The Mack Attack - 3-8-9

Mets News

If Johan Santana can get ready for the season as quickly as the Mets backtracked on pitching coach Dan Warthen's comments Wednesday, he should be in Cy Young form for Opening Day. At the very least, he looks more likely to be on the mound on April 6 in Cincinnati than he did 24 hours ago. First, Santana said after a bullpen session Wednesday morning that he felt good and was still aiming to make his Opening Day start as planned. Then, after the Mets' 6-4 loss to the Washington Nationals, manager Jerry Manuel distanced himself even further from Warthen's remarks. When asked about Warthen's suggestion that Santana might be held back to the team's series at Florida on April 10-12, Manuel said, "No, no, no, no. "Johan knows Johan, and he assures me that he'll be ready Opening Day, so I would have to agree with that," he said. "I don't see any reason why there should be any different plans than that. Not at this point. Not in March." -- Newark Star-Ledger


From: The Daily Stache:

Could you imagine if we get that same Carlos Delgado who is on a mission to prove everyone that he is still capable? He is on a contract year, so the idea of him having a big year isn’t too much of a foreign concept. This is a guy who is 31 homers away from 500 and 11 RBI away from 1,500. He knows how to play the game. Will he be able to silence the critics for the second season in a row? I sure hope so, and maybe his .714 spring average is some sort of indication of how he is going to do this year. I kid. I kid. Hopefully, we will be seeing a lot of Delgado’s patented smile in 2009.


From Met Fever:

Last week it was reported that the Mets maybe willing to eat Marlon Anderson's contract if he was beat out for a spot on the roster. At that time it was believed that his chief competition was Bobby Keilty, not only is Keilty a right handed pitcher but he could also replace Anderson's veteran leadership on the bench. Believing that one spot would go to either Keilty or Anderson, my last post was about the competition for the last spot between Jeremy Reed, Angel Pagan and Cory Sullivan. However, Adam Rubin reports that after the game today both Pagan and Reed could make the team at the cost of Anderson.....



Prediction from Rotofield:

1. Phillies
2. Mets
3. Braves
4. Marlins
5. Nationals

The City of Brotherly Love - When you really look close at this team, you may feel slightly astonished to see that they won the World Series last year. Behind Cole Hamels, the best starting pitcher on the team is a 46-year-old lefty. But what the Phillies really bring to the table is a boatload of offense. Behind Ryan Howard are a number of guys who hit the ball well, and their only real offensive weakness is at the catcher position (Carlos Ruiz and Chris Coste combined to give the Phillies a .243 AVG, 14 homers, 68 RBI, and an OPS of .694). And just think - Jimmy Rollins had a terrible year offensively in 2008. What if he regains his 2006-2007 form? It's a scary powerhouse offense.

The City of Brotherly Cynicsm - The only significant player added by the Mets this winter is 62-game-saver Francisco Rodriguez, who signed a contract big enough to buy a small African country. Pound for pound, the Mets have the best rotation in the East and their lineup isn't shabby, but they lack the heavy lifters that the Phillies seem to have in plenty. They should be racing with Philly all summer long for the division crown, but will probably settle on the Wild Card should they fall short. But make no mistake - the Mets will be dangerous in 2009, and are probably only a Moyer-crash-to-reality (he's really old) away from winning the East.


Mets Alumni:

From Rotoworld: - Aaron Heilman shut down the White Sox again on Thursday, pitching three scoreless innings and striking out three in his start. Heilman has faced the White Sox in both of his outings and struck out seven in five scoreless innings. He's a long shot for the rotation, but the early success bodes well for him returning to 2007 form out of the pen

The Long Island Ducks team officials today announced that they have acquired the rights to pitcher Jose Garcia and catcher John Pachot in a trade with the Newark Bears. In exchange, Newark receives the negotiating rights to former Major Leaguers, outfielder Carl Everett and pitcher Vic Darensbourg.

