Now that’s out of the way, lets talk about the game. There was a lot to be happy about today as the Mets younger players had some good performances in the Mets 4-2 Win over the Braves. Mainly players like Ike Davis (2-3, R, 2B) impressed with his hitting (with Feliciano 2-2, RBI, BB, and Tejeda). R Adams also hit the first homer for the Mets this Spring, as he knocked a bomb out of the stadium.

Pitching wise, Figueora, Livingston, and Igarashi all had good outings today. Nelson today got into a jam in the second inning, but he was able to get of it with striking out the side and Igarashi got a save.

Overall, Good lookin game for the Mets!

Kernan of the Post reports that according to Minaya, Davis could be the star of camp, actually getting ahead of Murphy for this upcoming season. Now my personal feelings about that is NO because of rushing prospects. Davis is 23, and while that isn’t super young, lets not rush this. This organization does a lot of rushing, lets see how things go and maybe he could be a call up or star next season (unless of course he is overwhelming this Spring, in which case he will need to be considered for the starting position).

That is of course why I agree with Rubin (Daily News) about the first base position this year. Simply put, it looks like Murphy will be a one year place holder for Davis.

The Pros of calling Davis up now would be a youthful boost to the lineup, and of course the feeling that “Hey You never know.” The downside would be, knowing the Mets, he could accidentally be treated like Nick Evans, who once he was called up with September callups last year, rarely saw the field. Someone like Davis needs consistent playing time, and he really hasn’t seen a lot of action yet at other levels in the system. At least one more season in the minors could do him a lot of good (and try not let your mind run too wild, but could you imagine a year where Fmart, Davis, Holt, and Meija all come up around the same time? That would be insane, and incredibly risky, so lets not think about this at all).

There has been some criticism of the Mets. Before I get into how swagger leads to leaders leads to championships, I want to comment on the link posted here. This is ridiculous and is a clear example of the mainstream media picking on the Mets. There should be no teams out there in the land of baseball not talking about the World Series. The authors of that article from ESPN feel that the Mets should FEEL defeated before the season even starts. That’s awful. While the Mets have a lot of reasons to feel concerned, at this time of the year they need to be thinking about winning it all.

The attitude of winning it all can affect workouts at this point in the Spring. It can change how a player prepares. The quotes by Wright and Santana show that this team has two great leaders who are going to be focusing on reaching goals. Notice how their quotes are different then “We’re the team to beat”. These quotes are saying the goal is to win the series puts the entire season on the Mets shoulders, and doesn’t call out any other teams.

Some say dreams are a way for people to make it through the day.  If Wright and Santana can lead and lead by example these are not dreams, these are goals, and goals that with Spring hope, can be met. (Yes, we should cast aside cynical preconceptions of this upcoming season, and get ready to embark on a good ride in 2010, because until we see otherwise, a good 2010 is possible).

His Three Up: Bay, Wagner, Halladay

His Three Down: Lee, Vazquez, Soriano

In regards to Bay, he likes his power and likes how he will eventually be in a lineup with Beltran, Wright and Reyes. He thinks it is a huge strength for the Mets. For Wagner, he is impressed by his velocity. His reasons for Halladay are obvious.

He really picked on the Braves in this three down segment, which is unusal because most people like to pick on the Mets in the NL East. He said that Vazquez was the best pitcher the Braves had in their rotation the second half of the season, and that move to free up money will hurt them in pitching depth. Soriano’s departure is also related to the diminshing pitching depth on the Braves as a bullpen with Soriano and Wagner could have been very dynamic, but now the Braves will have to figure out how to make strong bridge to Wagner (and lets hope they don’t).

Spring Training is right around the corner, and with a lot of players already reporting, it is time to look ahead at what to expect this Spring. The first part of this article series is up, and it looks at Starting Pitching.

With Spring comes Fantasy Baseball. So the first part of preview reviews is up, looking at how MLB.com ranked New York Mets players compared to the rest of the league, in terms of fantasy Baseball.

The Orioles had an embarrasing injury this December. Just Check this out.

Over the last two years, Frank has clocked time at several positions the Mets needed out of a bench player. He has played all three outfield positions, and he has played first and second base. At 35 years old, he isn’t exactly the defensive stud that Citi Field might need, but its possible in the late innings of a game (like 8 or 9) he could come in as a slight defensive upgrade for Bay. Also, for a team that has so many injury concerns, his ability to play 5 positions (6 if you include 3B, but he hasn’t played that since 2001), could be very useful.

