According to Adam Rubin of ESPN New York, Jenrry Mejia, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, is expected to throw from a mound today.

The right-hander is scheduled to toss only 15 pitches. And he will do so from the slope, not atop the mound — and with the catcher moving closer than 60 feet, 6 inches.

Terry Collins is not happy with Ruben Tejada. Tejada has not reported to camp early due to visa issues in his native Panama.

“I take great pride in the game itself, and respecting the game itself,” Collins said. “And I wish everybody had the same respect for it, that they wanted to get started as early as possible.”

Lawyer for Mets owners and Bernard Madoff trustee Irving Picard will go before Manhattan federal District Judge Jed Rakoff this afternoon to try and avoid a March 19 trial.

Picard’s lawyers are asking Rakoff to immediately award the trustee a judgment for $83 million, the amount of Madoff profits which Picard maintains the Wilpon family and its Sterling Equities partners received. That cash was essentially money stolen from other investors, Picard has said.

Picard also wants back more than $300 million in original investments made by the Wilpon group because, the trustee contends, the partners either knew of the scam or were blinded by their dependence on Madoff’s annual profits to see warning signs that he was a fraud.

To derail Picard, lawyers for the Wilpons have been digging into the woodwork to prove their clients are immune from the trustee’s clawback attempt. The $83 million they received, the Wilpons argue, actually represents a “debt” Madoff owed them by virtue of their investments. Perhaps more important, the Wilpons charge that they didn’t ignore warning signs about Madoff and wouldn’t have knowingly invested in a Ponzi scheme. As regular investors, they weren’t obligated to probe into Madoff’s operation, said the Wilpons.

Photo by Flickr.com

The 2011 season represented something new for Josh Thole. For the first time in his major league career, the starting job was his to lose.

In the beginning of the season, it did not look like he could handle that responsibility.

For the first two months of the season, Thole struggled in just about every facet of the game. At the plate, Thole hit .227 with a paltry .301 on base percentage, and a SO / BB ratio of 23/15. Expectations were never that high for Thole, but coming off a second half of 2010 where he hit .254 with a .333 OBP and SO / BB ratio a lot closer to 1:1, the Mets their catcher of the future would be improving, not taking steps backwards.

However, when June rolled around, Thole found himself and became the catcher the Mets were looking for.

From June 1^st until the end of the regular season, Thole put up a .292/.372/.387 slugging to go along with a SO / BB ratio of 24:23.

Incredible numbers that would make Thole an all-star candidate every season.

Keep in mind that only one full time catcher posted a higher batting average on the season higher than Thole’s four month average of .292, and that was Yadier Molina’s .305. Also consider that only one full-time catcher in all of baseball had a higher on base percentage than Thole’s four month .372, and that was Alex Avila’s .389, in the American League! » Continue reading “New York Mets 2012 Projections: Catcher Josh Thole”

• Chris Capuano was flat out spectacular tonight. He pitched a complete game shutout, allowing only two hits, no walks, and a career high 13 strike outs. He was good enough to get a pie in the face after the game from Willie Harris.
• Some of the Mets young hitters continue to hit. Lucas Duda had three hits, two runs scored and two RBIs. His two run double came off Jonny Venters, which were the first two runs he allowed in two months, spanning 24 appearances and 23 innings.
• Ruben Tejada had three more hits, bringing his average on the season up to .283. With the skill he brings on the defensive side of the ball, he is really developing into an asset for the Mets going forward.
• Finally, the Mets were able to win the first game of a homestand. They started the year 0-10 in those situations.

The Mets and Braves will finish out this series with a double header September 8^th, due to the inclement weather stemming from Hurricane Irene. The next game is scheduled for Monday, at Citi Field, with a double header against the Marlins, starting at 4:10.

Stay safe this weekend and take care of your loved ones.

For this week’s update, the focus will be on players who, throughout the Mets system, are regarded as their “top prospects” or players that will have an impact at the big league level. In the following weeks, stay tuned for players who have had surprising seasons, good or bad, and updates on how recent draftees and international signings are handling their first taste of professional ball.

In Buffalo, the Mets AAA affiliate, there are not too many top notch prospects. With Kirk Nieuwenhuis injured, the roster is composed mainly of guys who have the potential to be good role players on a major league team, but not high impact stars.

Three guys that come to mind are Ruben Tejada, Fernando Martinez and Nick Evans.

» Continue reading “Mets Minor League Update: A Look At Some Of The Mets Top Prospects”