Cutnpaste: – Oliver Perez, Chris Young, Pat Misch, Taylor Buchholz, Duke Snider

Ollie:

 
During the final moments of Oliver Perez’s fourth-inning meltdown Sunday, the Champion Stadium loudspeakers blared “The Twilight Zone” theme. In reality, Perez was standing on the mound, but his head always seems to be in some alternate universe that defies explanation. One minute, Perez is striking out Dan Uggla with a 73-mph slider. The next, he’s walking three straight batters, the last with the bases loaded on a full-count pitch to David Ross. Perez is thoroughly unpredictable, and for that reason, it will be very difficult for the Mets to trust him in any role – starter, long reliever or specialist.

 
http://mobile.newsday.com/inf/infomo;JSESSIONID=BF04A146A95D9158E84E.3074?site=newsday&view=sports_item&feed:a=newsday_5min&feed:c=sports&feed:i=1.2717759

 

Chris Young:

 
Last spring, before his shoulder betrayed him, Chris Young planned to call Curt Schilling. Young hoped to pick the brain of Schilling, the former ace, about a pitch he mastered, the split-fingered fastball. But then Young’s health intervened and his season was redirected. He never spoke with Schilling. A year later, healthy and throwing well for the Mets, he has the time to fiddle with the splitter as he competes for a position in the starting rotation.
http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2011/02/mets_pitcher_chris_young_looks.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

 

Pat Misch:
Manager Terry Collins indicated an awareness of MLB’s preference to have teams play a reasonable number of regulars in away games and also to have enough pitching in away games so that ties can be avoided. The Mets adhered to both directives Sunday, starting Angel Pagan, Ike Davis and Josh Thole — regulars all — and having Chris Young as their starting pitcher. Pat Misch pitched in relief. Though Collins made a point of saying Misch still is a candidate to start, he also noted that Misch’s pitch repertoire and resilient arm make him well-suited for relief work. Misch’s preference is to be a big league pitcher, regardless of role.

 
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20110227&content_id=16751748¬ebook_id=16756404&vkey=notebook_nym&c_id=nym&partnerId=rss_nym

 

Taylor Buchholz:
Taylor Buchholz is currently dealing with hamstring tightness, but doesn’t expect to miss any time. At least it’s not his arm, right? Buchholz, 29, has made just nine major league appearances since undergoing Tommy John surgery in June of 2009. The good news is that he tossed two scoreless innings and notched three strikeouts in the Mets’ Grapefruit League opener Saturday against the Braves. If healthy, he should crack this bullpen.

 
http://www.rotoworld.com/sports/mlb/baseball?r=1

 

The Duke:
Born in 1926, which made him more or less five years older than Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, Edwin Donald Snider was the first of the trio to arrive on the major league scene, and the first to depart, but in his heyday, he was the centerpiece of a lineup that dominated the National League. Snider was the top slugger and typical number three hitter in a lineup that included fellow future Hall of Famers Robinson, Roy Campanella, and Pee Wee Reese, the anchor of a team that won five pennants from 1949 through 1956—and could have added two more had it not been for losses on the final days of the 1950 and 1951 seasons.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13075

 

Cutnpaste: – Chipper on the Mets, Bobby Valentine, Oliver Perez, Aaron Heilman, Luis Castillo

Chipper on the Mets:

 
“The Mets have talent,” Jones said. “They’ve got guys over there who can swing the bat. They’ve got good young arms. If they hang around until Johan gets back, who knows what can happen? This is a very competitive division, night in and night out, one that certainly rivals the A.L. East.”

