Pedro Alvarez Out Indefinitely

Most of you probably don't know who Pedro Alvarez is.. Well, I'm here to inform you and inform you I will.

Pedro Alvarez is noted as one of the best prospects coming into the 2008 MLB Draft. He attends Vanderbilt, is a junior and is a 3B. Alvarez is regarded as the best college hitter since Mark Texiera. His stats the past few years have been off the charts and he should be at the major league level in about 3-4 years.

Why did I post this about him? Well, he was ranked as the best prospect in the NCAA by Project prospect. He recently broke his hand, and as a result of losing time to injury, he could fall in the draft.

Just think, the Mets have two first round draft picks, 18th and 22nd. If he fell to #18, I would be STOKED! If we were to draft such a talent, he would obviously have to change positions because David Wright will man 3B for the next 15 years. Lets just hope this super-prospect is demanding a ton of money and will fall to #18 in the draft!

Realignment Anniversary.

The 2008 season marks the 15th anniversary of baseball’s “realignment.” Hard to believe, but it was 1993 when major league baseball last had four divisions, rather than today’s six. Everything about realignment has pretty much worked out. The wild card gives many more fans many more months of hope. Inter-division rivalries have far more time to soak in and be rivals. Travel on the player has become easier.

But, to me, it still needs a little tweaking. Milwaukee? In the National League? Okay over time I've come to accept this, but there is no reason why we can't have six division of five teams each.

The fix:
To make this work inter-league play will have to be done throughout the full season. It looks more and more likely that the Marlins will get their new stadium. Both Oakland and Pittsburgh have hinted at relocating. Portland has been trying for years now to land a major league team. So lets give them a team!

If the Marlins new stadium deal falls through yet again, and I think it will, you can move them out to Portland and into the AL west and move Pittsburgh to the NL east. MLB should seriously consider this option. This would be the easiest fix. Another easy fix would be for the Pirates to move to Portland and into the AL west. Oakland could still move to their number one choice, Fremont.

Department of Justice to Investigate Clemens.

I take no particular joy in the news that Congress has asked the Department of Justice to further investigate whether or not Roger Clemens lied under oath during the recent grand jury hearings.
I could feel sorry for him — if he wasn’t such a clueless, self-centered, belligerent, lying, holier-than-thou moron, that is.

Whatever happens to Clemens at this point, he has only himself to blame. His reputation is in toilet, his career accomplishments are in question, and he may have a better chance of landing in prison than he does of ever getting elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Start with whatever Clemens allowed McNamee or anyone else to put into his backside, and at this point if you believe Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award winner, didn’t use performance-enhancing drugs during the latter part of his career you might be a bigger idiot than The Rocket himself.

More important, though, has been Clemens’ unbelievable denials that he ever did anything wrong.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis said Clemens’ testimony “warrants further investigation.”

They wrote:
“Our only conclusion is that significant questions have been raised about Mr. Clemens’s truthfulness.”

Clemens is, obviously, is deep trouble here. He has been for a while and, amazingly, he still doesn’t seem to get it. He spent the day working out at Houston camp and acting like nothing had ever happened. It didn’t have to be this way.

From FOX Sports' Ian O'Connor:

"None of this had to happen. Upon the release of the Mitchell Report, Clemens could’ve remained silent or made a brief declaration of his innocence before refusing further comment.
He didn’t have to launch a full-blown attack that would leave him so vulnerable, so weak, so unlike the fierce dominator who ruled from sixty feet and six inches away. Now Clemens is drowning in a pool of his own hubris, with the Justice Department closing in."

On the mound, Clemens knew no other way. Challenge him and you would get a 95-mph fastball aimed at your head — or a broken piece of a bat.

There are some situations, though, that you can’t bully your way out of. For Clemens, this is one. Unfortunately for him, it might be too late to turn back now.

Scott Spiezio Is On the Run!

Apparently drinking, driving, barfing and fighting is the best way to get kicked off of the St. Louis Cardinals. Troubled utility man Scott Spiezio is neck deep in trouble of misdemeanors, felonies and arrest warrants.

