Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to express kind thoughts. Baseball has not been foremost in my thoughts for the past couple of days, but I did check in briefly to see who went where at the trade deadline yesterday. (Freddy – and any other Phllies fans who might be stopping by – I’d love to hear your thoughts on the Hunter Pence trade.)
I was going to try to put together a few coherent thoughts about the Mets’ non-moves in July, but Mets Today’s Dan Chapwell did a better job than I’m likely to this morning, so I’m just going to quote and link his article: “Sandy Alderson: GM or Caretaker?”
[T]he final third of the 2012 Mets’ season will be done playing out the string with a mixture of semi-prospects trying to establish themselves as Major Leaguers, a few star players looking for an exit and some marginal veterans as roster filler. Meanwhile they will continue to talk out of both sides of their mouths. Yes we are building for the future and no; we aren’t giving up on this season. So please buy tickets and merchandise. In reality they aren’t doing much of either. (But they do want you to spend your money). If they planned on contending, why didn’t they add a piece or two? If they are playing for 2013 and beyond, why not move some vets for chips?… I had hoped that the arrival of Alderson and his associates meant the dawn of a new age for the Mets. Instead, it’s Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss…
Is that completely fair to Alderson? No, not really… especially when we’re not sure how much autonomy he has, whether any teams were willing to move players early enough to have made a difference, or whether anybody was even offering a longshot prospect for a player like Scott Hairston.
But if the Mets are ever going to do anything more than tread water, they need a leader who’s not afraid to take risks. I’m beginning to think that might not be Sandy Alderson.
PaulHadsall.com 
I hope we have something in LI native LHP Steven Matz, the 2009(?) #1 Mets pick, who is finally putting up some numbers in the Appalaichian League.
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Will,
Yet another pitcher coming off Tommy John surgery. I was looking at his player page on Baseball Reference and Baseball Cube and wondering how he got drafted in June 2009 and didn’t show up anywhere until this year. I thought maybe he tried college. But BB Cube lists college stats and there were none there. And then there’s a tag that he had the surgery and it apparently occurred back in 2010. And, it looks like he’s been slow in recovering, with at least a NY Times article from this spring mentioning tightness in his elbow.
Not much to determine in 29 IP. But it looks like he’s pitching fairly well and getting his 5 innings per start, which indicates that the team is monitoring his use, meaning that he might be worth something as, if he weren’t, he might be going six and seven innings per start, assuming he wasn’t knocked out of the box before that. Judging by the early returns, he looks like he might have decent stuff. And he was throwing in the low-mid 90s before the surgery (you can see some showcase stuff on the Perfect Game website, but it only shows him pitching and you don’t see the batters or the pitch movement). The only thing that doesn’t sit well is a high walk count. But that could be attributable to a number of things. So, let’s see what happens.
Taking a look at Familia. Looks like he’s having trouble with the walks too. What is it with some of these guys, are they afraid to go after the hitters? Are the hitters at AAA laying off the stuff that pitchers were getting them out with in the lower minors (no surprise, though Familia has had trouble with wildness in the lower minors too). I see lots of guys in MLB, relievers especially, with walk counts that are almost appalling.
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