This morning, I texted my friend Joe asking the question “So, who gets fired today?  Just HoJo or do they have the balls to fire Jerry?”  This evolved into a discussion of David Wright (as my conversations with Joe tend to do) and his streakiness.  My thoughts regarding Wright’s streakiness are that baseball players are streaky; this is not a phenomenon exclusive to David Wright.  Even Albert Pujols will have a two week stretch where he doesn’t look like the best player in baseball.  It happens.

What most sabermetrically-inclined baseball fans love about the long baseball season, its ability to sift through small sample sizes, can also work against it to some degree, as fans tend to ignore the larger sample sizes in favor of whatever the most recent sample is.  Two weeks ago, David Wright was an MVP candidate.  Today, he’s a disappointment, too streaky to be a star.  Yet, if you look at his line for the season, you see that David Wright is hitting roughly in line with what he’s done for his career.  His career slash numbers are .308/.387/.517/.904, and his slash numbers for this season are .298/.372/.504/.876.  That’s three hits, four total bases, and six times on base off of his career lines, essentially two singles, a double, and two walks, for the entire season.

That’s why it’s important to keep perspective throughout the season.  The team is never as good as they play during their best stretch (the 12-1 stretch from June 4 through June 18, when they were mainly beating up on the Orioles and Indians) and are never as bad as they play during their worst stretch (it’s hard to think that there will be a worse stretch than this 2-9 road trip).

Things will get better.  Carlos Beltran may not be the Carlos Beltran we all know and love anymore, but he’s probably not going to remain this bad.  Jason Bay is probably not this mediocre either.  Jose Reyes seems to generally be on the right path again after struggling earlier in the season.  And yes, David Wright is fine.  The Mets will not hit this poorly the entire season.  Sometimes, players slump.  It happens.  It stinks that literally every hitter is slumping right now and that Howard Johnson will probably lose his job over it, but these guys will probably turn things around soon enough.

———–

Speaking of Howard Johnson, it seems like a foregone conclusion that he will be fired today.  He may even be fired by the time I post this.  While I’m not sure a guy who tried to mess with David Wright’s swing to fit Citi Field deserves to keep his job, it does ring hollow to blame Howard Johnson for the team’s latest slump.  Sure, he’s the hitting coach, and the team isn’t hitting, but how much of that should be pinned on HoJo?  I’m sure he’s doing his job, which is to try to work out swing issues that players develop during slumps, but it’s not like hitting coaches are generally responsible for team offensive philosophies or anything.  The job of a hitting coach is a job of offering positive reinforcement and trying to offer advice when things go south.  Generally speaking, by the time hitters establish themselves in the majors, they are who they are.

More to the point, hitting coaches are hired to be fired when things go wrong.  Rick Down was fired three years ago as a warning shot to Willie Randolph after the Mets slumped big-time in June of 2007 (and for those who remember the collapse season, the team’s terrible June had as much to do with the team’s ultimate finish as its wretched September).  Firing HoJo would seem to be the same for Manuel, a sign that he will be next if things don’t shape up. 

The problem is, I don’t see how HoJo can lose his job and Dan Warthen can keep his.  Can somebody point to a single positive development of Warthen’s in the two years he’s been the Mets pitching coach?  In the time he’s been here, countless pitchers have been hurt, John Maine and Oliver Perez stopped being even league average pitchers, and other than Jon Niese, not a single pitcher has developed into anything worthwhile, while many have seemingly regressed.  And I’m not sure Warthen deserves credit for Niese; Niese learned the cutter that has helped him master right handed hitting in the minors, not under Warthen’s watch.

———–

Warthen also earns the award for “dumbest comment of the week” last week.  When asked what the rule was regarding Frankie Rodriguez’ usage on the road in extra innings and only being saved for save situations, Warthen replied, “Pretty hard and fast.  There’s minute exceptions. I think it’s standard across baseball.”

Of course, managing for the save wasn’t always standard across baseball.  The save statistic was introduced in 1969, the year of the Mets’ first World Series championship.  Now, this was ten years before I was born, so I can’t say this for certain, but I’m pretty sure that managers did not manage for the save before it was introduced, meaning that for the first 100 years that baseball was played on the planet Earth, managers would use their best relief pitcher available at their disposal at key parts of a baseball game, rather than using their worst.  In fact, until Tony LaRussa changed the way in which Dennis Eckersley was used in the late 80’s, I’m pretty sure this was still a standard part of baseball.

That’s a huge problem with Jerry Manuel, his usage of the bullpen.  He needs players in set roles, because he’s not smart enough to think outside of these set roles.  He needs an 8th inning guy to pitch the 9th inning of a tie game on the road because he saves his closer for the save situation, because “that’s baseball.”  It wasn’t baseball 40 years ago, it only became baseball when the save was introduced.  It’s appalling that Ken Rosenthal tweets that Manuel says “Wow” after Ollie Perez gets out of a 2nd and 3rd, 1 out jam in the 13th inning of a tie game on the road, because Manuel did not have to rely on his worst pitcher in the bullpen in that situation.  He chose to because of his own reluctance to break from baseball’s norms and manage for a win rather than a save.

Watching the tag team of Manuel and Warthen work their magic the past two seasons has made me reevaluate how I look at the Mets’ 2008 collapse.  At the time, I remember not wanting to blame Manuel for that collapse, because the Mets’ bullpen that season was terrible and there was little he could do.  And it’s true, there’s only so much a man can do with the likes of Duaner Sanchez, Scott Schoeneweis, and Luis Ayala, plus an inexplicably horrible Aaron Heilman.  But knowing now that Manuel is a man who thrives on roles and doesn’t thrive on thinking, was it also a self-fulfilling prophecy?  Was it that Manuel simply did not know how to properly use what he had?  Was Ayala used in so many high leverage situations in such a short amount of time because Manuel cannot manage without hard and fast roles?

Taking this a step further, we can blame Manuel’s reliance on roles for the Frankie Rodriguez signing and the J.J. Putz trade made the following offseason.  The two acquisitions gave Manuel his closer and his 8th inning guy, two guys he would be able to mindlessly slot into roles without having to think too much.  A smart manager would not need to rely on two pitchers with “proven closer” labels available for “proven closer” prices.  The money and players needed to acquire Frankie and Putz merely to placate a manager who, frankly, is not very smart, is another expense of the Jerry Manuel Era.

That’s why I got a kick out of Jerry Manuel’s passive aggressive comments a few weeks ago about the lack of eighth inning guy.  The one time Omar Minaya did bend over backwards to get an eighth inning guy (or perhaps more appropriately, was bent over backwards by Jack Z. to get an eighth inning guy), it failed spectacularly.  I hope shortly after that manager’s press conference, Omar Minaya sent Jerry a two word, seven letter text message that started with “F” and ended in “U.”

———–

Of course, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I’m no fan of Jerry Manuel.  I hate his love of the sacrifice bunt.  I hate his love of the intentional walk*.  I hate his press conferences, where he offers dimwitted responses to reporters’ questions and is never called out on any of this.  He stinks, I get it.  Even if he managed a team like the Yankees or Red Sox, with little waste on the major league roster, he would still fail to efficiently use his available resources.

* Jerry called for two highly questionable intentional walks in Saturday’s debacle.  Both were sort of defensible on the surface, but not really.  One was of Garrett Anderson in the bottom of the fourth with a runner on third and one out.  Garrett Anderson has been one of the very worst players in major league baseball this season, with a .205 OBP, a .483 OPS, a .211 wOBA (a woeful WOBA if I’ve ever seen one), and a -1.1 WAR.  Shouldn’t we be pitching to him, or am I crazy? 

