Vic Sage

hicks has no upside and Dykstra does. this is stupid. Put him in Vegas, Sandy!

i need SOMETHING to root for this year, and as a SBU alum, its not like we've got a bunch of pro athlete alums to cheer for. It's this guy and Joe Nathan, and that's pretty much it for the history of the school.

lets go KOEH-ler! clap clap clapclapclap lets go KOEH-ler! clap clap clapclapclap

thank you. I'll take Grote (purely as a defensive catcher) over nearly anybody you could ever name. In his prime years, he was among the top in CS percentage, and he always was tops in most defensive metrics of the time. The Mets traded him to the Dodgers in `77, and they played the Yanks in the WS that year and the next. Grote didn't play much those 2 years (he was over the hill); he was just backing up steve yeager. But in the WS, he caught a game against the Yanks and i remember distinctly Grote pouncing on consecutive sacrifice bunt attempts so quickly that he got the lead runner at 3b both times. They didn't bother running or bunting thereafter. His last moment of glory. Bench only WISHES he could catch like Grote did. Of course, Grote wishes he could hit HALF AS WELL as Bench did.

that reminds me of the story (likely apocryphal) about Ty Cobb (I think, or some other legendary hitter), who was being interviewed near the end of his life, and was asked how he thought he'd hit against the current pitchers of that era, and he said "I'd probably hit .250." The reporter was shocked. ".250? Really? Is that all?" Cobb replied, "Well, I am 74."

This shows me (and thanks for doing the legwork) that the current OF is somewhere in close range of the 99-00 teams; slightly better than 2000 and slightly worse (or even) to 1999, depending on which numbers you use and how many OFers on each time you include. But i'll concede is probably slightly better overall, which, to put it in perspective, suggests that this OF is at least comparable to the OF that was considered the reason why those 99-00 playoff teams never make it over the hump, and is an OF generally criticized as being the anchor that dragged those good teams down. I hardly think the comparison to that OF is a ringing endorsement for this crew such that they are worthy of huzzahs from Sandy. Is this OF better than i thought they'd be? Sure, i didn't guess Byrd could have a career year at 35 (with a SLG 100 pts higher than his career numbers), or that we'd pick up EYoung mid-season for relatively cheap, or that Legares was ready to make a jump from AA. But even with all those nice surprises, they have not distinguished themselves as exceptional, but merely adequate, particularly when you consider all the unsuccessful ABs given to Valdy, Nieuenheis, Baxter, Ankiel, and Cowgill, not to mention Duda's adventures in LF. Most productive OF in baseball, Sandy? Just you keep selling that snake oil, fella.

At least LaValliere contributed by drawing walks. This guy better catch like Grote if he's ever going to stick in the majors.

i agree with the premise (not enough bench, not enough positional flexibility or LHed bats, too many relievers), if not necessarily with all the details. I agree that Quintanilla has faded after a good start. But to put things in perspective, as bad as he's hit lately, he still has an OPS over 100 pts higher than Tejada did before being sent down. And at least he doesn't play with his head up his ass, which is frankly not something children should be exposed to. That being said, we have absolutely no production at SS anywhere in our organization, so if Tejada has risen to his prior level of utter mediocrity, fine, bring him up and leave Omar on the bench for late-inning defensive subs when we are forced to (regularly) PH for Tejada late in games. I certainly don't want to see Turner in that position. When Duda comes back, send down Dipshit Davis and have either Satin or Brown back him up. Whoever isn't playing 1b will give us a decent bat off the bench, and Satin can back up at 2b and 3b, too. When D'Anaud is ready, bring him up and dump Recker. It's a ball club, not a singles bar. I don't need a wing man, i need a guy who can hit and catch. With Omar and Satin on the bench, we have no need for Turner, who is a good RHed PHer, but that's about it. He can play many positions, but all badly. What we need instead is 2 more OF bats, a LHer to spell Legares and Byrd and PH, and another to cover CF. I like Brown (a corner OFer with RHed power that can also back up 1b) and either Nieuhenhies, Baxter or (god forbid) Valdespin (LHed bats that can back up CF). I prefer Baxter, because of his demonstrable success as a PHer, and his all-out style of play, and Nieuenheis's propensity for missing the ball with his bat, and Valdy's propensity for being a complete asshole. Bench: C - Buck / D'anaud MI- Omar CI- Satin Rh OF - Brown * Lh OF - Baxter * [upon further consideration, with 2 RHed OFers and a SWH all starting, and with Satin and either Buck or D'anaud on the bench, we probably don't need another RHed OFer on the bench, so Brown could be swapped out for any of the other LHed OFers currently producing at AA-AAA (Nieuhy, Valdy, DenDekker] or they could leave Duda in the OF and give Dykstra a shot at 1b. Send down or cut: Atchison (for Baxter) Davis (when Duda comes up) Recker (when D'anaud comes up) Turner (when Tejada comes up) Mejia, German (when Niese comes back) This bench wouldn't be terrific, but it would be balanced and flexible, and give Terry better late-game options, and won't cost anything.

