John Delcos over at Lohud reports that Chan Ho Park has accepted his option to AAA New Orleans.  As a veteran, he had to approve of the move. According to Delcos, Park accepted it due to the amount of time he's already put into being with the Mets, and the likelihood of being needed by them later in the season.

Well that makes sense.  He probably assumes we're a contender and since we used somewhere in the neighborhood of 800 starters last season there's probably a good chance we'll use more than five this season.  I don't think I could even name everyone that started a game for us last year.  Its comforting though, since Burgos is for the most part unproven as is Smith. Plus the relative inexperience of Pelfrey, and fragile nature of El Duque.

Dave Lennon of Newsday reports that Billy Wagner feels ready for the season. Lennon says Wagner is physically ready for the season, as well as feeling anxious, and bored of the preseason. Wagner told him:

I believe that point Wagner makes right there, is one thats been argued several times in the comments here, at metsblog, and in the Bleachers.

Lennon further reports that Wagner feels his slider and fastball are both into regular season form. Wagner will pitch twice more before the end of training.

The article also has a nice little peak inside the bullpen corner of the clubhouse, talking of Wagners trash talk to the other pen guys. Wagner and the Show getting along has been mentioned before, but its always good to see that the guys can get along off the field.

John Delcos reports that Guillermo Mota came to camp today.  He apologized to the team for his actions, who according to Delcos took it well. Paul Lo Duca told him:

Mota is currently facing a 50 game suspension for testing positive for steroids.

If the team isn't going to hold a grudge it makes it a little hard for us as fans to as well, not that that will stop us or anything.  The big question now is if Mota sans steroids can pitch just as well as Mota on steroids. As Mota starts his belated spring training and return to shape, it'll be good to keep on eye on, especially since Saunchez is out for an unknown period of time.

Big loss today, as the Mets went down 11-3 on a poor start by Pellfrey.  Pellfrey gave up 4 runs, all earned, three of which came in the third.  Overall, he pitched five innings giving six hits while striking out two. Though not his best outing, he did manage to keep most of his outs on the ground (an 8-5 ground/fly out split).  Of more concern is Sosa, who played only a partial inning during which he walked two and gave us six runs on four hits.  Nall finished out the 7th for Sosa, facing 3 batters but keeping any from scoring. Heilman and Wagner each added one scoreless inning, facing 3 batters each.

It was also another slow day for the Mets offense, with just four hits.  Lastings Milledge reached on a run scoring error, and left the game in the 9th after being hit by a pitch. Jose Valentin is credit with both Met RBI's, off a double in the 3rd.

Not a great, but not a horrible outing from Pellfrey. He did go five innings, and considering he's a 5th starter, we're going to see him have days where he gives up five runs. The bullpen today is where we should have been focused as far as fears and the such.  Wagner threw a scoreless inning despite having pitched yesterday, and Heilman pitched a quick inning as well. The rumors since yesterday are that Sosa is being shipped down to AAA, and todays performance pretty much shows us why.  Adkins did ok, which is good in the sense that its likely he's on the trading block since he's out of options.

Hopefully Milledge is not seriously hurt, one would assume he is being x-rayed at the moment to check for damage. Some nice work by Franco today, aside from some confusion early on between him and Pellfrey concerning who was fielding a ball. That was arguable Pellfrey's fault, and it appeared the two briefly discussed it. Wright had another day batting second, I understand the logic of getting him more at bats, but I still liked him further down the order and Lo Duca batting 2 instead.

Chan Ho Park was pulled after 3
innings today, and the SNY and WFAN broadcast teams were both reporting
that Park is no longer in consideration for the 5th starter spot, but
for one in relief.

From John Delcos, this statement from Park:

There is no word yet on if Park will request a release, though he is
scheduled to pitch again Monday.  He pitched 3 innings, gave up no
runs, though the wind provided some assistance in his performance. 

Both teams did lose however today.  The B team put up a good fight however, Lastings Milledge went 2 for 3 with an RBI double and two stolen bases, both of which came in the first.  Anderson Hernendez also went 2 for 3, both singles, with a stolen base bringing his ST average up to .186.  On the mound, John Maine had his worst outing of the spring giving up 4 earned runs and 12 hits while striking out 4 and walking 1 in 5 2/3 innings pitched. The team lost 5-6.

