Blogging Mets

Jon Heyman of CBS Sports (as of this month no longer of Sports Illustrated) tweeted on Thursday:

Sources tell Blogging Mets that is just not true, as far as the Mets interest is concerned. And I will go against journalistic tradition and reveal my source — common sense.

Theriot made $3.3 million in 2011 and will likely get upwards of $4 million in arbitration for 2012. That is far too much for a player like Theriot, which is why the Cardinals non-tendered him.

Why in the world would the Mets pay $4 million for a second baseman/shortstop when they have several players who can fill that role with similar abilities for far less money? It’s not that Theriot is bad; he is perfectly adequate, but not for a team with purse strings as tight as the Mets.

If the Mets were going to spend another $4 million, I think they would go out and get another pitcher for the starting rotation, which could be the weakest part of the team next season.

It’s a wonder why Heyman wouldn’t consider that before sending off his tweet. Perhaps that’s why Sports Illustrated fired him (unless he made the brilliant decision to quit the most respected name in sports to slum it for CBS).

Luis Castillo & Oliver Perez Released — 3/18/11, 3/21/11

Alderson was smart to bring them into camp to see if they had anything to offer. Of course they did not, so they were cut loose despite the Mets still being on the hook for $18 million, much to the delight of Mets fans.

Osama bin Laden Killed — 5/1/11

It was fitting that the Mets were playing on the Sunday night that we finally got bin Laden. The “USA USA” chants that the crowd spontaneously chanted as word spread sent chills up my spine. I still think they should have stopped the game to show President Obama’s announcement on the big screen. It was the news we’d been waiting to hear for a decade. I don’t think the players would have minded.

Ike Davis Injury — 5/10/11

I never said these were all good moments. The Davis-David Wright collision didn’t seem like much when it happened, but the ankle injury somehow ended up keeping Davis out for the reminder of the season. It left a huge hole in the lineup that could not be filled.

Carlos Beltran 3 Home Runs — 5/12/11

It was one of Beltran’s shining moment in his Mets career — slamming three home runs on a blustery day in Colorado.

Mets Explode for 52 Runs — 6/25/11-6/29/11

During a four-game winning streak in late June, the Mets beat the Rangers 14-5 and 8-5, then moved onto Detroit to blast the Tigers 14-3 and 16-9. The 52 runs were the most the Mets have ever scored in four games.

K-Rod Traded — 7/12/11

Sandy Alderson caught us all by surprise by trading Rodriguez to the Brewers for two players. That $17.5 million option for 2012 was unacceptable; it was impressive that Alderson was able to get rid of it.

Carlos Beltran Traded — 7/28/11

It was also impressive that Alderson was able to get a top pitching prospect in Zack Wheeler for Beltran a couple of weeks later. If Wheeler pans out this could be a landmark deal.

Chris Capuano 2-Hitter — 8/26/11

In an otherwise forgettable season, Capuano turned in one of the best pitching performances in franchise history — a two-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts and no walks.

Jose Reyes Bunt — 9/28/11

It was the bunt heard round the world. Reyes led off game 162 with a bunt single and promptly jogged off the field, preserving what turned out to be the first-ever batting title for a Met. Reyes was roundly criticized for protecting his average in such a fashion, especially since so many people showed up at Citi Field for what they thought was going to be his final game in a Mets uniform.

Jose Reyes Leaves — 12/7/11

And indeed, it was. Reyes defected to the Marlins for a six-year, $106 million contract after the Mets failed to even make a formal offer to him. He will be missed.

We shouldn’t expect any last-minute Christmas gifts from the Mets in the form of additions to the current roster. Nor should we expect anything for Martin Luther King Day, Presidents Day or St. Patrick’s Day. Except for possibly a couple of minor tweaks here and there, what you see is what you get.

This is the roster that will compete in 2012, with a payroll of $90 million to $95 million. It is a roster that has far more question marks than sure things. In fact, the only sure things are R.A. Dickey and David Wright, and Wright is coming off a season in which he missed two months because of injury.

