Mets Chat Room: Meet Nick Evans edition.
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- May
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I had a nice chat with Nick Evans before the game, and while talking to him, I realized his presence personifies what’s wrong with the Mets. If a team has to reach down to Double-A to get an outfielder, what does that tell you about its depth in the minors and how it was put together on the major league level?
Manager Willie Randolph bears some responsibility because everyone must take some blame.
But, look at this team:
-For two years they’ve been waiting on Pedro Martinez, but what have they gotten?
-They’ve also been waiting during that span for Orlando Hernandez.
-Their first baseman, Carlos Delgado, is old, injury-prone, and has been in decline for two years.
-Their second baseman, Luis Castillo, is old, injury-prone, but is locked up for four years.
-Their shortstop, Jose Reyes, the player they call their catalyst, plays in a fog most of the time.
-Their left-fielder, Moises Alou, 41, is on the disabled list again.
-Their $120 million center fielder, Carlos Beltran, has no fire.
-Their farm system, or a good part that’s left of it, is wrapped up in Johan Santana.
-On of their starters, Mike Pelfrey, isn’t ready, but is begin force fed because there’s little else.
-Another starter, Oliver Perez, is gone after this season.
-The bullpen is a mess.
There are a lot of problems here, and the biggest one is how the team was constructed, and that’s not on Randolph.
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on Saturday, May 24th, 2008 at 3:54 pm by John Delcos.
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just because beltran dosn’t show fire dosn’t mean he’s not good. Hes had freakin 75 hrs past 2 hrs, and 220 rbis. I wouldnt exactly call that a bad signing by omar.
Didn’t say it was a bad signing. But, he needs to carry this team and he hasn’t. That’s important with so many around him stinking. Good sign in the first.-JD
I disagree with your double-A comments. The paradigm has shifted: AAA is a holding pen for experienced insurance policies (a la Ramon “Days of Wine and Roses” Casanova), with AA being used as a finishing school for top prospects.
If you look at recent Met prospects—Pelfrey, Gomez, Reyes, Wright—most of them had, at best, a cup of coffee at AAA, with AA being their real proving ground.
Evans, along with Murphy and Carp, represent three pretty good hitting prospects, all of whom should be ready for prime time in less than a year.
You never hear people talk about “intangibles” in baseball like they do in football or basketball. But I’d put leadership in that category. Grit, fire, and passion, too. This team has skills but they are short on the intangibles.
good for the kid
Sorry Tiffany: You just proved my point. If 3A is a holding pen, then how come there was nobody to go to as Alou’s replacement? Triple-A is still the next level of competition to the majors.-JD
I seriously loathe Matt Holliday…
Josh: I’d take him on my team in a heartbeat.-JD
That means they don’t have enough Ricky Ledees, not that they don’t have enough prospects. I actually applaud Omar for bringing up someone like Evans and giving him a taste of the bigs, rather than simply opting for a Ledee-like retread.
RG –
You’ve overlooked two New York baseball players with more ‘intangibles’ than anyone in MLB:
David Wright and Derek Jeter.
Leadership,Grit, Fire, and Passion? They’ve got those qualities in Spades…..
Hey Delcos, if building a team was as easy as you seem to make it out to be, why don’t you become a GM? Or for that matter, why can’t every team in the league be a great team? I mean, if its that easy to say, this was a bad move, you shouldn’t have done it, and there must be obvious other moves to make in place of those bad moves, then why doesn’t every single team in the league have a good to great team? They all can see what the bad moves are right? I mean, you can, I guess its just weird, so few great teams, yet it’s so easy to build a good team.
oh and Delcos, they DID go to AAA, they got Tatis, but then Marlon Anderson got injured, I mean, why can’t every team just have an extra major league team at the AAA level, I mean, that’s what we should have, and its pathetic that we don’t. Oh, and you saying Beltran has no fire is just pathetic. Sorry he’s not a rah rah type, and he just prefers to be himself. His non-fireryness didn’t seem to hurt in 2006 when he helped lead this team to the playoffs.
metsfan: I don’t know why I am doing this, because it can give me nothing but grief, but I will respond to you. Now, read carefully because I know the finer things will go over your head. I never said it was easy. It is hard. And, other teams are better at making those decisions than others. And, now here’s the point: THE METS HAVE SUCKED AT MAKING THOSE MOVES. THAT’S THE PROBLEM. Boy, you’re such a dim light bulb.-JD
And, while you’re at it, Delcos, why don’t you make a better pain medication for oral surgeries? I mean, I see you complaining about the effects of your medication; if it’s so easy to complain about the medication, it must be easy to make one yourself, right? Put on your lab coat and show me.
