I know Murphy probably won't be very good at 2B, but he couldn't be much worse than Castillo, except on turning the DP. Tejada and Havens are both looking good so far this season. Castillo looks in pain out there every night. RF is a problem, but should fix itself when/if Beltran comes back, and while Frenchy isn't hitting, at least his glove has been a plus. They have to do something about 2B.

Jesus Feliciano is hitting .395. Where did that come from?

Havens is hitting .303/.361/.515 in AA (36 PA) after hitting 281/.369/.509 (65 PA) in A+. His biggest problem is staying healthy (i.e. Fernando Martinez disease).

Parnell is better than Nieve, at least until Jerry uses him five of 6 days like he did last year. Acosta is better than Dessens and should be in his place. And of course Mejia should be a starter in AAA.

Igarashi should be sent down, he has no control and has been wild all year, even before he went down with the hamstring pull he had walked more than he struck out.

Ricky Bones - now there's a name I haven't heard in a while.

And of course Mejia should be a starter in AAA.

Yeah, I can't see Parnell being appreciably worse than Mejia. Mejia needs to be in AAA. When the Mets thought the season was going nowhere they were ready to send them down. A few wins later they change their "minds"...

Ricky Bones - now there's a name I haven't heard in a while.

Get used to hearing it. He should, and will, be a major league pitching coach before too long.

The consensus: Bobby Parnell or Manny Acosta would be an appropriate choice

I don't know anything about Bobby Parnell. But I would have to say that Acosta is a far better choice.

Of course, I'm a Braves fan.

Ricky Bones - now there's a name I haven't heard in a while.

Get used to hearing it. He should, and will, be a major league pitching coach before too long.

It's amusing sometimes which major leaguers become successful coaches. I understand that "knowing how," "doing" and "teaching others" are all entirely separate endeavors, but Bones posted a 1.475 WHIP, a K/9 of only 4.0 and thoroughly blechhy 1.21 K/BB for his career. It's one thing for Hanley to diss his manager with the "never played in the majors" crack, but what's Bones' rejoinder when one of his charges bridles at his criticism and says, "Yeah, I looked you up on BB-Ref last night. 'Pound the outside corner,' my ass."?

I know Murphy probably won't be very good at 2B, but he couldn't be much worse than Castillo, except on turning the DP. Tejada and Havens are both looking good so far this season.

I was about to give up on Havens
Can he really stick in the middle infield?

Tejada is still so young it's hard to get a handle on him

The IL is at .258/.327/.401 and he's at .295/.343/.361 - it's really not hard to see him as a league average 2b/ss in the MLB at age 23-25- what's hard is seeing him ever being better than that

Thole had a brutal start, but seems to have turned it around
Holt seems to have vaporised
Jefry Marte isn't doing anything
Wilmer Flores seems to have figured out the Sallie League (league: .251/.319/.372, Flores: .303/.369/.466) and he's 18, maybe they'll actually leave him there.

but what's Bones' rejoinder when one of his charges bridles at his criticism and says, "Yeah, I looked you up on BB-Ref last night. 'Pound the outside corner,' my ass."?

"I never listened to my pitching coach either, go ahead and ignore me if you don't mind ending up with my career."

I was about to give up on Havens
Can he really stick in the middle infield?

The much bigger question is can he stay healthy. I haven't heard much on his defense at 2B. His bat will definitely play there and I doubt he's going to be as bad defensively as Castillo.

Tejada is still so young it's hard to get a handle on him

The IL is at .258/.327/.401 and he's at .295/.343/.361 - it's really not hard to see him as a league average 2b/ss in the MLB at age 23-25- what's hard is seeing him ever being better than that

I don't see Tejada developing much power, but his defense is reportedly excellent. I could see him as a utility player who can cover 2B, SS, 3B with good defense and averageish offense.

I posted the article mainly for the Murphy-at-2B tidbit, but now that I look at the wording, it seems likely that "second" base was a misprint for "first". Hope I'm wrong... but the blurb makes much more sense that way.

