Its Milledge Time

[nymr83]

without a doubt, the local news is essentially a report on the criminal activity in the 5 boroughs along with sports and weather.

[Guest KC]

He said it sells, it doesn't sell me (or from what I read you guys either).

*tap* *tap* *tap* is this thing on?

[Elster88]

The average CPFer intelligence level is higher than that of the average citizen.

[nymr83]

some people aren't stuck to a specific paper, they'll buy a different one every morning, i suppose the argument is that when one headline says "Milledge feuding with Randolph" and the other one is "Mets lose" more people will buy the first paper. that seems to be how the papers feel at least.

[Zvon]

So Nady is up and activated.
All stays like it is because Floyd has been put on the DL.
So Milledge stays up,....for now.


I think they are gonna shuttle Bell, myself.

[DocTee]

From Sunday's SF Chronicle...


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/18/SPGTMJG0NT1.DTL

In another article John Shea suggests that "The A's could make a dramatic offensive improvement by trading Barry Zito, which we're told is a possibility. GM Billy Beane still adores Lastings Milledge, who has done some questionable things with the Mets that might suddenly make him tradeable. The A's farm system is thin in outielders."


FWIW, Shea is pushing hard for EITHER the A's or Giants to acquire Soriano, with the former moving him to 2b and the latter grooming him as a replacement for Bonds/Alou.

[Elster88]

Milledge would rather sit and stay then go to AAA.

[TransMonk]

I'd rather have a six figure salary.

I'd rather America wasn't at war.

I'd rather outlaw the DH.

But I'd really rather see Milledge get his ABs at AAA and keep his mouth shut.

[Elster88]

Honestly I think this story is just some reporter leading him to get a quote and then running with it. Newsday is a rag. I posted it for the hell of it.

[TransMonk]

I watched Bull Durham over the weekend and I would love Milledge to follow the advise and learn some cliches.

"I'm just happy to be here," "Whatever is best for the team," "I'm just taking it one day at a time."

When he opens his mouth he sounds like all 21 year olds who know they have talent and the reporters are running with it.

[Farmer Ted]

After seeing Nady back in uniform and playing, send the kid down.

[Guest Iubitul]

Actually, I agree with the kid. I think he will learn more being with the big club. Having Cliff, Franco, and Willie lean on him for the rest of the season would do him more good than getting his AB's in AAA, IMO

[Elster88]

TransMonk wrote: I watched Bull Durham over the weekend and I would love Milledge to follow the advise and learn some cliches. "I'm just happy to be here," "Whatever is best for the team," "I'm just taking it one day at a time." When he opens his mouth he sounds like all 21 year olds who know they have talent and the reporters are running with it.

A lot of the population kills players for only spouting cliches and not being interesting. The kids can't win.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I have no problem with Milledge going back to Norfolk when Floyd returns. We know where to find him if we need him again.

But I do like the idea of recalling him in time for August 31. I think a taste of the postseason will be good for his development.

[Guest ScarletKnight41]

I just made a similar comment to a friend about Milledge. He needs to learn his cliches.

[Elster88]

Really? You'd rather a player spout cliches than say "I'd rather stay in the bigs" (a perfectly normal comment that anyone in his position would say.)

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't care to hear any more cliches. But it does protect the player a bit. If he spouts cliches instead of what he really thinks, he won't talk himself into trouble.

I still remember that column that had David Cone's name on it during the 1988 NLCS. I wish it had been more cliche-ridden. The Mets might have three of those World Series trophies.

[nymr83]

i hate cliches. let Milledge say what Milledge thinks. I'd hate to hear a guy NOT say that he wants, and deserves, to be in the big leagues

[TransMonk]

Milledge can say what ever he wants...I don't care.

As far as him deserving a spot on the ML club, he doesn't. He is certainly a big league option, but he has done nothing to deserve a spot.

I can understand wanting it, and I have no problem with him expressing that. But in the end, he is best served by doing whatever those around him tell him to do regardless of his opinion because they all have more baseball experience than he does.

[Zvon]

I want him up, but the odds are he will go down.

Pitching is just such a more important commodity.
Id rather see Bell on a shuttle but that has much more of a chance of coming back to bite you in the ass than one less bat on the bench.

Woodward? To versatile a filler to send down.

As much as I want to see Lastings up and coming off the bench, I cant see the advantage for the team to make the room for him at this point in the season. No knock on Milledge.
Chavez and Valentin have just covered the corner outfield spots too well when theres the need. Now we got this Marrero guy whos another good filler.
And by this weekend both Floyd and Nady are back.

I personally hope that Floyd starts to hit like we know he can, cuz Id hate to lose him via trade, esp if this teams on the way to the post season.
Floyd should be there for that.

But I give him 3 weeks to a month. If he dont get his swing back in consistant form, somethings gonna give there.

But Floyd will be given the chance and there will be future opportunities for Milledge.

[Zvon]

I also may have kinda jinxed Milledge cuz I made this real kool custom KaBOOM for him and he hasnt hit a homer since.

[Guest cleonjones11]

Got a funny Feeling Cliff Floyd has played his last game as a Met..Too bad..but I think he's about shot..

