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Move Ike to Cleanup

May 11, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The funny thing is that after all the debating back and forth for months on if Jerry Manuel moving Jose Reyes to the 3rd spot in the order was a good idea or not, it’s proven not to matter. It doesn’t matter because the Mets 4-5-6 hitters have been consistently putting up empty outs.

When the beef of your lineup has been this bad, it doesn’t really matter what anyone in front of them is doing. The combo of Bay – Wright – and Francouer have been bad. The only thing they have done consistently is strikeout. Sadly there doesn’t seem to be any end to this coming soon as each look equally as lost. Either of them could bust out at any time and heres to hoping it happens soon.

Until it does I think Jerry has to break these guys up. Specifically you can’t have Bay-Wright back to back. They are striking out way too much and are failing to consistently put up quality at bats. Neither seems to even have a plan when they get into the box and both are taking horrible swings. Until they start to look like pro batters, these two have to be broken up. Too many times have we watched the two of them become rally killers.

Moving Ike Davis to cleanup wouldn’t be ideal obviously. Having a rookie bat cleanup is not something you want to do, but dire times call for unorthodox changes. Truth is Ike has looked like the seasoned pro at the plate a lot more often then either Bay, Wright, or Frenchy. He consistently has good quality at bats.

Ideally what I would like to see is the return of Reyes to the lead-off spot, Pagan batting second, Wright or Bay batting 3rd and Ike batting cleanup. Then follow him with Either Bay/Wright and then Frenchy. I like having Barajas batting eight as I feel his power really gives us some pop at the bottom of the lineup but you could think about batting him 6 or 7 and having either Pagan or Castillo batting in the 8th spot.

Bottom line is we need to break up this black hole of the Bay-Wright combo. Ike Davis has been showing great plate presence and I think he’s capable of providing good at bats in the cleanup spot.

Filed Under: 2010 Mets, Blogging Tagged With: , , , ,

Jason Bay must sit

Apr 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

This is getting ridiculous. Jason Bay is having a horrible start. I am not giving up on him so take it easy, but it’s time to let the guy sit down and clear his head. Have the guys take him out and get him smashed and take him to a gentleman’s club, whatever it takes to get this guy to relax.

I heard all about how Bay was a streaky hitter and that he does strikeout. I had no idea that he strikes out every other at bat (Ok so it’s not that bad – just 22 times in 62 at bats, or 35%). He is an empty bat in the heart of our lineup. Maybe if Wright was doing anything but either striking out or walking with his at bats we wouldn’t notice so much. After 14 games he is batting .235 while slugging an anemic .314. By comparison rickety Luis Castillo has more RBI’s (4 to 3) and is pulling in a slugging of .304. When you are barely out slugging Luis Castillo, you should not be batting cleanup.

Problem is, who does? Wright looks just as awful, and he seems even worse when it’s a clutch situation. Francouer would have been the easy answer a week ago, but ever since that 20 inning game he is like 1 for 20 or something crazy and is back to his free swinging self. I can’t believe I am going to say this but maybe bat Ike in the cleanup spot. Realistically it wont be much more pressure then he has now being the Mets savior and all, and at least he has a plan and takes quality at bats when he is up there. The problem is the Mets have far too many “streaky” hitters. They need to stop collecting these guys and start focusing on players that have a plan at the plate, have plate discipline, and get good at bats consistently.

Jason Bay just looks lost, so lets give the guy a day off and hope it can clear his head. Nothing else seems to be working.

Filed Under: 2010 Mets, Blogging Tagged With: , , , ,

Welcome To New York

Apr 6, 2010 By Leave a Comment

I think the biggest thing I take from Opening Day is the depth in the Mets lineup. It looks like if the Mets are going to go far this season, it’s going to be there offense that is going to have to pick up their pitching staff on those off nights. I could not be more excited to see the Mets have legit threats at the bottom of the lineup. Matthews, Frenchie and Barajas definitely are a big time improvement over Tatis, Santos and Andy Hernandez. It’s AMAZIN’ what this lineup would look with Reyes instead of Cora leading off and Beltran instead of Jacobs in the cleanup spot.

I also would like to point out the day that the newcomers had. As much as we have killed Omar over the winter maybe he did do his job this winter.

Bay: (2-4) Triple, Run

Matthews, Jr. (2-3) Double, 2 Runs

Barajas: (2-4), Double, RBI, Run

Not only this these guys hits but they all got an extra base hit which were few and far between last season.

