nymr83

i saw that picture and felt like burning my paper this morning. the Post writers should have photoshop removed from their computers if thats what they're going to do with it.

whats scary is that that guy was dead on (except for the line "traschel isn't the answer at number 5")

wayyyyy off topic here but i think there are times when a joke can be funny because it is expected.

]I coulda sworn that Mets' management said Piazza would not accept a reduced role. I'll give the Mets the benefit of the doubt here as this might have been true when the deadline for offering arbitration rolled around...Piazza and his agent have probably gotten a rude awakening since then.

Elster88 wrote: I'd advise not to worry too much about what the call-in radio folk worry about. I might have missed something, but the time I heard them discussing it M&MD were just commenting on the oddity, not concluding Omar had an agenda. i'm NOT saying there is an agenda...but the coincidences are fun to joke about... and even if there was an agenda Mike and the Angry Puppy would never make that accusation...they wouldn't want to suddenly get no interviews with Omar, Willie, and possibly other GMs/Coaches who don't like those words flowing around.

]who apparently has the RJ stamp of approval that line kills me. how many wins did Maddux cost the braves (not that it mattered) by refusing to pitch to a catcher who was their 2nd best hitter for a few years? i get tired of this "i dont want to pitch to him" act...

no opinion is what you say when they trade heath bell for rick white....its just a who cares kind of trade. obviously you can reserve judgment but do you really not have an initial reaction abouthow it is going to turn out?

old original jb wrote: What do you make of his "peripherals" improving while his ERA and the overall perception of his performance declines? being older than your leaguemates helps lower the perception of you even if you are pitching better, he's 25 isnt he?

old original jb wrote: Maybe it's the Edgy/Sal thing that has people posting on these threads, but I feel that people are up in arms because they are more worried about the pitching than about who plays catcher, and despite a flurry of trades, both starting pitching and the pen are still a big question mark. Piazza's offense and ability to play far into the season was declining anyway. The offense he provided has been replaced at other spots in the lineup. His defensive catching skills have been replaced too. A Exactly. Piazza is gone (in the sense that he can't sign til may 1st and even if he could he's not the player he used to be.) There would be no point in getting too mad about who is catching because all the candidates were varying degrees of mediocrity, there simply is no Piazza-type out there. ] It is amediocre (after Pedro) starting rotation that is giving fans the heebee jeebees, and the plan of stocking up on promising but questionable hard throwing right handed relievers in exchange for excess starters just doesnt seem to make much sense. We still don't have enough left handed middle relief so after all this, the pen is still not complete. agreed. first of all, slightly above average starters are much harder to find (IMO) than slightly abve average relievers. I and others (i think Elster for one would agree) are against trading quality starting pitching for anything but an elite reliever just on principle. While i'd change my mind if we had 8 or 9 starters and no relievers cutting it down from 7 starters to 6 wasn't a great idea, cutting it down to 5 is a downright bad idea imo unless those 5 resemble a braves staff from the mid-90's. ] The irrational part, to me, is decrying these trades as bad by thinking that the current crew of starters is necessarily any worse than the prior crew. But maybe that's what rankles so much; the starting rotation seems to be mired in mediocrity, no matter which of seven or eight pitchers land in the five starting spots. We had all these starters, and yet there seems to be no way to parlay them into something really great. we had 7 starters and i'd say 1 is great, 3 were solid, and 3 were suspect in one way or another, now we have 5 and we traded a solid one and the best suspect, if anyone gets hurt you'll be getting an introduction to Brian Bannister, i don't think thats a good thing. ] As a certified Omar apologist, I will say that the reason for this conundrum is not Omar's alleged stupidity, but that none of the pitchers involved were all that great to begin with. Seo and Heilman have both the biggest upsides but also the greatest chances to fail. The rest are either total question marks or utter mediocrities. fine, then don't trade them. there was no reason not to go into the year with heilman pitching the 8th and zambrano in long relief to solve the rotation glut. everyone wants pitching in june and july, i'd bet benson gets you more then and so does Seo if he shows good stuff again. ] For what it's worth, I'd have been happiest with Seo and Heilman both starting, Zambrano AND Benson traded, and either Jorge Julio or Duaner Sanchez playing the role of excess right handed disgruntled setup man. i'd have been happiest trading only zambrano, i think with the age of the rotation and the question marks it makes total sense to keep 6 guys around, especially when you arent getting something significant for dealing 2 of them. ] I will conclude by saying that a mediocre rotation with one ace is far better than what many teams have--and as a certified Omar apologist, I will add that if he hadn't been able to sign that ace and without Omar's apparently superior salesmanship and reduced fecklessness (compared to prior administrations) we would probably be looking at a four year rebuilding job without Delgado, Wagner, or Beltran on board. I'll conclude that the rotation a month ago was better than it is now, and thats the whole point of anger at the trades. Delgado allegedly didn't sign last year BECAUSE of omar, Beltran was thrown way more dough than anyone else was offering.

]As for Jorge Julio--relivers get no respect his numbers DESERVE no respect.

