Benjamin Grimm

Willets Point wrote: I think the Fman-ing of CPF prose is getting out of hand. Word.

I can see that. If I didn't live in the Philadelphia suburbs, I'd be more ambivalent about them. (That's probably why I never hated the Braves.) But when you're surrounded by Phillie mania, you just want it to end quickly.

G-Fafif wrote: I feel sorry for Mets fans who are ducking this postseason or simply can't be bothered. No need to feel sorry. The reason I'm not watching is because of lack of interest. If I miss a dozen great games, I don't mind at all.

I used to root exclusively National League in the World Series, but I stopped doing that in 1985. Since then I root for whichever team I dislike the least, regardless of league. So the only way I'd root for Philadelphia in the World Series is if they're playing the Yankees. At this point, I think I'm hoping that the World Series is Giants-Rangers.

For whom shall you root?

On Mad Men recently, Don Draper got his daughter two tickets to see the Beatles at Shea Stadium. I was really hoping to see them there through the magic of computer graphic technology. I wasn't expecting it, but it would have been very cool.

Now that the season is over, I've once again been motivated to take a fresh look at this. Here are the media guide seasons that I'm still missing. (Meaning that there may be disabled list transactions from the previous year that have not yet been logged.) 1963 1964 1965 1967 1968 1969 1971 1972 1974 1991 2006 2007 The full list of transactions that I've entered can be found at this page. And, below, are transactions that I know about but have not yet entered. (I still have to figure out how, or if, I'm going to log the military time.) And as for the injuries from 1972, 1977, and 1989, I'm going to see if I can find out what the injuries actually were. (I'm pretty sure that Felix Millan's was a separated shoulder from when he was slammed by Ed Ott of the Pirates, but I want to get that confirmed by some contemporary source if I can.) Thanks once again to everyone who helped with this way back last fall. If anyone can help fill in some of the remaining gaps, I'd very much appreciate it. 1969 MILITARY LIST Ken Boswell 5/30 to 6/15 Bud Harrelson 6/25 to 7/11 Tug McGraw 7/6 to 7/20 Ken Boswell 8/9 to 8/11 Nolan Ryan 8/11 to 9/1 1970 MILITARY LIST Nolan Ryan 6/26 to 7/16 Ken Boswell 7/14 to 8/3 Mike Jorgensen 8/14 to 9/1 Bill Sudakis 4/14/72 to 7/10 Jim Beauchamp 7/10/72 to 8/1 Bud Harrelson 8/3/72 to 8/25 Bob Myrick 7/5/77 to 7/29/77 Felix Millan 8/13/77 to end of season Mark Carreon 4/2/89 to 4/25 Tim Teufel 6/5/89 to 6/23 89 Barry Lyons 6/27/89 to 7/25/89 Dwight Gooden 7/2/89 to 9/2

I'm really starting to wonder if, as speculated above, Alderson will lead to LaRussa. As often as I've said I want the Mets to have a smart manager (which they haven't had in eight years!), and I do think LaRussa might actually be smart (although the way he was outmanaged by Jerry Manuel in that 20-inning game raises doubts), I can't get enthusiastic about Tony as Mets manager.

I was thinking the same thing. I remember thinking how awful it would be if the Mets were to have been swept away by Arizona in 1999.

Andy Martino in the Daily News this morning thinks that Alderson is very likely. Said something about it being hard to foresee any other outcome. He also says that if it is Alderson, Omar would be more likely to stay in the Mets front office as some kind of scouting guru.

Just bumping this in case the previous post, with the images, got lost in all the flurry over the Omar and Jerry firings. I have another Mets photo mystery that was presented to me today. I'll get that one posted in the next day or two.

Jeff doesn't need nepotism. I'm sure his helmet-of-hair opens many doors for him.

Did Shea get shakier as it got older? I was there in person for some big happenings back in the 1980's, but not since then. I remember experiencing noise, but not really the shaking. I do remember getting the sense of Shea shaking a lot while watching on TV in 1999 and 2000 though.

Yeah. Even if it was worth $14 million to no longer worry about Beltran getting hurt, is it worth $14 million to have to worry about the possibility that you'll be paying him all that money to hit 30 homers for some other team? If you're going to have to pay him anyway, it's better to keep him around and get whatever benefit you might get from his production. Vanis takee!

Hopefully it won't be too long before the Mets do something extraordinary at Citi Field so we can see how loud the new place can get.

If Beltran is healthy and productive, he can probably be traded to a contender next summer. Then again, if he's healthy and productive, then maybe the Mets will be a contender and they'll want to keep him. But I can't see anyone trading for him before he takes the field again, unless they're giving up a similarly questionable $18 million player.

