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Mets Fifth Starter

Neise

7 votes

Nieve

4 votes

Figueroa

8 votes

Escobar

1 votes

Other (explain

2 votes

MFS62 Feb 16 2010 09:16 AM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Feb 16 2010 09:32 AM

Who do you think it will be?

Frayed Knot Feb 16 2010 09:21 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Yes

TransMonk Feb 16 2010 09:24 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I can select up to 5 options?

Vince Coleman Firecracker Feb 16 2010 09:30 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

My guess is Figgy, based on the options issue. Nieve, I think, winds up in the bullpen to start the season for the same reason.

MFS62 Feb 16 2010 09:32 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

[quote="TransMonk":183uqe18]I can select up to 5 options?[/quote:183uqe18] Fixed. Thanks, Later

Benjamin Grimm Feb 16 2010 09:33 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I voted for Nieve but I'm hoping it's Niese.

TransMonk Feb 16 2010 09:34 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I think it is waaay to early to predict this. Figgy could get though waivers. I think Niese is the leader going in, but could get passed by many players, including some not on this list, during ST.

metirish Feb 16 2010 09:44 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Later I will choose later upon reflection

Benjamin Grimm Feb 16 2010 09:45 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

[quote="TransMonk":1cre0wxl]I think it is waaay to early to predict this.[/quote:1cre0wxl] Well, yeah. It's pure guesswork at this point. It's really going to depend on the way the pitchers perform and how healthy they are. I think it's most likely, though, to be either Figgy, Nieve, or Niese. If it's anybody else that's currently in the organization I'll be pretty surprised.

MFS62 Feb 16 2010 09:46 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

[quote="metirish":1rtpmtjw]Later I will choose later upon reflection[/quote:1rtpmtjw] That's why I posted it now. To get first impressions. Uh, ... Later

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 16 2010 09:50 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I'm with TM-- way too early to call. I think that, given his Caribbean Series and last year's spot-starts-- taking health/availability and on-field performance, he very well might have been the team's best-performing starter last year-- and minimal salary, there's no way that Figueroa makes it through waivers unclaimed. (Given the 'stuff,' and last year's mirage-or-not ERA, Nieve probably gets claimed, too.) There are a couple of dark horses still out there, too... some pinker than others: (Updated: According to a source familiar with the negotiations, the idea that the Red Sox “would soon sign” Maya might not be accurate at this time. There is a good chance that Maya will choose a team that offers a better opportunity to immediately enter its starting rotation.)

Edgy DC Feb 16 2010 10:13 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Bobby Livingston. He's like the white Santana.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 16 2010 10:45 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

It's like adaptive mimicry or something. That's some spooky sh*t, man.

Rockin' Doc Feb 16 2010 10:48 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

[quote="Edgy DC"]Bobby Livingston. He's like the white Santana.

Livingston hits like Johan, pitches like Rafael.

Edgy DC Feb 16 2010 10:51 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

You'll be cheering your heart out for him soon enough, even if he does wear a hat depicting a lefthanded banjo-playing platinum-wigged African.

Ashie62 Feb 16 2010 03:13 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I'm guessing the Mets are hoping Niese makes the job his own. Having said that Figgy will make 32 starts in all 5 slots

TransMonk Feb 18 2010 08:46 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

From Adam Rubin's blog (via Metsblog): Fernando Nieve arrived and threw a bullpen session. It was Nieve’s first time throwing off a mound since mid-January, when he was pitching in the Venezuelan winter-league playoffs. There’s no sense of any lingering trouble from the gruesome quadriceps tear he suffered last season in Atlanta. Nieve is the pre-camp frontrunner for the No. 5 spot in the rotation, according to Jerry Manuel. Nieve is out of options and would need to pass through waivers to be sent to the minors. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/?offset=10