 
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/2011/02/chipper-jones-state-of-the-east

 

Bobby Valentine:

 
A vocal portion of the New York Mets fan base wanted the organization to hire Bobby Valentine as manager last offseason. That did not happen, but that does not mean Valentine will not be back roaming Citi Field. Valentine has spoken with serious financial backers about lining up a bid to buy at least a portion of the Mets, a baseball official told ESPNNewYork.com. “I’’ve talked to a number of people interested in purchasing part of the New York Mets, but I’m not formally with any group that is actively pursuing this venture,” Valentine said Sunday night

 
http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/news/story?id=6166294

 

Oliver Perez:
The $36 million lefthander’s 2011 Grapefruit League debut presented a compelling argument against that possibility. Despite all his work in the Mexican winter league, his early arrival at spring training and earnest commitment to improvement, Perez could not get his fastball over 86 mph – according to the stadium radar gun, he reached that velocity once – and regularly resided at 84 mph while once again struggling to find the strike zone. A three-run fourth for the Braves included a bases-loaded walk, and ended in a baserunning bailout when Joe Mather stumbled into a two-out rundown.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2011/02/28/2011-02-28_oliver_perez_has_horrendous_2011_grapefruit_league_debut_for_mets_fastball_tops_.html?r=sports/baseball/mets

 

Aaron Heilman:
Aaron Heilman worked a pair of scoreless innings Saturday in his start versus the Rockies. Heilman was promised a chance to start by the Diamondbacks. He’ll have to outpitch two from the group of Zach Duke, Armando Galarraga and Barry Enright this spring in order to have a chance, and even then, Arizona might prefer to keep him in the pen. He did get off to a nice start today, and it didn’t hurt his case that Duke gave up one run and five hits in two innings after taking over in the third. Still, no one is going to be making judgments based on the first week of spring training games.
http://www.rotoworld.com/sports/mlb/baseball?r=1

 

Luis Castillo:
There is still a long way to go, and it’s an uphill battle for both Castillo and Oliver Perez to win jobs with the team, but honestly, I want them to succeed, because at the end of the day, they’re members of the team, so if they can find their way again and perform, that will translate into success for this team, which is ultimately all I care about.
http://www.metsblog.com/2011/02/27/luis-castillo-looks-solid-and-fit

 

I May Be Wrong, But… Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Jason Bay, Kyle Allen, Yohan Almonte, Robert Carson,Mark Cohoon, Jeurys Familia, Ryan Fraser, Matt Harvey, Brandon Moore, Greg Peavey, Aderlin Rodriguez, Wilfredo Tovar, Albert Cordero, Blake Forsythe, Darrell Ceciliani, Matt den Dekker, Cesar Puello, Cory Vaughn, Eric Campbell. Robert Carson, Reese Havens, Brad Holt, Jefry Marte, Eric Niesen, Francisco Pena, Sean Ratliff

1. www.deepleagues.com listed the top 100 fantasy prospects for 2011 and the Mets landed five on the list… #33 SP Jenrry Mejia, #62 C Josh Thloe, #66 OF Fernando Martinez, #75 OF Lucas Duda, and #90 2B Brad Emaus. Five is well above the average which is a great thing, and it’s kewl to finally see Thole getting some prospect props. This list is based on players that could make a difference in the organization in 2011 so Mets officials should be thrilled to see that 5% of the players listed out of the entire league were Mets.

 

2. It really doesn’t matter if you buy into all this rah-rah shit, like bowling… but, what matters is you go along with the program. Jose Reyes not showing up at the lanes saying he overslept, and Luis Castillo saying he’s going home from practice “on time to sleep and eat” on Monday… well, you’re just not sending the right signs to new management. I was a new manager eleven times in my career and I could tell you with 90% accuracy who wasn’t gonna make it by the first day I aboard. Herb Cohen, author of “How To Negotiate Anything” called this person “the guru”. Say something in your first meeting that outlines something is going to be done differently and most of the people in the room will look in the direction of this person to see his or her facial reaction. This is your “guru” and, according to Cohen, you should get rid of this person right then and there. You’ll never turn this troublemaker. Never.

 

3. What’s the opposite of this? Well, what about Jason Bay coming to camp and vowing to turn around his bad stats of 2010. THAT’s what you want to hear in ST, not Jose snoring.