Jefry Marte isn't doing anything

From TFA:
Gnats third baseman Jefry Marte has a seven-game hitting streak, during which time he’s hit .357 (10-for-28) with a homer, four RBIs, three walks and six runs scored.

Marte is still young. Flores will probably move up a level before the season's out, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

Jefry Marte isn't doing anything

From TFA:
Gnats third baseman Jefry Marte has a seven-game hitting streak, during which time he’s hit .357 (10-for-28) with a homer, four RBIs, three walks and six runs scored.

on the year Marte is at .236/.322/.338, which is I suppose better than the .233/.279/.338 line he put up in the same league a year ago... and he's 19, which is a reasonably good age for the Sallie league...
basically he hit the snot out of the ball in the Gulf Coast league 2 years ago and has seemingly treaded water since.

Whew, my friend dug up the boxscore, and Murphy did in fact play 2B.

I don't even see the point of him playing LF or 1B in the minors. The MLB team would only need him there, what, like two days a month at each position, maybe? And he at least has some experience there already. As long as Murphy is in the minors anyway, he really should only be playing 2B. I have no clue if he can help the team there, but it's at least gotta be more likely than at LF or 1B.

Tejada hits for a high average but strikes out a lot. He doesn't walk a lot but keeps his OBP high because he gets a lot of HBPs. He doesn't hit for power and doesn't have the frame to expect any either.

I don't think he'll ever be a star and it's hard to like a guy whose upside is so limited.

If the Mets aren't going to spend on 2B this offseason (and I expect they won't) they'll be best off using this season to see which of Tejada or Havens might be a better bet than Castillo to put up tolerable numbers on the ML club in 2011. I'm not proposing rushing either of them, but if it's anything like a tossup to push one or the other I hope the FO will do so.

Igarashi should be sent down, he has no control and has been wild all year, even before he went down with the hamstring pull he had walked more than he struck out.

Absolutely. He needs to reestablish himself in Buffalo before the Mets waste another outing on him.

I don't see Tejada developing much power, but his defense is reportedly excellent. I could see him as a utility player who can cover 2B, SS, 3B with good defense and averageish offense.

Which makes him extremely valuable, in my mind. He'd do well on the Mets. They shoud be resting Reyes and Wright more, oh, and there's that whole, they don't have a real 2bman issue.

As for Murphy, this whole, 'let's try a 25 year old at 2b because, really, how hard can it be??' doesn't make sense to me. Baseball is a LOT harder than you think it is. I'd also like to see Tejada work on making the move to second unless the Mets don't have Reyes in their plans after 2011. Tejada at 2b is a lot more realistic than Murphy succeeding there.

Not a good year for the Mets' farm system so far. F-Mart jumped the shark. The Mets liquidated Meijia's potential to make him a low leverage middle reliever. Holt is on the fast track to non-prospect status. Thole hasn't hit for average, which makes him useless. Marte and Puello both seem to be clueless. Nieuwenhuis has been decent but his strike zone judgment is very concerning. Kyle Allen and Jeurys Familia are pitching poorly in a pitcher's league. No break throughs to speak of, other than Flores, and he is currently in a terrible slump. I suppose it's good that Havens is healthy at the moment, Tejada is at least doing what he does and Ike Davis has more than exceeded expectations. Did I miss anybody?

As for Murphy, this whole, 'let's try a 25 year old at 2b because, really, how hard can it be??' doesn't make sense to me. Baseball is a LOT harder than you think it is. I'd also like to see Tejada work on making the move to second unless the Mets don't have Reyes in their plans after 2011. Tejada at 2b is a lot more realistic than Murphy succeeding there.

Disagree here. This is a move two years too late in the making. Murphy's bat is unlikely to develop enough to allow him to be at 1B. His instincts are too poor for the OF. So it makes a lot of sense to give him 50 games at 2B and see what happens. Otherwise, he's going to be a utility player.


It's hard to know how good Tejada is going to be, but I'm encouraged. All he needs is to develop more power, which should come naturally as he fills out. I think that the Mets have two decent shots at finding a good 2Bman between Tejada and Havens.