The rest of the starting lineup is one big question mark. Can Ike Davis come back from his injury? Who’s on second (no, who’s on first)? Can Ruben Tejada handle shortstop?  Is Josh Thole any good? Will Jason Bay thrive in a smaller Citi Field? Can Lucas Duda fulfill his promise? Who is Andres Torres?

The rotation is no better. Will Johan Santana be the Santana of old, if he can come back at all? Can Jonathon Niese and Dillon Gee continue to grow and improve? And Mike Pelfrey? Actually, Pelfrey isn’t a question at all — we know he will stink.

Can the rebuilt bullpen be any better than the 2011 version? It’s a better group on paper, but games are played on grass, not paper.

Sandy Alderson was brought in to answer such questions, but thus far he hasn’t done so. He might be hamstrung by owners who are on the fast track to the poorhouse and demanding that cuts be made. That certainly seems to be the case, as the payroll is on track to be some $50 million less than 2011′s $142 million.

That is a welcome Christmas gift to the Wilpons, but a big middle finger to Mets fans.

Fox News reported on Thursday that the Mets are among five teams who are “interested” in Rockies outfielder Seth Smith. And I have one simple question — why?

Smith is a corner outfielder who has proven to be steady and unspectacular in his career. Very steady, in fact; in his three full seasons in the majors he has hit 15, 17 and 15 home runs with 55, 52 and 59 RBIs. He’s a .275 hitter. Now, take him out of the Mile High City and watch those already mediocre numbers drop.

Plus, Smith is in his first year of arbitration and is estimated to earn $2.5 million to $3 million. That a lot of money for not a whole lot of production. Lucas Duda will easily beat Smith’s numbers for far less money.

Fox writes the Rockies want “major-league-ready pitching or a second baseman in return for Smith.” Mets Blog reports that there were rumors last week that the Mets were discussing a Smith-Jonathon Niese swap, but ESPN quickly reported that the Mets were not interested in such a deal.

They better not be because that would be a disastrous trade. I don’t want them to trade Niese at all, but if they do, they’d better get much more than Seth Smith.

As far as a second baseman, I definitely wouldn’t trade Daniel Murphy for him. I wouldn’t even part with Justin Turner.

I can’t imagine that the cost-conscious Mets would make any sort of deal for Smith unless they can somehow unload Jason Bay’s contract. Since that is unlikely to happen the chance of seeing Seth Smith roaming the outfield in Citi Field seems remote.

Remember the Mets old slogan “The Magic is Back”? It was not an organic motto like “The Miracle Mets” or “The Amazins.” It was written by an advertising agency. This video from back then tells the story of when the Mets became the first MLB team to hire an ad agency.

The video has an interesting back story. The reporter from WNEW-TV (now WNYW) is Judy Licht. She interviewed Jerry Della Famina, the legendary ad man who personally wrote the campaign. They must have hit it off because she went on to marry him, despite his extremely questionable “beard” and the lack of buttons on his shirt (you’ll see what I mean when you watch the report).

Years later I worked with Judy at WABC-TV and she was doing a report about something and someone said “You Gotta Believe.” She said “I think my husband wrote that.” I caught up with her afterwards in the newsroom and informed her that indeed, Tug McGraw wrote that, that her husband was the creator of “The Magic is Back.”

Incidentally, Della Famina did not work for the Mets very long. He made some disparaging remarks about the Yankees and the lack of safety in and around Yankee Stadium, so the Mets fired him.

Check out the video:

All of this nonsensical talk of the Mets thinking about trading Jonathon Niese has got me thinking that the Mets could be setting themselves up for another “Generation K” mistake.

For you younger readers or you older, forgetful readers:

In the mid-1990′s the Mets were counting on young stud starters Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson (below, dubbed Generation K) to lead them to the promised land with a string of 20-win seasons each. These were can’t-miss guys. Of course they all missed. Wilson and Pulsipher struggled through injuries, and Isringhausen just struggled until he was dealt to the A’s and converted to a reliever, a role in which he flourished.

Poor Isringhausen, unable to grow a beard. And why do Isringhausen and Wilson look more like Jim Carrey and Liev Schreiber, respectively?!

