Ice Ice Baby

The harsh reality is, Gerald is probably the most logical choice to have been brought for several reasons. Whoever was brought up, would not be spending a lot of time with the Mets and would be sent down and possibly exposed to waivers again. For instance, if Eric Valent was brought back up, he would have to clear waivers yet again to get demoted to AAA. Many thought it was a mini coup that the Mets were able to retain him, so to expose him to that again to have him ride the pine does not seem like the right thing to do. I am guessing the same holds true with Calloway and Redman as well and Omar may not have been excited to enact Angel Pagan's first option. Would it have been a big deal to bring Pagan up? Probably not, but I guess there is little to no reason to have him sit on bench.

Despite all that, seeing Gerald on the Mets roster is scary. It is almost worth taking a chance that another team would have picked up Valent, Redman, or Calloway on their way back down to AAA once one of the wounded return from the DL. Reading his name on the roster sends shivers down my spine and even if it was the most logical move for bringing up a position player, it is not one I can condone with the current state of the team. Maybe a pitcher or even Craig Brazell would have been better, but I'm guessing the Mets have their reasons. Let's see how other people feel about the topic that posted on Metsgeek.com.

Eric, I don’t know why you’re confused. The Ice Man has a .697 OPS this year in AAA. That’s the kind of production we need in Shea. We’ll just have to see how it translates vs. major league pitching…
-tim in la

Oh my God. How can a team DL/release 2 awful players and turn around and replace them with even worse players? That clearly articulates how this organization has its collective head up its ass. You can’t make this stuff up. Its almost as if this team is trying to lose on purpose, with the idiotic moves that they are making.
-Ska

I refuse to root for any team that has Gerald Williams on its roster.
-OFF

I want to throw up.
-Jeremy Heit

Gerald Williams? Ishii’s batting .357. I’ll take him in right over Ice.
-Jon

Put Koo in right field
Start the Ice Man at second.
Start Diaz behind the plate.
Mike Piazza gets one more shot at 1st.
Jose Reyes throws middle relief and Woody spells him at SS.
I believe.
-bmc

Almost forgot… Kris Benson should probably bat 6th in front of David Wright.
-bmc

Quoting Omar, “We just thought we needed to bring in a guy of Williams’ experience into the clubhouse”

Separate from whatever beef there might be with Pedro, I tend to think Williams has not been on 6 different teams because of anything positive he brings to the clubhouse.

Another concern is the value placed on experience regardless of the talent level. Not that it should be a surprise, but god save us all if he bats above Wright.
-KPH

Clearly, Ice Williams isn’t gonna turn this team around all by himself.

That’s what they signed Jose Offerman for. Omar’s building a dynasty, bit by bit.
-Dan in L.A.

Daubuch was absolutely killing the ball in AAA, has a decent ML pedigree, is still relatively young. He gets on base, and has shown flashes of power. He’s a good cheap in-house option for first base. It may not work out, but I love the move bringing him up.

Gerald Williams is useless and an awful call-up. He spots a career 301 OBP, and was getting on-base at a tidy-280 clip in Norfolk. He’s 38, and hasn’t been a useful player in the past 8 years. He has no business near a major league roster, and if the Mets waste him any at-bats, I may be force to heave a cinderblock through my television set.
-Bryan

I… I can’t breathe… So furious… Please God, just don’t let Steve Phillips do the ESPN analysis of the call-up… Think of the children…
-Goldy

How could you bring up Ice when Rickey Henderson is sitting out there?
-steve

Wow! After months of calling for the head of Mike DeJean we finally get it and still you find something to complain about. While Williams isn’t the ideal choice or even necessarily a good one, the Mets are no better than a .500 team and it won’t matter if they bring up Calloway, Williams or the frozen head of Ted Williams. This is reality. Be happy DeJean is gone and start hoping that Ishii is next…
-Bryan

In response to the above post:
I wonder what Bryan is smoking and where I can get some.
-Brian

Bryan, we’re a .500 team because we don’t put out best talent on the field. When was the last time you heard a championship team say, “We’re a .650 team, it doesn’t matter who we bring up as a 5th outfielder?” Weakness is no excuse for idiocy.
-tim in la

Good Stuff.


* * *

Who knew? All the Mets needed to wake up was to face one of the best pitchers in the Major Leagues. They smacked up Brett Meyers and every Met starter had at least one hit with the exception of Marlon Anderson. Kris Benson even got in on the hit parade to raised his average to .294 with a .400 OBP. However much maligned this signing was by "experts", he has shown to be solid pitcher that looks like he is going to get much better as the season goes along.

