Frayed Knot

Ashie62 wrote: Ashie62 wrote: When Reyes gets to 1000 hits let me know. I still believe comparing Reyes to Brock is a true slap to Brock and thats all I've got. You do realize the ridiculousness of comparing the totality of Brock's career to Reyes thru age 26, right? Brock's most similar player thru age 26 = Coco Crisp Do you realize the ridiculousness of comparing a player known mostly for getting hurt and choking in September to someone who had 3000 hits. We may not agree some some in the HOF but it is for the very very great, not the very very good. Will Jose Reyes get there? He's not even on the path Yes, this won't be played out for quite some time but lay off the Reyes-Kool-Aid At this point I've started to lose track of how and why this comparison even started, but it seems to me that YOU are the only one comparing the accomplishments of a still-young player to the entirety of another player's career and acting as if you've found something profound when the two don't match. And you might want to check on the comparisons at similar points in their respective careers before you decide that he's "not even on the path". Reyes compares favorably across the board - including being significantly better in both SBs & SB%. Yes the different eras skews things in Jose's favor but one of those guys is a good SS while the other a below-average LFer.

Ashie62 wrote: When Reyes gets to 1000 hits let me know. I still believe comparing Reyes to Brock is a true slap to Brock and thats all I've got. You do realize the ridiculousness of comparing the totality of Brock's career to Reyes thru age 26, right? Brock's most similar player thru age 26 = Coco Crisp

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: All that, of course, is on the manager and not the general manager.. I'm not so sure. After reading Moneyball, I'm convinced that Billy Beane might've fired Willie Randolph on the spot right in the middle of a game after watching some of his shenanigans ... like, as one example, sac bunting in the first inning of a game being played in Denver, Colorado where Reyes had already reached second base before the first out was ever made and Wright, Beltran, and Delgado due up and poised to bring in the big innning. If nothing else, Moneyball illustrates that the GM does have a say into field strategy. And given the consistently questionable field strategy of the New SNY Mets, I wonder if Minaya is as much to blame, if not more so, than the field managers. GMs have a say in strategy to the extent that they should be hiring folks who have a philosophy that they agree with. So, no, I don't think Minaya et al are upstairs calling for specific in-game strategies; I suspect it's probably more a case where the front office is more or less indifferent (or at least neutral) to the idea that one concept is so much better than the other to the point where they're also not insisting on the converse. But I've seen Oakland teams do enough 'non-Moneyball' things also and Beane, to my knowledge, has never replaced a manager in-season or at anytime other than at the end of contract time. Maybe that's as much a case of not being able to eat the dollars as anything else but it also shows he's not dictating in-game decisions. In the end, the batting order and dugout calls are up to Jerry.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yes, that was a shame, and I do believe it has much to do with the Mets making an effort to build an identity around the idea of Reyes as their leadoff hitter. I have to say, as abhorrent as I find the MFYs and their marketing, their strategy of using the organization itself as the selling point -- and not necessarily the individuals comprising it -- probably holds less downside. For the Mets I think this effort has tended to interfere with strategic decisions (like shifting Reyes in the order) and to an extent dictating the moves of the front office (the mets as a "superstar" driven team, cannot almost by definition shop for a relief pitcher without being obligated to pay top retail for the biggest name with the most saves, for example). It handicaps them. Partly illustrated by the (IMO) over-the-top on-field celebrations for Franco's 400th save and Lenny Harris's PH record. Not that those were mgmt-directed necessarily or mattered in the outcome of a game or season, but both (and other examples) could be seen as the result of a climate that prefers to trumpet certain individuals or accomplishments rather than the overall brand.

And speaking of Reyes and leadoff-hitters, I might as well segue into the theme of this thread with my one move, which would be to keep Luis Castillo and move him into the leadoff spot in the batting order. Castillo, as flawed as he is, is still the best damn leadoff hitter the Mets have had in the last ten years ever since Rickey Henderson�s 1999 season: he�s certainly a more qualified leadoff hitter than Reyes. Reyes,�my proposed number two hitter who draws less walks than Castillo but drives the ball better than Luis - would be able to move Castillo around the bases far more efficiently than Castillo ever advanced Reyes. I have zero expectations of the Mets ever making this move even though, to my thinking, it�s unquestionably the right move. I�m becoming resigned to the fact that the Mets are run by a bunch off nincompoops who probably care more about the marketing of Jose Reyes and his image as a stolen base guy than actual production and that those two reasons alone will keep Reyes in the leadoff spot. Plus, one added benefit of having Castillo bat leadoff is that you�ll almost never ever see Castillo squaring around to bunt about 45 seconds before the pitcher goes into his windup anymore. I suppose that nobody, not even the Mets, not even Wee Willie Small Ball�s Mets would ask their leadoff hitter to sac bunt with nobody out and nobody on base. All that, of course, is on the manager and not the general manager. One of the saddest episodes of last season was that after Jerry openly toyed with the idea of batting Castillo leadoff during ST (to the howls of the closed-minded everywhere) he not only turned away from the idea but did so even after Reyes went down.

