SBNation.com User Blog: Matthew Artus

How'd Ed Koch Do, Mets Fans?

Matthew Artus — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:20:05 -0000

Ed Koch was right where you'd expect him in the hectic moments following the Mets' Game 7 win in the 1986 World Series. The outspoken and feisty former Mayor of New York City joined the ruckus in the Mets' clubhouse, celebrating with the team. Of course he would be, given any politician's inclination to hitch their wagon to any winner.

Yet Koch, who passed away on Friday at age 88 due to congestive heart failure, had no filter for his opinions. So when he reflected on the Mets-centric festivities to a reporter in the clubhouse that magical night in 1986, everyone alive knew he spoke from the heart.

"This is the second time I have stayed for the full nine innings. But tonight made me a fan. Not an expert, but a fan."

Granted, that sentiment's a little easier to adopt when you're being showered in champagne by Lee Mazzilli. (After Mazzilli covered Koch in bubbly, the former mayor humorously quipped, "Is that California champagne?") And given that the Bronx-born leader made no secret about his lack of fan allegiance to the Mets and the Yankees, one might be tempted to dismiss his "becoming a fan" comment as nothing more than a guy who enjoyed one hell of an evening in Queens on Oct. 27, 1986.

However, Koch's three terms as Mayor of New York City coincided with the darkest hours and brightest days of the team's recent history. He took office in 1978 with the Bronx Zoo in full swing at Yankee Stadium and with the "Midnight Massacre" still fresh in the minds of Mets fans everywhere. He stayed there throughout the 1980s, as the magic came back to Shea behind a kid named Darryl Strawberry and an ace pitcher in Dwight Gooden who was so good and so beloved that he could've beaten Koch in an election for Mayor. And he was there at the end, as former Mets general manager Frank Cashen's creation became too expensive and too old to keep together.

Granted, it's not necessarily worth digging deep into Koch's attachment to Mets baseball, as most of it was associated with political opportunism. That allegedly started in year one, when newly-elected Mayor Koch reportedly served as the umpire in a charity softball game between members of the 1978 New York Mets and a collection of Penthouse pinup girls. And it certainly continued in 1986, when Koch and former New York Governor Mario Cuomo sat beside Davey Johnson in the World Series victory parade.

Koch did control one important item in the Mets' postseason picture, though: the playoff bet. As mayor, Koch took responsibility for agreeing to the ceremonial wager with the opponent's top politician in a battle for bragging rights. That came up twice in 1986, with both bets leading to much better subplots.

Against Houston, Koch took a page right out of the team's history with Banner Day for his big bet. If the Mets defeated the Astros in the 1986 National League Championship Series, Houston mayor Kathy Whitmire agreed to hang an "I Love New York" banner in the city's Tranquility Park. If the Mets lost, Koch would be required to display a "Houston Pride" banner in Central Park. But there was more at stake for the Houston mayor.

That's because Whitmire also agreed to a wager with David Letterman. If Houston won, Letterman would be required to post pictures of Whitmire and the Astros on his show, "Late Night with David Letterman," for four days. If the Mets prevailed, Whitmire had to keep a lifesize photo of Mookie Wilson in her office. The negotiating of those terms did not involve Mayor Koch, but the immediate reaction did.

"I haven't been able to see it (Wilson's picture), but at least it isn't a picture of Mayor Koch," Whitmire said about her side bet with the talk show host.

"We wouldn't be cruel," Letterman responded.

The bet with Boston did not go without controversy, either. Koch and Boston Mayor Raymond Flynn agreed that the team that lost the 1986 World Series would fly the other city's flag. Flynn honored the bet by raising a New York City flag in the end, but a "Red Sox Revenge Squad" stepped in to make a simple wager into a silly controversy.

Boston's rebel squad stole the flag two days after it went up the pole. They requested an apology from Koch and the Mets for the poor behavior by Mets security and fans. In addition, they stated that Koch would need to deliver the apology while wearing a pink bunny suit before the New York City flag would be returned.

That never came to fruition, but Flynn wound up raising a flag that wasn't the one Koch provided. The Boston mayor returned that one because Koch's flag, in addition to the city's colors, displayed the words "I love the New York Mets. Don't tread on me."

His postseason obligations were not the only ones that brought Koch out in defense of the Mets. A commercial produced by the Pirates in 1988 described the Mets as "one more thing to hate about New York." When asked to respond to Pittsburgh, Koch asked, "Where is it?" (Former Pittsburgh Mayor Sophie Mastoff later replied by sending Koch a map of Steel City.)

Toward the end of his tenure as mayor, Koch continued to show a fondness for the Mets and especially its mustachioed first baseman. Noticing that Keith Hernandez's days in Flushing were numbered as well, Koch invited the 11-time Gold Glove Award winner to City Hall to discuss their impending unemployment.

"I heard of the mistake that was being made, in not picking up his contract," Koch said in 1989. "So I decided to bring him in here and to discuss out future -- as two lame ducks."

Koch then tipped his cap to Hernandez's contributions to the Mets by presenting the first baseman with a Tiffany crystal apple that the former Mayor claimed was only given "to prime ministers and ballplayers."

There were these little anecdotes, little notes of Mayor Koch endearing himself to New Yorkers by embracing the best team in town. (I imagine there are some older diehard Yankees fans who curse Koch's name in the same way that some Mets fans stew over Rudolph Giuliani's unrequited love for the Bronx Bombers.) And he'd done enough to earn his way into a cameo of the 1986 "Let's Go Mets" music video.

New York City mourns the passing of a former three-time mayor who helped steer the city out of bankruptcy and into the right direction, even if his tactics rankled a lot of people along the way. And Metsopotamia mourns the loss of a person who found the joy of baseball by way of the Amazin's in 1980s, and even helped to enhance the fan base's collective memory in a small way.

Mets fans and baseball fans are better for having seen Ed Koch in the stands at Shea Stadium. And for that, we tip our cap to the former Mayor.

Better The Devil You Know

Matthew Artus — Tue, 11 Dec 2012 16:12:59 -0000

So did you give the devil his due?

I found myself re-reading Michael Donato's thought experiment from yesterday regarding whether you'd willingly disavow any Mets-centric knowledge of the 2013 baseball season if it meant a better outlook in 2014. No more knucklers, no more bunts, no more fielders that look like runts. I couldn't do it; I take too much satisfaction in the journey (which may be due to the end coming prematurely for the last 26 seasons and counting).

But I gave Michael's post a second look as I looked over comments from various beat writers at the Mets holiday party this morning with regard to R.A. Dickey's contract status. Here's the gist of those:

And it led me to the one important question left out of yesterday's hypothetical: Do you still trust Sandy Alderson enough to believe he could put the team in a better place come 2014?

When the Mets brought Alderson on as their general manager in October 2010, they hired him into the pinnacle of precarious positions. Between the boatload of albatross contracts on the payroll and the shadow of Madoff's ponzi scheme engulfing the the formative years of Citi Field, it's a wonder he took the job -- let alone found a way to keep the ragtag band of misfits from hitting 100 losses.

Yet it's worth noting that Alderson now enters his third offseason at the helm of the Amazin's, with some promising crops in the farm system but little to inspire hope at the Major League level in the near term. And that's the crux of Michael's thought experiment: How long are you willing to wait for a winner?

Then I keep hearing how the Mets are playing hardball with R.A. Dickey, who, at least publicly, appears to be negotiating in good faith and with the expressed desire to stay put in Flushing for the foreseeable future.

And I recall Alderson's inability to tender any kind of offer to Jose Reyes last year, or how Alderson threw a not-insignificant amount of money at a bad bullpen in 2012, or that he uncovered a lot of building blocks in Oakland and San Diego using sabermetric principles but didn't stick around to see the structures come to fruition.

This isn't a "FIRE SANDY ALDERSON!" post. I generally like him and do approve of the direction the club is heading, in terms of player development, the lack of fear in implementing statistics analysis, and in having a long-term plan that doesn't involve bringing in shiny new free agents every offseason.

But there are certain inalienable truths guaranteed to all inhabitants of Metsopotamia these days: we're broke, bankruptcy is looming for an ownership group that will not sell until their beloved team is ripped from their cold, dead fingers, and the next great Met won't come by someone in Queens throwing copious amounts of money at a free agent who fills a need.

