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- Oceans 13
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- Fernando Martinez
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Per our boy Adam Rubin:
Could Fernando Martinez (pictured right) stick around when Ryan Church is activated from the disabled list as soon as Sunday? After initially being discounted, it’s at least now on the table for discussion.
The stipulation all along has been that Martinez will need to be ensured playing time in order to remain at the major-league level. With Gary Sheffield experiencing discomfort behind his right knee and with Angel Pagan on the DL with a groin strain, the playing time could present itself.
Ricco indicated that Martinez’s development would take precedence, and that he needs playing time wherever he is assigned, since the 20-year-old rookie was limited to a combined 146 games in 2007-08 at Double-A Binghamton because of hamstring and hand injuries.
AAA:
178ab/.291avg/.337obp/.552slg/8HR/28RBI
Majors:
23ab/.174avg/.269obp/.261slg/0HR/3RBI/2SB
43 comments
metsfan4decades
6/3/2009-9:48am at 9:48 am (UTC -4)
When is Church due back?
This is a hard one for me. Such a small sample size and anyway – rookies don’t normally burst on the ML scene hitting 300. It’s not usually a ‘hit or miss’ kind of thing. You have a rookie in the minors, heir apparent to some position, and you call him up to take over and stick with him.
I don’t see that as an option right now b/c of all the problems the team has been experiencing lately. We’ve already lost what is considered our big bat in Delgado. Can we afford to stick with FMart in the corner OF and give him time to develop? I say only if the rest of the offense is getting the job done.
Then again, have no idea what Church is going to produce when he comes back. Have no idea how long Sheff can stay relatively healthy.
Even if they send him down, I’m positive with the way the luck has been going with this team, it will be a short time before he’s back up.
dirtysanchez
6/3/2009-9:58am at 9:58 am (UTC -4)
im sure he will be here next year full time..bank on it
metsfan4decades
6/3/2009-10:05am at 10:05 am (UTC -4)
I agree with you on that. Might be up and down this year but next year I expect to see them make that commitment to him as a full time starting corner OF.
There's Always '11
6/3/2009-10:11am at 10:11 am (UTC -4)
I think he should stay up here. Buffalo is atrocious. I understand playing on bad teams is part of the game, but I also think that needs to be taken into account. He should be given the at bats at this level with a breather here and there. Between Sheff’s age and this team’s injury situation, there will be plenty of opportunities for FMart and Church to play.
rustyjr
6/3/2009-9:48am at 9:48 am (UTC -4)
Once all our outfielders are healthy fmart should be sent down until sept so be can work on his game
CaseStreet
6/3/2009-10:03am at 10:03 am (UTC -4)
I agree w/ rusty
wannybackstra
6/3/2009-9:51am at 9:51 am (UTC -4)
Results notwithstanding F-Mart has shown a lot so far — unexpected plate patience, awareness, great bat speed, good at bats and a nice opposite field stroke.
I agree that he should not be here unless he is going to play everyday. I’d like to see him reel off a couple of 3-4s in the next two games and make like difficult for Omar.
DNDJohan aka kistics
6/3/2009-9:54am at 9:54 am (UTC -4)
agreed. he’s still young
rustyjr
6/3/2009-9:59am at 9:59 am (UTC -4)
Would that make it easy to trade church?9
There's Always '10
6/3/2009-10:01am at 10:01 am (UTC -4)
Yes.
rustyjr
6/3/2009-10:00am at 10:00 am (UTC -4)
Would that make it easy to trade church?
DNDJohan aka kistics
6/3/2009-10:05am at 10:05 am (UTC -4)
what do you mean? by sending FMart down?
rustyjr
6/3/2009-10:08am at 10:08 am (UTC -4)
No I mean keeping him up as a platoon with church until the trade deadline
There's Always '10
6/3/2009-10:01am at 10:01 am (UTC -4)
I don’t think that would make life difficult. I think that would make Omar’s life easy.
I’ve never seen bat speed like F-Mart’s. He’s so quick. Short stride. Seems like the kind of guy that can sit on the breaking stuff and react to the fastball. When he gets more experience, that could help with his BB/K ratio.
udontmesswthejohan
6/3/2009-9:59am at 9:59 am (UTC -4)
What this team needs right now and has been lacking IMO from the start of the season is consistency from the Manager in picking a lineup and sticking with it. Now I understand that Jerry has been forced to deal with a myriad of injuries, but even before this spate of injuries he was constantly tinkering with the lineup.
How does affect F-Mart? Well i think he has shown us that he has the talent to play at this level. Whether that is this year or next. Either way, the orginization, and by extension the Manager, needs to make a decision and stick with it. If that means sending him down so that church can get the at bats fine. If it means he plays more regularly and Church comes off the bench…fine. But please stop with the tinkering.