sounds like Mike LaValliere. Does he hit LHed too?

don't forget Benny the Jet Abayani, who was a gosh darn good hitter, and brian McRae, too, had 1 or 2 good years for us in that period. In fact, i'd venture a guess that the aggregate OPS of the 99-00 Mets outfielders (Henderson-Cedeno-Agbyani-Payton-McRae-Bell) was superior to that of our current aggregation of castoffs, has-beens, and kids.

G-Fafif wrote: Tonight's lineup: Mejia plus eight storylines only a smattering cares about. Notice Byrd is still in it. Young 7, Murphy 4, Wright 5, Byrd 9, Davis 3, Buck 2, Lagares 8, Quintanilla 6, Mejia 1 Will they please move Davis out of the middle of the order (or, preferably, out of the order entirely)? In any case, Buck and Lagares are both hot and productive right now... so drop Davis to 7th where he will be less likely to stop the offense. Oh, but i forget... Ike Davis is our "big power-hitting LHed 1Bman"! He must hit 5th, to break up those righties! But why not 4th, in that case? Howze about it Terry? He's got a sub-.300 SLG; surely you can move him up to the cleanup slot!

it's after 4pm -- no Mets trades i guess?

baseball v football, Carlin style: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmXacL0Uny0

There's a strange sweetness to this tale of over-the-hill agents taking on the agency trying to kill them. It's got humor and romance intertwined with the rising body count, not to mention some well-staged action sequences. I can see why this might not be everyone's cup of tea, but "deplorable"? It's better than average for what it is.

Edgy MD wrote: I think a four-man outfield that overexposes guys who are still developing is a bad thing, both for the team in the short-term and developing players in the long-term. I don't think having a fifth outfielder means the team is no longer seeing if Lagares can fill a need. Lagares had been getting plenty of time as it was. There's always enough work for a fifth outfielder (and really, Nieuwenhuis was the fourth) without marginalizing any of the main actors, and a short bench, without a lefty, and particularly short on power is a bad thing. This. I'd rather have Nieuenheis available than Atchison, for example.

i was being sarcastic (sort of)

freakin' wilpons... now its the bobbleheads going downhill.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I say we shoot him, THEN we trade him!!1!! i say we trade him, THEN we shoot him... likely to get slightly more in a trade that way.

seawolf17 wrote: Buck's first RBI since April 23. Buck has hit .300 since July 1. He's been in a good groove for 3 weeks now. which doesn't suck.

what happened to Young?

He was SD's 1st round pick in 2008, played 3 years in their system at A ball, without much success, then moved to the Mets. Now he's 26, playing his 3rd consecutive year at AA/ Binghamton, either having a breakout season or beating up on less experienced younger kids, depending on your viewpoint. But, hell, i'd give him a shot. The dude has got power.

Nothing against Dykstra, whose having a career minor league season, but it seems to me we already have a 1bman on the roster hitting .340. How about we just play him more?

and of course the dr he chose has been reprimanded by NJ board for his involvement with steroids. it just keeps getting better.

well, i'm going to have to donate a building or two to some ivy league schools just to get them admitted, so that might run into money.

while i agree with CF's post above, there are a few other factors to consider. If you are a slow-footed slugger and a major RBI guy in a lineup, and you're hitting 4th-7th with not a lot of lumber coming up behind you (not an uncommon lineup situation), then the bunt not only robs the team of an opportunity for an extra based hit, it's a strategy that, even if successful, leaves the RBI to be picked up by the weakest bats in the lineup, who'll have to hit XBH because of the slugger's lack of speed. So not only does the OBP on the bunt play have to be huge to make up for the loss of SLG, there have to be some SLG bats behind him to drive him in, to have it make any sense at all. Now in this case, Davis currently can't hit water when falling out of a boat, and he had hot hitters with power in Buck and Legares hitting behind him, so fair enough. But as a general strategy, i think it sucks, even when successful, which I think is considerably less often than we'd hope or imagine. A guy who may not have had to bunt for a hit since HS is just not going to have the technique to do it successfully with anything approaching the percentage necessary to justify it in the first place. As for its effect on the shift, I think it would be negligible due to the play's relatively high failure rate, BUT mostly due to the fact that THE OTHER TEAM WANTS YOUR HR HITTER TO BUNT! If your 30HR guy wants to swallow his bat, the other team will simply say "thank you sir, may i have another". Ike's problems aren't the "shift". Its the fact that he can't hit for shit, i think, that's having the more significant impact.