Tasks At Hand – Week One ST Wrap-up

Tasks At Hand – Week One ST Wrap-up


Staying on target, fans should be doing two things this spring training… one, enjoy the games, and two, focus only on the positions still opened:


1B: - everybody is totally overboard on Ike Davis right now and, the only thing I come away from at this point is he’s third in a three horse race. I haven’t heard of seen the likes of Chris Carter or Nick Evans all week, so I assume both have come off the board. This is still Daniel Murphy’s job to lose, though he’s not having a great spring after one week. Not to worry. Just ask Felipe Alou how much he cared about his spring BA… For now, lt’s have fun watching Davis swing, but let’s also be realistic. Let the kid freeze his arse off in Buffalo until the all-star break. As for backup. I love the bat of Mike Jacobs, but there's only so many positions available on a 25-man squad that has sub-par pitching. My guess right now is Fernando Tatis will back up Murphy, Davis goes north, and Jacobs and Carter… sadly… go away.


C: - far too early to figure this one out…. biggest question mark is the guessing game going around the locker room on just how old is Henry Blanco. Christ, he looks older than me! Money’s good that Josh Thole will be going to Buffalo, with Chris Coste sitting next to him on the shuttle. The plan is for Coste to work with Josh and Mike Nickeas to work with the young prospect pitchers. Every catcher in camp seems to be hitting well early (Omir Santos hit a grand slam today), and it’s too early to figure out who goes where yet. Too many chest protectors.


Rotation: - what rotation? The fatc is, so far, the top five Mets starters have thrown a combined 8.2 innings and have given up 9 runs…. Mike Pelfrey was inconsistent his first time out, and Oliver Perez was, well… Oliver Perez. Again, far too early to figure out and neither John Maine (don’t expect a quick start here…) or Johan Santana have thrown yet, but so far, the top starter in camp is Nelson Figueroa.


Pen: Both Japanese pitchers continue to impress and look like both are slated to make the pen. Francisco Pick Eye and Pedro Feliciano are locks, and Bobby Parnell and Sean Green look like keepers. That would be six pitchers on a team that will probably carry eight relievers (because the rotation is weak). At this point, no one has any idea who else will stick.


Utility: Normally, I would put Mike Jacobs’ bat high on this list, but his kind of swing isn’t consistent enough for an all-around utility-pinch hitting kind of player. Frank Whatchamacallit seems more fit to win one of the slots (after one week), with Fernando Tatis the second. Both can play a multiple amount of positions and put up some decent defense.

Mack