Cutnpaste: - Tank, Robin Ventura, Kirk Nieuwenhuis, Lucas Duda, and Nails

Tank:

Posting a 4.58 ERA in 168 career appearances for the Florida Marlins, former 27th pick, Taylor Tankersley, is hoping to revive his magic with the New York Mets in 2011. Tankersley, 27, will be used strictly out of the bullpen for the Mets as a lefty reliever, but will have to prove to the Mets coaching staff that he has fully recovered from missing the entire 2009 season with a stress fracture in his left elbow.http://bleacherreport.com/articles/583836-10-former-first-round-picks-looking-to-revive-their-careers-in-spring-training/page/1#page/4



Robin Ventura:

He only played three seasons with the Mets. One was great, and two were just okay: He put up a monstrous MVP-worthy season in 1999, when he hit .301 with 32 home runs and 120 RBI, saved 33 runs in the field and won a Gold Glove — Ventura is one of just four players to have a .300/30/100 season with the Mets. He then struggled to a .232 average in 2000, and his extra base hit total fell from 70 to 48. His numbers continued to decline in 2001, when he hit .237 with 41 extra base hits. He did still manage walk, keeping his on base percentage at .348 between 2000-01, which combined with his glove kept his value above the Jeff Francoeur line -

http://www.patrickfloodblog.com/2011/01/38-robin-ventura-rain-delay-theater.html



Kirk Nieuwenhuis

1-24-11 from: - http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/2011/01/24/tim-teufel-teaching-hitting-an-impressive-record  - Kirk Nieuwenhuis hit .277/.348/.396 in 74 games for Brooklyn in 2008. On July 19, 2009, he was hitting .240/.332/.396 for Teufel in St. Lucie. He followed that up with a 15-game hitting streak that led into a scorching hot August (.345/.406/.647 with 21 extra-base hits in 27 games) that earned him a promotion to AA. He then hit a healthy .289/.337/.510 in under Teufel AA in 2010. Nieuwenhuis is quick to praise his hitting coaches from 2009 and 2010, George Greer and Luis Natera, and Teufel is quick to praise Nieuwenhuis’ hard work, but it was also Teufel who served as the manager when Nieuwenhuis figured it out in 2009, and kept it going almost all of 2010.



Lucas Duda:

1-24-11 from: - http://www.amazinavenue.com/2011/1/24/1951399/mets-farm-system-top-5-power-hitters  - Ironically, Duda was always considered a nice bat whose lack of power would be his downfall. In 2010, all that changed for the 24-year old LA kid as he finally took advantage of his huge frame -- 6'5", 230lbs -- as well has his sweet lefty stroke to start sending balls over the fence. In fact, it's pretty incredible how quickly he seemed to just flip that switch: In '09 he hit just nine bombs and in '10 he hit 27 -- including four in the majors. Duda's ridiculous .295 ISO & .999 OPS at Triple-A Buffalo pretty much erases any concern about his pop and immediately puts him in the discussion as a potential slugging left fielder in the bigs, especially thanks to his tremendous plate discipline -- 84:60 K-to-BB in '10. What's more, like Ike Davis when Duda hits one there is little doubt so Citi's dimensions shouldn't be a problem.



Lenny Dykstra:

We all laugh at his off the field exploits today, but Dykstra might have been the most popular Met of that eighties team. Was everything you wanted in a leadoff hitter: got on base, patient, speed, and even a little pop. He could have spent a decade producing as he did in 1986 (.295 BA, 8 homers, 58 walks, 55 strikeouts), and would have been an All Star. Instead, he decided to “enhance” himself, which resulted in a payday, but a truncated career. His home run off Dave Smith in the ’86 NLCS was the turning point of that series. He also got the Mets started with a homer in Game 3 at Fenway in the World Series. The problem was it seemed to make him swing for the fences the rest of his Mets career. Davey Johnson finally lost patience, and the Mets made that disastrous trade sending him to the Phillies for Juan Samuel.

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=32447