Tom Sturdivant, who pitched the New York Yankees to victory in Game 4 of the 1956 World Series on the day before Don Larsen's famed perfect game, has died. He was 78. Sturdivant was a member of the Yankees teams that played in the World Series in three straight years, beginning in 1955. He went 16-8 in 1956 and 16-6 in 1957, when he led the American League in won-lost percentage and was second with a 2.54 ERA. He hurt his arm the following year and spent the rest of his career pitching with six different teams - Kansas City, Boston, Washington, Pittsburgh, Detroit and the New York Mets.

Moises Alou says he’ll likely turn down offers he has received to play this season, including one from the Philadelphia Phillies, and end his 18-year career after the World Baseball Classic. And so his final professional at-bat may come in the Classic. The Dominicans play their opening game in Puerto Rico against the Netherlands on Saturday. “I think I’m going home after this,” Alou said. “I haven’t decided 100 percent, but it looks like it. I’m tired of nagging injuries. Every day it’s something different.”

From THT: - Taiwan has sent just five players to the majors, and other Asian nations even fewer. Far and away the most distinguished players to come from countries not baseball-mad in Asia are Wang and Danny Graves. Graves was born in Vietnam, during the American-led conflict there, to an American father and Vietnamese mother. His family moved to the United States when Graves a little over a year old, and—in a very, very good decision—a little before the fall of Saigon. Graves was drafted by the Indians and performed well in their system (in 1996 he record 19 saves with a 1.48 ERA for the Triple-A Buffalo Bisons) before being traded to Cincinnati. Graves flourished with the Reds, breaking out in 2000. That year, Graves posted a 2.56 ERA, made the All-Star team and won 10 games while saving 30. Graves remains one of only three pitchers this decade to record double-digit totals in both wins and saves in a single season. After five solid seasons in the bullpen, the Reds made the choice to shift Graves to the starting rotation. While it is true that if Graves had maintained his performance level he would have been more valuable as a starter, the move ultimately proved to be too clever by half. Graves’ ERA went from 3.19 to 5.33, he lost 15 games and has not started in the majors since. Though Graves recovered sufficiently to record 41 saves and make his second All-Star team in 2004, he was never the same pitcher again. He has not pitched in the majors since a disastrous spell with Cleveland in 2006, and is currently a longshot to make the Astros as a non-roster player. Nonetheless, he remains the only player born in Vietnam to play in the majors



Draft:

From John Sickles: - Several people have asked me to weigh in on Stephen Strasburg, the San Diego State right-hander expected to be the top talent in the 2009 draft. Scouting reports on Strasburg are a series of superlatives. He's got a strong pitcher's frame at 6-4, 220, and has gotten himself in much better physical condition after drawing concerns about his weight and being "soft" when younger. He works at 95-97 MPH, has hit 100 a few times, and shows movement on the fastball. HIs breaking ball and changeup are above average, and he has exceptional command and control for a power pitcher.. Scouts also like his mound presence and overall pitching instincts. Performance-wise, Strasburg has been outstanding: he posted a 1.57 ERA with a 133/16 K/BB ratio in 97 innings last year, 61 hits allowed, obviously outstanding performance at any level. This year he's been even better in two starts: 12.1 innings, 1.46 ERA, 27/3 K/BB, eight hits allowed. If he stays healthy this spring, and has non-insane bonus demands, Strasburg is the current favorite to go number one overall due to this combination of stuff, command, and performance.


Fantasy:

Rotoscoop on Johan Santana:

Don’t get me wrong, a 3.83 xFIP is still very good (he ranked first in ERA last year, 15th in xFIP), and Santana isn’t all of a sudden going to fall off a cliff as far as skills go. But his velocity took a dip last season, something that’s especially troublesome for a pitcher who threw the third most changeups (28.7 percent) in baseball. Over the last two years, Santana has thrown the seventh most pitches in MLB. This latest injury, combined with a very real drop in skills last season, is enough to take other SPs like Dan Haren and Josh Beckett ahead of him in upcoming drafts.

http://rotoscoop.com/blog/2009/02/28/johan-santana