Note To Ollie

I briefly went over Oliver Perez yesterday morning, but there was no game today and nothing new has entered my mind regarding the Mets. I do not really care that A-Rod is all grown up these days and realizes he has made mistakes by listening to Boras for some coin, but it actually has a lot to do with this situation that is going to happen between the Mets and Perez.

Could Perez succeed elsewhere? Yes. But for a guy that has gone through some pretty low lows after being arguably the best lefty in the league for a year at such a young age, Ollie should proceed with extreme caution. The Mets are a deep pocketed National League team that is going to have what seems to be a neutral park to go with a pretty impressive foundation of young and extremely talented players. Johan knew that this place sets him up to compile while winning, which players do claim is important, but I have my suspicions.

Will Ollie be in line with Johan's thinking? You hire Boras to chase every last penny and drag out negotiations and this is definitely one of those cases where you kind of get the feeling that things might not actually work out for the player if they leave. Oliver is a great position to really put up impressive numbers as Met while making plenty of money. He is entering his prime years and seems to be putting things back together and the Mets will put up a fair offer for sure. However, the question is, will a few million dollars be more important than being in the right place? Hopefully Perez sees the light.

* * *

The Duque update.

Orlando Hernandez’s Florida State League start is over after five innings. El Duque allowed two runs on three hits while striking out six and walking one. He allowed a third-inning solo homer to Vero Beach Rays first baseman Matthew Fields. I’m told El Duque had impressive offspeed pitches, but his fastball looked offspeed, too.

His fastball is sitting in the low to mid 80's these days. But you know what? I'm thinking he could be completely mediocre with that the way he changes speed. Fantastic? No. However, as a #3 or #4, he is simply keeping a seat warm. Also, it is possible he can Livan Hernandez light, who also tops out at 85.

Believe me. I would not want to him starting game #1 of the inevitable World Series trip the Mets will make, but he will be utilitarian.

The Mets are eyeballing Claudio Vargas, which gets two thumbs up from me. Also, Nellie Fig might get a chance to stick around a bit longer.

Just in the last year, Figueroa has been A) the winning pitcher in the Mexican League all-star game last summer, B) the MVP of the Taiwan Series last fall, C) the MVP of the Dominican Series this winter and D) the MVP of the Caribbean Series in January. We guarantee no pitcher in history has ever done all that in fewer than 12 months.

"He pitched his butt off in front of Omar at the Caribbean Series," says one scout. "And he pitched like that all winter long. I know people see the name and wonder. But you see a guy pitch like that, and you say to yourself, 'Why isn't this guy in the big leagues?'"

The only problem is, Willie sees him as another arm. Just another pile of poo to toss against the wall in some no doubt poorly chosen situation like say letting him sit for three weeks without pitching and then give him a start.

KLaw loves DWright as much as we do.

Kevin (STL): True or false: David Wright is the best all around player in the NL.

Keith Law: True.

Fuck yeah.

Tyler (Conyers, GA): True or false: When healthy, Chipper Jones is still a better player than David Wright.

Keith Law: False.

Ha ha. Douche. Look, they are both amazing players, but can we stop the homerism? Not only is David Wright better now, he is probably better than Chipper ever was at the same age. Chipper hit the bigs for good at 23 and had a 108 OPS+. He followed that up with a 136 OPS+, 199 OPS+, and a 148 OPS+. Wright hit the bigs for good in 2004 at 21 and put up OPS+ of 118, 139, and 150.

Chipper is already a Hall of Famer and it is crazy to think his injuries have held him back, but he could have been even more highly regarded than he already is. That being said, Wright is looking like he could be even better than Chipper.

re: david wright: really? not hanley? i know he's got less history but he rakes

Keith Law: Can't play his position. Hanley is atrocious at short. And the first person to talk about Hanley's and Wright's error totals gets banned for life.

K-Law loves Sugar Pants, who is made of sugar and spice and everything nice*.

* Everything nice basically consists of concaine, hookers, whiskey, and beating up people weaker than you and yes, this is a Pozcar

Tyler (Conyers, GA): How in the world can you say David Wright is better than Chipper when Chipper is healthy? In 2007 Chipper beat Wright in AVG (.337 vs. .325) OBP (.425 vs. .416) SLG (.604 vs. .546) FPCT (.971 vs. .954) and ZR (.797 vs. .771). It is not even close who is the better player when both are healthy and on the field.

Keith Law: Um, no. Jones has been a bad defensive third baseman for years now, while Wright is among the best. And Shea Stadium kills power hitters. Try again.

Wow Tyler. That is quite a compelling argument. Actually, not much annoys me more than people who try and argue who is better between two Hall of Famers. I mean, aren't they both pretty damn good? However in this case, you would be hard pressed to find many people who are not biased siding with him.

So far, all good stuff buzzing around.

gmulligan1 (Kew Gdns, NY): Is there any hope at all that Omar Minaya might do some research and take the amateur draft seriously this year?

Kevin Goldstein: They have a ton of picks this year, and they're willing to spend money -- that's the early word on the streets.

Timmy rehashes some bad memories.

Bannister was just one among many players shipped abroad from New York for no discernible reason in around that time. Relievers Heath Bell, Matt Lindstrom, Royce Ring, and Henry Owens were all cast off that November in deals that brought in four fringe minor leaguers who have since pitched a combined 11.3 innings and taken 27 at-bats in New York, and show little promise of doing much more any time in the future. Casting backward a few months, second baseman Jeff Keppinger was sent off in July, in exchange for recently released second baseman Ruben Gotay; going forward, the streak was capped in December, when catcher Jesus Flores, then 21, was left exposed to the Rule 5 draft, and snatched up by Washington. In retrospect, even given Bannister's strong 2006 and Bell's emergence as a top setup man (last year he pitched 93.7 innings with a 2.02 ERA and 102 strikeouts), the last two of these losses were the most consequential.

The thing is, I was not horrified by everything. For one, I did not think Bannister was all that good and still remain skeptical despite his gem against the Tigers. Keppinger for Gotay was not horrible, though they just released Gotay. As for Flores, he was an A-ball catcher. I agree with everyone else who says, "well look at the 40 man and tell me you could not find room!" You probably could have, but we all know that every spot on the 40 man roster is very valuable. Not many people have A-ball catchers on there I would presume.

The moves that went wrong were all, in their way, defensible, but in the aggregate they betray a worrying carelessness and a lack of that knack for picking which young players with long odds of real success will actually succeed that separate good from excellent general managers. The costs are paid in wins, money paid to uninspiring veterans, and perhaps worst of all in cohesiveness. The Mets are, far more than they need be, a collection of bland players in their baseball middle age, who came up elsewhere and will retire elsewhere having made no real impression and done nothing unique. This isn't the worst of all possible situations; but things didn't need to be this way.

However, what does jump out is the fact that, as Tim said, there was really no discernible reason for the moves. Basically, most of these guys were just people who were already deemed useless and never really got a shot. No matter what popped up, they found person, after person, after person to stand in when these guys could have. So at that point, Omar decided to traded them for people he might like instead. Did they all look horrible at the time? Eh. Kind of looked like spare parts getting spit out, but nothing egregious*. In hindsight, these deals are horrible and worst off, were kind of done peripherally. They were not made to fill any needs, but more or less because Omar likes to make little moves a lot. Sometimes they work out and sometimes they do not. These did not.

*With the exception of Heath Bell who I backed, and back, and backed, and backed. Actually, 90% of us did and everyone saw his usefulness but the Mets.

Gotham goes over the Mets teop ten prospects as BA sees it and I am not agreeing. Well, not totally disagreeing either.

1.Fernando Martinez – OF
2.Eddie Kunz – RP
3.Brant Rustich – SP/RP (above, left / photo courtesy UCLA)
4.Jonathon Niese – SP
5.Nathan Vineyard – SP
6.Robert Parnell – SP
7.Joe Smith – RP
8.Scott Moviel – SP
9.Danny Murphy – 3B
10.Wilmer Flores – 3B/SS

After this spring, Niese shoots up the charts to #2 without even thinking twice for me. Kunz is after Vineyard, and just about ried with Rustich.

The sky is no longer falling.

Mets officials believe Pedro Martinez's injury really is a mild strain that will sideline him only until mid-May, so they're not inclined to seek any outside pitching help now. Assuming Orlando Hernandez progresses well during a minor-league rehab assignment that began last night with high-A St. Lucie, the Mets should need just one start from Nelson Figueroa next weekend against the Brewers before El Duque slots into the rotation. In five innings last night, El Duque allowed two runs on three hits, struck out six and walked one while also hitting a batter and throwing a wild pitch.

Hmmmm...

"I love his demeanor, the way he attacks hitters, his intensity," B-Mets manager Mako Oliveras said. "Last year, at the end, I was really proud of Parnell. Hopefully he gets to pitch in the big leagues."

Parnell spent three weeks in big league spring training before being sent to minor league camp. At major league camp, he got to learn by watching the Mets major leaguers pitch and work out.

"I got to see how they hold their change-ups," Parnell said. "I'm trying to develop that this year, so I got to see when they were comfortable throwing it, what count they use it in to set up hitters."

A nice change would make me rethink his ceiling. Right now, he is a reliever, but with a change, he has the arm to be a starter.

Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss

In Oliver Perez I trust. He was absolutely amazing last night and everything was working. There were a few articles the other about about how Oliver Perez will most likely be gone if he is a stud this year, but I say why? If Pedro is gone, which at this point is looking more likely ever day he is not on the field, Perez is not going to cost all that much more than Pedro is getting these days.

