Pedro, Carlos, Omar ... and Adam

[Frayed Knot]

New York Daily News Met reporter (and Bellmore, Long Island native) Adam Rubin has written a book about the 2005 Mets:
Pedro, Carlos & Omar: The Story of a Season in the Big Apple and the Pursuit of Baseball's Top Latino Stars

"P, C & O etc" will available in all the usual places* on or just after March 1st (otherwise known as a week from Wednesday) and in an effort to promote the book (plus the honor of posting on the CPF) the first-time author will be taking a dive into the Crane Pool for a live chat on Monday, February 27th at 9PM.
So if you blokes have any questions that you'd like to ask an active NYM beat reporter for a quaint metropolitan newspaper - either about the book specifically or about the team in general - drop by at that time armed with your best. In the interim you might want to take the upcoming week to keep up on Adam's columns in the Daily News to get an idea about the latest topics he's writing about now that ST has started and columns are appearing on an everyday basis. You can also pre-submit questions in this thread if you aren't able to drop by the pool at the designated hour.


* Just a note: In ordering the book via Amazon I was immediately led to a suggested package of P, C & O along with the 2006 edition of The Baseball Prospectus Handbook for around $28 for the two, not much higher than the list price of either one and conveniently in that free shipping range. Good deal.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

] the first-time author will be taking a dive into the Crane Pool for a live chat on Monday, February 27th at 9PM.

Very cool - I'll look forward to the chat.

Did you set this up FK? WTG!

[metirish]

Very cool, I like Rubin, can't wait to have him here.Here's my first question.

Adam you grew up in Bellmore, were you a Mets fan growing up?, if yes then what are your favorite Met moments from down the years?If you were not a Mets fan is it difficult to be the beat reporter for a team you are not a fan of?

ok sorry that is really three questions, still I read you all the time so...

[Guest Edgy DC]

On a scale of 1 to 10, a being "It was a baseball decision with no family issues whatsoever," and 10 being "Disassociate us from that crazy broad, I don't care if she's married to Sadaharu Oh," what influence did Ms. Benson have on the deal to trade her husband?

If Omar had full autonomy, why didn't the Mets aggressively pursue re-hiring Bobby Valentine?

Fan opinion is generally that the Cameron/Nady deal was a short sell for the Mets, and looks even shorter in the context of the market for centerfielders shifting in the sellers' favor late in the offseason. Do you think this is fair?

[metirish]

WOW, I set Rubin up with some soft balls to welcome him to the board and Edgy comes in with some high heat queations.....damn good ones though...I see Rubin is our newest registered user....cool deal FK.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Oh, and welcome.

[G-Fafif]

Adam,

Two questions:

1) Does it bother you that the Daily News is so slanted to the Yankees? Even given the relative success rates of the two New York teams, the front pages, back pages and inside pages given to the Yankees overwhelm those devoted to the Mets, to say nothing of the existence of a recurring column about "Bleacher Creatures" that is sickeningly pro-Yankee and anti-Met. Even if one takes Filip Bondy's effort as all in good fun, there is no equal time given to any other writer. It would be one thing if that was Bondy's shtick, period, but he's one of your paper's leading sports columnists and several times a year, he drops the pretense of objectivity altogether and tells us he thinks the Mets and their fans are a joke. We don't see Lupica or Olson or Ziegel do any such thing. Do you think your good work gets enough play in this environment? Have you ever discussed this with your editors? Or do you disagree with this read of your newspaper? (I buy the News, Newsday and the Times every day and check the Post online and I find nobody leans so obviously and heavily to the Yankees as the News.)

2) Why does almost every beat writer in spring training file virtually the same story, at least on the same topic, every day? Why is one day Victor Diaz Day and the next day Julio Franco Day and so forth? Is it a matter of player availability? A worry that if five other writers have a Tom Glavine profile on Thursday that you, theoretically the sixth, will look bad if you don't?

These are two things I've always wondered. I appreciate your consideration of these questions, truly enjoy your reporting and can't wait to read your book.

Thank you.

[metirish]

Great questions G-Fafif, I have never taken Bondy all that seriously but I see your point, Adam I often wonder why TJ Quinn is not a regular anymore, IIRC he used to do Mets stuff quite a bit, now I only see him doing specials every few months, why is that?( that's probably not a fair question to ask you though).

