More Harvey Applesauce: Harvey Is Awesome, Batista Goes Away

So how great a day was yesterday? We knew that one of our top pitching prospects was going to be starting, and shortly after waking up the release of Miguel Batista became official. Things looked good right from the start. They looked even better when the game got underway though, as Harvey had about as good a debut as he possibly could have. His 11 strikeout performance led the Metsies to their first win in a while, the box can be found here. Video highlights can be found here.

In 1 game he's already managed to accumulate 0.5 fWAR between the mound and the plate. Impressive, no? That mean they have him valued at roughly 2.1 million dollars already. Surplus value is great, isn't it? Terry Collins had a few comments about his debut after the game last night.

The plan with Lucas Duda was supposed to be to play him in left field and first base. His first game back at AAA? Right field. I honestly don't care where he plays as long as he's hitting again. Good Duda was a lot of fun to watch.

Rising Apple had an interesting piece up about the reasons to TRAID Scott Hairston before the deadline passes. It's interesting food for thought.

Around Baseball:

There was one non-Mets game played in the division last night, and the Nats just kept on winning. I think we all knew they were building a good team, but I'm still a little surprised that they've become this good this early.

On the other end of the building spectrum we have the Marlins. Fish Stripes took a look at who they think may survive the latest yard sale in Florida.

Somewhere in the middle of those 2 teams lie the Phillies. They handed out another very large contract this week, but are still likely to sell of quite a few parts if they can. Howard Megdal still thinks they'll be bigger spenders than the Mets. In other Phillies news, Placido Polanco is headed to the DL.

The good team in Pennsylvania had a great debut from a top prospect as well. Starling Marte homered almost as soon as he set foot in the batters box, helping the surprising Pirates to yet another win.

Atlanta may be out on Ryan Dempster, but the Dodgers are working very hard to bring him into the fold.

Finally for today, Fangraphs took a look at pitcher velocity loss. I love graphs.