Kranepool Society :: A New York Mets Blog
A daily account of the trials and tribulations of the New York Mets. Contact me at sinymets@aol.com
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I’m not a fan of the Harlem Shake by any stretch but this version that the Mets have put together is a howl.
I’m really enjoying this Spring of Jay but I’m just afraid that the next wacky event he’ll be a part of is marrying a Kardashian
Good to see Andy Martino has the pulse of the Mets clubhouse, the players really seems to hate each other, especially David Wright and LaTroy Hawkins both guys need to lighten up.
Every day I sit down to write a post about the Mets and every day I just stare at the screen, which is as blank as my mind. At the end of another disappointing Mets season, I felt this was going to be the off seasons of off seasons, heads rolling down Roosevelt Avenue and more of a purge of the losers personality that has permeated the Mets clubhouse the last few seasons but so far, other than David Wright committing to the club for the rest of his natural baseball life and R.A. Dickey getting exported to Canada, this Mets off season has been more a fart in the wind than a lion’s roar in the jungle.
I can see how and why many Mets fans are totally pissed off and feel the team is tanking the 2013 season and I guess I am too but for some reason I’ve comes to terms that this Mets team as put together right now will not be very good as I am buying in to the plan set forth by the baseball operations unit of the team. There is a plan in place and it’s to get younger and not be reliant on building the team via free agency. The Mets are the only team that hasn’t signed a ML free agent. Some fans are annoyed by this but me? I’m totally fine with it. I advocated the pursuit of Cody Ross, Shane Victorino and AJ Pierzynski but being that the supply of talent in the free agent market hasn’t met the demand those three players received more money and years than I ever thought they would.
No one can disagree that the outfielders on the Mets 40 man roster are less than major league caliber and I’m sure no one knows than better than Sandy Alderson and I’m sure Alderson will make some type of move to add at least one quality major league fly shagger before opening day. So while we wait for that move to be made, we can while away the time venting our outrage when we find out Mike Piazza has not been voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame due to the ineptness of the Baseball Writers Association of McCarthyism.
Another distraction has been my monitoring of the other teams I root for. Last night was as bad of a night I’ve had as a fan since Adam Wainright broke off that nasty curve to Carlos Beltran. I wasn’t confident that Notre Dame was going to beat Alabama but never did I think they would tank like they did. There’s not much more to say about the game other than it was an embarrassment but one thing I will address is the amount of Catholic bashing that I saw in my Twitter timeline last night. It’s one thing to attack ND as an institution but when you use the hashtag #CatholicsSuck that’s just shows what kind of person you are and most likely it’s not just Catholics you hate but figure it’s the one group you can vent your hatred about without repercussion.
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Nothing has worked for Terry Collins to get his team off the second half schnide, somatbe he should do a little song and dance
Lucas Duda is back with the big club and JV1 goes back the Wallyworld. I’m sure Valdespin will be back in September but there are many in the Mets clubhouse who I’m sure wished Valdy a nice trip to Buffalo and don’t let the clubhouse door hit you on the ass on the way out.
Scott Hairston and Anders Torres have been placed on waivers. I’m sure Hairston will be claimed and hopefully the Mets can deal Hairston for a prospect or two but I doubt anyone is going to claim Torres, you never know but I really doubt it. If Torres is not claimed I’d rather see the Mets release him and let Matt Den Deker play CF in September.
Seems Ruben Tejada took a shot to the nuts (he wasn’t wearing a cup, I guess he has no thoughts of being a daddy) and that was the excuse explanation for not running out a ground ball yesterday. If he was hurting so much form the shot to the McNuggets than he should have been removed from the game, if you’re in the game you got play hard even if you have swollen scrotum.
So the Mets are a win away from closing out a 5-3 West Coast road trip. Not bad for a team that most Mets fans felt threw in the towel because the GM failed to make a trade deadline deal.
Chris Young goes for the Mets and hopefully he can bounce back from his poor showing in his last start against the Snakes. A win today would be a huge boost to the team after such a dismal start to the second half. Again the resilience of this team is to be admired.
So Jordany Valdespin got his first taste of veteran wrath yesterday in San Fran. Seems Mets have a rule that collared shirts must be worn on the road. JV1 must have thought that rule wasn’t meant for him so he wore a white t-shirt to the ballpark. Someone in the clubhouse decided it was time for a little rough justice and the Valdy’ tee was destroyed. I love the fact that whoever gave out the punishment wrote El Hombre on the shirt because Valdespin does walk around like he is “THE MAN” and I bet he embraces that nickname unlike the original El Hombre who despises it. Seems after first getting pissed off, Valdy realized the error in his ways and laughed it off to the point he wore the shirt during batting practice.