Adam Rubin wrote: The New York Mets will interview former Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Josh Byrnes, former Kansas City Royals GM Allard Baird and Chicago White Sox assistant GM Rick Hahn next week for the organization's vacant general manager position, a team spokesman announced Thursday. The Mets have indicated they plan to interview five to seven candidates, with finalists coming back for a second round. The hope is to have someone in place by the time the World Series starts... 20 days from now.

Wow! That means it's been ten years since the last time I conceived a child.

Source: Mets to interview Rick Hahn By Bruce Levine ESPNChicago.com CHICAGO -- Chicago White Sox vice president/assistant general manager Rick Hahn will interview for the New York Mets general manager position next week, according to a Major League Baseball source. The Mets fired Omar Minaya on Monday, and decided not to renew the contract of manager Jerry Manuel. Mets COO Jeff Wilpon will conduct the search for the next general manager. Hahn is a highly respected baseball executive who has been on a fast track to a GM job over the past five years. Baseball America voted Hahn the No. 1 general manager prospect in its March, 2010 issue. In past years, Hahn interviewed for the St. Louis Cardinals general manager's job, but he withdrew his name after two interviews, and he also declined to be interviewed for the Pittsburgh Pirates GM job. Before hiring Jack Zduriencik as GM prior to the 2009 season, the Seattle Mariners asked for permission to interview Hahn, but the request was denied. Hahn, along with White Sox GM Ken Williams and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf collaborated on all important baseball decisions in Chicago. Hahn's expertise blends a firm grip of sabermetrics and physical scouting of players. He is a Michigan graduate and has a Harvard law degree and graduated from Northwestern's Kellogg graduate school of management. Prior to joining the White Sox in 2002, Hahn was an agent at Steinberg, Moorad and Dunn sports agency in Newport Beach, Calif., for two years. His expertise in negotiating contracts and learning the scouting end of the game was essential in the White Sox promoting him to a vice president post in 2007.

The PotG MVP is clearly Mr. Grimm. Thanks for doing this, from the spreadsheets to the cards. 6.0 to you. Thanks! And thanks to all the voters, regular and irregular! No matter the state of your bowels, all voters are appreciated! I agree. I would like to suggest a Topps Rookie trophy on Ike's card; the older version with the batter instead of the cup trophy. That's a good idea, but I'm afraid the 1976 card would have to have the cup: If it was a 1972 card, however...

metsmarathon wrote: i'd like to stand up and preemptively come out in favor of the notion that schaeffer voting does not necessarily fall in line with conventional value assessments of players. the schaeffer player of the year need not be the most WARest, or WPAest, or wOBAest, or win sharest (are win shares relevent still, or have we moved past them?) player. i like that it offers a relativistic look at the sum total of player of the game contributions. it is a unique look at player performance. who cares if it doesn't account for a guy single handedly blowing a 9 run lead in the 9th. it doesn't need to. it measures, instead, how often and how much a player contributes to winning individual games. i like it for that. david wright contributed more and more often to winning games than did any other metly player. i can live with that. do we not adequately capture defensive and relieving contributions? eh, maybe. but that's a different argument. Yes, Schaefer is definitely a throwback measurement, based on a promotional gimmick from the 1970's.

It is a shame, though, that Angel didn't win any monthly awards this year and thereby didn't get his card in the array-o-winners up above. I'll give him an honorable shout-out here: It also looks like the 1977 Topps series got skipped over, too.

First up... Sandy Alderson? From the Daily News: Andy Martino wrote: The first strong candidate to replace Omar Minaya as the Mets' general manager has emerged, and former A's GM Sandy Alderson likely has the backing of commissioner Bud Selig should Alderson decide to pursue the job. According to league sources familiar with the Mets' hiring process, Selig has given the Mets the OK to talk to Alderson, who now oversees Major League Baseball's efforts to improve operations in the Dominican Republic. In turn, the Mets are also interested in talking to Alderson, according to the sources. Newsday first reported Thursday that Selig would likely approve if Alderson wanted to seek the Mets' job. Credited with building the A's teams that reached the World Series from 1988-1990 and won in 1989, Alderson worked more recently as the CEO of the San Diego Padres. Although the Mets are also believed to be considering younger assistant GMs, such as Logan White of the Dodgers and Rick Hahn of the White Sox, an older candidate like Alderson would allow the team to retain John Ricco and groom him as the team's eventual GM. Ricco was passed over when the Mets cut ties with Omar Minaya, because ownership wanted a fresh voice from outside the organization. Still, the Mets value Ricco, and could see him as a future GM. Another experienced possibility, former Cleveland and Texas GM John Hart, is not believed to be a serious candidate at this time.

My hunch is Hahn, and I have no idea why. Completely uneducated hunch.

Here's how detached I've become: I had forgotten that a game was on, but when I remembered, I checked online to see what the score was. I saw it was the 8th inning and there was a no-hitter in progress. And that still didn't motivate me to turn on the TV. I didn't find out that the had gotten the no-hitter until I saw the newspaper this morning.