Ceetar

soupcan wrote: That's a good point. Where would the bat go? You're not going to replace Jason Bay and you're not going to get a significant upgrade over Pagan. I guess I get really frustrated with Matthews off the bench and the starters just not playing up to their career numbers. I just want more offense but logically I'm not thinking about where to insert it. (that's what he said) It's why it has to be HoJo. The offense is team-wide underachieving. You could make a case to upgrade in RF. You could definitely find a better 1Bman for right now, but that's probably be counter-productive to a long term goal. Catcher? Maybe, but Barajas has been pretty good. Looks like the answer is to find someone that's going to make all the players b etter, rather than trying to replace any one player.

What about trash talking?

Caught some of the story at it's beginning, but I'd forgotten about it. Supposedly they've asked Griffey to retire as well. (prior to that). I've heard guys talking about not wanting to go out like that. Be interesting to see how it plays out. The story I figure would mostly go away if he retired. As he'd cross over from 'bum not getting it done' to 'former Mariner hero'. Might be best if Griffey could swing one more hot streak, knock a couple of home runs and either keep playing decently, or just cite some nagging injury or something and retire after that. Could try three home runs in his final game (sorta) like Ruth even.

Frayed Knot wrote: Ceetar wrote: I've been out of commission most of the weekend (public speaking, drinking from a flask, dancing, broadway). Did I read somewhere that Omar is meeting the team in Atlanta? can we say post-game firing, win or lose? Replacement waiting back in NY when they finish the road trip? GMs travel with the team all the time so this one doesn't necessarily mean anything is afoot. You can read things into the fact that Omar wasn't previously scheduled to make this specific trip but it may just be a 'see for myself' kind of thing which could nudge him towards (or away) from making a change in the near future, not that a decision has already been reached. True. It's just very similiar to the way they did it last time. Probably just hope on my part. And yes, it was actually public speaking, I was the best man in a wedding. I hate public speaking, I'm a very shy person, I get nervous even about screaming Let's Go Mets and Jose..Jose.. with 50k other people. Sounds like a better time than watching the Mets this weekend though, and probalby drank less than I would've needed to watching the game.

I've been out of commission most of the weekend (public speaking, drinking from a flask, dancing, broadway). Did I read somewhere that Omar is meeting the team in Atlanta? can we say post-game firing, win or lose? Replacement waiting back in NY when they finish the road trip?

Prior to this year, probably not. This year I think so. I was really in favor of him starting day 1, not ready, because I figured 50% of Reyes as he rounded into game shape was better than Cora. I think that was very wrong, and that the Mets still rushed him back. (and I think the kid gloves and the 5 inning games were just as bad) I think he developed bad habits trying to catch up.

It's already 2 minutes to first pitch and Manuel hasn't made a managing mistake yet! good sign!

Pagan 1.0 Cora .75 Wright .75 Feliciano .5 Pelfrey .25

If you had asked me what Mackey Sasser's situation was, I wouldnt have known, but I can assume based on the rest of the article.

metirish wrote: I can't recall Keith and Ron giving anything other than the standard answers / jargon regarding hitting and pitching, certainly they don't offer any thoughts on how to get Bay going or Ollie going...according to Keith Bay has been 'close' for the past two weeks. I'm constantly hearing Ron say things like "He should throw a low outside fastball here." Keith occasionally makes comments about what to do as a hitter, what to look for. Bay's had a good game here or there, just not power wise. But it's more strategic observations I notice than specific 'fixing' advice.

Fman99 wrote: Seriously. Kick him over to SNY, where he can only hurt people with banal postgame claptrap (see Ojeda, Bob.) I think the ideal Mets hitting coach is another '86 alum, in the booth. Too bad he has no interest in the full time gig. Not that I blame him, the idea of working 110 days per year sounds just ducky to me also. Sometimes I think just having the SNY audio feed piped into the dugout would be enough to replace Hojo and Warthen both.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: When exactly does Howard Johnson's seat start to heat up? Is he immune because he's a 1986 hero? (He actually sucked in 1986, but that's beside the point.) Or because he's David Wright's baseball step-daddy? I suspect that if he was some import from another organization, someone who didn't have deep Mets roots, he'd be gone by now. It's okay to hire heroes from the team's past, but you have to realize that at some point you may have to fire them. I've thought maybe they should just make HoJo a bench coach. Which would sorta be a promotion but still get him away from hitting if it's a problem. Of course, you probably let your new manager pick his own bench coach. (Or you could undermine him from the getgo, why not?)

People go back and forth on how much value hitting/pitching coaches have, but I maintain that it depends on the player. I think Frenchy is a guy that needs more oversight and guidance in terms of a coach helping him with what he should be doing at the plate "identifying pitches, not swinging, taht kind of thing." likewise, Perez is a guy that needs the oversight of a pitching coach a little more, when not to nibble, when to be aggressive, when to drop down sidearm (or not at all). You could knock these guys for that, as being professionals that need a baby-sitter, but it's not like they need some convulated conditions in which to pitch involving salt baths and cleansing rituals and the moon to be in Aries.

