Camp Buzz

[MFS62]

well in fairness to him BP's Kevin Goldstein called it the last few years that it was an improving system, he's now got them in the top 15 of organisations (where I don't know)

[/quote:11q11e7w]
His top 15 is supposed to be announced today. I haven't seen it yet.

Later

[duan]

we type he delivers
NEW YORK METS
Last Year�s Ranking: 18
Why They Are Here: The system is on the upswing, thanks to a nice group coming from the international market and, for the first time in a while, a draft class (2009) that looks like it will pay some dividends. With four Top 101 prospects and a three-star list that runs into the early teens, there's room for optimism here.
Where They Will Be Next Year: The Mets could add another Top 50-type with the seventh overall pick in the draft, their highest slot since 2004, and fourth-highest pick in the last 25 years. Top prospects like Jenrry Mejia and Ike Davis have more of a 2011 timetable, so Fernando Martinez is the only top prospect likely to lose his eligibility this season

[MFS62]

What is this year's ranking?

Later

[TransMonk]

15

[MFS62]

Thanks.
Later

[duan]

What is this year's ranking?

Later[/quote:y0tzdcoj]

ooops!

[Guest Edgy DC]

Huh-wait... he means the 2008 draft class or maybe 2007, right? The 2009 draft featured the Mets bereft of rst;u picks, ripped for the guys they didn't sign (my asshole son Damien), and signing non-debuting guys like Steve Matz late. Hard to get excited about that group yet.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Bobby Parnell and/or Sean Green could be in at least a little trouble in making the club. Or at least in a competition. If Jenrry Mejia and/or Hisanori Takahashi sneaks into the bullpen, one or two reliever incumbents could find themselves in the minors ... or traded. Parnell and Green both can be optioned to Triple-A Buffalo. Parnell is working on a cutter in bullpen sessions, which is why he's not been overly active in Grapefruit League games.

I didn't know that Green could be optioned, and I don't know why. There's always loopholes to the optioning rules that elude me, but the guy has pitched three more-or-less complete seasons plus part of a fourth at the big league level. That, to me, is a guy whose options have expired.

[Frayed Knot]

The very nature of farm systems makes judging them not only subjective but very erratic. Having a good one will almost certainly guarantee that it's on the way downward since good prospects who do well will "graduate" and the ones who don't fall off everyone's radar, so either way they won't be top prospects anymore.

[Guest Edgy DC]

I'm on a one-game losing streak. Somebody else throw up a game thread today.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

FILE UNDER NON-TROVERSY:

Someone sticks a recorder in front of MFY Very Special Instructor Goose Gossage. He pauses in mid-"in-my-day"-stream to say something provocative* about a certain jitterbugging Venezuelan closer:

Q. What do you think about Francisco Rodriguez, Chamberlain and the other relievers who gesture and dance around the mound? A. K-Rod is a clown. I don�t think there is any place for it in the game. You respect that other team.

Cut to yesterday afternoon, Port St. Lucie. Perhaps learning a lesson from the pointlessness with erstwhile MFY Brian Bruney last spring, Frankie responds:

Gossage referred to K-Rod as a �clown� in a recent interview, citing Rodriguez�s penchant for theatrics on the mound, but Rodriguez shrugged off Gossage�s comment yesterday � �I have no idea who he is,� Rodriguez said. Told about Gossage, a Hall of Fame reliever who had his best years pitching for the Yankees in the 1970s and �80s, Rodriguez took the high road. �We all have an opinion,� Rodriguez said. �That�s his opinion and you�ve got to respect it. I don�t care. It doesn�t bother me at all.�

I would wager a pretty significant sum that Rodriguez knows perfectly well who Gossage is, and that this act is for Goose's benefit. Good on him-- it's exactly how he should play this one**.

*Have he and Jim Rice gotten louder and more opinionated since sneaking into the HOF, or is it just that more people care to write their get-off-my-lawnings down?
**I'd really enjoy seeing Frankie grow a Fu Manchu, too. THEN I'd clap for him.

[Frayed Knot]

Gossage, meanwhile, notoriously silent on the antics of MFY reliever Joba Chamberlain who does more shuckin' and jivin' ending the [u:24mdej47]8th[/u:24mdej47] inning than Frankie does in the 9th.

[metirish]

This is Gossge every Spring now right? , asshole.

[Guest themetfairy]

I need to refrain from this discussion. Gossage was nice to MK on the kid's 12th birthday, so I need to hold back from calling him out on this douchery.....

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Gossage, meanwhile, notoriously silent on the antics of MFY reliever Joba Chamberlain who does more shuckin' and jivin' ending the 8th inning than Frankie does in the 9th.

[TransMonk]

Roughly 1/3 of the way through the spring schedule and the Mets have hit 14 HR in 10 games. That puts them on pace for 48 HRs this spring. They hit 95 in all of the 2009 regular season. The offense has been scoring 7.7 runs per game...typically early and late.

The pitching staff has been giving roughly 5 of those runs back per game.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Roughly 1/3 of the way through the spring schedule and the Mets have hit 14 HR in 10 games. That puts them on pace for 48 HRs this spring. They hit 95 in all of the 2009 regular season. The offense has been scoring 7.7 runs per game...typically early and late.

