Nuclear Meltdown, Japan, Libya, the Economy… and Second Base

What’s wrong with the title?

 
I mean, the first four items mentioned are some serious shit, but the more I’m on line, the more I realize that the real story out there is who in God’s name is going to play friggin second base for the New York Mets.

 
First, it’s definitely Daniel Murphy, then, all of a sudden, everyone falls in love with Luis Castillo again.

 
Next we here that the manager hates Castillo and is going to name Luis Hernandez. But wait, Brad Emaus gets reported he’s the man, if Brad can’t do it, no one can.

 
Jordany Valdespin and Ruben Tejada fans keep tweeting they shouldn’t have been sent down and I’m waiting for Edgardo Alfonzo to ask for his yearly, ‘come on coach, give me another shot” plea.

 
Is this the best we can do, guys?

 
Most people think jobs are won in spring training. What they don’t realize is all ST is, is a place to be eliminated.

 
No baseball suit gives a rat’s ass what your batting average or fielding percentage is in March. If they did, David Wright would be sent down and Felipe Alou would have never played in the majors.

 

Here’s my opinion how this Mets second base thing works:

 
1. The job belongs to the last person that had it.
 

2. The brass does everything they can to find something they don’t like about the guy who was the last person to have the job.

 
3. If he shows up on time, he’s late.

 
4. If he’s quiet in the locker room, he’s not a team player.
 

5. If he laughs at a joke, he’s not taking the job serious enough.

 
6. If he laughs at a joke, that was in Spanish, he’s hiding something.

7. The manager’s job is to mention to one of the press guys a different name every day that impresses him at second base.

8. The reporter writes a story on it, but first tweets a tweet (God, I hate that expression…)

9. Next, 2397 other Mets writers and bloggers also tweet what the manager said.

10. The deflection has been accomplished and the team can get back to playing baseball.

Cutnpaste: – Luis Castillo, Sale, Wilmer Flores, Francisco Rodriguez, Daniel Murphy

Luis:

 

Let us consider the best case scenario for Luis Castillo. In 2009, he hit .302/.387/.346 in 580 PA with 20 stolen bases. He also scored just 77 runs at the top of a Mets lineup that was struggling to score at the time. The lineup is better now, but Castillo has sandwiched that season with two injury-plagued and ineffective campaigns that have had Mets fans calling for his head. Given Castillo’s fragile nature (he has spent 118 days out with injury since 2008) and his red-flag status for missing 15 or more games in 2011, he is a safe bet not to make a full season, which means he is very likely to miss significant time even if he hits at his best.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13159

 

Sale:
 

And here’s where Rosenthal’s speculation about Sternberg’s interest in buying the Mets—something also reported by the New York Post last week—could make some sense, and could help explain why we’re hearing renewed contraction talk. So far the Wilpons say they only want to sell a small cut of the team, something that would rule out Sternberg, who would only want majority control. But if Bernie Madoff trustee Irving Picard has his way, they’ll have to cough up more than $1 billion in damages, something they can’t handle without selling off the entire team (and, it’s likely, the SNY cable network as well).
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13153

 

Wilmer:
 

Wilmer Flores SS (Mets) 2.73 – Everyone says he will eventually move to third or the outfield as he fills out. He should hit for big time power with a good average. With David Wright at third, the outfield may be his best opportunity. If Jose Reyes leaves via free agency next year the Mets may give Wilmer a shot to stay at short at the major league level.
http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/2011/03

 

K-Rod:
Considering the dilemma the Mets face with Rodriguez’s contract, it’s not such a crazy idea. If they allow K-Rod to finish 55 games this season, his $17.5 million option for 2012 will automatically kick in. If they try to prevent that from happening by resting him excessively, it will elicit a fight from the players’ union.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704504404576184910081222664.html

 

Murph:
 

Of the two other competitors for the job, Daniel Murphy is the recognizable name because of his strong 2008 season. He hit .313/.397/.473 in 151 PA that year, then followed that up with a full season playing first base and a line of just .266/.313/.427. Murphy can avoid the strikeout, as his 11.6 percent career strikeout rate in the minors shows, but his power both in the majors (.161 career ISO) and minors (.157 career) has been merely average and Citi Park certainly is not going to do him favors. It also does not help that Murphy is coming off a right ACL sprain and still cannot find a position in the majors; he will try again at second base this season after having failed in left field. It would not surprise anyone to see him shifted away from the position early in the year, leaving your second base situation high and dry.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13159

 

Cutnpaste: – Oliver Perez, Jason Bay, Aaron Heilman, Daniel Murphy, Fernando Martinez

Ollie:

 
When he did get on the mound, Perez didn’t exactly light up the radar gun or do anything that would merit any excitement about his place on the Mets. But at least for a day he was able to show he wasn’t going to depart without a fight. After a dismal first outing – not to mention a bullpen session that showed no improvement – Perez managed to navigate his way through two scoreless innings against a St. Louis Cardinals squad that brought only one regular starting player without a run, allowing two hits, no walks and not getting a strikeout.
http://www.northjersey.com/sports/pro_sports/baseball/mets/030311_Mets_Oliver_Perez_hopes_latest_outing_gives_him_another_shot.html  

Jason Bay:
For Hudgens, the newly hired Mets hitting coach, perhaps none were more important to study than Jason Bay. Hudgens said he watched video of all of Bay’s plate appearances in 2010, all 401 of them. Now, the two are working together to fix a swing that so often seemed broken. After signing a four-year, $66 million contract in January 2010, Bay was a major disappointment last season. He hit just .259, with just six home runs and finished with a career-low .402 slugging percentage. A concussion in July ended his season.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704005404576176740732435786.html

 

Aaron Heilman:
Aaron Heilman is not kidding around when he says he wants to win a job in the starting rotation rather than the bullpen, where he’s been for the last five seasons. The D-backs right-hander tossed another three scoreless innings Wednesday afternoon at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, giving him five this spring. “Heilman was awesome,” D-backs manager Kirk Gibson said after his split squad’s 5-3 win over the Mariners. “He was pounding the zone. He’s certainly going for it.”
http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110302&content_id=16794526¬ebook_id=16796562&vkey=notebook_ari&c_id=ari

 

Murph:
Here in Spring Training, Murphy is in a four-way competition with Luis Castillo, Brad Emaus and Justin Turner for the starting second-base job, a gig he first began pursuing in the Minor Leagues last season. But Murphy has also logged Grapefruit League innings at third base, where he started Wednesday’s game against the Cardinals, and boasts experience both in left field and first base. If he misses out on the second-base job, Murphy could still make the team as a super sub of sorts, capable of backing up David Wright, Ike Davis and Jason Bay while providing a left-handed bat off the bench.
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110302&content_id=16794320&vkey=news_nym&c_id=nym&partnerId=rss_nym

 

F-Mart:
Five years and numerous injuries later Fernando Martinez is no longer, as Brian Costa wrote for the Wall Street Journal, a prodigy. This isn’t a surprise to me as I often questioned the praise for Martinez, who never showed the results his famous talents promised. Thus far, his best minor league season came in 2008 when he played 90 games, hit .292, with 8 homers and 43 RBI. I remember watching Martinez in Binghamton over the course of a weekend. Despite having a pleasant conversation with him in the locker room, I came away unimpressed with his play on the field. Yes, he was a great kid, unspoiled by the praise of being a top prospect, but he just didn’t appear to translate any of his tools into the game.
http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=34401