i agree with tiffany on this one. AAA may be the next level of competition as far as how many “A’s” precede the team name, but teams use it as a taxi squad—not necessarily as an indicator of talent level.
so Evans could theoretically be getting more out of facing pitching and playing in a lineup with other prospects at AA then being in a inconsistent environment like AAA.
that’s not to say that his and other AA prospects talent aren’t the equivalent to what we traditionally consider AAA level.
and though i certainly wouldn’t argue that this team is poorly constructed, i do think that bringing up Evans is a result of injuries that aren’t necessarily easy to predict.
sure Alou is a known injury risk, but given the mets roster—you could very easily say that their AAA outfield right now if everyone was healthy would’ve been Tatis, Pagan, and Brady Clark. well, Tatis is here on the big league club. Pagan is on the DL (with a shoulder injury he sustained falling into the bleacher while making a catch—not because he’s old and brittle). and Clark is on the DL (and done for the year).
Making Evans 9th on the depth chart.
Beltran
Church
Alou
Pagan
Endy
Marlon
Tatis
Brady Clark
Evans
I can’t say i’m all that familiar with the roster on other clubs, but chances are when you need the 9th OF it’s gonna be coming from the AA level.
I think it’d be very tough for you or anyone else to say that you need to plan for a time when Alou, Pagan, Marlon, and Clark are all on the DL at the same time.
Tiffany, you missed the point, too.-JD
Annie—My bad for painting with too wide a brush.
DW indeed does have it.
No, no, Delcos—you missed the joke.
There was a joke in there?-JD
RG – Yes he does. Want to give me Jeter, too – Or, are you strictly a Mets fan?
Yes. It’s called a parallel construction.
Tiffany: When you get a moment, please send me the book, ``Tiffany for Dummies,’’ so I can figure decipher what you’re saying.-JD
I also think that given the state of the Mets right now, bringing up a kid with some hunger and a desire to prove himself is exactly what the team needs.
not some other retread over the hill journeyman.
it’s quite possible that bringing up Evans was, in fact, a calculated decision.
who by the way is now 2-2 with 2 doubles
Ooh those surgeries sure make us irritable don’t they? Keep up the good work and vote for Nick Evans for rookie of the year. Good by Alou Please don’t even try to rehab. Can we have this Francis pitch against us tomorrow?
Delcos, you’re a beat writer for a baseball team, and you’re calling someone a dim light bulb? If you want to judge all of these moves because of this bad streak the team is going through, go for it, but i’m going to reserve judgement. Seriously though Delcos, you need some humility, you DON’T know that much about baseball, you think you do, but in reality, you don’t. Yet you sit on this blog all day talking like you know everything, you know what’s good, what’s bad, its just so easy to you. HUMILITY Delcos, humility. And don’t call me a dim light bulb, I’ve had more schooling then you could handle, just continue beat writing you genius you.
First impression of Nick Evans (missed his first at bat) He’s much smaller in person.. The pictures I’ve seen of him make it seem like he was kind of chubby.. I guess he’s lost some weight..
Love that swing though, nice double. He’ll probably start at 1B tomorrow.
Boras sold us a bill of goods on Beltran, chief among them that he was comparable to Barry Bonds (the non steroids edition). He was paid to produce big numbers and has only had one big season since 2005. He was motivated in his huge contract season. He’s on pace for a 16 homer season and 10 stolen bases. A far cry from his 40 homers, 30+ Stolen bases seasons. That being said, he is still among the finest centerfielders in the league, but lets not kid ourselves, his numbers are underwhelming.
Lets see who would have a higher batting average. Delgado or Shawn Green? Bring back Green!!!!!
He looked pretty good in his first at bat Roger, I also thought he was a heavier guy too.
metsfan: goodbye.-JD
Delcos I don’t agree with the Beltran bash. If he’s not here in 2006 I’m not sure this team makes the playoffs. He’s such a big part of this team offensively and DEFENSIVELY.. Imagine how many balls fall in if the Mets don’t have Beltran out there.
He’s been good enough with the bat the past two seasons, and he’s just gotten a lot of tough luck this season.
What the hecks your problem metsfan??
Joe D., fixed:
“That being said, he is still among the finest centerfielders in the league, but lets not kid ourselves, his numbers are underwhelming, when compared to Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle.”
Your pal was suggesting that, in order to criticize something (in your case, Met management), one must be able to generate a better solution on his own. I attempted to exploit his logic one step further by applying it to the topic of pain medications.
