Douchebag Journalists

[Guest Number 6]

He-- as do Madden, Matthews and the overwhelming majority of the beat writers/columnists-- has instead churned out a column that could have been written by keyboard-macro...[/quote:1jv0oyp9]

I have a suspicion that NY tabloid sports columnists are instructed by their editors to cater to Yank fans' superiority complexes and Met fans' inferiority complexes. It sells papers, particularly since this treatment of each team excites/rankles the fans of the other.

Either that, or the columnists made this realization on their own, but with so many doing the same thing I tend to think it's a top-down strategy.

[Guest Vince Coleman Firecracker]

Reyes is going to stop regressing?
[/quote:10ldoasj]

Okay, I'll bite. This is Jose Reyes' career value from Fangraphs:

Season.Team...... Batting.......Fielding......WAR..Dollars
2003....Mets....... 3.5............2.6............1.9....$5.3
2004....Mets....... -6.5..........1.1............0.3....$1.0
2005....Mets....... -8.8..........-3.2...........2.0....$6.8
2006....Mets....... 23.5..........2.8............5.5....$20.3
2007....Mets....... 12.2..........7.5............5.1....$21.0
2008....Mets....... 26.1..........0.0............5.9....$26.4
2009....Mets....... 2.1...........-1.9...........0.7....$3.4

Go ahead and point to the regression. Take your finger and point at it. Did your finger stop somewhere around the 2009 stats? Do those numbers look unusual next to the others? Did, maybe, something happen to Reyes in 2009 that caused the numbers to look unusual? Oh. He was injured for most of last year? Huh. And maybe his stats from last year are less about regression and more about the injury? Possibly? And other than that, has his value has been rising since the beginning of his career? Isn't that, you know, kinda the opposite of regression?

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Going after flawed free agents because they were the best names that particular year is how we ended up with Vince Coleman and Bobby Bonilla. Demanding a trade for trade's sake is how we got Mo Vaughn.


Look at it this way.

By the time spring training rolls around, the Mets will have added an All-Star shortstop, an All-Star centerfielder, an All-Star -- if not all-world -- starting pitcher, a 15-game winner, a 12-game winner, all of which will help the All-Star third-baseman with some protection in the lineup.

Obviously I'm talking about Reyes, Beltran, Santana, Maine, Perez and Wright. Just getting those guys back makes us a formidable team. Anything else builds on that foundation.

C'mon, nobody here was really saying, "Damn, I sure wish we had John Lackey in our rotation." He's this year's version of Derek Lowe, a free-agent at a time when there were no real big guns out there and will cash in.

And I call bullshit on any statement that no one wants to play for the Mets. Media capital of the world. Hasn't hurt Wright, Santana or Beltran boost their national recognition. If guys would rather cash their checks in Oakland, Dallas or Pittsburgh, because last year's team was wracked with injuries and Omar screwed up a press conference, screw them. I hear Milwaukee and Miami are nice in the summer.

[Guest Edgy DC]

B-b-but... it's December 15th!

[ashie62]

I hope the Mets don't stand pat but even if they do, they're bound to pick up 10-15 Wins just by staying healthy.[/quote:3nuyg7r2]

They should win 10-15 more by accident, if Citifield is not on top of an Indian burial ground.

[Met Hunter]

It's the impatience of "fans" and their quick fix attitude, coupled with all the overdone sports talk, that has made me care less and less about hot stove talk. I no longer care what people think of the Mets. They have an excellent core, with the chance to improve and have a much better year in 2010. I'm more inclined to agree with MetGuy and some of the other positive spin posters, than to buy into all the negativity created by asshole MFY shills.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

My confidence in the Mets on the other hand has been more than a little shaky lately, but if anything they got sturdier this week when they didn't go and turn themselves inside-out so as to "win" some meaningless contest to make the largest splash or impress the most obese radio hosts.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm more of a wait-and-see poster, or a tell-me-about-it-when-it-pops-up poster, myself.

