UPDATE OF RECENT METS NEWS:
1- 3 signings announced this week that might have impact for the 2010 Mets, as 1b Mike Jacobs(an ex-Met), LHP Hisanori Takahashi and C Shawn Riggans all signed minor league deals Thursday. Jacobs, who could platoon with Daniel Murphy at first, launched 19 homers for the Kansas City Royals last year while posting a .228 average. He hit .300 with 11 homers in his rookie season for NY in 2005. He was then packaged to Florida in the Carlos Delgado trade during the 2006 off-season. His best year was 2008, when he put up the following line:.247, 32 homers with 93 RBI. Takahashi brings depth and versatility to the club, as he can both start and relieve. He was 10-6 with a 2.94 ERA for the Yomiuri Giants last year. The southpaw throws 5 pitches and features a screw ball. Riggans is more a of a depth catcher and will compete with veterans Henry Blanco, Chris Coste and rookie Josh Thole for a roster spot with returnee Omir Santos the presumed backstop.
2- The club has made a minor adjustment to the dimensions of Citifield. The club has cut 8 feet of the center field wall just below the Home run Apple. The wall measured at 16 feet in 2009, no other adjustments have been made to the Mets home ballpark. NY hit 96 homers in 2009, by far the fewest in MLB. The San Francisco Giants were 29th with 122 by comparison. Ball park aside, the club lost Delgado and Beltran for large chunks of the season as well as spark plug SS Jose Reyes at the top of the order. That is easily 80-90 home runs right there. While I do not expect the 2010 Mets to resemble the 1961 Yankees, I think this team will hit around 150 bombs this year.
3- Great to see Murphy working with Mets hall of famer Keith Hernandez this past week on defense at 1b. Keith is easily the best defensive first baseman I have ever seen and he is great sounding board for the young Murphy. I like Daniel as a player and feel he can develop into a solid everyday contributor with both his bat and glove. Mex could be a big part of this and hats off to the SNY announcer for stepping forward to help his former ball club out.
