Santana told reporters that they didn’t have a radar gun on him but he felt the ball was coming out of his hand very well.  He would not say if he will be ready to be the teams opening day starter.  Here is what he did say “Hopefully toward the end of spring we’ll have a better idea if I can be there.”  He says that right now the goal is to work back, stick to the plan and be patient.  “I’ve been through a lot the last couple of years.  It’s exciting to be back on the field.”

It is good news because he is there big pitcher.  If he is healthy he is their number one starter.  There is no one that knows how he will bounce back from his injuries though.  The thing about Santana is he is a competitor and a smart pitcher.  I wouldn’t bet against him being able to figure out something on the mound to get hitters out as long as he is healthy.

Terry Collins said he expects Daniel Murphy to be his starting second baseman heading into the regular season.  He said the competitions this spring will be in the bullpen, backup catcher and on the bench.  He said the Mets are better then people think even though they may have the youngest roster.  He said it is New York but it remains important that there is patience as the home grown talent develops.  Collins thinks Ruben Tejada has a chance to be a special player.  He thinks it is important both for the team and the fans for the Mets to get off to a fast start.

He likes the bullpen additions that the Mets made in the winter.  He thinks the new dimensions at Citi Field should be a mental lift for the offense.  He would like to have a second lefty in the bullpen.  Mookie Wilson is staying in the Mets organization as a roving minor league instructor.

I personally don’t know how you can expect much from this team.  The Mets are in a very tough division and they just aren’t that good.  Is it possible for Jason Bay to bounce back finally and show what he used to be.  It is possible but not likely although he should get a boost from the new dimensions in Citi Field.  Can Santana be the ace he used to be, I guess it is possible but not likely.  If that happens then that would really help the Mets.  Can the Mets bullpen be good?  It can be better but they still need to see who the closer will be and who will be effective in that role.  The offense can be pretty good but they need to stay healthy.  Murphy, Wright, Davis are all good offensive players.  Bay can be a good offensive player and Thole isn’t a bad hitting catcher.  The question is will Tejada every turn into a decent hitter, will Andres Torres be good for the Mets, is Lucas Duda a guy who will hit for power and be pretty good in the majors??  If the Mets have a lot of these answers become positive then maybe they can be competitive and better then people think.  It is a big if though with all those questions.  The Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals all appear to be better, time will tell though.  The talking has to be done on the field and the Mets will have a chance to prove everyone wrong.

The health of Johan Santana.  He is coming off of major arm surgery, he has started throwing and according to reports looks good and on schedule.  I don’t think he will start the year with the Mets but should join them shortly after.  I think if Santana can give them anything it will be a big lift.  Santana even with diminished stuff is a smart pitcher and can figure out how to get hitters out.

Who will the leadoff hitter be for the Mets??  Andres Torres, Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy seem to be the options.  I don’t know if any of them are great options but they will compete in spring training to be the leadoff hitter.  Murphy is a good hitter but he isn’t really a speed guy.  Tejada had a good on base percentage last year and has the speed but will he ever hit well enough for that spot.  Torres to me just isn’t a leadoff hitter.

Who will the Mets closer be??  Will it be a closer by committee with Jon Rauch, Frank Francisco and Bobby Parnell?  Will one of these guys emerge.  I would think the Mets would like Parnell to be the guy but he didn’t look like he could handle it last year.  He deserves another chance as he is a young pitcher.  It will be interesting to see how this shakes out and how Terry Collins lines up his bullpen.

The Mets young pitchers, the Mets future seems to hinge on them.  The Mets fans don’t have a lot to be excited about but this could be one area.  They seem to have a lot of good young pitchers coming.  Zach Wheeler, Jenry Mejia, Dillon Gee, Jeurys Familia, .  They have a lot to be excited about here and maybe even more coming.

The Mets will look to get out of the gate early and have the fans coming to the park and getting excited about the team.  If the Mets get off to a slow start it could be a self fulfilling prophecy where they have no confidence.  They could say well this was supposed to happen and just continue to have a bad year and not turn it around or every have any hope.  If that happens the fans will not come out to the ballpark and it could be a really long summer in Flushing.

Zack Wheeler – the club’s No. 1 prospect according to several publications – will not pitch for the New York Mets this season.  You can book that.  I’m also willing to bet that Jenrry Mejia will be the first to pitch in Queens in 2012.  He is returning from Tommy John surgery, but he also has Major League experience under his belt.  As far as Harvey and Familia, there is no hurry.  From the team’s standpoint, this is a silver lining of facing modest expectations.  Unlike the New York Yankees, the Mets will be able to let their top pitching prospects develop at their own pace and when they do make it to the bigs, they can work through their growing pains without Mike Francesa acid raining over the airwaves.  Well, maybe he would anyway.  Luckily I don’t have to worry about getting caught in his storms.

Alderson also mentioned that the system as a whole is getting stronger as the overall quality from top-to-bottom has inched forward.  This is obviously exciting news.  The bloodline of a franchise is its farm system and there is no reason at all for the Mets not to consistently boast some of the strongest minor league talent in the game.  Better days await the New York Mets and fans might not even have to wait that much longer.