I mean, while I agree that the Mets should get better than 70 wins by stting still, it doesn't take a second lightning strike to ruin 2010. It's altogether possible that Reyes, Beltran, Santana, Maine, and even Nieve have sustained such injuries that they are never the same again. That the Mets sign Delgado and get the same. So I'm loathe to put a 10-15 number on my expectations. But I do know about probabliity, and I think folks dwelling on ledges ought to get some persepective or hurry and up and jump. This same shit happens every offseason, and tabloid hacks get folks all convinced that this year --- THIS YEAR! --- is the cruicible.

My prediction for this offseason is the Mets will make some helpful deals, some hurtful deals, and we'll see. I like analyzing them too, but if we're going to bring in nebulous factors like need to prove something to the fans, and act like a big market club, and going for championship not wildcard, and must respond to most painful playoff misses ever, and such, we're clearly just looking to be aggrieved and enjoying the time honored sport of feeling like we're smarter than the rich and powerful.

Maybe you are. Maybe we all are. But show me with logic, not foggy stuff like that.

[metsmarathon]

sports teams should only care about placating the fans inasmuch as making moves which will eventually lead to putting winning, championship-caliber teams on the playing surface.

making moves to quiet the unruly fans, or simply to preempt their expected unruliness, is what led to most of the shitty mets teams in the mid 90s and mid 00s, and is also what led to the knicks trading away patrick ewing.

fans should demand that their team makes moves which improve the team, not make moves which improve the quality of back-page headlines written about them.

personally, i'd like nothing more than for the mets to make a ton of quiet, smart signings this offseason that causes untold uproar all across the newspapers and the radio shows and the internets, only to have those quiet, innocuous moves work out smashingly well in their favor. it probably wouldn't have any lasting effect in terms of shutting up the morons out tehre, but it would be nice for a while thinking that it might.

[G-Fafif]

So it was no surprise that Lackey apparently had zero interest in playing for the Mets, at least as long as the Red Sox wanted him. The Mets sensed as much from the preliminary conversations they had with his agent, which is why they decided to make an offer to Jason Bay instead.

Phrases like "apparently" and "sensed as much" are code for "I don't really know, but I have this hole to fill and I'm going to fill it with something about the Mets sucking, even if the Mets and Lackey were never reported anywhere as any kind of realistic match."

Never fear, though. Word filtered out of Venezuela yesterday that the Mets are aggressively pursuing Kelvim Escobar, the 33-year-old righthander coming back from nearly two years missed because of shoulder surgery. Halladay, Lackey, Escobar. Black Monday indeed.

Threes! Bad things come in threes! That's why the Mets suck so much, darkening Black Monday even more!

Natch if the MFYs were interested in signing an under-the-radar veteran pitcher with a history of injuries, they'd be credited for maintaining the intrepidness to never stop beating the bushes for potential bargains because you never know who's going to step in and help put you over the top.

Today may not be Bright Tuesday, but it's not because yesterday was Black Monday. Call me on April 5.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

And yet, perception kinda matters as much as reality when you're selling a product, right? If half of your front-office problems stem from doing a poor job of communicating and selling your ideas, and you can't/shouldn't make the crowd-pleasing move, then where does that leave you?

It's depressing. One wonders if the heat would be a little less wilting if the Wilpons were better at celebrating Met history, managing pricing, and the other customer-service meat/PR filigree.

[Guest Edgy DC]

No, I don't think perception matters as much as reality. Because reality drives perception and not really the other way around. A 10-game winning streak will drive a whole lot of good columns a lot faster than a whole lot of good columns will drive a 10-game winning streak.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

And yet, perception kinda matters as much as reality when you're selling a product, right? If half of your front-office problems stem from doing a poor job of communicating and selling your ideas, and you can't/shouldn't make the crowd-pleasing move, then where does that leave you?

It's depressing. One wonders if the heat would be a little less wilting if the Wilpons were better at celebrating Met history, managing pricing, and the other customer-service meat/PR filigree.[/quote:o2i6ohrg]

I agree with this completely.

[TransMonk]

A 10-game winning streak will drive a whole lot of good columns a lot faster than a whole lot of good columns will drive a 10-game winning streak.[/quote:3ent7t0h]

Nicely put.

