Obviously the team has more important issues (see Jeter, Rivera, Cliff Lee, Pettitte), but the lack of a second lefty was something I thought hurt them in the players. So far there have been rumors of interest in Pedro Feliciano and J.C. Romero. Other interesting names on the free agent market are Scott Downs, Hisanori [...]

After the Yankees lost to Texas I pointed to the lack of a second lefty in the bullpen as a primary problem for the ballclub. Although it wasn’t the main reason for losing in the ALCS, it didn’t help late in ballgames. The loss of Damaso Marte was extremely punishing, especially a year after he [...]

The more I hear about Francisco Rodriguez‘s court case, the more I believe there is a good chance he serves jail time. Remember, many didn’t believe Plaxico Burress would ultimately land behind bars, but when you have a high profile athlete, a DA with something to prove and media exposure, conventional wisdom is thrown out [...]

Next year’s closer acquisition should clearly be… no one. Let’s take a look at the needs of the 2011 Mets. They need to acquire a reasonable choice to start at second base. Sure, they can hope Daniel Murphy can be that player, and muscle his way into the starting lineup, but the team can’t count [...]

It was reported a couple of days ago that Jeff Francoeur would like to be traded to a team where he could play every day. Some rumors had him on the way out as early as this weekend. One NYBD reader – 86Mets- proposed a Jeff Francoeur for Brian Bannister deal. I actually like it, [...]

A baseball season is, naturally, 162 games. As such, assigning vital meaning to any one game tends to be an exercise in futility. Nevertheless, consider the following: Going into Friday night’s game against Washington, the Mets have lost three of four. Despite an 18-8 June overall, they are still two games behind Atlanta, and just [...]

While much of the attention this week has been around the regression of Hisanori Takahashi and R.A. Dickey, it is the regression of Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey that are bigger potential problems for the Mets. After all, Takahashi’s problems are nothing new- as I pointed out last week, his K-rate has been halved over [...]

A report from the Boston Globe points out the Yankees had scouts in the building when they beat Dan Haren earlier in the week. There have been no indications that Arizona is willing to trade Haren or the Yankees are interested in acquiring him. With the struggles of A.J. Burnett and the innings limits of [...]

Too often in evaluating baseball players, results take the place of process in understanding what is likely to happen as the player moves forward. This has been the case lately with Hisanori Takahashi, whose seven innings of one-run pitching against Baltimore, followed by six shutout innings against the Yankees, made it seem as if his [...]

With the advent of advanced metrics easily available to the layman you can have some fun with numbers from time to time. Although I have been critical of the stat WAR (Wins Above Replacement) when evaluating a players true value on the field, I do believe it can help give you a sense of the [...]

The Mets continue to play the “Citi is Burning” on a nightly basis. The owner wants to be a GM, their best player insists to swing for the fences, the closer is an emotional roller coaster, and a former star turned the clubhouse into chaos. If you didn’t know any better I could be talking [...]

I still don’t feel comfortable with John Maine. Yes, the results have been better against St. Louis and Atlanta (9 innings 4 runs), but he continues to hang around 88mph, topping out at 90, and throwing only 50% of his pitches for strikes. This is not a recipe for success and more importantly, I agree [...]

I have been on record thinking the Mets are not as bad as everyone believes through the first two weeks of the season. Yes, there are concerns about the message being sent down by Omar and Jerry, but the release of Mike Jacobs is a start towards putting the best lineup on the field. The [...]

Up until tonight I only heard tales of that great July 4th, 1985 victory where the Mets beat Atlanta 16-13 in 19 innings. Last summer, John Strubel, who is writing a book about the game, discussed it with me on NYBD Radio. I have to admit that tonight’s 2-1 win in 20 innings may be [...]

So who is this 33 year old lefty that all of a sudden has a chance to make the Mets ballclub? With the news yesterday that Pedro Feliciano will assume the eighth inning responsibilities, one would have to assume a situational lefty now is in order. Hisanori Takahashi, as impressive as he has been this [...]