I May Be Wrong, But…

·         Talked to Jeff Kaplan. This will be the big year for Jeff. He’ll jump to AA and we all know how important that is. Last season combined Lucy-Bing: 49-G, 3.52, 12-SV. I asked him for his goals for ST:

“Every year I come to spring training with the goals of making a team and making sure I am ready for Day 1. As well as being ready to compete, making sure I am healthy and strong is always on my mind. I had a very good off season, and I feel I am in the best shape of my career. Lastly, spring training is the place to get the competitive juices flowing, seeing live hitters and being around the complex will get me ready for the upcoming season.”

·         Adam Rubin on the rotation…

STARTING PITCHING: Johan Santana missed the 2011 season while recovering from surgery to repair a torn anterior capsule in his left shoulder. Despite optimism, it remains an open question whether he can pitch every fifth (or sixth) day for a full season. Terry Collins said he hopes to get 25 starts from Santana, but the history of returning from this injury isn’t great. Chien-Ming Wang took exactly two years from the surgery to reappear in the majors. Mark Prior never found himself again. Other than Chris Capuano's defection to the Los Angeles Dodgers on a two-year, $10 million deal, the rest of the Mets’ rotation remains intact: R.A. Dickey, Jon Niese, Mike Pelfrey and Dillon Gee. The depth is thin. If Santana cannot pitch, or a starter needs to go on the disabled list, other starting pitchers in camp include Miguel Batista, Garrett Olson, Jeremy Hefner and Chris Schwinden. 2010 first-round pick Matt Harvey will be in major league camp, but may not appear in the majors until September. Zack Wheeler, the team’s top prospect, who was acquired last July in the Carlos Beltran trade, is not in big league camp and should see the bulk of his action at Double-A Binghamton this season.

I may not like the guy, but Rubin knows the Mets better than  anyone. The key thing in this paragraph is Santana’s ability to pitch every five games. I don’t think he’ll pitch one, but we’ll see, If I’m wrong, don’t be surprised if the Mets don’t carry six starters out of camp.

·         metsrospectus  wrote this about OF Yoenis Cespedes:

Clearly these numbers show a talented player. Four of out his eight seasons (including his last 3) he has recorded an OPS of over 1.0 and hit for a great average. He is also hitting a lot of homeruns in not many at bats. 33 homers would be an excellent MLB season and he did it in about half as many at-bats as most guy big league guys (for instance Ryan Howard and Ryan Braun both hit exactly 33 HR last year but did so in 644 and 629 at-bats respectively). His promo video is also very telling. While the over the top production makes it hilarious at points, it does showcase (see what I did there?) a guy with incredible athletic ability and the raw tools of strength, speed, coordination and baseball instinct to be a top MLB player. I will leave you with his WBC slash line to ponder and be in awe of until he reports to spring training: .458/.480/1.000.

·         Mets infielder Justin Turner scored his first run of the 2012 season on 2-10… or the Cal Sate Fulerton Alumni team that played a scrimmage against the 2012 Titans.

·         Joe Posnanski had a fascinating chart on his blog this week. This represents the amount of players (by age) that have had great seasons in baseball.

This pretty much confirms what we all knew anyway. The ages of 24-31 are a player’s peak period to not only perform, but secure a big contract.

And, if you sign someone to a lengthy contract past their 32^nd birthday, well, buyer beware.

·         Ex-Mets On The Move

o    P Scott Linebrink signed a minor league deal with St. Louis – In 2006, The Mets gives up Xavier Nady and Heath Bell and gets Linebrink and Roberto Hernandez