Frayed Knot

Benjamin Grimm wrote: What was the story behind the Red Sox "bullpen by committee" from a few years ago? I don't recall the details, but as I remember it, they tried to break this nonsensical designated closer pattern and were widely ridiculed for it. It didn't meet with immediate success and was abandoned fairly quickly. The "experiment" failed, but it failed because their relievers all had shitty years not necessarily because of how they were used. It was 2003, and while BY Kim was their nominal closer, no one had more than 15 saves and the work was spread around among several. Problem was, there were so many who pre-decided that the whole concept was wrong that the fault for the failure almost automactially got pinned on the system and the Sox quickly reverted to form by signing Keith Foulke for huge cash at the end of that year. Foulke, armed with a four-year deal, had one good year and three lousy and/or injury-filled ones. But because that one year was the WS year of 2004, Foulke will be dubbed forever 'worth it' and the abandonment of the 'committee' approach was seen as the key to winning. By 2006 Papelbon was being groomed for the role but at least he was cheap and replaceable if lousy, unlike Foulke who had to be carried on the payroll for three seasons after his 'sell by' date had expired. Be interesting, btw, to see what the Sox decide to do with Papelbon. He's one year away from FA-gency and going to get even more expensive next year than he already is ($9+ mil) even as he's not having as good a year. They've got a lot of holes to fill next year and he could be prime bait to fetch some bodies (hopefully not from us). Plus, in Daniel Bard, they might already have a slide-in replacement.

I remember back when the prevailing thought among Met fans wanted Franco out as closer and Benitez (then in his first NYM season) in, I think that, more even than expected results, it had to do with Armando's perceived demeanor & pitching style fitting their idea of what a closer should represent far more than did the nibbling and soft-tossing Franco. Even on nights where a horrible Benitez 8th inning preceded an ultimately successful Franco 9th, simply the fact that Johnny allowed a base-runner or worked himself into an unfavorable count would trigger the talk radio crowd to scream for an immediate role reversal. That Frankie Rod also fits that high-adrenaline, hard-throwing mold made him a "must get" in the minds of many, including those wearing suits in NYM offices. btw, big, bad Jonathan Papelbon and even bigger, badder (well, certainly bigger) Jonathan Broxton both blew "gimme" saves yesterday. Papelbon coughed up a 2-run lead while only recording 1 out, while Broxton gave up 4 runs (3 earned) without recording any. - Papelbon: 2B, 1B, SB, 1B, K, 2B, IW -- at which point he was pulled in favor a Daniel Bard who gave up a bases-loaded/game-losing Sac Fly - Broxton: HBP, BB, BB, E5 (2 runs), 2B (2 runs) -- the problem with thinking about removing him was that he was already the sixth LAD pitcher of the night

Johnny Cueto - 7 game suspension for his kick-line team audition which, for a starting pitcher, essentially just means a pushed-back next start Mgrs LaRussa & Baker two games each Other than those just a handful of fines

Willets Point wrote: But...but, he's not a real Met. See, this is how Yankees fans live with themselves. LOL -- That would be the major difference as to how something like this would be handled on the other side of town. Well, that plus the fact that the folks at YES would take their marching orders from MFY-mgmt as to what they were allowed to say about it.

Closer? Closer? We don' need no stinkin' closer!

This 'restricted list' thing is just a time-buy; I wouldn't read much into the two-day part of it. Essentially it allows them to replace him on the roster immediately without having to go into the same burden of proof and union-backed appeal stuff that an actual suspension would entail. There'll be more to come on this front.

2 runs in the 1st ... so now I guess our offense is in fully into shut-down mode. Only 5 more innings to sit on this lead.

Today's game is the spiritual descendant - even if not on the exact anniversary of - the picnic area at Shea gathering of nine years ago now. A Thursday 'Nooner' game with a sub-.500 NYM club pretending that they're on the periphery of a division race and a couple regulars sitting out. The main difference then is that the weather that day wasn't nearly as cool and pleasant as it's been here lately. Now all we need is a Joe McEwing HR and a 5-out save from Rick White and we're good to go.

All threads now - including apparently family-related assaults - lead to Jerry's job status.

Yeah, no telling how many hits Wright gets tonight with a different skipper in the dugout.

Yeah there were a lot of calls for Omar to sign Sheets ... at some really favorable price. Problem is that wasn't going to happen as long as just one team thought he was worth more. Once he did sign, everyone figured Beane in Oakland would either use Sheets if the A's got into a playoff run or, failing that, deal him at the deadline for younger goodies. But Sheets wasn't very good this year from the very beginning and hasn't been right for a while now. What makes things even worse is that most of Sheets' earlier problems were shoulder related IIRC so this elbow thing just throws a whole 'nother wrench into the works. Winter 2011/12 is the next we'll hear from him, if at all.

In about 12 weeks Francoeur's agent is going to find herself in a situation where she has 30 teams to talk to and see which/how many of those will want to pay him and play him for a starter's job. Meanwhile, he has the remaining 50 games or so where his play in a part-time, PH, and defensive replacement role can either help or hinder her in that endeavor.