[patchyfogg]

Good stuff, Frayed!

Adam is the shiznit, or whatever the kids are saying these days.

[G-Fafif]

Two more for Adam after reading an excerpt of your book (which only made me want to buy it more):

1) Talk radio hysteria aside, how, if at all, has the ethnic composition of the Mets' clubhouse affected your job? Do you feel you get the quotes/insights from Pedro, the Carloses and other Latin players that you need? Is there a language or cultural barrier between the beat writers (presumably mostly American-born and obviously English-speaking) and the Latino Mets? Do you find yourself leaning more heavily on the likes of Wright, Glavine, Floyd and other non-Latinos as your go-to guys as a result? Have you felt the need to brush up on or learn some Spanish given that baseball (not just the Mets) has so many Latin stars?

It seemed to me we read a lot of quotes from Doug Mientkiewicz last year, a quotable fellow to be sure, but hardly the obvious team spokesman. I got the feeling that the writers, as a rule, were more comfortable going to an English-speaking semi-regular than to a Jose Reyes, who, while reasonably conversant in English, is probably limited in how much he can express himself in a second language at this point in his career/young life.

2) Is the concept of the "clubhouse leader" overrated? And has the absence of a definitive one in recent years hurt the Mets at all? I've noticed that the player tabbed as the leader of the Mets in any given year by the beat guys always seems to be a new player. Ventura in '99, Zeile in 2000, Vaughn (at least in theory) in 2002. This phenomenon dates back to John Franco in 1990 and Rick Cerone in 1991. Is there something about the Mets that creates a leadership vacuum? Is this all just one big coincidence? And bringing it back to my first question, is there a danger that a team on which more than half of the roster speaks Spanish as a first language (and almost half doesn't) will be prone to fatal fissures and cliques? Or is that where a strong manager comes in?

Thanks again.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Hi Adam –

Thrilled to see you join us, and looking forward to your book. My question was inspired in part by your first chapter:

1) In retrospect, the Mets really punted in 2004: Duquette never got the full faith and credit of his bosses; money that might have netted Vlad Guererro in a soft market instead was used to pay off the Dolans and launch a new network; shortstop went to Kaz Matsui who proved not up to the task while Reyes sat out for a prolonged period injured… sulking? … and unhappy; Howe’s firing leaked; and there seemed to be a leadership crisis that ultimately resulted in the poor decision to trade Scott Kazmir.

a) Who was really running the show in 2004?

Regarding the Kazmir trade, some have pointed fingers aggressively at the “grey-haired baseball men” brought in as Duke’s lieutenants —Livesley and especially, Goldis – for exerting influence that overwhelmed more reasonable minds. What was the role of those two in the Kazmir-Zambrano deal, and was their influence poison as portrayed in some places, or “sour grapes” coming from those who might have disagreed with them on a thorny issue? What are they doing now that it appears Omar’s guys (Bernazard, etc) are calling the shots?

c) Anonymous “leaks” appeared epidemic then, and you get the feeling they didn’t happen by accident. In general, what were the motivations of the leakees? Has the new leadership really put a stop to them, and if so, how?

d) Despite all the handicaps, it seemed to me that until the Kazmir trade Duke was doing a heroic job: He gathered in some prospects in 2003, the Cameron signing was excellent, and he hired a stat guru called Ben Baumer, whose influence might have helped the Mets better compete particularly amid the budget cutting. We haven’t we seen Baumer’s name in print in 2 years. Why? What does the guy do all day?

e) There was an undercurrent to the Reyes shenanigans in 2004 that really strained credulity. Am I right to suspect his major injury that year was “hurt feelings” as much as “sore hamstrings”?

f) Seems to me Matsui’s troubles have been exacerbated by an inability to be understood – whether it was need to get glasses or not, the nature of his injuries, etc etc etc. Are the Mets guilty of underestimating the difficulty of understanding Matsui (or vice-versa?) Is there any indication that, beyond the fact that the fans seem to hate the poor guy and the Mets barely bother to protect him, that maybe, his translator sucks or something? I’m serious.

