The Mets Police

Hello.

I continue to stick to my guns.

All winter long I said y’all would love Dan Murphy come June.  It’s June.  He’s hitting.  This is the month you will come around.

Since I have been with 28 all along I enjoyed this from Howard Megdal yesterday (even though it uses those fancy advanced stats you kids like)

Daniel Murphy has settled in as a major league hitter right between his 2008 and 2009 numbers. For the year, he’s at .278/.337/.418, good for an OPS+ of 111. Unlike Turner, he’s done it with a sustainable BABIP of .299, right in line with his .302 career BABIP mark.

And while the conventional wisdom is that Turner has starred at second base while Murphy has erred, the defensive metrics actually like Murphy’s performance at the position a good bit more than Turner’s. This is not to say it is predictive, given the small sample. But it certainly doesn’t provide any evidence that Murphy can’t play second base, and it seems he’d be likelier to improve than regress as he becomes more familiar with the position.

 

 

Walt aka @formerdirtdart continues his excellent tradition of hookups. Click on these for big pretty PDFs.

2011 Mets Uni-Breakdown-May

2011 Mets Uni-Calendar-May

(Hi – reminder I am doing that “sticky post” thing where I’m keeping main story of the day up top…scroll down for other new items throughout the day)

Mike Vaccaro has the must read of the day in the Post.  I don’t want to over-excerpt…but there’s some great words here so be sure to read it.

Carter is sick now, news that has devastated the Mets’ family and fan base. And the Mets face a disquieting choice now. Even an operation as tone-deaf as this ought to know that it should finally step up and do the right thing, have a day sometime in the next few months, put Carter’s 8 up on the wall next to 37, 14, 41 and 42.

Would it look like they would be reacting to the horrific news of Carter’s brain cancer? Maybe. And you know what? That’s tough. The Mets could’ve done the right thing on their own years ago. Now they need to give their fans an opportunity to thank and salute Carter, whether he is physically up for the task or not. And because the Mets couldn’t identify the right thing to do if it was a neon sign, then shaming them into doing the right thing will have to do.

We’ve been having a good discussion on twitter (@metspolice) this morning.

Is it weird to do it now?  Yes.  Too bad.

Should other numbers be retired?  I would say 17 should have gone first, but Keith can wait another year.  Let Gary (HOFer, captain, fan fave, ring owner) have his day.

Will it be an emotional day?  Oh hell yeah.

The number isn’t being used.  So why not hang it on the wall?  What’s the downside?  So you can give it to Matt Galante?  There will be 95 usable numbers left.

If you want your franchise to have pride and tradition then you have to decide your franchise has pride and a tradition.

Write your own history.  Let the next generation of Mets fans ask who wore #8.

Look at the Bronx.  They manufacture tradition.  If you’re under 30 why don’t you take a look at the back of Mr. October’s baseball card.  There will be 16 inconvenient seasons on it.   Ask someone over 30 about Saint George the love-able old man who just wanted to win.

The story of the Mets has become bumbling ownership and their love of the Dodgers.  Why would you want that?

Start embracing the tradition.

Create your own folklore.  Start with 8.  Then 17.  Then 31.  It’s what your customers want.

We can argue about 17, 31, 36, 16 and 18 a different day (that’s great off-season content by the way).  This discussion is about Gary Carter, and I’ll ask the question.  Why not?

Go read Vaccaro.

Having Gary Carter Day — for kicks, let’s say July 19, 20 or 21, against the Mets’ old rivals from St. Louis — would be a fair starting point. Retiring 8 is the right thing to do.