The Mack Attack - April 11, 2009

Mets:

This is the hitter's view of Oliver Perez' release point. I expected it to be more erratic, given his reputation and propensity for changing his mechanics at a moment's notice. Outside of that one tiny outlier, he was pretty consistent. So there's one positive. Finally, here is the breakdown of his pitches:

Pitch Type Number Thrown MPH
Fastball (4-seam) 68 89
Slider 17 78.41
Changeup 13 84.3
Curveball 1 74.8

A 4.7 mph difference between fastball and changeup? That's not going to cut it at the major league level. Also, according to Fangraphs, Ollie threw his changeup just 2.6% of the time last season, so yesterday was out of the ordinary. I'm going to assume Ollie is still getting in shape and his fastball velocity will increase as the season goes on, because an 89 mph fastball for a pitcher with control issues is not very good. For comparison purposes, Reds closer Francisco Cordero's fastball averaged 95.35 mph yesterday. The PITCHf/x tool should prove to be pretty useful this season, and it gives us some fun graphs to look at as well.

http://www.amazinavenue.com/2009/4/10/829696/ollies-afternoon-via-pitchf-x


Ollie Jekyll and Ollie Hyde.... ....strikes again. Or should I say, "strike" again, since syntax-wise, I suppose the latter is the correct verbiage, or so the "and" in the title of this post would indicate. Anyway, enough with the English lesson. The REAL point of this post is, of course, the Two Natures of Oliver Perez. Both of which we actually saw yesterday; one of which ended up winning out, causing Ollie Hyde to give up enough runs in few enough innings that the Mets, realistically, had little or no chance to win the game, even though the offense pretty much gave it a valiant effort. Look, we knew when we re-signed Ollie in the off-season that we were actually giving the money and the contract to TWO DIFFERENT GUYS. So if you didn't know better, you'd think; okay, we're getting two for one. But, Mets fans, here's the rub -- we're getting Ollie Jekyll and Ollie Hyde, and we never know which one we're going to get from month to month, week to week, game to game, and even inning to inning, as we saw yesterday.

http://goodbaduglymets.blogspot.com/2009/04/ollie-jekyll-and-ollie-hyde.html


Why have they only sold single game tickets for April and May? Seems odd right? Originally this post was just going to be a link, and I totally admit to cribbing their idea, but I think I have figured it out. My guess.... They are hoping the team gets off to a great start AND the economy recovers. They are mentally prepared to sell a particluar seat for say $20...but maybe the Mets start off 35 and 5 and the Dow goes back to 10,000....then suddenly they seat is $30. This way they aren't locked into either selling seats for a price lower than they want....or being stuck with overpriced tickets like some of the other baseball teams in New York. The risk they take is if the Mets get off to a bad start and the economy doesn't get better. The buzz on Citi Field is so good that I think they'd be OK anyway.....I'm not so sure fans would be lining up to see New Yankee Stadium if that team combines a bad start with overpriced tickets.

http://www.metspolice.com/2009/04/are-mets-holding-back-tickets-hoping.html


I predict that Oliver Perez won't get a single win against the Reds, Pirates, Nationals and Padres this season. It's pretty much a guarantee. Nothing like spending a ton of money on a pitcher who can't beat the worst teams in baseball. But we all knew this is what we were getting when the Mets signed Oliver Perez to a lucrative deal this offseason. There was the hope, way back in the recesses of our mind, that Perez had matured as a person and a pitcher, and that we might see some changes this year. That's not the case.

http://metslifers.blogspot.com/2009/04/mad-world-of-oliver-perez.html


Bisons:


So far, so good for 20-year-old Fernando Martinez. The New York Mets' top positional prospect collected a double and a triple Thursday in the Buffalo Bisons' 6-4 loss to Pawtucket in Coca- Cola Field. Martinez roped an opposite-field double to left with two out in the first to collect Buffalo's first hit in its new era with the New York Mets. He then legged out a triple to the right-field corner with one out in the seventh. "That's good for me," said a smiling Martinez, a Dominican who hit .287 last year at Double-A Binghamton. "In the first game in Triple-A to hit a double and triple, I feel very good." "The big thing was he hit a double to left field and triple to right field," noted manager Ken Oberkfell. "That's the type of hitter he is. He's going to use the whole field and he's got power to all fields so
it was nice to swing the bat the way he did and get some confidence."

http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bisons/story/635487.html


Mets Alumni:

Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus has been on a Rays kick recently. In his latest, Sheehan thinks the Rays should trade Scott Kazmir. So, I think they should trade him. Kazmir is exactly the kind of player who should be marketed aggressively by his team, especially when he’s going well, because his perceived value is much higher than his actual value. Kazmir is a left-handed starter who throws in the mid to high 90s, has a strong breaking ball and is young enough to get people excited about his potential. In part because of the circumstances of his becoming a Ray, one of the worst trades of the decade, Kazmir has had a disproportionate amount of attention focused on him since before he ever threw a major league pitch

http://www.raysindex.com/2009/04/scott-kazmir-is-not-going-anywhere.html


wasn’t sure whether Mike Jacobs’ new growth qualified as “unfortunate facial hair” because, technically, it’s not growing out of his face. It seems to be coming from that nether area between the chin and the neck. What is that area called? The check? The nin? Regardless, the only excuse for a facial growth this hideous is to break a slump (see: Giambi, Jason or Byrnes, Eric) and it’s too early in the season to resort to such shinanigans. Though, considering Jacobs’ .317 career OBP, I suppose one could argue that some slump buster UFH is far overdue.

http://umpbump.com/press/2009/04/10/unfortunate-facial-hair-mike-jacobs


I thought the signing of Preston Wilson by the Long Island Ducks meant the end of Carl Everett in the Atlantic League. I couldn’t be any more wrong. According to Scott Stanchak of Atlantic League Baseball, Everett will play for the Newark Bears this season. I had the opportunity to follow Carl in Long Island the last two years and still believe he could help a professional ballclub offensively. Could he be any worse than Gary Sheffield in the outfield? If you remember I suggested that the Mets sign him last year when Ryan Church went down. Of course, this was a moot point after the emergence of Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis. Everett can still hit and I believe the concerns about his defense are overrated. I don’t believe he would be a cancer on a club as the 25th man. In case you missed it, I replayed an interview on NYBD Radio I did with Everett back in 2007 when he joined the Ducks.

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=9437


General:

the Angels farm system and may have finally gotten his break with the early season injuries. Adenhart was drafted right out of high school and was destined to be a Top 10 pick in the 2004 draft until he had to have Tommy John surgery 2 weeks before the draft. Adenhart cracked the rotation this spring and started Wednesday’s game, he threw 6 shutout innings against the Oakland A’s but tragedy struck later that night and has taken someone from this Earth way too early. At about 12:23am, a drunk driver hit the car that Nick Adenhart was a passenger in, 2 people died at the scene, Nick Adenhart was taken to the hospital but they couldn’t save him. The 4th person is in critical condition.

http://flushingfaithful.com/in-memoriam-nick-adenhart