SECOND WILD CARD? WHY NOT US?

March 1, 2012 by 4 Comments

There is a very interesting post on NY Baseball Digest today by Joseph Del Grippo on Johan Santana and his comeback from shoulder surgery. I find myself becoming obsessed with Santana’s comeback for many reasons, his impact on the Mets winning baseball games by anchoring the starting pitching staff, coming back from a surgery that takes a much longer time to rehab from and one that other pitchers have failed to comeback from and how does he prevent his arm/shoulder from being injured again.

DelGrippo touches on Santana’s mechanics and how from watching video he sees no change in the way Santana delivers a pitch, thus his feeling is Santana’s injury problem comes from the way he delivers the ball and if he doesn’t tweak that he will hurt himself again .  Mechanics are the bedrock of pitching or I should say the ability to be consistent with repeating ones mechanic.     

What conflicts me with this is, the way Santana delivers the ball has made him a huge success and even though DelGrippo may be right that by altering his pitching motion, Santana could stay in good health but would he be effective plus at this stage of his career it may not be the easiest task for Johan to alter his delivery style.

Looks like MLB will add a second Wild Card team starting this coming season, something I have no problem with especially since it gives the Mets a little more of a chance for a post season berth. For 2012, it will still be a bit unfair as the inter-league schedule and unbalanced schedule tilts the scales in favor of some teams over others but it does validate and makes winning the division much more important and rewarding. With the Houston Astros going to the AL West next season it would make sense that a balance schedule will be implemented as with 15 teams in each league there will be an inter-league game every day.  As much as I’m not of fan of inter-league play, I’ll live with it for an extra playoff spot.

Howard Megdal touches on the Mets catching situation and his hope that the Mets would bring back Ramon Castro with the extra fins that Freddy Skill Sets has in his shallow pockets. I always like Shriek when he was here and he would be an improvement over Mike Nickeas, who it seems Mets fans are trying hard to convince themselves can contribute as Josh Thole’ backup, but the truth of the matter is Sandy Alderson doesn’t have much faith in Thole/Nickeas or any backstop in the Mets system. That’s why names like Castro and Pudge keep coming up.

I’m starting to lose faith in Reese Havens

October 4th 2012 Cincinnati Reds @ NY Mets in the Wild Card Knock Out Game at Citi Field!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Who’s with me?     

 

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PAGAN? HE GONE AND THE REBUILT BULLPEN

December 7, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Well, if nothing else, Rauch and Francisco won’t tolerate much bullshit!

 

Well, the Mets won’t be coming home from Dallas empty handed. Maybe they are not the most sexy moves Mets fans wanted but they are practical, kind of like getting an iron or power tool for Christmas.  Let’s take a gander at the transaction shall we:

Angel Pagan to the Giants for Andres Torres and Ramon Ramirez

Note to all Mets personnel, don’t piss off Terry Collins or you too will be shown the door.  It seems many of Pagan’s ex-teammates won’t be shedding any tears that he’s gone and neither will I. Talk about addition by subtraction. Pagan fell out of favor with the club because a piss poor attitude and putting oneself above the team that don’t fly here no more, especially when you’re fringe major leaguer.

The return from the Giants is quite intriguing. Torres is an upgrade defensively but he not much to look at in the batter’s box. Can Dave Hudgens can do the voodoo they he do-do and bring Torres back offensively to where he was in 2010 (.268/.343/.479 16 HR 43 2b 6.8 WAR) ?

The best part of the deal is getting Ramirez   added to this new look bullpen. Ramirez walks a few batters more than I like but he is effective against right handed hitters. I’m surprised Brian Sabean would include Ramirez in this deal because on the surface Pagan and Torres cancel each other at as both were non-tender candidates and if you’d look to deal Ramirez I’m sure the Giants could have gotten a better offer.

Mets sign Jon Rauch and Frank Francisco

One year deal for $3.5 mil for Rauch and a 2 year $12 mil for Francisco. Are either of these guys top flight pitchers? No ,but for the price they’ll should be more than serviceable . When you look at the Mets bullpen right now, it is far better than it was on the last day of the 2011 season. Rauch should be fine as the 8th inning set up man and Francisco  will take the role as closer but both could interchange the roles if need be. Francisco is a strike out pitcher who throws his fastball and split both effectively and comes with a manageable contract.

