METS DRAFT BRADLEY HOLT

With the 33rd overall pick in Thursday's MLB Draft, the Mets selected right-handed pitcher Bradley Holt. Who cares about the MLB Draft, you ask? Well, other recent Mets high draft picks include Mike Pelfrey, who is now in their rotation, and Philip Humber, who was traded for Johan Santana. So chances are, drafted at #33, you will hear the name Bradley Holt again.

It's a name that the Southern Bureau has heard a lot - Holt comes out of UNC-Wilmington, home base for the Southern Bureau. So here are some '200 Miles From the Citi' exclusives - the Southern Bureau's scouting report, plus video - an exclusive interview with Holt from UNCW Baseball Media Day, and the Southern Bureau himself on the 6 o'clock news in Carolina telling us about the draft pick.

Here’s the lowdown on Holt – the 33rd overall pick by the Mets.

He’s a tall right handed pitcher that throws hard. His fastball was clocked in the high 90s - and he is a big strikeout guy. He finished 11-1 this season, an ERA of 3.18.

Whenever UNCW needed a big start – he delivered. In their two biggest games of the season – the Conference Tournament and the NCAA tournament – Holt pitched great. His NCAA Tournament start (vs Elon) was a complete game that saved the bullpen for the rest of the weekend.

Has some control issues – trouble with walks every now and then. But he throws in the high 90s, so I guess that comes with the territory. Also – doesn’t really have a second pitch, but since no one can seem to hit his fastball – he hasn’t needed one.

Here is the interview, which never really gets going, if you ask me.

Here's the report from WECT. (Hopefully these links work - we've never done this type of video before.)

Finally, here's why the Southern Bureau is so valued up north. His take on the draft pick:

I’m SO pumped the Mets took him. It was the exact team I wanted to take him…based only on my duties as Southern Bureau.

THE METS NEED TO COMPLETE A CONTRACT NEGOTIATION IMMEDIATELY

I can't even believe it.

I half expect that the Mets and Johan Santana will not be able to reach a contract extension....or Santana will fail his physical. There's no way this could be happening.

But I think it is.

I partly said the trade wasn't going to happen at all because I didn't want him not to go to the Mets. But a small, small part of me felt really good about the chances of Santana coming to the Mets. I can't put my finger on why - perhaps because after all the Yankees and Red Sox talk during the Winter Meetings, and especially the Red Sox talk after the meetings....the Mets name came up again. And it didn't seem likely that those were just rumors. And I bet the Twins were enticed by the fact that they wouldn't have to see Santana a few times a year if he stayed in the American League - if they traded him to the Mets, they would face him once every three years.

Bottom Line: I'm thrilled. And so is Steve in Queens:

"As one of your loyal readers, I demand that you comment on the Johan Santana deal. Although the football talk has been interesting, this truly signifies a turning point where all focus should be placed on the Mets. I can't believe that the Mets just got the best pitcher in the game for 4 guys who may or may not amount to much. Based on the Mets track record of farm system pitchers (Izzy / Wilson / Pulsipher), this may very well be the best deal in Mets history. I would love to hear your thoughts on that."

I think you're exactly right, Steve. And that's part of the reason I'm still waiting for the bad news, or the catch. Because the Mets don't usually make deals this good. I liked watching Carlos Gomez play - he has great speed, he's a good defender, but he's a stellar trading chip, and the Mets turned him into Johan Santana. Kevin Mulvey had some good minor league numbers, but Mets minor league pitchers are a crapshoot (also the case with Philip Humber). I've never even heard of Deolis Guerra, but if giving him up is what it takes to bring in Santana, I'm all for it.

How good does Santana make the Mets? He's a legit number one, something they didn't have all of last year (if he's here last year, there's no such collapse, I'll tell you that). Pedro Martinez* becomes your number two pitcher! John Maine and Oliver Perez could be very different pitchers as number three and four starters, their natural roles, instead of being bumped up in the rotation (John Maine was the Mets' number one starter last year - being depended on to be the stopper more often than anyone....and succeeding quite often. Imagine how he'll do this year. Let me point this out - with the season on the line last year [and even in the 2006 playoffs], Maine came up huge...more huge than Tom Glavine, who couldn't make it out of the first inning.)