It is evident even more these days that keeping Perez should be a top priority for the Mets just because Pedro cannot be depended on. And while I would welcome him back in '09, his price tag needs to be ever shrinking. Sure the hammy is more freak accident than anything else, but it still happened. No matter what he does for the rest of the year, he cannot prove that he is healthy because he'll be four to six weeks down  already and there stands a good chance he will miss some more time. Basically, he will not be able to allay many fears this year no matter what which will inevitably hurt his value.

It is not that it is all that big of an issue and having him in the rotation for those 150 to 180 innings is a big boon, but he is a luxury in '08 and '09 while Perez is a necessity. Now, I am a big Ollie believer and I understand he will not pitch like that all year and I understand the Marlins are a bad team,  however, even at the low end of what I am predicting for Ollie this year, he will be a very important pitcher.

The game plan now for me is simple. If John Maine can continue to build of of his 2006 ERA+ of 121 and his 2007 ERA+ of 109 with another solid year through mid July, the Mets need to try and get him bought out with another year of free agency tacked on with a nice little team option. Then, go after Perez and make all efforts to retain him and hope some market buster does not jump in like the Giants did with Zito and do something ridiculous. If there is money left and Pedro wants to come back for a reasonable sum of money, welcome him back.

* * *

Swelliciousness to the Nth degree.

Wright had three hits, including a 433-foot, three-run home run. Carlos Beltran had three doubles and every starter reached base except for Perez.

Wright went through the first month of the season without a home run last year, not connecting until his 92nd at-bat of the season. He had only five extra-base hits in April last year and already had four in this first three-game series.

Wright for MVP is looking mighty good early on. He is in mid-season form from day #1. Oh, and Carlos looks pretty good as well. A little friendly competition never hurt anyone, right?

Sure losing a homer sucks, but replay? Please no. Maybe one per game, but that is it.

If you can learn to separate the fact that Church and Schneider are here because Milledge is gone, you will appreciate them a lot more. Chruch is a good player and seems like a good guy. Schneider has done some amazing things already defensively and he comes with a nice swing that kind of makes you wonder how he was close to the Mendoza line in 2007. If you ask me, these are exactly the type of role players you need to win a World Series and as good as I think Milledge will be, these guys are without a question more valuable this season.

Willie's dumb comment of the day:

Figueroa, for now at least, will not replace Martinez in the rotation.

"He's an extra arm," Willie Randolph said. "He's in the bullpen."

Way to make him feel special.

If you are not reading THE RANT, you are probably a lot less annoyed than I am.

"Mets' new motto: Santana and Maine and pray for rain."

Ralph R. Carrieri

Nissequogue

Ziiiiiiiiing!

Ralph is a lame douchebag. Not only is Ollie a stud, but Pelfrey is better than a lot of other 5th starters and The Duque will be back when they need a fifth. Carrieri's lame attempt at being funny was a miserable failure since the Mets actually do not have any problems right now in the rotation. Later? Maybe. Right now? Not so much.

Huh? Why should anyone be disappointed in Matt Lienart? In fact, I would be disappointed if he was not in photos of this ilk. The guy is young, rich, and a professional athlete. Marriage and fidelity are terrific, but years of nefarious activities should be a prerequisite for these guys. David Wright surely knows this and so does Matt and why that is wrong is beyond me.

I like to believe I am the voice of reason. However, I admit that I probably do not convey that voice all that well in space being I am a grammatical disaster and long winded. For that reason, I am glad Tim Marchman is out there. He is the voice of reason and does it in a much better way than me.

Because Pedro Martinez is 36 years old and last pitched a full slate in 2005, his latest injury comes as no surprise. It was expected and inevitable. This being so, there's no reason why it should unnerve Mets fans at all. The news that Martinez will be out for 4–6 weeks with a left hamstring strain after just throwing 57 pitches may have been heartbreaking, but neither the injury nor an extended leave for the team's no. 2 starter should affect the team's chances at all.

Yes, yes, yes, and yes.

The main reason for this is that the Mets are not especially reliant on Martinez. Baseball Prospectus, for instance, projected before the start of the season that the team would win 93 games, with Martinez pitching 125 innings. Both numbers seemed, and still seem, reasonable. With a deep lineup, a strong defense, and excellent frontline pitching, the Mets are a very good team that won't be ruined by not getting innings they shouldn't have been counting on. A full, healthy season from Martinez would of course have made the team even better; but then, so would a .400 batting average from Jose Reyes. One was no more to be counted on than the other.

I still expect Pedro to add more than 125 innings and his performance will be in line with my original thinking in terms of what he would add.

Two ways of thinking about this should make the point clear. The first is that the Mets won 88 games and missed the playoffs by a game last year, when Martinez made only five starts, and are a better team now than they were a year ago. Johan Santana, rather than Tom Glavine, fronts the rotation; Jose Reyes and David Wright are a year older and a year closer to their absolute primes; John Maine and Oliver Perez have matured, and the team didn't have a regular second baseman then, and does now. A minimal contribution from Martinez didn't cripple them last year, and won't this year.

I want your babies Tim Marchman....oh wait, did I just type that?

The Mets and Binghamton have extended through 2010. Good.

I actually like Robinson Tejada, who has a great arm. It cannot hurt to give a look and see if he can put some decent starts together.

Prospect Musings

I am late to the party on this one, but when am I not?

Mets Top 10
1. Fernando Martinez, of
So far ahead of the rest of the system, but still a long way from his ceiling.
2. Eddie Kunz, rhp
It's not a good sign when a reliever from the most recent draft is your No. 2 prospect.
3. Brant Rustich, rhp
It's worse when a reliever from the most recent draft is your No. 3 prospect as well.
4. Jon Niese, lhp
Young lefty with solid stuff will pitch in Double-A at age 21.
5. Nathan Vineyard, lhp
Sandwich pick last June has the potential for three average or better pitches.
6. Robert Parnell, rhp
Gets whiffs with his fastball and slider, but must refine his changeup to stay a starter.
7. Joe Smith, rhp
Sidearm reliever made his big league debut 10 months after getting drafted.
8. Scott Moviel, rhp
He's 6-foot-11 and already touches 94 mph, though his breaking ball needs work.
9. Danny Murphy, 3b
His third-base defense is an issue, but he has the second-best bat in the system.
10. Wilmer Flores, 3b/ss
Signed out of Venezuela for $750,000, he draws some Miguel Cabrera comps.

I find it strange that Vineyard, who I really like, and Niese are not above Kunz and Rustich. I cannot see how those two would not be above them being starters with a #2/#3 ceiling. But that is just me...

John Sickels' list:

1. Fernando Martinez, OF
2. Jon Niese, LHP
3. Eddie Kunz, RHP
4. Brant Rustich, RHP
5. Joe Smith, RHP
6. Nick Evans, 1B
7. Stephen Clyne, RHP
8. Scott Moviel, RHP
9. Brahiam Maldonado, OF
10. Nate Vinyard, LHP

Here, you could extend what BA says to say if your 3, 4, and 5 guys are all college relievers that you drafted over the past two seasons, things are not good. However, I do some bright spots.

I was a bit pessimistic when I said the Mets could have the worst system in the league. That of course belongs to the Houston Astros at this point, but the Mets are certainly in the bottom third. The only reason they are not in the conversation for the worst is because they have a legit blue chip prospect in Fernando Martinez that is one of the few guys in the conversation for the projected #1 prospect in 2009 out of all of baseball. If you can produce three superstars from your system and have them all at the big league level at the same time, you are doing something right, which the Mets might have.

Also, what I do find interesting here is that Niese and Vineyard are both lefties. Those are rare commodities and I do see them as the #2 and #3 prospects rather than the legions of right-handed relievers. Niese is a hard throwing lefty and I am sucker for lefties that own plus sliders, which Vineyard has. They have a knack for making lefties and righties alike look stupid.

There is just something about sliders and lefties that righties just rarely replicate. Jeff Nelson had a frisbee-esque slider, Joba has a devastating one, as do a few others, but Kazmir, O. Perez, and RJ (in his heyday) make righties swing at balls that hit the tops of their shoes. I am not suggesting Vineyard's is going to be that good, but he throws in the low 90's, is projectable, and already has a good slider. Therefore, I am going to begin my irrational fawning over him as a prospect.

Moviel is another guy I really like. Think high 90's fastball. That is where it will be sitting by the time he is in the upper rungs of the minors. Of course, that may not be a good thing. As far as guys who are up in the high 90's go, their success rate and ability to put things together for a sustained big league career is rather low. There are more guys with high heaters that do not make it than do make it. However, that does not mean this kid has no chance to be legit. Plenty that do make it and are able to harness their fastball are usually pretty good.

Let us not forget that Flores guy. The Mets were active in '07 on the international front and inked Martin Perez for $560,000, Wilmer Flores for $750,000, Kelvin Mostcantero for $400,000, Jeffrey Marte for $550,000, and Polanco for $400,000. That is a lot of coin and gone are they days of calling Fred Wilpon cheap. We do not know much on these guys so these are all names to keep on the radar.

Another positive development to keep an eye on is actually honest to god hitting prospects. Dan Murphy's .430 SLG% in St. Lucie in his first go 'round as a pro, Maldonodo's .500+ SLG% in 2007, and Nick Evans' .476 SLG% in St. Lucie are all encouraging signs. They will all be 22 for the 2008 season and they will all be in A+ or AA baseball. These guys will not make any top 100 lists or garner the attention of many thirteen year old girls when they make the bigs, but all have a chance to be contributing regulars on the big league level and successful teams simply need to grow not just superstars and little else, but a supporting cast as well. The Mets have done a bad job with position guys, but these three look promising.

The truly obvious problem and one that has repeated many, many times, outside of Pelfrey and Fernando, there is nothing outside of a few relievers on the way to help. Of course, the Mets have a lot of young guys they control for a while, but they will lack the wherewithal to pull of trades or fill in for injuries. Another year like 2007 could be devastating for this team over the next few years. Health is key because their depth is at an all time low.