[Guest Edgy DC]

]Got a funny Feeling Cliff Floyd has played his last game as a Met.

I'll disagree.

[metirish]

Found this kinda harsh article in a local Hudson Valley paper...

] Major-league talent Minor-League attitude New York We've now gotten a nice three-week window of watching Lastings Milledge in a major-league uniform, and if we've learned anything about the 21-year-old phenom it's this: The kid has dazzling all-around talent. And the kid is trouble - a controversy waiting to happen, a problem child needing weekly reprimands. In the tiny space of 21 days, Milledge has managed to produce an impressive body of red flags, showing up late to the ballpark one day, loafing around the basepaths (and getting thrown out at the plate) another day, and one night having the uniquely bad sense - and timing - of high-fiving a long line of fans down the right-field line after hitting nothing more than a game-tying homer. Of course, none of this will really matter very soon, as this sideshow that has been Milledge's debut in the bigs will likely end before the week is out, when Cliff Floyd is added back from the DL. That's when Kid Trouble is the odd man out and gets booted back to Triple-A. Where he rightly belongs right now. Where he can hopefully work on growing out of the kinks in his inner game and possibly lose a chunk of that sizeable chip on his shoulder. Where he can't be around to do something weird or stupid or downright unprofessional that might derail, even for one moment, this wonderful Mets season. In fact, not only should the Mets bust this kid in rank, but do it with a firm, eyeball-to-eyeball warning. One final reprimand for good measure - if for no other reason than to break this kid's ego a bit. Tell him in no uncertain terms that he'd better learn to play and act like a major-leaguer in the future or be prepared to go back to the minors again and again. Maybe that'll wake him up. Maybe that'll humble him. Maybe. Because as of Tuesday, when I spoke to Milledge alone by his locker before the Reds game, he was utterly unapologetic about a single thing, saying without a hiccup that if he had to do these last three weeks all over again, "I wouldn't do anything differently." Which means he still doesn't get it. "Everything matters up here," he said with that sleepy-eyed look of his and while munching ever-so-slowly on a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. "Small, big, it all matters. The biggest adjustment for me here hasn't been the game - that's been the easiest - but the off-the-field stuff." The other day, he was quoted as saying: "I never had to deal with any teaching because I played the game pretty much well enough for people to have left me alone." Which tells you where this kid's head is at. He's used to being the big star. With big-star treatment. With playing the game within his own bubble - and without interference. Just look at the uniform number he asked for when he got here: 44. That's not any number. That's a superstar's number. That's Reggie Jackson's number and Hank Aaron's number. That's the way Milledge sees himself. In his head, he merely thinks this superstardom is just around the corner, that if the Mets would only be patient and give him a little more time that he and his talent could burst free any day now. "You never know what could happen (these next few days)," he said. "I could go crazy and put pressure on them to keep me." It's the desperate last words of a dead player walking. The kid's barely hitting over .250. If he were hitting .350, the Mets' decision to send him down would be infinitely more difficult. They want to believe in the deep-down goodness in this kid, as much as they believe in the hugeness of his potential as a player. Willie Randolph keeps saying, despite all of Milledge's bush-league indiscretions, how much he likes the kid. And Omar Minaya says the same. Which is why we haven't seen anything in the way of disciplinary actions or fines. The Mets aren't at the point of tough-loving this kid yet. They're too invested in what Milledge could mean to their future. And Milledge isn't at the point yet of seeing anything so terribly wrong in what he's done here. "What you see is what you get," he said. Which is what I'm afraid of. Michael P. Geffner's column appears regularly in the Times Herald-Record.

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/06/22/sports-geffnercolumnmilledge-06-22.html

[Guest Edgy DC]

Take it easy.

[metsmarathon]

"Just look at the uniform number he asked for when he got here: 44. That's not any number. That's a superstar's number. That's Reggie Jackson's number and Hank Aaron's number."

wow. i mean, wow.

should we be expecting our rookies to say "hey, what was jay payton's number? i want that one. he had a lot of promise but didnt really pan out, and that's pretty much what i expect of myself, so give me his number with which i might carry on his legacy"

you know you've got no objectivity whatsoever when you blast a kid for his uniform number...

and for the speed with wchich he munches on a reeses peanut butter cup - which is better when enjoyed slowly, by the way.

i like that our rookie potential phenom isn't hindsighting himself into oblivion, personally. there's little in those quotes that causes me any personal alarm. the kid is unpolished, immature, and exuberent. that's just what i would expect of a kid who's all of 21 years of age.

not every rookie is david wright. just because a good one isn't, doenst make him a bad seed.

[metirish]

I've been reading this guys previous columns for the last half hour or so....it's a laugh.

http://www.recordonline.com/sports/geffner.html

[Elster88]

Seriously, why mention what and how he's eating?

[metirish]

read the puff piece of Jeter, a perfect way to end the work week...

[Benjamin Grimm]

] sleepy-eyed look of his and while munching ever-so-slowly on a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup

I don't know if it's intentional or not, but it sound a bit racist to me. Sleepy-eyed and slow-moving? Makes Lastings sound like a caricature from a minstrel show.