Results tagged ‘ Freddy Garcia ’
Wow, it really shall be Livan!
So much for Freddy Garcia. Livan Hernandez seems to emphatically and effectively ended the Mets search for a 5th starter. So much so that the Mets optioned Jon Niese to Triple-A Buffalo and are contemplating releasing not ready Freddy and his 16.71 ERA. If you hold a gun to Omar Minaya’s head(not that I’m advocating that, of course) I think he might say he wanted Hernandez in that spot all along. Livan has been a known innings eater in his career, in fact last year was the first time since 2000 that he failed to pitch at least 200 innings. He doesn’t have a great fastball, usually topping out mid 80′s, and he gives up a hit for every inning pitched, but he’ll keep his team in games and spare the bullpen extra work.
Livan’s experience and influence seems to have had a positive effect on another Mets hurler. After watching Livan use his sinking fastball inside to lefties and having success with that pitch, Mike Pelfrey started using that pitch in his start against Houston on Thursday. He froze Michael Bourn and Kaz Matsui for strikeouts.If you remember Rick Reed used to use that pitch to neutralize lefties. I seem to remember some journeyman named Greg Maddux having a little success with that pitch also(just kidding). Pelfrey also used his curve which Dan Warthen has taken out of mothballs, getting Lance Berkman to pop out. Pelfrey pitch economically also, just using 67 pitches in 6 innings. I’m sure the Mets would love the idea of Pelfrey establishing himself and his power sinker as the # 2 behind Mr. Santana. Also his size(6’7″ 230lbs) might negate some of the concern about the high number of innings he logged in only his 2nd full year(200 2/3). I’m looking forward to seeing him go this year. if he can command all his pitches effectively, the Mets might have a solid #2 and a future ace.
Friday Notes
There goes the undefeated season. Mets lose to Cards 9-8 in PSL today. Livan Hernandez pitched two scoreless. Freddy Garcia, not so much.Garcia gave up 4 runs, 2 earned, and did not look like he had good command at all. Valiant comeback in 9th battling back from 5 runs down sparked by a Bobby Kielty 3-run jack. However it was all in vain. Oh well have to settle for 1st no-hitter this year, hopefully. They were able to beat Italy’s WBC team 5-4 in the morning game. Mike Pelfrey pitched 2 scoreless with 4 K’s.
Originally in the 1st game of the split squad vs. the Italian WBC team, Mr. Santana was to throw. He was scratched due to elbow soreness. The word has come down in the last hour or so that Johan will be scratched from his scheduled start against the Cards this coming Tuesday. The official word is that his soreness is due to the extra bullpen sessions designed to test the knee that was operated on after the season ended. There has been no setbacks with that, however with the extra time this year due to the WBC there was no need to rush. Anytime your ace gets scratched two times in a row there’s cause for concern, however I guess it’s better to err on the side of caution. Anyway I’d much rather see him on April 6 vs, the Reds than on Tues Mar. 3 vs. the Cards.
The Mets announced the signing of Ron Villone to a minor league contract. Villone pitched for the Cards last year and compiled a 1-2 record with a 4.68 ERA. Lefties batted only .176 against him. Another example of the Mets stockpiling lefty arms and hoping that someone possibly sticks coming out of camp this year. Ron is 39 years old to go along with 38 year old Tom Martin who was signed earlier. Casey Fossum pitched two scoreless innings as another candidate to be a second lefty to go along with Pedro Feliciano.
Black History month is almost to completion. Got to see two really outstanding programs on MLB Network.”The Enduring Spirit of Roberto Clemente” and “Pride and Perseverance, The story of the Negro Leagues”. Very inspiring stories. The great Clemente who died in a plane crash leaving Puerto Rico on a humanitarian journey to earthquake ravaged Nicaragua New Year’s Eve 1972, is still revered not only in PR but all around the world. MLB did a wonderful thing last year by including Negro League stars in the draft last year and having each team “draft” a Negro League star. While nothing can erase the injustice that occured to these pioneers, the Majors continue to make strong efforts to honor these great men. I just hope that one day they get around to electing Buck O’Neill posthumously to the Hall Of Fame.
He shall be Livan!
Another quality depth move by Omar and the Amazins today. They signed Livan Hernandez to a minor league deal today. Omar gets a lot of criticism, but as we’ve seen over the last 5 yrs, he seems to come up with a surprise contributor off the scrap heap. Chris Woodward, Endy Chavez, Pedro Feliciano, Fernando Tatis, just to name a few. Omar seems to be targeting guys who have had the reputation in the past of being innings eaters. Freddy Garcia was just one of six guys who pitched 200 innings or more for 6 consecutive years from 2001-2006 as Adam Rubin noted in the Daily News today.
One of the problems the last two Septembers is that the guys in the rotation were just not getting deep into ballgames so overwork and overuse of the bullpen was a natural byproduct. Having a #5 guy capable of logging 180+ innings would be a marvelous thing.
If Livan can’t crack the rotation he might be the right handed bat off the bench. An unnamed Met joked about that very thing in Marty Noble’s column at Mets.com. If nothing else he’s younger than El Duque. The problem is that nobody truly knows by how much.
I like Tim Redding also. Anyone who can manage to pitch to scrape together 10 wins pitching for the offensively challenged( at least before acquiring Adam Dunn) is alright with me. He seems to also be establishing a good relationship with Jon Niese as I read that they drove down to Port St. Lucie together. Redding is a New York guy having grown up in Upstate NY so he is a guy who will understand the landscape and will know how to navigate it. He also has value, if he fails to crack the rotation, as a Darren Oliver(another unheralded but terrific Omar pickup) type long man out of the bullpen.
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