Memories of Adam Wilk

[G-Fafif]

Adam Wilk was claimed by the Twins. Here and gone as it gets.

Wasn't good in his one Met outing, but he was there, which was something Matt Harvey couldn't say.

[bmfc1]

On Sunday (of course) when he was being interviewed after the game, saying all the right things, while thinking "I busted my ass in the minors and they give me my big chance after flying me from Las Vegas to Albuquerque and then all night to New York. I was frigging tired and now they'll probably DFA my ass and I'll end up on some crappy team in some crappy town."

[Edgy MD]

Adam is the man, in my book. Didn't get the job done, but red-eyeing it from Vegas amidst a tabloid crisis and coming straight to the ballpark with nary a chance to review the book on the opposition, he was thrown into the deep end with cement shoes and a 30-foot shark named Stanton circling. He swam better than I would have.

Getting claimed means he gets to stay on a big league roster, so good for him and I hope his next start is in less adverse circumstances.

[ashie62]

I respect him.

[Guest 41Forever]

He'll always get to say, "I was a Met." That's pretty cool.

[Guest themetfairy]

Adam, we hardly knew ya....

[Guest d'Kong76]

I don't know who said it first or where, but 'got Wilk?' was amusing.

[DocTee]

Destined to be featured in a Spring Training quiz authored by Seawolf (and answered, correctly, by FAFIF) in coming years.

[Frayed Knot]

Who's Adam Wilk?
Was he once a Met?

[Guest Rockin' Doc]

His time with the Mets was extremely short, but it was longer than it should have been.

[seawolf17]

DocTee wrote: Destined to be featured in a Spring Training quiz authored by Seawolf (and answered, correctly, by FAFIF) in coming years.

Probably, yes.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

DocTee wrote: Destined to be featured in a Spring Training quiz authored by Seawolf (and answered, correctly, by FAFIF) in coming years.

LOL.

Still more collateral damage of Matt Harvey's broken heart/cocaine habit. He cost us at least one* win, and so far, one Met career.

* - I wasn't buying the "hard workout" story to begin with, even more doubtful now.

Hey Harvey, BOOO.

Wilk didn't do much as a Met but earned the Richie Ashburn Award as the 35th guy to wear No. 35.

[Edgy MD]

That's got to be the highest set of digits to be worn the number of times it represents. Let's see!

First 1: Richie Ashburn
Second 2: Jimmie Piersall
Third 3: Tim Harnkness
Fourth 4: Ron Swoboda
Fifth 5: Shaun Fitzmaurice
Sixth 6: Lou Klmchock
Seventh 7: Kevin Mitchell (giant leap forward here)
Eighth 8: John Gibbons
Ninth 9: Mark Bradley
Tenth 10: Jeff Torborg
11th 11: Tucker Ashford
12th 12: Keith Hughes
13th 13: Matt Ginter

15th 15: Brady Clark
16th 16: Derek Bell
17th 17: Ellis Valentine
18th 18: Kevin Roberson
19th 19: Jeff Gardner
20th 20: Bruce Benedict
21st 21: Bobby Jones
22nd 22: Michael Tucker
23rd 23: Jason Phillips

25th 25: Kaz Matsui
26th 26: David Lamb
27th 27: Frank Catalanotto

29th 29: Chris Aguila

34th 34: Brandon Lyon
35th 35: Adam Wilk

But wait! There's more!

36th 36: Sean Gilmartin

38th 38: Shaun Marcum

Marcum is the mark! The best chance of passing that belongs to 44, which will go to the fifth-generation successor of René Rivera.

[batmagadanleadoff]

That's got to be the highest set of digits to be worn the number of times it represents. Let's see! First 1: Richie Ashburn Second 2: Jimmie Piersall ....

A few years ago, I ran your post as a quiz. I posted the first 10 names on the list as baseball cards and asked who was the next Met in the sequence (Tucker Ashford).

The quiz was a stumper.

I remember posting a pic of Piersall in #34 because otherwise, the visuals might've given the answer away.

[seawolf17]

Seventh 7: Kevin Mitchell (giant leap forward here)

I guess that happens when one guy has a number for the first twenty years of the franchise.

[Centerfield]

This whole Wilk trek is why you just cannot have your Triple A franchise in LV if you play in NY. This distance has had a tangible effect on many games and it's foolish to put yourself at such a disadvantage.

I remember reading a few years ago that teams that were closer had soured on the Mets for some reason. Not sure why, but I'm sure Jeff Wilpon is part of the reason. (only half kidding here) I hope that when their contract runs out, we can relocate to Syracuse or someplace along the east coast.

Thanks for the effort Adam. It was a tough task. Especially for someone that's not really good at pitching.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yeah, it's a shame that Buffalo slipped away from them. That was ideal.

I wish they had the ability to just relocate the Vegas franchise to Jersey City, but of course that's not in their control.

