Bend Ya Knees: Week 1

In games through Sunday 4/6 Lastings was hitting at a .267/.313/.400 clip.

Our own Ryan Church? Why he was hitting a robust .381/.409/.524! Brian Schneider you ask? .333/.409/.333 - sure he's not slugger but he's a better OBP man than Lastings! Isn't that what Moneyball was all about!

WE FLEECED WASHINGTON BRO! ABSOLUTELY FLEECED THEM! Church is soooooooo much better than that rapper from Bradenton. And B-Schneid? Johnny Bench 2.0 may seem like a stretch but, hey he's THAT GOOD.

Addendum: Does anyone remember when Aaron Heilman was a key trading chip and/or integral part of the bullpen?

A Tale of Two LOOGYs

JP's recent post examining the Mets bullpen over at Blastings! Thrilledge got me thinking about the state of the 2008 bullpen. Besides overpaying for Jorge Sosa and the return of the Sanchez not much has been written on the relief corps. I found that to be ironic, seeing as the bullpen played a large role in the Collapse® of 2007.

From a - very - cursory look at the stats it looks like carrying both Pedro Feliciano and Scott Schoeneweis this season will be a mistake that will likely cost Joe Smith, Matt Wise, or Filthy Sanchez a roster spot.

While many people claimed that Feliciano solidified his spot last season as a legitimate reliever, his numbers against RHB proved that while he wasn't terrible against RHB - there were still far better options in the pen:

Feliciano vs. RHB:   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
                .221  .325  .371  .697 

He was much, much better against LHB (.168 BAA, .211 SLG, .483 OPS) - his problem like in 2006 was walking too many batters.

Compare the numbers of the other members of the bullpen against RHB last season to Feliciano's numbers against righties.

                 BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
Heilman:       .218  .263  .305  .568
Sosa:          .202  .253  .296  .549
Smith:         .266  .361  .359  .720
Sanchez ('06)  .179  .275  .226  .501
_____________________________________

                 BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
The Show:      .316  .390  .574  .963
Wagner:        .209  .268  .318  .587

It's clear that Feliciano holds RHB to around the same BA as the better RHP in the Mets pen, but when the RHB make contact they hit it a lot harder and further (he also walks a bunch of them). In fact, the only RHP in the bullpen that was worse against RHB was Smith, and PECOTA and ZiPS project him to be much improved in 2008.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that while Feliciano isn't terrible against righties - he isn't great either, and he shouldn't be facing them with so many other viable RHP options in the bullpen.

Because Schoeneweis' numbers against righties are so awful his value would be maximized by making him strictly a LOOGY as JP pointed out over at BT. If you need anymore proof check this out (hat tip to BT).

It would appear, however, that carrying him as a LOOGY would force Feliciano into bigger spots (non 1-2 out situations) against RHB. As we have seen, RHB reach base against him at a far higher clip than they do other members of the pen.

However, Omar did sign Schoeneweis for way too much money and Willie will probably give him another shot to get everyone out this year so we should probably all brace ourselves for more moonshots exiting Shea over the head of a angry and frustrated Scotty Show. I, for one, can't wait.

Sorry for the rambling. None of this matters anyway - the manager doesn't know how to use the bullpen. Thank you Joe Torre.

And It Continues...

The Mets are like your high school girlfriend who you always thought was a bit out of your league. She would tell you she really liked you and wanted to hang out but she was sick and then you would walk into the mall and see her making out with the captain of the football team. Your only thoughts would be, "I should have known, but thanks for leading me on bitch."

Thanks for leading us on Omar.

The Mets could have just saved the money they spent flying Omar and his crew to the Winter Meetings 2 weeks ago and just shoved it right back up their asses. Maybe they could have used it to not jack up my 7-pack price by $75....just a thought.

We all know already (thanks to MetsBlog and Metstradamus) that the Mets going after Santana was one big fucking joke. Thanks again guys, hell of an organization you're running in Flushing.

You see, I was under the impression that actually trying to get Santana would increase fan morale. I guess telling the fanbase that you're committed to winning and won't trade one of your young superstar infielders for Venezuela Johnny wouldn't be the "right thing to do."

So why not just lie to everyone instead? Inspire thousands of columns and comments on MetsBlog and normal amounts of columns and comments everywhere else by duping the fans into thinking that somehow the Twins were considering a package of F-Mart and Aaron Heilman's autographed Yadier Molina HR ball for the best LHP in the game over such other offers as the shoulda-been World Series MVP and two other top prospects or the once agreed-upon top pitching prospect in the game and two top prospects. We was duped.

