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It’s time for some changes

May 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Mets sit today at .500 with an 18-18 record.  Not a bad record all things considered.  But when you scratch beneath the surface you will see a lot more wrong with this team then right.  Take away a few homeruns by Rod Barajas and this season could be quickly barreling out of control.  Here are a few issues and what I think should be done to try to solidify this team.

1) The lineup stinks.  This one is obvious to say the least.  When your start of the season 3-4-5 batters are doing nothing but strikeout, there is a serious problem.  Then when you add in the move of Jose Reyes to the 3rd spot and his doing absolutely nothing, you now have, aside from rookie call-up Ike Davis, the “meat” of your order doing absolutely nothing.

You can’t blame Jerry for the lack of production from Wright and Bay.  These two have been having horrible at bat after horrible at bat and something has to be done.  Jerry has to take some heat for Jose as it was his idea since spring training to bat him 3rd and it’s safe to say it can now be officially called a failure.  It’s time to move Jose back to leadoff and let him be who he is.  He’s totally confused in the 3-spot especially with Jerry continually asking him to bunt from there.  Put Reyes back at leadoff and move Ike up to cleanup.  Bat Wright and Bay in either the 3 and 5 spots.  While I really like Barajas batting in the 8 spot it might not be a bad idea to move him up to like 6th for a little while as he’s on this streak he’s on.  He typically not an idea type of hitter to bat higher, but the truth is the guy is just getting so many clutch hits it’s hard to ignore in a lineup that is at historic lows with RISP.  I’d rather see Pagan bat 2nd and stick Castillo in the 8th spot.  I know this really limits what Castillo can do, but truth is I’d rather see Cora anyways.

2)  Coaching shakeup.

I am not one that likes to see people fired for the sake of shaking things up, but at this point I think Howard Johnson is going to have to go.  It’s not entirely an indictment on him, but at the same time nobody has gotten better under his watch and you can make a case that David Wright has been ruined since working with him.  It’s just time for a new voice.  It’s time to send a message that this offense is not acceptable and we are searching for answers.  The status quo is not acceptable.  It’s not the wholesale clean out that most of us fans want to see, but it’s a start and the truth is – it can’t be any worse then it is now.

3) Rotation changs

As I just wrote in my previous post it’s time for the Ollie P era in queens to be over.  If I never see this guy in a Mets uniform again I will be just fine with that.  I’d rent a car and put him, Garry Matthews Jr and Luis Castillo in it and get them a police escort out of town.  But that’s just me.  It’s time to give Takahashi a shot in the rotation.  The guy has been awesome and deserves the shot.  I understand this will considerably undermine the bullpen, but if we can consistent performance from the 5 spot that should lighten the load a great deal on the bullpen overall.  Ollie is just too much of a liability and too taxing on that bullpen as he consistently goes only 3-4 innings.  This would mean Jerry would have to entrust more to Jenry Mejia but I think he’s up for it.  He will have his hiccups but he’s performed well thus far.

4) Figure out K-Rod

Truth is K-Rod has been horrible this year.  He has very quietly been bad out of the bullpen this year.  He largely got a pass for the end of last season, where he was very bad, as people said it was due to the team being out of contention.  I am starting to think that might have had nothing to do with it and we just got another lemon.  It wouldn’t be the first time the Mets got a bad return on an investment in a closer.  K-Rod is a pro, and I am going to have confidence that he will get it straightened out, but I am very worried about him.  Worried that we might actually be able to solidify the rotation with Ollie gone, and get consistent performance from a bullpen who is then asked to pitch fewer innings, only to have our closer implode and be a disaster.

5) Pray, pray, pray, that Beltran gets back, and is the Beltran of old

I can’t express how much of a lift it would be to actually get Carlos Beltran back and have him perform to what we are used to seeing.  If we are able to hang around the .500 mark and say in the Wild Card pack, no other team would be able to make an acquisition to their club like the Mets would be basically doing by adding Beltran to the mix.  This would be a great lift to the clubhouse, and a great advantage for the team going forward.

