The Catcher Position is Key to Mets Success

Photo Credited to Howard Simmons (Daily News)

On Wednesday, newly acquired Rod Barajas finally arrived to camp. He signed a one-year deal with the Mets over the weekend and is projected to be the main catcher for the team in 2010.

Last year, with the Toronto Blue Jays, Barajas hit 19 home runs, nine of which were hit in the spacious Rodger Centre. Mets catching only hit 13 in total. But is Barajas good enough to help the team reach the promise land?

In the history of the organization, there have been stellar forces at the catcher position. Names like Gary Carter, Todd Hundley and Mike Piazza once struck terror into the heart of the pitchers. Others like Jerry Grote and Paul Lo Duca guided pitching staffs and came through when the team needed them most. But long gone are those days. These great athletes stand out the most because of memorable moments.

You might have to go back a bit, but Grote was an iron man, catching in all of the games during the 1969 World Series, working with pitchers like Hall of Famer Tom Seaver to shut down the Baltimore Orioles offense. Who can forget how Carter provided some pop for the 86’ Mets? From the mid 1990s to the early part of the millennium, catchers like Hundley and Piazza both provided raw power and anchored the batting lineup with their presence. It also feels like yesterday when Lo Duca tagged out two Dodgers coming to the plate simultaneously (good times!).

Last year, it was simply a mess. Brian Schneider was out much of the season with frequent injuries. The backup Ramon Castro, who did provide thunder off the bench, was traded off to the White Sox. That left rookie Omir Santos to pick up the majority of the workload, playing a career-high 96 games.

Sure, Santos had given some things to watch in an injury riddled season including the Omir-acle against the Red Sox at Fenway. Unfortunately, that’s all that stands out.

It has been three seasons since the Mets last felt the crisp fall breeze of the postseason. It’s also the same amount of time a catcher has not produced significant numbers at the plate. Lo Duca batted .318 in 2006, but that number declined the following year (.258).

It’s also key to point out that the Mets had not been close to the playoffs with a defensive first catcher since Grote and that was only a Miracle (sorry, had to put it in).

But things look bright right now. There is no doubt Barajas will give it all he has for this team. He is also a better option than the other catchers signed at the beginning of the season (Chris Coste and Henry Blanco). Along with David Wright, Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran (when he comes back), he will be a complementary piece offensively that will take some of the pressure off the bigger bats. Since he is batting on the lower half of the lineup, there could be more opportunities to produce. On defense, he is solid. In his career, Barajas has gun down a third of base stealers. Who doesn’t want that on their team?

There’s also something else the 11-year veteran brings to this table. He has worked with one of the best pitchers today…Roy Halladay. Yes, that guy. Who better to sign than your rival’s pitcher’s former catcher? Halladay was traded to the Phillies earlier this offseason. Maybe he knows some secrets to slay the mighty right-hander? Now, he has a chance to work with his fellow Venezuelan, Johan Santana. And of course, maybe he could help the current staff get on the right track.

The Mets were looking to fill a void and they found one, at least until their highly touted prospect Josh Thole can (hopefully) become another face of the franchise. For now, everyone will be waiting until the first pitch to see if Barajas can contribute enough for the Mets to contend. He just cant do it all himself.

Citi Field to host 2013 All-Star game?

photo courtesty of Newsday

According to the New York Post, 2013 will be the year that the Mets get their chance to host the Mid-Summer classic. The last time they hosted the All-Star festivities, The Beatles were number one on the charts and president Lyndon B. Johnson was in office...Talk about overdue!

Although this would be the seventh all-star game that would be played in the Big Apple, including the one held at the Old Yankee Stadium last year, it would be the second one for the city of Flushing.

A source from the MLB said that the Mets "deserve to have an all-star game."
(NJ.com)

Stay tuned as more information is revealed...

Mets Are Armed and Ready to Throw

Photo courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

It’s amazing how well things worked out yesterday. No more than three pitchers were used to close out a 1-0 win over the Milwaukee Brewers, our first 1-0 win since August 2007. Johan Santana gave seven strong innings and fanned seven to earn his second victory of the season. Johan makes this looks easy. The Venezuelan lefty now sports a 0.46 ERA…not too shabby. This is way too early to determine who will win pitching’s yearly prize, but you can bet the Met ace will be in that conversation.