So right now the Mets bullpen looks as so:

Francisco  RHP

Rauch  RHP

Ramirez RHP

Parnell RHP

Acosta RHP

Brydak LHP

 

I don’t think Bobby Parnell is a lock for a bullpen spot but to not have to close or set up in the 8th inning could help as he could be the ROOGY to Brydak’s LOOGY. I’m sure Alderson would love to add another lefty to this group. What to do with DJ Carrasco? He has another year left on his deal but it’s just for a million and change so he could see himself included as a thrown in a deal (with Daniel Murphy?) . It seems Pedro Beato is ticketed for Buffalo and there isn’t anyone else from last season arson squad I’d want to keep.

You have to take these deals as a positive, not a jump up and down positive but the team is better than it was on the last day of the season positive.

 

 

 

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HEY DIDDLE-DIDDLE WILL THE BALL NOW GO OVER RIGHT-CENTER FIELD WALL OF CITI FIELD ?

November 1, 2011 by 3 Comments

This whole changing of the walls at Citi Field has me a bit perplexed to a point of being a bit pissed off. While I agree with lowering the height of the outfield walls to eight feet, which they should have been when the park was first built, it seems the lowering of the walls and bringing them in a bit closer to home plate is because some of the Mets starting eight have been traumatized by the outfield dimensions. According to Pitching Coach Old School Warthen, his pitchers “got a bit lazy” due to the vast pasture of the Citi Field outfield that they had a hard time pitching in a place like Citizen’s Bank or even the Mall of The South Bronx.  What all this tells me is this team collectively is mentally weak and the pitching coach has no idea how to do his job.

I’ve always been a card carrying member of the David Wright Fan Club but his constant crying about the Citi Field dimensions have me wondering if I want to renew my membership. Same with Jason Bay, I was never a fan of his as his signing was just another example of the damage Omar Minaya and Jeffey Skill Sets did to this organization. So now that the fences have been moved in and the walls lowered (I guess it is perfectly clear now that Citi Field was badly planed and put together between the skyscraper outfield walls, the lack of a Mets-eccentric feel and the whole homage to the Brooklyn Dodgers that was met with Mets fans ire) there should be no excuse for Wright and Bay to not have monster seasons in 2012. Right? Wright?

As for Warthen his quote :

“We got into being a little bit mentally lazy and overly secure. … I think that caused a lot of the homers this year. I really do. …[The new dimensions] will help us focus and concentrate and not be so ready to go out there and throw a fastball away and hope they hit it to center field.”

As the pitching coach shouldn’t you have nipped this problem in the bud ? By saying this out loud didn’t you realize that you are just feeding into the frenzy of many Mets fans (this one included) that you have no clue on how to fix this staff and should have been relieved of your duties this off season? It’s quotes like this that make me wonder if it’s Warthen fault that Bobby Parnell, he of the Howitzer arm, had no clue on how to pitch? Same with Mike Pelfrey. Pelf has talent and his a big strong workhorse of a pitcher is that Old School can’t or doesn’t know how to tap into what it takes to make both pitchers the dominate arms we feel they can be?

Jeffey Skill Sets says, not to worry about whom and when these minority shareholders of the Mets come on board. Besides it’s none of your business:

“Some of the people don’t want to be public,” Wilpon said. “Some of the people might never be public. I don’t think anybody knows all the minority shareholders in each of the other teams. Do you know all the minority shareholders in Atlanta or Kansas City or St. Louis, Cincinnati, the Yankees? It’s just not widely known.”

Do I care who holds a minority share in the Braves, Royals, Cardinals or the Bronx Bastards? No, because I don’t root or spend my money on tickets and merchandise on those teams but I do on the Mets. See I want to know as a Mets fan/customer what financial resources the team has to improve the product they are selling to me and my fellow Mets fans. I’m not going to pay Broadway prices for a high school production.  This is just another example of this ownership having not a clue of how to treat or connect with its fan base.

