Die Hard Sports Fan

It seems like a Met a day is getting injured.  The Mets are going to have to place a hospital on Tradition Field and relocate the team Doctors to Port St. Lucie.  Mets are flying back and forth to New York to have MRIs and CT scans performed.  At this rate, just bring everybody down to the Sunshine State.  It also seems like Omar needs to assemble a whole new 2008 team because only Wright and Reyes are healthy.

The best Mets article of the day was “Mets Elect to Not Remember the Maine” by Matthew Artus.  Make sure you give it a read.

Mets.com:

Notes: El Duque unveils new delivery - The Mets need to give Mike Pelfrey the spot in the rotation and use Orlando Hernandez elsewhere.

Pedro gladly passing ace baton - I keep reading these articles about how happy Pedro is to pass the baton to Santana.  It annoys me because Pedro would be the 4th starter if it was based performance rather than what he did in a prior life.  He only started in 5 games last season, and he hasn’t been Pedro since he left the Red Sox.

Johan sharp in second spring start - Anthony DiComo summarized today’s game between the Dodgers and the Mets.  Johan Santana got the start.  The Mets beat the Dodgers by a score of 3-2.  The Mets are 5-3 in the Grapefruit League standings.

Mets release ‘08 promotional schedule - The Mets will be handing out promotions during 35 home games during 2008.

Alou needs surgery for hernia - Anthony DiComo reported that “Moises Alou learned on Wednesday that he’ll need to undergo surgery for a hernia. The outfielder will be out four to six weeks.”  Alou flew back to New York today to have an MRI performed.  My Mets are dropping like flies.  4-6 weeks…

Valentin fighting to go out on his terms - Anthony DiComo describes the brace on Jose Valentin’s right leg.

Notes: Gotay’s MRI unconvincing - Anthony DiComo had this to say about Ruben Gotay’s CT scan, “A reading of Gotay’s CT scan on Tuesday revealed that an irregularity in his bone turned out to be the residue of a previous injury. Though the team wasn’t completely convinced, sending the scan results to New York for further review, Mets assistant general manager John Ricco remained optimistic.”  DiComo gave provided some other health updates as well:

• Michel Abreu “strained his right hip flexor running into first base on Monday and is day-to-day.”
• Carlos Delgado and Ryan Church have been working out in a pool.  Delgado has not set a return date yet.  Church was supposed to return to the field today.
• Endy Chavez should return on the weekend.

Anthony also noted that Shea Stadium is banning smoking this year in order to get us ready for the rules of Citi Field.

Slider, not deal, a Maine concern - Anthony DiComo discusses that awful contract that the Mets just gave to John Maine.

Newsday:

Mets’ Beltran worried as he recovers from surgery - Carlos Beltran declared the NL East.  You don’t want that guy to be worried about anything going into the season.

Finally, some good news: No broken bone for Gotay

E-mail from Port St. Lucie - David Lennon lets us know how Matt Wise is doing in Spring Training.

New York Daily News:

Moises Alou sidelined until May - Mets.com said 4-6 weeks on Alou which does not go into May.  We’ll have to see how long Moises is really out.

With so many spring injuries, it pains Willie Randolph to think about them - Willie…all of us Mets fans feel the same way.

John Maine’s payoff pitch has to wait - Adam Rubin also goes over Maine’s new contract.  Maine got the league minimum which is currently $450,000.  I believe all of these guys are overpaid, but Maine should be ahead of Perez.

Ruben Gotay may be catching break - Adam Rubin also discusses the injury status of Gotay.

Smoking completely banned from Shea

New York Post:

MAINE STREAM - Bart Hubbuch stated that Maine is alright with his new contract.

BELIEVE IT, OR NOT - Joel Sherman noted that the Mets put a positive spin on Delgado.

AMAZIN’S ARE BACK IN MARKET FOR BACKUPS - Due to all of the injured players, Joel Sherman explains what positions need to be filled by the Mets.

REYES HAS 2K8 COVERED - Bart Hubbuch pointed out that Jose Reyes is on the cover of MLB 2K8.  Supposedly poor performance follows being on the cover of the video game, but Reyes is not concerned about it.

METS GET GOOD NEWS ON GOTAY

New York Times:

Injuries Give Pagán Chance to Make the Mets - Ben Shpigel explains how Angel Pagan is doing in Spring Training.

The Star-Ledger:

Alou out 4-6 weeks

Mets Elect to Not Remember the Maine - Matthew Artus is disgruntled about the contract that the Mets gave to John Maine.