The other crazy intentional walk was Ollie Perez pitching around Rafael Furcal with first base open.  I’m sorry, Oliver Perez should never be put in a situation where if he allows a walk, the winning run scores.  Never mind the fact that he shouldn’t have even been in the game at that point, only a damned fool would add that level of difficulty to that situation with the game on the line.  No wonder Jerry was surprised when it worked out.  He should have been fired for that call alone.

All of that said, even if we had a good manager on this team, the roster makeup has often been untenable.  Jeff Francoeur was the worst right fielder in the major leagues before he was mercifully benched this week.  Luis Castillo’s only major league skill at this point is plate discipline; he literally brings nothing else to the table.  Alex Cora gives Garrett Anderson a run for his money for the title of “worst player in the major leagues.”  It somehow took Fernando Nieve four months to play his way off of the major league roster.  Mike Jacobs, Frank Catalanotto, Gary Matthews Jr, all of these guys somehow broke camp with jobs in the major leagues.

The point is, as JamesK has said on Twitter, Omar Minaya does not deserve the right to fire his second major league manager.  He tried that trick once.  It didn’t work.  At some point, the failures at the major league level have to fall upon him.  There’s too much waste on this team to where Omar should continue to skate for this team’s failures.  It’s time to bring in a real GM who knows how to properly evaluate major league performances and doesn’t continue to overpay for garbage that can’t contribute.  Jerry’s performance deserves a firing, no doubt, and maybe Howard Johnson’s does as well, but in the end, it’s Omar Minaya who deserves the blame for all of the empty Citi Field seats in August and September, and he’s the one who needs to go.

Carlos Beltran: First Half – A; Second Half – Incomplete; Final Grade – B

It’s hard to give Beltran a real accurate final grade when he only played for two weeks in the second half.  With a full season, I feel confident he would have been an A, but he simply didn’t get enough time in to warrant it.  I hope whatever knee injury he has gets healed up, because this team isn’t the same without him.

David Wright:  First Half – A-; Second Half – B-; Final Grade – B

It wasn’t a great year for David, but it was still a pretty good one.  The power never really seemed to come back, and he had the head injury in the second half that took him out of the lineup for two weeks.  He didn’t play great in September, possibly due to lingering side effects from the injury.  I’d really like to see the power stroke come back in 2010, as the massive dropoff in home runs was alarming.

Angel Pagan:  First Half – Incomplete; Second Half – B+; Final Grade – B

I’m as amazed as anybody else; I’m giving Angel Pagan the best Mets’ second half hitter’s grade.  Don’t dwell too much on the mental mistakes, he still provided the team with good outfield defense and an above-average bat.  I wouldn’t give him a starting job in 2010, but he should be a capable 4th outfielder for the next few years.  Yes, the highlight of our second half was the emergence of our fourth outfielder of the future.

Luis Castillo:  First Half – B-; Second Half – C+; Final Grade – B-

Castillo seemed to get worse with the glove as the season went on, perhaps owing to fatigue or bad knees.  Unfortunately, the team lacked depth at second base after the Reyes and Cora injuries, so he was pretty much stuck playing every day.  Still, he earned his contract this year, which is more than we can say for him last year, and perhaps gives us hope that maybe, just maybe, Oliver Perez will earn his contract in 2010.  Okay, that’s a stretch.

Jeff Francoeur:  First Half – Incomplete; Second Half – C+; Final Grade – C+

I will give Francoeur something of the benefit of the doubt on his defense, which UZR doesn’t love, because it’s a small sample size.  I will also not bother factoring in his atrocious first half with the Braves, which would probably push this grade down into the D-/F range.  With all of that said, we’re still left with a very flawed baseball player, who admittedly showed nice power but remains allergic to walks* and whose arm remains the only thing good defensively about him.  Signing him to a contract that goes beyond 2010 would be quite dumb, so I’m expecting them to not only sign him through 2010 and 2011, but to buy out his first free agency year as well.  I have no confidence in this front office.

* – Mets players with fewer Mets’ PA than Francoeur who drew more walks than his 11, from most PA to fewest:  Alex Cora, Omir Santos, Ryan Church, Brian Schneider, Jeremy Reed, Jose Reyes, Cory Sullivan, Anderson Hernandez, and Carlos Delgado.  That’s nine players.  Only nine position players walked fewer times than Francoeur, none of whom had more than 100 PAs this season.

Fernando Tatis:  First half – D+; Second Half – B-; Final Grade – C

Tatis played well enough in the second half that you could almost even call him a bright spot.  I’ll admit that I was sick of watching him by July, but he came on strong and played really well to end the year.  That being said, he took a lot of at-bats that should have gone to Nick Evans in the second half, and he should not be a part of this team’s immediate future.  I hope he catches on somewhere, though, he seems likable enough.

Gary Sheffield:  First Half – B-; Second Half – Incomplete; Final Grade – C-

Sheffield barely played in the second half, and when he did play, he wasn’t very good, and he couldn’t play the field at all in September (although he really couldn’t play the field from April to August, either).  It was a good move to bring Sheffield in, but they probably used him too frequently and he wore down by season’s end.

Omir Santos:  First Half – C; Second Half – D+; Final Grade – C-

It worries the hell out of me that the front office might see Santos as a full-time option at catcher.  He’s not a good hitter as he can’t get on base, and as I predicted, he couldn’t maintain his power in the second half (.117 ISO in the second half vs. .144 in the first half).  He is a backup catcher at best, and really he is more of a third string catcher, the type of guy teams stow in AAA until there is an injury at the major league level, who then gets DFA’d as soon as the regular catcher is healthy again.  This being the Mets, instead we kept this guy around and made him the starter.

Cory Sullivan:  First Half – No Grade; Second Half – C-; Final Grade – C-

Whatever.  There are hundreds of Cory Sullivans laying around baseball, devoting more than a word to him is a waste of time.  No diss, Cory.

Daniel Murphy:  First Half – F; Second Half – C; Final Grade – D+

Murphy followed up his awful first half with an OK second half.  He still didn’t show enough with the bat to where he should be guaranteed any playing time in the majors in 2010, and if the team doesn’t bring in a better first baseman, they are going to continue to struggle to score runs.  He did look pretty good with the glove at first, though.

Brian Schneider:  First Half – C+; Second Half – D-; Final Grade – D

After a strong return from injury, Schneider struggled mightily through the end of July into August (and really, mightily doesn’t even begin to describe how much he struggled in August) before losing playing time to Santos and Josh Thole in September.  Still, I bet Schneider hangs around baseball for another 5-10 years as a backup before settling into what seems to be his ultimate destiny; career minor league manager.

Alex Cora:  First Half – C-; Second Half – F; Final Grade – D-

As I said back in July, it’s not his fault; he shouldn’t have been playing every day, and he really shouldn’t have been playing every day considering he was hurt.  He’s also not good enough defensively to play shortstop with any sort of regularity.  The team really needs to do better at the backup middle infielder spot, particularly defensively, especially since Reyes might not be ready to go to start the year.  If the team likes his leadership so much, hire him to replace Luis Alicea as the first base coach.  As a player, he is strongly lacking.

Jeremy Reed:  First Half – D-; Second Half – F; Final Grade – F

He was a worthwhile enough gamble in the Putz trade, but he showed he isn’t worthy of a roster spot, even as a backup.  Time to non-tender him and let him be somebody else’s problem.

Anderson Hernandez:  First Half – No Grade; Second Half – F; Final Grade – F

Hernandez is neither good enough with the glove to be a backup shortstop nor good enough with the bat to be a backup second baseman.  That means he’s not a major league player.

Jose Reyes:  First Half – B-; Second Half – Incomplete; Final Grade – Incomplete

He barely played enough to get a grade in the first half, and didn’t play at all in the second half, so he will go down as an incomplete.  It’s a shame, this team missed him dearly.

Carlos Delgado: First Half – B-; Second Half – Incomplete; Final Grade – Incomplete

See Reyes, Jose.

