Explanation

I have been in the midst of a family emergency for some weeks now; not a bad one, but one requiring of my undue attention. That is why the blog has been inactive. Will post very soon concerning many things, but I had to hop on and chip in on this:

I have supported Omar Minaya from the get go, but right now I hate his miserable guts for making this team considerably worse. Milledge for Church and Schneider?

Lesser Awards

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I love David Wright as much as any other Met fan. He's a great guy, a great player, and a solid ambassador for this team. He also makes the occasional dazzling play at third base, but he is nowhere near deserving of the Gold Glove, an award that has become just laughable. There were 8 third basemen in the National League last year with higher fielding percentages, 7 with a higher range factor, and 6 with a higher zone rating. These, in my opinion, being the most telling yet accessible fielding statistics, Wright got real lucky, and won the award on popularity. The award has become a joke. Derek Jeter had won three in a row before this year, and he is the epitome of a slightly above average SS. There is a profound laziness apparently involved in the voting process these days; sometimes it appears that if there is no blatant choice at any given position, or an annual lock, a la Greg Maddux, the voters don't bother to research; they just pick the most popular guy with the biggest bat who isn't known for being a bad defensive player. For the love of God, the Colorado Rockies set Major League record for team FP, and didn't manage a single Gold Glove. Sorry, J-Roll, but Troy Tulowitzki was far and away the best defensive SS in baseball this year, not just the NL. The award needs a reworking, or needs to be eliminated otherwise, because when it becomes an offensive award, or some offensive prowess is a requirement, it is a useless thing. Mark Belanger of the '70s Orioles hit .228 with 20 total HR over an 18-year career and won a mountain of Gold Gloves. In this day and age, that just wouldn't happen. Maybe there needs to be a BCS type computer that determines Gold Gloves.

I guess congrats to Wright anyway, and more so to Carlos Beltran, who deserved his, and congrats to both of them for the Silver Sluggers, which they both deserved.

And despite my agreement with his overall point, it's not his place, and Larry Jones can shut his mouth. Credit to Metsblog for providing me with that story/link.

Kazmir Redux?

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Plainly, no. Reports have surfaced that the Rays may be open to shopping the left-handed 6-letter word, Scott Kazmir. Since the exhaustingly bemoaned dealing of Kazmir to Tampa in exchange for Victor Zambrano, the 23 year-old starter has gone 35-29 with a 3.64 era and 617 k's in 570.2 innings pitched on a horrendous team in the strongest offensive division the Majors have seen in some time. (Zambrano, for the record, was not fixed in 15 minutes...) Often I have wondered what things would look like had that deal never been made,and generally the scenarios I envision are pleasant.

But there are distinct reasons that this Met fan is certain that this ain't going down.

For one, I doubt the chips are there to go and get him. The right deal just doesn't seem to exist. There are plenty of deals for mid-range SP that make sense, along the Milledge-Blanton kind of line (Though I wouldn't support that particular deal), as well as absolute top-flite deals that seem feasible and worth it, i.e., the whole damn farm for Johan Santana. Problem with Kazmir is that Pelfrey and Humber probably isn't enough, while Pelfrey, Humber and anyone else of significant value might be too much, and less of a fit to Tampa's needs than what others may offer. I don't see it.

Beyond that, anything that were to be sacrificed in order to get Kazmir would seem almost like further spiritual jabs in the spine from Jim Duquette and Steve Phillips. Kinda like trading in a nice car for a lemon, building another nice car of your own, and trading that one in for the old one. You could have had it all. It just wouldn't feel right.

As in all cases involving the potential acquisitions of elite players by the Mets, if they worked something out magically, I guess I couldn't really complain all that much, but a good deal is hard to find.

Ha. Just as I peer up to my TV before hitting the button to publish this post, there's Duquette's mentor Steve Phillips on ESPN talking about the Dodgers.

Phew.

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So that was that. Two friends and I hopped in to my Jeep and drove out to Denver for games 3 and 4 of the 2007 world series. We returned to New York, however, in a rented Ford with Missouri plates, thanks to an errant spare tire, rim and all, that placed itself conveniently smack dab in the middle of the left lane on I-70 somewhere near Mizzou. Needless to say, I was thrilled with the outcome of the series, despite my admiration for the Troy Tulowitzki chant. At the risk of being unoriginal, I will say that Jonathan Papelbon should have been the MVP of that series, having sucked the thin mountain air out of any Rockies hope that was left after the Game 1 schellacking. Down as I was to see an Amazin-free postseason, I enjoyed the hell out of the Red Sox ride.

