Links for Sunday….
- In his latest mailbag, MLB.com's Jim Street writes that he could see Chad Cordero hooking on with a major league club if he continues to stay healthy and perform well in Spring Training. Cordero is in camp with the Mariners and competing for a job, but is unlikely to make the team as the bullpen is already stocked with quality right-handers.
- Mark Grudzielanek is eager to hook on with the Indians, writes Anthony Castrovince of MLB.com. The 39-year-old second baseman, who was absent from the majors in 2009, says he has his eye on the starting job.
- MLB.com's Dick Kaegel reports that Royals shortstop prospect Jeff Bianchi will miss the 2010 season with elbow surgery. Danny Duffy, a left-handed pitcher and the organization's #8 prospect according to Baseball America, will be shut down as well for the time being due to elbow stiffness.
- Michael Hunt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel talks to Brewers GM Doug Melvin about Prince Fielder's future. Melvin reiterates that the team hopes to keep Fielder around for many years, and revisits an instance during his stint as the Rangers' GM when he had to trade a heavy hitter.
- Questions about Kiko Calero's health might have kept him on the market longer than expected this winter, but Adam Rubin of the New York Daily News says that the righty has been throwing off a mound and looks okay for now. "Conditioning-wise he's pretty good," pitching coach Dan Warthen said. "He just hasn't seen hitters."
- Newly-acquired Melvin Mora could end up playing nearly every position on the diamond for the Rockies this year, writes Jim Armstrong of the Denver Post.
- WEEI's Alex Speier reports that Brian Shouse's minor league contract will earn him $800K if he makes the Red Sox' major league roster.
I look forward to going out to Coors this summer and seeing Mora. He can field which is a good upgrade from Atkins, and can play all the IF positions while still bringing 20 homer potential (15 is more likely). I really like how the Rockies have set up their bench with Giambi, Mora, EY Jr, Spilly, Smith and Olivo. To go along with a solid bullpen including healthy Buccholz and Corpas to add onto Betancourt, Morales and Street, the Rockies could be the 2nd best team in the NL if they can play like they did for Jim Tracy last year.
Grudz has a good attitude about it, talking the bull by the horns, and so far he is performing with the bat.
Something weird happened in Minnesota that neither he nor the Twins are allowing out. He was signed briefly by them this off-season & then let go sans explanation. It would be interesting to know what went down.
Well I read the article, it seems they told Grudz “get ready in 3 weeks we’re going to need you,” so he took the time to get ready thinking he had a major league job. Then the Twins said “No thanks.” Maybe he feels they wasted his time.
The Mets did a great job of picking up Kalero; with a microscopic ERA in a Marlins uniform last year, he could minimize his numbers by pitching in spacious citi field, so, if Kalero makes the big leagues this year with the mets, he would instantly solidify the met’s bullpen, further solidifying the pitching staff, because of their already stable rotation.
“he would instantly solidify the met’s bullpen, further solidifying the pitching staff, because of their already stable rotation.”
Is that a joke?
No, think about it: they signed hirosani takahashi, who produced a consistent track record in Japan, and if they insert him as the back end starter, instead of converting him into a reliever, they would have closed the number 5 spot, slotting every other potential starter–e.g: Jon Niese–into the bullpen, or sending them back to the minors. So, takahashi, given his ability to strike out people, as demonstrated yesterday against the national with six strikeouts, is the key player towards solidifying the rotation.
Additionally, with Maine returning from a dubious season marred by injuries; Perez throwing strikes again today–33/49 of his pitches in his previous outings were strikes; Santana primed to overwhelm everyone, again and again and again until his contract expires; and Escobar slated to return, at some point, from surgery, they already have the arms essential towards constructing a solid rotation. But it now depends on where Manuel slots his starters, so, if Manuel puts them in the right place against the opposing starers, and if the pitchers work well with the pitching coach, they would have a stable rotation.
With a stable plan for their rotation this year, offense no longer matters for this team, because Citi-field is a spacious field. You won’t see players like Beltran scorching home runs out of citi-field the same way you saw him pull balls in shea stadium. Every ball with the potential to become home run this season, and the seasons beyond, will either fall short or go out of the park, so the Met’s new philosophy: Pitching and Defense, However, because this team was once known for its firepower, Minaya decided to sign Bay to quell the frustrations lingering from Met Fans after a 70-win season last season.
So you, as a Met Fan, should not be frustrated with your team, especially about their rotation, but if their current plans fall apart, and they don’t sign any remaining pitchers, like Washburn, or any remaining position players, like Jermaine Dye, they would have failed to salvage their upcoming season, wasting your time by rooting for them. So, if the Mets fall behind the National in the standings this year, you have every right to vent your frustrations at them, but until then, learn to have hope by giving your team a chance to compete, will ya?
No, I thought about it. This has to be a joke.
how is it a joke, if we don’t know what to expect from any team during the season. That’s why teams, such as the Rays, made it to the world series during ’08, because they were the underdogs. So, like others, you need to elaborate on your claims; otherwise, your comments remain vague because readers might not how you managed to formulate these connections. The same applies to your other posts.
