Mike Pelfrey starts Wednesday night against the Brewers. If your life depended upon it and you had to make a correct wager on the outcome of the game to avoid death – which way would you bet? Do you expect Pelfrey to come through and pitch a Quality Start? Or do you expect him to [...]
A week into the season the Mets starting rotation has been a case of going one step forward and two steps back. The Mets have gotten tremendous efforts from Jonathon Niese, R.A. Dickey and Chris Young. However, their so-called ace Mike Pelfrey has turned a feel-good story into one of concern. On Wednesday night, Pelfrey [...]
My first go round at Opening Day predictions at Mets360 did not go so well. So, I could go one of several ways: A. Try to make “easy” predictions to make me look good in hindsight. B. Make off the wall assertions and when one of them came true, trumpet the fact that I picked [...]
We all have our blind spots. Matthew Cerrone of MetsBlog wanted to put Chris Capuano in the bullpen. Manager Terry Collins wants to start Luis Hernandez at second base. And I have never been right about Mike Pelfrey. He was the ninth overall pick of the 2005 Draft with a fine college resume so I [...]
Last year the Mets got strong pitching from their whole staff, particularly their starters. Many felt they overachieved, and with the loss of Johan Santana for at leas half a season, many expect the team’s starters to perform significantly worse in 2011. But so far in the Grapefruit League, the Mets’ starters are performing quite [...]
Fans tend to be either overly optimistic or pessimistic. That is why it is important to look at unbiased, systematic approaches to projections. One of the best sets available are the ZiPS projections from ESPN Insider and Baseball Think Factory Editor-in-Chief Dan Szymborski. Recently Szymborski, an Orioles fan, agreed to a Q&A about his projections [...]
Generally, I have not been Mike Pelfrey’s biggest fan. It’s not like with Francoeur or Matthews, where just the sight of them made me upset – it’s different with Pelfrey. I do not actively dislike him but I do not feel a sense of relief when he’s the starter that day for the Mets. But, [...]
With the signing of Chris Young, the Mets rotation appears to be set in 2011. Young was not my first choice for a bargain-basement pitcher, but at least if I squint real hard I can imagine him being a useful pitcher this season, which is more than I can say for Kevin Millwood. Now, we [...]
The Mets have already had their team Christmas party but they must have decided this year not to exchange gifts. Now, you may be wondering what millionaires give as gifts or what millionaires want to receive as gifts. I cannot answer that question. But I can tell you what players on the Mets really need. [...]
Since the end of the 2010 season, the Mets have overhauled their front office, made a managerial change and reassigned some coaches, including batting coach Howard Johnson. But one area that remains unchanged is the pitching coach. The new Mets brain trust decided to retain Dan Warthen, who has been in charge of the team’s [...]
For a season that opened up with hope, and which was carried to the All-Star break, the Mets once again flamed out and disappointed their fans and had their second consecutive losing season (79-83). Change is now on the horizon as GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel were given their pink slips on Monday. [...]
In 2010, the home team in MLB has a .559 winning percentage compared to a .441 mark when on the road. Through games of Friday the Mets had a .582 winning percentage in home games, an above-average mark and the 12-best in MLB. On the road, they have a .395 winning percentage, a below-average mark [...]