It’s called a parallel construction, and it’s typically very humorous, particularly with ex-spouses.
Roger: I was presenting a list of things currently wrong with the team, and one of them has been Beltran. I expect more than what he’s giving. I said he ``has no fire,’’ and he sure is playing that way. Could he turn it around, sure. Right now, they need more from him than they are getting. That’s all.-JD
John, we did live game threads on my site in 2005-2007, this year we decided to squash it. I give you a lot of credit. The other Mets bloggers that have live threads are a joke. I enjoy yours because you have some great regulars and I enjoy your insights and your inside information which you cant get anywhere else.
One day, I hope you get to add me to your Blog Roll. ;-)
and I agree with that point that I expected more, but he’s still one of the best CF in the game.. There isn’t many others I’d rather see in CF. Especially not L-Millz
Tiffany: Doesn’t the phrase ex-spouses, suggest something wrong in the communication?-JD
If you only had more humility, John…
Joe D – glad to see you here again.
o, I forogt.. I said “Mets” in that first post.. I meant to say Stems.
Same here Annie!
john how bout some optimisim…dont hat on my man beltran…it two months into the season
Joe D. Drum roll please, balloons falling, trumpets blaring: You’re on the blog roll.-JD
Tiffany: Please send humility along with book ``Tiffany for Dummies,’’ to …. -JD
Roger: You have to understand, I was commenting on his current level of play. I like Beltran, I really do. Let me describe my admiration in a level you might all understand. I like Beltran at the same intensity I dislike metsfan.-JD
I cant wait to see a healthy Pedro pitching again. There was a hidden blessing in that hamstring injury in that his arm had even more time to recover from the original surgery. To many Mets fans are giving up on the season, but I really believe Pedro is going to be fine, and I was thrilled to hear he was not retiring. When he returns I’m thinking he will make a big push for a new contract. He has a lot of pride and that’s why I expect a great second half from him and the Mets
fair enough.
OMG thank you John!!!!
Joe D – There is no one I’d rather see on the mound than Pedro. I understand that his Dad feels the same way and has encouraged him to return. I will never forget Pedro dancing on the mound when the sprinklers came on – did you see that?
Joe D. I really do owe you an apology for taking so long to respond to your request. Please forgive me.-JD
lol, yes!! But my finest memory will be of him playing Roly-Poly with Don Zimmer! ;-)
No problem, really, I apprecaiate it! :-)
Where is Zim these days, now that Pinella has moved on?
...you’re not getting the jokes today, Delcos…might be time for another installment of the Red Bull…
I dont know Annie, however I was wathcing the Yankees (shh, dont tell anyone) today and I had no idea Mel Stottlemyre was Seattle’s pitching coach.
Tiffany: I think you’re right. I’m oatmeal sharp this afternoon. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.-JD
Speaking of pitching coaches, Rick Peterson sure is flying under the radar amid all this turmoil…
Annie: One of the things we have to consider, is that in the last three years he’s made 29 starts and won 12 games. This sense of Pedro will make it all better is part of the problem I was trying to make earlier. The organization has put too many eggs in the Pedro basket. It’s time to move on and think of him as a bonus.-JD
Joe D – Guess what – so was I. I love baseball and Mel is one of the baseball guys I really loved. Now, you know he lives in the Seattle area and when they asked him to ‘help out’, he did. He was always very good with ‘his boys’ – the pitchers wherever he went.
Annie—I’m strictly a Mets fan but I don’t hate other teams or players. Jeter has got The Right Stuff, too.
When talking trades and drafts I wonder how much GMs and scouts talk about intangibles. Maybe that is too non-Moneyball these days.
Mel was a great guy in the clubhouse too. I remember him always running out whenever those wild Mets from the eighties would have a brawl on the field.
I do think of him as a ‘bonus’ – He brings wisdom and laughter to this team, some things that are seriously missing these days.
Thats the way I feel regarding the intangibles, and Pedro has plenty of them. That being said, I understand JD’s point in that we should view him as a bonus.
JD- just came on, ref. to Evans theres more to this then lack of depth….
Carp is their future 1B and Murphy is higher on the depth chart as a 3B
The mets have Chris Aguila & Valentino Pascucci both hitting well in AAA and have MLB exp..
Evans is being showcased or has a personality they really want. He wasnt number one on the depth, that said nice start.
RG – Perhaps we should look up the agents for Jeter, David and some of the other good guys – I’ll bet they know about the intangibles. I’m still hoping that someone – here at the Mets will name David the Captain real soon. He’s got a lot of good sense and leadership (eldest of four boys, Dad’s Captain of the Police Detectives in Norfolk) and could make a difference, I think.