The bullpen has shown its brilliance over this season. Through 11 games, the ‘pen pals have a major league leading 1.80 era. Yesterday, the two new members of the team, J.J. Putz and Francisco Rodriguez, closed the deal and provided a strong outing for the remainder of the game. Putz struck out two and held a runner in the eighth, while Frankie came in the ninth and struck out two batters, including a strikeout-throw out play to give them the opportunity to sweep today. It is no easy feat to do but the three pitchers were able to hold the thunderous bats of the Brewers to just six hits.

However, the Mets starting rotation has not shown their promise. The two to five starters have been struggling to get some wins but have not been able to hold down the opponents. Mike Pelfrey has tendinitis in his forearm and has missed today’s start. Oilver Perez has shown a tale of two pitchers, John Maine has had frustrating starts in Florida and against the Padres, Livan Hernandez showed his true colors in the series opener against the Brew crew. Something has to be done in order to give the team more chances to win. The bullpen was remade with young strong pitchers made up of home grown talent (O’Day, Parnell, Stokes) and from other organizations (Green, Rodriguez, Putz) that has probably put the rest of the majors on notice. Prospect pitcher Johnathan Niese is still trying to find himself but I will not doubt that he will come up sooner than you think.

Overall, the guns of the staff have shown a vast improvement, but there needs to be another starter with a (positive) consistency. Who will fill that role remains a mystery, at least for now.

BREAKING NEWS SNY: Mets offer Oliver Perez a deal

SNY MLB Insider reports that Oliver Perez and the New York Mets are trying work a deal, 3 years for 30 million dollars. Stay tuned for more details...

New York Mess

Photo Courtesy of Yahoo! Sports

Here we are again, against the same team and in the same position, fighting for the right to play in the playoffs. Last time the Mets played the Marlins to close out the season, All the Queens Men were shutdown and were stunned to have lost a seven game lead in the National League East to the Phillies.

Unfortunately, Mike Pelfrey and the Mets did not put much of one on Friday. As of late, this team has proved to be a disappointment. They had gone on a tear throughout the whole summer, especially Carlos Delgado, and they seem to get cold feet when September rolls around. Maybe it wasn’t Willie, maybe it is the team itself. They lose that “it” factor when its time to get serious about contending.

Tonight was a must win for this ballclub. They have failed. They are now one game behind the Brewers for the Wild Card and the Phillies have two more games before they can actually call themselves NL East Champions. And the news does not get any better.

The Mets do not know who is pitching tomorrow. Judging by the 6-1 loss Friday night, they might as well throw in Johan Santana to see if he can keep this sinking ship afloat.

Once again, the bullpen cannot keep the game close as Aaron Heilman, Brian Stokes and unknown Bobby Parnell double up the score to 6-1 from 3-1. They also gave up a combined four walks, something that the other four pitchers did not do coming out of the ’pen.

On the so-called offenset, they only manged one run on seven hits. That run came in the sixth where Brian Schneider knocked in Ramon Martinez. That’s it. No Jose Reyes as he went 0 for 5, already on pace to repeat his performance from the end of last year. This guy is clearly the catalyst on top of the lineup. Obviously, if he does not get going, no one else will. At this point, those 200+ hits do not mean anything if his team cannot manage to win important ballgames.

Delgado, regarded to some as an MVP candidate (I use that term loosely), left four runners on base and only managed one hit. Everyone has their off game. Besides, he is not the only source of offense, but is a BIG reason why they are still contending.

Overall, another disappointing game. There are two games left. But now that they want to get back on top of that mountain, it might be too late.

Mets Vs. Phillies Series Preview: The Battle For First

Cartoon courtesy of Metstoday.com

With a season filled with coaching changes, clutch players landing on the disabled list and still, someway some how the New York Mets have climbed their way from disappointing bottom dwellers to tasting the sweet delight of first place. As of right now, they are tied with the Phillies for first. That will all change when these two teams meet up in a three game series at Shea to determine, at least for now, who is the true beast of the East.

