Bleacher Report - Articles by Brian Elberg

Omar Minaya... Why Don't The Mets Have Halladay

Brian Elberg — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 23:09:36 -0400

I have always been a big supporter of Omar Minaya, of course after Steve Phillips who wouldn't be? But today was the first time that I was dumbfounded by something Minaya did, or didn't do for that matter. For some reason that I can not understand, the Mets turned down a Roy Halladay for, Fernando Martinez, Bobby Parnell, Jon Niese, and Ruben Tejada. Now most people that I have talked to seem to be in favor of this trade...WHY?

Picture the Mets starting rotation next year

Roy Halladay

Johan Santana

Mike Pelfrey

Oliver Perez

John Maine

That would be arguably the best starting rotation of the last 25 years, and without a doubt the best in the game today.

Maybe you're still not convinced, well consider this, if the Mets had Roy Halladay this year they would be within three games of the Phillies for first in the N.L East. I know this sounds hard to believe but it is true.

The rotation would have been the one listed above. Perez and Maine still would have been hurt, Perez (May 2) and Maine (June 6) but instead of Redding and assorted spot starters in could have been Livan Hernandez and Fernando Nieve (he was able to pitch before June 6th).

So if you directly insert Halladay's 11-3 record, which may not be accurate, but he is facing much tougher teams in the AL East so if anything it is probably too hard on Halladay, into the rotation the Mets starting pitching would stack up like this

Halladay 11-3

Santana 11-7

Pelfrey 7-5

Perez/Livan (6-6)

Maine/Nieve (8-7)

This gives you a record of 43-28, compared to the Mets SP record now of 34-30, which when you equalize the games comes out to a five-game improvement.

I know that was extremely complicated but it makes sense, with Halladay the Mets are not only a better team they would be a dominant team.

Citi Field: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Brian Elberg — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:04:21 -0400

Saturday was my first trip to Citi Field. After hearing all of the discussions on WFAN and other such stations I felt the need to evaluate the field for myself, so here it goes.

The day started off great when, on the way to my seat, my brother caught a batting practice home run off the bat of Adam Dunn and I gotta say it just about stayed that great the whole day.

The Good

The Food—The food is the greatest food I have ever had at a sporting event. Starting with the pulled pork sandwich from Blue Smoke and ending which a burger and a shake from the highly touted shake shack, it was like being a guest at the Flay house.

The Views—As far I was I could tell (I was under the Pepsi Porch) every seat in the ball park is a good one.

The Promenade—The Promenade at Citi Field had everything in one area that Shea Stadium did not, big screen TVs to see the game while you were getting food and great places to sit.

The Bad

Sweet Caroline—THAT IS THE RED SOX SONG. Why do the Mets play it after the top of the eighth inning? Why don't we come up with our own song? Hungry Heart by Bruce Springsteen would me my first choice.

The Ugly

THERE IS NO METS STUFF—From the time you walk in, you feel like you are going to see a scrimmage game between the 1952 New York Dodgers and New York Giants. The wall is black and orange, Giants colors. There is a Jackie Robinson rotunda with all pictures of Jackie playing for the Dodgers. Not to mention the first jerseys you see when you walk in the gift shop are old-time Dodger jerseys.

Despite my negativity, I still love the new ball park and I think it is a great place to win a World Series.

Murphy, Perez, and Mets All Slip

Brian Elberg — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 00:00:41 -0400

It was a tough day to be a Mets fan today, as I sat and watched my boy Oliver Perez blow a 4-0 lead, Daniel Murphy look like a JV player out there, getting picked off first base and also slipping in left field, TWICE, and let's not forget Carlos Beltran pulling a Jeremy Giambi and forgetting to slide on a close play at the plate in the eighth. Despite today's disaster, I am still very confident about this years team, and here's why.

1.) The Bullpen—Last year's bullpen was comparable to Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: dark and scary, and you never know whats is going to happen but you know that it won't be fun. Whereas this year the Mets added J.J Putz and K-Rod to shore up the eighth and ninth innings. Also, they are getting great production from fireballer Bobby Parnell and good work from Sean Green.

2.) Luis Castillo—Apparently he remembered that it is better to hit the ball hard, and all of a sudden, is among the league leaders in batting, making the Mets order strong at 1-8.

3.) Flukes—The Mets have lost a few games this year on literally nothing but luck. During Sunday's game, the Mets crushed two balls with the bases loaded, with one going directly to Bill Hall, allowing him to turn a double play, and another that somehow found Paul Coffey's glove, allowing him to turn one as well.

4.) The general idea that water always finds its level—By this, I mean that the Mets are really hitting the ball very well, but not producing enough runs. Since hitting the ball well usually directly correlates with scoring runs, there is good reason to believe that soon the Mets will start scoring more runs, even if they cool off a tiny bit hitting-wise.

All in all, I think the Mets are bound to turn it around and go on to good season.

Are We Talking About The Same Jose Reyes?

