I'm not saying Mike Pelfrey is stupid, but when the going gets tough Mike Pelfrey becomes a mental midget.
If you look at Pelfrey and just watch him pitch in warm ups, he looks like a major league pitcher. I'm sure the Mets scouts saw it as well. Throws in the mid-90's. Has a good sinker. Produces ground balls.
But the problem with the Mets scouting system is that they fail to look at mental toughness as being an essential part of a New York ballplayer. In no other market is that trait more important than in New York where the media is ready to love you one minute and pound you the next.
Mike Pelfrey may have been the shining star of the Mets pitching prospects, but no one bothered to find out if the kid could handle pressure. It's too late now, but we know he can't.
In seemingly every outing, Pelfrey pitches well up to a certain point and then crumbles when he gets into trouble. It could be 2 outs and 2 strikes on the batter, but if that guy gets a base hit watch the world come crashing down on Big Mike Pelf.
We now have not just one, but two head cases in the starting rotation. The other one's name start with a "P" and ends with an "erez." I'm not sure Pelfrey's problems are fixable. His mechanics are solid. The velocity on his pitches are there. But Pelfrey needs a shrink more than anything else.
How much more time are you willing to give Pelfrey? Sure he's young, but the Mets have wasted many a season in the mid-90's waiting for young pitchers to develop into the stars they thought they would be.
As we mercifully limp into the off season, the Mets should consider mental fortitude just as valuable a commodity as a good fastball. This team has too many weak minds as it is.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Jeff Francoeur is Mr. Met
Everyone is talking about that kid from Atlanta. Turns out it's for good reason.Jeff Francoeur may be the lone bright spot of this lost season, but it's not this season that has me excited about the man with a rocket arm.
Francoeur is a heaven sent gift. The Mets haven't had a reliable arm in right since...think about it...since Strawberry? Oh wait, I forgot about Richard Hidalgo...right. Francoeur won't be the power bat and potential MVP candidate that Straw was but he's the first legitimate right fielder the Mets have had in what seems like the better part of two decades.
Defense is a weakness for this ballclub and Frenchie sures up the outfield providing a stellar tandem with him in right and Beltran in center.
But don't get me wrong, Francoeur is more than just a glove and an arm. The gauty numbers of his rookie campaign may have you questioning Francoeur's ability at the plate, but everything that I've seen makes me believe he's exactly the right fit for this team.
Frenchie is batting .314 since joining the Mets while also driving in 34 runs and scoring another 30. He's gritty. He's hard-nosed. He's intense. And he's not camera shy. Could New York get a better combination in an athlete?
Francoeur will not be the power bat the Mets desperately need. He's not an offensive leader that you will rely on, but he's exactly the type of player the Mets need to fill in their lineup. He'll most likely bat 6th next season, and don't be surprised if the Mets lock him up for a few extra years before the calendar changes.
Sure he swings at bad pitches still and strikes out a lot, but Francoeur may go down in history as the only win the Mets can get in Atlanta.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Two Missed Moves Will Haunt Mets
Hindsight is always 20/20. I realize that. But there are two missed moves that are glaring in the face of every Mets fan and will trouble our minds not just this year, but in the seasons to follow.
The names are familiar: Adam Dunn & Derek Lowe. These two players while not perennial All Stars are the pieces the Mets needed, but opted for other options. I'm not saying that having these guys would have changed the outcome of this season. Injuries played too large a role to salvage any part of 2009. But the mismanagement of not getting these guys will impact the moves that need to be made in this coming off season.
Instead of signing Derek Lowe, the Mets opted for the unlovable, inconsistent head case that is Oliver Perez. The reason being that Perez is much younger than Lowe. So instead of a solid, proven veteran who is a legitimate #2 starter behind Johan Santana, the Mets are now saddled to the $140 million mental patient.
Injuries and his psyche, now make you question whether Perez can be a reliable starter, let alone considered a #2 starter. And one year later the Mets will enter the winter months looking for more starting pitching. They'll be forced to spend even more money potentially on a Jon Lackey or force a trade for a guy like Roy Halladay or Roy Oswalt.
Not that any of those options aren't better than signing Lowe, but there's a chance the Mets might not even have the money or the pieces to get any of these guys. And the Mets will now have spent $140 million on a risky #4 starter and spend another $100 million on a #2. That's just poor money management.
Which brings me to Adam Dunn. The most glaring omission from the Mets lineup is a power bat. We expected to get that from Delgado, Beltran and Wright, but of course injuries and the curious case of David Wright have impacted that situation. But in the cavernous Citi Field, any baseball mind knows that you need a power guy who can just plain mash, which is what Adam Dunn does year in and year out. He's got 40 dingers and can potentially reach 100 RBI this year for the dismal Nats.