* * *

Sure he had an ERA north of 6.00 last season, but I still like the deal.

He is still young and might be able to string a nice season together.

Radomski spills the beans.

Tim Marchman continues his stellar work.

John Maine, the Mets' no. 3 starter, was born in May 1981. Oliver Perez, the no. 4 starter, was born three months later. The Mets stole each in seemingly minor deals in 2006. Last year, each won 15 games and ranked in the top 20 in the National League in earned run average: This year, they could make the difference between a team that rates among the best in baseball's weaker league, and a team that rates as the best in baseball. If they pitch as well as they did last year, the Mets will probably win the division. If one does and the other raises his game, they'll almost certainly win it. If both find a new level, they might win 100 games.

This team could win in the high 90's if Pedro is healthy and Maine and Perez continue to do what we all think they can. However, the article was a really interesting one comparing and contrasting the two and who was better.

Essentially, Perez wasn't quite as good as he looked last year, and his record doesn't quite support the idea that he's even as good as he was last year. Maine, meanwhile, was about as good as he looked last year, and has been so for some time. There's a clear, meaningful distinction between them — Perez is a solid no. 3 starter with an upside well past that, and a good chance of reaching it; while Maine is a no. 2 starter who just needs to add some innings. Take into account that Perez will probably earn more over the next two years as Maine will over the next three, and it's clear which is a terrific young pitcher and which is one of the more valuable properties in the league. You can root for both pitchers, but if you have to pick one, make it Maine.

Maine's DiPS ERA was roughly the same as his regular ERA and about 0.20 lower than Perez's. So despite Ollie's lower ERA, his DiPS ERA suggests he was lucky a bit while Maine actually did pitch slightly better.

Beltran still is not 100%.

Billy is shooting for the stars

Reportedly, the A's want two from Column A — pitcher Homer Bailey, pitcher Johnny Cueto or first baseman Joey Votto. Seriously, while the A's are at it, why don't they also ask for the Carew Tower and a Montgomery Inn franchise to be built later?

Wow.

Allllllll the way out of left field, the Twins sign Livan. For that price, I could think of many other teams that should have jumped all over him.

No No, No, No No No, No No

Joe Posnanski had a nice post about something weighing heavily on our feeble minds.

There are so many fun things to be found in The Bill James Handbook. I was glancing through it again in my flu-ridden stupor and ran across his pitchers most likely to throw a no-hitter along with their percentages.

1. Scott Kazmir, 24%
2. Erik Bedard, 23%
3. Jake Peavy, 20%
4. Johan Santana, 17%
5. Daisuke Matsuzaka, 13%
6. A.J. Burnett, 12%
7. Chris Young, 12%
8. Tim Lincecum, 12%
9. Javier Vazquez, 11%
10. Oliver Perez, 11%

Mind you, this actually has some statistical relevance. There was actual thought and number crunching that helped comprise this list. I am a bit shocked at Vazquez's inclusion here, but the rest have that domination factor. When they are on, they are unhittable and they have devastating out pitches that are second to none when they are working. Joe also assembles his own list in a non-scientific manner, but it is hard to argue with his list.

1. Johan Santana.

I’m stunned that not only has Santana never thrown a no-hitter, he’s never thrown a one-hitter. He’s never thrown a two-hitter. Of course, the reason for that is simple: Santana does not complete games — the guy has six complete games in his career so far.

You have to agree with his #1 choice and that is not being a homer. The guy is moving to the NL with a big park and a good, and sometimes great when Endy subs in for Alou, defense behind him. As for him not completing games, who cares? If you could see the look on my face, you would see the look of a person who does not care. The guy has simply no reason to push himself and has logged more innings than any human since 2004. If all the chips are down, I have no doubt he will push it.

2. Chris Young.

He has led the major leagues in fewest hits allowed per nine innings each of the last two years, which is pretty amazing. But when it comes to pitching into the late innings, he makes Johan Santana look like Robin Roberts. Young had made 99 starts in his still young career and he has completed exactly 0.0 of those games. Not one complete game. He currently ranks fifth on that all-time list, most starts without a complete game (behind Tony Armas, Casey Fossum, Shawn Chacon and Claudio Vargas) and I would say he is by the most accomplished starter to never complete a game.

Fewest hits per nine? Nice. Despite the facts, I am not agreeing with his place among the top ten. Also, other factors apply which you will see down the line.

3. Scott Kazmir.

One complete game in young Kaz’s career. You know, I realized that the complete game is way, way down and everything, but I guess until I started looking at young pitchers, I had never really put it in proper perspective.

Pitcher of the 1950s:
Warren Spahn (215 complete games) or Robin Roberts (237 CGs).
Pitcher of the 1960s: Juan Marichal (196 CGs) or Bob Gibson (165 CGs)
Pitcher of the 1970s: Jim Palmer (175 CGs) or Tom Seaver (147 CGs)
Pitcher of the 1980s: Jack Morris (133 CGs) or Fernando Valenzuela (102 CGs)
Pitcher of the 1990s: Greg Maddux (75 CGs) or Roger Clemens (57 CGs)
Pitcher of the 2000s: Randy Johnson (30 CGs), Pedro (18 CGs), Johan Santana (6 CGs) or Clemens (3 CGs).

We’re there — we’re at that ground floor in baseball now where the complete game is so outdated that it’s possible that the best pitcher in the 2010s might not complete a single game. Or maybe, who knows, some manager and GM will figure that the best way they could score runs would be to go to the old Earl Weaver and Casey Stengel method of platooning, and that will mean the need to have more hitters, thus fewer pitcher, and that would lead to more complete games. I doubt it — as Bill James will tell you the complete game has been dwindling pretty consistently since the beginning of the 20th Century.

It seems unlikely now for that trend to ever get reversed. Anyway, Kazmir’s stuff is so overpowering, he will — assuming he stays healthy — have more than one shot at a no-hitter, I think. I have him below the other two only because it seems to me that an American League guy — especially on an American League team with 19 games against the Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays — will have a tougher time throwing the no-no. Of course, that might be wrong. All three no-hitters in 2007 were by American Leaguers (though Justin Verlander threw his against Milwaukee).

I kept that entire blurb because it speaks to the craziness of the game today and how gently pitchers are treated these days. That being said, Kazmir can do it. When that slider is on and his fastball is humming, he is so fun to watch.

4. Carlos Zambrano.

I’m surprised he’s not on Bill’s list, though I’m certain there’s a sound reason for it. Zambrano seems to me one of the rare guys in today’s game who — even though he has never actually thrown a no-hitter — is a legitimate threat any time he pitches*. He’s thrown a couple of eight-inning one hitters, two complete game two hitters, if he was pitching in San Diego or LA or somewhere like that I would bet on him being the No. 1 choice to get the next no-hitter.

My issue with the Big Z. is his walks. However, the man can throw 150 pitches so I would not think the walks prohibit him. Didn't Burnett walk like six during a no hitter? I would suspect his would go something like that.

5. Jake Peavy.

Another guy who doesn’t complete games. He deservedly ran away with the NL Cy Young Award last year even though he did not throw a shutout nor complete even one game. Last guy to win the NL Cy Young without a single complete game? Roger Clemens in 2004. But Peavy was a lot better than Clemens in 2004 — he became the 30th pitcher since 1900 to win the League Triple Crown — most wins, most strikeouts, best ERA. He was the first to do it without a complete game* — (only Johan Santana in 2006 has done it without throwing a shutout). *Another sign of the times.

Here is a sampling of those Triple Crown winners: Lefty Gomez, 1934: 26-5, 2.33 ERA, 25 CGs, 6 SHOs. Bob Feller, 1940: 27-11, 2.61 ERA, 31 CGs, 4 SHOs. Sandy Koufax, 1965: 26-8, 2.04 ERA, 27 CGs, 8 SHOs. Steve Carlton, 1972: 27-10, 1.97 ERA, 30 CGs, 8 SHOs. Dwight Gooden, 1985: 24-4, 1.53 ERA, 16 CGs, 8 SHOs. Roger Clemens, 1997: 21-7, 2.05 ERA, 9 CGs, 3 SHOs, x HGHs Pedro Martinez, 1999: 23-4, 2.07 ERA, 5 CGs, 1 SHO. Randy Johnson, 2002: 24-5, 2.32 ERA, 8 CGs, 4 SHOs. Jake Peavy, 2007: 19-6, 2.54 ERA, 0 CGs, 0 SHOs.

The caveat for him is the outfield defense. I would say more things have to go right for him than others on the list. One or two spectacular plays need to be made and with Kouzmanoff at third and the aging outfielders with Headly/Hairston in left, you would be hard pressed to convince me he can throw one without striking out twenty. That would especially be true at home with such an expansive outfield when those guys simply cannot go after balls and vacuum everything up.

6. Erik Bedard.

My favorite Erik Bedard story so far was hearing Brian Bannister talk about facing him in spring training. Banny — what a guy. He takes a lot of pride in his hitting, and he said he was facing Bedard and the guy was throwing serious gas. Banny says that what makes Bedard’s gas so much more effective than most is that he hides the ball really well so that when you’re swinging, it’s ON YOU before you even know what happened. Anyway, Banny’s telling the story and he says (I’m paraphrasing), “So Bedard throws me a pitch, and I’m right on it. I mean I’m right on it. And I hit a hard line drive — I’m right on it, this is the best I can do — and it goes foul over the first -base dugout. And then I’m like, ‘Uh, OK, I don’t think I’m hitting this guy.”

Awesome story. Awesome pick. That is especially true if he moves to SafeCo, but Ichiro might have to call off Ibanez a few times though.

