My thoughts on two great columns about the lawsuit against the Wilpons

Bob Klapisch makes a very important point about the lawsuit against the Wilpons:

"Let’s stop and remind ourselves there are two sides to every story and Wilpon, no matter what you think of him, deserves the chance to defend himself in court. But it’s just as important to note that Castergine doesn’t fit the profile of your average gold digger.

She’s an Ivy Leaguer out of Penn, a former Division I athlete who came to the Mets in 2010 after working for the Philadelphia Flyers, Orlando Magic and Boston Bruins. Castergine quickly climbed the Mets’ ladder and became the first female senior VP in their 52-year history."

He sums it up with:

"Me? I believe what Castergine alleges in the lawsuit. Every single word."

Keep in mind, Bob Klapisch is a sports writer that has had access to the team's ownership over the years. While he's not privy to internal conversations, he has spoken to people involved with the team in his many years as a sports writer.  Based on his impressions dealing with them, he believes the lawsuit to be true. That's the part that's most troubling for the Wilpons. It's also the part that makes fans tired of the spoiled son of a mediocre owner very hopeful that it could spell his doom once and for all.

Additionally, Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports makes equally scathing points:

"For years, Selig's soft spot for the Wilpon family has allowed him to overlook their need for a loan to stay afloat amid the Madoff chaos, their mismanagement of a jewel franchise into the sort that operates like a low-revenue pauper, their public flubs that made #LOLMets a thing. Selig enabled the Mets knowing majority owner Fred Wilpon planned on gifting the franchise to Jeff, an underqualified bully who never would have sniffed sports-franchise ownership were he not bequeathed his last name."

"...Wilpon carried himself for years, as the cock of the walk, the all-knowing executive who, in reality, knew only how to take a proud franchise and run it into the ground. He directs the Mets with the vision of a mole, and people around the sport – from players to agents to executives – wish he would learn to burrow into the ground like one, too."

Notice how Passan also cited "players to agents to executives" when writing about Jeff Wilpon. I think this is just starting. I don't see it going away soon, unless Jeff Wilpon goes away very soon to rectify it.

David Wright’s Metsiah Complex | New York Observer

A nice profile of New York Mets 3B David Wright.

Time-lapse footage of The Sydney Cricket Ground converting to baseball.

The music is pretty catchy but the video converting the Sydney Cricket Ground in preparation of the first regular season Major League baseball games played in Australia is pretty cool.

I hate to admit it but Joel Sherman may be right.

Joel Sherman makes a good point that I hadn't realized before:

"There is a myth that [Tampa Bay and Oakland win] by drafting well. The reality is neither has, and Tampa Bay, in fact, over the past five or six years has been rather dreadful. What both teams are particularly adept at is finding players who have a few above-average skills then unearthing a counterpart who covers the flaws."

Out of order in A-Rod's court | Caple - ESPN.com

Jim Caple with his typical unique viewpoint on A-Rod vs. Bud Selig.

Major League Baseball's Next Possible Commissioner

Yahoo! Sports handicaps the next potential commissioner of Major League Baseball, including this tidbit:

"George W. Bush. He once owned the Texas Rangers. He has expressed interest in the job in the past. He did run the entire country for eight years. And best of all, the worst war he could wage is in the labor department, so that's a step up."

Great post about the best broadcast team in baseball

Anthony DiComo of Mets.com has a fantastic post about the Mets' SNY broadcast team, including this nugget about one of their pre-game prep sessions:

"Eventually, their conversation drifted back to that night's broadcast, which was to feature a heavy dose of Harvey analysis. Picker asked Darling to address Bob Ojeda's comments, made earlier in the day, regarding the stress that Harvey's low-90s slider may have contributed to his season-ending elbow tear. That led to a discussion of pitching mechanics in general, which somehow funneled to a commentary on foreign exchange rates, which melted into talk of Hillary Clinton's potential presidential candidacy, then a dissection of Juan Lagares' batting stance."