I didn’t feel a four paragraph dissertation was needed to remind everyone that Oliver Perez is still the same terrible pitcher he’s been, Maine is no better than a 4th starter, Takahashi is entirely unproven in Major League Baseball & Kelvim Escobar is an injury prone pitcher they’re asking to throw every second or third day. Furthermore, the Mets preach a philosophy of pitching & defense yet have held true to neither one, especially not the defensive portion of the equation.
The Rays had a talented & balanced team in 2008. The Mets, once again, do not. There’s a difference between being an underdog & being bad.
well, it goes back to the idea of thinking in paragraphs when writing, so it’s a habit for me to always express my thoughts in paragraphs, with the Topic sentence as my claim, regardless of how long it takes me to prove my point, because i want to make sure i fully elaborate on my claim.
And i see your point, but it only looks bad on paper, because they’re signing players recovering from injuries, so we can’t make the claim that the mets will become a bad team because they signed players that were once dominant, but seemingly lost their dominance because of an injury. We need to keep track of the signed players throughout the season to evaluate the team’s progress, and that was my point in my previous posts about the Met’s success: because we don’t know if those players could bounce back from their injuries and could produce exceptional results for their team, we need to frame our mindset with the expectation that they will contribute to their new team. Otherwise, their respectable teams–in this case, the Mets with their off-season acquisitions– would have not signed them.
Nevertheless, i appreciate your willingness to elaborate on your future claim in future posts. However, considering you already provided a lot of feedback on other posts today, I will be sure to point those out in your future posts.
They don’t need to become a bad team – they’re already a bad team. Who amongst their signings was at any point during their career dominant? For any portion of your claim to be true, they would have needed to pick up significant major league contributors. The Mets off season has been filled with has beens & journeymen. The marquee signing of their off season, Jason Bay, is a complementary piece on a winning team & has never been the kind of player to carry a team. Furthermore, his defense is atrocious.
I appreciate your willingness to make baseless claims about a poorly run franchise’s imaginary ability to compete this year & will be sure to point those out in the future as well.
well, the word ‘baseless’ as an adjective entails a bias view about the Mets, and, as critical thinkers, we need to broaden our perspective, so let’s maintain an objective composure through our abstract journey about our ideas by respecting the different ideas existing out there about different topics.
Bias implies that there is at least partially irrational slant for or against something. Considering that the Mets have neither improved their team significantly, if at all, nor have they followed their supposed philosophy of pitching & defense, one could surmise that the irrational viewpoint would be to not only believe, but also insist that the team will be competitive.
and we shall resume our conversation next time, or elsewhere, but the question remains: where? I must go now, so I’ll talk to you later. It’s been a pleasure debating with a former major league player such as you.
Hopefully nowhere. You sound like a molester.
no, i’m a college student, and i said that to be respectful of your experiences as a former player, and you as a debater. But if it sounds that way, i apologize. That was never my intention; nevertheless, it reminds me of my English professor’s comment: you can control the words you write to express your ideas, but you could never control your reader’s response to your ideas.
And you have to understand that all debates, at some point, contain an end. So, when i said ‘where’, i was referring to another blog, or another website, in which we could have more discussions in the future about baseball. Learn to contextualize my ideas, not to awfulize them.
Be sure to let me know which other posts to elaborate on; I’d hate to continue leaving you in the dark.
Let’s go for the part about a stable rotation being a joke. Right now the Mets rotation is:
1) Santana, the sure thing.
2) Pelfrey, a guy who no one knows what you’ll get from him, but there seems to be hope on 200 innings.
3) Maine, a guy who’s thrown more than 140 innings in a year only once in his career.
4) Oliver Perez, a guy who’s outings tend to be more of a coin flip than Tim Wakefield’s knuckleball.
5) Jon Niese, a rookie.
So that’s a sure thing and 4 big question marks. That’s not a stable rotation, it’s a heart attack waiting to happen.
no, because we don’t know what to expect from the Mets today, tomorrow, or the days after tomorrow. For all we know, they could make one slight change that could alter the entire season. So, rejecting the claim that the Mets rotation as a ‘joke’ is essential to preserve the outcome of the season. However, if you want to read my extended elaboration about my claim, check out my discussion with the last year’s Triple-A pitching coach for the Mets: Ricky Bones.
I said the idea that rotation is stable is a joke, not the rotation itself. I certainly hope your English prof taught you to argue the correct point. You stated “if Kalero makes the big leagues this year with the mets, he would instantly solidify the met’s bullpen, further solidifying the pitching staff, because of their already stable rotation.” This is not a stable rotation. It’s an accident waiting to happen.
Sorry, the following comment initially written in this space was intended as a response for another viewer.
I have more of a shot at winning the lottery than Shouse has of making the Sox’ major league roster. This is accounting for the fact I have bought all of like one lotto ticket in my life. I could imagine Ramirez 2, Bonser, Tazawa, Bowden, Nelson and Richardson all being ahead of him for a potential spot.
I say give Griz the 2nd base job it he continues to hit like he has so far worst case you get a mid level prospect at the trading deadline from a contender for Griz it’s a win win for the Indians.
Guys I think will be gone from the WigWam by end of the All-Star break is Peralta / Branyan / Wood / Westbrook / Griz / for the unforgettable Prospect groupings.