Ryan Church:  First Half – C; Second Half – Incomplete; Final Grade – Incomplete

FYI, I would have ranked Churchy around a C/C- if I included his Braves’ second half with his Mets’ first half.

Fernando Martinez:  First Half – F; Second Half – Incomplete; Final Grade – Incomplete

He probably realistically should have been an incomplete in the first half as well.  He didn’t have enough time to really show anything in the majors, and frankly he had no business being here to begin with, but injuries and a complete lack of options in Buffalo paved the way for his promotion.  It is worth pointing out that he played pretty well in Buffalo in the limited time he saw there, he just needs to stay on the field for a whole season so we can evaluate what he’s capable of doing.

Wilson Valdez, Ramon Castro, “Nasty” Nick Evans, Josh Thole, Ramon Martinez, Angel Berroa, Argenis Reyes, Emil Brown, Andy Green, Marlon Anderson, Robinson Cancel:  Incompletes

Valdez, Castro, Evans, Martinez, Reyes, and Brown also warranted first-half incompletes, while I inexplicably forgot Marlon Anderson for some reason, even though I never turn down an opportunity to take an unprovoked cheap shot at the man.  Anyway…quick hits on each.

• Wilson Valdez is a better player than Anderson Hernandez and should have gotten his innings at SS in September.
• Good for Castro for getting to catch Mark Buehrle’s perfect game.
• “Nasty” Nick should not have been an incomplete, but the stupidity of Jerry Manuel trumps all.
• Josh Thole showed flashes of ability, but should start 2010 in Buffalo, and could become the starter by mid-season if the team really thinks Santos can catch every day.
• Ramon Martinez sucks.
• Angel Berroa sucks, too.
• So does Argenis Reyes.  The Mets really exhausted every possible backup infield candidate they could find.
• Emil Brown sucks too, but he’s an outfielder.
• Andy Green went 1 for 4 with a walk in 5 PA spread over 4 games. 
• And yet, he still out-performed Marlon Anderson with his 0 for 4 over four games.  See, I love taking a good cheap shot at Marlon Anderson.
• Robinson Cancel received exactly one plate appearance this season, the same number as Mets relievers Pedro Feliciano, Sean Green, and Brian Stokes, and fewer than Mets reliever Ken Takahashi.

So to summarize the Mets’ hitting in 2009:

• Four B’s
• Five C’s
• Three D’s
• Two F’s
• Fifteen incompletes

And really, you could argue that I was being generous listing Sheffield, Santos, and Sullivan as C-’s and listing Cora as a D-.  As bad as most of these grades are, I still don’t think they fully capture how bad this team was at hitting this year.

There aren’t as many decisions to make in the infield as there are at catcher.  The team is set at shortstop and third base, and likely second base as well.  First base is a different story, as they will not have a starting first baseman under contract for 2010.  I do think they have good options for the bench already under team control, but it remains to be seen if they view those options the same way I do.  Let’s take a look at what they have.

First Base

Players under team control:  Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans, Ike Davis

Expiring contracts:  Carlos Delgado, Fernando Tatis

Potential free agents:  Rich Aurilia, Hank Blalock, Russell Branyan, Miguel Cairo, Frank Catalanotto, Tony Clark, Nomar Garciaparra, Ross Gload*, Eric Hinske, Nick Johnson, Adam LaRoche, Doug Mientkiewicz, Kevin Millar, Chad Tracy*, Daryle Ward, Dmitri Young

* – team or mutual option for 2010

Trade candidates: Prince Fielder, Adam Dunn, Carlos Pena, Jorge Cantu

First thing’s first – Daniel Murphy should not be the team’s starting first baseman in 2010.  They should not even think about going to a Murphy/Evans platoon, and I like Evans and think he is good enough to have a platoon role somewhere on this team.  That is not an option for a contending team.  What we learned about Daniel Murphy in 2010 is that he probably is not an option moving forward as a starter, until he proves otherwise.  As a team that has an eye towards contention, the Mets are under no obligation to give him another starting job only to watch him perform inadequately yet again.  There needs to be a better plan for first base.

That said, it doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot out there.  The best option among free agents might be bringing back Delgado on a one-year, incentive-laden contract.  I also like Nick Johnson, but I would be hesitant to bring him in as a starter when he has struggled so mightily to stay healthy.  Russell Branyan has had a very good year in Seattle, finally given a chance to play every day.  I wouldn’t mind seeing him come to New York, but expect to pay a hefty price for those 31 homers.  Same with Adam LaRoche and his second-half numbers.

As far as trade candidates go, Prince Fielder intrigues me a lot.  Sam Page at Amazin Avenue has made a case for acquring him, and it would probably behoove the Mets to check in on him.  He has the power to hit home runs at Citi Field, and he would give the middle of the order a power bat it sorely lacked this year.  Plus, he’s just entering his prime now, and figures to remain good for a few more years, unlike some of the dreck available through free agency.  It would also open up Ike Davis to either move to a corner outfield spot, where he could better use his throwing arm, or to dangle as trade bait at another position, assuming that the Brewers would not take him back in a Fielder trade, as they have their own young 1B in Mat Gamel.

If the Mets don’t deal for Fielder, Ike Davis will be a name to watch this year.  I listed him above because it isn’t out of the question that he could play himself into playing time at first base by the all star break, if he continues to progress as he has this season.  Depending on what the team actually does at first base, if they bring in a stop gap guy like Johnson or Branyan, those guys tend to get hurt a lot, and if Davis tears up Buffalo enough, he could force his way into the picture.  Or… Jerry will just go back to playing Daniel Murphy every day and ignoring Nick Evans.

My suggestion:  Pursue Prince Fielder in a trade.  If the Brewers are asking for too much, see if Carlos Delgado, Nick Johnson, Russell Branyan, or Adam LaRoche (in that order) will take a one year deal around $5 million with playing time incentives, and don’t be afraid to be patient and let their asking prices come down.  There are likely more first basemen available than open jobs, so eventually the Musical Chairs Corallary will work in the Mets’ favor.  Try to avoid bringing back Daniel Murphy as the starting first baseman, even as a platoon with Evans.  Keep Murphy and Evans around as bench players, and make them both play the outfield more often to give them more value to the team.

Second Base

Players under team control: Luis Castillo, Anderson Hernandez

Expiring contracts:  Alex Cora

Potential free agents:  Ronnie Belliard, Jamey Carroll, Craig Counsell, Mark Derosa, Jerry Hairston Jr, Orlando Hudson, Akinori Iwamura*, Adam Kennedy, Felipe Lopez, Mark Loretta, Pablo Ozuna, Placido Polanco, Freddy Sanchez*, Juan Uribe

* – team or mutual option for 2010

Trade candidates:  I can’t see the Mets trading for a starting second baseman, or even a reserve for that matter.

First, I can’t believe that the Mets are actually thinking about bringing back Alex Cora.  While I’m sure he’s a swell guy, as a ballplayer, he was a waste of $2 million in 2009.  He is neither an adequate fielder nor an adequate hitter.  If he’s such a great clubhouse guy, make him a coach, but as a player, he’s simply inadequate.  Same with Anderson Hernandez.  He isn’t good enough defensively to play shortstop even as a backup, and he’s not a good enough hitter to play second base with any regularity.  He is Triple-A fodder at best, and haven’t the Mets made the poor people of Buffalo suffer enough?

Anyway, I don’t think Luis Castillo is in serious danger of losing his job at 2B.  I expect there will be rumors about the Mets pursuing Orlando Hudson again, and frankly, it’s not a great move.  Hudson is a better player than Castillo, but between the cost of having to dump the last two years and $12 million to get rid of Castillo, and the added cost of having to sign Hudson (and it can be assumed he will not come as cheap to the Mets as he did to the Dodgers, although he will wind up making around $8 million this year per his playing time incentives.  Castillo isn’t great, but neither is Hudson, and even if the Mets could find somebody to pick up the full tab on Castillo, going out and giving Hudson a 4-5 year deal will give the next GM the same headaches that Minaya has had with Castillo, and that just doesn’t seem fair.

