Bleacher Report - Articles by Brian Hegt

Why the Trading Deadline Won't be a "Holliday" for the New York Mets

Brian Hegt — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 17:46:39 -0400

As the lights went down on the first half of Major League Baseball's season with last week's instant classic All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium, the second half of the season will inevitably provide many twists and turns, as nearly every division is quite competitive.

With that being said, there are potentially more buyers than usual at this July's trading deadline. One of the teams that many considered to have not been a buyer (although not necessarily a seller) was the New York Mets.

Over the course of this season the Mets have been at best, consistently inconsistent. However, since the firing of Willie Randolph, and Jerry Manuel's ascension to manager, the Mets have played a better brand of baseball.

Although the change was not seen immediately in the standings, there was clearly a different vibe around the clubhouse. With this newfound desire to play the game the right way, day in and day out, the Mets embarked on their 10-game winning streak that carried them through the All-Star break.

After the break, the Mets came out and won a gritty game in the late innings in Cincinnati, preceded to lose their next two games, and finished the series with a 7-5 win to salvage a split.

At this moment in time, the Mets have won 11 of their last 13 games and have proven themselves to be buyers for the upcoming trade deadline.

This being established, the Mets do have some holes to fill. Fernando Tatis, despite his impressive play, is not going to carry a team to a world championship.

The first and most important hole that needs to be filled is the need for a power-hitting corner outfielder. Preferably, this outfielder should be a right-handed hitter, but it is not a complete requisite.

Since Moises Alou's (probable) career-ending hamstring tear, Tatis, Damian Easley, and Endy Chavez have done an outstanding job platooning for Alou and the concussed Ryan Church.

Hopefully, the Mets and their fans have moved past the notion of No. 18 out in left field and will actually be able to acquire a suitable replacement.

In addition to a replacement for Alou, the question still remains as to Ryan Church's health. Church has been an incredible addition for the Mets this year, and he really is a tone setter for the hard-nosed brand of baseball that the Mets need to play to win. However, he has not been in the lineup very often.

The most desirable, and certainly the most suitable, candidate for a left-field replacement is Matt Holliday of the Rockies. Holliday provides some playoff experience, as a member of last year's NL champions, and he certainly provides a big right-handed bat in the middle of the lineup.

Holliday also can give Carlos Delgado a day off and play first base. However, trading for Holliday could prove to be very costly, and to be honest, outside of Fernando Martinez, there is not very much depth to the Mets' farm system. That being said, Xavier Nady and Jason Bay of the Pirates both would require a similar package.

However, a trade for Holliday or Bay could be worth mortgaging the future by trading Martinez, and both Bay and Holliday are young cornerstone-type players.

If the Mets don't trade for either of those options, there are two other players to consider.

Casey Blake from the Cleveland Indians could be a very viable candidate. Blake plays both corner infield and outfield positions and provides a stable bat in what could be the No. 6 spot in the order, now that Carlos Delgado seems to have a pulse.

Another viable option, and it could be considered somewhat of a last resort, would be Seattle's Raul Ibanez. Ibanez is a left-handed batter who plays both corner outfield spots and first base, and he is a native New Yorker.

Ibanez is the oldest of the bunch, and he would truly be a short-term option until Martinez proves that he is ready to play in Citi Field.

If Ryan Church is going to continue to be out for extended periods of time, it may make the most sense to go after Blake and Ibanez or some combination thereof.

Inevitably, the true last resort is to allow Martinez, who has not had much success above single-A ball, to learn on the job and take his bruises as a major-league ballplayer.

Through this last streak of good baseball, the Mets have proven to be a ballclub that is driven to win, and they only have a few holes that are most certainly patchable.

With the deep pitching-staff, well-rounded bench, good coaching staff, and an above-average bullpen, the Mets certainly remain on the list of top contenders in a wide-open league.

Carlos Santana Gives New York Yankees "Nowhere to Run"

Brian Hegt — Fri, 16 May 2008 04:36:53 -0400

The good news that any Yankee fan will take away from this article that Carlos Santana is a musician and not a pitcher who will take the mound in his first subway series tonight.

The bad news is that Johan Santana is. The Mets’ new ace looks like he is starting to find his stride in the national league. In his last start, Santana, in only five-and-a-third innings, threw 115 pitches.

However, on his 114th pitch, he was able to reach back and zip the ball to the plate at 97 mph. The pitch was slightly high, but this showed that Santana has a reserve that he can tap into in a tight spot.

Yes, Mets’ fans do expect Santana to be throwing more than five-and-a-third innings, but anyone who truly understands the strategy side of baseball knows that when a team's ace is on the mound, it gives off a different energy.

In addition, a true quality of an ace, like Santana is that he can find a way to win even if he doesn't have his best stuff on the hill. Santana was able to do this and is hoping to carry his good fortune over to his start tonight.

Santana, who is widely regarded as baseball's best pitcher, signed a lucrative long term deal with the Mets this past offseason. As many remember, the Yankees finished second in the Johan Santana bidding war.

This presents itself as an interesting match up.

Is this the fuel that the Yankees need to jump start themselves?