I would send down Mejia to develop as a starter, keep Igarashi (the sample size is still small), send down Dessens, and promote Niese and Parnell. Acosta would be the next one in the wings.

When just about any other team was deciding what to do about Mejia Parnell's wasted 2009 would have clinched the decision to start him at Binghamton or Buffalo. They chose instead to send out Davis who was ready and keep Mejia who isn't. And agreed about Igarashi. When he was out they spoke of him like
he was Dick Radatz or something. I heard this and thought I must have hallucinated during spring training because what I saw wasn't big league.

Tejada hits for a high average but strikes out a lot. He doesn't walk a lot but keeps his OBP high because he gets a lot of HBPs. He doesn't hit for power and doesn't have the frame to expect any either.

I don't think he'll ever be a star and it's hard to like a guy whose upside is so limited.

He'd make a good and cheap utility infielder. He is good enough defensively to handle 2B, 3B and SS with a .650-.700 OPS. He'd be a below average 2B or an average SS (when including defense) with that OPS.

As for Murphy, this whole, 'let's try a 25 year old at 2b because, really, how hard can it be??' doesn't make sense to me. Baseball is a LOT harder than you think it is.

I've heard that at 3b his glove was good enough to be a MLB 3b- that of curse was not going to happen on the Mets, the OF was a disaster, he can field 1B, but really can't hit enough for an MLB 1B, they've been talking about having him play 2b for 2 years, I would hope they had some basis for the belief he could play there.

His career OPS+ is right at the median for a starting MLB 2b- if he was an average MLB STARTER at 2b he'd be a lot more valuable than as a back up 1b/3b which he would be otherwise

what's Bones' rejoinder when one of his charges bridles at his criticism and says, "Yeah, I looked you up on BB-Ref last night. 'Pound the outside corner,' my ass."?

"Don't make me get out of this recliner and whip your ass..."

Did I miss anybody?

Eddie Kunz, Nathan Vineyard, Brant Rustich, Stephen Clyne and Richard Lucas, who are not only the correct answer to "Who are five people who have never been in my kitchen?" but also Omar the Genius' first five picks in the 2007 draft.

Oh jesus, if you're going to go by success of drafts picks, every GM in baseball should be fired.

'let's try a 25 year old at 2b because, really, how hard can it be??'

No, it's "let's try a 25 year old at 2B because we can't use him anywhere else."

If it doesn't work, then the next step is "let's trade a 25 year old." But, let's try it first.

Disagree here. This is a move two years too late in the making. Murphy's bat is unlikely to develop enough to allow him to be at 1B. His instincts are too poor for the OF. So it makes a lot of sense to give him 50 games at 2B and see what happens. Otherwise, he's going to be a utility player.

That's somewhat reasonable only if you don't think that slot is better given over to someone more likely to help the Mets at 2b in 2011, but you clearly are aware of that. Part of my reasoning is that there is nothing wrong with Murphy as a utility player. He's a good one, young and cheap, and exactly the kind of guy the Mets haven't had in the years they've just missed making the postseason. Murphy as a corner guy (as a 5th6th OFer I have less of a problem with him than some do) and PHer, getting 300 ABs and putting up an OPS around 750 has a lot of value to the Mets. I don't want to risk a career ending injury (particularly as he was seriously hurt so recently) on what I see as a true shot in the dark. Give him a ton of reps over the winter in non-game situations where he's a lot less likely to get hurt, and see if he can handle that before some 220 pounder charges him with spikes up when there's a game on the line. With that, I have no idea why the Mets didn't offer to invest 20-30G's setting up that situation last fall. Get an ex-major leaguer and some hungry minor leaguers involved with the aim of getting Murphy five thousand repetitions around the bag. That will give you a better idea than a small number of minor league games will as to whether Murphy can handle this. The Mets 2010 season isn't going to be saved by Murphy getting into some games in September as the starting 2bman.

No, it's "let's try a 25 year old at 2B because we can't use him anywhere else."

