1- Team signed C Rod Barajas Saturday and he is penciled in as the starter. Noted as a very good defensive catcher, he should combine with veteran Henry Blanco to give the Mets a tremendous defensive upgrade behind the plate. Barajas hit .226 with 19 homers and 71 rbi for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2009. This move almost assures Omir Santos and prized prospect Josh Thole will join fellow offseason signing Chris Coste in the minors to start the 2010 campaign.
2- Mets skipper Jerry Manuel has played around with the idea of batting SS Jose Reyes 3rd in the order with CF Carlos Beltran out for the early part of the season. This achieves a couple of things in the manager’s opinion: reduce the pressure on Reyes to run with his leg injury issues, allows the club to bat 3 switch hitters to start the game and significantly lengthens the lineup. Heck, Daniel Murphy would bat 7th under this plan! CF Angel Pagan would lead off, 2B Luis Castillo would hit 2nd, LF Jason Bay 4th, 3B David Wright 5 and RF Jef Francoeur 6th.
3- Team is trying to cancel the waiver claim of LH reliever Jay Marshall. The Mets feel he had a pre-existing shoulder injury and the commissioner’s office will have to rule on this dispute. NY has requested Marshall not report to camp.
4- Wright looks like he lived in the weight room this offseason. He is ripped and clearly is on a mission to hit more than 10 home runs he clubbed during the miserable 2009 season.(After putting out 33 in 2008) Great article by Kevin Kernan in the Sunday NY Post about this.
5- Manuel claims the CF job is open until Beltran returns. So keep an eye on Gary Matthews Jr, he obviously has talent and has put up numbers in the majors as an everyday player. Angel Pagan will not be handed this spot without a fight.
6- Jon Niese is the leading candidate for the 5th starter spot and looks great according to most observers. Nice to hear after the awful hamstring injury in 2009 and also amazing what medical technology can do. That was not a pretty scene at Citifield, one of the worst moments of a season filled with them!
7- Overall reports have been positive, several veterans look to be in excellent shape, besides Wright, two names that come to mind are starting pitchers, LH Oliver Perez and RH Mike Pelfrey. This is a great sign because these two, along with John Maine, are HUGE keys for the hopes of the 2010 Mets.
8- Keep an eye on the bullpen battle in camp. Manuel has stated spots are open and you could see some interesting names in a variety of roles. Obviously, Francisco Rodriquez is the closer and Pedro Feliciano , the top lefty, but you have some real battles going on here. I would love them to leave Bobby Parnell here! He was solid out of the pen and a mess starting.
9- With the Barajas signing, this team is pretty well set with the everyday lineup.(However, they could use another lefty reliever!) The battles for final roster spots should be interesting and create competition, which is always good. I really like this team. Listen, many picked this team to go to the World Series in 2009.(Sports Illustrated for one) Every thing that could possibly go wrong went wrong, I think I sprained my neck watching this team. After the nightmare endings of 2007 and 2008, this franchise is due some good luck. This team has some how flied under the radar and I like that. They did lose the big bat of Carlos Delgado at 1B but have added a comparable one in Bay and Barajas is a solid acquisition. Having Francoeur here for a full season is huge. He is a gritty, down and dirty player who battles. Think of Paul Lo Duca in RF, that is Jeff. This team can and will contend in 2010.
