Well my friends there are exactly three days left before we either see a very fruitful, a very mediocre or a extremely dismal season starts. But before the ceremonial first pitch is thrown, the final roster must be finalized. And from listening to Jerry Manuel speak you get the feeling that he is throwing darts at names and whoever that dart lands on will get the final roster spots.
So far from what I can sense this will be how the opening day lineup will shake out.
1. Centerfielder Angel Pagan
2. Second baseman Luis Castillio
3. Third baseman David Wright
4. Left Fielder Jason Bay
5. Right Fielder Jeff Francoeur
6. First Baseman Mike Jacobs
7. Shortstop Alex Cora
8 Catcher Rob Barajas
9 Pitcher Johan Santana
The back up position players that we know that will definitely make the team
OF Gary Matthews Jr.
Catcher Henry Blanco
Utilityman Fernando Tatis
on the bubble – Frank Cattalano, Chris Carter, Ruben Tejada
D.L – Daniel Murphy
The rest of the starting rotation will be
John Maine, Jonathan Neise, Mike Pelfrey and Oliver Perez
I believe that Jerry will start the season with eight relievers in the pen , until Jose Reyes and comes back just to have extra insurance just in case the starting rotation struggles.
In my opinion the pen will be as follows
Longman – Nelson Figueroa
Fernando Neive
Sean Green
Ryota Irigashi
Hisanori Takahasi
Pedro Feliciano
set up man ( under my protest) Â Jenrry Mejia
Closer Francisco Rodriguez
You might ask if this a formidable roster and I would have to say that if the offense can score enough runs and both the starting rotation and the pen can keep us in the game we can tread water until Carlos Beltran gets back and hopefully Omar can obtain a front line starter that can take the pressure off Johan and the M.O.P’s
Look I listen to the radio, watch the television and read the papers, I see and hear the bile that is being spewed about my team, but when I hear the “naboobs of negativity” as my friend ( and favorite cheerleader) Kingman ( please stay positive my friend) would put it,  start jumping ship and demanding heads to roll before the season has yet to start. I feel that maybe we have become spoiled. You know what made us better than Yankee fans? The fact that we have been laughed and while many of our Met teams from many a season languished in the cellar ! We have grown accustomed to instant gratification ! The we want to win now no matter the cost !! Well my friends I do for some strange reason have a good premonition about this team – I may be wrong , it may be the Wild Turkey talking, but I am predicting 86-90 wins and a spot in the playoffs.
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                                                                                    In One word – ” BELIEVE !!!”
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And with that said …. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!
Happy Birthday Al Weiss ! ( 1938) You were always considered a slick fielding , light hitting infielder , but you were the secret weapon of the ’69 World Series, hitting a pivotal  homerun off of Baltimore pitcher Dave McNally !
  Utility player from ’81-’82 Mike Howard is 52 today ( 1958)Â
Sadly on this date in 1972, the soul of the Mets – Gil Hodges passes away from a heart attack.
New York Metssigned free agent utility infielder, Phil Linz  on April 2, 1968.
New York Mets traded utility-man, Tom Veryzer to the Chicago Cubs for pitchers Craig Weissman and Bob Schilling on April 2, 1983.
New York Mets traded shortstop Jose Oquendo and pitcher Mark Jackson Davis to the St Louis Cardinals for pitcher John Young and infielder Argenis Salazar on April 2, 1985.
New York Mets traded middle reliever Doug Simons to the Montreal Expos for outfielder Rob Katzaroff on April 2, 1992.
New York Metstraded pitcher Matt Ginter to the Detroit Tigers for pitching prospect, Steve Colyer on April 2, 2005.
And don’t forget there are just 3 Bud Harrelson Days until Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.
31 comments
Hazmet
4/2/2010-7:18pm at 7:18 pm (UTC -4)
Jerry throwing darts has Jacobs batting clean up. Yes that’s right, as per SNY tonight. The season’s 3 days away plenty of time for him to change his mind about 100 times by then. Let’s get this thing kicked off already. I’ve adopted a new tactic, I’m going to try to ignore that Jerry is the Manager as that is the root of my own personal Naboobery.
rustyjr
4/2/2010-7:30pm at 7:30 pm (UTC -4)
How about injust pass you the bottle of wild turkey ?
Hazmet
4/2/2010-7:39pm at 7:39 pm (UTC -4)
Dat’ll work. TGIF on TRDMB.
I’ll need to have an extra drink after seeing a Cerrone shout out to Kong today.
Mr North Jersey
4/2/2010-7:46pm at 7:46 pm (UTC -4)
Could you believe it?
I think Kingman and him share many same opinions. I believe King said once his posts have been the most linked to on MC’s site. So maybe King should write more to give site more recognition.
Hazmet
4/2/2010-7:54pm at 7:54 pm (UTC -4)
It’s totally bizarre. I think he needs to add some subliminal message into the link leading the masses to the promised land of free speach that is TRDMB.
metsfan4decades
4/2/2010-7:54pm at 7:54 pm (UTC -4)
LOL. Works for me.
We all know Jerry will tinker with that lineup about 100 times until Jose and then Beltran return.
