I don't need a backpage spash acquisition

[Guest AG/DC]

Don't even want one.

But this offseason sucks.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

We haven't even had a single press conference/jersey presentation. Schneider was photographed walking around Times Square but Ryan Church to my knowledge hasn't even been interviewed about becoming a Met.

I don't believe they have bothered to schedule the Caravan that normally takes place this time of year -- that's the event where we first see the new guys in unis for the first time.

Give me a guy receiving the No. 38 jersey and proclaiming, "My name is Matt Wise and I love middle relief in New York."

[seawolf17]

I was actually going to start a thread about the Caravan, because I couldn't find any info. WTF, Omar?

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Now this is excitement!

Caravan 05


Caravan 04

[Guest AG/DC]

There was no caravan last year either.

Hi-lites of this offseason.

1) Meeting Mr. and Mrs. Schneider.

2) Meeting David Wright's girlfriend.

3) Learning about John Maine's father.

4) Tom Nieto moving to first base.

5) Nabbing that stud Steve Register in the Rule V draft.

[metirish]

6) Getting Angel Pagan back in the mix.

[Benjamin Grimm]

They look like they should be singing "You Gotta Have Heart."


I don't know that they need a back-page splash either, but my appetite sorely needs whetting. Spring training is only a few weeks away and I'm not yet feeling any sense of anticipation. I can't remember a winter (other than the one between 1994 and 1995) when I got this deep into January without any baseball eagerness kicking in.

Maybe it's just me, though.

[Guest AG/DC]

6) Omar in the Holy Land.

7) Duaner Sanchez debuts with Gigantes del Cibao (oh, wait, this hasn't happened yet)

8) Mets by the Numbers, the book, appears on Amazon.

9) Matt Wise signed.

10) Ron Darling attends to victims of a car wreck.

[HahnSolo]

^^^^
Middle row, third from left: Who he?

[Guest AG/DC]

Yeah, I've got to give the Pagan Angel some props. Put that as up at the top and bounce the Duaner Sanchez item.

HahnSolo wrote: ^^^^ Middle row, third from left: Who he?

Bono.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Jason Phillips?

I can't recognize most of those guys.

[Guest AG/DC]

Bono showed up for the Winter Caravan and then got traded in late March as we were approaching opening day.

Traded... for Kaz Ishii.

[seawolf17]

There's a Matt Ginter sighting in that photo too!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Far right front row in orange: Scott Strickland or Les Nessman? Or Lou Niss?

[metirish]

Were those practice jersey's really orange or was that just the glow from Art Howe?

[Gwreck]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: but Ryan Church to my knowledge hasn't even been interviewed about becoming a Met.

Probably because he doesn't have a signed contract yet. Need to wait until the arbitration decision (or the inevitable signing-to-avoid-arbitration).

[Guest AG/DC]

MLB.com has an interview with Maine at 2:00.

[Willets Point]

="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]

That's the famous "Mets arranged by skin tone" photo.

[nymr83]

wow yeah, whats up with that?

[Benjamin Grimm]

AG/DC wrote: MLB.com has an interview with Maine at 2:00.

I hope they ask him why he's been so secretive about his dad.

[stevejrogers]

I think having the worse collapse in baseball history should have been incentive enough though for something to get done, even if it is a "window dressing" move.

Short of getting that big ticket item I think there should have been more players leaving than just FAs Glavine and LoDuca and Milledge.

FWIW LoDuca AND Milledge were introduced at a press conference in DC!

[Elster88]

SteveJRogers wrote: I think having the worse collapse in baseball history should have been incentive enough though for something to get done, even if it is a "window dressing" move.!

100% wrong. Making a move for the sake of making a move just makes things worse. Making a move as "window dressing" makes things worse.

]Short of getting that big ticket item I think there should have been more players leaving than just FAs Glavine and LoDuca and Milledge.

"Players leaving" for the sake of them leaving makes things worse. And how was this to be accomplished? Cutting people? Who hasn't left that should leave? Who do you want to replace them with.

]FWIW LoDuca AND Milledge were introduced at a press conference in DC!

It's not worth shit!

[stevejrogers]

="Elster88"] SteveJRogers wrote: ]FWIW LoDuca AND Milledge were introduced at a press conference in DC! It's not worth shit. That was just a comparison, no it doesn't mean anything, but the Nats did make a press conference for those moves and we haven't had a move that was augmented by one of those confrences where the player gets shown in his new uni and such. ]This doesn't make sense. You say if people aren't brought in...then more people should leave. Brilliant. "Players leaving" for the sake of them leaving makes things worse. And how was this to be accomplished? Cutting people? Who hasn't left that should leave? I'd start at 1st base, but that is a completely different conversation. And yeah, I know putting Delgado through waivers would have produced the same result that the Red Sox have had with ManRam. My point is more that you would have expected a little more turnover from a team that experienced a historic collapse then the Mets have shown this offseason. It seems they are banking too much on the theory that last year was the aberration. Maybe make tinkering changes with the bench and the bullpen. And yes Mota is gone I left him off that list, but it has to be something that shows that the malaise that the Mets showed for most of the summer (that collapse was NOT just a September swoon) will not be tolerated in 2008. But at the present time, it appears that virtually the entire cast that were responsible for the worse collapse in baseball history will be back next year.

metsmarathon Jan 23 2008 05:34 PM

well, we could just trade jose reyes to the twins... are there first basemen available that would make you say a) i'd dump delgado for that and i'd eat his salary, too? who else was responsible for the swoon? heilman? wagner? scheoneweis? the only one of them you'd want to get rid of is the one who had the best late season. was second the problem? third? left? center? starting pitching? wanna get rid of maine or perez? was el duque part of the malaise? pelfrey? you wanna start swinging an axe, start swinging. but tell us why and how it would actually help the team. on the field, by the way, not in some mystical karmic fashion.

