Mets' Main Man

Rooting Backwards

2009-09-19T20:54:03Z

Sorry for the long layoff between posts, but I only want to post when I feel like it. I don't want to get myself feeling like I have to post and then I decide to quit again.

~~~

Anyway, the Mets have been officially eliminated from playoff contention. As of right now, the Mets would have the sixth overall pick in next year's draft. Only Washnigton, Baltimore, Pittsburge, Kansas City, and Cleveland have worse records than them. This year Sports Illustrated picked the Mets to win the world series. Of course, its the curse of SI! Anyway, I am rooting for the Mets to lose every single game now. I do not expect them to get the worse overall record because they are 12.5 games ahead of the Nationals right now. The Pirates are also a bit too far back. But the Mets can very easily catch up to the Royals, Indians, and Orioles. Ideally the Mets can finish 28th this year and get the third overally draft pick next year. Hopefully since the Nationals just signed Stephen Strasburg and the Pirates aren't in the best financial situation, they will both pass on Bryce Harper. Then the Mets can draft him and sign him to whatever crazy bonus Scott Boras demands, then he can become the next Mike Piazza and hit 600 home runs as a Mets catcher and jump right into the history books. Not to mention propel the Mets to a World Series championship.

Losing is easy right? Now the trick is to make it seem like you are trying to win otherwise you may get banned from baseball, a la the 1919 White Sox.

Lots of Thinking

2009-09-09T19:48:50Z

NOTE: This was supposed to be posted Wednesday, but I forgot to publish it. :p

Today is my last day before school starts. I've had a great summer watching the Mets and just relaxing from school, but today I have been so bored. None of my friends are around, except one. We walked to the pizzeria for lunch and then came back to my house for about 20 minutes before his mom called and he had to leave. There is nothing to do. I am tired of video games, the internet only goes so far, there is no baseball game on now, and there is nobody to go outside and play with. My little sister is complaining how bored she is but she is too lazy to go outside. I am playing fall little league but that doesn't even start until tomorrow. I think I am ready to go back to school.

But all today I have been thinking, doing lots of thinking. So here are some random thoughts I have had:

Look at all the great baseball players who have there baseball careers cut short from the military: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Hoyt Wilhelm, Christy Mathewson, Bob Feller, Yogi Berra. There are a lot more. Imagine how good their numbers would be if they got to play all those years!
Last night the Mets TV station, SNY, did a silent sixth inning. They gave the broadcaster's the inning off. It was actually very boring. Because at this point in the year the game does not even matter, and the actually game wasn't very exciting anyway. I was watching and then just started thinking about school starting and before I knew it there were two outs.I need the broadcasters to keep me entertained at this point of the year. Now if I was AT the game that would be different of course, because then I can look around a lot and see the whole field.
Uhh, what other thoughts do I have? I forget. I am so bored right now my attention span has shrunk to the size of Eddie Gaedel.

Next time I make a blog post I will be back in school. Hopefully then I will be less bored and actually be motivated to make a good post. :p

Out of It

2009-09-05T11:27:29Z

Last night, I was watching the Mets game. It was a great game, low score, fast pace. Cory Sullivan hit a solo homer in the second inning and that was the only run in the game until the seventh, when the Cubs tied it. In the eighth Kevin Gregg came in and then was replaced by Angel Guzman. Together they allowed the Mets to score 5 runs to make it 6-1. It was a great inning, the Mets were putting together hit after hit after hit after hit. Very exciting to watch, terriffic rally. The only thing was, I wasn't very excited.

I mean, I was glad that the Mets were winning and it was fun to watch, but the whole time I was thinking, "So what, this doesn't mean anything. I would love this if we were in a pennant race but this doesn't mean anything."

Often I have wondered what it is like to be a fan of the Royals, or the Nationals, or the Pirates, or the Padres. I think to myself, "I wonder how they get through the season, when they know the games don't count for anything."

So I ask you: if you are a fan of a losing ballclub, how do you get through the season?

