Between Now And The All-Star Break

It’s now June and you know what that means. The All-Star game takes place July 13th which will set off a flurry of trades and personnel moves throughout the league. Teams near the bottom of the league will clear salary, while prospects who lead stats in certain levels, get bumped to the next. It’s a fun time for baseball pundits. It’s a parade for prospect weenies.



My thoughts on things you might see happen between now and the 15th of July:


1. P Oliver Perez’ locker will be cleared out by the time everyone reports back from the all-star break. He will either be in Buffalo playing baseball, or home, counting his money. There is no way in hell this situation can go on longer than this. Talent wise, the Mets are not going to run off 20 wins in a row and be able to operate with only 24 players. Even Fred Wilpon won’t hesitate on this one once this cancer starts growing out of control in the locker room. This is when you wish someone like Rickey Henderson was still around. He’s take a bat to Ollie’s knee and all this would be over. No, there is no sitting on your ass in baseball. People will come, and Ollie will go.



2. Carlos Beltran will return to the Mets outfield and finish the season with good, though modest, stats. He also will gingerly play centerfield, if Jeff Francouer can manage to bat above .275. If not, Angel Pagan will replace the former gold glove right fielder and there will be no loss of defense. Gary Mathews Jr. will be gone the day Beltran comes back and the Mets will rotate Beltran, Pagan, and Francoeur, with Jason Bay a fixture in left field. Chris Carter will remain in Queens as backup 1B, fifth OF, and PH.



3. Look for converted shortstop to second baseman Reese Havens to be fast tracked and play the remainder of the season in Buffalo. Daniel Murphy’s injury could be career threatening at worse, and pretty well puts him behind the depth chart on future second baseman behind Havens and Jordany Valdespin. Havens has 94-Abs between St. Lucie and Binghamton and his stats are impressive: .309/.387/.585/.972, 6-HR, 13-RBI. He turns 24 in October and has a good chance of being your opening day second baseman in April 2011.



4. Time is running out for some of the rotational pitchers in the system. Eddie Kunz (6.00) and Scott Shaw (7.58) have already been removed from the B-Mets rotation and have been replaced by Chris Schwinden and Josh Stinson. Other pitchers in jeopardy of losing their gig are Tobi Stoner (AAA-5.13), Brad Holt (AA-9.38) and Scott Moviel (A+ - 6.93). They will hit the pen and be replaced by names like Eric Niesen (AA to AAA), and James Fuller and Mark Cohoon from Savannah.

5. The Mets will try and put together a deal with the Baltimore Orioles for 2B Ty Wiggington and 35-year old Kevin Millwood. They’ll try to do this with three to four “prospects” that are not sitting on the DL. Names like Nick Evans, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Jeurys Familia, and Josh Thole will be thrown around. The Orioles will ask for names like Jenrry Mejia, Ruben Tejada, and Wilmer Flores, none of which will be offered. Eventually, no deal will be made.