The Mets needed a left fielder, but they rolled the dice by going with a selection of tier 2 options that included Murphy, Tatis, eventually Sheffield, Sullivan, Evans and Reed. If the Mets had signed Dunn they would have had an extra power bat and a solid backup to Delgado at first base. Of course Dunn is a liability with the glove, but you can say that about pretty much every Mets player these days. When Delgado went down, Dunn could have slid over to first base or Murphy could have moved from bench player to first baseman rather than dancing around that option for a few months.
But the bigger impact of not signing Dunn is in this off season. Now the Mets will seriously consider signing Delgado for one year even though he hasn't stepped on a playing field for almost an entire season. They may get him cheap, but he's yet again a one year fix and the Mets will shop for a replacement again the following year.
If they don't sign Delgado, the first base free agent crop is cast of B-list players which don't quite fit the bill of what the Mets need. So the Mets may be forced to trade for a player or try and salvage a season with a roll call of backups or making Murphy fit into their first base plans for the future.
Instead the Mets could have had Dunn as their first baseman for the next two seasons and be in a position to sign Adrien Gonzalez or Justin Morneau when they are free agents and Dunn would come off the books.
There is little to be happy about this season when it comes to the Mets. But I hope the torture of this season and the missed moves of the last off season will cause the front office to think, not short term, but long term about the impact their moves have on this team for years to come.
The names are familiar: Adam Dunn & Derek Lowe. These two players while not perennial All Stars are the pieces the Mets needed, but opted for other options. I'm not saying that having these guys would have changed the outcome of this season. Injuries played too large a role to salvage any part of 2009. But the mismanagement of not getting these guys will impact the moves that need to be made in this coming off season.
Instead of signing Derek Lowe, the Mets opted for the unlovable, inconsistent head case that is Oliver Perez. The reason being that Perez is much younger than Lowe. So instead of a solid, proven veteran who is a legitimate #2 starter behind Johan Santana, the Mets are now saddled to the $140 million mental patient.
Injuries and his psyche, now make you question whether Perez can be a reliable starter, let alone considered a #2 starter. And one year later the Mets will enter the winter months looking for more starting pitching. They'll be forced to spend even more money potentially on a Jon Lackey or force a trade for a guy like Roy Halladay or Roy Oswalt.
Not that any of those options aren't better than signing Lowe, but there's a chance the Mets might not even have the money or the pieces to get any of these guys. And the Mets will now have spent $140 million on a risky #4 starter and spend another $100 million on a #2. That's just poor money management.
Which brings me to Adam Dunn. The most glaring omission from the Mets lineup is a power bat. We expected to get that from Delgado, Beltran and Wright, but of course injuries and the curious case of David Wright have impacted that situation. But in the cavernous Citi Field, any baseball mind knows that you need a power guy who can just plain mash, which is what Adam Dunn does year in and year out. He's got 40 dingers and can potentially reach 100 RBI this year for the dismal Nats.
The Mets needed a left fielder, but they rolled the dice by going with a selection of tier 2 options that included Murphy, Tatis, eventually Sheffield, Sullivan, Evans and Reed. If the Mets had signed Dunn they would have had an extra power bat and a solid backup to Delgado at first base. Of course Dunn is a liability with the glove, but you can say that about pretty much every Mets player these days. When Delgado went down, Dunn could have slid over to first base or Murphy could have moved from bench player to first baseman rather than dancing around that option for a few months.
But the bigger impact of not signing Dunn is in this off season. Now the Mets will seriously consider signing Delgado for one year even though he hasn't stepped on a playing field for almost an entire season. They may get him cheap, but he's yet again a one year fix and the Mets will shop for a replacement again the following year.
If they don't sign Delgado, the first base free agent crop is cast of B-list players which don't quite fit the bill of what the Mets need. So the Mets may be forced to trade for a player or try and salvage a season with a roll call of backups or making Murphy fit into their first base plans for the future.
Instead the Mets could have had Dunn as their first baseman for the next two seasons and be in a position to sign Adrien Gonzalez or Justin Morneau when they are free agents and Dunn would come off the books.
There is little to be happy about this season when it comes to the Mets. But I hope the torture of this season and the missed moves of the last off season will cause the front office to think, not short term, but long term about the impact their moves have on this team for years to come.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Mangled Mets Baseball Cards
Warning, the cards are not for the squeamish, but I have to say the effort put into this is A+. My personal favorite is Jonathan Niese's card.
In any case, check it out at More Hardball.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Are You Still Watching the Mets?
Unfortunately I am. I'm a baseball junkie and there's just something about the Mets playing that I can't turn away from.
It's torturous. It's appalling. It's downright painful. But yet I watch.
Hence the name of this blog is Mets Lifer. It's both a badge and a sentence. Through suffering and joy, I'm there watching. Now I will admit that I do turn away from the game from time to time, but I'm still checking the score on my iTouch or Blackberry.
