Disappointment

The one Prospect I am disappointed in this year was Francisco Pena. Pena is better defensively then offensively but his numbers have been pretty terrible. Pena is batting .212 for A Savannah with just 5 home runs and 30 rbis. The bigger problem I have is since the All Star Break Pena has just a .169 batting average. I know he is just 18 years old but let’s hope that Francisco Pena can stay a good defensive catcher and improve hit offensive production.

Minors End Labor Day

The Minor League Regular Seasons come to an end this Labor Day. As of now the only Mets Farms teams in playoff contention are the AAA Zephyrs who are tied for first place, A St. Lucie who are 2.5 games up in first place, and A Cyclones who are 3.5 games up in first place.

Bullpen Sucks!

The Mets bullpen is simply dead right now. Everyone is giving up runs and struggling. The Mets starters seem to be going 5 to 6 innings every night which is unacceptable. The bullpen is tired and will continue to struggle if they do not get the rest they need.

Over the last 10 games Mets Bullpen Pitchers have the following stats:

5.63 Combined Era
Billy Wagner has an 8.10 era with 16 hits.
Aaron Heilman has a 2.61 era with 3 losses and 14 hits.
Pedro Feliciano has a 3.38 era with 8 hits.
Guillermo Mota has a 10.97 era with 16 hits.
Scott Schoeneweis has a 4.50 era with 11 hits.
Aaron Sele has a 5.60 era with 26 hits.
Jorge Sosa has a 4.22 era with 14 hits.

Update:

Carlos Gomez was 0-3 with 1 strikeout in his first rehab game for A St. Lucie.

Comparing Gotay and Keppinger

Jeff Keppinger was traded last season at the trade deadline for Ruben Gotay. Everyone knew Keppinger could hit but he played poor defense at second base. Ruben has not play great defense for the Mets but has hit very well. Gotay is batting .323 with 21 rbis, 22 runs, 4 home runs, and, 3 stolen bases. Keppinger is currently batting .361 with 22 rbis, 28 runs, 4 home runs, and, 1 stolen base. Keppinger has put up these numbers in only 136 at bats while Gotay has had 155 at bats.

When Keppinger was in the Mets system, he was always put behind Anderson Hernandez as the #2 second baseman because he was such a poor defensive player. This is funny because he is yet to make an error for the Reds in 38 games. I feel like a lot of the time the Mets bury players in the minors like Keppinger and Heath Bell who is pitching extremely well for the Padres after he was traded last off season. The Mets have let 2 solid players go in the last year. I hope the Mets really look deeper into some players before trading them.

Expensive

Post Season tickets are expensive to say the least. Upper Reserved seats for Division Series are $45, Championship Series $80, World Series $150. Upper Reserved for the regular season is $5, $9, $17, $20, $25. A World Series ticket is 6 times as much as 1 Platinum game; wow.

2007 Draft Update

Pick 1. Edward Kunt has a 4.05 era in 7 game, 6.2 innings pitched and 4 saves for A Brooklyn.

Pick 4. Brant Rustich has a 2.25 era in 4 games, 4 innings pitched and 1 save for A Brooklyn.

Pick 5. Eric Niesen is 0-3 in 8 games started, 26.2 innings pitched and a 3.38 era for A Brooklyn.

Pick 6. Eric Niesen has a 1.89 era in 15 games, 19 innings pitched and 7 saves for A Brooklyn.

Player of the Month; 3 in a row

Brahiam Maldonado was named the player of the Month for the A- Sand Gnats. Maldonado has been named player of the month for the Sand Gnats 3 months in a row (June, July, August). He has batted .371 since the all star break with 7 home runs, 27 rbis, and 6 stolen bases.

Second Half Stud

The Mets 7th round draft pick Jonathon Niese is coming on strong for A St. Lucie. Niese started the year 5-3 with a 5.31 era with 44 strikeouts in 13 starts and 57.2 innings. Since the all star break Niese is 6-4 with a 3.19 era with 62 strikeouts 2 complete games and a shutout in 13 starts and 73.1 innings. In fact Niese has a 2.81 era over his last 10 starts. St. Lucie is currently 2.5 games up in first place with 10 games left. Lets see how Niese is in the postseason.