My suggestion: Status quo for one more year.  Also, hope Reese Havens has an Ike Davis-level bounce back next year.  Don’t bring back Cora.

Shortstop

Players under team control: Jose Reyes, Wilson Valdez

Expiring contracts: Alex Cora

Potential free agents:  Orlando Cabrera, Craig Counsell, Bobby Crosby, Adam Everett, Chris Gomez, Alex Gonzalez*, Khalil Greene, Jerry Hairston Jr, John McDonald, Marco Scutaro, Miguel Tejada, Omar Vizquel, Jack Wilson*

* – team or mutual option for 2010

Trade candidates:  Nobody.

Who knows what’s going on with Reyes.  James Kannengieser of MetsGeek and Amazin Avenue makes a very strong case for bringing back Valdez as the backup shortstop.  He’s the “Infield Endy,” meaning he won’t be a good hitter, but when called into action, he’ll play strong defense up the middle at 2B and SS.  Between Cora, Valdez, and Hernandez, you have three infielders who can’t hit, but only one can play a good defensive shortstop, Valdez’s error last night nonewithstanding.  Knowing this organization, he will be the one they don’t keep.

Since I’m writing about shortstops, now would be as good a time as any to talk about the terrible news that came in last night about Jose Reyes’ hamstring.   The one guy I feel for more than anybody else this year is Jose Reyes.  He started slow this year, and because this is New York and nobody has any patience, he took a bit of grief.  When he first sat out a game in San Francisco earlier this year, talk radio automatically assumed it was a cover for a suspension for…I don’t know, not running out a ball?  It was so long ago and seemed so ludicrous at the time, I can’t remember what it was.

Ever since that day, Reyes has had to hear about it from management, from teammates (and that includes David Wright, who was out of line) and from fans, saying he’s dogging it or that he isn’t as hurt as he claims, that he’s babying the injury.  Obviously, it was a pretty serious injury, one that the team mishandled, and one that Jose Reyes himself mishandled by trying to come back too soon, first making an aborted comeback attempt a few games after suffering the injury, then by furiously rehabbing to try to get into even one more game this season, so as to give himself something to build on for next year, and perhaps as to not disappoint the fans.

It’s for this reason where I will never, ever call out a player for silly things such as a lack of grit or heart.  I can watch every game every season, and still not know what these guys are putting their bodies through in order to win a game, a championship, whatever. Jose Reyes did everything he could to play one more game, and now tore his hamstring.  The man makes a living based on his ability to run fast.  He may not have that ability anymore.  And he may have sacrificed it to play in one game?  A game that meant nothing in the standings, and nothing to anybody else other than himself, just to show that he could come back, just to show what he went through.  If you ever questioned his guts, his heart, whatever, shame on you.  That’s not your call to make, and it never was.

My suggestion:  This is a tough decision.  On one hand, it would be foolish to overpay for another Alex Cora-esque veteran who isn’t very good.  On the other hand, who knows what the team is going to get out of Reyes for 2010.  I would kick the tires on some of the available shortstops, see if any of them are willing to take a minor league or one year, incentive-based contract, and hope Reyes is healthy.  Keep Valdez around because his defense has value, even if it means keeping him in Buffalo.  Only bring Cora back if he would take a minor league deal, which he probably wouldn’t unless the market is as soft as last year.

Third Base

Players under team control: David Wright, Daniel Murphy

Expiring contracts: Fernando Tatis

Potential free agents:  Who cares?  The Mets aren’t signing another third baseman

Trade candidates:  See above.

David Wright will be the starting third baseman in 2010.  Murphy has played 3B in the minors and could probably be called upon to do so again if Wright was hurt.  Don’t bring back Fernando Tatis on a major league deal.  If he takes a minor league deal, great, but he’s not worth a guaranteed contract.  The one position the Mets are almost guaranteed not to screw up.

My suggestion:  Wright at third base.  Murphy is the reserve.  Tatis only comes back on a minor league contract, or not at all.

Next: The Outfield

Thanks to MLBtraderumors.com for their list of available free agents for 2010.

Here is a look at exactly what has gone wrong for this team:

