1/13/12

Mets: Erik Goeddel, Johan Santana, Future Shock, $90mil Payroll





1-11-12 -  metsmerizedonline  44.  Erik Goeddel (RHP) Goeddel just needs to pitch. He has the arsenal, and the talent to pitch in the bigs, he just needs to show that his arm can hold up to the rigors of a full season. He throws a low-90′s fastball, a curve, slider, and a change-up. For Goeddel it’s all about conditioning and stamina, and staying healthy. After he was drafted by the Mets in the 22nd round of the 2010 draft, he only pitched one inning for the Mets that summer before being shut down early with arm fatigue. 2011 was his first full season in professional ball, but in May was diagnosed with a rotator cuff strain and missed ten weeks while it healed completely. In a recent interview I did with Erik, he said he is fully recovered from that injury and he hopes to log at least 100 innings this year. That is a good target for him and if he can reach 100 innings and add about 25 innings per season over the next two years, he will be able to remain a starter. If the workload again proves to be too much for him, he may be destined for the bullpen.

Just like Mets GM Sandy Alderson, Johan Santana knows he won’t have any answers about how much his left arm has recovered from September, 2010 shoulder surgery until spring training. “My arm will let me know how I feel,” Santana said. “Time will tell. We’ll see how it feels. I cannot tell you what’s gonna happen 5-6 weeks from now.” As of Thursday, when Santana spoke on a conference call after long-tossing in Port St. Lucie, the lefty said his arm felt good and he expected to be ready for the start of spring training next month, but has learned after numerous setbacks not to make any predictions. http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/metsblog/mets_santana_progressing_but_weary_a7V1SSDXyr0ahgKY5mfDbJ#ixzz1jHGaggKG

Future Shock: It would be a developmental disaster, IMHO, to push any of the prospects before their time, but perhaps Kirk Nieuwenhuis goes north as the 5th outfielder and someone like Robert Carson or Josh Edgin get the last bullpen spot. The Mets most likely plan to market the Harveys, Wheelers, etc. heavily in the coming months and it might be tempting to use one or more of these guys as teasers for the steady stream of good young players that they hope will soon follow. I don’t think that either Terry Collins or Sandy Alderson are in danger of losing their jobs, so they don’t have to promote any of these guys early to save their skins, a la Omar and Jerry with Jenrry Mejia. While I am intrigued by some of the Mets prospects, I really don’t want to see any of here until this September at the earliest. http://www.metstoday.com/7367/11-12-offseason/i%e2%80%99ve-got-23%e2%80%a6/

So what will $90 million buy the Mets in 2012? With the aid of a shortened outfield, the Mets will without a doubt outscore some much higher payrolls. The unfortunate part of that equation is that the pitching staff..which will bear the majority of the burden for the franchise's new thrifty approach, will give up far more runs that its offense can overcome. Ultimately, Fred Wilpon's new $90 million dollar New York Mets will find themselves lucky to win 70 games next season. And to be perfectly honest...if the Mets only forfeit seven wins off last year's total in the process of shedding nearly $50 million dollars in payroll...we should consider ourselves lucky as well. http://networkedblogs.com/sEttY

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