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New York Mets 2007: Get Metsmerized!

post #1 of 113
4/3/07 at 5:38pm
Thread Starter 
The team to beat in the National League comes back with a more balanced lineup, and a better—you heard me—starting rotation.

Lineup
1. Jose Reyes - SS
2. Paul LoDuca - C
3. Carlos Beltran - CF
4. Carlos Delgado - 1B
5. David Wright - 3B
6. Moises Alou - LF
7. Shawn Green - RF
8. Jose Valentin - 2B

Starting Rotation
1. Tom Glavine
2. Orlando Hernandez
3. John Maine
4. Oliver Perez
5. Mike Pelfrey

Bullpen
1. Billy Wagner
2. Aaron Heilman
3. Scott Schoeneweis

What people who rag on the 2007 New York Mets' starting pitching don't realize is how bad things really were last year. Sure, people remember Pedro Martinez initially spearheading the group, but they certainly don't remember the innings thrown by the likes of Jose Lima, Geremi Gonzalez, Alay Soler and Victor Zambrano.

New York Mets Starters posted a 4.67 ERA (8th in the NL) in 2006, and I'm sorry, but you're going to have a hard time convincing me that this year's rotation is going to be worse than that.
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post #2 of 113
4/3/07 at 10:12pm
Agreed. Nice to know things aren't bad enough that the Mets have to have Jose Lima on speed-dial. Bummed out that the formerly muscular middle relief is no longer as intimidating, as I would have liked that strength to have allowed Aaron Heilman a few starts down the road, but otherwise, I like this team, and I'll be pleased as punch if Oliver Perez even remains in the rotation.
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post #3 of 113
4/5/07 at 11:38am
Thread Starter 
The St Louis Cardinals are definitely down right now, but damn if that wasn't an impressive series. The defense, the situational hitting, the starting pitching, and just when you started to wonder about the Mets vaunted offense?

They put up a ten spot.

And how about that starting pitching?

1. Tom Glavine - 6IP, 1ER, 6H, 2K, 1BB
2. Orlando Hernandez - 7IP, 1ER, 5H, 0K, 2BB
3. John Maine - 7IP, 0ER, 1H, 6K, 2BB
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post #4 of 113
4/5/07 at 2:37pm
If the Mets starting rotation stays moderately healthy, the least Mets fans should expect is the NLCS.
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post #5 of 113
4/6/07 at 2:22pm
Thread Starter 
I don't know if everyones fleeing from the Phillies bandwagon just yet, but I sure as hell never understood the Philly love to begin with. The Phillies are a perennial disappointment just waiting to happen.

The Braves will always be the team I'm most afraid of, and this weekend's series will say far more about the Mets than their sweep of the Cardinals.
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post #6 of 113
4/6/07 at 5:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoNkaholic
I don't know if everyones fleeing from the Phillies bandwagon just yet, but I sure as hell never understood the Philly love to begin with. The Phillies are a perennial disappointment just waiting to happen.

The Braves will always be the team I'm most afraid of, and this weekend's series will say far more about the Mets than their sweep of the Cardinals.
I totally agree with you. Until the Phillies win something Jimmy Rollins needs to shut the hell up. The Braves are the team I fear the most as well with the bullpen they have they will be extremely tough to beat anytime they are leading after 6 innings.
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post #7 of 113
4/6/07 at 5:42pm
I look at the bandbox the Phillies play and their pitching staff, and I come to the conclusion that they are the NL East version of the Cubs. 81-81, write it down!
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post #8 of 113
4/7/07 at 4:12am
Well, Oliver Perez certainly looked stellar tonight. 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 Ks, 0 BBs. I say that again...0 BBs. This was Ollie Perez, right?

I never quite understood all the negativity about our starting pitching. Maine and Perez and Pelfrey HAVE to be at least as good as Trachsel, Zambrano, and take your pick between Alay Soler, Dave Williams, Jose Lima, Brian Bannister, I could go on.

