Joba’s Mom
Dosn’t Joba Chamberlain look just like his mom?
Happy mother’s day, Jacqueline Standley (Joba’s mom).
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Perez Shows He’s Not Team Player
The Oliver Perez decision was made late yesterday. But it was not the decision that the front office probably would have liked. Manager Jerry Manuel has said that the team did not ask Perez to accept a minor league assignment. If this is the case I have to believe that they didn’t ask because they assumed, based on comments Perez made publicly on Sunday about not wanting to go the minors.
I can understand the personal reasons for not wanting to go down to the minors. You’ve worked your whole life to get to the majors and to a point in your career where you feel you have earned a right not to go back to the minors. And, in fact, according to league rules, Ollie has earned this right by having 5 years of major league experience. But anyone who has ever played team sports knows about team work and how important it is to be a team player. Oliver Perez is not being a team player.
Manuel has said that “He won’t be the first guy I call” and “It’ll be a tough challenge for us as a staff to make sure we are trying to get him back on track.” This means that Perez will probably not get regular work out of the pen and will actually be a burden on his team as there will need to be an adjustment to the team approach to find opportunities to get him into the game.
Had Perez been willing to accept a move to the minors he would have followed in the footsteps of former Met Steve Trachsel and, more notably, Philadelphia’s Brett Myers. Myers spent nearly a month in the minors and came back to post a 7-4 record with a 3.06 ERA. This improved on the earlier part of the year when he had a 3-9 record with a 5.84 ERA. Besides the improvement shown after their trips to the minors Trachsel and Myers proved that they were team players by not exercising their right to refuse a minor league assignment and allowing their teams to operate without the distraction of having a special needs player in their midst.
Perez, on the other hand, would rather pitch sparingly out of the bullpen, a role that is quite different than starting, and possibly be a detriment to his team than take a few weeks to start in a less pressure filled environment. What has Perez got to gain by this approach beyond the possibility of angering fans and alienating teammates?
When all is said and done if Perez returns to the rotation and has some success later in the year all will be forgotten by the fans who will be appreciative that he’s back and making a positive contribution. His teammates will also be appreciative of a positive contribution but his selfishness will always stay in their minds and could poison them in their dealings with him in the future.
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Tonight’s Lineup 5/4/2008
| # | Name | Position | ||||
| 7 | Jose Reyes | SS | ||||
| 28 | Daniel Murphy | LF | ||||
| 15 | Carlos Beltran | CF | ||||
| 21 | Carlos Delgado | 1B | ||||
| 5 | David Wright | 3B | ||||
| 19 | Ryan Church | RF | ||||
| 11 | Ramon Castro | C | ||||
| 1 | Luis Castillo | 2B | ||||
| 33 | John Maine | P | ||||
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The Unseen Goat of the Mets
With the starting pitching slumping, Daniel Murphy learning to play left field and David Wright struggling Jose Reyes has been operating mostly under the radar this season. But Reyes i batting nearly 30 points below his career average and is on base to steal his fewest bases since 2005, the year before his first full season in which he played only 53 games.
This guy is supposed to be the spark plug of the offense. Maybe he, and not Wright, is the one that needs to get on track in order to boost the teams offense. I have all confidence that when it’s all over both players stat lines will look nice and pretty so I’m not suggesting either of them have more pressure put on them. But certainly the Reyes situation deserves as much attention as Wright.
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Scheduled Starters For Atlanta Series
Yesterday’s rainout changed the Mets pitching schedule for the coming week. Here’s the expected starters for the two game set against Atlanta.
Tonight – John Maine (1-2, 5.40) vs. Javier Vazquez (2-2, 3.38), 7:10 p.m., SNY.
Tuesday – Livan Hernandez (1-1, 6.75) vs. Kenshin Kawakami (1-3, 7.06), 7:10 p.m., SNY.
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Last Week’s Poll Results
With Brian Schneider on the disabled list and Jerry Manuel showing a love for Omir Santos over Ramon Castro there’s a bit of a catcher controversy stirring up in Mets country. It came to a head last week against Florida when Manuel called for Santos to pinch hit for Castro with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning. This prompted last week’s poll question: What should the Mets do at catcher when Brian Schneider comes off the DL?
The results are in and 50% of you think the Mets should just get rid of Schneider and keep Santos and Castro. 17% of you voted for each of the following three options: getting rid of Castro with Santos starting, getting rid of Castro and starting Schneider or demoting Santos and starting Schneider.
Thank you all for voting.
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Perez Out Of Rotation But Where’s He Going?
After another poor outing Saturday the Mets have said that Oliver Perez will be removed from the starting rotation. Exactly where he will be going remains up in the air. There are two obvious options: move him to the bullpen or send him to the minors to work things out.
Moving Perez to the bullpen moves him out of harms way. He’d become a long reliever who’d likely be used primarily in mop up duty until he shows he can handle more responsibility. However he’d probably not get enough work or the right kind of work to get him back on track. Also, he’s always been a pitcher who needs everything to be alright in order to succeed. Bringing him into the game in situations where things are anything but perfect (runners on base, number of outs, etc.) may only make things worse.
