Frayed Knot

As far as the Bobby situation goes -- between the Cubs, Mariners, possibly Dodgers, and who knows what other jobs being available this winter, I'm reasonably sure that Bobby V will be employed as a manager in the U.S. of A. by next opening day for the first time in nearly a decade. And I'm nearly as sure that it won't be in Queens.

Is Girardi leaving the MFYs a possibility? Girardi is both from and went to school in (Northwestern) the Chicago area and is also a former Cub. That, along with Piniella's impending retirement and the fact that Girardi is signed only through this season, has sent media types speculating about the idea of him 'going home' to Chicago's north side although there's nothing beyond that sort of speculation at this point. If nothing else, just the thought that that job is potentially out there is enough to keep Yanx mgmt from taking the stand during negotiations this winter that there's no other job that could possibly compare to the one in the Bronx.

There are always going to be differences of opinion, especially with ball/strike calls which are difficult under any circumstances. What I think has ended by those various changes listed above is the attitude among umps that they were free to write their own interpretations of rules without fear of oversight. At this point, if baseball wants the high strike to be called again they're going to have to re-tweak (or is that re- re- re-tweak) the definition in the rule book. That one isn't on the umps.

And why is it taken for granted that the strike zone is an expression of the umpire's personality? Because a bunch of the umps admitted as much. They went way beyond saying that my zone may be a shade different than yours because we're different heights and therefore see things at a different angle, or that not everyone's eyesight is identical, or that one of us tends to give the benefit of doubt to the pitcher while they other favors the hitters. Essentially there was an 'I can't be fired' arrogance that became entrenched with a number of them - at least until that whole ill-fated 'mass resignation' which in turn led to the union split and some of the perceived worst offenders being let go - to the point where several umps had no reservation about publicly saying; 'well just because the rulebook says the zone is defined by X doesn't mean that's how I define MY strike-zone'. More than one expressed a degree of indignation at the idea that MLB even had the right or the power to hold them to the rules as written. Between the turnover following the mass-resignation strategy, the re-organization of the umps under MLB control rather than the separate leagues, and the electronic monitoring systems put in place, I think sort of freelancing has pretty much ended. The recent marathons between the Yankees and the Boston Red Sox are a testament to the idea because both teams are devoted practitioners of working the strike zone. Well that plus Posada's 37 trips per game to the mound.

Edgy DC wrote: Hasn't Francoeur hit two homers in his last fifty? Three actually. That was a (now fixed) copying error so the SLG & IsoP were correct even though the HRs weren't shown.

* or thereabouts - seeing as how I didn't feel like splitting game stats to get each guy on exactly his last 50 PAs, so some are at 51, 52, 53, etc. But the idea was to separate each one from his season-long stats as see how they've done most recently. The games for each player don't overlap exactly as you've got a mixture of full-timers plus those who have been sitting out at times or recently DL'd. ---Hits2BHRsBBsKsBAOBASLGIsoPREYES156036.300.340.420.120PAGAN153169.366.420.561.195BELTRAN931710.200.302.333.133WRIGHT1122410.244.300.422.178BAY810517.178.255.200.022DAVIS1221611.267.346.378.111FRANCOEUR100347.213.275.404.191THOLE111175.244.346.333.089CASTILLO123042.267.314.333.067 This actually didn't look as devastatingly bad as I thought it might when I concocted the idea over the weekend. The power from the group as a whole is down, but the BA is OK (.252) and the walk rate about average. What's really acting as an anchor on the offense lately is the middle of the order: .300-ish OBAs from the likes of Wright & Beltran, the huge vortex of suck that is/was Jason Bay, plus the relative power outage from Davis and you've got a hole in the middle big enough to dub this a 'doughnut' lineup. About the only thing you can say for Francoeur is that his three HRs have been timely enough to essentially steal three wins, and if Castillo wants to complain about losing playing time to someone young enough to be his son he ought to look at his OBA.

Santana - 5.0 Rodriguez - 1.5 Francoeur - 2.0 Wright - 0.5 Beltran - 0.5 Pagan - 0.5

Niese - 3.5 Hessman - 1.7 Francoeur - 0.8 Davis - 0.5 Reyes - 0.5 Thole - 0.5

Sometimes it's hard to tell.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: And if he's supposed to be such a great manager, how come no one ever asked him to manage a team? Right, because active players tend to get asked to manage a lot these days.

Comically (well, not really) G, K & R (mostly Gary) kept insisting that Tejada was 'taking' during his first three bunt attempts there in the 9th. They thought each time he squared he had no intention of actually bunting but was merely waiting for Lidge to throw a strike and trying to pull in the Philly infield. Not until he squared again on the 2-1 pitch did it occur to them that he was really bunting. Seemed obvious to me all along.