... I only mean to trim the fat. Beltran may or may not be worth his 2011 salary. Castillo and Ollie most certainly won't. That's 3 players making a total of about 35 million dollars, or over a quarter of the total payroll. But there's a difference between players who don't play as well as their contracts suggest they should and ones who aren't contributing to the team at all (Ollie) or just barely are (Catillo). I'm willing to bet that Beltran has some baseball still left in him and that 20 games or so off a lengthy DL stint has yet settled the outcome (and if it did we should have dumped Reyes in May). If he shows he can't hnadle CF anymore (again, I don't think that's settled yet) then I'm all for moving him to a corner, and if he plays like a $5mil player then he's being overpaid; I think we/they can deal with that. The thing is, if he doesn't snap out of it and is done for good then he's not tradable for anything anyway, and if he's not totally shot then I'm not really anxious to trade him.

Eh, I don't think that's such a conservative move. It's already bottom 7 and that spot in the lineup isn't even a sure bet to come around again (it didn't as things turned out) and scoring there makes it even less likely. Besides, it's not like Carter is some great established hitter that's being yanked here -- unlike, say, Girardi pulling ARod for a pr the other day and having to hit backup IF Ramiro Pena in his spot in the 9th inning of a tight game later on. So speed was upgraded somewhat; defense upgraded significantly; and I think we'll survive without a (possible) Chris Carter AB in the late inning for a guy who - flaws and all - has most of our GW-RBIs over the last two weeks.

Pelfrey - 5.2 Takahashi - 0.8 Rodriguez - 0.8 Thole - 1.4 Reyes - 0.5 Carter - 0.3 Martinez - 1.0

"Very Interesting" - I think the interesting part would have been if he DIDN'T clear waivers "I doubt anyone will take Beltran's salary." - That no one took him is pretty much the definition of no one willing to take on the salary. "To further complicate things, he's ten-and-five, so he'd also have to agree to any trade." - He already had a full no-trade clause in his contract so that snag always existed.

For a guy who supposedly throws 90+ off the mound with that left arm, Ike makes some of the wimpiest looking throws over to 1st when the pitcher is covering. He looks like he's making fade-away jump shots, shot-puts, Easter-egg tosses, etc. His throws to 2nd are OK when he's trying to go 3-6-3 so it's obvious he CAN still throw. He's just one of those guys who doesn't look like he knows how to throw soft when necessary. He's like one of those pitchers who suddenly look like a spaz when he gets a come-backer and just has to lob it over to 1st.

Brandon Phillips: "I hate the Cardinals. All they do is bitch and moan about everything, all of them, they�re little bitches, all of �em. I really hate the Cardinals. Compared to the Cardinals, I love the Chicago Cubs. Let me make this clear: I hate the Cardinals.� That's the full quote which you probably won't get on BB2N or on your late local news. For some reason the Cards took offense to that which started a mini-brawl in the bottom of the first before the first Cincy batter - not coincidently Brandon Phillips - even got a pitch.

Valdes - 0.5 Takahashi - 0.6 Acosta - 0.6 Reyes - 1.0 Pagan - 1.5 Thole - 1.5 Carter - 1.2 Davis - 0.7

And the thing about that play is that it was merely the icing on the cake. The Astros had already scored twice in that inning by barely getting the ball out of the infield and there were several muffs that led up to that situation including a pickoff throw that just clanked off Glaus's glove and into RF. I'm sure when the Braves watched the Mets throw the ball around the other day they were saying 'Thank God that's not us'. Well, last night it was you. It's a humbling game.

Number 6 wrote: I was trying to picture the 4-run single from what GameDay supplied. My guess was a throw to the plate and then a wild throw from McCann to third (as it listed a McCann error) that was improperly backed up, scoring the runner who had advanced to second during the failed throw to the plate. Yup. Bloop single in front of Hinske in LF w/bases loaded. Hinske's throw to the plate to try and get the runner from 2nd was on line but short and pretty much a rainbow even though he was only med/shallow LF by the time his tossed it. McCann came out to meet the weak throw and gunned it to 3rd trying for the runner from 1st. Throw sailed not only into LF but right down the line and all the way into the corner which was totally unoccupied on account of Hinske still being in short LCF. By the time the ball was even picked up out there the batter had rounded the bases and had finished his in-dugout cigarette. only 3 1/2? Hey, it was only 2-1 and it was local TV only. If it were the usual 9-7 score and FOX's 'Game of the Week' with the added commercials it would just about be ending now. - Nice also to see Tampa Bay not only get a hit for once but even score some runs and break their 5-game losing streak. - And that's 6 of 7 now for Buck's Orioles. They blew a save but won it on a Brian Roberts walk-off HR in the 10th

What, they couldn't have had one of these last week?!? About 20 minutes ago I flicked on the Braves/Astros because I heard it was tied in the 7th. Well it's still the bottom of the 7th and it's now 10-4 Houston. The kicker is they've done it all without hitting one ball hard. Bloops, bleeders, walks, plus several Atlanta errors (I counted at least three and that was just after I turned it on) added up to an Astros' six-spot. The highlight was a bases-loaded bloop that wound up scoring four. OK, inning now finally over. Other than that, nice to see the Yanx leave a small army on base in the late innings while losing 2-1 to Boston this afternoon. Included in that was a bases-loaded/no-out deal in the 7th where they didn't score. They also left runners on in the 8th & 9th. Typical Yanx/BoSox: a 2-1 game somehow takes them over 3-1/2 hours to finish.