Odd Man Out / Wright = Most Valuable Met

Endy is returning and the problem is there is just no where to put him. Shawn Green would seem like the odd man out adding absolutely no value anymore being he does not actually bring offense or defense into the picture and no longer has any value at first base with Jeff Conine in the fold, but it is hard to envision the Mets cutting ties with Green with over a month left of baseball.

It would seem that Lastings Milledge would take a trip to New Orleans for a week since he has options with Endy and Green playing right field until he returns. It might be a bit premature to cut Green entirely as there is still a whole lotta time to have someone go down with an injury and it certainly does not make sense to blow up any depth at this point when you do not need to.

I certainly do not want to see Milledge head down to AAA, but he can help them make a 1st place push. With the Mets firmly in control of the division, they can certainly afford to replace a guy at the bottom of the order with Endy for a week and not really lose much. We'll see how it plays out, but I assume Milledge gets sat down and gets the skinny as to what is happening and really makes the most sense.

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I have not had the pleasure of watching Prince Fielder, Chipper Jones, Albert Pujols, Chase Utley, etc. on an every day basis, but I have no idea how anyone could have been more valuable to a team than David Wright has been to the Mets. Sure they have their share of superstars, but Beltran has been hurt and missing for the entire season outside of April and August, Delgado has been a black hole, Alou has been hurt, the Mets second base situation was largely unsettled, Green has been useless, and Jose has been great, but not quite as consistent.

Especially of late, there have been many games Wright has simply carried the team and lead them to victory as he did on Saturday behind a great Oliver Perez pitching performance. Also, Wright has been playing sharp defense and deftly stealing basis like Carlos Beltran used to. He has a .316/.411/.530 line and is on pace for 29 homers and 35 steals and has been lights out after a homerless and disappointing April.

He is 9th in batting average, 4th in runs, 6th in steals, 9th in OPS, 10th in RBIs, 8th in walks, and 6th in OBP with a sick .411 mark. Ryan Howard won his MVP Award with stellar play down the stretch and Wright has been unconscious with a .373/.489/.585 line after the break, though without the gaudy homers totals that Howard put up. In August, he is hitting over .400 with a sick 1.191 OPS.

When it has counted most, Wright has been there the most for this Met team. Fielding wise he might be towards the bottom of the pack statistically, but he is far from a butcher and makes his share of highlight reel plays. Whether or not he gets the MVP award, the third baseman and the #3 hitter for the New York Mets should finish in the top five and has absolutely been the MVP of this Met team by far.

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Jose is on track for 89 steals this season, but you get the feeling he is going for 100. With 32 more games this season and six more in August, he has already surpassed his monthly high in '07 and for his entire career for that matter. He is swiping multiple bags a game and just running at will and has had three games of two steals and one three steal game since August 15th. It is safe to say he has a green light.

As pointed in a chat on Friday, the Mariners have nine guys with fifty or more RBIs. That is extremely impressive if for no other reason than showing some consistency.

ESPN had a nice chat with Matt Murhpy, who is the Met fan who caught Bonds' 756th homer, and David Kohler, who is the President and CEO for the company who is selling the ball.

With Torii Hunter Set to hit free agency for the first time, he has to be pretty excited. The red flag is a career year at 32 to boost his value, but he should still be pretty damn valuable to whatever team picks him up, though not likely to be worth the mammoth contract he will receive.

Jerk offs...

Dontrelle Willis has had a difficult season in Florida, and there's a growing feeling that this could be the winter he is traded. The 25-year-old lefty won't be a free agent until after 2009. The Marlins would look for young pitching and catching in return. Florida may also trade lefty Scott Olsen, 23, this winter. He faces a drunken-driving charge and is due in court Sept. 10.

Talk about holding onto a guy too long. When you are so far away from competing, you cannot get caught up in trading your biggest draw. And especially when that big draw has had diminishing skills for a bit before he hit his mid 20's. GMs really need to start taking note of the Adam Dunn and Dontrelle Willis situations. If you are far away from winning and can get huge returns for a player, deal him.

Luis Gonzalez is Shawn Green.

Mark Prior is determined to come back in 2008.

El Dominator? Good nickname for The Duque. I cannot say it enough, but he has just been stupendous for the Mets this year and a ton of fun to watch. He looks like a circus act out there with some of those lollipop curves he throws that just befuddle big league hitters.

Wagner's arm is 'tired'. The guy has been spectacular all season and most guys hit a rough patch during the season. It just so happens Wagner's is happening now and the Mets should cut back on his work until he feels more comfortable. At this point, I do not see a big need to panic about Mr. Billy Wagner right now.