But what's done is done, and it's now the offseason, as Scott Boras so politely reminded us somewhere around the 7th inning of Game 4. With regards to A-Rod: COUNT ME IN! I can't begin to fathom why any fan of any team wouldn't want the best player in the game. I couldn't care less about his alleged baggage, with the strippers and what not; I couldn't care less about the slapped glove or the "HA" in Toronto. He hits 45+ home runs regularly. For the love of God how can anyone complain? And the postseason failure? I really don't buy that someone who is capable of putting up the sorts of numbers he has put up year after year, most notably this past year, under a lot of pressure in the biggest market, somehow always has and always will lose it in October. He's still hit .279 in 10 career postseason games with 7 hr. Sometimes, not always, but sometimes the whole can/can't get it done when it counts thing is a crock. Remember Barry Bonds not hitting in the playoffs, and the October he put together in '02? How about John Elway, after all? Or Captain Clutch Jeter and his .179 lds batting average, hitting into double plays like there was no tomorrow? At the end of the day, the playoffs can be so brief, in any major sport, that it can be very hard to judge how clutch a player is or not. (Again, there are some notable exceptions. I think Josh Beckett has shown us as much.)

So let me back off from all the controversy with Mr. Rodriguez for a minute and make a case. For one, see above. He's just an incredible baseball player. Period. Then factor in the PR generated by A-Rod coming to Shea. Admit it or not, it is every Met fan's dream to outright steal the back pages from the Yankees, and a move like this, the imminent arrival of Citi Field and some October ball in Queens, coupled with the current Yankee face-lift that could verge on rebuilding, would go a long way towards doing just that. Next, if an A-Rod jump across town did work out it would make for a hell of a story, considering the treatment he's received from those millions of people from New Jersey and Westchester who call themselves Yankee fans. I truly believe that Met fans would embrace him until he really blew it, and if he made good with New York on his childhood team his rep would be saved. Finally:
Reyes
Wright
A-Rod
Beltran
Even Philly couldn't hang with that.

But would he do it? Would the Mets do it?
As for the former, he'll go wherever on earth the money is, and would probably have some extra incentive to succeed in NYC, on the team he apparently rooted for when he was young.
Would the Mets do it? Why not? I honestly see them as a front-runner in all of this, if not only because they probably have more money to burn than anyone involved, especially because of the potential extra revenue A-Rod could generate. The New York market is essentially unlimited, while other markets can top out. Wright seems amenable to playing wherever management wants him to, even though I'd rather see him stay at 3B and see Alex slotted in elsewhere, such as first. Delgado and a lot of cash for some pitching help, anyone? The Red Sox have a very cohesive team right now, and I don't see a John Henry whose hedge fund is losing money by the day messing with that by taking on another 30 mil a year in one ballplayer fresh off winning a series with the guys he's got. The Cubs don't even truly know who their owner is, and that kind of investment could get dicey. Arte Moreno and Bill Stoneman in Anaheim haven't pulled the trigger on a huge bat to join Vlad yet, so who's to say they'd do it now? I see the Dodgers as the major contender here, and they flat out don't have the kind of money the Mets do, nor the balls that Omar has. Go get him, dammit. Now.

Week Off

The blog will be out of action for a week, as I am driving to Colorado having run into some World Series tickets. Go Sox.

Hey Guys! It's Us! No, Over Here!

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You'd think the New York Metropolitans had died or moved to Kansas. Fade to black. From the last week of September: the great pulling of teeth, to the first week in October: the exodus, the week of sorrow, pain, disgust and anger, to nothing. I swear I haven't heard a thing about the Mets anywhere in the mainstream NY media since the Indians celebrated on the hallowed grounds of the Boss's toilet. Beyond that, if you didn't know better, you might think the playoffs had just stopped, Sopranos-style, with no ALCS, no NLCS, no WS. They just ended when the Yankees bowed out.

There are a lot of unfortunate elements to this whole situation. I say hats off to Joe Torre for turning down an offer that can only be called an insult. He wins for championships, gets in to the postseason every year, and arguably restores respectability to the Yankee franchise, and he gets offered a one-year deal with a 2 million dollar pay-cut after 10 days of limbo. That is a slap in the face. Period. Good for him for not sheepishly submitting to the House of Steinbrenner.