Look at the rotation from last year to now:
2007...........................2008
Glavine.......................Santana
Maine.........................Martinez*
Perez..........................Maine
Hernandez.................Perez
Pelfrey/Lawrence/Sosa/Vargas/Humber/Williams/Park....................Hernandez

Needless to say, 2008 is better.

This is very exciting. I was having a hard time justifying how I would pick the Mets to win the NL East this year...the Braves look a lot better, the Phillies are the defending division champions....but this is amazing. It's just amazing - for the Mets to keep the core of their team intact, and ADD to it (not giving up Jose Reyes, for example) - it just seems too good to be true. I read somewhere the Mets mortgaged their future on Santana. I don't think so. Four guys who no one knows how good they'll be for a proven superstar, who actually was not overworked in Minnesota (he adhered to fairly mundane pitch counts) is a great deal - not a giving up your future-type deal. The Mets have plenty of years from their core right now at the key positions to develop new prospects.

The last piece is for Santana to pass a physical, then the Mets to work out a contract extension. They need to give Santana what he wants. Rumor has it he wants 5 years, which the Mets don't do....do it. Give him what he wants.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: We'll take away one of my "fan" Super Bowl previews to accomodate today's happy news. Tomorrow we'll have Justin from NYC, Thursday will be Dave in Brighton, then Friday I'll make my pick. Unless the Mets acquire someone else special.

JUST THE FACTS....BUT ALSO SOME OPINIONS

I have no idea why the Mets traded Lastings Milledge to the Nationals for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider. I'm hoping it's part of something bigger, where someone will be swapped due to that move being made, but I have no idea.

(A part of me thinks this deal is Omar Minaya's way of responding to the critics who accuse him of racism [or ethnicism, I guess] by acquiring only Hispanic players. I can imagine him saying, "You want some white players? Here are some white players. Guess what? They suck! Hispanic players are better. Do you see my point now?")

That said, there are some pieces to this off-season puzzle that I have firmly in my grasp, that I want to make sure I get out there, on what has turned out to be a quiet day baseball-wise.

First of all, and I haven't had a chance yet to mention this, Omar Minaya came out on Thursday to say that the Mets would not be trading Jose Reyes. Of course, the cynic in me wants to know when someone has ever told the truth in that situation, but I sort of believe it. So maybe Reyes is sticking around...or at least being held for a different blockbuster.

I don't think the Mets are getting Johan Santana. I'm not sure who is at this point, but it seems like the Twins want young pitchers that the Mets just don't have. I also wonder whether or not Santana is going to be traded this far before the trade deadline - by trading Matt Garza, the Twins left themselves a hole in their rotation - would they trade Santana too? Or if they did, they need a major-league ready pitcher, which the Mets can't offer....or the Twins don't want.

On that note, the Mets look to be kind of set for themselves in the young pitcher department, with Philip Humber and Mike Pelfrey. I still think these guys will turn out to be solid, effective pitchers. Nothing spectacular, but they'll provide pitching depth. The problem with Pelfrey and Humber is that they are not going to land the Mets any big trading fish...because no one likes them as bait. They are the Mets' two best pitching prospects...but no one really thinks too highly of them.

Who do the Mets have that they could trade? The big name right now that would be part of a deal for a pitcher for the Mets is outfielder Carlos Gomez. He's speedy, and had a good start to his major league career with the Mets before breaking a bone in his hand. He is part of what the Mets imagine their outfield of the future to look like...but he might not be around for long. Also, it looks like the lefty-hitting Brian Schneider will stay a Met, to platoon with righty Ramon Castro...while Johnny Estrada will be shipped.

So if Santana is out of the question, who might the Mets land? This is where it gets good. How about Erik Bedard? If he's a Met come April, I'll be thrilled. I'd also be happy (but to a much lesser extent - you know how I feel about Erik Bedard) if the rumors about Dan Haren are true. He's a good pitcher. Joe Blanton is a big drop-off from those two names, and the Mets are also interested in him....but if you asked me which of the three would be most likely to be a Met in the spring, his name would come up.

One more thing - I'm not sure how I missed this, but I guess Rickey Henderson is no longer with the Mets. The Mets' record wasn't awful after he joined the team, but individuals, most notably Jose Reyes, saw their performances decrease after his arrival. The reason I noticed he's not coming back is that Tom Nieto, the Mets catching instructor, appears to be the front-runner for the job. Hmm...again, no Hall of Famer Gary Carter. Might he be in line for a catching instructor job?