It's a serious addiction, I know. But the needle is in and I'm still wanting more.
That's potentially why I think this is the most painful season yet for the Mets. There was hope for good things to happen, but something inexplicable and unforeseeable has taken that chance away. Even with the collapses the past two years, there were meaningful games in September. There was baseball fever. A pennant race in Queens.
It was starting to become something I expected, but now question marks and disappointments are all on the horizon.
Thankfully football is here, both college & pro, to help feed my sports fix, but the absences of pennant race baseball is a void that cannot be filled.
And so I watch this lackluster lineup and pitiful pitching looking for some nugget of excitement or interest to give me hope for the future. Those moments are few and far between, but it doesn't take much when you're a Mets Lifer.
It's torturous. It's appalling. It's downright painful. But yet I watch.
Hence the name of this blog is Mets Lifer. It's both a badge and a sentence. Through suffering and joy, I'm there watching. Now I will admit that I do turn away from the game from time to time, but I'm still checking the score on my iTouch or Blackberry.
It's a serious addiction, I know. But the needle is in and I'm still wanting more.
That's potentially why I think this is the most painful season yet for the Mets. There was hope for good things to happen, but something inexplicable and unforeseeable has taken that chance away. Even with the collapses the past two years, there were meaningful games in September. There was baseball fever. A pennant race in Queens.
It was starting to become something I expected, but now question marks and disappointments are all on the horizon.
Thankfully football is here, both college & pro, to help feed my sports fix, but the absences of pennant race baseball is a void that cannot be filled.
And so I watch this lackluster lineup and pitiful pitching looking for some nugget of excitement or interest to give me hope for the future. Those moments are few and far between, but it doesn't take much when you're a Mets Lifer.
Monday, September 14, 2009
The Return of Pedro
Pedro Martinez was masterful last night. He threw a ridiculous 130+ pitches and had movement on his changeup and fastball that you haven't seen since 2004.I do think the home plate umpire had a strike zone the size of Minnesota, but even still Pedro was hitting his spots and making the Mets lineup look foolish.
I didn't want the Mets to sign Pedro. I thought he was done. Man was I wrong. In hindsight, the Mets could have signed him to an incentive laden contract that would have been right around the same dollars we paid Tim Redding.
Now the real question is whether Pedro can pitch like this for 6 months or has he become more of a Roger Clemens, second half of the season type of starter. I think the latter is the case, but it was painful to see his masterful stuff against the Mets while being in a Phillies uniform.
If Pedro wins a ring with the Phillies, it will just be more salt in the wounds of Mets fans. I'm buying stock in Morton Salt right now.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
David Wright: Your Home Run King
The power drought has gone on too long, but for one day David Wright found enough juice to make Mets fans forget about the plight of the 2009 season.
David Wright hit...wait for it...2 home runs in one game. Yes folks, David Wright is now tied for the team lead in dingers at 10 thanks to his multi home run effort on Saturday.
But it's not the home run totals that make this such a great story, it's when they came. Wright's bombs came in the 7th when the Mets were down 5 and then the game winning shot came with 2 outs in the top of the 9th. While Brad Lidge was somewhere in Citizens Bank Park in the fetal position, Ryan Madsen was showing just how much he can be like Lidge giving up the game winning blast.
About a month ago, I remarked that Daniel Murphy's walk off double was one of the games to remember for 2009 as it would be the last highlight Mets fans would see for the rest of the season. September 12th has taken its place as it came in such dramatic fashion against a bitter opponent.
Despite all the jubilation of the Mets being able to score 10 runs in the last 3 innings, Mike Pelfrey continues to be pitiful. But today's game is not a time to dwell on the despair that has been the 2009 Mets. For one day, Mets fans could see the David Wright that they have missed and look forward to some hope in 2010 and of course NFL football tomorrow.
David Wright hit...wait for it...2 home runs in one game. Yes folks, David Wright is now tied for the team lead in dingers at 10 thanks to his multi home run effort on Saturday.
But it's not the home run totals that make this such a great story, it's when they came. Wright's bombs came in the 7th when the Mets were down 5 and then the game winning shot came with 2 outs in the top of the 9th. While Brad Lidge was somewhere in Citizens Bank Park in the fetal position, Ryan Madsen was showing just how much he can be like Lidge giving up the game winning blast.
About a month ago, I remarked that Daniel Murphy's walk off double was one of the games to remember for 2009 as it would be the last highlight Mets fans would see for the rest of the season. September 12th has taken its place as it came in such dramatic fashion against a bitter opponent.
Despite all the jubilation of the Mets being able to score 10 runs in the last 3 innings, Mike Pelfrey continues to be pitiful. But today's game is not a time to dwell on the despair that has been the 2009 Mets. For one day, Mets fans could see the David Wright that they have missed and look forward to some hope in 2010 and of course NFL football tomorrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)