I'm curious to know how they got from pitching mechanics to foreign exchange rates but sadly that wasn't covered in the post.

MLB.com interview with Zack Wheeler

Nice interview with Zack Wheeler.

Jeff Wilpon and the myth of a free-spending Mets winter to come | Capital New York

Howard Megdal pours some cold water on the hopes of Met fans thinking the club is capable of spending money this offseason:

"So now consider the real winter ahead for the New York Mets owners. They have less than a year to either find a way to pay J.P. Morgan Chase $320 million, or convince the bank to give them more time. And they'll have to do so with more than just a Fred Wilpon press conference sunnily declaring his money problems a thing of the past. If the bank believes, unlike Standard and Poor's, that the Mets are on the cusp of profitability, or that a forced sale now will produce less revenue than giving ownership more time, then a stay of execution is possible.

But it's more complicated than that. Any additional time built into this loan needs to also pass muster with the group holding the more than $600 million in debt against ownership's S.N.Y. holdings in 2015. The structures of the two loans, both held by ownership's parent company, will need to be reconciled.

At that point, can the Mets spend money to sign new players? In theory, if J.P. Morgan Chase decides that an infusion of new talent is worth seeing a bunch of money go to, say, Shin-Soo Choo ahead of the bank to help turn the Mets profitable. And if the S.N.Y. creditors agree."

Klapisch: Wally Backman's Mets managerial audition begins with Ike Davis | NorthJersey.com

Bob Klapisch is starting a fire where one isn't needed:

"Now Davis is Wally Backman’s problem, although it’s worth asking the question that could lead to a more intriguing dialogue: What happens if Backman and his old-school, man’s-man approach actually fixes Davis? Then what?

Such a reclamation project would be more of a reflection of Backman’s interpersonal skills than Davis’ ability to hit for a respectable average. At least we know Davis has talent – we’ve seen it in the past, albeit not consistently since the second half of last season. But Backman is the wild card here, especially because he’s been languishing in the Mets’ farm system for four summers hoping to prove to someone, anyone, that he’s long since outrun his darker demons.

That’s why Backman relishes the chance to work on Davis’ swing, confidence and career, although not necessarily in that order."

Steroids Bad, Leaks Worse | Mets Minor League Blog

Great writeup at Mets Minor League Blog. This story is slowly creeping away from Major League Baseball:

Steroids Bad, Leaks Worse | Mets Minor League Blog

PUT A BROOM IN THAT BOOK | Metstradamus

Metstradamus has to be the best writer among the Mets bloggers, especially this blurb from today's post. (Extra points for the "8 Mile" reference too.)

"Now I know how the Yankee fans will react and how they already are reacting. After they spew out about 27 titles, they will try to shame us, Met fans, into feeling like garbage because "oh, you're celebrating meaningless regular season games in a season where you're going nowhere. This is like saying "Yeah, well we're on this beautiful cruise ship while you're in that piddly little row boat", meanwhile the cruise ship they're on is owned by Carnival and its sinking to the bottom. This is what Yankee fans like to do: make other people feel like imbeciles for merely being happy. They want us to golf clap and slink away while still slurping the 27 titles. And that's why we're happy. Because we know that trick is coming ... and it's silly and we will ignore it. And the only thing left for Yankee fans to do is bring up shit that we already know about. Bernie Madoff, Bobby Bonilla ... all of it. Sweeping the Yankees gives Met fans that feeling of Eminem in the final battle against Papa Doc. We know what's coming. But what they don't know is that we know what Papa Doc's real name is ..."

How SWEEP It Is!!

In case you haven't heard yet:

MLB - Mets complete Subway Series sweep of Yankees with 3-1 victory Thursday; Mets won 2 at Citi Field, 2 at Yankee Stadium

Punk Hits: Why I'm Rooting for the Dutch in the WBC | Baseball Prospectus

I'm tempted to subscribe to Baseball Prospectus just to read the rest of this article, oddly written by the groom from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding".

