Centerfield

In DoucheDad's defense, Alex Cora Jr. has almost no range at second base, and has no business batting that high in the order...

Wow, I had no idea this would be such a controversial topic. It seems pretty straightforward to me. *Oliver Perez sucks. That's not his fault. That alone, doesn't make him an asshole. *Oliver Perez refuses to accept an assignment to the minor leagues, despite the fact that the team has asked him to do so. In doing so, he takes up a roster spot and renders it useless. He also undermines the best chance they have to get him to stop sucking, meaning the suck is likely to continue. This makes him a selfish asshole. *Oliver Perez has every right to decide his fate. This is obvious. But when he chooses the one that is self-serving, that makes him an asshole. *Some of his teammates have seen this and think he's an asshole. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, I agree with them. *Some of his teammates have seen this, think he's an asshole, and have expressed their feelings to the media anonymously. This is an asshole move too. They should either keep to themselves, or fess up and and take responsibility for their words. However, keep in mind that these teammates are being assholes in response to an asshole. And while these anonymous guys are assholes, they seem to have the team's interest in mind, while Perez is an asshole with only Perez in mind. To me, that makes the anonymous assholes much less of a problem than Oliver Asshole. *It makes much more sense to retain Oliver Asshole and hopes he works out his issues since he is so talented. That's what makes his refusal to accept a stint at the minors much more frustrating. *Releasing him does not send any message or hurt him in any way. In fact, you play right into Oliver Asshole and Boras's hands.

If ever there was a basis to boo a player: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/players_send_perez_packing_ln2sCjwQNAllBOLzFSTx2K

G-Fafif wrote: Any division that includes the Mets is baseball's best, according to my inner 12-year-old. This is what I'm saying. As far as the divisions, I rank them as such: 1. NL East 2. Big East Conference Everybody else tied for last.

Michael Kay is a tool. Sterling is a bafoon.

All teams in the National League East have winning records. It is the only such division in baseball: Philadelphia (26-19) Atlanta (24-22) Mets (24-23) Florida (24-23) Washington (24-23)

I can't believe Christian Guzman has been in baseball that long and I still haven't noticed he exists.

Ok you win.

Never in a million years would I have guessed #4.

"It was close. He was definitely rubbing me also. It's hard to distinguish who exactly encountered or created the first rub." Joe Maddon commenting on his run-in with umpire Bob Davidson.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: "Centerfield" will go into the HOF this summer Thank you. Thank you. No it's really no big deal, but thank you. By the way, my wife is planning a HOF party. That's right, same caterer as Gary Carter. Thank you.

Edgy DC wrote: I'll start here. How can you know until you try? By first getting him some work in the minors where he can be observed at the position. The guy is coming off a leg injury to boot. I guess this, in a nutshell, is where we disagree. Right now, Castillo is hurt and Murphy is healthy. I say you try him out at the majors and get the benefit of his 100 points of OPS over Cora during this stage. You'd rather go with Cora. I think reasonable arguments can be made for both sides. I don't think the proposal is desperate at all. And certainly not self-evident.

Edgy DC wrote: Suffice to say, I really think three proposals above --- making Murphy the starting secondbaseman forthwith; releasing Tatis to clear roster room for Murphy; and promoting Val Pascucci --- seem desperate and self-evidently counter-productive, and I don't know where they are coming from. I will let you continue your arguments on points 2 and 3 with those proposing them (I am not), but I don't think you can call naming Murphy the starting second baseman "desperate and self-evidently counterproductive". Unless we have evidence that Murphy is horrid at second base, the most we can say is that it's an unknown. We do know that Murphy is a much better hitter than Cora. He gets on base more, he hits for more power. Overall, it's a difference of over 100 points in OPS. Plus, Murphy is much more likely to improve on his career numbers than Cora. We can assume that Alex is a better fielding second baseman than Murphy, but by how much? Enough to offset 100 points of OPS? How can you know until you try? First base is a much tougher position than leftfield. I would never have guessed Murphy would be passable based on what I saw from him in the outfield, but he handled himself surprisingly well. You argue that the move could fail spectacularly, damaging the player and the team. How would it damage the player? If he sucks, just don't put him there anymore. Sure, it could damage the team if he's terrible, but this team is in last place as it is. You can't drop any lower than that. This team's OPS is 13 out of 16 in the NL. Simply stated, it is not going to win a thing unless something changes and they find more offense. Every move has potential risk. I just don't see why a last place team would stick with something that is obviously not working and not try something that might help.