JD – If and when Randolph meets with the Wilpons on Monday, do you have a sense of what might happen? I think Willie should finish out the season, I hope they dont cut off their noses to spite their face. None of the possible alternatives you hear about are what you would call first rate options. They all have some flaws, risks and uncertainty in my opinion.
Joe D – I remember those days in the ‘80s. I was in the upper deck with my young niece teaching her how to keep score. She learned quickly. We had some great times and I still remember how the whole stadium would grow silent and still when Darryl came to bat.
Murphy and Carp might be higher on the depth charts because they’ve got positions in the field; Evans, on the other hand, has been tried at 1B, 3B and LF. But Evans could very well be the best bat of the three.
Hi Ed, how are things at the Fever?
Yikes, I just got back and skimmed the action here. I could have sworn you guys were talking about Mel Rojas and what a great guy he was in the clubhouse.
Annie – Ahhh yes… Those were the days….
Mel Rojas lol? This announcer gets too excited about routine flies… I thought Tim Mccarver was bad…
oops, *flys
“Carp is their future 1B and Murphy is higher on the depth chart as a 3B”
Carp is the future at 1B? I’m sure you weren’t saying that after he hit .245 in AA last year. Evans and Carp are like the same player, the difference being that Evans is right handed and Carp is left handed. I’m all for a platoon between the two next year at 1B..
Joe D – I’d like Willie to stay, too. Now that I think of it, he’s a Mel Stottlemeyer type, isn’t he?
Me too Roger! I hope they don’t go out and spend money on a veteran first baseman, and I hope they dont get trapped into a bidding war for Tex either…
yes he is… except that when Mel would get ticked off he’d show it…
you can’t assign the captainship, teams naturally develop them and unfortunately Delgado is the captain. This will be David’s team but not until Delgado moves on…..
Today I saw him go to the mound and he went off on Carlos Silva who had walked the bases loaded. Silva got the next two outs without any further damage.
The game has settled in nicely – let’s hope the boys can give Willie a win today.
I really liked Nick Evans debut today, very professional.
John if you question the roster depth on the 2008 Mets I need to send you my copy of the Mets 2004 Media Guide.
Its hard to believe how bad they really were 4 years ago.
They have turned over almost the entire 40 man roster during this team and the 2008 team is much better and has more depth even if they are not playing that well this season.
Omar does deserve a little credit for doing this.
I meant organizationally without looking outside. Carp was injured last year and then let himself get out of shape while he was on the shelf, he has rebounded well this year…
Annie—Interesting that Lastings is also the son of a police officer.
If DW was named captain I wonder if that would free him up to be more of a leader. So far he’s been very low-key. Maybe because of the vets on the team he doesn’t feel it’s his place to be the leader.
How long had Jeter been with the NYY when he was named captain?
Hey Joe. D things going well busy trying to keep up…. i’m a shift worker so this obsession i mean hobby is all or nothing depending on my work schedule
A little info on Evans. He was drafted as a 3rd baseman and was moved to first last year at St Lucie to make room for Murphy who is a better fielder at 3rd.
They have been playing him at first LF and DH at Binghamton.
To try and get Carp and him on the field everyday.
The reports I have read feel he might not hit with enough power to be an everyday first baseman.
My feeling is he reminds me a bit of Jeff Conine.
So far, I’ve come away very impressed with him. Of course I am easilly impressed with most Mets rookies over the years, lol, Unfortunately I usually buy into the hype. But none disappointed me more than Gregg Jefferies…
LEAVE JD ALONNEEE!!!!!!! PLEAAASE! ANYONE WHO HASA PROBLEM WITH JD YOU COME THORUGH ME! I MEAN IT! LEAVEEEE JD ALONE!!!
I hear ya Ed!
Not for nothing, but considering this is Coors Field, Vargas has pitched a gutsy game.
RG – I think Jeter has been Captain for about 5 years now and he first came up in 1996. He and David have similar personalities, and I’ve heard that they talk with each other at times. A lot of Jeter’s Captaincy is behind the scenes or doing official work for the team. I think David would be able to handle the same things.
why is it that the mets look like the team trailing and pressing at the plate. After the first inning they threw away the game plan and went into hanking mode…
hacking
Vargas has been more consistent then Pelfrey should he go down for more seasoning when pedro returns
thats the 2nd time that crap advertising has been posted here. GTFO
Hey what the hell, don’t use my name…
Phenomenal job by Claudio today…
I hope Willie and The Jacket let Claudio have the complete game – he’s earned it.
