Omar: "Get me the number for Scott Boras"

This may sound crazy, but... can Beltran play first?

This may sound crazy, but... can Beltran play first?

How does opening a gigantic hole in CF--when the Mets are already iffy on outfielders--help them?

Brian Schneider tweaked his hamstring and is reportedly out of action for a while. This doesn’t seem likely to create a long-term problem for the Mets, but in the short run, Schneider, in his first season with the Mets, is missing out on the chance to develop a rapport and rhythm with Met pitchers.

Yes and no. Schneider had on and off again hamstring problems throughout his time with the Nats.

Here's last year. He missed about 2 weeks in '06 with hammie problems. He missed Sept. in '05... I think that was an arm injury though.

Bunions? Hernias? Bad hips? The Mets aren't just old, they have old people injuries. As much as I would like to use this as another excuse to get on the Milledge deal, we didn't have a net loss of an OF in that deal and Church should be fine to start the season.

The Mets aren't just old, they have old people injuries.

Abdominal hernias are fairly common among athletes, especially male athletes, regardless of age.

To the Mets credit, they Alou's quickly, instead of misdiagnosing it for months as strained a groin / abdomen muscle.

How does opening a gigantic hole in CF--when the Mets are already iffy on outfielders--help them?

Assuming Delgado misses time, I wouldn't be surprised if Pagan could sniff league average for CF while providing plus defense. I don't think he'd kill the Mets out there as long as it wasn't a long-term solution.

Plus if Beltran could play first (no idea if he could), it would help save his legs a bit, and it would hopefully keep the Mets from having to rob Peter to pay Paul (i.e., trading Sosa/Pelfrey for a spare part).

But like I said, it may sound crazy.

Jon Dowd is available.

The Mets aren't just old, they have old people injuries.


Abdominal hernias are fairly common among athletes, especially male athletes, regardless of age.

Geez, grow a sense of humor.

Still, isn't it only a matter of time before Luis Castillo starts complaining about his "arther-itis?"

Abdominal hernias are fairly common among athletes, especially male athletes, regardless of age.

I blame our intelligent designer.

"The Mets aren't just old, they have old people injuries."

Sounds like an opening for David Wells and his gout.

"...it would hopefully keep the Mets from having to rob Peter to pay Paul (i.e., trading Sosa/Pelfrey for a spare part)."

Don't know whether the Mets would do this, but I bet the Pirates would trade Nady for Pelfrey.

Still, isn't it only a matter of time before Luis Castillo starts complaining about his "arther-itis?"

I'm looking forward to Pedro's complaints about "the lumbago" and Billy Wagner coming down with poor man's gout.

I blame our intelligent designer.

Have you accepted Calvin Klein as your personal tailor? Do it todayyyyyo!

Blessed Regards

St. John of the Apocalypso

Jose Valentin just #### himself.

Do you have dropsy? The grip? Scrofula? The vapors? Jungle rot? Dandy fever? Poor man's gout? Housemaid's knee? Climatic boo bow? The staggers?

Sorry too easy

Dropping flies . . . . Wasn't that the title of the Roger Cedeno biopic? Maybe they should bring him back amid the carnage.

You know, as I've raged on and on about how bad it has been to let the roster get so old and laden with Proven Veterans™ while sending away all the prospects instead of working them into the line-up, it really didn't occur to me that the chickens would be coming home to roost quite this soon, or with so much fury, or all at once. This really is exactly what will (or at least can) happen when you do two things simultaneously:

1) stock your roster with a whole hell of a lot of really old players with big-time injury histories, and

2) deplete your farm system of almost every major-league ready prospect who could fill in for those really old players with big-time injury histories.

You can get a train wreck. You might get lucky and avoid the wreck, or you might get semi-lucky and have the train wreck early in spring training when there is time to get things back together before it destroys your season. But if the Mets do get semi-lucky and heal up in time to have the season they hope for, I hope they get the message about roster construction and realize that Willie's way is a path to long-term destruction. This spring is a sign of the disaster that awaits if they don't get younger. Period.

Sam sure is going to be pissed when the Mets trade Pelfrey for Kevin Millar.

Didn't Omar vow to make the team "younger and more athletic" when he took over at the end of '04?

I remember this because he said he wanted to build around pitching, youth and "athletickism." [sic]

So how did Willie end up winning this battle?

Can’t trade Pelfrey with El Duque’s bunion woes. Jon Niese, anyone?

