does. Maine could, so it makes sense to designate more starts to him before the season, as he’s more likely to meet the expectations.

Billy Wagner, among others, questions the replacement of Tom “I wouldn’t call it devasting” Glavine’s win total from last year. Number one, I don’t think Glavine is the one that’s going to match that total anyway, and number two, I think Pedro is capable of that. Even being babied, he showed me a lot last year near the end of the season, and I really feel he has a lot left. If I could put money on Pedro having a better season than Glavine, I would.

So do we need that Livan Hernandez type guy, who would be able to pitch a good amount of innings to relieve our bullpen? I still think so, but I’m not sold on overpaying these guys either. I think it can be done with what we have.

On another note of confidence in Omar Minaya, has anyone noticed how many second-hand pitchers he’s signed? He’s gotten a bunch of guys who have fallen out of favor, for almost nothing. Maybe we find that diamond in the rough with one of them, or maybe one of them really gels with how Peterson teaches. If not, it’s so easy to cut them loose, you may not even remember they were Mets.

Still over two months until spring training…

P.S. Would it kill the Mets to actually market and make John Maine and Oliver Perez Jersey’s? I want a Maine Jersey, but it requires actually getting a custom one made with 33 and Maine on the back, unless someone has seen one somewhere? I certainly haven’t.

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Faith on the Subway

I think the Mets are a better team than the Yankees, and despite the past two weeks, I think the Mets are going to win this series. I’ll give some reasons for each game, I’m not panicking, and I don’t think the Mets are either.

Game 1: Perez vs. Clemens
Oliver Perez has really pitched well here in New York. He’s pitched some of the biggest games and done well. Game 7 last year, the three wins against Atlanta, and he beat the Yankees at Shea. He lost his last start and he hasn’t had two bad outings like that all season. I expect him to bounce back strong tonight.

Obviously the offense is the problem, but I think they can wake up tonight. Clemens threw well over 100 pitches just getting through six innings against Pittsburgh, and the Mets offense is a lot scarier than that. If the Mets work counts, and let Clemens throw as many pitches as he did in his last start, he won’t make it six. Even if the Mets don’t capitalize on him, that leaves a good stretch of iffy Yankee bullpen to beat up on. Nothing wakes up bats like Scott Proctor and Kyle Farnsworth.

Game 2: Clippard vs. Glavine
Would you believe people are actually saying that this match-up favors the Yankees? Seriously? Tom Glavine is miles ahead of Tyler Clippard, and after his poor start in Detroit, you know he’s going to come back strong. The Mets often struggle against new guys, but Clippard is no longer new, they’ve seen him before, and they’re going to be ready for him. This will be another early to the bullpen day for the Yankees.

Game 3: Hernandez vs. Wang
I feel like this match-up may favor the Yankees a bit, but Hernandez is a fierce competitor, facing his old team, coming off a bad start, and has pitched very very well recently besides that. The Mets have apparently never seen Wang, but he’s been around enough that I don’t think they’re going to fall prey to him the way they would’ve if this was his first year. At the very least I think the Mets will compete, and he won’t pitch a complete game like he did recently. The Yankee bullpen could be tired by this point if my other two games went as planned, so even if he does pitch well, the Mets have a chance to put their foot down on a tiring bullpen.

The Mets are done with their slump. They’re going to win these games, because they need to start winning games. Everybody needs to have some Faith in this team. It was 24 years ago today that the Mets started putting together the ’86 puzzle by acquiring Keith Hernandez. I wonder if Gary will remember that and mention it to him tonight.