We now find out why no one was breaking down Ben Sheets door to sign. The former Brewer is going to have surgery and will be out most, if not all of 2009. That is a tough break for a someone who seems like a good guy that gives 100% all the time. Hopefully, all goes well and soon there is another round of "Lets sign Sheets".
However for now, it looks like Omar has been right on target with this off-season.
1. He moved quickly to get K-Rod and Putz. These two moves can not be overstated. The bullpen sucked last year and the year before. The current bullpen is light years ahead of what was trotted out in 2008. Imagine if Wagner comes back in August.
2. He signed Tim Redding as insurance and a very servicable 5th starter or long reliever.
3. He did not overpay for Lowe, but let the Braves dive in for $24M more than the Mets paid for Ollie. That move is going to pay long term dividends. Lowe would have been a great acquisition, but not at $15M per season.
4. He picked up Freddy Garcia as a reasonable gamble. I pushed this idea and really like the potential upside.
5. He sat on Perez and paid a reasonable (in sports dollars) price for a young, talented, erratic lefty. The starting rotation looks much deeper than last year and is also relatively young.
6. He has signed a bunch of other parts and pieces in the hope that one or two click at the major league level.
7. He has not overspent on a bat. The Mets scored the second most runs in the NL last year without Moises Alou contributing, no production from Castillo, a hurt Ryan Church for most of the year and a Carlos Delgado who very well could have been still recovering from wrist surgery in the first half.
Omar has filled the holes. Do the Mets need another bat? Hard to say without seeing what young Mr. Murphy can do over the course of a season. Give the young guy a chance. Would I complain if the Mets signed Manny or more realistically Orlando Hudson, of course not. But as of now, I am very excited to get going with the team that has been assembled.
All-Star Game MVP Kyle Schwarber picks up where he left off in swing-off
with 4th homer in his last 4 swings
-
The Philadelphia Phillies slugger took two pitches — a ball and then a
strike — before teeing up a 366-foot "Schwarbomb" to right-center field in
the botto...
1 hour ago
The problem wasnt the total amount of runs scored. It was WHEN the offense scored. Too many times the Mets would score in the first 3 or 4 innings and then completely vanish. This put an inordinate amount of strain on the pen for two reasons. First, Mets pitchers (besides Santana) were not pitching deep into games. Second, relievers got the sense that they had to be perfect and not give up anything due to the fact that the offense disappeared after the 5th inning. I'd rather have a player who hits .255, 15HR, 80RBI but hits .355 with RISP or has a ton of sacrifice flies or knows how to move runners over on base than someone who hit .280, 30HR, 100RBI and cant hit a lick with RISP or has a terrible OBP.
ReplyDeleteThank you for having some freakin' optimism. I am psyched about this team mainly because the best memories I have from the late '90's teams is the confidence guys like Turk Wendell and Dennis Cook provided. The Shea faithful would go crazy whenever Turk slammed the rosin bag or Cook picked off a runner from first. Bullpens dictate confidence and this may be the best Mets bullpen ever.
ReplyDeleteThe inherent problem with Cisco's logic is that NO player hits .255 but .355 with RISP. The myth of "clutch" is just that, a myth. There is no magic player out there who hits twice as well in pressure situations, or after the 4th inning, or at night, etc. than he does normally. Once the stats boil down over a long enough sample size, a .255 hitter is a .255 hitter is a .255 hitter. The Mets did get bit some by the score early and not late bug, but I'd say its unlikely that the same problem will persist. Bullpen woes are a much more reliable stat, something that hopefully gets taken care of. Still, with all the opportunities to upgrade on offense, I am surprised Omar did nothing. Either at 2B, or in the OF (I'm surprised nobody ever thought about Adam Dunn, a lock for 40 hr and tons of OBP) there was lots of room to upgrade, better than Achy Knees Castillo or Murphy/Tatis, a C- platoon at best.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't it be said that hitters knew the bullpen was due to give up a few runs late in the game and were pressing at the plate, leading to the lack of runs scored late in the game?
ReplyDeleteIf you accept the notion that a big part of hitting is mental, then it stands to reason that bullpen weakness - that seemed to evovle into a sure fire jinx - would have had a negative affect on the whole team late in games. Not just at the plate, you could see in the fielding at times. I don't have any numbers to back that up but it sure seemed to infect the entire team psyche (with the exception of Delgado at times down the stretch).
ReplyDeleteIf the team thinks that once it has a lead it is in control of the game, then they can stay loose and probably add to that lead.