Tag Archives: Cf

Aug 08

Mets Need To See Valdespin

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The Jason Bay Platoon as begun and tonight we’ll see the left-handed side in Jordany Valdespin against the Marlins.

Good.

Actually, we should see Valdespin full time because when you come right down to it, they have no real outfielders to speak of. Arguably, their best outfielder is one who should be a role player and that’s Scott Hairston. Andres Torres hasn’t given the Mets anything to get excited about. Neither has Lucas Duda. Kirk Nieuwenhuis provided a jolt of energy for awhile, then plummeted to Earth, and later to the minor leagues where he’s nursing a foot injury.

And, of course, we all know about Bay. An ESPN poll had 76 percent eating Bay’s contract, but it’s not their money and GM Sandy Alderson will wait things out in hopes of finding somebody stupid enough to trade for him.

Until then, he’s on the bench, and we should see Valdespin in all situations the rest of the way to see what kind of player he is. This should be a six-week audition for 2013.

Here’s tonight’s line-up, which features Valdespin in left and batting sixth.

Ruben Tejada, SS
Mike Baxter, RF
David Wright, 3B
Ike Davis, 1B
Daniel Murphy, 2B
Jordany Valdespin, LF
Andres Torres, CF
Josh Thole, C
Chris Young RHP

Aug 02

Tonight’s lineup vs. Marlins.

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Maybe Terry Collins is giving Daniel Murphy a day to think over his defense, but he’s not in the lineup for tonight’s game against Florida.

Murphy’s brain freeze set up Mike Stanton’s game-winning grand slam. It also served notice Murphy remains a defensive liability and a man without a position.

GM Sandy Alderson said Murphy will not play winter ball to work on a position in hope of him mastering things during spring training.

Well, good luck with that.

Here’s tonight’s lineup:

Jose Reyes, SS

Justin Turner, 2B

David Wright, 3B

Scott Hairston, RF

Jason Bay, LF

Angel Pagan, CF

Lucas Duda, 1B

Mike Nickeas, C

Chris Capuano, LP

 

Jul 25

Tonight’s lineup at Cincinnati

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Here’s the Mets’ lineup tonight at Cincinnati with R.A. Dickey on the mound:

Jose Reyes, SS

Justin Turner, 2B

Carlos Beltran, RF

David Wright, 3B

Daniel Murphy, 1B

Jason Bay, LF

Josh Thole, C

Jason Pridie, CF

R.A. Dickey, RP

COMMENTS: No surprises.  Terry Collins once floated the idea of batting Bay second behind Reyes with the hope of seeing more fastballs, but nothing became of it.  Bay is still mired in the sixth spot in the order where he continues to struggle.

 

Jul 19

Reyes, Beltran return to Mets’ lineup, but for how long?

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Jose Reyes is back in the lineup tonight against St. Louis, with Ruben Tejada being optioned to Buffalo. No surprise in the names, but with how Reyes has responded to injuries, I thought they might have dragged this out another day or two as a precaution.

Carlos Beltran is also back in to give another audition to prospective suitors before the July 31 deadline. Atlanta is one of the teams reportedly interested, but unless there’s another team involved would the Mets trade directly with the Braves on this big a deal?

That would also include the Phillies, whom I would be shocked to see get Beltran from the Mets. Other teams with reported interest, who have the resources to deal, are Boston, Detroit, Texas and San Francisco, and that’s the group where I see him going.

Reportedly, Pittsburgh and Cleveland have a desire for a bat, but I don’t think they have the prospects to swing such a trade.

Beltran, who has been out with the flu, returns tonight against St. Louis.

Here’s tonight’s order:

Jose Reyes, SS

Justin Turner, 2B

Carlos Beltran, RF

Daniel Murphy, 3B

Angel Pagan, CF

Jason Bay, LF

Lucas Duda, 1B

Ronny Paulino, C

Dillon Gee, RP

 

Jul 18

Today in Mets’ History: This year looking like last summer.

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Mets got this break during collapse.

The Mets are entering a strangely familiar territory.

Last year the prevailing midseason issue after the break was whether Jerry Manuel could take control of his team and guide them either into the postseason, or to at least make a wild-card run.

It didn’t happen. On this date last season, the Mets broke a three-game losing streak coming out of the All-Star break with a series-salvaging 4-3 victory at San Francisco in 10 innings.

The game featured an atrocious call by plate umpire Phil Cuzzi that swiped a victory from the Giants. With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Cuzzi called out Travis Ishikawa at the plate, saying he slide under Henry Blanco’s tag.

Replays proved otherwise, but most damning was Blanco’s comments: “He was safe all the way. Everybody was surprised when he was called out.’’

BOX SCORE

With the victory, the Mets moved to 49-43, five games behind in the National East. Not bad on the surface, but the Mets were in the midst of losing seven of nine games, and would go on to lose six of their next eight, all on the road.

This season, the Mets dropped two of three coming out of the break to Philadelphia, and overall have dropped five of their last seven games.

The Mets close out July with a make-up game tonight at Citi Field, followed by three home games with St. Louis. Then they are on the road to Florida for three, Cincinnati for three and Washington for three.

Even with the positive news about Jose Reyes’ rehab game tonight, the Mets are in for an interesting couple of weeks until the trade deadline.

Last year they unraveled, but they had little to give up as nobody wanted Oliver Perez or Luis Castillo. This season there are more attractive things on the Mets’ rosters for contenders.

Carlos Beltran is currently the big prize. He’s healthy, playing well and has adjusted to a new team. The Mets could bring a prospect or two in return, more, if they extend a negotiating window to the team in attempt to land Beltran long term. Of course, Beltran’s agent is Scott Boras, and his preference in similar situations is to play the open market.

Boras is not likely to do anything to help the Mets, who will not receive compensatory draft picks if he leaves as a FA.

Reyes, who hopes to play tomorrow, is also available, but the Mets would like to keep him, and will do so unless they are bowled over. If that were to happen, the team would want a chance to negotiate with Reyes long term. The Mets will get more of a package in this situation rather than if they sell him to a team as a rental.

The Mets have several other players teams could covet in support or bullpen roles, including: Angel Pagan, Scott Hairston, Tim Byrdak, Jason Isringhausen, and tonight’s starter, Chris Capuano.

Here’s tonight’s lineup behind Capuano:

Angel Pagan, CF

Willie Harris, 2B

Daniel Murphy, 3B

Scott Hairston, RF

Lucas Duda, 1B

Jason Bay, LF

Josh Thole, C

Ruben Tejada, SS

Chris Capuano, LP