MFS62

metirish wrote: Fuck Schilling, he's a bollox......not interested, aren't any of the lick-arses at SOSH interested,I'd have thought they'd be wetting themselves at the chance to help Schilling. Since the spin-off of SOSH, there has been very little cross-pollinization between the two groups. The remaining DTFC members root for many different clubs- mainly in the AL. But they all have one thing in common - they hate the Red Sox. Many of them have travelled to attend the draft in person - in Toronto, home of a few of the team owners. Later

Curt has just given up a strat team in a league on the private Dickie Thon Fan Club site. That was the site that spun off the SOSH. They are looking for someone to take over his club for the coming year. I don't play strat, so I have no info about the players he has. If they don't get an immediate replacement owner, is anyone here interested? They are conducting their draft now (as we speak). Let me know. Later

Johnny Dickshot wrote: No, above is a list of NRIs in camp. Unless he's been claimed? He hasn't been claimed yet, but I don't think this is technically the same as being put on waivers. I believe there's an X-day waiting period, during which they have to trade or release him. And that period will expire before ST officially starts. So, unless he doesn't catch on with another team or get dealt (and I'd be surprised if Boston doesn't take a looksee at him for centerfield) he could still be with the team by then. So until we know for sure, you might as well keep him on the list. Later

Edgy, I believe the Mets released catcher Tony Piazza (at the end of) last season. JD, you're welcome, and you can start the edit by striking off Tike. He was DFA'd yesterday to make room on the 40 man for one of the latest acquisitions. Later

Elster88 wrote: It made me crack up when Molina was complaining shortly after the Mets got LoDuca. He was talking about his lack of options and said something like he really thought he was coming to New York. Well then why didn't you respond to their offer, jackass? Maybe he thinks slower than he runs. Later

Willets Point wrote: Do you remember when MOFo Poet Laureate Joelmon had his own message board called Mets Rant? He still does. Later

To quote MS Knight: "If there's an interesting point, bring it up. But citing other boards' discussions as authority isn't going to influence anyone around here. If you want to cite the idea and then do independent research to construct a theory about it, then go to town. But if I want to know what they're saying on a different board, then I'll just hang out there." I demand to see the results of your independent research on this subject. Later

Did you read it? That wasn't an opinion. This was not a "discussion". It just happened to be found on a discussion board. It was re-posted for its statistical content and a fact (winning the Dominican Gold Glove). "Authority"? Shouldn't statistics be judged on their own merit? From what was written, you can gather two things: The kid is hitting well in the playoffs. He is playing second base, and is playing it well enough to win their Gold Glove. Later

Sounds like they have been removed from direct scouting and player evaluation responsibilities. Later

Johnny Dickshot wrote: I wasn't shooting him, I was shooting you! (Don't worry, it's not loaded. I just wanted to point out that it'd be easier to understand what you're trying to say had you explained the context and translated). Does that mean we have to edit copied posts? Or just say something like "I saw this post on ____ and the poster thinks____"? Thanks for the warning. I'll try to remember to duck when you decide to use real ammo. Later

JD, that person calls himself "Ricardodo". Your evaluation of writing talent may concentrate on the "dodo" part of that. I see "Ricardo", and from other posts I gather that: 1) English may not be Ricardodo's primary language. 2) The post is based on either personal observation of the playoffs or correspondence with someone who has 3) This was posted as a service to Mets fans who have not heard much about/seen the playoffs in general and Hernandez in particular. Please don't shoot the messenger, Ricardodo, for performing what I'm sure he felt was a random act of kindness to Mets fans. I copied it to here for its content, not its grammar. I believe your comment about writing standards is valid, though, when we're reposting something written by a professional writer. Later

Centerfield wrote: 62, who are you talking about in your post? Oops, just realized I didn't name the name. It is Anderson Hernandez. I'll go back and edit that. Thanks, Later

Just trying to be helpful. Information to be useful must be used. (J/K) I don't want you to get an MCI trying to find pictures of those invitees, especially in Met hats. Sounds like Cova needs some LIthium. Later

Edgy, full list of invitees to spring training. http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/press_releases/press_release.jsp?ymd=20060125&content_id=1300350&vkey=pr_nym&fext=.jsp&c_id=nym Later

