A BRIGHT FUTURE

With all the negativity currently surrounding the Mets organization, I felt I needed to highlight a few positives so we can all collectively exhale. Here is a list of things we as fans can really get excited about:

1) The rebirth of Angel Pagan.

2) Jose Reyes is finally healthy again.

3) David Wright has regained his power stroke.

4) Ike Davis has brought stability to a position that has been lacking power and defense since the departure of John Olerud.

5) Jon Niese has emerged as at the very least a bona fide #3 starter.

6) Mike Pelfrey seems to have made some adjustments, and although he hit a rough patch, he looks like he’s putting it together. Either way, he has given us a solid year thus far with an 11-6 record and a solid 3.95 ERA.

7) Josh Thole is developing more and more each day; let’s not forget that he recently made his transition to catcher in 2008. Although he lacks the power of a Victor Martinez at this point in his career, the 23 year old possesses a tremendous ability to handle the stick as his current .323BA suggests. The future is bright for this kid and his gap power plus high on base percentage are a perfect match for CitiField.

8) Ruben Tejada has shown flashes of defensive greatness as a 2nd baseman.

9) Carlos Beltran struggled in his 1st year as a Met and rebounded to be an All-Star the following season and hopefully we can get the same kind of turn-a-round from Jason Bay.

10) Fernando Martinez will be our starting right fielder next year and quite frankly, I’m very excited about seeing him in our everyday lineup for the whole year. His latest resurgence in (AAA) really has flown under the radar, over his last 11 games at Buffalo before his call-up; he was batting .324 with three doubles, three HR and four RBI. Toby Hyde on MetsMinorLeagueBlog does an excellent job discussing how Fernando Martinez might be underrated by comparing him to some big prospects down on the farm.

So, in light of all this, we as Mets fans need to realize that at some point the Sun always shines after a storm! Barring any trades it excites me to know that our 2011 starting lineup could look something like this:

Jose Reyes SS
Angel Pagan RF
David Wright 3B
Carlos Beltran CF
Jason Bay LF
Ike Davis 1B
Josh Thole C
Ruben Tejada 2B

And our starting pitching could look something like this:

Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
Jon Niese
Jenrry Mejia
RA Dickey/Pat Misch

I left out John Maine and Oliver Perez because I am hoping the Mets muster up the courage to just cut ties with them. Regardless, it feels good to know that the majority of our roster will be comprised of quality young players from our farm system. Despite the negativity surrounding this team, I feel they are headed in the right direction as long as they cut bait with the obvious bad apples. There is a popular saying which states that “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch”, well hopefully, Wilpon will subscribe to the American Journal of Botany, and skim to the section discussing this process and cut ties with Ollie P., the clear source of the foul gases infecting the Met bunch.


Nonetheless, our young talent is finally starting to sprout, and even with this plethora of young talent on the Major League level, we’ll still have highly rated prospects down on the farm like Wilmer Flores SS, Brad Holt RHP, Reese Havens 2B/SS, Juan Urbina LHP, Jordany Valdespin 2B/SS, Dillon Gee RHP, Kirk Nieuwenhuis OF and Matt Harvey RHP.

To those long suffering Mets fans out there: YA GOTTA BELIEVE!!!

What Are The Mets Waiting For? Bring Up Carter and Pridie!

Look, I am a frustrated Mets fan who is sick and tired of watching Gary Matthews, Jr. and Frank Catalanotto suck the life out of Met rallies on a daily basis. Why are Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya so stubborn in their relentless pursuit to prove everyone else wrong, to show the critics that they really do have some hidden baseball acumen? How much more do guys like Chris Carter and Jason Pridie have to do in order to merit a call-up? Carter is batting .348, slugging .607 with 4HR’s and 17RBI in the minors. Pridie is batting .294 with 2HR, 13RBI and 7SB’s. What are they waiting for? Please spare me the “we need the defense” argument, it’s not like Matthews and Catalanotto are defensive world beaters. Any bats the Mets can add to their bench would benefit their inconsistent offensive game. The Mets would not lose anything if they just parted ways with both Matthews and Catalanotto, these guys are hurting the team with their .135 and .143 respective batting averages. A move like this might inject a little more youthful energy into this team which is exactly what they need. In Carter and Pridie, you have two players who are hungry to prove they can contribute on the Major League level and have done everything in their power to prove it to the big club. Let's go Minaya, don't let their pleas fall on deaf ears!