How to Spend Money

2009-08-26T16:33:53Z

I could sit here and rant about what a stupid move Omar Minaya made with Billy Wagner and how Chris Carter won't help us as we have about a kabajillion first baseman in our system who could play just as well as him (from what I've heard Carter is an exact clone of Nick Evans), but instead I am going to talk about how the Mets should spend their money this offseason.

So this year the payroll is about $140 million. I know there are websites where I can look up the exact number but I am feeling a bit lasy right now so I am not going to do that. But I do know that the Mets can have a maximum payroll of about $160 million. So what are we going to do with that money? Well lets see, Carlos Delgado will be gone next year, so minus about 10 million we have about $30 million to spend during the winter months. I know that certain players will go to arbitration and get a salary increase but then again the Mets won't have to pay for certain players who are no longer on the Mets, like Marlon Anderson and Duaner Sanchez who were both released.

We will not be in need of an expensive free agent to replace Carlos Delgado as Daniel Murphy has filled that slot. We will however need a new power bat to replace Delgado, and since first base is a power position not being used for power, the Mets should use a non-power position for power. Let's see, we have Luis Castillo at second base and I don't think Micah Owings is available so scratch pitcher off the list. Let's take catcher.

Right now our catchers are Brian Scheider and Omir Santos. Schneider is a dismal hitter but an okay defensive catcher. Santos is a decent hitter and he calls a good game. He plays good defense. So forget about Schneider, he will be a free agent anyway. What catchers are good offensively?

Joe Mauer is obviously not available for next year, the Twins are not going to trade him. However when he becomes a free agent Omar Minaya better sign him or else he should be fired.
Brian McCann is probably the next best option, but duh, we can't have him either. Lets move on.
Jorge Posada is good offensively but horrible defensively plus he is a Yankee for life so I doubt any Mets fans would want him.
Victor Martinez is a terrific hitter but as a catcher he is not very good, more of a first baseman.
Bengie Molina is a great option. He can hit about 15-20 home runs a year and he will be a free agent this offseason I believe. Also, I've heard he is not that better defensively and can call a decent game.

So Bengie Molina is our winner for catcher. This year he is earning $6 million but since his batting average is down from recent years and his strikeouts are up, he will probably take a pay cut. I am thinking he will probably go for around $4 million. So add Bengie Molina, now we have about $26 million left to spend.

We are also going to need a left fielder because ever since Daniel Murphy moved to first base we haven't had one. As I said earlier in the year, the Mets should trade for Carl Crawford but obviously that won't happen because Omar Minaya is an idiot. Hopefully the Rays don't pick up his option but they almost positively will. So to the two big left fielders on the market are Jason Bay (although I still think he will sign an extension with the Red Sox) and Matt Holliday. Manny Ramirez has a player option for $20 million next year which he has said he will pick up, although knowing Manny nothing is certain. Bobby Abreu will also be available this offseason, I really think he is a peerfect fit. Johnny Damon is also another really good fit for the Mets who will be a free agent. What is the problem with all of these guys? They are all Type A Free Agents, meaning if we sign them we must give up two first round draft picks. Now, when Delgado and Gary Sheffield leave, they are Type B free agents so we will get second round compensation for them but last year we signed the Type A Francicso Rodriguez so this year we really need to do a good draft. Plus, Bengie Molina is a Type A Free agent so if we get him, we really shouldn't touch any others.

NOTE: Since the Mets will most likely end up in the Bottom 15 this year, they only have to give up one first round pick and one second round pick for a Type A FA. For Type Bs, they have to give up one second round and one third round.

So who can play left field but is not a Type A free agent? How about Scott Podsednik of the Chicago White Sox. He is a speedy guy who is good at getting on base. He is a perfect number 2 hitter to hit behind Jose Reyes and he can steal a lot of bases to go along with his good defense. This year he is making around $800k so I hopewe can sign him for around 1 million, but I'll go with $2 million to be safe. So check off Scott Podsednik, we now have around $24 million left to spend.

Also, we need two good starting pitchers.

If you want to bite the bullet with Type B free agents, Joel Piniero, Jarrod Washbrun, Andy Pettitte, Randy Wolf and Jason Marquis are all excellent choices. But for the sake of our draft picks, forget Type Bs. Justin Duchscherer and Washburn are both at the cusp though and if we are lucky they will fall out of Type B status. I can see it happening with both.