The Mets knew they weren’t getting 162 games from Alou and were prepared to live with Endy for a couple of weeks or four. Losing Alou this early AND being uncertain about Delgado at the same time is the problem. Omar was clearly negligent in getting a back-up 1B (and RH outfielder to platoon with Church), unless he believes his own posturing that Abreu or Saenz are viable options. They didn’t even invite Carp or Evans to camp (though Evans played a few innings yesterday).

Howard, what’s up with Ben Johnson? He can be Nady2…

Sam sure is going to be pissed when the Mets trade Pelfrey for Kevin Millar.

Nah. Because that will open the door for them to call me to be the # 5 starter by early June. I'm probably a little too old, but probably less injury prone than most of the roster is right now. All in all, pretty much right up their alley.

Ben Shpigel reported in the NY Times Bats blog today that Delgado has been taking grounders and seems to be doing well. I wonder if the Mets would consider pursuing Bonds on a one year deal? He could play LF until Alou gets back, and split time with Alou after that. It would reduce the strain on both sets of aged knees and, like him or not, Bonds can still hit. They should also consider Craig Wilson (I think he's still available) as a backup/platoon partner for Delgado.

Bonds, yes. Get him.

Wilson failed a physical.

Howard, what’s up with Ben Johnson? He can be Nady2…

He's still recovering from a broken ankle, and has yet to play in a spring game.

Wilson is probably toast.

Personally, I am not overly concerned with the injuries considering the date. Castillo, Endy, Delgado, Beltran, Schneider, and Gotay should all be playing games in the next week or so and that would give them plenty of time to get ready before Opening Day. Even Duque has enough time to get ready by the time the Mets will first need him, around April 12th.

Alou getting hurt is expected and unfortunate. The Mets were never going to get much more than 100 games from him and they still might so this injury isn't going to change my outlook on the season.

Sanchez's "soreness" is worrisome to me. He didn't look great on the mound the one game he pitched and hasn't pitched since.

Aside from the injuries, the Mets should sign Bonds assuming they can get him for Alou money (one-year deal). That would be an awesome left field. You just have to hope they don't get hurt at the same time.

Could there be a worse match than Bonds in NY? First, he's not going to be happy about platooning with Alou (and neither can play RF, althought that would be one funny outfield; Beltran can't run coming off knee surgery; Bonds in LF; Alou in RF). Second, it would be all that the New York media would talk about it. It would be awful.

That would be an awesome left field.

No, #26 has it right. It would be a nightmare. In the long-dead world of 1998-2004 (or any of his other years even) it would be ok, but now? HELL no.

Beltran can't run coming off knee surgery

The surgery Beltran had wasn't major. I don't anticipate that he'll be anything less than good in CF.

Bonds isn't a realistic option. Kenny Lofton might be.

Alou played mostly RF in his time with the Giants.

What about Reed Johnson traded to Mets. (Good OF defense, can play CF).

"Can’t trade Pelfrey with El Duque’s bunion woes. Jon Niese, anyone?"

The Pirates might do Nady for Niese. I think I would, but my vote doesn't count.

The Pirates might do Nady for Niese. I think I would, but my vote doesn't count.

Niese's numbers weren't very impressive last season but he impressed me with his stuff in his spring training outing. Fastball that maxed out at 92, mostly 88-90, and a nice curveball. An inconsistent changeup but that isn't that odd at that stage of development.

I'd be upset if they made that trade. I think he is going to have a nice year this season.

Agreed, Russlan- how about for Bobby Parnell? Hard-throwing Bobby Parnell?

They may not have a choice.

Niese's numbers weren't very impressive last season but he impressed me with his stuff in his spring training outing. Fastball that maxed out at 92, mostly 88-90, and a nice curveball. An inconsistent changeup but that isn't that odd at that stage of development.

I'd be upset if they made that trade. I think he is going to have a nice year this season.

I think the Mets have gone too far down the "win now" road to stop.

Antone but F Mart has to be fair game.

Sometimes I like to go over to Sportsline.com and look at the Mets depth chart, just to enjoy the pretty little crosses. It's like they're drafting exclusively from Switzerland!

Yeah, I'm a bastard that way. What of it?

Wow, not even the end of the season can halt the Mets slide. They've picked up right where they left off. At this pace, by the end of 2009 they'll have moved to Montreal.

"Agreed, Russlan- how about for Bobby Parnell? Hard-throwing Bobby Parnell?"

From the Pirate perspective, I don't like him as much as Niese. I think he's a reliever in the bigs, and we already have enough of those.

I'd probably rather shake the tree again in SD and see whether something better than Hundley falls out this time.

Personally, I think Omar should just sit tight for now. It's March 6th. Way too early to panic about minor injuries.

