Welcome back to Mets Chat Room.
First of all, sorry for being hit and miss this weekend. I had to take the weekend off to visit my father in Cleveland, and it was hard to keep up.
Still in Cleveland, but will be back home tomorrow for Atlanta series. Thanks for your patience, and I hope you’ll still consider it your Chat Room even though I am not there.
I will be looking forward to your comments and will try to check in whenever I can. Thanks.
70 Comments
Mark:
I’d say you have to put in Milledge every game you can for the rest of the season.
He’s been Heathbelled enough, constantly being pulled out of the line-up for small meaningless reasons while clearly performing in all manners like the best choice for the third outfielder on this team.
It’s time to stop messing with the guy’s confidence under the cover-excuse of tinkering and to let him know he is the starting rightfielder now, in the playoffs if they make the playoffs and April of next year no matter what else happens.
If Alou needs a rest day, sure, stick Gomez or Endy in left, but it’s time to stop messing with Lastings’ head and let him know he’s the starting rightfielder.
Mike C: Willie has no plans on making Lastings the permanent starter in RF. I think by now it’s pretty obvious. When Delgado gets back you’ll continue to see the Green/Milledge platoon in RF. Now don’t misconstrue me not agreeing with you…I do. But Willie…doesn’t. :-)
Why apologize for not agreeing with someone. Willie is playing Milledge perfectly and anyone who thinks otherwise is blind, or just anti Willie no matter what. When he plays every day he gets too wild. After he sits and thinks he comes back better….
Yes, Gotay looked better at third than second. Too bad for him. He ain’t moving Wright.
Mike C,
Heath did not play last year and then was traded because he did not show anything. He was in this organization for a few years but in the end they felt he was expendable. The manager/GM did not keep him down. He never came through.
Milledge is playing he is not playing everyday. Willie needs to set his team up for the post season. Figure out who can fill out what role and try and get a sense for the young guys not ready for prime time. Milledge is not all world. He probably will make it to post season but probably will not start. He has skills and also his warts. This is not his time. You as well as everyone on this blog would hang Willie if this team underperformed while we wait for this young player to figure out how to play at this level.
Dave
Omar
If you insist on spewing your garbage at one blogger because you do not like what they have to say why don’t you be a man and use your real tag rather than hiding behind a pseudonym?
If you want to call someone out do so. But stop being a coward.
Dave
Post Season Roster:
Pitchers: Pedro/Glavine/Duque/Perez/Maine/Show/Mota/Sosa/Feliciano/heilman/Wagner. That’s 11 right there. Do the Mets go with 12 pitchers? Does Pelfrey or Sele make it over Mota? I would think that in the NLDS for sure, Willie and Omar would take only 11.
Catchers: LoDuca, Castro (assuming he’s healthy of course)
Infield: Delgado/Castillo/Reyes/Wright
OF: Alou/Beltran/Milledge/Green
Bench: Chavez/Gotay/Anderson/Conine
That seems to be a pretty set 25 man roster IMO. The only flys in the ointment would be of course if Easley miraculously comes back or Delgado doesn’t make it back. Otherwise it seems pretty set. Any comments? suggestions?
dave I kind of agree with your post but except for JD I don’t think anyone knows anyone’s names here…..
I don’t trust Mota for the post-season. My preference for the last pitching spot would go in this order:
1. Sele
2. Pelfry
3. Mota
maybe they’ll fight it out on a Jets blog instead of here, but in Omar’s defense dave the attacked guy is a very nasty sort almost every day! Omar was too extreme but a calling was in order.
Omar has hinted that Carlos may be out longer than announced. If he’s not good to go, Gomez might be added as a last man.
I agree with you JB about Mota but I don’t trust Sele either and having Pelfrety in the pen when he seemed to have so much trouble adjusting to the bigs makes me not trust him either. I think a coin flip is in order with a 3 sided coin.
Thought I’d give this blog another chance but while there’s some good debate I see there is still fighting between Mike C and whomever…. Oh well, I’ll try again one day maybe… Ever think its you Mike C? Nah couldn’t be, could it?
John Delcos: Good luck in Cleveleand…..
mOOkie You are wrong. MLB.TV uses the ISP provider as the basic blackout determiner, but some cover border line areas where there are different blackouts in the same server’s area. If you call them with your zip code they will override blackouts to whatever your zip code is supposed to have. Check MLB.TV They will ask your zip code and tell you what is blacked out. Don’t believe it…Call them and ask them…..