Obviously it would be ideal if we could give Murphy time in Buffalo, but Castillo is injured now. If you guys were the manager and your job was in jeopardy, would you really go with Alex Cora? I don't know.

Frayed Knot wrote: I don't know what to say - particularly seeing as how he's (at least in a theoretical sense) not only advocating dealing a guy who was the #1 pick in a draft not yet a year old but the #1 best prospect IN YEARS according to most, but is doing so in the name of the Washington Freakin Nationals as if their .500-ish start coming off two straight 100+ loss seasons means they're in a position where the addition of Oswalt puts them over the top. Even assuming that Oswalt is/will be significantly better than this year's version of Strasburg, this trade would start to smell like last week's fish by next year or soon thereafter. Oh yeah, and then there's the $30 million of your owners money you're tossing into this deal. Are we sure he was no longer there during the Kazmir talks? Yes. Which is why we got as much for him as we did.

Everything I've read suggests that differences in defensive ability are far less significant than differences in offensive ability. So, given the choice between Cora (bad offense, ok defense) and Murphy (ok offense, passable defense) I would go with Murphy. If, however, the choice becomes Corah (bad offense, ok defense) and Murphy (ok offense, awful defense) then I guess I would reconsider.

This depresses me. This is like a Queen cover band looking through re-treads for a new lead singer while Freddie Mercury sits waiting tables at the restaurant next door.

Gwreck wrote: You think Murphy can play second? I think we could probably hide him in RF but I have my doubts about second. I have no idea. But this team needs offense really bad (13th out 16 NL teams in OPS). I hear Murphy was passable in the AFL. I'd at least give it a try. All I know is, if my job were on the line, I'd hate to go down with Cora and Francoeur.

Really? You guys would wait until Beltran comes back? Last two wins notwithstanding, this team needs an offensive jolt. If I'm Jerry Manuel and I need to win now, Carter is my starting rightfielder. I also slot in Daniel Murphy as soon as he's back. 1. Reyes 2. Pagan 3. Wright 4. Davis 5. Bay 6. Murphy 7. Carter 8. Barajas Against a lefty, I slot in Tatis at second

Is killing this team. He has an OPS of .346 in May (.635 overall). How much longer do you run him out there?

We can always move Hanley Ramirez there after we trade for him.

I've already said how I feel about Manuel. I'm just curious why we're so fired up to fire Jerry. To me, Omar is the far bigger culprit here. Get on Jerry about the bullpen and bunting (all of it very well-deserved), but this team is much, much more than just a few x's and o's away from winning. I mean, we're clamoring to get Chris Carter more at-bats. Omar Minaya is far more to blame here than Jerry Manuel. For my write-in, put me down for "I don't really care so long as Omar is canned first."

Just to clarify here, there was a collapse in 2007. There was no collapse in 2008. In 2008, the Mets lost a tightly fought pennant race. Happens all the time.

As far as I can tell, R.A. is the first Dickey to play for the Mets since Dicky Gonzalez. At 6'2" (compared to 5'11") he is the biggest Dickey to play for the Mets. This goes for girth too (215 lbs. compared to 170 lbs.). But he will be the first to tell you that his size is not important, and that movement is much more important to his success. In fact, after finishing his one-hitter in Buffalo last month, reports were that "his stuff was all over the place". As a knuckleballer, he can't match up in sheer power, but he does make up for it in stamina, lasting much longer than others. His recovery time is short. Rumor has it that after a quick nap, he's ready for action again. Not sure of any religious affiliation, but we do know that he's been cut several times.