I’ve never been a big fan of Halloween maybe it was because the neighborhood I grew up in was more about ducking flying eggs or avoiding getting jumped by guys with socks full of chalk (usually pulling a knife on the sock hopper curtailed those attacks) than collecting candy but Ed “Rusty Jr.” Marcus went to a Mets Halloween Party last night and saw some interesting costumes. Oh and by the way Ed, the image of you in KISS makeup is disturbing.

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TEJEDA AND PITCHING IS THE METS WAY TO GO

October 20, 2011 by 18 Comments

Six pitchers to win a nine inning baseball game, welcome to the next re-invention of baseball, courtesy of The Genius.  The biggest impression I have of the post season is that we are now going from having a setup man and closer as your main relievers to having to have at least seven pitchers who can come out of your pen, game in game out.  Before the post season even started, Sandy Alderson made it known that rebuilding his bullpen would be job one.  

The story of Game one changes dramatically if Allen Craig does not come through with that huge pinch hit single to put the Cards ahead 3-2. The second guessers and LaRussa haters (I raise my hand) would have been out in full force. Just goes to show the difference between a genius and an asshole in baseball is a fair ball.

There was a terrific column by Adam Rubin on ESPNNY.com on how the readiness of Ruben Tejada could soften the blow of Jose Reyes leaving for greener (backs) pastures. Rubin quotes Mark Simon, ESPN’s numbers cruncher with stats that show me the Mets would be better off with Reyes leaving and Tejada taking over shortstop and using the money saved on pitching. Defensively you really don’t lose much with Tejeda (according to the metrics the Mets would gain with Tejeda at shortstop) it’s on offense where you lose the most.

“If you look at it from a WAR [wins above replacement] perspective, Reyes was a 6.2 last year via Fangraphs. Tejada was a 1.8,” Simon said. “The question would be: What is Tejada at his best … maybe a 3-WAR player? So there is a drop-off.”

You’d think that a healthy Ike Davis, David Wright (if he’s not dealt) with the fences of Citi Field lower and closers (and painted blue I hope),and a rejuvenated Jason Bay (a guy can dream can’t he) would make up for the offensive slack lost by the dearly departed Reyes   

I think this quote from an NL scout sums it up:

  Said one National League scout: “Tejada is ready to play every day. Save the money and go get some pitching. You’re not winning anything in 2012 anyway. Find out if the kid can do it. He really has improved with the bat and gotten physically stronger. He’s going to need a backup, though, in case he gets hurt or needs a day off”

As Mets fans, we need to root for three more Redbird wins in a row so we can get our off season started, the suspense is killing me.

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NEW YORK METS, WHO STAYS, WHO GOES: PITCHERS DIVISION

October 3, 2011 by 4 Comments

Okay folks as promised here is the Who Stays, Who Goes pitchers division for the New York Mets. The 2011 Mets were woeful tossing a baseball from sixty feet six inches which is why the front office is thinking long and hard (that’s what she said, I miss Michael Gary Scott) about going overboard in signing Jose Reyes to long term, big money deal. Better to use the Reyes money towards finding some good decent pitching.

So with that here we go:

R.A. Dickey-I wish the Mets had about three more pitchers like R.A. The guy is a true professional who goes out each and every start and gives you quality even while fighting off the pain of a plantar fasciitis injury, a true gamer. What amazes me more about Dickey is his low walk total, 2.3 BB/9 for a knuckleballer. You better believe he STAYS

Mike Pelfrey-Now we get to the Anti-Dickey, Big Pelf. He is a guy with a great pitchers body, a durable arm that has the talent to throw hard and change speeds but the inability to but those gifts to good use.  Between the inconsistency of Pelfrey from start to start (sometimes from inning to inning) and the mound meltdowns to go with his annoying habit of licking his hand, the majority of Mets fans would love to see Pelfrey become an ex-Met, and they may be right but I say he STAYS, for one more year make on a break contract.

Chris Capuano-A dumpster dive by Sandy Alderson that paid off. Cap gave the Mets more innings than he could have imagined as due to numerous injuries, he never pitch more than the 186 innings he did this season since 2006. Early in the year there was talk of putting Cap in the pen as long man/swing man but he was starting to get consistent with at least 6innings a start which in turn triggered the incentive clauses in his contract that helped Cap triple his base contract. Love to have Capuano STAY but being a lefty and effective he may be too pricey for Mets .