Pretty great start to the season. I'm really loving the lack of fielding errors, as well. This team just looks locked in.
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post #9 of 113
4/7/07 at 11:41am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Arkady
Well, Oliver Perez certainly looked stellar tonight. 7 IP, 1 ER, 6 Ks, 0 BBs. I say that again...0 BBs. This was Ollie Perez, right?

I never quite understood all the negativity about our starting pitching. Maine and Perez and Pelfrey HAVE to be at least as good as Trachsel, Zambrano, and take your pick between Alay Soler, Dave Williams, Jose Lima, Brian Bannister, I could go on.

Pretty great start to the season. I'm really loving the lack of fielding errors, as well. This team just looks locked in.
I guess the negativity comes from our top 2 starters are over 40 years old and Pedro being out til late July atleast. Its only early but so far so good we have looked awesome.
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post #10 of 113
4/7/07 at 1:36pm
Thread Starter 
I loved the Oliver Perez trade the day it went down, and seeing his progression, from his first start with the Mets, to game 7 of the NLCS, to yesterday's start, its just a wonderful thing to watch.
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post #11 of 113
4/7/07 at 9:20pm
Oliver Perez looked stellar his first start last year. I know, he was on my fantasy team. I turned down some pretty good early trade offers for him. Take a look at what he did the rest of the year.
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post #12 of 113
4/8/07 at 2:38am
Thread Starter 
Oh, trust me, I remember how Oliver Perez pitched last season, especially as a member of the New York Mets. The Pittsburgh Pirates basically destroyed the kid, constantly tinkering with his mechanics, to the point that, by this time last season, he was well on his way to a demotion.

But you know what? He got better with the Mets, his peripherals improved with every outing*, and he appeared to gain more and more confidence in his stuff.

That is something to get excited about, especially coming off of a performance like friday night's.

*
2005-2006 Pittsburgh Pirates
K/9 - 7.94
K/BB - 1.30

2006 New York Mets
K/9 - 10.06 (+26.7%)
K/BB - 2.41 (+85.4%)

Let alone the fact that Oliver Perez's fastball stopped breaking 90 while he was a member of the Pirates in recent years, suffice it to say, the Oliver Perez on the Mets differs greatly from the Oliver Perez that pitched for the Pirates in 2005-2006.
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post #13 of 113
4/8/07 at 5:11pm
Thread Starter 
And the Mets true weakness, for now at least, becomes glaringly apparent...

Their bullpen.

With Aaron Heilman coming off of surgery, Guillermo Mota out for 50 games, and Duaner Sanchez going under the knife, the Mets are significantly weaker in the pen.
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post #14 of 113
4/9/07 at 1:39am
Seriously.

I miss Chad Bradford, bring back my double play-forcing submariner

I blame all the bandwagon fans
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post #15 of 113
4/11/07 at 1:29am
Jesus, Glavine's gone 20 years without being placed on the DL? That's amazing...
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post #16 of 113
4/16/07 at 4:29pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Subotai
Jesus, Glavine's gone 20 years without being placed on the DL? That's amazing...
It is pretty impressive, hell, until he got into an accident riding a cab to Shea a couple years back, he hadn't ever missed a scheduled start.

John Maine and Oliver Perez weren't anywhere near as effective in week two as they were in week one, and Pelfrey was shakey at best. Nothing to be overly concerned about, clearly, but a tad dissapointing nonetheless. While Maine was able to work out of a few jams, he simply couldn't regain control of his fastball. Perez, on the otherhand, lost control of just about everything so suddenly that I couldn't help but be shocked.

The bullpen, though, hrmmm... if Burgos and Smith are even close to this good, it may be in good shape afterall.

