Mets-Extreme

Belo are my Personal Mets top 5 prospects.

I'm leaving Murphy and Evans off the list

1. Fernando Martinez OF
Pros: Fernando is projected to be a 30 Hr guy, despite never hitting really at all in the minors, Though the Power potential is there, and he's finally starting to "grow" into his frame. he's been playing center in the minors and playing average defense, a change to the corners is likely due to Beltrans lock on the position and ability. and of course hes still just 20 years old.
Cons: The guy cant stay healthy, and he's yet to produce really at any level.
2.Wilmer Flores SS
Pros: I almost put Flores above Fernando because he has been producing and putting up better numbers in the minors. Right now Wilmer is a shortstop but he will almost be forced to change postition because of Reyes and he's below average there, and he's 6'3. But the kid hit .310 last year in R ball, expect a big year from him
Cons: a well below average fielder at short, he's going to have to change positions, i see first, third, but most likely outfield in the horizon.
3. Brad Holt RHP
Pros: I think Holt is my favorite Met prospect right now, He's 6'4 and has a blazing fastball and is developing a hard biting curve and a change. He destroyed brooklyn in his first season, with a below 2 ERA and 96 K's in 72.1 innings.
Cons: Holt needs to improve his off speed stuff, otherwise it's to the bullpen he goes.
4. Dillon Gee RHP
Pros: People who know the Mets minors are gonna say Gee, number four? Well, i'm putting him mainly because unlike Parnell, he if anything is going to be a starter, and has terrific command, he pretty much is Kevin Mulvey. Gee has a low 90 fastball, a potential above average curve, and a good curve. All of which he has great control on, Gee in about 203 innings last year walked just 37 batters.... Wow. i'll take that over OP's 100 in 190 anyday.
Cons: A very average fastball, and he needs to improve his strikeout rate. otherwise #5 starter at best.
5. Jon Niese/Josh Thole LHP/C
for number five i have a tie between Niese and Thole. Most Met Fans rember Niese from last year, while some may be familiar with Thole. Niese is a talented lefty with a low 90 fastball, and a Barry Zito 12-6 curve. I like Niese's Curve and and i can see him developing into a very similar similar pitcher as Barry Zito, good #3 guy potentially, with good ERA, and despite an average fastball will still ge some K's.

As for Thole, i dont know, i really like this kid, he's got terrific bat control, and does not strike out often. He hit .300 for the FSL and .319 for AFL, Thole has very limited HR power 7 homeruns in over 400 Ab's Thole needs to improve his defense at catcher, and if he does, he could be very valuable for the Mets in couple of years.
5.

Long time no post.... we'll o well lets get started again.

The Mets have shut down Tim Redding for weakness in his throwing shoulder... Return date no sure, most likely, Tim will not throw off a mound for a month at least..

Hm, cant blame Omar for this injury, you can never forsee an injury, BUT, you can blame him for giving Tim Redding a guaranteed contract for like 1.5M....

There was so many other options besides Redding, it was pretty stupid for Omar to rush and sign him.

The Mets have claimed RHP Fernando Nieve off waivers from the Astros.

The 26 year-old Nieves was 0-1 with an 8.44 ERA in 11 appearances with Houston last season.
In 2006, he has a 4.20 ERA in 40 relief appearances, while striking out 70 batters in 96 innings pitched.

The guy was great as a 24 year old, so he obviously has upside, he had Tommy John last year, cant be hating on Omar for trying him out.

Pedro?

Wow, Who thought so many Met fans would want Pedro back.. Gimme a break, he gets 10 Netherland minor leaguers out and he's all of a sudden the Pedro of 04-05?? Ugh, i'll take Niese over him, but with the fifth starter spot having so many problems, Redding hurt and Garcia just plain sucking, and i mean he really is crap at this point, he cant even touch MID 80's, I would not be suprised to see the Mets resign Pedro if his demands come down ( low base salary with lots of incentives.)

Pudge?

The Twins and Giants are now showing interest in free-agent C Pudge Rodriguez.