In other news...Brian Schneider's wife is quite attractive and Matthew Cerrone was lucky enough to talk to her:

…lastly, i talked with his wife, jordan, for a few minutes, who is very sweet and seemingly quite excited to be in New York - and though they’re keeping their house down south, they are looking for a home either in Manhattan or in Connecticut like so many of his teammates…for what it’s worth, she prefers the city…

My only question for MetsBlog is why are state and borough names capitalized and not italicized but a real person's name remains uncapitalized and in italics?

We can only hope there will be enough cut-aways to Ms. Schneider in the stands with a horrified look on her face as Captain Red Ass and Da Edge combine to hot .750 with 42 HR over the 19 times the Mets battle the Nats - and you can see all these games from the Upper Reserved for only $55!!!

Thanks for systematically crushing our h

Blanton to Mets?

Via MLB Trade Rumors...Buster Olney is reporting that the Mets could have Blanton soon - if they agree to trade Gomez, Mulvey, and Heilman. I'm inclined to believe that Heilman could be just as decent a starter as Blanton if given the chance so this deal doesn't quite make sense. If this were Dan Haren it would be a different story, but Blanton is an innings eater who doesn't walk many guys. The caveat of course is that he doesn't strike many guys out either.

He also pitches in a pitchers park now as it is in Oakland, so the "Shea will do wonders for him" argument is weak. He's been an average pitcher in the AL (career ERA+ 105, career ERA of 4.10) who's good for 200+ innings. I don't think it's worth Gomez, Mulvey, and Heilman....do you?

Hope Springs...

All the thanks to Riding with Rickey for this...If he makes them, I'll place my order. Kinkos won't give me a reasonable price for blowing up the "Choked to Death" NY Post cover - featuring the unluckiest non-devastated taxi rider in the city.

Lastly, someone needs to get on the Lastings Milledge Facts and re-coordinate the color scheme...navy and red perhaps? I'm sure Metstradamus would be up to the task.

In other news concerning the still Victor Zambrano-less Metropolitans, Omar is upbeat and confident something will get done...to improve the team that is.

From David Lennon in Newsday:

"The fact that we are having dialogue, you know you're in the game," Minaya said. "But it's really hard to tell. I can tell you when these things develop, they develop quickly. There's a lot of back-and-forth going on and we're pretty much in the back-and-forth area."

Minaya found Aaron Heilman to be in great demand, and a National League official confirmed that there was talk about swapping him for Rockies lefthanded reliever Brian Fuentes, as first reported by Foxsports.com. Minaya is likely to need Heilman, however, in a bigger deal for the top starters on the market.

Now pay attention here: Lennon throws some of those scented wood shavings on the pile of vomit that was the Bartolo Colon/Livan Hernandez rumors. Is everyone paying attention? You can come in off the ledge now. Yes, I'm talking to you 'Damus, Rickey, and just about every other Met fan with half a brain.

If the Mets are unable to do that, Minaya did not sound very enthusiastic about the free-agent market, so it doesn't appear that adding Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon or the rehabbing Freddy Garcia is an appetizing fallback position. Rather than package pitching prospect Kevin Mulvey, the Mets could always give him the chance to win a rotation spot and skip the free agents.

The Legend Of Joe Smith

I knew there was a reason to go to a Marlins game

Despite a second straight loss to the Fish, there were a few positives to take away from tonight's game. Conversely there were a few negatives as well. Shall we?

Positives:

1. Mike Pelfrey settled in nicely after a shaky 1st inning. His command improved dramatically after he took some speed off his fastball. He went 6.1 solid innings and should have secured himself a few more starts.
2. David Wright began snapping out of his April daze after being moved up to the #2 hole, going 3-4 with his first HR since last July...well first HR of the season.
3. Joe Smith continues to amaze, improving his season-opening scoreless streak to 13 innings after coming in after Pelfrey in the 7th with two runners on base.
4. Carlos Delgado also picked up a couple of hits, going the other way both times and getting himself over the Mendoza line.
   

Negatives:

1. Aaron Heilman gave up a monster shot to the new Pat Burrell - Josh Willingham. Heilman has been erratic and inconsistent all season...If he's hurt, I'm with Metsradamus, put him on the DL.
2. Moises Alou doesn't look good at the plate (although he had another sparkling play in the field) since the shoulder situation on Saturday.
3. The hitting with RISP has been bad all year - .245 to be exact compared to a MLB-leading .287 overall), and it's starting to kill rallies now that the team isn't winning games in blowouts.

Overall it's not quite time to panic. If Pelfrey can be a reliable #5, than the team should be fine until Duque and Valentin get back.

Oliver looks to save the series tomorrow afternoon against Anibal Sanchez. It should be interesting to see if Willie keeps David Wright in the two hole or if he drops him back to fifth...it's more likely that David stays up top, with LoDuca probably getting the day game after the night game off.