Edgy MD

I'm completely disinterested in Super Bowl commercials. It doesn't mean I don't think it's worthwhile to share with my friends and colleagues, on occasion, my (to my mind, perfectly rational) notion that they're a complete waste of time and brain matter. Long as I, you know, don't become a crank about it. If it was inappropriate to let people know those cultural forces you reject and why, what would Frayed Knot talk about?

I'm clearly just keeping score with the work in progress, not filing a review.

Well, that's a worthwhile comment. His position that it's a waste of time (I'm not so sure it is, or should be, at least) should be heard by those of us wasting our time.

Yeah, but I disagree that "it didn't really hurt us, it didn't help the Giants enough...." Beltran gave them everything they could have hoped for. The one who didn't help them enough was, well, Andres Torres. Difference maker? Unfortunately, no. I am optimistic the trade will work out for us, but at this juncture, the Giants have banked their money while the Mets still have their chips on the table.

Tim Byrdak. Duh.

I spoke to soon. Joining us now is Susan Waldman plotzing majestically all over the control board. Yeah, there's certainly a possibility that the Mets have an underwhelming delegation for a host organization, and/or that Yankees are celebrated, but let us not be guided by timidity in the face of insult.

smg58 wrote: It's too early to assess the wins and losses from this offseason. Personally I don't think Reyes will be worth his contract, and I'm fairly certain that Capuano won't. Yeah, I stayed away from that. I hope this thread can. smg58 wrote: A few of the "losses" were of negligible cost. (Mike Antonini has a chance of giving the Dodgers more than the Mets got from Hu, mainly because Hu gave the Mets nothing, but he wasn't a mystery to AA hitters for the third straight year.) When you throw a bunch of cheap gambles on the wall, it only takes one or two of them to stick to be a net win. I think I tried to speak to all of this. smg58 wrote: I'd put the Beltran-for-Wheeler deal as a solid win right now because it didn't really hurt us, it didn't help the Giants enough, and the long-term upside is huge. I don't know about enough. It's never enough, except perhaps for one team. We haven't got gotten anything yet but six good starts in St. Lucie. The Giants got 1.0 WAR. I'm trying to stay away from speculation, but there's value in what Wheeler is right now. It should eventually move to the solid, but as it is now, Met fans missed out on Beltran's last 54 hits, including seven homers. I hate to think value doesn't matter if it doesn't get you in World Series.

Ceetar wrote: I could nitpick some of it I guess. I think guys like Boyer and drafting Emaus were more modest losses. Capuano too. Barely cost anything. As I try to make clear, while they may be "modest" as volume of impact, I'm trying to rate them as far as the clarity of the success or failure of the deal. And they were unambiguous failures, if not enormous disasters. The only thing that keeps the Hu deal from being more unambiguous is that Antonini could make it worse by someday providing some productivity to the Dodgers, or even somehow make it better by getting the bigs and sucking even more power from a roster spot than Hu did. That's unlikely.

Unless I'm misreading this, they say he gave them seven bucks of production for one and half bucks of salary.

Was Capuano really a "solid win"? He was barely WARring above Pelfrey. Yabbut far cheaper than Pelfrey. For $9.95 plus shipping, he held down a rotation slot all year. But we can certainly toss that into the modest win pile. (Fangraphs has a dollar number for what a point of WAR is worth, right?)

What I didn't include is the decisions on players he retained at arbitration time in the 2010-2011 offseason. I guess those include Pelfrey (trending bad, but it's hard to say whether his 1.4 WAR wasn't almost kinda worth the $3,925,000 he got paid) and Pagan (ultimately bad, but at least good enough to traded for Torres and whatshisface).

Obviously, the player-by-player score doesn't matter so much as winning big and losing small, but this is one way to look at it --- sort of like looking at batting average instead of OPS. Signing Jason Isringhausen, for instance, is a solid win for the money --- an unambiguous base hit --- if certainly nobody's idea of a homerun. Obviously, some of these can switch columns going forward. Looks to Be a Solid LossLooks to Be a Modest LossLooks to Be a Modest WinLooks to Be a Solid WinLetting Hisanori Takahashi WalkSigning DJ CarrascoSigning Ronny PaulinoDrafting Brad EmausSigning Taylor BuchholzSigning Blaine Boyer Mike Antonini for Chin-lung HuLetting Henry Blanco WalkSigning Willie HarrisTrading Francisco Rodriguez for Danny Herrera and Adrian Rosario Letting Raul Valdes WalkDrafting Pedro BeatoLetting Sean Green WalkSigning Chris YoungSigning Scott HairstonSigning Dale ThayerTrading Eddie Kunz for Allan DykstraClaiming Mike Baxter off of WaiversTrading Carlos Beltran for Zack Wheeler Letting Mike Hessman WalkExtending R.A. DickeyLetting Pedro Feliciano WalkSigning Chris CapuanoLetting Chris Carter WalkSigning Tim ByrdakSigning Jason IsringhausenLetting John Maine WalkReleasing Luis CastilloReleasing Oliver PerezSigning Miguel Batista I wasn't not sure how to judge the early returns on the Beltran and Rodriguez trades. Both players continued to perform well (for big money) after dealing them. But the bounty for Beltran immediately progressed and increased in equity, while the bounty for Rodriguez did not, and as ceetar will remind us, Rodriguez's arm was missed by the Mets, no matter where the team was going. So, while it could change, one went in the positive and one in the negative (even if getting out from under a vesting option was the primary goal of the Rodriguez deal).