The Cardinals’ super sub/”rehabed” substance abuser allegedly got plowed on vodka in an LA bar and decided to go for a drive. After weaving in and out of traffic he eventually crashed into a fence and stumbled to his nearby condo where he was found by a neighbor. Helping out his pal, the neighbor brought Spiezio inside and cleaned him up. Scott promplty vomited in the man’s apartment and kicked his butt. (This is why there are so few good Samaritans in Los Angeles.)

Apparently Spiezio took offense to the man commenting on his vomiting performance and pummeled him for it.

The kicker is, all of this happened back on December 30th. Spiezer has been dodging the authorities and his 6 arrest warrants for nearly 2 months now. He arrived early at the Cards’ camp in Jupiter and went about his baseball-related business as if no one was the wiser. It didn't take very long for someone to notice he'd been busted for: driving under the influence, hit and run, aggravated assault, assault and battery and fleeing the scene of a crime. What a mess.

This was either a huge relapse or the guy just never got clean in the first place.

Spiezio seemed to have it all worked out. After posting just about the worst batting average ever (.064) in 2005, the Cardinals gave him a second chance. He signed on with the Birds in 2006 and made an instant impact, catapulting them into the playoffs, which ultimately delivered the team its first World Series title in 24 years. Becoming an instant fan favorite he inked a generous 2-year $4.5 million contract last season. Life was good for Scott Spiezio… and then the wheels came off.

Drug problems landed Scott in rehab last August, causing him to miss about 5 weeks of the season, but he seemed hell bent on beating it. Eventually all signs pointed to complete rehabilitation and the Cardinals welcomed back a “clean and sober” Spiezio with open arms. Looks like the Spiezer had them all fooled and was just as accomplished at lying as he was delivering clutch hits.

The Cardinal brass must be familiar with the old adage: “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Because they weren’t about to be fooled again. They instantly terminated Spiezio’s employment with the Cardinals and bought out his contract in full, including the 2009 option… to the tune of $2.5 million.

The organization made the right decision, and set a good and necessary example for the myriad of impressionable youngsters that will be filling out a sizeable chunk of the roster this season. The team doesn’t want to become the divorced dad that looks the other way, lets his kids get away with everything and ends up getting walked all over. That’s not the best first step to jump starting a rebuilding era. So...

So long Scott. I hope you get your life together!

The Mets Realist, Part 1

To introduce myself to the Mets4Life world, I’ve been a Mets fan for the last 40 years (yeah, I’m getting old), I attend about 15 games a year and see most of the rest, and I am perhaps too much a student of the game. I know baseball will always finds its audience through offense, but I love pitching. Here in late February, the season is on the rubber and moving toward the wind-up.

This looking forward is the second best time of the year. My evil empire Yankee friends insist our Mets credo is always “Wait till next year.” It is true that, like many of you, I tend to be an optimist but I’m a realistic one…and I believe this requires a degree of pessimism. During the off-season I envision the best that can happen in the coming season while preparing my dreams for the most likely and still keep worst case scenario on the far periphery. In 2008, Mets’ dreams of a championship are probably the most reasonable they have been since the late 1980s. As for the very worst case, we just lived through it in September ‘07. So, what is that “Most Likely?”

For this and my next piece, here in the blog world—where Mets fans will be ripped by Phillies fans and Red Sox fans and those who “know” Jaba/Hughes are Koufax/Drysdale—we’ll look at what might be realistic to anticipate.

We’ll begin with the whole shebang—end of season predictions—to provide a sense of the numbers meant by being realistic. We’ll go from there to pitching. Then in Part II we can look at the lineup, fielding, and intangibles. Of course these are all pure opinions but real ones, we look forward to hearing your thoughts.

The big picture probably puts us in the World Series…but losing.
It is not that there is a specific American League team that will definitely be there and definitely beat us (although a Boston 1986 reversal is a strong possibility). But a realist has to accept that making the playoffs, winning the first round, second round, and the series is a lot to assume. In fact the math is amazing, if we were a 4:1 favorite for each step (which we won’t be), that makes it 2:3 against our winning it all…luckily the game isn’t played in a calculator.

