The New York Post has some great quotes from Gary Cohen about his optimism for the 2012 New York Mets:
"“Mets fans always talk about ’84. They had gone through seven straight horrible seasons and then all of a sudden there was a great young infusion of talent — (broadcast partners) Ronnie (Darling) and Keith (Hernandez) were a part of that — and they won 90 games out of nowhere and that led up to the World Series a few years later. Those are the years the Mets fans tend to relish and what they are waiting for.”"
With all due respect to Mr. Cohen, this team actually reminds me more of 1983. That team had a veteran leader (Keith Hernandez) and a rising star (Darryl Strawberry) but it also had an aging former power hitter (George Foster). Most of the players making the buzz though were yet to be major leaguers: Ron Darling, Dwight Gooden, Sid Fernandez, Lenny Dykstra. And even Strawberry and Hernandez didn't join the team until May 6th and June 15th of that year, respectively.
This year's team has a veteran leader (David Wright), a couple of rising stars (Ike Davis and Lucas Duda), and an aging power hitter (Jason Bay). But most of the buzz is still on the farm (Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, Zack Wheeler, Jordany Valdespin, Kirk Neiuwenhuis, Matt den Dekkar, Jenrry Mejia.)
I hope Gary Cohen is right but it seems more likely that I will be.
Friday, March 30, 2012
"Pelfrey has good stuff but you wonder if he just needs to get out of New York and start over."
Apparently the Mets brainstormed the idea of releasing Mike Pelfrey this Spring. A couple of comments that came out of the idea:
"...one Met made a case for retaining Pelfrey that was representative of how many players feel, saying, “If we got rid of him, he would (stick it to us).”"
"Some of his longtime rivals, observing from a distance, believe that Pelfrey would benefit from pitching in a new city, free of the expectations of a fan base that often expresses its displeasure with him.
“Pelfrey has good stuff,” said an NL East player who has faced Pelfrey for years. “But you wonder if he just needs to get out of New York and start over.”"
I hate to say 'I told you so' but back in 2006 and 2007, I was always much more impressed with Philip Humber than Mike Pelfrey, even though most scouts had them fairly even or Pelfrey a tick higher as a prospect. Even though Humber hasn't established himself as the top-notch starter a #3 overall draft pick should be, I always thought his raw intelligence gave him an upside that Pelfrey doesn't have. I can't put my finger on it but Pelfrey has a deer-in-headlights look that many small-town folks get in New York.
Likewise, I thought it should have been Pelfrey and not Humber that went to Minnesota in the Johan Santana trade. Pelfrey probably would have thrived in Minnesota and the trade would have been far more equal than anyone looking back on it today thinks. Unfortunately, we'll never know.
"...one Met made a case for retaining Pelfrey that was representative of how many players feel, saying, “If we got rid of him, he would (stick it to us).”"
"Some of his longtime rivals, observing from a distance, believe that Pelfrey would benefit from pitching in a new city, free of the expectations of a fan base that often expresses its displeasure with him.
“Pelfrey has good stuff,” said an NL East player who has faced Pelfrey for years. “But you wonder if he just needs to get out of New York and start over.”"
I hate to say 'I told you so' but back in 2006 and 2007, I was always much more impressed with Philip Humber than Mike Pelfrey, even though most scouts had them fairly even or Pelfrey a tick higher as a prospect. Even though Humber hasn't established himself as the top-notch starter a #3 overall draft pick should be, I always thought his raw intelligence gave him an upside that Pelfrey doesn't have. I can't put my finger on it but Pelfrey has a deer-in-headlights look that many small-town folks get in New York.
Likewise, I thought it should have been Pelfrey and not Humber that went to Minnesota in the Johan Santana trade. Pelfrey probably would have thrived in Minnesota and the trade would have been far more equal than anyone looking back on it today thinks. Unfortunately, we'll never know.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
WSJ's analysis of the current and future New York Mets
The Wall Street Journal has a couple of articles on the New York Mets today. They have a preseason position-by-position preview, with plenty of useful and useless information for each player, such as this tidbit on David Wright:
"Useless Information: Is trying to sell his Flatiron District bachelor pad for $6.25 million after relocating to the Upper East Side last year."
