Frayed Knot

Rudy Seanez to the BoSox. He was one of the relievers that Omar was obsessed with to the point where the pitcher considered getting a restraining order ... or maybe the two were merely linked by writer speculation, it's tough to keep track sometimes.

The Hardball Times is optimistic about the future of Heath Bell (2nd half of the article) They don't address it specifically, but I bet they'd take him over an expensive long-term committment to the Julian Taverez's of the world ... I know I would!

The Dodgers continue to add to their collection of oddballs and spare parts by inking Kenny Lofton to a 1-year deal.

TheOldMole wrote: What former Brooklyn Dodger became a pro-choice evangelist? Preacher Roe ]What former MLer not only pitched for both New York and both Chicago teams, but is also currently in rehab, going cold turkey from salmon eggs? Dick Tidrow

"Which former Tigers outfielder has a pH greater than 7?" Al Kaline

The only aspect of Ebbets Field that the design for the new place was going to "copy" was the outside look of it's exterior brick architecture. They were never planning on building a replica of the old field or recreating it's dimensions.

NYTimes: "Although the Mets' off-season overhaul has yielded stars like Billy Wagner, an intimidating closer, and Carlos Delgado, a feared power hitter, their acquisition two weeks ago of Lo Duca, a three-time All-Star catcher, could prove just as important in their quest to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2000" On account of that lunchpail thing he carries I guess. Or maybe it's because his collar is blue. We all know how important it is to have a blue collar in baseball. It's why the Yanx aren't winning these days don't y'know ... not enough guys with blue collars.

I think some ballplayer should start the bidding for some of his internal organs. Maybe strike a deal with the autoposy doc or something.

Bret Sabermetric wrote: There seems to be a wide disparity between those who value Jose's virtues highly ("60 Steals! 17 triples! Fabulously fielding shortstop! Only 22 years old! Buy Now!") and those who don't ("He's an okay middle infielder, with a lot of potential. So? I should go nuts over that?") And plenty who are in between those disparate extremes. ]If you were Jose's agent and getting a 35 cent raise offer, and you had arbitritation available, why would n't you see if maybe you got an arbitrator in the first category? If he had arbitration available he wouldn't be getting offerred a 35 cent raise. That example was to show what could theoretically happen when arbitration is NOT available. ]If you're Omar, and you think Jose's worth a 35 cent raise, doesn't it kinda wreck your salary structure to give him a bigbux deal while other players must, by definition, then get underpaid? If you think he's worth a 35 cent raise well then you wouldn't be offering a LT deal now would you?

Keep in mind that simply because Reyes will be eligible for arbitration next year doesn't mean that route will be used. The two sides could always agree to terms on their own and not have to result to outside help; which is the way the Mets have usually solved their contracts. Prior to that they'll often offer arb to various player (this'll happen in the next few weeks for whoever is eligible now) but that's just a procedural step neccesary to keep the paperwork in line. There will still several months after that for the sides to come to an agreement which they could do for anywhere from 1 year to a lifetime services contract. Arbitration is simply there as a fall-back if the player thinks the team is being unfair in it's negotiations and, in general, the mere threat of the process is usually enough to prevent that. That's as opposed to the first 2-3 years of a player's ML life where a team can dictate that a player take whatever they offer. Theoretically, for instance, the Mets thank Wright for the great year he had and then offer him a 35 cent raise ...and he'd have no recourse but to accept it or take some job that involves the phrase: "Want fries with that?". This whole Reyes debate keeps slipping into a 'acrimoniously decided small salary' vs 'set-for-life contract' dichotomy as if there's no middle ground. There's plenty.

My next door neighbor as a kid had a dice & card game - sort of a kiddie version of Strat - called 'Challenge the Yankees' (he was a MFY fan). It was made in the waning era of the great early '60s NYY stretch - although by the time we were playing it it was late-'60s while dem Yanx were in da tank. But it had cards for each of that era's Yanx: Mantle, Pepitone, Howard, etc, and a set for that eras All-Stars: Aaron, Mays, Clemente et al. The idea, I guess, was that it would take a team full a All Stars to even give the Yanx a good game. The combos were based just on a 2-dice - and therefore 2-12 range - and attempted to approximate the hitters real stats (no pitching skills were considered). Like I said, kind of a very simplified Strat. The cool part was that it also included a set of blank cards for you to make your own players. Naturally, that set became my team and got filled in with the '69 Mets. I remember giving Cleon the "Superstar" card; that was the only one where a "4" was a HR, on all others the HR were 2s, 3s, 11s & 12s (or occasionally none at all). Following the roll you picked a card to tell you what happened: did the "Ground Out" result in a DP?, did the runners advance 1 or 2 bases on a single?, etc., and you would move the pegs around the board appropriately. The dreaded and/or hoped for card - depending on whether you were at bat or not - was the one where the OFer 'DROPPED THE FLY BALL - ALL RUNNERS ADVANCE TWO BASES'. Keeping track of whether that one was close to coming up to the top of the pile again was always a major source of tension.

