Well, it isn't really that I don't get why others do, but I do not particularly care for Dolph Zigger.

There, I said it, I'm sure to get plenty of grief for it! That's not to say he sucks- he doesn't. As a wrestler, he doesn't have any massive deficiencies that are apparent, that detract from his matches. He possesses a decent enough ring repertoire, and unlike John Cena or CM Punk (and others, I am sure) he isn't repetitive- I've noticed being fairly choreographed in not the moves that they use, but in the order that they do them in, to the point of being able to call what move is next in the string of combos. People like to say that he's the best seller the WWE has on their roster today. I personally like Evan Bourne better, but I'm not going to disagree that he makes other guys look good. On the microphone, I don't think that he is as great as some other people seem to say he is, but I think he certainly can hold his own. But, outside of these things I don't think Dolph Ziggler is anything particularly special. Many at Cageside Seats, obviously, feel different.

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(Bumped from FanPosts. --Eric)

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Baseball, generally known as "America's pastime", has become an increasingly globalized sport over the years. The game has origins are shrouded in the mists of time; no two scholars entirely agree as to just how baseball originated and developed. Two things are more or less certain, however- the game of baseball evolved from ball-and-bat games played primarily in Great Britain, and that Abner Doubleday did not create and codify the rules of baseball ("base ball") in Cooperstown, 1839. As the 19th century came to a close, and the 20th century began, the rules of baseball and the way it was played became more recognizable to us today. National Association (of Professional Base Ball Players, the league's formal name) folded in 1875. The National League was born from its ashes in February 1876. The Western League was disbanded in 1899 and reorganized as the American League in 1901. The inaugural World Series was held in 1903 between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Boston Americans (who would later become the Red Sox). The Dead-ball era ended in 1920, and the Golden Era began.

It was during this time that Hiroshi Hiraoka came to the United States to study engineering. Exposed to baseball and enthralled by the sport, Hiraoka returned to Japan in 1878 and established the Shimbashi Athletic Club, Japan's first baseball team. The sport took root, and by the 1920s, universities across the island nation were organizing and fielding teams, and playing against one another. The very competitive nature of these collegiate rivalries prompted universities to begin sending student athletes across the Pacific Ocean to America, in cooperation with the government, where they would compete with and learn from American collegiate teams. In 1920, Major League wash-out Herb Hunter (who sports a career .163/.196/.224 batting line in 39 games) organized a barnstorming tour through Japan. His tour was successful and Commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis gave Hunter his blessing to conduct more trips- most famous among them was the All-Star Tour of 1934. The MLB All-Stars won all 18 of their games, but the performance of many of the players on the Japanese team led financiers to realize they had something going for them- Eiji Sawamura, for example, a 17-year-old right-handed pitcher, pitched five innings in one game, giving up one run, and striking out nine batters, including Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, and Charlie Gehringer. The Japan Occupational Baseball League- later shortened to the Japanese Baseball League- was established in 1936, and later reorganized into the Nippon Professional Baseball League in 1950.

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Going into the season, the Mets have a fairly flawed team, an inflated budget, and a limited amount of funds to spend, roughly $30 million dollars. For the most part, the team for 2012 was already in place, with the incumbents at most positions being under contract for 2012, or desirable to bring back. As a result, I targeted two kinds of players, while doing my best to maximize performance in relation to payroll: Peripheral individuals who would be making the 2012 team better (bench players or bullpen pieces around for just the year), and individuals who will be sticking around past 2012, who will have the ability to make the Mets a better team from 2013 on, when the Mets are more meaningful contenders for postseason baseball.

In short, I want to transform the Mets from this:

Into this:

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With the 2011 season done and over, it's time to start handing out hardware. I heard Amazin' Avenue was handing out "Dickey Awards", but what are those? That's like a Broadway actor winning a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award. Those obscure things are nice to have, but don't mean anything. This is the big time- these are the Tony Awards, baby!

Without further ado, I present to you the second annual Gangsta and Grission Awards. Some of the categories had very tight races, while others were as one-sided as the Imperfect Game. The votes are in, however, and all winners receive as a way to remember their achievements, a Golden Jerry.

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R.A. Dickey is my favorite Mets pitcher. Aladdin is my favorite Disney movie. Put them together, and, well...

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From the label that brought you such hits as 1st Round/Draftee's "Ike, 1b", No Doubt (You Suck)'s "Don't Pitch", and the platinum hit from Dickey-o, "Knuckla's Paradise", comes a new single, from the Beat Alls, "Yes, Jose":

(If you don't know how The Beatles' "Yesterday" goes, shame on you, and here's a link)

 

Yes, Jose

All our troubles seem so far away

When you made that really awesome play

Oh I believe in you, Jose

 

Suddenly,

Your face might not be on the Mets marquee

There’s a shadow hanging over me

Please Jose, one more AB

 

Do you have to go, I don’t know

Why don’t you stay?