AA All Stars

Binghamton Mets infielder Mark Kiger (.312/10hr/16sb) and designated hitter Brett Harper (.294/24hr/79rbi) have been named to the end-of-season Eastern League All-Star Team, which was announced by the league today. Kiger was called up to AAA New Orleans Sunday.

1 Year

Yesterday August 23 was the 1 year anniversary of the creation of Mets Prospects has been going strong and will continue with over 375 posts.

Hows Joe Smith Doing?

Since being sent down to AAA New Orleans Joe Smith has an era of 2.25 in 8 innings pitched with 5 strikeouts and 2 saves. Smith allowed both his runs on august 8 and has pitched very well other than that game. Look for smith to have an important role in the bullpen when he comes up during the roster exspansion in september.

Dylan Owen

Dylan Owen has been dominant for the Class A Short-Season Brooklyn Cyclones. In 11 games (10 starts) Owen is 7-1 with a stellar 1.82 era and has 53 strikeouts and only 11 walks in 54.1 innings. Dylan Owen was selected by the New York Mets in the 20th round of Major League Baseball’s 2007 First-Year Player Draft out of Francis Marion University.

The 21 year old was 10-1 with one save and a 1.14 earned run average for Division II Francis Marion. Owen struck out 121 batters in 102.1 innings pitched, walked only 19, and opponents hit just .208 against him, including a .178 figure by right-handed batters. He recorded three complete games, had six contests with double-figure strikeouts, and established a new PBC career record for strikeouts with 334. Of the 77 hits he allowed this season, only eight were for extra bases and he did not surrender a home run. He leads Division II in ERA and strikeouts. Owen was named the 2007 NCAA Division II national Pitcher of the Year by two different voting groups. He earned first-team Rawlings/American Baseball Coaches Association All-America honors each of the past two years. He was also selected as the Peach Belt Conference Pitcher of the Year for both 2006 and 2007.

Remember Billy Wagner played Division III baseball in College and look how good he is now. Lets see if this kid continues to pitch this well.

Tournement:

On Saturday, September 1st, the Brooklyn Cyclones will hold a "Rock, Paper, Scissors" tournament for participants in the Tri-State area, with a grand prize at stake of two 2008 Cyclones' Season Tickets, and two round-trip JetBlue domestic airline tickets. The Rock, Paper, Scissors tourney will take place on the field at KeySpan Park, with four finalists advancing to the Cyclones' RPS Final Four, to be held during that night's game against the Staten Island Yankees.

Mets & Roids

A former Mets clubhouse attendant reportedly has furnished information to baseball's chief steroid investigator. SI.com reports Kirk Radomski gave former Senator George Mitchell the names of major league players who bought steroids from him. It remains to be seen whether Mitchell would reveal names uncovered in his investigation, which may be presented sometime after this baseball season. Radomski worked for the Mets for a decade, beginning in 1985, then used the contacts he made to go into business selling steroids and other drugs to ballplayers, according to his signed plea agreement.

Fun Fact:

In the 2001 Amateur Baseball Draft the Mets selected Aaron Heilman 18th overall pick and David Wright 38th overall pick. The Mets could have drafted Jearmy Bonderman or Bobby Crosby instead of Heilman. Now wouldn't things be different right now if the Mets had Bonderman.

Mulvey:

Kevin Mulvey threw seven shutout innings for the Binghamton Mets, who beat the Portland Sea Dogs 6-0 at Hadlock Field Tuesday. The win is Binghamton’s second in a row and third in their last four games. Mulvey scattered three singles and three walks while striking out six over seven innings to win his second straight start. Kevin is now 11-10 with a 3.34 era. Mulvey has pitched pretty well in AA but I still don't like his stuff and dont think he has that much potential.

St Lucie 8 game winning streak ends

The A St. Lucie Mets lost tonight ending their 8 game winning streak. During that 8 game winning streak St. Lucie outscored their opponents 66-33. They are now in first place in the FSL East and 2 games up with 12 games left in the season.