Hazmet
4/2/2010-7:37pm at 7:37 pm (UTC -4)
Very sad day with Gil passing in ’72. That was the day at 9 years old I officially became a Mets fan. I watched them all through ’71 along with an occasional Yankee game trying to figure which team I liked better. I liked the Mets better because they had Seaver and Harrelson. Yes, old school pitching and defense up the middle won me over. That night when my parents, who were big Dodgers fans heard the news they were crushed and began telling stories of the games they’d see at Ebbets Field with the great Gil Hodges, the best first baseman they ever saw play the game. This was on a late night drive back from a business trip to DC my dad was on so this went on for hours. That galvanized my selection, Met’s fan for life. So, in memory thank you Gil for enlisting me into the best fan base in the game. LGM.
rustyjr
4/2/2010-7:39pm at 7:39 pm (UTC -4)
Read Peter golennocks book amazin – the kooz relates a personal story about gils passing
Hazmet
4/2/2010-7:57pm at 7:57 pm (UTC -4)
It’s actually a nightstand fixture by my bedside. Great book, great holiday gift from the Mrs some years ago.
gipperpdx
4/2/2010-7:51pm at 7:51 pm (UTC -4)
Ugh…I just heard about Jerry saying Jacobs as the cleanup hitter.
It’s official, Jerry’s on crack.
metsfan4decades
4/2/2010-7:52pm at 7:52 pm (UTC -4)
Rolling my eyes……
Hazmet
4/2/2010-8:03pm at 8:03 pm (UTC -4)
I wonder how many baseball people across the majors do a spit take and fall of their chairs laughing when they see this.
Watch it works out just to show how gangsta he is.
Mr North Jersey
4/2/2010-8:03pm at 8:03 pm (UTC -4)
I think it is a good idea. Jacobs needs to have a bat behind him that will help him see better pitches so he can hopefully hit more homers. Face it that is all Jacobs does hit HR’s so might take advantage of that and put him in the best position to succeed. Plus he break up the righties.
S Pagan
S Castillo
R Wright
L Jacobs
R Bay
R Francoeur
L Cora
R Barajas
ceetar
4/2/2010-8:06pm at 8:06 pm (UTC -4)
Bay actually has better numbers against righties than Jacobs though, so not sure that matters.
Mr North Jersey
4/2/2010-8:08pm at 8:08 pm (UTC -4)
Nice observation but Jacobs in the 4 slot with Bay to protect him still sounds better than the alternative I believe.
ceetar
4/2/2010-8:10pm at 8:10 pm (UTC -4)
depends, is the alternative Carter or Catalanotto?
Mr North Jersey
4/2/2010-8:13pm at 8:13 pm (UTC -4)
Well that changes everything of course.
I am strictly looking at it with Jacobs playing 1st because that is what is being reported.
Take Jacobs out of the equation and it changes everything.
Hazmet
4/2/2010-8:15pm at 8:15 pm (UTC -4)
> Jacobs =
metsfan4decades
4/2/2010-8:11pm at 8:11 pm (UTC -4)
You know, as long as it’s not something incredibly dumb – like Tatis hitting cleanup which we saw last year, it might work.
Depends on how long he’s in there batting 4th. Will it be low end of 3 weeks or high end of a month and a half?
Jerry said Murph is walking pretty good today so here’s hoping he’s back soon. Just his luck he’ll come back and Jacobs will be on some hot streak.
Hazmet
4/2/2010-8:18pm at 8:18 pm (UTC -4)
As if a hot streak ever stopped Jerry from sitting anybody.
Watching the Twins in their new stadium on MLBN. Beautiful digs. They spoke to one fan of 22 years that never has seen an outdoor baseball game. I can’t even imagine that.
metsfan4decades
4/2/2010-8:19pm at 8:19 pm (UTC -4)
That’s right, forgot about no dome.
Wonder why they went with that. Probably to cut down on the expense.
Mr North Jersey
4/2/2010-8:19pm at 8:19 pm (UTC -4)
Hey for those that don’t have MLB Extra Innings don’t forget it will be free for the 1st week unless they change something from past years.
ceetar
4/2/2010-8:21pm at 8:21 pm (UTC -4)
really? interesting.
for those that have the at-bat app, supposedly one free game a day to watch, which is pretty cool.
Mr North Jersey
4/2/2010-8:22pm at 8:22 pm (UTC -4)
It’s the one week a year where I see so much baseball I go into shock
.
Hazmet
4/2/2010-8:25pm at 8:25 pm (UTC -4)
Great Open Letter to Phils earlier today. Really enjoyable reading another well written piece from a TRDMB author.
Hazmet
4/2/2010-8:13pm at 8:13 pm (UTC -4)
My preference would have been to break up the righties batting Jacobs 6th between Bay and Frenchy. But then you have Jacobs protecting Bay, yuch. I like the idea of Bay protecting Wright and having better odds of getting to the plate in the first by batting clean up.
It is just one line up to start the year so no biggie really. I think because it comes from the machinations of Manuel that I may just dislike it on that basis alone.
Mr North Jersey
4/2/2010-8:15pm at 8:15 pm (UTC -4)
but if Jacobs is 6th and bay is 5th with frenchy 7th who is 3rd and 4th?
Hazmet
4/2/2010-8:19pm at 8:19 pm (UTC -4)
Ooops, good catch thanks.
Bay Clean Up, Jacobs 5th, Frenchy 6th
metsfan4decades
4/2/2010-7:51pm at 7:51 pm (UTC -4)
Your guess is as good as mine who makes the BP….
Nice – 6 solid innings so far for Pelf tonight. 3 hits and 1 unearned run. 4ks and no walks.
Very, very nice.
Too bad we only have 1 lone hit here going into the 7th.
metsfan4decades
4/2/2010-8:18pm at 8:18 pm (UTC -4)
Nieve gives up a run in the 7th on a walk and 2 singles.
Replaced him after 2 outs with Feliciano who promptly go the third out.
stickguy
4/2/2010-9:47pm at 9:47 pm (UTC -4)
I can’t see calero not making the pen. Hopefully instead of Mejia.