He can also be a useful pinch hitter against righties, as he hit .293 against them last season. The downfall of his offense though comes into light with his .091 BA against lefties last season. Career wise though, he isn’t that bad against lefties, where his average is .240, which is still pretty poor, but much better than .091. An interesting note though is his career average against righties is .297, so his ability to hit righties has remained consistent over the years.

If this was another season, at this point in Frank’s carear, I would not think to highly of this signing. However if last season taught us anything, the abiltity to have a player that can be plugged in all over the field is an assest for an ailing team. In terms of his use, I think on the bench depth chart, Tatis will be ahead of Frank, but depending on time off for some aging players, Frank will see playing time.

How would Jacobs help out then? He has that power that the Mets could be looking for at first base. Two seasons ago he hit over 30 homers and the Mets could use that. Another interesting proposition that was posted on Metsblog earlier today is that Jacobs used to be a catcher, which would be really unlikely if he became one with the Mets.

I can see Jacobs getting a shot at first base, or as a back up plan due to injury. What I don’t see though is Jacobs as a platoon hitter. Here’s why:

• Jacobs vs RHP: .263
• Jacobs vs LHP: .221

Now here are Murphy’s splits:

• Murphy vs RHP: .282
• Murphy vs LHP: .240

(For both players, career stats were used). So there are trends here. Both players hit 40 points higher against right handed pitching. If the Mets needed a platoon for Murphy (which on record I have said I’m against that) it would have to be someone with the opposite splits as Jacobs, who also cannot hit left handed pitching. Food for thought I guess.

In conclusion, lets give Jacobs a chance.

(Also, that Frankie C article is coming soon, I just thought about writing this instead today)

First there is an article about Fernando Martinez, who could make things intersting this Spring if keeps up his winter statistics. Since that article was written, F-mart was declared the MVP of the Carribean Series.

Second, there is this article about a 7 part promotional series in Brooklyn this Summer where on 7 nights the Cyclones will be giving out 2500 promotional jerseys which will be themed are are completley, 100% awesome.

Finally, Topps this year has included an insert set in their 2010 card lineup called “When They Were Young” and each of these cards features a player from Little Leage, including Davir Wright, so check out that article.

Guess who knew that Putz had bone spurs?

The Seattle Mariners!

Guess who never gave Putz a Physical?

The New York Mets!

In the long run, the Mets didn’t lose too much in the trade (and there was some degree of addition by subtratrion with the loss of Heilman. He could go on to be a good pitcher, but that would have never happen if he continued to play for New York). The problem with lack of physical business is that it really shows the problems the Mets have in the organization.

It is normal protcal to give a physical, even if its a physical that would pass a dead horse, thats just how baseball business is done. This on the surface shows a problem with the Mets medical staff for not getting their stuff together but really shows a problem with the workings of the front office. Honestly if that was how they were starting last season, then the results of last season are to be expected. This is another peice of evidence that shows that the Mets offense are not just on the field, but something has to happen on the organizational level.

That all being said, look for an article soon about how Frank Catalanotto signing was a good call.

They have been linked to Sheets, Lackey, Garland, Pinero, Smoltz, Washburn and others. Out of that group Smoltz and Washburn are left. The Mets keep talking about maybe going after pitcher and improving the rotation. And then they end up being all talk or right before they go in to maybe make a move another team picks that pitcher up.

For the Mets right now, it felt like that they decided to splash in the water of Sheets and not make a serious move so they wouldn’t have to deal with the difficult decision of going with someone that has an upside.

I think at this point, they Mets need to make a serious list of things they want to do, go do them, and then don’t talk about them until they are completed (which is tough with the media coverage). Don’t be that kid talking big game and then showing that they don’t have any game. They need to make some moves. If I was the GM, and with the players left available this is what I would do at this point:

1. Forget about Platooning Murphy. Unless someone like Tatis is still available well into February, its probably a waste of time now that Nady got picked up today. Delgado is limping and isn’t going to help us. Murphy supposedly is in good shape, let the kid play, and then see what happens with Ike Davis.
2. Sign Orlando Hudson. Worst Case scenario the Mets eat Castillo’s salary on the bench. It wouldn’t be the first time we’ve had to do this.
3. If you are going to sign a player to be 4th in the rotation right now, make it Washburn over Smoltz. In fact do this and have him compete with Nieve and Niese.
4. Make the rotation race interesting. Take a gamble with either Wang or Bedard. We missed one gamble with Sheets. The costs for these players going to drop and the possibilities might be very good for the Mets

Please Mets, do something productive.