The big knock on Valdespin is his maturity in fact it was such a problem in Binghamton that Wally Backman told the Mets brass that if Valdy kept it up he was going to ring his neck. Valdespin still irks some in the Mets clubhouse but hopefully yesterday was just another chapter in the Big League Education of Jordany Vladespin.
So the hot rumor is the Mets offered Jason Bay to the Fish for Heath Bell and John Buck. All three stink and all three are overpaid but all three are in dire need of change of scenery. I voted in favor of this deal as I’d wager that Bell will bounce back from this season of suckitude much more than Bay by the way, have you ever seen a player with as bad of body language as Bay recently? I actually feel sorry for him as he knows he’s at the end of the line not just with Mets but with playing major league baseball, and Buck as bad as he’s been this year would automatically become the best catcher in the Mets organization. Not saying much I know.
When you look at the money involved in this deal starting in 2013 Bay would cost $19 mil while Bell and Buck are due $24 mil. I can’t see the Mets making this deal man for man, they would insist in the Fish sending both players to them along with a check for the $5 mil difference.
Anyway the deal never happened but the end of the line for Bay is close like this weekend close. The Mets won’t cut Bay this season but this off season they will either sit down with him to work out a buy out or they will try very hard to trade him. Bet on the buyout release.
A Wall-Mart next to Citi Field? Forget that. Now a Costco with their $1.50 hot dog/soda combo? OH HELL YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sometimes I just don’t get the anger that spews from what I hope is a minority of the Mets fan base. Yes it sucked to lose three in the South Bronx this past weekend and yes the defense and the bullpen along with zero production from Ike Davis and Jason Bay when he’s healthy have led to a nasty slide, but has it gotten to the point where some of our Mets brethren have lost their ever lovin’ minds?
If you took to Twitter yesterday and you are a follower of Jon Rauch you got to see the worst and thankfully the best in Mets fans. Some of the angry mob attacked Rauch in such a way that it made me blush, not an easy thing to do. There were calls for Rauch to just go on the DL and never be heard from again and others who feel if it weren’t for him the Mets would be 1st place by a wide margin and there were some you called Rauch names in a screen that never in a million years would ever say to his face. In fact I tweeted to Rauch that the same “fans” who say you suck and that you’re a big pussy are the same ones who hang out by the player’s entrance at Citi Field begging for your autograph. I know the club has lost a lot of games of late but have we all lost our minds as well?
Jon Rauch will be the first to tell you he’s “pitching like horseshit” as he said after giving up the game winning HR to Russell Martin. He gave no excuses and stood at his locker and showed his emotions on how it sucked for the team and him to give up that shot. That kind of accountably had been lost in the Mets clubhouse but not anymore. That’s a big step forward. No one on this team hides in the trainer’s room after a loss, no one says “no comment” to any question, which is why this is an easy Mets team to root for, they’re stand up guys.
I’ve been called a sellout, a stooge and an apologist because the Mets have been gracious in allowing me and my fellow bloggers access to the players, if that’s what you think that’s fine by me. I will gladly admit I have not posted many negative posts here as I’ve done in the past, that’s because I really like this team, the manager and the front office. Before I was invited to such events at Citi Field, I advocated hiring Sandy Alderson to run the organization and when the Mets not only hired Alderson but got Paul DePodesta and J.P. Riccardi on board it was in my opinion, one of the best days in Mets history. I still feel that way.
The only people who mock and can’t see the future of the Mets is on the upswing are the ignorant. Those who refuse to see the good work that is going on in the minor league system and in the front office. Of course there is plenty of work to be done, this team not only has to pitch and catch the ball better and they have to play smarter baseball as well, we know that, the team knows that.
Believe me there have been Mets teams in the past like the Jeff Torborg and Art Howe led teams, and the end of the Willie Randolph era teams and the Jerry Manuel teams that I have despised. This team is the opposite of any of those lazy ass teams that embarrassed me as a Mets fans. This year’s team has me rooting harder for the Mets than I have in a long time.