themetfairy wrote: Big guy. Liked his PEDs. Ronnie and his 'roids remind me that --- like Castro and his stat rape case and Lo Duca and his partying and gambling --- it seems like someday the only way I'll be able to distinguish the righthanded-batting catchers of the post-Piazza era will by which skeleton they had in their respective closets.

Perhaps as impressive a Mets debut as has ever been seen. By a batter, anyhow. Peaked way early though. Signed away by Baltimore.

Looks like I spoke a little early about a spring training invite for Tuiasosopo, as none seems forthcoming. Terry seems to like to stay lean in the spring. Wimberley isn't in camp either, I think. Meanwhile, two free agents left. Signed Away By Baltimore To Minor League Contract And Invited To CampCatchers =#0000FF]9 Ronny Paulino DoB: 4/21/1988 Your Projected 2012 Mets (Orange Indicates Players Have Options) Starting Pitchers =#0000FF]43 R.A. Dickey DoB: 10/29/1974 =#FF8000]35 Dillon Gee DoB: 4/28/1986 =#0000FF]49 Jonathon Niese DoB: 10/27/1986 =#0000FF]34 Mike Pelfrey DoB: 1/14/1984 =#0000FF]57 Johan Santana DoB: 3/13/1979Relief Pitchers =#0000FF]46 Manny Acosta DoB: 5/1/1981 =#0000FF]40 Tim Byrdak DoB: 10/31/1973 =#0000FF]77 D.J. Carrasco DoB: 4/12/1977 =#FF8000]50 =#0000FF]Frank Francisco DoB:9/11/1979 =#0000FF]39 Bobby Parnell DoB: 9/8/1984Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders =#FF8000]52 =#0000FF]Ram�n Ram�rez DoB:8/31/1981 =#FF8000]60 =#0000FF]John Rauch DoB:9/27/1978 =#FF8000]13 Mike Nickeas DoB: 2/13/1983 =#0000FF]30 Josh Thole DoB: 4/28/1986 =#0000FF]4 Ronny Cedeno DoB: 2/2/1983 Infielders =#FF8000]29 Ike Davis DoB: 3/22/1987 =#0000FF]28 Daniel Murphy DoB: 4/1/1985 =#0000FF]11 Ruben Tejada DoB: 10/27/1989 =#0000FF]2 Justin Turner DoB: 11/23/1984 =#0000FF]5 David Wright DoB: 12/20/1982 Outfielders =#0000FF]44 Jason Bay DoB: 9/20/1978 =#FF8000]21 Lucas Duda DoB: 2/3/1986 =#0000FF]12 Scott Hairston DoB: 5/25/1980 =#FF8000]11 Kirk Nieuwenhuis DoB:8/7/1987 =#FF8000]56 =#0000FF]Andr�s Torres DoB:1/26/1978 Also on 40-Man Roster Starting Pitchers =#FF8000]50 =#0000FF]Robert Carson DoB:1/23/1989 =#FF8000]46 =#0000FF]Jeurys Familia DoB:10/10/1989 =#FF8000]47 =#0000FF]Jeremy Hefner DoB:3/11/1981 =#FF8000]32 Jennry Mejia DoB: 10/11/1989 =#FF8000]66 Armando Rodriguez DoB: 1/28/1988Starting PitchersRelief Pitchers Infielders =#FF8000]63 Chris Schwinden DoB: 9/22/1986 =#FF8000]27 Pedro Beato DoB: 10/27/1986 =#FF8000]64 Josh Stinson DoB: 3/14/1988 =#FF8000]1 =#0000FF]Wilmer Flores DoB:8/6/1991 =#FF8000]12 =#0000FF]Reese Havens DoB:10/20/1986InfieldersOutfielders =#FF8000]65 Zach Lutz DoB: 6/3/1986 =#FF8000]3 Josh Satin DoB: 12/23/1984 =#FF8000]62 Jordany Valdespin DoB: 12/23/1984 =#FF8000]13 =#0000FF]Juan Lagares DoB:3/17/1989 =#FF8000]22 =#0000FF]Cesar Puello DoB:4/1/1991 Also in Camp Starting PitchersRelief Pitchers =#0000FF]47 Miguel Batista DoB: 2/19/1971 =#FF8000]49 Matt Harvey DoB: 3/27/1989 =#FF8000]36 =#0000FF]Garrett Olson DoB: 10/18/1983 =#FF8000]53 =#0000FF]Fernando Cabrera DoB: 11/16/1981 =#0000FF]19 Danny Herrera DoB: 10/21/1984Relief Pitchers Catchers Infielders =#FF8000]44 =#0000FF]Chuck James DoB: 11/9/1981 =#FF8000]74 =#0000FF]Jeff Stevens DoB: 9/5/1983 =#0000FF]33 =#0000FF]Rob Johnson DoB: 7/22/1982 =#0000FF]22 =#0000FF]Lucas May DoB: 10/24/1984 =#0000FF]15 Val Pascucci DoB: 11/17/1978InfieldersOutfielders =#FF8000]6 =#0000FF]Omar Quintanilla DoB: 10/24/1981 =#FF8000]23 Mike Baxter DoB: 12/7/1984 =#FF8000]16 Matt den Dekker DoB: 8/10/1987 =#FF8000]39 =#0000FF]Adam Loewen DoB: 4/9/1984 =#FF8000]44 =#0000FF]Vinny Rottino DoB: 4/7/1980 Free Agents Starting PitchersRelief Pitchers =#0000FF]55 Chris Young DoB: 5/25/1979 =#0000FF]45 Jason Isringhausen DoB: 9/7/1972

