The Official 2006 New York Mets Thread
- Thread starter Rocky Raccoon
- Start date
Boik14 said:
yea, ive heard is work ethic is amazing. In highschool he had such a great physical body(no H0M0). He was rock solid, wasnt the biggest, but just rock solid, and you could tell he would be able to add muscle and weight with no problem.
mixmaster_matt
LETS GO METS
Has anyone noticed that Milledge stands way off the plate? He seems reluctant to step closer, and the pitchers are abusing it with outside pitching. He missed a lot of hittable balls standing so far out. Hopefully this is something that will be corrected.
NJFINSFAN1
FinHeaven Elite
mixmaster_matt said:
That's the first thing I noticed, I pitch still in an over 35 league, and boy wouyld I be hitting that low outside corner with him.
I never saw him hit in the minors, I wonder if he was that far off while down below? It must work for him.
phunwin
The name's Bond...James Bond.
Hey guys, check out my blog today. Got a bunch of stuff on the Mets. http://phunwin.blogspot.com/
definitely an interesting commentary but theres a few things that should be pointed out.
- The Steve Trachsel we've seen in years past was effective because his pitches had more movement then they seem to be getting this year. I dont know if the back injury is something still bothering him but hes not been the same pitcher this year. There are some met fans who really hate trax cause he works so slowly and cant get it out of their heads how bad he was whe he first came to NY; but Im not one of them. I want him to succeed but in order for him to do so the split and curve have to start splitting and curving on a more regular basis or this may be the trax we get for the rest of the year and that would make him at best a #4.
The rotation concerns me far more then the pen because if we cant get starting pitching that goes deeper in to games from the back end of the rotation, they will be the reason the pen gets burned out. The other problem I see with the starting pitching in relation to the bullpen is that while other teams have at least 1-2 sp's capable of a CG here and there we really dont have more then 1. Pedro is done after 100 pitches and his career numbers after 100 back that. Glavine can go deep in to games when the change up is really working but how many innings do you want to put on a 40 year old? Trachsel's already been discussed; in past years he was capable of the occassional CG but this year hes been lucky to get thru 5 IP in many starts. The reason the el Duque move was so big is because he has a rubber arm and can throw 120 pitches when hes asked to. And hes the only guy on this staff who has shown he can.
Finally, Bannister is a guy I like to watch pitch. He makes some people nervous with his walks but when you watch him pitch you throw peripherals out the window. Some pitchers would rather give in to a hitter then walk him but bannister isnt afraid to make them go chase a pitch rather then giving in. There have been a few instances that stood out; one vs Mil and Carlos Lee, one vs Washington and Nick Johnson. He simply knows what ne can and cannot do with his stuff and hes only going to get more creative and smarter as he gains experience.
The Reyes factor is something we talked about before the year and you mentioned BB ratio is something thats rarely improved yet hes done that as I said he could. If you want to know why the OBP is loower then it should be look no further than the 11/61 slump he went through. His BA dropped about 40 points during that slump and his OBP dropped from the .340 you mentioned in your piece. When his BA comes back up we can revisit this but the important thing is that the walks are coming at a better pace then they were last year.
- The Steve Trachsel we've seen in years past was effective because his pitches had more movement then they seem to be getting this year. I dont know if the back injury is something still bothering him but hes not been the same pitcher this year. There are some met fans who really hate trax cause he works so slowly and cant get it out of their heads how bad he was whe he first came to NY; but Im not one of them. I want him to succeed but in order for him to do so the split and curve have to start splitting and curving on a more regular basis or this may be the trax we get for the rest of the year and that would make him at best a #4.
The rotation concerns me far more then the pen because if we cant get starting pitching that goes deeper in to games from the back end of the rotation, they will be the reason the pen gets burned out. The other problem I see with the starting pitching in relation to the bullpen is that while other teams have at least 1-2 sp's capable of a CG here and there we really dont have more then 1. Pedro is done after 100 pitches and his career numbers after 100 back that. Glavine can go deep in to games when the change up is really working but how many innings do you want to put on a 40 year old? Trachsel's already been discussed; in past years he was capable of the occassional CG but this year hes been lucky to get thru 5 IP in many starts. The reason the el Duque move was so big is because he has a rubber arm and can throw 120 pitches when hes asked to. And hes the only guy on this staff who has shown he can.