If it doesn't work, then the next step is "let's trade a 25 year old." But, let's try it first.

Jeez, you guys are death on solid utility types, but I'm not sure why. Look at what the Mets went through trying to replace Murphy when he went down. If not for Davis's somewhat surprising season we'd be looking at a Frankie Cats/Mike Jacobs job sharing arrangement. Murphy's skills have real value. If the Mets were actual contenders and Wright went down, Murphy putting up a 750 OPS at 3b might be enough to keep them in it, or at least on the fringes of it. If Davis goes out for the season or goes into a horrific rookie slump, Murphy filling for half a year keeps the position from being an utter black hole.

Y'all seem to be whipping the mule because he's a mule and not a thoroughbred.

Not sure you're judging the attitude towards Murph properly here... the very fact that I do think he's good enough to start for many teams is why I think it'd be wasteful to have him just sitting on the bench hoping Ike, Wright or Bay suffers a serious injury. (Then you have to question whether you'd want Murphy as the regular LF even if Bay did get hurt.)

Hell, even if Murph does end up a backup for the Mets, it'd make a huge difference if he were passable at 2B. A corners-only "utility man" is not all that utilitarian in the 12-pitcher era.

Give him a ton of reps over the winter in non-game situations where he's a lot less likely to get hurt

They should have done this TWO winters ago, but they didn't. (To be fair, I think they did half-heartedly try that winter, but he had an unrelated injury.) Anyway, it hasn't happened yet, and as you say it's gonna take a while to do, so they need to start yesterday if possible.

Didn't the Mets try Murphy at 2B a couple of springs ago? Wasn't it a disaster? Would you be interested in a slightly used Theriot?

Not sure you're judging the attitude towards Murph properly here... the very fact that I do think he's good enough to start for many teams is why I think it'd be wasteful to have him just sitting on the bench hoping Ike, Wright or Bay suffers a serious injury. (Then you have to question whether you'd want Murphy as the regular LF even if Bay was hurt.)

I would have agreed absolutely a couple of years ago (and wrote a post on that a while back I got torched for) that, with Wright at 3b, the 2008-2009 offseason was absolutely the correct time to explore the market for a young, promising 3bman who looked to be at least an average bat and average glove, rather than indulge in the far-fetched hope that his .382 BABIP in 2008 was sustainable at 1b, or anywhre else. I don't think it's snide to believe there's no one with any pull in the FO who understands BABIP and why it's significant to projecting players, but having trashed his value as much as humanly possible, I'm not averse to trying to enhance his career by bringing 2b into the picture. I just don't see the urgency for it, and would rather give those reps to Tejada.

Didn't the Mets try Murphy at 2B a couple of springs ago? Wasn't it a disaster?

That's my recollection, which is useless, afaig.

Theriot? Sure. Maybe he'll bounce back under the tender ministrations of Jerry Manuel. Would you take a solid, middle reliever of which we have too many to properly use and can afford to trade for something of value..., say Brian Stokes?

Would you take a solid, middle reliever of which we have too many to properly use and can afford to trade for something of value..., say Brian Stokes?

Our current righty set-up man is Bob Howry and we just called up Cashner to sit in the pen ... I'd take a solid RH reliever in a sec!

A corners-only "utility man" is not all that utilitarian in the 12-pitcher era.

Actually pretty much every team has one of these or wishes they did -- at least as long as he can handle a corner OF spot (which is questionable with Murphy given his earlier trip to LF). Hinske, Huff, Nady, Blalock, Thames, Branyan, Juan Rivera, Stairs, Ben Francisco, Gomes, Gerut, Seth Smith, Spillborghs, etc. Murphy's ability to handle 3B is quite handy as it might allow the team to carry only one backup IF. But, sure, if he can add 2B then he becomes even more valuable.

Anyway, every team is going to give 300-400 PA to some backup corner OF/1B. Murphy is a good fit for that role if he can handle LF/RF.

