Do you really own that bridge, Mr. Randolph? Honest?

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

http://theeddiekranepoolsociety.blogspot.com/2006/03/willie-randolph-threading-on-some.html

What a lowdown, lying, two-faced, dumbass shitweasel who you'd have to be loopy to believe for an instant if he tells you the sun is out at noon...

I'd rant about Willie's dishonest character a little more, but this guy makes my point for me. If 2b is an open competition, and one guy totally sucks and another guy does well, how come the first guy wins the open competition? Maybe because Willie was totally full of shit from the get-go? That's my guess...

Of course, if Kaz had a hot spring and Keppy not, WIllie's fans would have been proclaiming his supreme honesty, even though in either case he had his mind made up sometime around Boxing Day.

Speaking of which, if Willie were the referee, and Kepp could beat up Kaz with one hand tied behind his back, Willie would see to it that both hands were tied up and let the beating begin. I really feel for Keppinger. He's geting totally screwed over here, and the Mets are a weaker team for it. This is completely disgusting. Excuse me while I puke my guts up.

[Guest Rotblatt]

I think someone brought this up in the 2B thread. . . Yeah, I agree that it's stupid and dishonest. As the dude from the blog mentions, though, it might be Willie taking one for the team, but regardless, it's still a poor way to run a ballclub.

We'll see what happens, I suppose, but the immediate outlook for our 2B youngsters is looking pretty dim.

[Guest Rotblatt]

Oh, and while we're lambasting Mets management, I'd just like to take another pot shot at their misuse of Lambin, who, for like the umpteenth time, had a far better season than Hernandez last year.

They've got a 25-year old middle infielder who hit 24 HR in under 400 AAA at bats last year, and they've only given him THREE at bats this spring, despite 1/3 of their roster being in the WBC.

It makes no sense to me. Throw him out there and see how he does. As Bret points out, it's not that we'd actually USE him if he performs, but maybe we could trade him for another mediocre relief pitcher with a "live arm."

Hoo-hah! This is fun.

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

Et tu, Rotblatt?

[nymr83]

lol. last week they asked the easiest "final jeopardy" question ever, so easy in fact that i didnt think it deserved to be a question at all, except maybe in the teen tournament:
the only line spoken in latin (3 words) in Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar....
you've got 2 of the 3 words above

yeah this is offtopic but your post made me think of that and laugh

back to your regularly scheduled (by bret) willie bashing...

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Nymr83 wrote: lol. last week they asked the easiest "final jeopardy" question ever, so easy in fact that i didnt think it deserved to be a question at all, except maybe in the teen tournament: the only line spoken in latin (3 words) in Shakespeare's Julius Ceasar.... you've got 2 of the 3 words above yeah this is offtopic but your post made me think of that and laugh back to your regularly scheduled (by bret) willie bashing...

"Brute" is Latin? Okay, back to Willie-bashing.

Now do you see what I meant by "Boone saved the Mets a ton of bad baseball by falling on his sword?" There's just no way Willie and Co. weren't going to give Boone a job, out of the so-called "open competition." That fight was fixed, but Boone just couldn't hack it.

My thesis maintains that they go every time with the guy who has the impressive MLB resume. That's why I make so many cracks about finding Mookie back in the outfield someday. That's what they were trying to do with Boone. The guy just spent two years proving to the world that he was washed-up and the Mets think, Yeah but he hit 37 HRs back in 2002...Who the fuck cares what he did back then? Ed Kranepool had a good year back in 1966, does that mean we're going to consider Mr. Ed for another go-around?

This is an organization that is pathologically opposed to giving a rookie a break--rookies (like Reyes and Wright) have to be no-brainers for at least a year before this organization will even put them on the radar screen.

