It's All About The Pitching
Tasty tidbits abound.
Bill New York, NY: What are chances of Zambrano being a Met come July?
SportsNation Jayson Stark: I don't see the Cubs selling, either. That's why I didn't put him on the Available Arms list in Rumblings. But if Zambrano hits the market this winter, I'd almost bet he'd be a Met. He's an Omar Minaya favorite, from what everybody tells me.
It's all about the pitching. The Mets outfield is set for quite a while as is the left side of their infield and first base should be covered as well. Only second base, catching, and the ever hot commodity of pitching are big needs for the Mets over the next six seasons. I think Omar has chosen to go the cheap route for second base and look for bargains that get the job done admirably. As for catching, I can see LoDuca coming back with a one year deal and an option while everyone figures that situation out (Pena is at least four years away...at least, probably five or even six). That truly leaves pitching as what Omar will covet and the last two drafts truly outline that and leaves boatloads of money to filter into pitching.
I've said it before, if I would condone five years $75 million for Zito, I would certainly be ok going higher on Zambrano, but with a ceiling. If the Yankees want to outbid the Mets no matter what, that is not something I would be interested in seeing the Mets do. With Kenny Williams new policy to not pay the crazy bucks that pitchers are getting these days and his desire to develop his own pitcher on the cheap, Mark Buehrle should be on the market after this season as well. Mark will arguably be the best pitcher dollar for dollar on the market next season, but we all know Omar's penchant to bring in power arms. Either way, the Mets should have a nice rotation option should the Yankees flex their almighty financial might. They would almost assuredly make a bigger run at either of those two than they did for Zito.
In the Year of the Comeback, only one team in baseball has more wins against opposing closers than Tampa Bay does (four) -- the A's (five).
The only criterion we used was games in which the opposing closer was the losing pitcher. (So blown saves and ties don't count.) Your leader board:
A's 5
Devil Rays 4
Mets 4
Red Sox 3
Yankees 3
White Sox 3
Cardinals 3
ESPN research whiz Mark Simon reports that El Duque Hernandez has ripped off five straight starts of six innings or more, allowing four hits or fewer. He needs one more to tie the team record, held by the very cool trio of Pedro Martinez, Nolan Ryan and Sid Fernandez. If you're wondering (and of course you're wondering), Tom Seaver's longest streak like that was three, and Dwight Gooden's longest was four.
The Duque has been so good for the Mets it is mind boggling. I expected him to be decent, but not this good.
Labels: rotation
posted by michael o. at 10:51 AM
5 Comments:
Presuming that Glavine's got his 300, would it be surprising to go with a six man rotation in August? I could see it happening even if it's not to TG's taste. Sosa, Perez & Maine, who'da thunk it? Mark my words, however, that Humber will also be ready.
Zambrano is definitely worth more and our very hospitable clubhouse ought to soften the somewhat salty palooka. Course, kicking LoDuca's teeth out is always a possibility!
Catcher is for me the most urgent position, though how can anyone be opposed to bringing back Paulie another year? He has exceeded himself so far in NY. And the Duca/Castro combo works quite well.
Second base is an interesting question because it is a position that depends mightily on what the Mets do in the outfield next year. If the team decides to put Milledge & Gomez around Beltran, it would make a lot of sense for the team to look outside the organization for a better hitting second baseman. But I have to say that Ruben Gotay has shown a lot so far. He has a surprisingly nice stroke and more than solid glove, Question is whether he profiles better in an Easley/Woodward like role over a full time role. Still he only 24 or so.
Keith Law was quite pessimistic on this guy Kunz making the same impact as Super Joe Smith. If one out of the Kunz, Rustich, Niesen picks comes through, you're already doing well.
Bobby Parnell in AA! He was on no one's radar, and he's done nothing but impress so far.
11:56 AM
I always wondered what would happen if a team put the pitchers on an 75 pitch count limit and send out two starters every 3 days.
12:01 AM
Heilman's arm slot has dropped. I noticed it today even though I was being distracted by a lovely young lady. He threw several pitches sidearm for Pete's sake.
WRT lowering one's arm angle; Zambrano has also done this. In Heilman's case, its probably something he's trying to improve effectiveness. In Z's case, however, his velocity is down, he's not the extreme GB pitcher he once was, and there is very real concern amongst mechanics experts that's he's compensating for a bum shoulder. Considering how hard he's been worked at such tender ages, i'd run every fucking test on Earth before giving him a long term contract.
Second base. Brian Roberts. Period.
Emad
2:37 AM
C. Zambrano is too much of a psycho for my tastes. I can see him and PLD coming to blows on the mound. This year the starting rotation (and ain’t this a surprise) is not a weak point and doesn’t have to be addressed. Rather, middle relief has become a problem. Can you trust Show or Mota or Sele or even Heilman. To prevent future physical problems I don’t like overworking Smith. I also believe as teams start to see him more often they will adjust to him. Heilman’s fastball, on occasion, drops to about 90 and his changeup flattens out. Honestly I would rather have Ring than Show. And Mota without Roids is like M&Ms without the chocolate. Taking those Roids was a smart move for Mota. The way Mota had been pitching in Cleveland he was on his way to the Mexican League or maybe the Long Island Ducks. Now, even though he tested positive for Roids and missed 50 games, he has signed a nice contract with the Mets that will pay him well no matter how much he sucks this year and next.
I’m concerned about Carlos Delgado becoming a left handed version of Dave Kingman. Right now they don’t have a cleanup hitter that scares the daylights out of you when he comes up. I’m concerned about the age on this club and resultant long times spent on the DL when problems occur.
Is the sky falling? Of course not. Will they win the division without making any moves? Probably. But there are issues on this and every club.
3:36 AM
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6:34 AM
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