Instead

Be a Met lifelong,

Please don’t go away

 

Yes, Jose

You don’t belong in the San Fran Bay

Or in Boston over at Fenway

With the Mets, you can’t overstay

 

Do you have to go, I don’t know

Why don’t you stay?

Instead

Be a Met lifelong,

Please don’t go away

 

Yes, Jose

If you go there will be hell to pay

But I mean that in a heartfelt way

Oh, I believe in you Jose

 

Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, Jose

According to the voting in the poll I put together last week, 41% of the 77 Amazin' Avenue regulars and lurkers were in favor of signing a Free Agent this winter to bolster the bullpen and serve as the team closer. Surprisingly, Sandy Alderson said during his interview by Gary and Ron during Tuesday night's Mets-Cardinals game that it was looking more and more like the 2012 closer was not within the organization currently, meaning that the Mets would be obtaining him via trade or free agency. When asked by Gary Cohen, Alderson responded, "I'm not sure that our closer is in the organization at this time. It's possible, but I'm not sure that it is."

While we at AA know how things like "a closer's mentality" is more or less fake, and that the position of closer itself is not important enough to warrant paying him $17 million dollars, Sandy has a good point when he says, "I think [closer] is a spot where a team has to have some confidence that those saves are going to be converted, routinely and at a certain level. There is a difference between blowing a save every once and a while and blowing them quite often. I think that can have a very negative effect in a cumulative sense." On Tuesday, he would go on to clarify, "The closer role is too important, and that's not to say you have to overspend on the closer role, but I think you've got to have somebody that you can reasonably depend on. It just takes too much out of a club to lose games late consistently. A blown save is a blown save, everybody has them, but it's one thing to blow ten percent. It's another thing to blow fifty percent...At some point, the blown saves accumulate and have at least a temporary effect on morale, including mine, by the way."

Trades are unpredictable things, so I'm not going to even bother speculating what teams might be making their closers, or effective relief pitchers in high-leverage situations available, and what players the Mets are making available. With the crunch that soon will be coming fitting all of the chips that the Mets currently have and want to continue to keep on the 40-Man Roster, leaving others exposed to the Rule 5 Draft, it is feasible that Alderson might flip any number of prospects who aren't protected before they're possibly selected by another team. I am not going to muse on that, because, again, there are so many variables in play that it makes it almost impossible to predict anything with any kind of authoritative certainty- what prospects are protected, what prospects are left exposed, what teams are willing to give up their closers/effective high-leverage situational pitchers, what the Mets are willing to give up, and so on.

Free agents are a much more simple science. Looking at the list of established closers, former closers, and set-up men, there are a few intriguing options. Let's take a look.

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(Bumped from FanPosts. --Eric)

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One of Omar Minaya's best trades- an area we all know he wasn't very savvy at- was a pretty unheralded one at the time. On January 5th 2008- two years to the date before Omar signed a certain knuckleball pitcher- Omar Minaya sent Minor Leaguers Corey Coles and Ryan Meyers (both are out of baseball, and never made it to the Major Leagues) to the Chicago Cubs, and GM Jim Hendry sent back Pagan. Since then, Pagan has played as a part-time and full-time player, in Right Field and most recently in centerfield.

Pagan, who was solid in the 88 games he played in 2009, had a career year in 2010. He put up excellent offensive numbers and excellent defensive numbers, all in a premium position. While it would be hard to repeat, Pagan seems to have fallen off a cliff, offensively and defensively, in 2011. At the plate, Pagan is hitting .263/.318/.379, which is not as good as his 2010 slash line of .290/.340/.425. It is by no means horrible, however. In the field, Pagan is a mess. In 2010, his UZR was 9.0 in 792.1 innings in centerfield. In 2011, his UZR is -12.8 in 994.0 innings in centerfield. Pagan, who is making $3.5 million dollars, is due for an arbitration raise. Either via an arbitration hearing, or avoiding arbitration by accepting a contract by the Mets, Pagan is going to get a raise, likely around the $5 million dollar mark. Because of his decline in production, there have been some rumblings around the fanbase that Pagan should not be tendered a contract, and that the Mets should look elsewhere for a centerfielder. Would non-tendering Crazy Horse make sense?

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After Sandy Alderson shrewdly traded away Francisco Rodriguez as his looming 2012 vest, Terry Collins announced that veteran Jason Isringhausen, fireballer Bobby Parnell, and rookie Pedro Beato all were in the running to close out games for the team. It soon became apparent that Izzy was the de facto closer, as he closed a bunch of games over the span of about a month, allowing him to reach the 300 save plateau. After that, it was announced that he would no longer close, and that Bobby Parnell would assume the role.

