Benjamin Grimm

And David Wright in fourth place! Unprecedented! Who would have guessed that Justin Turner, Lucas Duda, and Ruben Tejada would all finish in the top ten? A very strange season. I thought Dickey's three-in-a-row for Pitcher of the Month may have been a first, but Santana did it in August 2008, September 2008, and April 2009. Pedro Martinez won it four months in a row, April, May, June, July 2005. This year, by the way, I made sure to include at least one example of each Topps baseball card year from the 1970s. (Last year 1977 missed out.) I also have a few unused cards that I prepared as some of the monthly races winded down. I'll keep them in reserve in case I need them in future seasons. If, however, the player departs during the offseason I'll post the cards in the "memories of" thread. (I suspect this will happen at least once or twice.) There's one such card that I already did this with. I'll repost it here for all you completionists out there:

Edgy DC wrote: This guy has Celtics announcer Johnny Most using the term in the sixties.

THE SCHAEFER METS PLAYERS OF THE YEAR PLAYER OF THE YEAR The Schaefer Mets Player of the Year for 2011 is JOSÉ REYES who this year famously (or infamously) won the first National League batting title in Mets history. This is José's first Player of the Year award. (David Wright has been the winner in five of the previous six years, with Johan Santana winning in 2008.) José led the 2011 Mets in the following categories: Games (126), at bats (537), runs (101), hits (181), doubles (31), triples (16), stolen bases (39), batting average (.337), OBP (.384), slugging (.493), OPS (.877), intentional walks (9) and total bases (265). Reyes finished with almost 30 points more than second-place Carlos Beltran, easily the widest margin in modern Schaefer history. PITCHER OF THE YEAR The Schaefer Mets Pitcher of the Year is first-time winner R.A. DICKEY. R.A. finished strong, winning the Pitcher of the Month award in each of the last three months of the season. In 33 games (and 32 starts) Dickey was 8-13 with a team-best 3.28 ERA in 208.2 innings, also a team high. R.A. has led the Mets in ERA in each of his two seasons with the club. He is the first pitcher to win the award while posting a losing record for the season. Previous winners were Pedro Martinez in 2005, Tom Glavine in 2006 and 2007, and Johan Santana in 2008, 2009, and 2010. Dickey finished nearly 17 points ahead of second-place Chris Capuano, who had only .05 points more than third-place Mike Pelfrey. RELIEF PITCHER OF THE YEAR The Mets relief pitcher of the year is rookie PEDRO BEATO. Pedro's 60 games tied for second place on the team (with Bobby Parnell, and behind Tim Byrdak's 72.) He was 2-1 with no saves, and a 4.30 ERA. He is the first Reliever of the Year to win the award without getting any saves at all. The Reliever of the Year award has a shorter history, only having been started in 2008. (The Schaefer tradition was revived by the Crane Pool Forum in 2005.) Previous winners were Aaron Heilman in 2008, Francisco Rodriguez in 2009, and Hisanori Takahashi in 2011. Jason Isringhausen, who missed the last part of the season, finished just over 2 points behind Beato. Francisco Rodriguez, who left the Mets in July, was less than a point behind Isringhausen. FUN FACTS The highest point total earned by any one player in 2010 was 5.99 and it was done by Miguel Batista on the final day of the season. Chris Capuano's 13-strikeout shutout was the second highest score; he somehow only got a 5.72. The lowest "winning score" was the 0.77 that José Reyes was awarded on May 24, in an 11-1 loss to the Cubs. The most Schaefer Player of the Game awards went to R.A. Dickey, with 15. NUMBER OF SCHAEFER POTG WINS IN 2011 R. A. Dickey 15 Chris Capuano 13 José Reyes 13 Dillon Gee 12 Jon Niese 10 Jason Bay 9 Mike Pelfrey 9 Angel Pagan 8 David Wright 8 Lucas Duda 7 Ruben Tejada 7 Carlos Beltran 6 Daniel Murphy 6 Willie Harris 6 Josh Thole 5 Justin Turner 4 Chris Young 3 Jason Pridie 3 Nick Evans 3 Scott Hairston 3 Ike Davis 2 Miguel Batista 2 Pedro Beato 2 Chris Schwinden 1 D. J. Carrasco 1 Manny Acosta 1 Michael O'Connor 1 Mike Nickeas 1 Ronny Paulino 1 SCHAEFER METS PLAYERS OF THE WEEK 2011-04-02 Jon Niese 2.88 2011-04-09 Ike Davis 5.61 2011-04-16 José Reyes 7.14 2011-04-23 Ike Davis 6.71 2011-04-30 Ike Davis 6.74 2011-05-07 Carlos Beltran 8.06 2011-05-14 Carlos Beltran 5.96 2011-05-21 Justin Turner 11.77 2011-05-28 José Reyes 7.00 2011-06-04 Ruben Tejada 7.10 2011-06-11 José Reyes 8.57 2011-06-18 Mike Pelfrey 8.73 2011-06-25 Jason Bay 5.55 2011-07-02 José Reyes 7.95 2011-07-09 Carlos Beltran 8.33 2011-07-16 Scott Hairston 3.56 2011-07-23 José Reyes 5.84 2011-07-30 David Wright 11.34 2011-08-06 Scott Hairston 4.48 2011-08-13 Jason Bay 6.40 2011-08-20 Angel Pagan 8.18 2011-08-27 Nick Evans 6.51 2011-09-03 David Wright 9.76 2011-09-10 Jason Bay 12.70 2011-09-17 R. A. Dickey 6.87 2011-09-24 Ruben Tejada 8.52 2011-10-01 Miguel Batista 5.99 Thanks to everyone who participated! Schaefer voting will resume in April 2012!

