Edgy MD

At least some of the McEwing myth of "He plays the game the right way — if I had a team of 25 Joe McEwings ..." is just that, right? Mythmaking? I mean, he was a Cardinal.

I saw a Jeopardy! clip flying around from last night's show, featuring the category SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK, in which the $600 answer was "What is Shea Stadium?"

Supposedly, the Mets are down to these five dudes, and hope to make a decision this weekend. Time to get on the bandwagon of your choosing. [fimg=90]https://d3k2oh6evki4b7.cloudfront.net/req/201709071/images/headshots/c/c13fecd5_davis.jpg[/fimg]

Yeah, but fans indulge it, too. >>> "He sucks! He can't handle the fans!" >>> >>> "So you're going to ... ?" >>> "Abuse the SHIT out of him!" >>> >>> "Why?" >>> "He deserves it. He can't handle the fans!" It's the bully's trap. I'm going to get you for no reason, and when dare to you squirm, that just proves how soft you are, and cum eo validates my decision to get you.

I knew if I dragged my feet, one of our finalists would be off the market. But in the alternative world, where you're Sandy Alderson, and Sandy Alderson is you, some dope on a forum, all these guyz are still available.

I think they should consider him, as the Buddhist might consider the lotus. As something to meditate on, wrap your mind around, try to fully understand, to comprehend a universe that could breathe both oneself and Dusty Baker into existence. Ultimately, they can consider him as a model of what one doesn't want in a manager. Besides, he might injure the Mets' young pitchers. lolol

You're Sandy Alderson. And it's great. You consulted with your friends at the Crane Pool, reviewed the credentials of over 170 past managers, and have narrowed your selections down to four guys. You've interviewed them, reviewed their credentials: experience, philosophy, intelligence, comportment, courage, emotional stability, handwriting, sex-appeal, education, honesty, imagination, fighting spirit, mastery of foreign languages, knowledge of fine arts, tolerance, and facility with Microsoft Office 2011 applications. It's a curious final four you and the Crane Pool have narrowed it down to. Clearly, some folks think the way to go forward is the way to go back. It's not the worst idea. But here you are, with a former Mets manager, two former Mets coaches, and a former Mets player rounding out your final four. No unfamiliar names there. Maybe the bias of the familiar is guiding things, but these are four names you can see yourself hiring. But this is perhaps your last hire. This doesn't work out, and it's perhaps the end for you at perhaps the last big league job you'll ever hold. So it's time to spit or swallow, and you're sitting there, still chewing a little bit. You put in a call to your friend Real-World Sandy Alderson, and notice your final candidate list and his has an overlap of only one guy. But real-world Sandy Alderson wasn't restricted to only experienced guys. You've reviewed 170 candidacies. No turning back and no copping out. It's time to make your pick. Who's your guy? Mgr Age Team(s) Yrs From To W LW/L % TiesG> .500 GW PostL PostW/L% PostBest FinWrst FinAv RkPlyof AppWS WonPenn Won ASGMets Connection[fimg=90]https://d3k2oh6evki4b7.cloudfront.net/req/201709071/images/headshots/3/37b017b6_davis.jpg[/fimg]Chip Hale53ARI220152016148176.4570-2832400343.50000Third base coach, 2009-2010; interviewed to be manager in 2010-2011 offseason.[fimg=90]https://d3k2oh6evki4b7.cloudfront.net/req/201709071/images/headshots/e/ee76d10c_manager.jpg[/fimg]Ron Gardenhire60MIN132002201410681039.5070292107621.222152.56000Mets minor leaguer, 1979-1986, Mets player, 1981-1985.[fimg=90]https://d3k2oh6evki4b7.cloudfront.net/req/201709071/images/headshots/7/7f7f269f_manager.jpg[/fimg]Manny Acta49WAS, CLE620072012372518.4180-14689000254.10000Third base coach, infield coach 2005-2006.[fimg=90]https://d3k2oh6evki4b7.cloudfront.net/req/201709071/images/headshots/4/46a871db_davis.jpg[/fimg]Bobby Valentine67TEX, NYM, BOS161985201211861165.50402123511311.542273.72011Mets player, 1977-1978; Mets third-base coach, 1983-1985; Mets manager, 1996-2002. Bring together old school swagger with new school flare. At Rheingold, we dedicate ourselves to offering beer drinkers across the nation refreshing, great tasting, affordable beer. No other retro-brand brings so many decades of promoting the link between alcohol consumption and sexual exploitation, brewed right into each refreshing glass. Rheingold: The Dry Beer. And the choice of divine cabaret songbirds and misanthropic baseball managers since 1883. [fimg=400]http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4088/5099065694_4c8a391da0.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=400]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b9/fe/f8/b9fef8ad12c8ca3e1763fe4903e0f7ce.jpg[/fimg]

