Despite his strong start to spring, Mejia should be in AA in April

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

Yesterday afternoon we were blessed with another Mets spring training triumph, this time over the Florida Marlins by the score of 11-2. Two of the stars of the game were Chris Carter, who pinch hit in the 9th and ended up with 2 homers and 4 RBI, and Jenrry Mejia who pitched three scoreless innings and made every pitching-starved Mets fan salivate. Because everyone blows spring performances out of proportion, I’m afraid that the outstanding play of Carter and Mejia will cause management to think about putting one or both of them on the opening day roster. That would be ridiculous.

The problem with Chris Carter is that he doesn’t have a position. He’s been listed as an outfielder, a first baseman, and most prominently, a designated hitter. The Mets do play a handful of games in AL parks every year, so maybe that will come in handy. Or it would if the Mets didn’t already sign a left-handed power bat named Mike Jacobs who also can’t play defense to save his life. I’m confused as to why the Mets bothered to ask for Carter in the Wagner trade or acquire Jacobs off the scrap heap. They did promise to make Buffalo better, but then still they only need one of these guys unless the Mets think it’s worth it to carry a power bat on the bench who can’t do anything else.
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After today's performance, I'm really excited to see more Takahashi

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

I know it’s just a spring training game, but Hisanori Takahashi’s three inning, six strikeout performance versus Washington is getting me amped up about the 2010 Mets bullpen. Takahashi’s show-stealing performance reminded me of a USF/Georgetown basketball game back in February. The entire crowd in the Verizon Center had come to see Hoya studs Greg Monroe and Austin Freeman dominate the USF Bulls, but South Florida guard Dominique Jones insisted that he was the star of the show. Jones put up 29 points while grabbing 8 rebounds and handing out 4 assists, leading his school to an upset victory. As the outcome became inevitable he yelled into the crowd, “Y’all come to watch Dominique Jones play!”
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Carlos Beltran has taken Angel Pagan under his wing this spring

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

I’ve always thought team chemistry was overrated in baseball. Unlike football, basketball or hockey, which feature a bunch of players sharing the ball and moving at the same time, baseball is a game that is won or lost mostly by individual performances. A team does not need to communicate with each other to put together a multi-run rally. It could help to communicate, such as when a lead-off batter takes an extra pitch so the next guy up can see what he is dealing with, but such tactics are not necessary to have success. It’s the same deal on the other side of the ball, where the pitcher by himself has the biggest impact on how many runs the other team scores.

It’s for these reasons that I never really paid attention when the Mets’ failures of the last three seasons were blamed on a “bad clubhouse.” I figured even if everyone in the clubhouse hated each other, it wasn’t going to make the team hit more and strike out less. The tough part is that there’s no way to prove or quantify the effect of leadership or chemistry on winning games. It’s even tougher for those without clubhouse access to analyze.
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Bernazard played a key role in the Mets' 95 home run season

One of the main themes of last year’s futile New York Mets season was the “power outage.” The Mets finished last in the majors with just 95 home runs and somehow Citi Field got blamed despite the Mets hitting more round trippers at home than on the road. That’s not very good fuel for the “OMG LET’S MOVE THE FENCES IN” argument.

Anyway, the real reasons for the lack of long balls was the well publicized slew of crippling injuries as well as this strategy employed by the now notorious Tony Bernazard. According to John Harper of the Daily News, Bernazard emphasized an extreme opposite field hitting strategy throughout the whole organization in 2009 that resulted in some poor minor leaguers being criticized for pulling the ball, even on base hits. Yelling at guys not to pull the ball is not a great way to get your players to hit home runs. It’s more likely to turn the entire farm system into Luis Castillo.
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Jason Bay will learn what the Mets are like soon enough

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

During the will-they-won’t-they Bay drama that was this winter, a lot of pessimistic Mets fans were worried that the Mets couldn’t land the all-star left fielder because of the miserable state of the organization. After signing on for four years and $66 million, we’re finally getting a hint as to why Bay chose the Mets. Either he didn’t have any other offers, or he just didn’t know what he was getting himself into.

Bay told the New York Post about his perception of the Mets. “I obviously knew their performance record-wise last year wasn’t what people wanted, and I also understood there was a lot of injuries,” he said, “But I couldn’t really understand where all the animosity was coming from given the fact you look at the team … that’s a pretty good team.”