That's where we're at right now. There's a lot going on on the hot stove - I'll do my best to keep updating through the winter...especially with the Winter Meetings just getting underway.

FUN WITH THE METS MEDIA GUIDE

At the beginning of the year I received a media guide from my dad, which came with the Mets partial season ticket plan that my dad got for this year (Tuesday and Friday home games...I have yet to attend one - my sister has already been to two games...as of next Tuesday, my mom and dad will have been to their first.). (P.S. - we also got a CitiField pen.) Considering this is an off-day, I've been looking through the media guide, and here are some things I've found.

**Gary Carter appears in the Mets Historical Records section 5 times:

• September 3, 1985, for hitting 3 homers in a game (tie with 6 others).
• September 3-4, 1985, for hitting 5 homers over two games.
• September, 1985, for hitting 13 homers in a month (tie with Dave Kingman).
• 1986 - most sacrifice flies in a season (tie with Howard Johnson), with 15.
• July 27, 1986, for being part of one of just six back-to-back-to-back home run tandems in Mets history (along with Darryl Strawberry and Kevin Mitchell).
• He also appears in a section on most home runs at Shea Stadium - he's 10th on the list, with 54.

**Willie Stargell hit the first home run at Shea, in 1964, and is tied for the most by a visitor, with 26. Mike Schmidt also has 26.

**Scott Schoeneweis attended Duke University.

**John Maine attended the University of North Carolina....Charlotte.

**Philip Humber was drafted by the Yankees in 2001 but didn't sign with them.

**Moises Alou didn't play organized baseball until attending Canada College in California. How does an Alou not play organized baseball until college!?!

PERSONAL NOTE: The blog may suffer in the coming weeks. Report writing season is upon me again, and that is going to occupy a LOT of my time. Good news - the sooner I get those done, the sooner I'll get back to this. When there's a dropoff in my writing here, that means there's an increase in my school writing, and that's actually good news, because then it will be closer to being done.

BEAT THE STREAK: Hello, 3 games! Lance Berkman got me there. I may have had a rule in the past about picking Braves for Beat the Streak, but now that I'm well on my way to 57 games, there's no one I won't pick - Andruw Jones in Colorado for Friday.

ROUNDUP

A week and a day away from the beginning of the season! I have to get a post in here or there before the game recaps take over all of my time.

I was switching around as I watched the Rangers beat the Bruins in a shootout, and discovered I had the Mets game today on SNY. Not sure how DirecTV works this, but they black out most preseason baseball games, and I only catch them once in a while. I've seen parts of about three Mets spring training games this year. But I caught a little of the split squad loss to the Orioles, and there were a couple of things worth noting:

-Chan Ho Park pitched three perfect innings, then was lifted for Joe Smith (more on him in a minute). Park was apparently really mad about being taken out of the game. The plan is to use him again on Monday, and see if he can handle being used more than once every fifth day, and compete with Aaron Sele in a long relief role. (The role vacated by Darren Oliver's departure to Anaheim.) Sele has apparently had a good spring.

-Smith is a sidearming righty. He's the Chad Bradford replacement (he signed with Baltimore), and has wowed the Mets this spring, and will likely be in the bullpen to start the season. Interestingly, with a much more mature Lastings Milledge showing up at camp (haven't written about that at all - but it seems like he did some growing up this off-season), and Smith taking up a bullpen role, it seems both Padres the Mets got this off-season in exchange for Royce Ring and Heath Bell will be starting the season in the minors. There doesn't look like there will be room for Ben Johnson or Jon Adkins. Milledge is expected to start the season on the bench, but in the majors, as the Mets won't need a fifth starter until mid-April, so Milledge will stay with the team until then.

-Speaking of that fifth starter, it's looking more and more like Mike Pelfrey, which is just outstanding. Pelfrey is going to be very, very good, and I think he's better off at this point being with the major league team than off in the minors. Besides the fact that I think he's a better option than some of the flotsam the Mets have been collecting to fill that role. As for the other exciting young Mets pitcher, Philip Humber will be starting the season in the minors...and most likely spending the entire year there. He'll be a factor next year, but I wouldn't expect him to get more than a cup of coffee in the bigs this year.