7. Tim Lincecum.

He just seems sort of a modern day Jose Deleon — I think he’ll have no-hitters going into the sixth and seventh inning for as long as he can stay healthy.

Great arm and a great pick. I just hope it does not happen against the Mets.

8. Matt Cain.

I guess a 22-year old stud who consistently allows fewer than 8 hits per nine innings and has been good for one complete game each year he’s been in the big leagues should be on this list.

Man, the Giants sure can develop pitching. Now about those bats...

9. John Maine.

I don’t know why … I just think this is the guy who is going to break that Mets curse. He’s thrown a shutout each of the last two years, he keeps hits way down, he strikes out people. Here’s the second preseason call of 2008 — John Maine throws a no-hitter for the Mets.*

*Brilliant reader Jeff P. already points out the contradiction that if I think Maine will throw the first Mets no-hitter, he should be ranked ahead of Santana. It’s true. However, it’s a mind-heart thing. My mind says that Santana is the most likely guy in baseball to throw a no-hitter in 2008. But my heart says he’s another Mets great who won’t throw a no-hitter for the team (while young and up-and-comer John Maine will). The rankings are more based on mind. The opinions are more based on heart. I know this makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, but there you go. It’s like Eddie told Tom Berenger. Words and music, man. Words and music.

How can you not agree with this one? We have seen him almost do it about two times already and simply dominates some games. When he is on and getting people to chase those high heaters, he motors through the lineup.

10. Cole Hamels.

I’m a huge no-hit fan of Fausto Carmona, King Felix, Jered Weaver, but for whatever reason I can already see the headline: “Cole Hamels Throws No-No.”

How can you not agree with this one? He looks people make stupid every night with that change-up. Overall, a great list.

However, I would like to inject some more homerism and remove his #2 off the list and slide in Oliver Perez somewhere between seventh and tenth. If you put Kazmir on there, Oliver needs to be as well. Their stuff is comparable when they are on and both sliders could arguably be the best from any lefties in the game so I am with Bill James on this one. The guy may walk ten one night, but he can rebound with nine k's and no walks the next time out. Believe the hype.

* * *

Jim Caple has a nice article on the Twins fantasy camp he attended.

It looks like Schilling is going to go down the non-surgical path. Of course this is what Pedro had ailing him and he too initially opted for the non-surgical path at first. That might get him through the 2nd half of '08, but he will need to go under the knife after that.

However, his doctor thinks he may never pitch again without surgery. Even if he could come out and pitch in 2008, would sitting out 2009 after surgery mean retirement is in his future after 2008? It would be hard to envision him sitting out 2009 and rehabbing all the way back in 2010. The only way I see Schilling returning to pitch again is if get surgery now and eyes the 2009 season.

Everything you wanted to know about Erik Bedard and more. He seems like a down to Earth guy and seems like he would do well Seattle given their lack of New York/Boston-like media coverage.

A little Colbert action. Not enough? How about some more Colbert action.

Stupid, stupid, stupid animals.

Boo hoo. The Braves are getting no respect. ESPN did a hot stove match-up in which they debated who was the better team in the NL East between two teams and neither was Atlanta. Of course, the Braves are the 2nd best team in the division. I mean, yes, the Phillies won the division, but they are have holes and many of them.

The Rockies may have finished second and made it to the World Series, but who is speaking of them in the same regard as the Dodgers, D-Backs, and Padres? Not many. You will forgive me if I think the NL East is in fact a two team race that does not include the Phillies. One thing I do have an issue with is this:

RIGHT FIELD — Also not close, but in the Braves' favor. Jeff Francoeur is far preferable to the Mets' Chavez/Church duo and the Phillies' Geoff Jenkins/So Taguchi/Jason Werth combination

Frenchy facts: In 2006, he had a .260/.293/.449 line. Yikes. His 2007 line was .293/.338/.444. The bad news is even though he improved in the plate discipline department, he was still pretty bad and simply covered it up better with a higher BA. It is also worth noting he had a BABIP of .337 in '05, .284 in '06, and .337 in '07. The MLB average is usually between .290 and .300. Of course the big time players end up sustaining a much higher BABIP, but we have no idea if that does include Frenchy. He had exactly the same about of XBHs in '07 and in '06, but ten fewer balls found their way over the way in '07. His OPS+ was 87 in '06 and 103 in '07. Overall he notched 22 Win Shares, after nabbing 16 in '06.

I guess the real question is, who is Frenchy? Is he Atlanta's David Wright as many over zealous fan dubbed him? Or is he another toolsy player that has trouble putting it all together?

Church facts: Churchy compiled 19 Win Shares in 18 less games in '07. In '06, he tallied 6 less Win Shares in 71 games compared to 162 for Frenchy. Over the last three seasons, he beat Frenchy's career best OBP and posted an OPS+ of 118, 131, and 114. He also posted a higher WARP1 in '07 for good measure. The big thing here is one guy will be 24 next year while the other would be 29, but why no love for Church? If I were making a team for the long term, I could not deny Frenchy's upside, but for 2008 and maybe even 2009, give me some Ryan Church. I am shocked people really think this guy is an afterthought.

Let this one marinate in your head for a second. It is great! The entire family is crooked.

"Roger came to me one day and told me that we had been asked to do a photo shoot for Sports Illustrated," Debbie Clemens recalls. "I had major anxiety! I was a 39-year-old mother of 4! Once I realized that this WAS going to be a reality, I decided I had to give it everything I had." "My mind was set," Debbie Clemens continued. "I am not a risk taker, but have since learned that with great risk, sometimes comes great reward. The responses from that experience have been wonderful and I feel it was a turning point in my life. It's nice to have a goal for yourself and to see it through. The goal kept me motivated and focused. Using common sense and my ability to balance my life, I achieved that goal."

Big risk. Taking some clothes off and smiling in spread that everyone forgot until now? I totally admire you for that. There was also a tasty one in the comments:

If it's true, maybe Kim Mattingly should've taken some as well, then she's still be hot.

Ziiiiing!! Now, that is not nice. True, but not nice.

Take a look at this link as well. The pictures are classic. Nothing like getting together with a few buddies and downing some Miller Lites and injected some steroids.

I have not seen this one before so it is new to me.

All eyes will be on Santana this spring.......wait....no...all eyes will be on Pedro this spring. Luckily there is enough media coverage both will get their fair share of attention. There is no question they are both important, but there is also no question for me about either of those two. They are both going to healthy and very good.

Steve Popper has lots of questions. He could have just asked me though. I have answers to all of them.

McNamee's lawyers sees the Feds getting involved in the Clemens case. Roger, Roger, Roger...maybe you could have come up with a half lie and say you did it once like everyone else. Now you are going to come out looking horrible if this goes awry. Or maybe he is taking the George Costanza stance on lying.

It's not a lie if you believe it.

Fernando Tatis gets an invite to Spring Training.

New York Edition: Aside from 56 at-bats for Baltimore in 2006, Fernando Tatis has not played in the majors since 2003. Nevertheless, the Mets have invited him to spring training and would love to have a righty bat to potentially serve the role Julio Franco once filled - pinch-hitter/caddy to Carlos Delgado.

The Yankees inked Robinson Cano and bought out his last years of arbitration and tacked on a few more.

He will receive $3 million this season, followed by salaries of $6 million, $9 million and $10 million. The Yankees will have a $14 million option for 2012 or can pay a $2 million buyout.

There is a $15 million option for 2013 with another $2 million buyout.

Seems like a great deal for each side. Cano will never go hungry again and the Yankees get some nice value out of stellar production.

I guess the fact that Sandy Alderson is their CEO means Bonds to the Padres would be rather unthinkable.

Spring Training this week? Swelliciousness.

Futile But Fun

Dayn Perry goes over his list of the worst starting players by position.

To be honest, I thought I would see Brian Schneider on this list unjustly. There are worse and sure enough, Mr. Perry agreed.

C — Jason Kendall, Brewers
Kendall narrowly edges out Paul Lo Duca for worst catcher. In 2007, Kendall "hit" .242 AVG/.301 OBP/.309 SLG and tallied only 24 extra-base hits in 514 plate appearances. Unless you're a pitcher, those power numbers are patently unacceptable. That's to say nothing of Kendall's poor throwing arm behind the plate. At age 33, he doesn't figure to improve going forward.

LoDuca was the other choice and it is funny because people are still harping on him being an offensively superior player than Brian. Right. Perry did get it right here as Kendall actually added negative value.

One of the bigger mysteries in the universe is why GMs prefer guys like him to the Geovany Soto's of the world. One is a known quantity whose name you have heard, but at least the Soto-type players represent hope, upside, and possibly positive value.

1B — Kevin Millar, Orioles
Last season, the 36-year-old Millar hit .254 AVG/.365 OBP/.420 SLG, while the average major-league first baseman hit .276 AVG/.357 OBP/.463 SLG. Millar took his walks, but that's about all he did in 2007. Throw in the fact that he's a liability with the glove and on the bases, and you've got a player who would be best deployed as nothing more than a pinch-hitter against lefties.

Kevin Millar is actually the first base equivalent of Paul LoDuca minus the hankering for teenage girls. He is still living off his gritty, gamer personality and few good years with previous teams.

2B — Ray Durham, Giants
Durham was a very good player for a long time, and he put up excellent numbers as recently as 2006. Last season, however, he went over the statistical cliff, batting just .218 and getting on base at just a .295 clip. He's now 36, so a significant rebound seems unlikely. Fortunately for him, the miserable Giants don't have any other options.

Ray Durham did not add much nor did he take anything away with his 0.0 WARP1. There has to be someone out there who could help them out. A 0.1 WARP1 would represent an upgrade of infinity. INFINITY!!! Dare I say that Anderson Hernandez would be huge upgrade for them here?

