Wednesday, January 11, 2012
The Fall of A Star
The dream has ended for the Mets. It's sad since that dream did not really get a chance to blossom. But with the waiving of once highly touted prospect Fernando Martinez, the organization can finally move past what has become a pipe dream.
Signed by Omar Minaya back in 2005 at the age of 16, Fernando was seen as the next great thing, twice being listed as the organization's top prospect by Baseball America. But ever since that point his status within the organization has been on the decline. After an outstanding 2008 season in which he split time between rookie ball and the AA team (hitting .292 and an OPS of .785 along with 8 HR and 43 RBI in 90 games), his skills began to diminish noticeably. Martinez was finally called up during mid-season but was unimpressive during his short 29 game stint in the majors. In 100 plate appearances, Fernando hit just .176 and an .517 OPS with 1 home run and 8 runs batted in. His minor league statistics fared much better (.290 batting average, .877 OPS 8 homers but just 28 RBI's in only 45 games).
Injuries truly began to catch up with Martinez in the 2010 season. Again making a very brief appearance in the majors (only 7 games), he simply could not stay on the field on a consistent basis, and was unimpressive when he was, compiling a .254 batting average with an OPS of .765.
2011 wasn't much better for the former can't miss prospect. Again he missed significant time with a combination of injuries, including a right hamstring strain which has caused him to miss a total of 64 games over the course of three seasons. Hitting .260 and notching a rather mediocre .746 OPS combined with another 8 home runs and 30 RBI's.
It is upsetting to see someone who is still so very young be cut loose without any compensation but because of the chronic injuries and the reported arthritic knees, the move should come as no surprise to Met fans who simply grew tired of waiting for the former blue chip prospect. His talent is still there but there is simply no question that the brightest star in organization has fallen.
UPDATE:
On Wednesday, January 11th Fernando was claimed by the Houston Astros.
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Labels:
Andrew Lavan,
Fernando Martinez,
Guest Bloggers,
Houston Astros,
minors
Sunday, October 16, 2011
My Mets 2011-2012 Offseason Wishlist
After another disappointing season for the New York Mets, it is time to continue the rebuilding process in an effort to get better. In order to do so, I believe that the Mets must make these moves during the offseason.
Labels:
2011 Mets,
Andrew Lavan,
Free Agents,
Guest Bloggers,
Jose Reyes,
Mets Free Agents,
Off-Season
Sunday, July 17, 2011
The Making of Lets Go Mets Go!
I came across this documentary which looks at the making of the greatest music video ever created. You have to click the "watch the entire film for free" button to view the entire video.
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Labels:
1986,
Mike Peters,
New York Mets
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Why Trading Away Francisco Rodriguez is a Good Thing
After a long day at work on Tuesday, I come home only to hear that closer Francisco Rodriguez has been traded away to the Milwaukee Brewers. My initial thoughts consisted of "Why would we do that? We're still in the Wild Card hunt." and "Uh-oh, here comes the fire sale." But after a few days of thinking about the deal, it actually makes sense. Here's why.
Reyes has become invaluable to this team in what could possibly be an MVP type season. Hitting .354 with 30 stolen bases, 15 triples, an on base percentage of just under .400 (.398) [that's a good thing], and slugging a shade under .530 (.529) Reyes will likely land a big contract somewhere including with the Mets now that there is no worry of K-Rod reaching his mark.
Labels:
Andrew Lavan,
Carlos Beltran,
Francisco Rodriguez,
Guest Bloggers,
Jose Reyes,
Mets Trades,
Milwaukee Brewers
Thursday, July 14, 2011
All Star Break - Reflections On The First Half
I think that in the first half of the season the Mets basically did what they needed to do to remain competitive in the second half and possibly make a playoff run. After starting out 5-13, they spent most of April and May trying to fight back to .500, and have basically hovered at or around .500 ever since. They’re going into the break at 46-45.
They were of course plagued by injuries to guys like David Wright, Ike Davis, Johan Santana and Chris Young which probably should have marked the end of their season, and probably should have placed the Mets 15 games under .500 at this point, but thanks to some unexpectedly good play from guys like Dillon Gee, Justin Turner, and Daniel Murphy combined with the MVP numbers of Jose Reyes and quality pitching from Chris Capuano, Jon Niese and R.A. Dickey, the Mets were able to stay afloat (unlike the Marlins who went 5-23 during the month of June). Taking into account the low expectations coming into the season and the injuries I think that Met fans have to be pretty happy with the first half of the season. If they can get David Wright, Ike Davis and Johan Santana back healthy in the second half, the Mets could be a good candidate for a team to make a late season run for the wild card. If it looks like those guys aren’t going to come back and produce like we expect them to, then the Mets should work on trading at least Beltran and K-Rod and anyone else that might bring back some talent or help dump salary.
Last season the Mets were 8 games over .500 at the All Star break and things were looking great… they finished a pathetic 79-83, so obviously it could go south in the second half like last year, but to me this team has shown that they are not the same team as last year, they fight back late in games, they get hits with runners in scoring position and two outs and the pitching is much improved. In either case, I'm looking forward to the second half of the Mets season this year.
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Labels:
2011 Mets,
All Star Game,
Mike Peters,
New York Mets







