Link: Mets Block Yankees Affiliate’s Move to Newark
A view from above Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium, home of the Newark Bears. Credit: Phil Hoops
Jerry Izenberg of the Star Ledger reports that on numerous occasions the New York Mets, using their territorial rights, blocked a move that would have allowed the New York Yankees' Triple-A affiliate, the Scranton Wilkes-barre Yankees, to play at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium in Newark for the 2012 season, while their own ballpark was undergoing renovations. This is an absolute must read for Newark Bears fans.
Izenberg explains that the Mets feared that the Yankees move to Newark would have deterred fans from going to games at Citi Field and describes the deal as "stone cold dead" and points out that Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo thanked the Yankees and General Manager Brian Cashman for their consideration.
I'm actually at a lose of words right now. Seriously, what a season 2012 could have been, even if it would have been for a lone year. It's no secret that attendance at Bears and Eagles Riverfront Stadium hasn't been up to par, so to speak, over past seasons. A team stocked with top major-league ready prospects would have been like revisiting the early 20th century when future Yankees roamed the fields in Newark and could have potentially opened the door for other affiliates to move into the area. Unfortunately, like the Newark Bears of old it appears that any chance of that happening is history.
Meet the Mess: Fred Wilpon Rips His Stars and Wright Responds
What a morning it has been for Mets fans and not in a good way. Rather than try to sum up the fallout from a controversial article on Mets owner Fred Wilpon that published in the New Yorker we're going to let the following direct quotes speak for themselves. Click here to read the full article.
Jose Reyes Credit: Flickr user slgckgc
Fred Wilpon in regards to Mets shortstop Jose Reyes:
“He’s a racehorse,” Wilpon said. When Reyes started with the Mets, in 2003, just before his twentieth birthday, he was pegged as a future star. Injuries have limited him to a more pedestrian career, though he’s off to a good start this season. “He thinks he’s going to get Carl Crawford money,” Wilpon said, referring to the Red Sox’ signing of the former Tampa Bay player to a seven-year, $142-million contract. “He’s had everything wrong with him,” Wilpon said of Reyes. “He won’t get it.”
Mets Sign Somerset Starter To Minor League Deal
Nice signing by the Mets. Brian Sweeney isn't a star, but he has shown he can be, at the very least, a serviceable pitcher at the Major League level during his time with both the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners.
With Bobby Parnell and Pedro Beato currently on the disabled list, a spot on the major league bullpen could become available especially if injury magnet, Jason Isringhausen, ends up on the DL later on down the road. For now though, it appears that Sweeney will be ticketed for the Buffalo Bisons starting rotation to claim the spot that was left empty by Jenrry Mejia according to ESPNNY's Adam Rubin.
Sweeney, Somerset's Opening Day starter, gave the Atlantic League ball club something to cheer about in his one and only start with the team when he went 7 innings against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs and allowed only 4 hits while striking out 8.
In case if you're interested, check out Sweeney's Major League career stats below courtesy of Baseball Reference:
| Year | Age | Tm | Lg | W | L | G | GS | GF | SV | IP | H | R | ER | HR | BB | SO | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | 29 | SEA | AL | 0 | 0 | 1.93 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 9.1 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0.857 | 6.8 | 7.00 |
| 2004 | 30 | SDP | NL | 1 | 0 | 5.65 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 14.1 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 10 | 1.535 | 6.3 | 5.00 |
| 2006 | 32 | SDP | NL | 2 | 0 | 3.20 | 37 | 0 | 15 | 2 | 56.1 | 53 | 22 | 20 | 6 | 16 | 23 | 1.225 | 3.7 | 1.44 |
| 2010 | 36 | SEA | AL | 1 | 2 | 3.16 | 24 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 37.0 | 33 | 16 | 13 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 1.054 | 3.4 | 2.33 |
| 4 Seasons | 4 | 2 | 3.38 | 73 | 2 | 26 | 2 | 117.0 | 113 | 49 | 44 | 12 | 25 | 54 | 1.179 | 4.2 | 2.16 | |||
Mets Ink Atlantic League Hurler To Minor League Deal
Justin Hampson pitching for the San Diego Padres. Credit: SD Dirk / Flickr
According to Baseball America's Matthew Eddy, the New York Mets have signed left-handed pitcher Justin Hampson to a minor league contract.
Credit: LI Ducks
Hampson has been somewhat of a minor league journeyman the past couple of seasons. He last pitched at the big league level with the San Diego Padres, who play in a notoriously pitcher's friendly park similar to Citi Field.
