stevejrogers

Benjamin Grimm wrote: SteveJRogers wrote: Reyes' health and Wright's mental state are also major question marks as well. So what should they have done about that this winter? Get replacements for both players? No, I was just listing all the problems facing the Mets in October, obviously there doesn't seem, well in Reyes' case anyway, to be any cause to do anything about those particular problems.

Maybe, but dont' folks insist that they don't want the Wilpons running the club? Of course THEY do, but folks insist they don't want (insert politician's name here) as their (insert office here), doesn't mean they can't continue to call them out when they make statements that turn out completely and utterly false.

Edgy DC wrote: Two or three holes. The team arguably filled two of them with signings and the offseason continues. Whatever. I hope they don't trade anybody. Yeah, Jason Bay wasn't a signing done to shut up "Mets aren't signing anyone/No one wants to come here" peeps and to give a nice shiny thing to market and sell tickets. Where else do you think the Mets improved? Sarge Jr.? More "Proven Crap" for the bullpen corps? You're going to call THAT filling holes? 2nd base and catcher are still major question marks, Reyes' health and Wright's mental state are also major question marks as well. To say nothing about the fact that the rotation is Santana, three question marks and who knows what as well as another go-round of a bullpen corps cobbled together with hope and prayers as a bridge to Rodriguez. How does this team look like anything resembling an over-.500 squad?

it's not that they don't have the money, it's that they're not offering the money. Good. You know, at what point do the Wilpons wake up and realize there is a difference between a smart big market team and making dumb big splashes (see 1990s Orioles, and Rangers for those examples along with past Met forays into big FA spending sprees). Say what you will about lazy journalists and self-loathing fans, but the patterns that form over the years do show that the Mets really do have a small market mentality when it comes to improving the team. Go for the gusto one year, uh-oh that was an epic fail alright lets do nothing the next off-season. Vicious cycle over and over again. Also, didn't the Mets promise that this off-season would be an aggressive one? From MetBlog back in October: In October, just one day after the season ended, Mets GM Omar Minaya and COO Jeff Wilpon spent one hour in studio talking with WFAN�s Mike Francesa. �What happens this year between free-agents and trades, and whatever Omar wants to do to get us back to being a Championship-caliber team, will be up to Omar,� Wilpon said in October, acknowledging that his team will continue to have one of the highest payrolls in baseball. �We�re going to be aggressive, we have to be, whether it�s in trades or free agents,� Wilpon added. �We are in a results town, in a results business.� In addition, he said, Minaya and his staff will always work to build a team around �pitching, speed and defense,� and so Ownership built a ballpark with that in mind; because, as Minaya pointed out, it is easier to win when playing �National League baseball,� and when pitching strong. In terms of acquisitions, Minaya said he intended on looking at the trade market this off season, �to see how we can change it up,� because they could not just limit themselves to the free-agent market. Similarly, Wilpon said he felt the team had �two or three holes,� all which Minaya could fill through a combination of free-agent signings and trades. In the end, Wilpon said the team would not make a big-ticket acquisition just for marketing purposes, or in an effort to sell tickets, concluding, �The team will be as aggressive as it has been in the past.� Funny how all those statements I put in bold did not come to fruition. It's going to be another frustrating, sub-.500 season, I really don't see where any optimism iis coming from, nor do I see why you'd say that it was "good" that the Mets didn't spend money, except for Bay but you can easily swap Delgado out and put him in, this year.

Willie Mays doing press tour for bio on him due out in a couple of weeks.

Okay, did someone from another board hack into Kase's account? = I agree though, and it really does go all the way back to the start of the Doubleday/Wilpon reign with "The Magic Is Back." Hell, now that I think of it, even before with "Bring Your Kids To See Our Kids" Wasn't that trotted out in either 78 or just after 6/15/77? Granted no one really should give a crap about PR campaigns and slogans, but some of the Met ones through the years have been down right embarrassing. Though, IMHO, none more than the slogan for the 2007 Postseason ticket sale push, "Your Postseason Has Come" Yeah, we're still waiting guys, and I really don't think its gonna happen this October either! Hell, why even have a slogan as a sales pitch?

And this clown is being rewarded for this crap? Really? Really guys? First of all, the success of this trash makes me wonder how truly F'ed this culture is, but that's another rant, but the fact that one of these Andy Warhol-ers is getting more than his share of 15 minutes because of some minor league promotion?

Anyone up for a Feb 6 informal hangout? NYC Chapter of the SABR is having their meeting at the Public Library on 5th, a couple of Metly panels are on the agenda.

pleasebemets, pleasebemets, pleasebemets!

Pretty much. See the story about how Rick Ferrell got into the Baseball HOF. Hell, just look at the years Frankie Frisch was on the Veterans Committee! I'm just saying Leiter and Franco just have some friends in high places at this point in time. You could make a case for Leiter, but then Darling and Matlack supporters would be wondering when their guy will get in. And Franco, well fine if Ed Kranepool is in because he was around for so long.

Is there any way that Disney can break the contract?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Dwight Evans, whose career I'd take over Dawson's nine times out of ten. YearElectionVotesPct1997BBWAA285.9%1998BBWAA4910.4%1999BBWAA183.6% and Out Should have had a cooler nickname. How or why the hell ornery Boston fans rallied around Fenway Phantom Jim Rice and not Dewey, I'll never know. Perhaps; 1) To keep some sort of grand lineage going with Williams and Yaz for LFers in Fenway. Greenwell breaks that chain, and I don't know who held the spot in between Greenwell and ManRam. Interestingly enough, Warner Wolf one morning on 1050ESPN radio was pontificating on the HOF caliber LFers in Red Sox history listed Williams, Yaz and ManRam, and completely left Rice off the checklist! Course now many will cite Mark McGwire and soon Roger Clemens as reasons why Manny Ramirez WON'T get into Cooperstown, and that kind of will elevates Rice in many eyes. I wouldn't be shocked if that's why both Rice and Dawson got in actually. and 2) To prove that they aren't as racist and/or hard on their star athletes as it seems they were portrayed as being for many years. You don't get too many of those stories in the last 10 or so years, but it was a big part of the perception of the Boston fanbase. So why not rally around Rice's bid for the Hall.

At the end of the day, where are they wrong? This team was full of holes and question marks before the injuries piled up last year and so far the Mets haven't done a darn thing to fix any of them. Blame Omar for not being a competent GM, or blame the Wilpons (and perhaps Madoff) for tightening the purse strings, but following last season's disaster (whether a bunch of Met fans on an internet forum thought it was prudent or not) big changes were needed to show the fans that this is not 1994-1996 revisited. You know, when the biggest acquisitions were the "other" Pedro Martinez, David Segui, etc. How are the Phillies now not considered the odds on favorites now to 4-peat the NL East? And how are the Mets as presently constituted not odds on favorites to have a season no better than 2009? They might be douchebag journalists and headline writers, but they aren't off the mark in terms of what the Mets have been doing this winter.

If Strawberry and/or Gooden are not the next two inductees, I'd be very annoyed. From what Gary said in Greg's book, those two pretty much WERE the reasons the HOF dried up after Agee's induction in 2002. Guys who were still active for the most part at the time (Piazza, Alfonzo, Franco) aside, there weren't too many other "options" though that they could have put in during the meantime.

Speaking of over-used "excuses" for bad play, nice to see another example of "they had TOO MUCH REST" get shot down. You KNOW Philly Phans would be chomping at the bit to use that as an excuse (just about every team smoked after a layoff has) if the Yanks had won.

You'd think they'd get a silly "Mystique and Aura" chant going. New era in The Bronx indeed.