Those troubles -- the lack of finances and the resulting uncertainty -- is the reality Mets fans face, whether we want to admit it or not. And if we just close our eyes for a season as Michael suggested, that reality likely won't change.

So the question remains: If you were to close your eyes, what, if anything, would you see when they reopened in 2014? Seeing the difficult Dickey's having in negotiations and knowing few, if any, other players will be afforded even that luxury anytime soon, what would Alderson build that would make you feel better about the team's future? Or, if he does nothing at all and the team improves anyway, should the credit still stay with the Mets GM?

I suppose we're better off with the devil you know than the one you don't. But we also need to remain vigilant about when to play devil's advocate.

Recalling the many times Chipper Jones dug the long ball against the Mets

Matthew Artus — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 15:17:00 -0000

"A trip to New York will bring better things."

A 23-year-old Larry "Chipper" Jones uttered that sentiment to a pool of Atlanta Braves beat reporters on May 8, 1995. The Braves just surrendered a four-game sweep to the Philadelphia Phillies and Jones, just a dumb kid who had only had a cup of coffee in the Majors in 1993 and because he missed the entire 1994 season while recovering from an ACL injury. He, like any sane baseball player, knew well enough that it was way too early to panic - especially considering that the season started so late due to the last-minute resolution of the 1994-95 baseball strike.

Unfortunately, that sentiment, the wide-eyed optimism that making it up in New York means you'll make it anywhere, helped boost Jones into the pantheon of premier baseball players at the expense of our beloved Mets. He smacked his first career home run the next day, introducing himself to the Shea Faithful as a menace who would torment the die hards in Queens for the next 17 years.

There were some who hit more against the Mets (Willie Stargell hit 60 heartbreakers over his career) and some who crushed our hopes and dreams on a bigger stage (Yadier Molina, anyone?), but there have been few singular opponents in the Mets' storied history who haunted the Flushing fans so consistently and so thoroughly.

At the moment, the former first round draft pick can claim 49 home runs at the expense of the Amazin's, which is tied with the Phillies for the most dingers delivered by Jones against a single team. This weekend marks the last time Jones can pad that total in Flushing, though he'll have three more games later this month back in the den of horrors that is Turner Field.

And as Mets fans prepare to ~~boo Jones out of Citi Field~~ bid adieu to one of the most feared and revered rivals in team history, we here at Amazin' Avenue decided to take a look back at some of ~~the battle scars we repressed~~ Larry Jones' most lethal home runs at the Mets' expense.

May 9, 1995 vs. Josias Manzanillo
Where to start? After Jeff Kent had tied the game for the Mets with a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth, Jones capped a 2-for-4 day with leading off the top of the ninth by making Josias Manzanillo, the reliever who entered this game with an 11.12 ERA and who attended a pre-game meeting with the Mets pitching staff about the very topic of getting ahead of hitters, the answer to the question "Which Mets reliever dialed up the 2-0 fastball that resulted in Chipper's first career home run?" It gave the Braves a 3-2 lead, Jones with the highest WPA he's ever accrued from a home run against the Mets (.339), and Mets fans with the first taste of heartburn they'd feel every time Larry's name appears in the Braves' lineup.

Money quote?

"It was a long time coming and I got quite emotional. I went into the tunnel to gather myself together."

- Jones, on being overcome by emotion after his first career home run

July 2, 1999 vs. Masato Yoshii
While Jones' first career home run fell on my birthday, this one has always been more of a personal low for me. The Braves third baseman put an exclamation point on a three-run first inning for the Braves by belting a 412-foot blast off the Japanese right hander. It marked the first of two homers Jones would hit in a 16-0 drubbing that saw Matt Franco record an out as a reliever and Rick Reed in right field.

The kicker? The sell out crowd of 51,979 fans at Shea were in the house for Fireworks Night, meaning every last one of them - including your friendly neighborhood Mets blogger - had to watch every moment of suffering summoned up that night by Jones and company.

Money quote?

"After the third inning, I told him we might need him."

- Mets manager Bobby Valentine, on giving Franco a heads up that he might need to pitch in relief

Sept. 21, 1999 vs. Dennis Cook
1999 didn't end so badly for Mets fans as the team ended its 11-year playoff drought with a Wild Card appearance. Of course, the Mets settled for the Wild Card because they went into Turner Field on Sept. 21 just one game behind the Braves for the NL East lead - and left four games behind. Jones played a big part in that, hitting four home runs in that three game series including two in the series opener. As the first came against reliably righty Rick Reed, Valentine brought in the left-handed Cook to turn Jones around at the plate. Chipper didn't mind hitting righty, knocking a solo shot over the fence for the game winner.

Money quote?

"It's a tough loss, but it's not going to break our season. We've still got our chances."

- Reed, on the Mets' mindset following such a crushing loss

Sept. 23, 1999 vs. Al Leiter
While Cook's home run took the wind out of their sails, this one against Leiter removed all doubt about which playoff race the Mets would pursue in the 1999 season's final days. Jones hit his final home run of the '99 campaign off the Mets southpaw, further cementing what would result in the Braves slugger being named the 1999 National League Most Valuable Player. That Jones hit the three-run homer wasn't the debate after this game. The debate instead was about Valentine's decision to allow anyone to keep pitching to the Mets' biggest pest.

Money quote?

"It's not a worry or a concern. You don't always see the same hero, so they have to have someone else come through. If they do, they'll be champs."

-Orel Hershiser, shaking off Jones' ridiculously good series by daring anyone else on the Braves to attempt matching the performance

Sept. 11, 2002 vs. Steve Trachsel
The New York fans, seeing the 2002 Mets in freefall, likely hoped for a spirited effort from their beloved Amazin's given the sentimental considerations of the one-year anniversary of 9-11. They got it in the nightcap, but Jones spoiled the first game of the doubleheader with a pair of home runs, one against Trachsel and a later one against the questionably-nicknamed "Japaense Greg Maddux," Satoru Komiyama.

Money quote?

"It was a long and exhausting 14 hours in uniform with everything going on. It was hard to concentrate. But the interruptions all had meaning to them. The guys that were here last year, I looked at their faces and could tell they were feeling it."

- Valentine, summarizing the Mets' morale given the trying doubleheader on the one-year anniversary of 9-11

Sept. 27, 2002 vs. Pedro Astacio
The 2002 Mets likely didn't need another doubleheader against the Braves, but they got it towards the end of the season and Jones once again capitalized. The first game at Shea was a ghost town in terms of attendance, while the latter had about a third of the 33,527 paid attendance actually in the building to see Jones take Astacio deep. If you were still watching this albatross of a team on Sept. 27, you likely stopped for good once Chipper's homer left the yard and officially clinched last place for the Mets for the first time since 1993.

Money quote?

"Mathematically, we weren't eliminated till a few weeks ago, but realistically, just the way you look at it, I can't put a number on it when it felt over."

- Mike Piazza, on the team's broken spirits following this game

Sept. 5, 2005 vs. Steve Trachsel
Hey, look, Steve Trachsel again! While hearts were heavy in Metsopotamia regarding Trachsel's first appearance on the list, they were flying high this time around as the Amazin's were just two and a half games back in the NL Wild Card race. Jones changed that attitude by clobbering a tiebreaking two-run home run in the eighth, boosting the Braves toward a 101-win season and bringing Willie Randolph's inaugural season as Mets manager a little further away from a happy ending.

Money quote?

"He seems to be the one to always drop the hammer."

- David Wright, on getting his first up-close-and-personal look at Jones busting up the playoff aspirations of the Mets

Aug. 9, 2007 vs. John Maine
Remember all those games in 2007 when Willie Randolph would say "Oh, it's just one loss" without knowing yet that all those losses would result in the Collapse? This was one of those losses, as Jones, who was inserting himself in yet another NL MVP conversation, brought the Braves from behind with a two-run homer in the fifth. Mark Teixeira went back-to-back following Jones's no doubter, but this one gets special mention as A) at 439 feet, it was the longest home run he would hit outside of Turner Field in 2007, and B) it represented his last home run in Shea Stadium.

Money quote?