Ah, how adorable. In stating why he thinks there shouldn’t be any animosity towards the Mets, poor Jason Bay ironically hits the nail on the head as to why people are so miserable about the team. I guess Bay never thought that the fact the Mets are talented is what gets their fans so riled up.
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Giving Jacobs a shot at a starting job could be dangerous

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

I’m disappointed in Omar Minaya. His latest transgression against common sense is making me upset. I know that Minaya wants to put pressure on Daniel Murphy and make it seem like he signed a capable player in Mike Jacobs, but declaring an open competition is not a good idea. Open competitions are for situations in which two players competing for the same roster spot are of similar ability. This is not true for the Mets’ first base candidates.

Daniel Murphy is a much better player than Mike Jacobs. Jacobs may be a better power hitter over the length of his career, but even Murphy out-slugged Jacobs in 2009. Besides that Murphy is unquestionably better at getting on base and playing defense. He’s also got more upside than the free swinging Jacobs, who will perhaps never be able to hit a lefty slider. Murphy’s still got some room to grow, even if his ceiling isn’t as high as we hoped after a great debut in 2008.
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Niese has the talent for the job, but there are other factors

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

There’s just four days remaining until pitchers and catchers report, but the battle for the Mets fifth starter job likely won’t be decided for another month and a half. That’s because Nelson Figueroa, Fernando Nieve and Jon Niese all pitched well enough in 2009 to be considered for a spot in the major league rotation. It’s likely that two or even all three of them will be more productive than Oliver Perez, but thanks to all the money he’s “earning” the Mets will have to choose just one of the three candidates.
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Riggans could play his way into the Mets lineup this spring

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

It looks like the Mets are done with any talk of major acquisitions until July, but this week they made a couple moves that could impact the opening day roster. 29-year-old catcher Shawn Riggans is one such acquisition. Signed to a minor league deal after spending four years in Tampa Bay’s system, Riggans appears to be another light hitting catcher on a team full of light hitting catchers.

Still, he did has shown some pop in the minors when he’s wasn’t struggling with injuries.

Sure, the Mets don’t need to take their chances with another fragile player, but Riggans definitely has a chance of outplaying Blanco and Santos in spring training, which makes him a worthy addition. The odds of Riggans becoming an above average bat in the Mets order aren’t good, but he’s got more upside than a guy like Yorvit Torreabla and despite his poor plate discipline, he’ll still get on base at a better rate than Bengie Molina.
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A solid AAA campaign in 2010 could make Fernando a Mets starter in 2011

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

It’s early February and most baseball fans have a few more weeks to wait until they see their team’s prospects in action. Mets fans are lucky. That’s right. We have the opportunity to follow Fernando Martinez’s progress in the Caribbean Series, the annual competition between the Winter League’s best teams.

Martinez is still considered by some to be Mets’ top prospect, but his hype machine definitely took a hit over the past year thanks to a disappointing major league debut. Was this warranted? It was if you thought that a 20 year old should come out of nowhere and light the big leagues on fire. The truly disappointing stat of Martinez’s 2009 was his less than 300 at bats between AAA and the majors. He needs to stay healthy to grow into a solid player.
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Catalanotto can play multiple position without being a complete failure on offense

BY AARON YORKE
STACHE WRITER

When I heard Frank Catalanotto had signed a minor league deal with the Mets, my first reaction was “So why are we wasting a roster spot on Gary Matthews Jr. again?” Not only can Catalanotto play both corner outfielder spots, but first, second and third base as well. His career .358 on-base percentage will make him welcome in the lineup no matter where he’s needed in the field. The only advantage of having Matthews Jr. on the team is his ability to play center field. That still doesn’t make his acquisition any less ridiculous since there are still other guys out there who can play center field, who don’t hit, and who also don’t cost over a million bucks and a relief pitcher to acquire. Oy.

Back to Catalanotto. Even if he doesn’t make the big league squad because the Mets are afraid to admit they screwed up with Matthews Jr., he will be part of a reloaded Buffalo squad that might actually win some games this year. At least if everyone gets hurt again, the Mets will have a AAA squad with guys like Mike Hessman, Catalanotto and Mike Cervanek, who are all better suited for major league action than last year’s replacements. Lastly, Catalanotto is a scrappy Italian local boy from Long Island. Commence fist pumping.