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 18 2010 02:47 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Also from the Rubin-- Nelly Figs sounds off on the Caribbean Series, Moises Alou, Fernando Martinez and "Obie:" Nelson Figueroa comes to spring training already in condition to compete in crowded races for the fifth-starter and long-relief roles. Figueroa helped lead Escogido to its first Dominican Winter League title in nearly two decades. He then pitched a three-hitter against Mexico as Escogido won the Caribbean Series. Moises Alou served as champion Escogido’s GM, while Triple-A manager Ken Oberkfell skippered the squad. Fernando Martinez stepped up after a wrist injury to Carlos Gomez and was named the MVP of the Caribbean Series. “It was unbelievable—the best baseball I’ve been a part of hands down,” Figueroa said. “We had a nine-game championship series to win the Dominican championship, with seven of the nine games decided by one run. Every game was a nail-biter. We were one out away from losing in game eight. It was the most exciting baseball I’ve ever been a part of. There were guys who played in the major-league playoffs, in the World Series even, and the atmosphere, because of what was at stake—18 years since that organization, Escogido, won a championship.” Here’s Figueroa on Alou as a GM: “He’s not a pencil-pusher who doesn’t know what it’s like. He even told us this is something that might only happen once in your career. He was talking about how he went out in his career—at the age of 40 trying to steal second base in a rehab assignment (at Binghamton). That was the very last game he ever played. He made the transition very smoothly. … What he did was he put discipline down Day 1. A lot of the Dominican players, they have all the talent in the world, but they don’t have that discipline and they’re allowed to play the way they want to play because they’re so talented. Moises Alou said he doesn’t care who you are—from Carlos Gomez, our No. 1 star, to our 40th guy on the roster he was like, ‘You will be on time. You will wear your uniform properly. No jewelry. He set whole guidelines and it worked out for the best.” On Fernando Martinez’s performance: “He’s one of those guys, you watch him take batting practice and the ball comes off his bat and it’s just that different sound,” Figueroa said. “You just know one day he’s going to figure it out. During this Series he definitely stepped up. He was hitting the ball hard every at-bat and was having great at-bats, even against the lefties that would come in to get the lefty out.” And on Oberkfell’s managing: “He was essential. An American manager in the Dominican, it’s tough for them with the language barrier. And these guys don’t know if you have the desire to win a championship that they do. And Obie did. Our team we had in Buffalo last year left him hungry. He wants the opportunity to be back here in the big leagues and hopefully to help this team win a championship. He did an unbelievable job of helping that team jell. They figured it out the way he kept trying to get our guys to do it in Buffalo—but (with the Bisons) we had too many guys from too many different organizations thrown into the mix and we just didn’t jell together, whereas the Dominicans had one common goal from the beginning—to win the regular season, the Dominican championship and then the Caribbean Series. Hat’s off to Obie.”

Edgy DC Feb 18 2010 02:56 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I remember Alou going down in Binghamton by diving for a ball in the outfield.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 18 2010 04:10 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Accurate recall? That's a pencil-pusher's game.

metirish Feb 18 2010 04:58 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Cool article , thanks for posting. Fiffy is great , I'd wager he himself has a future in GM'ing.

TransMonk Feb 26 2010 12:31 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Per Metsblog: "...Nelson Figueroa will start the Grapefruit League opener on March 2, against the Braves at Tradition Field, followed by Fernando Nieve on March 3 against the Braves at Disney World." I like that they're going right after figuring out this spot rather than tossing Santana out there right away.

Fman99 Feb 26 2010 01:26 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I conflate Niese and Nieve. Figgy is the one with the big goofy eyebrows, that I know. Escobar I wouldn't recognize if he was plowing my imaginary sister in her dumper.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Feb 26 2010 02:39 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Niese's chocolate. Nieve's butterscotch, with a hint of vermouth. Niese's Nietszche. Nieve's Wittengenstein... with a kiss of Hobbes? Niese's the guy who you want to be. Nieve's the guy who you are... at his best. Niese's earthy, robust Doestoyevsky. Nieve's grotesque, crackling-with-vim Gogol. Niese's a jazz solo, dipping and diving and teetering on the cymbal's edge of cool madness before bringing you back home with a sweet resolve. Nieve's punk rock, tongues wagging and jagged guitars. The energy you wish you still had... but you're kinda glad you don't. Niese's standing on the beach and dreaming of times past. Nieve's doing cartwheels on that beach wearing a clown suit, nude from the waist down. Also, Niese's the lefty.

Edgy DC Feb 28 2010 11:37 PM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

That's hard.

TransMonk Mar 11 2010 09:52 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

I have to think Figueroa has moved ahead in this race for now. Niese's options may doom him.

Benjamin Grimm Mar 11 2010 09:59 AM Re: Mets Fifth Starter

Let's see what the next two or three weeks bring.