If Type As and Bs are off limits, there really aren't many good options for starting pitcher. There are many guys with high upsides but lots of risk like Kelvim Escobar, John Smoltz, and Jason Schmidt, but frankly they aren't worth it. I wish the Mets would have kept Wagner to get his conpensation picks so they could be more aggressive with the free agency but like I said before Minaya is an idiot.

So what would I do? I would hope Duchscherer or Washburn fall off of Type B, and sign either one of them (if not both) if they do. Then I would try to sign Brett Myers. Myers has Cy Young stuff but he is coming off an injury. Plus he is a Phillie who most Mets fans despise with all their guts, but you know what, there aren't other options.

So since Duchscherer has been out all year, we should get him for about $3 million. Washburn is making $10 million this year, he is having a great year and will most likely not even be a Type B player in a horrible market. So I say we can sign him for about $16 million. And Myers is making $12 million this year, no way that happens again next year, I say we can sign him for maybe $9 million.

So let me do the math here....

That would come out to $4 million over the budget I set. We probably won't be able to get Myers anyway so don't worry about that. Now obviously I mean HOPEFULLY Minaya will make a trade or two this winter so this will not be necessary. But we need a left fielder, bad, and we need two good starters really bad. A new catcher will also be necessary. I can see the Mets going after Ramon Hernandez if his option is declined.

Anyway the Mets better have a very busy offseason or else Omar Minaya has got to go.

Storybook Ending for 2009

2009-08-24T17:11:57Z

Here is my storybook ending the Mets can have this year.

It turns out that the team that claimned Billy Wagner off of waivers was actually the Phillies and Ken Rosenthal's report was false. Pedro Martinez pitches horribly in a start with the Phillies and after Jimmy Rollins calls him out for sabotaging his team from the inside out to help the Mets, Pedro starts a fist fight in the clubhouse and the Phillies suddenly hate Pedro. The teams work out a trade with Pedro for Wagner straight up and Pedro comes back to the Mets to put up a .68 ERA in his next 4 starts for the Mets, including a perfect game against the Phillies on August 13 in Philly.
David Wright and JJ Putz both come back on Sept 1 and both play amazingly from then on.
Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado both come back later that week and propel the offense to a 13 game winning streak.
Carlos Beltran suffers a setback in rehab and breaks his leg, but he comes back anyway to the Mets on August 21 because his team needs him. That day he hits a pinch hit walkoff home run aganist the Braves to eliminate them from Wild Card contention.
Then on August 27, John Maine comes off the DL and pitches a shutout in Florida to eliminate the Marlins from the playoff race and play spoiler like the Marlins did each of the last two years at Shea.
The Mets then go on to play perfect in the postseason and they sweep the Yankees in the World Series.

How does that sound?

Thoughts on the Wagner Situation

2009-08-24T15:08:51Z

I am back from Cooperstown, I loved it! The Hall of Fame was everything I thought it would be and more, pretty awesome. I don't think I can share the pictures though because I took them in a disposable camera. Sorry.

Anyway, as you may have heard, Billy Wagner was claimed off waivers by the Boston Red Sox. The Mets have 3 options: A) let him go to the Red Sox, a la Alex Rios, and let the Red Sox pay the 3 million dollar remainder of his contract B) work out a trade with the Red Sox by midnight on Tuesday C) pull Wagner off of waivers and keep him.

I personally think the Mets should keep Billy Wagner. They are in no bad situation with money, so they can afford to keep him. Besides, if they traded him to the Red Sox, what kind of player would we get? A C level prospect? Who cares. I say keep him the rest of the year, decline his option (there is a 1 million buyout, but big deal), offer arbitration.

Now if Wagner accepts the arbitration, okay, fine. We will get to keep a player as good as him and we will most likely have to pay him no more than 4 of 5 million, as opposed to 8 million. Then we pitch him a lot during the season and build up his value, then we can trade him for a good prospect or maybe even a nice little package.

But I highly doubt Billy Wagner would accept arbitration. He wants to be a closer next year and he knows he would not be able to do that with the Mets, as they have Francisco Rodriguez. This is good, we want Wagner to decline arbitration.