In a very close three-way race ----1st2nd3rdPointsTim Lincecum - SFG11129100Chris Carpenter - StL914794Adam Wainwright - StL1251590Javier Vazquez - ATL-1-3Dan Haren - Ariz--11

He also wouldn't be the first guy to turn down an offer only to find that the expected better ones aren't necessarily out there. Bay's a nice hitter but, is already 31, plays a corner position (poorly), and doesn't have the really long track record that screams 'let's pay this guy cornerstone money into his mid/late-30s'

"Check out my Matsui impression; this kills 'em in the clubhouse"

Jerry finished tied with me.

Jim Tracy takes over the Rox in mid year, gets them to the playoffs, now wins Manager of the Year and promptly gets a three-year contract out of it. ----1st2nd3rdPointsJim Tracy - Col292-151Tony LaRussa - StL213655Joe Torre - LAD17733Bruce Bochy - SFG-5318Bobby Cox - ATL-3615Charlie Manuel - PHI-2410Fredi Gonzalez - FLA--44Bud Black - SDP--22 And over in that other league, Mike Scioscia wins the AL MoY award in recognition for his team playing like shit against the Yanx ----1st2nd3rdPointsMike Scioscia - LAA15101106Ron Gardenhire - Min612672Joe Girardi - MFY43534Don Wakamatsu - Sea22319Ron Washington - Tex111119Jim Leyland - DET--22

Benjamin Grimm wrote: By the way, how do you pronounce "Jauss"? In my head, I'm hearing it rhyme with "mouse" and with a traditional J sound at the beginning. But it could, I suppose, start with a Y sound if the name has kept a traditional European pronunciation. Yeah that.

NYM property: RHP: Manuel Alvarez (Hi A), Julio de la Cruz (AA), German Marte++ (AA), Chris Mason (AAA), Tim McNab (AAA), Carlos Muniz+ (AAA), Jose Sanchez+ (AAA), Kyle Snyder (AAA), Jim Ed Warden (AAA) LHP: Edgar Alfonzo (AA), Adam Bostick (AAA), Adam Pettyjohn (AAA), Heriberto Ruelas (AA) C: Robinson Cancel (AAA), Salvador Paniagua (AA), Rene Rivera (AAA) 2B: Argenis Reyes (AAA) 3B: Javier Castillo (AAA), Mark Kiger (AA), Mike Lamb (AAA) OF: Chip Ambres (AAA), Jason Dubois (AAA), Jesus Feliciano (AAA), Luis Rivera (SS) + spent more than half the year on the DL ++ spent the entire season on the DL league denotes where they finished the year and the others = http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/prospects/?p=6994 -- 536 in all, including a handful of former 1st round draft picks and other former prospects.

Father Bill Jauss a beloved sports writer in Chicago. Back before putting two or more sports writers together to discuss sports-related topics became a staple of TV and, for the most part, then degraded into a forced antagonistic insult-fest like some bad imitation of SNL's 'Point-Counterpoint', Bill Jauss was a regular on the syndicated and Chicago-based 'The Sportswriters' (I think that was the name) which was not only a fresher idea during the time it ran but was a funny, informative, non-forced chat between a bunch of crusty-old writers smoking cigars as they discussed issues of the week. Not that any of that has anything to do with whether this guy will be a good bench coach, but it was my first thought when I heard the name.

and it's not particularly close ... ----1st2nd3rdPointsZack Greinke - KC253-134Felix Harnandez - Sea223180Justin Verlander - Det1-914CC Sabathia - MFY-2713Roy Halladay - Tor--1111

It didn't figure to be a run-away year in RoY voting; no one outstanding candidate in either league but lots of good candidates. ----1st2nd3rdPointsAndrew Bailey - Oak136588Elvis Andrus - Tex86765Rick Porcello - Det78564Jeff Neimann - TB-5621Gordon Beckham - ChiW-2410Brett Anderson - Oak-114 Very unusual to have the votes spread out over as many as eleven players as in the NL with five different ones getting 1st place votes. And the best long-term future players may be some of the guys down the list a bit like Rasmus, McCutheon, Hansen, or maybe Fowler. ----1st2nd3rdPointsChris Coghlan - Fla1762105J.A. Happ - Phi10111194Tommy Hansen - Atl26937Andrew McCutcheon - Pit25-25Andrew McGehee - Mil13418Randy Wells - ChiC-1-3Garrett Jones - Pit--22Everth Cabrera - SD--11Dexter Fowler - Col--11Geraldo Parra - Ariz--11Colby Rasmus - StL--11

Alex Cora spent two stints on the DL, missing 13 games in late May and then the final 48 games of the season. So he was DL'd for 61 of 162 games (or .37654321 of the season) which, at a salary of $2mil, means $753,086.42 of lost salary Fernando Martinez was called up on 6/22 in time for game 45 of the season He was then DL'd after game 79 - meaning he was available for just 35 games (inclusively) of the possible 117 he was on a ML roster at the minimum pay of $400K/year. So missing 82 of 117 games means .7008547 x $400,000 = $280.341.88 of squandered payroll

You do realize that he's talking about fixing the physical layout of the bullpen(s) and not about altering the personnel, right?

LWFS drops the hammer on Silva.... Which, I guess, makes it his Silva-hammer.

Here's a guy, with obviously some gas left in the tank, Actually, I don't think there is any gas left in the tank. His last several 'comebacks' have shown a whole lotta nuthin'. But as long as it's only an invite and no job is handed out purely for sentimental reasons there's no harm done.

"Speaking of Doc ..." 45 y/o today