Frayed Knot

Well, I like it better than if he gone for relief pitching as was rumored. Xavier Nady was a fairly highly touted prospect a few years back. IIRC, his 2004 was cut short due to an injury of some kind. Positives: He's younger (just turned 27), cheaper (maybe arb eligible), and we've probably already seen Cameron's ceiling who isn't ideally suited for RF anyway. Nady can play 1st or the OF - I seem to remember the Pads wanting to move him to 1st although I'm not sure if that was due to the fact that he wasn't that good out there or just a numbers situation. Maybe both. Hits righty so can platoon w/Jacobs at 1st. Negatives: Not as fast, worse glove if an OFer. Not as good a bat now and maybe never will hit as well. Maybe someone else would have given us more. I always like Cammy, probably more than most Met fans and maybe more than he deserved. I just thought his 61 extra-base hit season in '04 was brushed off due to overblown BA & K numbers. Plus his less-than gold glove season in CF was treated as if he was a stumbling bum by know-nothings who acted as if they were guaranteed an errorless season. Projected typical Met fan reaction: "Good, Cameron SUCKS ... why didn't we get more for him?" And speculation will surely start that this is a prelude to another trade (see Ramirez, Manny)

Sounds like the threat of Congressional pressure did some good after all. I can't imagine that the players' assoc would have agreed to virtually everything Selig wanted were they not afraid of getting something even more strict stuffed down their throats. I'm shocked that this happened and that it happened so quickly - at least relatively quickly considering the history of this whole topic. btw, I just finished It's a history of the drug issue in baseball over the last 15 years or so. A very detailed and very comprehensive examination of the issue from every possible angle.

Sickels had a gushing piece on Milledge somewhere on the net in the last week or so, comparing him favorably to Delmon Young (#1 pick the same year LM was #12). It was as positive as anything I've ever read on him and between that and now this it gets me to wondering whether he's joining the 'hype patrol' when it comes to prospects. I wouldn't think he is; he's been at this for a while and wouldn't normally throw himself in with the fly-by-night sites that want to hype a prospect simply so they can claim they said it first if/when he succeeds. The rotisserie craze has spawned a number of sites and "experts" on this subject. I just don't see the point in projecting a career from a guy with less than 1-1/2 years of service.

Pictures like that one of Ebbets Field - or an old one of Fenway when the Green monster wasn't so green - always crack me up when I hear someone complain about how advertisments on the OF walls are some sort of modern stain on the game. Somehow in people's minds the 'HIt Sign Win Suit' sign is warm, fuzzy nostalgia while the 'Keyspan' one or the Pepsi Pavillion are crass commercialism. And 'White Owl Whallops' and 'Ballantine Blasts' were just as big an intrusion as most of today's in-inning promos.

Probably too soon to make wild generalizations, but Osutka's two seasons on this side of the Pacific have "funky delivery figured out" written all over them. Not so effective the second go 'round. .......... '04 ..... '05 W/L . 7-2 ... 2 - 8 WHiP . 1.06 .. 1.42 ERA . 1.75 ... 3.59 K/9 ... 10.1 ... 8.6

- Certainly is risky re: Piazza, although maybe there's an understanding already. Would net us a draft pick if he does leave though. - No so big a risk w/Loopy. It was the '06 option year that mandated a big raise and they're already out from under that one. An arb hearing - even if it came down to that - wouldn't be crippling. Assuming that the injury was part of his ineffectiveness this past year I have no problem if he's back on the staff for next year in a less crucial role. - I still think Ishii can fill a role. Whether our piece of the buyout plus the salary for next year will make it worth keeping him around is up for grabs. Goodbye Felix. - "Mets say: Wagner> Ryan; Molina > Hernandez" I tend to think just the opposite but that's splitting hairs - "Jojima to visit later this week (News) or next week (Post)" Sounds like that news piece out of Tacoma the other day - the one saying he had all but signed w/the Mariners - really jumped the gun ... (so you want to be a sportswriter?) - "Javy Vasquez would dig being a Met" Vazquez could be interesting. He might be the one guy who would follow through on the trade-demand threat (it's never been done to this point). He's overpaid (although the Yanx are paying part) but is reasonably young and is signed for the next 3 seasons. Depending on the price (players) a trade might worth pursuing. A better bargain might be had via FA-gency, except the problem with that route is that it wouldn't occur until March. Most rosters are pretty much set by then which is one of the reasons this never happens.

