The Phillies, winners of the National League East for five consecutive seasons, signed Jonathan Papelbon, retained Jimmy Rollins and bolstered their bench this offseason, but it won't necessarily be enough for a sixth straight division title. Here are some links from the increasingly competitive NL East…
- Mets GM Sandy Alderson may soon face a frustrated fan base if players brought in under Omar Minaya don't show significant progress in 2012, Joel Sherman of the New York Post writes. Alderson says his goal is for the Mets to make the playoffs, even if it seems unrealistic to outsiders.
- In response to Scott Boras' suggestion that the Mets might be better off under different ownership, Alderson told SiriusXM’s Evan & Phillips in the Morning that the agent's comments are nonsense. "That’s somebody who is trying to generate a market for players that he represents," the GM said (transcript via MetsBlog).
- Shoulder injuries have derailed many promising pitching careers, but Johan Santana is attempting to move past shoulder troubles and "do everything the way [he] used to do it,” according to Yahoo's Jeff Passan.
- Nationals starter Edwin Jackson has bounced around extensively as a Major Leaguer, suiting up for six different teams, but as Adam Kilgore of the Washington Post reports, players and executives consider Jackson a good worker and a positive clubhouse presence.
Oh Boras lol
”
Alderson says his goal is for the Mets to make the playoffs, even if it seems unrealistic to outsiders.”
I have a better chance at winning the lottery this year than this happening.
And by “outsiders”, Alderson means “every other person on the planet.”
Mets? Playoffs? LOL
I just hope they can win a game!
Don’t fret Met’s fans. Every team gets to play the Astros at least 4 times.
Playoffs?! You’re talking about playoffs?!? We’re just trying to win a game here!
cool avitar bro…which team was in last place in the NL East last season? I love how the marlins change stadiums, jersey, name, and throw a bunch of money around and the “fans” start coming out of the wood work talking smack.
I’m actually a Yankee fan. I like the logo (not the colors), and was rooting for the Florida Marlins last year. But, I agree with you. This new avatar makes me look like a frontrunner, so I’ll change it back to the MLB logo I had.
I feel Phillies spent way too much for Papelbon. Yes, he is good. But is he worth nearly sixty million bucks? Madson signed for much less with the Reds and I think the Phillies should have used the Papelbon money to lock down Hamels instead.
Hamels is inexplicably bad against the Mets.
Papelbon is one of the top closers in the game at least and should at least nail down games over the next 3 seasons at least. Maybe the last 1 and option are iffy. The Rollins deal and 33m, plus easy option year for him totalling 44m surely would have been better thrown towards Hamels and they could have signed a glove only guy like Alex Gonzalez who still has power for 1/3 of what rollins makes.
Philly operates in the short term only of late, exactly like George Steinbrenner did, only this team is acting like there is no salary cap with enormous penalties that will creep up on them and the fan base (for the most part) continues to defend each and every one of these hard to figure out signings.
He’s not as bad as the numbers suggest.
He gets NO run support against the Mets. (I’m sure you remember that game where he was the only Phillies hitter to get a hit off R.A. Dickey in a 1-0 win).
Until this year, other than his win-loss he was actually fairly decent against the Mets, just unlucky.
PLAYOFFS? Mets are guaranteed LAST PLACE, would be lucky not to lose 100 games, and the Wilpons may lose the team if the rest of the $400 mil is lost in the Madoff mess. PLAYOFFS?
Did anyone predict the Giants winning the World Series in 2010 or the Phillies being eliminated in the first round or the Cardinals winning the World Series last season? Did anyone anticipate the Red Sox and Braves collapsing?
Bueller?
You know what all those teams had that the Mets don’t? a chance….
Everyone pretty much did know that the 2010 Giants had a strong pitching staff.
Any team that makes the playoffs can win the World Series – and I don’t think it surprised anyone that the Cardinals made the playoffs last year. Perhaps surprising in the manner that they made it – but in the 2011 preseason, I don’t think people were calling their chances at making the playoffs unrealistic.
