Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Getcha Popcorn!! Mets Analysis!!!

Haha, I stole T.O.'s line! Getcha popcorn! This is actually terrific. Peter Botte at the Daily News did an article called "Ten Ways to Fix the Mets" today. Why is that terrific? Because I wanted to cover this situation, because I've got some ideas on how to fix the Mets too. So go read Pete's ideas if you want... but here are my ideas.

1) Jose Reyes: Here's the problem with Reyes. Teams have figured him out a little bit, and now it's time for him to adjust... except that he's not doing it. He's only 25 (and not related to Miguel Tejada) so this isn't an age/decline issue. It's that pitchers have learned that Reyes will chase the high ball and pop it up. On balls in the air, his speed is 100% negated. He needs to lay off and force them to come down, and then that average and OBP will likely jump another 20-30 points. Also, he needs to stop running every time he gets on base. I don't care how fast you are. If the pitcher and catcher KNOW you're going, they're going to catch you.

2) Aaron Heilman: Heilman never wanted to be a bullpen guy but ended up there because he was a bust as a starter. His trade value is shit right now, he's nearing free agency and he's pitching like shit.


Send him down to AAA, bring up Carlos Muniz for now. Start the process of convering Heilman to a starter again and let him spend the next month or two beating up on AAA hitters, looking good. He wants to start, so the transition will probably amp him up. Tout his improvement and rumor him as the "Mets Rotation Fix" for the second half. In other words, hype him and build up his value. Then see what you can get for him via trade, whether its prospects to replenish the system (assuming the team is 10+ games back by then) or something to help now (> 10 games back).


3) Mike Pelfrey: Pelfrey was overrated from the start and 81 Ks in 143 IP over 3 years = not the power pitcher he was supposed to be. Why? Because there's no movement on his ball... but that's besides the point.


Again, send him down. Let him beat up on AAA hitters and improve his value. By the deadline, you send him to the Cincinatti Reds with a guy like Jon Niese (in the minors) or maybe even Aaron Heilman for Adam Dunn. The Reds want to move Dunn because they can't pay him. The Mets can, and he'd help their offense a LOT.


4) Carlos Delgado: People want to cut his time. Dumb. People want to cut him outright. Also dumb. He's in the last year of his contract, so there are teams that will be willing to take a shot that he comes out of his funk. It might cost some money, but it'll still be less money than it costs to keep or cut Delgado, and maybe you get something useful back. Like maybe Rob Quinlan from Anaheim. Or Ryan Garko from the Indians. Lyle Overbay from Toronto.


In other words, somebody who's a few years younger, who might actually be able to help, because Delgado couldn't suck more if he was a vacuum cleaner with an Iron Man's Arc Reactor powering him.


5) The Outfield: Beltran, Church, Alou, Endy Chavez, Marlon Anderson, Angel Pagan, Brady Clark, Nick Evans, Damion Easley, garbage, trash, garbage. If you make the Pelfrey/Heilman-for-Dunn trade that I suggested... now you've got Beltran, Dunn, Church, Alou in that mix. That's not so bad, especially with Church and Alou platooning and Dunn hitting 40 bombs a year. Every at bat that's taken by Chavez, Anderson, Pagan, Clark, Evans or Easley is another nail in the Mets 2008 coffin.


6) Rotation and Bullpen: Santana and Maine are givens. Claudio Vargas has been decent. Perez should be better than he's been. And hopefully the combination of Pedro and Duque can fill in the blanks. It's the 5-starter, if you can find majors-average innings here, you're okay.


In the pen, Wagner's as good as you're going to get for now (although he should be banned from doing radio shows, and ordered to shut the fuck up forever.) Smith, Feliciano and Schoeneweis are solid arms. Muniz can probably give you good innings out of the minors. Eddie Kunz might also be able to help out of the minors. And why not a guy like Robert Parnell out of the minors as a long-man? Again, it would be better than what's already there.


So to summarize:



  • Reyes lays off the high stuff and stops running so much.

  • Delgado + Cash for Quinlan/Overbay/Garko/someone with a pulse.

  • Heilman + Pelfrey for Adam Dunn

  • Church + Alou platooning in the OF with Dunn and Beltran

  • Muniz + Kunz + maybe Parnell in the bullpen.

  • Billy Wagner is not allowed to talk.

It can all be done within the next 2 months, and if the Mets are still within 7 or 8 games by the time it's all done, they might be able to mount a second-half charge at the overachieving Marlins and the still-sorta-shitty Phillies for the NL East.


I've done my best to be objective here, as I hate the Mets. My original suggestion for fixing them was going to be to disband them... but I tried to think like a GM. Feel free to comment your opinions. And just because I can...

And for the record, this vid was made by an alleged Mets fan... so I'm trying to be gentle with you guys. Scroll down and look at the ones the Cubs and White Sox got... heh.

1 comment:

  1. It's me, Lisa from the Yankee forum. You can click on my name to see my blog, and I'll add you to my blogroll :)

    ReplyDelete