Last night I saw the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode with Bill Buckner. Mookie made a cameo appearance, but had no lines.

Lorn Brown.

SCHAEFER METS PLAYER AND PITCHERS OF THE MONTH, SEPTEMBER 2011 The Schaefer Mets Player of the Month for September 2011 is first-time winner RUBEN TEJADA. Ruben didn't lead the Mets in any offensive categories in September (except for hit by pitch, with 3) but he apparently got his points when they counted. Jason Bay led the Schaefer race throughout the month, but by missing numerous games at the end with a nagging sinus infection, he lost the lead after Tuesday's game, the second-to-last game of the season. A rainout on the last Friday of the season caused the rotation to be adjusted, leading to R.A. Dickey missing out on the start in the season's final game. That may have cost Dickey his shot at Player of the Month. Jose Reyes batted .340 in September and scored 19 runs, but that was only good enough to finish fifth in this rather quirky Schaefer month. The Schaefer Mets Pitcher of the Month for August is fifth-time winner R. A. DICKEY, with his third consecutive win. R.A. led the Mets in September with a 1.82 ERA in 34.2 innings over 5 starts. He had a 2-2 record. And the Schaefer Mets Relief Pitcher of the Month is, for the second month in a row, MANNY ACOSTA. In 12 games and 15 innings, Manny had a 3.00 ERA with a 2-0 record and 4 saves. Updated award winner standings, with most recent winners in bold: PLAYER OF THE MONTH David Wright 10 Johan Santana 6 Carlos Beltran 5 Jose Reyes 5 Cliff Floyd 2 Tom Glavine 2 Carlos Delgado 2 Ike Davis 2 Mike Cameron 1 John Maine 1 Angel Pagan 1 Jeff Francoeur 1 R. A. Dickey 1 Daniel Murphy 1 Lucas Duda 1 RUBEN TEJADA 1 PITCHER OF THE MONTH Johan Santana 9 Pedro Martinez 6 John Maine 5 R. A. DICKEY 5 Mike Pelfrey 4 Tom Glavine 3 Orlando Hernandez 2 Alay Soler 1 Steve Trachsel 1 Oliver Perez 1 Livan Hernandez 1 Tim Redding 1 Dillon Gee 1 Jonathon Niese 1 Chris Capuano 1 RELIEVER OF THE MONTH Brian Stokes 5 Francisco Rodriguez 3 Raul Valdes 2 Pedro Beato 2 MANNY ACOSTA 2 Billy Wagner 1 Aaron Heilman 1 Duaner Sanchez 1 Scott Schoeneweis 1 Pedro Feliciano 1 Sean Green 1 Fernando Nieve 1 Hisanori Takahashi 1 Elmer Dessens 1 Jason Isringhausen 1

Is Wilson the guy who tweeted about Jose Reyes? And is he also a free agent to be?

My guess is that Sandy will try to trade Bay, but won't be able to close a deal. I don't see where else he can shed a big chunk of salary, if he's so inclined. Nobody's going to take on Santana's salary until they see that he can pitch. I don't think Wright is going anywhere.

Mike Lupica is going to have an especially cloying article about this game in tomorrow's Daily News.

That interview in the stands with Kevin Burkhardt and Salvador Dali was rather surreal.

[bigpurple:2zype2pd]WHAT THE FUCK???[/bigpurple:2zype2pd] (Sorry, no IGT is complete without one of those.)

Voting for the final game of the 2011 season will close some time over the weekend. If you'd like to pour some Schaefer one last time before next April, please try to do so today. Schaefer POTG 09/28/11 Mets 3, Cincinnati 0

Let's put Vic in charge of that.

Brewers. For no reason that I can identify.

Tigers, natch. I see it's 7-0 now. I guess Steve Rogers hasn't cast his secret ballot yet.

Cardinals. Only because I'm embedded deep inside Phillie country. I know for sure that I'll be rooting for whichever team wins this series to lose in the next round.

I voted Rays. Spunky AL East team. (I seem to be prone to be partial to teams that have to deal with the Evil Empire in their division.)

