Livan Hernandez Becomes Fifth Starter For The Mets

So it turns out that young Jonathan Niese, 22 was not ready for the big boy Major Leagues just yet and was sent down the Minor Leagues this past Friday to play for the Buffalo Bisons. Redding, Garcia, Hernandez, Martinez and Niese were all fighting for the fifth starter position but the spot was finally given to Livan Hernandez when John left for the AAA.

Niese has started for the Mets three times at the end of last season and has produced a 6.75 ERA in the Grapefruit League. During Spring Training Niese has walked seven and given up two home runs- eh. Honestly, it was a long shot chance for him to become the 5th starter, especially going up against Hernandez's pitching consistency.


We knew that Garcia had no shot as he gave away thirteen runs and built up an outrageously bad 16.71 ERA. Redding was out due to his injury in his shoulder. Martinez wasn't going to get it because of his greedy demands for a high paying contract. And now with Niese out of the competition, the spot is handed to Hernandez who has developed a great 3.07 ERA. The general manager, Omar Minaya says that if it wasn't for Livan's success, John would still be in the Majors.

Minaya said;

"If you tell me that Jonathon Niese is going to pitch in the Major Leagues tonight, I'd feel very comfortable. We could have easily kept him here longer."

Playing in the Minor league, Niese will be able to work on his pitching and be able to pitch more AAA game innings. Niese just has to develop better control and a better fastball. Once he does that, he'll be able to come back to play with the big boys. I think there's a very high chance that we will even see him by Fall season.

John understands the reasons for his cut and said:

"It's an honor any time you go to big league camp. I learned a lot. I've still got a lot to learn, a lot to work on. I'm disappointed -- not at anyone else, but myself. It's just one of those deals."

It's sad because I think Jon deserves the starter position. He was rated the Mets #3 organizational prospect by Baseball America. I hope his stay in the AAA is a short one!

Pedro was once a great pitcher with an attitude: Now all he’s left with is his attitude.

In the video above, Ted Berg from SNY sat down with Alex Belth from BronxBanter.com, in this week’s New York Baseball Today. Aside from talking about the Yankee Alex Rodriguez, they discussed Pedro Martinez and the drama over his contract. Martinez is complaining over the small-sum, incentive-based deal to sign as the 5th starter. He is demanding a guaranteed, higher paying contract or he will not play for the Mets. The Daily News yesterday quoted Pedro saying:

"Yeah, I would like to be back (with the Mets). But I'm not just gonna follow the Mets. They have their own plans and they have their own thought process."

"Yes, I would love to go (to Citi Field) and hopefully have the same success I had at Shea. Shea was a great stadium for me. I hope the new Shea pretty much follows up on the old one."

"But I have my goals and I have my things that I want to achieve in life. If it's not with the Mets, it will be with someone else. But if they want a fifth starter who's been there - I don't know how much they want me - I'm available."

The manager for the Mets, Jerry Manuel told reporters today,

“Pedro is a Hall of Fame pitcher and one of the greatest pitchers of our time, but I feel very confident in the people we have in camp that they can get the job done. Do you like Pedro? Of course, you love Pedro. But you have to be fair to the people that we have here.”

Pedro is one of the best pitchers from his time and for his age, throwing fastballs as hard as 91 mph on the radar gun. But in my opinion, there are two major issues signing the world famous Martinez as the 5th Starter for the Mets:

1. His age and his susceptibility to injury. Pedro's injury history is not one of the best and at his age, he is only becoming less and less flexible and more and more prone to injury. Take last year for example, he was pumped, trained and ready to win 15 games and blew it right away with his injury. Over the past three years, the Mets have spent nearly $35 mill on his lousy control-less pitches and multiple rehab injuries.

Even though he is capable at his age to pitch fastballs at 90 mph, he still has no control over his pitches. Honestly, whenever he opened last year, I would be at the edge of my green mezzanine seat (I miss Shea!) in fear and doubt. Strikes were surprising and walks/hits were expected from him.

Right now, they are going for fresh and young new players to deliver the Mets and I think it’s their best bet.











2. The economy this day and age is horrendous. At a time when we are in one of the deepest recessions, Pedro is going to stomp his feet, whine and put up a fight over more money? I think that's more than just selfish considering the current economic/financial situation, the several millions we have already given him in the past three years for undelivered pitches and the fact that he is actually being offered deal at all. I think Martinez is displaying a horrible greedy athlete characteristic. He needs to stop crying over not being able to afford another Lamborghini and realize his age, the economy, and his current lack of talent and just take the incentive-based deal.

Ted Berg says in the New York Today Baseball interview, that even though he is one of the best pitchers of all time, Pedro is "nuts" to look at the economy right now and not take a small sum of money in order to play. He hasn’t done anything in years and if he wants to come back to the Mets, he needs to take a pay cut. With his injury and age concern, he needs to, "swallow some pride and take the deal or go fishing."

Really Cute Video Of Children Singing We Will Rock You

Santana Aims to Pitch Opening Day

Despite lots of fear among Mets' fans over Johan Santana not being able to pitch Opening Day due to stiffness in his left elbow, Johan reported yesterday that with the help of Dan Warthen (his pitching coach), he is making healthy progress and is shooting towards starting the Opening Day game on April 6.

Santana Said;

"Right now, my mind-set is for Opening Day, I'm a professional. I know exactly what it takes for me to be ready. I've been doing this for a long time. I'm pretty sure I'll be ready."

Unlike Santana, Warthen displayed some doubt over a full recovery by April 6 and discussed the possibility of Santana making his first regular season start just 2 few days later, in the second series against the Marlins. Jerry Manuel, the manager of the Mets reported confidence in Santana;

"Johan knows Johan, and he assures me that he'll be ready for Opening Day. So I have to agree with that. I don't see any reason why there should be any different plans than that. Not this first week in March when he just lit your eyes up on the sideline. You have templates that you like to follow. Everybody don't fit those templates. That's why he is who he is. They don't fit him."

Santana is not only the best pitcher on the Mets, some say he is the best player. Being that, we could not afford to lose Johan by carelessly playing him before he is fully healed. He should focus on his starts and less on what order they are in, whether first, second or third game. Regardless of if he will be fit to play April 6 or not, what is most important is that he makes his 34 starts this season.