From the A team in St Lucie, Smith, Burgos, Wagner and The Show contributed 1 scoreless inning each as the Mets fell 2-1 to Baltimore.  Feliciano gets the lost, and Sosa contributed one unearned run.  The Mets sole run came off a David Wright single, who then scored off an single by Feliciano, that was misplayed in the outfield.  The offense for the most part didn't produce for the Mets, with just three other singles.  Shawn Green went hitless and is now batting .140 for the spring.

As we hit the final stretch, today also marks our final split squad game of the preseason.  The A team will be hosting Baltimore and Chan Ho Park gets the nod on the mound, presumable because it will make it easier for the Mets brass to watch him as they get ready to finalize the roster.  Yesterdays solid performance by El Duque probably changes somethings, and makes those of us (me for starters) calling for his placement on the DL to start the season look a bit foolish.  The lineup for the A team (and yes, I know there's no first baseman), courtesy of John Delcos

SS Reyes

3B Wright

CF Beltran

LF Alou

C Duca

RF Green

DH Franco

2B Valentin

RHP Park

Delgado is still in Puerto Rico, having left yesterday morning to be with his wife, who went into labor.  I would assume either Franco is actually playing 1B, or its being covered by Carp or Newhan. No word yet though. I'll be back with that info, and hopefully the lineup for the B team playing in Jupiter and led by John Maine as soon as it becomes available.  Meanwhile, come on by the Bleachers today and everyday where we talk Mets baseball, as we too get into inseason chatting shape.

followup

Courtesy of mlb.com, the lineup for the B team game in Jupiter, vs the Marlins.

RF Milledge
3B Newhan
CF Johnson
C Castro
1B Carp
LF Ambres
2B Gotay
SS Hernendez
P Maine

With that solved, its probably safe to assume that Franco is playing 1B rather than DHing, being that the most likely other 1B candidates (Newhan and Carp) are both playing in the B game.

Victor Zambrano admits he wasn't quite up to 100% when pitching for the Mets, according the the Daily News, and expressed his regret for not living up to expectations. He told reporter Jesse Spector:

Zambrano is currently trying to get a spot on the rotation for the Toronto Blue Jays.

I doubt there's a Met fan out there that will be surprised to learn Zambrano might not have been fully healthy.  Or one that misses him as much as he misses the Mets.  I think management at Shea needed to release him more to signal the final end of that era of bad signings and trades. Maybe if he can stay healthy he might even prove to be a decent fifth starter in Toronto, but its probably best for him that he does it there, because short of emerging as an Ace, there's little he could have probably done at this point to win over the fans in Flushing.

Pat Reichart at the NY Post is reporting that former Met ace Ron Darling is expected to sign a 3 year contract extension that would keep him in the booth for SNY, though it has not yet been finalized.

I think this is great news. Ron, Keith and Gary seem to play off each other very well and seem to geuinenly like each other.  While Ron doesn't seem to be as willing to say everything on his mind that Keith does, as a former pitcher he's able to bring the analysis of the pitching performance and mindset that Keith cannot. The three of them together, especially during the harder to watch games, makes it easier to keep with it.

Matt Cerrone over at Mets Blog is reporting that former Met great and current SNY announcer Keith Hernandez will toss out the first pitch at the home opener April 9th.

I don't think there's anyone out there that can complain about this decision.  Since joining SNY, Keith has been a great presence in the booth.  Whether you agree with his opinions or not, he's at least willing to put himself out there and give you his true thoughts.  And all of that aside, lets not forget his contributions as a player.

Perhaps we're even getting closer to the time when the management over at Shea correct their error and finally retire Keith's number.  While having him help kick off the season is a great honor, I think the time has finally come to do Keith right and put his 17 up there with Seaver's 41

Awhile back it floated around the metsblogosphere that David Wright was looking to replace his previous at bat music (Brass Monkey by the Beastie Boys) for this upcoming season.  If you head on over to the team's official webpage, you can continue help Wright out by selecting one of the listed songs or writing in your own.  In April he'll narrow down everyones picks to his 20 favorites, and again put it to a vote, with the top four then being used during the season. Voting is open till 5pm next Wednesday.

