Frayed Knot

I SAID THERE'S NOTHIN TO SEE ... WHATTYA STUPID OR SOMETHING!!!!

Plus, if he comes here and bombs, the anti-banners practically write themselves.

Edgy DC wrote: The ump is covering his ass. Tarasco was back there. I agree it should have been an out but that doesn't mean he does or that the reviewing judge (or whoever gets the power to overturn things) will either. The point is that without replay it's easy to envision how having it would correct all sorts of injustices but in the real world it's not that cut & dried.

Some writer brought up that game just the other day in conjunction with the proposed move to instant replay for disputed HR calls. The ump admitted he blew the call right after seeing the replay but maintains to this day that he doesn't think Tarasco would have caught the ball and so would have awarded Jeter either a double or triple depending on where the other umps said he was at the time of the interference. iow, in this case (as we've seen many times in the NFL) the replay rule wouldn't have prevented an argument it just would have shifted the argument to a different topic.

It's just one star thru ten. The descriptions are merely lame attempts at jokes.

="A Boy Named Seo"]I can't think of an example where the Mets under Omar passed on a guy perceived to be tougher to sign ... In '06 their first pick wasn't until #62 (Mulvey) and in '07, #42 (Kunz). Probably not a lot of slam dunk guys teams can go cheap on still hanging around in the sandwich and second rounds. I don't think the folks doing the complaining are saying there are slam-dunks out there, but rather are advocating taking a shot at some raw "toolsy" high school kid who just might catch fire some day even though there's a decent chance he'll either take a scholarship or else flame out along the way. Instead, the Mets have used those picks lately for college relievers like Smith & Kunz who, virtually by definition, have lower ceilings even though are better bets to get to the bigs and get there more quickly. My only problem is that if you're going to complain that they're doing this you should at least have a name or two of guys they might have taken in their place. Instead we're getting; 'I don't know who they're missing out on but, trust us, they're missing out on someone' ]And the Mets caught plenty of crap for giving Fernando Martinez his deal in '05. To which they're saying that the Mets should be as agressive in the draft as they are in the Int'l market. Of course you can't simply choose to "target and go after" who you want via the draft.

Troubled teen under house arrest passes the time by watching his neighbors in anytown U.S.A., only with access to more toys and gadgets than Jimmy Stewart ever dreamed of. Combines the 'what am I really seeing' questions of 'Rear Window' with the 'there's evil in them 'burbs' aspect of ... well just about every movie set there in the last 10 years.

Well of course one could make the case that the entire draft system is based on collusion but that's a larger argument. Maybe part of this is a case of scout's revenge againt the 'moneyball' set; a kind of plea for a return to "gut" athletic (and probably HS) picks in lieu of collegiate 'stats' players with less dreamy ceilings? Wouldn't be the first time someone accused BA of being 'tools-happy'. The part about the conservative drafting philosophy makes we wonder if this label isn't at least partially an after-the-fact rationization made by analysts when picks don't pan out and then gets treated as accepted 'fact' by the circular reasoning of being oft-repeated. iow, 'we know it's true cuz everyone says and that everyone says so means it must be true'. The Yanx were accused of the same thing for much of the last decade - not the part about adhereing to MLB-dictated bonuses neccessarily but that they not only rarely had good picks (on account of their high finishes and losing picks to frequent FA signings) and then went real conservative in making those picks rather than shoot for high risk/reward types. Did their philosophy change resulting in Hughes (HS) & Chambelain (Coll) or just their skill/luck? Anyway, just this morning I read one of the NYPost's columnists tossing off the 'don't go for it' line about recent Met drafts without bothering to cite any backing as if it's something that's simply unquestioned fact at this point. Maybe it's true and maybe it's not. I'd just like to hear about maybe one example of someone who was passed over who was jumped on soon afterward.

