Callaway Seeds (split from Who will manage the Mets?)

[Benjamin Grimm]

[Centerfield]

This is clearly my imagination but Jeff definitely looks like someone who didn't get his guy.

[Edgy MD]

Interesting that Sandy is the only one who shaved for the occasion.

Also notable that Fred and Sol are absent, though they were on the scene when Terry got introduced back in 2010.

[Guest d'Kong76]

Sol was there, Fred was napping off his 3-hour lunch with Mickey.

[Frayed Knot]

I thought I caught a brief glimpse of Fred - and if he's staying more in the background these days then that's a good thing too.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

I felt like he came off great. The columnists at this hour when TC got hired were speculating on how soon it would be before the players all turned on him.

They'll turn on this guy too, surely, but they'll be blowing him tomorrow.

The Sandy part "personal excellence" "outstanding acheivement in the field of excellence" I felt was kinda bullshit. And though I'm sure they liked him a lot, I would suspect they felt like it was okay to drop the second round of interviews because they were worried some other club would grab him if they didn't.

Approve!

[MFS62]

TheOldMole wrote: STFU, all of you. Terry is younger than me.

Thanks, Mole.


Later

[seawolf17]

Edgy MD wrote: Not going to measure their success in numbers. Good! Bad! I dunno!

"For example... wins. As a pitching coach, I tell my guys, wins are crap. It's about feelings now. We're going to lead the league in feelings."

[Guest d'Kong76]

After hitting rock bottom, thought today's event was refreshingly optimistic.
Really only heard, read or experienced one negative vibe.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Centerfield wrote: This is clearly my imagination but Jeff definitely looks like someone who didn't get his guy.

When does Jeff EVER look like someone who got his guy? He's got Resting Fart Face.

[G-Fafif]

Who wouldn't be excited after hiring a new Mets manager?

• Joe Frazier “has shown us over the years he can handle men,” according to Joe McDonald in 1975. “He has shown us he can win.” • George Bamberger “has a deep, abiding knowledge about baseball,” per Frank Cashen in 1981 “and he can communicate it simply and directly. He has an easy but firm manner. He knows what he’s doing.” • Among myriad qualities considered critical to managing the Mets, Jeff Torborg “knew how to win,” Al Harazin testified in 1991. • “I truly believe he is exactly the type of person and personality to lead this organization right now” was Steve Phillps’s 2002 assessment of Art Howe. (Add Fred Wilpon’s incandescent “lit up a room” reference to taste.)

[Frayed Knot]

Background of Callaway

[Ceetar]

d'Kong76 wrote: After hitting rock bottom, thought today's event was refreshingly optimistic. Really only heard, read or experienced one negative vibe.

was it Wally's personal PR guy? cause that's all I saw.

[Centerfield]

It seems like Calloway's signature move is to focus on the curveball. I guess that has a direct impact on guys like Matz and Lugo. Matz, who we hope is now healthy, might be a great candidate for Calloway's tutelage. Has good off-speed stuff. Maybe he can take the next step into Trevor Bauer.

Lugo will be interesting. If he can stay healthy, he could be a great candidate too. Or, this could push him into TJ surgery.

Will be interesting to see if Noah finds his curveball again, after going mainly fastball slider in recent years.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Mickey is scheduled to be on set today for the season premiere of Mets Hot Stove on SNY.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Mickey is scheduled to be on set today for the season premiere of Mets Hot Stove on SNY.

It was pretty interesting. Catch it if you can.

[Edgy MD]

He was interesting, but that interviewer talked over him through the whole thing, often answering his own questions.

[Benjamin Grimm]

John Harper was one of the panel who interviewed Mickey on last night's Mets Hot Stove (along with Gary Apple, Jim Duquette, and Anthony DiComo).

His column in today's Daily News recaps a lot of what Mickey said, and adds some new stuff as well, about daily urine tests and "Motus sleeves" that measure stress on a pitcher's elbow. The urine test is to make sure that players are properly hydrated and therefore less likely to pull muscles.

Mickey also talked of getting pitchers up to 240 innings per season. He feels deGrom is ready for that, the other guys, because they pitched fewer innings last year may need another year before they can reach that threshold.

He says you stay healthy by throwing more, not less. (He didn't say so explicitly, but it sounds like he feels that Terry's plan last spring to restrict innings was misguided.) He also sounds like he's willing to let pitchers go deeper into games and run up higher pitch counts, which of course is consistent with the 240-innings thing. This very much contradicts what we're seeing in the "Marc Carig" thread, about having starters avoid a third trip through the opposing lineup.

Harper's full column: Mickey Callaway aims to reduce Mets’ pitching injuries with analytics and research

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: He also sounds like he's willing to let pitchers go deeper into games and run up higher pitch counts, which of course is consistent with the 240-innings thing. This very much contradicts what we're seeing in the "Marc Carig" thread, about having starters avoid a third trip through the opposing lineup.