"By the middle innings we were both drenched with sweat, sticky with overflow ketchup and chocolate ice cream, and fractious, sniping about the timing of mandatory bathroom trips and debating the proper relationship between not listening to fathers and the likelihood of getting further treats. And the Mets weren't helping, not with John Maine pulling his usual act of getting unnerved by a bit of bad luck, only this time he gave up a shockingly long homer to Chipper (whom I tried to teach my unnervingly fair-minded son to boo) and then a less-flamboyant one to Teixeira."

- Faith and Fear in Flushing's Jason Fry, on recalling what it was like to manage his four-year-old son and his expectations for the Mets on a warm August afternoon

Sept. 21, 2009 vs. Pat Misch
Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end, right? Once Shea Stadium ceased to be and Citi Field became the official home of our New York Mets, Chipper Jones officially christened the place with his first home run in the new building. He hit the third of three home runs by the Braves' first 12 batters in the game, and did it on the 10-year anniversary of his soul-sucking performance against the playoff-bound 1999 Mets.

Money quote?

"Wow."

- Ron Darling, being left speechless on SNY at seeing Jones, who had been showing signs of age and fragility throughout the 2011 season, found his fountain of youth against the Mets once again

June 16, 2011 vs. R.A. Dickey
In Dickey we trust, unless he's in Turner Field with a 3-0 count against Chipper Jones. Larry struck once more against the Mets' beloved knuckleballer with a three-run shot against a Mets team under new management and mired in Madoff madness. Mets fans kept right on deluding themselves into thinking their might be a playoff race in Flushing after the All-Star break, but it was always truly tough to believe given that Jones, who wound up with a 3-for-4 day and tied his career high for RBIs in a single game with five, was still in the league. (Of course, it didn't help that the Mets would go on to lose due to an always-popular walkoff balk by D.J. Carrasco.)

Money quote?

"Well, I guess if we're gonna get beat, at least it's Chipper and not one of those scrubs."

- Amazin' Avenue commenter MetsFan4Decades, making peace with the familiar refrain of Jones tearing the still-beating heart out of the Mets in another game

Feel free to leave out any Chipper-branded home runs I missed in the comments.

Partial Transcript of Rusty Staub's Conference Call with Mets Bloggers

Matthew Artus — Thu, 24 May 2012 03:21:05 -0000

Mets legend Rusty Staub took a few minutes on Wednesday evening to chat with a group of Mets bloggers on a conference call hosted by the team. I managed to join in on the fun.

On Davey Johnson managing the Washington Nationals:

He is his own guy. He goes about it his own way and doesn't care what everybody else thinks and that's probably a good thing for a manager to be. I just was very happy for him to get another shot in the big leagues and the fact that the team is spending a little money on players and they're doing pretty good.

On Ike Davis's hitting woes:

I've watched the Mets on TV quite a bit and I mean he's had the bat in different positions. He's pumping that thing up and down. I don't think he's giving himself much of a chance. I think he's got to slow it down and be quieter and not have so much... especially if your hands start moving down when that ball is coming, you're not getting there. He does that a lot.

On the type of heat he brings to his burgers:

Oh, I believe in high heat. There's a lot of things I believe in. Radiant heat. Maybe get a little showing of fire and then get it off. But burgers, I like to just go get ‘em.

The fuller transcript is below.

(Note: Due to traffic and an unruly dog, I unfortunately joined the call already in progress. As I believe that means I missed Staub's reflections on Gary Carter, I'll be sure to link to it should any of the other bloggers make it available.)

Without further ado, this picks up from a question from Greg Prince of Faith and Fear in Flushing regarding Davey Johnson being the manager for the Washington Nationals:

Rusty Staub: ...I had respect for the way (Davey Johnson) handled the game. Probably, the whole team lacked a little bit of discipline - there's no question about that. We all know what happened off the field with this team. They were a great group that probably should have won more. But he was very, very good on the field. He doesn't need my okay for everybody to understand that because he did very well in every place he's ever managed. He is his own guy. He goes about it his own way and doesn't care what everybody else thinks and that's probably a good thing for a manager to be. I just was very happy for him to get another shot in the big leagues and the fact that the team is spending a little money on players and they're doing pretty good.

Steve Keane (The Ed Kranepool Society): Good evening, Rusty... Coming from the National League, you played 13 seasons in the National League and in '76 went over to the Detroit Tigers - not just changing teams again but going to a new league back in the ‘70s with the advent of the designated hitter. I have a two-part question on this: What was it like going to the American League, which at that time was a real different style than the National League, and learning to play that DH position, which not being in the field at which you excelled at the outfield and first base? And the second part is, you made the All-Star team back in '76 and you were also an All-Star of course in the National League back in that day, the All-Star Game was really an important game and it was an intense game where both leagues wanted to win. Can you talk about how both clubhouses are being in on an National League All-Star team and an American League All-Star team in the 1970s?

Rusty Staub: I hope I can remember all this.

I'm going to the card thing with the All-Star stuff because that's on my mind. The truth is, anytime you get an All-Star opportunity, it's great to be with the people that are the top players in the game. Yes, there was tremendous competition. And believe me, I was never on the team - either with the National League or the American League - that didn't want to win the game. We had a lot of intensity. When I think of Pete Rose and Fosse, I mean, that tells you about the intensity of how the players played that game.

I think it was a great thing for me to get an opportunity to see some of the really terrific pitchers and players in the American League when I went over there. It's not that easy; you just don't go over there, especially if you're a student of pitching and you haven't seen these guys much. There were a lot of pitchers I'd never faced before.

And come on, if the guy in Anaheim is struggling right now and he's been struggling all year, he might be coming out of it, you know he will. But he's seeing a whole lot of new people, although you have a lot of interleague play. You know, he's got a little bit of the normal pressure that comes with signing a huge contract, moving to a new city and proving himself to his teammates. I had to do all that when I went to the Tigers. They had a lot of kids but they had some veteran players there, too. You go do everything you can do. By the grace of God for me, I still was playing extremely well and I got off to a pretty good start and it was a great experience for me to see the differences which were more blatant back then than they are now, that's for sure. Go to the other part of the question. You had so many parts.

Steve Keane: Well, you got me most of it, but the All-Stars and then you switching over and working as a designated hitter...

Rusty Staub: Yeah, let me finish that for you. I didn't want to be a designated hitter, but Ralph Houk needed me to be. The truth is, the Tigers made a decision on their left fielder that had been there for years and years. Steve Kemp was coming up. I knew they wanted me to be the DH. So, it would be a competition between them to see who was going to play left field and they felt Steve Kemp was going to be the one who was one to get it. It happened, and they traded the guy and I'm just drawing a blank on the name right now... Willie Horton. I mean, he was an all-time player there and I really liked the guy. He's a tremendous teammate. But, you can tell and I've told Ralph Houk, "I'm going to give you one year. That's it." I said, "If I can't do this, I'm going to say something. But for one year, I'll shut up and I'll do everything I can to be the best DH I can be." And that's what I did.

Scott Mandel (Sports Reporters): Congratulations on your bobblehead day! I wanted to talk to you about the fact that you came up in '63 with Houston and a lot of people look back at those days as sort of being the golden years of Major League Baseball, particularly in the National League where there seemed to be one Hall of Famer on every team or several Hall of Famers on every team and the pitching... Koufax and Gibson and Drysdale and Aaron and Mays and people like that, the league was loaded with true superstars...

Rusty Staub: There were only 20 teams then.

Scott Mandel: That's right, and only one winner in each league. So coming up as a 19-year-old in '63, what was your initial impression? Other than being just, "What am I doing here?"

Rusty Staub: My first week, I faced the Giants and the Dodgers. So, they only had four Hall of Fame pitchers in the two series with Koufax and Drysdale and they had Gaylord Perry and Juan Marichal and their opening day pitcher, Jack Stanford. There was an unwritten rule that whoever won the most games the year before usually got Opening Day. Well, he outpitched, as far as wins were concerned, Juan Marichal the previous year, so he got the Opening Day start.

I was not overmatched with the baseball, but I might have been a little more overmatched in elements expecting on life. Because I was the All-American kid. I was too young to go anywhere with anybody without somebody getting in trouble. There were more grown up teams to get by then almost anything else. But I do think the fact that I survived it made me stronger. You just have to take your lumps some times and keep on fighting. Keep trying to be the best you can be. I remember reading a big article in one of the magazines. I was 20 years old and they were talking about me being washed up by my 21st birthday. It's not an easy world. You got to get a tough skin and you just got to put your head down and just keep fighting.

