batmagadanleadoff

Frankie K-Rod: Come on Down. You're the new contestant on Bust the Wilpons!"

Best Mets that played for the Astros -- Dwight Gooden, Rusty Staub, Carlos Beltran, Jerry Grote. Best Astros that played for the Mets -- Nolan Ryan, Mike Scott, Mike Hampton, Rusty Staub Best trade (Mets POV) --- the first one: Tom Parsons for Jerry Grote. Worst trade (Mets POV) -- Mike Scott for Danny Heep.

one thing the Mets were convinced about was that the Yankees were killing them at retail, especially with the hats, because people didn't like royal blue. It's gotta be the hats. Because it couldn't have been that the Yankees had overtaken the Mets in popularity by winning the World Series in '96, and by finishing no lower than second place for five straight seasons while the Mets were pelting themselves and other living things with bleach, live firecrackers and golf clubs. No. That couldn't have been it. It was the hats. Typical Wilpon Mets. Why bother to fix the team when instead, they can market it by selling the fans a phony bill of goods about how black is one of the Mets official colors according to the newfound dubious revisionist history? And don't forget to remind the fan base every seven minutes that Rey Ordonez is the Babe Ruth of fielding. Did you know that Babe Ruth wore a dark cap?

DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111004/3/113004/6/1151324/8/1171234/14/11133374/17/11164404/24/1122 (9-13)6444/26/1123 (10-13)7494/27/1124 (11-13)8545/1/1128 (12-16)8465/3/1129 (12-17)8455/6/1132 (14-18)10505/7/1133 (15-18)11545/9/1135 (15-20)11505/10/1136 (16-20)12545/12/1137 (17-20)13=#000000]56 K'Rod's in the money when he's on the money and in the black when he's on the black. (Mets revised odds of making the playoffs [crossout]74-1[/crossout] -- 56-1) *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111004/3/113004/6/1151324/8/1171234/14/11133374/17/11164404/24/1122 (9-13)6444/26/1123 (10-13)7494/27/1124 (11-13)8545/1/1128 (12-16)8465/3/1129 (12-17)8455/6/1132 (14-18)10505/7/1133 (15-18)11545/9/1135 (15-20)11505/10/1136 (16-20)1254 K-Rod's last outing was his most dominant of 2011. Will K-Rod's contract be the straw that finally breaks the Wilpons' grip on the franchise? Go K-Rod! (Mets revised odds of making the playoffs -- 74-1) *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Valadius wrote: Have the Mets replaced Samuels yet? Lenny Dykstra applied for the job.

Charlie Samuels was the Henry Hill of clubhouse managers. Samuels, who had served as the clubhouse manager for 27 seasons, was suspended without pay after the gambling allegations were revealed. In addition to the post of clubhouse manager, he also held the positions of equipment manager and travelling secretary. On most teams, the three jobs are held by two or three different people. Because he held all three, Samuels had unfettered access to everything at the club and he operated, several of the people said, with almost no oversight. He had control of the team�s road account, tickets, equipment purchases and other matters. As a result, where most teams would purchase 10 jerseys for each player every year, Samuels would buy many times more, one of the people said. It was routine for team members to sign bats and balls and jerseys, which were used by the team for legitimate purposes, such as marketing and auctions and for the use of people in the team�s front office, one of the people said. As a result, it was not out of the ordinary for Samuels to regularly ask players to sign equipment or uniforms. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/12/sports/baseball/arrest-of-mets-clubhouse-manager-to-be-announced.html

HahnSolo wrote: BTW, go jump off a bridge, Frenchy. Frenchy was my most hated Met last season. But I'm in total agreement with the narcissistic **********'s negative take on the absurd dimensions of Citi Field, even if Frenchy's assessment was motivated by -- get ready for this shocker-- Frenchy himself losing one or more HR's to the stadium. I also believe that Citi Field is to blame, more than anything else, for Wright and Bay's diminished offensive output. Wealthy teams (yeah, I know, but still) should build stadiums with dimensions as close to neutral as possible. Otherwise, they squander the economic advantage that enables them to amass Home Run hitters easier than their competitors. The Home Run is the singular most valuable play in baseball, and of all of the possible outcomes that can come from just one at bat, nothing correlates more positively with winning than the Home Run. If your dimensions are too deep, you undermine your HR hitters' ability to hit HR's; too short and you squander your HR edge by making it easier for your opponent to hit HR's. You wanna tailor a team to these cavernous dimensions? Why? Why makes thing harder instead of easier? And you still gotta hit HR's on the road.