MVP voters (2 per city) list their top 10. 14 points are awarded for a 1st place vote, then 9 for 2nd, 8 for 3rd, 7 for 4th ... 1 for 10th ARod: 16 -11 - 1 = 331 ... (3rd?) Papi: 11 - 17 - 0 = 307 Vlad: 1 - 0 - 9 = 196 ... (a 1st place vote?) Manny: 0 - 0 - 9 = 156 Hafner: 0 - 0 - 5 = 151 Konerko: 0 - 0 - 2 = 128 Teixeira: 0 - 0 - 1 = 106 Sheffield: = 84 Rivera: 0 - 0 - 1 = 59 Jeter = 23 I have no problem with the outcome. Besides, it'll cost the Yanx an extra $1mil for it -- unless Texas agreed to pay for all such nonsense in order to get rid of him. But most of the press reports are wrong. They're saying that it's the 1st NYY MVP award since Mattingly in '85, except that this shouldn't count because we all know that A-Rod (all together now) ISN'T A TRUE YANKEE!!!!

"It's not my money" No, but it's the team's money which is, of course, what we're talking about here. On a base level I don't care what kind if money these guys make ... except that a contract that size simply has to affect what other moves can be made - and the fact that the team that already has that contract (and is virtually printing money up there) has decided on several occasions that having the $20mil/per is better than having him. 29 other teams came to that same conclusion when he was offered on waivers 2 years back. "He doesn't need to get better, just stay roughly the same or decline only slightly." The point is to try and avoid those overblown dot-com era deals rather than pick one up just as the player reaches the age where he's likely to move from overpaid to vastly overpaid as he advances through his mid-30's. "I don't think Boston DH'ed him either." Not much recently due to Ortiz, but at least they'd have the option to do so as a way to hide his flaws over the next 3 seasons. We'd have no such out. " [not running out hits] is of course not unique to Manny." No, but he could be the worst offender in MLB "I like bats. Our offense needs a big bat." And if he comes at a big enough discount he's something to consider.

soupcan wrote: I'm sorry dudes. ... Failed to realize there was another Pecota thread that pre-dated mine. Don't be sorry. Interesting topics having their own thread is a concept that should be embraced rather than lose it in a 10 page general purpose jumble. ]What's Aaron Heilman's Pecota? I dunno. What's Bill Pecota's Heilman? Actually, I suspect, but don't know, that PECOTA is a lot less accurate or meaningful when there's a scant amount of data involved (and almost all of it bad) as in Heilman's case coming into this past season. Now I'm sure they take minor league and college stuff into consideration w/younger players but that just adds another dimension of unpredictability into the mix.

John Olerud Sr. is mentioned briefly by Jim Bouton in 'Ball Four' as a minor league catcher in training camp for the Seattle Pilots. He never made the majors.

I've hear that a lot from Met fans; that Robinson's "when I was in SF" lines bothered them. It never particularly irked me and I found him to be a reasonably good p-b-p man. The snag w/Ted is that he's committed to working the tennis majors - which means not only three different stints of missed games but particularly that one of those involves Sepetember games - and the Mets wanted a full-time guy as their lead voice. So once Gary as the full-time voice was on board there's little reason to keep another p-b-p specialist around.

Actually, none of the active guys are close enough to Johnnie O. to catch & pass him this year, and it quite possibly won't happen after '06 either. Cracking the top 40 ain't easy and JO's 3 NYM seasons were so impressive that he remains the top ranked CPF player with 4 or fewer years at Shea.

According to the Tacoma News Tribue: "The Seattle Mariners are said to be on the verge of signing Japanese catcher Kenji Jojima. A source said Friday that the Mariners are close to signing Jojima to a two-year contract worth about $8 million with an option for a third season. The 29-year-old Jojima was in Seattle on Friday, although he wasn’t accompanied by his agent, Alan Nero."

]I just don't get what's not to love about this guy Maybe that he's already overpaid - and that he's not going to suddenly start getting better at age 34 - and that his defense - oh yes it IS that bad - will pop up even more as he goes from the smallest LF in baseball to one of the larger ones - and that we don't have the luxury of the DH to hide him - and that he considers running out hits and grounders as something to do only on an occasional basis Look, it's not a question of not wanting a bat like his, it's a matter of not wanting him considering the price it'll probably take to get him. If he was a FA this year not only would he NOT get the money on a per/yr bases that he's making now but you have to cough up players for him as well. IOW, without a substantial discount, you'd be paying for him twice and I'm tired of getting "name players" only because we're willing to pick up the oft-ugly back end of huge contracts. P.S. For the first time in years, I kinda like our existing OF.

