IGT 9/19/12 Phils @ Mets

[Guest themetfairy]

My favorite moment last night happened before the game. I caught some of the pregame activities, including Phil Niekro giving R.A. Dickey "The Claw" behind his back -

[Frayed Knot]

The Second Spitter wrote: My issue isn't with the player personnel or the roster, per se. The point I was trying to make is that the front office staff have to be as accountable for this debacle as TC and the players. Given that Alderson was previously working for the Commissioner's Office, the same Commissioner's office that made all those friendly loans to Mets that prevented the club going the same way as the Dodgers, I don't think Fred's gonna be in a hurry to chop-off the hand that fed him when his situation was most dire. If you disagree with this fine.

Well I'm not sure I can agree or disagree because I'm not clear what your point is.

If it's that Alderson -- knowing that Fred is beholden to the MLB office and unwilling to eat any contracts (aside from the ones he's constantly eaten over the years that is) -- feels that he has a job for life which, in turn, makes the players and coaching staff play as if their jobs are all secure for the foreseeable future because they know the GM has no interest in the performance of the team, then I guess I disagree.

[Edgy MD]

The Second Spitter wrote: I'm always wary of blindly following a dogma. In a nutshell, Moneyball is about exploiting asymmetric information in the baseball labor market. However, the economic models which it is based on predict a return to the status quo in the long-run because in baseball terms, every team now uses the same criteria (more or less) for their drafting/trading/FA decisions. So unless you can exploit other statistics, it's a frivolous pursuit. It's clear from what Paul DeMensa has said over the last year that they are adhering to this philosophy. So they are either using (a) different, unproven metrics (I'll take a wild guess that BABIP is one of them) ( the previous metrics with minimal benefit or (c) ownership is intervening in their decision-making process which is impacting on (a) or (.

I'm not sure what you're referring to here, but it seems you're hammering for the disposal of Alderson and possibly DePodesta.

Seeing as his work has taken place while paring 25% from the payroll since 2010 (and the team has pared 37% since 2009), I'm going to reserve judgment on Alderson, even as I wish he was more present and available during this losing streak.

Regarding DePodesta, as director of player development and scouting, it's certainly way to early to judge his work. (Has Nimmo not come fast enough?) Nearly $40 million comes off the books this year, so it's the first time Alderson's management team gets to build, rather than merely re-arrange.

Under any circumstances, I feel pretty certain that neither Torres' double play, Edgin's meatball to Howard, nor Wright's final out were connected to them feeling undermotivated due to the continued employment of the director of player development.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It was probably because they were demoralized by Dillon Gee's shoulder.

[Edgy MD]

Second-Guess Theater, in Which We Try to Look at What the Mets as a Team Could Have Done Besides Not Give up the Meatball

Should Collins have squeezed (squozen?) with Torres?

Should Collins have pinch-hit for Torres? With whom? Cedeno? Lutz?

Should Collins/Warthan have not used up their mound visit for Wigginton, and instead trusted Edgin then and gone out to prep him regarding Howard?

Should Shoppy have gone to the mound to warn Edgin what not to throw to Howard? (Did he? Would he really know?)

Should Collins have ordered a pitch-around on Howard, and then, if Edgin lost him, have gone to Rauch to pitch to Ruiz?

Should Collins have gone matchup-crazy, going to Rauch to pitch to Wigginton, and then Carson to pitch to Utley and Howard?

Not a lot of good options among those. I think scoring more might have been a good idea.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It was probably because they were demoralized by Dillon Gee's shoulder.

LOL.

My scary suspicion is that The Plan, such as it was, consisted to a large degree of exploiting financial advantages in the draft for the first couple years but that strategy was neutered somewhat by the stupid new bonus cap rules that went into effect this year. Meantime the few things they were hoping would go up this year (Duda, Davis, Nieuwenhuis, Thole) went sideways and/or down. I can't explain the bullpen struggles and neither can you. I'm actually long past worrying about it and hopeful it can be pretty good next year given what we've seen from Parnell, Familia, Ramirez, Edgin, Carson etc. Anyway, that doesn't really bother me.

The Braintrust did well with Cedeno and Hairston, both strong bench players.

Pie in the sky here, but I think they find the scratch to sign Justin Upton (buddy of Wright's, could be a "good buy" given his so-so 2012 season), go with a Hairston/Nieuwenhuis platoon in RF and trade Davis for a left fielder or a catcher who can really hit, maybe they've got something.

[Edgy MD]

Can you imagine if they seemed to build their offseason strategy around catering to Wright --- signing Upton over Ludwick and Bourne or even Hamilton, and made Super Joe manager?

While I more or less like those moves on their own merits, such a perception could backfire and lead to a hate campaign against Wright if and when these moves fail, as most moves do.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy DC wrote: "It was up -- middle up," Edgin said about the fateful pitch to Howard. "That's what he's paid to do. He's a big guy, paid to hit home runs. I give him a meatball, so he's going to do it."

I'm gonna have something with meatballs for lunch today. I can't get that picture out of my head.

[Edgy MD]

[batmagadanleadoff]

Madkes?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.

[Guest The Second Spitter]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.

This gives me a Wyclef jean parody idea, but I'm afraid nobody will get it.

[Vic Sage]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter. It just doesn't matter.

This has been my mantra since April.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: It was probably because they were demoralized by Dillon Gee's shoulder.

If you eat a few of those meatballs in that picture, you could get a clot in more than just your shoulder.

Later

[batmagadanleadoff]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Edgy DC wrote: "It was up -- middle up," Edgin said about the fateful pitch to Howard. "That's what he's paid to do. He's a big guy, paid to hit home runs. I give him a meatball, so he's going to do it." I'm gonna have something with meatballs for lunch today. I can't get that picture out of my head.

That meatball parmigiana hero sandwich I had this afternoon is still weighted down in my stomach, like a lead balloon. It musta multiplied in the last few hours. I feel like I have twin or triplet sandwiches in there. I'm done eating for today. Oh. And fuck you, Josh Edgin.

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