Edgy MD

Gwreck wrote: You make some good points but there are several that I will take umbrage with: Reyes was never that good before. Reyes WAR: 2006: 5.9 2007: 5.4 2008: 5.3 2011: 5.8 Without disputing WAR, I'm specifically referring to the player he was the first half of 2011 there. Gwreck wrote: Reyes is a player who derives a large percentage of his value from his legs, yet he has frequently hurt his legs. Games Played: 2005: 161 2006: 153 2007: 160 2008: 159 2010: 133 2011: 126 Which I think reasonably demonstrates the two most recent seasons curtailed by injuries that makes one wary of giving a 6-7 year commitment. Don't you think? Gwreck wrote: David Wright has pants made of sugar. Jose Reyes was the most exciting player the franchise has had in 20 years, if not more. Well, I'm really speaking to his overt image-consciousness, which makes working with him easier on a GM. He's boring in this regard, but less stressful to be around. He's a good corporate citizen. Gwreck wrote: A declining shortstop is a more fearsome thing than a declining thirdbaseman, in general. Assuming you leave him at shortstop and don't move him to another position. This also deteriorates his value. Gwreck wrote: Reyes was never such a good player and it was easy to see his excellence last year as a particularly good year by a good player See WAR table above. Without, again, directly disputing the meaning of WAR, the notion that he matched his very best prior season of 2006, despite playing 27 fewer games, I think, leads me to hold my point. Reyes was never that good. And I think Sandy went forward in consciousness that his level of play in the first half of 2011 would be hard to sustain through a large portion of his contract. Your points otherwise are acknowledge on those I didn't answer, and my enthusiasm is duly tempered on those I did answer. I still say that the situations are very different, and Alderson's attitude appears very different.

attgig wrote: Their offense could match their pitching at that point...and they may be scary good. Let's pass them now to be safe.

They thanked Francessa for his incisive scouting report.

Looks like a tough day coming for Yogi Lutz.

Oh, certainly. Schwinstone is pitching for his life. I'm willing to write off the Coors start to the Coors factor if he's willing to isolate it in his performance. Another offensive park in Houston, but show me something. Hefner has certainly done a better job of capturing my imagination --- an all-important measurement of success.

Right. He becomes the infiediest once they add Torres, I think.

Injuries suck. They've undermined many a recent season, so it certainly makes sense that we are constantly conscious of them. But I'm not so sure this team is any more vulnerable to them than most. Younger players get hurt less frequently, recover faster, and recover more fully, and these Mets are younger than most. Meanstwhile, the Phillies await the return of their two best hitters, and wonder where Utley is going to play, because they don't think he'll come back with the range to play second, and they're waiting for Howard to play first. Poorly. Meanwhile, Buffalo is 14-10, so there must be some dudes who can help down there. Mike Baxter has gone from being an embarrassing load at the end of the bench to being Rusty Staub's little brother. Washington has played their ace in Bryce Harper, but our aces (particularly Harvey) remain in the hole. Nice. The longer Schwinnie, Hefner, Young, et al. can keep us from having to play that ace, the better, so that's certainly something to watch.

Hey! We get back our opening day centerfielder in time for tomorrow's opener in Houston! He's a legend of six innings. Who are you going to send down? You're not going to release somebody, are you? A DFI? What a jerk!

My thinking is that young teams get better as the season progresses, and Terry has the team grinding hard enough to keep at it even after they screw up, instead of drowning in despondency. (They're a team of Daniel Murphys in this regard.) He did last year, too. And it's a real contrast with Doghouse Manuel, from my perspective.

It's amazing to me how much aggression is permitted to fester in ballparks before staff intervene. With concrete floors ready to crack skulls open, iron rails and armrests ready to break spines over, and bleacher overhangs inviting you to plummet to your death, it's just outrageous to look the other way at ballpark violence. It would help if some those Cellphone Scorsceses would stop recording and call security. My last time in Yankee Stadium was... my last time in Yankee Stadium. I tried to intervene in a fan-on-fan thing and it got all pear-shaped really fast.

You don't have to necessarily fault him to a large extent, but him making that play on top of spurning the Mets at mid-season kind of takes some of the pressure off of Alderson, which is a contrast with Wright's situation now, though it came in the second half.

Believe it. And not just because it's the only article of faith for Met fans. Really, things certainly could fall apart in the next two months, but as the season progresses, they have a good chance to get better, not worse.

Under a pretense? I think we're chasing a red herring in a new direction here.