[G-Fafif]

It's depressing. One wonders if the heat would be a little less wilting if the Wilpons were better at celebrating Met history, managing pricing, and the other customer-service meat/PR filigree.[/quote:2muw5job]

Yup, it's the old "when you're going horsespit..." rule of narrative. Lackey got an insane deal from the Red Sox. Halladay had a specific, semi-legitimate reason to want to be a Phillie (spring training near home) and Escobar...who gives a fig about whether they invite Kelvim Escobar to camp? But the Mets had a lousy year and don't appear too deft at other things of late. So of course it's Black Monday.

Players join teams all the time. When did it become the Mets' responsibility to become the first team each player should consider every time -- which is essentially what Harper the Hack is suggesting? I'm not thrilled Halladay's in the same division and, yeah, Lackey would have been useful, but neither ever seemed to be The Plan. To treat these discrete events in the same realm as the Mets lowballing Vladimir Guerrero or fumbling a trade for Ken Griffey isn't logical or fair. Those were potential acquisitions in which we were led to believe the Mets had a strong shot at the player and missed. Halladay always sounded like a neat-o pipe dream and Lackey was never more, "apparently," than a conversation between Minaya and Lackey's people.

Harper's implied thesis that every time another team signs a good player it reflects poorly on the Mets because the Mets didn't and, therefore, the Mets couldn't, is ludicrous. Do 29 other teams exist in a Met-defined vacuum? That's MFY thinking.

[Frayed Knot]

The NYPost's Mike Vaccaro, on the other hand, tries staying a bit more on the sane side:

Mets fans aren't going to like this, mostly because so many of them have taken full advantage of their First Amendment right the past 24 hours or so to express their disdain for the way things have shaped up this postseason. And, sure, for anyone who had their hearts set on Roy Halladay or John Lackey wearing orange and blue, yesterday was a blue Monday.

But I don't believe it was a Black Monday, as it's been described elsewhere.

And here's why:

If you were thinking rationally -- and I don't expect Mets fans to do that; they've been beaten up repeatedly by inept ownership and poor management the last three years, and are allowed to punch back -- ask yourself these two questions:

1. Would you really have included Jose Reyes in a deal for Roy Halladay, even if Halladay had agreed to waive his no-trade clause and accept a trade to the Mets? I think it's a fair question. I think there are a lot of folks who have hopped off the Reyes bandwagon, who are spooked by his leg injuries, who remember how much heat he was taking immediately prior to landing on the DL last year. But I also think it is useful to remember just how good Reyes is at his very best, and I firmly believe he has an MVP-level season or two in him, and if that's true then you have to keep the guy who can impact 70-80 games for you rather than one who will impact a maximum of 33 or 34. You just do.

2. Would you really have paid John Lackey five years and $85 million, even if Lackey had expressed a deep-seeded interest in switching to pitcher-friendly CitiField? Look, Lackey is a terrific pitcher, and he gives the Red Sox an eye-popping rotation, and he surely would have been a nice wingman to Johan Santana. And if we are playing with Monopoly money, sure, spend whatever you have to spend on whomever you wish to spend it on. But Lackey hasn't thrown 200 innings in three years. He has never won a Cy Young, and even in his career year of 2007 (19-9, 3.01) only finished as high as third, the only time he's even placed.

Maybe you answer yes to 1 and yes to 2. Me? I wouldn't even go to a fifth year to secure Jason Bay's services, because as much as you want to scream at the Mets to do something, anything, to throw money at members of a weak free-agent class just because you want to throw it around is the kind of dangerous precedent that sets clubs back five or 10 years; and since the Mets already seem to have been set back five years or so by their shenanigans of the past few seasons, isn't it better to pick and choose from the vast list of non-tendereds, hope that the injured of 2009 are the healthy of 2010, and then wait for next year's free agent class that will possibly include the likes of Lance Berkman, Joe Mauer, Carl Crawford, Josh Beckett, Cliff Lee and even Albert Pujols?

[metirish]

Mike fecking Vaccaro.....I salute you. How did his editors let that one fly?

