metirish

Big Mo had busts..

Thanks Steve, am I wrong in thinking that not many pitching coaches become managers?

For the life of me I can't rememeber where Bud Black was last...Oakland,Rockies?

I thought Howe had been named a coach in Philly...

Yeah the Lions have four days to accept or reject,kinda cool if we found out tonight that the Mets had won the bid.

The deadline for bids is today at 5PM,I'm going to guess that the winning bid will be $28M.....

Q & A with Bobby V..... ] OSAKA -- Bobby Valentine, former Met manager and current skipper of the Chiba Lotte Marines, strolled onto the field before tonight's game at the Kyocera Dome and immediately was swarmed by photographers. Valentine hugged Jose Reyes, chatted with Julio Franco and shook hands with David Wright. Before heading upstairs for dinner with the U.S. consul general in Japan, he also chatted with reporters. Here's a transcript of that interview. Q -- Did you think David Wright and Jose Reyes were going to be can’t miss prospects when you were manager of the Mets? BV -- You never know. But they were my picks to click. But it wasn’t just me. David was a guy that I didn’t get to see. When Tom Robson was fired (as batting coach) he was a special assignment guy. We were going to have a draft, and a scout did a good job of finding [Wright], but there are questions about different guys and that was Robby’s assignment – go out and see if David Wright could hit. That was my thing with David Wright. Robby came back and was like, ‘Don’t let them draft anyone else. Don’t let them draft anyone else.’ And Jose I just love. He came to my spring training camps and I remember throwing batting practice to him as a switch-hitter when we were first making him a switch-hitter. People didn’t think he could hit lefthanded. You go ask him. I said he could hit lefthanded. Q -- What do think of Daisuke Matsuzaka? BV -- If he’s stays healthy, he’ll be just fine. He’s a world-class pitcher. Q -- You know what it’s like in New York. Can he handle all of that stuff? BV -- Well, I don’t know. He’s been the biggest star of his team in his league since he was 15 years old. So the thing he might not be able to handle is not being the biggest star. But I don’t think expectations are going to be a problem. He’s legendary. He’s the [Hideki] Matsui of the pitching world. The pitcher-prodigy. Q -- What do you think about Hanshin Tigers lefthander Kei Igawa? BV -- He’s in the other league. But I favor lefthanders anywhere in the world. I saw him four years ago and he was a lot better than he is now. But he’s still good. Q -- I know you’re happy here, but every time you see a managerial opening in the States, are you intrigued by the idea of that? BV -- No. I think people understand that when the Dodgers talked to me last year and I didn’t wind up there, that was it. Q -- You don’t have any desire to go back? BV -- Not right now. Q -- What do you enjoy most about it? BV -- I’m not good at mosts and worsts comparison stuff. Q -- What do you like? BV -- I like the salary. I like my team, I like the job that I have to do. I have more vision and hope to build international play than other people. I hope that if I talk about it enough, it can come to fruition because I think it’s needed both economically and for our fan base. Q -- What do you want to do for international play? BV -- That it should truly be international play. Not exhibition play. It should be championship team against championship team. That’s what I’d like to see. I’d like to see this league, with good players leaving, still maintain a status. This country happens to be the only country in the world where baseball is the No. 1 sport -- the only major country in the world. If they lose their major-league game, there will be no country in the world where baseball is the no. 1 sport. It’s in everyone’s interest for Japanese baseball to be as good as it can possibly be. I’ll just see if people were listen and do things a little differently and make the benefits a little better for the players, make the fans understand the relationship they should have a little better. Do some things that we did after the strike, where our game took off. I’d like to see that happen here on this island. Q -- How much has the level of play improved since you were here for the first time? BV -- Immensely. Five-fold. Everything’s better, except for the players’ conditions and all of those things. It’s getting better. This kid [free-agent first baseman Michiro] Ogasawara will get $7 or $8 million. When those salaries come up, it will make the team more business oriented. Q -- Do you think they can get to the point where there’s not as much status to play in the Major Leagues? BV -- Yeah, if the conditions are the same. They’re not going there because there’s some gyro-pitch they think they have to try to hit, that’s not thrown over here. That’s not the case. They can play with these guys. They guys go over there and are successful. See those guys (points to the White Sox’ Tadahito Iguchi and Mariners Kenji Johjima). The second baseman wasn’t even the star of his team. The catcher wasn’t even the star of the team. They played on the same team. You know? The money’s better and the conditions are better. The economy here is pretty good – the second economy in the world. So the conditions could be better here. They could do more TV and more sharing.”

Oh,ok..thanks

Jim Hickman wore number 6 and hit in the six slot 103 times,unless I am not understanding this quiz....that's possible.

That's just brilliant, I love her...how do you find stuff like that Edgy?A big Happy Birthday to you Ms.Harchar.