1 is hate, 5 is love... my feelings at the time as best i can remember them are in parenthesis. i deleted the ones that i felt neutral (3) about at the time and neutral about now since it was the vast majority and i felt no need to repeat them all. January 3, 2000 New York Mets released Bobby Bonilla. 5 (5) February 7, 2000 New York Mets claimed David Lamb on waivers from the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. 2 (4) February 8, 2000 New York Mets signed free agent Rich Rodriguez. 1 (3) March 17, 2000 New York Mets signed free agent Timo Perez. 3 (5) March 18, 2000 New York Mets traded Jesse Orosco to the St. Louis Cardinals for Joe McEwing. 4 (5) May 13, 2000 New York Mets released Rickey Henderson. 5 (5) July 28, 2000 New York Mets traded Melvin Mora, Mike Kinkade, Pat Gorman and Lesli Brea to the Baltimore Orioles for Mike Bordick. 1 (5) this was my only huge disparity of the year, i thought Bordick would help but he stunk and Mora went on to have a decent career New York Mets traded Paul Wilson and Jason Tyner to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Bubba Trammell and Rick White. 3 (5) i liked this deal at the time but then Trammell wasn't given the chance i thought he deserved December 9, 2000 Colorado Rockies signed Mike Hampton of the New York Mets as a free agent. 4 (3) considering how he pitched in COL it was good to let him go and i didnt think it was a mistake for that kind of money, if we were reviewing the 1999 transactions the trade to get him would be a 2 (5) imo December 11, 2000 New York Mets signed free agent Kevin Appier of the Oakland Athletics. 3 (4) New York Mets traded Bubba Trammell to the San Diego Padres for Donne Wall. 2 (1) New York Mets signed free agent Steve Trachsel of the Toronto Blue Jays. 5 (4) December 20, 2000 Baltimore Orioles signed Mike Bordick of the New York Mets as a free agent. 3 (3), i deleted most of my neutrals but this one i felt like mentioning that i was ok with him going elsewhere though i would have been equally ok with resigning him as i was already very down on st-rey and in favor of any alternatives

Seo will be the best, he's flat out younger and better than Benson. Heilman will be next, better than Benson only because of his pitcher's park vs. the bandbox in Baltimore. i still think Heilman's time as a SP was a potential fluke last year and he'd be better off as a 7th or 8th inning guy. Benson will be last, he's not a bad pitcher but Baltimore won't be friendly to him. ----stats---- Seo 12-6, 30 starts, 180 innings, 175 hits, 40 walks, 10 hrs, 115k's, 3.10 ERA Heilman 10-8, 25 starts, 148 innings, 150 hits, 53 walks, 9 hrs, 135k's, 3.60 ERA Benson 8-12, 30 starts, 190 innings, 198 hits, 60 walks, 28 hrs, 125 k's, 4.55 ERA

isn't this the second time this offseason that some poor misguided poster has tried to give someone the nickname "the duke"...there only one duke in ny, find your own nickname john maine...

Seo has produced in the majors in 2 of his 3 seasons while Maine has barely played and Soler hasnt thrown a pitch in the united states.... There had better be "another shoe" waiting to drop.

] Right now you could argue the Mets look pretty good as a contender i'd argue that they looked alot stronger 2 weeks ago. Pedro, Glavine, Traschel, Heilman, Zambrano with Bannister as your 6th starter and Lugo/Sanzhez in the pen doesnt excite me as much as Pedro, SGlavine, Seo, benson, Traschel with Zambrano as the 6th starter and Heilman in the pen.

OFFOR- Outraged Fans For Omar Removal.

SI Metman wrote: ="Nymr83"]what stupid fuckin trade, half the fuckin rotation got traded for shit relievers, good job omar. i cant wait for this bastard to get fired I wonder if you'll change your opinion if Omar uses the 14 million in savings on Barry Zito... so far omar has shown he's an idiot, his only good moves havent been trades they've been spending wilpon's money, something anyone could do. he's going to get Zito? i'll believe it when its done and then put these moves into context, but for now he's just plain stupid

what stupid fuckin trade, half the fuckin rotation got traded for shit relievers, good job omar. i cant wait for this bastard to get fired

this trade was bad when we still had Seo, now its downright idiotic

KC wrote: Alright, I admit that I voted vet just because I thought that Bret was agenda mongering again. i figured out right away that this could not have been Mets-related as any pro-diaz agenda would be anti-nady not anti-floyd (i'd hope.)

brought to you by the inventors of "online ballot box stuffing"

When I'm looking at putting a guy in the hall i need to ask a few questions: 1. would he be the "worst" player at his position in the HOF? if the answer is yes then i don't want him in. I think the minimum standards have already been set, and i believe there are even guys in there who don' belong so there is no way i'd want to set an even lower standard. 2. is the player better than others at his position who arent in? 3. how many players would fairly have to "come in with him"? if the answer is few or none (Blyleven, Rice) then thats a good thing, if the answer is "many" then i don't want to open the hall further (this is my issue with Franco, if you let him in there are 10 more relievers pounding on the doors.)

RBI are very, very team dependant and thus not a reliable indicator of a player's worth. yes the goal of the game is to drive in runs, but RBIs are not a good indicator of FUTURE RBIs, if you go from hitting 4th on the red sox to 4th on the brewers you couold have an even better year with less RBIs thanks to your teammates

but if you can only play one of them doesnt it make more sense to trade one to fill a need?

its hard for a scenario to be so clear cut in terms of knowing what you are getting, but if a scenario like this actually came up i'd trade one or the other for pitching or whatever else i needed, if this meant eating the old guy's salary thats fine as long as i'm getting good talent that i can use back.