Billy Wagner is a Type A free agent. This means that if we offer him arbitration and he declines, whatever team signs him in the offseason owes the Mets. If it is a team that finished in the Top 15 this year, the Mets get two of their top draft picks in the first round of the draft. If the team is a Bottom 15 team, the Mets get two picks in the second round of the draft. Pretty good, and almost certainly better than any prospects the Mets will get in a trade.

To me this a no-brainer. Right? But of course Major League General Managers aren't so smart.

I Need to Hire a Babysitter

2009-08-20T12:13:06Z

Well I am back from Boston. I've been back since Monday, actually, but I have been too busy to blog. See, I have been getting ready for my next adventure. My dad is taking me to Cooperstown tomorrow and I am coming back Saturday. I won't be gone as long as Boston, but the car ride is longer, so I've been buying stuff like DVD's and CD's for my IPod. I also had to get some crackers because I get car sick really fast.

Boston was great. I really liked that place. We stayed in Cambridge which is the next town over. I absoluetly LOVED Fenway Park. It was the most fun thing I have ever done, ever. We were going to watch a Red Sox game, but they were out of town, so we took a tour instead. We got to sit in the grandstand, see the Fisk Foul Pole, check out the view from the Green Monster, and the best part: we got to sit in the Press Box. I was sitting in the Boston Globe seat. I think that's where Nick Cafardo sits. That's pretty awesome, he is one of the top baseball writers in the country. I've decided that is what I want to do when I grow up. Sit in the press box behind home plate and get paid to write up a nice little summary of the game and throw my thoughts in. Basically blogging but I get to go to every game for free and I get the best seat in the house.

There were only two negatives to the trip, both being minor. 1 was my parents were constantly fighting with the stupid GPS (my mom likes to do things herself even though she is good with technology and my dad is practically a caveman with that stuff and wants all the help he can get, only he doesn't want to admit it). 2 was my family slept in late and waited until like 9:30 to take showers so I didn't get to have breakfast until around 10:30 (I am the only early bird). I guess I deserved it since I kept them up all night by talking in my sleep :p.

I did take lots of pictures, but my mom still hasn't uploaded them to the computer yet. I may give you them along with my Cooperstown pictures, but I don't know if I will take any since its my mom's camera.

But when I turned on ESPN in the hotel room before I went to bed, I saw a horrific site: Matt Cain hitting David Wright in the head with a 94 MPH fastball. He got a concussion, and you guessed it, he went to the DL. I guess David didn't follow my advice, did he?

This is crazy. I leave town for no more than one weekend and all heck breaks loose. Why can't they play nice?

But it's not just the Mets. During the past month, it seems like there has been a very large increase in hit batsmen, and a specifically large percent of that being to the head area.

I think Major League Baseball needs to take action. Start suspending players. Brad Thompson got 3 games and Rick Porcello got 5 games. Why? Because people suspected there was intent.

Now, I am not saying that I think Matt Cain hit David Wright on purpose, I think that was a complete accident. But I am saying that a lot more of the cases lately have definitely been on purpose.

Since I will be gone this weekend and unable to police this, I leave all of my fellow MLBloggers in charge. If anyone gets hit with a pitch, and I mean ANYONE, even if you think there was no intent, I want you to blog about it. Then leave me a comment with the link and I will read it. I will read all of them. Then we can e-mail Bud Selig and maybe make a change.

Good luck, MLBlogs. I am trusting you.

I'm Shipping Up To Boston

2009-08-13T22:14:34Z

Hey guys, don't expect me to be blogging this weekend, although I never usually come on during the weekend. But this time I will not be around much baseball. I am going to miss the deadline to sign draft picks, and whatever else happens this weekend, but I am willing to make that trade.

This weekend I am going to the best baseball town in the world - Boston! My dad already promised me that he'll take me to a tour of Fenway park as long as I go to the Freedom Trail with him. Sure, I accepted that deal in two seconds flat!

Also, next weekend my dad is taking me to Cooperstown to see the MLB Hall of Fame. And then the last weekend in August my family is going to Washington D.C. Hmm, maybe I'll get to see a Nationals game if I am lucky.