[Guest ABG]

Adam,

Having read an excerpt of your book, it appears you have some excellent sources. How many of the sources in your book are primary? In writing, how cooperative were any or all of the following: Fred and Jeff Wilpon, Wille Randolph, Omar, Pedro, Beltran, and anyone associated with the Commisioner's office?

Thanks and look forward to reading your whole book.

[Guest Adam Rubin]

Hi, guys. Rather than have a ton of questions to answer all on Monday, perhaps I can get ahead with some that have been posted ...

On a scale of 1 to 10, a being "It was a baseball decision with no family issues whatsoever," and 10 being "Disassociate us from that crazy broad, I don't care if she's married to Sadaharu Oh," what influence did Ms. Benson have on the deal to trade her husband?

Wow. That is a tough one to start. I'll say a 6. There obviously were a ton of other factors, too.

- The belief Benson isn't a No. 3 starter on a postseason team.

- They could use the cost savings ($5 million this year alone) to get a comparable or better starter at the trading deadline if needed.

- That the bullpen needed to be improved, even after obtaining Duaner Sanchez.

- That Heilman deserved to be in the rotation.


If Omar had full autonomy, why didn't the Mets aggressively pursue re-hiring Bobby Valentine?

I don't know Omar's exact feelings on Bobby Valentine, but I get the sense by the Willie Randolph hiring that Omar wanted someone he could mold -- which is different than control, by the way. It's the reason I believe he never really concerned Jim Leyland. Regardless, full autonomy doesn't exist anywhere. Owners have say on payroll caps, etc. And let's just say that I don't think one person in particular in the ownership group was particularly enamored with Valentine.

Fan opinion is generally that the Cameron/Nady deal was a short sell for the Mets, and looks even shorter in the context of the market for centerfielders shifting in the sellers' favor late in the offseason. Do you think this is fair?

I think they could have received more in return by waiting. But here are a few points:

- Omar for whatever reason wanted to move quickly this winter. He was basically done with the big pieces by the time the winter meetings arrived. Basically they cleared salary here in order to take on the Delgado salary. And Nady fit in that they didn't know if it was going to be Delgado or Manny Ramirez. Nady could have slid to first if it was Manny.

- Omar's point was that other teams wanted to see Cameron's health, which necessitated holding onto him into spring training possibly. By then, teams payrolls would be locked in. So while the Mets could have gotten more in prospects, perhaps, they would have eaten some of Cameron's contract.

- Cameron wanted out, and I've seen recent speculation that Omar felt he needed to move Cameron before that became widely known. I don't particularly buy that. I think any savvy GM would see that Omar needed to move Cameron.

[Guest Adam Rubin]

Two questions:

1) Does it bother you that the Daily News is so slanted to the Yankees? Even given the relative success rates of the two New York teams, the front pages, back pages and inside pages given to the Yankees overwhelm those devoted to the Mets, to say nothing of the existence of a recurring column about "Bleacher Creatures" that is sickeningly pro-Yankee and anti-Met. Even if one takes Filip Bondy's effort as all in good fun, there is no equal time given to any other writer. It would be one thing if that was Bondy's shtick, period, but he's one of your paper's leading sports columnists and several times a year, he drops the pretense of objectivity altogether and tells us he thinks the Mets and their fans are a joke. We don't see Lupica or Olson or Ziegel do any such thing. Do you think your good work gets enough play in this environment? Have you ever discussed this with your editors? Or do you disagree with this read of your newspaper? (I buy the News, Newsday and the Times every day and check the Post online and I find nobody leans so obviously and heavily to the Yankees as the News.)


I can't dispute the fact that there seems to be more Yankee copy of late than Mets copy. But I would say that as the Mets fan base becomes energized and the Mets have a successful season, the balance will begin shifting in the other direction. The Yankees have so many soap operas the Mets don't. In a way, that's a good thing. Bottom line is this spring that we've had a main story, notebook and column just about every day. In those three elements we've been able to cover just about everything going on here.


2) Why does almost every beat writer in spring training file virtually the same story, at least on the same topic, every day? Why is one day Victor Diaz Day and the next day Julio Franco Day and so forth? Is it a matter of player availability? A worry that if five other writers have a Tom Glavine profile on Thursday that you, theoretically the sixth, will look bad if you don't?