For more tasty nuggets regarding the New York Mets’ quartet of starting pitching prospects and their minor league system in general, follow me on twitter@craigmwilliams.

100-125 innings?!  I never expected 200 or even 180, but damn, I wasn’t thinking 125 either.  I suppose I shouldn’t be too surprised though.  The road back from shoulder surgery is long, winding and bumpy.  I would prefer the Mets to take their time with Johan this year and have him ready to compete over the course of a full season in 2013.  I’ve said several times that the Mets don’t have much of a chance this season, so it makes no sense to rush someone back from injury – especially when that someone is owed a substantial some of money over the next two years.

Another interesting nugget from the short video is that Kurkjian does not see Johan as a trade chip.  There is no reason to expect him to say anything different at this point.  It would also make little sense for the Mets’ people to bring up his name as a trade chip.  Not when his value is at the lowest point since he was a Rule V draft pick nearly a decade ago.  I could see him getting moved though.  Not this season, but perhaps at the 2013 July 31st Trade Deadline.  There is ALWAYS someone looking for starting pitching and nobody anticipates the New York Mets to be in the playoff mix until 2014.  With only two more months left on his contract at this point, some team would be willing to make a move for him.  This is a discussion we can have next year.  For now, we can just keep our fingers crossed for the high end of the 100-125 inning projection.

For more on the dim present and the bright future of the New York Mets starting pitching, follow me on twitter@craigmwilliams.

This is obviously great news for Santana and the Mets.  If the two-time Cy Young Award winner can even return to 85-90% of his former self – still a stretch perhaps – then he’ll be a nice asset to the Mets.  I imagine his innings will be monitored very closely no matter how he looks throughout the season, but his presence on the big league roster will still upgrade the pitching staff.  I find it interesting that the Mets are talking about Santana as if they’re expecting him to start the season in the big league rotation.  Perhaps that is just the typical pre-Spring Training optimism, but I have come across blurbs over the past few weeks suggesting a more pessimistic outlook.  However, it should go without saying that they know their players better than any outsider speaking his mind.

Even though this is exciting news, I have to make sure I don’t get too caught up in the buzz.  First of all, as I just mentioned, there is still a decent chance that Santana does not start the season in the Majors.  Shoulder surgeries are tricky and have not been broken down to the same science as Tommy John surgery.  That brings me to my second point. If we were talking about elbow surgery I’d feel a lot more optimistic, but the track record of successful returns from shoulder surgery is much shorter.  Before we get too enthusiastic about Johan Santana’s return to the New York Mets, let’s see him pitch in a Major League game first and then let’s see him perform (semi)close to his capabilities.  It is still a very positive step though.

For more on the dim present and the bright future of the New York Mets starting pitching, follow me on twitter@craigmwilliams.

I won’t get into the dirty details.  I did that here.  Besides, I’m not trying to bash on Kazmir anymore than I or anyone else has done in the recent past.  I was actually in favor of the Mets taking a look at him this offseason and maybe bringing him aboard on a minor league deal.  Apparently, Sandy Alderson and Co. don’t have any interest though.  This was evident by the zero scouts that the Mets sent to watch Kazmir’s workout.  According to some of the reports, there was not much to see from Kazmir.  The fastball was 86-87 while topping out at 89.  One scout had him a little bit faster on the gun, but that is still a far cry from the type of zip he was displaying a few years ago.  It’s just a puzzling situation to say the least.

I am a bit surprised that the New York Mets didn’t at least send one scout.  I mean it’s not as if they are so set on starting pitching that they don’t even need to look under every stone and dive in a couple of dumpsters.  Ultimately, it probably won’t matter here though.  I don’t see Scott Kazmir being able to re-invent himself, so unless he finds that 92 mph average fastball velocity again he may be SOL.

For more on the dim present and the bright future of the New York Mets starting pitching, follow me on twitter @craigmwilliams.

I am sure that in the coming days Carter will dominate the headlines.  He will do so especially in New York and Montreal, the two teams he was most linked too.  He started his career in Montreal and enjoyed his best years in New York, including winning the 1986 World Series.  He helped shape that Mets team which was so good and should of won more then one championship.  He was the opposite of a team full of off the field animals.  He was a very humble, spiritual and family man.  He was one of the leaders on that team and they all respected him.  He was different from them in that he didn’t go out and party at night but all he wanted to do on the field was win, just like they did.

He had a 19 year career, five of them with the New York Mets.  He was an 11 time All-Star and he was a durable slugger.  He hit 324 career home runs.  In his career he was fourth all-time and first in NL history in both games caught and putouts as a catcher.  He was elected to the baseball Hall Of Fame in 2003, his sixth year of eligibility.  He had a 262 career batting average and a 991 fielding percentage.

Carter started his coaching career in 2005, he was with the Gulf Coast Mets then with the A St. Lucie Mets.  In 2008 he was with the Orange County Flyers of the Golden Baseball League and then the Long Island Ducks in 2009.  In 2010 to now he was the head baseball coach for NCAA Division II Palm Beach Atlantic University.

