MVN - Most Valuable Network

Ya Gotta Believe: 2007 Mets

With all the over blown talk about the Mets needing an ace for a starting pitcher, it seems to me that many Mets fans, and baseball fans in general, have been jaded and are actually believing that to be the case. I, for one, am not falling for that pitiful excuse for judgment. The Mets are much improved.

Look at these players. Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner, Paul LoDuca, John Maine and Oliver Perez. Now let’s think of what these players all have in common.

They all were new to the Mets organization in 2006. It was their first year with the Mets. Anyone who knows anything about NY sports will tell you that there is definitely a period of adjustment for the players before you see them come into their own.

While we all knew what we were getting out of Carlos Delgado, no one expected him to have such a horrendous slump for nearly 2 months, but he overcame that and went on a home run barrage that had not been seen this side of NY since before Piazza’s prime.

I’m scared to think of what Delgado’s numbers could have been if he had remained closer to his .301 avg from his year with the Marlins. While his career avg is a bit misleading, due to one phenomenal year which saw him hit .344, I’ll chalk the .265 avg up to his first year in the insanity that is NY.

Billy Wagner had “struggled” for the first half (38 games). “Struggled” in a sense, meaning that he he blew 4 saves. That was probably due to him walking 17 and that is unacceptable for a closer. That and the memory of him blowing a 4-0 lead in the 9th against the crosstown rivals. He came out of the first half with a 2.43 ERA and 18 saves out of 22 chances. Then came the second half (32 games) where he posted a 1.99 ERA and saved 22 out of 23 opportunities and the most dramatic difference was his 4 walks allowed.

The boo birds were out for Wagner, and I am not a fan of them at all, but it was an understandable frustration. It doesn’t help them in any way, but I can see why the “murder” of boo birds were out and about. What amazed me was his poise and the fact that he didn’t let the fans get to his head. He still worked extremely hard to make adjustments and improve on his game and he did that in abundance. Now he just needs to improve on his post-season game and we could have a lock down closer for the ages.
In Paul LoDuca, the New York born and Mets fan growing up, we had a catcher who was loved on every team he played for. (On and off the field apparently, but hey, girls love him and I won’t delve into that.)

Paul has replaced the eventual Hall of Famer, Mike Piazza, on three different teams now. Do you know that John Thomson? Three different teams have asked and traded very good talent to get this guy to replace their departed lock for the Hall of Fame. You are apparently the ONLY person who doesn’t want to pitch to this guy and your career will suffer for it. Good luck this year as the AL will ruin any shred of a respectable ERA you thought you might have had.

Paul’s bat was as impressive as ever and more so than advertised. The guy can flat out hit and does all of the things you want a ball player to do. He is the epitome of a catcher.

Another look at what LoDuca has done for the Mets is with the young guns. John Maine already vouched for him saying that he was the best catcher he ever threw to. Ah but what does John Maine know about pitching in the bigs. He only pitched 26 consecutive scoreless innings last year with LoDuca behind the plate.

Add that regular season and the playoffs and the Mets may have something very special here. The kid has made the necessary adjustments to perform at the major league level and with the guys on this team, he has a legitimate chance to put up great numbers in this rotation.

Dave Williams, the former starter and reliever for the Pirates was traded to the Reds for Sean Casey and then to the Mets for minor leaguer, Robert Manuel. Young with great stuff, great all around ability and a great mind-frame for the game of baseball, Dave Williams has a very good chance of making this rotation. Especially with the 10.8 million dollar contract on the table for Scott Schoeneweis to solidify the long relief role.

I wouldn’t be shocked to see a first half rotation of Glavine, El Duque, Perez, Maine and Williams. When Pedro recovers, I expect him to come out of the pen for a while. Bold prediction, yes, but there is a ton of money invested in him and he knows it. He wants to win and by coming out in spurts, it allow his injuries to fully heal by not pushing them in significant innings as a starter. They can use him much the way they used Heilman when they needed a lock down before a closing situation. It’s safe to say that there are few pitchers who can dominate any given situation with any of their pitches. That’s precisely what Pedro Martinez can do. Only when the Mets are sure that he is 100%, will he be back as a starter. That move will likely send Williams to the pen.

Now Williams still has a ton of upside and may prove to be the sleeper in the entire bunch. Who knows what may become of the aged top of the rotation. Last year we saw El Duque tired often and then injured, Pedro Martinez had his limbs hanging from a thread and even Glavine was troubled with numbness that still may require surgery. If it gets any worse, he may need to be shut down and you will need another capable lefty to take his spot and I honestly love the way Williams pitches inning to inning and batter to batter. He changes his speeds extremely well and has great movement as well as good speed on his fastball in the high 80’s to low 90’s. He listens to advice and performs well under pressure. He can hit the ball better than Glavine at this stage in his career and that is something that tends to go unnoticed. He isn’t fazed at all by the big city lights either and that is something I wouldn’t be able to say about the wannabe Grammy winner over Cy Young winner Zito. Williams has a two thumbs up from me if they don’t throw Heilman in the rotation, which they likely won’t due to uncertainty with the erratic Burgos, repaired Padilla and mending Duaner Sanchez.

Last is Oliver Perez, who is in a similar boat, who has already displayed his stellar talent in 2004 and provided foreshadowing for the NY Mets. I’m still baffled as to how the Pirates, an organization in dire need of talented pitching, could trade him for a very replaceable player like Xavier Nady. Oh well, their loss, NYM’s gain.

It’s no surprise to me that the organization has been in the bottom of the standings for so many years now. They do have talented infielders and some pitching, but it is laughable to see that they traded a potential Cy Young winner for a player who has very limited defensive ability, although Nady is a great guy, the talent is not up to par with that of Oliver Perez.

So the Mets fans got to see what Oliver Perez is about in the last few games started and then the post-season. Hell, even my co-writer Shari has agreed that the Perez losses have been fun to watch as well because he just humiliates the batters. The only problem was that, early on, he had a tendency to dominate himself as well and would pitch his way off of the mound.

The issue with him was mechanics and it was very visible, from the first mound visit by Rick Peterson, that is was easily correctable. Why do I say that? Well from the very next pitch and 3 innings that followed, Perez was untouchable. Whatever Rick Peterson said to Oliver was probably from one of the pages read out of the “10 minute Fix” book that was misplaced during Zambrano’s tenure. It’s ok, fellow Mets fans, because Perez replaces the loss of Kazmir. We can finally close the book on that trade now.

All the Mets need is QUALITY pitching. Not an ace for 126 million dollars. Not a sub par pitcher for 40 million dollars. They have the talent. They have the open rotation and bullpen spots. They have the coaches and they have the division title to defend. The organization has finally put faith in their players and in their coaches and they are earning their money now. These key guys now have a year under their belts with a world class organization. Adding that priceless experience to the ever so talented bunch of Reyes, Beltran, Wright and Milledge (I’m hoping) and that will propel them to the elite teams for years to come. Watch them make a HUGE difference as the Mets reach the 2007 World Series, and WIN.

Also, if you haven’t done so already, download the latest podcast of 360 the Pitch on Outsider Radio. Host extraordinaire, Brandon Rossage puts me on the hot seat with my take on everything from steroids, to Hall of Fame controversy and of course all that is our New York Mets.

It’s a show you don’t want to miss, so break out those mp3 players and listen to one of the best shows out there, on Outsider Radio.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 12th, 2007 at 1:35 pm and is filed under 7 Train. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.