Mostly forgotten early Mets mascot Homer the Beagle. [fimg=400]https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/87l8_ysixOVPaggWfys19p-oIko=/0x116:496x447/1200x800/filters:focal(0x116:496x447)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36353142/homer.0.jpg[/fimg]

Heavens, no! No way!

Editing problem too.

d'Kong76 wrote: Free from what? You don't want a team to have AAA affiliate? AA? No, I totally don't. It's enough that the Mets play for me. Syracuse ballplayers should be playing for the glory of Syracuse and its citizens, not for the sake of the some other team's development. Affiliation is a vestige of the anti-trust exemption and it has undermined baseball culture for too long. Think big! Think justice! d'Kong76 wrote: Your post on the top of the page is like three times the size it was? I have a typing problem.

No, I'm not. We don't need new cities. We just need to set the minor leagues free.

Yeah, but none of that is true. The model works in football, everywhere else. Clubs retain players and retain broadcast partners. Or they sell off players and rebuild, just like declining baseball teams in the US. And they survive and even flourish playing in divisions below the top level. They just do. It's just not the model folks are used to, so it's alien. But change happens. Federal Baseball Club v. National League has done nearly a century's worth of damage to baseball in America. It doesn't have to be this way and it shouldn't. It's the only model we've known, so we think of it as American, but it's really totally not, except in the worst sense. The robber baron sense. There's this outstanding play by Frank McGuinness you've likely seen called "Someone Who'll Watch Over Me," about three westerners held hostage in (I think) Beirut — an American, an Irishman, and a Brit. The Brit is foppish and the rowdier Irishman gives him no end of grief. But in this one beautiful passage the Brit confesses his love for a small town soccer squad, and wondering how they're doing as time passes during their captivity. The Irishman laughs himself silly, mocking the guy loudly for his devotion to an overlooked club that can't climb out of the fourth division. But the Brit musters up as much dignity as he can and stammers something like, "Well, a certain degree of loyalty is required of one." And the Irishman is stopped, moved that this guy's dedication has shown him a character in the Brit he hadn't previously noticed, and realizing that same loyalty has grown between the two of them against their captors. And then he says something like, "You know, they're not all bad. They had that one year or two they climbed up the third division." And he's practically a fan of the team himself at that point. He wants them to win because he suddenly likes this wishy-wasy Brit he's stuck with. America used to be like that. Small town teams fighting for the joy of representing small town people. Or medium town people. And it was good. People hear about these great minor league careers and wonder why the guy didn't get a chance. But they did! We just can't imagine a world anymore where MLB wasn't the only game that mattered. Playing in the Southern Association and Pacific Coast League and the Texas League was meaningful. It was a career of sorts They got good contracts (for the time), baseball cards, and endorsement deals. It wasn't that much but it was a lot more, in real dollars, than minor leaguers make now. And there were adult amateur and semi-pro teams, just trying to become local heroes by beating up on that town further down the track, but hey, maybe that scout from the American Association might be watching. Stevie Jetes likes to remind us that baseball is in danger of no longer being the American Pastime. The reality is that it hasn't been in a long time. Not in the sense that it was originally meant. The anti-trust exemption set baseball culture back for generations and it still hasn't recovered. Promotion and relegation may not happen. But something else will. Perhaps something far more radical. Cartels are tyrants. And history grinds persistently against tyrrany. It may take another decade or two for the pressure to build enough, but it's been building for a long time.