Willie?

Over the last month I have really begin to question Willie Randolph and his decisions. Tonight he replaced Scott Schoenweis, mid inning, with Jorge Sosa. Schoe looked sharp tonight and gave up 1 hit. After Milledge booted the ball to allow the runner to get to second, Willie switched Schoe with Sosa. I would have kept Schoe in and here is why; I find Sosa less productive coming in the game mid inning, I think he should only be used starting off an inning and Schoe was looking good tonight so Willie should have just let him finish the inning. Then in the 9th Willie was contemplating pinch hitting Shawn Green when Marlon Anderson was available and is a much better pinch hitter. Luckily Willie was smart enough to pinch hit Anderson and the Mets won the game. I just hope this does not continue.

Endy and the Sox Connection

If you search the Clip of Endy’s NLCS game 7 catch you will notice the events that happen right before that; Willie came out to talk to Oliver Perez and decided to let him stay in the game. The very next pitch Endy robs a homerun. Does this remind you of anything? It reminds me of Red Sox in the 2003 post season. Brady Little comes out to have a mound visit with Pedro, then opts to keeping him in the game which leads to Pedro’s blow up and the Red Sox loosing the game and their world series hopes. Just a little connection….

Vintage Anderson

Two years ago Marlon Anderson tied the ball game with an inside the park homerun in the 9th and the mets later won that june game with a walk off home run by Cliff Floyd. Tonight, Anderson had a pinch hit rbi single to tie the game in the 9th and was the winning run off Luis Castillo's bat. When Anderson was picked up by the Mets I was skeptical and did not think he would be as good as he was 2 years ago when he was the Mets go to pinch hitter. I was wrong. Anderson came through again and the Mets won the game. Now the Mets are 5 up to the Phillies and 6 up to the Braves.

Easley will be missed

If you have not heard Damion Easley is most likely out for the season. Easley was a big bat off the bench throughout this season. The acquisition of Connine does not provide the same power off the bench that Easley had. I am going to miss how clutch Easley was; earlier this year Easley hit a homerun with 2 outs and 2 strikes against Damion when he tied the game with a solo shot in the 10th inning. A week later against the D-Backs Easley had the go ahead 3-run shot in the 9th to give the Mets the win. It is going to be hard to replace the pop off the bench and the clutch abilitly of Damion Easley and in my mind Connine is no replacement.

Pedro looking sharp

Pedro Martinez faced 20 batters in 5 innings for his third rehab start for A St. Lucie. Pedro gave up 2 unearned runs on two hits with a walk and 4 strikeouts.

Trade:

The Mets acquired 1B Jeff Conine from the Reds for Single-A OF Sean Henry and SS Jose Castro.Castro was batting .318 for A St. Lucie, with 12 doubles, 1 triple, 2 homeruns and 25 RBI in 77 games. Castro also represented St. Lucie in the all star game. Sean Henry hit .298 triples, 11 HR, 57 RBI and 18 stolen bases. I liked Castro and believe he could turn into a pretty good player but the Mets want to win this season and Conine is a solid veteran to come off the bench.

Fun Fact:

Lastings Milledge played third base and hit clean-up for the Manatee East Little League team that was the national runner-up in the 1997 Little League World Series. Milledge is the only current Mets player to have played in the Little League World Series. The 2007 Little Legaue World Series begins tommorow.

Heilman is Back!

Aaron Heilman is back to being himself. After coming in during the 7th inning Heilman gives up a little base hit which was followed by what Gary Cohen called a “Brain Cramp” on a bunt play where Heilman froze. But that wasn’t even Heilman at his best, in the 8th inning Wright makes an error, thus making Heilman give up lots of runs. Later that inning Difilece drops the ball at home, another error, and Heilman follows by allowing more runs. Heilman went 2 innings with 5 hits and 3 runs all of which were unearned and was the loosing pitcher for tonight’s 10-7 loss.