Dilon Gee-One of the bright spots on this Mets pitching staff. Unlike Pelfrey, Gee seems to know exactly what he’s doing on the mound, like he has a real plan and he does his best to execute it. His biggest downfall is the base on balls, hopefully he can corral his command issues, if he does, he will be a solid starting pitcher for a long time. Hell yeah he STAYS.

Jon Niese-Good thing about Niese is he throws strikes, bad thing about Niese those strikes are very hittable. If Niese can learn to fool hitters and stay healthy, then he and Gee could be the Mets #3 and #4 starting pitchers for a good while. STAY

Bobby Parnell-He’s no closer and the front office knows it. He won’t be on the big league team next year as he’ll either be dealt off or be a member in good standing of the Buffalo Bison. Classic example of the Rick Peterson line “there are guys who can throw 100 MPH driving UPS trucks” GOES

Jason Isringhausen-Great story. Comes back to Mets and gets his 300 save. But Izzy is done here and maybe for good. The mind is willing but the body isn’t. GOES but thanks Izzy.

Pedro Beato-Wore down as the season went on as the Mets had no choice but to keep his valuable arm on the big league team due to his Rule V status. Alderson has hinted already that Beato is Buffalo bound in 2012, good move. STAY

Tim Byrdak-He is what he is, a LOOGY and a pretty good one. Signed a contract extension last week of season so he STAYS.

D.J. Carrasco-Mets wanted Carrasco to be a late inning reliever but what he turned into was a batting practice pitcher for the opposition. Started throwing from down under so who knows it may help, it can’t hurt. One of Alderson’s few bad moves giving DJ a two year deal. Hopefully he turns into one of these relievers who bounces back from a bad year to have a good one. STAY   

Ryota Igarashi-Even though Igarashi pitched pretty good in September, he won’t be back in 2012. Good riddance GOES    

Manny Acosta-Acosta won himself a contract for next season with a very strong August and September. Acosta STAYS because of his effective two months and he’ll work cheap.

Miguel Batista- Too bad for Batista that Omar isn’t in charge anymore as after his start on the last day of the season, Minaya would have signed the 40 year old righty to a 5 year deal. Not the current GM, if lucky Batista gets a spring invite and lands in Buffalo. GOES

Taylor Buchholz-After leaving the team with to deal with depression he became the organizations forgotten man. I hope wherever he is he’s dealing with his troubles and getting better. I guess I’ll put Buchholz in the GOES column as his issues seem bigger than playing baseball.

Chris Young-Nice try signing Young as low risk, high reward pitcher but his shoulder didn’t hold up. Oh well win some, lose some. GOES

Chris Schwinden-Looked like he was overwhelmed by the big league experience but again he works cheap and maybe the big league jitters will be behind him. A shaky STAY  

Josh Stinson-didn’t show much in his big league audition. He’ll get an invite to St Lonesome or maybe a throw in a deal this offseason. If not he’s another STAY with Buffalo as his destination.

Danny Herrera-there is something about Herrera that I like. I don’t know if it’s my admiration that a guy with his lack of size is in the big leagues, or he has a great head of hair or he could be the second LOOGY that Alderson wants to add for a bargain price? But I think he STAYS and gets a good look in St. Lonesome to be the second lefty in the pen

Pat Misch-Enjoy Japan Pat. GOOOOOOOOOOES   

 

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THE ALDERSON TAPES

September 21, 2011 by 4 Comments

I was so pissed that I missed hearing Sandy Alderson on the SNY telecast last night. But, thanks to Chris McShane at Amazin’ Avenue who transcribed the whole interview Alderson did with Gary Cohen and Ron Darling, I’m caught up with what the Mets GM is looking to accomplish going forward with the team. What has me puzzled is the Mets fan/blogger fixation on what Alderson said about changing the dimensions and height of the Cit Field outfield wall, from reading the McShane’s transcript of the conversation, that was the least interesting feature to me.

I’m not saying reducing the height of the Great Wall of Flushing or bringing in the right/center Mo Zone is not good thing, in fact I’m all for it but Alderson’s insights on player personnel and his approach to the off season was much more newsworthy.