Love the data and science approach. makes me happy.

I assume he'll also consult with Eiland on that stuff.

But it's not contradicting Carig (and didn't Alderson confirm that?) who suggested that deGrom and Thor wouldn't be as subject to the third time through thing? Presumably this very much matters on which pitchers the Mets have and how they're doing (and the score) but the third time through penalty is a real thing and if he's using data and analysis I'd be surprised if he's not quick to go to a reliever for Wheeler or Montero if it comes to that.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Yes, I agree that the third-time through thing should be more applicable to some pitchers than to others. But if Montero is cruising, let him test the third round of the lineup, but perhaps keep him on a short leash. And if deGrom is having a bad day, then maybe you do pull him after about 20 batters.

I'm definitely liking a lot of what I'm hearing from Mickey. Listening to him last night I couldn't help but think that he was saying the kinds of things we'd never hear from Terry Collins, or Jerry Manuel, or Willie Randolph.

[Edgy MD]

Really, it's mainly Harvey who blew up the third time through the lineup. But it's not like we weren't holding our breath up until that point. So if they want to see if they at least make him a successful five-inning pitcher, fine. Making that a norm for all starters is another order, though. And we're starting to look at the four- or four-plus-inning start become more normalized.

I don't know if Harvey will be back, but almost anything would be a step forward for him. Crikey.

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Yes, I agree that the third-time through thing should be more applicable to some pitchers than to others. But if Montero is cruising, let him test the third round of the lineup, but perhaps keep him on a short leash. And if deGrom is having a bad day, then maybe you do pull him after about 20 batters.

Statistically there seems to be no such thing as momentum/cruising. A pitcher's career line is more predictive of how he'll pitch in the 6th inning than the 5 innings that preceded it.

So if Montero has a 2-hit 1-BB shutout going into the 6th of a 1-run game, you still lift him for a good reliever.

[G-Fafif]

The phrase our new manager uses repeatedly that I find curious, and I haven't heard any of his interviewers ask him to expand on it, is how the players will know they're "cared for". What does that mean exactly? Is that something that's been missing across baseball? Is that something that's been a Met problem? An extension of the general ideal of communication being key? He always pairs it with how the players will be asked to do more than ever before and be held accountable, perhaps so we know he's not a pushover.

We should all feel cared for. I'm just surprised a baseball manager keeps invoking it as an explicit professional necessity.

[Ceetar]

I think cared for is like the urine thing. "Oh good, you're hydrated. I hope you're eating healthy too!"

I imagine sleep will come up too.

[Edgy MD]

I think a list of each manager and GM's fallback phrases is fun to compile. His "Know wha' I mean?" or his "We battled."

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think he actually said that he would "love" them, that he would love each and every player. That he would love Matt Harvey. He would love Juan Lagares. He would love Hansel Robles. He would love Mark Reynolds. (I don't recall Dallas Green ever saying anything like that.) And yes, he also said that he would hold them accountable. It sounded like he was talking about a paternal love, rather than a puppy love. (I guess if the Mets wanted that they would have hired Donny Osmond.) So it would sometimes be the kind of tough love that parents need to exercise at times. "You know I love you, Hansel Robles, but you need to clean up your room, and you need to throw strikes."

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

"...But not the kind of strikes that wind up on table 14 of the Acela Club"

[G-Fafif]

This was from the Post story from the introductory press conference:

“We are going to care more about the players than anyone ever has before,” Callaway said. “And we’re going to know they are human beings and individuals, and this is going to be a group that feels that every day we come to the clubhouse, and that is going to be our main concern. “We know they are human beings and their numbers or stats are going to be a byproduct of how durable, prepared and aggressive they are, and that’s it. We’re not going to have expectations on numbers.”

Right now, nothing he says is wrong. A clean slate is a wondrous thing.

[Guest cooby]

Excited already!

[nymr83]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think he actually said that he would "love" them, that he would love each and every player. That he would love Matt Harvey. He would love Juan Lagares. He would love Hansel Robles. He would love Mark Reynolds. (I don't recall Dallas Green ever saying anything like that.) And yes, he also said that he would hold them accountable. It sounded like he was talking about a paternal love, rather than a puppy love. (I guess if the Mets wanted that they would have hired Donny Osmond.) So it would sometimes be the kind of tough love that parents need to exercise at times. "You know I love you, Hansel Robles, but you need to clean up your room, and you need to throw strikes."

He'll love them so much that there will be a restraining order!

The urine test is to make sure that players are properly hydrated and therefore less likely to pull muscles.

until the first time MLB tries to confiscate and drug test it, then there will be no more testing.