His best year in the bigs came in 2007 where he put up an ERA of 2.70 in 39 games pitched. The next season, he produced similar results by posting an ERA of 2.93 in 35 games.
Most recently, Hampson was a member of the 2010 Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League for a brief time during the month of July last season.
He pitched in merely four games with the Ducks, including one poor outing on July 21st against Newark in which he gave up four runs in one inning en route to a 12-5 loss. This caused his ERA with the team to balloon to 11.25.
Earlier in the year the 30 year-old pitched with the York Revolution and his numbers were a bit more respectable. Hampson pitched in 16 games with the Revs and accumulated a 4.96 ERA with 11 strike-outs and 9 walks.
The bottom line is that just like the Casey Fossum signing from a few weeks ago, I see this move as being nothing more than organizational depth. If Hampson does crack the Major League roster at some point this year, it will likely be in the form of an emergency start or (more likely) a seventh man in the bullpen type of deal. Nevertheless, a good low-risk pickup by Mr. Alderson.
Mets Avoid Arbitration With Dickey
R.A. Dickey in Spring Training last season. Credit: Noah K. Murray/NJ.com
New York Daily News Mets beat writer Andy Martino is reporting that the Mets have come to an agreement with starter R.A. Dickey on a two-year contract extension with a third year club option.
I don't love this deal to be honest. I am not trying to take away anything from the 36 year-old knuckleballer, who had a phenomenal year last season with the Metropolitans when he went 11-9 with a 2.84 ERA in 174.1 innings pitched. I am just fearful that the Mets have committed to a 'one hit wonder' so to speak.
It's happened plenty of times in the past after all. Prior to the 2010 campaign, Dickey's numbers were less than stellar to say the least. In seven seasons in the American League, Dickey posted an ERA north of 5 (5.43 to be exact) and proved to be ineffective on the mound giving up 519 hits in 442.2 innings.
Granted as Howard Megdal pointed out in a post on Twitter, it is important to hold out for the financial terms of the deal to be announced before jumping to conclusions. In the meanwhile, I give this deal a thumbs down. I would have much rather have seen the team try to hammer out a one year deal to ensure that last season was not simply an aberration.
Who Do The Mets Turn To Now?
Photo Credit: Getty Images
The Mets were very impressive last night in their 5-2 win over the Atlanta Braves.
Unfortunately, the win came at a price; as starter John Maine left the game with an apparently injury to his non-throwing elbow. While Maine indicated that he would like to make his next start, that is still very much up in the air.
This means that the Mets have a gaping hole in their starting pitching staff. Even if Maine doesn’t miss much time, it’s not like he’s been all that effective. If I had to take a guess I’d say that Maine hasn’t been healthy all year, which is likely why most of his performances have been so disappointing.
The question that remains is who should take Maine’s spot in the rotation? Last night on SNY’s Post Game show, analyst Bobby Ojeda predicted that Hisanori Takahashi would be the pitcher to fill the gap. I love Takahashi, but the team needs this guy in the bullpen.
I Like Ike…Well Kind Of
Throughout this past Spring Training, I often questioned the Mets on their decision to keep highly-touted prospect, Ike Davis, in the minor leagues rather than promote him to the Opening Day lineup.
Photo Credit: NY Daily News
However, after thinking long and hard about it; I resided to the fact that the Mets had made the right decision. After all, Davis is still very young (23 years old) and has a little more than a year and a half professional baseball experience under his belt.
Spending the better part of the season in Buffalo would be beneficial for Ike, as he would not have to deal with the media frenzy that is New York and he could work on fine tuning his defense. However, after two weeks into the season and a red hot start in Buffalo, Ike Davis finds himself batting sixth in the Mets lineup.
As excited as I am to have Ike’s power bat in the lineup, I ask myself why now? Had the Mets waited until tomorrow to call up Davis, they would have been able to push off his free agency by a full year. Then again, the Mets are a New York team so I’m sure they would deepen their pockets a bit if they wanted Davis to stick around after his contract is up.
Categories
- RT @NewarkBears: We are gearing up for our season this spring. We want to thank all of you for your ongoing support of this ball club! # ...
- @ZOEEclipse Hahaha I miss access to my legal Pearl Jam bootlegs off that site.
- @Jgolds91 For all of the latest #Mets spring training rumors ofcourse!
- @Jgolds91 I'll be watching Geico Sports Night on SNY
- @hoopsmm Sorry but PJ > BTR anyday!
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