What happened to Aurilia the last few seasons,he was brilliant in SF and then seemed to fall of the face of the earth...

Yeah but at the least you would want Hernandez to hit a bit,like .240 even.

I think some teams like like the extra bums in the seats Bonds would bring.

] SNY: Regarding your new affiliate in New Orleans, I know that you guys wanted to stay in Virginia. Do you think the Mets will play a role in the rebuilding of that city at all? OM: Yeah, I think that's part of our commitment toward not only being there, but to be able to help out in the community Not to sure about that one either, did they have much of a choice but to go to New Oleans?

Nothing earth shattering,but I do like his attitude... ] SNY.tv: Would it be fair to say that your job during the offseason is busier than your job during the season? Omar Minaya: Possibly. It's much busier than the regular season. Especially in the fall, this time of the year, you have to spend a lot of time signing players, contracts, all those kinds of things. So it is fair to say, that the offseason, yeah, it's busier. SNY: What's the next big deadline or thing that Mets fans should be talking about? When's the general manager's meeting? OM: The general manager's meeting is a week from Monday. They're going to be over in Naples, Fla. This year. SNY: What's the thing that most surprised about the amazing run by the Mets this year? Is there one thing that stands out as totally unexpected? OM: I just think that the amount of injuries and the ability for the guys to pick each other up. We had 14 starting pitchers, ended up with Games 6 and 7 being pitched by Oliver Perez and John Maine and we had a chance to win those games with those guys pitching. SNY: Do you think that El Duque would have been ready for Game 1 of the World Series? OM: Yes, he would have been ready. SNY: Did you ever think about how the Sanchez accident had a ripple effect for the rest of the season and if he had taken another taxi a minute later, a lot of things might have evolved differently than they did? OM: Well, you always do think about that. But it's a waste of time because at the end of the day, things can be said about that, a lot of folks can say that about whatever injuries they had. But I don't spend much time with that. SNY: I've read where you said your experience in Montreal helped you fine-tune your search for players, like a Jose Valentin. Is there a part of the job, be it a signing of a big name like a Beltran, or finding a diamond in the rough, like an Endy Chavez, that's more fun or more fulfilling? OM: They're both exciting. The star player, definitely there's a lot of fun in that. And there's a lot of both, I mean, in finding the diamond in the rough, that's a different challenge. That one you have to wait to allow it to develop. So when you see it in a John Maine or Endy Chavez, it's a lot of fun also. SNY: I was in Port St. Lucie for the first spring training game in March, and I saw you take Lastings Milledge over to Frank Robinson and introduce him. I was very touched by that and I was wondering why you did that. OM: Well, Frank was a great player, and a great example to a young player, like a Lastings Milledge. Anybody who's young, you want to introduce to a Hall of Famer, I think it's exciting. I've done that in the past with Phil Humber and Tom Seaver, and I think that's very exciting. SNY: Was Lastings taken aback or impressed? OM: I think he was. Sometimes some of these guys don't know who these players are at all. So you have to be careful, you know what I'm saying? He knew who Frank Robinson was. But sometimes kids don't know the history. It's important that they know about those great players from the Hall of Fame. SNY: I remember the famous Vince Coleman interview. Do you remember when he was asked about Jackie Robinson? OM: No, I don't. SNY: Coleman said he really didn't know about him. OM: Well, you do have that. People tend to forget history. Some are better than others, put it that way. That's not only in baseball, that's in broadcasting, doctors and other things. SNY: Any thoughts of Frank Robinson joining the organization? You guys worked closely together in Montreal. OM: Nothing I can say on that right now, but there's no plan on that right now. SNY: Are you a student of Mets history? OM: I wouldn't consider myself a student; I was a kid who grew up in Queens. I'm not Marty Noble, I can tell you that. Marty Noble is a great student of Mets' history. I'm not at that level. SNY: The thing with Mota that just happened. Is it the fact that he'd be out for 50 games, almost a third of the season, or the fact that he had this failed drug test, which would have more of an impact on your thinking of resigning him? OM: Yeah, we'd have to reevaluate that. SNY: Any unknown names that Met fans can look forward to in terms of what you guys have in Double-A and Triple-A? OM: In Double-A, we have a got a kid by the name of Carlos Gomez, who we think is very good, very exciting down there. Gomez and Phil Humber, they're known names, but in a lot of ways they're not known by those who don't follow the Mets every day. SNY: Regarding your new affiliate in New Orleans, I know that you guys wanted to stay in Virginia. Do you think the Mets will play a role in the rebuilding of that city at all? OM: Yeah, I think that's part of our commitment toward not only being there, but to be able to help out in the community. SNY: I've seen you on television a lot and you're such a mellow guy. I think the only time I'm aware that you got upset was during an interview on WFAN with Mike Francesca and Chris Russso. Do you think they were trying to push buttons or were they trying to be good reporters? OM: I think it's a combination. They're very good at what they do. And I don't think I was upset. I think I was able to answer questions. I just wanted to basically make sure those questions were being asked of everybody else. But I think they're very good at what they do. Their job is to push buttons, their job is to create an edge and I get along very well with them. They're excellent at what they do. SNY: Bob Cousy, the great Celtic basketball player, was talking last week about the passing of Red Auerbach. Contrary to the perception that Auerbach -- when he started five black players in the 60's in Boston -- was interested in civil rights, Cousy said that might have been an effective result of it, but Auerbach really just wanted to win. According to Cousy, Auerbach wanted to find the best players to give him the best chance of winning. You subscribe to that, don't you, in just wanting to find the best players? OM: There's no doubt that we focus on winning. It's about winning, everything we do is about winning the game or winning the division or winning the championship. So we go for who is the best player. Do people have a perception of other things? I can't control that. SNY: But also, you've said that you want the team to reflect the city. OM: Yeah, I definitely want the team to reflect the city. But that does not mean only in its heritage, I also mean in the team. New York is a fast-paced city and we're a fast- paced team. We've led the National League in stolen bases, we play an aggressive, proactive type of game. And that's my reflection of New York City � and also a kind of diversity and we're very proud of that diversity. We're proud of the players that we have on our team. Diverse cultures, diverse age groups and everything else. SNY: Well, it's very refreshing, because the history of the Mets, from what I know, and I've been around from day one, is they did not always want to reflect the rhythm or the ethnicity of a city. OM: I've never thought that the Mets never reflected the rhythm of the city. But that's one thing that, definitely over the years of growing up in New York, you never had a Met team that was a speed team. SNY: Right. But when we think about the Yankees, the Yankees always seemed to reflect the ethnicity, though. OM: You know, I mean, it's fair to say that since the recent championship teams that they had, they had much more ethnicity than the Mets have had. SNY: What's this thing on the back pages of the tabloids, that Mussina might be a Met? Is that just some reporter trying to come up with a headline? OM: This time of the year, you're going to get a lot of headlines on players, and I cannot comment on players. That's going to be mostly what you get this time of the year, and that's fine. That's what makes this game special. SNY: One of the reporters asked you after Game 7 of the NLCS if you thought the Cardinals were a better team, and you said, yes, they were a better team because they won. OM: Yeah, of course, yeah. They won. You gotta give them credit. SNY: But do you think that a GM's perspective is different from a player's perspective? Some of the Mets were quoted as saying, "We were the better team, even though we lost." OM: Well, the better team is the team that wins. There's two things. The best team in baseball on paper was the New York Yankees. But you don't win on paper. SNY: So can we expect the Mets in the World Series next year? OM: I hope so. SNY: Was this year a successful season? You said it wasn't. OM: A successful year is when you win the World Series. SNY: But in spring training, if someone said, you're going to win 97 games and go to a game seven of the NLCS, would you have said I'll take it. OM: I'd say, that's great. But that wasn't what we set out to do. Barry Wittenstein is an editorial producer for SNY.tv. http://www.sny.tv/news/article.jsp?ymd=20061105&content_id=1413921&oid=36018&vkey=9