When you are 35 and not overly athletic in terms of your build, people wonder if you have just plain lost it. Delgado might not have, but he sure looks lost at the plate. Getting beat on inside fastballs that he is unable to get around on and he just flat out looks terribly out of sync. He is slugging less than Jose Reyes and almost on par with Shawn Green. Even Ruben Gotay has a higher slugging percentage, albeit in limited work.

I thought he came around a bit earlier, but all that has seemed to evaporated. For whatever reason, he has not been able to get himself on track this year.

Ollie was sharp on Friday regaining the form that he has had all season and that was certainly encouraging. The Mets sorely need Maine and Perez to regain some consistency as the Met bullpen does not look like they will be able to pick up the slack as they did in last year's playoffs.

The Mets climb up to #3 on Baseball Prospectus' Hit List. I tried to see what AE had them as on his power rankings, but he is slacking a bit.

Greenaphobia / Humberitis

First off, just a great win by the Mets coming from two behind and scoring a run in the 8th, 9th, and 10th innings for the comeback win. The bullpen was tight getting two innings from Heilman, one from Feliciano, and one very interesting one with Wagner. So far, they have looked like the 2006 Mets more in the second half and have to feel great coming away with a 4-3 left coast trip. Since the break, they are 7-4 which is good for a .636 winning %.

Now the Mets face Pittsburgh and Washington who are a combined 29 games under .500 before facing the Brewers, the Cubs, and the Braves. They need to feast on the Pirates and the Nationals before their second test of the second half, but so far, the early returns are good. And with Moises Alou returning on Tuesday, their offense should receive another shot in the arm.

One thing I'm sure everyone has been keeping an eye on with Alou's return imminent is Shawn Green. Just what is going to happen with Green? Through the first 42 games he played, he hit .320 with a .507 SLG%. You could not argue with the Mets riding his hot streak and while not many people thought it would last, it was certainly something to take advantage of. Now? Not so much.

Green is not adding much at all. He is not going to help you out on defense and he is turning into a groundball machine with roughly a 2 to 1 groundball to flyball ratio. In his last 42 games, he has hit .222 with a .320 SLG%. You might accept that if he was playing gold glove defense, but that is certainly not the case. He is not hitting lefties in any form as he owns a .195/.263/.264 line against them, but lately, he has not hit much of either righties or lefties.

Obviously it is not Willie's thing to bench vets for the younger players and it will usually take an injury for someone to lose their job, but Milledge should certainly see some time if common sense takes over. It was nice to get some production from Green to start the season off, but I'm not sure many people expected it to last. At this point though, Milledge's upside dwarfs Greens. Though Milledge may not be lighting the world on fire, he has the ability and if given the chance could surprise.

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Mike Pelfrey had a marginal game in New Orleans' blowout against Albuquerque. He gave up four runs in six innings and picked up his third win while watching his ERA rise to 3.88. Just a hunch on my part, but Mike Pelfrey will not have a big league rotation spot in '08 and I'm curious as to what his long term role will be with this team. He seems like trade bait at this point, but his value has diminished and is not worth all that much. In the end, I would tend to think he is going to be pegged for the bullpen in '08. Guys with two good pitches typically end up there and that seems to be where he'll end up until he develops further.

Thanks to DG for pointing out that Humber is actually having a better season than his stats would seem to indicate. He is 13th in the PCL in ERA, ninth in strikeouts, first in wins, and second in WHIP. The negative here is his 15 homers in 18 games (17 in 19 if you count tonight so far), but the PCL can be hell on pitchers.

So far tonight, Humber has given up two homers in five innings for two runs and and five hits overall with six strikeouts. As DG stated, he should be the next call-up should they need a starter. He has pitched well this season and has been his best of late.

Jon Niese had a nice start in St. Lucie's loss to Vero Beach. He went 6.1 innings and gave up nine hits, three runs, and no walks while striking out two.

Just an awesome picture of Placido Palanco flying over Gary Sheffield as they both go for the same fly ball.

"I like Gotay, but I'm not ready to throw him in as 'the guy,' " Randolph said.

You don't have to, but at least play him until he stops. Gotay looks horrific from the right side of the plate, but we have only seen him bat from that side twice. Maybe for good reason, but I'm not sure they have other options at this point.

Milledge can kill fastballs and sitting in the two spot he would certainly see a lot of them. Oh...and in case you didn't know, Rickey likes Rickey.