Julio has been doing better lately, but he really wasn't bringing anything to the team. So, if Minaya can add a starter for a guy who's pitching out of the 10th or 11th spot in the bullpen, I say, "Worth a shot." And common consensus among Mets fans is that he can't be worse than Lima.
Speaking of doing worse than Lima, how about Soler last night? This kid (mid-to-late-twenties, but first MLB start), walks his first three batters in the bigs. He then goes to a 3-0 count on the clean-up hitter before giving up a run-scoring single. Next, his second-baseman lets one go through the wickets and before his first MLB inning is done, he's down 3-0 (and it could have been so much worse). At this point Alay has the home town fans wondering if it can, in fact, get worse than Jose Lima. For innings 2 through 6 Soler pitched quite impressively, but that first was one to wash down many, many cervezas.
il duce's almost a senior citizen by some reports, but certainly can't hurt this "experienced" rotation. he eats innings & proven not afraid to pitch in nyc. julio was holding his own in bullpen, considering - and younger. good for short-term, not so sure about long-term.
I am very biased when it comes to Hernandez (big fan of the duque) but this appears to be a solid move for the Metropolitans. He's not a bad guy to have as third or fouth in a rotation and he's clutcher than clutch. Does anyone know if he still throws that wacky 55mph pitch?
Gotta go with Omar on this one. Julio WAS pitching better, but he was still the mop-up man for the most part. With Zambrano gone and Bannister still a question mark, the Mets needed starters. Soler pitched very well after the first three batters, if Woodward had caught the ball, probably would have allowed only one run. So he, Duque and Bannister can fight it out for the last two positions -- and ElD is bound to help Soler as well. That will stop talk of moving Heilman, or promoting the far-from-ready Pelfrey. There's a slight drop-off from Julio to Gonzalez as the 7th reliever, but other teams should have this problem. If Bannister -- when he's back --and Soler both pitch well, Duque's shown he can do long relief, which moves Oliver to the Julio/Gonzalez spot. I like it.
Il Duce?!?!?!?!?!
No, El Duque, but there's a decent chance he'll be strung up on the telephone wires after the New York papers welcome him back.
But will he make the trains run on time?
good move. he has a surprising number of k's this season. he will do well in ny
The Mets have it made right now and they are going to get a reasonable contribution from El Duque.
God I hope he does well, having him on my roster in the SpoFi fantasy league and slipping fast after a decent first month.