Turns out that the guy who wrote this year's Top-10 piece, John Manual, is the same one I was swapping emails with back in August - so whether or not he's correct about the Met's draft strategy he's at least been consistent on the topic. Specifically on the 2007 draft he said; "... that the organization generally didn't go after any "tough signs" or players who they might have taken later, such as Chad Jones (playing football at LSU now) or other guys we had them linked with. You can look at this in one way, which is the Mets properly identified players they liked who were signable; or you can say, the Mets didn't aim very high and that was probably done to stay in the commissioner's office's good graces. The latter is what we have been told throughout the industry, that the Mets just chose a conservative route. and later when I asked about specific player passed over ... "There may have been [some], but none that I know of directly. I don't think that's the point though really; this isn't speculation or a guess. The scouts/scouting directors that we have talked to all say the Mets played it conservative the last two years at the direction of the commissioner's office. Don't forget who gave Omar Minaya his biggest break by making him a GM--Bud Selig. You think Omar's going to forget that, or not respect that?"

Well the question is how "up front" are most clubs supposed to be with their supposed competition? Not that I believe anything is going to come out of all this - and without a transcript of specifically what was said there's not going to be enough to prove either way - but I understand the PA wondering out loud exactly how far the clubs are willing to take this spirit of 'cooperation'.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Note BA imagining F-Mart as a future first baseman (he better be a hell of a hitter), and this system is just completely bereft beyond what might become of Gomez or Guerra. That section they do each year about projecting the ML lineup 4-5 years out is a waste of space. I don't think they really project him at 1st and most likely stuffed him there simply because they had 4 OFers and no other obvious choice to fill out the dance card. I did read something this past summer about one scout trashing Martinez's OF instincts but I doubt that had anything to do with their "choice". ]We have to stop losing draft picks or start getting more aggressive to sign above slot as Omar threatens. I had a brief e-mail exchange with one of BA's guys a few months back about this topic after some reader had written in trashing the Mets about "cheaping out" on the draft again - implying that there was a player or players that they had passed on. The writer admitted that he had no specific names on who they should have picked or signed (other than the Pedro Beato "D&F" pick from 2 drafts back and I brought that one up) only a general sense that they were more eager than most big-market squads to play nice with Bud's bonus "recommendations". Part of the reasoning is that the Wilpons have always been considered Bud-friendly and that Omar owes his first job to Selig. ]I can't believe Pelfrey AND Humber last the winter in NY; Humber prolly goes. If either or both of these guys fail to pan out as at least decent pitchers after being picked at #3 & #9 overall it will not only be a huge disappointment but also makes all those games we intentionally lost during the '03-'04 seasons a waste of good sucking.

Baseball America's annual list of Top-10 prospects within the organization: 1) Fernando Martinez, of 2) Deolis Guerra, rhp 3) Carlos Gomez, of 4) Kevin Mulvey, rhp 5) Eddie Kunz, rhp 6) Brant Rustich, rhp 7) Philip Humber, rhp 8) Jon Niese, lhp 9) Nathan Vineyard, lhp 10) Robert Parnell, rhp I'm going to have to do some checking to find out who and where some of these guys (6 & 9) even are.

They've alos re-re-vamped the system, creating a select committee to look at mgrs & execs and the like while leaving the HoF players to look at only players.

Baseball Prospectus doesn't like this at all from a Phils side - but they're looking at it from the long-term and monatary points of view. "Is {one year of Lidge} worth giving up two good prospects in the form of Michael Bourn and Mike Costanzo? No, and it isn’t close. " But the Phils need to look at this for next year mainly and Lidge can certainly help them there. Although, as mentioned somewhere above, Bourn was thought to be part of the solution to their OF situation as he and Victorino were to cover CF & RF. Retaining Rowland, or a similar substitute, now becomes a bigger priority, especially if they intend to try and sell high on Burrell coming off that good 2nd half he had.

It wouldn't surprise me if mgmt had a buddy agreement with Glavine where they promised not to offer arb if/when he refused his option for '08 The problem with offering arb to Green is that the 20% max-cut rule would lock them into a salary bigger than what he's likely worth at this point.

as current Houston/former Philly GM Ed Wade deals for some of his old players: Brad Lidge and IFer Eric Bruntlett to the Phils for OF Michael Bourne, RP Geoff Geary & AA 3Bman Mike Costanzo - Houston will want Bourne to be their starting CFer and allow them to move Hunter Pence to RF - Lidge means a probable move a Brett Myers back to the rotation and Tom Gordon setting up for Lidge.

