John Morosi and Ken Rosenthal said yesterday there will be plenty of trade rumors surrounding Rays RHP Andy Sonnanstine over the final few weeks of spring training. The Rays, of course, have an excess of pitching and Sonnanstine might be the sixth starter in their rotation. Although WFAN’s Ed Coleman said Jonathan Niese has pitched better than his numbers (7.04 ERA), I still think he could benefit starting the season in AAA. The other options are Fernando Nieve, Nelson Figueroa, and Hisanori Takahashi who either are better in the bullpen, unwanted, or unknown. Sonnanstine is someone that could translate well to the National League and provide the Mets with more of a guarantee in the fifth spot. - silva
But back to Figueroa; does he deserve to be the #5 starter, if he continues to have a strong spring training? You would think so, but it seems more and more like a remote possibility — despite Niese’s unsightly ERA thus far. At the very least, he should be penciled in as the long man out of the bullpen — but even that appears to be less than a sure thing. The main problem for Figgy is that he’s not a “stuff” guy; in other words, he won’t impress anyone on the sheer strength of his ability. But he’s proven to be a competitor, and a survivor — someone who will take the ball every fifth day and find a way to give his team a chance to win most of the time. He’ll have one bad outing out of every five, and one great outing out of every 10, and everything else will be pretty much the same: 6 innings of unremarkable pitching that otherwise keeps his team in the game. What more is expected of a fifth starter? - figgylink
Francoeur's arm, in baseball vernacular, is a hose, a weapon comparable with any in the Mets' arsenal. Johan Santana's left arm will be used more, so will the powerful right arm and energized legs of Jose Reyes -- once his thyroid cooperates -- and the bats of David Wright, Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran. But the right fielder's arm appears to be more spectacular than the others, more powerful than most outfield arms and extraordinarily accurate. And its circuitry connects to a brain that had a strong case of arm ego - frenchylink
Now Minaya is hoping Calero can continue thriving from difficult circumstances and that the Mets' bullpen can benefit. Even though 12 different teams called, Calero lingered on the free-agent market over the winter after a terrific season with the Marlins because of concerns about his right shoulder, which he injured in 2007. He eventually signed a minor-league deal with the Mets earlier this month. "He's had a history of injuries, and I think people were somewhat concerned," Minaya said. "We would not do a major-league deal with him, but we wanted to do a minor-league deal and let him perform so we can make an evaluation on whether he's able to do it or not. - kikolink
Interesting Notes:
- The Mets of the 1960's were baseball's most popular team ever relative to their performance.
- Despite their big market reputation, the Phillies don't have tremendous attendance. Veteran's Stadium was one of the biggest ballpark boosts ever received. -
- Florida's in real trouble and has been for some time. - http://baseballanalysts.com/
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