WSJ also has a great piece on how the Mets are trying to avoid doing with Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, and Jenrry Mejia what they did with Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher, and Paul Wilson (aka 'Generation K'). Apparently they convened a post-mortem after Generation K disintegrated:
"Could the injuries have been prevented? Maybe not, Pulsipher said. But a few years after the three of them debuted, Mets officials convened to try to figure out why they broke down.
The numbers revealed a common thread: a rapid increase in workload. Isringhausen threw just over 90 innings in 1993, then threw more than 193 innings the following year. For Wilson, the jump was even more dramatic, from 49 innings in 1994 to 186 in 1995. Pulsipher logged just under 140 innings in 1993, then threw 201 in 1994."
All-in-all, the WSJ article and the recent Mets.com article both talk about how the Mets are optimistic about their prospects. The WSJ article also talks about the limits the Mets now have on their pitching prospects, so there's hope the team has finally learned from its erroneous ways.
"Useless Information: Is trying to sell his Flatiron District bachelor pad for $6.25 million after relocating to the Upper East Side last year."
WSJ also has a great piece on how the Mets are trying to avoid doing with Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, Jeurys Familia, and Jenrry Mejia what they did with Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher, and Paul Wilson (aka 'Generation K'). Apparently they convened a post-mortem after Generation K disintegrated:
"Could the injuries have been prevented? Maybe not, Pulsipher said. But a few years after the three of them debuted, Mets officials convened to try to figure out why they broke down.
The numbers revealed a common thread: a rapid increase in workload. Isringhausen threw just over 90 innings in 1993, then threw more than 193 innings the following year. For Wilson, the jump was even more dramatic, from 49 innings in 1994 to 186 in 1995. Pulsipher logged just under 140 innings in 1993, then threw 201 in 1994."
All-in-all, the WSJ article and the recent Mets.com article both talk about how the Mets are optimistic about their prospects. The WSJ article also talks about the limits the Mets now have on their pitching prospects, so there's hope the team has finally learned from its erroneous ways.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
"Being a Mets fan is not an auto-immune disease, though it might sometimes feel that way."
Ted Berg writes a touching and courageous piece about his own health and being a Met fan:
"Here’s my deal: I have a pair of incurable but non-terminal auto-immune diseases -– multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease. I’m not seeking pity and I don’t want to bog this post down with personal medical history, but it turns out they can team up to be a real pain in the ass sometimes. I’m lucky in that I’ve avoided the worst of both, but I found out about the M.S. because a side effect of medication I was taking for Crohn’s amplified the symptoms. I went off that medication upon the M.S. diagnosis in 2008 and suffered a Crohn’s flare-up this summer. I went on steroids to calm it, started absorbing food again and gained a bunch of weight. The weight puts extra stress on my back that’s already aching from the M.S., but working out to try to drop that weight –- as I did this morning –- makes my back hurt more. And painkillers can trigger the Crohn’s disease again."
"Being a Mets fan is not an auto-immune disease, though it might sometimes feel that way. And being a Mets fan these past few years has been rough, at least relative to being a fan of most other teams or being a Mets fan back in the late 80s."
"Rooting for a team means emotionally investing in something, and that brings with it the risk of some pain –- not lasting physical pain, but pain nonetheless. But when that pain comes like it has the last few years, what’s the sense in wallowing in it?
Especially with baseball. It’s baseball. Baseball. For one thing, you can opt out at any time. If the Mets actually make you miserable, stop following the Mets. If you can’t or won’t, I suggest for the sake of your sanity finding whatever small shred of hope you have for the upcoming season and seizing it, rather than floundering about in so much Met-fan self-pity."
Well said Mr. Berg. Let's Go Mets.
"Here’s my deal: I have a pair of incurable but non-terminal auto-immune diseases -– multiple sclerosis and Crohn’s disease. I’m not seeking pity and I don’t want to bog this post down with personal medical history, but it turns out they can team up to be a real pain in the ass sometimes. I’m lucky in that I’ve avoided the worst of both, but I found out about the M.S. because a side effect of medication I was taking for Crohn’s amplified the symptoms. I went off that medication upon the M.S. diagnosis in 2008 and suffered a Crohn’s flare-up this summer. I went on steroids to calm it, started absorbing food again and gained a bunch of weight. The weight puts extra stress on my back that’s already aching from the M.S., but working out to try to drop that weight –- as I did this morning –- makes my back hurt more. And painkillers can trigger the Crohn’s disease again."
