State of the Mets

Lets sum up everything concerning the Mets this past week and the weekend ahead:

• The Mets have been underwhelming, but there is little reason to believe that the team has lost its heart and soul - rather, they are in a mini-slump, only about 2 games behind. There is still time to catch up, people! I think it's just that the team chemistry has been compromised somewhat, especially by a few of the remarks Billy Wagner has made this year
• Nelson Figueroa made a huge mistake by calling the Nationals players in the dugout "softball girls" - he shouldn't be worrying about what they're doing, even if it wasn't "professional". It's not like they were calling out Figueroa, but they were rallying on their team. It's too late to tell Figgy anything, but C'mon! Just calm down and relax! He was clearly upset over his outing, and probably took his anger out over the Nationals' dugout.
• For those of you continuing to rave about firing manager Willie Randolph, don't be so immature. Minaya and upper management clearly want Randolph to renmain as manager despite last year's tragic collapse, and for a good reason - he is learning some of the ropes as the manager, and is handling things the best he believes he could. However, I believe he may want to inject a bit more fire into the team and speak to them in a more passionate fervor, like Jim Leyland did when joining the AL Champs Detroit Tigers in his first year (he also managed the 1997 World Series champs, the Florida Marlins)
• There are some bright spots in the Mets staff, like Ryan Church and Mike Pelfrey (who lost a near shutout bid). The Mets may not be producing to well offensively, but of note is the fact that even the great players (like Carlos Beltran, who is starting to come around) who are slumping will most certainly break out, good as new (in mid-season form, I mean) Praise the fact that Moises Alou has returned, seeingly stronger than ever, from injury - even if he might get hurt again.
• Congrats to Willie Randolph for being considered to the NL All-Stars coaching staff - this might just be a given since MLB probably wanted to toss in some New York flavor into the coaching staff (Joe Girardi was chosen too,for the AL coaching staff)
• The intensity will be as great as ever when the Mets face the Yankees this weekend... this rivalry will turn brothers against other brothers, and best friends will bet against each other (someone will leave pissed off at the end) Since Friday's game was rained out, they will either play a dual-stadium doubleheader in the June 27-29 series, or some off day in the future. Here are the matchups:

1. Saturday - NYM @ NYY, 1:05 PM ET: Johan Santana, LHP (4-2, 3.10 ERA) vs. Andy Pettitte, LHP (3-4, 4.40 ERA)
2. Sunday - NYM @ NYY, 8:05 PM ET: Oliver Perez, LHP (3-3, 4.61 ERA) vs. Chien-Ming Wang, RHP (6-1, 2.90 ERA)

• I will conclude my "State of the Mets" address here, with three words: LETS GO METS!

The Mets have some significant holes that need to be resolved. 

#1. The bullpen has to be addressed. Removing Jorge Sosa was a step up. Aaron Heilman has to be sent down to Triple A and converted back to a starter. Bring up Eddie Kunz from Double A who is doing very well down there and slide him into Heilman's spot.

#2 Bring back Pedro in the next 30 days and let whomever is doing better, either Claudio Vargas or Mike Pelfrey stay as the 5th starter with the other sliding into long relief and being a spot starter. El Duque is done and let it go.

#3 Carlos Delgado should not be playing everyday and give Fernando Tatis a shot there amd give a platoon a shot. The Mets have two First baseman who are definite prospects at Double A in Mike Carp and Nick Evans. They could be a platoon option for next season or the year after. If the team is not confident in either of the two. The team will need to look outside the organization for next year. Mike Jacobs could be a thought for next year. He is a former Met putting up great numbers in Florida and should be available since he is arbitration eligible after this season. Jacobs only issue is that he has been injury prone early on in his career.

Interesting summation SJ10689 and in my opinion you hit the bullseye on sereral key points.

Even though the Mets have been playing well below their potential, they are only 2 games out of 1st place. In the preseason everyone thought the NL East would be the powerhouse division, looks like they were wrong.

Like it or not Willie isn't going anywhere at least this season anyway. Besides anyone who puts the blame for this team's sleepwalking squarely on his shoulders clearly doesn't understand the game.

I will disagree with you on Nelson Figueroa. The Nats were absolutely acting like a childish sandlot team and they were doing so to mess up Figgy, not to rally themselves. But whatever, what's done is done and losing 3 of 4 to them is a much bigger deal.

The games with the yanks should be hard fought as always and it's too bad about the rainout yesterday b/c I was looking forward to Maine vs. Wang on Sunday Nite.

I guess the best thing you could say about the state of the Mets is that despite the fact that they're a group of underachievers, they're still within striking distance of 1st.  

everyone is talking about leadership...

what do you think pedro has to do with the 06 success?

i think he was the leader...

cant wait for him to be back not only to see a future hof-er but to see him act in his ways...

i remember in 06 he wasnt playing and he took a baseball tied a string around it and was playing a game with the fans sitting behind the dugout... they try to catch the ball and he pulls it back...

he has a great attitude i want to see him back... they say he will be back in early june