Indians ready to start trading – Carmona just went down – Omar and Shapiro are good friends – how fast can you pack aaron….
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2008/05/cleveland-gm-sh.html
RG – I also found it interesting that Lastings Milledge and David Wright both had Dads in Police Departments. I finally rationalized that David was the eldest in his family and Lastings was the youngest. Guess that was the difference.
I deleted the car ad. If it pops up again I’ll report it. Sorry.-JD
Nice first game by Evans. If mom, dad and sis weren’t in town from Phoenix, I could see him having a hell of a night. Just asking, but did anybody else think Reyes might have run a little harder to first there?-JD
Annie—I wonder what is holding DW back from assuming a bigger role? His deference to the older guys? The vets not listening to him? Maybe the time isn’t right yet. But it’s getting close.
Do you remember the dynamics of the NYY clubhouse when Jeter was named captain?
Star of the game has to be Vargas. Any other suggestions?-JD
John – give Nick Evans a mention, too.
Annie—I’m the youngest in my family. It sure does explain alot!
why put in duaner in a blowout? was this really necessary willie? also taking out evans? he’s played great
RG – Yes, I think you are right that David is being polite – I don’t think he is the ‘in your face’ type and is just being himself. It is getting close though, he could be a big help to Willie these days if he were already the Captain.
Jeter was named in the midst of the Torre years when the clubhouse was almost serene. He also does a lot of off season work for the Yankee Office in Tampa.
JD: I’m with you on Vargas. He and Evans have to be the two in contention for player of the game. Vargas did what the useless Oliver Perez can never do – with the pen in need of some rest, he stepped up and gave the team a solid 7 inning start when they most needed it. Maybe that loser Ollie should learn from him.
yeah rmk just like last sunday right? jeeze give the kid a break, he has nasty stuff he just hasn’t found it yet this year
John if you can ask Evans about playing his first game in the OF at Coors. Evans never even played OF before this spring in the minors.
Game Ball to Vargas, and welcome to the Mets Nick Evans!
JD: By the way, I’m with you on your initial post about Omar’s job. There is nothing in that farm system. Sure Evans has looked good today, but I don’t think he really projects into anything really special as far as most scouts go.
And Pedro…I totally feel his signing was way overrated. The initial impact is way overblown…everyone wants to say that Beltran came here b/c of him, but that is the biggest load of BS. He came here b/c Omar chose to overspend for him. As for now, I dont know why everyone gets so excited about his impending return. I fee everyone wants to think this will be the Pedro of the BoSox days when he threw mid 90s and just dominated…that’s not him anymore. He does it now with change of speed and guile…at the least he’ll give quality starts but he’s certainly not at the Ace level anymore. And lets not forget that he could get hurt again pretty quick.
Gado is starting to come around!
Nice to see some smiles in the dugout for once. Hopefully they can build on this, but I’m really not holding my breath.
Bob: Sanchez had been struggling, so putting him in during a low-pressure situation makes sense.-JD
Joe D: Lets see Delgado’s avg at least get into a more respectable .270 range and then I’ll believe he’s come around. Until then I still think he’s a washed up hitter who can take advantage of mistakes
JD: Out of Evans, Murphy, and Carp, which (if any), as far as you know, projects into anything special in terms of big league ability?
I dont see delgado even batting that high. He’s gonna connect at a .240 – .250 rate but with power. Still an improvement…
Man there have been a lot of lined shots to the right side in this game today
Joe D: In this day and age of hitters, that’s pretty poor, but if he can at least make it to 30 HRs I’d consider that respectable for the position. Anything short of that with that avg is bad
They are all so different… Carp can be a Nick Johnson type, Murphy a John Olerud type bat, I don’t know much about Evans…
agreed…
If he hits 30 homers, we only would have paid the bargain rate of $750,000 a homer.
Before I head down to the clubhouse, I’d like to thank you for spending your Saturday afternoon with me.-JD
I thought they would go the entire broadcast without using the “C” word, we almost made it….
always a pleasure JD…
Thanks to Claudio Vargas and Nick Evans for doing their jobs well today – this game is “in the books” says Howie and it’s a good one. Maine Man tomorrow…
from rmkmets “JD: I’m with you on Vargas. He and Evans have to be the two in contention for player of the game. Vargas did what the useless Oliver Perez can never do – with the pen in need of some rest, he stepped up and gave the team a solid 7 inning start when they most needed it. Maybe that loser Ollie should learn from him.”
yeah just like last sunday vs the yankees? give ollie a break, the kid won 15 games last year and has NASTY stuff. He has been inconsistent this year but he’ll turn it around.
bye everyone…
Good win, but they have to do it again tomorrow, especially considering the pitching matchup (John Maine vs. Jorge De La Rosa)....
rmkmets: not every player on the roster has to be special.