And now, I don't want to hear Joe Torre's name for a long time. Torre is a truly decent human being, and was certainly a great manager. That said, this Torre circus has been enough. The Red Sox and Indians are two hours removed from game 5 of an ALCS, ace vs. ace, and the first question fielded today by Red Sox manager Terry Francona concerned Joe Torre. The Colorado Rockies have won 21 of 22 games, the Cleveland Indians can smell their first title since Truman was in office, the New York have holes-a-plenty to fill this winter,Mets and all we've heard about is Joe Torre.

Alas, the supply will always meet the demand, and if you ever happen to tune in to WFAN in New York, you will have heard endless Joe Torre calls for the last week. Mayor Bloomberg chimed in. So I suppose my wish to put this story to rest will not be heeded, and that's fine, but can we at least take a spare moment to look at what else is going on in baseball? If there were ever a reason that the rest of the country resents to hell all teams from our neck of the woods, this is it. Go watch the World Series, even if the Red Sox do get eliminated some time before Sunday.

I can only hope that in the wake of all this, a couple of notable Yankees, (but mostly Jorge Posada) decide to go elsewhere (Queens). Should he become available, hate him as I have for so many years, it's an absolute no-brainer.

Offseason Needs: Outfield

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Carlos Beltran, Moises Alou, Shawn Green, Lastings Milledge, Carlos Gomez, Marlon Anderson, Damion Easley, Jeff Conine, David Newhan, Ricky Ledee. All of these characters started in the Met outfield this season.

In any given season, one almost has to assume that Carlos Beltran will be shut down for some period of time. Seeing as he is the only sure thing in the OF going into next year, it figures that having a couple of reliable guys around him would really benefit the club. I like Moises Alou, I really do, and I can't say enough about how he performed this year when he was around. There was an endless period of waiting for Alou to get healthy, and this coupled with the Milledge/Green/Gomez shuffle set up a somewhat nebulous team identity. Most folks seem to want Moises back, and that seems likely from the Mets' end as well, but I truthfully don't see that as being a smart move. Is half a year of Alou and half a year of a replacement player going to benefit the team much more than bringing in a decent outsider, who will probably play a better LF?

Then there is right field. For starters, Shawn Green has absolutely no shot here, though again I like him (My season tix are in RF, so I develop a report...). Milledge becomes the likely go-to guy, and I wouldn't have a problem with that if a replacement LF is brought in, but I'm not sure Milledge is still a Met come April. Any deal for a real front-line starter probably involves Milledge, and to me, Carlos Gomez is not ready to be a full-time Major League player.

Consequently, there are two conceivable vacancies in the expansive Shea outfield in 2008. Here are the notable potential free agents:
Bobby Abreu (Team Option, 16mil), Barry Bonds, Andruw Jones, Torii Hunter, Milton Bradley, Aaron Rowand, Mike Cameron, Adam Dunn, Brady Clark, Luis Gonzalez, Darin Erstad, Geoff Jenkins, Corey Patterson, Brad Wilkerson, Rob Mackowiak, Sammy Sosa, Kosuke Fukudome.

Abreu's option getting picked up or not largely will depend on the A-Rod/Posada/Rivera dealings, and Dunn's team option is almost a sure no-go. Jenkins has an option that I'm not sure about, but I could see a Brewers team that close to contention picking it up. You can pretty much rule out Cameron, Bonds and Sosa, and probably a few others based on lack of talent. The interesting names here are Abreu, Andruw, Hunter, Dunn and Jenkins. Then, of course, there's Japanese superstar Kosuke Fukudome.

I don't want anything to do with Andruw, despite reports that the Mets have interest. First off, the idea of moving Beltran in to right and Andruw in center is just ludicrous. The legend of Andruw Jones the center fielder has gone too far at this point. Yes, Andruw was historically good with the glove early in his career, but he has been in a steady decline to the point of being a less than average CF at this point. See Jayson Stark's article from last May. Add his horrible offensive year (.222/.311/.413), the sour taste Met fans have for him, and the immensity of the contract he is surely due, and not signing Andruw Jones is a no-brainer.

I have the same feeling about Fukudome. There's really no way to know exactly how he would perform stateside, and a certain second baseman currently playing in the NLCS leaves a bit of soreness around here when it comes to investing a whole lot into Japanese players. For the record, Kaz Matsui's Japanese numbers (.309/.361/.486, 306 sb's in 9 years) are about as good as, maybe better when you add the sb's and the weak offensive position Matsui plays at, than Fukudome's (.305/.397/.543, 70 sb's in 9 years). Granted, there have been plenty of success stories out of Japan, but as many bust. I don't know that this team could afford the fallout of a Kaz Matsui v. 2.0, complete with a huge contract, after the collapse of this season. If they sign him and he's incredible, great, but I don't see it.