I had that one. Don't remember too much about it though.

"I'd like to know (I guess I could visit bbref to see) what such guys earned last year, but if it's a whole lot more than the Mets could have paid some minimum -salaryrookies, I have to find philosophical fault with the thinking, on the grounds outlined above. " No one in the pen last year - aside from Looper - was making a whole lot. You'll find some salary under both Graves & Takatsu's name but their orig clubs paid most of that. Hernandez was a sub-mil pickup who essentially had to prove himself (and did so to the tune of a $3mil deal w/Pittsburgh); DeJean was making $1mil+ (off a decent half year) but was dumped early and cetainly didn't hold anyone back; Koo, Aybar etc were only somewhat above the ML min (for some reason Met fans tend to think of Asian players as if all are high-priced/high expectation imports); and then Heilman, Bell, Ring, etc were at or near ML min.

btw, this line from Rubin which opens that DN piece: "Omar Minaya, who indicated he may add to the bullpen solely through signing veterans to minor-league contracts, has started to follow through on that prediction." ... means looking at non-tendered and otherwise unattached vets as an alternative to paying big bucks for those currently out on the FA market. I mentioned in another thread that Omar claims that the FA guys are "all looking for 3 years" and sees the spare parts as the more flexible alternative. And, seeing as how these would be minor league "make-good" deals, whoever's picked up would at least theoretically be competing w/youngsters for the fill-out positions in the pen as opposed to just being handed them at the expense of up-and-comers.

"By all accounts, [Huber] was switched to 1B not primarily for his defense, but because they had a better C prospect ahead of him. With Huber in our system, we wouldn't have had to trade for LoDuca." There's been talk of having to move Huber out from behind the plate since he was in A ball. To assume that he'd be a full or even part-time ML backstop were he still here is pretty speculative at this point. I'm thinking that maybe he and the other good bat/defensively-challenged minor league catcher would have made an interesting experiment as a LH/RH 1st base duo and made the trade for Delgado unneccesary and young Mr. Petit bait for someone else instead (Arrrgh ... Manny!!!)

Tough to knock Minaya for looking to sign veterens on one hand and then knock him for not keeping Robo Hernandez on the other when Robo was exactly that sort of signing.

]I'm not even sure what paper he writes for but if any of you can provide me with either a mailing address or an e-mail address, I will send it to him ASAP New York Post I'm sure they provide e-mails on their website NYPost.com Here it is: phil.mushnick@nypost.com

In fairness to Mushnick (at least in Friday's column - the original might have been more strident) he says that Zabriskie's resume was embellished in the Met media guide - which it certainly was - although does not directly accuse SZ himself as the one concocting the lies and exaggerations. It could be read more as an indictment of corporate B.S. I generally like Mushnick's column although it seems like I'm increasingly hearing tales of general sloppiness due to not getting the side from those he's zeroed in on. I guess how you view that depends on your opinion of who he's throwing his bombs at that week.

Yanx deal some minor leaguer for LHP Ron Villone He's been a useful left arm to have during his career.

Remember seeing that play MFS? You don't usually see guys built like 'ol Harmon doing full splits.

]And I'll play the part of Bean Stringfellow:

Fear of a big arbi number is the logical explanation of why they didn't offer him the choice of staying. They had he locked in (via an option) for $5mil and chose not to pass on that so they certainly viewed $7 or so as a ridiculous price to pay for a set-up man. Personally I'd find it hard to argue that Looper deserved a doubling of his salary (he made $3.5 in '05) coming off a bad and injured year but I guess they didn't want to leave that to chance.

And that was during an All-Star Game!!

Except that one of the papers said today that the Mets have turned away from signing Grudzelanek.

"I'd insist on at least one of the FA years if he gets the security he wants" Well, there you take a big jump in both money and risk. Making an offer at the end of '06 in anticipation for what you'll pay him anyway while he remains under your control is a lot different from anticipating what it'll take to buy him on the free market 4 years hence. Since you're worried about making a committment in case he's not the real deal, you should be even more leery about doing so further out rather than insisting upon it. I am. "If you're paying him 14 mil the next few years and instead of getting a modest improvement to a .311 OBP you get a decline down to Ordonez levels, .280 or so, you're totally screwed." Hey, longer deals are a gamble and there's always the chance of things backfiring. But, assuming progress in '06 - remember, we're assuming he showns progress this coming year (I wouldn't give him a deal now) - I think it's a reasonable risk as opposed to the scenario where he becomes a bench or non-tender player in that same time and the team is eating money like that Japanese guy at Coney Island every summer. "Also I'm sure not why you've picked Soriano as your model" Just the first guy that sprung to mind as someone who's currently getting paid piecemeal for his 4th, 5th, and 6th seasons. Different age/different skills: similar OBP, more power, worse defense; but useful as an example of how salaries progress.