Pitching looks good, particularly starting…less so in relief.
Starters
I was a big fan of the Pedro trade (of course I loved Roberto Alomar and knew we blew it with Edgardo Alfonzo). A proven, aging AL pitcher, in a hitter’s park, with innings issues moved to a pitcher’s park without DHs and good fielders, and you’re looking good. Downside = injuries. When healthy Pedro rarely has pitched badly for the Mets.

Johan (even September ’07 Santana) should be a true #1 as long as he is healthy…so put in 7 missed starts for pessimism and you’d still have 15-19 wins, say 17 wins.

Pedro starts healthy and should be at least as good as his short stints in ’06 and ’07. If pessimism puts him out half the season and still gives him 12 wins.

El Duque…okay, who knows? Forget pessimism his last 5 seasons he’s had 8,8,9,11,9 wins. Even older this year but with a deeper staff and lower expectations. Lets say 9 wins.

Maine and Perez were pretty darn impressive last year. No one would have said 30 wins from them and the Mets miss the playoffs! One year more experience and less pressure…and probably a few fewer starts pending the injuries above. One probably improves and the other fades a bit. That’s 17 and 13, add a pessimistic injury and you have a combined 27 wins.

Pelfrey (and Vargas or Sosa or…)--the sixth starter is sure to get innings if any pessimism above becomes reality whether off the bench or up from AAA. Yet with no permanent ‘08 position, pressure will be lighter than ‘06-07. A fairly modest prediction would be 8 wins.

So, Starters total 73 wins.
Before you say that’s crazy or horrible, that’s exactly what the Red Sox 6 starters had last year! 3-4 wins per middle and late reliever and we’re in the mid-high 90s (Vegas line 93)! If you want to be optimistic 100 wins, but be realistic.

Mets relievers
Everyone points here as a concern and my realism and memory (albeit aging) support this thinking, but not where others imagine. The assumptions seem to be that long relief has enough depth and our closer will be solid with an occasional lapse, and middle relief is the concern. I reverse these.

Long relief might be okay, but it is no certainty. Pelfrey and El Duque are not relievers, so just assuming one will do this well (like in a World Series) is foolish; and given the likelihood of injury openings in the rotation their availability will be rare. There is a lot of potential and choices for middle relief, but it is realistically a crapshoot.

Billy Wagner has been a very good closer for us. There are no lights-out closers, but he has surpassed realistic expectations with some major exceptions. The problem is that history is not kind to relievers and neither is Shea Stadium, very few excel for 2-4 years. And as simply as that, it is more possible that this one-person position has a letdown than any other.

Short relief by contrast has a number of possibilities. Aaron Heilman has been far from a guarantee but has his days, Duaner Sanchez is a (taxi-)fair possibility with great history, and Sosa leads a group of specialists and hard throwers who have shown strength. There is good reason to expect those 3-4 wins from each.

On the mound, it seems realistic to expect a high 90s number of wins, with the risk of our handing half dozen back to the other team in late in the 9th and beyond.

The interesting thing is that apparently the Mets do have to hit, field, and face others. We’ll look at those in Part 2.

Welcome To Citi Field

When the corporate partnership with Citigroup was announced last year, and the name “Citi Field” was given to the new stadium, Mets fans were cautiously optimistic. After all, Citigroup is a NY-based company.

Many hoped that people would soon adopt “New York Citi Field” as the name, simply because it rolls off the tongue. Yet others are even tagging it “The Bank” which works on multiple levels, and more importantly, doesn't suck.

However, this logo does.

My first thought was that stupid looking logo looks like an edited version of the Domino's Pizza logo. It looks like a small company web site logo from 1995.

At no point in laying eyes upon this rectangular abortion do I see the words “New”, ‘York” or “Mets”. Nor do I see any design element that recalls Ebbets Field, the Polo Grounds, old-time baseball, or the great city of New York. The only red I want to see in this logo is a rusty, dented mechanical apple — not the stupid arch in the blatantly oversized Citi logo. Gotta love tradition, right?
I realize corporate sponsorship is a necessary evil in modern sports. In exchange for a crappy park name, we get to drink beers for less than $10 a pop. Fair enough.