Anyway, to give an idea of what I expect from this rotation:

Tom Glavine - 185IP 3.75ERA
John Maine - 175IP 4.00ERA
*Oliver Perez - 165IP 4.25ERA
El Duque - 125IP 4.00ERA
Mike Pelfrey - 125IP 4.50ERA

*Oliver Perez can be absolutely anything, put up an ERA between 3.75-4.75 if he pitches a full season, or, hell, find himself in the minors by season's end.
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post #17 of 113
4/21/07 at 3:09pm
Ollie Perez might be baseball's greatest enigma. One week he walks the whole team, the next he throw 90% of his pitches for strikes. Hopefully Peterson can straighten him out.
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post #18 of 113
4/22/07 at 1:14am
Thread Starter 
Hopefully this isn't just a Braves thing. ;-)
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post #19 of 113
4/25/07 at 1:00am
Incredible win tonight.

ENDY!
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post #20 of 113
5/3/07 at 4:30pm
Thread Starter 
I can't think of the last series loss thats left me this jazzed about the team.

Why?
- David Wright's bat is suddenly alive and kicking.
- Oliver Perez continues to befuddle his critics.
- Joe Smith has singlehandedly made every Met fan forget about Chad Bradford.
- Mike Pelfrey had his first quality start.

The injuries hurt, obviously, and I'm concerned by Valentin's far more than El Duque's, but the positives greatly outweigh the negatives.
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post #21 of 113
5/14/07 at 11:12am
Pelfrey had a quality start? i musta missed it.

and so did the rest of the Mets organization apparently.

another big plus for the mets (cause i count Pelfrey goin back to AAA a plus) is Delgado finding his swing a month late. Bout time!
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post #22 of 113
5/14/07 at 12:09pm
Thread Starter 
Problem with Pelfrey is, El Duque will be back before he has any further opportunity to prove himself. Unless Sosa spits the bit, I can't imagine him working himself back into the rotation anytime soon.
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post #23 of 113
5/14/07 at 1:25pm
no, the problem with Pelfrey is that in 6 starts he went 0-5 with an ERA over 6 and a WHIP of 1.75. He had plenty of chances to prove himself.
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post #24 of 113
5/15/07 at 3:04pm
This team just continues to impress me. I can't wait to see them crush the Yanks this weekend!
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post #25 of 113
5/18/07 at 11:06pm
Thread Starter 
And Oliver Perez finally puts up back-to-back quality starts. A great game from Ollie, given he didn't really have his best stuff (and neither did Pettite, who also had a rather gutty outing).

Oh, lest I forget, Endy Chavez is MAGIC, but that's neither here nor there.

Hopefully the RedSox hold up their end of the bargain.
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post #26 of 113
5/19/07 at 12:22am
hopefully endy will get more time. willie says he loves him. lets show some love.

el duque comes back soon. thank god. that dude is 98 years old and still throws a butterfly curveball that he learned from his days in the deadball era. i'll take him and his medical bills over pelfrey any day.
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post #27 of 113
5/19/07 at 12:23am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoNkaholic
And Oliver Perez finally puts up back-to-back quality starts. A great game from Ollie, given he didn't really have his best stuff (and neither did Pettite, who also had a rather gutty outing).
I actually opened a bottle of champagne, I was so proud of Oliver Perez. Of course, I was more proud of myself for giving him another chance after he gutshot me last year in fantasy baseball.
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post #28 of 113
5/19/07 at 2:09am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by 555
hopefully endy will get more time. willie says he loves him. lets show some love.
Honestly, I'd much rather see Carlos Gomez, or Lastings Milledge (whenever he gets off of the DL). Endy Chavez is just so perfect in his current role, I'd hate to tinker with him, and the Mets really need to know what they've got in their corner outfield prospects.
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post #29 of 113
5/19/07 at 1:04pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoNkaholic
Honestly, I'd much rather see Carlos Gomez, or Lastings Milledge (whenever he gets off of the DL). Endy Chavez is just so perfect in his current role, I'd hate to tinker with him, and the Mets really need to know what they've got in their corner outfield prospects.