To me more important than wall renovations is what is the GM’s plan of attack for re-signing Jose Reyes. It seems like Alderson has a preempted strike ready to fire as he has tabbed October as Jose Reyes Month. I get the vibe that he has an offer already to be presented a figure in years and money that he won’t go over. Alderson has made it known he will not get into a bidding war over Reyes. He has been nothing but complimentary of the shortstop as has Terry Collins, who is on record as saying he can’t fathom the Mets without Reyes or David Wright for that matter which I’m sure is the company line. I’m interested in this negotiation to see if Reyes takes a little less money or years to stay with the only organization he’s ever played for or does he move on and take the best deal out there. I still think that while Alderson will make a very good offer to Reyes, he won’t be heartbroken if another team comes in and blows the Mets deal out of the water. No question he wants Reyes back but he won’t break the Skill Sets fragile bank account to sign him.

One of Alderson’s concerns was rushing pitchers to the big leagues but also doing a balancing act getting some of the minor league arms a bit of a push to move them along. Under Omar MInaya’s regime the club loved drafting collage pitchers to where a team like St. Lucie is overstocked with 24 and 25 year olds which it sounds like is very frustrating to Alderson. When you’re that age and still pitching in A ball, you’re at the shit or get off the pot stage of your career.

Alderson sounds like a Mets fan when he talks about the bullpen and how blowing late game leads, a la Bobby Parnell, takes the heart out of everyone when it’s on an almost daily basis. Safe to say, Alderson has seen enough of Parnell closing to know he needs to put finding a closer on the top of his shopping list. Also clearly stated, he will go outside the organization to find one.  Looking at guys like Greg Holland of the Royals, Mike Adams of the Rangers, Rafael Betancourt of the Rockies and Sean Marshall of the Cubs there are some interesting options for Alderson out there.

Alderson is happy with the number of innings his starters have given him but now he wants them to improve the quality of those innings. I believe that Jon Niese and Dillon Gee will and of course R.A. Dickey will give a quality start just about every time out but we still have no idea what Johan Santana will give you on the mound next year and of course there is the elephant in the room known as Mike Pelfrey. From Alderson’s comment it seems that Pelf will be back next season but in what capacity?

What we have Mets fans is one busy and interesting winter coming up ahead of us and the brain trust of our team. Right now is the lull where the team plays out the string as October on will be the most interesting time for the Mets since before the All Star break.

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MR. SKILL SETS, TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!!!!!!!

September 1, 2011 by 1 Comment

Took a day off from blogging and social media to celebrate my son’s birthday by spending the day in the city and taking in a performance of Spider Man Turn Off The Dark. The show itself was entertaining it’s no Guys and Dolls but hey what is! I was disappointed in the music since Bono and The Edge wrote the score and the only song I really enjoyed was when Patrick Page, who really saves this show as his role as Green Goblin was the highlight of the performance, sings A Freak Like Me Needs Company to open a second act that salvaged the show for me. The high flying Spider Man and Green Goblin scenes are spectacular as is the make up job doen on Page as the Green Goblin .  Just the fact that Spidey made it this far on Broadway is an accomplishment.

On to the Mets, in no particular order:

The news that John Franco and Mike Piazza will be the participants in the first pitch of the game on September 11th and the Mets will wear caps of the first responders of that tragic day, will help bring some joy to Mets fans on what should be proclaimed a National Day of Mourning. It’s still hard to believe that it will be 10 years since the attack, of all the scenes of carnage and despair of that day, the vision of seeing the smoke smoldering from the wreckage of the Towers, from my bedroom window still haunts me.

When I first heard about Howard Johnson playing for the Rockland Boulders this weekend so he could join his son Glen I thought it was a silly stunt but then I thought it’s an Independent League so really who cares?

Jason Bay to center field? Flanked by #ImWith28 and The Dude? Better find some pitchers with a high GB/FB ratio.

Safe to say something will happen with the dimensions of the Great Wall of Flushing, like cutting the wall in half to 8 ft. I’ve stood on the warning track under that Great Wall and that is some rarified air up there. Bringing in the fences is not needed but an 8 ft left field wall will make a big improvement and hopefully help the stigma that David Wright and Jason Bay seem to have with the wall.