.... aaaaaand ..... he's arrested. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/queens/ex_mets_clubhouse_manager_arrested_nCCIPC1bz4k6yUIZuegRPP

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The best shot as saving Reyes is a new co-owner pulling a hero act. I could see it. Also, if its a hedge fund guy like Steve Cohen .... Reports are that Steve Cohen lost interest in owning a piece of the Mets, and is pulling out: Hedge-fund titan Steve Cohen may not have the inside track to buy a minority stake in the Mets after all. He has quickly lost interest in buying a minority stake in the team, a source close to the situation told The Post. Last week, Cohen, working with investment bank Goldman Sachs, was nearing a deal to buy a minority stake in the money-losing team for $200 million -- and met with the team's owners at a Greenwich steakhouse as the teamed weighed making him the preferred bidder. Now, Sterling Equities, which owns the team, has gone back to bidders who had made offers it rejected and asked them to resubmit offers. As a result of Cohen's change of heart, Sterling owners Fred Wilpon and Saul Katz are not going to name a preferred bidder this week in time for the MLB owners' meeting, as expected, sources said. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/steve_cohen_mets_bid_ruled_wild_XUvU79DIHY5HVwPrXfLGqO

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Reports are that Samuels, among other things, was stashing stolen equipment that might be worth millions of dollars, including a full team set of Mets 1986 uniforms, in a storage facility. In the post-Madoff world, you do not get away with stealing millions of dollars from the Wilpons.

Frenchy was in the papers today explaining away $50,000 in checks signed over to Samuels. He said Samuels produced 35K -- in cash -- so French could buy a car for his folks. Another 15K was a tip. OK, Jeff. I just finished reading Frenchy's explanation. It makes absolutely no sense to me. Here it is: "I wrote him a $35,000 check and he gave me cash for it and I bought a car for my mom and dad. And that's what it was all about. That's the whole thing," Francoeur said. "My parents help pay our bills and stuff while we're away during the season. I didn't want them to see what I paid for the car. BTW, Frenchy's hitting .308 with 8 HR's. He disses Citi Field: Citi Field is a damn joke." Francoeur delivered the diss in an interview that appeared Friday on the Kansas City Star's baseball blog, noting that last season he crushed a drive to right-center that went 415 feet and hit the wall. "That's pretty frustrating," said Francoeur, who hit .249 at Citi over the last two seasons. Potential bad news for Francoeur: his new home, Kauffman Stadium, can be tough on hitters, too.

Disgraced Mets equipment manager to be arrested shortly. Reports are that Samuels, among other things, was stashing stolen equipment that might be worth millions of dollars, including a full team set of Mets 1986 uniforms, in a storage facility.

Phillies v. Marlins. Who are you rooting for? Why?

G-Fafif wrote: In my bluest and orange bones, I believe that no matter what the Mets do where Reyes is concerned, it will absolutely backfire.... I just can't see any of it working out. I want to believe there's an answer. All I come away with are conclusions. I see your point. The rate of return on baseball draft picks, even on the very high first-rounders, is dismal. And most minor leaguers that project to be future major league stars, in the end, don't project. The idea that we can simply exchange Reyes for another star who'll shine a few years from now is unlikely, though not improbable. There aren't very many Reyes, Wrights and Beltrans to go around, and any team that thinks they have one, even in embryo, or especially in embryo, isn't about to give him away. Not knowingly.

There's still quite a bit of baseball left before even the mid-July "geeze, we're out of it aren't we?" questions, and that .9% number is an absolute joke. The bigger joke is the one where the Mets clinch 1st place on September 25. There's a better chance of that then if you played this season out from here 100 times that the Mets would fail 99 of them. I hope so. But I don't believe it. Because when you gotta believe, it helps to have the best pitching staff in all of baseball. This reminds me of the one about a priest and a rabbi attending a boxing match together. Just before the start of the first round, the rabbi notices one of the boxers crossing himself, and then turns to the priest and asks: "Father, what does it mean when that boxer crosses himself right before the boxing match"? "It doesn't mean a goddamn thing if he doesn't know how to fight", answers the priest.

Ceetar wrote: There's still quite a bit of baseball left before even the mid-July "geeze, we're out of it aren't we?" questions, and that .9% number is an absolute joke. The bigger joke is the one where the Mets clinch 1st place on September 25.

DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111004/3/113004/6/1151324/8/1171234/14/11133374/17/11164404/24/1122 (9-13)6444/26/1123 (10-13)7494/27/1124 (11-13)8545/1/1128 (12-16)8465/3/1129 (12-17)8455/6/1132 (14-18)10505/7/1133 (15-18)11545/9/1135 (15-20)1150 Though the Mets are just 5 1/2 games out of the Wild Card, Baseball Prospectus' assigns odds of less than 1% -- 125 to 1 to be precise -- for a Mets 2011 post-season berth. Not likely. But way likelier than going 7-0 with your first seven picks in a Klassic Rawk Kontest. *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Interesting idea, BML. Precedent-breaking aside... would it matter that the Mets had proposed the "illegal" contract clauses originally? My hunch is that it wouldn't matter whether K-Rod or the Mets suggested the clause. If K-Rod signed the contract (which he did) then he agreed to the terms. K-Rod agreed to the terms just as much as the Mets did, and that's what matters. On second thought -- although it wouldn't matter in the world that me and you live in, it might matter in the world of Major League Baseball. The Commissioner has to approve or disapprove of that performance bonus, ("a special covenant, in MLB jargon). The CBA outlines the procedure for filing a grievance whenever an aggrieved party objects to the Commissioner's disapproval of a special covenant. Understandably, the CBA is silent on what an objecting party is required to do if the Commissioner approves the clause, because, you know, why would a party object to getting what they bargained for? Therefore, in light of the CBA's silence on this issue, I can see two possible answers to your question; a) any objections are waived if the commissioner approves the clause; or (and this is the one I'm leaning towards) any objections are preserved and an arbitrator has the right to rule that the clause in question is inconsistent with other baseball rules or contract law. DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111004/3/113004/6/1151324/8/1171234/14/11133374/17/11164404/24/1122 (9-13)6444/26/1123 (10-13)7494/27/1124 (11-13)8545/1/1128 (12-16)8465/3/1129 (12-17)8455/6/1132 (14-18)10505/7/1133 (15-18)1154 K-Rod [crossout]saves[/crossout] Saves all three games of the Mets current win streak. The Mets are 4 1/2 games out of the Wild Card. *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111004/3/113004/6/1151324/8/1171234/14/11133374/17/11164404/24/1122 (9-13)6444/26/1123 (10-13)7494/27/1124 (11-13)8545/1/1128 (12-16)8465/3/1129 (12-17)8455/6/1132 (14-18)1050 *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Early Returns It's only May, but still, which Major Leaguers are making the best cases for a spot on the All-Star team at its' most potent and star-studded position -- NL first base? Pujols? Ryan Howard? Prince Fielder? The reigning MVP - Joey Votto? Gaby Sanchez -- Topps' 2010 All-Rookie Team first sacker? . . . . . . . . Even Dwight Eisenhower urges all to vote for Ike Davis:

yeah the hats look stupider than the Mets themselves tonight. Great snark from Uni Watch: So that�s the cap that the Mets wore last night. And you�ve gotta hand it to them: This is definitely the thing to wear if you want to look like you just got off the plane from Kansas and went cap-shopping in Times Square. Sigh.

Consider this: What would you think of Bay's paternity leave if it occurred during the last two weeks of the season and the Mets were in contention? Precedent! From just that scenario, mid-September 2008. ST. PETERSBURG -- While the Red Sox are in a heated race with the Tampa Bay Rays for first place in the American League East, Boston outfielder Jason Bay won an entirely different kind of race on Tuesday. He rushed out of Florida swiftly enough to make it back to Boston in time for the birth of his second child. Bay's wife, Kristen, delivered Evelyn Jane at roughly 6:45 ET on Tuesday night. Bay arrived roughly 45 minutes before the birth. Bay will likely rejoin the Red Sox on Friday in Toronto, where they open a three-game series against the Blue Jays. It doesn't seem to make sense for Bay to fly all the way back to St. Petersburg for the finale in this three-game series against the Rays, which will take place on Wednesday night. Red Sox manager Terry Francona had talked at length with Bay over the past few days, and there was some hope that Kristen could perhaps be induced on Thursday, when the Red Sox have an off-day before their weekend series in Toronto. But it was not to be. "She just wouldn't cooperate," quipped Francona before Tuesday's game. "That baby is coming pretty soon." Without Bay, the Red Sox went with an alignment of Jacoby Ellsbury in left, Coco Crisp in center and Mark Kotsay in right. Kotsay hit sixth, which is where Bay has been making the bulk of his starts of late. I was gonna spring that after any comments responding to my "Consider this" post. You went straight for the punch line.

Reagan said "Marvin Thornberry". Can't anybody here read the speech notes?