I read where the Giants would likely have Burrell tryout at first base.

I never really understood it.

Jim Hickman

] By MARK HALE November 6, 2006 -- Mark Loretta may be one of the Mets' top choices to play second base. They have shown more interest in him than any other club so far, Loretta's agent told The Post last night. Bob Garber, Loretta's agent, said "there's been about three phone calls" so far from the Mets. Garber said there is "mutual interest, I would say, for sure." According to Garber, playing for a contender is Loretta's top priority. The 35-year-old Loretta hit .285 with five homers, 59 RBIs and a .345 on-base percentage this past season with the Red Sox. He is a career .299 hitter, with his best year coming in 2004 with the Padres when he hit .335 with 16 homers. Defensively, Loretta only committed four errors this past year, tying for second-best among AL second basemen. Meanwhile, Jose Valentin's agent, Dave Elston, said yesterday that he spoke to Mets special assistant Tony Bernazard on Friday and that the parties would speak further. Elston said he was "cautiously optimistic" about Valentin re-signing with the Mets. He admitted, though, that "half a dozen teams" have inquired about the free agent second baseman. There's that "playing for a contender" again.

Poor Cooby after her exhaustive search it took only 22 minutes for the correct answers..

Of all the coaches on the staff I would be pissed if Peterson were not back...I've never read why him and Willie didn't get along or whatever that was about...

I don't think so Edgy, apparently the winning bid has exclusive rights to chat with Boras and they can't reach an agreement then the bid is given back and he plays the next season in Japan.

Good article,thanks for posting FK, good to see MLB is trying to change the posting system...

Good call Lubital...good Quiz Dickshot..I've done some research but I'll let other play...

I'm wrong but I'll guess Ventura,# 4