Ceetar

I'd forgotten about the Cora for 2 outs at first thing and then getting pinch hit for with Gary Matthews jr. Man, I'm gonna miss jerry.

And then there was K-Rod warming up for 2 hours. I think he said afterwards he'd thrown 100 pitches in the bullpen before coming in. Might as well have brought Santana back.

Edgy DC wrote: I wanted to fire Jerry (and HoJo) the next day. It was stunning how far he'd go in managing not to lose. And managing to be successful with that strategy for 20 innings was falseley empowering. jerry was just confused he wasn't allowed to bring in Feliciano again after the 14th inning.

And it was the first game in the history of baseball in which a position player (Mather) took the loss, a closer (K-Rod) got the win and a starter (Mike Pelfrey) wound up with a save. So if you can beat that one for Strange-But-Trueness, let us know. This was my favorite part of that game.

Ashie62 wrote: I like it. He had a big year in 2007. He is only 28 years old. About 119 K's in 136 innings last season. He has a high whip however. Decent gamble. Looking at the numbers, he's basically a lesser Oliver Perez that hasn't sucked _as bad_ recently. Not sure I give up more than Castillo (or Perez) for him. Maybe an extraneous minors OF that we don't value much..

Why does Oliver Perez not get a number?

Edgy DC wrote: Washington has seemed loaded with those guys in recent years, haven't they? Outfielders who are good to have if you don't ask too much of them? Willingham, Churchie, Maxwell, Harris. Not who you want full-time, but not disasters as full-timers either. Seems like an almost moneyballesque "buy low" pick up by the A's. also, what about Churchie for 4th OFer?

Unless they trade like Hughes and Cano for him, King Felix on the Yankee would piss me off to no end. Although it would be interesting to see if guys like michael kay, when Felix puts up much better numbers than CC again, AND wins 20 games, if they'll concede the point on win totals..

About Cole Hamels? weakens the Phillies, and I put it at even money he's a diaster in the Bronx.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: ... because they don't want to take a risk on his Not Being Able to Handle the City TM Mike Francesa. This perception goes well beyond Francesa. I'm not saying it's true that he wouldn't be able to "handle" New York, but he does have a diagnosed anxiety disorder, and it seems to be a commonly held opinion that Greinke needs to stay in a smaller market. Better the guy with the diagnosed, and theoretically treated, anxiety than the unproven though.

Edgy DC wrote: I'm hard-pressed to come up with who "off-brand Greinke" would be. Anibal Sanchez? Carl Pavano? Ted Lilly? Lots of former Yankees they can try again. Like Vasquez.

I thought someone tweeted that the money was _heavily_ deferred (with Texas)? Sounds like Lee opted for the most per year option.

Frayed Knot wrote: Of course they'll now do something else - particularly with all that money burning a hole in their pockets. But, in the meantime, it's Sabathia, Hughes, Burnett and ... ?? Why hasn't Mike Francessa killed Cashman for doing nothing at the Winter Meetings/offseason yet? The Mets actually are one further along. They've got CC and Hughes + burnett, we've got Dickey, Pelfrey, Niese + ollie.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I think Tracksuit is OK. I think he asks the right questions, it just appears that he doesn't have the sources or access to the answers that some of his competitors do. I've gradually unfollowed more and more beat writers, but he's managed to remain. So in that one, heavily biased, way he's doing alright.

bmfc1 wrote: I don't know if there are going to be enough posts for this topic--but this picture was just posted at Amazin' Avenue and two CPF'ers are on the scene: http://cl.ly/1906311a3Q1V0l2o192x Other people are there, too: http://metspolice.com/2010/12/14/photo-from-mets-holiday-party/ [edited: thanks LWFS, sorry Dana.] Would've been three but this damn 9-5 work schedule in a different state even is killing me! I hear they even had free food!

bmfc1 wrote: Francesa's off today. but you do get Beltran on with Evan and Joe (who pretty much defines #blamebeltran) so that can be interesting.

Edgy DC wrote: And one might wonder if, having beaten a rape charge but acknowledged extramarital sex on a golf course, any further degree of vindication might be a quixotic pursuit. Unless your sending a message to others?

Vic Sage wrote: Anybody who doesn't see this as a bad thing for the Mets for the next two seasons is being willfully optimistic...NTTAWWT, but its not in my nature. The fact that it's also bad for the Yanks and may one day be bad for the MFPs does nothing to cheer me... well, it does a little to cheer me, but not enough to overcome the grim reality of trying to match up against HALLADAY-LEE-OSWALT-HAMELS with SANTANA (DL)- PELFREY(OCD)- DICKEY (RA)-NEISE (FEH) for the next season or 2. You never know what's going to happen. Niese was a rookie, but looked really good. You could say Dickey had a better year than oswalt hamels or lee last year. We need more pitchers, but what we have isn't bad.

well, the defendant isn't exactly a multi-millionaire. Take what you can get?

metsmarathon wrote: granted, they've now got the best paper rotation in the game. and their offense, while not nearly what it used to be, is still fairly threatening. I disagree. I actually think the Mets have a better offense. Since we're playing the game on paper right now anyway, Beltran's going to have a good year, as is Bay. Davis and Thole both take steps forward. None of these things are unreasonable either. On the Phillies side, Rollins was never that good, had a career year and two bad ones since. I expect a similiar '09-'10 from him. Utley may be injury prone and is an aging second baseman. Their outfield is iffy. Victorino has good numbers for a CFer, but it's not exactly scary numbers, Ibanez is old and breaking down ,and they literally don't have a RF. They were considering Frenchy there! It's unlikely Brown comes up and is Jason Heyward. It makes things more difficult for 2011, but who knows what can happen? one or two key injuries has proven to send the Phillies into slumps in the past, their offense, even when it was better, disappeared for weeks. They routinely start slow. And when midseason comes and the mets are wheeling and dealing and getting Santana back and the Phillies are standing pat and adding guys like Alex Cora to fill in for Rollins who is hurt?

Heyman was breaking down the Yankees rotation with Lee the other day too. Whatever. They'll still lose and now be further handicapped down the road. oh, and Lee is scum, so it's fitting. Always knew he wanted to reach free agency so he could exploit NY money

Enjoy, wish I could get there. More so than the other things bloggers have done, the party will probably have the bloggers and media guys in the same place at the same time. I wonder if they're gonna stand on separate sides of the room and nervously eye each other like a high school dance?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Courtesy of AA, the deceptively-trying 2010 roster quiz. A disturbing 34/47. I blame my headache, and my dumb, dumb brain. I got 41 on that one. (only missed one player on the team all season, Opening Day 2Bman actually) I'd fail the other ones hard probably. AAA cities? hah.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: "BAH! Bad idea! Co-opting the "blargosphere!" I'm not annoyed I didn't get an invite!" -It's Mets For Me yeah, saw that. Martino had a post today about it too. And then a followup post responding to my (and some Twitter guy that i don't follow)'s response.

Edgy DC wrote: Sabathiz is probaly analogous to Santana. Though I doubt he makes them wait until June, one might imagaine that his knee will never be the same. How do you do your rehab at that size? Salt water taffy instead of elastic bands