link - Through the miasma, R. A. Dickey has emerged as the team’s most compelling player, hands down. He has performed better than anyone could have imagined when Omar Minaya signed him in the offseason. In 18 starts he is 8-5 with a sterling 2.41 earned run average. He has hit, hustled and fielded his position well, too. His greatest attribute, though, may be his presence on the team. He remained on the bench throughout the Mets’ 14-inning marathon on Wednesday even though he would have been excused for heading to the clubhouse after giving up a game-tying home run in the ninth inning.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/sports/baseball/20mets.htm?_r=2 - Perez is a virtual nonentity with Manuel. On Monday, when the team announced that closer Francisco Rodriguez was out for the season with a thumb injury, Manuel was asked who would replace him. Manuel responded that he would pick relievers based on matchups and who was pitching well at the moment. Then he reeled off the names of various pitchers in his relief corps: Hisanori Takahashi, Bobby Parnell, Pedro Feliciano, Manny Acosta. For a laugh, Manuel added his own name to the list. He did not mention Perez. “You have to speak to the manager,” Perez said when asked on Wednesday when he might pitch next. “I’m just working on my pitches, trying to get stronger. My knee feels fine.” Asked if he was eager to get in a game, Perez snapped: “What do you think?”
link - "So the problem with a hard slotting system," said an official of one club, "is it's just going to drive most of these high school kids to college. If you're a fifth- or sixth-round pick, and all we're allowed to give you is 150 grand, it's not worth it. You're going to go get your education, play in college, come back in a few years and hope you're a higher pick." If high school draftees take that stance en masse, and just a minuscule percentage of those picks are signing, that's a huge issue. It's also an issue for which baseball still doesn't have a solution. So one idea being kicked around is a hard slot for just the first two rounds, then a designated pot that each team can spend however it wishes on total signings beyond the first two rounds.
link - The big thing is trying to get him to get a feel for when the pitchers change looks on him. Being able to make the adjustment to when then take speed off pitches in the strike zone. That’s the kind of thing he has been working on for a while, and that takes time. You’re going to see pitchers with real good arm speed, with a good change-up or a two-seamer, and they’re going to cut the ball or whatever. You don’t see that as much in Triple-A as you do I the big leagues. So he’s getting a crash course in that. That’s his biggest issue, just learning how to control the barrel in the strike zone against pitchers who take a little bit off. Fernando is going to it some home runs. The biggest thing he has going for him is a really quick bat. He’s got quick hands, and it’s one of those things where he’s just got to learn major league pitching. They’re kind of playing around on him. He’s just got to get the feel of guys changing speeds in the strike zone. I see him as a guy who is going to hit 15 home runs.
link - Put simply, the Mets' roster doesn't work. Jose Reyes is one of the best shortstops in baseball, and David Wright can say the same at third. When healthy, Carlos Beltran is an elite center fielder. Ike Davis looks excellent at first base. Angel Pagan makes a superb fourth outfielder. Johan Santana still throws nasty stuff and, uh.... That's about it. Save for Wright, the middle of the lineup is a wasteland. Castillo, once an All-Star with the Marlins, might be the least-motivated ballplayer in America. Maine hasn't contributed anything good in 2 1/2 years. Perez is a head case. Jon Niese reminds one of Joe Price.
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