3B — Rich Aurilia, Giants
Yes, Aurilia, at 36, is currently atop the Giants' pile — and it is a pile — at third base. Last season, Aurilia managed an OBP of barely better than .300, and since he's very much in his decline phase, there's no reason to expect improvement. These days, his bat won't play anywhere, particularly at a power position like third base.

Of course, I wanted him as a super sub. Not that I would have been wrong because maybe he might have done well in that role, we'll never know. However, he did have a really good season in 2006 after a pretty decent one in 2005 and not many could have predicted such a horrible decline. Ok, maybe many could have since Aurilla has been so up and down.

Just a side note here, if Wes Helms was still a starter, he would have won by a landslide.

SS — Omar Vizquel, Giants
Seriously, props to the Giants, without whom this column might not have been possible. Anyhow, Vizquel has a credible Hall of Fame case, but at this stage he has no business being a regular at the highest level. Defensively, he still makes the routine plays and the occasional highlight grab, but his range is now well below average. His offense is even worse than that. Vizquel will be 41 years old not long after Opening Day, so it's probably time to consider making graceful exit. On a broader level, it's challenging to impart just how bad the San Francisco

This all does beg the question, how does Brian Sabean even have a job much less get a two year extension? Please, do not tell me he was handcuffed by Barry Bonds. Bonds is no reason to decimate your ball club.

LF — Juan Pierre, Dodgers
As long as Pierre's in center field, he is mediocre enough to tolerate, but in left field, where the offensive bar is much higher, he's not adequate. He hits for average and runs the bases well, but when it comes to doing the two most important things a hitter can do — get on base and hit for power — he comes up woefully short, particularly by corner-outfielder standards.

If Juan Pierre sniffs any playing time this season, Joe Torre should be lambasted. The only reason he has any value whatsoever is because he steals a lot of bases. He literally adds nothing else to the equation. The key to making the playoffs is winning games, which should not be a big shock. With that in mind, Pierre in no way adds value over Ethier and Kemp.

CF — Mark Kotsay, Braves
Kotsay is injury prone, merely average defensively at this point, and last season, when healthy, wasn't able to hit a lick. Certainly he won't put up stats as grim as he did in 2007, when he flailed about to the tune of .214 AVG/.279 OBP/.296 SLG. However, you can improve upon those deliriously bad numbers and still not rise to the level of acceptability. The sooner top prospect Jordan Schafer is ready to take over in center, the better off the Braves will be. Of course, Schafer hasn't played a game above the Triple-A level, so they're likely stuck with Kotsay for the time being.

I do not like the Braves and it pleasures me to see someone who actually took wins away from their former employer lace up their cleats and put on a Braves uniform. You would have to go back to 2004 when he was 28 to see an above average season from him. That being said, the Braves did not make a bad move here. He might have one more league average year in him and it is not like they had a plethora of options.

RF — Mark Teahen, Royals
Teahen isn't a horrible player, and he's only 26. However, he makes it on this unfortunate list only because right field is a fairly deep position. Teahen had a good campaign in 2006, but last season he regressed, slugging just .410 and managing only one homer every 78 at-bats. That just doesn't cut it. He's young enough to reverse course, but he may not have the bat for such an "offense-first" position.

Out of this team that Perry compiled, Teahen would be the All-Star representative. He actually adds the most value out of any of the bunch and is legitimately league average. However, that .410 SLG% from a corner outfield spot is horrendous. Can he rebound? Possibly, but unlikely. His SLG% from the last three years is .376, .517, and .410. Which one does not belong? For those of you still trying to remain optimistic about him, his minor league SLG% is .421.

He will forever go down as the poster child for why you should always trade for the most talent rather than try and pigeon hole needs. Beltran for Wood, Teahen, and Buck? No esta bien.

Overall, it was a fun read. I do think Teahan was unfairly targeted and you could have certainly made a case for Johnny Damon and just made it three outfield spots in general rather than try and find someone for each spot. Damon posted a .396 SLG% at a corner outfield spot and to answer your question, only eight qualifying outfielders had a sub .400 SLG% in the bigs and the Yankees had two of them. Besides, Teahan is still only 26 while Damon is likely to continue to regress. Is David DeJesus still a starter? He could certainly qualify for a spot as well if so.

* * *

Good stuff.

Though not as good as above, still good stuff.

Good riddance Tom McCarthy.

Also from the above link..

With arbitration hearings approaching, the Mets have yet to come to terms with two players: Oliver Perez and Ryan Church. GM Omar Minaya said Perez's agent, Scott Boras, is not interested in negotiating a contract that covers beyond the 2008 season, meaning Perez should be a free agent next winter. Perez has asked for $6.5 million, with the club countering at $4.725 million. Church, the newly acquired outfielder, requested $2.45 million, with the club offering $1.75 million. The Mets haven't gone to an arbitration hearing with a player since David Cone in 1992. ... Duaner Sanchez will have no limitations when pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie next Thursday, according to Minaya.

I guess this answers my question. However, I still think it is worth a shot. Really, $12 to $13 million is on the low side of what he would get. If he replicates 2007, he might receive $15 million per. As crazy as that sounds, it is entirely possible. My reasoning...

1) The guy has good enough stuff to succeed in either league. There are some pitchers who AL teams want nothing of because they simply lack the ability to dominate with 'stuff'. Oliver has no such issues. He battles himself a lot, but should have no problem putting up great numbers in the AL when he is on which opens up the market a lot more.

2) Carlos Silva. While Oliver is not an ace, he has front end potential. Carlos Silva does not and received a boatload of cash after Lilly, Meche, Marquis, and Suppan received rather handsome pay raises over the past few years. Basically, even Perez tosses up a 4.00 to 4.25 ERA, he will get paid. A four year deal for a guy on the right side of 30, throws with his left arm, throws in the low 90's, and is injury free is going to be a hot commodity and obviously Boras knows that. He would have to toss up a 5.00 ERA to really blow things up, which I cannot see happening.

3) Who else is going to be out there? Best case scenario, there will be Sheets, CC, Smoltz, and Burnett.

• Burnett may not have a great year and not opt out. Even if he does opt out, he will be looking for just as much or more money as Perez while being substantially older and carrying a huge injury risk.
  
• As for Ben Sheets...see AJ Burnett. The same reasoning applies. A long term deal on Sheets is frightening.
  
• Is there any chance Smoltz leaves?
  
• If you are looking at CC and lose, you will certainly look at Perez. Overall, anyone looking to drop cash on a starter may look to Perez first being more affordable than CC and perhaps a better option than the other household names. Of course, CC might not even be changing addresses.

Boras is not stupid and probably realizes this, which is why he is reluctant to deal now. However, ballplayers are always opining about security. A long term deal now would give him that on a team that is well positioned to win over the next five years.

Maybe Omar can get a one on one a la A-Rod and the Yankees, but that seems doubtful. If Perez wanted to have a hand in this and was looking for something other than the best payday from any team regardless of long term outlook, he would have hired another agent.

Ben Johnson is back with the Mets. Great.

Freddie says "money ain't no thang". After the 20% price hikes, I should think not.

Also from the above link, Craig Wilson is drawing interest from the Mets. I have to say, I do like that idea. Pop off the bench is always nice and Wilson could certainly add that.

My how far Jeff has come. Although, we have no idea if all the other stuff we have heard in the past has been overblown, but it looks like the baseball people are in charge of baseball and the Wilpons are in charge of the money and making sure people are happy.

Well....with the exception of Lastings. I still think they wanted him gone.

Legal or not, Pedro needs to stay out of the Rooster Coliseum. Nothing good can come of it and in the wake of Michael Vick fiasco, this will probably get a bit of press. Of course (right or wrong) chickens and dogs are on a different level and one was legal while the other was not, but whatever. Pedro should keep his distance and is still representing the Mets wherever he is.

A nice feel good article about Johan. It also came with this gem of a comment at the bottom.

thegup Feb 7, 2008 8:14:26 AM
You could give that idiot Willie 5 Santanas and he will find a way to mess things up. A fish rots from the head

Good stuff.

Livan is out.

Sickels goes over the top prospects of 2000. Train wreck. It really puts a lot of things into perspective, but this one seems especially bad in terms of the talent translating into a top tier big league careers.

"Who gives a [expletive], they just got Johan Santana."

That is pretty much the answer to any problem that you could think of in regards to this deal. The Mets gave up two MLB ready starters in Mulvey and Humber and are left with only Mike Pelfrey as a viable option on the horizon. Outside of that, we are looking at Bobby Parnell, who is more of a reliever in my eyes.

Next year, we know that not one, not two, but three starters will be hitting the free agent market with Maine following after that. Of course Maine has a ways to go, but it bears noting that when his contract expires, the Mets might not have any meaningful prospects ready to step in. Now that Johan is out of the way, some forward thinking should be employed.

Oliver Perez is an enigma to some people. Since 2004, he has put up an ERA+ of 145, 72, 67, and 120 and a k/bb of 2.95, 1.39, 1.50, and 2.20. I could certainly understand why he is considered such, but to me, he is slightly misunderstood. He was not in a great place and the Pirates organization does not exactly have a great track record for grooming young pitchers.

Oliver just seemed like the classic case of guy needing a change of scenery. However, it would be hard to ignore his up and down career. Normally I would say that anyone represented by Boras would not extend with one year left before free agency, but we have a precedent here with a similar case. Carlos Pena was another insanely talented enigma that was represented by Boras and he extended recently.