And OBC, I gave you grief over your Murphy suggestions because you seemed to think that the Mets would actually get something valuable in trade for a minor-leaguer who wasn't a top prospect and hadn't proven he could handle major-league pitching or 3B in the majors. Murphy now is probably a more valuable trade chit than he was then because he's at least shown he can handle the pitching and 1B. Unfortunately even now he's a pretty fungible part -- maybe as valuable as Casey Kotchman.

Oh jesus, if you're going to go by success of drafts picks, every GM in baseball should be fired.

The problem with the 2007 draft is that everybody else in the world besides the Mets knew it was a disaster from the moment it happened. I still can't imagine what human being who is paid to know about baseball for a living would think that drafting a bunch of college relievers in the early rounds was a good idea.

Get used to hearing it. He should, and will, be a major league pitching coach before too long.

Ricky Bones is trying to become the next Dick Pole.

Havens hit a couple bombs last night and has a 1.117 OPS in AA in 40 PA or so. I think he has the bat to be a good league regular if he can be averagish at second.

I still can't imagine what human being who is paid to know about baseball for a living would think that drafting a bunch of college relievers in the early rounds was a good idea.

His second and third picks were high school pitchers who haven't worked out but it was a bizarre draft. Some of the later picks are still remotely interesting. Zach Lutz has hit so far in the minors.

Murphy injured again.

Daniel Murphy’s bad-luck spring appears to have gotten much worse. Murphy sustained what appeared to be another serious injury to his right knee while playing second base for Class AAA Buffalo on Wednesday

Havens hit a couple bombs last night and has a 1.117 OPS in AA in 40 PA or so. I think he has the bat to be a good league regular if he can be averagish at second.

It's very promising, but we should give him approximately 200 PAs at the AA/AAA level before promoting him to Castillo's job, no?

The news on Murphy is devastating. The kid has worked hard and done everything the organization has asked of him. I hope it's not as bad as what's reported.

This team needs to stay close until Beltran and Havens arrives.

Did I miss anybody?

Dillon Gee at Buffalo
59 IP, 3.92, 6-1, 54 K, 18 bb, 1.21 WHIP.
The era's a bit high after starting off low, but he still has some promise. Age 24.

Did I miss anybody?

How about Generation K, version 2.0 down at Savannah:

Mark Cohoon: 4-1 1.85 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 53/13 K/BB in 63.1 IP.
James Fuller: 5-2, 1.90, 1.02, 62/17 in 61.2.
Brandon Moore: 2-4, 2.29, 0.90, 76/6 in 59.0.

Anybody know anything about these guys (aside from TINSTAPP and that they're 3+ years away, if ever)?

From article linked in #37:

Murphy sustained what appeared to be another serious injury to his right knee while playing second base for Class AAA Buffalo on Wednesday.

According to The Buffalo News, Murphy was carried off the field after being rolled over by Syracuse’s Leonard Davis on a questionable play.

I have to admit this makes me feel pretty stupid...

This team needs to stay close until Beltran and Havens arrives.

I don't see Havens making it all of the way up this year, except as a September call-up.

Beltran's return means that they don't really need to fix RF (Pagan has been awesome), so the biggest hole to plug is 2B. Should they kick around on the trade market or just play Tejada? My fear is with Jerry being Jerry that means Cora gets the bulk of the starts.

Murphy's injury sucks. I agree that even as a corner back-up he would have value, except that he has never played RF and none of Davis, Wright, Bay look like they need to be platooned or rested all that often.

I would certainly ask Baltimore about what it'd take to acquire Millwood and Wigginton. They'd be good plug-ins for the Mets' holes, and the asking price might not be terribly high.

Dillon Gee at Buffalo
59 IP, 3.92, 6-1, 54 K, 18 bb, 1.21 WHIP.
The era's a bit high after starting off low, but he still has some promise. Age 24.

Gee's always had good to great peripherals. All the reports are that his pitches have great movement, and he seems to have excellent control. I guess the major issue is velocity, where there's a bit of a threshold around 90. Below that, very few pitchers can thrive. He should get a start sometime this summer whenever one of the regular starters gets hurt.