Personally, I do not put all the blame on Heilman; Willie Randolph made a terrible managerial decision to remove Feliciano after 1 batter, what a bad call Willie. Did you really expect Heilman to go 2 innings and get out of that no out, 2 men on jam? Joe Smith would have been perfect for that spot in the 7th, it’s a shame Smith is closing out ball games in AAA instead of contributing to the Mets. Ultimately it was a terrible loss allowing the Pirates of all teams to come back from 5 runs to win….

Milledge more time

Metsblog reported that While appearing in his weekly radio interview with WFAN, Willie Randolph said he intends to give Lastings Milledge the ‘bulk of the playing time’ in right-field over Shawn Green, ‘who’s having a down year.’ According to Randolph, he likes Milledge, likes his ‘fire,’ he likes that he is a bit ‘brash,’ and he especially likes the level of energy that the young outfielder brings to his team, adding, ‘he could be an important player for us in September.’

I guess the Mets really do listen to me...

Quick Hit:

I know this is a little late considering Bonds already broke the record but I just have to say my favorite thing about Bonds is that he has never denied using steroids instead just dening knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. But if he did not know about it is ok...

Offerman gets Mad

In case your wondering former Met Jose Offerman has gone crazy. On tuesday Offerman charged the mound with his bat and swung at least twice, striking the opposing pitcher and catcher. Offerman, playing for the Long Island Ducks, was arrested on assault charges. The independent Atlantic League suspended him indefinitely Wednesday and expected to make a final decision by the end of the week. Jose attacked Bridgeport Bluefish catcher John Nathans got a concussion that's likely to sideline him for the rest of the season. Pitcher Matt Beech wound up with a broken finger. I am a fan of the Bluefish and I am shocked... Offerman last played in the majors in 2005 with the New York Mets. He batted .273 during his 15 seasons in the majors and was an All-Star infielder in 1995 with the Dodgers and in 1999 with Boston.

"You don't want to see anybody charge the mound, much less when they're coming out there with a bat or throwing a helmet at you," Mets pitcher Tom Glavine said. "He's about as quiet a teammate as I ever played with. The fact that happened is, to say surprising is probably an understatement," he said. Mets manager Willie Randolph: "Jose always seemed like he was a pretty calm, mild-mannered kind of guy. He didn't say a whole lot." "The guys that you think would possibly do something silly like that, you don't think he would be one of those guys," he said.

Milledge over Green!

During yesterdays 10-4 Mets victory over the Marlins, Shawn Green went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. Green has struggled immensely since returning from the disabled list on June 11th, over 191 at bats; Shawn Green has 10 rbis and is hitting .236 with a .274 OBP. In that time, he’s hit .153 against left-handed pitching. On the other hand, Lastings Milledge has batted .319 with 18 RBI since being activated on July 12th. Green is lucky to have his .272 average; I say this because Green got off to a hot start with a .355 average through April with 15 rbis. Green has only managed to snag 12 more runs batted in through about 3.5 more months, which is unproductive to say the least.

Green is also defensively inferior to Milledge. Sure, Milledge is a better center fielder than right but that’s because he has been a center fielder for so long. Simply put, Milledge has a better arm than Green, can cover more ground, gets better jumps on the ball, and is able to layout for the baseball without potentially getting hurt and having his hat fly off.

Everyone asked coming out of pre-season was not if but when Lastings Milledge would overtake Shawn Green as the starting right fielder. Milledge had 2 at bats for the Mets before being sent down. A few weeks later Milledge hurt his foot and did not return till July. Now as Milledge improves and Green worsens I think that it is time for Lastings to take over and be the player we all no he can be….

Then again I can’t really say it’s time for Milledge to become the player we all thought he could become when so many Mets fans lost confidence, hope, and ultimately stopped believing in Lastings Milledge. When Carlos Gomez came up and played well people forgot about how highly rated Milledge was. I would wear Milledge’s T-shirt around and fellow Mets fans would criticize and complain about Lastings Milledge as a bust and a bum. Now that he is playing well I have been called a true fan by some random Mets fans saying if I wear that shirt I must be a real fan. I just hope the Mets Organization will move on and go with one young guy because they already replaced young Ruben Gotay which was a good and respectable decision but times change and its not Greens time anymore.

