Archive for June 4th, 2009

Jose Reyes is arguably the most important player on the Mets.

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

Kevin Burkhardt of SNY recently posted a report on Twitter that will make Mets’ fans around the world want to crawl into a corner and die. “Jose Reyes has a tear in his right hamstring tendon. Add ss to the list of Mets needs,” wrote Burkhardt on Twitter. He later added, “The Mets say this is a new injury and that he will rest for 2 days before being reevaluated. My guess is you won’t see him until all star break.” This is obviously terrible news for the Mets, but hopefully the re-evaluation will reveal that this is a mistake, but let’s be real.

This is something that is going to be near impossible to battle back from. Playing an extended amount of time without Reyes is like driving a car without an engine. It’s impossible. Reyes is important in so many ways. His speed creates runs by itself, and his defense is excellent. We have already seen how important that is while watching Ramon Martinez try to field balls at short.

The bottom line is that Reyes is still very young, so he needs to make sure that he doesn’t do something that will jeopardize his career. If he needs to be out for an extended period of time, I am not sure Alex Cora will suffice as the every day shortstop. Just add that to the list of needs, as Burkhardt said, and this is making the lack of depth in the Mets organization seem like much more of a problem.

The Mets will likely be players for somebody if Reyes is indeed out for a long period of time. One guy who has been mentioned on multiple occasions for the orange and blue is Mark DeRosa, who is capable of playing almost any position on the field.

This is just getting out of hand. I have never seen players drop like flies like this. If the Mets can win with this team, it is nothing short of a miracle.

Ryan Church could be the missing piece that the Mets have been waiting for.

BY MICHAEL GANCI
EDITOR

Last year, when the Mets acquired Ryan Church and Brian Schneider in exchange for Lastings Milledge, I was one of the people who was ecstatic about the deal. Church was always a guy who was underutilized during his time in Washington, and Schneider is the excellent defensive catcher that we have been looking for the past couple of years.

But unfortunately for Church, things haven’t panned out

It all started last season. Church was pretty much handed the starting right fielder job, and he started the season on fire. When Church suffered his first concussion, it all seemed to go downhill. He was dying to get back on the field, and he was handled terribly by the Mets and their training staff. When Church finally got back on the field, he wasn’t ready, and unfortunately, he made things worse.

He continued to have setback after setback, and all of a sudden, the year had come and gone, and the Mets were sadly disappointed. Church came in to this season motivated, but things didn’t seem to click at the beginning of the season, and then Church was shelved with an injury. Before the injury, it often seemed like Church was the odd man out. He was pretty adamant about wanting to play more, and that didn’t bode well for Jerry Manuel.

Church was in the doghouse, and many believe that he still is.

This leads us to an interesting question. What is going to happen when Church is expected to come off of the disabled list this Sunday? Personally, I would be an advocate of sending the young Fernando Martinez down to the minors. They need him to get more seasoning in Triple A. It has been a pleasure to see him get some exposure to the Major League Level, but it is clear to me that he is not ready yet. At 20 years old, the Mets shouldn’t be in any rush with him.

Plus, Ryan Church could be the guy that they need more than ever.

But what happens if Church isn’t successful? There are several possibilities. First of all, the Mets might try to just ride him out and see what they get. Another option could be for Church to ride the bench. But the third, and I think a likely option if Church struggles, is for Ryan to get dealt for some pitching or young talent.

It should be interesting to see how the story of Ryan Church continues in New York. It would be very nice to see him succeed so he can make Jerry’s decisions very easy.

Omar Minaya has some serious decisions to make about the future of this team.

BY MIKE BARRETT
STACHE WRITER

Coming into this season, Mets GM Omar Minaya finally believed he had the team in place to bring the Mets to the World Series. He brought in arguably the leagues best closer in Francisco Rodriguez, former Seattle Mariners closer J.J. Putz to be the eighth inning set up man, and added some pitching depth with Tim Redding, Livan Hernandez and Freddy Garcia.

For the position players, Omar didn’t change much, believing the team that struggled mightily to produce in the clutch would improve this year. He would count on Carlos Delgado to continue his production of 2008, Daniel Murphy would be the hitting machine he looked to be, and David Wright and Jose Reyes would be consistent on the field.

Now, four days into June, it safe to say that aside from K-Rod, Omar’s plans have not panned out. Carlos Delgado is hurt along with Reyes, Garcia is released, J.J. Putz is the new Aaron Heilman, and Tim Redding is even worse.

Some great off season right?

With that being said and with half the team now hut or either sick, its time for Omar to show how he earned that extension and to prove he can be a top GM like he aims to be.

It’s time to shake things up a bit and make some moves.

The first move Omar should make is to find a place where Putz can close. There are teams out there searching for a closer and Putz has expressed desire to close, especially with his saying that he “doesn’t have his adrenaline for the eighth inning”. The way he is pitching though, it may be hard to find a suitor but that’s why Omar gets paid the big bucks. Besides, the way Bobby Parnell has pitched, the Mets may be better off getting rid of Putz and let Parnell have the eighth inning.

The next move is to find a true, power threat who can play the corner outfield spot everyday. Some one that can hit the long ball or at least strike some fear into pitches because the Mets can’t expect Gary Sheffield to keep his level of play up. There should be some outfielders that will be made available, and Omar needs to explore every possibility.

Last but certainly not least, Omar needs to find a pitcher to round out the rotation. Johan has been great as per the norm, Pelfrey and Maine have been decent, and Livan has been Livan. It’s safe to say that Ollie Perez will be a question mark the rest of the season, so a three starter is needed. My money is put on that Omar will look into Ben Sheets if he is healthy or, as mentioned earlier in the year, Aaron Harang, who could be made available by the Reds.

If June comes and goes and no moves are made, it is safe to say that the Mets season could be in jeopardy, as well as Omar’s job. I know its tough to blame someone not on the field, but this man choose to bring these players in for the most part. So if they cant get it done, it pretty much reflects the idea the Omar can’t get it done. So for now, while the Mets continue to field a team that looks like they belong in the College World Series, Met fans will have to sit and wait to see if Omar will field a team that can make all fans believe he is the general manager we want him to be.