Or can it be argued that Johan has not shown how dominant he can be in the national league yet because he does not know the hitters as well as he knew the American League ones?

If this is the case, Johan knows many of these Yankee hitters quite well, and he knows that they don't like seeing him 60 feet six inches away from him.

Both teams have greatly underachieved this season and know that a decisive series win this weekend could be the needed catalyst.

As many around the game know, these two teams both elevate their levels of play during these two series every year.

Tonight, the Yanks combat Santana with Darryl Rasner, who is 2-0 in his starts since being recalled from Columbus.

Tomorrow Oliver Perez, who was lights out in his last start but awful in his prior two starts, takes the hill against Andy Pettite who looked terrible in his last start in Tampa.

Finally, the rubber match features John Maine who has won his last four starts against Chien-Ming Wang, the Yankees’ ace. This final rubber match is by far the most intriguing of the series.

The Mets have lost three of their last four, and the Yanks also have lost three of their last four dating back into the end of the Detroit series.

Roger Clemens Fallout: How Ego Exacerbates MLB's Steroid Woes

Brian Hegt — Sun, 04 May 2008 04:38:17 -0400

As the sport of baseball continues to struggle as a whole with its ongoing steroid issue, one thing has become more and more clear in certain individual cases.

The egos of the large stars that have been convicted in the eyes of society have played a large role in their own demise.

The first example of this is Mark McGuire. When McGuire hit his 70 home runs in 1998, he and Sammy Sosa singlehandedly revitalized the game of baseball after the lull of the 1994 strike.

McGuire knew he had a reputation to uphold, and more importantly a place in history for that reason.

So when McGuire appeared before the U.S. Congress, he had to appear strong. In doing this, and invoking his right to the Fifth Amendment as a United States citizen, McGuire sealed his fate through a tacit admission of guilt.

What many people do not know about the Mark McGuire situation is the way his steroid investigation began.

Late in that prolific 1998 season, one of the St. Louis area reporters took it upon himself to rummage through McGuire's locker, violating the golden rule of clubhouse reporting.

Upon doing this, the reporter found a form of creatine that was later banned first by the International Olympic Committee and still to this day is NOT illegal in Major League Baseball.

Barry Bonds' story is very similar to that of Mark McGuire, Bonds feels that as the all-time home run leader, he must defend his place in history. However, there seems to be a bit more hard evidence in the case involving BALCO.

Finally, Roger Clemens' story seems to have turned into a frequent front page headline for many national newspapers. What many fans seem to forget is that there is a simple baseball explanation as to why steroids are not advantageous for pitchers.

Anabolic steroids do not directly make a person bigger upon injection. In fact, if someone injects himself with these steroids and does not work out, he will only gain fat, not muscle. Steroids allow muscles to recover faster and enable two workouts in one day.

Yes, it is certainly possible that Clemens injected himself in his legs to make his leg muscles stronger to push off the rubber, but as shown in Clemens' congressional hearing, his body has not changed drastically other than the natural weight gain that comes with age.

All of this being said, society needs to understand their place in private affairs. Clemens has always been a tremendously hard worker. He feels he has to defend his place in history as one of baseball's greatest pitchers.

He also has to protect his reputation as a hard working athlete, devoted father and loving family man.

Mets-Diamondbacks Weekend Series Means More Than Meets The Eye

Brian Hegt — Thu, 01 May 2008 05:37:53 -0400

This morning, the Mets are getting ready to leave New York for their first West Coast trip of the year, where they open with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who own the National League's best record. Many regard this series as a potential NLCS preview however, the way the Mets are playing now, there will not be very much postseason play.

Fortunately for the Mets, it is too early in the season to accurately pass judgements like that. Therefore this series with the Diamondbacks must be viewed as more than a playoff preview. The series with the Diamondbacks raises the question, how much longer will the Mets window of opportunity be open?

As the Diamondbacks continue to prove that a big name in the lineup is not necessary to win, the Mets are not getting any younger. The Mets are relying heavily on an aging and very rapidly declining Carlos Delgado as well as a fragile Pedro Martinez. The Dbacks rely on young, scrappy, hard-nosed team baseball; the type of baseball that any baseball purist dreams of.

If the Diamondbacks have their way this weekend with the Mets, something that would not shock very many people, it could prove to the baseball world that big names are not the key to success.

Furthermore, the upcoming weekend series could show the American League contenders how weak the National League truly is. Again, if the Diamondbacks have their way with the Mets and easily take two out of three or even worse sweep the Mets it will show the American League contenders that only the Diamondbacks are to be feared in any potential world series match up.

To set the table for the series, Arizona will send Micha Owings (4-0), Brandon Webb (6-0), and Dan Haren (4-1). The Mets will counter with John Maine, Nelson Figueroa and Johan Santana. Other than Santana the Mets do not know what kind of starting pitching they will get in a series they need to have great starting pitching. The Mets starting pitching was made even more important yesterday when Oliver Perez had his second straight bad outing, forcing Willie Randolph to over use the bullpen once again.

The Mets need to take two out of three in this series in order to silence many of their critics.