2009/2010 Mets. The Jerry is gone version!

With the move, Mets general manager Omar Minaya all but ruled out bringing back Pedro Martinez, a free agent coming off four injury-plagued seasons in New York. Martinez plans to pitch in the World Baseball Classic next month, hoping he can showcase his stuff before picking a big league offer.

"I think we are pretty much set and we're going to go forward with the guys that we have," Minaya said.

Hernandez was 13-11 with a 6.05 ERA in 31 combined starts for Minnesota and Colorado last season, his 13th in the major leagues. The durable right-hander has long been a favorite of Minaya, who traded for Hernandez when he was running the Montreal Expos.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/baseball/mlb/02/14/mets-hernandez.ap/index.html

Livan looked pretty decent in the games I saw him pitch for the Rockies last year, so it looks like there could be 3 or 4 pitchers competing for the last spot. I guess Pedro is the odd man out. There are still some decent free agents still unsigned.

I just noticed the Dodgers are now playing Spring ball in Arizona, as they bolted Florida. It would seem to make more sense for them geographically to be closer to Cali, but that would suck for people in Vero Beach who have been following them for years.

Livan = AAA fodder. 6.05 ERA, always has an awful whip, dropping k's. Stick a fork in him.

I don't know what to think about this

UUUGGGG

Luis Castillo might get a shot at the top of the lineup, perhaps with Carlos Beltran batting second and Reyes No. 3. Reyes could also be handed more leadership responsibilities on defense, such as aligning other infielders and visiting the mound.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9222206/Manuel-considering-drastic-lineup-change-for-Mets?FSO2&ATT=MA

"NJFINSFAN1 wrote:

I don't know what to think about this

UUUGGGG

Luis Castillo might get a shot at the top of the lineup, perhaps with Carlos Beltran batting second and Reyes No. 3. Reyes could also be handed more leadership responsibilities on defense, such as aligning other infielders and visiting the mound.

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9222206/Manuel-considering-drastic-lineup-change-for-Mets?FSO2&ATT=MA

I know exactly how I feel about it and its not suitable for this board. :tantrum::tantrum::tantrum:

Well said by Reyes. I dont know why the Phillies are so concerned with us. But I hope Reyes keeps his swagger. let the Phillies worry more about what he does then winning baseball games. They may have won the division but we did go 11-7 vs them last year.

Reyes was aware of the Phillies' winter chatter, and the story about the newspaper photograph of Shane Victorino celebrating a home run against the Brewers in the NLDS being doctored to make fun of Reyes. Victorino was captured in the picture celebrating his home run with an outstretched hand, like Reyes does. Phillies teammates posted the photo in Victorino's locker, with the number changed to Reyes' seven and Reyes' name written on the back of the jersey.

"I heard that," Reyes said. "I'm not the only one when I hit a home run I pimp."

Reyes noted even Phillies players do it.

He also wondered why Philadelphia seemed so consumed with the Mets.

"We don't worry about Philly. I don't know why they worry so much about the New York Mets," Reyes said. "They're the one who won the World Series."
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/

- For anyone interested or at all optimistic, castillo dropped 17lbs and reported at 193 instead of last years 210.

- Per Adam Rubin (NY daily News Blog): Omar Minaya said he plans for Valentin to be a player-coach at Triple-A Buffalo, but Valentin said: "Right now I'm still a player and my goal is to make the team."

Still, Valentin does have aspirations of being a big-league manager. He figures he'll be strictly running, not playing for, his winter-ball team next year.

"I might next year start managing and let someone else play," Valentin said.

By the way, we need a way to auto-sub Pornstache everywhere Valentin appears. :)

- Beltran offers a (playful) warning shot: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2009/02/17/2009-02-17_carlos_beltran_offers_warning_shot_to_co.html

On a serious note: Hes healthy, hes finally comfortable in NY I think, he hit the biggest homer of his Mets career in the final game vs the Marlins. I think hes going to have an MVP caliber season. I could see a repeat of 2006 for him; something along the lines of 285/38/115/30 steals.

The Phillies are so concerned with the Mets because they are scared.

"Higgi wrote:

The Phillies are so concerned with the Mets because they are scared.

Nahhh, we're just the World Fricking Champions!!!! :yes:

"Roman529 wrote:

Nahhh, we're just the World Fricking Champions!!!! :yes:

Hey, I didnt realize that Jroll was so short... or that the other Phillies were that tall. Oh, can you remove that sig, well at least in this thread?