I’ve been away from my duties here at Kranepool Society for a couple of days, so I’ve got a lot to catch up on:
Anthony McCarron writes about David Wright today in the NY Daily News on how the Mets have for the first time in his close to 8 year career, become HIS team. Wright has always been deferential to vets like Carlos Delgado and Carlos Beltran and made a concerted effort to share the spotlight with Jose Reyes but now that they are dearly departed it’s finally David Wright’s team and though he would never say it, he has to be thrilled to death that it is.
Wright is not the rah-rah fiery type, although he did show that side of him after the Carrasco-Braun hit by pitch affair, Wright shows the leadership a young team like the Mets needs. When a 7+ year vet is the first to report to spring training and the first one to the ball park and the last one to leave, plays through pain and never skirts from his responsibility to speak to the media win or lose, it sets the tone to the rest of the team that Wright’s Way is the Mets Way. One doesn’t need a long term history lesson to see that this Mets clubhouse is more professional and more cohesive than we’ve seen in a long time and it bodes well for the future of this franchise.
Credit for the professional turnaround has to go to Terry Collins as well. Think back to when TC was hired as Mets manager, we all had our doubts due to his previous track record as the manager but it’s a real testament to Collins that he re-invented himself at an age when most folks are rock solid set in their ways. Most Mets fans clamored for Wally Backman to run this team and while I’m a Wally fan, I can’t see anyone else but Terry Collins running this team for the next two seasons at least. If anyone deserves a hike in pay and a two year extension of his contract it’s Terry Collins.
Boy if I could take anything back that I’ve written on this site, it may be what I posted the other day about moving Scott Hairston to make room for Jason Bay when he comes back from his rib injury. I’ve taken what Hairston brings to this team for granted and if anything having Mike Baxter and Hairston on the bench for the Mets is a great strength.
Kirk Nieuwenhuis’ bat has cooled off, as to be expected but his strikeout rate has to give the front office some concern that the word has gotten out to throw Kirk a steady diet of breaking balls, so a trip back upstate may not be the worst thing in the world for Nieuwenhuis who seems to have the mindset to take a demotion not as a negative but a chance to work on his deficiency of hitting breaking pitches as his ticket back to the big leagues for good.
The one thing that could keep Captain Kirk with the Mets is the fact that it is now not if Ike Davis should be sent to Buffalo it’s more like a lock he’s going once Bay comes back. The Marlins just sent their struggling 1st baseman Gaby Sanchez to Triple A to work his way back to being the All-Star he was last year. The Mets just cannot afford to play Ike every day with zero production and a stint in Buffalo should not be taken as a punishment but as an opportunity for Ike to get his groove back.
It’s amazing that the sports media dickheads in NYC who have been given the assignment to cover the NY Rangers during their playoff run are so lazy and so lacking in talent that they can’t see what this team is built on hard work, commitment to the team and the mindset that everyone is responsible for their actions on the ice and if you fuck up, you ride the pine. Doesn’t matter if you’re a multimillionaire all-star or a kid fresh off a college campus if you make a mistake that hurts the team you sit, you stew and you make damn sure you don’t do it again. It’s the same with some of these idiots who now question the Rangers commitment to blocking shots, guess what assholes, how do you think this team has gotten to where it is? Oh and for all the fawning you schmucks have been doing over Marty Brodeur, stop acting like lemmings calling him the greatest goaltender in hockey history, just because you’ve heard some of your overheated brethren say it. Sure it’s easy to look at his career stats and says he’s the best ever and I am by no means saying he isn’t a Hall of Famer but to say he’s the best ever is a slight to Jacques Plante, Terry Sawchuck, Ken Dryden and Patrick Roy. Take some time to read up on those four before you give Marty the crown of greatest ever and remember as good as Brodeur is, he’s no KING!
It was a bad night all around for the Mets, in particular Johan Santana, who pitched another gem and left without a win, the Mets bullpen which imploded once again, for D.J. Carrasco who had to confess his sins to Terry Collins and David Wright before the game and asked to be used in pressure situation in late innings got his wish and pitched like shit and mercifully Sandy Alderson did a mea culpa and cut his ass after the game.
Collins did not have a great game either when it came to bullpen management. Heads were on swivel at Citi Field last night when Bobby Parnell did not come out to pitch the 8th inning after a just a 5 pitch one batter K in the 7th. I was waiting to see Parnell come out the dugout but instead Jon Rauch ran in from the bullpen. I know Collins is trying to keep everyone in their role but so far this bullpen has been dreadful with only Parnell and Tim Brydak pitching effectively so why not let Parnell start the 8th and have Rauch up just in case ? I love all the positive spin that comes from the Mets clubhouse but its games like last night that has many in the fan base unconvinced that this positive first two months is real.