Anyway, I will leave you with the entrance music for New York Met first baseman Daniel Murphy, as well as Boston's star closer Jonathan Papelbon. Courtesy of the Dropkick Murphys. Enjoy!

Food for Thought

2009-08-11T14:16:53Z

The Mets have had 17 different guys on the disabled list throughout the season, not mentioning several guys having multiple stints on that list. 17 out of a 25 man roster. That is 68 percent. Think about that.

Now I am going to give you another statistic. This year, the Mets have used 47 different players on the major league team. 17 injured players, 47 overall. That is 36 percent.

36 percent. 36 percent of all Mets this year have been injured.

That is more than a third. So next time you think that the Mets suck this year, and Mets fans just use injuries as an excuse, think about what your team could do with over a third of its roster missing. That is 8.25 players, but since you can't have a quarter of a player on the DL, lets just say he is Day to Day throughout the season and can not play more than 5 consecutive days.

So lets think about it.

If the Red Sox were missing Kevin Youkilis, Dustin Pedroia, Jason Bay, Victor Martinez, Josh Beckett, Jon Lester, Jonathan Papelbon, and Mike Lowell for the entire year, could they make the playoffs? Now obviously all of the Mets players are not all out for the whole year but we have had 17 different guys on the DL, so according to my math that is equivalent to have that 36 percent out the whole year, since after all, these Red Sox are only 8 guys. Now also say J.D. Drew can not play more than 4 or 5 games in a row since he is Day to Day. All season.

Now think about the Dodgers. Minus Manny Ramirez, James Loney, Matt Kemp, Russell Martin, Clayton Kershaw, Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton, and Andre Ethier. For the whole year. And Orlando Hudson is day to day. Could this team make the playoffs?

Could the Yankees make the playoffs if they did not have CC Sabathia, AJ Burnett, Mark Teixiera, Jorge Posada, Robinson Cano, Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez and Mariano Rivera? And Nick Swisher is day to day?

Take the Giants. Now take away Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Brian Wilson, Pablo Sandoval, Bengie Molina, Freddy Sanchez, Randy Winn, Nate Schierholtz, and list anyone else as day to day. Not a playoff team. And I said anyone else because I really couldn't think of any other role players on that team. Certainly not making the playoffs then.

The Angels could not play in October if they did not have Chone Figgins, John Lackey, Brian Fuentes, Maicer Iztures, Mike Napoli, Vladmir Guererro, Kendry Morales, and Jaun Rivera all gone. And Bobby Abreu is day to day.

Picture the Phillies without Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cliff Lee, Shane Victorino, J.A. Happ, Brad Lidge, Jayson Werth, and Pedro Feliz is day to day.

I think you get my point. There is not a single team in baseball who could endure what the Mets are going through. You have to give them credit for being able to still have a better record than 9 other teams up until this point. And remember them while you make your predictions for the 2010 season.

How to Prevent Another Mets Injury

2009-08-05T15:49:14Z

You see that? That is David Wright. Although he doesn't want you to know. See the way he is dressed up? He doesn't want people to see that he is a ballplayer, much less a Met. Know why? Because he is the only everyday player not to get hurt this year for the Mets.

Brian Schneider, catcher.
Carlos Delgado, first baseman.
Luis Castillo, second baseman.
Ramon Martinez, second baseman.
Jose Reyes, shortstop.
Alex Cora, shortstop.
Ryan Church, right field.
Carlos Beltran, center field.
Gary Sheffield, left field.
Fernando Martinez, left field.
Angel Pagan, left field.
Oliver Perez, starting pitcher.
John Maine, starting pitcher.
J.J. Putz, reliever.
Billy Wagner, reliever.

That's right, someone from EVERY position has gotten hurt this year. Except third base. Except David Wright. And the strangest injury? Luis Castillo's. Last night, he fell down the dugout steps. You gotta be kidding me. You'd think they've been hanging around Carl Pavano or something.