You mean his current role of never being used? the man is hittin .352 in 80 at bats so far. his defense is sick, and he's fast on the bases. he needs more playing time.

im a huge lastings fan, but he needs the rest of this season to finish incubating before bringing him up full time. and he needs to not make bad rap albums. cause thats just embarassing.

as for gomez, i dunno, i'd be down for seeing more of him, he's played even less than endy so far.
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post #30 of 113
5/19/07 at 11:02pm
Mets - 10, Yankees - 7

how bout that Endy Chavez? 4 for 5, 2 runs and 1 RBI. the man is a BEAST! Plus he breaks Rasner's finger in the first inning and forces the yanks to go to their bullpen in the first inning.

and how bout that Schoeneweis making things interesting? nothing like givin up back to back homers to make a game exciting again. ass.

sweep! sweeeeeeeep!
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post #31 of 113
5/20/07 at 12:50am
Thread Starter 
I've hated how Willie uses Schoeneweis from day one. I don't know if this a front office decision, or if Willie truly believes Schoeneweis is capable of getting right handed batters out, but either way, its about time someone realized that hes a glorified LOOGY and used him as such.

2007 Splits:
vs. Left .182AVG .308OBP .182SLG .490OPS
vs. Right .278AVG .413OBP .583SLG .996OPS

2004-2006 Splits:
vs. Left .220AVG .295OBP .268SLG .563OPS
vs. Right .295AVG .374OBP .472SLG .846OPS

This ain't fucking rocket science.

As for Milledge vs. Gomez, Milledge should be back on this team the instant he gets off of the DL, and, assuming Alou takes his usual trip to the DL, or Shawn Green finally realizes that he is, in fact, Shawn Green, he should be given playing time at one of the corners for the foreseeable future. Why? Because hes already raked at every level of minor league ball, and Gomez is still raw, and has shown nowhere near the bat Milledge has at any level.


Quote:
Originally Posted by 555
sweep! sweeeeeeeep!
Word.
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post #32 of 113
5/24/07 at 2:24am
Thread Starter 
Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

The day the Mets realized that they may have just found themselves an ace.
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post #33 of 113
5/24/07 at 10:45am
you think? 3 in a row is quite nice, but i wouldnt put him in the Ace spot just yet. Hell, i'd put Maine over Perez this year. but he did look friggin HOT didn't he? With The Duke back by next week, the Mets will have spots 1-4 on lockdown.

now how about that fifth position?
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post #34 of 113
5/24/07 at 11:39am
Thread Starter 
I've always been higher on Perez than Maine, mostly due to stuff, but also due to the fact that he has had this sort of success at the major league level before. I was confident in Perez last night, he was the Met I wanted out there on the mound, and he delivered.

And being the one Met starter that completely befuddles the Atlanta Braves doesn't hurt.
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post #35 of 113
5/24/07 at 11:53am
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoNkaholic
And being the one Met starter that completely befuddles the Atlanta Braves doesn't hurt.
you're right there, it truly is awesome how he seems to have their number.

i've loved Maine, tho, since that spectacular 20+ inning stretch of shut out ball he threw immediately after coming up from the minors last season. i always expected, looking at him and pictures of him, that he would puke behind the mound before throwing his first pitch of any game last year, cause he looked so nervous. and it would have been hysterical to see him throw up from nerves, and then pitch an amazing game. i don't see that this year. i see a confident pitcher going out there and attacking the strike zone like it called his mama fat. perez is getting there, too, and its a rather exciting time to be a fan of the ole metropolitans.
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post #36 of 113
5/24/07 at 12:01pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 555
you're right there, it truly is awesome how he seems to have their number.

i've loved Maine, tho, since that spectacular 20+ inning stretch of shut out ball he threw immediately after coming up from the minors last season. i always expected, looking at him and pictures of him, that he would puke behind the mound before throwing his first pitch of any game last year, cause he looked so nervous. and it would have been hysterical to see him throw up from nerves, and then pitch an amazing game. i don't see that this year. i see a confident pitcher going out there and attacking the strike zone like it called his mama fat. perez is getting there, too, and its a rather exciting time to be a fan of the ole metropolitans.