My whole argument about Kaz comes down to this: every winnning organization is weak at a position or two. I have no problem with that. I have a HUGE problem with paying through the teeth for a weak position. You used up your whole budget? Wel, maybe you need a good financial advisor, but short of that, did you have to spend 8 mil a year to get a lousy second baseman who had a little pop sporadically? Chrissake, you had that in Ty Wiggenton. You really needed to deal Wiggy off to get the potential Cy Young winner Kris Benson? Okay, you got Keppinger in that deal? You need Keppinger to do more than bat .300 and play semi-adequately at second base for minimum salary? What did you expect the guy to do when you got him? Play shortstop, too, and pitch middle relief and shit ginger snaps besides?

You were a rotten club when you signed Kaz. You could afford to give some kids a shot. If you didn't like your own kids, you could have gotten someone else's for pretty cheap, if you only knew what a ballplayer looks like.

But this "open competition" crapola is just too much. I don't know which is scarier--that Willie can't tell which second baseman had a good spring and which one didn't in an open competition, or that he thinks no one will notice how full of shit he is when he goes with his preconceived (and hopelessly dumb) idea that Kaz is any good. Both are terrifying.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

"How many of them chili dawgs did you did you eat, Jethro?"

"Et two, Brutus."

[RealityChuck]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: [My thesis maintains that they go every time with the guy who has the impressive MLB resume. That's why I make so many cracks about finding Mookie back in the outfield someday. That's what they were trying to do with Boone. The guy just spent two years proving to the world that he was washed-up and the Mets think, Yeah but he hit 37 HRs back in 2002...Who the fuck cares what he did back then? .

It's a concept known as "giving it a shot." He was cheap and worth a gamble. The Mets knew it was unlikely to pay off, but what's the harm in doing it?

[Elster88]

The Mets seem to like to use 2002 to evaluate players. That's why we traded for Julio.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

RealityChuck wrote: but what's the harm in doing it?

That they would go north with Boone and Matsui, neither of whom is an MLB 2b-man, while shitcanning Hernandez and Keppinger, who maybe are, and are cheaper to boot?

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Yes, that would have been bad, and they very well might have done it.

But that's not to say that there can't be value in a guy like Boone. If Matsui wasn't in the mix, and Boone had played well in March, he could have been a useful veteran backup to Hernandez or Keppinger.

That was never likely to happen this year, with this team, and because of that I was never happy with the idea of Boone in camp, and was glad when he called it quits. But I don't think that inviting the Bret Boones of the world is always the wrong thing to do.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Yes, that would have been bad, and they very well might have done it. But that's not to say that there can't be value in a guy like Boone. If Matsui wasn't in the mix, and Boone had played well in March, he could have been a useful veteran backup to Hernandez or Keppinger. That was never likely to happen this year, with this team, and because of that I was never happy with the idea of Boone in camp, and was glad when he called it quits. But I don't think that inviting the Bret Boones of the world is always the wrong thing to do.

If the guy himself decides that he looks more like 200 hundred pounds of doody than a MLB ballplayer, don't you think you ought to think about why you couldn't figure that out during the two years while he played like 200 pounds of doody?

[Elster88]

Plenty of fodder for Met-bashing. Bret Boone's invite is not such a big deal. Too much is made of guys like that. Galarraga's invite was a huge problem last year too, right?

[RealityChuck]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: ="RealityChuck"]but what's the harm in doing it? That they would go north with Boone and Matsui, neither of whom is an MLB 2b-man, while shitcanning Hernandez and Keppinger, who maybe are, and are cheaper to boot?

Who said they were going north with him? They invited him to spring training as a non-roster invitee. If he still has the chops, he goes north; if not, they say goodbye.

Why is that hard to understand?

[Elster88]

Don't try too hard RealityChuck. Last year it was Galarraga. This year it's Boone. For some reason, some people think having these guys in camp means that some youngster will never get a shot to play baseball again.