For all we know, Alderson was obsessing over re-signing Reyes. But yes, it was very very different. Let me name twenty levels off the top of my head in which it was very very different. Reyes was never that good before. Wright has oft been this good. Reyes is a player who derives a large percentage of his value from his legs, yet he has frequently hurt his legs. Reyes is a player who derives a large percentage of his value from his legs, and therefore is a greater risk as he grows older. Alderson started his job with one year left of control over Reyes, but three years left of control over Wright, therefore allowing him to be more intentional, rather than reactionary, over the Wright situation. Reyes, while seemingly like a sweetheart, has demonstrated a penchant for self-centeredness and disengagement when he's unhappy. Reyes spent the majority of the second half hurt season. While Reyes was hurt, his potential replacement performed very well. (.360 OBP!) We have no such data to be so optimistic about Zack Lutz or any potential replacement for Wright. His potential replacement was only 21 and as cheap as a used muffler. Reyes made clear by his second half last year that he was protecting his health by playing a diminished level of aggression to protect his marketability. Wright, by contrast, is playing with a broken pinky --- a re-injury of which could undermine the his option. Alderson operated the team last year with no real picture of the organization's financial outlook in the coming seasons, making it very hard to responsibly assess the viability of a long-term contract for Reyes. A piece of the team was on the market last year, putting great pressure on the management of the team to demonstrate controlled costs. David Wright has pants made of sugar. A bat in the middle of your lineup is more valuable than a leadoff hitter, in general. A declining shortstop is a more fearsome thing than a declining thirdbaseman, in general. The focus in public last year was on the limits of the team's ability to make moves based on the Wilpons' situation. With the lawsuit behind him and the team playing well, Alderson now will be judged for himself, rather than as the Wilpons' fall guy. Wright's productivity now reinforces his ability to sell himself as the MVP candidate he was 2005-2008. Reyes was never such a good player and it was easy to see his excellence last year as a particularly good year by a good player rather than a maintainable level by a Hall-of-Fame candidate. Alderson knows the value of on-base percentage. Wright's career OBP is .382, .081 above his batting average. This year, it's a league-leading .506, .109 above his batting average. Reyes had a career OBP of .340, .050 above his batting average. Last year, it was .384, .047 above his batting average. Reyes and his agent rejected Sandy Alderson's overtures to negotiate at mid-season, really allowing him to psychologically plan for a post-Reyes future. That's not where he's at. Alderson knows that Wright will only look better with more reachable walls. The lights are on at CitiField right now. Folks are enjoying a good run after a season of gloom. Alderson knows that losing Wright would compound the disappointment of losing Reyes, and solidify all the conspiracy theories of management bad faith that were proliferated last season. Signing Wright would dispel ever last one of them. Alderson would be crowned prince --- savior of a franchise. Oops, I reached 21. Overshot my target. Cross out whichever one you don't like. It's very very different.

It was different on many many levels.

Ceetar wrote: well, he didn't obsess over locking Reyes up, who practically got a hit in every two games he played it seemed like. The situation was different at many, many levels.

smg58 wrote: They still have Rhiner Cruz, who they took from us in the Rule V Draft. He has a 2.08 ERA after 8.2 innings -- not bad for a guy who hadn't pitched above A-ball -- but he's dealing with an ankle injury at the moment. It seems like a good way to grab a guy through the Rule V draft if he'll cooperate. Give him 10 innings in April, diagnose him with an ankle sprain and put him on the DL most of the rest of the season, bringing him back in September. He gets a big-league salary, and he can play in AAA the next season. If you're worried his talent is stagnating during the fake injury period, send him to Korea to play under a fake name.

I think metsguy broke his exclamation point key by the end there. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Ask Edgy, Lunch Jr. puking on you is no fun. Promise me we'll never speak of this again.

David Wright was on base five times yesterday, in the middle of every rally, and he was playing with a broken finger. He's making a move right now to carry this team like few guys in the history of the franchise have. Even as they gave back the game in two consecutive innings, the team didn't grow demoralized. I'd be surprised if Alderson isn't obsessing right now over how to lock Wright up.

Zack Wheeler, baby.

Reese Havens was finally activated for Binghamton. He ended up homering on the first pitch he saw this season and adding two more hits in Bingo's 7-1 win over Erie. ZacK Wheeler walks off with his first AA victory. Seriously, I gotta be optimistic. Sand Gnats win 9-3 over Lexington behind a dominating performance by Marcos Camarena and an offense putting up 12 hits. Saintly Mets win 5-1 over Ft Myers behind a dominating performance by Gonzalez German and an offense putting up 11 hits. B-Mets win 7-1 over Erie behind a dominating performance by [crossout]Dylan Owen[/crossout] Zack Wheeler and an offense putting up 14 hits. Plus Reese Havens returns in triumph. Bisons win 8-2 over Rochester behind a dominating performance by Dylan Owen and an offense putting up 14 hits. Mets win 6-5 over Colorado, behind a dominating (if abbreviated) performance by Johan Santana and an offense putting up 18 hits. Plus, nobody can get David Wright out. I don't know how often an organization sweeps a day, but I've got to like the way today played out, aside from one swing by Helton.

Frayed Knot wrote: * Paul Konerko now has over 400 career HRs. I wouldn't have known that. I wouldn't have known he was still active.

Don't know how or when Atlanta snuck in there. I guess it has something to do with sweeping the Mets. EastWLPCTGBNGBL10AwayHomeAwayAtlanta148.636----7-3W17-27-6=#FF0000]Washington148.636----5-5L48-26-6=#0000FF]NY Mets139.5911.02.06-4W28-55-4=#BF0000]Philadelphia1012.45511.03.55-5L14-56-7=#FF4000]Miami813.3815.517.03-7L16-42-9

Game. Wright 3.66 Santana 1.72 Parnell 0.95 Batista 0.75 Davis 0.72 Baxter 0.70 Ramirez 0.70 Nieuwenhuis 0.57 Tejada 0.22 Valdespin 0.02

TransMonk wrote: How many times do we have to win this game? One is cool.