Church is not a special player, he is a league average player having a career year. You do not need stars at every position. The Mets have stars what they do not have enough of is players who play with passion.
Nice game Mets hope they will make it two in a row tomorrow.
This will make Monday at Shea a better place.
Bob wins the bitcher of the game award. win 9-2 Bob still bitches, Bob how did this lineup you complained about so quickly today win by 7 runs. I’m glad you weren’t manager because we’d have lost again. FIRE BOB NOW…....
1.) Ryan Church is not a league-average player. His career OPS+ is 117. A league-average player would be at 100.
2.) Ryan Church is not having a career year. His 2008 stats are right in line with the numbers he was posting in 2006 before he got hurt.
Hey JD- While I am not a huge Willie fan, I agree he has been put in a tough spot with this roster. One of my greatest problems with Omar is his inability to develop major league talent. It seems his first instinct is always to trade for talent, often at the expense of the farm system.
I heard a great comment by Buck Showalter the other day talking about the Red Sox who said always seem to ask “What If”? They plan out contingency situtations. If there was ever a team that needs to do this, its the Mets. Yet, up until last night, we still had 3 1B/OF tearing up AA without a thought of moving any of them up to AAA. We knew we would lack depth in the C and 2B position from well before Piazza’s last dance at Shea. Yet nothing.
I am happy to see Evans have a great day, but I hope we will not say the same thing about him as we do Pelfrey, which is to say rushed to the bigs and not having any significant time in AAA.
-Mark
Beltran has about as much fire as a dead cigarette butt along the side of the road. Reyes is a spaceshot. Alou has no guts. How can he possibly be on the DL that often and be a legitimate pro athlete?
Very good job summing up the reality of what the Mets have become. The Castillo signing was also mind-numingingly bad. Trading off two or three promising young pitchers (Bell, Bannister, etc.) and keeping veteran wastoids before 2007 season for a bag of balls was another idiot move.
Nick Evans will have to be immediately sent back to Binghamton BTW…can’t have a AA player showing up the experienced (at choking and losing) vets that Willie and Omar love. Is it a surprise that Delstinko hit a HR last night and Saturday…with Evans being a OF/1B? Potential replaceability works wonders. Evans gave the Mets more production today than Anderson/Chavez have done in a month. Maybe we can trade Evans to get Viktor Zamboni back and give 100-pitch-limit Peterson another shot to fix him. We’ll give him 15 minutes this time, not 10 as in the first go-round.
This is a total fabrication, that willie won’t play kids. Look at his roster and tell me which kid doesn’t play??? All of them play. The fact that until today there were only fault is who’s fault. The guy who signed all th old crap. Last year they brought up Gomez before he was ready and Willie used him. He used Burgos, he used Pelfrey he used Milledge, he used Gotay. He used Bannister, he used Bell, he even used Anderson Hernandez, he used Jacobs. This whole line of lies about Willie and kids is based on one guy, Humber, a September call up who wasn;t and still isn’t ready for the bigs. So if your gonna blast someone all you Wilie haters do it on facts not your preconceived lies.
Nice to see one of the big 3 in AA get a shot.
I am not sure I understand this theory that AAA is now the waste land of useless veterans waiting their time to come fill in. Why have them in AAA? they can be anywhere.
besides other than casanova there are no quasi vets in AAA. our strength is AA so I guess that is where we went this week.
not sure if evans can take an extended stay at this level. i think it is a good idea to have someone like him get a taste for a week or two and then send him down. if you keep him here he sits on the bench when he needs to see pitching every day.
the question of fire that JD brings up is certainly an issue that we have on this team. The vet starters don’t seem to have it. DWright seems to be trying to figure out how to assert himself. Neither Carlos lights a fire under anyone unfortunately. They only vet we have who inspires others is Pedro and he hasnt been on the team for 2 years now.
JD- Today’s initial posting was one of your best. We are very lucky to have a guy as close to the team as you are, who is not afraid to call things as you see them. I check in here several times a day (and night.) I used to go to the Mets official site, but this is where the action is. Thanks for everything.
Evans actually exposes all the problems in the Mets front office… but in a different way:
They’ll only go young if they’re allowed absolutely no other options.