Finally, Bannister is a guy I like to watch pitch. He makes some people nervous with his walks but when you watch him pitch you throw peripherals out the window. Some pitchers would rather give in to a hitter then walk him but bannister isnt afraid to make them go chase a pitch rather then giving in. There have been a few instances that stood out; one vs Mil and Carlos Lee, one vs Washington and Nick Johnson. He simply knows what ne can and cannot do with his stuff and hes only going to get more creative and smarter as he gains experience.
The Reyes factor is something we talked about before the year and you mentioned BB ratio is something thats rarely improved yet hes done that as I said he could. If you want to know why the OBP is loower then it should be look no further than the 11/61 slump he went through. His BA dropped about 40 points during that slump and his OBP dropped from the .340 you mentioned in your piece. When his BA comes back up we can revisit this but the important thing is that the walks are coming at a better pace then they were last year.
phunwin
The name's Bond...James Bond.
Boik14 said:
The thing is, Trax was effective in his 6 games last year after returning from his back problem, so it seems to me that it doesn't make sense that he'd fall off a table like this.
Good point about Hernandez. If he can stay away from the gopher ball, he'll hopefully give the team a lot of 8 inning starts. They definitely need someone to take the heat off the pen.
I think Bannister will improve, but you absolutely cannot "throw peripherals out the window". Very rare is the pitcher who will be successful walking more guys than he strikes out. Sure, it happens, but not much.
Indeed, and that's why I'm hopeful about him. He is finally learning to take a walk. But now, with his slump, I'm hoping he doesn't say "hell with this, it's not working" and go back to his old "see ball, hit ball" ways.
Considering he was pushed back once for that (once also by willie for zambrano when he was making his 1st start after the hammy and once for pedro) its not that far fetched. I mean hes also 34 or 35 and lets face it hes never been more than a #3phunwin said:
Thing is with bannister you have to anticipate poor peripherirals to a degree because he realizes hes not blessed with a 95mph heater. Instead what he has is 4 pitches he can throw for strikes and a heater that tops out at 87-88. Hes the Zach Thomas of the Mets; he gets by on preparation more than overwhelming ability.phunwin said:
Yeah but these are the struggles that young players go through. Hes still coming through in big spots so I dont think he'll abandon that line of thinkingphunwin said:
F
finswin56
****ing rain :tantrum:
I love it for my yard, but I hate it when I've got both kids and my wife to sleep. I was ready :jumper:. I had my :eat: and :happydrin. They're playing two tomorrow, but I've got In-Laws looking to take my baseball time.
Okay, I'm done :boohoo:
I love it for my yard, but I hate it when I've got both kids and my wife to sleep. I was ready :jumper:. I had my :eat: and :happydrin. They're playing two tomorrow, but I've got In-Laws looking to take my baseball time.
Okay, I'm done :boohoo:
NJFINSFAN1
FinHeaven Elite
They may not play today either!
phunwin
The name's Bond...James Bond.
Boik14 said:
I'm going to make a prediction here: if Bannister continues to walk more hitters than he strikes out, his ERA will be up a full 2 runs by the end of the year. It's one thing to not have phenomenal tools and excel anyway. It's quite another not to have phenomenal tools but continue to put runners on base and balls in play. If you're not striking hitters out, baseballs are being put in play, and if runners are on base, that means runners are often advancing.
I see your point; Bannister can excel in spite of limited tools, and I agree with that. But I don't agree with the proposition that he has a mythical ability to pitch out of a jam every time out. History has told us a different story time and again. Like I said, there's only one Kirk Reuter. So far, Bannister's been lucky, not good. And to keep his ERA around 3, he's going to have to strike out more hitters and walk less.
NJFINSFAN1
FinHeaven Elite
Walks Kill, as long as Bannister walks that many, he is asking for trouble. He needs to cut out the walks. You can pitch the corners and just out of the strike zone and still make people swing (Glavine like), but Bannister does not do this, and players will layoff pitches until he comes to them.