Of the other big names, I like Dunn the best. I like Rowand, and would be happy to see him signed, but Rowand's bat tends to fluctuate year by year, and I'm not sure how much of a shot the Mets have at him based on level interest elsewhere. The same goes for Hunter, who is basically blocked by Beltran, and will be brought in by someone else to be a franchise CF. Abreu is a wild card, because the Yankees could easily sign him, and his reputation, fair or not, as a non-gritty, weak clubhouse player could hurt a lot on a team in need of fire. A lot of people hate Adam "Nice Guy Dave Kingman" Dunn, but I don't see how he hurts. There are plenty of bats on this team that can provide a base hit when you need it, and the power he would provide in the lineup easily makes up for the low average. How many times did the Mets trail by 3+ runs this year, and seem finished if Wright and Beltran didn't do it? I would love a Dunn signing if Alou were gone and a solid glove started in RF.

Essentially, as far as position players go, this team has question marks at four positions: C, 2B, LF, RF. In my eyes, two of these positions need to be filled with impact players, and seeing as this is probably impossible at 2B, and improbable at C, at least one needs to come in the form of an outfielder. Just not Andruw, please, not Andruw.

How the Yankees Affect Us

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I've remained somewhat silent over the last few days, not really knowing whether to comment any more on the Yankees, and feeling that any side post commenting on Omar's last appearance on the Fan would seem a little irrelevant. There is no doubt that right now the story is the Yankees, and even as Met fans, we are dominated by the whole thing. It truly is difficult to determine to what extent one should curb one's self as a Met fan in terms of the Yankees. In my case the emotional investment goes pretty deep, seeing as I have also always rooted for the Red Sox.

As a Met fan, however, half the time that I feel like killing the Yankees or even acknowledging their existence, I feel like I may be doing something wrong. On the other hand, when I encounter a Met fan that doesn't really have anything against the Yankees, and maybe even pulls for them once the Mets are out of it, I always want to slap some sense in to him.

I suppose it comes down to finding that happy medium between ignoring what certainly is and should be a rivalry, and seeming like a clueless, jealous brat.

Did I have a great big grin on when the Bombers got knocked out? Yep. Did I cheer and yell and scream? Yep. But I didn't call every Yankee fan I knew to gloat, nor did I have the urge to spray it all over the blog. I have some compassion for Joe Torre, who truly is a decent human being, and happens to be from the greatest borough on earth. I can step back and appreciate the magnitude of the run they have made, without getting too whiny over it.

But I cheered. For what it's worth, this is a team with a uniquely obnoxious fanbase that is directly at odds with us in terms of our market, and in this day and age, having to compete within a market against a team is almost as significant having to play that team. If we are the holdouts or descendants of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants, we gotta hate that other team. Period. Just hate in an evolved manner, unless you are in the privacy of your own home. Basically, don't do the Yankees Suck chant when it's not a Subway Series; that kinda sums it up.

Beyond the odd relationship, the implications that this series could have on the Mets are definitely strong.
For one thing, the Yanks going and winning a championship after that Met collapse could seriously hinder the pace of the Orange and Blue wave that's been coasting through NYC. We finally start to get relevant, start to really compete, and then we get knocked out and they win the series? No good.
Second, the probable departure of Torre leaves the door open for a lot of free agents to not be as inclined to stay in pinstripes. What do the Mets need this offseason? SP, RP, OF, C. Andy Pettitte, Mariano Rivera, Bobby Abreu and Jorge Posada are all potential FA's that to me would seem more likely to test the market with Joe gone. Do I think it's likely that Andy Pettitte or Mariano would end up here? No. Not at all, really, but the other two make for some pretty interesting speculation. Then there's always A-Rod. Yikes. There's hardly any way he doesn't opt out of that contract, and you could visualize ownership trying to repent for that little mistake Steve Phillips made way back when. I'm just not sure if it makes any sense. For all the flak he catches, I won't say I wouldn't welcome him to Shea, but where? Wright at second? A-Rod at second? Wright to first and Carlos Delgado relaxing in the dugout to the tune of 16mil on his backloaded contract? Who knows...
EDIT: This just popped up on ESPN.com: Rivera
The third implication the Yankees' loss has on this team and its fans: Yeah, it feels good to have some company on the downbound train.