They will sign ancient former star dross Castillos and Floyds and Greens and Delgados and Alous by the goddamned bucket… they will discard Milledges and Bells and Kazmirs and Jacobses by the bushel.
Because they’re stuck competing with the Yankees for the backpages of the NYC press.
Name Over Talent to get on the backpages of the tabs.
Keeping Up With The Joneses instead of Competing.
The fact that giving a young guy a chance was the absolute last bottom-of-the-barrel up-against-the-wall scenario for them…
That’s the real problem for the Mets.
And we’ve known it since the 2006 playoffs when they kept a one-legged Floyd on the roster instead of Milledge and lost the NLCS by pinchhitting Floyd when he had no business at that plate.
That… moment cast the die for the entire next two years.
Down with washed-up old guys.
Down with impressing the NYC sporting news establishment.
Down with Cliff Floyd and Carlos Delgado and goddamned Willie Randolph while you’re at it.
Looks like Nick Evans is a keeper to me and also to the New York Times where he is the big color picture on the front page of their Sunday Sports section.
Caption reads:’
“A day after he was pulled from a Class AA game at Binghamton, Nick Evans had three doubles and two RBIs in his major league debut”.
The average age of the Mets is 30.4
The average age of the AAA New Orleans team is 28.2
The average age of the Florida Marlins is 28.2
The average of the AA Binghamton team is 23.1
avg age is 40?
must be maine/ollie and a few of the relief guys. there is jose/dave but those are the only ones i can think of that offset alou/delgado/castillo/ el duque/pedro
very surprising stat
Maybe the issue isn’t so much that they had to reach back to AA, but that when they did it was for a player who had just started playing the OF this year. IOW, outside of F-Mart, there doesn’t appear to be a single prospect of note at AA or AAA who came up as an outfielder. Pascucci and Aguila at AAA are retreads, and Pascucci reportedly is a very bad fielder.
And it’s fine if they want to keep retreads at AAA, but then one would hope they wouldn’t be so reluctant to promote directly from AA. Before Evans, Mike Jacobs was the last Met to have been promoted directly from AA in 2005.
If Heilman doesn’t improve very soon, they need to do something and can’t just sit on their hands. Why not bring up Muniz?
JD, can you find out if Heilman still has options?
Why not send him to the minors to work out his issues either in the their bullpen or as a starter there?
No, he doesn’t seem to have a lot of fire. But then neither did Bernie Williams when he played.
Regardless of Beltran’s salary, he is one of the best centerfielders in the game. I really don’t see him as a main issue on this team. I think it was clear from year 1 in Queens that he’s not the type to be the focal point of an offense. That he won’t carry the team except for short stretches of time. Omar knew from that point on he needed to get someone else who can be the focal point or make sure the rest of the offense has few holes. He banked on Delgado carrying the load for 3 years. But it hasn’t worked out that way. So while Beltran may be disappointing to some, I don’t think it’s fair to complain about him given what everyone has known about his limitations.
Age isn’t as much of an issue if you at least pay attention to injury histories. Omar ignored that with Alou and El Duque and he’s paid the price for that ignorance.
Henry Owens and Mike Pelfrey were promoted directly from AA to the Mets in July 2006.
It’s ironic how this team plays well and scores allot of runs when they are being televised nationally. Until I see them play like yesterday consistently nothing has changed in my mind, this team is still a flawed team with aging players in key spots on the team. I still view the phillies and braves as the teams that will fight for the division.
Owens came up for just a cup of coffee and was gone. Pelfrey is Omar’s pet. Jacobs was the last position player to have been called up from AA and who got real playing time. So how about more than just a pet pitcher?
Other organizations bring up both pitchers and position players from AA more frequently for more than just a cup of coffee.
Pelfrey is Omar’s pet, is quite a disgusting accusation to make.
Great debut game from Nick Evans. Reminds me of what Casey Stengel used to say about his debut game with the Dodgers in 1910. “I had four hits and people thought I was the second coming of Ty Cobb. It took only a few games for them to realize I wasn’t”.
When I get to heaven (if I do. A long time from now) I gotta have a few drinks and talk baseball with Stengel and John McGraw.
Nice to have a win and let’s build on it. But I’ve said that a lot in the last 365 days.
Why is it a disgusting thing to say someone is a GM’s pet? Care to share your insight?
When I get to heaven, I want to talk with Danny Frisella.
Reyes (2003), Wright (2004), Milledge (2006) and Gomez (2007) all spent less than two months in AAA before being promoted to the bigs.
“IOW, outside of F-Mart, there doesn’t appear to be a single prospect of note at AA or AAA who came up as an outfielder.”
