Frayed Knot

Yeah, I usually trust Vescey not to boringly run with the pack. But if he's going to write as if last year was like the ninth in a string of 100-loss seasons rather than a disaster which followed three seasons with more than 270 wins combined then I'm going to be tempted to toss him in with the rest of those who decide what to write by checking the prevailing winds. I'm fine with it if peeps want to pick against the Mets and predict a lousy season, just don't act like it's part of pre-ordained pattern because you've erased your memory banks of everything that occurred more than 10 months ago.

MFS62 wrote: I can't believe he's still here (and Fernando isn't). C'mon! Mathews is here to be a backup - the backup's backup to be specific - and that's not a role you want to put your best prospect in, especially one that's not really a CFer. When Reyes is healthy I'd be very annoyed to see Cora AND Catalonatto on the team holding down Carter. Well when Reyes comes back it's obviously that one of the SS goes - and almost certainly that someone is going to be Tejeda (see reasons for Martinez, F. above) even if he's the one who gets most of the starts in the interim (is "most" even a logical concept when talking about five games?) What happens with the whole Catalanatto/Carter/Jacobs love triangle is not going to have anything to do with the return of Jose-Jose.

I'm not that concerned over the so-called 'arbitration clock' either. If Mejia pitches well enough this season to last most or all of the year at the big league level and then goes on to tack on full seasons in 2011 & 2012 then he'll be eligible for arb in the winter of 12/13 instead of 13/14 - but that also means he's been pitching well all that time and so if they have to pay him $6mil instead of $2 (or whatever) then I'm OK with it. It might also mean FA-gency at the end of 2015 instead of 2016 but, again, that could also be a real good thing and that scenario still only plays out if and only if he spends virtually every day from Monday thru the end of 2015 on the big league roster - hardly a given based on one OD assignment. My problem is that they're seemingly promoting him earlier than would be ideal just so they can say that they've got someone to fill a specifically defined 'role' - one which many fans & media have deemed to be a necessity and one which they are probably reluctant to let go "un-filled" lest they look like they're contradicting themselves after the crowing they were doing just a year ago after they pulled off a big trade specifically for that purpose. And while I don't mind a guy pitching as a reliever for a spell even if the ultimate goal is for him to be a starter down the road, I wish there were more compelling reasons why he is being thrust into the role NOW!!!! other than to 'create a buzz' or because they're not sure they don't think they have anyone else to pigeonhole there.

Any wonder that he and Bill Lee were good buddies on those BoSox teams?

The rotation in that order also serves to break up the two RH starters - although there are certainly other combos that could have done that as well.

Kicking it off with a Buster Olney Q&A session starting at 9AM

Nymr83 wrote: I hope the Mets give Carter a shot, but either Carter or Jacobs could do better than the 2009 Murphy. I'm hoping that one of them has a big year and/or Davis is wrecking AAA and forces a callup around June 1st. Murphy would look better on the bench. I think there's a better chance that Murphy v.2010 improves on the 2009 Murphy than there is that Jacobs has a better season than the 2009 Murphy. Of course we don't have that option from day, 1 but I'm not going into this CAHNfident that either Jacobs or Carter is likely to put Muffy out of a job.

I think this guy's blog has been mentioned here on a couple of occasions. Well now he has a book - due out in a few weeks - a memoir specifically, about growing up with baseball cards and a rather odd family.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Carter hits lefty Oops back to RICE (Rest Ice Compression Elevate) for a few days. For even better results, try RICED: Rest Ice Compression Elevation Drugs

Cattalanatto (gonna have to learn to spell that in case he ever earns Schaefer points) isn't going to hit enough to merit any serious time at 1B. His value is in his (supposed) versatility. They should keep Carter, who not only provides a RH bat [u:28u12urm]and[/u:28u12urm] can play in the OF, but he and Jacobs might just "run into a few" in the early weeks and provide some semblance of power over there (although we are leading the NL in ST HRs). Whoever is playing worse when Muffy is ready to return gets cut/traded/sent-down/sacrificed/skewered. Leave Davis at Buffalo for at least 200 ABs to get the reps he needs and then re-evaluate. The fact that this will also piss off the WFAN world is merely an added bonus.

Car-Ter -- Car-Ter -- Car-Ter

And who'da thought that a douchey promotion involving Jersey, Brooklyn, and bad stereotypes could get Boomer & Carton involved?

