Ken Davidoff of New York Newsday reports that Jon Niese threw off a mound on Monday for the first time since he tore his right hamstring last August. Davidoff adds that Niese was working at about 50 percent strength, but there's no reason to push it this early. He underwent surgery to repair a torn hamstring tendon last August. Niese joined Johan Santana, Oliver Perez and a handful of other Mets to make an appearance at the team's mini camp in St. Lucie on Monday. - link
Welcome to Operation Mouthwash, the second stage of the Mets' recovery from 2009. They've had since Oct. 4 to move beyond it all, four-plus months to let the bruises heal and the sense of disappointment and embarrassment dissipate. All that's left now for them is to rid themselves of that awful aftertaste -- two, four, six, eight ... they can all expectorate -- and get about the business of renaissance. For the Mets, it begins in earnest Saturday when the first official Spring Training workouts are staged. Pitchers and catchers and renewed hopes will assemble at the club's complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla. The players will stretch their muscles. The Mets' public, mouthwash in hand, will stretch its imagination and spit out 2009. It's February, all teams are equal; even if some are more equal than others. link
The Mets made a good move getting Keith Hernandez out there to teach. They should have done that years ago when they inexplicably didn’t stick Piazza at first for the full 35 games in the spring. I know this Murph stuff fills column space, so in the end that’s really what we’re reading about. This week you will read 5 billion generic “can the Mets rebound from injuries?” type stories and another billion “the Mets have question marks” articles. That’s why I appreciate the different. One blog you should regularly visit is Mets Walkoffs. Here’s one that thinks about where Strawberry would be in the Mets Pantheon had he not left for LA, and another that points out to you youngsters just how great Gooden was and that he’s clearly the best Mets pitcher of the last THIRTY years. Seaver is nice and all but think about that, the last THIRTY years. - link
Omar Minaya says there’s legitimate competition between Daniel Murphy and Mike Jacobs for the first base job. My suspicion is Murphy would have to be extraordinarily bad not to be the first baseman. If Mike Jacobs somehow beat out Murphy, that would mean there have been no starting position players developed by the Mets since, well, the homegrown Jacobs made his Mets debut with four homers in four games in 2005 before getting dealt to the Marlins for Carlos Delgado. - link
The title of the Mets' promotional campaign for 2010 is: "We believe in comebacks." And that's essentially all they can do with their rotation. They didn't upgrade it at all, so they are left to hope and believe that Pelfrey will have a dramatic turnaround, Oliver Perez will start living up to his contract and John Maine will be fully healthy for the first time since 2007.
Their fifth starter is no sure thing, either. A group that includes Jon Niese, Fernando Nieve and Hisanori Takahashi will compete for the job in spring training. But if their No. 5 starter ranks among their top concerns in a few months, they'll be in good shape.
First, they need to get enough out of Pelfrey, Perez and Maine for the fifth starter to even matter. - link
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