glad to hear that.......maybe I'm just being pessimistic, but with el Duque and all of his problems, not a lot of faith in Perez, Pelfrey or Maine.........i mean their upside is huge, but i'm not counting on them being consistent.......and everytime I see Wagner this spring, he looks just like last year....not good, sanchez isn't going to be ready...and all of these guys they brought in as vets are gonna get axed (Park, Sele etc)......... i also think the Valentin thing at second is gonna bite us in the ass this year..see i'm setting the bar low, aiming to be pleasantly surprised!
I don't really care about spring training, but my impression is that the pitching is getting clearer, not more questionable - Glavine, Pelfrey, and Maine have all pitched very well, and Perez has also looked pretty good. I had absolutely no expectations ragarding Park and Sele, and Burgos was always a project. And, of course, they have Pedro coming back in August. Other than Sosa as long reliever, I really don't see what all of the angst is about - any team that is counting on top pitching from their #5 starter is in my mind kidding themselves. I will be surprised if the Mets run away from the division again this year, but I will also be surprised if they are not there in the mix at the end of the season.
Yes I think it is a good sign that the players that are crap show their colors now instead of in April. We came into this spring training with a real foggy picture of who will be in our rotation, now it is crystal clear. Last year, Pelfrey had problems with his secondary pitches, now he has a slider to compliment his fastball. People worried about Perez after the 1st ST game ever since he has been progressively more dominant. Glavine and Maine has been great and we replaced a submariner with a sidearmer who has shown upside in Smith. I think the doom and gloom talk is premature, sure this is a gamble, but this could also payoff big time.
Glavine Hernandez Maine Perez Adkins (gone for Pelfrey April 15th) Sosa Burgos Smith Heilman Feliciano Schoenweis Wagner LoDuca Delgado Valentin Reyes Wright Alou Beltran Green Castro Franco Easley Newhan Chavez something like that.. need Newhan and Easley I think because they can play both OF and IF, while Ben Johnson can only play the OF. I wish Franco would become a coach only.
Forgive me if this has been covered, but I'm just now turning my attention back to baseball. How do you guys think the pen will shape up this year? There are lots of new faces, so do think it will still be a strength like last year? Thanks
Just finished "The Bad Guys Won" by Jeff Pearleman...someone mentioned it here a while back. Best sports book I ever read! From the infamous flight from Houston back to New York after the NLCS to tickertape....absolutely the most fascinating story of equal parts debauchery and glory you'll ever read. Truly the end of an era when personalities were NOT manufactured. If these guys were alive in the 17th Century they'd have been sailing a pirate ship called "The F*** You, We're Great" Definitely gets you pumped on the threshold of a new season.
i think we should have hernandez sit till april 15th go glavine maine perez pelfrey until we need a 5th starter.
Glavine Hernandez Maine Perez Pelfrey Sele Smith Heilman Feliciano Schoenweis Wagner LoDuca Delgado Valentin Reyes Wright Alou Beltran Green/Milledge Castro Franco Easley Newhan Chavez My predicted lineup, I think that Green and Milledge is going to begin the season in a platoon
I don't like the idea of experimenting with Park while being stuck with Shawn Green after 2 weeks Although I do like that Smith and Pelfrey earned their spots
Let's hope the "possibly Park as the respective eighth- and seventh-inning setup relievers" is merely speculation on Marty's part and what the Mets really intend is Park as the garbage time seldom used reliever. At least the Mets don't seem inclined to shoehorn their two terrible relief acquistions into the bullpen, which is something to be thankful for, I guess. Of course they could've just, you know, not acquired them in the first place. It is sort of troubling that the Mets regard Chan Ho Park as a better option then Sanchez.
I hope you're not calling Burgos a "terrible relief acquisition". He's only 22 with outstanding ability. Not his fault KC rushed him to the majors after only 12 innings in AA when his secondary pitches clearly weren't ML-ready. Give the guy some time in AAA. He'll get better.
He is a younger, wilder Jorge Julio who can throw 100 mph but have no idea where it is going, basically a AAA project for us right now
Here's a Royals POV on Burgos Burgos may work out, he may not but at this point he's pretty terrible which is what I was trying to get across.
Great news for the Royals that the best they can do about their talented young pitchers is whine about how they aren't succeeding with tremendous talent. That's why he's in the minors right now. Maybe we can actually coach him, instead of over promoting him and basically telling him to wing it out there.
Everything I've read about Burgos suggests that the quality of his secondary pitches isn't the issue, rather that he's in love with his fastball and doesn't want to throw anything else. I've got to believe that the Royals tried to address this and were unable to for whatever reason. Maybe their coaches are incompetant. Maybe Burgos is an idiot. As I said, we'll find out.