• Let’s start in the offseason, when the Mets first gave Francisco Rodriguez a three year, $37 million contract.  This was the biggest buyers market in years and no other big market teams were in the mix for a closer, and yet they still gave him premium money.  Yet the biggest problem looms in 2012. If Frankie finishes 55 games in 2010, 100 games between 2010 and 2011, and is deemed healthy after the 2011 season, his fourth year option vests for $17.5 million.The bad news is, Frankie has been declining the past four seasons and the decline has continued this season.
• After signing Frankie, Omar Minaya shows he means business when it comes to the bullpen, sending Endy Chavez, Joe Smith, Aaron Heilman, Mike Carp, Jason Vargas, and two low minors players ahoy and receiving back JJ Putz, Jeremy Reed, and Sean Green.  Reed sucks, Green has been a decent enough reliever, and we’ll get to JJ Putz in a minute.
• Somewhere around here, it was revealed that the Wilpon family lost millions of dollars (later estimated to be around $700 million) at the hands of corporate embezzler Bernie Madoff.  Suddenly, the Wilpons are not as rich as they thought.
• In spite of this, Minaya offered Oliver Perez a 3 year, $36 million contract.  In the first year of that contract, Oliver Perez has sturdy rates of 7.9 BB/9 and 1.6 HR/9, which included a stint on the disabled list in an effort to work himself back into shape.  His ERA of 6.82, if anything, hides how truly hideous he has been.  The good news is, he’s back for another two years at $12 million per season after this!
• In spring training, the Mets send 15 players to the World Baseball Classic, including 12 who would play in the major leagues.  Of those 12, only Frankie Rodriguez, Pedro Feliciano, Elmer Dessens, Nelson Figueroa, and Fernando Tatis have not spent time on the disabled list this season.
• The season starts.  On paper, this doesn’t seem like a bad thing.  If only we knew.
• Darren O’Day is designated for assignment in mid-April so the Mets can bring up Nelson Figueroa to replace Mike Pelfrey in the rotation.  Figueroa makes one start and is then designated for assignment.  O’Day lands in Texas, where he has been a lights-out, shutdown reliever, better than any pitcher in the Mets’ bullpen.
• The first injuries come within a few days of each other in May.  Carlos Delgado is injured in a game against the Pirates on May 10th, yet doesn’t go on the disabled list until May 16th, despite requiring hip surgery.
• Jose Reyes injures his calf in a game against the Braves on May 13th.  When he misses May 14th’s game against the Giants, talk radio assumes it is a benching for not running out a ground ball or something.  He pinch hits in a game on May 15th against the Giants, starts two games against the Dodgers on May 19th and 20th, then is removed from the game on the 20th.  He is finally placed on the disabled list on May 26th, almost two weeks after the initial injury, and almost one week after playing his last game.  Reyes has not been seen since, and apparently everybody thinks he’s a wuss for making sure he is completely healthy before returning to the field.
• During this same road trip, the Mets lose a game after Ryan Church fails to tag third base on a double to the gap by Angel Pagan, which would have given them the lead.  I even liveblogged about this (scroll down to the 1:36 update).  They then lose the game in the bottom of the 11th when Jeremy Reed (playing first base for only the second time in his major league career) throws a double play ball away at home plate.  Incredibly, the Mets will lose two more games in more agonizing fashion.
• Ryan Church is placed on the DL on the same day as Reyes, a scant 4 days after suffering his initial injury.  Progress.
• With Brian Schneider ready to come off the disabled list and the front office unwilling to risk losing Omir Santos on waivers for some reason, they trade Ramon Castro to the White Sox for Lance Broadway.  Despite Broadway’s decided non-prospect status and Castro being a useful bat, this won’t even go down as the second worst trade the Mets have made in the last year.
• JJ Putz is placed on the 15 day disabled list on June 5th.  As I’ve mentioned before, Dave Cameron from Fangraphs and USS Mariner pointed out on April 29th that Putz looked hurt, based on Putz’s declining strikeout rate and slower average fastball rate.  Somehow, it took the Mets almost six weeks to realize this themselves despite watching Putz every single day.  The team later admits that they knew he had a preexisting injury, but didn’t seem to think that was important.  The team spent $27 million this season for just three members of the bullpen, two of whom wind up missing at least 3 months due to injury.
• One week later, John Maine is placed on the disabled list with right shoulder soreness.  At this point, the Mets have lost their starting shortstop, first baseman, right fielder, their top set-up reliever, and their #3 and #4 starters, and only their right fielder has returned.  And we’re not done yet.
• On the same day Maine is placed on the disabled list, the Mets lose to the Yankees 9-8 in a game they had been leading 8-7 with two outs in the ninth.  Frankie had induced a game-ending popup that Luis Castillo inexplicably dropped.  Incredibly, this was not the worst way the Mets lose a game in 2009.  Castillo later earns immunity for this misstep by being the only Mets starter to remain healthy and good all season.
• Carlos Beltran is placed on the disabled list with a bone bruise on his knee.  He initially had suffered the injury a month prior, kept playing on it, and kept asking for the team to check it out, before they finally bothered to give him an MRI on June 22nd.  He was promptly placed on the disabled list after the MRI showed it was getting bigger.  Inexplicably, the team is talking about bringing Beltran back in September, even though aggravating the injury could mean microfracture surgery that would cost Beltran a nice chunk of 2010.  At this point, Wright is the only star everyday player still with the team.
• Ryan Church is traded to the Atlanta Braves for out-machine Jeff Francoeur.  The amount of love from Braves fans simply for acquring a player of substance in exchange for Frenchy is probably the first sign that this will not be a good trade for the Mets.
• In late July, Mets beat writer Adam Rubin reports that Tony Bernazard tore off his shirt and challenged certain players on the Binghamton Mets to a fight for a lack of effort and hustle.  As other reports from Tony Bernazard surface showing that he is not the good and decent man the Mets thought he was, the team is forced to fire him in August.  Somehow, the Mets can’t even fire him correctly, as Omar Minaya challenges Rubin’s report, stating that Rubin has lobbied the Mets for a front office job in the past.  This distracts from a Mets team that is falling further and further out of the playoff race.
• Gary Sheffield goes on the disabled list eight days after straining his right hamstring, just in time for the Mets to be unable to trade him at the trading deadline.  When Sheffield returns from the DL, he is placed on revocable waivers, claimed by the Giants, and then pulled back when Minaya requests far too much.  With the Mets out of the playoff race, yet unwilling to trade Sheffield to a contending team, Sheff rightfully questions the Mets as to what his future role is with this team. The Mets reject his request for an extension and the situation degenerates to where Sheffield is almost released for no compensation.  Somehow, the Mets even bungle the easy things, like “trade 41 year old DH who isn’t in future plans for some sort of minor league depth.”
• Two starts after bringing up Jon Niese from Buffalo tears his hamstring and is out for the season.  Niese had dominated AAA pitching for much of the past two and a half months and had earned a promotion long before this, but the team seemed content to keep running out the likes of Livan Hernandez and Fernando Nieve every fifth day.
• The last remaining star position player, David Wright, is placed on the disabled list after being beaned in the head and suffering a concussion.  Despite all of the issues the Mets had with Ryan Church only a year before, the team seems determined to make the same exact mistakes, as Wright is due to come off the disabled list on the first date possible.  Jerry Manuel uses Wright’s injury to take a shot at Church for some reason.
• The Mets finally release Livan Hernandez, despite ample evidence to suggest that he has not been a good major league pitcher for the vast majority of the season.
• The Mets activate Billy Wagner from the disabled list, and place him on revocable waivers.  The team seems poised to bungle their return for him.
• The Mets, trailing 9-6 in the 9th inning against the Phillies, start a rally where they score one run and bring the winning run to the plate with no outs in the ninth.  That batter, Jeff Francoeur, lines into an unassisted triple play to end the game thanks to Jerry Manuel’s brilliant aggressive baserunning strategy.  The next day, Francoeur is diagnosed with torn ligaments in his non-throwing hand and yet for some reason is considered day to day.  The Mets have run out of good players to lose to injury and are now losing bad ones.
• Finally, the news that the team will be skipping one of Johan Santana’s starts, as he is suffering from elbow pain that might date back to before the All Star break.  Why he would continue to pitch through elbow pain when this team has been out of contention for months is beyond me.

In total, six of the Mets’ eight opening day starters have spent time on the disabled list, with only Luis Castillo and Daniel Murphy avoiding the DL.  Assuming Santana winds up on the DL, three of the Mets’ five starting pitchers will have spent time on the disabled list, with Mike Pelfrey also missing a start.  All four members of the vaunted Mets’ “core” will have spent time on the disabled list.
This doesn’t even discuss the sub-replacement level dreck the Mets have started for the injured players, like Cory Sullivan or Ramon Martinez.  This doesn’t discuss the club’s plan to start Daniel Murphy at premium offensive positions, first left field and then first base, despite a woefully inadequate bat.  This doesn’t even include the fact that Angel Pagan might be the Mets’ second best player right now, or the team’s love affair with Omir Santos.

No, this is just the trying times the Mets have had to go through this year.  It’s watching helplessly as every good thing this team has going for it suffers injury after injury.  It’s watching the front office act like utter buffoons, both in the transaction log and in the back pages.  It’s watching this team find the absolute worst possible ways to lose a baseball game, not having the common decency to at least get blown out.

Job had his wealth taken from him and his physical health, but he never lost his faith.  The Mets have had their wealth taken from them and their physical health, and Mets fans still haven’t lost faith for the future.  Job’s faith was rewarded when his later days were blessed more than the beginning.  Mets fans will one day be rewarded when Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel are sent packing and we get a real baseball operations group in place.

I’m not particularly religious, but I can only hope that Mets fans’ reward for our Job-like punishment of 2009 is a World Series championship in the not-too-distant future.  Heck, our later days can’t help but be blessed more than our earlier ones.

Update: With the news that the Mets have traded Billy Wagner to the Red Sox for two PTBNLs, it would appear that yes, they did bungle their return for him.  They could have offered him arbitration in the offseason, which he surely would have declined for the right to close for another team and make more money elsewhere, and the team would have received a first round pick and a sandwich round pick in return for him in next year’s draft.  Instead, they received salary relief and organizational fodder with little upside.  Well done.

Carlos Beltran: A

He would have been the first half MVP had he not gotten hurt, and the sharp decline by the team since his injury just shows how valuable he’s been to this team.  It’s hard to figure out what to make of his defense; Fangraphs shows a sharp decline, whereas Dewar’s +/- shows him having another terrific year.  Either way, he is sorely missed by this ballclub.

David Wright: A-

His power is down a lot, and his defense continues to decline, but the .325/.410/.462/.872 line is still very good, and I think we’re going to see a bounceback in the power department in the second half, to where he should have about 20 homers by the time the season ends.

Luis Castillo: B-

His defense remains terrible, but he’s having a rebound season of sorts at the plate, thanks to some nice plate discipline and getting a bit more hit-lucky out there.  He might legitimately have a case for being the team’s second best hitter right now, and if that’s not an indictment of the 2009 season, I’m not sure what is.

