Kuzul

I’m disgusted at some of the names I see on this year’s All-Star Game roster.

I’m frustrated that, year after year, there is a long list of snubs that deserve to play, especially considering the game determines which league gets home field advantage in the World Series.

I was going to make a snubs list, given that I already wrote a list of who should be on the team, but I thought instead I’d do something a little more valuable.

The MLB allows the fans to take a final vote to determine the last roster spot on each team. There are five players to choose from.

I wish we could pick more than one.

Still, this is a good opportunity to get one more player on the team that really, really deserves to be on it.

I begin with a list of each candidate, and after sharing each player’s stats, I pick the candidate.

I decided to only look at regular stats (I didn’t use WAR or other sabermetrics. All stats are through July 4, 2010).

I simply looked at who is having a better statistical year to make my decision.

So without further ado, here’s who everyone MUST vote for, and why. It would be an injustice to pick anyone else for each league’s final roster spot.

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The New York Mets have been superb in June. They have become a bona fide contender in the National League East, and have solidified their position as a buyer rather than a seller before this season’s trade deadline.

There have been a tremendous amount of positives which have come hand-in-hand with their overall success.

Yet, in the middle of all of those positives, there has been one surprising—and alarming—dark spot for the Mets: Johan Santana.

Since Francisco Rodriguez blew a save for Santana against the Padres in the beginning of June, the Mets have played much better, while Santana has played much worse.

In that start, Santana gave up no runs and five hits in seven innings of work.

However, since then, Santana is just 1-3, while giving up at least four runs and eight hits in each of his starts, raising his ERA from 2.76 to 3.55.

While Santana doesn’t get much run support from the Mets’ offense, he can usually keep the team in the game. Recently, however, that has not been the case.

Although Santana hasn’t pitched tremendously poorly (at least not in comparison to Oliver Perez), his struggles are a cause for concern. He has given up 17 runs in his last four starts, his velocity is down, and his strikeout-to-walk ratio in June is 12-to-14. Not the type of numbers you want from your ace.

His struggles make me wonder, is something wrong with Johan Santana?

This tremendous drop off from the status quo is not common for a pitcher of Santana’s caliber, and something must be up. Does he have a nagging injury? Is he still not fully recovered from offseason surgery? What could it be?

This concern for Santana makes it even more imperative for the Mets to try and acquire a pitcher at the trade deadline. While R.A. Dickey has been pitching out of his mind, and Hisanori Takahashi has been a great replacement as well, if Santana cannot pitch for the Mets they will be in serious trouble.

While I can’t speculate any further about Santana since I’m not in the Mets’ training room, I really hope everything is alright with him, and he is just going through a rough patch. Santana is invaluable to the Mets, and if they are going to make any sort of postseason run they need him to return to form.

On a brighter note, it is a testament to the Mets, that they can play so well even while their star pitcher is faltering.

But when a pitcher like R.A. Dickey has more wins than your ace and former Cy Young Award winner, it’s a cause for concern.

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Earlier this week, I wrote an article talking about the Mets outfield dilemma now that Carlos Beltran is playing rehab games for the St. Lucie Mets.  I concluded that the best-case scenario would be for the four outfielders to platoon.  I also joked that maybe Angel Pagan should take ground balls at second base, giving Jerry Manuel the ability to play all four outfielders at once.

Though the idea for Pagan to play second is far-fetched, it’s also pretty unwise.

Ruben Tejada is the current second baseman.  Personally, I am a big fan, largely because of his spectacular defense.  Tejada is a natural shortstop, who has stepped in at second and played like he has been a second basemen all of his life.  Mets announcer Gary Cohen can’t help but marvel every game at Tejada’s ability to turn double plays, and make hard plays look easy. 

Undoubtedly, a good offensive player will win a spot over a good defensive player most of the time.  For that, I had expected that hypothetically, if Manuel had to choose between Tejada and Pagan, he would choose Pagan.  Tejada, however, is proving to be a better offensive player than we had thought.

The twenty-year-old Tejada is currently hitting .264 with a .328 OBP.  While these numbers are only mediocre, that is not what impresses me.

What I am impressed by is his consistency; he currently has a nine-game hitting streak, and has gotten a hit in 13 of the 16 games he has started this year!  His 11 runs scored also means that he has scored more than half of the times that he has reached base.

Tejada is the future, and his playing time and at-bats are a valuable experience for him to improve an offensive game that, mixed with superb defense, will make him a good player for years to come.

So if Tejada is not taken out of the lineup for Pagan, that still leaves the Mets with four outfielders.  While platooning outfielders is still the most likely option, I have a suggestion.

Why don’t the Mets consider trading Carlos Beltran?

Despite his relative inability to stay healthy recently, he undoubtedly has the highest trade value of all of the outfielders.  If the Mets want to snag a pitcher before the July 31 trade deadline, maybe they should consider shopping Beltran for a Cliff Lee or Roy Oswalt.

Beltran is 33, and becomes a free agent after the 2011 season.  He is due $18.5 million this year and next.  His hefty price tag and questionable health may be question marks for teams who are looking to unload payroll by trading their superstars, but at the same time, Beltran is still a very talented player, whom every team wouldn’t mind having at the top of their lineup.

For the Mets, unloading Beltran would give them a little bit of financial flexibility to resign a newly acquired pitcher.  Also, trading Beltran would allow the Mets to keep their current core of youth intact.  They would be able to acquire a pitcher while keeping their prospects, as well as the players who have led the Mets to a 42-31 record.

