The video clip of Keith Hernandez tutoring session with Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans and Chric Carter gave a rare glimpse of what it was like to be with him on the field.

A private man, Hernandez has clearly gotten comfortable with the camera and agreed to be miked up for an SNY session. But the brief piece revealed his hypersensitive sense of awareness.

When modeling the position, he talked about multiple things he was able to note while coming off the base and with a man on third. Hernandez’ uncanny ability to rely on peripheral vision, while making athletic moves was what seperated him from all others who have played the position.

This attention to detail of what was occurring during games often shocked teamates. It’s often hard to explain and I really don’t think that Hernandez, an extremely modest man, understands that he.

We are all lucky though as he it to Mets’ telecasts.

Posted under Uncategorized

If the Mets sign Frank Catalanotto, it will create some competition for jobs in spring training. He represents the 25th player. On the surface that’s a good thing, but it could suppress some of the younger players who have may have options left on their contracts.

If Catalanotto is signed and makes the club along with Fernando Tatis, it’s unlikely that either Chris Carter or Nick Evans makes the club. The Mets will probably keep 12 pitchers and two catchers. Alex Cora, Luis Castillo, Jose Reyes, Tatis, Daniel Murphy and David Wright will be the infielders. Catalanotto, Jason Bay, Jeff Francouer, Angel Pagan and Gary Matthews would be the outfielders.

Carter and Evans will get significant times at bat in prime games this spring as the club needs to see what they’ve got. It will be interesting to see what the Mets feel is their potential upsides.

One thing for certain, the Mets have addressed one of their goals in improving their AAA Buffalo roster. The bulk of the pitching staff is on the 40-man roster and will be in major league camp. Non-roster invitees that were signed to minor league contracts, R.A. Dickey and Josh Fogg will be part of the rotation at Buffalo. Jon Niese and Tobi Stoner probably will, too.

In all the Mets signed six free agent pitchers that they hope will begin the season in AAA. The benefit in this is that it allows them to keep some of their young pitching prospects at AA Bighamtom such as Brad Holt and Jenry Mejia to start the season. Ike Davis can even start the season at AA, but he’ll probably be promoted to AAA by mid season.

These are good things for individual player development in it that allows good players to have more success before being promoted. No need to rush anyone. No need to seek a “fast-track option.”

The Mets hesitancy to sign veteran free agent starting pitchers is evidence that they are banking on enhancing player development while improving the value of their personel. If for instance, Tobi Stoner and Jon Niese are effective in AAA it allows them to move a Mike Pelfrey or John Maine to improve the ball club at some point during the season.

It could be that after the season begins, the Mets will be in a far better situation to improve the club.

Posted under Uncategorized

Numerous sources over the past few days have reported that the Mets are considering bringing back Fernando Tatis. Fine, but he’ll have to compete with Nick Evans and Mike Hessman for a strict platoon situation with Daniel Murphy. The Mets need Murphy to win the job outright as it would mean his upside is starting to come through. I’m betting that Daniel Murphy will have a good spring and win the job outright. So if the Mets bring in Tatis – and I think they will – he’ll have to show that he can hit during spring training. Otherwise he can be beaten out by either Evans or Hessman. Tatis has his own upside that serves roster and depth interest in that he can also play third and in the outfield.

Posted under Uncategorized

Make no mistake. This trade would have never been done had it not been for Carlos Beltran’s questionable status. They had all the outfielders in place they wanted to start the season. Angel Pagan, Chris Carter, Nick Evans and Fernando Martinez were all the reserves they needed before it was discovered that Beltran needed surgery and more down time.

I kind of liked having Brian Stokes around as he seemed to be a bit of a staff saver, but they Mets needed to do something about center field and they got a veteran in Matthews. In the event Beltran returns successfully, Matthews provides some fair depth.

I think that Pagan is a better player right now and that Matthews seems to have alreay had his best years. But certainty in CF defense at Citi Field is important. Hence the understandable trade.

