As Newsday reported on Sunday, Keith Hernandez will tutor Daniel Murphy this spring, and the two already have begun working out at the team's minor-league complex in Port St. Lucie. Hernandez, an 11-time Gold Glove winner, lives in nearby Jupiter and spends plenty of time around the Mets anyway as an SNY analyst - link
We've got Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, John Maine, and Oliver Perez all as locks for the rotation. Whatever you think of them -- the latter two in particular -- this is what one-through-four will look like so long as unforeseen (or perhaps entirely foreseen) injuries don't step in and derail that plan. Santana is a year older and missed the last month of the 2009 season following arthroscropic surgery on his throwing elbow, but barring a precipitous decline he should still be very good. Mike Pelfrey's ERA blew up last year but his xFIP was basically unchanged, and with some better luck on his flyballs -- specifically, them not turning into homeruns -- he should put up 2008-like numbers. I like John Maine but I'm not bullish on his outlook for this year or subsequent years. He'll be good if his arm doesn't fall off, but that's a big 'if'. Oliver Perez is kaljskljdaflsd.f.......... *blerp*. - link
Fernando Martinez won the MVP award of the Series del Caribe. After having a slow start to the winter season (.186 in 13 games) and an initial struggle through the Dominican playoffs (.327 in 14 games) before his bat began heating up, Fernando road the end of the playoff hot streak into the Series where he hit .316 with two homeruns and three RBIs. He tied Kevin Barker for the lead league in homeruns with two each. As the MVP he was part of the Series All Stars. Other representatives of the All Star team include Kevin Barker (1B), Pablo Ozuna (2B), Vinny Castilla (3B), Angel Sanchez (SS), Armandos Rios (RF), Jesus Feliciano (CF), Edwards Guzman (C), Raul Padron (DH). On the pitching side the all stars were Raul Valdes, the starter from the left side and Nelson Figueroa, the starter from the right side. In relief Efrain Nieves from the left side and Peter Parise from the right side. For Nelson Figueroa, this is the second time in three years he has pitched a team to a championship, the last time pitching the Uni-President Lions to the CBPL championships, winning three of the four games the Lions won. He only got one start in this Series, but pitched a complete game to earn one of the four victories for the Dominican Republic. - link
The Mets currently have one left-handed arm in the bullpen, Pedro Feliciano. The addition of Ohman and Beimel would give the Mets some great bullpen depth in the majors and the minors. Either pitcher could also be used as trade bait later in the season if necessary. - link
Analysis: When the offseason began, we all figured the Mets to among the most aggressive teams in signing free agents and swinging trades. It all made sense: Coming off a horrid season, so many holes, still lots of money that Bernie Madoff hadn't yet made off with. So when we arrived at the winter meetings in Indianapolis in early December, we were quite certain we'd be filling plenty of notebooks with tidbits about the Mets and this signing (John Lackey), the Mets and that signing (Bengie Molina). Yet, to our surprise, not a peep from that camp, not till we were long back in Michigan had they signed left fielder Jason Bay -- a good move, sure, for a team that was powerless last season. But their winter highlights being and end right there. They needed Lackey, but Boston got him. They needed Molina, but San Francisco kept him. They couldn't even convince Joel Pineiro, who apparently had the Mets No. 1 on his list. But, word is, his frustrated with their negotiation process led him to sign with the Angels for potentially less money than he could've gotten from the Mets. (Fox Sports' Ken Ronsenthal, in a recent interesting column, mentioned that and some other factors that essentially make GM Omar Minaya a lame duck.) In short, it was an astonishingly embarrassing offseason for the Mets, with the Carlos Beltran saga only fitting as the cherry on top of that somber sundae. Just how bad was it. Well, consider what an agent recently told Joel Sherman of the New York Post: "How can you have that payroll and still not have a starting catcher or first baseman, a second baseman you hate and legitimate starters after Johan (Santana)?" That second baseman is Luis Castillo, whose .302 average means nothing to Mets fans still irate over a dropped popup with two outs in the bottom of the ninth that turned a Yankees' loss into a Yankees' victory on a Friday night in June in the Mets' first game at new Yankee Stadium. They made him available via trade but there were no takers for the $12 million he's owed through 2011, so, at that point, the Mets' interest in Orlando Cabrera was irrelevant. - link
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