Just seen on NYFO: EDIT: about Anderson Hernandez. ]He is playing 2nd base and he is playing in sustitution of.....can you believe???.....no.......Luis Castillo And that little guy is hitting more than 400, 2 games with more than 3 hits and there's no way to take him out batting 1st. Actually the series is between "Las Aguilas"against "Licey" (his team) and is 4 wins for the Licey and 2 for Las Aguilas (It's a 9 games series). Aguilas has Miguel Tejada, Willie Mo Pe�a, and Victor Diaz batting 3, 4 and 5th and the pitchers that he has face are Joaquin Benoit, Jose Lima, Julian Tavarez, etc. Also he won the Dominican gold glove playing second base. Later

How was the order decided? * Well, that's a bit of a long story: A discussion after the 2001 season about which players contributed the most and/or least to that season led to a challenge to do the same to all 40 seasons. So, after much discussion, arguing, name-calling and hair-pulling, each season had 30 players ranked as to their contribution. Points were assigned for each rank and then multiplied by the weighted success of the team that season. The results were added up and a score was reached so that the best and longest lasting Mets garnered the total most points and therefore best overall rank. I guess that "time with the Mets" consideration was why a few days ago, I was Nolan Ryan, yesterday I was Art Shamsky, and now I'm Jeff Innis.It obviously isn't based on player ability OR fame.LAter

KC wrote: MFS, is that something you posted somewhere and saved, or was it published somewhere? I saw it on another board (NYFO) a few weeks ago and waited for someone here to spot it on its original source and provide a link. I didn't post it here at the time because there was no reference as to author or source. But when I saw this thread looking back five years, I felt this was an appropriate spot for it. Did I do something bad? Later

