Josh Fogg, who signed a minor-league deal with the Mets on Jan. 29, has been released as per his request, according to Adam Rubin.
Back then, I wrote:
Fogg, [Troy] Renck writes, is “one of the coolest guys I have ever covered — think of Vince Vaughn in “Dodgeball.” Renck believes Fogg has a shot to make the Mets out of spring training, and might even compete for the fifth starter spot.
Unfortunately, that might be the best thing to be said about Fogg.
Happy trails, Peter La Fleur.
In honor of Jerry Seinfeld taking in today’s Mets game, I present one of the greatest scenes in the history of television…
Here’s a question I always had about Seinfeld: If Jerry is such a big Mets fan, why did George work for the Yankees?
With Carlos Beltran sidelined (until early May?), the Mets have a hole in centerfield. Angel Pagan is the favorite to start in Beltran’s place, but the Mets also have a veteran in Gary Matthews Jr. and a young-gun in Fernando Martinez.
I took to Twitter to see which player fans preferred. Here are some responses…
F-Mart
kstrauss11: F-Mart for now until Beltran comes back...then F-Mart in right.
metsfanmurph: Fmart because he is currently the best player
m1735: F-Mart. He provides speed that the team lacks sans-Reyes and Beltran, and has more of a future in blue + orange than Pagan
EliseMichelle: I would almost always go with Pagan but the injury streak pushes me towards F-Mart.
Pagan
saffir_99: Pagan. F-Mart probably should stay in the minors a bit longer and GMJ doesn't have his defense anymore.
rad_ryan: Pagan. Fernando hasn't even played a full season in the minors in his career yet. Let him do that first.
maggie162: Pagan - he showed good consistency last year and has decent offense and defense.
GMJ
*crickets*
Where do you stand? Which player do you want starting in CF in Beltran’s absence?
-Jerry Manuel on Jose Reyes
Though we’re right on the precipice of the 2010 baseball year, I continually find myself looking ahead to 2011.
Next season for the Mets doesn’t look too bright. With “injuries” to two starting position players
With a dead-man-walking manager, a slow start will likely cost him his job. With a poor season, there very well may be a new general manager come December.
A new manager and a new general manager, both looking to make a splash, win over fans and get off to a hot start in 2011, will do anything and everything to make the team as good as it can be.
And just look at the possibly roster come 2011…
Here are the players in their walk year: Carlos Beltran, Oliver Perez, Francisco Rodriguez (2012 option), Jose Reyes (if the Mets pick up his ‘11 option) and Luis Castillo.
Obviously, guys like Johan Santana, David Wright and Jason Bay are under contract well beyond 2011.
But what really excites me is the possibility of the young players making big impacts.
Guys like Josh Thole and Ike Davis are already penciled into my ‘11 Opening Day lineup/roster. Very different players, but both at key positions to make an impact on both sides of the ball.
Fernando Martinez, if he can stay healthy, may be manning right field to start the ‘11 season. Jenrry Mejia, hopefully continuing his work in the minor leagues as a starter, may be a bit closer to being major-league ready.
Though that might be a bit of a pipe dream to hope all four are perfectly fit for major league duty in only one more year of minor league duty, it’s a dream I will hold on to through this year.
Those four prospects, the cream of the crop of the Mets minor leagues, plus the Mets under contract, and a very strong free agent class next offseason have me dreaming big. We’ll just have to wait through the 2010 season first.
I posted this question to The ‘Ropolitans page on Facebook and got quite a few responses, so I figured I would share it on the blog.
I asked: Which Mets player, past or present, would you want to be friends with on Facebook?
Here are the responses…
Who would you want to be friends with on Facebook?
On December 14, when the initial offer was made to Kelvim Escobar, I wrote…
“As a bullpen arm, Escobar could be a good low-risk, high-reward player, something the Mets will probably see a lot of in spring training.”
Two months later, when we found out he had a “sore shoulder,” on February 17, I wrote…
“And so signals the beginning of joke cracking and rehashing last season’s injuries from everyone and their mother.”
On February 19, when Hardball Talk reported that Escobar could not pick up a baseball, I wrote…
“Did the Mets work him out? Let him pitch for someone, anyone from the organization? Is there any way they could have gotten away with the “no physical” route, a la J.J. Putz?”
And now today, in a story in El Nacional (Spanish), via MLBTR, Escobar says that he is waiting until April 1 to begin throwing and if he still feels pain that day, he will make his decision then.
“If I wanted to retire, I would have done it already,” Escobar said.
Yeah, and take the $1.25 million guaranteed from the contract Omar Minaya inked you to and run for it.