There really aren’t too many comparisons you can make for the 2012 Mets squad – the 2011 DBacks maybe – but the NL West doesn’t have the strength that the NL East has, making a worst-to-first more plausible.
All Alderson is doing right now is employing band-aids to make the team somewhat competitive. When you go into a season saying “Well, what if…” for a dozen different players, you know the season is likely to be a long one..
The real problem is ownership. The front office is doing a good job as well as the manager but I blame ownership for this team.
Edit: Also, injuries and blown saves. Bobby Parnell alone blew several saves. In the off-season, Alderson brought in two relievers and added some depth to the pitching staff. But the team is lacking decent starter and lefty reliever options outside of Niese, Byrdak and Herrera.
I’ve never said this team will make the playoffs. It won’t due to the weakness of the pitching staff.
Do you know how many saves those 2 relievers they brought in blew? Jays fans certainly do.
how does a team that just lost over 40 mil of payroll justify paying up to 4 mil for Rauch? we have guys in our rookie league who are more reliable.
how does a team that just lost over 40 mil of payroll justify paying up to 4 mil for Rauch? we have guys in our rookie league who are more reliable.
Reliable with no major league experience, sadly.
Um, yeah, I did pick the Red Sox missing the playoffs. Any Mets fan who thinks they have a shot of winning 70 games is delusional.
Um, yeah, I did pick the Red Sox missing the playoffs. Any Mets fan who thinks they have a shot of winning 70 games is delusional.
I agree with you: any fan that believes they’ll only win 70 is delusional.
anyone who thinks writing out “um, yeah” is okay is delusional amoung other things.
I think the standings will be the same this year, just swap the braves with the Nats. I think the Marlins still suck they can wave their magic money wand around all they want, and the Mets are still at about the same talent level.
BTW Don’t pretend to compare this years Mets with the 2010 Giants; pitching is the name of the game…I’d be more comfortable with a 2011 Diamondback comparison; that would be the most I think you could hope for.
Every team should expect to make the post season. Whether or not that’s realistic is for analysts to decide.
I don’t care where you finished last year, if you don’t believe you can compete in this league, you should retire.
They can hit their way to .500. National League sucks enough.
Not like they’ve won the last 2 WS and last 3 ASGs or anything.
They can hit their way to .500. National League sucks enough.
Alderson has to stop lying to himself about the Mets making the playoffs and about the Boras comments. Its not like Boras was the first to say that and Im pretty sure any person with half a brain and some baseball knowledge can see that the Mets would be better without the Wilpons.
if he’s frank and honest about the Mets’ playoff chances/Boras comments, the wilpons would instantaneously fire him.
Alderson has to stop lying to himself about the Mets making the playoffs and about the Boras comments. Its not like Boras was the first to say that and Im pretty sure any person with half a brain and some baseball knowledge can see that the Mets would be better without the Wilpons.
I’m still puzzled as to why the Mets let Fernando Martinez go on waivers. (this is an Alderson decision and not an Omar decision) Could they really not find anyone on their roster to kick off?
Jesus, I just opened the roster list and can easily pick at least 10 guys who should have been moved before Martinez. This guy was the Met’s top prospect not too long ago. He is still 23 years old!
He hit a 3 run bomb a couple of days ago and I can easily see this one biting the Mets in the arse. It’s not like the Mets roster was full of prospects either. I seriously wonder how long it will take for this team to recover when it seems like they keep making silly mistakes no matter who is GM. If FMart comes to form, I think Alderson has to be fired — it was just such a bad and unnecessary move.
Please, the guy could never stay healthy. Not counting the brief stints with the big club the guy never managed more than 70 games in the minors. Gotta cut your losses at some point.
“Gotta cut your losses at some point.”
And what was the loss? You mean that valuable roster spot that a guy like Cesar Puello is taking up?