The option of sending him to the minors makes much more sense to me. Move him out of New York, where the media and fans examine every move he makes, to Buffalo, where his workload may be the same but his distance from the microscope would relive a lot of the pressure. In this environment, with the right tutelage, he could try to get his head straight for a few starts. This strategy worked famously with Steve Trachsel. Trachsel went 12-8 with a 3.77 ERA after a stint in the minors in late May and early June in 2001. Before the minors stint Trachsel had been 1-6 with a 8.24 ERA. So this move is not without precedent.
Though I didn’t mention it above a third option made an appearance yesterday. Despite no previous admission by the Mets or Perez, Ollie has suddenly come down with an injury to his right knee. The nature of the injury has not been disclosed but Perez was seen icing the knee yesterday and both he and manager Jerry Manuel referenced it without giving any specifics when talking to the media. This seems to indicate a trip to the disabled list via the good old manufactured injury.
I can understand this from the Mets perspective. Perez is out of options and would have to agree to a trip to the minors, which he seemed amenable to Saturday but changed his mind on Sunday. I’m not sure what Ollie’s thinking when chooses a bogus DL stint, during which he’d likely only do side work, over what could be a very helpful trip to the minors, where he would be playing in real games against real batters. But if he’s going to refuse an assignment to Buffalo the Mets have little choice but move him to the DL so they can clear a roster spot for someone who will actually get game time.
So which option do you think the Mets should take here? Vote now in the poll below.
[poll id=”4″]
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Kriegel Video Critical Of Mets
A rather damning report on the Mets by Mark Kriegel of FOXSports.com.
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Come On Manuel, Light Their Fire
I was looking through some of the Philadelphia papers this morning to see what the Philly sports writer’s there are saying about the Mets. I was actually surprised to see considerably less venom than anticipated. In fact, aside from a John Gonzalez column in the Philadelphia Inquirer, there was no derision at all.
So much for trash talk.
One article I read, Mets arrive burdened with problems by Ray Parrillo of the Philadelphia Inquirer, had two quotes that I found to be telling about the current psyche of the Mets. The first is by Mike Pelfrey, who opens the weekend series with the Phillies against Chan Ho Park.
“It’s not time to panic or be overly concerned,” righthander Mike Pelfrey said after the Mets put many of their warts on display in a 4-3 loss to Florida on Wednesday at brand new Citi Field. “If we continue to work hard, get this thing figured out, I think we’ll get on a roll and get back into it. The talent is there. We have everything it takes.”
True enough. Keep that confidence up, Pelf!
The second quote was from Jerry Manuel regarding the slumping David Wright:
“It’s been a tough go for him,” Mets manager Jerry Manuel said. “But I’m very confident he’s going to get out of it and hit .300 and do his thing, get over 100 RBIs and those types of things. I do believe there will come a time when he will be as hot as he is cold at this period with runners in scoring position. We’ll be patient and wait for that time.”
I agree with both quotes. It’s too early to panic about anything on this team. Not too early to tweak things, such as making a change in the starting rotation, but too early to make sweeping roster and coaching changes. When you have a good team that’s going through a bad stretch you don’t want to do anything too drastic that could make things even worse over the longer haul of a major league season. Even George Steinbrenner learned that lesson.
And let’s get real about Wright. In four full major league season he’s averaged 106 runs, 29 home runs and 112 RBIs per season. He’ll come around at some point and make good on those numbers. Let’s hope he starts tonight. (As an aside, it’s a crime to be booing him. Especially this early in the season. I understand there’s been little from him to cheer about but as fans we need to support the players and give them a lift. Not boo them and make them feel bad.)
What I’d like to see out of Manuel is a little more fire. Far too often this season we’ve seen him making excuses for the poor play on the field (most notably Daniel Murphy) or a managerial decision that didn’t work out the way he wanted (like having Omir Santos pinch hit for Ramon Castro the other day). He needs to take a page out of the Herman Edwards coaching handbook. Say what you will about Edwards (he wasn’t the best head coach ever) but through most of his tenure with the Jets he was great at getting his layers to rally around him. When he talked to the media he had you so fired up that you’d take a bullet for him. (Okay, maybe not that much but you know what I mean.)
This team has talent and heart but it seems to lack some fire. Manuel needs to channel his inner Herman Edwards, light a fire and fan the flames.
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Schneider’s Return Delayed
Brian Schneider has developed a sore right calf and is unlikely to be activated when he is eligible to come off of the disabled list (Sunday, May 3). This will give the Mets some more time to make a decision on the Ramon Castro/Omir Santos issue.
Castro is the incumbent number 2 catcher but Santos has become a favorite of manager Jerry Manuel. It’s uncommon to carry three catchers these days since teams carry so many pitchers so a move will definitely be made. But Castro is due to make $2.5 million this year. Will the Mets keep Santos and eat Castro’s contract? Will they send Santos to the minors and keep Castro and Schneider? Or will they get rid of Schneider and keep Santos and Castro? Answer the poll below.
[poll id=”3″]
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