New York Mets
Jeff Francoeur's surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left thumb will take place Monday morning. Francoeur originally suffered the injury Aug. 23 against Philadelphia while making a diving catch the half-inning before he hit into a game-ending unassisted triple play. He gutted through the final weeks of the season playing with the injury, which resulted in discomfort during some swings. Francoeur, 25, hit .311 with 10 homers and 41 RBI in 289 at-bats after joining the Mets in a trade with Atlanta for Ryan Church.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/#ixzz0Vhz9zrSg
Winter Leagues:
Mets catcher Josh Thole has hit safely in 17 of 19 games and is batting .406 for the Leones del Caracas
Jenrry Mejia had one decent start and then couldn’t get pas the second inning of his second start of the week. Jenry has made four starts and has seen his ERA rise to a stratospheric 12.91. AFL hitters are stroking him at a .389 clip.
Jenrry Mejia -- A prospect who has caught every prospect fan's attention this season, Mejia is blessed with a power arm. Keith Law describes him as "the most impressive arm so far" in the AFL, and his fastball velocity has been impressive -- he's touched 97.6 MPH. While his arsenal is undoubtedly impressive, Mejia will need to improve his command as he continues to move up the ranks. He already has nine walks in 7.2 AFL innings (20.0% BB vs. 20.0% K over 45 TBF). Stay tuned!
Throughout this off season I'll be giving an off season breakdown to each position on the Mets. The breakdown will look at what happened in 2009, possible free agents and trade candidates, what is down in the minors and the solution for 2010. Let's first take a look at catchers:
2009 Analysis: We saw the emergence of Omir Santos behind the plate, which led to the Mets trading of Ramon Castro. There is still debate on whether or not Santos is an everyday player. Brian Schnieder was hurt the majority of the season and in all likely hood will not be resigned. We saw the future in contact hitting Josh Thole, who hit .321 in 17 games.
As I had mentioned in my previous post, it has been nearly a year since the Mets acquired J.J. Putz from the Seattle Mariners in exchange for a bevy of players. When they acquired the hard throwing righty, the Mets envisioned having a proven closer that could fill in the closer’s role if needed. However, as usual, things did not work out as planned for the Mets. Throughout his brief season Putz found himself filling in for closer, Francisco Rodriguez only four times. He was able to successfully convert two of these four opportunities into saves. On top of that, Putz never seemed to be completely healthy. In April, he posted a lackluster 4.09 ERA in eleven appearances. During his second full month with the team, in May, Putz began to settle down and had an ERA of 3.63 in 17 games. Putz also, improved his K:BB ratio to 15:12, which is by no means good, but it was definitely an improvement of his April ratio of 4:6. Just when things appeared to be turning around for the better, Putz’s season took an alarming turn in only two appearances. Both were against the Pittsburgh Pirates, who were by no means a powerful team.
http://networkedblogs.com/p16445554
But maybe it is too late for that. As fielding stats get more widely accepted, it seems a glorified Moneyball scenario, where a few teams with superior objective analysis carry an edge, is becoming less likely. As more players, are signing long-term deals with the teams that drafted them, and fewer are hitting free agency, the statistical analysis the Mets have been so neglectful of becomes just the baseline. Indeed, as Jay wrote about some of the most successful teams around the league: “it’s noteworthy that other organizations that have gone with the ‘Ivy League whiz kid’ GM model tend to have a ‘wise old baseball man’ figure hanging close by, advising the gifted non-scout executive. The Red Sox had Bill Lajoie attached to Theo Epstein; Allard Baird is in that role now, while Lajoie is now advising Huntington in Pittsburgh. The Rays put Gerry Hunsicker with Andrew Friedman, and down in Texas, Jon Daniels has access to no less than John Hart and Nolan Ryan.” With that pattern in mind, I was encouraged to read that the Wilpons convinced Sandy Johnson to stay out of retirement, allegedly in preparation for a non-Minaya centric front office.
For similar reasons, these forces will also probably push forward the mythical symbiosis of scouting and statistics that everyone pays lip-service to but isn’t quite sure what they’re referring to. More than just pitchf/x and hitf/x, the observation of both amateur and professional talent will come down to hyper-specific scouting reports that use data and observation to spot trends of growth or deterioration in a player’s skills. And maybe, even then, it will take some “wise old baseball man,” with a special eye for talent, to build the best franchise.
http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/files/newsstand/discussion/amazin_avenue_page_why_omar_minaya_failed_and_what_it_means_for_the_future
Fantasy:
Phil Hoops, in a post for Bleacher Report, analyzes Sean Green and his performance this past season, and whether or not the Mets should bring him back in 2010.Hoops breaks down his performance on a month to month basis, and says that while he struggled early on, he performed real well after modifying his delivery [...]
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