 

4. I’ve got to spend a few more minutes on Reyes. I loved the kid and no one created more runs when he led off an inning. Singles turned into doubles, doubles into triples and walks into stolen bases. You were almost guaranteed a 1-0 lead after one inning. Then came three Septembers ago when he demanded that his goombah, Carlos Gomez start in the pennant race. Willie said no, Jose hit .211 in September, and the rest was history. This was followed by two years of ticky injuries that seem to take a year to heal. I’ll give him this… when he did play, the magic was back and he gave it 110%, but he just didn’t seem to care to play enough anymore. Reyes has had his back patted since the day he arrived in camp and you can easily understand why his head Figuratively grew larger than Barry, but, IMO, he’s not a Met anymore and it’s time to get two prospects from a team that needs a former all-star that still is under 30.

 

General Opinion:  here’s your top 25 fantasy shortstops:

 Hanley Ramirez, Florida Marlins

Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies

Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies

Derek Jeter, New York Yankees

Jose Reyes, New York Mets

Stephen Drew, Arizona Diamondbacks

Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers

Starlin Castro, Chicago Cubs

Miguel Tejada, San Francisco Giants

Rafael Furcal, Los Angeles Dodgers

Alexei Ramirez, Chicago White Sox

Yunel Escobar, Toronto Blue Jays

Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay Rays

Jhonny Peralta, Detroit Tigers

Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland Indians

Alcides Escobar, Kansas City Royals

Jed Lowrie, Boston Red Sox

J.J. Hardy, Baltimore Orioles

Juan Uribe, Los Angeles Dodgers

Erick Aybar, Los Angeles Angels

Ian Desmond, Washington Nationals

Yuniesky Betancourt, Kansas City Royals

Clint Barmes, Houston Astros

Marco Scutaro, Boston Red Sox

Reid Brignac, Tampa Bay Rays

 

Because of multiple players on the same team listed, that leaves eight teams (Minnesota,Oakland, Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and San Diego) witout a top shortstop.

 

I’m not trading Reyes to Atlanta, so the list drops to seven teams.

 

You can’t justify trading Reyes for either:

 

Minnesota: RHP Adrian Salcedo and RHP Kyle Gibson

Oakland: 2B Jamile Weeks and C Max Stassi

Seattle:  RHP  Michael Pineda and OF Johnemyn Chavez

Cincinnati:  C Deven Mesorasco and 1B Yonder Alonzo

St. Louis:   RHP Shelby Miller and 2B Dustin Ackley

Milwaukee: RHP Mark Rogers and RHP Cody Scapetta

San Diego:  CF Blake Tekotte and LHP Josh Spence

Come on…

 

5. Getting an invite to the STEP workout is a big deal in the Mets camp. This is when the top minor leaguers, considered the crème of the prospects in the organization, go their first organized practice and workout with each other up to March 5^th.

The list this year is Kyle Allen, Yohan Almonte, Robert Carson,Mark Cohoon, Jeurys Familia, Ryan Fraser, Matt Harvey, Brandon Moore, Greg Peavey, Aderlin Rodriguez, Wilfredo Tovar, Albert Cordero, Blake Forsythe, Darrell Ceciliani, Matt den Dekker, Cesar Puello, Cory Vaughn, Eric Campbell. Robert Carson, Reese Havens, Brad Holt, Jefry Marte, Eric Niesen, Francisco Pena, Sean Ratliff, and Josh Satin
These are the Mets minor leaguers that turn on… the Mets.

 

 

6. I’m starting to think we have too much media at spring training now. The latest is that Daniel Murphy is already losing the second base job. How the hell did he do that before a single pitch in ST. One of the beat guys reported that his “Met source” told him that the Mets are concerned with Murphy’s ability to play defense. Hey, I’M concerned about Murphy’s defense, but I’m willing to give him a shot in ST. What if he hits .400/.450/.750/1.100 in ST, but makes three more errors than anyone else that played the position?