Should they kick around on the trade market or just play Tejada?
I would certainly ask Baltimore about what it'd take to acquire Millwood and Wigginton.

Millwood would be good, but the Mets should check on the prices for the top caliber pitchers - Lee/Oswalt/Sheets - first.

As for 2Bmen, are there any available that would be much better than Castillo (who has okay range and can get on base when healthy)? I remember that Wigginton was a terrible glove, so how could he play 2B everyday?

It would have been nice if the Murphy experiment had worked.

the Mets should check on the prices for the top caliber pitchers - Lee/Oswalt/Sheets - first.

I just don't think this year's version of the team has a likely enough shot to justify that. (Sheets is also clearly not in the category of the other two, IMO... not anymore.)

Murphy as a corner guy (as a 5th6th OFer I have less of a problem with him than some do) and PHer, getting 300 ABs and putting up an OPS around 750 has a lot of value to the Mets. I don't want to risk a career ending injury (particularly as he was seriously hurt so recently) on what I see as a true shot in the dark.

aHEM!

Regardless of the circumstances it's a real shame Murphy has been getting hurt. I would have liked very much to see what he could have accomplished this year left to his own devices.

And OBC, I gave you grief over your Murphy suggestions because you seemed to think that the Mets would actually get something valuable in trade for a minor-leaguer who wasn't a top prospect and hadn't proven he could handle major-league pitching or 3B in the majors. Murphy now is probably a more valuable trade chit than he was then because he's at least shown he can handle the pitching and 1B. Unfortunately even now he's a pretty fungible part -- maybe as valuable as Casey Kotchman.

If I'm understanding you correctly, to argue that Murphy is more valuable NOW than he was at the end of 2008 (which was when I've said I would have tried to move him) seems to me a curious position to take, Walt. With that .382 BABIP in 2008 and his slightly suspect MLEs he was a classic, sell-high candidate. There was disagreement on other threads but Murphy certainly gave evidence of being able to field 3b, enough to make a trading partner believe they were getting a guy who could handle the position at least for the years he'd be under team control. It was his position throughout his college and minor league career, after all, and he never embarrassed himself there. Worst case was probably that he was a -5 fielder. What the Mets wound up doing, of course, was risking much of Murphy's value by putting him at positions (LF and 1B) that his bat was hugely unlikely to be able to carry, thereby exposing his limitations as a hitter, and wrecking his value to another team. That he seemed to have a slightly above average glove at 1b isn't going to mean much when no one believes his bat can play there.

I would certainly ask Baltimore about what it'd take to acquire Millwood and Wigginton.

Absolutely. I'd go after Oswalt, frankly, but your idea makes almost as much sense :) What does it take to persuade this FO to get ONE halfway decent, halfway durable starter?

the Mets should check on the prices for the top caliber pitchers - Lee/Oswalt/Sheets - first.

I'm sure you know that adding a top pitcher means adding $16m per in Oswalt's case, and probably $20 per in Lee's case (paying the price to get him without signing him to an extension doesn't make much sense, imo). While I'd go hard after Oswalt (at least any two young players not named Davis or Mejia), it's looking more and more like Rodriguez's 2012 $17.5m option is going to kick in, meaning the Mets in 2012 could easily be paying around $90 million for five players, and they doesn't count whatever they might need to shell out to keep Reyes. Assuming he gets back to his career norms, more or less, I'd imagine 5/60 would be the minimum Reyes would be looking for. Are these owners really going to get a pitcher likely to put their payroll at $100m or better for six players? Of course that doesn't reflect on the advisability of getting one of Lee or Oswalt, but I'm pessimistic that the Wilpons are suddenly going to open their wallets to add an ace, given the payroll in 2011 and likely payroll in 2012.

With owners like these who are both incapable of judging this teams capabilities and who might be happy to spring for a half year rental and no more, added to a GM and manager in the firing line, we're looking at a team primed to make some sort of catastrophic short-term move involving a batch of their young players. If it were up to me I wouldn't let Omar anywhere near Jack Z.