Rodriguez is hitting .600 with five extra base hits and a .625 OBP in 15 at bats during the World Baseball Classic.

I would take him with a platoon with Brian Schneider over Castro and Schneider...

But as long as Castro is on this team Pudge is not coming..

Well, Well, Well, tough decision, But I'm here to break down each and every part of free agent pitchers Derek Lowe and Oliver Perez, So lets get started.

( UPDATE) METS HAVE SIGNED TIM REDDING TO A 1 YEAR DEAL. Now the Mets have four rightys, and a lone lefty, now i'm really worried if we acquire Lowe of an over stocked righty pitching staff....

So, lets start off with the basics,

Basic Perez Pros:

• Left Handed
• Still quite young at age 27
• Great K/9 ( 1027 in 999.1 IP) Quite impressive for a young starter

Basic Lowe Pros:

• Quite Durable at Height: 6' 6" Weight: 230
• No Major Injuries in career
• Ground Ball pitcher, 200+ innings a year.
• Good BB/9 and ERA under 4 last four seasons.

So there are just some basics about each Free agent pitcher, But of course there's more.

• Oliver Perez shuts down the most important teams we play, He destroys the Phillies and Braves, and Marlins, all of which are NL east Division Rivals. While he also shuts down cross town rivals Yankees.
• Hes 27, And to me this is something no one seems to realize, Perez is only going to get better, his velocity went from 88-90 to 90-94 with the pitching coach change from Peterson to Warthen.
• Perez will cost less money then Lowe, and Who would you rather have for three to four years? 27 year old Perez or another Old pitcher?
• Lowe is 36, and last time we checked, aging pitchers get worse, not better, If the Mets dish out another 3 or four year deal to Lowe, i just have a sense it will end up similar to the Pedro deal, Hes not getting better, he was playing in a contract year and o yeah! he's 36.
• Derek Lowe is a righty, say we sign Lowe, No Perez, and no Wolf.

LHP- Johan Santana

RHP- Derek Lowe

RHP- Mike Pelfrey

RHP- John Maine

RHP- Tim Redding

Righty heavy, when this team should probably be lefty heavy..

I do like that Lowe will put up 200+ innings a year, while Perez is yet to show he can, but take this into consideration.

Derek Lowe:

Home ERA: 2.30

Away ERA: 4.42

Look, it will help anyone to pitch in Dodger Stadium, and to add the weakest offensive division is baseball, I mean come on your going against these offenses the majority of the time....

Team Averages and Home Runs in the National League West:

Padres: .250 Team Average which was second to last in the National League

D-Backs: .251 Team average

Rockies: .263 team average

Giants: .262 Team Average

Team Home Runs: OK so there is 16 team in the National League, so here we go:

Giants: DEAD LAST in HR's with 94

Padres: 11th out of 16 teams

D-Backs: 10th out of 16 teams

Rockies: 9th out of 16 teams

Weakest division in Baseball to go along with very big, very pitcher friendly parks.

While Oliver Perez Pitched in an offensive division with the Phillies and Marlins number 1 and 2 in Home Runs in the National League.

This is also something that it seams none is taking into consideration.

Can Derek Lowe pitch in New York??

• Perez has shown that he LOVES the big stage, hes a big time guy and while he may struggle against horrible teams, that is something that is easier to fix then losing to Phillies, Yankees, Etc;
• Perez has shown he can perform in NY.
• Lowe, how do you know how he will handle NY? Yes, he has success in Boston, but it's different, It's NY, Perez has shown he can, Lowe has not.... What if he struggle and starts to get booed?

This is just the beginning of my breakdown, i will continue it, please comment and tell me who you prefer and please tell why, thanks for visiting Metsextreme.com

Looks like the Mets are in "deep negotiations" with free agent pitcher Derek Lowe.