-Is it just me, or is Moises Alou having just about the quietest spring training in the history of sports? I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I still say he has to prove to me that he's worth the Mets' acquisition.

-Carlos Delgado is in no danger of missing any regular season time due to the birth of his child. His wife went into labor this weekend, and Delgado went to Puerto Rico to be with her, so he'll be ready on April 1st.

-Pedro Martinez* is still on track in his recovery, taking his throwing program to the next level.

FANTASY ROUNDUP: Here's a rundown of what I'm doing fantasy sports-wise this year, since you're bound to hear about these things throughout the baseball season:

1. East Coast Bias - This is the only fantasy baseball league I thought I'd ever do for the rest of my life (more on that later), with Justin from NYC, The Southern Bureau, and Dave in Brighton. It's fun and it's different. We can only pick players from the AL and NL East (making scouting easier), and we have different categories than the average league. I came in 3rd place last year, after leading most of the first half, then falling out of second place on the last day of the season as I threw all my hopes onto 7 different starting pitchers (none of them good) on the final day of the aforementioned season. I am determined to win our trophy this year.

2. The Orange Couch - Named for The Southern Bureau's blog, this league was created primarly for The Southern Bureau's dad, so that he had a league to play in, after their long-time league disbanded. So it's a good bunch of guys (featuring the same 4 from East Coast Bias, along with 6 others, including Dave in Brighton's dad, too), and it's a full player universe. So even though I thought I'd never be doing another fantasy league like this, here I am. I want to do respectably well in this league. And one of the biggest banes of fantasy baseball - player trades - has been a good experience for me so far. On a whim, I offered Ramon Hernandez for Mike Piazza, who you all know I like this year. The other player countered with Hernandez and Octavio Dotel for Piazza, which I thought was too much, so I thought no deal would happen, until finally I threw out there Hernandez and Jonathan Broxton for Piazza, and I landed him. So I'm happy about that. Coming soon: I feel good about a certain pitcher in the majors this year, who I forgot to mention in the season preview. He's still a free agent in this league, and I will pick him up on Sunday to fill Broxton's roster spot. Stay tuned to find out who I'm talking about.

3. I will be doing my New Baseball Pool again this year. It was a huge success last year, and has grown this year.

4. Beat the Streak - I love it. Can't wait for it to start up - it's always one of the last things mlb.com gets going. I will create a league, and I hope you all join up to compete against me. Someday I'll get to 57 games....this year, I hope to get past 17.

5. mlb.com also has a fun game called Survivor. You pick teams until you lose. It's fun, it's free. I won't start a league, but I'll be playing, I'll let you know if I win anything.

SUNDAY COMICS: One of my small enjoyments in life is that I read the comics in the newspaper everyday. I read most of them, there are a couple I skip. One that I skip is called 'Zippy The Pinhead'...or sometimes, just 'Zippy'. But this caught my eye in the Sunday comics a week or two ago. I don't read this comic because I never get it....it's not funny, it doesn't even make sense. This one doesn't either, but I had to point it out. Poor Mr. Met...how did he get involved in something like this?!

THE PITCHING ROTATION...RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT OFF

When we last left the Mets, Pedro Martinez* was hurt, El Duque was out, and John Maine and Oliver Perez were forced to make starts in some of the biggest Mets games in history. Not much has changed.

At least El Duque is healthy now. The Mets rotation is one of the battles to watch this spring. Here's the sure thing - Tom Glavine begins the year as the Mets' number one guy. El Duque will be behind him (the Mets re-signed Hernandez to a 2-year deal, despite his 42 years of age, over the off-season). The Mets actually had El Duque under contract before Glavine - finally re-signing Glavine after originally declining his option. So the top of the rotation is the bottom of the age chart. Then it's likely that Maine and Perez take the 3-4 spots. That leaves quite a battle for the number 5 spot.

The candidates are Philip Humber, Mike Pelfrey (my two favorites, or at least who I'm rooting the hardest for), Jorge Sosa, Aaron Sele, and Chan Ho Park. Among others. (Jason Vargas's name comes up every now and again, and there's also Dave Williams, but he's having an injury right now.)

There are positive and negative ways to look at this pitching situation. The negative is that the Mets' two best pitchers are on the wrong side of 40, and no one is really great. But as far as I can see, that's the only negative.