It is a very sad day for baseball, it was coming as in January it was announced that he had taken a turn for the worse and treatments were being stopped.  Carter was too young to pass away and many in the baseball world were shocked when it was learned he had the disease.  It is a very sad day but Carter will always be remembered.  It is amazing to hear all the tributes and hear how well everyone speaks of him.  The team in the 1980′s that he was on was a wild bunch, he didn’t agree with them but they all respected him.  The comments tonight prove that.  He is gone but he will not be forgotten and the family can take some joy out of hearing the outpouring of love for Gary “The Kid” Carter.

Can the Mets surprise people??  I would say no because they just don’t have enough, they lack true punch other then David Wright.  Jason Bay has seemed to lost everything he used to have.  Ike Davis is a good young player but he is coming off a big injury where he missed most of the year.  The biggest problem they will have though is their pitching staff.  Their starting staff is hoping to have Johan Santana back sometime in the beginning of the season.  How much does he have left though??  It is a mystery as he is getting older and had arm surgeries in each of the last three years.  R.A. Dickey finally found a spot and does a good job with the knuckleball but he is what he is.  Mike Pelfrey doesn’t seem to be a top of the rotation starter.

The Mets pitching lacks top notch talent and that could be a huge problem.  Their bullpen is a question mark as well although it seems like it could be pretty good with the additions of Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco.  Who their closer is, that is a mystery right now.  If I was a Mets fan I wouldn’t be too enthusiastic right now.  The great thing about baseball though is as spring training nears everyone has hope.  The spring will begin and then the season will be here and some teams will quickly lose hope but at times there are surprises and maybe the Mets will be one of those.  I wouldn’t count on it though.

In terms of this comparison to Votto, I think Petersel at least gives us something to think about.  He breaks down the numbers in his post so I won’t get into too much of that here.  However, I will say that it can sometimes be kind of difficult to develop a fair basis for comparing two players just on stats.  There are so many intangible factors that play a role in what stats a player produces and how he produces them.  That doesn’t the stat comparisons in this case should be ignored.  It just means that I wanted to dig a little bit deeper.

I pulled out a couple of old Baseball America Handbooks – 2008 for Joey Votto and 2010 for Ike Davis – to get an idea of what types of skills each player is using to produce his stats.  Votto, a second round pick in 2002, was regarded as a more complete hitter with a solid batting average potential, strong strike zone command and coverage with natural power to the gaps.  That assessment obviously turned out to be accurate as he has developed into one of the game’s best hitters.

Conversely, Davis, one of the New York Mets’ first round picks in 2008, did not garner quite the same promise as an overall hitter, but the scouting report recognized that his bat speed and loft allowed him to achieve plus power.  Also mentioned was the fact that his swing can get lengthy at times and he could sometimes leave himself vulnerable on the outside corner.  That isn’t anything uncommon though.  As far as his plus power, it was certainly on display during the final month of 2010 – his rookie season – and during the first 36 games in 2011. Unfortunately, Davis’ season was lost to what turned out to be an ugly ankle injury so we were not granted the privilege of watching him develop over the full season.

To wrap up, I’ll disagree slightly with Zach here because I don’t think Davis will hit quite as well as Votto, but he could eventually supply more power.  With that said, Zach definitely nails the most important point on the head.  Ike Davis looks like he could be a very good offensive producer moving forward and may even emerge as the New York Mets’ most dangerous hitter as early as this season.  That is going to be a huge development whether he’s the next Joey Votto or just the first Ike Davis.

If you look at the Mets’ roster, you don’t see too many major openings.  First base, shortstop, third base and all three outfield spots are accounted for.  Daniel Murphy has the inside track at second base and the Mets will probably be willing to take some defensive lumps to keep his bat in the lineup.  Basically that means you can add second base to that list. Josh Thole figures to get at least a chunk of the playing time behind the dish, but that is a two-man job for many teams and it is too early to say if the Mets have committed to a backup/co-starter.  There are some bench spots up for grabs, but the Mets’ postponement of signing the “coveted” left-handed fifth outfielder indicates that they are pretty satisfied with things at this moment.

In the starting rotation the Mets are going to trot out R.A. Dickey, Dillon Gee, Niese, Mike Pelfrey and Chris Schwinden until Johan Santana is finally healthy (if that ever happens).  I’ve dogged the pitching staff plenty this offseason, but there are plenty of instances where teams don’t even have five guys that they want to start the season with at this point.  Hell, look at the New York Yankees last year.  They were fortunate in 2011, but any other year, I think most fans are taking what the Mets have over a rotation that includes A.J. Burnett, Bartolo Colon and Freddy Garcia.  Of course it is easy to say that while ignoring the fact that the Mets don’t have a CC Sabathia to anchor the rotation.  Hopefully that is coming though.  The bullpen will require some sorting, but the bodies are there.

If the New York Mets played in almost any other division than the National League East, I might be quite a bit more optimistic about their chances to contend.  Unfortunately the Mets are stuck where they are and will have to weather the storm in one of the top two division in baseball.  At least with the majority of the roster set, most players can spend Spring Training adding new skills and sharpening existing ones.  Hopefully that will allow everyone to get the best out of his game in 2012.