Let's Give Murphy A Chance

I am so tired of hearing Mike Francesa on WFAN sports radio in New York, and everyone else for that matter, arguing that you need a power-hitting first baseman, a gold glove first baseman or a combination of both in order to win. Sure, it would be nice to have but it’s not always a prerequisite for success. I would like to provide you with a perspective that makes this clear. The following is a list of first baseman over the last 19 years, who have been on a World Series winning team, had similar production offensively or had numbers which are not far-fetched for Murphy:

Daniel Murphy, 2009, 1B, Mets:
Totals: .266BA, 12HR, 63RBI, 60R

Todd Benzinger/Hal Morris, 1990, 1B, Reds:

Benzinger: .253BA, 5HR, 46RBI, 35R
Morris: .340BA, 7HR, 36RBI, 50R
Totals: .292BA, 12HR, 82RBI, 85R

Kent Hrbeck 1991, 1B, Twins
Totals: .284BA, 20HR, 89RBI, 72R

Jeff Conine 1997, 1B, Marlins
Totals: .242BA, 17HR, 61RBI, 46R

Tino Martinez, 2000, 1B, Yankees
Totals: .258BA, 16HR, 91RBI, 69R

Mark Grace, 2001, 1B, Diamondbacks
Totals: .298BA, 15HR, 78RBI, 66R

Scott Spiezio, 2002, 1B, Angels
Totals: .285BA, 12HR, 82RBI, 80R

Kevin Millar, 2004, 1B Red Sox
Totals: .297BA, 18HR, 74RBI, 74R

The fact is that teams with a Murphy-type offensive player at 1B have won a World Series 7 times over the last 19 years. For all you mathematicians out there that is 37% of the time.

Granted some were slick fielders, like Grace but others weren’t exactly Keith Hernandez either, e.g. Kent Hrbeck, Spiezio. Why is it unrealistic to say that Murphy can develop into a good defensive first baseman? He wouldn’t be the first in history! In fact, he would be one of a long list of converted first baseman that made a good transition defensively, e.g. Albert Pujols, Todd Zeile, Jeff Bagwell to name a few. In fact, I argue, that he really evolved defensively as the 2009 season went along.

To my knowledge, all but two of the first baseman on the above list is either borderline or average defensively. Grace and Martinez were the only ones on this list who were great fielders and only Grace has won the gold gloves. Grace, however, was already past his prime at this point in his career with the Diamondbacks and his offensive output in 2001 didn’t exactly blow Murphy away. You are probably wondering why I included Tino Martinez considering that he was a good power hitting first baseman for most of his career, but for the first two full years of his career he hit 16HR with 66RBI, and 17HR with 60RBI, respectively. In 2000 he hit a robust .258 with 16HR.

Bottom line? Over the last 19 years a team has won a World Series title with a Murphy-type first baseman almost 40 percent of the time. It's a fallacious argument to say that the Mets can't win with Murphy at first base when other teams have power hitting at this position. I can always counter with the following rebuttal: how many teams in the NL have a Wright at 3B, a Reyes at SS, a Bay in LF, Beltran when healthy in CF or even Johan as their Ace in the hole? Not too many. Finally, it sounds like Murphy has worked hard during the off season, which is good news. Let’s not overlook that Murphy made some adjustments at the plate last year and actually had a decent 2nd half with no protection in the lineup. His final 72 games yielded the following line: .282BA, 7HR, 35RBI and 30R.

Hey, I may be all wrong and he may turn out to be a bust this year. But it’s a bit premature to start labeling this guy a bust or to start saying the Mets have no shot with him at first base. It’s a new season so let’s give “The Irish Hammer” a chance to start driving some nails in that Phillies coffin!