EDIT: I thought it was a sig, but alas it is a picture... stupid of me. Regardless, it is a horrible picture. :tongue2:

You guys gonna be checking out the new stadium this year? I've been looking into getting tickets for both Mets and Yankees games. I kind of think they'll be hard to come by though.

"Rocky Raccoon wrote:

You guys gonna be checking out the new stadium this year? I've been looking into getting tickets for both Mets and Yankees games. I kind of think they'll be hard to come by though.

As far as I know both franchises werent even looking to do 7 game plans like the Mets are and ended up having to because of the economy. I know for the Mets there is still very good season ticket seating available; I just cant commit to it because I work a lot of nights and weekends.

I also know the Yanks still have season tickets still available and smaller plans as well because I heard Mike Francesa mention it the other day.

I know I want to get to at least 3-4 games in each park, probably more for the Mets. Its just too early to plan at this time. I just know I want to get to one Met-NYY game in citi and I want at least 1 NYY-Bos game in Yankee Stadium. :up:

Hey while we are speaking of Jose Reyes, I gotta share something with all you Met's fans. :tongue2:

Some decades from now, Jose Reyes passes away, and St. Peter is showing him where he's going to live in heaven. It's this beautiful mansion with a spacious lawn, all the amenities, and Met's pennants waving from several flagpoles. Reyes is ecstatic until he looks across the street and sees an even bigger mansion, with more amenities, and more flagpoles, all with Phillies pennants waving from them.

Reyes dejectedly says to St. Peter, "How come Rollins gets a bigger house than me?"

St. Peter looks across the street and says, "That house? That's not Jimmy's. That's God's house!" :lol:

"Roman529 wrote:

Hey while we are speaking of Jose Reyes, I gotta share something with all you Met's fans. :tongue2:

Some decades from now, Jose Reyes passes away, and St. Peter is showing him where he's going to live in heaven. It's this beautiful mansion with a spacious lawn, all the amenities, and Met's pennants waving from several flagpoles. Reyes is ecstatic until he looks across the street and sees an even bigger mansion, with more amenities, and more flagpoles, all with Phillies pennants waving from them.

Reyes dejectedly says to St. Peter, "How come Rollins gets a bigger house than me?"

St. Peter looks across the street and says, "That house? That's not Jimmy's. That's God's house!" :lol:

Jose is an atheist...:glare:

"Roman529 wrote:

Hey while we are speaking of Jose Reyes, I gotta share something with all you Met's fans. :tongue2:

Some decades from now, Jose Reyes passes away, and St. Peter is showing him where he's going to live in heaven. It's this beautiful mansion with a spacious lawn, all the amenities, and Met's pennants waving from several flagpoles. Reyes is ecstatic until he looks across the street and sees an even bigger mansion, with more amenities, and more flagpoles, all with Phillies pennants waving from them.

Reyes dejectedly says to St. Peter, "How come Rollins gets a bigger house than me?"

St. Peter looks across the street and says, "That house? That's not Jimmy's. That's God's house!" :lol:

Booooo! Where's that neg rep button :tongue2:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9253742/A%27s-can-likely-offer-Garciaparra-more-at-bats?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=3498

Minaya speaks volumes about Murphy; lets hope he is right because both O'Neill and Youkilis are/were players everyone hated playing against. This team needs that type of grit. By the bottom of the article Putz had a nice snipet about his new teammates:

Mets manager Jerry Manuel proclaimed Daniel Murphy his regular left fielder Sunday, yet Manuel isn't the only team official enamored with the former 13th-round pick, who has appeared in just 49 major-league games.

One Mets official says left fielder Daniel Murphy could be "our O'Neill," referring, of course, to former Yankees outfielder Paul O'Neill, who was known for his grit and hitting ability.

Mets general manager Omar Minaya, saying Murphy is less athletic than O'Neill was, prefers another comparision — Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis.

"He gives you good at-bats, tough at-bats," Minaya says of Murphy. "He's just a grinder — a blue-collar grinder."

Minaya projects Murphy as a potential .300 hitter who will hit between 15 and 20 home runs per season.

And Hamels just wants to keep talking. Damn, I cant wait til the games start. We have some serious ownage to do of the worst world series team in history. 7-11 vs the Mets is going to look pretty damn good compared to what I hope the Mets do to Philly this year! :

http://blogs.nypost.com/sports/mets/..._mets_are.html

Quote:
Phillies ace Cole Hamels just can't seem to quit talking about the Mets, judging from yet another interview he gave to Philadelphia station WIP last week.