AG/DC Jan 23 2008 10:09 PM

Worst collapse in baseball history is highly debateable. Cutting Carlos Delgado to make some kind of scapegoating point is beyond debate. All I want is for the Mets to tell me that they love me.

Nymr83 Jan 23 2008 10:29 PM

AG/DC wrote: Worst collapse in baseball history is highly debateable. Yankees up 3-0 in the ALCS. that'll never get beat for "worst collapse" ]Cutting Carlos Delgado to make some kind of scapegoating point is beyond debate. umm yeah. unless the next Pujols is waiting? anyone see him?

metsmarathon Jan 24 2008 07:08 AM

iirc, the mets had one of the two most improbable failures to make the postseason in baseball history... at least according to baseball prospectus's figurings. and, yeah, the yankees' collapse was greater. in all senses of the word. (not that its consolation) and that doesn't seem to have hampered their ability to compete, has it?

Benjamin Grimm Jan 24 2008 07:20 AM

Nitpicking over whether or not it was the biggest collapse ever is pointless. It was plenty big enough for me. If another collapse was bigger, it offers scant comfort.

AG/DC Jan 24 2008 07:29 AM

No, I think it's worth it. If Steve is using that as a foundation of this argument that the team should make seemingly irrational moves as a show of contempt for themselves, I'm going to try to weaken that foundation.

metsmarathon Jan 24 2008 07:56 AM

also worth pointing out is that the team with THE worst collapse, them yankees, followed that up with a handful of dreadful moves in signing pavano and wright, and a largely unhelpful trading for randy johnson, and still won the AL east. so the moves that they made to flush out the bad taste were terrible, AND the holdovers didn't roll over and die the next season.

AG/DC Jan 24 2008 08:03 AM

I guess Steve might argue that the holdovers held it together largely because the hasty moves the Yankees made underscored their mortality before a vengeful or arbitrary god or God, and redoubled their focus. I wouldn't.

Benjamin Grimm Jan 24 2008 08:19 AM

Arguing with Steve is as pointless as arguing with Ira. When you argue with Steve, he changes his argument, but maintains his position. When you argue with Ira, he changes your argument.

Willets Point Jan 24 2008 08:20 AM

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Arguing with Steve is as pointless as arguing with Ira. When you argue with Steve, he changes his argument, but maintains his position. When you argue with Ira, he changes your argument. POTD!

[metsmarathon]

well, we could just trade jose reyes to the twins...

are there first basemen available that would make you say a) i'd dump delgado for that and i'd eat his salary, too?

who else was responsible for the swoon? heilman? wagner? scheoneweis? the only one of them you'd want to get rid of is the one who had the best late season. was second the problem? third? left? center? starting pitching? wanna get rid of maine or perez? was el duque part of the malaise? pelfrey?

you wanna start swinging an axe, start swinging. but tell us why and how it would actually help the team. on the field, by the way, not in some mystical karmic fashion.

[Guest AG/DC]

Worst collapse in baseball history is highly debateable.

Cutting Carlos Delgado to make some kind of scapegoating point is beyond debate.

All I want is for the Mets to tell me that they love me.

[nymr83]

AG/DC wrote: Worst collapse in baseball history is highly debateable.

Yankees up 3-0 in the ALCS. that'll never get beat for "worst collapse"

]Cutting Carlos Delgado to make some kind of scapegoating point is beyond debate.

umm yeah. unless the next Pujols is waiting? anyone see him?

[metsmarathon]

iirc, the mets had one of the two most improbable failures to make the postseason in baseball history... at least according to baseball prospectus's figurings.

and, yeah, the yankees' collapse was greater. in all senses of the word. (not that its consolation) and that doesn't seem to have hampered their ability to compete, has it?

[Benjamin Grimm]

Nitpicking over whether or not it was the biggest collapse ever is pointless.

It was plenty big enough for me. If another collapse was bigger, it offers scant comfort.

[Guest AG/DC]

No, I think it's worth it. If Steve is using that as a foundation of this argument that the team should make seemingly irrational moves as a show of contempt for themselves, I'm going to try to weaken that foundation.

[metsmarathon]

also worth pointing out is that the team with THE worst collapse, them yankees, followed that up with a handful of dreadful moves in signing pavano and wright, and a largely unhelpful trading for randy johnson, and still won the AL east.

so the moves that they made to flush out the bad taste were terrible, AND the holdovers didn't roll over and die the next season.