Gary Sheffield: B-

The good: a .283/.385/.478/.863 slash line, the only Met who can hit with any power.  The bad: because he’s 41 years old, he can’t play in the field every day, which is absolutely a detriment when it comes to Sheffield, particularly considering the Mets available options in the outfield.  The ugly: Sheffield’s defense, unquestionably the worst on the team.

Jose Reyes: B-

On one hand, this should probably be an incomplete, since he missed about half of the first half; on the other hand, he has more plate appearances than many of the players listed below, and has been more valuable than most of them even in half a season.  His slash stats are below expectations, but still decent (.279/.355/.395/.750), with a nice uptick in walk rate offset by a decrease in slugging.  It seems like in Reyes’ case, his absense has not made the hearts of Mets fans grow fonder, as every half-bit Mets blog and talk radio show out there has been formulating their own unintelligent Reyes trade, not realizing that without Reyes, this team has been worse, not better.  My prediction: he returns by the first week of August and instantly provides a spark that this offense so desperately needs.

Carlos Delgado: B-

Similar to Reyes, he should probably be incomplete, but he also has more plate appearances than several players I’ve graded below.  Before he went down, Delgado seemed to be one of the few players who could provide power to this lineup (he has the highest extra base hit percentage on the team of players who have played more than 2 games).  His defense has remained shockingly decent as well.  He’s another guy where if the Mets get him back soon enough, there’s reason to believe they can make a run.  Of course, that’s a big if.

Brian Schneider: C+

Schneider is having a pretty quiet decent little season.  He’s not hitting for average, but he’s drawing walks and hitting for extra bases at a much higher rate than one would expect from Brian Schneider.  It might be a case of small sample size (he only has 99 plate appearances) but so far, I have very few complaings about Hoops; he has out-performed Omir Santos so far.

Omir Santos: C

Speak of the devil!  This is pretty much Santos’ ceiling.  No, the team should not have traded Ramon Castro to keep him, and yes, his struggle to OBP north of .300 is aggrivating, and he isn’t very good defensively either.  But his .144 ISO slugging is pretty good for a catcher, so…hey, he’s got that going for him.  That said, by season’s end, it wouldn’t surprise me to see this grade around a C- or lower, because he probably can’t maintain that power, and he still can’t get on base to save his life, and he’s still poor defensively. In the end, the Ramon Castro trade will go down as an utter disaster, yet it might only be the third worst trade Omar has made since the end of 2008.

Ryan Church: C

Trading Ryan Church was not a bad move in and of itself, since he has been a thoroughly average to slightly below average player in 2009.  Trading him for Jeff Francoeur, who has been a thoroughly terrible player in 2009, however…that was a bad move.  Also, Churchy’s numbers all look a little bit low compared how he has played traditionally, and figure to see a nice upward turn over the rest of the season, whereas Francoeur has been just as bad in 2009 as he was in 2008.  Prediction: this trade is going to look completely ridiculous by the end of the season.

Alex Cora: C-

Cora is a nice backup, a strong complimentary player, who is completely in over his head as a regular.  His defense at shortstop is terrible (-2.4 UZR) and his bat has significantly cooled off since a nice start (.246/.333/.305/.638).  If he wasn’t so overexposed playing every day, I think he would be a lot better, but he already has more plate appearances this season than last, and should come close to his career high in that category if Jose Reyes doesn’t return soon.

Fernando Tatis: D+

The power looks like it’s slowly coming back, but that’s the best you can say about Tatis.  He leads the team with 11 GIDP, despite not being a regular; any time Tatis comes to the plate with a runner on first and less than two outs, I hope desperately for a strikeout or a pop out.  If Delgado or Beltran had not gotten hurt, or if Daniel Murphy had not been such a disaster this season, Tatis would be a prime candidate to get released right about now.  Frankly, there’s still time.

Jeremy Reed: D-

His bat has not been much better than Endy Chavez’s (.292/.326/.360/.686), only he lacks Endy’s otherworldly range that I took for granted because of how much I hated watching him hit.  In fact, he’s probably a below average fielder; his main qualification as a defensive replacement is that he’s better than (fill in the blank: Gary Sheffield, Daniel Murphy, Nick Evans, Fernando Tatis), which is not much of a qualification.  More proof that the Mets got absolutely decimated in the JJ Putz trade (and I liked it at the time, so I don’t know what that says about me).

Daniel Murphy: F

But it’s not his fault; he should have been sent back down to Buffalo about a month ago.  His fielding at first has been adequate, but he will never hit for enough power to be an every day first baseman.  He needs to be playing the outfield regularly in the minor leagues to improve his defense (getting some reps at second base probably wouldn’t hurt, either).  And his hitting…man, Daniel Murphy does not mean business with the bat this year.  His slash lines are awful for a middle infielder (.248/.314/.364/.677) but are completely retched for an everyday first baseman/corner outfielder.  He simply is not ready to be playing in the majors right now, and needs to be sent down, regardless of the ultra-thin depth at the major league level.

Fernando Martinez: F

He was probably called to the majors too soon, and it showed, but there were enough tantalizing glimpses of potential thrown in there to where he looks like he will be a keeper.  He’s just not there yet (he is 20 years old, after all, and has been playing above his age at every level).  Hopefully, he doesn’t get traded in a move that brings a thoroughly average or worst player back in return.

Ramon Castro, Angel Pagan, “Nasty” Nick Evans, Ramon Martinez, Wilson Valdez, Argenis Reyes, Emil Brown, Jeff Francoeur: Incomplete

None of these guys played long enough to warrant a grade.  A quick snapshot of each:

• Castro would probably be ranked in the C+ range with the other catchers, and they received nothing of value for him.
• Pagan has played shockingly well in limited playing time, with a decent bat and a good glove.  If he had played this well with more playing time, he would be looking at a B grade.  I do not expect this to continue.
• Evans probably deserved more playing time than he received, I’d like to know what would happen if the team ever committed to him for any period of time.  He probably belongs in the majors ahead of Tatis at this point.
• Ramon Martinez sucks.
• So does Wilson Valdez.
• Argenis Reyes, too.  Can you believe these guys were some of our backup options in the middle infield?
• Emil Brown sucks too, but he’s an outfielder.
• Jeff Francoeur did not receive enough Mets at bats to qualify for a grade, but if I was grading him on his first half with the Braves, he’d be a solid F.

So to recap, this year’s Mets have:

• Two A’s (one of whom is currently hurt)
• Four B’s (two of whom are currently hurt)
• Four C’s (one of whom was traded for an F player)
• Two D’s (granted, these guys are both part time players)
• Two F’s (one of whom plays every day, both of whom probably do not belong in the major leagues right now)
• Eight incompletes (at least five of whom should have never played for a major league baseball team with pennant aspirations)

Three of the team’s six best hitters are out of the lineup, being replaced by a subgroup of C’s, D’s, F’s, and incompletes that would probably be C’s, D’s, or F’s with more playing time.  That’s a huge reason why this team is so frickin’ terrible right now, borderline unwatchable.  When Luis Castillo is one of your first half bright spots…that’s a sign from God that there is something seriously wrong with your baseball team.  And I haven’t even started the pitching yet.

I have just reached a breaking point with Mets fans.  It started last year, when Shea Stadium became at times a very unpleasant place to play.  Unfortunately, that wasn’t for the road team, but the home team, which was often lustily booed for the smallest of miscues.  Never mind the fact that the 2008 Mets won 48 games at home, good for almost 60% of their home games.  But the team got off to a lousy start, and coming off of the collapse of 2007, this was unacceptable.  Even players like Aaron Heilman, who were admittedly lousy, deserved more leeway than what they received (by the way, Heilman pitched hurt the entire year and, now healthy, has gotten off to a great start in Chicago).