Mets like new version of Pagan

Maine gets his contract renewed

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I have expressed my concerns regarding the Mets already as we head into ’08.  On of my biggest concerns is this guy, Duaner Sanchez.  I was thrilled to hear that Sanchez was able to pitch today, and he didn’t give up any runs in his first outing since ‘06.  Duaner is the one player that I’m going to zone in on more than any other.  The biggest reason why the Bullpen was so much better in ‘06 then in ‘07 was primarily because of Sanchez not being there.  Bradshaw was also very successful, but Omar let him go so it’s not worth arguing that point.  It is very infrequent when pitchers come back from injuries and pitch as well as they used to.  So what we will get out of Duaner?  Your guess is as good as mine, but I’m looking forward to watching him.  If he can hold down the 8th inning like he used to then the Mets are going to have a great season.

Mets.com:

Smith aims to regain early ‘07 magic - As a Mets fan, I also want Joe Smith to regain that early ‘07 magic.  I’ve read that Smith just ran out of gas in ‘07 so he hopefully he got on a better conditioning play this offseason.

Notes: Santana leaves mark — literally - In batting practice, Carlos Beltran ended up getting hit by one of Johan Santana’s pitches in the tricep.  Beltran said “he got me pretty good.”  Marty Noble was seeking for a story and came up with this, John Maine went on the internet for the first time last week.

Newsday:

Beltran survives Santana fastball, but sidelined - David Lennon also lets you know how Beltran is feeling after getting belted by Santana in BP.  Beltran is a big boy…he’ll tough it out.

SPRING TRAINING: E-MAIL FROM PORT St. LUCIE - David Lennon reported that Santana pitched his second BP yesterday.

SPRING TRAINING: Willie carries message to Reyes’ home - David Lennon tells us about a “14-person Mets contingent that visited Reyes at his parents’ house in a village outside of Santiago” which Willie was part of.  Willie stated that “I went because I wanted to talk to him about his mind-set moving forward. We didn’t get into what happened last year.”  If 14 Mets go to DR to see Reyes then it goes to show you how important Jose is to the team.  Does anybody find it odd that they went to Reyes’ parents house?  Does Jose have his own house in DR?

Randolph in better humor for 2008 - David Lennon pointed out that Willie Randolph is smiling and cracking jokes now.  That’s all good during Spring Training, but Willie needs to crack the whip in ‘08 after the collapse.

New York Daily News:

Duaner Sanchez pitches scoreless inning in Mets’ intrasquad scrimmage - The AP reported that Duaner got to pitch as expected, and he threw a scoreless inning in his return.

John Maine is Mets’ ace in the hole - John Harper raises this question.  How good is John Maine?  Then Harper tried to get the answers to his question.

Duaner Sanchez springs into action - Sanchez was expected to pitch in a game today for the first time since ‘06.

Ex-Mets adjusting to life with Twins - Anthony McCarron lets us know how Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra are doing in Twins camp.

Carlos Beltran not ready for spring games - Adam Rubin provided the status of six Mets that will not be ready in time for the start of Spring Training.  These players are Beltran, Castillo, Chavez, Easley, Johnson, and Valentin.  All of them are suffering from leg injuries.  Also, Rubin wrote that El Duque threw his second BP.  Juan Padilla was supposed to pitch today after not pitching since having Tommy John surgery performed in March 2006.  Last, Angel Pagan swept every event to become the best athlete in camp and the first Met to do that.

New York Post:

PLEADING THE 5TH - Bart Hubbuch has the latest and greatest on that final spot in the rotation.

MINAYA’S BRAND OF BASEBALL - Mike Vaccaro lets you know what kind of GM he thinks Omar is.

FROM BELTRAN TO WELT-RAN - Bart Hubbuch also provided the details about Beltran getting belted by Santana.

New York Times:

The Skinny on the Mets’ New Reliever? Great Changeup, Bad Luck - Ben Shpigel tells the story of Matt Wise.

The Star-Ledger:

Citi Field Logo: Thoughts? - Yesterday, Jeremy Cothran was very excited about seeing the Citi Field logo.  He has a picture of it and it is ugly.

Don’t Call It a Comeback - Matthew Artus wrote about the return of Sanchez.

No rush to play ailing players - Jeremy Cothran also covered the injured Mets.

Mets pitcher regains control of his career - Jeremy Cothran also discusses Wise.

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Right before Super Bowl Sunday, the Mets signed Johan Santana which got me really excited about ‘08.  The Giants won the Super Bowl and I was on cloud 9 ever since.  Well, I’m no longer riding that high.  Since I came back down to Earth, concerns about the Mets began popping up in my head.  The collapse still bothers me.  The majority of the team is still in tact.  The challenge is on those players to bounce back.  The optimist in me thinks that have to feel horrible inside which will make them come out with a chip on their shoulders this year.  The pessimest in me thinks that if they couldn’t do it last season, how are they going to do it this season?