For what it’s worth, I’m no fan of Ryan Church, but I say give him a chance to get going for a couple of weeks/ a month, send down Fmart and if Church continues to struggle then you bring back Fmart and becnh Church. The church fiasco needs to stop. we need to find out what we have here one way or the other.
DNDJohan aka kistics
6/3/2009-10:04am at 10:04 am (UTC -4)
well put. Church’s struggle is a product of Jerry tinkering. Now that Murphy is set at 1B, play Church and Sheff mainly with Tatis going back and forth between 1B and OF. Reed has been good lately, but he’s still a bench player.
There's Always '10
6/3/2009-10:04am at 10:04 am (UTC -4)
Well, Sheff is slowing down a little bit and has the hammy issue. Church can still get his fair share of playing time while F-Mart remains here.
Plus, if Beltran has swine flu, he will probably be out for a few weeks.
This is great.
CaseStreet
6/3/2009-10:05am at 10:05 am (UTC -4)
I think the plan was to get Church regular at-bats, but then he got injured. I’d guess if healthy, he’ll be the reg LF.
trs86
6/3/2009-10:09am at 10:09 am (UTC -4)
Since the incident: Fmart is batting .333 with 2 2B, 2 Runs, 2 RBI, 2 SB, 2BB.
trs86
6/3/2009-10:10am at 10:10 am (UTC -4)
I really think we need to stick with Fmart for a while in RF. Let Church be the one to give days off to Sheff. Maybe even teach him a little 1B in case Murphy does not stick.
There's Always '11
6/3/2009-10:13am at 10:13 am (UTC -4)
I like the Church idea. When it comes to Murph sticking, let’s just say I don’t think he’s made of Krazy Glue(tm).
trs86
6/3/2009-10:11am at 10:11 am (UTC -4)
Best case is what I think Kingman mentioned yesterday. Let Church start against some RH for Martinez and Sheff to build his confidence and trade value. Then get him the heck out of here.
CaseStreet
6/3/2009-10:12am at 10:12 am (UTC -4)
Church is really, really, really key for the Mets lineup.
IMO, he’s the only true 6 hitter on the team. It’s not Murph, F-Mart, Santos or Tatis.
We really need his gap power to protect Wright batting 5th. I’m assuming here, but could D-Wright be swinging and missing more because he knows there’s really no power behind him?
Ideally the lineup is:
Reyes
Castillo
Beltran
Shef
Wright
Church
Murphy
Santos
trs86
6/3/2009-10:13am at 10:13 am (UTC -4)
In a perfect world Church can hit 6th. But I am just as happy right now with Murphy/Tatis hitting 6th and Fmart 7th.
trs86
6/3/2009-10:12am at 10:12 am (UTC -4)
Also, I know we want to win this year too but it’s important for our future to know if Fmart can be our everyday RF next year.
There's Always '11
6/3/2009-10:14am at 10:14 am (UTC -4)
Agreed…or else we can have another Daniel Murphy situation and make that assumption on just 130 at bats.
trs86
6/3/2009-10:17am at 10:17 am (UTC -4)
Agree completely. That is why I wanted a new LF this season and Delgado traded. I just had a feeling that Delgado would give us what he has. I thought that if we had brought in an Abreu, Dunn, or someone not to be named that could have made up for Delgado’s loss we could have stuck with Murphy at 1B and given him a fair chance.
Joe R
6/3/2009-10:25am at 10:25 am (UTC -4)
Agreed…for me beside Omar not admitting his mistake, eating Castillo’s contract, and moving forward by signing Hudson, not signing Dunn or Abreu for what the price was is a travesty. With an older Delgado and an experiment with Murphy along with Church’s injury history how you dont SIGN DUNN is ridiculous!!!
Im not saying this and Im sure many of you arent saying this because of the situation we are in. I thought form the beginning of the year not signing Dunn was awful if we couldnt nab Ibanez. I mean have we added an offensive weapon in 3 years???
dirtysanchez
6/3/2009-10:27am at 10:27 am (UTC -4)
ALOT of teams passed on dunn..i have no idea why…
trs86
6/3/2009-10:31am at 10:31 am (UTC -4)
I think that report from the BJays idiot did a lot of damage. And the fact that some people are just not over BA as a stat.
There's Always '11
6/3/2009-10:33am at 10:33 am (UTC -4)
JP Riccardi?
For those of you who don’t know what he said, “Adam Dunn doesn’t like playing baseball.”
trs86
6/3/2009-10:35am at 10:35 am (UTC -4)
Considering how he is doing in Washington where baseball goes to die, I think that may be wrong.