Before, I blamed the Mets trainors and team doctors. But I finally found out who is behind all of this:

Look what he did to the Liberty Bell:

This guy is a monster. And he is proud of himself, too! Look what I caught him doing last night after Castillo went down:

He set a darn booby trap! This guy sure is sneaky! David Wright needs to get some Secret Service to protect him! But still, is that enough? Look at this:

He even got to President Bush! Man this guy is good! Look what he did to Mr. Met!

Luckily, I am here. I can save David Wright. I came up with three ways he can protect himself.

1. Dress up as Waldo.

Where's David?

2. Hire Chuck Norris.

He even has his own Yu-gi-oh card! Does the Philly Phanatic have one?

3. Practice against Jose Reyes so he knows how to win.

Uh-oh, it looks like Jose might make the Phanatic's job a bit easier.

Oh and if you see David Wright doing this:

that just means that the Phantic is giving him mercy so long as he does something embarassing.

Good luck David.

It's Not Over Yet

2009-07-30T19:43:10Z

With the Mets current 5 game winning streak, and another game tonight as part of a doubleheader, there is no doubt they are doing great right now. If they sweep the Rockies tonight they will be only 3 games out of the Wild Card. Omar Minaya cannot give up yet. This year is like many other years for the Mets. They are far back but then make a great run to get back in it. I guarantee it that in a month or two they will be driving me crazy, they will keep losing but still be in the race. But maybe the Mets will make a trade today or tomorrow.

Ryan Garko was the perfect fit for the Mets, a good, affordable, young player who is under contract and can hit. The only problem is that Daniel Murphy has found a home at first base and he may even stay there when Carlos Delgado comes back. Murphy is playing gold glove defense in fact, so I would like to see what happens then.

But the Rays want to shed payroll. They have been linked in rumor to be shopping Scott Kazmir to the Mets, but we don't want him. Carlos Pena is also available, and I heard Carl Crawford can also be traded in an offer they can't turn down. We don't need Pena unless he can play some other position than first base, which as far as I know he can't, but Kazmir and Crawford would be absolutely PERFECT fits. Admit it, Oliver Perez sucks, and Jon Niese may not be full-time ready for the bigs. We need a lefty. We need a new starter anyway, because Livan Hernandez is starting to fall off the table, and Mike Pelfrey is not that consistant. Scott Kazmir is having a bad year, but pitching coach Dan Warthen is good at fixing guys like him. He is a good buy-low candidate. As for Crawford, we need a left fielder. We never had a left fielder, all year. At first it was supposed to be Daniel Murphy, but he stunk there so he got moved to first base. Since then we've had Fernando Martinez, Gary Sheffield, Cory Sullivan, Nick Evans, and Jeremy Reed. None have worked. We don't have a left fielder for next year, either, unless you think F-Mart will magically be a viable option next year. Crawford is the ideal player for Citi Field; great defense, great speed, and a line drive hitter who has decent pop in his bat. Imagine all the triples we'd have between him and Jose Reyes. It would be so much fun to watch! I say trade the whole farm. Trade Jennry Mejia, trade Brad Holt, trade Ike Davis, whoever it takes. How many prospects like them actually wind up being successful major leaguers? And more successful then Scott Kazmir or Carl Crawford? Not many. The chances are so slim that they will be a star, I say make a trade.

This season isn't over yet, this hot surge has gotten me even more pumped for this year.

MARK BUERHLE!!!!!!

2009-07-24T20:28:15Z

I went to turn on the TV yesterday to play some video games, and it was already set to ESPN2's Scott Van Pelt Show. Naturally, I watched it for a minute or two just to see if what they were talking about was interesting, when I heard Ryen Russillo say that Mark Buerhle had a perfect game through six innings. I flipped through the channels to see if the game was on TBS or something, but it wasn't. So I started playing The BIGS 2, but every 5 minutes I am constantly flipping back to ESPN2 to see if they were talking about Mark Buerhle, but no. So around 4:00pm when the Scott Van Pelt Show was over, I turned off the video games to watch my favorite show, SportsNation. But then I remembered that the MLB Network had live look ins for really important moments like when a batter is about to hit for the cycle, or, you know, just IN CASE, a perfect game. So of course I flip to the MLB Network. And it is the top of the ninth, just in time for you know what. The very first thing I hear the announcer say is that Mark Buerhle is perfect through eight. Then I get really excited and the next thing I know the center fielder makes that amazing catch. I got so excited about that catch that all day today I've been running around the house, camp, wherever I am and looking for something to jump on top of like I am D. Wise. Then Buerhle gets behind the next guy 3-1, and I say to myself, "Oh no, is he giong to walk him?" But of course he strikes him out. And then Jason Bartlett (someone please explain to me why he is batting ninth) grounds it to the shortstop Alexei Ramirez. It seemed like forever for that ball to get to him, I thought he would boot it. And then I thought he would blow the throw. But no, it was good, a perfect game. Congrats Mark.