Even for all the young kids coming up now, you just got to stop listening to all this stuff. The type of media coverage now is so vast and the only way people can be heard most of the time is if they're controversial. Just don't work on that stuff. You got to play. You got to train correctly. Some of these people start making money and they think that makes them brilliant in most subjects of the world, much less a better player than anybody else. You forget that you've got to keep working your ass off to be a good player. Those are the players I respect the most; the guys that day in and day out try to do all the parts of the game correctly.

Scott Mandel: Can I follow up with one more question: Best right-handed pitcher and best lefty you ever faced?

Rusty Staub: I've always said the same thing. If my life depended on it and I had to have a righty and a lefty pitch a game for me, I would pick, with all due respect to some great people, I would pick Sandy Koufax and I would pick Bob Gibson.

Shannon Shark (Mets Police): I'd like to talk to you about your other career. And particularly, it's Memorial Day and I'm having a pool party. I'm going to get the grill out and I was wondering if you had any quick tips for burgers, dogs, sausage or steak.

Rusty Staub: Well, just pay attention - don't overcook ‘em! Just like anything else, you have to - I always believing in concentrating. If you concentrate when you're doing the cooking part, it's not like you're going to be married to the stove or to the grill. But just have an idea of what you want to do and go do it. It's fun. That's the great thing about cooking: No matter how old you get, you keep getting better.

Shannon Shark: High heat or medium for burgers?

Rusty Staub: Oh, I believe in high heat. There's a lot of things I believe in. Radiant heat. Maybe get a little showing of fire and then get it off. But burgers, I like to just go get ‘em.

Mike Branda (Mets Merized Online): My question is actually currently in regards to what we've seen with Ike Davis lately. Every hitter is obviously going to see a tough time at the plate. There's going to be maybe a month where you're just not going to see the ball right. You're just not getting the hits, the swing, anything. What are things that a hitting coach or has done to just help you through a tough time at the plate?

Rusty Staub: Well, the most important thing you have to understand is yourself, okay? I don't know what's happening; I'm not privy to anything that's being said down in that dugout. I don't have an idea what the hitting instructor is talking to Ike Davis about. But, Ike Davis came up as a very good young prospect as a hitter and he had very good talent. And right now he's so messed up in his head, it's beyond comprehension.

I've watched the Mets on TV quite a bit and I mean he's had the bat in different positions. He's pumping that thing up and down. I don't think he's giving himself much of a chance. I think he's got to slow it down and be quieter and not have so much... especially if your hands start moving down when that ball is coming, you're not getting there. He does that a lot.

He's going to get out of this thing. Whether he's got to go to the minors and get himself together... I had to do that once myself in my career. What Ike has to start doing is starting himself in knowing why he's doing well what he's doing well and have an idea. Every pitcher has a strength and a weakness. Some of them don't have as many weaknesses as others, but you can't go up there hoping. You have to go up there with an idea of what you want to do against that pitcher and you try to execute that. Right now, I think he's so confused. I'm not too sure getting a little time to get his act together wouldn't be the best thing in the world for the young man, as terrible as that sounds. Ike will be back. It's just not easy to hit the type of long-term injury he had in the previous year and come back automatically swinging the bat great.

Matthew Artus: I was just curious, as this weekend you'll also be an honorary judge for Banner Day, if, looking back during your time playing with the Mets, you have any particular memories about Banner Day - as a player, some of the signs that you may have seen in the crowd, or some of the games and waiting around in between the doubleheader while Banner Day was going on.

Rusty Staub: Well, the thing you've got to remember is that Banner Day hasn't been around for such a long period of time. The truth is: THE FANS LOVE IT! They had a great day. You know, they spent time - Again, some did modest things and some people did elaborate things, but it was a special day. The players, here was something that took place in between games of a doubleheader so it's kind of delayed the second game. Some people liked that; some people didn't. Everybody always went out and there was a little banner the team put together thanking the fans for their support. I thought that was a pretty good deal when I first came here, but there's no doubleheaders anymore unless there's a makeup.

I just think it's terrific that the fans are going to be able to have a day that kind of seems like it's for them. They're going to come out with their banners and have their chance to cheer for the guy or say something - whatever they want to do, and walk on the field, I'm sure. I've promise I've talked to Mookie (Wilson) about it. We're going to the best we can to judge it well.

Paul Festa (Mets Today): My question has to do with the 1973 season. You had a team come back from so far behind and took one of the strongest teams at the time - the Oakland A's - to a game seven in the World Series while falling just short. My question is: What are your memories that you have of that season overall? Was it positive? Maybe a little disappointed? Or are you very proud of it?

Rusty Staub: It was a tough season for the team. You have to remember we were in last place at the end of August. A bunch of people got hurt. Grote broke his arm. I'd had the hand operation in '72 and the reliever with Pittsburgh, Ramon Hernandez, hit me in my other hand. So I had neither hand. I was taping up both hands and using pads on both hands to try to play.

It seems that we got toward August and I know there was a period of time when they gave me three days off and the correct use of cortisone can really be a positive. I actually took seven shots. I'm telling you: four in one hand and three in the other and I didn't play for three days. And when I came back on Sunday, which was the fourth day, it was a day game on a Sunday, and I took batting practice, I was astounded that I had pop back in my hands.

I was an RBI guy that drove in a lot of the big runs and we all know that. Me coming back made it a lot easier, but the thing you have to remember - this is what I said in September when I was with some friends of mine out in California when we were playing a series out there - we had Seaver, Matlack and Koosman and George Stone was pitching terrific. You have that starting staff and you got a shot - and it was so close.

I remember Bob Bailey was my teammate in Montreal. We were in last place and I said, "We're not out of it, either." And he kind of laughed at me. Kind of belittled my comment. Well, you know, I remember that as went through and played so well in September and went right through them and then also winning the NL championship.

Mets Official: Saturday is your bobblehead day. Can you talk a bit about how you feel having a bobblehead? Is this your first bobblehead?

Rusty Staub: It's not my first bobblehead. I'm not sure whether the Mets have done one in the earlier part of my career. I don't remember, but I know they had one in Montreal. Again, this is something the fans love. To be one of the players and it's the 50th anniversary year, to be selected by the ball club as one of the players, it's an honor. So I'm thrilled to do it and I hope everyone comes out and gets one.

Revisiting the Mets' Long and Winding Road to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game

Matthew Artus — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:12:25 -0000

Forgive me if I hold the applause for the announcement that the Mets will host the 2013 MLB All-Star Game at Citi Field.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm excited in as much as All-Star baseball is still better than no baseball at all. Still, this news has been forthcoming for so long than any lingering suspense in the hearts of Mets fans must be completely contrived. So you're saying the Mets will host the 84th Midsummer Classic in 14 months' time? How quaint. I still won't believe it until I'm officially shut out from being able to buy tickets because of the presumably large demand.

The New York Post's Kevin Kernan said the Mets would get the All-Star Game three years ago. Jon Heyman declared over 16 months ago that the Mets getting the Midsummer Classic was a done deal. Hell, even Fred Wilpon himself expected last February that the Mets would get the game. The only thing that could make the news shocking is if we learn in the coming days that the Mets hadn't actually started to prepare to host it.

Still, does the first occurrence of All-Star festivities in Flushing since 1964 mean anything? Should we feel slighted that it took so long?

Out of curiousity, I took a gander at how long it took for Major League Baseball to award every All-Star Game since 2005. Why 2005? Because that was the first All-Star Game awarded after the 2002 debacle that coerced MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to change how the league plays the game.

ASG Date	Award Date	Host Team	Notice
2005	August 2003	Detroit Tigers	23 Months
2006	July 2004	Pittsburgh Pirates	24 Months
2007	February 2005	San Francisco Giants	29 Months
2008	January 2007	New York Yankees	17 Months
2009	January 2007	St. Louis Cardinals	29 Months
2010	May 2008	Los Angeles Angels	26 Months
2011	April 2009	Arizona Diamondbacks	27 Months
2012	June 2010	Kansas City Royals	25 Months
2013	May 2012	New York Mets	14 Months

And by and large, MLB kept up appearances by issuing the game with over two years' notice to each host team - except the Mets... and the Yankees, who likely had to navigate the same bureaucratic morass that the Mets faced in getting the 2013 edition. One would presume the Yankees had more support given that the 2008 All-Star Game absolutely, positively needed to take place in the final year of Yankee Stadium, but hey - let's give the devil his due.

