Fman99

Boston Herald is reporting that the BoSox and Mike Lowell are close to a 3 year 38 million dollar deal. No real surprise there.

I think the ChiSox get the better end of this deal... The White Sox and Angels completed a major trade Monday, with Chicago acquiring gold glove shortstop Orlando Cabrera in exchange for right-handed starting pitcher Jon Garland. Cabrera, 33, enjoyed a career year in 2007 for the Angels, batting .301 with 35 doubles, 8 home runs and 86 RBIs. He also scored a career-best 101 runs in 155 games. Cabrera earned his second Gold Glove award in 2007. He also had 20 stolen bases in 2007, his fifth year of 20 or more steals in his career. The 28-year-old Garland was 10-13 last season with a 4.23 ERA in 208 1/3 innings pitched. He had two complete games in his 32 starts. He is 92-81 in his major league career.

Good riddance. I will remember him as the guy who choked away September 2007 along with half his teammates. Buh-bye Tom.

Next up is Arkansas. Of the 148 MLB players to be born in Arkansas there are quite a few notable names. On the hitting side: Lou Brock Pat Burrell Willie Davis Torii Hunter Travis Jackson (Hall of Famer who I had never heard of) George Kell (HOF) Kevin McReynolds Rick Monday Brooks Robinson (HOF) Arky Vaughn (another HOF'er) Looking at the pitchers, another few names jump out at me. Dizzy and Paul Dean AJ Burnett Ryan Franklin Preacher Roe Johnny Sain Lou Warneke (won 192 games and had the great nickname "The Arkansas Hummingbird") Mets from Arkansas include Wes Gardner, Jeff McKnight, Kevin Lomon, Ellis Valentine, McReynolds, Sammy Drake, Tom McCraw and Jesse Gonder. Best hitter: Lou Brock Best pitcher: Dizzy Dean Best Met: McReynolds

Next up is Oregon. There have been 115 MLB players born in the Beaver State (snicker). Recent players and notables include: Danny Ainge Scott Brosius Jacoby Ellsbury Scott Hatteberg Brian Hunter John Jaha Dave Kingman Dale Murphy Johnny Pesky Richie Sexson Harold Reynolds Aaron Rowand The list of pitchers is less elite and includes just one player who won more than 122 games, that player being Mickey Lolich. Best pitcher: Lolich Best player: Open to debate between Kingman and Murphy, but Murphy had the better overall numbers and won back to back MVP awards. Notable Mets include Lolich, Kingman and Wally Backman.

I think I'll take Nebraska. Of the 102 MLB'ers in history to hail from this state there are quite a few names of note. Hall of Famers include Richie Ashburn, deadball star Sam Crawford (2961 career hits) and chicken-eating dork Wade Boggs. I put Boggs up there as the best of the position players. The two pitchers that jump off the page for Nebraska are Grover Cleveland Alexander (373 career wins) and Bob Gibson. I'll ignore contemporary bias and pick Alexander here, who might've won 400 games had he not missed a season and a half due to WWI. Notable Mets from NE include a late-career Ashburn and Todd Pratt.

martin wrote: maybe the mets realized they are gonna get a better year from starting castro and are now searching for his backup. I would love to see him get a shot at 400 ABs in a Mets uniform.

I'll throw one out there as it's a short list for Wyoming. Twelve players in MLB history have hailed from this state. The best pitcher ever who was born in Wyoming was Tom Browning, a 20 Game winner who pitched a perfect game in 1998, won a WS game in 1990 and was an All-Star in 1991. Career record of 123-90 with a 3.94 ERA. Honorable mention to Dick Ellsworth who had a career record of 115-137 for a number of MLB teams between 1958 and 1971. For position players this is a pretty weak list. The two names that stand out are Mike Devereaux, who played OF for a number of teams between 1987 and 1998, and Mike Lansing, infielder for the Expos, Rockies and Red Sox in the 1990s and early 2000s. Lansing hit for the cycle as a member of the Rockies and Deveraux was the 1995 ALCS MVP for Atlanta. Best individual season: Deveraux - 1992 (.276/24/107, 10 SBs, 7th in MVP voting) Lansing - 1997 (.281/20/70) I give the edge to Mike Devereaux for the postseason hardware and overall better numbers. None of the 12 Wyoming natives ever donned a Mets uniform.

metsguyinmichigan wrote: That would be Mr. Huskey, I believe! That would make him more of a BH than a DH, though, in keeping with the previous posts. You are correct, sir.