[Guest Edgy DC]

It really comes down to the "it was never going to happen." Get your money down before the wheel stops spinning next time.

[nymr83]

Me too. I'm trying hard to think of a team that I despise so much I would actually root for the Yankees to win. So far I have Al Qaeda.[/quote:1s9iqr5u]

I was seriously considering Al Qaeda when the yankees played the Phillies, but then I realized there may have been employees in the ballpark who didn't actually root for either team and were just doing their jobs...

[metirish]

Harper digs hard and finds a new angle

What's wrong with Omar Minaya and the New York Mets? Maybe they miss Tony Bernazard

When Omar Minaya was earning a reputation as a big-game hunter in his early years as Mets GM, nobody was more dogged in pursuit of free agents. At the Carlos Beltran press conference, in fact, Jeff Wilpon giddily noted that either Minaya or former assistant GM Tony Bernazard had been relentless, calling agent Scott Boras every day for 31 straight days. And so a strange and ironic thought occurred to me Tuesday as Minaya was asking increasingly impatient fans for patience as the big-name free agents have begun signing with other teams: The Mets miss Tony Bernazard. Please don't misunderstand this; Bernazard deserved to get fired last summer for his various displays of temper and outrageous conduct, and I'm not advocating that he be re-hired. It's just that the Mets seem all too willing to let the market come to them this offseason, when their situation practically demanded that they shoot themselves out of a cannon and go after the few difference-makers available in this weak free-agent class. As I wrote in Tuesday's editions, they probably had no realistic shot at John Lackey once the Red Sox got involved, but their only chance was to make a big offer at the very first opportunity, the way the Yankees did last year with CC Sabathia. Instead, Minaya admitted Tuesday to taking a rather casual approach, saying, "We talked to Lackey's agent last Friday, and we were going to talk again sometime this week." What happened to calling 31 straight days? Basically the Mets seem to need a push, and Bernazard, with his intensity and in-your-face style, wasn't afraid to push both Wilpon and Minaya to act decisively. Consider what he said at that Beltran press conference in January of 2005, when asked about hounding Boras for a month: "When I go after something, I go after something." We know now that Bernazard was a pit bull in all the wrong ways as well, from intimidating co-workers to challenging minor-leaguers to fight him, but the Mets need that pit-bull mentality right now. Minaya finds himself chasing players from a position of weakness similar to the one he faced upon taking over as GM five years ago. Only the sense of urgency doesn't seem to be the same. Maybe his hands are tied financially, but he has let Lackey and Chone Figgins sign elsewhere without any kind of fight. And while the Mets have put the word out that Jason Bay is a better fit at Citi Field than Matt Holliday, there is a feeling among baseball people that they simply weren't willing to meet Holliday's price, as dictated by Boras. In any case, it seems likely now that Holliday is heading back toward the Cardinals, which would leave Bay as the only big-ticket free agent left on the market. At the very least the Mets need to move quickly to lock him up. Because if they somehow miss out on Bay, especially now that the Red Sox appear to be out of the mix, the offseason would suddenly loom as the same type of disaster as the season itself. To this Minaya stood in front of reporters at the Mets' holiday party yesterday and insisted that the offseason is going according to plan. "We have a plan," he said. "We've targeted players and if we get our guys we're going to have a very good team. (To the fans) I would say be patient. In the past we've delivered, and I believe we're going to deliver again this year." The problem is their plan seemed to be built around the thinking that patience would yield bargains in a soft market, and they were caught off-guard when teams spent more aggressively than anticipated. Minaya can still salvage the offseason if he lands Bay, Bengie Molina, and either Jason Marquis or Joel Pineiro. If he wants kudos from Mets fans, however, he's going to have to do something creative like finding a cash-strapped trading partner as the Yankees did in landing Curtis Granderson from the Tigers. Indeed, Edwin Jackson, who went to the Diamondbacks in that three-way deal, would have been ideal for the Mets. So is it simply that they don't have the prospects to pull off such a move? Or is Minaya not quite the big-game hunter he was when he had a pit bull at his side?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Ho-Ho-Hopeless!