With Jason Bay getting back to baseball activity, the speculation is on as to who will be chucked once Bay comes back to the big league team. The club is making it known that Ike Davis will not be shipped upstate so he’s safe. Mike Baxter is more than safe with his uncanny ability to get a hit off the bench to match his speed and defensive ability he has become a very valuable piece to the 2012 Mets. That leaves Scott Hairston and Kirk Nieuwenhuis as the last options to be re-assigned.
Nieuwenhuis’ bat has cooled as he has gone 8 for his last 33 (.242) but no one expected him to hit at the pace he has and even though his strikeout rate is high he still gets on base at a decent .367 clip. Kirk also plays terrific defense and can play all three outfield positions and he has added toughness to the team that has been sorely needed.
Hairston biggest plus is he’s a right handed hitter with some pop and that is in short supply on this team. The other RH on the bench right now are Rony Cedeno and Justin Turner but if Hairston was traded to make room for Bay’s return you could platoon Bay and Nieuwenhuis in LF so on days a right-hander pitches you’d still Bay and his righty bat ready off the bench.
I guess it comes down to do the Mets feel it’s better to have Nieuwenhuis play every day in Buffalo and have him ready if another outfielder goes down or leave him here in a platoon in LF and to spell Andres Torres in centerfield. I’d go with the Bay/Kirk platoon myself and make Hairston expendable. Stay tuned!
I didn’t see any of yesterday’s game as it was Mother’s Day and my kids had no sporting events (all through Little League we never scheduled games on Mother’s Day, I can’t say the same for youth soccer my kids regularly played on Mother’s Day making life difficult for a bunch of families, thankfully this season the schedule worked in our favor) but I received updates on my phone, it’s tough to be sitting in a theater during a play to check my phone when it’s vibrating with Mets news especially when my wife is sitting next to me, so it wasn’t until the conclusion of Perfect Crime did I see the carnage in Miami by left by the Mets bullpen.
So instead of a beyond belief 6-0 road trip the Mets head home to Flushing with a 4-2 mark instead. Now we all would have co-signed for that record at the start of the trip but since the two losses were of the blown by bullpen variety, it made for an angry fandom after the game because as I discussed on Saturday, nothing turns a baseball fans red like a blown save to lose a game, in fact Jon Rauch took to Twitter to lay some knowledge on some fans when it came to commitment to winning and having your teammates back. As we saw with the Frank Francisco taking on inept home plate umpire Todd Tichenor, who by the way is in his first season as an everyday MLB umpire, this Mets team has passion and they seem to have enacted the practice of no teammate left behind as Rauch put on display last night. They win as a team and they lose as a team. It seems some Mets fans are not grasping this concept; maybe some of you are pining for the days of “One Met Said” cowardice we’ve seen in the Mets clubhouse during past administrations. Thankfully those days look to be over.
Now that doesn’t mean Terry Collins will keep the status quo in the bullpen as the manager stated he has “8 options” to use as a game closer and let’s be honest here Mets fans, you can scream and curse Frank Francisco and Manny Acosta for yesterday and Friday but the toughest thing to build in baseball today is a proficient bullpen. Look at the regal Bronx Bastards, they need help in their pen but even with their unlimited financial resources, they can’t go out and buy a closer to replace the Sainted Mariano the Majestic. So TC may have to go with the hot hand to close games or use a combo of Tim Byrdak, Bobby Parnell and Jon Rauch, the three most effective relievers so far, to finish out games.
At the end of last season, Sandy Alderson pointed out that all the blown saves that led to losses at the end of the season were unacceptable and that these types of situation’s can bring down a team. Right now this Mets team is united but you wonder how much that unity can stand if the late game meltdowns continue?
The slider, when thrown properly, is a devastating pitch. As the batter’s hand to eye coordination gets in synched and sees the pitch as coming over the plate and the mind makes that split second decision to swing at it, the ball breaks downward to a point where the batter is fooled and cannot adjust his swing. But when a slider is not executed properly, it hangs up in the hitting zone. If the batter has some power that flat slider usually leaves the ball park screaming like in a cartoon. This is what happened yesterday to Bobby Parnell and his pitch to Logan Morrison that left Whatevertheycallit Stadium like it was shot out of a cannon.
