The big news of the first 10 days of camp was announced Sunday by Mets Manager Jerry Manuel. Rookie Daniel Murphy, thought to be in the mix at 2b(with veteran Luis Castillo) or a possible platoon OF candidate, has won the starting leftfield job. Murphy has hit .313 over 13 major league at bats and Manuel wants his bat in the lineup full time.
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5th starter Tim Redding is about 2 weeks behind the other starting pitchers after experiencing pain in the back of his right (throwing)shoulder. Redding had minor surgery on his left foot this offseason and tried to rush back, causing the shoulder problem. He should be throwing off the mound by March. Veteran free agent signee Freddy Garcia and rookie Jon Niese are the other options at the 5 spot.
Manuel will platoon right handed bat Fernando Tatis and lefty Ryan Church in rightfield.
Starting pitcher John Maine has started to throw his curveball again! After Dan Warthen took over as pitching coach when manager Willie Randolph was fired(with staff guru Rick Peterson), he worked with fellow starter Mike Pelfrey on throwing the curve. Maine’s work with Warthen was limited due to injury problems. Peterson did not allow either the thow the deuce but in a recent live batting practice session, Maine threw as many as 40 curves.
Pelfrey is one of several major league players to be involved in the Stanford Financial “Ponzi” scheme. Pelfrey is represented by super agent Scott Boras and many of his players made investments thru the company. Pelfrey stated “99%” of his money was tied up in the account(which have been frozen by the federal government) and he has set up a small outside bank account to pay his bills. Yankees outfielders Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady have also been involved with Stanford.