2001 perspective: Mets Defense of NL Pennant Offensive July 11, 2001 - The defending National League Champion New York Mets have won just 38 of their first 89 ball games in 2001. Is this really the same team that roughed up the San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals last year on their way to the World Series? Not exactly the same team that they finished the year 2000 with, Mike Hampton was lost to free agency. Kevin Appier was signed to replace Hampton and Steve Trachsel was chosen by General Manager Steve Phillips over incumbent Bobby Jones. There are also a few new role players like Tsuyoshi Shinjo and Desi Relaford. Yet the nucleus of the team remained intact. So, what happened to the Mets? Coming into the season, the Mets offense relied on the two-headed monster of Mike Piazza and Edgardo Alfonzo. For the past two seasons, these two have hit well over .300 with plenty of power. Many pre-season prognosticators lamented over the lack of a strong supporting cast to these two, nobody expected that Piazza and especially Alfonzo to struggle like they have. In 2000, Alfonzo hit .324/.425/.542 (AVG/OBP/SLG), with 25 HRs and 94 RBIs. This season, Alfonzo has dropped precipitously to .233/.306/.420. Mike Piazza hit .324/.398/.614 in 2000, and has fallen to .276/.350/.541. Since his first season in 1992 (just 62 ABs), Piazza has never hit below .300 in a season. In addition to the big two, the Mets next three best hitters in 2000 have also under-produced. Benny Agbayani, Todd Zeile, and Jay Payton have all under-achieved. Last year, these three combined for 54 home runs and 201 RBIs. This season, they have amassed just 13 dingers and 70 RBIs. Agbayani and Payton have both been injured (as has Alfonzo), and Zeile's power numbers have not been up to his career standards. To top it off, Rey Ordonez is back at shortstop for the Mets. The three-time Gold Glove Award winner has not improved with the stick, in fact he has digressed. His numbers are .220/.270/.283! A .270 OBP combined with a .283 SLG is just horrific. Even if he did not make a single error, and made every conceivable play in the field (which he has not), there is no way he has helped this ball club. The only bright lights in the Mets' lineup have been Robin Ventura, who has bounced back from a sub par 2000, Desi Relaford, Joe McEwing, and Tsuyoshi Shinjo. This is not a group that scares many opposing pitchers. Top prospect OF Alex Escobar had two brief tours with the Mets, and it was obvious that he is not ready to help the club. Fundamentally, this group has been terrible. There was a stretch of 20 or 30 games when the Mets made a base running blunder or a mental miscue in the field in every game. It was ugly. The Mets are a slow team, underachieving at the plate, the last thing they need is poor fundamentals. Yet the Mets have not been able to hit a fly ball with a man on third, or execute in the field. The pitching has been up and down. Or more precisely, down and up. Early in the season, Kevin Appier and Glendon Rusch struggled mightily, Steve Trachsel pitched so poorly that he had to be sent to the minors, and Al Leiter injured his elbow. The Mets were left with Rick Reed, and four days of hitter feed. In the last month, the starters have rebounded. Kevin Appier has lowered his ERA from a season high of 5.62 on May 19, to 3.86 after his tremendous performance against the Yankees on July 7 in which he had a no-hitter into the sixth and allowed just four hits and no runs in eight innings. Glendon Rusch has also pitched better in the last month. He has stopped throwing the sinker as it just was not an effective pitch for him. Rusch has pitched effectively in each of his last five starts. Rick Reed has been the anchor of the staff all season. With any other offense behind him, he would likely have 10 wins by now. Al Leiter has followed his good year/bad year trend that he has had for the last few seasons. Perhaps he threw too many pitches in several outings last season, and that may have set him up for injury and relative ineffectiveness in 2001. Steve Trachsel sucks. Case closed. The bullpen has also been spotty. Armando Benitez has been perfect in save situations yet has given up several home runs that cost the Mets a ball game in non-save situations. Franco, Wendell, and Cook have been overworked as usual, and they have been hit more than usual. Rick White, and Donne Wall have been on and off the DL, and Wall has been terrible when healthy. Many Met fans lament the trade that sent Bubba Trammell to the Padres for Wall. Steve Phillips to the Rescue? So where do we go from here? The Mets are 13 games behind the first place Philadelphia Phillies and 12 games behind the second place Atlanta Braves. Are the Mets out of contention? Possibly� but not mathematically. Do the Mets still have a core team that can contend in 2002? Yes they do, as illustrated above, all of the Mets key offensive performers in 2000, are having off years in 2001. Of the five mentioned above (Piazza, Alfonzo, Agbayani, Payton, and Zeile), only two of them are over the age of 30 (Piazza and Zeile). The pitching staff is old but still above average. What kind of deal should Steve Phillips make? Should he grab an established big hitter and hope the Mets can get back in contention a la the Miracle Mets of 1969 or the "Ya Gotta Believe" Mets of 1973? Or perhaps the Mets should clean house and rebuild a shaky franchise with a below average farm system? The Mets need to establish some goals to improve the team as follows: 1. Get younger. The Mets are one of the oldest teams in major league baseball and it shows. They are also one of the slowest. 2. Get aggressive offensively. Bench Rey Ordonez, let Desi Relaford and Joe McEwing battle it out at shortstop and play guys who can hit it deep in the outfield. 3. Get rid of dead wood. Phillips must weed out older players that are falling off and stop signing older free agents to big contracts. 4. Stop the clubhouse obsession. The day following the World Series in 2000, Steve Phillips was not busy planning how to re-sign Mike Hampton or attract Alex Rodriguez. No, his number one priority was signing Lenny Harris to a two-year $2.2 millon deal! It has been said that the Mets have a great clubhouse, what a wonderful bunch of players. You would think some of that feel-good stuff would translate to an occasional clutch hit. Nope, and ironically the only clutch hitter this season has been a guy who does not understand a word Lenny Harris says (Shinjo). The Mets need to accomplish these goals and still field a competitive team. Believe it or not, young players are often better than older players. The key is to figure out which young players will develop. Easier said than done, but it is better to gamble on a young player whose prime is ahead of him than over-30 guys who will never repeat their best season. The list of deadwood is pretty long, and unfortunately most of those players have little value. Rey Ordonez tops the list, but his $4 million annual salary stands in the way of even the most optimistic suitor. Todd Zeile has some value as a third baseman, he just does not hit enough as a first baseman with a $6 million annual price tag. There are quite a few teams out there in need of a third baseman, the Mets would be wise to accept a B-grade prospect and pick up most of Zeile's salary. Even if they do not get a first baseman in the transaction, the Mets would probably score as many runs with Mark Johnson at first base� or heaven forbid Mike Piazza. Robin Ventura obviously has more value than Zeile. The Mets should be cautious about moving him though because he is a very good all-around player who may be worth what he is paid. The Mets should settle for nothing less than a top young pitcher for Ventura, if they choose to trade him. The Mets also have four guys who can play a decent center field in the majors in Payton, Escobar, Shinjo, and Perez. Although none of these players makes any money, these players have value and could bring a player back with better long-term value. The pitching staff is a tough nut. Reed, Leiter, and Appier are all older pitchers with big salaries. They are also winning pitchers that the Mets could ill-afford to lose if they hope to contend in 2002. The truth is the Mets need starting pitching. Trachsel is not the answer at number five. Dicky Gonzalez has limited upside. None of the other pitching prospects are close to making the big club. The Mets should send one or more of their ancient relievers out of town in return for some young starting pitching. The Manager Everybody says that Bobby Valentine is a great manager in terms of his baseball ability. If so, why is the team so poorly prepared? Desi Relaford forgets to cover first base on a bunt. Timo Perez bypasses the cutoff man. Hit and runs are missed and gunned down. The Mets are not working out over the All-Star break. They do not need to work on anything? Valentine is also a master of using his entire 25 man roster� in every game. Not only that, he uses his entire roster differently every game. A guy will bat second one day, seventh the next, and then leadoff. How is the player supposed to know his role if it is constantly changing? Why doesn't Valentine put in a good offensive lineup everyday? It seems like there are three punch and judy shortstop types in the lineup every day. Obviously a big part of the problem has been injuries. The Mets have been riddled with injury since day one. Now, they are starting to get healthy. It is time to give the team a consistent lineup, a lineup that has a chance to score. Here is one Bobby: SS McEwing / Relaford LF Agbayani 2B Alfonzo C Piazza 3B Ventura 1B Johnson / Zeile CF Payton RF Shinjo / Perez The 2000 New York Mets raised our expectations, the club raised the ticket prices, but the product on the field has failed to deliver. The future is not all bad, the Mets have a core of good baseball players. If they can get a little younger, and faster, and smarter, and � if they could get a clutch hit once in a while, then the future may be bright indeed. They did go to the World Series last season. Now it is time to start playing like champions. ****************************************************************** How things have changed. Later