Frankly, I’d rather test my luck with an injury prone player if he still had potential. Like I said, plenty of guys they could have cut who are a dime a dozen.
D.J. Carrasco posted a 6 ERA last season — the same guy who ended a game with a rare BALK off — is still on the team. I’d rather take my chances with Martinez than have a full season of mediocrity. (because the minors is FULL of those guys)
At this point, the Mets need to take chances. Look at that roster, where is the upside with more than half of this team?
“Frankly, I’d rather test my luck with an injury prone player if he still had potential.”
Then why look at Martinez? He was in the minors for 6 years and never developed nearly any of that potential you seem to love. The guy spent almost 2 full years in AAA putting up paltry numbers and even the cups of coffee didn’t really showcase anything worthwhile. After 6 years you have a pretty good idea of what you’re dealing so I see no way to criticize them jettisoning him from the team. They’re trying to field a team of guys they know can at least contribute and if you still think after what we’ve actually seen from Martinez over the last few years that he can contribute, bad knees and all, I think you’ve got some 2007-8 Kool-Aid stashed somewhere.
Arthritic knees. he has arthritic knees at age 23…. lose your delusions.
arthritis can be managed; it was a terrible move to leave him unprotected while he still had options, regardless of what the outcome is. look at Reese Havens or Zach Lutz neither one of those guys is as physically gifted at the plate and both have battled with injuries just as much as Martinez.
It has nothing to do with “delusions” it has to do with balancing potential and risk. This was a very disapointing Alderson move because F-Mart was all potential and virtually no risk.
Yes, he’s only 23 years old. He hasn’t exactly hit at any level, he’s got the degenerative body of a 53 year old, and the Mets felt that Armando Rodriguez is more valuable to the franchise than he. To me that speaks volumes about his perceived value throughout the industry, regardless of spring training wind blasts.
I think some people are too sold on his alleged potential based on the “he’s only x years old!” factor. Even if he pans out, all I see is a battered up Juan Encarnacion, and I doubt the team loses much sleep if the astros reap that reward.
As a completely impartial AL guy I can’t see how the Mets couldn’t be better under new ownership – don’t think its even possible to be worse. A couple of reasonably intelligent monkeys, a baseball simulation game (OOTP-anyone?), or just randomly tossing dice in the air would all likely result in a better management style.
Joel Sherman lol
Mets.. Playoffs?
I think it’d be a successful season if they got above 70 wins
It is truly amazing how writers say how Philies have gotten worse. I guess this sells papers and magazines.The worst sports writer is Seth Evert. (Seth. last year, was the one who said the Phillies should have traded promising pitchers to get Beltran from the Mets and not go for Pence. DAH! Betran could not hit left handed pitching last year. The Phillies needed a batter like Pence to hit against lefties. SETH should study baseball more.)
The Phillies have actually improved at closer as the past three years has not been a strong suit. Lidge and Madson have not been a reliable closer until mid season when Madson took over. Madson was never consistant closer until last year. The bench was BAD! Now they actually have hitters and good position replacements. A whole year with a good bence is a step up from last year. A whole year with healthy pitchers is a step up from last year.The relief was good and has added more experience. If anything the Phillies have stayed their ground and have NOT stepped back. Last year the Phillies began the year with players who were hurt or still recovering from the previous year’s injuries such as Utley, Rollins, and Polanco. These players as well as Hamels and Ruiz are now healthy. This is a step forward for the Phillies. (Howard can field and hit but needs time for the sore to heal. There is no equal replacement for him but they do have decent hitters who can step in until the sore heals and gets back his running legs. Who knows maybe this year he can steal 2 bases.
You are forgetting that the Phillies have aging stars. Even if they return healthy and rake the NL East, there’s no guarantee that they’ll do that every year afterwards.
My point is that Philadelphia is aging and in a slow decline not due to injuries but time.
Boy am I glad Cashman didnt get a deal done to bring Santana to the Yanks. And I’ll admit at the time I was pretty upset that the Yankees didnt land him.