Also an interesting point from Gary Cohen, last season the Mets had 2 opposite field home runs, one by Wright and one by Pagan which was an inside the park job. It’s still early but I am a firm believer in mojo, momentum, karma, things being contagious, and things certainly looked pretty good on Monday but as we’ve heard a million times “you’re only as good as the next games starting pitcher” and until we see Maine, Pelfrey and Perez step up we still need to cross our fingers. However, with the new additions maybe we can pull out some of those 11-10 and 9-8 shootouts this season. LETS GO METS!

Filed Under: 2010 Mets, Blogging Tagged With: , , ,

LF: Jason Bay, welcome to the Big Citi!

Mar 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

As spring training fast approaches I want to go around-the-horn on the projected Mets opening day lineup position by position. I will talk about my thoughts on how that position matches up and how it should be handled. Hope you enjoy.

So it’s been a few days since I last did an installment of “Around The Horn” and that wasn’t because I was being lazy. My plans were to try to watch Jason Bay in action in a spring training game yesterday and have a little more insight into how he’s going to look in a Mets uniform. That obviously got washed away with the rain when they yanked all the real players. So I will go ahead and cover the last position on the field.

During the offseason I must admit I had serious doubts if Jason Bay was the guy for the Mets. I always thought he was a nice player, and one of those players that a winning team always seemed to have, but was he a marque type guy? Was he a corner-stone type player? I wasn’t so sure. I wont even get into the money because the market is so screwed up it’s hard to know what is a value, especially in the first year of a multi-year deal.

The more and more I see interviews with Jason Bay the more I start to like the guy. He just seems like a blue collar, lunch pail type guy. He’s just a put your nose down and grind away type player. And to be honest, the more and more I hear Boston fans bitch and moan and call him greedy, I realize that they are really upset over his departure. The whole “injury” rumor that was leaked out of Boston is total hogwash to me, and it’s a way for Theo & Company to cover their ass.

Despite his streaky nature at the plate, Bay should provide a stabilizing force in both our outfield and in our lineup. In a spot where last year we had a total debacle in Daniel Murphy, this year we can write Bay’s name into the lineup in ink and forget about it. That’s gotta be a nice change for Jerry Manuel. His presence also provides us nice depth in the lineup, especially with Carlos Beltran out for the beginning of the season. Could you imagine where we would be with Beltran out and Bay still in Boston? Oh man.

Bay is probably the weakest fielder out of our main outfielders, but that’s ok because he plays in left which is the most traditional area of Citi Field. It doesn’t really have any of those nooks and quirks that rightfield has. As long as he can play a solid outfield for us he will be a breath of fresh air.

Only time will tell if his contract is worth it, but I do know that his presence in the field, in the lineup and especially in the clubhouse will be a stabilizing force that the Mets so dearly need.

Filed Under: 2010 Mets Tagged With: , , ,

Bay Is Changing My Mind

Feb 24, 2010 By 1 Comment

I have to admit that while the Mets were in negotations with Jason Bay, I said forget him. If he doesn’t wanna be here then he can walk. I also need to be realistic, baseball is a business and I doubt it ever really comes down to someone not wanting to play somewhere, it comes down to where can I get the most money.

Bay wanted his money, and the Coupons didn’t wanna get taken for more money by someone again. Overall, I would have to say it was well played by the Mets to not go overboard for Bay. If you have been following this site since day one, you know I would have preferred John Lackey over Jason Bay. However, with the injury to Beltran, I feel pretty good about Jason Bay being a Met. If our starting outfield opening day would have included both Matthews and Pagan we would have been in a world of hurt.

However, watching SNY yesterday completely changed my mind on Jason Bay. The way he was talking during the interview really impressed me. He seems to be a quiet guy but you can tell he is very confident in himself. He also seems to a business guy, he is here to do a job and to get his teammates to do their job. We have heard about quiet leaders on this team for awhile now, but I think this guy has the goods to actually do it.

Bay’s on the job training in Boston, has him ready to handle the fans and media in New York. Not to mention Bay played in the minors with alot of these guys. Yes, we had traded for Jason Middlebrook, remember him? I’m sure you don’t. Anyways, he should be comfortable because he knows these guys from the minors and we was a teammate of Ollie P in both San Diego and Pittsburgh. Familiarity with both the players and a the big city feel makes me feel that Jason Bay will make the adjustment to New York very quickly. If my feelings are right, I feel that Jason Bay is going go to be the key for us to get off to a good start. Once we get off to that great start, anything will be possible!

Filed Under: 2010 Mets, Blogging Tagged With: