Beltran’s Sore Knee
Carlos Beltran did the right thing earlier in spring training by relinquishing the center field position to Angel Pagan and move over to right. The reason for the move is his ailing knee. The same knee that will keep him out of today’s game.
Beltran made his debut at DH yesterday and was scheduled to do the same today. But after feeling sore this morning manager Terry Collins decided to err on the side of caution and scratched Beltran from today’s game.
David Waldstein quotes Beltran in a post in the Bats blog as saying “It’s sore in a good way”. I’d like to think that’s the case. But given the Mets recent history with injuries this situation bears watching.
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Spring Thought
Spring training is here and I’m at work. Big projects are keeping me from blogging as much as I’d like but I hope to be able to blog more soon.
As with most years I’m excited about spring training this year. Usually I’m excited because I love the game of baseball. And while that’s true this year I also have a bit more optimism than I’ve had the last few years.
The Omar Minaya era is over which means an acknowledgment from ownership that a rebuilding period is needed. Minaya made some bold moves to make the Mets contenders the first few years of his tenure but the last few years he was plagued by ‘1 player away’ syndrome. For example, last year’s 1 player was Jason Bay.
Now Sandy Alderson is at the controls and he’s taken a step back from the ‘1 player away’ philosophy. A lot has been made of the role the Bernie Madoff mess that ownership is in has played in Alderson’s approach of paring down the payroll. Despite his denials I’m sure that it’s a factor. However a team that’s been a loser the last two years but has been caught up in the ‘1 player away’ philosophy for so long is going to have dead wood that needs to be cut away before a new forest can be grown. Dead wood such as Luis Castillo & Oliver Perez whose contracts are guaranteed through this season.
Alderson’s approach to signing cheaper, fringe free agents may be the right approach to take for this club. The Mets have a team that is capable, if they play to their potential, of scoring some runs. Though the pitching needs some help (I know that’s an understatement) they could be an exciting team to watch. I don’t think this is a playoff caliber team but letting chemistry develop without a major acquisition to inflate expectations is not a bad idea. This team is certainly not ‘1 player away’.
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Francoeur Makes A Joke
Rustin Dodd, who writes for The Kansas City Star and on their Royals blog, Ball Star, reported the following quote from former Met Jeff Francoeur:
Citi Field is a damn joke.
Despite his offensive struggles I liked Frenchy as a Met and wish him the best in his new home in Kansas City. However I don’t like the blame the ballpark excuse. Hard work and adjusting your strategy is the way to beat the beast of a tough home park. That’s not to say he didn’t work hard (I’m sure most ball players work much harder than I do) but perhaps his efforts were misguided given his opinion of the stadium he worked in.
Ted Berg, in his Ted Quarters blog discusses Francoeur’s comment in a more entertaining and in your face manner than I can. It’s a must read.
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Return of the JET-I
This could be the best New York Post cover ever marrying Star Wars with this week’s showdown between the New York Jets and New England Patriots. They even incorporated Michelle Ryan, wife of Jets head coach Rex, as Princess Leia and Joe Namath as Yoda.
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Important Spring Training Dates
Important dates in Mets spring training 2011 as noted by Andrew Marchand of ESPNNewYork:
“Pitchers and catchers officially report: Feb. 15. The team’s first workout is Feb. 17. Position players report on Feb. 19. The first full squad workout is Feb. 21. The Mets first home game is Feb. 26 against the Braves.”
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Mets Finalize Coaching Staff
The Mets made their coaching staff for the 2011 season official today naming the following coaches to manager Terry Collins’ staff:
Dave Hudgens, Hitting coach
Dan Warthen, Pitching coach
Mookie Wilson, First base coach
Chip Hale, Third base coach
Ken Oberkfell, Bench coach
Jon Debus, Bullpen coach
It’ll be nice to see Mookie back in Flushing and with Debus we can look forward to stupid jokes like these:
Q. What’s Dan Warthen always saying when he’s on the phone with the bullpen?
A. “Help me, Debus!”
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DePodesta Hired?
For the first time I can remember the Mets are actually building a front office team. This isn’t just hiring qualified for front office positions. This is hiring people who are well respected in the baseball community with plenty of experience and credibility. This isn’t like hiring Omar Minaya and having him bring in the front office he had. (Tony Bernazard? You’re joking, right?)
It started with the hiring of Sandy Alderson as general manager. Then continued with the hiring of J. P. Ricciardi as a special assistant.
Now it’s been reported that the Mets have hired Paul DePodesta as Vice President, Player Development & Amateur Scouting. The Mets have made no official announcement yet.
This hire cements what I said when Ricciardi was hired regarding John Ricco. The more hires Alderson makes the lower Ricco drops as a possible future Mets GM. It’s becoming more apparent that, unless something really crazy happens, Ricco is going to need to leave the organization if he’s going to take a step up in his career.
Updated – Shortly after publishing this post DePodesta’s hiring was officially announced by the Mets.
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Charlie Samuels Should Have Learned From Charlie Hustle
In 1989 Pete Rose, the all time leader in hits and a sure thing first ballot Hall of Famer, was was banned from baseball (including induction to the Hall) for gambling. Six years earlier Charlie Samuels became the Mets clubhouse manager.
Twenty one years after the Rose ban Samuels was suspended from his position with the Mets without pay for his alleged involvement in an illegal gambling scheme that could ultimately cost him his job.
The Samuels situation is very different than the Rose situation in that baseball is not involved in the Samuels case. According to the Michael S. Schmidt in a post on the New York Times Bats blog the Samuels investigation is centered on football. But one can’t help but feel that people in and around the game should learn from the Rose example and stay away from all kinds of illegal gambling operations to stay safe from the fallout that inevitably comes from it.
Samuels is not the first to be caught in this type of investigation since the Rose ban. He’s not even the first within the Mets organization. I don’t mean to sound too strong about him specifically. My criticism is aimed at all baseball related people who should heed the warning of what happened to Rose. Especially those who were in the game when it happened. When a tree falls in your backyard whether you hear it or not you’re going to be more careful around trees.
I hope that Samuels, who from what I’ve heard is a good guy, is cleared of any wrong doing and is reinstated by the Mets. If he isn’t then he has only himself to blame for not learning from history.
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Reyes Option Picked Up, Manager Search Begins
Sandy Alderson made his first player move yesterday when he picked up the option on Jose Reyes‘s contract. Reyes will make $11 million in 2011.
Meanwhile, Alderson has invited Carlos Beltran to New York for a meeting. I’m not sure what Alderson wants to discuss but I’d speculate he wants to talk about the direction the team is going and and ask if Beltran is on board with the plan. If that’s correct then said plan would probably involve Beltran changing positions.
On the managerial front, interviews will begin today. Bob Melvin and Dave Jauss will talk with Alderson over the next couple of days with Chip Hale getting his chance over the weekend. It’s expected that Alderson would then start talking to people outside the organization. It’s not known if Wally Backman will get a chance to interview for the job. I’d assume Backman will get at least a courtesy call.
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Ricciardi In, Shines Out
In a not very surprising move the Mets announced today that they have hired J. P. Ricciardi as a special assistant to new general manager Sandy Alderson. Though it’s not surprising the team reached out to Ricciardi it does seem to put John Ricco’s status as general manager in waiting into question.
Ricciardi had apparrently been weighing offers from both the Mets and Red Sox. The allure of working with Alderson again (the two worked together in Oakland for several years) was apparently stronger than that of working closer to his Massachusetts home.
In other unrelated news it’s been made public that Razor Shines will not be part of the coaching staff next year. This was an expected move as Shines is a Jerry Manuel man.
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