Mike Remlinger signs a minor league deal with the Braves. Isn't he the kind of lefty who might have interested Omar? Later

Is it easier to think how someone else thinks or write like someone else writes? Or is it the same thing? After writing song parodies on another board, someone asked me if I could write prose/ text in the styles of other writers. As a result, I've written pieces (with baseball themes) in the styles of: Anne Rice Star Trek (actually 8 of them) Mickey Spillaine Law and Order Charles Dickens Ian Flemming I've posted many of them here. The most difficult problem before you is probably the fact that you've used "Anna Benson" and "think" in the same sentence. Later

Roster relief. One mystery solved. http://newyork.mets.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/transactions.jsp?c_id=nym Bye Bye Angel Pagan. Later

Frayed Knot wrote: [Maine wasn't on BA's list of Oriole prospects as he had been in the previous 2 years. I posted Sickels' 2005 #6 ranking of him from BA a few posts above yours. Later

KC wrote: I've been trying for hours to figure out what the hell choice three means. Did you read my first post in this thread? #3 means you would like to bayonet whover wins their battle. Later

Edgy, this was published a few days before the Mets got Maine. ]Acording to Matt Meyers from Baseball America . 1. Lastings Milledge 2. Michael Pelfrey 3. Philip Humber 4. Carlos Gomez 5. Fernando Martinez 6. Anderson Hernandez 7. Brian Bannister 8. Alay Soler 9. Jon Niese 10. Deolis Guerra Since four of them, Pelfrey, Martinez (16 yr old Dominican outfielder), Soler and Guerra (17 year old Venezuelan pitcher) did not play a single minor league inning last year, it will be interesting to see where Maine is placed when this is updated. Later

I had a feeling that things would go downhill once we lost Shane Halter. Later