Ceetar

Benjamin Grimm wrote: They'd move him to free up millions of dollars, not because of the player they'd get back. yeah, but that's conspiracy theory stuff and hard to predict/guess/know what they're thinking/planning. So I'll stick to the baseball viewpoint.

They're not moving Santana. The return they'd get is practically nothing, and you can never have too much starting pitching. particularly top of the line pitching. Harvey and Wheeler are still closer to pipedreams than mainstays in the 2013 or 2014 rotation.

pitch 'em in Bobby. wait, maybe not that much in.

G-Fafif wrote: Harper ain't God, man. Not yet anyway. Howie: "Harper now out of the game, which is always a comforting thought." always? its' been like two months.

Nymr83 wrote: how many pitchers does it take to hold a 6 run lead??? if you don't get outs, Terry has no rope for you.

TransMonk wrote: On pace to set the record around 09/01/12, which is too fast for me. For selfish reasons, I want him to be breaking it two weeks later while he (and I) are in Milwaukee. as long as he breaks it before 9/13 or I won't even see it.

I was in a meeting, did they just blow Dickey's QS?

There were a lot of times in 2007 and 2008 when the Mets needed to close out a series sweep to really build a comfort zone in case they struggled a bit down the stretch and didn't do it. Hopefully this is similar, just in reverse.

Vic Sage wrote: Roughly anyone can do this though, you just swing earlier and earlier, until your swing coincides with the pitch crossing the plate. Then you do this a bazillion times until you've got the timing down. yeah, that's just not true. i remember in college, taking batting practice with a friend on the baseball team, just for laughs. But it wasn't funny. And i've tried hitting fastballs in batting cages, where it came in at 70mph. couldn't touch it. Knew where and when it was coming, put in alot of tokens, never even fouled it off. You may be a better player than i (i have no doubt of it), but i did grow up playing little league ball and played HS intramural softball, so i know which end of the bat to use. and i was completely overmatched. I could practice for the rest of my life and not hit a professional fastball. Maybe you could, but i doubt "roughly anyone" could. The hand/eye coordination and reflexes necessary are of a particularly high order, and the best hitters on the planet still fail the vast majority of the time. As far as i'm concerned, its the single hardest thing to do in sports. I think you COULD hit those fastballs, with a month of regular BP. Maybe not well. But eventually you'd time it. It's not reflexes, it's simply starting a split second earlier until you train yourself to swing at the right time. You might not do much more than foul them off, but I think you'd get there. As for me..I dunno, I've barely done anything athletic in years. went to the Batting cage a couple of months ago for fun, and I could hit the 60mph ones..but that's not much. I've always been felt I had decent athletic ability with perhaps a low ceiling, but who knows. It'd be fun to try though. I miss sports. I should find an adult baseball league or something.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: In the meantime, why not bring up Fred Lewis (currently MURDERING righties in Buffalo) and let Nieuwenhuis get his head straight? Torres can split time with 'Spin in center, no? Satin for Turner while we're at it.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: I don't necessarily buy Tejada as a high-average guy. But a durable high-OBP guy with decent defense? That's a guy who signs for $8-10M a year on the open market. That's a guy you can pencil into your starting lineup (and leadoff slot) for a half-decade, at least. He's had hot stretches before, and tailed off too. Let's see where he finishes. and durable? well..we'll see. This year, not so much. I think all of Duda, Murphy, Tejada, Thole, Davis are on some sort of audition this season. If they were all, or most, for real, the Mets could definitely make the playoffs. But Alderson will have to make some upgrade decisions somewhere.

well, barring a sudden change in heart on Harvey, we're down to 6 relievers as I can't imagine they'll use Batista again now before his start. So someone will join the club. A MI (probably) is going to get the axe.

I have no doubt, given a month to practice, that I could "make contact" with a straight 95mph fastball that I knew was coming and was down the center of the plate. as in, I could put the bat in front of it, maybe even flick it into left field. Roughly anyone can do this though, you just swing earlier and earlier, until your swing coincides with the pitch crossing the plate. Then you do this a bazillion times until you've got the timing down. That's the 'easy' part. Now if the pitcher stops throwing on the same plane, and starts using a random part of the strike zone, you're probably doomed. Maybe you've got above average reaction time, and can adjust if the pitch is in your hot zone. i.e., you can hit the ball if he moves it from the center of the plate to inside and down. So maybe you can hit it in 2 of the 9 zones. real hitters, even bad ones, can at least 'hit' the ball in all 9. (otherwise they won't last past the first scouting report) The next step is of course different pitches. You might get really good at timing that 95 mph fastball. Then suddenly the pitcher throws a 85 mph changeup and you swing so hard and so early that you fall over. This is the part that I think would fool 99% of the random guys off the street. This is the part that takes years of progression through the minors and repetition to really recognize pitches and learning NOT to swing. I still think it'd be fascinating to watch people try to do it.