Here's an eponymous acronym: PECOTA.

Baseball Annie. Bugs Bunny Changeup. Punch and Judy hitter. Roy Oribison/Linda Rondstadt fastball. Peggy Lee fastball. Beane Count. A "Maddux" is a complete-game shutout on 99 or fewer pitches.

Well, then. No need to wait for the Mets to be relegated. Ashie's right out.

Well, you framed it as a first place team. And yeah, your waning interest would be cumulative if they persisted as an also-ran in a lower division. Certainly. But again, that's what happens when a team persists as a last place club year after year. It would be a wet blanket of a team either way. The goal, of course, is to not be that team. And the Mets haven't. And when a team does fall to pieces, we wouldn't have this argument for them to deliberately tank. Because last place has consequences, which actually leads to exciting, consequential play for losing clubs toward the end of the season, and sustained fan interest, where now there is torment and boredom in September.

Well, there wouldn't be a few years of that. A first place team in Division 2 — which you speculate would draw less interest than a last place team in Division 1, though I don't think the evidence supports that, but OK — would immediate return to the first division, and not remain in Division 2 at all.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Edgy MD wrote: One way out of that spot is to celebrate that you have a several internal options at third if and when Wright can't answer the bell, and recruit elsewherez. How's that been working for us? Third is not the particularly the team's problem. And they have a lot of guys.

There's an incredible stat out there — like the Reyes Run, only moreso — measuring the number of times a player has stolen second, third, and home in succession in one trip around the bases. When I read about this, I was shocked that it had actually happened more than once or twice in baseball history. The writer said that Ty Cobb was believed to be the all-time leader in this un-named statistic, but when researchers dug deeply, they found more occurrences of it achieved by Honus Wagner. Once i read about it, I had to see if I could pull one off, and when I went up against a team in Out-of-the-Park with that had injured both of their catchers the previous day, and was starting Kenny Lofton behind the plate. I was attempting it with Carlos Beltran. To get in the spirit of the thing, I started off with a bunt. It went down the first base line and Lofton fielded it but ate the ball. Beltran stole second on the first pitch, couldn't get a jump on the second pitch, and raced for third on the third pitch. Lofton threw it into left field and Beltran jogged home. I tried to have my guys steal the whole game, but I think they only got about five successful steals. But that was about as close as I imagine I'm ever going to get to seeing a Wagner Run.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure why the discussion of a promotion-relegation system automatically and always leads to the conclusion that the Mets are going to be relegated. And apparently forever. I'm just saying that IF the Mets were relegated, I'd be less inclined to pay close attention to them, especially if that Division 2 status lasted for several years. I see the game from a Mets standpoint. If the Colorado Rockies get relegated and never come back, I couldn't care less. Well, interest always wanes when teams are in last place, so that effect would be nothing new. Beyond that, perhaps some fans might like a team that is more likely to compete in a lower division than struggle in a higher one for a year or two. If they continue to stink, they continue to stink. That's baseball. Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure why the discussion of a promotion-relegation system automatically and always leads to the conclusion that the Mets are going to be relegated. And apparently forever. Are you... familiar with the Wilpons? I'm familiar with the reality that the Mets haven't come in fifth place in 14 years, and that was 2003, the first year of the Wilpons' ownership.

seawolf17 wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure why the discussion of a promotion-relegation system automatically and always leads to the conclusion that the Mets are going to be relegated. And apparently forever. Are you... familiar with the Wilpons? I'm familiar with the reality that the Mets haven't come in fifth place in 14 years, and that was 2003, the first year of the Wilpons' ownership.

I'm not sure why the discussion of a promotion-relegation system automatically and always leads to the conclusion that the Mets are going to be relegated. And apparently forever.

Eleven years ago today. [fimg=700:2degif9r]https://static01.nyt.com/images/2015/09/18/sports/Y-YANKEES-1/Y-YANKEES-1-master1050.jpg[/fimg:2degif9r]