[metirish]

This guy has everything said about the Mets amd the Mets needs this past few weeks ticked off and added to his article.

http://nybaseballdigest.com/?p=19054

Four Years- Whatever- Mets Need to Get Bay Signed -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Jed Weisberger ~ December 17th, 2009. Filed under: Mike Silva. C�mon, Omar Minaya, close the deal with outfielder Jason Bay. Lock him up, add him to your roster and give Mets fans something to cheer about. You watched as the Phillies went and got what they needed, trading both prospects and pitcher Cliff Lee to land Roy Halladay. This is the team you are chasing in the National League East and, provided Cole Hamels gets straightened out, way ahead of you at this point. Will Bay close the gap? Certainly not by himself, but he�ll make a big dent. All the dancing about years and dollars is silly. This guy�s bat � his power is down the left-field line � is built for Citi Field. A former Pirate (it seems there are a lot of them making good money and playing well), he is tuned to the National League. He�s a good guy, projects a good image, hits for power and average and drives in runs. What more do you want? On top of it all, the teams you seemed to be allegedly competing with for his services are turning elsewhere. Sure Matt Holliday is another option, but your ballpark doesn�t really suit his power game. Some will tell you Bay is a horrendous outfielder. That is being much too harsh. He has his issues from time-to-time, but you will be paying him to drive in runs. What I can�t understand about the Mets, unlike the Yankees, Red Sox and now the Phillies, is why the club can�t just go out in the free-agent market and sign the players it needs. I can�t think the Mets are willing to play second or third fiddle to the Phillies on an annual basis. Interesting it is the Yankees and Phillies filled their needs through trade, as Boston has done several times � Josh Beckett came to Fenway Park in a swap with Florida. Those teams are able to accomplish goals like that because their farm systems are in good shape. In the Phillies� case, general manager Ruben Amaro managed to bring back three key prospects from the Mariners while signing Halladay to the extension he needed. There is also a credibility gap here. Halladay talked about going to the Phillies, Yankees or Red Sox. Did he ever mention the Mets? Minaya and Company should always be in the mix for these types of players. Get Bay signed and soon, so attention can be paid to bolstering the pitching staff. Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi is a start, but why not add former Pirates closer Matt Capps � a bargain at $3 million annually � for depth. In baseball today, he who dawdles loses.

[Guest Edgy DC]

All the dancing about years and dollars is silly[/quote:2xlzxhpq]
I agree. I think they sign him for fifty years at a zillion dollars. Guh!

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yeah! Years???? Dollars????

Are those really the things you want to negotiate about???

[metirish]

Right now I would give Bay 10 years and $252 million......and all the tents he wants.....

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

All the dancing about years and dollars is silly.

For this guy, writing about baseball is like dancing about architecture.

[Frayed Knot]

I'm telling Elvis Costello you stole that line from him!!

[metirish]

Harper will be banging his head after reading this wondering why he didn't think of it.