So no reason to feel slighted? Well, maybe a small one. That's because three teams - the Pirates, Astros and Angels - have held it three times since Shea Stadium served as the midsummer venue in 1964, while 13 others - the Yankees, White Sox, Cardinals, Reds, Tigers, Phillies, Brewers, Giants, Twins, Braves, Padres, Mariners and Royals - will have held it twice in that same span. (Speaking of the Royals, they suffered the second-longest All Star drought before getting the 2012 game.)

Even Washington, D.C. has held an All-Star Game (1969) more recently than the Mets despite the city going without professional baseball for over three decades. Oh, and if you think that leaves the Nationals high and dry, remember that the Montreal Expos hosted it in 1982 - and that Selig is considering either the nation's capital or Miami for the 2015 game.

This never-ending story gets a happy ending, but not because Mayor Bloomberg posed for the photos with Mr. Met and Selig at City Hall on Wednesday morning. Instead, it's because I'm a little more comfortable with what fans around baseball will see when the national spotlight focuses on Flushing next summer. The Madoff scandal is behind us. We can't make any assumptions about the 2012 Mets after seeing the team fall flat after the All Star break every year since 2009, but we can say that the brain trust running the team appears to have things heading in the right direction. There's the David Wright contract controversy, but that could be resolved one way or another by then.

If I'm excited, it's because I'm growing more comfortable with being able to boast about the hosts in 2013. I didn't think that was possible when the Post "broke" the story back in 2009. Now I'm only left wondering if the walls at Citi Field are in far enough to make for a halfway decent Home Run Derby...

Mets to Host 2013 MLB All-Star Game

Matthew Artus — Wed, 16 May 2012 17:01:51 -0000

One way or another, we can now breathe easier in knowing that there will be All Stars at Citi Field next season.

Major League Baseball confirmed Wednesday morning that our New York Mets will host the 2013 MLB All-Star Game in Flushing next July. The announcement took place at City Hall on Wednesday morning as Mr. Met conceded the microphone to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and MLB Commissioner Bud Selig among other baseball dignitaries to confirm what's long been speculated as the preferred venue for next year's Midsummer Classic.

Seriously, he did. Take a look (via @sbnation):

Beaurcratic silliness likely caused the delay in the announcement, as navigating New York City policies and procudures for this scale of event can drive the average person mad. One thing that did not cause concern for Selig was the Wilpons' dire financial straits in recent months.

From ESPN New York:

"I have great faith in the Wilpons and the family and I was very confident they would work things out, and they have. I had no trepidation at all," Selig said.

The announcement means that the Mets will host the All-Star Game for the first time since Shea Stadium's inaugural season in 1964. With the Kansas City Royals hosting the big game this summer, the Los Angeles Dodgers now take over the mantle as the team with the longest All Star drought after last hosting the game in 1980.

The game itself should also put an exclamation point on what will hopefully be a wild year in New York sports in 2013,with the Yankees being the Yankees, the Brooklyn Nets coming to fruition, revitalized local sports teams with the Knicks, Rangers and Devils, and WrestleMania XXIX coming to MetLife Stadium next April and Super Bowl XXLVIII taking place there at the end of the 2013 NFL season. (And, hey, Islanders tickets are still cheap.)

The official press release is after the jump for those of you who are into that sort of thing.

NEW YORK METS AWARDED THE 2013 ALL-STAR GAME
Mets Will Host Midsummer Classic for Second Time; Ninth for New York City

NEW YORK, NY - The New York Mets have been awarded Major League Baseball's 2013 All-Star Game and will host the 84th Midsummer Classic at Citi Field, Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig announced today at a press conference at City Hall. Commissioner Selig was joined by the Mayor of New York, the Honorable Michael R. Bloomberg, and New York Mets Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Fred Wilpon.

The 2013 All-Star Game will mark the second time that the Mets, who are commemorating their 50th anniversary in 2012, will host the Midsummer Classic. Shea Stadium hosted the 1964 All-Star Game, a 7-4 National League victory that featured 21 participating Hall of Famers, including Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Sandy Koufax, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson, as well as MLB's Executive Vice President for Baseball Operations, Joe Torre. It will be the ninth All-Star Game in Baseball history to be played in New York City, which is the most of any host city.

Commissioner Selig said: "As we celebrate the franchise's golden anniversary this year, I am pleased to award the 2013 All-Star Game to the New York Mets and their loyal fans. We are delighted to bring the Midsummer Classic to Citi Field, a wonderful ballpark that has carried on the remarkable National League tradition in New York City. The Mets will be superb hosts to next summer's greatest sporting event."

"Thanks to the efforts of Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Selig, it's a great honor for everyone at the Mets to host the 2013 All-Star Game at Citi Field," Wilpon said. "Mets fans and all people in the New York tri-state area and beyond will have the opportunity to take part in the events that Major League Baseball will bring to New York."

"Next year's All-Star Game is going to demonstrate once again that there's no place like New York for world-class sporting events," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Major League Baseball clearly recognizes this, since they're bringing the All-Star Game back to New York for the second time in just five years."

The 84th All-Star Game is tentatively scheduled to be played at Citi Field on Tuesday, July 16, 2013.

Would You Pay to See Chipper Jones Play One Last Time?

Matthew Artus — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 03:02:37 -0000

Not counting the postseason nor any repudiation of earlier claims, we Mets fans have no more than 152 more games to kick Chipper Jones around a little more.

The postseason? Well, sure - who the hell knows how the NL East will shake out this season, let alone the Wild Cards. The change of heart? Methinks Jones meant what he said when he said he's walking away from the game at season's end.

That leaves 14 more occasions when Mets fans can renew their rivalry in person with the Atlanta Braves stalwart. Two weeks' worth of reminding a grown man named Larry that grown men don't call themselves "Chipper." Approximately 42 hours of cursing Jones' name under our collective breath every time he won't show his damned age.

Before it's time to gripe about a Braves' lineup lacking Jones, the Mets indicated that they intend to somehow honor him in some manner at some undetermined date before this season reaches its end. Presuming they won't offer the club's still-beating heart on a platter to him in honor of all the times he tore it from our chests, I'm not certain what it might look like.

And I'm not sure that I'm ready for what I will see.

A quick glance at the ol' box scores showed that the Mets' longstanding rivalry with the Braves incorporated Larry Jones for the first time on May 9, 1995. Jones went 2-for-4 that day, scoring his first Shea Stadium single off Bret Saberhagen in the top of the third before taking Josias Manzanillo deep to right for his first Shea Stadium home run in the top of the ninth, which later became the game-winning run in a 3-2 Braves win.

I turned 14 years old that day. I can literally say that Jones's introduction to the Shea Faithful ruined my birthday.

He's ruined a lot of days since then, for myself and Mets fans of all ages. You know that. I know that. And before yesterday's 6-1 win over the Braves at Turner Field, Jones admitted that he knows that, too:

"It's no secret my relationship with the fans of New York. And I can only say that some of the games I've had on that stage up there is a big reason why. That, and one comment I made back in the day. They don't let you forget."

Oh, that "one comment." You remember the comment, don't you? The Mets' failed effort to proceed past the 1999 NLCS encouraged Larry Jones to advise: "Now, all the Mets fans can go home and put their Yankees' stuff on."

When I heard the Mets planned to acknowledge Jones in some capacity later this season, I thought about that comment by Jones uttered in 1999 at I settled into my collegiate digs at Syracuse. It's not the salt on the wound, or even that the wound is open.

It's that I wonder what we'll be wearing when the "ceremony" takes place. It's whether the Mets will still be playing meaningful baseball by the point it's time to wave goodbye. It's whether we can muster up a big enough showing of orange and blue to boo the hell out of Larry Jones and let him know that we consider him a worthy adversary, and that we hope the final pitch he sees from a Mets pitcher buckles his knees for a called third strike.

