An ace from the farm

Every team (mostly) has a young farmhand who has tremendous potential on the mound. They are brought up from the minors and either dominate MLB hitters or have shown great flashes of greatness in doing so.

The Yankees have Phil Hughes, Red Sox have Clay Buchholz, Dodgers have Clayton Kershaw, A's have Andrew Bailey, Phillies have JA Happ, Tigers have Rick Porcello, and the Braves have Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson.

Who will the Mets get? Eventually a pitcher will arise from the depths of the Mets' farm. Who will it be? Will it be the praised prospects such as Holt or Mejia? Will it be Niese, Moviel, Familia, or Urbina who step up?

Or, can it be Pelfrey? Having a few seasons under his belt and still not showing signs of dominance, I doubt it. Someone in the farm has to be one of these pitchers. At least one of the pitchers in the Mets farm is destined to fill these shoes. Who will it be?

Thoughts?

Michael Antonini

In a recent post on MetsBlog, Matt Cerrone writes about the very possible re-signing of RHP Elmer Dessens. When talking about another lefty for 2010, he wonders if LHP Michael Antonini will be in "the mix" and called up from AA.

Antonini has a five pitch arsenal which consists of, thanks to Mets Prospect Hub, a two seam fastball, four seam fastball, slider, change up and curveball. They label Antonini as a "ballsy" and "tough kid" who is a solid strike zone pitcher.

Thanks to Toby Hyde's Mets Minor League Blog, Antonini's stats are:

A: 2.71 ERA, 73 IP, 63 H, 22 ER, 61 Ks

A+: 1.84 ERA, 44 IP, 34 H, 9 ER, 33 Ks

AA: 3.74 ERA, 45.2 IP, 43 H, 19 ER, 32 Ks

If he joins the team, I'm curious about how he'll do. Probably not too bright considering we haven't had much success with minor leaguers in the majors, such as F-Mart, Parnell, and Niese, who are all ranked higher than Antonini on Toby Hyde's Top 41 prospects list.

Whatever the case may be, it'll be nice to see a fresh face and new blood in the organization.

Halladay and the Yankees

In a recent post on Matt Cerrone's MetsBlog, I read that the Yankees are inquiring about Halladay. I also read that Halladay's top suiters will be the Yankees and the Red Sox. In another post, I read that the Red Sox like John Lackey in their 2010 rotation, leaving the Yankees with Halladay.

Does anybody get frustrated by this? The Yankees acquiring Roy Halladay will be the nail in the coffin. With Sabathia, Halladay, and Burnett, their 1-2-3 combo will be just too much to handle. The Yankees are just unfair.

Now, I shouldn't be complaining because the Mets don't have a low payroll, but its not close to the Yankees. What do teams like the Tigers or the Astros think? They are numbered 5th and 8th respectively in highest payroll, yet its no where near the Yankees'.

Whoever the Yankees want, they get. This was made clear over the years, not the mention last off season which was ridiculous.

If things would've been different in 2003

In 2003, the New York Mets drafted CF Lastings Milledge as their first pick which was the 12th in the first round. Going 13th right after him, the Blue Jays drafted then SS Aaron Hill. What would of happened if the Mets drafted Aaron Hill instead of Lastings Millege?

In five seasons with the Blue Jays, Hill has an average of .285, .337 on base percentage, and .434 slugging. In 2009, Hill hit 36 HR, 108 RBIs, drove in 103 runs, batted .286 and was an All-Star.

Would things of been different if we drafted Aaron Hill instead of Lastings Milledge? Yup. Hill would've been the short stop we're in need of. Sure, we wouldn't of gotten Ryan Church and Brian Schneider in the Milledge trade but that doesn't bother me.

Just another woulda/coulda/shoulda.

A different take on the off season

So, we at CheMETSry were thinking last night about the possible off season acquisitions. We debated much and believe to have come up with an idea that might work. Here we go:

1. Sign Matt Holliday for left field.

2. Make a serious run at Roy Halladay. If nothing comes from it, sign Joel Pineiro and Randy Wolf to make a Santana/Wolf/Pineiro/Maine/Pelfrey rotation. I'd move Perez to the bullpen as either a reliever or a long reliever. If he starts showing signs of consistency, then throw him back in the rotation.