The positives include:

• The Mets have depth at pitcher, something that served them well last year when they came within a pitch of the World Series. Last year the Mets started 13 different pitchers - that's a rare thing when you consider teams on the other end of the rare spectrum, suffering no injuries, would just start 5. This year, look for something in the middle - there will be injuries, but the Mets have the manpower to get through them.
• There's no Steve Trachsel. I've been down on Trachsel for years - he's had flashes of good pitching, but never showed he could do it on the big stage. When he finally got the big stage last year, he couldn't perform. So now he's in Baltimore. And the Mets have a guy like Oliver Perez in his place, who could pitch just as well (or perhaps as poorly) as Trachsel, maybe even better, and rely less on run support, and turn his career around. (Or recapture some of his early flashes of success.)
• As much as Glavine and Hernandez represent the "old", there's the potential for plenty of "new" for the Mets in the rotation as well. John Maine and Oliver Perez are 26. Philip Humber is 25. Mike Pelfrey is just 23. So there are some kids on the staff who could be the core of the Mets' rotation for years, to go along with the great left side of the infield. As a matter of fact, I think that's the biggest positive - Pelfrey and Humber could be the Mets' future 1-2. Before he hurt his elbow, the Mets considered Humber to be a future star. And Pelfery has shown what he can do at the major league level. It's exciting to watch these guys grow, and give the Mets a nice home-grown core, without the hype that can damage some youngsters.
• My final point is that come late July or August, the Mets will get a brand-spanking new Pedro Martinez*. It'll work like a trading deadline deal, and Pedro* will re-join the staff, and rejuvenate the team. At least that's the way I like to think of it. He will have had plenty of time to rehab, unlike last year, when he came back and was ineffective. It will have been a year and a couple of months since teams saw the real Pedro*. He will give the Mets a big boost heading into the playoffs, and then to look forward to '08, he will be fresher in what might be the final year of his career.

As negative as I was in my last posting, I do feel like the Mets can succeed this year. And the points about the rotation that I've laid out above are a big reason why. Another big part is the offense, which I touched on in that last posting. But for the regular season, at least, the Mets' pitching should be good enough to get by. The Mets will again win many games with their bats this year.

Before I get to the mailbag, I want to make one more comment on the rotation. It doesn't effect the rotation this year, but it's something to keep an eye on down the road.

Mets first round draft pick Philip Humber is having a good spring so far. People like the way he throws, and he says he's learning a ton from guys like Pedro Martinez*. It also can't hurt that Humber gets to hang around Rick Peterson. Peterson took a bunch of pitchers to Alabama to have their motions recorded on some high-tech computer thing - Humber was among the pitchers who went. So we'll keep an eye on Humber throughout the season.

Also, good news from the Mets' first intrasquad game. Jose Reyes was picked off twice by Mets' minor league pitchers. This is good news because he was rarin' to go. He has shown in this one game that he is again THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED. He just needs to stay healthy, because I want to keep writing that.

Funny note - apparently, future Hall of Famer David Wright got hit by a pitch in the game, and the pitch was a very slow change up, but Wright let out a girlish yelp right before he got hit. His teammates let him hear about that one.

OK. Now to the e-mails:

"Dear JohnnyMets,

While doing preparatory work for my stint at the helm of THE GREATEST
BLOG THAT EVER LIVED, I read today that Mike Cameron's hand is hurt
and that he might miss opening day.

What did he do? Punch a wall when they signed Beltran*?

Dave in Brighton"

Good one. Actually, I feel bad for not reporting this - Cameron's hand has been hurting him since the end of last year - he had surgery during the off-season, and should be back in April, but it might not be Opening Day. He says he thinks he will be back by the opener, Willie Randolph isn't saying anything. Cameron took some swings the other day against soft tosses, and has felt no ill effects, so that's good news...things are progressing. In the meantime, Victor Diaz took Cameron's place in right field in Monday's intrasquad game.

Dave will be writing in this space Wednesday night for Thursday's blog...recapping the Mets' first Grapefruit League spring training game (hence the preparatory work he was doing). Thanks, Dave.

The snow gods were kind to me, giving me a snow day on Tuesday. Now I need to respond in kind and get to bed, so I am refreshed when the school gods take over on Wednesday. Enjoy Mets spring training baseball!! (1:05pm, ESPN)