[seawolf17]

Centerfield wrote: This whole Wilk trek is why you just cannot have your Triple A franchise in LV if you play in NY. This distance has had a tangible effect on many games and it's foolish to put yourself at such a disadvantage. I remember reading a few years ago that teams that were closer had soured on the Mets for some reason. Not sure why, but I'm sure Jeff Wilpon is part of the reason. (only half kidding here) I hope that when their contract runs out, we can relocate to Syracuse or someplace along the east coast.

It's all a matter of contracts and timing with these affiliations, but you're so right. IIRC, the local teams balked, including Buffalo, and then it was some sort of waiting until the carousel stopped and Vegas was the only option left kind of thing. Wikipedia says "The Bisons' agreement with the Mets ended after the 2012 season due to Bisons' management being dissatisfied with their drop in attendance and poor performance during the Mets era. The Bisons enjoyed only one winning season out of the four years that they were affiliated with the Mets," but the citation link is broken. It was a similar issue that caused the Rochester/Baltimore breakup, though.

[Guest cooby]

What was wrong with Tidewater?

I remember years ago the Pirates had their AAA club in Hawaii. It must have been a real downer but yeah what a trip back and forth

[Edgy MD]

Nothing was wrong with Tidewater. But minor league teams in recent decades have pursued affiliation with increasingly closer MLB parents, in order to not only take advantage of day-tripping fans of the MLB club, but to take advantage of the parent club's marketing inroads throughout the region. Thus Buffalo liked the Mets as a partner, but lurved the Blue Jays, just as the Tides had long desired the Orioles. Given half a chance, they might jump to the Nats someday.

The Orioles have it great, by the way, being neither a northern nor a southern city, they seemingly have all their affiliates within a half day's drive. They have the northernmost teams in southern circuits, the southernmost teams in northern circuits, the easternmost teams in midwest circuits, etc.

Affiliation is anti-trust. It serves MLB, but it's bad for baseball. The Norfolk-Virginia Beach region is teaming with population, but have zero "big league" teams. They should be battling for their own city's glory, not for the Mets or the Orioles.

I'm sure the Mets would like Rochester or (even better) Syracuse, but both the big league club and the affiliate have to be available when the music stops.

[seawolf17]

See if Buddy is willing to foot the bill to make the Ducks a AAA franchise.

[Edgy MD]

Also anti-trust (and, by extension, un-American) is the MLB teams' ability to veto the establishment of a minor league franchise within X miles of your park.

The Mets having used that veto to keep the Yankees from putting a minor league franchise in Newark for even a single season while they fixed up their Scranton park, it is doubtless the Yankees would do the same if the Mets (or anybody) tried to establish an affiliation with a permanent team on Long Island.

[Frayed Knot]

Sandy has countered with the argument that while Vegas is further away it's a lot easier to get flights in and out of there compared to just about any other AAA city so you gain some of that time back as while the flight may be longer the wait's often shorter. But of course he has to put a good spin on it.
The biggest problem is that there are eight "western" (Mountain or Pacific time zones) ML teams but nine western AAA teams so some eastern squad is always going to get stuck with their top affiliate most of the way across the country.

Norfolk/Tidewater left for Baltimore because the Tides owner also owned several other Baltimore affiliates (an owner can own multiple teams as long as they're not at the same level) and wanted the advantage of dealing with just one team that his 'vertical' alignment allowed. There was some talk at the time that the Mets hadn't been "servicing" the Tides well enough (with the usual Jeff W. implications) but, even if true, that likely played no factor.

Buffalo essentially did the same thing with Toronto, their closest ML city, plus it didn't help that the Bisons weren't very good during their four-year NYM association and attendance was down. So when that happened only western sites remained available and the Mets found themselves as that one eastern squad without a chair when the music stopped.
IIRC, At the time the Mets linked up with Buffalo there was talk of them opting for Syracuse instead but they liked the stadium in Buffalo better and would opt for Syracuse only if the Wilpon's could buy at least a partial ownership of the team (and presumably fix or replace the stadium, etc). But that was around the time of the economic crash and Madoff so those plans, however serious they were, went away quickly. I believe only the Braves own their AAA affiliate.

Deals for minor league affiliates are up only at the end of even numbered years so the Mets are committed to LV thru at least 2018 although I'm not sure if the new agreement they signed at the end of 2016 was for two years or four.

[batmagadanleadoff]

That's got to be the highest set of digits to be worn the number of times it represents. Let's see! First 1: Richie Ashburn Second 2: Jimmie Piersall .... A few years ago, I ran your post as a quiz. I posted the first 10 names on the list as baseball cards and asked who was the next Met in the sequence (Tucker Ashford). The quiz was a stumper. I remember posting a pic of Piersall in #34 because otherwise, the visuals might've given the answer away.

http://archives.thecranepool.net/19400/f1_t19496.shtml