3. Sign Carlos Delgado for a year. He'll give you the power and be nice alongside Wright, Beltran, and Holliday. Bringing Delgado back would be a cheap bridge to Ike Davis for 2011. Bringing back Delgado for a year then having Davis for 2011 would save a huge amount of money that could go to this off season.

4. Trade Castillo and bring in Orlando Hudson. I believe this transaction is way overdue and would be a super upgrade at second base.

5. With the money being saved on a cheap and temporary first base option, sign Bengie Molina as catcher.

This is what the 2010 Mets would look like:

C. Bengie Molina

1B. Carlos Delgado

2B. Orlando Hudson

SS. Jose Reyes

3B. David Wright

LF. Matt Holliday

CF. Carlos Beltran

RF. Jeff Francoeur

(All ERA's for the 09 season)

1. Johan Santana, 3.13 ERA

2. Randy Wolf, 3.23 ERA

3. Joel Pineiro, 3.49 ERA

4. John Maine, 4.43 ERA

5. Mike Pelfrey, 5.03 ERA

What do you guys think? I think that the line-up has great depth, and the rotation is pretty strong. This looks like a winning team.

A glimpse of the future

Roy Halladay, #32.

What makes a fan?

Before I go off on this rant, I'd like to go on and congratulate the Yankees on their 27th world championship. But I'm going to say that "Yankee Fans" and Yankee FANS need to be established. I am sick of this crap of hearing it from Yankee fans who watch a couple playoff games and consider themselves fans. To me a fan is one who lives and dies with their team. One who even if half the roster is injured (shout out to 2009 Met fans) will continue to look for the best in next year. A fan who is someone who can name at least the starting line up for the team. A fan isn't someone who wears a flat brim hat to look cool.

So basically what I am saying is that for the Yankee fans who have "suffered" (if you can call it that) through the last 9 years of disappointment, I congratulate you. But for the guy/girl who is celebrating just because they wear their hat and watched the playoffs or like them because it's the cool thing to do, I think you need to just treat this like another win and get real.

Secondly, how does a position player who only plays 3 games win World Series MVP?

What's the big deal about F-Mart?

I recently was thinking about the Mets prospect's in potential deals for other players and did an investigation on one prospect the Mets are very high on, Fernando Martinez.

The 21 year old prospect that the Mets generally feel is one of their best is not as stellar as everyone thinks. In his minor league career he has played 274 games hitting .282 with 30 homers and 132 RBI's. But what concerns me in the 274 games he has played he has struck out 226 times.

Now I know it's a stretch but I went back to some well known players and checked out their stats at his age. In 1996 at age 20 Alex Rodriguez hit .358 with 36 homers and 123 RBI's in 146 games. Jeter in his few years in the minors was a .308 hitter from age 18-21.

So after reviewing the stats not to mention his very sub par performance this year in the majors. I think it's time for Met fans to stop shouting from the roof tops that Fernando Martinez is the next messiah for the Mets, and realize that right now he's on pace to be a middle of the road everyday player. He may never live up to the young stars who have been hyped up by their team before him and may never become the incredible pro that we think he will become.

Jenrry Mejia and the AFL, 2010 Mets

Jenrry Mejia has been struggling in the Arizona Fall League starting rotation. According to Toby Hyde's Mets Minor League Blog, Mejia has posted a 12.91 ERA for a combined 7.3 innings pitched with 14 hits and 9 walks.

Should we be worried? No. He's 20 years old. He still needs a couple more years of maturing in the minors before he fulfills his projection of being a top-notch starter.

Jerry Manuel and friends watched Mejia pitch in the AFL to see if he can help the Mets bullpen in 2010. Why would they do such a thing? Though he has a minor league career ERA of 2.91, he has posted a 4.47 ERA in AA. If he went from dominating the A+ league with a 1.97 ERA to struggling in AA with a 4.47, what makes you think he's major league ready? I think this would be a huge mistake, especially at such a young age. He needs to develop his pitches more and get more experience before he gets a chance in the majors.