It might have been a cool idea if, during one of the San Juan games, somebody organized a reunion of retired Puerto Rican Mets (active ones included below). Surely somebody could've lined up 10 of these guys. Manati Carlos Beltran Aguadilla Julio Valera, Carlos Delgado Arecibo Orlando Mercado Bayamon Dicky Gonzalez, Jesus Feliciano, Omir Santos Caguas Alex Cora Carolina Willie Collazo Catano Willie Montanez Cidra Luis Rivera, Luis Lopez Fajardo Jos� Santiago Humacao Junior Ortiz, Mario Diaz, Edwin Nu�ez, Raul Casanova Isabela Felix Mantilla Lajas Luis Alvarado, Robinson Cancel Manati Jos� Valentin Ponce Pepe Mangual, Gil Flores, Roberto Alomar, Ricky Ledee Rio Piedras Jos� Oquendo, Rey Sanchez, Tito Navarro, Pedro Feliciano, Juan Padilla, Angel Pagan, Ruben Gotay Salinas Sandy Alomar, Sandy Alomar Santurce Sergio Ferrer, Luis Rosado, Roberto Hernandez, Luis Alicea, Carlos Baerga, Raul Gonzalez Vega Baja Luis Aguayo, Ricky Otero, Ramon Castro Yabucoa Felix Millan, Jerry Morales Yauco Benny Ayala, Mario Ramirez

Ken Oberkfell's Escogido team wins the Dominican championship.

That's great! (Or bad. I'm not sure.) [youtube:1yt68he5]cqqHzKG2CCo[/youtube:1yt68he5]

In the early days of the baseball internet, there were arguments over who was the better of the top two batting prospects --- Pat the Bat vs. Nick the Stick --- both with the great OBP skills that were just starting to be so deeply underscored in prospects. The Burrell enthusiasts tended to come down on his side based on the notion that Johnson, despite having the more consistent contact --- was a bad bet to stay healthy when you looked at his HbP rate. Good call, that (though it's tough to connect his HbPs with snapping his femur while pursuing a popup).

Pat Burrell, reportedly. All-Time Homers Against the Mets Willie Stargell: 60 Mike Schmidt: 49 Willie McCovey: 48 Chipper Jones: 48 Hank Aaron: 45 Pat Burrell: 42 That's four unambiguous Hall-of-Famers, one future unabmiguous Hall-of-Famer, and Burrell. His wikipedia entry includes the word "Mets" 26 times!

AJC blogger thinks Mets fans are high-larious.

The CY I know is righthanded.

Sounds like a great meeting, outside of glimpsing a great Met's private torment. Yikes.

metirish wrote: [have you seen Jeff's kids? Now that's too much about irish's life.