I don't want to attend a Mets-centric ceremony honoring Larry Jones because I still struggle to acknowledge that he was a key cog in the stumbling block to the Mets' postseason chances during my baseball adolescence. I still don't want to say how good he is, or how well he's fared in general and against the Mets in particular. I also shudder at the thought that the Mets' record may leave them a bit lacking in the pennant race by the time this little shindig transpires.

But I do want to see him off one last time, wave him goodbye and derisively chant his first name to remind him why he felt so compelled to give his youngest son such a beautiful middle name. I want to be reminded that the Braves were and are as much of a pest as the Marlins and Phillies have ever been and presently continue to be. I want to be reminded that games against Larry Jones mean more, and his presence in a Braves jersey made Atlanta such a worthy opponent for so long.

The Atlanta Braves make their final visit to Citi Field during Sept. 7-9 and I can only hope that Jones is still healthy enough to play. And that the Mets are still capable enough to mount a real challenge. And that not too many fans turned their gaze to the New York football Giants and Jets by that point.

I still don't believe Larry Jones is worthy of recognition by the Mets.

And I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Did Fred Wilpon Crack a Smile for the Dodgers' Sale?

Matthew Artus — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 15:18:03 -0000

When I heard that a group including Magic Johnson ponied up $2 billion to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers of Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, my first thoughts veered to Fred Wilpon.

I didn't mull over the Wilpons' finances nor their stability following the $240 million raised in minority shares. I didn't wonder if the Wilpons used some back of the envelope calucations to prorate the Mets' value as compared to the Flatbush Refugees, which may be as high as $1.5 billion according to some reports. I didn't even explore the possibility of the Wilpons replacing Frank McCourt as the worst owners in baseball (which isn't fair as long as Jeffrey Loria still gets invitied to the MLB owners' meetings every winter.)

Instead, I only pondered whether Fred Wilpon, a self-proclaimed Brooklyn Bum booster through and through, cracked a smile at seeing that his childhood team will now stand on firmer ground for the foreseeable future.

And then, I thought -- That old Wilpon Dodger-bashing is dead and gone, right?

Joan Whitney Payson continues to hold a place in the hearts and minds of Metsopotamia for her role as a co-founder and inaugural owner of the Mets. Payson, who was inducted into the Mets Hall of Fame in 1981, made her mark as MLB's first female owner who didn't inherit the honor as well as the only owner Mets fans would ever know from the club's inception to Payson's passing in 1975. She also left a lasting impression as an eccentric thinker and avid storyteller about the club's formative years.

Payson was also an avid New York Baseball Giants fan. She revered Mel Ott and Bill Terry and enjoyed Willie Mays's days at the Polo Grounds so much that she brought the Hall of Fame center fielder back to Queens for a victory lap with the Mets in 1972 and later kept him on the payroll to speak at events after his retirement one year later. She used to hang out with fellow Giants fans Jackie Gleason and Jack White at the raucous 18 Club, where they would hang a line score of that day's game on the bandstand if the Giants won and a sign reading "No Game Today" if they lost.

Fred Wilpon was born 36 years after Payson, but his affiliation with the Dodgers spins a similar tale. Born in Brooklyn. Grew up with Sandy Koufax. He was 18 when the Dodgers finally slayed the New York Yankees in the 1955 World Series and turned 21 just 59 days after Ebbets Field would host the Bums for the final time. It's also no secret that the inspiration for the Mets' new home at Citi Field came from the Dodgers' old one on Sullivan Place. The recipe for a True Blue baseball fan is there.

And yet, only one of those owners continues to bear the stigma of having their heart rest with another team. It's probably a device to help needle Mets fans seeking excuses to take up their pitchforks and torches when the Wilpons exhibit another bout of the increasingly-common "Foot in Mouth" disease. But is it fair?

There's a lot not to like about the Wilpons these days. The financial foibles, the misguided loyalties, the lack of foresight on when to approve spending Carl Crawford money... No one would fault you for seeing Fred and Jeff Wilpon as bumbling real estate businessmen desperately trying to prop up their place in the billionaire boys' club that are the MLB owners. There's plenty of reasons to question their worthiness of owning the Mets -- that's not at stake here.

I'm just struggling to see if it still counts as a knock that Fred Wilpon's baseball pedigree may bleed a little Dodger blue mixed in with the Mets' blue and orange duo. He's fighting tooth and nail to keep the Mets, hired Sandy Alderson to right the ship (even if it came at Bud Selig's directive, he complied), and can't be considered by any reasonable Mets fan as an absent owner. That's at least trying to succeed, no?

My gut says Fred Wilpon only shrugged when he heard the news. A cornerstone MLB franchise's well being is good for the league, which in turn is good for the Mets. The goodwill from the announcement unfortunately points the magnifying glass at the Mets' precarious finances now, and that, in turn, points the spotlight at the Wilpons' wallets. The Mets owners may be trying to shore up the financial leaks or reshuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic, but the one thing they didn't need was any more attention.

If he cared, however... if he really cared as a baseball fan... methinks a brief smile snuck out from Fred Wilpon on Tuesday night regarding his childhood team's new lease on life. And for all the problems facing the Mets these days, I think I'm OK with that.

Tim Byrdak's Knee May Knock Him to DL

Matthew Artus — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 15:33:03 -0000

Does anyone have Jesse Orosco's number handy?

News spread like wildfire this morning that Mets southpaw reliever Tim Byrdak will undergo surgery tomorrow to repair torn meniscus cartilage in his left knee. That's pretty much a guarantee that Byrdak, who has accrued two no-hit innings this spring in two appearances with only one walk blemishing his line, will start the 2012 season on the Disabled List.

Here's Byrdak's reaction as recounted by Adam Rubin of ESPN New York:

"It was something, working out in the offseason, there was a little discomfort," Byrdak said before departing from Florida to New York. "I actually felt it when I went to sit on the couch one day. I went to put my foot underneath me and I said I really didn't feel right. But there was no injury, no pop, no sudden movement that tweaked it. It's been something kind of nagging around. I was pitching with it this whole time. It's still kind of there. I sought treatment for it and it wasn't really responding to the treatment."

The Mets simply have no viable left-handed options in the bullpen at the moment without Byrdak, who accumulated a 2-1 record and 3.82 ERA/3.16 FIP/3.39 xFIP in 72 games last season for the Mets. Rubin reiterated manager Terry Collins's sentiments that Josh Edgin could find his way to the Major League roster if Byrdak can't make it back in time, or that non-roster invitees Garrett Olson, Chuck James and Daniel Herrera could find themselves in the lefty reliever role.

Mike Gonzalez, Damaso Marte and Arthur Rhodes headline the free agent scrap heap, while Robert Carson, who pitched last season as a starter for Double-A Binghamton, is the only other left-handed pitcher on the Mets' 40-man roster that isn't presently slotted into the club's Major League starting rotation. Newsday's Ken Davidoff indicated that the Mets were impressed by C.J. Nitkowski's audition last week, which could earn him a shot at the job as well.

And in case you're in the market for salt to pour on open wounds, Mets third baseman David Wright received a cortisone shot in Manhattan on Monday with a little guidance from an ultrasound machine to treat an injured rib-cage muscle on his left side.

Johan Santana's Million Mile Journey Back Begins This Afternoon

Matthew Artus — Tue, 06 Mar 2012 16:16:54 -0000

In a little over an hour's time, Johan Santana will make his Grapefruit League debut for the New York Mets.

Johan Santana will pitch a couple of innings in front of fans who aren't ardent followers of the Single A St. Lucie Mets of the Gulf Coast League. He'll hurl fastballs before cameras that will capture every moment for SNY, and call upon changeups that will encourage Howie Rose and the new guy to wax poetic for WFAN. He'll stand on the mound in a Mets jersey for the still photographers to capture and for opposing managers to commence scouting.

It's thrilling, if only because Santana remains one of the few players on the current Mets roster who could elevate this moribund franchise from the depths of the NL East. If Santana can even capture a glimmer of his old self in 2012, the rotation exchanges a few question marks for exclamation points fairly quickly.

And yet, there isn't a Mets fan on the planet who can utter anything other than the sole goal pursued by Mets manager Terry Collins for his team's Grapefruit League debut on Monday evening:

"Nobody get hurt," he said. "What I want to see tomorrow is nobody in the trainer's room. That's what I want to see."