I would hope that would change soon. The first week there's going to be a lot of overlap. Guys arrive on certain days and everyone feels compelled to write that person that day because they want people reading it in their paper. Case in point: Julio Franco was the only player to arrive a couple of days ago. So he ended up being many people's story that day.

Because John Harper, a columnist at my paper, is in Port St. Lucie, I ended up doing a story on lefty relievers that day.

One day the Times did a story on Brian Bannister. Everyone else pretty much did a right-field story that day, because that's the day both Xavier Nady and Victor Diaz showed up at camp.

[Guest Adam Rubin]

Great questions G-Fafif, I have never taken Bondy all that seriously but I see your point, Adam I often wonder why TJ Quinn is not a regular anymore, IIRC he used to do Mets stuff quite a bit, now I only see him doing specials every few months, why is that?( that's probably not a fair question to ask you though).

T.J. Quinn, who preceded me on the Mets beat, was promoted four years ago to investigative sports writer. He appears less regularly, but the aim is to be more hard-hitting with each piece. He's at the Olympics now.

[Guest Adam Rubin]

Well, I'll be back at some point in the near future to continue ...

[seawolf17]

Thanks Adam!

[metirish]

Thanks Adam,I told myself I'd buy your book if you actually showed up here, good job.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

Thank you Adam - I look forward to your future discussions here.

[Zvon]

This is GREAT stuff Mr Rubin.
Thanks for your time.

[Guest Edgy DC]

[Guest Adam Rubin]

Two more for Adam after reading an excerpt of your book (which only made me want to buy it more):

1) Talk radio hysteria aside, how, if at all, has the ethnic composition of the Mets' clubhouse affected your job?

For the most part it hasn't.


Do you feel you get the quotes/insights from Pedro, the Carloses and other Latin players that you need?

Pedro is a great storyteller, which I think you'll see is reflected in the book. Carlos Beltran happens to be quiet, which has nothing to do with ethnicity. If you look at the Thursday stories, I think you'll find that Carlos Delgado is quite eloquent, too.


Is there a language or cultural barrier between the beat writers (presumably mostly American-born and obviously English-speaking) and the Latino Mets?

With the exception of Cuban defector Alay Soler, everyone competing for a major-league job speaks English very well. Certainly when Yusmeiro Petit was in the clubhouse, it was a lot more challenging to communicate, though I believe he spoke English with his teammates and just wasn't as comfortable with us. Players like Jose Reyes deserve a ton of credit. Reyes was an incredibly quick learner. Pedro has such a magnetic personality, his heritage is irrelevant. And the veteran Hispanic players have such a command of English they speak better than many natives.

The challenge sometimes comes with the younger Hispanic players. They're capable of explaining what happened on a play, but you don't get the storytelling ability you do with, say, David Wright, who we now all know has a father who is a vice and narcotics captain with the Norfolk Police Department. The challenge is to get the stories told, too.


Do you find yourself leaning more heavily on the likes of Wright, Glavine, Floyd and other non-Latinos as your go-to guys as a result? Have you felt the need to brush up on or learn some Spanish given that baseball (not just the Mets) has so many Latin stars?

Reporters tend to gravitate to the most quotable people. I'm sure there's a subtle tendency to speak more often to people you share a background with, but there are obviously no shortage of Pedro quotes.

Let's face it, though, it's a lot easier to speak with Brian Bannister about his brother going to pitch for Stanford in August than with Anderson Hernandez about a high-school age sibling. But the challenge of journalism is to present information in an unbiased, balanced manner and make sure you represent everything going on in the clubhouse.

It seemed to me we read a lot of quotes from Doug Mientkiewicz last year, a quotable fellow to be sure, but hardly the obvious team spokesman. I got the feeling that the writers, as a rule, were more comfortable going to an English-speaking semi-regular than to a Jose Reyes, who, while reasonably conversant in English, is probably limited in how much he can express himself in a second language at this point in his career/young life.

Doug Mientkiewicz is a different story. He couldn't stop himself from talking, which is a reason why he had a rocky relationship with Willie Randolph and irked some of his teammates.