And by the way, I would like to note that I have Mark Buerhle on my fantasy team in the MLBloggers League. Do I get some kind of prize or something? Do I automatically win the whole thing? :D

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This has nothing to do with Buerhle, but it pretty much sums up the Mets whole season so far in two minutes. Enjoy this video posted on YouTube by tstrongmets20.

I'm Pumped

2009-07-23T17:36:57Z

A couple of days ago there were the rumors of Roy Halladay. There still are. But there was one rumor in particular that caught my attention. The Blue Jays supposedly made an offer to the Mets about Roy Halladay. This caught me off guard, as I didn't think the Jays were making offers, just listening to them. But the Mets would get Roy Halladay, and they would give up top prospect Fernando Martinez, lefty pitcher Jon Niese, righty reliever Bobby Parnell (who is currently on the big league roster and has been there all season), and Double-A 17 year old shortstop Ruben Tejada. There were reports saying that this was not at all true. For all we know the Bluue Jays made it up to make the Phillies hurry and possibly give up more, or maybe the Mets made it up and rejected it to give their prospects extra confidence. Whatever it was, if it was really a true offer, I would have accepted it in a heartbeat and if Omar Minaya really rejected it then I would fire him. Here is why:

No question, Roy Halladay is one of the top 3 pitchers in baseball. Him along with Johan Santana would definitely be the best 1-2 punch in the majors, and possibly in history. I am convinced that whoever acquires Roy Hallladay will make the playoffs, and that is no exception to the Mets. According to MLBTradeRumors.com Halladay could demand to be traded after this season if he is traded this season. That is a little scary because you think you are getting him for 1210 since he is under contract, but if that was the case he would probably just veto the deal in the first place because of his no trade clause. If the Mets acquired Halladay it would signal to all the fans and even the players that the season is not yet over and we are still in this.
Fernando Martinez is a bust. Sure he is still young but so far he stinks, he hasn't helped this team at all. He is hurt and even if he comes back it will be too late to help the Mets. If they are convinced Jeff Francoeur will be great for the future, and that Nick Evans will be good in the future, and Carlos Beltran is still under contract for two more years, we don't need F-Mart. Besides, Halladay will surely be a Type A free agent so we will get draft picks, or we could trade him again and get another top prospect.
I do think Jon Niese will be a good pitcher, and he could come up this season, maybe even this month to help the Mets. But Roy Halladay will obviously be better. You will never get someone for free. Jon Niese will not be an ace ever, maybe just a two or three starter at best. So he is a small price to pay.
Bobby Parnell has a great fastball, but that is it. No secondary pitches, and his control is limited. I don't know why the organization is so high on him. Especially since we have other pitching prospects like Eddie Kunz and Dillon Gee on the fringe of coming up.
Ruben Tejada is 17, so we don't know if he ever do anything important. He is a shortstop, and we have Jose Reyes, so we don't need him. From what I've heard he is a good, not great, fielder and a terrible hitter. That isn't that hard to find. We have other good shortstop prospects like Reese Havens and Wilmer Flores. Flores is according to some people and even better prospect than Fernando Martinez. Others say he is the organizations's number two prospect. Whatever, he is supposedly really good. He is also 17, but he is supposed to be a great hitter. I heard that they plan to move him to a different position, but if something happens to Reyes and we need him there I don't see why he can't go back.
We would get to keep our top pitching prospects in Brad Holt and Jennry Mejia.