Brian Elberg — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 16:12:29 -0400

The Mets suffered a tough one today, losing 7-1 to the NL Central second-place St. Louis Cardinals. John Maine appeared out of sorts all day, and the bats never woke up. However for me, the biggest issue of the day was the insane ripping of Jose Reyes that went on for his childish display yesterday.

Although I did hear Jose get ripped pretty badly from several different people, the worst by far was Chris Carlin today on Loudmouths, a show that airs on SNY during the afternoons. Of course I will have to paraphrase, but he said something like this "You look at Jose Reyes and his displays and you have to wonder when the negatives start to out weight the positives, I think they already have".

Excuse me Mr.Carlin, I understand that your job on that show is to blow issues out of proportion and listen to Adam Schein tell you about nuggets he would like to chew on and as you "WHO" like it is some kind of catch phrase.

But come on, this is the player who has the most steals in the MLB over the last three seasons. Not to mention his carrer .285 batting average, which happens to be higher than Alfonso Soriano's.

Or the fact that he, more than any other player possibly in the history of baseball, has a huge impact on whether his team wins or looses, to this point this season in Met wins, Jose has batted .339 with 50 runs scored. Whereas in losses he has batted 250 with mereley 10 runs scored.

I can't think of a team in baseball that doesn't need a spark plug like that. Yes, I understand that Jose Reyes isn't perfect, yes he can be childish, but let's remember, baseball is a game that is supposed to be fun, and sometimes we all need to be reminded of that. And whenever you do need to be reminded of that, there is nobody better to watch than Jose Reyes.

I Didn't Realize I Was Watching The Yes Network

Brian Elberg — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 17:02:15 -0400

Funny, today when I turned on the Mets vs. Yankees game I thought it was on Fox. But based on how much the announcers, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver LOVED the Yankees today, I guess it must have been the YES Network.

Not to mention the constant reminders of the 2007 collapse, or the shock and lack of excitement for the Mets two home runs, compared with the clear joy in Joe Buck's voice on Giambi's ground-out that drove in a run.

However, I remain un-worried by the state of the N.L East.

Here are my predictions for the rest of the season

1. Cole Hamels slumps a bit and the Phillies flounder below 500 because of

A. No PITCHING

B. Ryan Howard does nothing but strike out (113 to date, leading the MLB by 16 K's)

2. The Marlins stay hot until the All-Star break but finally come back to earth and finish right around 500

A. NO PITCHING

B. Dan Uggla is mortal, right?

3. The Mets win the division by 6 games at a record of 90-72.

A. YES PITCHING

B. They have been almost 500 with virtually nothing from Alou and nothing from Church over the last month

Mets-Reds: New York Splits a Doubleheader with Cincinnati

Brian Elberg — Sat, 10 May 2008 15:16:53 -0400

And then one at night. Here’s an idea. We’ll call it a doubleheader, but we’ll make the people leave and come back, so we can double the money we’d get for making it an old-fashioned doubleheader.

Here’s an idea. How about next year, the Mets keep Shea open, play half their home games there, but sell tickets at both stadiums for every game. Don’t announce where each game will be played. That way not only would they double the revenue, but also make it a fun game for the fans. Would they go to Shea and see a game or find a full stadium but have the game be at Citi field that day.

But seriously, what happened to regular doubleheaders, one ticket plus two games equals one good day.

Now, on to the baseball.

The first game was textbook offense, with a decent performance by Santana (six innings pitched, three earned runs). And how about my man Carlos Delgado going three for four with one home run and one RBI. Carlos is showing signs over this past week of breaking out of his slump. I’m not saying it was because of me, but he really seemed to pick it up right after my post telling Mets fans to stop booing him.

In the second game, Pelfrey pitched well (six innings, two earned runs), but who are we kidding. He’s no Bronson Arroyo, who came into the game with an 8.63 ERA, but went eight innings and gave up one earned run. Arroyo pitched very well, including a streak of 13 runners retired in a row, but he was also pretty lucky, considering the Mets, and especially David Wright, were hitting the ball hard, but right at men in red jerseys.

Not to mention the two errors the Mets committed in the ninth inning that could have gotten them out of the inning with a chance to win in the bottom half. In the meantime, the Florida Marlins continue to tear through the National League, and they are not eeking out wins. They are blowing teams out, scoring 11 runs today and winning 11-0.

New York Mets: What's With the Booing?

Brian Elberg — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 08:59:30 -0400

I saw a good win on my first visit to Shea, starting a new streak for me after my four-game winning streak was broken up by the Cubbies last year.

It was a solid game all around, from when I called the pitch and the spot of Beltran's RBI double in the third. Not to mention the bullpen holding up, even with a Heilman appearance.

But after this game, I have two major bones to pick.

The first and less serious one is that I didn't realize the eighth inning sing-a-long would be "I’m a Believer" by the Monkees. I assumed Springsteen’s "Waitin’ on A Sunny Day" would be chosen, but apparently not.

Also on a more serious note, what's with the booing?

It’s okay to boo Reyes when he doesn’t run out a ground ball, or Benny Agbayani when he makes a bonehead play and gives the ball to a fan on the second out of the inning.