Other Ranked FAs (Rumored NYM interests/Omar fantasy dates in bold): Ari: RHP Livan Hernandez (. Atl: OF Andruw Jones (, LHP Ron Mahay (. Bos: RHP Eric Gagne (, 3B Mike Lowell (A), RHP Mike Timlin (. ChC: C Jason Kendall (. Cle: OF Kenny Lofton (. Col: RHP Jorge Julio (, C Yorvit Torrealba (. Det: 1B Sean Casey (, RHP Todd Jones (, LHP Kenny Rogers (. Hou: INF Mark Loretta (, RHP Trever Miller (. KC: RHP David Riske (. LAD: OF Luis Gonzalez (. Mil: RHP Francisco Cordero (A), 2B/3B Tony Graffanino (, RHP Scott Linebrink (A). Min: OF Torii Hunter (A). NYY: LHP Andy Pettitte (A), C Jorge Posada (A), RHP Mariano Rivera (A), 3B Alex Rodriguez (A), RHP Luis Vizcaino (. Oak: C Mike Piazza (, OF Shannon Stewart (. Phi: RHP Freddy Garcia (, 2B Tadahito Iguchi (A), OF Aaron Rowand (A). StL: SS David Eckstein (, RHP Troy Percival (, RHP Russ Springer (A). SD: C Michael Barrett (A), OF Milton Bradley (A), RHP Doug Brocail (, OF Mike Cameron ( SF: OF Barry Bonds (A), 3B Pedro Feliz (, SS Omar Vizquel (. Sea: OF Jose Guillen (. TB: RHP Al Reyes ( - club has option If the Mets sign a Type A FA who was offered/refused compensation they would forfeit their 1st round (22nd overall) pick in next June's draft.

Type A = Glavine Type B = LoDuca, Castillo, Green Type A means top 20% at your position and losing a Type A yields a 1st or 2nd round pick from the team that signs him (depending where that pick falls) plus a supplemental Type B = Next 20% and yields an extra supplemental pick Both of the above are, of course, dependant on offering arbitration to a potential FA - something I suspect may only happen for Castillo & LoDuca, the two guys they're most likely to keep.

If his options are up then he needs to be put on, and kept on, the 25. What I'm not sure of is whether that applies starting this coming season or the following.

]But I was under the impression that the ML contract only requires that they be on the 40-man (which they both have been since day 1). Correct, although it also starts the "options" clock right away meaning that someone who gets an ML deal immediately upon signing needs to be on the ML roster by his 4th year I believe. So for Humber that might mean he DOES need to be on the 25 this season or else risk being exposed to waivers (if not this season it would be next). For Pelfrey the timeline would be shifted a year later.

Latest rumor: Insiders are saying that ... [u:a9fe7636c9]each of the other 29 teams[/u:a9fe7636c9] are said to be willing to listen to offers on ... [u:a9fe7636c9]every single non-signed player on their roster[/u:a9fe7636c9] and that sources ... [u:a9fe7636c9]familiar with the Mets' thinking[/u:a9fe7636c9] indicate the Mets are interested. In order to land ... [u:a9fe7636c9]insert player here[/u:a9fe7636c9] it is thought Omar Minaya would need to include a package containing one or more of ... [u:a9fe7636c9]Milledge, Humber, Pelfrey, Gomez[/u:a9fe7636c9] although it is doubtful that they would agree to include ... [u:a9fe7636c9]Reyes/Wright[/u:a9fe7636c9] in any deal. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Wright's not even the best fielding NL 3rd baseman from eastern Virginia.

Kris Benson: Option NOT picked up by Bal'mer.

[overused]Eh, anyone could finish off a profile of Victor Zambrano in ten minutes[/joke]

A look at the once top 2B prospect currently barely hanging on to an ML career but still the apple of Vic Sage's eye - one Josh Barfield