Mets win but are loosing

The Mets avoided a sweep yesterday to the Marlins with a 10-4 win. The Mets played terrible defenseively by commiting 2 errors. In my opinion it should have been 5+ errors if you count the passed balls/wild pitches. The Mets cannot loose 2 of 3 games to the Marlins while in such a tight race. The Mets are now 3 games up right now and playing not the best baseball. Tommorow the Mets face another team with a loosing record in the Pirates. These are the teams who you need to take advantage of if you want to make the playoffs so the Mets better play better.

Update: Deolis Guerra

Deolis Guerra has not had the best season for A St. Lucie. Guerra is 1-6 with a 4.31 era with 53 strikeouts in 71 innings pitched. Guerra was in the futures game this year. Remember this is a kid whose 18 years old in A, its going to be a while until he's with the Mets. Fernando Martinez, the "counterpart" outfielder is also not having a great year for AA Binghamton with a .271 average and just 4 homeruns and 3 steals. Both these kids are 18 and will improve so keep an eye out.

Henderson Helps

Howard Megdal at The New York Observer reports on the influence of Rickey Henderson has had on players like Lastings Milledge and Jose Reyes.

“We’ve really connected,” 22-year-old outfielder Lastings Milledge said. “He’s helped me with my approach at the plate, my approach in general.” “I think it’s just about giving him confidence,” Henderson said. “Maybe the last time up here, he didn’t carry himself as a major leaguer. But I’ve been very impressed with him since I’ve been up here.”

Marty Noble at Mets.com writes about Jose Reyes and where his legs have taken him in Mets history.

When Jose Reyes stole second base in the ninth inning on Tuesday, he became the first New York player -- Mets, Dodgers, Giants, Yankees -- to steal at least 50 bases in three consecutive seasons.

Willie Collazo Pitcher of the Week

The Pacific Coast League announced Monday that Zephyrs relief pitcher Willie Collazo has been named the PCL Pitcher of the Week for games played between July 23rd and July 29th. Collazo picked up three wins and a save in four games played during the period.

Collazo showed why he was selected as a PCL All-Star earlier this season, throwing nine scoreless innings and coming away with three wins and a save in four appearances. Collazo struck out four total batters during the stretch and never gave up more than two hits in each performance. Hailing from Carolina, Puerto Rico, the 27-year old lefty dropped his season ERA to a mark of 3.25 during the week and improved his record to 4-and-5.

Lawrence tonight Humber last night

Brian Lawrence will start for the Mets tonight against the Brewers.
As I mentioned yesterday Lawrence was 8-2 with a 3.87 era in 12 starts for AAA New Orleans.

Phillip Humber started last night for the Zephyrs which prevented him from having the chance to pitch for the Mets tonight. Humber went 4 innings giving up 1 run on 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, and 4 walks. Humbers record is now 10-6 with a 4.14 era which needs to go down.

Drunk Driving

The Savannah Sand Gnats (A) will be having"Lindsay Lohan Drunk Driving Awareness Night." The Sand Gnats will encourage the fans in attendance to learn from the redheaded actress’ mistakes and plan for safe transportation home from the game. Funny...

Sosa to Bullpen; Thursdays Starter

Jorge Sosa pitched two innings of relief, allowing no runs and no hits, while walking two. Sosa has been removed from the rotation and put in the bullpen. Thus, he will not be starting on thursday. The Mets basically have three options for starters.

Jason Vargas pitched for New Orleans over the weekend so his scheduled start would be around thursday.

Phillip Humber who was supposed to start the last 2 days for AAA New Orleans but has been scratched due to food poisoning.

Brian Lawrence who is 8–2 with a 3.87 ERA in 10 starts for AAA New Orleans.

Humber misses 2 starts

Philip Humber was scratched again from his scheduled start for the second night in a row for AAA New Orleans due to food poisoning.

Pedro at 7

Pedro Martinez will throw roughly 45 pitches in his first minor-league rehab start for A St. Lucie. Pedro's start will be aired on SNY starting at 7 with the Mets game at 8. Pedro has 30 days after tonights start to be pitching for the Mets in order to be eligable for the post-season roster.