2) Is the concept of the "clubhouse leader" overrated? And has the absence of a definitive one in recent years hurt the Mets at all? I've noticed that the player tabbed as the leader of the Mets in any given year by the beat guys always seems to be a new player. Ventura in '99, Zeile in 2000, Vaughn (at least in theory) in 2002. This phenomenon dates back to John Franco in 1990 and Rick Cerone in 1991. Is there something about the Mets that creates a leadership vacuum? Is this all just one big coincidence? And bringing it back to my first question, is there a danger that a team on which more than half of the roster speaks Spanish as a first language (and almost half doesn't) will be prone to fatal fissures and cliques? Or is that where a strong manager comes in?

On winning teams, things are going well and I'm not sure how important one guy stepping up is. On a team on the bubble such as the Mets last season, it's more important. Pedro and Ramon Castro had great personalities and kept the clubhouse alive last season, but they weren't everyday players. Cameron would have been a leader, but he was absent too often because of his injuries. Mike Piazza certainly was the best player for several years, but he was a loner, pretty much divorced from the team.

There are so many players on the 2006 team who are veterans and quality guys, I'm sure the role will shift day to day, but there won't be a void. Julio Franco, Billy Wagner, Carlos Delgado, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and even David Wright might be the guy to step up on a given day.

As for ethnicity, the Mets' clubhouse was remarkable last year for the cross-cultural bonds. There's one passage in my book that is banter between Wright and Castro that really shows their mutual admiration.

As for learning Spanish, I've studied the last two winters. I'm by no means fluent and would not do an interview in Spanish, but I hope if necessary I could get a point across.

[metirish]

Adam you are going to at least make a dozen sales on your book with your apperence here......just kidding of course, any special site that I should order the book from or is Amazon ok?..you don't have a site is what I mean.

[patchyfogg]

If you're by a book store, it comes out 3/1. That's probably the fastest way to get it.

[nymr83]

yeah...is there any website/bookstore where you get an extra cut for sending us that way?

[Frayed Knot]

Hey cool, an early visit!
Thanks for coming by Adam and don't forget to tell us a bit about what to expect from the book.

Would I be correct in assuming that this is a more-or-less chronological account of Met-land dating from the Omar hiring through the '05 season?

And, since much has been made about the "Latinization" of the team via Omar's signings/trades plus the team's marketing focus, is that a major theme of the book or simply one aspect of it that just happened to make for a snappy sub-title?

[Guest Adam Rubin]

1) In retrospect, the Mets really punted in 2004: Duquette never got the full faith and credit of his bosses; money that might have netted Vlad Guererro in a soft market instead was used to pay off the Dolans and launch a new network; shortstop went to Kaz Matsui who proved not up to the task while Reyes sat out for a prolonged period injured… sulking? … and unhappy; Howe’s firing leaked; and there seemed to be a leadership crisis that ultimately resulted in the poor decision to trade Scott Kazmir.

a) Who was really running the show in 2004?

There's really no simple answer. There were really too many people pulling in different directions. Too many voices, in essence. You had superscouts recommending certain things. You had ownership, while respecting Jim Duquette, probably not having as much faith as they do in Omar's baseball-evaluating ability. You had players with ownership's ear. As I said, it's not simple.


Regarding the Kazmir trade, some have pointed fingers aggressively at the “grey-haired baseball men” brought in as Duke’s lieutenants —Livesley and especially, Goldis – for exerting influence that overwhelmed more reasonable minds. What was the role of those two in the Kazmir-Zambrano deal, and was their influence poison as portrayed in some places, or “sour grapes” coming from those who might have disagreed with them on a thorny issue? What are they doing now that it appears Omar’s guys (Bernazard, etc) are calling the shots?

Livesey had Zambrano in Tampa Bay, and I'm sure he overstated Zambrano's merits. Al Goldis was probably more involved with the evaluation of Kazmir, but that's a little more murky. They have a year left on their contracts, if I remember correctly, but I haven't seen either this spring. Certainly they've been pushed out of the inner circle, at the least, with Tony Bernazard and Sandy Johnson much, much more influential.



c) Anonymous “leaks” appeared epidemic then, and you get the feeling they didn’t happen by accident. In general, what were the motivations of the leakees? Has the new leadership really put a stop to them, and if so, how?