Ugh, Omar stop with these 36 year old pitchers! Lowe is probably the most overrated guy in the free agent pool, and the guy wants Barry Zito Money? I can see it now. Mets sign Derek Lowe to a 4 year 68 Million contract... Great.... I know people are probably going to read this and say " we need a #2 starter" Yes we do, i mean I'm not that high on Ollie either, but I'd prefer him over Lowe, even though the Mets would lose an additional draft pick. But, i must admit, The more i think about it, the more i think, why cant Omar trade for a starter? Maybe because he drained out the farm on a set-up man, look I'm not going to complain about Putz, but maybe it would have been smarter to just get Huston Street, so instead of giving 7 prospects that included your 4th, defensive whiz, OF, a young, and probably was the best pitcher in the Mets pen last year, and four other prospects for a 31 year old set-up man coming off an injury, With Street the Rockies reportedly wanted Aaron Heilman and LHP Pedro Feliciano.... And apparently it was Feliciano to hold up trade talks? So it's fine to trade a young, proven relief pitcher, but no trading a lefty who can get out two hitters in the majors...(Howard/Utley) and is horrible at everything else?

Omar should of:

Mets get:
Street

Rockies get:
Aaron
Feliciano
another player if necessary

Not trade everything for a 31 year old set-up guy that is coming off an injury. I would of loved this trade if we had not acquired K-rod, but o well.
Just my opinion, just because none of the prospects were great, they still could have had value in another trade....

The Reds have signed Willy Taveras to a two-year contract.

The speedy Taveras is all speed and thats pretty much it.
With this signing it gives the Reds an OF of:

RF: Bruce
CF: Taveras
LF: Dickerson/ Hopper?

We'll Red fans remeber Paterson from last year? Have fun with his twin.

The Giants have signed Randy Johnson to a one year deal.



the deal guarantees the Big Unit $8MM in 2009 and includes performance bonuses that could reach $2.5MM and award bonuses that could reach another $2.5MM.



Johnson joins fellow-Cy Young Award winners Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito in a San Francisco rotation that also includes Matt Cain and Jonathan Sanchez.



Man, What rotation.



Lincecum

Zito

Cain

Johnson

Sanchez



Now, all this team needs is some offence, maybe Noah Lowry the Mets could pick up cheap? He was injured all last year but had a solid year in 2007 (14-8 with a 3.92 ERA) Reports are saying that Lowry should be rready for the start of spring training.

More than 30 players wwere nontendered by thier clubs, which means they are now free agents.


Joey Gathright, John Bale
Jamie Burke
Joe Nelson
Aaron Miles, Randy Flores, Tyler Johnson
Norris Hopper, Gary Majewski, Matt Belisle
Doug Mathis
Daniel Cabrera, Lance Cormier
Denny Bautista
Ty Wigginton, Reggie Abercrombie
Jonny Gomes
Willy Taveras
Takashi Saito, Scott Proctor, Yhency Brazoban, Angel Berroa
Clay Hensley and Charlie Haeger
Chris Britton and Justin Christian
Tim Redding
Chris Capuano
Kevin Cash
Chuck James
Chris Burke, Robby Hammock, Wil Ledezma, Jeff Salazar

some pretty interesting names, I was hoping Omar could trade for Marcus Thames, who had a chance of getting non-tendered, but did not so now only the trade is possible , Omar has shown interest in Thames for a while now, this guy has enormous power and is pretty much Adam Dunn with some Speed and no walks, he'd probably be a 40 HR Guy if he got to start.

Joey Gathright and Willy Taveras are interesting OF'ers with great speed, Neither can really hit, both has around a .260 average last year, but both are plus defenders ( Gathright especially) and That's some major speed if you hit Reyes one Taveras/Gathright two. though neither has a great OBP so...

Jon Nelson had an era of 2 last year, with over a strike out an inning ( 60 K's in 54 innings.)

Ty Wigginton could start in OF and platoon at second.

Daniel Cabrera 6 foot 9 guy with great stuff no command. I would defiantly give him a shot though.

Jonny Gomes, tough year at the plate last year, but he destroys lefties ( sparring last year) and he's got some pop, i would look at Gomes as a platoon with Murphy. And this guy and fight, (last year in spring training.) when we get into brawls with the Phil's, this guy will guarantee victory.