The good news? Randy Johnson got tagged last night and got knocked out after three homers, eight hits, and seven run in three innings. The bad news? The damn Yankees still figured out how to win the ball game and had a thirteen run eighth.

What's a guy got to do to get on BA's Prospect Hot Sheet? Throwing a no-hitter for one.

15. Gaby Hernandez, rhp, Mets (Low Class A Hagerstown)
Hernandez makes the list in part due to his no-hitter on Sunday, but last year's third-round pick has been getting the job done all year, with a 5-1, 2.32 mark in 15 starts, with just 47 hits allowed in 78 innings.

16. Brian Bannister, rhp, Mets (Double-A Binghamton)
An early-season fixture on the Hot Sheet, Bannister has recovered from a mediocre May by striking out 10 in a four-hit shutout last Friday, lowering his ERA to 1.87 to go along with an 8-1 record.

Gaby has been deserving of the hot sheet all year, but is finally getting some virtual ink.

As for Bannister, he is just a monster up in Binghamton. His home park has a park factor of 1010 and the entire league has a park factor of 1029. While his home park is only a marginal hitters park, plenty of players have big offensive years down there and it is not the easiest league to pitch in.

Minor update:

• Hagerstown beat Lakewood 8-5. Dante Brinkley continues to rake with a 3 for 4 night, with two RBIs, his tenth homer, and three RBIs. Aaron Hathaway hit is first homerun and went 1 for 3 with two runs scored and two RBIs.
  
• St. Lucie won in barn burner with Jupiter 14-6. Brett Harper picked up four RBIs and hit his 18th homer of the year and went 2 for 4 with three runs scored and a double. Corey Ragsdale, Brett Harper, Andy Wilson, Jamar Hill, Shawn Bowman, and Blake Whealy picked up at least two hits a piece.
  
• Binghamton won 10-4 against New Britain. Anderson Hernandez continues to rake and went 3 for 5 with three runs scored. Kevin Deaton went eight innings for the win and gave up four hits, one earned run, one walk, and struck out six.
  
• Norfolk lost to Buffalo 1-0. Eric Junge was the hard luck loser going seven innings, giving up six hits, one run, two walks, and struck out three.
  
• The Kingsport Mets beat Johnson City 16-1. Sean Henry went 2 for 4 with a run scored, two doubles, two RBIs, and two walks and Nick Evans went 3 for 5 with one run scored, one double, one walk, and two RBIs. The Kingsport staff combined to throw a three hitter in a rather convincing season opener.
  
• The Cyclones beat the Staten Island Yankees 10-7 in their season opener. The newly, and strangely demoted Caleb Stewart went 1 for 4.

The Mets get Sean Henn on Saturday vs. the Yankees and they absolutely have to take advantage of that. The need to exploit this game against them and try and pull out one of those two other games.

Cammy should be back in the lineup tonight.

I love Wright in the two hole.

From Mets.com:

The club signed the 20-year-old left-handed pitcher it selected in the 16th round of the First-Year Player Draft two weeks earlier, Eric Domangue of Alvin Community College in Texas. The Mets have signed 27 of the 48 players they selected.

Zambrano takes the hill tonight against rookie Robinson Tejada and the Mets face Cory Lidle with Kaz Ishii on the hill tomorrow. Mets should take tonight’s game and Thursday's game is up in the air. The Mets could be primed for a sweep of the Phillies.

TCPalm.com has a nice piece on Lastings Milledge and tells us what we already know. The kid is good.

In case you are keeping track, Carlos Beltran is no longer running at 80%. He is now running at 90%. I know everyone can sleep easy now.

Shaun Powell has a must read on Carlos Beltran today.

Floyd was held up by third base coach Manny Acta, and third base umpire Jerry Layne on Mike Piazza's two-out double in the first. Floyd said Acta thought Kenny Lofton caught the ball in right-centerfield and stopped him because he thought the inning was over. Layne raised his arms, signifying the end of the inning.

I was wondering how Cliffy did not score on that Piazza double.

From NorthJersey.com:

Kaz Matsui was stunned to learn Monday that his sore left knee was injured enough to earn him a spot on the 15-day disabled list. An MRI revealed a deep bruise.

"I was really surprised with the result," Matsui said through an interpreter. "I was like, 'Are you sure? Really?'"

Hmmmm...Another phantom injury? The Mets seem to be better at DL-ing people with fake injuries than real ones. There is no doubt the hit was hard one, but was Kaz really DL worthy?