But when a retro-styled stadium displays meaningless commercial logo treatments every five feet, it kills any sense of tradition and goodwill that the stadium designers had intended, and tradition is exactly what we want from this new ballpark.

Click Here for Citi Field Images.

Sanchez Back on the Mound!

The New York Mets' intra squad scrimmage Monday meant a lot more then a mere early season workout for Duaner Sanchez.

Sanchez pitched in a game for the first time since July 2006, when he separated his right shoulder in a taxi accident in Florida. He gave up two hits and walked one, while striking out one in a scoreless inning.

Sanchez was the primary setup man for closer Billy Wagner at the time of the accident. He had a surgery, then showed tardy for several spring training meetings last spring and was disciplined.

The shoulder was again injured and Sanchez again underwent surgery. He missed the entire 2007 season.

Sanchez could go a long way towards helping the Mets bullpen here in 2008. The Mets bullpen fell to eighth in the NL in ERA last season.

Sanchez threw all of his pitches, a curve ball, a change-up, a cut fastball and his fastball. His one strikeout came against Fernando Martinez on a change-up. Sanchez has said that the rehabilitation has made him stronger.

Juan Padilla also recovering from multiple surgeries, pitched well, throwing a few innings with his fastball topping out at only 85 mph.

Minor leaguer Jon Niese pitched a great inning. He threw consistently in the low 90s with his fastball and a few curve balls as low as 72 mph.

Joe Smith got hammered giving up two hits , one being a two-run triple to Jose Reyes. Smith also hit a batter. He said his slider was not working for him yesterday. On the positive side Smith did strike out David Wright and his fast balls were up around 90 mph.

Another minor leaguer pitched yesterday as well, Bobby Parnell. He started off great, but then failed to close the door with 2 outs already recorded. After getting the two outs Parnell give up three straight hits to Reyes, Angel Pagan and David Wright before closing out the inning.

For the intersquad play-by-play.

The Mets played the University of Michigan, owner Fred Wilpon's alma mater, this afternoon. The game finished in a 4-4 tie. Jason Vargas and Aaron Heilman both allowed a run apiece, while Wagner and Eddie Kunz pitched a scoreless inning. Wright hit a 2-run homer, and minor leaguer Michel Abreu tied the game with a 2-run homer of his own. Adam Rubin gave the play-by-play on his Daily News blog.

Wayne Hagin Joins Radio Booth.

Guess we were asleep at the wheel last week when New York's WFAN announced that Wayne Hagin was joining Howie Rose in the Mets' radio booth for the 2008 season.

A 24-year veteran of the Major Leagues, Hagin — the odd man out in St. Louis when John Rooney came over from the White Sox in 2005 — previously worked for the Cardinals, A's, Giants, White Sox and Rockies. He once got himself in trouble for implying Colorado first baseman Todd Helton used steroids.

Hagin replaces Tom McCarthy, who left the Mets in November to return to the Phillies.

New Writers revealed...

Over the past week, DJ and I have recieved multiple e-mails and inqueries about the open writing slots on Mets 4 Life. We feel that we were able to fill these slots with quality writers and we hope that you will think so too.

Here is the Mets 4 Life lineup now:

1: Tyler
2: DJ
3: Brooklyn Matt
4: SD Surfer
5: Has not signed up to blogger.com yet...

They will be posting in the next couple of days.

Johnny, Timmy, Tommy and who?

The Braves enter training camp this year with at least eight pitchers that are serious candidates for the starting rotation. Clearly, not everyone’s going to have a chair when the music stops. Time will tell who’s in and who’s out, but here’s a look at the emerging battle royale:

John Smoltz, Tim Hudson, and Tom Glavine: are all locks.

So then what? In a world of no sure things, the other Braves vying for pitching spots are bets just waiting to be hedged.