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METS BLOGGERS Q & A WITH METS VP OF PLAYER DEVELOPMENT/AMATEUR SCOUTING, PAUL DE PODESTA

June 30, 2011 by 2 Comments

Last night I had the privilege to be invited to a Mets bloggers conference call with New York Mets V.P. of Player Development and Amateur Scouting, Paul DePodesta. The conference call was to start at 6:30PM and the problem I had was I had a game at that time with my Babe Ruth League team. Thankfully I have a great bench coach to run the dugout and make moves and one of the parents who is a coach as well helped out while I headed to the car to call in on the conference call, by the way, we won 5-4 to keep our first place lead at two games.  

When I do one of these calls I always like to write down about 5 or 6 questions just in case someone asks a similar question. For this call I had 8 questions for DePodesta, but when it came to my turn I decided to go with this:

“Looking at the recent draft, the breakdown of picks was nearly even between pitchers and position players. Was that the plan going into the draft? Looking at the complete draft, it seemed like there were clusters of picks that went especially towards pitching. Was this done because they were the best pick available at that time, or was this something that was planned ahead — targeting pitching especially towards the middle and late rounds of the draft?”

DePo’s response was:

“To answer the first question about the 50/50 split — to be honest I didn’t even know that, so that wasn’t necessarily our plan going in. I think that’s generally how it falls, even with our rosters. Most of our minor league clubs are going to be about 50/50 between pitchers and position players. In terms of clustering some of the picks around a certain position or around pitching, that certainly was planned. We felt there was a particular depth – an unusual depth – of pitching in this year’s draft. There were some moments where we wanted to take position players, where we felt like if we were going to get the position player we wanted we needed to take them now. And after that we felt there was going to be a pool of pitching to choose from. We attacked that pool aggressively and when that pool was exhausted we re-evaluated where we were and went back to some position players. One of the things you’ll probably see is that rounds two through five were all college pitching. Once we got to round ten it was mainly high school pitching. That was certainly a calculated decision made before the draft.”

The one thing you read about this past entry draft was it that it was deep in pitching and the Mets took advantage of that depth.

I was going to ask about how the negotiations were going with Brandon Nimmo and if we will see Michael Fulmer, Cory Mazzoni or Jack Leathersich on the MCU Park mound this summer. I really wanted to ask if the team has thought about hiring Rick Peterson as a system wide pitching czar using Peterson’s expertise in the physics of pitching and his working relationship with Dr. Glenn Fleisig of American Sports Medicine Institute. To me this is a perfect match since Peterson, Sandy Alderson and DePodesta all have a working relationship going back to their Oakland days.

I’m pretty sure I can speak for all the Mets bloggers who have been invited to these conference calls and to the events at Citi Field that we have gotten more insight into how this organization operates and are thank full for the opportunities the Mets have given us. The new front office has a great deal of respect for us and for the Mets fans and they seem to enjoy these conference calls as much as we do.

A big thank you to Shannon Forde and Danielle Parillo of the Mets for arranging the calls and events at Citi Field.

Thanks also to Michael Baron of Mets Blog and James Kannengieser and Alex Nelson of Amazin’ Avenue for putting together transcripts of the conference call.

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NY METS AT THE CROSSROADS

May 4, 2011 by 1 Comment

Last couple of days I’ve been  busy as all hell with real work, setting up podcasts and coaching so I’m a bit behind with my Mets rants so let me get right to ‘em:

Really were you shocked to hear that Jenry Meija blew out his elbow and is headed for Tommy John surgery? Last night on the BBA Baseball Talk Podcast, D.J. Short of Hard Ball Talk and Rotoworld was a guest and we both felt the same way, we weren’t surprised. Of course the first reaction is to curse Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel for their misuse of Mejia last season and to say that the organization didn’t do it’s best to work with Mejia to get him to use the proper pitching mechanics to try to help avoid this type of injury but as a baseball layman I really don’t know how much any of this played in Mejia blowing out his elbow.

After speaking to Rick Peterson for a bit during the winter he spoke about working on pitchers mechanics as the easy part of coaching it’s getting that pitcher to repeat the proper mechanic, that’s the hard part.