How Much Time the Pitchers Took | FanGraphs Baseball

A very interesting piece on which pitchers work fast and which ones work slow. Among the quick workers include new Toronto Blue Jays Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey, including these two games that I recall vividly from last season:

"It’s worth noting that Mark Buehrle and R.A. Dickey went head-to-head twice last season, on April 25 and September 22. The first game lasted two hours and 29 minutes, while the second game lasted two hours and 26 minutes. Last year’s average Marlins game lasted two hours and 57 minutes, while last year’s average Mets game lasted two hours and 56 minutes. That, of course, is with Buehrle and Dickey starts included. That would’ve been some nicely-tempoed baseball, between sometimes unwatchable teams."

Trailer for '42' (Movie about Jackie Robinson set to release April 2013.)

Yes, that's Harrison Ford as Branch Rickey!

Tom Verducci advocates trading R.A. Dickey to Toronto

I agree with SI's Tom Verducci here, but only if the Mets can't work out a two-year extension running through the 2015 season.

What the Mets should do with R.A. Dickey

The Mets are making little progress in getting Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey signed to a two-year extension and the trade market for a young impact player hasn't materialized. They may be getting used to the idea of keeping him for another year at $5 million.

It seems the Mets are valuing Dickey as a number one pitcher on the trade market but as something less than that when it comes to an extension. A $20 million extension, for instance, would give Dickey $25 million over three years -- or just $4 million more than what the Reds are paying Broxton, a hybrid reliever, over the next three years.

What the Mets should do is send Dickey to Toronto for catcher J.P. Arencibia and outfielder Anthony Gose, which would net them two young, major-league-ready everyday players. The Blue Jays aren't enamored with the basic math of the deal: one year of Dickey for 10 years of control of two young players.

But here's why the Jays should do it: Both Arencibia and Gose are reserves right now and are blocked by young players who should be in Toronto for at least two years. Those "10 years of control" are not all years of full-time duty.

More than that, Toronto made a blockbuster move with Miami to rejuvenate baseball in the city. Manager John Gibbons said the goal is to get the franchise into the postseason for the first time in 20 years. If so, you need to go all in -- just as the Nationals are doing by trading a front-of-the-rotation prospect (Alex Meyer) to get a centerfielder (Denard Span) and by paying their fourth starter $13 million despite coming off a down year (Dan Haren).

The Blue Jays are not all in if they regard years of control for bench players above the chance to get a Cy Young Award winner. Think Toronto would have a better shot at the postseason with Dickey making 32 starts instead of J.A. Happ making 32 starts? Of course. But Toronto is hedging its bets.

Dickey has been so much fun to watch pitch these past three seasons, especially this year. If he's going to another team, I'd like it to be one in the American League (so the Mets don't face him) and the team that now employs Jose Reyes, who will forever be one of my favorite Mets of all time.

Also, imagine how awesome he could be with a controlled, retractable dome environment for that knuckleball. His worst start of the season came on a rainy, cold night in Atlanta. He wouldn't have to worry about the condition at home in Toronto, something that could come into play in Kansas City and, to a lesser extent, in Texas.

Adderall has become a popular drug for athletes trying to gain an edge | The Seattle Times

In light of Philadelphia Phillies' Catcher Carlos Ruiz getting a 25-game suspension for testing positive for Adderall without a therapeutic waiver from Major League Baseball, The Seattle Times has an article about the prevalence of Adderall in professional sports as a Performance Enhancing Drug (PED).

Considering there was a shortage of Adderall last year, impacting many people legitimately taking the medicine under a doctor's supervision, it's despicable players are taking it illegally and depleting the heavily regulated supply in the market.

R.A. Dickey's thoughts on Disney buying the Star Wars franchise

Just like with baseball, I can't disagree with his thoughts on this except that he seems a bit more optimistic than me:

R.A. Dickey this morning on CBS and Mike & Mike

2012 National League Cy Young Award Winner R.A. Dickey (it never gets old writing that!) appeared on ESPN Radio's Mike & Mike as well as today's CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell: