Pat Mahomes? That means we're in for some good lip lickin'

pat mahomes is back with the mets!!!

(played by michael jordan in the todd pratt movie)

i've read that petit could be up to fortify the bullpen by midseason, but he will likely begin the year at AA.

who is this kazmir guy? is he any good? hmm, guess the rays are just savvy drafters.

Prospectus came out with it's top 50 Prospects list. The Braves' Andy Marte is #1, which is bad news for the Mets. NY-related players:
13. Eric Duncan, 3B, New York (AL)
14. Scott Kazmir, LHP, Tampa Bay
15. Yusmeiro Petit, RHP, New York (NL)
19. Lastings Milledge, OF, New York (NL)

Discouraging article in the Times about Reyes:
Mackie Shilstone, a sports-performance expert "said he examined the 21-year-old Reyes for three days last October and determined 'in no uncertain terms' the root of Reyes's problems... Shilstone said he advised Reyes to visit him for two more weeks before playing in the Dominican Winter League and to see him for two weeks after the league ended to make any necessary adjustments to his conditioning regimen.
"'He chose none of the above,' Shilstone said. 'We didn't get to put all the pieces together. So I can't sit here and tell you the deficits are gone. I think the jury's out.'
Shilstone said he gave Reyes a 'partial plan,' about a fourth of an overall regimen that Shilstone feels is necessary to really put Reyes on safe ground. Shilstone surmised that Reyes, following his plan, began feeling better and thus assumed he was healthy."
Reyes said "he does only some of the exercises that Shilstone recommended because there were so many of them."

But don't worry. Omar's on top of things. When asked what Reyes is doing differently these days, he responded "That's a good question. I'm not sure. We monitor it with our trainers."

Let's face it, the Mets bullpen isn't going to be great this year. Looper's an okay closer, DeJean pitched really well in his brief stint last year, and then nobody else is really guaranteed a spot. Koo sounds like he could be a lefty specialist. Strickland could be a righty specialist (.570 OPS against righties last 3 years). Scott Stewart? Moreno? Seo? Ginter? Heath Bell? Blake McGinley? Heredia (ugh)?
It doesn't sound too disastorous, but none of those guys are striking the fear into the hearts of batters, either.
So I glanced at the PECOTA projections, and I was surprised to see a Met reliever with such a good projection.
Jose Parra ranks 25th in projected EqERA (ERA adjusted for ballpark), right behind Mariano Rivera, and right ahead of Curt Schilling.
Granted, it's based on very little data. He pitched 42 innings last year (14 in majors, 27+ in AAA), and only 23 pro innings in the 3 years before that. And he didn't finish the season because of a hip flexor injury.
Still, his #s were good in both AAA and the majors, and the Mets don't have many sure things in the bullpen, so it'll be nice to have him in Port St. Lucie.

Oh, wait, he won't be there because the Mets released him in November. Instead, he'll be pitching in Japan for Orix-Kinetsu.

you know it's spring training when you start reading "victor zambrano" and "unhittable" in the same sentance.

unless mike cameron is being vociferous and active about wanting out, why the hell would the mets try and move him??

Red Sox have it locked up again (from espn.com):

The Red Sox agreed to a minor league contract on Tuesday with first baseman Roberto Petagine, who played in Japan the last six seasons.

Petagine, 33, won three Gold Gloves, two home run titles and one Central League MVP award while playing for the Yakult from 1999 to 2002 and Yomiuri the past two years. The Red Sox invited him to spring training.

In parts of five major league seasons, he hit .225 with 10 homers and 43 RBI in 193 games for Houston, San Diego, the New York Mets and Cincinnati

In Japan, he hit .317 with 223 homers and 594 RBI in 756 games.

Petagine, 33, is a left-handed hitter and an excellent defensive first baseman who will try to take the place of Doug Mientkiewicz, recently traded to the Mets.

Nice little post showing that according to PECOTA, the Mets have the 2nd best lineup in the division. This is a pretty simplistic analysis, so I wouldn't start buying playoff tickets, but worth taking a glance at.

Wow, what timing! According to this column in USA Today:
"Look for Boston to sign Japanese superstar Roberto Petagine. He'll be a left-handed bat in left field and and come off the bench as an ideal successor to the departed Doug Mienkiewicz."

Unfortunately for the Sox, Petagine's coming off of a down year. Here's his avg/obp/slg for the last 3 years in Japan:
2002 .322/.438/.649
2003 .323/.457/.683
2004 .290/.409/.561

Supposedly, his knees are shot, and his defense is crappy. But he certainly has a good shot at still being a really good hitter.
Oh, and apparently, he played 86 games in the outfield in 2003, so I guess he could play some out there. How much worse can he be than Manny in the field?

If this gets done, that's one more reason for me to be a Sox fan.

[2/8 Update: Gammons says he's been signed for $750k. Sounds like a steal to me. Very little money, and if returns to pre-2004 form, he should end up forcing a platoon with Millar. Plus, according to ESPN, he's an "excellent defensive first baseman." I have no Japanese UZR #s, but if that's true, the Mets REALLY should've signed him (at least let him compete with Minky).]

well, the mets offseason moves are paying off in at least one category, they report a 200% increase over last year's preseason ticket sales and expect to have nearly 2 million tickets sold before opening day.

oh, the bullpen continues to shape up, tyler yates is out for the year.

Petagine vs Matsui
(edit from Ryan: Hideki Matsui)

2002 AVG OBA SLG HR RBI
Matsui 334 461 692 50 107
Petagine 322 438 649 41 94

2001 AVG OBA SLG HR RBI
Matsui 333 463 617 36 104
Petagine 322 466 633 39 127

wow.

Worst baseball record ever? Last year the Giants played veteran Kawai Masahiro until he he broke the world record for most sacrifice bunts.

had no idea helton was so good defensively. big mo cost us 27 runs!