These are the players in the lineup that I’m concerned about: Reyes, Castillo, Beltran, Delgado, Church, and Shneider.  All offseason, I was hoping that the Mets would release a statement on what happened to Reyes.  I didn’t know if he was injured, if he was being a baby, or if he was in a slump.  If he wasn’t injured, I felt like he should’ve been included in the Santana deal.  Once Reyes reported to Spring Training, he stated that he was in a slump.  The timing of his slump was horrible, and he didn’t play well in the Playoffs in ‘06 either.  Reyes needs to play well down the strecth and in the Playoffs.  Castillo couldn’t even walk to the batters box last year so I’m very worried about his performance this year and for 3 years beyond that.   I never felt like Castillo was that good anyway, except when he was really young.  Beltran is still hurt.  He was very inconsistent last year due to injuries.  Carlos needs to work on that.  Delgado was bored in a season when he had a career low average…go figure.  He reinvented his swing so we will need to keep an eye on how that works out for him.  I don’t know anything about Church.  Supposedly he struggles against lefties, and his average isn’t that good anyway.  Schneider also doesn’t have a good average.  Defense should be the strength of this unit.

Regarding the starting rotation, I feel confident.  The only thing that concerns me about Santana is the transition to New York.  I feel like Pedro should be near the back of the rotation.  I don’t think he will be healthy all year so Maine and Oli should pitch ahead of Pedro in order to keep consistency in the rotation.  El Duque or Pelfrey will fill that final spot.  I’m not too fond of either one of them.  El Duque barely has anything left, but once in a blue he throws a gem.  Pelfrey is as young as El Duque is as old.  With that said, Pelfrey only throws a gem once in a blue as well.

The Bullpen has plenty to prove.  Omar added a ton of people to the pen in the offseason.  The entire Bullpen needs to step it up from long relief to middle relief to the closer.

Mets.com:

Notes: Martinez’s bold prediction - Anthony DiComo provided some quick hits:

• Fernando Martinez was quoted as saying “This year, you’ll see me.”  Martinez believes that he will get some playing time with the Mets this year.
• Peterson had Pedro throw with his eyes closed again today.
• Later this week, Wagner is set to have a cyst removed from the front of the base of his neck.
• The salary-arbitration case with Oli is still pending.
• “The Mets have already sold more than two million advance tickets for the final season at Shea Stadium.”

Newsday:

Wilpon expects Mets to go ‘deep into the playoffs’ - Those are the words of Fred Wilpon according to Ken Davidoff.  My expectations are just as high.

Pedro, Fernando create buzz at Mets camp

Delgado has got Beltran’s back

Contract year could spark Delgado, Mets

Notebook: Bad ankle is Endy’s latest issue - This guy went from ‘The Catch’ to injury prone.  I wish he could get healthy and contribute.

Hagin brings experience to Mets radio

Former Mets traded for Santana see new opportunity - The AP lets us know how all of the players traded to the Twins for Santana are doing.  Those players were Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Deolis Guerra, and Carlos Gomez.

E-mail from Port St. Lucie - David Lennon lets us what the preferred choice of wheels is for Mets players in Port St. Lucie.

New York Daily News:

Carlos Delgado vows to bounce back

Who was ‘bored’? Not 2007 Mets - After one of the longest offseason in Mets’ history, Carlos Delgado suggested that he never said that they were ‘bored’ in 2007.  To be honest you, it is the only quote I remember from the collapse.  I remember everybody except these 3 players being ‘bored’ in September: Alou, Wright, and Green.  Green is gone, and most of those ‘bored’ players are back for another year…go figure.

New York Post:

HOPING FOR RELIEF - Mike Vaccaro believes that it’s time for Duaner Sanchez to give the bullpen a boost.

ENDY SEES WINNER IN SANTANA - Endy said “a guarantee for us to make the playoffs”.  Further down in the article, Bart Hubbuch switched topics.  Delgado took some shots at Jose Canseco.

DELGADO ‘FOCUSED’ ON TURNING THINGS AROUND

New York Times:

Long Shot for Reliever Better Than Having No Shot - Ben Shpigel tells the story of Steven Register.

Owner Confident This Year Could Be Mets’ Year at Last

Delgado Uses Off-Season to Rebuild His Swing

The Star-Ledger:

A week for proclamations - Lisa Kennelly pointed out the quote from Fred Wilpon which was “It’s a championship season, we expect to be in the playoffs, and deep into the playoffs. That’s our expectation.”

Delgado Fights Off Brushback Season - Matthew Artus breaks down Delgado’s swing.

Aging Delgado armed with brand-new swing

Chavez over ankle, hamstring injuries

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