So, Ollie gets skipped the first few go-rounds, then? Doubt it. They haven't skipped the #5 'round these parts in years and Jerry indicated earlier in the spring that they weren't likely to do it this year either.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Adam Rubin (of ESPN) is saying that the Mets will open the season with a rotation of Santana-Maine-Niese-Pelfrey-Perez. It looks like Jerry decided to give Santana the Opening Day start, which only makes sense, and then he switches to alphabetical order. Johan then alpha order makes it easier to remember who's pitching the next day. I'm sure that's why Jerry did it that way.

The amazing thing about Moyer isn't that he's active with 258 wins and a remote shot at 300, it's that he has 258 wins with remote shot at 300 after having entered his 30s with a whopping 34.

Are they packing Dave Racinello's bicycle or is he going to be pedaling back to New York?

I can't remember if Heyman specifically derided the NYM system last year or whether he was just quoting others who said as much. The main problem was that, as FAN's correspondent, he would respond to questions by saying things like 'the Mets don't have a good match right now to trade for [Halladay, Holliday, whoever]' which the know-nothings on the radio (both ends) heard as, 'the whole system is shit' - once again proving the notion that a little bit of knowledge is worse than none at all. The truth was more along the lines that their best prospects were either towards the lower end of the minors (Mejia, Davis, etc.) and not ML-ready, and the ones who were much closer to ready were injured and therefore devalued goods at the time of the discussion (Martinez, Niese) The places that pay attention to these things tended to put the Met system around the middle of the pack this winter meaning that Heyman's above article could be seen as a bit of an over-praise in reaction to the under-praising they got much of last year. But he is right in that (assuming no disasters) if a big mid-year trade is available this season the odds are more likely that the Mets could be a major player. Of course it's also more likely that if they're still going good that the team would want to hang on to some or most of those guys.

Or, rather than percentages, the other way to look at the boo-o-meter is to think about what each player would have to do to start the boos cascading down like a hard rain's gonna fall. Categories might range from: - be having a totally rotten season in late May: Wright, Reyes, Santana, Francoeur, Feliciano, Niese - get off to a rough start in April: Bay, Murphy, any catcher, Frankie Rod, Pagan - have more than two bad games in a row: Mathews, Maine, Pelfrey, or any Japanese pitcher - get introduced at Citi: Cora, Warthen, Manual, Minaya, Wilpon (either one) - step off the plane at LaGuardia: Castillo, Perez

As long as they don't sign his brother Exxon.

There are apparently going to be a dozen such historical plaques like the above - at least that's what it looks like according to the 'brick locator map' I just received from them. In chronological order going from left field towards behind the plate 1 - Seaver's Imperfect Game 2 - Black Cat game vs Cubs 3 - Mets win 1969 WS 4 - Seaver strikes out 19 5 - Dykstra's HR wins Game 3 NLCS 6 - 1986 WS Game 6 comeback ^^ and then from the RF side of the plate towards the RF corner 7 - Mets win 1985 WS 8 - Pratt's walk-off HR vs DBacks 9 - Ventura's Grand Slam single 10 - Mets score 10 in 8th to beat Atlanta 11 - Piazza's post-9/11 HR 12 - Endy's NLCS catch Gotta like the groupings here: - nothing noteworthy happened in the first 7 years of the franchise - then the first 3 come in a six-month span - then nothing for the next fifteen years - then 3 occurring over a two-week span - then nothing for three years - then two incidents 8 days apart - and then one the following year, one the year after that, and finally one more covering the eight seasons since then

Collins, IIRC, had a manager rep of being closer to the drill-sergeant type. And, as often happens during manager changes where the guy you're exchanging is the complete opposite from the one you're getting, Collins got his first job in Houston by replacing the oh-so mellow Art Howe, and then in turn was himself replaced by the lassez-faire stylings of Larry Dierker.

Hey, if you're going to be 60 years old you're almost certain to have gray hair. And if the alternative is having your moss look like the shoe-polish tone that Tony LaRussa is sporting then let the grays proudly wave.

I'm proud to say - at least I think I am - that I have no idea what 'Jersey Shore' is. I mean I know what the Jersey shore is - although Long Islanders refer to the shore as the beach, as opposed to in Jersey where they call the beach the shore.