A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
The New Mets

As if getting rid of both Vance Wilson and Jason Phillips in favor of Ramon (.132 in 2004, .212 career) Castro wasn't bad enough, Omar Minaya and Willie Randolph have now gotten rid of the two best performing pitchers this spring training. Amazingly, Minaya and Randolph have managed to take a bad bullpen and make it much worse.

First, the Mets sent Heath Bell to AAA, despite a very strong spring. Bell pitched okay (3.33 ERA) last year, and deserves a chance to prove he can pitch in the majors.

Then last night, the Mets traded Matt Ginter to the Tigers. Ginter had pitched 14 shutout innings this spring after adding a third pitch. Last season, Ginter started 14 games for the Mets and posted a 4.54 ERA. Ginter was traded for Steve Colyer, who had a 6.47 ERA last season. Is Minaya unaware that a low ERA is preferable?

Ginter, in my view, should have been the Mets fifth starter, with Phillips staying as backup catcher, and Kaz Ishii - who was acquired for Phillips - staying in LA. Ishii may be more talented than Ginter, but he had a 4.71 ERA last season, and only managed to pitch 5.5 innings per start. Kris Benson, who is making around $8 million a year, had a 4.31 ERA last year, while Victor Zambrano had a 4.37 ERA to go with his bad elbow.

The rationale for getting rid of Ginter is that he's out of options and could not be sent to the minors. But why would the Mets want to send Ginter down? He and Bell are far better than several pitchers who somehow made the roster, including Felix Heredia, who followed up a 2004 season in which had a 6.28 ERA with an equally horrible spring; 40 year old Roberto Hernandez, who had a 4.76 ERA last season and presumably is not throwing harder with age; Manny Aybar, who last pitched in the big leagues in 2003, when his ERA was an even 6.00 and who has a career ERA of 5.05; Mike Matthews, who posted a 6.30 ERA last season; and finally, Dae-Sung Koo, who is 35 years old, has never pitched in the majors, and who had a 4.32 ERA in a Korean league, where he had a 24-34 career record.

Heredia, Hernandez, Aybar, Matthews, and Koo are all "New Mets" signed or acquired by Minaya.

My prediction for the 2005 Mets: 79-83, fourth place. Carlos Beltran is a very good player, but as he showed in Kansas City, he can't turn a team around alone. Pedro Martinez is an upgrade over Al Leiter, but with a horrible bullpen, the Mets are not contenders.
posted on 4/03/2005