The Mets would love for Niese to claim the 5 spot for himself. He is a crafty pitcher with the best curveball in the organization, solid control, and he has worked hard on his cutter to suplement a rather average big-league fastball.
As John Harper reports in the Daily News, Niese looked sharp in his first outing of the year, and Manager Jerry Manuel was suitably impressed.
"Very impressive," said Jerry Manuel. "It was good to see because he's a huge piece (of the puzzle) for me."
Niese is now fully healed from a gruesome hamstring injury and dreams of landing the starting job that was his for a short time last year. "It feels good to be in one piece," said the young lefty. - link
Angel Pagan: For the first 2 months of the 2010 season it looks like Angel Pagan will be the everyday Center Fielder for the Mets due to Carlos Beltran’s surgery. Pagan had a good year last year, he can field and he can hit. Unfortunately Pagan also had some trouble with fundamentals, especially on the base passes. Pagan must keep his head in the game, must be aware of how many outs there are and he needs to use better judgment when running the bases. Pagan is going to be important in the beginning of the season for the Mets. He cannot make stupid mistakes everyday that gives away outs. If Pagan can play good fundamental baseball while filling in for Beltran the Mets will be in good shape to start the 2010 season. - link
Gary Matthews Jr. felt right at home in the leadoff spot yesterday. If Jerry Manuel's plan of batting Jose Reyes third in the lineup is to succeed, the Mets manager will need either Matthews or Angel Pagan to emerge as a reliable leadoff hitter. Manuel seems committed to batting Luis Castillo second and Reyes third, at least until Carlos Beltran returns to action. Matthews reached on an error, walked and stole a base in yesterday's intersquad scrimmage. Pagan was the leadoff hitter for the opposition and finished 1-for-2.- link
Whether Major League Baseball will use the minors as guinea pigs for HGH testing remains to be seen, but the minors will be a testing ground for baseball's continued effort to improve bat safety.
Many maple bats will be banned in the minors this season, the Associated Press reports, as part of MLB's effort to keep broken bats from striking players and fans. The AP reports that ultra-light maple bats will be banned this season and that red maple and silver maple bats will be eliminated entirely by bat-making companies. Interestingly, the ban does not blanket all minor leaguers, but rather only players not on 40-man rosters and who have no major league experience - link
RED FLAG ALERT! Take a look at the above photo, taken in Port St. Lucie from yesterday’s intrasquad game by Matt Cerrone of MetsBlog. It’s Josh Thole in his “runners on” catching stance. Notice the flat back, weight forward on the heels, arms extended out in front. It’s classic, 1970s positioning, made famous by the likes of Johnny Bench.
And it’s wrong. - link
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