Perhaps that’s because two prospects of note are now starting centerfielders for other teams—and that the Mets received an ace, a middle-of-the-order slugger and a starting catcher in exchange for them. Context is a funny thing, isn’t it?
I’m talking about players who go straight from AA to the majors during their first year at AA, with or without a short pitstop at AAA. And I’m talking about Omar’s regime. The only Met position player to do it before Evans was Jacobs in 2005. The only Met pitchers to do it were Pelfrey (Omar’s pet) and Owens (a cup of coffee only).
I believe Duncan did it too but that was before Omar’s regime.
Some other organizations seem to do it a lot more than the Mets.
The big question now is whether Murphy or Carp will at least get promoted to AAA if they’re still hitting well at AA, even if they don’t get promoted to the Mets before September.
Milledge is no longer a prospect. He would not have been in the minors even had he not been traded to the Nats. He would have been the Mets’ starting RFer or at least in a platoon. So, no, even had the trade not happened, they wouldn’t have been able to reach down in the minors for him.
Yes, Gomez would have provided depth, and might have started out at New Orleans, but he is just one player.
It’s not just the lack of OF prospects, but there are no catching prospects. And where are the SS and 2B prospects?
You want me to elaborate? You call our pitcher the GMs dog and you want me to elaborate!!!! You insinuate that Pelfrey is in the big leagues because he licks Minaya and you want me to elaborate! I think you have the explaining to do. I bet if someone here called you a pet you would go off about how crude that person was to call you a dog, but you want me to elaborate about your insulting comment? I think you need to seek help professionally.
Cool…I’ve earned impostor status…
From Websters, under the first definition for pet:
There is nothing crude about the word pet. Ever hear of a teacher’s pet?
Sorry, guv, but you’re barking up the wrong tree.
And, guv, you have a dirty mind.
PET = “a domesticated animal kept for pleasure rather than utility”
If you are going to the dictionary why don’t you show all the defiintions. You may try to defend your sick statement as much as you like, but only a truly perverted individual calls one human being another’s pet. Sick mind? It is you Sir, for you are the only one here to call a human being another’s pet.
Because guv, I wasn’t using it in “all” the ways the dictionary defines. I gave the dictionary definition for the way I was using it.
Teacher’s pet is a common term. There is nothing crude about that usage at all. I’m sorry you’re so sheltered that you’ve unfamiliar with the way I used the term. That’s your problem.
I’m not sure, but I’d bet that you are sloppy (aka “hello from DC” and “DC 9er.”)
LOL, I called Pelfrey Omar’s pet and now I’m a racist. Good one.
JD, I wish you had a registration system. Seriously. It would cut down on the insane posters, the real racists, and those who assume multiple personalities to attack others and comically conduct conversations with themselves (ie, sloppy aka mel, hollywood josh, and hello from DC).
Sorry, josh. But you have me confused with someone else. I’ve never said Church has a “pretty” way about him, or anything even remotely close to that.
You are just a demented pathetic entity JK. so you call someone something gross and then you accuse your accuser of something entirely different which I don’t even know what you refer to, but don’t you wonder why you are always fighting with virtually everyone here? A simple apology would have sufficed, but I guess part of your problem that requires help would help you with your paranoia as well.
PS: a teacher’s pet is not and never will be a term for two adults. When referring to adults the only use of pet is derogotory in nature. Please get counseling.
guv (aka sloppy and DC), if one excluded all your multiple aliases, then almost “everyone” you’re referring to would disappear.
Calling Pelfrey Omar’s pet is only gross if you have a gross mind. Apparently that’s the case with you.
You are the one that owes me an apology for trying to twist things into something they are not. But I don’t expect it to come from you. You need psychiatric help. You are seriously disturbed.
Oh, great. Now someone is posting with my handle. The 1:46 PM post is not mine.
I’m outta here. It’s just so pathetic that the only way one can retort is by assuming other’s IDs.
JD, please do something about a registration system?
All other comments up to this point were mine. Except for that 1:46 pm one.
And I don’t think that’s the original Annie either.
JD—Good afternoon and I hope you’re feeling better today.
I see you’ve deleted some of the imposter posts. Thanks.
Is there anyway you can get a registration system too?
I saw some pretty racist posts the other day made by a “Scott from Pelham” but I don’t think that was the real Scott. A registration system would keep that garbage away.
A registration system would be for the best… I mean, in the last 2 days, two imposters have posted with the “Josh” name, one about cars in Queens, and one about Church being “pretty”?? It’s ridiculous..