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6) Aggressively pursue top end pitcher

There are two obvious candidates out there in Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt.  I would personally rather see our target being Lee but Oswalt could be worth a roll of the dice of the price isn’t too high.  Adding an arm like Cliff Lee to pitch with Santana and Pelfrey would make the top end of our staff very competitive.  You’d then only need to fill two more slots behind them, hopefully with John Niese and John Maine.  Adding that one player drastically improves our rotation, solidifies the bullpen.  The cost will probably be high, but as long as it’s neither of the “prospects” that are with the big club now then I am ok with it (ie Ike and Mejia).

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

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: , , , ,

More lineup head scratching

Apr 16, 2010 By 1 Comment

Can anyone out there please explain to me why Jerry Manuel insists on putting Mike Jacobs in the five hole batting in front of Jeff Francouer? I wont get into comparing their stats as it would be a bloodbath.

Does Jerry really think that having Jacobs in the 5 spot protects Jason Bay more then Frenchy batting .450? And we are confused why Bay hasn’t gotten things going yet? Even despite the stats, why would you put a guy who is a career all or nothing hitter in the 5 spot? Makes absolutely no sense to me.

And as I write this post, of course, the Mets get 1st and 3rd with 2 outs and Jacobs walks up to the plate and strikes out meekly. Thanks a lot Jerry, great move.

Can you tell I am so sick of this guy?

Oh and can we please stop hearing you talk about how you want to bat Reyes third? Stop talking about it and do it already so we can move on. You’ve been talking about it for 3 months now.

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

Why batting Reyes third might work, for now.

Feb 23, 2010 By 1 Comment

I am a bit of a contrarian by nature.  So ever since Jerry Manuel first talked about moving Jose Reyes to the third hole I have been basically calling him crazy.  After about a week listening to everyone go on and on about how bad an idea it is, I wanted to see if I could come up with a way it works.  Here is my best shot.

The main problem for us is that we are operating on things we know.  Unfortunately there is a lot we don’t know.  With that in mind I think Jerry’s idea to move Jose into the 3-hole has a lot to do with his legs holding up.  By taking him out of the lead off spot I think they are hoping it will slow him down a bit.  He wont feel like he has to steal a base every time he is on  base.  I think had Beltran not gone down with an injury this would never have been a consideration, but for 4o games or so I think they are trying to use it as a way to ease Reyes back into the season.  Let him get into baseball shape and literally get his legs under him.

The second consideration I had was when you look at a Beltran-less lineup the truth is our 5-6-7-8 hitters don’t scare anyone:

1) Reyes  2)Castillo 3) Wright 4) Bay 5) Francoeur 6) Murphy 7) Pagan  8) Barajas

You can see what I mean.  Even as much as I like Frenchie he truly isn’t a 5 hitter.  And as much as I hope to see Murphy step up, we can’t bank on that.  So I think what Jerry is trying to do is to just push back our main players a bit and spread the linup out.  Here is how it might break down with Reyes at 3:

1) Pagan 2) Castillo 3) Reyes 4) Bay 5) Wright 6) Francoeur 7) Murphy 8 Barajas

You have to admit the second lineup (based on last years performance anyway) looks much better.  So I can almost understand what Manuel is thinking here even if my first reaction is thinking he’s crazy.

In the end I think I still stand against it.  I think we are just creating more variables by moving people around.  Any way you cut it the loss of Beltran for 40 games will hurt our lineup, but by shuffling people and asking Reyes to bat in a new spot might hurt him long after Beltran has returned.

One thing it did do though is help me appreciate our lineup when Beltran gets back, I think it looks pretty darn good:

1) Reyes 2) Castillo 3) Beltran 4) Bay 5) Wright 6) Francoeur 7) Murphy 8 Barajas

Jerry seems pretty stubborn about moving Reyes to third so I think we might actually see this happen.  If it does I suppose it wont hurt to try it, but regardless of everything else, the second that Beltran is back he is our 3 hitter and Reyes needs to be immediately moved back to the lead off spot.

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