Perez will have his arbitration meeting later this month and Omar should push for five year deal. $7 million in 2008 and then spread $48 to 52 million over the next four seasons. That is risky because Oliver Perez would not surprise anyone if he threw up a stinker this year, but I think those days are behind him. However, the fact that people consider him volatile might be the best opportunity for the Mets to sign him for a bit more than Carlos Silva signed. Regardless, even if he puts up a 4.20 ERA, he would be worth it and get something close to that on the market which does give the Mets some acceptable downside in regards to his performance.

That move would allow the Mets to pencil in Johan, Ollie, Pelfrey, and Maine through the 2011 season. To me, that sounds just perfect. Waiting until after the 2008 season with Oliver will prove to a risky move because he should be an extremely coveted free agent. Ben Sheets, CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, and John Smoltz might all be out there, but maybe only one or two of them reach. With another solid season from Perez, you have to believe he might be #1 on many team's list with Sheets and Burnett coming with bigger price tags than Ollie and huge health questions, CC pricing out of most team's comfort zone, and Smoltz's age and his likeliness to stay with the Braves.


* * *

The Erik Bedard deal is almost done. If he can put up 200 innings, he might be the favorite in Vegas to win the Cy Young. Oakland plays like a pitchers park, Seattle plays like an extreme pitchers park, and Anaheim plays neutral. Of course there is still that bandbox in Arlington, but three out of four ain't bad.

The Orioles will get a really impressive haul if this goes through and they have put themselves on the right path. If MacPhail was around earlier and was allowed to do what he wanted, they could be on their way to being a rebuilt team rather than just starting their rebuilding process.

It would be interesting if both Cy Young Award winners from either league were acquired via trade this year. Has that ever happened? Doubtful, but there is certainly a pretty good chance that happens.

Luis Castillo divulges some information.

"I remember the day I got traded, remember Johan. He went to me in the locker room. We talked for 20 minutes. I explained everything. He told me everything, told me he wanted to play with the Mets the day I got traded," said Castillo, who re-signed with the Mets for four years, $25 million. "A week later, I told (Mets GM Omar) Minaya he's a good pitcher, and he likes the Mets. I know he makes a lot of money, but he's great, the best left-handed pitcher, and he'd like to play here with the Mets. I know he makes a lot of money, but I think that's the guy we need."

Johan would have gone to anyone that would have paid him cash, but I do think he genuinely wanted to be in Queens for a multitude of reasons.

The Mets hope his 32-year-old knees hold up. In his 49 starts batting second, they averaged 5.51 runs, compared to 4.73 in other games.

Castillo does not add a ton of defensive or offensive value, but he is does not negatively impact the team. He plays decent defense and gets on base 37% of the time. With the depth the Mets have in the lineup, that is just fine.

David Wright chose not to read the Jimmy Rollins guide to shit talking and says what any sugary leader of any squad would say.

"The team to beat in my eyes is the team that won last year," Wright said. "Philadelphia took care of us last year. They took care of business in the division. Going into this year, we have to take control again of the NL East."

Of course no one believes for one second he does not think the Mets are the team to beat as Philly needed an improbable comeback just as the Rockies are not playoff favorites as they needed an improbable run, but Wright is not looking to start a ridiculous prediction war.

With six months of a long season ahead, not much is more annoying than ridiculous claims of who is better. Maybe the Phillies need that type of motivation so that is all well and fine. As for the Mets, it really seems they need some other catalyst. Maybe Wright steps into that role this season. Maybe not. However, I think Pedro and Johan for the entire season will provide that spark that their skipper failed to ignite via himself or through someone else.

Bonds, Sosa, and Piazza are not generating much excitement these days. You would think that Sosa would be a better fit than Juan Gonzalez for the Cards, unless the Cards have no intention of using Juan, which begs they question why even sign him in the first place. It seems they would like another bat and Sosa provides that.

As for Bonds, someone needs to suck it up. The guy has 30 homer potential and gets on base almost 50% of the time. The Padres look like the third best team in the division and could use his bat. Sure, that gives them three left-handed (and old) bats in the outfield, but all three are fragile and will need plenty of days off and Giles and Bonds are not horrible against lefties.

Fun With Game Scores

There comes a time in everyone's life when they have to look into the mirror and admit something. As hard as it may be to face the truth sometimes, it needs to happen. For Tom, he needs to look in the mirror and admit he has lost a little something...or maybe a lotta something.

I know I am getting ahead of myself here since there is a lot of baseball to be played, but 'tis my nature. When the playoffs hit, I cannot help but think a certain pitcher with some porcelain veneers will be toeing the rubbing in game #1. That means he is the guy most likely to start more playoff games than any other Met. Those are not odds I'm prepared to take.

I'm a proponent of putting your best foot forward as obvious as that seems. When you are running in a race, you would be ill advised to start off sitting down, facing backwards, or parcheesi. But if Glavine starts because he is the 'ace' of the staff, that could spell bad news for the Mets.

For one, if there is a game #5 in the NLDS, the least effective Met pitcher would be trying to keep the Mets season going. I know there are legions of fans out there that would say they trust him in the playoffs, but I just point back the 'no such thing as clutch hitting' theory. Is it possible that someone actually pitches better than they are normally capable of just because it is the playoffs?

I would tend to think that anyone who has outstanding stats (or conversely for guys who struggled like Bonds had in the playoffs early on) are subject to sample size. While I think people can shrink in big games, others simply pitch to their ability. Is there any logical reason that Jeff Suppan is post-season beast? I do not think he rises to the occasion per se, but he goes out and has confidence and pitches to his ability. He only has 54 innings and his nice stats are probably just a result of sample size more than anything.

I would prefer not basing the game #1 starter on the false notion of rising to the occasion or past successes. I think Maine or Perez showed they can handle the pressure of the playoffs and if Mets want their best chance of winning, Maine and Perez should be heading the playoff rotation and they should be followed by The Duque and Glavine. By setting it up that way, you can ensure your three best starters are getting the first three starts of the first two series.

You simply cannot be worried about bruised egos and you simply cannot be living in the past. Maine and Perez have been outstanding for the Mets this year whereas Glavine seems like he is running on fumes. For some proof of the gap between their performances, let us look at the current Mets five starter's games scores. Game scores are a good way to slap a number on the overall effectiveness of a pitcher whereas a quality start is a yes or no thing. This gives you more depth.

           # of GSc over 50       % of GSc over 50
John Maine         13                  65%
Tom Glavine        10                  45%
Oliver Perez       13                  76%
Jorge Sosa          7                  54%
The Duque          11                  65%

A quality start is a score of 50 or above. Glavine has put up a non-quality start in more than half of his starts. Oliver Perez has gone from Mr. Inconsistent to just being the pantheon of consistency. Also, a stunning twelve of Maine's starts have been over 60 and eleven of The Duque's have been over 60. More than half of their starts have been flat out gems. In the playoffs, pitching wins out most of the time and the Mets best shot for a shut down game does not involve Glavine. I'm not giving up on Glavine and would not mind him starting in the playoffs and believe he should, but he should get less starts than the rest. Lately when he pitches I would rather be waxing the hair from around my nipples than watch him.

* * *

Milledge got hit for hot-dogging and Willie gave him what appeared to be a stern talking to for a hustle play...what a surprise! Was Lastings supposed to shun Reyes when he came out to celebrate yesterday? It took a perfect throw to get Milledge or else he would have been safe and it was a perfect throw. Sucks, but hardly a punishable offense. I wonder if he is going to get hit tomorrow for that fancy handshake with Paul LoDuca by the mound after the game.

Lastings has a bad reputation already and I'm not quite sure what he can do. He brushed himself off after getting hit for the second time in two games and ran to first with no looks or anything and that is what he needed to do. I guess the Pirates took more offense than they should have but again, they could always show him up by...you know...winning.

"I like to use the word colorful," Milledge said. "It's kind of like if you've got two TVs, and one's in color and the other one's in black-and-white, which one do you choose? Both are kind of the same thing, but the other one is kind of more appealing to the eye."

Overall though, Willie is not against Milledge and giving him reminders is not a bad thing. Hopefully he just keeps proving that he can be a spark for this team much in the way Pence and Braun have sparked their respective teams. I am by no means suggesting he will put up crazy numbers like them, but he can make a difference.

Why is Lee Mazzilli orange?

If Beltran is injured, he needs to rest. Pulled muscles are nothing to screw around with and pushing it can make it much worse. Rest Beltran and let Milledge roam center for a few days against these weaker teams so he can be ready for the Brewers and the Cubs.

I like the sound of Ted's jib. Milledge's stock is hotter than the 2003 version of Kelly Clarkson, but Omar would probably have to be bowled over at this point to move him.

I don't think Minaya is really counting on Pedro as much him just giving obvious answers to the media's questions. However, I am starting to get a bit leery of his return. I wasn't really counting on him to start the season and I let myself get mixed up in the hype and started thinking he would be back.

No need to rush Alou. As with Beltran, why rush him back and risk further injury for the dregs of the NL and with Milledge providing some firepower?

Adam Bostick had a nice start for the Zephyrs.

Caleb Stewart and the Double-A for lifer Brett Harper each went 2 for 4 with a homer in the B-Mets win over Altoona.

Nick Carr went five innings and gave up three hits, one earned run, three runs overall, and one walk while striking out nine for the Cyclones.

I know I have not been playing nice with Tom Glavine, but it is great to see him get win #299. If he does not win #300 on the road, I will dust off my Glavine jersey and head out to the stadium to support him and watch him go for 300.

It's About That Time

One of the best storylines of 2007 has been the emergence of John Maine and Oliver Perez. Maine is under the Mets control through 2011 so there is no rush with him, but in regards to Perez, the Mets only control him through 2008. If the Mets want to extend him before he hits free agency at somewhat of a discount, this off-season would be the time to reward him. There is a slight gamble with Oliver because there is still some uncertainty as to who the real Oliver Perez is. Is the 2002, 2004, and 2007 Oliver Perez the real one or is the 2003, 2005, and 2006 Oliver Perez the real one? They might well be willing to take a gamble and lay down some cash for Oliver simply because of the rising cost of pitchers, but the real issue is whether or not Oliver would sign an extension right now.