Since becoming the full-time closer, Parnell has been anything but lockdown, blowing 5 save opportunities in his last ten chances. Historically, Parnell has performed less-than-sterling in what ‘The Book' categorizes in High Leverage Situations- he walks more batters (4.78/9, as opposed to 4.47/9 in Moderate Leverage Situations, and 3.59/9 in Low Leverage Situations), has given up more home runs (1.13/9 as opposed to 0.80/9 in Moderate Leverage Situations, and 0.40/9 in Low Leverage Situations), and batters are hitting better against him (.326 BAA, as opposed to .307 in Moderate Leverage Situations, and .233 in Low Leverage Situations). His FIP/xFIP in High Leverage Situations is 4.63/4.45, a lot higher than it is in Low Leverage Situations (3.21/3.89) and Moderate Leverage Situations (3.72/3.71). Sure, in those High Leverage Situations, he's being BABIP'd to death (This season, his BABIP in those situations is .378), but all those walks (5.56/9 this season) and the drop in strikeouts (8.74/9, almost two full strikeouts less than his performance in Low and Moderate Leverage Situations) fall on his head.

As a result, Terry Collins has temporarily removed him from the closer role, using Josh Stinson and Manny Acosta in save situations. A recent SNY text poll revealed that a large majority of those who voted (I can't find the results, so I am going by memory) were weary of Parnell closing going forward, including the 2012 season. So, who are the possible candidates for the closer role in 2012?

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Coming into the 2011 season, it was evident that Sandy Alderson had an uphill battle to fight, at least in the immediate future. Tasked with building a competitive team on semi-limited funds- sure, the Mets had a large total payroll, but a substantial portion of it was already invested in a few players, including Johan Santana ($22.5 million), Carlos Beltran ($18 million), Francisco Rodriguez ($12 million), and Jason Bay ($16 million), plus a few million on players that were eventually cut from the team, such as Luis Castillo ($6 million) and Oliver Perez ($12 million)- Alderson mad a bunch of low-key signings, earning him the moniker "Small Market Sandy" among the more shortsighted portion of the fanbase. On such move was signing Chris Capuano for $1.5 million dollars (with incentives based on making up to 32 starts and pitching up to 200 innings).

Capuano had been out of baseball for almost three years. The former All-Star underwent Tommy John surgery for the second time in his career in 2008 (the first time being back in 2002, before he made his Major League debut), right before the season began. He never pitched in the Major Leagues in 2009, throwing only 9 innings in Rookie Ball because of rehab setbacks and lingering injury concerns and soreness. In 2010, he threw 25 innings in AAA, and made it back to the Major Leagues, throwing 66 innings in 9 starts and a bunch of relief appearances for the Brewers. When Alderson signed him, he was a low-risk, moderate-reward type player. Would he be the type of player he was from 2005-2007, where he posted consecutive 1.8, 3.9, 1.7 WAR seasons, or would he be ineffective because of injury?

As it turns out, unlike fellow teammate Chris Young- who was in the same low-risk, moderate reward boat as Capuano- Capuano has had a very good season. As I write this, he has been worth 1.6 WAR, pitching 163.1 innings to the tune of a 4.63 ERA, 3.98 FIP and 3.72 xFIP. His 7.88 K/9 rate is right around career levels (a tad higher than the 7.48 he's averaged), and his 2.59 BB/9 rate is right around career levels (a tad lower than the 2.95 he's averaged). His biggest weakness has been giving up the longball, something that Citi Field has protected him from (14 home runs allowed on the road, as opposed to 8 at home). According to ESPN's Game Score Counter, his masterful performance on August 26th against the Braves (9.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 13 K) was the best pitching performance of the season, netting 96 points. With only a few starts remaining, assuming he continue pitching the way he has, Capuano's 2011 season will be the second-best of his career.

This raises an important, and tough question: Should Sandy Alderson re-sign Chris Capuano for 2012 (and possibly beyond)? There are many, many things to consider.

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In last night's 7-3 win over the Washington Nationals, Dickey scattered nine hits and allowed three runs- a Mike Morse single in the first that scored Rich Ankiel, and a two-run homer by Ankiel in the 5th that scored himself and Ian Desmond. He threw 100 pitches exactly, walking nobody, and surprisingly, striking out only one batter. After allowing a base hit to in the top of the 7th to pinch hitter Brian Bixler, Dickey was lifted in favor of Tim Byrdak, who proceeded to strike out the next two batters, and Ryota Igarashi, who allowed Ryan Zimmerman to single, but ended the inning by striking out Mike Morse. That Dickey was lifted in the 7th isn't wholly surprising- he was pitching on three days rest, after all- but a trend in his last dozen or so of outings that Garik has pointed out is.

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