Lefty Mike Hampton is: the wildcard.

At this point, there are only two important things to know about Mike Hampton. One, he hasn’t thrown a major league pitch since his own Tommy John surgery in 2005 and several subsequent setbacks, elbow-related and otherwise. And two, he’s under contract for an awful lot of money ($15M) in 2008, so the Braves will give him every opportunity to prove he has something left after nearly three years out of the game. And maybe Hampton will show something akin to the guy who compiled a 32-20 record in 72 starts after being acquired by the Braves in 2003.

Though his elbow is reportedly a-okay — as is the hamstring he ganked in his first inning of winter ball — I give Hampton no better than a 50-50 chance of making it through April in the rotation. He could bump a door or slip in the shower tomorrow, and another season’s lost in the blink of an eye.

Come to think of it, he probably shouldn’t blink, either. He’s likely to sprain an eyelid.

Southpaw Chuck James is: the bubble guy.

James has experience going for him, having put up a respectable 4.00 ERA and 22-14 record in parts of three seasons with the Braves. But he has two problems — one of which is currently compounding the other.
First, James is suffering from a slight tear of the rotator cuff in his pitching shoulder. As-is, the team doctors say it’s treatable with rest, though there’s no way of predicting how another few thousand pitches this season will affect it. For the moment, James is limited to light work and long-tossing, with his first spring start currently slated for March 20.

That puts James behind in his preparation, and that’s especially bad news in his case. James’ biggest problem in the majors has been home runs allowed — 52 in 57 games to date, and a whopping 32 in 30 starts last season. His troubles are directly attributable to good power hitters waiting for his fastball, which they can often do because James only throws two pitches. Though his changeup is above-average, it isn’t enough to keep savvy hitters from sitting on the heater and parking it in the seats. A solid third pitch would keep hitters honest and likely tab James as a top-of-the-rotation candidate for Atlanta’s future — but he can’t practice new pitches while he’s sitting on the sidelines. And a late-March start won’t help his cause.

Righty Jeff Bennett is: the ‘arm of all trades’

Late last September, the Braves asked reliever Bennett to make two starts, in his first major league action since Tommy John surgery (are you sensing a pattern here?) in 2006. Bennett performed so well in those starts (plus one relief appearance) that the Braves appear to be strongly considering him for a rotation spot this spring.
Why, I’m not so sure.

Maybe in his surgery the docs replaced his elbow with some sort of supercharged bionic model, but otherwise I don’t see any strong evidence of Bennett being an effective starting pitcher. In the two seasons prior to his surgery, he made over 100 appearances (with the Brewers and their AAA affiliate) — but not a single start. In 2003, he made seven starts in AA/AAA in the Pirates organization — but he managed just a 5-7 record overall.

So Bennett had some nice appearances last year, and I do believe he’d be a great long reliever/swing man in the bullpen. But, for reasons that aren’t fully evident on the surface, he could also end up in the rotation. Go figure.

Jo-Jo Reyes and Jair Jurrjens are: the prospects.

Ideally, some combination of the hurlers above will man the rotation coming out of camp, allowing the Braves to get Reyes and Jurrjens a bit more seasoning. Reyes, a 23-year-old lefty, shot through the minor leagues last year, compiling a 12-1 record and 2.72 ERA in his only AA and AAA action to date. The big leaguers were not so kind, however, and Reyes managed only a 2-2 record and 6.22 ERA in 11 games with Atlanta. Another few months of minor league action may be in order to help Reyes hone his pitching skills — and regain some confidence in his own talent.

Jurrjens likewise rose quickly through the ranks, seeing action in 7 games with Detroit last year and bypassing the AAA level altogether. Atlanta would no doubt prefer to unleash Jurrjens on International League hitters for a while, rather than throw him into the fire of the National League East. The big question is whether they’ll have that luxury — and whether the young righthander will show enough during the spring to be considered.

With so many questions, factors, and health issues to consider, it’s hard to say what the Atlanta rotation might look like in August, or even April. All we know now is that it’s likely to contain at least two lefties, and it’ll probably be on the old side