For random fun when you're in Manhattan: On 108 Rivington Street on the Lower East Side is a store called Economy Candy. Step inside and it's as if you've entered a time warp to an old-style candy store. They have EVERYTHING, including the types of candy you thought disappeared 40 years ago. One of the things they have is a big bin of unopened baseball card packs, mostly from 1988 through 1991. They sell for a buck apiece. It's worth it just to see how hard a stick of bubble gum can get in 24 years. And hey! Wally Whitehurst! This is a fun store. I've found similar packs at an A&P around here. got a stick of that gum on my desk.

Edgy DC wrote: Personally, I'd rather play baseball against pros of any level. The raw speed of a real basketball player would strip most of us of the ball as soon as we put down our first dribble. The raw power of even the worst football players... well, I don't want to be the ball carrier. There'd be something humbling about watching a handful of 30 something cocky guys (or girls) practicing and working with stars, hitting the ball against each other and then at the end of the season getting completely humiliated by 19 year old unpolished A-ballers. I think it could be a decent MLB Network Spring Training filler. It's an interesting dynamic though. Just because you're athletic doesn't mean you're an athlete. Plenty of people with good hand-eye coordination go on to be doctors, or programmers, or baristas. So if you gave them the same Spring Training the pros get, with all the reps and practice and swings, maybe some _would_ be able to put bat on ball.

Ceetar wrote: their bullpen has been just as bad too. It's really been the offense this week. Actually they've given up more runs. 7 in 6 innings whereas the Mets only gave up 6 in 5.2.

just ugh. well, they're digging this hole really deep now. their bullpen has been just as bad too. It's really been the offense this week.

Ashie62 wrote: Bryce Harper the new Chipper Jones pain in the ass... I'll give him at least a half season before I compare him to a future Hall of Famer (barring random drug revelations)

long, hard flyout for Duda. good AB at least..

Edgy DC wrote: You don't want to miss t-shirt night against the Dodgers. First 20,000 get a Dodgers t-shirt. HAH! Duda digging in. Sore hammy. Collins sez he's not running any slower than usual. I believe it's a really crappy Subway shirt actually. I get a truck on Monday though!

I think the better case is Kirk, but if Jason Bay has any chance (and I know most don't believe he has a chance) at getting going, you figure it's with some regular reps to start at least. timing wise.

Edgy DC wrote: LaRoche grounds to first. Zippos after one. I can do this all night. Edgy "Gameday" DC?

bmfc1 wrote: Adam Rubin ?@AdamRubinESPN TC said he needs to maximize outfield defense w/ Chris Young pitching, hence Bay, not Valdespin. TC said he'll still "mix and match with Bay That makes sense but Duda is out there. Terry said on his WFAN interview that he wanted Bay out there because Valdespin's an infielder and with Young and a lot of fly balls he wanted the experience. Duda's not great for sure, but he's the 'regular' and is vastly experienced as compared to Jordany.

Some random bullpen stats I crunched today. Manny Acosta, with 33 runs allowed, is still tops in the National League among pitchers with no starts. Heath Bell is second with 28. The non-Acosta relievers are pitching to a 3.77 ERA. The bullpen with Manny Acosta in it was posting a 5.54 ERA. Since the last time he appeared in a game, the Mets bullpen has posted a 4.07 ERA. League average is 3.85.

Nymr83 wrote: 7 walks in 39 plate appearences is nice! Predictions on how long before they cut the cord here? I'll say 115 plate appearences with 80 K's. without digging, I suspect this may have been a filler signing anyway. Especially if he's a football guy primarily. Gotta have people manning the positions.. I've always thought an awesome idea for a reality show would be to get some retired players together to coach a bunch of average guys say 25-35 and then play them in some exhibition games against some professionals (I suspect 'professionals' means like the Brooklyn Cyclones, if not lower.) See what it takes to really play professional ball.