Test Blog

It was a big day for the Mets yesterday. First they learned Tom Glavine will not need surgery. Then they pulled off a comeback win. Then they finally acquired Shawn Green.

The more I see of David Wright the more I like him. Wright is quickly ascending the ladder to sainthood in my mind. His game last night added some brownie points in his favor.

I turned on the game in the third inning and watched as Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado homered to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. Then I watched as Bobby Abreu and Jimmy Rollins homered in the 3rd and 5th respectively to give the Phillies a 5-4 lead. (It was Rollins second homer of the game.)

With the game still in the balance Wright came up to the plate in the top of the sixth inning and promptly sent a Ryan Madson pitch into the left field bleachers to tie the game. This set up a 5 run inning in which the Mets took the lead.

Then in the ninth inning with no outs and runners on first and second Wright made a tremendous backhanded stab on Met killer Pat Burrell’s shot up the third base line and turned it into a double play to kill a potentially deadly inning and save the game for the Mets who would win by a score of 9-7.

Billy Wagner pitched the last 5 outs to record his first save in Philadelphia since leaving the Phillies as a free agent to come to the Mets. Alot has been said about Wagner going back to Philly and he really heard it from the fans. But he took it all in stride and got his 13th save of the year.

On Friday I mentioned a report by Ken Rosenthal at Foxsports.com about the possibility that the Mets would trade Kazuo Matsui to the Colorado Rockies for Eli Marrero. On Staurday morning I opened up the newspaper to see that Ken’s report was spot on.

Yesterday the Mets announced that the starting rotation for the Milwaukee series this weekend will be Jeremi Gonzalez, Jose Lima and Pedro Martinez. One has to wonder if that affected Aaron Heilman’s performance last night.

It was the kind of game I’ve talked about on MostlyMets many times before. A character builder. A game where one event happens that deflates you but instead of folding you rise to the occassion and show the opponent who’s boss.

I don’t have alot of time to write this morning so I’ll make this quick. Brian Bannister’s first

Carlos Beltran beat Carlos Delgado in a one on one home run hitting contest in Puerto Rico yesterday 8-6. For more on the contest click here and here.

Omar Minaya made a deal over the weekend that appears to be very unpopular with other Mets bloggers. Excuse me for thinking differently than the crowd.

In order the fill the catching vacancy left by Mike Piazza’s departure the Mets turned to the source that gave them Piazza in the first place and traded for Florida Marlins catcher Paul Lo Duca. I’ve liked Lo Duca for a while and had been thinking of him for the Mets empty catching spot but hadn’t had the time to write a proposal here before news of the deal began to filter in over the last couple of days. To acquire Lo Duca the Mets gave Florida minor league pitching prospect Gaby Hernandez and another minor league pitcher to be named later.

Though Lo Duca is not the best catcher in the game he is definitely serviceable and when teamed with backup Ramon Castro, another former Marlin, should give the Mets a good catching tandem that is as good as any in the game and will cost less than signing either of the two big free agent catchers, Bengie Molina and Ramon Hernandez. (Lo Duca will make $6.25 million in each of the next 2 years while the Molina and Hernandez are seeking 3 or 4 years at upwards of $8 million a year.)

Most of the dissenters to this deal cite the 19 year old Hernandez as too much to give for the 33 year old catcher. They may be right when you weigh potential against a known quantity. But Hernandez struggled at double-a last year and is only predicted as a middle of the rotation starter anyway. In this case the Mets traded the possibility of a number 3 or 4 starter for a definite starting catcher. I think this deal is not as lopsided as the deal that sent the major league ready Mike Jacobs and not so far off Yusmeiro Petit to the Marlins for Carlos Delgado. Jacobs will (probably) be a serviceable first baseman who is not quite as good as Delgado offensively and Petit could be a number 2 starter.

It’s been a while since I wrote but yesterday’s trade was so big it merits some discussion. When the Mets traded Mike Cameron to the Padres last week for Xavier Nady it was accepted mainly for the cost cutting aspects of it. Nady is not nearly as accomplished as Cameron and the Mets used the key word potential when talking about him.

But the main reason why this trade was accepted by commentators and fans alike was the impact it had on payroll. The trade freed up several million dollars for the team to add to any offer they make to Billy Wagner, the free agent closer and best pitcher in this year’s free agent crop. Instead the Mets sent that money along with Mike Jacobs and Yusmeiro Petit, the teams best pitching prospect, to the Florida Marlins for Carlos Delgado. You may remember Delgado from last years free agent market. The Mets heavily pursued him but he spurned their offer to sign with Florida. (At the time Delgado even said he was insulted by Omar Minaya’s tactic of selling the Mets as a haven for latin players.) After Delgado signed with Florida the Mets turned their attention to center fielder Carlos Beltran and traded for first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz.

With Delgado the Mets add a slugging first baseman to their offense. Offense has been sorely missing from the first base position in recent years. Last year I wasn’t heartbroken when they didn’t get Delgado citing him as a defensive liability. But after last years offensive performance has convinced me that it would be a good time to upgrade the pffense at all costs. Delgado will out produce Cameron so the teams offense is upgraded already.

How much the offense is truly upgraded will not be known until the team finds a catcher, second baseman and right fielder. This is a significant move but Minaya and his right hand man Tony Bernazard still have their work cut out for them.