Maine has been great so far. However the past 3 starts he has had have not been impressive. Hopefully its just a bad stretch and he will get back to form. As far as attacking the strike zone though you are wrong the guy is on pace for 114 walks this year. You keep doing that and you get in trouble. He was getting away with it his first 5 or 6 starts but the past three he hasnt been so lucky. Perez of the two is who I want to have the ball as of right now. If we are going to talk about aces though Glavine is still the guy. He is way more consistent than both atleast you know he is never going to throw a horrible game and will always keep the Mets in it.

We just need Pedro back. Pedro, Glavine, Maine, Perez and El Duque. In the playoffs with our offense I cant see anyone in the NL keeping us from the World Series.
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post #37 of 113
5/24/07 at 12:07pm
you're right about the walks and his output in May in general. might be personal backlash from being named NL pitcher of the month in april and having his personal expectations go up. or hopefully its just one of those stretches that just about every pitcher hits (glavine will hit it after the all star break. he always falters a bit in the second half of the season).

and i was speaking in comparison to last year about Maine's pitching. I'm goin off of what Lo Duca has said from his observations behind the plate about Maine's control (Willie has said likewise). and its obvious from watching him. he was a lil more timid last year, tended to stay out of the strikezone. now he's not afraid to throw an 88 MPH fastball up in the zone on an 0-2 or 1-2 count.
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post #38 of 113
5/24/07 at 2:08pm
Thread Starter 
Maine's BB/9 raised a red flag, even while he was winning, but what really concerned me was the number of homers he gave up last season. This year? Maine has apparently kept the homeruns down at the expense of his BB/9.

Given Maine's drastically changed approach this season, and his professional track record, I'm willing to disregard his recent troubles... but if he can't get his walk rate under control without causing his homerun totals to balloon...

I don't know about you guys, but that would be some serious grounds for concern.
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post #39 of 113
5/25/07 at 3:26pm
From "Yahoo! MLB Experts Blog"

Quote:
Mike Pelfrey allowed four hits and a run in six innings for Triple-A New Orleans on Wednesday as he attempts to pitch his way back into the New York Mets' rotation. Better, as far as Mets officials are concerned, is Pelfrey touched 94 mph with his fastball. One of their concerns with Pelfrey during his month with the big club (0-5, 6.53 ERA) was that he'd stopped pitching off a fastball that at one time he cranked regularly to 97. He went back to Triple A with instructions to throw fewer two-seamers and more four-seamers.
Four hits and a run in 6? that aint bad. better than clemens anyway. this guy will make me uneasy every time he steps on the mound for NY.
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post #40 of 113
5/25/07 at 5:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 555
From "Yahoo! MLB Experts Blog"



Four hits and a run in 6? that aint bad. better than clemens anyway. this guy will make me uneasy every time he steps on the mound for NY.

The thing is the guy has talent and he is young we have to give him time. His problems in the majors I would say is most likley a confidence issue. He dicked around to much instead of just trusting his stuff and going after guys. I think we have to be patient with him we dont want another Kasmir deal all over again.
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post #41 of 113
5/25/07 at 9:25pm
yeah, i hear all that. and ive heard ALOT about his "stuff." but i've never seen it. i have, however, seen the devil rays rock him in a preseason game. the devil rays.

i really hope he gets his confidence and becomes hot shit for the mets. nothing would make me happier. but he doesnt have THAT much time. not with El Duque coming back tonite, Ollie being hot and Pedro still scheduled to make it back in august after the all star break. those three plus tom and john and the mets have a solid 5. and pelfrey is back in Naw'leans and pitchin for the Zephyrs.
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post #42 of 113
5/25/07 at 10:29pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by 555
yeah, i hear all that. and ive heard ALOT about his "stuff." but i've never seen it. i have, however, seen the devil rays rock him in a preseason game. the devil rays.

