Fix The Mets (Link)

Always nice when I stumble across a non-Mets blogger making some fun Mets commentary.

Here’s one and here’s an excerpt:

Then there’s the second base dilemma, also known as “how much was Minaya drinking the day he gave Luis Castillo a four year contract?” I’d wager Omar was part of the test project for legalizing absinthe in the U.S. Perhaps the Mets can dump him (that is Castillo) somewhere–the White Sox are reportedly moving Alexei Ramirez to short, and perhaps Castillo would be just the kind of guy Ozzie Guillen would like around in the clubhouse to abuse. That has to be worth something. What should the Mets get in return, you ask? Peace of mind, my friend, peace of mind.



And if you’ve read this far, it’s time for the portion of the program known as “come dream with me” or “all free agents can be ours.” It’s a ridiculous feature of any and all hot stove essays, so who am I to tamper with tradition? I want Manny. He was so good when he came to LA last season, he made me a Dodger fan. That’s true baseball magic. New York should be big enough to deal with his flakiness. And I love the idea of a top of the order that goes Reyes-Beltran-Wright-Ramirez. The other 5 guys might not matter. And if that can’t happen, maybe go for Adam Dunn for a high-salary/low-years deal? After all, in my fantasy I’ve punted on defense, so what the heck.


Read the rest here.

"Pedro Was A Bust" Catching On

I blogged about it all year and caught lots of grief from my name-calling, but it looks like Pedro-bashing is catching on.   People are starting to realize that Pedro did nothing after June 6, 2006 – something I first mentioned in this post and about 100 other times since….but enough about me, I’m just a fat dopey blogger.  How about the take of a respected journalist:

Here’s an excerpt from Bob Klapisch on Espn.com

Mets didn’t get their money’s worth with Pedro

Fern Cuza might be talking a good game for his client, but the Mets aren’t about to forget how quickly their investment in Pedro dried up, especially this past September. He went 0-3 while the Mets were being caught and passed by the Phillies, ending the season with a 5-6 record, the first sub.-500 campaign in a full season of his career, and a 5.61 ERA.


Plucking away Martinez was an enormous public-relations coup, but today the Mets’ hierarchy admits Pedro fell short of their expectations. “We thought we’d get three [good] years from him,” one senior official said. “Turns out we got 2½.”


[+] Enlarge

Pedro Martinez

Mark Goldman/Icon SMI

After going 15-8 in his first season with the Mets, Pedro Martinez went just 17-15 over the past three.

Even that’s a generous assessment, considering Martinez spent long stretches on the disabled list in each of his past three seasons with the Mets. Pedro was terrific in 2005, winning 15 games, striking out 208 and posting a league-leading 0.95 WHIP. His dominance rolled over into early 2006, when he was 5-1 through May, allowing just 39 hits in 71 innings. But then came the first of two stints on the DL that season, and the old Pedro never returned.


The entire piece is a good read.

Meanwhile there are always Pedro Apologists like this guy. (below)

Pedro Martinez joined the Mets for the 2005 season and the team gained 12 wins from the previous year. They gained 14 more wins in 2006. This obviously was not just a result of Pedro Martinez, especially since he was limited to just 23 starts and no postseason appearances in ‘06, but the Pedro signing helped lure other free agents to a team that won 71 games in 2004. Soon after Martinez signed Carlos Beltran came aboard. Granted, his agent Scott Boras attempted to whore Beltran to the Yankees for a lesser contract just before he signed with the Mets. But the Mets may not have spent the money on Beltran if Pedro had not begun their process of reloading.
But most importantly, and what always comes up in our podcast discussions about the Mets, all that Pedro cost them was money and as a big market team that should mean nothing to them. If the last two and half years of his four year contract was wasted money, then the team in the biggest sports market in the world can smile and say, “Yeah, we’re able to do that. We paid Moises Alou to spend more time on the disabled list than he did in the dugout. So what?”
More Pedro Bashing Tomorrow!

Mo Vaughn Gave His Life To The Mets

So the Hall of Fame ballot was announced yesterday and there are four players on the list that spent some time in a Mets uniform, 2 who were “real Mets”(Jesse Orosco & David Cone), and 2 who were rented players (Ricky Henderson & Mo Vaughn).
Now of course each team likes to promote their own players, be they deserving or not. So it came as no surprise yesterday when I saw an article on the Mets website doing just that. Except the title mentioned “A Trio of Mets” on the ballot, and who’s picture is included – Mo Vaughn!
Mo had some good years – in Boston
He even had 2 ok years – in Anaheim
But the man played only 166 games with the Mets.
I love that the Mets seemingly want to embrace history – but come on, embrace your own history, not someone else’s.

Excuse Me, Pardon Me, Excuse Me…(Yankee Stadium)

I was checking out some pics on Zell’s and noticed the below.

I guess that’s the bleachers we’re looking at.   Notice the blue seats.  I don’t see any breaks.  Is the person in the middle going to have to ask 25 people to move when he wants to get a hot dog?   Seems really uncomfortable in there to me.

More Jeff Wilpon Doublecitispeak

“If they stop marketing, all the other companies that are competing against them will zoom right past them and they’ll never have a chance to catch up again,” Wilpon said Tuesday
 
So let me get this right.  People choose their bank not based upon location or interest rates but because of a stadium name.  If the stadium becomes New Shea then suddenly people will stop using Citibank.  That would be the reason.  It would have nothing to do with (irrational) fear of losing their money or that a new bank opened that has better hours – it’s because of a stadium name.  Yeah OK.
 
 “They’re a going business – a going concern. We’re a going business and a going concern. And we have to help each other.”
 
I agree.   Therefore you should decline to accept the $20M right now (taxpayer money remind you) and take it on the back end when and if they are still a going concern.  
 
Also in the Daily News:
 
Eric Eve, Citigroup’s senior VP for global community relations, played up civic aspects of the arrangement, including bringing area children to ballgames. The company receives a suite among other perks. The 49 suites at Citi Field have price tags ranging from $250,000 to $500,000.
 
Ok Mr. Eve, I look forward to keeping track of how many “area children” are brought to games.  You’re on.