Longest in person that come to mind: - Dave Kingman as a SF Giant. It was an afternnoon game at Shea very early in his career before he became well known as a big HR guy. He hit a parked bus that was beyond the back fence behind what is now the picnic area. One of 2 he hit that day IIRC. - Straw banked one of the scoreboard about halfway up -- similar to the Mo Vaughn shot that someone else mentioned although not quite as high and a bit more to the RF side. It was off of Valenzuela. (on edit: seeing as how I'm currently Willie Randolph, I should really only be making "small ball" posts right now)

Enrique Wilson didn't get released, but after proving in a game against the Mets that he was no outfielder, George went out and immediately demanded Raul Mondesi; a day I believe Blue Jays mgmt still considers a secular holiday.

That was the HR off the tent behind the picnic area. When Torre finally came out to remove pitcher Carlos Almanzar after that 8th inning, I think the Yanx had filed his release papers with the league before he had reached the dugout. There's a typo in the boxscore in that linked article. It shows that Benitez pitched a scoreless 9th ... with 2 Ks and 0 BBs ... with a 1-run lead ... against the Yanquis. I was told those things didn't happen. Must not have been a BIG game.

Mets to meet face to face with B. Molina today although no concrete offers are expected. My reservations about going overboard here lead off this thread. Also mentions that they're in contact with (Japanese catcher) Jojima's agent and will likely meet with the player in the next week or so.

Pelfrey is this past year's top draft pick and remains unsigned at this point. You're obviously thinking of a different pitcher here.

1. Lastings Milledge, of 2. Yusmeiro Petit, rhp 3. Gaby Hernandez, rhp 4. Mike Jacobs, 1b 5. Philip Humber, rhp 6. Carlos Gomez, of 7. Fernando Martinez, of 8. Anderson Hernandez, ss/2b 9. Brian Bannister, rhp 10. Alay Soler, rhp #7 is the just-signed teenager right? Wow, talk about your wild speculation!! The rest are fairly predictable I guess, although Humber, Martinez & Soler are almost totally potential over actual performance so far. The unsigned Mike Pelfrey will probably join them for the same reason if/when he signs. #s 1, 2 & 3 are unchanged from last year. Last year's #4 Ian Bladergroan was traded. # 5 - Ambiorix Concepcion; #7 - Shawn Bowman; #9 - Jesus Flores; and #10 - Matt Lindstrom backslid and fell off the list. #6 Alay Soler saw his stint in the witness protection program drop him to 10th, while #8 Victor Diaz "graduated" to the bigs. Miscellaneous stuff: Best Hitter for Average - Lastings Milledge Best Power Hitter - Brett Harper Best Strike-Zone Discipline - Grant Psomas Fastest Baserunner - Carlos Gomez Best Athlete - Lastings Milledge Best Fastball - Matt Lindstrom Best Curveball - Philip Humber Best Slider - Alay Soler Best Changeup - Evan MacLane Best Control - Yusmeiro Petit Best Defensive Catcher - Drew Butera Best Defensive Infielder - Anderson Hernandez Best Infield Arm - Corey Ragsdale Best Defensive Outfielder - Lastings Milledge Best Outfield Arm - Carlos Gomez Unfortunately, to get the more detailed scouting reports on the top guys, or participate in the Friday afternoon on-line Q&A you need to be a paid-up subscriber (I let mine lapse a while back). The Q&A at least used to be open to all.

Quite possible that they're using the term "bigger problem" to mean more widely used, not neccesarily more dangerous. "He also indicated that on at least one occasion in his career, players had spiked clubhouse coffee with amphetamines." In several spots in 'If At First' Keith Hernandez mentions getting ready for the game with a "major league cup of coffee". I've often wondered what specifically made a regular cup into a major league cup.

Just a longer-lasting and more ignored one.

Not surprising. They'd have to prove that he not only lied but also that he did so intentionally; ie, that his story about a tainted supplement isn't true. It almost certainly isn't but Congress has better things to do than chase that story down so they can - do what exactly? - to a ballplayer whose career is virtually over on account of his testimony anyway. Considering that the Feds barely had the stomach to punish Conte and the other leaders/distributers of this stuff, I would have been shocked if the gov't finally decides that Raffy Palmiero is the guy they want to make an example of.

IOW, neither Manny nor Delgado are likely to go through with a trade demand. Manny's deal is one of those signed during the dot-com boom so he's not getting another that'll match what he's already promised, and Delgado, because his is backloaded, won't get a better one either.

StL's Chris Carpenter wins NL CY Award (32 votes) Capenter: 19 - 12 - 1 Willis: 11 - 18 - 3 Clemens: 2 - 2 - 24 Oswalt: 0 - 0 - 2 Cordero: 0 - 0 - 1 Pettite: 0 - 0 - 1