Leaks can be a positive or negative thing. Say the Mets are about to pull the trigger on a big trade ... what's the point in keeping it secret until it's announced? If it's leaked, you get the back page of the paper in the days leading up to the official announcement, as well as the press conference coverage. Sometimes people are just chatty. Other times, people are trying to advance their own agenda. An agent may leak that he's negotiating with a certain team to create a bidding war, which is why anonymous quoting is dangerous.

There are probably fewer leaks with the Mets now, but it's because things are going positively for the team, I suspect.


d) Despite all the handicaps, it seemed to me that until the Kazmir trade Duke was doing a heroic job: He gathered in some prospects in 2003, the Cameron signing was excellent, and he hired a stat guru called Ben Baumer, whose influence might have helped the Mets better compete particularly amid the budget cutting. We haven’t we seen Baumer’s name in print in 2 years. Why? What does the guy do all day?


I look at those trades more as salary dumps than anything. In reality, the only notable returns were Victor Diaz, Royce Ring and maybe Anderson Garcia, and the Mets got Diaz because they picked up a ton of Jeromy Burnitz's salary. I agree Duquette had a good first winter. The salary plummeted and he had Kaz Matsui forced on him, yet he still added Mike Cameron and Braden Looper. As for Ben Baumer, the Mets' culture is to keep their employees out of sight. I would say that why the Mets rely on data, it's probably a little stong to label his contribution heroic. I can't think of one signing that was a Moneyball-type move.



e) There was an undercurrent to the Reyes shenanigans in 2004 that really strained credulity. Am I right to suspect his major injury that year was “hurt feelings” as much as “sore hamstrings”?

Reyes was really hurt, if you're suggesting otherwise. Part of it was a medical staff not performing well. Part of it probably was hurt emotions with playing second base. I think, in general, people who feel good about themselves end up healthier.

f) Seems to me Matsui’s troubles have been exacerbated by an inability to be understood – whether it was need to get glasses or not, the nature of his injuries, etc etc etc. Are the Mets guilty of underestimating the difficulty of understanding Matsui (or vice-versa?) Is there any indication that, beyond the fact that the fans seem to hate the poor guy and the Mets barely bother to protect him, that maybe, his translator sucks or something? I’m serious.

Willie Randolph has mentioned a difficulty to communicate with Matsui as frustrating. Matsui actually hired a former teammate with the Seibu Lions to train and coach him away from the ballpark. Matsui is one of the great mysteries. Everyone who saw him in Japan swears they believed he would excel here.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Hey awesome. Queen or the Doors?

[Guest Adam Rubin]

Having read an excerpt of your book, it appears you have some excellent sources. How many of the sources in your book are primary? In writing, how cooperative were any or all of the following: Fred and Jeff Wilpon, Wille Randolph, Omar, Pedro, Beltran, and anyone associated with the Commisioner's office?

Thanks and look forward to reading your whole book.

The Mets were very cooperative, for which I'm appreciative. I made Omar Minaya, Jim Duquette and Jay Horwitz aware early in the season that I was working on this project and they were wonderfully candid. Baseball writers are blessed with being in the clubhouse with the players from 3:30 to 6:15 every day, except for batting practice. Over the course of a 162-game schedule, it's remarkable access, and you truly get a feel for each player's personality. The Mets have a wonderful clubhouse. There really have been very few people I've disliked with the Mets over the past several years, despite the litany of superstars who you might think would be difficult to deal with because of their stature. Everyone by now has heard what a wonderful person David Wright is, but across the board -- Ramon Castro, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine, Steve Trachsel, Heath Bell, Aaron Heilman, Braden Looper, Roberto Hernandez ... I could keep going -- there are so many great people.

... On a different note, thanks for the opportunity to answer these questions. I'm glad I've caught up. Some of these are sensitive topics, and it's not easy to answer them succintly. I'll look forward to chatting on Monday night. If I might give a quick plug for the book, it's available on Amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com now, and it should be in bookstores next week.

[Guest Edgy DC]

If you're looking for material for slow news day, I humbly suggest a plug for Kiss It Goodbye: The Frank Thomas Story. Mr. Thomas previously fielded some of our questions through his co-writer.