Put spring training in the books! Time for the New York Mets to start their 162 game quest for the World Series! Season Opener is Sunday, April 1 against St. Louis. Game is nationaly televised on ESPN. Home opener is April 9th against the Phillies. Opening Day roster: PITCHERS Tom Glavine Orlando Hernandez John Maine Oliver Perez Billy Wagner Aaron Heilman Scott Schoeneweis Pedro Feliciano Aaron Sele Joe Smith Ambiorix Burgos CATCHERS Paul Lo Duca Ramon Castro INFIELDERS Carlos Delgado Jose Valentin Jose Reyes David Wright Julio Franco Damion Easley David Newhan OUTFIELDERS Carlos Beltran Moises Alou Shawn Green Endy Chavez Lastings Milledge http://www.mets.com Schedule: http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/schedule/index.jsp?c_id=nym&m=4&y=2007
I understand there will be no individual game threads anymore. That sucks goat balls. No longer can I start a thread by listing the opposition's starter as "I don't know."
Good. That is actually better. Can anyone explain why the Mets will play all of the 2006 AL playoff teams this year and the Yankees get to play the Pirates and Giants? This year the schedule seems to have no rhyme or reason to it. In other years the Mets had to play the AL East. Another year they had to play the AL Central teams. Interleague play continues to blow.
What would you give up for a guy who has something wrong with him that a talent starved team like the Devil Rays doesn't want him on the roster?
Thing is, they're not talent starved. Upton has a lot more upside at second base than Cantu does right now, and Cantu's other position, 3rd base, is occupied by That Japanese Guy. Gomes had insane power last year before he hurt his shoulder.
Cantu is like a younger Jose Valentin. If they wanted to trade him there would probably be teams interested in a 2b that displayed the type of power he did in 05, even though the guy is probably going to struggle to top a .300 OBP.
Cantu is nothing like Valentin. Valentin hits for a low average and strikes out a ton, but is excellent at drawing walks and is a very good defensive player. Cantu has shown the ability to hit for a solid average, but rarely walks (keeping his obp quite low) and is a terrible glove. With the exception of last year Cantu has done a solid job at avoiding strikeouts. That said, if the price is right, I'd like to bring Cantu in. At the very least I think he can be a lethal bat off of the bench who can play (albiet not well), 1B, 2B and 3B.
http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/C/Jorge-Cantu.shtml Apparently Cantu couldn't hit for power or get on base for most of his minor league career. Two seasons in the low minors where he had a decent average, no walks, and no power. Then got stuck for 2 1/2 years in AA where he was terrible (OBP under .300, 7 total HR). Gets promoted to AAA for reasons unclear to me, and suddenly goes off for .302/.335/.576 and 24 HR. First full season in the majors is more of the same. And then...plop. Smells fishy to me.
I just realized tonights game is the 1st one I'm going to see in HD. I didn't get my set till November. Is SNY going to carry the away games in HD, or just the Home games and close road games like the Yankees?
I think you're getting carried away with your adjectives here. Valentin certainly isn't "excellent" at drawing walks nor is a he a "very good" defensive player. Cantu obviously doesn't have that much of a career to draw on, but at their "best" they're going to put up similar lines, low OBP and pretty good power.
That really is a strange promotion. Hey, this guy is on track for his 3rd straight low .600 OPS at AA, let's see what he was can do at AAA!