Sloppy: Thanks for your kind thoughts. Remember, this blog is the product of its contributors, of which you are a significant one. As far a Mike C. is concerned, if you know what he’s going to say will drive you nuts, don’t read it and add your own pearls. Never let anybody chase you away. Hope to see you on board.-JD
Steve,
U list Castro over Difelice or Alomar. Considering Castro’s chronic health issues I would rather have one of the other two as the backup C. You cannot use him as a DH or PH since you burn the C spot. The primary DH will be Marlon anyway so what’s the point?
That was primary PH not DH
Well Castro is going to have to prove that he is healthy for one. I don’t think the Mets are going to carry him if there is any doubt about his back. If there is, I would rather Alomar, Jr be the backup because he is equal to DiFelice defensively, but he has a better bat.
Sorry Mike, I completely disagree with you, and Willie for that matter, on the decision. Sure the Mets won, but I think having another left handed slap type hitter over a right handed big swinger against a right handed sinkerball pitcher is a no brainer. It may have helped them score a few more runs, although obviously the OF defense clearly wasn’t an issue despite the usual steady diet of flyballs from Perez.
Alou’s swing is a freak of nature, so I’ll never argue against keeping him in the lineup, but having a second Luis Castillo type would have been wise. He was the only guy to even remotely elevate Hudson through the first five innings. The next guy to do so was Oliver Perez.
The fact is, Milledge is still getting dominated by aces. Its okay, it happens to young players, which he still is. If I had the guys at Elias at my fingertips like Gary, Keith, and Ron, I’d ask them about Milledge’s numbers against pitchers with ERAs below 3.70. I’d bet money that they’re pretty ugly, especially against righties with low ERAs much uglier than Green.
Here’s the flipside to the argument that you should annoint Milledge the RF for the sake of his “confidence”: shouldn’t he have to continue to earn that role? He’s really not all the way there yet. Good pitchers absolutely eat him up. If he hits a top flight pitcher, they made a huge mistake. Hurlers with a good repetiore and a good head on their shoulders can get him out, usually with ease. That doesn’t mean he should be removed against every ace, on the contrary, he should be given CHANCES, but also make sure he realizes he still has work to do. If you annoint him the everyday guy, and give him nothing to worry about in terms of his playing time, what’s to encourage him from disciplining himself against nasty breaking balls, or pulling off and rolling over offspeed pitches on the outer half.
Milledge is coming along so well. I was one of the few who still hoped he wouldn’t be traded last offseason, for which I took a lot of crap at times. I’m happy with Omar’s decision to keep him around, and happy with the progress he’s made. But to say he’s made the huge jump from where he was last year to everyday player is just too much to ask. In fact, I’m positive he won’t even be granted an everyday role next Spring. He’ll be put into a competition for the RF job, and although he’ll obviously be a favorite, Willie will do his thing and insist that he hasn’t made a decision until the final week of March.
You wouldn’t slot in Milledge for next year?
Good Lord, man.
Do you have some of a… thing for sitting through a revolving door of washed-up former powerhitters at the outfield corners while better younger players fester on the bench or in AAA?
Alou gets a pass because at least WHEN he’s healthy, he’s still money in the bank but… who’s gonna be the next aging five-years ago All-Star Proven Veteran you’d wanna SIGN?
I’m trying to think who’s even more ludicrious than Shawn Green or Cliff Floyd… are we to dig Andre Dawson out of retirement?
That’s ridiculous, man.
I’ll give you that Gomez probably needs another half-year in AAA, just to polish up his plate discipline, so signing Alou just for whatever you can get out of him… but…
How long exactly do you think a rookie prospect is supposed to be jerked around before getting an actual chance?
Wright and Reyes became Wright and Reyes because they were thrown into the deep-end young and stuck with, no revolving door of other teams’ castaways breathing down their necks.
Only makes sense to gut up and do the same with Milledge and then… eventually… with Gomez too.
It is amazing how ignorant Mike C can be all the time.
1.
1. Reyes and Wright played when they came up because the METS sucked like Tampa and Kansas City. That’s what Mike C wants. A minor league team in Citi Field in 2009.
2. Milledge isn’t that good to play every day on a contender. He has no fundamentals, gets no jump on a ball ever, and gets sloppy at the plate if he plays regularly. You want him to learn send him to AAA where he should have paid more attention in the first place.
3. Mark has a reasonably developed argument that you can’t refute so you write about him like you write about Willie.
4. Milledge is ot a rookie prospect. He’s not even a rookie.
5. It was wonderful last night during the game watching intelligent posts, not your assinine commentary. Watch football every night.