Fast-forward to the present. It is clear Sandy Alderson is counting on Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia to emerge in 2014 and pitch the Mets into contention (Mejia could eventually wind up coming out of the bullpen). These are all considered can’t-miss guys. Hmm, where have I heard that before?

The trade talk of Niese makes it clear that Alderson feels that there will be no room in the rotation for him in a couple of years, so why not trade him now and get something for him?

This presents two problems — first, who pitches for the Mets over the next couple of seasons until the young studs are ready? And two, what if they are never ready?

It seems like so many young pitchers are getting injured; Mejia is recovering from Tommy John surgery as we speak. Such injuries set back a player’s progress for a year. If any of the other three guys suffers a similar injury, the grand plans goes out the window.

And what if they are just not good enough? You can’t swing a maple bat without the shards hitting a can’t-miss pitching prospect who never made it. You just can’t put an entire franchise on hold waiting for prospects to fulfill their potential.

What I think the Mets should do is build their pitching staff thinking these guys will not make it (or maybe leaving one slot open for one of them). Then if they do all make it, great, you have trading chips. But if not, you are not sitting back and waiting. This means keeping guys like Niese and Dillon Gee for now. It’s nice to know that going forward you can count on at having at least two reliable young starters in the rotation.

Then again, there’s no way these guys don’t make it, right? I think that’s what mid-1990s general manager Joe McIlvaine was saying on his way out the door.

One of the many disappointments of Jose Reyes leaving the Mets is that he is yet another homegrown player who will not play his entire career with the team. I decided to take a look at players who did play only with the Mets, and it turns out the team come up very short in this category.

First on the list, of course, is Ed Kranepool, who was an original Met and spent 18 seasons with the team. Kranepool is a beloved Met who is in the team’s Hall of Fame, but let’s face it, he was never a great player. He is among the leaders in virtually every offense category, but that’s only because he was there for so long.

Next is, amazingly, Ron Hodges, who was the definition of a backup catcher. Hodges played in 100 or more games just once in his 12 years in Flushing, and that was in his second to last season.

Pedro Feliciano played eight seasons with the Mets, but there is a huge asterisk next to this because he signed with the Yankees prior to the 2011 season. Injury kept him out for the entire season and likely 2012 as well. So far he has yet to throw a pitch for another team, so technically he belongs on the list, but not really.

David Wright has played eight seasons with the Mets, and he is the last hope for a while of a great player staying with the team his whole career. But will Sandy Alderson send him packing? Let’s hope not.

The rest of the list is less than inspiring. Here are the guys who played five years or more:

— Jeff Innis: seven
– Mike Pelfrey: six
– Bruce Boisclair: five
– Bob Apodaca: five
– Ron Gardenhire: five

Not a great track record. In a perfect world the list would have included Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, Bud Harrelson and Mookie Wilson, but the Mets found it necessary to trade these guys for one reason or another. It would have been nice if Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden were there, too, but their departures were not the fault of the Mets.

For this reason alone it would be nice for Wright to spend his entire career with the Mets. But given the history, the odds are he won’t.

The Mets tendered a contract to Mike Pelfrey Monday night, meaning we have to watch him struggle and lick himself through 30+ starts in 2012. This is a huge mistake.

Mmm, I’m delicious!

We know what Pelfrey can do, and it is not good. Many people are praising this move, saying Pelfrey is an “innings eater” who consistently throws around 200 innings per year. But they are mediocre innings at best. Shouldn’t you want a pitcher who can actually eat quality innings?

It is also a tremendous waste of money. Pelfrey will likely get around $6 million. You’re telling me the Mets couldn’t find a better pitcher for $6 million? They could have easily found a pitcher just as mediocre as Pelfrey for far less than $6 million. For a team as cost conscious as the Mets, this is a very stupid, very baffling move.

In other news, the Mets tendered Manny Acosta, which was smart, and did not tender Ronny Paulino, which was also smart.

Butch Metzger (1978)

Metzger won the Rookie of the Year in 1976. When the Mets got him two years later at age 26 he was already washed up. In his one year with the Mets and his final year in baseball he had a 6.51 ERA and more walks than strikeouts. He was so bad the excellent Ultimate Mets Database does not even have a picture of him.