The pitching staff has been giving roughly 5 of those runs back per game.[/quote:udsdhnx6]

And how many of those homers are from guys we don't really expect to head north -- Carter, Davis, Omir....

Not complaining, mind you. Those are the guys fighting for a roster spot, and this is the way to do it. It's a good problem.

[TransMonk]

Mets 2010 Spring HR Leaders:

Carter: 3
Davis: 2
FMart: 2
Wright:2
R Adams: 1
R Barajas: 1
M Jacobs: 1
G Matthews: 1
Santos: 1

That's 43% of the HRs coming from guys competing for a 1B job (and none from Murphy).

[metirish]

Joe Posnaski takes a few subtle swipes at Gossage here

and K-Rod is still a top closer no matter what Goose Gossage may have said about him.* * I guess Gossage called K-Rod a "clown" because of his theatrics on the field, and K-Rod responded by saying he had never heard of Gossage. So, that went well. Gossage also suggested that while Mariano Rivera is the best "modern reliever," he prefers himself and the 52 saves in which he got at least seven outs. Rivera, he points out, only has two of those. Case closed. And while this is off-topic, it should be pointed out that Gossage does not have the most seven-out saves in baseball history, and he doesn't have the second most, and he doesn't have the third, fourth, fifth or sixth-most either. One of his teammates, Sparky Lyle, had more. The list of most saves, 7-or-more outs: 1. Rollie Fingers, 74 saves 2. Dan Quisenberry, 65 saves 3. Gene Garber, 64 saves 4. Hoyt Wilhelm, 61 saves 5. Mike Marshall, 57 saves 6. Sparky Lyle, 56 saves 7. Goose Gossage, 52 saves 8. Lindy McDaniel, 51 saves 9. Bill Campbell, 49 saves 10. Bob Stanley, 48 saves. Read More: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/joe_posnanski/03/10/jose.reyes/index.html#ixzz0htQA2nDu Get a free NFL Team Jacket and Tee with SI Subscription

[MFS62]

Gossage, meanwhile, notoriously silent on the antics of MFY reliever Joba Chamberlain who does more shuckin' and jivin' ending the [u:3jyxa6u9]8th[/u:3jyxa6u9] inning than Frankie does in the 9th.[/quote:3jyxa6u9]

Joba dances so much on the mound he should wear a tu tu.

Just heard Ed Coleman on WFAN. Today's game has been rained out BTW. But he said that John Franco has been working with Ollie Perez. That's news to me. HAd anyone else heard he was doing that?

Later

[metirish]

Franco has been all over the Mets Spring Training , he's there through next week. I guess Franco will reinforce whatever Koufax said...."what did Sandy tell you Ollie? , yeah just do that"

[metirish]

Sucks

Twins to Mets: Go home

11:21 AM By David Lennon

The Twins decided to cancel today's game in Fort Myers, but only after the Mets drove almost three hours - 2:45, to be exact -- and began unpacking at Lee County Stadium.

Within 20 minutes of their arrival, the Mets were told to go home. Not cool. Especially after it had rained all night on the west coast of Florida with more thunderstorms in the forecast. When the Mets' buses left the parking lot at Tradition Field at 7:15 a.m., it was pouring rain here too.

Given this was a spring training game -- and not Game 6 of the NLCS -- maybe the Twins could have acted a little sooner on this one.

By the way, the Mets head back to Fort Myers on Wednesday to play the Red Sox at City of Palms Park. Hopefully the weather will be better then, for their sake.

[Frayed Knot]

I think every game in the state of Florida is canceled today

[ashie62]

and outdoor activities in NY-NJ through Sunday

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

The Mets' fifth starter race promises to go "down to the wire," as per Gangsta McLameDuck (via the Star-Ledger's Brian Costa).

So... is it me, or is Nelly Figs-- he of the 8 scoreless this spring, 9:3 K/BB, and an almost-infinite GB/FB ratio... not to mention superlative rubber-arm-ity during the winter... and NO OPTIONS-- not getting ANY daps in the "race" coverage? And is that a function of the coverage itself, or the same minds that bring you Jenrry Mejia: Job Saver?

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think he's got a shot, but both Niese and Nieve would probably have to fail for that to happen.

It's less than three weeks until Opening Day. The picture should start coming into focus before too long.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Figgy is in the lead, no matter how you cut it.

I mean, yeah, the Mets may be just waiting for him to fail, but he refuses.

[metirish]

Figgy is in the lead, no matter how you cut it.

I mean, yeah, the Mets may be just waiting for him to fail, but he refuses.[/quote:szj9eeaf]


Exactly , even if he wins the job going north I wonder is he a bad start or two away from losing it again. Will he get a good shot at it, then again will whoever wins it always be looking over their shoulders for the next guy? It's the nature of being th fifth guy?

[Guest Edgy DC]

I don't really mind that.

I mean, yeah, if a bad start or two means banishment to Buffalo, disruption of your life, and no promise of a ticket home, that's crap; but I have no problem with rotating starters who are going through a bad stretch --- and not just number fives --- to the bullpen until they get their thang sorted out.