That's what we all want to see from our presumed 2012 Opening Day starter this afternoon -- and for the rest of the season, too.

After The New York Post's Joel Sherman tested his official Sandy Alderson death march drum for this first time this morning, he made one interesting comment about Alderson's chances for success and how those chances are steeped in the mess left behind by his predecessor:

When asked to define 2012 progress, Alderson says his goals are the playoffs regardless of how futile that may seem to the outside world. The irony is for his team to even flirt with such notions he is almost exclusively at the mercy of youngsters brought in during a Minaya regime that was viewed as a failure because of, among other things, lack of clear vision when it came to player development.

It's an interesting claim, if misguided. No one knocked Minaya's eye for talent (see: R.A. Dickey, Fernando Tatis, and the litany of other MLB retreads that came up Milhouse for the former Mets general manager). We knocked his player valuation skills and overall developmental approach (see: Tony Bernazard). We knocked his penchant for giving Oliver Perez, Luis Castillo, and Jason Bay too much money.

Santana likely fits in that latter category, but that'll be the furthest thought from my mind when he looks in for the signs from his catcher at Port St. Lucie this afternoon. It's maddening that he likely won't be worth the $55 million guaranteed to him over the next two-plus seasons or the additional $19.5 million it would take to keep him in 2014. It's maddening that his contract will handcuff Alderson's shrinking payroll indefinitely...

...but only if he can't pitch. If Santana pitches, if he earns even some of his keep, then the Mets' immediate future looks at least a bit more promising. He can't be the longterm solution and he likely doesn't fit into the much necessary strategy of fiscal responsibility now being implemented by Alderson, but he's here now and likely not going anywhere by virtue of his albatross of a contract. And if he can find a way to distinguish his classic changeup from his rapidly-diminishing fastball, then the Mets remain better with their former ace than they are without him.

Yes, the Mets need more than Santana to truly make something of 2012 -- but a healthy Santana's a good start. That good start could commence in less than an hour if Santana can just stay healthy. I, like many of my Metsopotamian brethren, will be watching closely, fingers crossed.

Can Mets Benefit Now from MLB's New Playoff Format?

Matthew Artus — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 17:52:37 -0000

I wouldn't blame you if news of MLB adding a second wild card team starting in the 2012 playoffs didn't give you any added hope about the chances of our New York Mets this season.

Getting to .500 seems like a daunting task given the dubious states of Johan Santana, Jason Bay, and others who we're counting on to create meaningful baseball at Citi Field in late July, let alone September. A second wild card means another berth that wouldn't have helped the Mets escape the Collapse in 2007 or the lesser one in 2008. It means five National League teams reaching the playoffs, but 14 others jockeying for the bonus spot including the four retooled clubs in the NL East.

But maybe we're asking the wrong question. Maybe, instead of handicapping the odds of the Mets attaining postseason glory come October, we should ask how a second wild card can add to the club's primary objection for 2012 -- rebuilding and reinforcing the system. Plenty of questions will turn to answers with the playing time being afforded to Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda, and others, which will help cover the rebuilding part. The slimmer payroll and value-conscious general manager should help reinforce what the Wilpons have crippled in recent years by way of shady investments.

And the second wild card could make Sandy Alderson's job just a bit easier.

In the 2006 book Baseball Between the Numbers: Why Everything You Know about the Game Is Wrong, Nate Silver reviewed when it becomes wise to start doubling down on roster payroll. He deduced that the marginal revenue generated from a win for a budget-conscious franchise doesn't outweigh the cost until about 80 wins, and not in a meaningful way until approximately 85 wins. The reason for the boost is the playoffs; people will pay more and keep paying to see a team in contention. There's some dispute regarding whether any club should aim for 80-89 wins, but it at least sets a range.

The kicker here is that Silver's numbers were based on a playoff system based on one wild card. Adding a second wild card reduces the barrier to entry for the MLB playoffs, which, in turn, lessens the level of success required to make the playoffs. (Yes, a second wild card dilutes the talent level of the postseason.) If it's easier to get in the playoffs, then it's easier to contend for the playoffs.

That easement on playoff prerequisites should theoretically also lower the win total required to make the marginal revenue from a win worth more than the cost. Because it dilutes the barrier to entry, the second wild card makes the Mets look slightly more palatable on our collective wallets if they can hang around in the Wild Card race past June.

None of that means the Mets should start spending big on the roster for the remainder of 2012. However, it does imply that Sandy Alderson might experience a slightly easier time turning the team into a moneymaker. The Wilpons could undo that progress if their financial woes continue, but I'm still a believer that the key to the Mets' longevity lies in their own hands. If they win, they make money. If they make money, they maintain or increase the payroll. If they maintain or increase the payroll, the team can improve.

So don't go punching those playoff tickets quite yet. But if the second wild card makes a Mets game even slightly more enticing to you come August, then the second wild card race is still a big help.

Fred Wilpon Hints Mets Should Get 2013 MLB All-Star Game

Matthew Artus — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:13:36 -0000

The long and winding road to the 2013 MLB All-Star Game may lead to Citi Field after all.

Fred Wilpon spoke with the beat writers during the Mets' spring training practice at Port St. Lucie this morning and spoke openly about the midsummer classic's chances of coming to Flushing next year. Here's Fred Wilpon's All-Star comments as recapped via Twitter by David Lennon of Newsday:

Wilpon also said All-Star Game at Citi will be announced soon as financial details are worked out with city. #mets

Here's some more Fred Wilpon from the Twitter feed of ESPN New York's Adam Rubin:

Fred also said 2013 All-Star Game holdup is city/MLB-related but optimistic game coming.

This isn't exactly groundbreaking news as we already knew that the Mets and MLB are navigating the morass that is the bureaucracy of New York City government. However, it's significant in that we're hearing it from the horse's, err, Wilpon's mouth in what's been the most high-profile comment about the 2013 MLB All-Star game's home field. Even if you don't want the Wilpons calling the shots by next summer, you can't do anything about them being the ones handling the negotiating this summer.

The Wilpons chimed in on various other topics, including the future of David Wright and their intentions to remain the owners of your New York Mets indefinitely. Rubin has the transcript here.

Here's the first look at the ceremonial patch that will appear on all Mets jerseys in the 2012...

Matthew Artus — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 02:26:20 -0000

Here's the first look at the ceremonial patch that will appear on all Mets jerseys in the 2012 season. (Image via Twitter).

Mets Hope Jason Bay's Third Time Around is the Charm

Matthew Artus — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 14:36:30 -0000

I was thinking about something Jason Bay uttered to us bloggers at the Mets Holiday Party in 2010 as I read the flurry of Jason Bay comeback stories filed by the beat writers for today's consumption.

Bay responded to a question about what he was doing in the offseason to make amends for his less-than-stellar 2010 season. Or, namely, wasn't doing:

"I haven't made any adjustments," Bay offered about his approach to dealing with his lack of patience at the plate in 2010. "It's one of those chicken and the egg things. When you're going well and you're doing well, you're more apt to be patient. But when you're struggling a little bit, you're trying to find certain things. It's very hard to sit back and wait. You're trying to make things happen.

"...I'd rather do the things that you've always done, but just do them better."

It sounds like the right thing to say, except that we later learned Bay was actually monkeying with his swing at his former hitting coach from Pittsburgh's suggestion at pretty much the same time as he told us about the lack of adjustments. So I read about Bay's most recent offseason regimen as recounted by The Star-Ledger's Andy McCullough...

"I guess it was less formal," Bay said Thursday after arriving at the team's complex. "It wasn't really showing up and working with somebody. It was just me and the tee."

...and thought, "Why should we believe in this guy again?"

The thing that concerns me about our Canuck conundrum revolves around this season being Bay's third in Flushing. For the last two years, a concussion and a reversion to mediocrity sapped whatever power was expected of the Mets' left fielder. You want to point your finger at the extreme pitcher's park, but he actually hit for more power at home (.155 ISO) then on the road (.105) last season. He swung at fewer strikes in 2011 (9.5% SwStr, as compared to a career average of 10.7%), but swung more often at pitches out of the zone (27.7% O-Swing, compared to career 21%).

