Ceetar

cooby wrote: You guys aren't very good guessers 'I'm kind of annoyed I can't remember. I'll guess Mike Pelfrey Strikeout, but I don't think that was it. It might have been a fly out to Ryan Church.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: It's Ken Boyer (2,143 hits, 192nd all time) Dunston (1,597 hits) ranks 494th all-time. Dunston had four more hits than Gregg Jefferies. I knew he was around a long time, but most of those 'around a long time' guys are before my time so I'm pretty crappy at figuring them out.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Extra credit: Who is the only Met in the top 20 (Lifetime MLB hits, played for the Mets) that wasn't guessed? 16. Hernandez 17. Berra 18. ????? 19. Alou, Moises 20. Piazza Shawon Dunston?

Ziele?

Carter (Gary, not Chris)

Carlos Beltran (My mistake is/was trying to guess the 15th guy for more points over teh gimmes. bah)

David Wright

Seem like decent enough signings. Wonder what Capuano's velocity was last year? I'm also surprised the Mets could get two guys signed to the point of press release without it being mass reported by the likes of Heyman. Suspect him to bash the signing because of it. The Mets wrote: FLUSHING, N.Y., January 3, 2011 � The New York Mets today announced that they have signed lefthanded pitcher Chris Capuano and righthanded pitcher Taylor Buchholz to one-year contracts. In order to make room on the 40-man roster, the Mets designated righthanded pitcher Ryota Igarashi for assignment. Capuano, 32, went 4-4 with a 3.95 ERA in 24 appearances last year with the Milwaukee Brewers. He was 3-3 with a 4.14 ERA (21 earned runs/45.2 innings) in nine starts and 1-1 with a 3.54 ERA (eight earned runs/20.1 innings) in 15 relief outings. Buchholz, 29, split last season between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Colorado Rockies, combining to go 1-0 with a 3.75 ERA (five earned runs/12.0 innings) in nine games out of the bullpen. He missed all of the 2009 season recovering from right elbow surgery Capuano, a former All-Star, began the 2010 season at Brevard County (A) of the Florida State League and went 2-0 with a 1.23 ERA (two earned runs/14.2 innings) in three contests. He went 1-1 with a 1.80 ERA (five earned runs/25.0 innings) in four starts with Nashville (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League before the Brewers selected his contract on May 29. Prior 2010, Capuano last pitched in a major league game on September 27, 2007. He underwent his second Tommy John surgery on May 15, 2008 and had his first Tommy John procedure on May 17, 2002. Dr. James Andrews performed both operations. The 6-2, 225-pounder is 46-52 with a 4.35 ERA in 148 career major league games, 125 starts. He was named to the 2006 National League All-Star team, going 11-12 with a 4.03 ERA (99 earned runs/221.1 innings). He was tied for the NL lead with 25 quality starts that year. The Springfield, Mass. native�s best season came in 2005 when he won 18 games and struck out 176 in 219.0 innings. Capuano graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Duke University in 2000 with a degree in economics Buchholz started the 2010 season on a rehabilitation assignment with Modesto (A) of the California League before the Rockies moved him to Colorado Springs (AAA) of the Pacific Coast League. The 6-4, 220-pounder was recalled to the big leagues on July 24, making his first appearance since 2008. He pitched in six more games before Toronto claimed him off waivers on September 9. Originally selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the sixth round of the 2000 First-Year Player Draft, Buchholz made his major league debut with the Houston Astros in 2006. He was traded to Colorado on Dec

themetfairy wrote: Aside from the fact that he was the Met most likely to sign autographs before games, I remember Pedro as being a very good sport about posing with Joey during spring training last February - I think we should start a "What's the weirdest thing you can get a Mets player to pose with" contest for Spring Training.

Heyman responding to people more often lately it seems. Having a debate with Megdal on twitter right now.

Heyman has been on an anti-Nats tirade for a while now, about how Grienke dissed them (I'm actually not sure if it's anti-Nats, or pro-Nats as a darkhorse 'good' team.) he seems to come out with new info all the time about how he didn't want to go there. (And I really thought I'd unfollowed Heyman. wonder if people are retweeting him too much.) Also, I'm pretty confident that Beltran would like nothing more than a contract extension and to stay with the Mets. And personally, I'd love it if he can have some sort of health "breakthrough" that would make it not a poor decision from the Mets side.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: 28-33 HRs, 10-15 steals at a nice rate, OPS approaching .900 (with .380 or so in OBP). Clear head. Almost-absurdly polite clubhouse demeanor. Do Terry Collins teams run? I wonder whether the Mets will see something of a downturn in SB numbers, if only because the light was so very green under both Willie and Jerry. Was the light so green with jerry? Obviously a lot of the numbers are off with Reyes out much of 2009, but I feel like they weren't running enough, or smart enough, with him. The team, particularly in 2006, was smart aggressive but felt reckless with jerry. (especially David Wright's success rate. I'm going to have to look more closely at these numbers when I have a moment) I remember a lot more dancing around on the bases too that sseemed to fall to the wayside. With Reyes and Pagan, and then Wright (if Castillo stays, he'd fit into the secondary tier as well) plus 'smart' base stealers in Bay and Beltran who won't steal 30 but will take advantage where they can, you'd have to think/hope that the Mets make use of that speed. I expect a good year out of Bay. I expect if he'd finished the season he would've finished stronger too, but coming to camp being comfortable and having a lot of that 'get t oknow you' stuff out of the way can't hurt can it?