Fast forward to April 2009.  The Mets are off to another slow start.  This slow start has come after the second straight late-season collapse, so Mets fans seem even testier than usual.  Of course, we’re talking about a sample size of 21 games, or roughly 13% of the long season.  It’s the equivalent of giving up on an NFL team after 2 games after a 1-1 start, or giving up on an NBA or NHL team after 11 games after a 5-6 start.  This is a very, very small part of the schedule, with a lot of baseball left to play.

And yet, Mets fans with an undeserved sense of entitlement are now filling Citi Field with boos for the team’s best player, the face of the franchise, David Wright.  It’s bad enough booing fringe players who aren’t any good; I’ve never understood the point of booing your own team unless they demonstrate a noticable lack of effort.  You do not boo your team’s best player, ever, period.  That is just classless and it embarrasses me as a fan of the Mets.  David Wright may be the best player that has ever come through the Mets’ minor league system, a franchise cornerstone the likes of which this team has never seen before.  You do not boo that player.  If you boo that player, you are saying, “I don’t care about the great things that you have done in the past, you just struck out in this largely meaningless game and you are an asshole!”

David Wright isn’t playing to his full potential; I would be foolish to say otherwise.  That said, I wouldn’t say he has been actively bad; he’s hitting .280 with a .372 on base percentage and a .390 slugging percentage.  His power is way down, which is where the problem lies.  We can’t even blame that on Citi Field, because four of his six extra base hits have been at home.  He’s not making outs at a high rate, which is a very good thing.  His “clutch” stats don’t look like much right now, but despite foolhardy sports talk radio hosts and newspaper writers who say otherwise, Wright has always been a fine player in the clutch, as good or even a little bit better in those situations than in meaningless ones.  The problem is, folks tend to remember the failures much more than the successes, and that game against the Cubs with the tying run at third and nobody out still runs through the heads of many fans.

It’s this reactionary BS that has caused a rift between me and a large segment of the Mets fanbase.  I’m not doing a jig over the slow start, but I’m not losing my mind over it, either.  This is a good team.  David Wright is a good baseball player.  So is Carlos Beltran.  So are Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, Ryan Church, Daniel Murphy…even Luis Castillo is playing well at the moment.  Johan Santana is the best pitcher in baseball right now.  While John Maine, Mike Pelfrey, and even Oliver Perez are not pitching well, they aren’t so old or far enough removed from good seasons to where we shouldn’t expect them to get better.  I’m not making excuses for the team at all, I just think this has been a bad month and they will rebound and play better ball; there is too much talent for them not to do so.

Yet the negativity that surrounds this team makes me sick.  It’s like the perfect storm; take Mets fans living in the shadow of the latest Yankee dynasty, throw in a rabid New York media all-too-willing to throw gasoline on a fire to sell a few newspapers or radio ads, and add back-to-back heartbreaking ends to the season, and it seems that Mets fans have been pushed up to a new level of insanity.  Honestly, it’s embarrassing.  There are good, passionate fans out there, but they seem to be getting yelled over by the knuckleheads who just want to hate.  All that does is make Mets fans look like the worst fans in baseball, a fanbase that doesn’t deserve to witness a championship team, and a fanbase who no player in their right mind would want to play for.  It makes me feel embarrassed to wear my Mets jerseys, because I don’t want to be lumped in that segment of Mets fans.

It’s these sort of slow starts where Mets fans become obsessed with things that just don’t quantitatively help win ballgames, like hustle and grit.  Do people really think that the superstars on this team don’t hustle?  Jose Reyes had his issues with hustle last year, but Jerry Manuel nipped those in the bud and now I rarely, if ever, notice him failing to run out a ground ball.  Mets fans want to try to figure out a reason why so much talent isn’t winning, with answers ranging to “the team has too much talent – who’s going to bunt guys over???” to “this team doesn’t care if they win or lose!!!!” both of which seem absurd when you really think about them. 

How did the Mets manage to find not one, not two, but twenty-five separate guys who don’t care if they win or lose all at once?  What are the odds of that even happening?  You don’t become an elite, major league caliber talent without a drive to win every single game; lack of effort tends to weed players out by the major league level, if not shortly thereafter.  As for “too much talent,” that’s ridiculous.  The team hasn’t been losing because of a lack of sacrifice bunting; heck, Jerry Manuel has already bunted far more than I’m comfortable with, since I hate one-run strategies.  Trust me, in the annals of baseball lore, there has never, ever been a problem with teams having too much talent.  Ask fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates or Kansas City Royals if they’d rather have too much talent or no talent; those guys are all a bunch of scrappers because most of their players stink.

There’s basically one reason why this team isn’t winning ballgames right now; the starting pitching after Johan Santana stinks.  John Maine is the only starter with two quality starts.  Oliver Perez has been dreadful, Livan Hernandez is utterly finished, and Mike Pelfrey is struggling through injury and command issues.  Hopefully, this will improve, because the offense has been largely very good so far.  But that’s the reason.  The hitting has been good, the bullpen has been largely good (although I am concerned about Putz’s velocity and strikeouts both being down).  The starting pitching has stunk.  At some point, either Ollie, Maine, and Big Pelf are going to have to get better, or changes are going to have to be made.  Simple as that.

To answer my above question, no, I do not hate myself.  But it’s hard to consider myself a fan of the New York Mets when so many Mets fans are letting negativity run their perception of this ballclub.  I haven’t been happy about the way they have performed, but I have not once thought of booing another player on this team, and if I was going to start (after smacking myself in the head with a hammer a few times), I don’t think I’d start with David Wright.  He’s done too much for this ballclub to be deserving of such treatment.  I may be a fan of the Mets, but I’m no Mets fan.  If you’re content to boo the team’s stars because of your own frustrations with the team, then feel free to call yourself a Mets fan.  Just know you make those of us who don’t wish to be party to such negativity hang our heads in shame for being associated with the likes of you.

From here on out, it’s the David Wright/Howard Johnson show, so without further ado…

#5: Howard Johnson, 1991

Howard Johnson, like Bret Saberhagen, had a weird even year/odd year thing going.  Every other year, he would have a great season, followed by a down season.  It continued in 1991, following a disappointing 1990 season, HoJo bounced back with a huge 38 homer/34 double/30 steal season.  Call it the 30/30/30 club, the second time he pulled off such a feat.  Throw in a career-high 117 RBIs, and you’re left with a damned fine season on a team that went nowhere.

This season was the end of HoJo’s prime; he would spend another two more disappointing seasons in New York, not bouncing back in the odd year 1993 from a poor even year in 1992.  He never played every day again and was out of the big leagues for good by age 35.  In that way, he’s pretty similar to Edgardo Alfonzo, another Mets star who peaked early and was out of the majors only a few seasons removed from one of his best seasons.  It is a shame that HoJo’s last great season wasn’t spent on a team that did anything, but blame management for tearing down the 80’s Mets dynasty brick by brick.

#4: David Wright, 2005

David Wright’s first full season in the big leagues…and it’s the 4th best offensive season at third base in Mets history.  I’d say that’s pretty good.  In fact, in 2005 this season would have ranked second in Mets history.  You could start to see the traits that would make David Wright great develop in this first season.  High number of walks, 40+ doubles, 27 homers, 100+ RBIs…there is a lot to love here.

Still, I want to use this season to (once again) point out Willie Randolph’s shortcomings as manager.  Here is David Wright, having a phenomenal year; in 2005, he was unquestionably the best hitter on the team.  Yet, for almost half the season, Willie had Wright batting 6th and 7th, behind a decomposing Mike Piazza, a light hitting Doug Mientkiewicz, and the atrocious Miguel Cairo.  Wright batted third four times all season, all in games that Carlos Beltran sat out after crashing face-first into Mike Cameron, which brought Gerald “Ice” Williams into the lineup to play center field.  Best hitter on the team, buried in the batting order.  Willie Randolph, ladies and gentlemen.