FOX's Joe Buck reveals that ARod was looking away from BP for a brief second when he got hit, and the reason he was looking away is that he was saying hello to FOX's Joe Buck. Buck didn't say whether it was he who distracted Rodriguez or if ARod simply saw a media member and figured it was someone to suck up to (and, really, either one is easily believable) but the point is that he turned around too late to field Berkman's low liner. Meanwhile, as if Yanqui fans didn't already have enough reason to be suspicious of Berkman - what with his 2-for-21 start, his non 'TY' status, and because half of them had never heard of him before* now on account of his NL status - this just knocks him down a few more pegs on their totem pole. * Heard a call from a MFY on late-night talk radio yesterday wondering about why they got "this Bergman guy" who "can't hit at all". It was clear the caller had no clue as to who he was or his lengthy resume with Houston. Just some new guy off the scrap heap as far as he knew.

Mex17 wrote: Bringing in Figgins and keeping Tejada sets up a scenario where Reyes can be dealt. I am not advocating this personally but others have suggested that a move of that type of magnitude, in addition to making changes at manager and GM, is what is needed in order to shake up the culture around the team. Fuck "shaking up the culture". Moves should be made depending on whether they're judged to be an improvement for the team or not. Tossing aside players for some sort of hoped-for and vague chemistry/pr value is as bad an idea as taking on new ones for the same reasons.

John Sickels takes a second look at his pre-season NYM prospect list to see how they're doing since. * This is not a re-working of the list, merely a progress (or lack thereof) report of those on the old list. The order and grades are as they were last winter. 1) Jenrry Mejia, RHP, Grade B+: Back in the minors on rehab for a strained shoulder, after spending most of the spring in New York, 3.25 ERA with the Mets, 17/15 K/BB in 28 innings, 29 hits. He held his own before getting hurt, but I still think it was stupid for him to be on the major league roster this year. 2) Wilmer Flores, SS, Grade B+: .291/.335/.432 for Low-A Savannah and High-A St. Lucie. He doesn't turn 19 until tomorrow...made huge progress this year. 3) Fernando Martinez, OF, Grade B+: .255/.322/.465 for Triple-A Buffalo, hampered by injuries again though he sustained power from last year. Needs better plate discipline. Still just 21. 4) Ike Davis, 1B, Grade B: .249/.324/.438 with 15 homers in 94 games for the Mets. Has held his own, especially considering just 10 games of Triple-A under his belt. 5) Jon Niese, LHP, Grade B: 3.78 ERA, 86/37 K/BB in 112 innings for the Mets, 120 hits. A highly competent starting pitcher with a chance to get a lot better in my opinion. 6) Reese Havens, SS, Grade B-: Hit great for St. Lucie and Binghamton (.312/.386/.592) but limited to 32 games by an oblique injury. I like him a lot, if he can stay healthy. 7) Kyle Allen, RHP, Grade B-: 5.03 ERA, 52/53 K/BB in 98 innings for St. Lucie, 99 hits. I thought he was a major breakthrough candidate, but he's been pretty awful, with significant command problems. 8) Jeurys Familia, RHP, Grade B-: 6.30 ERA for St. Lucie, 83/62 K/BB in 84 innings, 85 hits. Like Allen, he's gone backwards. Good strikeout rate, but getting killed by walks. 9) Brad Holt, RHP, Grade C+: Got annihilated in Double-A, and not much better after going back to St. Lucie. 7.71 ERA with 60/49 K/BB in 70 innings, 84 hits. Secondary pitches have regressed, command is fouled up too. 10) Ruben Tejada, INF, Grade C+: .279/.326/.344 in 64 games in Triple-A, .212/.297/.250 in 35 major league games. Very young at age 20 and I still think he can develop. 11) Kirk Nieuwenhuis, OF, Grade C+: .292/.340/.515, 16 homers, 13 steals, 30 walks, 92 strikeouts in 390 at-bats in Double-A. Solid across the board, main worry is high strikeout rate. More plus reader comments

And the reason I fear it is that it has 'PR move' written all over it. There were a ton of media folks this past winter tripping over themselves to say what a great FA signing this was for Seattle. Figgins is "scrappy", he steals bases, he's "a winner", he's a "good clubhouse guy", etc. Hell, he probably recycles too. He was one of the reasons why the Mariners were a sexy pre-season pick in a lot of quarters instead of ... hey looky here - they've got the 3rd worst record in the majors!! He turns 33 this winter an is signed thru 2013 at Castillo money x1.5 with - wait for it - [u:83nvh8bm]A Vesting Option[/u:83nvh8bm] for '14 based on nothing but PAs in that final year.

The problem with that play where Sweeny took 3B was that the OF was deep, essentially in a 'no-doubles' defense. It was still a one-run lead at that point and the idea is to not let Werth get to 2B (of course the 17 straight hits that followed pretty much scuttled those plans but that's a whole 'nother set of problems). Point being, that the only way Pagan in CF makes that inning or even that play any different is if he's playing in an entirely different spot. Meanwhile, on the offensive front: 10 groundouts - including 1 GiDP and 3 come-backers to the pitcher 7 Ks 5 infield pop-outs so that's 23 outs that never left the IF The remaining 4 outs were in the OF, 2 of which I remember as being hit somewhat hard Of the 10 hits, 9 were singles, 2 of those were IF singles, several of the rest were either seeing-eye or bloops

Trying to figure out what Seattle has that we'd want while hoping it's not the bloated contract of Chone Figgins.