[seawolf17]

If the Mets didn't waste all their time and hundreds of millions of dollars giving Andres Galarraga ABs last spring, they would have won the division. Any team that invites a veteran to spring training with a non-guaranteed spot is moronic; who does that? Just because a guy was good doesn't mean he'll be good again. The Mets are really the only club who does this; every other team looks to its young'uns to inspire them to victory. Willie Randolph is a moron.

(sc=100)

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

="seawolf17"]If the Mets didn't waste all their time and hundreds of millions of dollars giving Andres Galarraga ABs last spring, they would have won the division. Any team that invites a veteran to spring training with a non-guaranteed spot is moronic; who does that? Just because a guy was good doesn't mean he'll be good again. The Mets are really the only club who does this; every other team looks to its young'uns to inspire them to victory. Willie Randolph is a moron. (sc=100)

When you're finished arguing against things I'm not saying, you can try arguing against what I am saying:

The Mets don't know a secondbaseman from a hole in the base, and only by the good grace of Boone dropping out of the equation were the Mets prevented from him coming north, however badly he did. If he couldn't move three feet for a ground ball, and couldn't hit a homer with "The Simpsons" on five feet away, how could the Mets tell? They think Kaz Matsui's winning the "open competition" for the second base job now.

[seawolf17]

Wasn't a direct blast on you, Bret; just naysayers in general. I have no problem with bringing vets to spring training.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Oh. You know, Seawolf, Jason Phillips looks just like Dennis Ribant.

[RealityChuck]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: The Mets don't know a secondbaseman from a hole in the base, and only by the good grace of Boone dropping out of the equation were the Mets prevented from him coming north, however badly he did.

Interesting. Who on the Mets said that Boone was definitely going north? When?

[seawolf17]

edited because I don't feel like arguing

[Elster88]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: only by the good grace of Boone dropping out of the equation were the Mets prevented from him coming north, however badly he did.

I must have missed the release saying Boone had made the Opening Day roster.

[RealityChuck]

Here's an addendum that might explain what Randolph is doing:

Let's just assume -- for the heck of it, since it most certainly isn't the case -- the Mets want to get rid of Kaz Matsui. Maybe Minyana might even have some nibbles.

Willie comes out and says that it's wide open at 2B.

Minyana takes him aside. "Willie," he says, "I'm trying to move this guy. He's got a big contract and there isn't much interest. And when the teams hear that we don't think he's better than a couple of unproven rookies, whatever interest there is will evaporate."

Willie gets the idea. "The job was always Matsui's, really." He plays Kaz as much as possible to back this up.

Now Minyana calls other teams. "We really think he's good enough to start for us. No doubt at all. Of course, if you make the right offer . . . "

Would it fool another team? Maybe not. But no one's going to consider Kaz unless it looks like the Mets have confidence in him.

It's part of the gamesmanship and if this helps move Matsui elsewhere, it's well worth it.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

So you think Omar has a simple plan to deal with Kaz's contract, and Willie wrecks it by yapping about how he's about to bench Kaz and diminish his value to those blind GMs around baseball? And this yapping is a credit to Willie's astuteness, how, exactly?

[RealityChuck]

Perhaps the interest was expressed after Willie first made the comment. Or Omar told Willie he had given up on trading Matsui, then changed his mind. Or Omar did not keep Willie informed about the progress.

It doesn't really matter. This is a pretty trivial point to be so worked up about.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Yes, I often get worked up over displays of total incompetence and dishonesty that most CPFers find trivial or even examples of Metly virtue.

[Elster88]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: only by the good grace of Boone dropping out of the equation were the Mets prevented from him coming north, however badly he did.

I must have missed the release saying Boone had made the Opening Day roster.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Did you happen to catch the articles saying that Matsui has the edge on the job, based on his performance in the open competition for the job this spring? If bad batting, lousy fielding, and a rotten recent MLB track record wins you jobs around Tradition Field, I'd say Boonie had a lock on the position.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

If anything, it's the $8 million that puts Matsui in the lead. That's an advantage that Boone didn't have.

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

But doesn't such a huge wallet make sliding difficult?