There's Always '11
6/3/2009-10:41am at 10:41 am (UTC -4)
I agree. If I knew the Mets would be playing their home games in Death Valley, Adam Dunn would have been a logical pick up. Not many people have the power to hit 35-40 HRs in this ballpark, but he certainly does. Not to mention, look at his OBP. He’s batting .269 with a .399 OBP. The best leadoff hitters in the league rarely have a .400 OBP. I think this was the biggest mistake of the offseason. Our lineup could have been Reyes, Castillo, Beltran, Dunn, Wright, Delgado, Church, Santos/Schneider, Pitcher.
trs86
6/3/2009-10:28am at 10:28 am (UTC -4)
I wanted Ibanez but I think he wanted to go to Philly and they gave him a lot of money. Dunn or Abreu would have been perfect and Delgado could have been traded for a starter.
I don’t really see the Castillo part. I understand Omar was not going to eat 18 million for a player that could be healthy and productive.
dirtysanchez
6/3/2009-10:33am at 10:33 am (UTC -4)
agreed. We were not getting odog…especially not for that price he wanted early on. By the time his price dropped, the wilpons closed their wallets..
trs86
6/3/2009-10:36am at 10:36 am (UTC -4)
Not only that, but what people don’t realize is this…. MLBcontracts.blogspot.com
# 1 year/$3.38M (2009)
* signed by LA Dodgers as a free agent 2/20/09
* $0.38M signing bonus (deferred, without interest)
* 09:$3M
* $4.62M in performance bonuses:
Joe R
6/3/2009-10:18am at 10:18 am (UTC -4)
Not being negative but imo Its really not a miracle and not that impressive where we are right now if you really think about it. Im not saying some of the fill ins havent contributed in major ways i.e, Santos and Sheffield. Otherwise there have been good games and some awful ones…LA series comes to mind. We played great against SF and we had a nice homestand against weak teams. Philly had some pitching problems early on. They are an offensive powerhouse and with better pitching going forward including acquiring a starting pitcher, their staff getting it together they are going to be tough to beat imo Its early in the year, we played decently so far so we havent fallen too far behind. It will be a miracle and extremely impressive if by July 1st we arent more than 4-5 games back. I mean will we really be the favorites in any series for the rest of June minus Baltimore maybe. I think it would be a huge achievement and a big boost for when we get healthy and add a bat. Its early and we have played ok. We really havent had a chance to fall too far back but here comes the tough schedule. Lets Go Mets!! Hold on!
trs86
6/3/2009-10:30am at 10:30 am (UTC -4)
How is the fact that until the last 2 games we were only .5 games back with all of our injuries? Damn, losing Delgado, Perez, Jose, Cora, Church, Schnieder? That’s like the Phillies losing Rollis, Howard, Blanton, Dobbs, Werth and Ruiz.
dirtysanchez
6/3/2009-10:35am at 10:35 am (UTC -4)
exactly..i want to see the phillies or any team for that matter put together a month of may like we did losing their best players yet people only want to jump off a ledge with every loss.
Joe R
6/3/2009-11:25am at 11:25 am (UTC -4)
Its actually the exact opposite of jumping off the ledge if you read what I wrote. I feel its realistic and I am comfortable where we are. I will not be the person hitting the panic button if we are 6-7 back at the end of June because it is a strong possibility. How do we know Philly wouldnt have done what we did in May missing players. Im not looking at Philly or other teams. Im looking at the Mets. Im not looking at a few days ago when we were 1/2 game out. Yes, and a week or so ago we were in 1st place. Im looking at now. Today we are 2 1/2 out with a tough schedule ahead. For anyone to say its not as much as a possibility for the Mets to be 5-6 games out as it is to be 1 game back at the end of June I feel is being unrealistic. I dont know. No one knows but I wouldnt be shocked if we were in a deep hole and thats with no fault to the team. Injuries have killed us. Its a tough year thus far. Im actually being positive because if we are 5-6 games back at the end of the month I will consider it an achievement.
GravediggerHebner
6/3/2009-10:59am at 10:59 am (UTC -4)
Some of you mention that the players are getting all messed up because of Jerry the Tinkerer. Not that this makes it right, and not that this is even true (because if there’s one thing I’ve learned about Jerry is he just says stuff) but…
I recall an interview on TV with Jerry in which he spoke in depth about how he has to learn his players inside and out, mentally, physically, spiritually before he knows what he’s got. In order to learn them, he “tests” them. After he learns his players, which if I recall correctly he said in the past has happened in roughly 60 games, then he knows what he’s got and uses it accordingly for the remainder of the season.
I didn’t follow his career with the White Sox, so I have no idea if there is any factual basis to this or if it was just more Jerry BS. But I do know that we’re closing in on 60 games, and despite the many injuries, I am going to start being much more critical of Jerry if he continues to be wacky much after 60 games.
CaseStreet
6/3/2009-11:04am at 11:04 am (UTC -4)
according to Shef, Jerry really gets to know the players and what their limits are, unlike Torre who went with his core no matter what
fongy2
6/3/2009-11:25am at 11:25 am (UTC -4)
Yeah OK so Jerrys a better MGR
than Torre? This is why Sheff isnt
a likable guy.And b/t/w part of Jerrys
problem is that he isnt as smart as
HE thinks he is.