I hate to see a starter lose his job to injury, but at the same time, I hate the prospect of breaking up the current team, which has been a tremendously pleasant surprise in 2010.  You know what they say, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

Now, I have to admit that I don’t think a Beltran trade is very likely, or even on the mind of the Mets brass.  Beltran has a full no-trade clause, teams would be skeptical about picking him up after his knee surgery, and trades of this caliber rarely take place.

But the idea makes sense, and swapping Beltran for a pitcher of equal pedigree could catapult the Mets into the playoffs.

What do you guys think?

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Robert Allen Dickey. The man. The myth. The legend. The knuckleballer. The All-Star? Cy Young Award winner?! MVP?!? Hall of Famer?!?! 

I may be getting a bit carried away there at the end, but no one can argue that Dickey has been anything but amazing for the Mets in his seven starts since filling in due to injuries. 

Dickey improved his record to 6-0 in his first seven starts, lowering his ERA to 2.32 with a dominating eight-inning shutout performance. He has a 35/14 K/BB ratio, with a 1.295 WHIP. He has given up only two home runs in his seven starts, in all of which he has pitched at least six innings. He’s also hitting .300 with a .364 OBP!

Dickey’s six wins are as many as notable pitchers such as Cliff Lee and Fausto Carmona (whom the Mets are speculated to be trying to acquire), as well as Matt Cain, Francisco Liriano, James Shields, and Jake Peavy—except Dickey has as many wins as them in half the starts. He also has one more win than another potential acquisition, Roy Oswalt.

Many have speculated whether or not Stephen Strasburg deserves a roster spot in the All-Star Game. My personal opinions about the All-Star Game and Strasburg aside, if you think Strasburg deserves a spot on your team, you better reserve a spot for Dickey too.

He has been that good. 

For me, Dickey is Exhibit A for why the Mets do not need to and shouldn’t trade for a pitcher this season. 

Everyone thinks that mediocre pitchers making spot starts, despite having substantial success initially, are bound to get hit hard and return to mediocrity soon. I’ve been waiting for that to happen with Dickey, and after seven strong starts I don’t think that is going to happen anytime soon. Maybe a bad start or two, but certainly no implosion.

Dickey’s uniqueness as a pitching style is wholly responsible for his initial success, and it will be responsible for his longevity as a bona fide starter in MLB in the future. 

Dickey is a hard-throwing knuckleballer, the only one of his kind in all of baseball. He has the dancing knuckleball of Tim Wakefield, which is hard enough to hit, but thrown 10 miles per hour faster. He also mixes that up with a mid-80s fastball with movement, keeping hitters off balance and proving to be a lethal combination.

As long as Dickey can continue to throw strikes and keep himself out of jams, he’s got the recipe for success. 

On a side note, Jerry Manuel has to leave Dickey in to get the complete game shutout in situations like last night. Dickey started the eighth inning with 90 pitches and finished that inning with 96, having retired his last 13 batters in a row.

I hate when Jerry makes decisions like that and brings in the soon-to-be overworked bullpen (especially Frankie Rodriguez, who takes an average of 30 pitches and two baserunners to get through an inning) to treat the five-run lead like a save situation, against a team to which Dickey gave up only four hits. But they got the win, and that’s all that matters.

Nonetheless, baseball fans throughout the league have to love what Dickey is doing with the Mets. I, for one, hope to see him continue his stellar performances and pitch in the All-Star Game in Anaheim come July 13.

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On the eve of the announcement that Carlos Beltran will be making a rehab start and is on the brink of returning to the Mets, his replacement, Angel Pagan, played arguably his best game of 2010.

Pagan, who has been nothing short of stellar for the Mets this season, went 4-for-6 with four RBI and three runs scored. He was just a home run away from the cycle.

Angel has been an angel in the outfield for the Mets this year. He has been one of their most consistent players and has shown tremendous personal improvement in all facets of his game, especially base running.

In 2010, Pagan is hitting a team leading .304, with a .363 OBP, 41 runs scored, and 14 stolen bases. He has provided excellent defense in centerfield and has proven to be a dynamic duo with Jose Reyes atop the Mets’ lineup.

Most Mets fans will agree that when Beltran comes back, Pagan absolutely deserves to remain a starter.

The only problem is, who sits?

Left fielder Jason Bay is undoubtedly going to continue to play everyday, given his salary, pedigree, and potential when he is hot.

Right fielder Jeff Francoeur, though struggling at times this season, is a stellar defender and is generally regarded as an everyday player.

With that, Pagan may be the odd man out. The other option may be to platoon Francoeur and Pagan, although playing two starters irregularly may not be the best for either players’ timing.

As the trade deadline approaches, there is also talk about the Mets trying to acquire a pitcher such as Roy Oswalt or Cliff Lee. Perhaps one of these outfielders could be packaged with prospects in a blockbuster trade.

Pagan seemingly has more trade value than Francoeur, but I think trading Pagan would not be favorable amongst the Mets fans.

Maybe the best option would be to have Pagan taking ground balls at second base. Although this idea is far-fetched, playing all four of the outfielders at the same time would be the best case scenario.

And Pagan, who has adjusted his game throughout his young career to establish himself as a starter, would probably not be opposed to that idea.

You see, Pagan has established himself as a hard nosed player who does everything right and puts his ball club in the position to win time and time again.

Personally, I would hate to see Pagan moved to the bench. I think he deserves to remain a starter over Francoeur.

If only the Mets were in the American League, and they could just slide Beltran into the DH spot. Oh well.

Nonetheless, it will certainly be interesting to see what manager Jerry Manuel decides to do once Beltran returns.  

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