Tomorrow the Mets are expected to officially name Sandy Alderson their new GM. No matter who you were hoping to take the job (I personally wanted Josh Byrnes), it’s hard to argue the Mets choice. Alderson’s resume speaks for itself and his hard-nosed, knowledgeable personality is built perfectly for what he is sure to Continue reading
Alderson is the Right Move
Just a couple of days after the expected dismissal of GM Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel, the Mets are wasting little time in pursuit of a new GM. The Daily News has reported that White Sox assistant GM, Rick Hahn and long time Oakland A’s GM Sandy Alderson are near the top of the Mets Continue reading
Goodbye-ya, Minaya
Could you ask for a more ironic, yet appropriate ending to the Mets 2010 season? There was Oliver Perez on the mound in the final game, missing the strike zone, pitch after pitch. Perez took the loss after a winless season and allowed one more earned run and three more walks to give him 42 Continue reading
Is 2006 the reason?
As we approach the end to another disappointing season, it looks as though the Mets are once again finding themselves back at square one. With rumors of Omar Minaya being fired as soon as Monday, a new manager leading the off-season priorities, and an ownership group that many in baseball see as one of the Continue reading
Bobby Parnell’s Improvements
Bobby Parnell throws gas. You know this. He throws his high 90s four seam fastball a lot – something like 80% of the time. You probably know this. Parnell really only has one secondary pitch, an 87 mph slider, that he throws about 15% of the time. What you probably don’t Continue reading
Au Revoir Frenchy
As Matt had mentioned in yesterday’s post, the Mets had traded Jeff Francoeur for infielder Joaquin Arias just before the trade deadline. Matt did a great job of profiling Arias and what the Mets can expect from him this season and beyond.
But I wanted to take one last moment to recount Francoeur’s contributions to the Mets (and lack thereof). Continue reading
Joaquin Arias & Lucas Duda
So the Mets actually obtained some value for Jeff Francoeur, as they aquired Joaquin Arias, a 25 year-old middle infielder once traded for Alex Rodriguez, from Texas. Arias, who is out of minor league options, will provide depth for the Mets at 2b as they evaluate their options for 2011. Like Francoeur, Continue reading
Jenrry Mejia
Jenrry Mejia responded to his promotion to AAA by going 8 innings on Monday night, yielding 1 earned run (a homerun) on 5 hits and 1 walk. He struck out 9, and induced 10 groundouts and 2 flyouts. He appears to be the favorite to both start on Saturday against the Cubs and to be the ace of the Continue reading
Where the Mets Were at this Time in 2009
We are heading into the last month of the 2010 season and at this point it looks like the Mets aren’t playing for a playoff spot, but rather respect and perhaps to play the part of the spoiler. At times taking on that role can take some of pressure off of a team and sometimes Continue reading
Marlins vs. Mets Series Preview (8/24-26): Jonathon Niese is a stud
It’s a battle for third place as the Marlins, at 62-61, come into Citi Field to take on the 61-61 Mets for a three game series. After coming off their first victorious road series against a National League opponent, the Mets hope the suddenly hot Wright-Reyes combination can keep it going for the final month and a half.
In the last seven games, David Wright is batting .333 with a 1.052 OPS. Think that’s good? In Jose Reyes’s last seven games, he is hitting .519 with a 1.219 OPS. I think it’s safe to say these two streaky players are in the middle of their good streaks.
But that’s not what I want to talk about. We all know Wright and Reyes are elite players at their position and so those numbers shouldn’t be all-that surprising, even with the offensive struggles throughout this second half. I want to discuss Jonathon Niese, who will start the final game of this series on Thursday night against Anibal Sanchez. Niese is not getting nearly enough attention for National League Rookie of the Year. Yes, I know Buster Posey is a hitting machine and I know Jason Heyward is a superstar in the making. But allow me to drop some stats.
First, let’s play the now cliched “guess the player game.” The following stats are from this season:
Pitcher A: 7.17 K/9, 2.80 BB/9, 3.91 FIP/3.93 xFIP
Pitcher B: 6.59 K/9, 2.55 BB/9, 3.49 FIP/4.34 xFIP
As you can see, “Pitcher A” has been averaging more strikeouts, around the same amount of walks, and has a lower xFIP. That pitcher is Jon Niese. Pitcher B? — Johan Santana.
Now let’s compare Niese to another left-handed CY Young Award winner — Cliff Lee. People always snicker at me when I tell them I think Niese reminds me of Lee. Granted, maybe I am overstating it a bit but the approach of both pitchers is the same: low 90s fastball, mix in a cutter, keep the ball in the ballpark, and depend on ground balls all while having a respectable strikeout rate.
This year, Jon Niese’s ground ball percentage sits at 49.1% while Cliff Lee’s is 40.3%, though Lee is striking out about a half batter more per 9 innings than Niese (7.78). Now, here’s where I’m going to get radical — while admittedly, it’s a very small sample size, Niese’s stats from last year and this year combined are also comparable to Lee’s career numbers. In 23 career starts, Niese sports a 7.04 K/9, 3.04 BB/9, 48.5% ground ball rate, 3.91 FIP, and 4.04 xFIP. For Lee’s career: 6.90 K/9, 2.25 BB/9, 38.0 ground ball rate, 3.80 FIP, and 4.19 xFIP. I’m obviously not going to say Niese is a bette pitcher than Cliff Lee based on those stats, but he is off to a really good start as a Major League pitcher.
So in the offseason, when everyone is clamoring for the Mets to sign Cliff Lee even though he’s going to cost a fortune and there are rumors that the Mets don’t have that much money, I won’t be all that upset when they don’t sign him since they already have a mini-Cliff Lee in their rotation already.