Charlie might actually have been the Manual with the dumbest pitching moves of the night. His just didn't turn out to be as costly. I mean you've got a 5-run lead and your reliever gives up two dinky hits w/one out to go and you feel the need to get your lefty in because you don't think your righty can handle Chris Freakin' Carter even though the tying run isn't even on deck yet?!? Now, just in case I'm not miserable enough, I now turn back to watching Papelbon try to blow his game. God this dope is a chore to watch. One pitch every 30 seconds - and he's only that fast if no one is on base.

The pitching change was stupid but it didn't matter. There was no point in this entire game where I thought the Mets had even a remote shot at winning. The only ball I can recall a Met hitting remotely hard was Reyes lining out to CF and you're not going to win getting 4 singles, 1 walk, and barely getting the ball out of the infield otherwise and all against a pitcher with a 6.00 ERA

Dude, I'm still pissed about the Jeffrey Maier call. The other messed up thing about that Marlins/Phils game was that the Phils originally tied it with 2 runs in the top of the 9th and still had runners on at 1st & 3rd with no outs. But then a ground-out/tag play at home was out #1. Then Werth gets picked off at 2nd. Then a caught stealing ends the inning. Three outs via three separate plays in just one official AB is a tough thing to do. To then win that same game after a sure-looked-like-it double gets negated is even tougher. It's like both teams plus the ump kept figuring out ways to blow it.

That was pretty bad - and Davidson definitely made his call too quickly. The ball looked like it was slanting foul but it never did. It was fair by maybe six inches or so but it was right in front of a not-looking Davidson when it hit. The other game today that ended on a messed up situation was TB & Minn. Rays score 6 in the 8th (5 with 2 outs, the last 4 on a GS from light-hitting Jason Bartlett) to tie a game they trailed 6-0. Then in top 9, Minny got a couple on w/2 outs and popped one in the infield for a sure 3rd out ... except the ball hits off the catwalk up by the roof and falls untouched just behind the mound. Local ground rules say that ball is in play so the Twinkies got one on that play and followed with a single for another. Held on to win 8-6 Don't want that game to be the one that hands the MFYs the pennant either.

That Dunn was first placed on, and then claimed off, the waiver wire isn't a bit surprising, nor is it all that telling IMO. Going UNclaimed would make it a more wide open field. 90+% of the league is usually put through this process and the claimer could be as much a blocking move as a real attempt to get him. Problem with Boston being the one is that almost every team got their shot in before they did - every NL team and all the AL clubs with worse records. Suxx about Youkilis - 'specially on the eve of a series w/the Yanx.

Well, considering that he's the youngest ever to 600, at least two have hit 150 starting at an older age and at least three 114 or more. But, of course, all-time leaders almost always have great end-of-career runs - that's why they're the all-time leaders. Lots of guys have been at or ahead of Rose's pace for hits, just none have gotten anywhere close because to duplicate his early career AND his late one is the part that's so tough.

Edgy DC wrote: It's also a tapdancing around it sort of thing. It's not phrased around a number, but achieving a postion on the list. Sort of like an All Star appearance. Yeah. It was allowed because, rather than being looked at as some in-season target, he's being paid for career milestones and therefore they can tie it to all kinds of marketing & merchandising ploys. Of course what was really in it from the NYY point of view was their ability to 're-claim' the all-time HR record and have it back with a 'clean' player playing for the team where the record 'rightfully belongs'. Ooops! Not only is the clean part out the window but - with it taking (to the day) three years between #500 & #600 - it'll be at least five more seasons until he's in Aaron/Bonds territory which is hardly a given for someone recently turned 35 with hip problems and on pace for barely 25 in the current season. The days of him knocking off 150 in five seasons are behind him for good at this point.

The thing about those O'Connor comments above is that, while he's right about what ARod and others have done as far as their reputation goes and about the big scarlet 'S' being brought up and dampening the celebration every time a milestone gets passed, he also continuing the bad reporting that helped the scandal to go on as long as it did. Years after missing a virtual epidemic in the sport he and many of his contemporary journos cover and being fooled for so long by players they simply assumed to be clean, they continue to treat certain players as their go-to exemplars of cleanliness based on nothing more than the absence of their names on some incomplete & old report combined with a vague likability factor. I mean we in NY have come to expect this treatment of Jeter but, just in the last few days, I've heard others cite the likes of Frank Thomas, Albert Pujols, Ken Griffey as members of their 'known to be clean' HR leaders list. Yeah OK, if you say so.