Edgy DC wrote: Ceetar wrote: I think Pelfrey will have a similar year to last year, but a wee bit more consistent. (in that he won't have the horrible month). I expect Niese to be better, and specifically, I dont' expect him to hit a wall in September. I was very very skeptical of Dickey early on, but he kept suceeding all year and he's fully converted me. I do believe he's refined the knuckleball and will continue to be effective. That's fine (although it's hard to expect Dickey to sustain his sub-3.00-ERA act over 32 starts), but Pelfrey goes from 2010's opening-day number-two starter to 2011's number-one, and Dickey from number-six to number two. Well, maybe Dickey doesn't quite put up the same numbers, but he'll make up for a slight drop off with pitching in April. I don't really care which order you put them in. You could make an argument that Pelf was 4, and he'll actually still be a step up o ver Maine and Perez.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: With Cliff Lee on the Phillies, the Mets are a playoff lock. No team that Cliff Lee ha started the season with has ever made the playoffs.

Edgy DC wrote: Well, yeah, it locks them in with December 30's roster, but they do these things when they do them. I don't trust any system that evokes Miguel Cairo, but here we are. It says "all the position players will be a year older" but I expect them to get younger at second and catcher. And probably better at second, at least. I pretty much expect them to get better or stay the same at most positions (though it likely won't work out that way) and worse at most slots through the rotation. I think Pelfrey will have a similar year to last year, but a wee bit more consistent. (in that he won't have the horrible month). I expect Niese to be better, and specifically, I dont' expect him to hit a wall in September. I was very very skeptical of Dickey early on, but he kept suceeding all year and he's fully converted me. I do believe he's refined the knuckleball and will continue to be effective. I also think there is some value to how different the three of them are when facing opponents. yeah, position players will be a year older, but you could say Davis, Thole and (Murphy) and even Wright and Reyes are a year older in the right direction (i.e. towards the 'prime years')

well, i imagine that's factoring in like 34 starts from pat misch or Perez or Gee (or worse) I find it unlikely the Mets will be under .500.

soupcan wrote: Where and what is Strawberry's? http://strawberrysgrill.com/ Darryl's Sports Bar in Douglaston.

Kong76 wrote: I'm good for the 29th at Virgils. The 20th at Straws in March is probably a good spring training tv game day, and I got nothing going on, but it's not in St. Lucie. The 6th and 13th are home games. Let's try and pick dates for both meetings relatively quickly so we can calendar them! Can one get to Straw's but subway and then LIRR from Manhattan without going to Penn Station? I have never been on an LIRR train in my life. Why yes, you can take the trusty 7 train to woodside and transfer! Actually, you could probably transfer at Citi Field were it a game day and the trains stopped. Or Flushing Main. (Or at the new east side LIRR access at GCP, just transfer there from the second avenue subway right? :-)(\) Not sure what I can and cannot do personally, I do know the 20th is bad, due to flying back from Port St. Lucie that day.

Edgy DC wrote: Evans can also back up first. Emaus plays third as well. I have no problem with Murphy playing first and third in addition to second. We're a little too oriented with conquering weaknesses in player development. Giving folks a chance to foster their stengths is where it's at. Any number of good and great players played all over the field, getting by with what defensive skills they had, until opporunity and their bat settled them at one position or another. And once their stengths established them in a more permanent place, they ironed out their weaknesses. that's fine, but if they do with Murph as the regular 2B starter, I'd kinda like to have him 'stick' there except in extreme cases. Don't get all fancy with making your starters also the backups at other positions. (Although I guess that's what will happen with Pagan)

You don't even see a lot of banners on regular days anymore. Which I think is one of the big reasons the Mets don't consider bringing it back.

Kong76 wrote: Straw's in March is fine with me ... anyone up for a January Virgil's meeting too? The Sat or Sun in that stupid weekend between the conference playoff finals and super bowl? I'm drooling already.

seawolf17 wrote: It should definitely be at Straw's. Good call. Accessible by train, too! I'm assuming it's too early to know the TV schedule for ST games? All home games are on SNY. all the schedules are final now I think. the only think to think about would be a (whichever college basketball uses SNY) game which might preempt Mets baseball. which is just stupid, but it happens.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I figured this year we could switch it up and gather at Darryl Strawberry's joint, you never know, the Man might be there. We usually do this thing shortly after Spring Training begins, but if anyone wants to shout out dates that work (or don't) we may as well start now, so we can be sure to get a good crowd. I _did_ get a gift certificate there for christmas..

At least it's someone else to talk about? I remember Chin-lung Hu from watching Mets-Dodgers Spring Training in 2007, but only for the jokes. In fact, i'm not sure they didn't acquire him for the jokes. Also, interesting quote here from him, apparently he only does good when Chien Ming Wang does good, which would explain why he's no longer a big prospect: "And every time, he pitches good," Hu said, "I have a good game. Like, I had three hits a few days ago, then I went on the Internet and saw that Chien-Ming Wang had pitched seven shutout innings [on July 3, against the Twins]."

Ashie62 wrote: He must be snowed in and grumpy, or tanked. He's always at least two out of three. I'm surprised he didn't manage to fit an accusation about steroids in there.