If Oliver is presented with guaranteed money, it might behoove him to skip is final arbitration year and snag the cash. He has had his ups and down before and signing a contract now ensures he will have more money than he can ever spend no matter what happens. Let us say four years for $36 million? Would that even be enough? With the slight risk involved, I would assume the Mets would not want to break to bank, but would have to come up with a figure that would make the risk palatable. The problem is that if Oliver feels differently and believes he truly turned a corner, he could land an enormous payday after the '08 season if he puts two great seasons together.

If Gil Meche can get $55 million, a 27-year old that has become a premier left-handed starter would fare pretty well to say the least. The biggest problem for the Mets is that Oliver is represented by Mike Fischlin, who is one Scott Boras' agents and was his first employee. We all know how much Boras loves free agency, but it is possible Oliver feels that the Mets are responsible for his turn around and may want to make the move to have security. I'm not banking on that much and if he does hit free agency, it could be one of the richest pitching markets in this history of baseball if most of guys set to become free agents actually hit the market. Oliver would join a group of impressive lefties that includes Randy Johnson, C.C. Sabathia, and Johan Santana and he would join righties Aaron Cook, Jon Garland, John Lackey, Derek Lowe, Pedro Martinez, Jake Peavy, Brad Penny, Ben Sheets, and John Smoltz.

I do not think they will all hit free agency, but there should some substantial talent on the market with Lowe and Perez being the only two Boras clients. Omar clearly has his work cut out for him and I'm sure the Mets would prefer to get something done sooner rather than later.

* * *

Alou and Pedro are making their way back.

Moises Alou (strained quad) is scheduled to play in a rehab game today in Florida, general manager Omar Minaya said. ... Pitcher Pedro Martinez (rotator cuff) will throw a bullpen session today in St. Lucie, after which his next move will be determined.

Some guy called into WFAN this weekend and said he was against the Alou signing. First, who did not think he was going hurt? You kind of have to accept this stretch of Alou being down for his bat in the playoffs, provided they make it here. Second, Alou just rakes. As I stated on Toasty's site they other day, his consistency is just astounding.

Alou will not carry the team, the guy just hits. For his career he has hit .331/.394/.587 in March/April, .293/.364/.452 in May, .291/.348/.497 in June, .302/.372/.535 in July, .293/.363/.520 in August, and .306/.376/.520 in September/October. That type of consistency is just insane and really helps us understand why this offense have been sluggish and inconsistent since he went down.

The Mets offense has been spotty, but having a force in the middle of the lineup that is so consistent is going to go a long way to making this team a bit more stable offensively. Alou is going to be a huge part of this team and with the Gotay and Milledge now here, this team is going to have it's best lineup of the year in place for a second half run. But with Alou close to being back, it looks like Milledge has only has a few games left to solidify his spot with the team. I do not think he will get sent down to the minors again, but he is going to have to play his way into the lineup.

I am not sure how much Willie likes Green, but he has had OPS of .746, .547, and .682 since his scorching April which is horrible for a corner outfielder. He has not been horrific this month, but he is not walking and does not really bring much to the table in speed and defense. I've already spoken about Green playing some first while praying for Franco to be cut and I think that sitting Delgado more often should be considered. You certainly do not gain anything by playing Green over Delgado, but if Willie feels the need to get him in, he can do so in right and at first with Milledge getting the lion's share of time.

In more Alou news, he homered in his first rehab game and he says he is one or two weeks away from returning.

The Mets drew a franchise record 203,515 fans for the four-game series, breaking the mark set in 1988 against Pittsburgh. ... David Wright and Jose Reyes started their 394th game together Sunday, tying the team record for starts by a left-side tandem held by Howard Johnson and Kevin Elster.

They may be struggling a bit, but fans are still showing up in droves to watch them play. The Mets are third in attendence with 2,064,972 fans showing up in 46 games so far this year. Also, they are second to only the Red Sox for average away attendence per game. They edge out the Yankees which is certainly surprising and most likely a result of people wanting to see Wright and Reyes. Overall, they are on pace to have 3,636,090 fans come through the turnstiles at Shea.

I missed Milledge's bomb the other day and if you did as well, you can catch it here. It's the first link at the top of the article.

The Mets have a bit of a test ahead of them this week.

"It's important because we're playing some good teams. There's a good chance one of those two will be in the playoffs if not both," outfielder Shawn Green said. "Second, we need to win games because we have a small lead, unlike last year. And third, we need to go out and beat some good teams. It's getting to a crucial time of the year."

They are due to face David Wells, Jake Peavy, Greg Maddux, Derek Lowe, Brett Tomko, Brad Penny, and Mark Hendrickson and it is a rough stretch to say the least.

Pelfrey was sent down and Williams was let go.

"I'm a lot more comfortable starting games than coming out of the pen," said Pelfrey.

Scary thought. I wonder how he would have pitched out of the bullpen?

Wallace Matthews writing a positive article about something Mets-related? Bizarre... But it does seem Lastings has matured a bit and has kept his sense of humor intact despite the seemingly constant barrage of negative publicity.

This is the new, mature Lastings Milledge, the one who swears he won't be high-fiving the fans in the box seats any day soon - "Not unless I win the World Series with a walk-off home run," he said. "I asked around and I already got prior approval for that" - the one who insists he "doesn't have to be the guy right now" but would never rule out being the guy in the (very) near future, the one who is playing as if his name were really Last Chance Milledge, which it may well be.

"This year, I just do my work and go home," he said. "That's the main difference between last year and this year. Last year, maybe I wanted attention a little bit."

And Willie even chimed in with a positive quote.

"It's good to have him up here," manager Willie Randolph said. "He missed an opportunity earlier, but now he has an opportunity again to get back in the mix. We have a lot of season left to play. Hopefully, he'll be a big part of it."

Hal McCoy lays up some softballs for Joe Smith and uncovers his love for ice cream. Riveting stuff.

Dunn hit a bomb on Sunday that left me grimacing at the park.

Oliver Perez's teammates had some fun with him yesterday after he gave up a giant home run to the Reds' Adam Dunn. The shot went an estimated 460 feet, knocking out lights on the out-of-town scoreboard in right field.

"Wow, that was a long ball," Carlos Beltran said. "If I'm a pitcher, I want to give up a home run like that."

The Phillies are baseball's biggest losers. Congrats guys...

Mulvey rolls on...

Mulvey allowed three hits with a career-high 11 strikeouts and Caleb Stewart drove in the only run as the B-Mets defeated the Connecticut Defenders at Dodd Stadium.

Mulvey, a right-hander, didn't allow a baserunner to reach third base until the eighth inning when Jake Wald's advanced runners to second and third.

With that I propose is that he gets rewarded with a promotion to AAA. With the Mets not getting anyone to stand up and step in when needed in regards to the rotation outside of Jorge Sosa, the closer the better for Mulvey and the Mets. His 3.13 ERA is impressive and he just might be the Mets most ready pitcher at this point in the system. I'm not saying he would dominate, but he seems to be the most likely to hold his own and give the Mets a decent chance to win should the need arise.

The Mets bullpen has turned things around nicely and have a 3.52 ERA which is good for fourth in the National League. They also have the fourth lowest BAA and are tenth in overall innings which is a reflection of the solid production the rotation has given the Mets this season. After a 4.72 June, they have put up a nice July with a 1.26 WHIP and a 3.35 ERA. They have certainly seemed to stabilize and showed some encouraging signs. Sele and Schoeneweis even pitched in to turn in nice months and the Mets really needed them to step up.

Quote of the year? Perhaps.

Added Mariners general manager Bill Bavasi on Friday: 'My mother always taught me that if the only thing you have to say is `[expletive] David Samson,' you shouldn't say anything at all. So I'm not going to say anything at all."

Buster echoed popular sentiment today that the Mets are just waiting to jump on Carlos Zambrano. I do not see how the Cubs can possibly let him go, but I am salivating at the thought of a Pedro, Ollie, Maine, Zambrano, and The Duque/Pelfrey/Humber/Mulvey rotation. Sick, sick, sick, sick rotation with three, possibly four guys 27 and under.

Also from Buster, a crazy piece of information.

There continues to be a lot of under-the-radar chatter in baseball about La Russa and St. Louis GM Walt Jocketty moving on to Cincinnati together after this season.

Weird.

I was thinking about the Reds and after seeing them in person and I must step back a bit from when I said they were hopeless. With Votto, Hamilton, Encarnacion, Bruce, Phillips, Harang, Arroyo, Bailey, and their solid '07 draft, they are not exactly hopeless. Their park is too small and not very conducive to winning, but there are pieces to work with. That being said, they still need to trade Dunn and Griffey and just take what they can get and start to rebuild a bit.

Mark Bradley pens an article about unicorns and leprechauns.

There’s a good chance the Braves will trade for a starting pitcher before the month is out. (Indeed, Schuerholz had a list of possible deals written on an index card, which he declined to make available to the media.) There’s no chance such a trade will be made in haste. These are the staid Braves, not the kneejerk Mets.

It would have been nice if he wrote about something...you know...that has to do with reality. The Mets did some shuffling, but I would hardly call them knee jerk. Franco had to go and Ricky is more useful on the staff than Down was in many people's estimation. The Braves however are not desperate? Yup...they are only thinking about signing Julio Franco and trading for Jose Contreras.