#3: David Wright, 2008

No longer a rookie, David Wright put together another phenomonal year in 2008.  He went over 40 doubles for the fourth straight season, batted .300 or better for the fourth straight season, and 100 RBIs for the fourth straight season.  He was over 30 homers for the second straight season and over 90 walks for the second straight season.  Basically, 2008 was another continuation of everything he had done since being brought up from the minor leagues, and that’s awesome hitting.

That is why, when you hear talk radio or newspaper writers talk about how there’s a David Wright on every team, laugh in their faces.  David Wright is good for a consistent 25+ homers a season, 40+ doubles, 100+ RBIs, .300 or better batting average, .380 or better OBP, he will steal bases at a high percentage, and will draw 70 or more walks.  That is the minimum of what he will do each and every season, and often he will surpass that.  There are not 29 other players like David Wright playing major league baseball; there probably aren’t more than 5.

#2: David Wright, 2007

Here is where I suspect a lot of folks will be surprised.  I argued vehemently that David Wright should have been the MVP in 2007.  I still believe that.  And I do believe that this season was truly excellent season.  It was Wright’s first 30/30/30 season, another high RBI season…I hate ranking this season second.  I truly do.  But being that I’ve already written so much about David Wright’s 2007 season, I think it’s time I talked a little about…

#1: Howard Johnson, 1989

Howard Johnson set a Mets record in 1989; most extra base hits in a season.  How can a season where a man hits 80 extra base hits not rank #1?  Throw in 41 steals, and you have a hell of a season.  Howard Johnson was really underrated, mostly because he played on teams that had Darryl Strawberry, Keith Hernandez, Gary Carter, and other big hitters, and by the time HoJo became a regular, the Mets had already peaked and were settled into a series of second place finishes.

Still, you can’t blame those seasons on HoJo, he did what he could to keep the Mets in contention.  He was second in the NL in homers, third in doubles, and fourth in stolen bases.  Yet he finished fifth in the MVP race, behind former teammate Kevin Mitchell.  I will happily concede that Mitch had a much better season than HoJo.  I will not say the same about Ryne Sandberg and Pedro Guerrero.  But what HoJo did that year, hit so many extra base hits in a league that favored pitching, is perhaps unique in Mets history.  His 1989 season was special, and yet it feels like it is rarely talked about.

Next: Shortstops

The Mets have been fortunate to have had some great years offensively at third base.  Gifted hitters such as Howard Johnson, David Wright, and Robin Ventura, among others, have manned the hot corner extremely well over the past 46 years, a trend that should continue well into the next decade.  While the Mets third base list was once a national punchline, the top ten hitting seasons at third base for the Mets match up well with any other team’s third basemen.  Take a look at some of these seasons.

Honorable Mention:  Ed Charles (1968), Howard Johnson (1988), Edgardo Alfonzo (1997)

Ed Charles was acquired from the Kansas City Athletics in 1967, had a pretty good season in 1968 in limited action, and lost his job in 1969 and was out of baseball.  I am kind of surprised he never went to the Yankees, since they didn’t have a third baseman worth anything during much of the 60’s and Charles was stuck in the A’s minor league system during a time where the Yankees repeatedly raided their minor league stars.  More on HoJo and Alfonzo below.

#10: Edgardo Alfonzo, 2002

Alfonzo is the first Met to make these lists at two different positions.  While he was high atop the second base list, he just makes the third base list despite a good season.  He moved to third base because of the Mets’ acquisition of Roberto Alomar the season before, plus Alfonzo had spent time in 2001 hurt, so it was thought that moving to third base may be beneficial for him defensively.  The Alomar trade turned out to be a bust, of course, and Alfonzo was gone after the 2002 season, supposedly in part because Fonzie wanted to play second (though he would only play six more games there the rest of his career).

This was the last good season Alfonzo would have.  In fact, five seasons later, Alfonzo was out of baseball.  It is peculiar, because he was only 28 in 2002.  At the final game at Shea, I was struck by how young Alfonzo looked when he was introduced, and how it seemed like he should still be playing ball.  I don’t know what happened; it’s been speculated that he isn’t really 34, and that perhaps he had used performance enhancers during his prime.  I don’t know if either are true, but I do miss Fonzie, he was a great player for some memorable teams.

#9: Bobby Bonilla, 1994

I had forgotten that Bobby Bonilla had even played third base for the Mets.  Alas, he played all 107 games he played in the strike-shortened 1994 season at third base and was doing quite well before the strike.  He hit for power, average, and drew walks at a high rate.  From a hitting standpoint, Mets fans really couldn’t ask for much more from Bobby Bo in 1994, he had a terrific season.

I have to say, I do think Bobby Bo got a bit of a bad rap from Mets fans.  Sure, he wasn’t the most likable player in the world, but his first go-around saw some good years.  The problem was, he didn’t hit for a high average, and didn’t have a high number of RBIs.  I’m not sure it’s fair, though; the Mets had some low-OBP hitters hitting ahead of him for much of his stay in New York.  Bonilla was never the type who could carry an offense, but he could contribute to a good one.  Unfortunately, most of the Mets teams Bonilla played on were bad hitting teams.

#8: Robin Ventura, 1999

I am sure Joeadig is going to give me flack for not ranking Ventura higher.  Ventura was his favorite player from those teams.  But hey, it’s not for any lack of love on my part towards Ventura; he was great in 1999, and as recently as four years ago, this would have ranked fourth on this list. Alas, it’s not Ventura’s fault David Wright happened.

Ventura is a weird case; this was the first year of a four year contract he had signed after the 1998 season, another piece added to the puzzle to put the ‘99 Mets over the top.  He was great in ‘99, as was most of that team (you’ll notice that so far, every one of these lists has had a 1999 season, a streak that will end with shortstops).  But after this season, Ventura became just an average hitter.

Three seasons later, Ventura was gone, traded to the Yankees for David Justice (who was then flipped to the A’s for Mark Guthrie and Tyler Yates) which in retrospect, was a set-up for the Roberto Alomar trade that was finalized four days later.  It seems like a meager haul for a player who finished 6th in the MVP voting just two seasons prior, but nobody ever accused Steve Phillips of making good trades.  Still, few Mets fans will forget the year where Robin Ventura was, well, Robin to Mike Piazza’s Batman.

#7: Howard Johnson, 1987

This was Howard Johnson’s breakout season, following the departure of Ray Knight after the 1986 season.  At the time, it was thought to be a mistake, but Ray Knight was done and HoJo settled into a five year period where he was the one of the offensive leaders for the Mets.  It would be a frustrating time for Mets fans; the Mets finished second four straight seasons from 1987 to 1990, before the bottom fell out in the 1991 season under Bud Harrelson.

Still, you can’t blame HoJo, and here’s one reason why.  I’ve always felt HoJo was under-appreciated; he was always good for anywhere between 60-70 extra base hits when healthy.  He would get criticized for low batting averages, but if you look at the difference between his great years and his off years, we’re looking at about 25 points of batting average; what we’re talking about is about a single every two weeks.  Great hitter, an extra base machine in his prime.  This list will do him justice.

#6: David Wright, 2006

Okay, here’s a spoiler: David Wright and Howard Johnson are the only two names you will see on the rest of this list.  Objectively speaking, Wright and Johnson are far and away the best third basemen in Mets history, and now Johnson is Wright’s hitting coach.  That’s a weird irony, no?

Strangely, the worst of Wright’s full seasons came in the only year he made the playoffs.  But “worst” isn’t really fair, because it’s only in comparison to some other really great seasons.  Just think; 40 doubles and 26 homers represent Wright’s low totals since his first full-time season in 2006.  Seventy-one extra base hits represents Wright’s low totals.  And this is with a high number of walks and a high batting average, too.  But hey…listen to enough talk radio, and you’ll hear that every team has a David Wright.  Sure they do.

Up Next: More Wright and HoJo…er, the top 5.