Edgy DC wrote: Funny thing is that he lost the last two games making the same strategic call with it blowing up in the same way. Both games resulted in his opponent not only winning, but passing his team in the standings. That's the sort of thing that makes drinking men out of managers. This was what turned me against Jerry for good (over a year ago at this point). His inability to learn. His ability to stick to his guns and make the same decisions despite it proving to be the wrong call in the past. Whether it's pulling Johan early, bunting down a run in the 9th, or bunting with your third hitter.

I don't think It's Omar's call, and I've suspected Manuel has more sway with bigger fish based on whenever Omar and Jerry say different things about the direction of the team (often) the chips all seem to fall on Manuel's side. (Mejia for instance) He's just not going to get fired. If they're not going to fire him when the team is _again_ drastically underperforming, and losing in mindnumbing fashion and blame it on the players, then they'll continue to blame it on the players. So if they don't fire him _right now_, Bay and Reyes will get hot, the Mets will win games (including a Sweep of Phladelphia next week) and he'll get a contract extension after the playoffs even though he managed the team out of them.

That's because he rests Castillo for Cora roughly once a series so far going back 4-5 of them. so less AB means it seems like less bunts. Also, leadoff hitter seems to be on (first) a little less often so far. From april 28th - may 6th, that's 9 days, Castillo played 4 of them.

Gwreck wrote: The clubhouse is a nice touch -- many ballpark tours don't offer that. Of course the flip-side is that they can only offer the tours when the team is on the road. Seems like most of the tours I've been on they only do the visiting clubhouse (on non-game days, otherwise no clubhouse) due to things like security reasons. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mets only tour their own clubhouse for a couple of months and then end up doing away with it because someone does something stupid and tries to steal something.

TransMonk wrote: I have to think, even with the best case scenario involving his recovery, he will most certainly not be a Met in 2012. More likely an AL DH. I'd almost like to start thinking about finding a replacement for him now...unless we think Pagan is the long term answer. that right now I'm not going to worry about. I'm just going to pretend that he'll come back healthyin a couple of weeks and in the 2012 offseason we're talking about moving him to RF and not letting him get away after two amazing post season performances.

I've seen the contract situation mentioned a lot actually. If that was Beltran's main consideration I'd have to believe he'd have had the surgery in January.

Well microfracture surgery isn't something to be taken lightly. And it's not as exact a science or a sure thing as say, tommy john surgery. No saying that the Beltran before it and the Beltran after it are the same caliber of player or that his knees will be "good as new" These bruises may very well be the same bruises from early last year, not reappeared ones from August/September. Some are healing at better rates than others. Sometimes the bruises won't even hurt him or pose any risk, and he can just play. He recently had an injection if I recall, prior to putting the brace on, to create lubrication, so I suspect that's why he's feeling no pain now, and maybe that will help them to heal. If he could get them healed, and monitored, it might be a manageable situation. I have no idea if that lubrication injection thingy is something he can do frequently, or it poses a risk of some sort. I also wonder now if the disagreement in the offseason was not over having surgery, but which surgery to have. Beltran's being very candid now though, and I don't blame him. It's a terrible situation for him, contracts and money aside. He's prematurely facing what could be the end of his career and a serious knee issue that no matter how hard he works he is incapable of fixing on his own. and I agree, you can't tread water and hope for Beltran to return. I like Pagan, but if Beltran doesn't show serious progress in the next month or so, you pretty much have to move on without him.

Edgy DC wrote: Maybe, but until I can find a way to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity, I can only deal with the here and now. If we do find a way, Monday would not be my first choice of destinations. I might want to get the '06 Mets bullpen coach a pair of binoculars to let Beltran know about the curve first. but speaking of things Manuel said tuesday but didn't do yet, is he going to start GMJ a couple of games against the Marlins, and worse yet, is he going to have him leadoff?

metsguyinmichigan wrote: I have no problem moving up Barajas. He's probably seeing crappy pitches batting in front of the pitcher -- and still hitting some bombs. I wouldn't bat him 4th or 5th. but 6th or 7th? sure, couple more RBIs that way. (btw, the Mets have 1 3-run home run, Wright at Philly, and no grand slams) But wouldn't it have made sense to do this earlier in the week while he was hot, and not wait until he cooled off?

Beltran revealed that he was given the option of having microfracture surgery this winter, but chose the arthroscopic procedure to "clean out" his right knee instead. Beltran said that microfracture surgery requires a nine-month rehab process before beginning baseball activity and that would have wiped out the entire 2010 season. This is the biggie. And from what I've heard it seems like the nine-months is just a guideline, it could be worse, and it could be career-threatening because it's still pretty experimental, and it could inhibit his ability to actually run as hard and as well as he used to, meaning reduced range and what not. Right now there is no raeson to think he can't play CF if he doesn't get teh surgery. But the 9 months thing suggests that we will know a lot more very soon. If Beltran cannot progress soon, he'll almost have to opt for the surgery to be back in time for the 2010 season. If that's the case though, the Mets _have_ to look for another CF, because you have no idea what will be up with Beltran, and you won't know before Spring Training. But cross that bridge when we come to it.

I won't believe it until he's actually playing in rehab games pain free. And he's not running all out yet, but I'm glad to see even a small sign that his career is not over. Bah, you beat me to it.