As bad as that pitch was and the outcome, negating the 2 run blast by David Wright to put to Mets ahead 4-3 going into the bottom of the 7th, pisses us me off as a Mets fan, I think we are now at the point of the season where we can chalk this up to closer in training Parnell’s learning experience.
Look, the season is what it is, a fight to finish with between 81-85 wins. If the Mets can do that the season is a positive and if Bobby Parnell and Pedro Beato work on being the future backend of the bullpen then that’s fine with me. Same thing with keeping Izzy around for the rest of the season. What can you get for Izzy? A C level prospect? He is much more valuable to the Mets as a veteran reliever working with Parnell and Beato for the next two months.
I think one thing in the Mets favor of keeping Jose Reyes with the Mets for years to come, is the consensus from the Mets players this season that the Mets clubhouse is a great place to be. Izzy for example, went to Sandy Alderson to tell him he doesn’t want to be traded. Carlos Beltran, understands the reasons why the GM is trying to move him, but Beltran will not be sad if he’s not dealt. In fact Beltran would love to stay as he has cited this being the best clubhouse he’s been in since he became a Met. Remember back early this season when Willie Harris caught hell from Mets fans when he spoke of the distance in the Mets clubhouse? Well, I wish those who have access to Harris would ask him if he still feels that way now that we have played more than half a season. I doubt it. For this you have to credit the manager, for keeping that clubhouse positive.
I’m worn out reading about when and where Carlos Beltran will be dealt to. With all the debate over which team will offer the Mets the best prospect, the best take I’ve read so far on dealing Beltran comes from Paul of Random Baseball Stuff, who left this comment on my post from yesterday:
I enjoy watching Beltran play, but I’m going to be annoyed if he’s still a Met on Aug. 1st. Sandy has got to move him for the best return he can get – the 2011 Mets aren’t going anywhere, and I don’t think Beltran fits in the 2012 budget.
Even if he only gets salary relief, it would be better than nothing. The Mets haven’t finished signing all of their high-round draft picks yet.
When you think about it, if you trade Beltran to a team that would take the rest of his salary for the year, it comes out to about $5-$6 mil. You could use that money to sign Brandon Nimo and RHP Logan Verret, not to mention any free agents in the Latin market as well. It may be worth more for Alderson to do that than any prospect the Giants, Phillies or Braves are willing to give up.
I’m not going to lie to you, I am ecstatic that the NFL lockout is over. I am ready for some football.
It’s nice that the teammates Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez have left behind in the Mets clubhouse have nothing but high praise and fond memories of their released comrades but as has happened in the Mets clubhouse over the last few years, the big picture is out of focus, it is no longer business as usual as the new front office has made it known accountability is back in Flushing.
Maybe that’s why Jose Reyes is a bit stunned by the event of the past few days. He’s never seen anything like it before in his 8 years as a Met. There has never been accountability in the clubhouse, the former GM and managers made excuses the way parents do for their delinquent kids. Thankfully those days are over. Last year the Mets put up a sign in the clubhouse proclaiming Prevention and Recovery in dealing with injuries, this year’s motto should be “Produce or Get Cut Loose”
Enough of the negativity here are some positive vibes as we stand one week away from opening day 2011:
The Mets pitching staff overall has been terrific this spring, pitching to a 3.87 ERA (good for 5th best in the NL) It helps that the defense has been tight, committing just 22 errors.
As a team, the Mets have hit at a .267 clip, drilling 53 doubles and more importantly 83 walks good for 3rd most in the NL.
Ike Davis and Daniel Murphy lead the team in Rib-Eye Steaks with 10 apiece
Scott Hairston is hitting a blistering .425/.500/.725
When Chin-Lung Hu was obtained from the Dodgers he was known as great glove shaky bat but so far this spring he’s gotten 10 hits in 34 AB’s of the 10 hits 3 were doubles plus he stolen 2 bases.
Chris Young and Chris Capuano have been more than effective this spring. Young has thrown 20.1 innings with a 1.33 ERA and a miniscule 0.89 WHIP. Capuano has pitched 10.2 innings with a tidy 1.03 WHIP and just two walks.
Last night I was a guest on the Who’s On First: The Seamheads . Com Radio Hour for a panel discussion to make our picks for division winners, wild card, pennant and World Series winners along with league MVP’s and Cy Young Award winners. It’s would be well worth your while to check out the podcast as there were some real out on a limb picks by the panel with great analysis to back them up.
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