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The Herd:

Let’s face it, there have been some highly questionable moves of late, especially the Royals deciding that Yuni Betancourt is some kind of answer at shortstop. That said, the Mets picked up Angel Berroa today and assigned him to Triple-A Buffalo. A quick look at Twitter (follow me @kingclip) should all sorts of clever one liners about how stupid the Mets are and how Omar Minaya is dumb and how could anyone want Angel Berrora.

This is hardly a note to defend Angel Berroa, who stinks, but rather to defend the move itself. It’s easy to just see the name Angel Berroa and chuckle, but do people really think Omar Minaya is jumping up and down with joy over the signing? Really? Without getting into the real problem here, which is that for the last two years the Mets have assembled a roster with very little in the way of a backup plan, let’s just focus on the present facts, here and now.

1. The Mets have an injured Jose Reyes, and no shortstop at Triple-A.2. The kid playing shortstop at Double-A, Ruben Tejada, is 19 years old and not near ready.3. Last I checked, Hanley Ramirez wasn’t available.

So what were the Mets supposed to do? Teams need bodies, especially up the middle, and the signing of Berroa makes very good sense for New York, right here and right now, despite the fact that he’s not a good player, and while there’s nothing wrong with a quick one-liner, sometimes the 50,000 foot view, while less funny, can be far more enlightening.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=1334



Gnats


Robert Carson has been one of the stingiest pitchers in the South Atlantic League this season. The 20-year-old left-hander drove that point home Saturday with his first career shutout.
Carson scattered three hits, struck out a season-high eight and walked only one, going the distance for the first time in his three-year professional career as the Savannah Sand Gnats blanked the Lexington Legends, 8-0, in front of 6,113 fans at Applebee's Park.

"Man, it's unreal. It feels like a dream," said Carson, who induced 11 ground-ball outs in what he described as his best pitching performance as a pro. "I had good control and good command of my fastball, moving it in and out. My slider and changeup were also working, but I was mostly putting them away with my changeup."

The Mets' 14th-round pick out in 2007 of Hattiesburg (Miss.) High School has displayed a penchant for shutting down offenses the past two seasons. He went 3-3 with a 1.68 ERA in 11 starts for Rookie-level Kinsport and the Gulf Coast League Mets last year and has been even more impressive against stiffer competition this season.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090711&content_id=5827586&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp



Mejia and Flores are two reasons why the Mets have not traded for a veteran player in an effort to be a contender in the pitiful NL East.

"Mejia has a great arm, he'll be in the majors helping someone someday," Single-A St. Lucie manager Tim Teufel said of the youngster, who hit 102 mph on the radar gun in a recent game for Double-A Binghamton. Throwing hard and pitching are two different things, however, and the trend in baseball is to go for arm over pitching ability and command, and you wonder why there are so many walks these days in the major leagues.

Mejia was 4-1 with a 1.97 ERA for Teufel at St. Lucie, and is 0-3 with a 3.74 ERA since being promoted to Binghamton.

Flores doesn't turn 18 until Aug. 6 and is a jewel in the Mets system, which has been criticized as not having enough young talent. Flores is batting .280 at Single-A Savannah with a .319 on-base percentage. He needs time to grow.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/07122009/sports/yankees/sneak_peak_at_ny_stars_of_future_178809.htm



GCL:


Salvador Aguilar made a memorable season debut for the Gulf Coast League Mets.
Rehabbing an elbow injury, Aguilar pitched the first inning and combined with Jhonathan Torres and Marcos Tabata on a no-hitter Saturday as the Mets edged the GCL Nationals, 1-0, in Viera, Fla.

Aguilar, who went 10-3 with a 3.14 ERA at Double-A Binghamton last year, had not pitched since July 20. But he coaxed groundouts from all three Nationals he faced before turning things over to Torres.

The 19-year-old left-hander, who won his first three starts this season, retired the first 13 batters he faced to keep the perfect game intact until Hendry Jimenez drew a one-out walk in the sixth.

Torres ended up walking three and striking out eight over six innings to lower his ERA to 0.82.
Tabata recorded the final six outs, fanning two, to record his second save.

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090711&content_id=5824952&vkey=news_milb&fext=.jsp



Queens:


Mets acquired OF Jeff Francouer from the Braves for OF Ryan Church.FFrancouer's struggles for the last two years have been well documented, but the Mets must think that he gives them a better shot at the plate than Ryan Church. That's highly debatable, although Frenchy does give them better power potential, something the Mets desperately need. He'll be their new right-fielder, while Angel Pagan and Jeremy Reed will split time in center until Carlos Beltran returns.Mets traded OF Ryan Church to Braves for OF Jeff Francouer.Church is heading to a better situation, as now he won't have to deal with a manager who never seemed to like Church. Church will provide the Braves with an immediate improvement over Francouer, even though Church is struggling on offense as well. While the Braves need right-handed bats, they'll take the lefty bat over Francouer's 88 OPS+ over his last 2,000 at bats. Church has a better shot than Francouer of a revival at the plate.

http://www.thehardballtimes.com



Mets Alumni:


Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. is remaining extraordinarily tight lipped about Pedro Martinez. He has acknowledged only that the Phillies have seen him pitch, while Martinez has said the parties are negotiating a deal.

But it sounds more and more like the Phillies and Martinez are going to get a deal done, and it could happen next week.

http://zozone.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/07/pedro_getting_closer.html