It sounds like a no-brainer, but it was probably never really offered to the Mets in the first place. Anyway, just this rumor has gotten me excited and I know that someone important must have started it. Look, it was not some MLBlogger with nothing better to do making a story up. It was an important person, someone high in the MLB ranks who has the power to get this rumor circulating. So there has to be at least some validity to it, something that maybe means the Blue Jays like the Mets prospects, or the Mets want Roy Halladay. Whatever it is, it has gotten me pumped that something could be on the horizon.

Phony Berna-Tard

In other Mets news, the Director of Player Development was with the Double-A affiliate, the Binghamton Mets, when he took his his shirt off and challenged the players to fight him. I heard that he was drunk and some of the players, including underage ones, were also drunk. I bet this guy wouldn't actually dare to fight any of the players. I bet you could pick out any one of the players and they could beat this guy up. After all, who are the ones that lift weights and train and play a professional sport? I would love to see this guy actually fight anyone. How about the owners of the Mets? How about the general manager? This guy is the Director of Player Development, and I've heard he has better relationships with the owners than Omar Minaya does. That's crazy. This whole thing is stupid. It is macking a mockery of the Mets. They spent the majority of the Michael Kay show on ESPN Radio yesterday talking about this, and that show is like 3 hours. This whole thing is retarded. And the worse part? They haven't even fired Bernazard yet. And I've heard they don't plan to either. In a press conference yesterday, GM Omar Minaya said that the Mets would investigate the matter. Thats all he said. He said the word "investigate" at least 10 times. This is obviously not under control. But this also pumps me up. It makes me think, "Hey, maybe they will fire him. Maybe they will fire Omar, maybe they will fire the manager. Maybe they will fire the coaches, or the medical staff. Maybe they will decide they have to win just to get this off the back page, maybe they will make a trade." Now I am not endorsing firing anybody (except the medical staff, it is ridiculous how many injuries we've had), its just that this is not working and there needs to be change.

But whatever happens in the next week or two, I am excited about the rest of the season.

If The Mets Were Dead

2009-07-19T16:09:40Z

So I was thinking, with all the injuries the Mets have, they must have some sort of plan for when they come back. But what if they didn't come back? What if they all went into a truck to go to a rehab clinic together, and the truck drove off a cliff into a lake and they all died? Then what would the Mets do? They would be without Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, John Maine, J.J. Putz, Billy Wagner, and Fernando Martinez. Thats your center fielder, your first baseman, your shortstop, a starter, two relievers, and a top prospect. If I was the Mets GM, and I had to piece together this roster with guys in the minors and current free agents without making trades, here is what I would do.

1. Sign Julio Lugo, assuming he goes through waivers. He could platoon at shortstop with Alex Cora, who needs some time off.

2. Sign Miguel Sano. He just passed his age investigation and could replace Jose Reyes as an All-Star shortstop in a few years.

3. Call up Nelson Figueroa, and keep him in the Majors. Not just for a spot start, but for good.

4. Call up Jon Niese, he is ready for the bigs.

I don't know what else I would do, but I do know that with all those guys dead, I wouldn't have to pay them. So I could basically sign whoever I wanted. I would finish the year with this team and see if we could do anything, then I would sign all the best free agents on the market, and slowly begin the rebuilding process.

All-Star Game Recap; First Half Awards

2009-07-15T17:11:15Z

Blegh. I have to admit though, that was a nice catch by Carl Crawford.

Anyway, here are my first half awards for this season.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

MVP: Albert Pujols

Cy Young: Dan Haren

Rookie of the Year: Pablo Sandoval

Manager of the Year: Joe Torre

Biggest Surpise (team): Chicago Cubs (not an award, more like a deward for them)

Biggest Surprise (player) Raul Ibanez

AMERICAN LEAGUE

MVP: Mark Teixiera

Cy Young: Zack Grienke

Rookie of the Year: Rick Porcello

Manager of the Year: Ron Washington (because nobody expected the Rangers to do anything this year but he is keeping them in a pennant race, and he doesn't even have a gigantic payroll)

Biggest Surprise (team): Texas Rangers

Biggest Surprise (player): Brandon Inge