Bob Klapisch

Here's an idea: Mets should trade Santana

By all accounts, the Mets are getting closer to wrapping their long, desperate tentacles around Jason Bay, but they�re keeping their options open in case he bolts to the mystery team that�s (supposedly) offering a five-year deal. Plan B is Matt Holliday, who�s probably using the Mets to scare up the Cardinals, his first choice all along. Plan C? Here�s a suggestion: ask if anyone�s interested in Johan Santana. Of course, the Wilpon family will do no such thing. They invested $137.5 million in the great lefthander and aren�t about to admit failure. But the current Mets core is beginning Year 5 of a golden era that wasn�t and considering how poorly Omar Minaya has done this winter, the drought isn�t about to end. Even if the Mets do sign Bay, he won�t make them as good as the Phillies, who are a lock to take the East for the third straight year. The Mets would be better off measuring themselves against the Braves, who have better pitching and a better manager. In fact, even the wild card is a long shot right now, so instead of continuing to over-spend on B-level free agents ($21 million for Bengie Molina? Really?) the Mets need to think about draft picks again. They need to address their bankrupt minor league system. They need to take advantage of their current invisibility and build towards a sensible, three-year reconstruction plan. They can do it by letting other GMs know that Santana is available. It�s true, dealing the franchise�s best pitcher would be tantamount to surrender. But it would be at least be an honest admission to fans, who�ve grown weary of the all the disappointment. One club official recently admitted season ticket sales are slow, adding. �hardly anyone is showing up for the tours (of Citi Field). �There�s supposed to be 50 people (in every tour), we�re hardly getting 10,� he said. The public is waiting for a reason to plunk down hard-earned money during the holiday season. The Mets had one legitimate shot at improving themselves this winter and saw it vanish when John Lackey signed with the Red Sox. Actually, Roy Halladay would�ve been the magic bullet, but the Mets, with nothing to trade, never got past the velvet rope with the Jays. Now, the back of the rotation is a billboard of under-achievement, featuring Mike Pelfrey, Oliver Perez and John Maine. Santana was supposed to deliver the Mets a pennant when he signed in 2007, so in a sense he has failed them. But it�s the Mets who are the guilty party; they�ve sabotaged Santana from Day 1. They�ve given him no help with pitchers who�ve either been injured (Maine), have regressed (Pelfrey) or were never worth the money (Perez, $36 million for three years). So the Mets can do themselves (and Santana) a favor by exploring a trade. This isn�t to say the market would jump at the chance. To the contrary: Santana is owed $21 million this year, which means there�s only a handful of teams who could afford him -- the Yankees, Red Sox and Angels -- and even they aren�t willing to spend that much. What�s crazy is that Santana isn�t even viewed as the elite pitcher he was two years ago. Despite being two years younger than Roy Halladay, Santana wouldn�t command the same contract as the Phillies� new ace. Not now, not after elbow surgery cut short his 2008 season. Not after two years of disappointing results by his Mets� teammates. Still, the Mets have to make peace with the idea that the Santana experiment has failed, just as the Carlos Beltran, Pedro Martinez and Billy Wagner gambles all turned to vapor. Yet, they continue to chase The Next Great Star as if this was 2006 and they were one player away from greatness. This long, flat road to nowhere will probably cost Jerry Manuel his job this summer. Minaya is on the hot seat, too. Both men are victims of Jeff Wilpon�s hyper-sensitivity to the public�s voice. The Mets have over-paid time and again for their free agents, leaving the franchise top-heavy, and burdened with contracts they can�t move. Actually if the Mets were capable of making a cold business decision, they�d even dangle David Wright and Jose Reyes. Wright, in particular, could bring a bundle of prospects in return -- and who knows, he might just welcome a trade since he�s playing in a new ballpark he obviously hates. Citi Field is 37 feet deeper in right-center than at Shea, and ownership made matters worse by announcing the dimensions won�t change next season. But the Mets could never part with either Wright or Reyes. They�re Home-grown talent; the emotional attachment is too strong. Santana�s place in the Met family is cemented only by cash. The Wilpons would have to eat some of that money to trade him, but it�s a scenario worth considering as the Mets keep pretending it�s still 2006 and winning the World Series is just a matter of writing one more check.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Here's my take on that (reprinted with permission of me)

He argues on the one hand that Santana would bring some bonanza of talent in a trade then goes on to say he's not worth his contract anyway. He acknowledges the list of potential suitors would be a short one but ignores the fact that none of them made a real move for Halladay. He says the Mets are loaded with unmoveable contracts when only Perez and maybe K-Rod would fit that description. His facts are wrong (Santana had surgery in 09, not 08). He says the Mets' problem is that they're too easily pushed around then proceeds to dare them to trade their best player because off-season stadium tours aren't drawing well. What? I think he's right that the club has been guilty to a degree of believing its own good reviews. He's also right that dangling Wright or Reyes would be the real way to attract attention, but then he's too big of a pussy to come out and advocate that.

[metirish]

I find it hilarious that a "club official" is moaning about only 10 people showing up for tours of CF......like that's an indication af anything.....


Not fair to say the Santana trade has been a bust .....