The one bright spot, I guess is most pitchers who endure TJ surgery comeback as good as ever with proper rehab and instruction. Let’s hope that’s the case with Jenry Mejia.

Jose Reyes is on fire and it has not gone unnoticed around baseball. Some reports have the Giants looking real hard at making a play for Reyes and to tell you the truth I don’t envy Sandy Alderson with having to make the decision on what to do with Reyes. Part of me wants Reyes to stay and sign a new deal and live happily ever after in Flushing. Then I think well if the Giants are as desperate as the should be (Mike Fontenot batting 3rd?) and you can pry away RHP Zach Wheeler and LHP Eric Surkamp in a Reyes deal that would be hard to turn down. The outcry from a large portion of this fan base will be ear splitting but then again this Mets fan base is the most Bi-polar any fan base in sports. They want to win but they don’t want to deal anyone they have affection for. The Reyes fans want him here forever as does the David Wright fans but as soon as both these Faces of the Franchise slump, they blame them for everything but the Skill Sets shity investments. You can’t have it your way all the time. Sometimes the adults have to make the big decisions and even the most casual baseball fan knows you’re nothing without pitching.  So the question you ask yourself is do I want to build a winning team or do I want to keep players I like around and finish in the second division again and again  or do I think it’s time to revamp my team and go with a new game plan? After all that I still don’t know what the Mets should with Reyes and I wonder if Sandy Alderson feels the same way?

I do know this, The Skill Sets need to sell the team, if not all of it a majority of it as it would break my heart to see the Mets end up like the Dodgers and not be able to meet payroll. Either Fred gets some new cash flowing into this organization or the Skill Sets need to get the fuck out. I’m tired of all this sentimentality bullshit from him, his incompetent brother in law and his dopey kid, about wanting to keep the team in the family for years and years. You should have though about that when your pal Bernie was fucking you over but you didn’t see it because the money was flowing like a Niagara Falls. Now you want sympathy. You won’t get it here, my sympathy is with the team and with Mets fan, Fred you love the Mets so much then do the right thing, sell the whole fucking kit and caboodle and keep a little piece for you along with a suite and go off into the sunset.

Those caps the Mets wore last night were horrendous, I thought I was watching an episode of 30 Rock.

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THE SANDY ALDERSON CONFERENCE CALL

December 10, 2010 by 5 Comments

Just finished up the conference call with Sandy Alderson and here are a few observations:

From a bloggers stand point Alderson treated us with a lot of respect and said he will try to meet with us in this forum as often as he can, which is smart as he is bringing his message to the fans and not to some wind bag on talk radio or MSM-types with hidden agendas.

I asked him about the urgency of putting together the starting pitching staff and Alderson agreed that it is a top priority. The FO is not looking at guys who will pitch for low salary but he is looking at low risk/high reward types. More to the fact, he is looking at doctors reports on pitchers (obviously Chris Young and Jeff Francis) He will not sit back and wait to see who falls in his lap and by the end of the month he hopes to have acquired some arms for the rotation.

Alderson understands the frustration and the passion of the fan base and he enjoys the feedback from the Mets fans. He seems to be tired of all the Moneyball questions and said if ownership wanted him to run team as a small market club he would not have taken the job. He is well aware that this is the major of major markets which reads to me that Alderson will run the Mets similar to how the Red Sox are run.

The best part of the conference call was when Alderson addressed the minor league system and how he wants it run. He hit on every issue I have screamed about here for years. The minor league managers and coaches will hold to strict set of guidelines on how to play the game, this way as the minor leaguers move up the ladder, there are no surprises. Everything you worked on and learned in Rookie Ball will be implemented in A, AA and AAA. Alderson then said that everyone players, coaches, mangers, instructors etc. will be given field manuals on how the Mets Way will be followed. Excuse me I think I need a moment (Deeeeeeeeep Breeeeeeeeeeeath) I’m sorry, I’m just so happy!!!!!!

The naming of the coaching staff is being held up due to administrative paper work but it seems all the names we’ve heard, Obie as bench coach, Mookie at 1st base, Chip Hale at 3rd, Warthen PC, Dave Hudgens hitting coach and Jon Debus as bullpen coach. Official announcement will be made Monday or Tuesday.

For a more in depth view of the call check out Mets Blog.

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