Johan Santana, who did not look like the two-time Cy Young winner the Mets had hoped for, will go against newly acquired right hander Joe Blanton from the A’s. Come Tuesday night, we will see which pitcher was worth getting. The rest of the series puts a shaky John Maine against Brett Myers, who has lost his last six decisions (0-3) and the inconsistent Oliver Perez going against the ageless Jamie Moyer. They dodge a bullet by not facing their ace, Cole Hamels in this series, who is 5-1 with a 3.27 ERA against them. But on the other hand, Pedro Martinez will not be making an appearance due to a groin injury.

The road was not easy for the Mets, they had to win 10 straight before anyone could consider them contenders within the division. They have found unlikely heroes in Fernando Tatis and Damian Easley as well as the revival of Carlos Delgado to lead the team. Who can forget Jose Reyes who has stepped up and has an average of .325 with 15 RBI’s since the firing of Willie. But this is not the only reason why the Mets are in this position.

The bullpen had been a bakery during this streak, constantly making them doughnuts for 22 innings until it was snapped on Friday. Sadly, the crown jewel of the pen, Billy Wagner, will most likely miss Tuesday’s opener. He will be getting an MRI on his shoulder.

If it wasn’t their suddenly high powered offense or the lights out pitching, there was another factor that has contributed to their rise…resistance. In the month of July alone, they have four come from behind wins, three of which came within the winning streak.

Here come the Phills with their thunder. A lineup that is packed with Ryan Howard, an athlete who no doubt is going to go down as one of the best home run hitter, but also is a strikeout artist, Chase Utley (the power hitting second baseman) and Pat Burrell (built his career off of being a “Met Killer” with 42 career home runs when facing them).

In order to complete their mission to completely dethrone them, the Mets have to hope that their team clicks at the right moment. They have their top pitcher on the mound tonight and should give the team some momentum to win the series. They are 7-3 against Philadelphia this year including taking three of four in the last meeting. There might be five more games left to take on their division rivals, but the time is now to act if they are serious about post-season play.

Mets Awaken From Their Slumber, Beat Down Rockies 9-2

Box Score - Courtesy of MLB.com

It’s about time! Finally, the Mets show signs of life after looking as if they were in a five game coma since their two game sweep against the Yankees last weekend. For those keeping count at home, they have lost 5 straight games, which includes a sweep from their NL East rivals, the Braves and a heartbreaking loss to the Rockies last night.

Saturday afternoon proved that they have just opened up their eyes. They scored five runs in the first inning, something that took them 13 innings to do the night before. The un-official spokesperson for the Mets, David Wright hit his 9^th home run in the second inning. With the media constantly obtaining quotes from the third baseman, he looks like he is the un-named captain of the team, something I believe that will change in the future.

The offense was led by an unusual suspect, a Double-A first baseman by the name of Nick Evans. He was brought up and was placed in an already thin outfield with the likes of Church and Alou out with their injuries. He went 3-for-4 with three doubles and knocked in two. Maybe Evans has talent…or…if you’re a baseball junkie and know that Coors Field is notorious for its thin air, then you probably suspect the same thing as yours truly. I wouldn’t doubt that could be the case.

Fans watching the game were probably expecting Jason Vargas to get completely obliterated by the Rockie offense and for another bad outing from another unstable pitcher. He delivered a much needed W, pitching seven innings, while giving up the only two runs of the game on a blast from slugger Matt Holiday. With a pitching staff that has only two consistent starters in Maine and Santana, this is considered patchwork. Remember, Nelson Figueroa came up shutting down hitters in his debut on that foggy night. After he had pitched a good number of games, he came down from cloud 9 and has fallen back down to the minors.

The reality is, the Mets have to start shopping around for another starter. Possibly get some bargain bits in Barry Zito or possibly Roy Oswalt, who have been struggling to get anything going this season. Not to glorify Rick Peterson as so many have done in the past, but the guy knows how to mold damaged goods. Example? Maine.

In the dugout, after Carlos Delgado belted a shot to right center field in the ninth, I had seen something that I haven’t seen much of this week; a smile. The last few days, this team has been looking un-animated, unenthusiastic about their job, almost as if the trip to Atlanta absorbed their confidence and replaced it with depression. Finally, some sun is starting to shine on this ballclub but…hey, they still have a long way to go before they are once again considered to be contenders.

Photos courtesy of espn.com