There's some interesting options already up on mets.com, from the obvious puns of Van Halen's Right Now to standard fair like Pearl Jam to stuff thats just…well, the theme to the A-Team.  Oddly enough, no Beastie's.  It being his previous choice I assumed he was a fan. It should be interesting to see how this works out.

John Delcos over at LoHud reports that Tom Glavine threw 90 pitches in a simulated minor league game. More interesting however, is this exchange:

Personally, if Glavine gets to the 300 mark (which seems extremely likely) its hard to see him returning for the 08 season. From some of his remarks from the off season it seemed his primary reason for returning is to get to that milestone, and he's always expressed a desire to spend more time with his family. Short of the Mets giving him a Clemens style deal that allows him to stay home more during the season, its hard to picture him coming back.  And Omar and Randolph don't seem the type to make that type of offer anyway, nor do the Braves, especially considering they did not make him an offer this past winter. With the current state of pitching across the league I wouldn't be against Glavine staying, but between his age and his previously stated views towards spending time at home it just seems very unlikely.

John Delcos over at LoHud is reporting that Ruben Sierra has requested, and recieved, his release.  The 42 year old outfielder would have played with AAA New Orleans had he decided to stay with the Mets organization.  There is no word at this time if he has spoken with other clubs about playing.

I'm sure rumors will float around for the next few weeks, but this late into spring training I'm going to assume that this is it for Sierra. He chances were slim to begin with coming into the spring, I don't think the team had planned on carrying both him and Alou.

Its a slow news day, with the team taking a much needed day off, and I'd like to use it to address the Hot Foot Nation with a topic of concern. I touched on it over in the Bleachers during the game yesterday, but today I'll go into slightly more detail. 

The problem?  A-Hern

Now before you blast on over to the comments section telling me of the tremendous defensive skills of what at one point was our starting 2nd baseman, or tell me that his hitting has actually improved, though he has not quite yet proved capable of maintaining a respectable average while playing on a major league level, my problem is not with the young Mr Hernendez.  Its with the nickname.

Anderson Hernendez is a long name, and I understand the desire to not repeatedly type out Anderson Hernendez when writing about him. Its the sort of thing that can cause carpal tunnels or bloggers cramp. Likewise, I've even seen the occasional reference to David Wright as D-Wright.  And when A-Rod became A-Rod, that style nickname became the rage. Its great for him, but here in Metsville, I think we're better than that. For starters, sharing a city with the Evil Empire, our players are already compared by the media to their counterparts in the Bronx, especially Wright.  Why increase this via the use of a similarly styled nickname?  And could you see past Met greats doing that?  K-Hern? W-Back? HoJo? Ok, ignore that last one.

Perhaps, in time, Wright or Anderson Hernendez will do something to earn themselves a nickname.  Something people will mention when talking about Mex, the Kid, Mookie, Nails, Fonzie, or the Franchise.  But if not, so be it. We'll never forget Ron Darling or Mike Piazza either, and they didn't need a nickname.

So I call to you, readers and fellow metsbloggers alike, put and end to the A-Herns, the D-Wrights, the F-Marts. Before its to late.

As our pitching questions continue throughout the spring, what better time than a slow weekend to take a look at how some of our former pitching Mets are doing so far.  All stats are courtesy of mlb.com.

In Baltimore, Chad Bradford is struggling. In his appearance Friday vs the Twins, he hit three batters and gave up a homerun, and a total of 7 earned runs.  The loss for the day however, was credited to former Met Steve Traschel, who has a 8.18 ERA for spring. Kris Benson as mentioned earlier in the week, is mostly out for the season.

Over with the Royals, Brian Bannister has been able to start strong, but then struggles late. In his last appearance he went two scoreless innings and still gave up 6 earned runs for the day.

Darren Oliver on the other hand, is doing well in Anaheim (or Los Angelos of Anaheim I guess), throwing 2 scoreless innings earlier today, walking one and striking out one.

I know there's been a lot of talk lately about some of the pitching decisions made so far, but with the exception of Oliver for the most part would we really be better off had we held on to Bannister or Bradford? So far Omar's move that brought in John Maine and move out Kris Benson seems to have been incredible smart. And while some of the more recent pitching aquisitions, such as Chan Ho Park, have not yet proved similiar results it looks like we'd be in the same boat we are now if we'd held on to some of the players we lost this offseason.