On 6/16/97, who became the first DH for the Mets in a regular season game?

metirish wrote: There certainly is concern about having star players for when they move into the new ball park, seems to be a line of thinking when it comes to trades, I might mention Art Howe very soon. At least you're battling.

martin wrote: he did reveal a new batting average last year, .285 torrealba hit .255 last year and his career average is .251 i can see castro staying a backup behind an all-star, but torrealba? i think castro has earned a shot. I agree. However Torreabla may be the greatest player in the history of MLB whose name was "Yorvit." Better than ol' Yorvit Uhmelmuhhay of the '33 Giants, that's right.

vtmet wrote: I will never get the fascination with every single Oakland A's pitcher...they all get such a reputation like they are some sort of savior, yet outside of winning in a lousy division, what have any of the Billy Beanie Boys done to show that they are elite pitchers? What would John Maine do as an A? If Maine started out as an A instead of an O, Met fans/media would be selling the farm to trade for him...I'm not saying that Haren or Blanton or Zito or Mulder or Hudson or Izzy or Dotel or Billy Taylor aren't/weren't good pitchers as A's, but the hype behind them exceeds/exceeded their actual placement in the overall pitching foodchain...and how much does Oakland Colliseum (or whatever it is called) help the pitchers as well? Ugh. I read "Billy Taylor" and felt a sharp pain in my abdomen.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I would have liked him on a two-year deal but at his age four is way too many years. Agreed. Assuming he goes back to hitting .270 instead of the .338 or so he put up this year, you move the typical Posada .270/20/85 numbers to 1B or DH and he's just league average. Plus who knows how well his glove holds up over the long term at 1B. I am relieved that we won't be paying a 40 year old guy $13 mil to be our catcher come 2011 (hopefully).

ESPN reporting during the MNF game. Thank God.

Mex17 wrote: Jokes about he name aside, I really like the idea of signing this guy. I think that it is always a gamble when you sign a guy out of Japan, but the gambles are worth taking sometimes. We have gotten stuck with the Kaz Matsui's, Shinjo's, and Komiyama's, but other teams have come away with Hideki Matsui's and Ichiro's!! 15-20 HR's, 30-40 2B's, .280-.290 AVG., .380-.400 OBP., Lefty Bat, Good Speed, Defense and an Arm in RF. . .that is (hopefully) the upside. Not to mention his presence would make it easier to package Milledge in a trade for a top notch starter. A multi-year contract to him would also buy time for Fernando Martinez to develop. Slightly off topic... I swear to God that at a game at Shea this past September I saw a guy wearing a Mets shirt with Komiyama's name and number on the back. It was the damndest thing.

Wright (and Reyes for that matter) should not be moved under any circumstances. This is welcome news to me should it be more than lip service. I am fine with A-Rod at 2B or even at 1B with Delgado moved in a salary dump. Although I still rather see them investing in pitching.

Wasn't he one of the two twins that Austin Powers wanted to nail in the 3rd movie?

I've been being Tony Tarasco and the whole time I keep thinking about how I let that dopey Jeffrey Meier kid grab that home run ball over my head in the 1996 ALCS.

soupcan wrote: He says the same things we were saying and he has a valid point HOWEVER he's a douchebag for saying it because of who he is and because of the attention HIS comments will get. If nothing else it shows a huge lack of respect for his colleague. That was basically my point, though I didn't articulate it well. It's more fun to just call Larry Jones names because of who he is, I guess.

This thread is hi-larious.

Valadius wrote: Larry Jones, Jackass: ]Chipper Jones can't believe Wright won Gold Glove Sunday, Nov 11, 2007 8:00 am EST A report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this week said that Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones can't figure out how David Wright of the New York Mets won the NL Gold Glove. "When I find out [Wright won] I was speechless, for quite some time," Jones said. "Certainly the guys with the least amount of errors and best fielding percentage quite obviously didn't win it." The report also quoted Jones as saying, "I wouldn't have been disappointed had someone like [Pedro] Feliz or [Aramis] Ramirez won it. I'm a little confused by the final tally, that's a head-scratcher for me." Wright told The New York Post: "I don't take anything he says to heart. Obviously I think I can be better defensively. But I have a Gold Glove, and that's the bottom line, and that's something I'm very proud of, and I feel like I'm getting better and better defensively, and obviously managers and coaches have seen that." Source: New York Post I don't like to use profanity, or be rude or whatever, but ol' stupid Chipper Jones is a whiny little bitch.

Valadius wrote: J.C. Romero re-signs with the Phillies for three years, $12 million. He's rich, I tell ya. Schoewenweis rich! These three year, 8-figure deals for relievers never cease to amaze me. Don't 2/3 of these guys regress from one year to the next?

metsguyinmichigan wrote: The Stay Puft guy actually looks more svelte than Ray King does! I liked the episode where Ray King, Bill, Rudy, Mushmouth, Dumb Donald and the rest of the gang found the wallet and had to decide if they should keep the money or turn it in.

Aw my adopted prospect Dylan Owen didn't make the list.