On why the Mets are thought of as "chokers":

"The word choke means you weren't able to fully come through when you were supposed to," Hamels said. "I think the Mets had the top teams, they pretty much had the championships in the bag and they weren't able to come through. A lot of guys will perceive them as choking in the end and not fulfilling their end of the bargain because they should have taken it. You know what? It really does show the strength and hard work and I guess the deep down guts that we have to take it away from them."

The WIP host then told Hamels that he thought WFAN put words in his mouth with the whole "Mets are choke artists" controversy, and Hamels agreed.

"I wouldn't have thought of it myself," he said. "I like to do most of my playing out on the field and I don't need to be mentioned in the media or trying to attack someone because that's not the person I am. I'll attack you when I'm out on the mound."

Redding has toe problems

Ut ohhhhh....not good for the Mets. :shifty:

http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090223/SPORTS0101/902230332/-1/COLUMNS

I read this in the Star-Ledger this morning, when you buy Phillies tickets the ticket itself will have a Phillies player on it, except for the tickets against the Mets, those will have the WS trophy on it.

And the obsession continues....

Johan Santana was scratched from his Friday start with soreness in his elbow.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090226&content_id=3885708&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

"Roman529 wrote:

Johan Santana was scratched from his Friday start with soreness in his elbow.

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090226&content_id=3885708&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb

They said on the radio it was normal soreness in his knee? He was only being pushed back a few days.

Its early, but Luis C batting first and Reyes 3rd is doing some damage. Reyes hit two blasts today, but I'm just worried he will start swinging for the fences all the time.

"NJFINSFAN1 wrote:

They said on the radio it was normal soreness in his knee? He was only being pushed back a few days.

Elbow according to this:
Johan Santana was scratched from his planned outing in Friday's exhibition due to some elbow stiffness.
Santana said he experiences tightness in the elbow annually. He thinks it might have happened now because he's been throwing more than usual in an effort to show the Mets that his surgically repaired knee is sound. He'll likely throw a bullpen Sunday and start a game in the middle of next week. Feb. 26 - 1:53 pm et
Source: New York Daily News

"NJFINSFAN1 wrote:

Its early, but Luis C batting first and Reyes 3rd is doing some damage. Reyes hit two blasts today, but I'm just worried he will start swinging for the fences all the time.

Slappy looks good early on, maybe its the weight-loss. He has to keep it up so we can get rid of that albatross contract.

The reyes part concerns me as well.

Also for anyone interested go to wfan.com and you can here the interviews Fatty did with Dan Murphy, King Fernando, Ollie and Church

The snippet I loved:
he asked ollie if he was playing in the WBC, ollie says "yes of course its an honor to me to play for my country." Fatty says "Ok so you are playing in it" and ollie just says Ok papi, thank you...hahaha it was hilarious, there was like a five second pause after that

Santana's arm raises doubts for opener

Mets ace Johan Santana says that his Opening Day start could be in jeopardy as he continues to battle tightness in his elbow.

"We have 162 games," Santana said on Saturday. "What we have to accomplish takes 162 games. Everything starts April 6, if it's going to be me or somebody else. It's tough to say right now."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/news/story?id=3941945

also heard on WFAN that Livan Hernandez is the front runner for the 5 spot, despite what it says on the bottom of the link i posted. I really hope that Santana is just a small deal, and he gets better quick. The one person we can't afford to have out is him...

There is history with Santana's arm, none of it is really alarming.
2001 he had elbow surgery.
Hes said he gets some stiffness in his elbow every spring. This year they reported a week earlier then usual. Because Santana actually wanted to be around the team and make sure his balance was ok after knee surgery he has been putting in extra work.

My guess is the mets are just being overly precautions which I understand since he is the most irreplaceable player on the team in my opinion.

"Boik14 wrote:

There is history with Santana's arm, none of it is really alarming.
2001 he had elbow surgery.
Hes said he gets some stiffness in his elbow every spring. This year they reported a week earlier then usual. Because Santana actually wanted to be around the team and make sure his balance was ok after knee surgery he has been putting in extra work.

My guess is the mets are just being overly precautions which I understand since he is the most irreplaceable player on the team in my opinion.

Plus he has stated he could not throw like he usually does in the off season due to his surgery.

Its good to be cautious, but its just the normal soreness and stretching going on in the muscles I believe.