Chat with Adam Rubin

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

http://espn.go.com/newyork/chat/_/id/32687/espnny-adam-rubin

Mike Pelfrey or Die has a question in the queue

[A Boy Named Seo]

The French Eyes got a question in, too about a now seemingly useless guy in the bullpen not named Oliver Perez.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

As does "Ryotis Day and the Knights."

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

as does Le Grande Orange Julius

[A Boy Named Seo]

as does Shea Guevara from Argentina.

[HahnSolo]

clever names being ignored so far.

[A Boy Named Seo]

My questions about Nieve and Carter have more or less been hit upon by other, more boring sounding question-askers.

PS - "Ryotis" sounds kinda dirty when the rest of the name is left out.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Yup. I got right in with my question on Mejia by using my real name.

[ashie62]

He's only taking "real" names. I see Michigan got in, I'm waiting

[ashie62]

Looks like FAFIF got in

[A Boy Named Seo]

"MrMet" Johnson from NY and "scoopcoop" Smith from NJ both got in with their clearly very real names, so I'm holding out hope.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Got in twice!

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Got in twice!

Dirty non fake name user.

[A Boy Named Seo]

If he's picking and choosing, why even bother with shit like this:

Ryan (NYC) Wouldn't it make sense to, I don't know, give Wright/Bay/Pagan more at-bats than Alex Cora? Adam Rubin I certainly think there's a case to be made for maximizing the at-bats of the best hitters.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

He really seems to enjoy questions to which he can give coy, vaguely-smirky answers. (Although, to his credit, he "mea culpa"ed on the Mejia matter.)

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Got in twice!

What, you think you're better than me?

(And by "me," I mean, "Jerry Automatic.")

[Guest Edgy DC]

Holy crap. I think I knew Rubin when I was a teenager.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Hey submit your questions to Mr. Rock-the-Track-Suit

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Hey submit your questions to Mr. Rock-the-Track-Suit http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/mets/

DJ Swingers types like his second cup this morning was filled with old-school Robitussin.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

And hey!

Is there a sense in the organization that the team's road struggles at least in part reflect the passive game strategies employed by Jerry, particularly all the friggin bunting and the paranoid reliever use, and if so, is there anyone in the organization who can set Jerry straight? Thanks!

Doesn't Manuel make comparable decisions during home games?

Roasted, JCL. Socratically, yet.

And oh, yeah-- in case you needed another reason to love the good Mr. Martino... he's wishing he was across town covering the real league:

The only reason the Mets remain in any discussion about playoffs or the wild card is because they reside in NY...period. The underlying issue is not their geography (although that might be hurting them) but that they are lacking talent and have essentially gutted their farm system and have nothing to show for it in the hardward category. As I asked before...is it time to take an entirely different approach and simply start over?

I think that the reason they are in the wild card discussion is simple: The league stinks. It would be difficult to advocate for or against a totally different approach without thinking through what that approach would be.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

What a douchey nonanswer.

[Guest Edgy DC]

What kind of obeserver thinks the Mets gutted their farm system? How? By trading Brian Stokes for Gary Matthews? Greg Veloz for Anderson Hernandez? Why do people who should know better keep saying stuff like this?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Edgy DC wrote: What kind of obeserver thinks the Mets gutted their farm system? How? By trading Brian Stokes for Gary Matthews? Greg Veloz for Anderson Hernandez? Why do people who should know better keep saying stuff like this?

The same sort of person who thinks that being the second team in a market which could feasibly bear 4-5 is an impediment?

[Ceetar]

Might be time to unfollow that one on Twitter. What do i really need multiple beat reporters for anyway, particularly bad ones?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Wait... what?

Ryan (NYC) Doesn't Cora's option vest with 80 starts, not 80 appearances? It's bad enough with 80 starts, you're freaking me out with the 80 appearances thing Adam Rubin (12:22 PM) I asked Alex yesterday, and he confirmed to me it's 80 appearances for the contract to vest for 2011 -- not 80 starts. And that's exactly how the Associated Press carried the terms of the contract originally when he signed it.

So... instead of it vesting with 80 starts-- a dumb vesting option, running counter to one's team interests-- the Cora deal was, in essence, a two-year contract for $4 million.

[Guest attgig]

interesting. someone mentioned cot's said it was 80 starts for cora. Now cot's is showing 80 games.

[Ceetar]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: So... instead of it vesting with 80 starts-- a dumb vesting option, running counter to one's team interests-- the Cora deal was, in essence, a two-year contract for $4 million.

That depends on if Jerry is using him how Omar intended/expected. He's not exactly the most awesome of pinch hitters, so if he got the 25 or so starts this year that Castillo didn't, plus pinch hit in a third of the other games (as roughly the third choice off the bench) that still would leave him a decent amount short of 80, even factoring in a couple of extra-long games in which everyone gets in and what not.

The real issue here is that Castillo says he can play through the injury, and Jerry disagrees and _starts_ Cora 30% or more of the games, practically vesting his option that way.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

He's on pace for about 95 now, and Castillo's circling the DL drain.

attgig wrote: interesting. someone mentioned cot's said it was 80 starts for cora. Now cot's is showing 80 games.

I'd imagine that one of the chattees-- or Adam himself-- emailed the site to inquire.

[Ceetar]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: He's on pace for about 95 now, and Castillo's circling the DL drain. attgig wrote: interesting. someone mentioned cot's said it was 80 starts for cora. Now cot's is showing 80 games. I'd imagine that one of the chattees-- or Adam himself-- emailed the site to inquire.

Depends who you ask, if Castillo's circling the DL drain. (what, not everyone's on the same page? shocker)

Maybe Daniel Murphy keeps Cora from vesting? (Doubtful, giving Jerry's feelings about the two of them)

[Frayed Knot]

Maybe Daniel Murphy keeps Cora from vesting? (Doubtful, giving Jerry's feelings about the two of them)

Should I ask what Jerry's feelings for Cora & Murphy are and where/how those were made known or is the answer going to confuse me more than if I let it slide?

[Guest attgig]

well, it's not only castillo's foot, but the combination of the foot and reyes' thyroid that'll most likely get Cora his 2011 cashed in. that was a good 20ish games that wasn't necesarilly expected at the time of the contract.

that said, the contract was still a bad idea from the beginning.