Give Omar Minaya credit for taking care of a need quickly. I just hope that they were multi-tasking and looking to get a starter at the same time.

Posted under Uncategorized

I started listening to Met fans a couple of weeks ago on WFAN. They are a passionate bunch. Yet they are realistic. They know that this season has become a wash and it’s time to look to the future. So its why a collective shrug of the shoulders occured over the reacquisition of Anderson Hernandez and the recall of Elmer Dessens to fill in the gap for two more wounded.

I agree with them.

The thought that some of the Mets talent which is in AA is not ready should not be applied here. They are not being asked to come up and contribute in a pennant race as was Fernando Martinez. This year is over. Players like C Josh Thole, 2B Jonathan Malo, SS Ruben Tejeda not only need to see the big leagues, but need to be seen. Maybe even 1B Ike Davis who’s big league pedigree gives him a leg up. Nick Evans should be getting big league at-bats right now. Whichever starter whoever is closest to being ready for the big leagues should be brought up to get the 6 starts that might remain. To be fair, allowing Bobby Parnell these starts serves a similar purpose.

After such a season, the Mets badly need to develop their young players. Take advantage of what you have. This is spring training fast forward.

Posted under Uncategorized

I had thought and asked Toby Hyde, who produces the excellent Mets Minor League Blog I asked whether or not it would be fair to say the Mets had little power through its organization. Here are Toby’s comments to my inquiry:

AAA: 1B/LF Nick Evans: near MLB average pop, but doesn’t do anything else all that well
AA: 1B Ike Davis – The Mets drafted him 18th overall because they liked his power and he’s leading the organization in HR after a homerless professional debut in 2008. Almost all of his power is pullside. One of the Mets best prospects.
Lucas Duda – a big guy with plus raw power, he can get into one in BP, but hadn’t shown much ability to drive a ball in games until he hit four bombs in July. Has he turned a corner? Neither Duda nor Davis has learned to hit lefties yet.
A+: 1B Stefan Welch still has a projectable frame. 3B Zach Lutz and SS Reese Havens have fringy average MLB power
A: Sean Ratliff has MLB pop right now, but other enormous holes in his swing. SS Wilmer Flores hasn’t shown much power this year, but the Mets hope that as he grows into his body, he’ll start driving the ball, so his power is projection at this point.
When in the minors, I remember going to certain other camps – like the Reds – and noticed they always had big players. Here is why Toby’s use of the term , “projectable frame” is somewhat telling in terms of talent assessments. Perhaps the Mets need to look at drafted more players with these “projectable frames”.

Posted under Uncategorized

This is good news.

As Putz only needed to have spurs removed, his return this season was likely. If he had soft tissue damage to a ligament or tendon, it would have been see you next year.

A return of both Putz and Billy Wagner seems imminent sometime this month. There wasn’t any need to spend what few minor league assets the Mets had on an arm with these two returning.

September could be different in that Manuel will have an expanded roster with more players on the bench to pinch hit. A bullpen that includes Putz and Wagner will benefit a staff who’s starters do not go deep into games. If the Mets recall a catcher, they will be able to pinch-hit and double switch comfortably.

If they are in contention it will make sense to promote the two major league bats that are on the AAA roster in Mike Lamb and Nick Evans.

Posted under Uncategorized

10:10: Santos struck out…but still….STILL you felt and SAW the Mets were the better team that just lost. Gotta beat the lefty Davis tomorrow.

!0:07: Murphy grounded out for the second out. Still…..still….Cory Sulliavan singles….

!0:06: Great AB by the consumate big leaguer Tatis. Ten pitches.

10:05: great time at bat for Tatis

9:55:Man does Bobby Parnell look great. No wonder the Mets won’t put him in a trade. Sometimes the best ones are those you don’t make. And I admire the way that Sean Green has bounced back.