Edgy DC wrote: I like that he crushed on Murphy as much as I did. I liked that too. The thing that jumped out at me the most was this: Sandy Alderson wrote: It�s conceivable that we don�t have in our organization the guy who will be catching, playing first base . . . First base??? Hmmm...

For whom are you rooting?

For whom are you rooting?

This one is a formality. For whom are you rooting?

For whom are you rooting?

GM: Don't expect quick Jose Reyes deal By Adam Rubin ESPNNewYork.com NEW YORK -- New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson plans to reach out to the representatives for free-agent-to-be Jose Reyes in the next couple of days. Still, Alderson indicated, Mets fans should not count on the shortstop re-signing during the organization's exclusive negotiating window. Open bidding begins five days after the World Series. "I don't really want to speculate on what might happen or not happen before his exclusive negotiating period expires," Alderson said Thursday, a day after the Mets finished his first season as GM with a 77-85 record and fourth-place finish. "However, if history is any guide, most players who get to this point don't see any reason to make a decision within the next 30 days. They're that close to free agency. I wouldn't want people to expect that something is going to happen in October." Alderson confirmed previous ESPNNewYork.com reports that he expects the 2012 payroll to fall in the $100 million to $110 million range. "I think we're going to be somewhere in that range," Alderson said. "I mean, I don't see us going below $100 million. But as I think as is pretty well documented, I don't see us being where we are today, either." He identified this year's final payroll figure as roughly $140 million. The Mets have a combined $55 million tied up in Johan Santana, Jason Bay and David Wright for 2012 -- with comparable commitments to those players in 2013 as well, assuming Wright's team option is exercised. So Alderson acknowledged re-signing Reyes would greatly reduce the organization's flexibility for the next two offseasons in terms of pursuing notable free agents. "You're right to point it out," Alderson said. "If you look at where we are currently, with or without Jose we have a very small number of players and a large amount of money tied up in those players. Adding Jose would contribute to that same situation and create less flexibility for us than we would like to have. That's something we have to take into account. But there are plusses and minuses to every situation. We just have to weigh those." Alderson offered no indication the Mets would pursue another big-ticket free agent if Reyes signs elsewhere. Still, the Mets would have more money available in that case to make signings -- particularly to retool the bullpen. "I'm not ruling it out," Alderson said regarding making a large free agent expenditure other than Reyes. "But, at the same time, we will try to be as creative as we possibly can and look at what's available across the board. We could get into a free agency negotiation beyond Jose if, for example, the market is different than we anticipate or we trade somebody." Mets principal owner Fred Wilpon and family received a favorable ruling this week from a U.S. District Court judge that could limit their liability in a lawsuit trying to recover funds to distribute to victims of Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme. Alderson portrayed that as good news, but largely immaterial to this offseason's payroll. "As long as it's not resolved completely for the Wilpons, I think it certainly has a lingering effect on them," Alderson said. "Does that translate directly to what our payroll would be or what have you? I don't think so. On the other hand, I think things are looking brighter today than they did a week or so ago." Big-ticket free agents such as Reyes often take their time deciding during the winter, trying to create a bidding frenzy by extending the process. Given the Mets' available dollars for other pursuits is greatly contingent upon Reyes' decision, can the Mets afford to wait for a verdict from the shortstop? Alderson explained that even if there is no resolution with Reyes, the direction of the bidding should allow the organization to assess the likelihood of him re-signing and permit team officials to pivot to other pursuits if warranted. "A lot of what we might consider is dependent on what happens with Jose," Alderson said. "At the same time, one of the things we will have to do is constantly reassess where we are and what the likelihood is we're going to be able to re-sign him, and what the alternatives are and whether they will disappear or reappear. It's a dynamic environment, which we'll have to stay on top of." Internally, the Mets already are developing a level to which they would be willing to spend on Reyes. "It would be foolish for us not to have thought through this and where we think things might end up and what our choking point is versus what somebody else's choking point might be," Alderson said. "... There's obviously uncertainty about where he'll be next year, but we will see where that takes us." Other topics addressed included Alderson's dissatisfaction with the Mets' 77-85 record. "One of the disappointments for me was that we started poorly and we ended poorly," Alderson said. "As I've said before, first impressions are important. Last impressions are important." Alderson acknowledged some of that underperformance was "self-inflicted" by trading Carlos Beltran and Francisco Rodriguez. Alderson said the number of disabled list time spent by the Mets this year was roughly only 30 days more than last season. He was not yet prepared to endorse the return of the team's trainers, or the entire coaching staff for that matter. "We want to make a decision on all of those staff decisions as quickly as possible," Alderson said. "But I'd rather not comment at this point. We may have some changes. We may not." Alderson said the positive of the Mets' injury woes is that players such as Lucas Duda, Ruben Tejada, Dillon Gee and Justin Turner emerged with the opportunities.