But why boo Delgado, a man who very clearly goes 100 percent but is just suffering the repercussions of a long career.

And why boo Aaron Heilman, who also has done nothing to deserve it.

Also, by booing, the fans are hurting the team, considering Delgado batted 63 points higher on the road than at home last year.

Basically, the fans are injuring Delgado, so if you want to keep hurting the team keep booing.

If you want the Mets to win, I strongly suggest you stop booing.

New York Mets: Enter Blandman

Brian Elberg — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 22:15:00 -0400

The only question that honestly remains in my mind after this debacle of a game is, whether the New York Mets bullpen can retire the Mets one through four batters.

Over the last two games, the starters, Johan Santana and Oliver Perez have pitched a combined 12 and two-thirds innings and given up one run giving them and ERA of .7.

In those same games, the bullpen has pitched 5.1 innings and given up seven earned runs, giving them an ERA of 12.3.

In my opinion, this game lays 100 percent on the shoulders of the men in the pen. However, the one through four batters do not get a free pass.

Over these same last two pitiful losses they have gone a combined 2-for-28 given them a batting average of .071.

Just to put it in perspective, Al Leiter had a career batting average of .085, 14 points better than the Mets one through four hitters have done over these last two games.

But if the starters keep giving up zero or one run a game, the one through four hitters shouldn’t have to go crazy.

But, it's a long season and I'm not worried yet.

Click here to get the complete box score from today's game

New York Mets: Not What Johan Santana Had in Mind

Brian Elberg — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:46:00 -0400

Lets go through the lineup, shall we?

Jose Reyes—All Star

Louis Castillo—Former All Star

David Wright—All Star

Carlos Beltran—All Star

Carlos Delgado—Former All Star

Ryan Church

Angel Pagan

Brian Schneider

The last three are not expected to hit, or be big run producers, and Delgado had a good day, but it will be difficult to win if the the first four hitters in teh order go a combined 0 for 13. Not to mention, I can't remember the last time Louis Castillo got up to the plate and didn't:

A—Hit a one bouncer to the second or first baseman

B—Bunt

C—Strikeout

Reyes, Castillo, Wright, and BEltran should all apologize to Johan Santana. You can't pitch much better than he did today and get a loss (Seven innings pitched, one run earned, ERA of 1.4). Also, it seems unfair to give him a loss when he had one earned run and the Mets scored one run.

The loss SHOULD go to Aaron Heilman, who gave up two runs on a two-run shot by Teixeira in the eighth. Well, tomorrow the Mets' second ace, Oliver Perez, goes and maybe the Mets' one through four hitters can maybe, just maybe, scratch across one measly hit and lead the Mets to their third victory.

New York Mets: Johan Santana's Pitching Excels

Brian Elberg — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 12:12:06 -0400

Let's go through the lineup, shall we?

Jose Reyes—All Star

Louis Castillo—Former All Star

David Wright—All Star

Carlos Beltran—All Star

Carlos Delgado—Former All Star

Ryan Church

Angel Pagan

Brian Schneider

The last three are not expected to hit big time, but should be great run producers.

Delgado had a good day, but it will be difficult to win if the first four hitters in the order go a combined zero for 13.

Not to mention, I cannot remember the last time Louis Castillo got up to the plate and didn’t:

1. Hit a one bouncer to the second or first baseman

2. Bunt

3. Strikeout

Reyes, Castillo, Wright, and Beltran should all apologize to Johan Santana because you cannot pitch much better than he did today and get a loss.

Santana pitched seven innings with one run earned and an ERA of 1.4.

It seems unfair to give Santana a loss when he had one earned run, and the New York Mets scored one run.

The loss should go to Aaron Heilman. He gave up two runs on a two run shot of Teixeira in the eighth.

Tomorrow the Mets' second ace, Oliver Perez, takes a turn. And just maybe the first four hitters can scratch across one measly hit and lead the Mets to their third victory.

And The Oscar Goes To...Shaq???

Brian Elberg — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 21:33:00 -0400

What if Shaq had been a good actor? He would have received Oscars for roles in Kazaam and Blue Chips and gone on to a career as a famous actor, never playing basketball again. The Lakers would have never won a championship and the sports world would be a totally different place.

In years to come we may look back on the call, originally butchered call by second base umpire Brian Gorman in today’s game. On a ball roped out to center by Jose Reyes Gorman claimed the ball was caught when in actuality in dropped in for what would have been a base hit. Later this call was reversed and the Mets ended up scoring two in the inning.

However, if this call corrected originally the Mets score two on this play and possibly open up a lead and go on to win the game. However, this was not to be and the Braves were able to retain a 4-3 lead coming out of the fifth inning. Only to set up for Jorge Sosa to play the roll of Armando Benitez later in the 7th inning giving up a grand slam to Kelly Johnson and give the Mets no chance of winning the game. I’m not trying to blame this one on the umps, Hudson tossed a gem and the Braves bats were alive but, that’s why they play 162.

Click here to see the complete box score for today's game