Anthony Young (1991-1993)

From May 6, 1992 through July 24, 1993, pitching as a starter and a reliever (mostly as a reliever), Young lost a major league record 27 straight games. His overall record with the Mets was 5-35, but with a respectable 3.82 ERA. He was a victim of bad luck, but with that record he’s got to get on the list.

Mel Rojas (1997-1998)

Rojas was supposed to replace John Franco in the  bullpen. Then the Mets got a look at him and quickly resigned Franco. Rojas had a 5.76 ERA with the Mets.

Rich Rodriguez (2000)

Perhaps the worst pitcher ever on the Mets, as his 7.78 ERA can attest. He only made it through the year because he was allegedly then-GM Steve Phillips former minor league roommate.

Jorge Julio (2006)

Remember him? He lasted half a season with the Mets after coming in the Kris Benson deal. He was flipped for Orlando Hernandez, who was effective until he went down before the playoffs. Julio sucked.

Guillermo Mota (2006-2007)

Mota was excellent when the Mets got him late in the season in 2006. Turns out he was on steroids. Without the PEDs he was terrible in 2007 (5.76 ERA).

Scott Schoeneweis (2007-2008)

God he was awful, yet it always seemed like he was pitching, Indeed, he appeared in 70 games in 2007 (when he had a 5.03 ERA) and 73 in 2008 when he was a little less awful but still crappy.

Sean Green (2009-2010)

Green somehow appeared in 79 games in 2009, and he sucked in each and every one. I hated him.

Ryota Igarashi (2010-2011)

Igarashi was pitching lights-out early in 2010 but was never the same after he came back from injury, posting a sterling 7.12 ERA for the season. He’s gone now.

D.J. Carrasco (2011-current)

But we still have Carrasco, whom Alderson for some reason thought was worthy of a two-year contract. Carrasco spent most of the year in the minors; when he didn’t he pitched to a 6.02 ERA.

Mug Shots courtesy Ultimate Mets Database

In about the course of an hour on Tuesday the Mets completely remade their bullpen. So who is in and who is out for 2012? Here are the definites:

Frank Francisco
Jon Rauch
Ramon Ramirez
Tim Byrdak

That leaves three spots for the holdovers:
D.J. Carrasco
Manny Acosta
Pedro Beato
Daniel Herrera
Josh Stinson
Bobby Parnell

Carrasco is only on the list because he is under contract, but he proved to be absolutely useless in 2011 and likely will spend the year in Buffalo.

Acosta looked good and could win a spot.

Pedro Beato struggled at times last season and probably would have been better served spending some time in the minors, but he was a Rule 5 guy and could not be sent down. Unless he pitches lights-out in spring training, my guess is that he will be sent down for some seasoning and re-emerge sometime during the summer.

Herrera also looked good after coming over for K-Rod. He has a leg up on the competition because he is a lefty. I predict he’ll make the team.

Stinson got off to a strong start but then struggled. He could win a spot if he pitches well in the spring, but will likely start the year in Buffalo.

Which brings us to Parnell (below). The closer’s job was his to lose after Jason Isringhausen got his 300th save, and he did indeed lose the job. Sure he throws 100 mph, but it is as straight as George Clooney. Even an average major league hitter can catch up to a 100 mph fastball if it has no movement.

Perhaps it is time to trade Parnell. The two-year contract for Francisco is evidence that the Mets don’t think Parnell will ever be a closer, at least not for the next two seasons. He’s not even the eighth inning guy anymore. If they can trade him and get a “positional starter” as was reported this week, then they should do it. If not, Parnell will almost definitely be part of the bullpen in 2012.

I find it interesting that Sandy Alderson spent so much on the bullpen — $6 million for Francisco, $3.5 million for Rauch and probably $2 million for Ramirez. For a team with a limited budget, it was kind of surprising, especially the $3.5 million for the eighth inning. Certainly the bullpen needed help, but so does the rotation and catcher position.

By his own admission Alderson does not have much more money to spend. Perhaps he knows the weak starting rotation will require a strong bullpen, so he put his money there. Interesting strategy.