i really hope he gets his confidence and becomes hot shit for the mets. nothing would make me happier. but he doesnt have THAT much time. not with El Duque coming back tonite, Ollie being hot and Pedro still scheduled to make it back in august after the all star break. those three plus tom and john and the mets have a solid 5. and pelfrey is back in Naw'leans and pitchin for the Zephyrs.
I hear ya there about not really being needed this year. I am more talking about next year or even the year after. We have two pitchers over 40 and a 36 year old coming off rotator cuff reconstruction. If Pelfrey can get his act together along with Maine and Perez the Mets could have a really great 1-2-3 punch for the next 4 or 5 years.
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post #43 of 113
5/26/07 at 1:30am
Thread Starter 
I actually heard that the actual outing wasn't as impressive as the results. Pelfrey was apparently all over the place with his command, even though it didn't show up in the boxscore. I'll take the results, but they were, apparently, deceiving. As for Pelfrey's stuff, he has one pitch. Now if I were to pick one pitch to have, a hard sinking fastball would be up there, but his secondary stuff is seriously lacking.

The guy to really get excited about is Fernando Martinez, who at 18 is now hitting .303/.365/.408 in AA.
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post #44 of 113
5/26/07 at 1:42pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Wease
I hear ya there about not really being needed this year. I am more talking about next year or even the year after. We have two pitchers over 40 and a 36 year old coming off rotator cuff reconstruction. If Pelfrey can get his act together along with Maine and Perez the Mets could have a really great 1-2-3 punch for the next 4 or 5 years.
true enough.

and for the record, Heilman is a fuck. He gives up a run in his one inning, allows the marlins to tie after The Duke fucking SMOKED the fishes (his breaking ball had 18-24 inches on it, it was SICK!) and gave up 2 hits, shut em out, Heilman fucking BLOWS it like he always does, and then he gets the win when the mets score big in the 9th. The Duke deserved that win, and Heilman got it instead.

this pisses me off extra cause Hernandez is on my fantasy team, and i coulda used the win. fucking Heilman.

anyway, nice to El Duque back and mean. And Martinez is saying he's ready to start throwing from mound, and he's confident he'll be able to throw in the mid 90s in August. if this pitching can solidify, there's really nothing stopping them.
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post #45 of 113
5/27/07 at 10:13am
Quote:
Originally Posted by 555
true enough.

Martinez is saying he's ready to start throwing from mound, and he's confident he'll be able to throw in the mid 90s in August. if this pitching can solidify, there's really nothing stopping them.
Thats great news. Although I think Pedro is being a little optimistic about throwing in the mid 90s he hasnt thrown that hard in about 4 years. I would be happy if he was throwing 90. He was lucky the past couple of years to be even hitting high 80's. The thing is though he was still awesome throwing that if he can even get back to 90-92 he would easily be a top 5 pitcher again.
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post #46 of 113
5/27/07 at 2:41pm
yeah, his stuff is still good and he can paint the edges pretty fucking well, so he can get away with the 88 MPHers. But damn, if he comes back firing em out at 93-95, that'll be some hot shit.
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post #47 of 113
5/29/07 at 12:41pm
Thread Starter 
So, after sweeping the Florida Marlins, the New York Mets are actually ahead of last year's pace. Oh how fun it is to have a starting rotation again.
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post #48 of 113
5/29/07 at 1:10pm
100% agree. And the Braves are beating the mets, but that won't matter when they keep doing things like losing 11 out of 14, and losing series' (or being swept completely) to the Phils and Nats.

And im loving that the Brew-crew, after spending April whooping up on the NL Central, went out and got spanked by the rest of the league (7-7 against the East, 3-6 against the West).
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post #49 of 113
5/30/07 at 12:07am
Holy Shit! What an ending!
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post #50 of 113
5/30/07 at 1:00am
Thread Starter 
Seriously, I went from wanting to run Willie Randolph out of Baseball after he left Schoeneweis in too long, to complete and total confidence once Armando Benitez entered the game, to utter despair after Carlos Beltran's ground out... and then, Armando reminded us all why he is no longer a member of the New York Metropolitans.

Besides the ending, though, that was a highly entertaining game from start to finish. Lincecum looked downright filthy, Ollie fought through some early troubles, and there is something absolutely supernatural about Omar Vizquel's glove.
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