What Should the Mets Do?
The Mets have 3 big issues right now. What should they do about them?
1) The lineup
David Wright was not hitting at all, and one game in the 2 hole and he gets 3 hits. Should he stay there. I say no. But the real issue is not that David Wright would not be a good #2 hitter, but that Paul LoDuca would not be a good #7 hitter. Moving Green and Alou up weakens spots 5 and 6 in the order. Meaning you would weaken spots 5, 6 and 7 to improve the 2 hole. Also there are some advantages to having LoDuca bat second compared to Wright. LoDuca can take pitches to let Reyes steal, you don't want Wright to do that. LoDuca can shorten up and hit to the right side. Even though Wright is a good opposite field hitter you don't want to take the pull away from him. Late in games when one run might be crucial and you need to bunt, you'd be taking the bat out of Wright's hands. Also because you need 4 to 5 runs per game to win I think it's prudent to spread your best hitters as far down the lineup as possible. While Green and Alou are hitting this may work out, but if they slump, the bottom of the order would be a dead spot.
2) Mike Pelfrey
Right now he is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA. Should the keep him in the rotation or send him down to avoid destroying his confidence? I am a believer that young pitchers that are rushed lose confidence and sometimes never recover. But I think they should leave him up with the big club and hope The Jacket can figure out a way to help him. But with El Duque out and being replaced by either Park, can they afford to keep Pelfrey and lose every start he makes?
3) Aaron Heilman
He is awful right now. He gives up runs almost every time he pitches. If they keep relying on him to be the right handed setup man he is going to blow 8 to 10 games. I think right now Joe Smith should be given the 8th inning role and if Mota comes back (he's halfway through his 50 game suspension) and does well I think they should redeploy Heilman, quite possibly to the starting rotation if trouble there persists.
1) The lineup
David Wright was not hitting at all, and one game in the 2 hole and he gets 3 hits. Should he stay there. I say no. But the real issue is not that David Wright would not be a good #2 hitter, but that Paul LoDuca would not be a good #7 hitter. Moving Green and Alou up weakens spots 5 and 6 in the order. Meaning you would weaken spots 5, 6 and 7 to improve the 2 hole. Also there are some advantages to having LoDuca bat second compared to Wright. LoDuca can take pitches to let Reyes steal, you don't want Wright to do that. LoDuca can shorten up and hit to the right side. Even though Wright is a good opposite field hitter you don't want to take the pull away from him. Late in games when one run might be crucial and you need to bunt, you'd be taking the bat out of Wright's hands. Also because you need 4 to 5 runs per game to win I think it's prudent to spread your best hitters as far down the lineup as possible. While Green and Alou are hitting this may work out, but if they slump, the bottom of the order would be a dead spot.
2) Mike Pelfrey
Right now he is 0-3 with a 6.75 ERA. Should the keep him in the rotation or send him down to avoid destroying his confidence? I am a believer that young pitchers that are rushed lose confidence and sometimes never recover. But I think they should leave him up with the big club and hope The Jacket can figure out a way to help him. But with El Duque out and being replaced by either Park, can they afford to keep Pelfrey and lose every start he makes?
3) Aaron Heilman
He is awful right now. He gives up runs almost every time he pitches. If they keep relying on him to be the right handed setup man he is going to blow 8 to 10 games. I think right now Joe Smith should be given the 8th inning role and if Mota comes back (he's halfway through his 50 game suspension) and does well I think they should redeploy Heilman, quite possibly to the starting rotation if trouble there persists.
Labels: issues
posted by Paul at 1:03 AM
1 Comments:
1. I agree Wright cannot stay in the # spot. We all know we'll be playing 50 games without Alou during the course of this year, and the bottom of the lineup would certainly suffer.
2. Leave Pelfrey alone. If ina month his ERA is still 7, we can discuss.
3. Heilman does suck, but if the Mets thought he was any good as a strter, they would have moved him there a long time ago.
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