"Being a Mets fan is not an auto-immune disease, though it might sometimes feel that way. And being a Mets fan these past few years has been rough, at least relative to being a fan of most other teams or being a Mets fan back in the late 80s."
"Rooting for a team means emotionally investing in something, and that brings with it the risk of some pain –- not lasting physical pain, but pain nonetheless. But when that pain comes like it has the last few years, what’s the sense in wallowing in it?
Especially with baseball. It’s baseball. Baseball. For one thing, you can opt out at any time. If the Mets actually make you miserable, stop following the Mets. If you can’t or won’t, I suggest for the sake of your sanity finding whatever small shred of hope you have for the upcoming season and seizing it, rather than floundering about in so much Met-fan self-pity."
Well said Mr. Berg. Let's Go Mets.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Creative advertisement for a Japanese Baseball team
You gotta love Japanese baseball just for ads like this one for the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks:
Of course, the team's website also features instructions on how to enjoy watching baseball, including the appropriate time to release the "jet balloons":
Of course, the team's website also features instructions on how to enjoy watching baseball, including the appropriate time to release the "jet balloons":
Monday, March 26, 2012
The poetic simplicity of Spring Training, according to Mets blogger Patrick Flood
Patrick Flood writes a very long and extremely descriptive piece on his thoughts from spending time at the Mets Spring Training facility. Patrick is quickly becoming one of my favorite Mets bloggers with his dry humor and vivid use of language. Read this piece for the comparison of Johan Santana's changeup to driving behind a car with no brake lights, as well as for this nugget on where a press pass allows you to sit at Digital Domain Park:
"You, with a press pass, can also sit in places other people aren’t always allowed to sit. You can sit in the air-conditioned media room where there is free soda. You can sit in the conference room and listen to the manager’s post-game press conference. You can sit on the top of the scattered picnic tables, and security persons are less inclined to ask you not to do so. You can sit just about anywhere in the stadium during the major league games. You can sit in section 203, row L, seat 15, provided it’s unoccupied, but if that seat wins free KFC giftcard in a scoreboard promotion, you don’t get the giftcard because it’s not actually your seat. This will be made clear by several people, even if you have no intention of trying to claim the KFC giftcard. You can both sit and stand on the Arrigo Dodge Chrysler Jeep Palm Beach Party Zone along the right field line, but — full disclosure – “Party Zone” appears to be a misnomer. You can sit on the berm behind right field, on bladeless grass that seems to have no dirt beneath it, only older yellowed grass no matter how far you dig with your fingers, and watch the five-year-olds play catch with their mothers with found baseballs. Only most mothers are informed about their participation in the game of catch mid-flight, so it’s really more watching five-year-olds peg their mothers with baseballs."
"You, with a press pass, can also sit in places other people aren’t always allowed to sit. You can sit in the air-conditioned media room where there is free soda. You can sit in the conference room and listen to the manager’s post-game press conference. You can sit on the top of the scattered picnic tables, and security persons are less inclined to ask you not to do so. You can sit just about anywhere in the stadium during the major league games. You can sit in section 203, row L, seat 15, provided it’s unoccupied, but if that seat wins free KFC giftcard in a scoreboard promotion, you don’t get the giftcard because it’s not actually your seat. This will be made clear by several people, even if you have no intention of trying to claim the KFC giftcard. You can both sit and stand on the Arrigo Dodge Chrysler Jeep Palm Beach Party Zone along the right field line, but — full disclosure – “Party Zone” appears to be a misnomer. You can sit on the berm behind right field, on bladeless grass that seems to have no dirt beneath it, only older yellowed grass no matter how far you dig with your fingers, and watch the five-year-olds play catch with their mothers with found baseballs. Only most mothers are informed about their participation in the game of catch mid-flight, so it’s really more watching five-year-olds peg their mothers with baseballs."
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