Having pointed out in the 2006-2007 Omar's worrisome penchant for putting geezers on the roster I can only add now, what did we expect?

Russlan's right. There's no reason to panic. Omar certainly should be looking for cheap pickups at 1b and in the OF, but he should have been doing that regardless of the latest injuries. Signing Lohse to a reasonable two-year deal, if possible, was a good idea before El Duque got hurt. It's still a good idea.

Assuming Delgado misses time, I wouldn't be surprised if Pagan could sniff league average for CF while providing plus defense. I don't think he'd kill the Mets out there as long as it wasn't a long-term solution.

Pagan's range in CF, fwiw, is pretty poor. I haven't seen him play center, so I don't know how he'd be out there. Does anyone else have an opinion? His bat, for a CFer, isn't too bad...

Plus if Beltran could play first (no idea if he could), it would help save his legs a bit, and it would hopefully keep the Mets from having to rob Peter to pay Paul (i.e., trading Sosa/Pelfrey for a spare part).

But like I said, it may sound crazy.

It probably sounds crazier than it is, but I still wouldn't do it. If Beltran ever played first, it had to be earlier than his Gulf Coast League days. For the slight theoretical edge you might get at the plate, I can't help but think you'd pay for it in other ways. Whatever wear and tear you miss on your legs I'm confident you increase, due to inexperience, your injury risk in other ways: improper positioning, and thereby getting spiked on a close play at the bag, to raise one example. I have to think it would also distract and thereby detract from every other aspect of his game.

edit: for clarity

The problem with getting Bonds (aside from the usual crap) is the roster crunch when Alou gets back. They have Castro, Endy, Easley, Anderson and Gotay for the bench, none with options. To make space, they’ll have to go with an 11-man pitching staff, which is problematic with Willie’s bullpen adventures. I suppose they could come up with a creative revolving door DL scheme, but they’re so far under Bud’s thumb, I doubt they even consider it.

So they’ll look for someone better than Pagan and Chavez, preferably right-handed, preferably with options or wouldn’t mind a bench role, and won’t cost too much. Eh, we’d probably end up with Preston Wilson or Reggie Sanders.

The surgery Beltran had wasn't major. I don't anticipate that he'll be anything less than good in CF.

That may be true, but I read an article this week stating that Beltran still can stop or turn and is nowhere near ready to play CF.

Here it is:

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spmets055602157mar05,0,4009250.story

What's Steve Finley doing these days? He could be a cheap alternative for now.

I could see Joe Smith-Marcus Thames trade making sense for both teams. Not sure if Met fans think I�m under-valuing Smith. Just something to consider.

Didn't Levski say that Trot Nixon was basically auditioning, and that the D-backs are doing this as a favor to him? Mets and D-backs should work out a deal to let Nixon join the Mets.

Antone but F Mart has to be fair game.

Ruben Tejada is no touch as well.

Mets and D-backs should work out a deal to let Nixon join the Mets.

Trot Nixon's OPS+ was 78 last season and it has gone down 4 straight seasons. He has never been able to hit lefties and the Mets need a righthanded bat. Nixon can't help this team. He isn't any better than Pagan at this point of his career and at least Pagan can play defense.

Thames makes sense but the Tigers need him as well to platoon with Jones. Smith would be too much to pay for him. Smith had an uneven rookie year but he did strike out more than a batter an inning while posting a 2.9 g/f ratio. He's still really young as well.

Mets are Dropping Like Flies

awesome ...

Patiently awaiting Johan's visit to Dr. Yocum!

great stuff!

MLB.com:

Minaya dismissed the mere mention of Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds and other possible solutions with, "It's fair to say we'll go with someone internal right now."

Minaya mentioned Angel Pagan, an exhibition-game revelation to this point, and Brady Clark, who, because of the unavailability of other outfielders, has played with Cal Ripken-like regularity so far. Endy Chavez came up almost as an afterthought from the general manager, perhaps because Randolph sees Chavez's greatest value as a No. 4 outfielder whose performance is subject to the law of diminishing return.

Minaya said that the staff already had discussed solutions involving players with other clubs, and defined clubs with "surpluses" in the outfield. Later he acknowledged that an outfielder with experience at first base would be quite appealing.

The players' first thoughts were of Xavier Nady, their former colleague, now a contributing member of the Pirates.

"He'd be perfect for us," one of the veterans said. "He's right-handed, plays first and the outfield, and everyone here liked the X-Man."
...
But Minaya indicated that the Mets had contacted no other club since receiving the diagnosis on Alou, and that any deal probably would happen late in Spring Training, when clubs are trimming their rosters.