9:52: I agree with Gary and Ronnie that JP Ricciardi would be crazy to trade Doc Halladay to a division foe

9:48: Frenchy struck it well, but no. Its nice to have the opportunity in a close game. Remember folks, it was John Ricco and not Tony Bernazardd who did the leg work on Francouer.

9:47: David Wright just singled to bring up Francuoeur. No better scenario.

9:41: MLB hitters Nick Evans and Mike Lamb are on the Buffalo roster, so the Rockies will be able to go through the bottom of the Mets lineup.

9:37 EST …sorry…but I hate the current configuration of NL rosters. The Mets now have no bench to engage in a close game.

8:29: Cancel popped up to end the inning. But you can tell two important things from the Mets dugout. They both WANT and THINK they can get this game.

8:25: Omir Santos continues to impress with his 2-out double. Oh, Jerry burns Jeremy Reed to put in Robby Cancel.

8:18: Great lead-off HR by Tatis. You can see how dialed in his teammates were. 4-2 in the 7th. Good spot for a comeback.

Posted under Uncategorized

Nick Evans in all fairness made the club in spring training, but in a numbers oriented move the OF/1B was moved down to make room for the signing of Gary Sheffield. The question that remains is what the Mets will do when Livan Hernandez is needed as that fifth starter.

Matt Cerrone speculated today that the club could opt to move Darren O’Day out. I agree that this could be a smart play. The two games this weekend at Citi Field had to change quite a bit.

The new ballpark is big and likely to be bigger than anyone suspected. The gaps are much deeper than anticipated and ball that get to the wall may become triples more often than anyone would have liked. The high walls in the outfield seem to deaded the ball and there’s a difficult well to play in RF. You saw an accomplished major league outfielder in Ryan Church have trouble with it. Marlon Anderson showed that he won’t be very good at home in CF. It makes Jeremy Reed much more valuable that expected. Sheffield and Daniel Murphy could prove to be liablilities in the OF when the Mets play at home.

If Sheffield hits, he’ll stay. And if he does, he might replaced after his 3rd time at-bat by Church or Reed. Hopefully Murphy will be able to hold his own in the OF. If not, the Mets could find themselves with a team that does not match their own home stadium.

The Mets have a fly ball pitching staff and it will be a disaster if they find out they don’t have a fly ball outfield.

Posted under Uncategorized

Adam Rubin reports the Mets have cut seven – Ron Villone(released), Rene Rivera, Jose Valentin, Cory Sullivan, Nelson Figueroa, Carlos Muniz and Andy Green.

There’s some hidden good news in that its clear that the Mets will start the season with more depth in AAA than previous years. Its been a problem in previous seasons. Only the surprise emergences of Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans and Brian Stokes last season provided spark. This year’s AAA roster will have players who are major league ready and had good springs.

Manuel still has some tough choices. First in Nick Evans. He’s ceratainly earned a spot. But do they keep him for the number of at bats thats limited by Fernando Tatis? The smart play might be to option Evans and keep Bobby Kielty who’s much better suited for a bench role, and also has had a very good spring. Kielty is a switch hitter to. I predict that Evans will go north – a bit as a reward – until Livan Hernandez is needed to start a game. Unless a middle infielder or catcher is injured, Evans will be the first player recalled.

The Mets will probably have a short leash on both Tatis and Ryan Church. If either gets off to a slow start, they won’t hesitate to go to Kielty and or Evans.

Brian Stokes and Bobby Parnell will likely round out the bullpen and leave just one lefty-Pedro Felicaino. With JJ Putz and Francisco Rodriguez getting the last two innings, its understandable why the Mets feel they can get by with just one. Parnell did not allow a hit to a left-handed batter this spring. Stokes good finish to 2008 was backed up this spring. He can start or relieve.

Still, with all the talk of additions the Mets did not make, this club goes north with more depth – both of the major league roster and at AAA – than at any time of the Omar Minaya regime.

Posted under Uncategorized