The Mets just brought Rickey Henderson into their clubhouse and ushered Franco out. The Braves would welcome the latter back in some capacity and would never in a million years employ Rickey Henderson. That’s why the Braves became the Braves, and it’s why the Mets, for all their talent and money, are starting to look like their silly old selves.

Exactly what starting pitcher are they going to get? I welcome a trade. There is literally no one out there. Also, I would take the Mets team now and in the future 10 out of 10 times and maybe the Braves should have thought about bringing in Rickey with three starters posting a .300 OBP. And that big boom you heard was Brian McCann coming back to earth and all those people saying he was as good as Joe Mauer might have been a little off to say the least. Bring it on Bravos...

Ridiculously un-researched statement of the day in the comments of the above stupid article...

He’s (Julio Franco) always been a great hitter. He takes outside pitches the other way and everything.

Yeah...that's it. He takes outside pitches the other way on purpose.

Second most ridiculously un-researched statement of the day...

Mets have shown sign of last three weeks that their pitching is horrible and will never get better. And don’t tell me that Pedro is coming back and will be healthy. He is questionable to be good? In my opinion he is not good and solid pitcher that he used to be. The only thing that mets have better right now is good fielding, which shouldn’t matter much when the braves hitting and pitching is good.

Mets team ERA: 3.83
Mets bullpen ERA: 3.56
Mets rotation ERA: 4.02

Atlanta team ERA: 4.19
Atlanta bullpen ERA: 3.78
Atlanta rotation ERA: 4.43

Looks like a clean sweep for the Mets. So maybe I need to be a little more clear on this one, if the Mets pitching is horrible, what is the Braves pitching?

Just a plainly ridiculous statement...
The Mets are the biggest idiots in baseball. I hate them and they should be contracted.

Yes, contract what could be the most fun team to watch in baseball. Did I mention that they are third in attendance and second in road attendance? Atlanta is fifteenth in road attendence because you know...they are so popular.

Not much going on down there in the minds of baseball fans in Atlanta, but at least the Altanta beat writer for MLB.com has some ability to think rationally.

Other than trying to decide whether to respond with a "yes" or a "no", this was a rather simple question to answer. How bad can your bench or first-base production be when you're actually contemplating signing a soon-to-be 49-year-old man, who has hit .228 (26-for-114) and collected a grand total of four extra-base hits in his past 75 Major League games dating back to the beginning of August?

From Adam Rubin via Baseball America:

The Mets are converting shortstop Corey Ragsdale, their second-round pick in 2001, to pitching. Ragsdale had a .192 average this season with Binghamton and a .206 career average in seven pro seasons.

It turns out that Paris votes for the president....every single year.

Marty Noble gets bombarded with dumb questions.

Phil Humber had a big day and picked up his tenth win and lowered his ERA to 4.24. He went 7.2 innings and gave up four hits, one run, and two walks while striking out four.

Sean Henry, Jon Neise, and Nick Evans all had nice days for St. Lucie.

Brahiam Maldonado continues to just kill the ball in what has been a breakout season for him.

Rob Neyer? On Board?

Rob Neyer finally has come around to what we have all know for months now.

Remember what everybody was saying about the Mets two months ago?

"Sure, they've got a good lineup. But what about their starting pitching? How can they win with that sorry bunch of has-beens and never-weres?"

I thought those worries were a bit overblown. I never thought the Mets' starters would have the lowest ERA in the National League. Which, at this moment, they do.

Mets 3.62
Padres 3.63
Giants 3.78
Cubs 3.89
Brewers 4.00

Of course that did improve with Oliver Perez's tremendous seven inning effort against the Braves. After picking the Mets up after dropping two in a row, he stated his case for being the current ace of this squad. Only Jake Peavy, Brad Penny, Tom Gorzelanny, and Tim Hudson have better ERAs and Perez is 4th in BAA in the NL out of starters with five starts or more.

His BB/9 is 2.86 overall and looks even better at 1.83 if you take out his seven walk and 2.2 inning performance. Of course that is cherry picking numbers, but you get the idea. He's been stellar. In case you missed it (by way of Neyer's blog), Howard Medgal wrote a terrific article about Oliver Perez.

Oliver Perez had managed to defeat, if not dominate, a lineup stacked with offensive stars. He did it on a night when his best command was elusive, and his fastball was less explosive than usual. But baseball’s truly elite pitchers don’t excel only when their pitches are otherworldly. They manage to keep their teams in games even on their off-nights. On Friday night, Oliver Perez finally showed himself capable of doing just that, with a sellout crowd and seemingly all of New York watching.

I think it is safe to say there aren't two Oliver Perez's this season and the one that we have been getting is seemingly getting better. Does anyone miss Xavier Nady anymore?

* * *

[13:10] yankeescum: its funny, by the way, watching franco try to get around on a fastball
[13:10] yankeescum: poor ol' guy cant keep up
[13:21] Mr. met: tell me about it

Mr. Callis fielded quite a few Mets related questions in his last chat.

Pete (St. Pete): Hi Jim. Close to a .300 BA for Fernando Martinez in AA. At his age, that's pretty darn remarkable right?

SportsNation Jim Callis: Yes. Martinez is shooting up the list of the very best prospects in the game.

Possible top prospect candidate next year with Jay Bruce, who the Mets were heavily scouting along with Pelfrey in 2005.

Greg (Cleveland): Jim, Welcome back. A lot has been said about Carlos Gomez (Carl Crawford comparisons, now an Andruw Jones one on ESPN...). Looking at the minor league numbers, he does project much like Crawford from the right side. What is your take on Gomez? Thanks!

SportsNation Jim Callis: His tools always were way ahead of his performance in the minors, and I'll admit I've underrated him in the past. But he looks like the real deal and is punching Lastings Milledge's ticket out of New York.

I like Gomez as much as the next guy, but how exactly has he showed he's the real deal? He can field, but so can Anderson Hernandez. Gomez has hit well, but not great. I need to see more before I'm ready to anoint him anything.

Nigel (Palo Alto): Doesn't a Jonathan Sanchez for Milledge deal make some sense?

SportsNation Jim Callis: That would be interesting. I think Sanchez is underrated, and the Mets probably want to get what they can for Milledge.

My how his stock has fallen. It's a shame that this Milledge thing has taken on a life of it's own that is not really warranted. Does he have any value anymore? They might as well keep him now since they will surely not extract value for guy that still has an excellent chance of being a very good big league player.

rob (philly): Rank the young NL arms over the next 5 years: Hamels, Cain, Lincecum, Bailey, Pelfrey.

SportsNation Jim Callis: Lincecum, Cain, Bailey, Hamels, Pelfrey. And I really like Hamels.

Completely unfair to group Pelfrey in there. He's good, but the other four are waaaaaaaay better. Everyone is under 23 with the exception of Hamels and Pelfrey. Also, Hamels is only two+ weeks older than Pelfrey. That's not to say Pelfrey isn't good, but he is no where near the same level as the other guys.

Can the petty and utterly ridiculous writers that try and pretend that Milledge is anything close to a problem stop now?

Tampa Bay rookie Elijah Dukes was held out of the lineup Wednesday night against Seattle following a published report that his estranged wife sought a restraining order after being threatened by the 22-year-old outfielder.

The St. Petersburg Times reported NiShea Gilbert filed for court protection after receiving a threatening message on her cell phone on May 2, as well as a text message that included a picture of a handgun.

Gilbert played a voice mail allegedly from Dukes for the newspaper. "You dead, dawg. I ain't even [expletive]. Your kids, too."

Lastings is not a bad kid. Does he make some questionable decisions? Who doesn't? If people heard of some of the stupid shit that I've done and continue to do in my late 20's you would be left speechless. Life is a learning experience and Milledge is still a kid. I don't know him but I can certainly tell he's a good kid and doesn't mean to do any harm. Cut him some slack already so he can blossom into the player he can be without distracting him further.

Billy Wagner? Stud. 0.90 whip, .192 baa, and 0.90 ERA with 11 saves.

Joe Smith? The Mets go to guy before Wagner. 1.07 whip, .197 baa, and 1.45 ERA.

David Wright has certainly picked things up of late. He's gunning for 80+ extra base hits and he is fifth....yes fifth in the NL in steals. His average is still a bit low for what he can do but that will continue to climb.

I applaud Willie for dropping Delgado. As soon as he starts hitting, he will be moved up immediately. Until then, he needs to be dropped in the order. The Mets are in a dogfight here and need to win games more than coddle people's egos. Not that Carlos Delgado has an ego, he is one of the most humble players out there and I'm sure he understands the situation and would agree with the manager at this point.

“It’s about getting your swing together,” Delgado said. “It has nothing to do with where you’re hitting in the lineup. It’s not going to change the way I get pitched.”

Ummm...yeah. Not what Giambi needed right now.

Jason Giambi failed a Major League Baseball-administered amphetamines test within the last year, which has subjected him to additional drug testing, sources told the Daily News. Giambi tacitly admitted last week that he has used steroids, but he failed to mention that he has been caught using other drugs.

Just down a few tall boy Amps before the game or drink some of that shitty coffee at my work which could quite possibly be rocket fuel.

A-Rod is at it again. He did a shady ass slide and though I'm not a big fan of payback, this certainly warrants it.

“He went in late and kind of threw an elbow,” Pedroia said. “It was a little cheap but no big deal. I’ll remember. I play second base. I’ve got to turn two with the Yankees 19 times a year, so I know now when he’s coming in, my (arm) slot gets dropped to the floor. That’s it.”

Mike Pelfrey went six innings in his no decision against Albuquerque and gave up four hits, one earned run, and no walks while striking out four.

Fernando Martinez went 3 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI in Binghamton's win over Connecticut.

Matt Dukin lives! He took the no decision against Rome in the South Atlantic League and gave up two runs in six innings.