He's just not hitting with power like he used to anymore. A few more balls may reach the stands at Citi Field with the walls being brought in a bit for the 2012 season and should hopefully give him a bump in the HR/FB department, but is Bay's ailment as much a crisis of confidence as it is as confluence of injuries and diminished baseball ability?

To Bay's credit, he tore the cover off the ball last September to the tune of .313/.392/.563. He also bared a reputation as a streaky hitter for the Red Sox, which included a two-month summer stretch in 2009 when Bay couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. He knows big city pressure, and he has proven his capacity to come back under the bright lights, too.

Bay himself admitted to feeling like his old self at the end of 2011 according to McCullough:

"I got away from that for so long that I didn't know who I was there for a bit," he said. "We tried to get back to that. I felt like I could build a platform last year for doing that."

He's talking the talk, and, at 33 years old, he should still be able to walk the walk in some capacity.

But this is year three. And if he can't hit, I can't imagine there'll be a year four even with the Mets in rebuilding/financial hell mode.

Still, I'm hopeful as long as Bay can muster up more than two extra base hits he mustered up last spring.

In case the news of Gary Carter's passing still has you down, here's video of Kid and Johnny Bench...

Matthew Artus — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 23:02:05 -0000

In case the news of Gary Carter's passing still has you down, here's video of Kid and Johnny Bench trapping the San Diego Chicken in a rundown during the end credits of the early 1980s TV series The Baseball Bunch.

If it can't cheer you up, seek professional help.

Putting Camera Carter in Clearer Focus

Matthew Artus — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:19:55 -0000

When I heard the news of Gary Carter's passing last night while driving near Albany, I immediately engaged in a little experiment after letting out a gasp that disrupted my wife's slumber.

The experiment, which I'll ask you to repeat after this paragraph, was to briefly close my eyes and recall the visage of the Kid. While I was barely a sentient baseball fan when Carter helped carry the Mets to the 1986 World Series, I can still picture him standing behind the plate, helmet backwards with curly blonde locks of hair spilling out under the bill, blue chest protector over the racing stripe jersey, surveying the field.

You might put him in a different jersey if you can recall his Expos tenure, or perhaps swinging a bat, or might not picture him so stoic if his disastrous epilogue with the San Francisco Giants and Los Angeles Dodgers comes around, but I'd be that the simple act of recalling Carter will draw you a picture of Carter the ballplayer.

So go ahead and close your eyes. I'll be waiting for you after the jump when you open them.

It occurred to me shortly after my thought experiment that the reason I drew a picture of Carter the ballplayer was precisely because he worked so hard to cultivate that image. It may not have been intentional or deliberate; Carter just always kept himself ready for the spotlight on and off the field. By all accounts, he was a squeaky clean and charitable character during his playing days. While that made it easy for all to point at Carter and recommend him for emulation, it made it hard for his teammates who secretly resented the fact that the cameras weren't pointing their way instead.

In a Los Angeles Times article during the summer of 1986, Ross Newhan quoted Davey Johnson regarding the Mets manager's evaluation of the "Camera" Carter nickname. Johnson responded to the love-hate reaction directed at Carter by comparing his All-Star catcher to one of Johnson's former All-Star teammates, Frank Robinson:

"There are some players who generate both like and dislike," the manager said. "Gary is the same as Frank. You hate him when he's on another team and love him when he's a teammate."

It's an interesting distinction, if only because of how Carter came to the Mets in the first place. If you think the Bad Guys belittled their catcher with impunity by calling him "Camera" Carter, please consider that his colleagues in Montreal called Carter "Lights" because Carter was the fourth-highest paid player in baseball and unfailingly answered for it to the local media. Or because Pete Rose, a Hall of Fame candidate making a Montreal cameo in the twilight of his own career, publicly told Kid to grow up.

And yet, Expos fans knew they'd lose something when they lost Carter to the Mets, even though everyone involved did their damnedest to make him feel unwelcome. As The Montreal Gazette's Michael Farber recalls, Gary Carter's departure dealt a blow to Montreal sports that rivaled Guy LaFleur's departure from the Canadiens:

Carter will be missed next summer, for his baseball and his blarney. Some of the Mets' former chattels might blossom into stardom, and any mooning about the best catcher in baseball will seem irrelevant.

This morning, it does not.

He perfected his Hall of Fame pedigree in Montreal, but Carter just seemed like a better fit in Flushing. The nickname changed from "Lights" to "Camera," but even those who used to cover him in Montreal described the catcher as more at ease in the home clubhouse at Shea Stadium during the 1986 World Series. It helped that the Mets were in the World Series, and helped that the club also had personalities like Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry that could draw away some of the cameras from Carter without much prodding. And it helped that Carter was, as Johnson described him, "the heart of our pitching... and of our offence."

That sentiment echoed throughout Metsopotamia, as Carter emerged as one of the leaders of Mets that won the World Series in 1986 and flirted with it for the rest of the '80s. He did it with MVP-caliber seasons both at and behind the plate, and did it with an aww-shucks stoicism that would make David Wright blush. And, as George Vescey of the New York Times observed in the summer of 1987, Carter impressed everybody with his unrelenting effort and consistent results:

As anybody knows from walking down the aisle of the supermarket, there are all different types of hot dogs. Carter has given indigestion to teammates and opponents alike at times because of his spicy feel for the game, but he is a quality grade, on and off the field.

...Perhaps the Mets should protect themselves by finding a replacement in case Carter wears down any further, but it is also true that Carter could carry the club for a week or two. Gary Carter never found a big game he did not like.

He just kept going, sticking with the Mets for two more years after '87 and through one more playoff push in 1988. He was the Little Catcher That Absolutely Could, even if he put his foot in his mouth from time to time after his playing days came to a close. He was a Hall of Famer by every measure, maybe one that will always belong to Montreal but one that we'll always be grateful to Expos fans for sharing with us.

Carter knew the reputation that preceded him. He admitted as much when he joined the broadcast booth for the Florida Marlins during their inaugural season in 1993:

"I've never felt shy in front a camera," Carter said. "I've had people say that many times."

Yet, it was Carter's words as much as his actions that endeared him to the Mets fans who cheered him and the others who got to know him during the catcher's illustrious career. He could walk the walk AND talk the talk, and never let up. There was no other side to him, no conspiracy, no secret double life. He was happy to sign a kid's autograph or smile for the camera or raise money for charity as far as any of us could tell. He gave so willingly that Joe Posnanski infers we definitely knew a real and sincere Gary Carter regardless of the one we never met in private.

That private Carter is the one we mourn today. Today, there's a wife without her husband, two daughters and a son without a father and countless grandchildren without their grandfather. They saw his nine-month fight against cancer reach its end on Thursday, and to them, we offer our deepest and most sincere condolences.

But the Carter we knew? The one we remember? For all the photos, the camera, the controversy, the hits, he summed up his spirit in one sentence during the summer of 1986, as George Shirk attempted to transfer it on to the swagger of the Mets:

If we have to fight, we will.

Gary Carter proved himself as capable a fighter as anyone we may see. He fought for a 19-year Major League career, a pursuit into managing, to raise awareness for charity, to raise and cultivate a family, to push back the devastating and ultimately fatal effects of cancer. He did it for no other reason than because he could, and because it was the right thing to do. And he did it with the cameras rolling, to make sure we all saw what a man of his character was capable of when things get rough.

He fought because he had to, all the way to the end. That's what the cameras captured for me, anyway.

Mets' Second Look Suits Daniel Murphy

Matthew Artus — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 02:55:55 -0000

You'll have to forgive me if I hold my breath regarding Daniel Murphy and second base.

As I read how Tim Teufel recently started working Murphy into the best shape of his life at Port St. Lucie this week, my relief at hearing about honest-to-goodness baseball activity barely negates my belief that the Mets should cover their projected second baseman with bubble wrap until Opening Day. Admittedly, he's probably turning two against baserunners in the Jay Horowitz mold rather than the bush leaguers looking to make a name for themselves. It was also his own footwork that brought his 2011 experiment at second base to a close with a little help from Jose Constanza of the Atlanta Braves.

It's not even the fragility that frightens me most about Murphy up the middle. It's that thinking of him trying to reinvent himself in Flushing reminds me of the Mets moving Mike Piazza or Todd Hundley out of their comfort zones to try and extract a litle more offensive value from their aging sluggers. Or Jose Reyes adjusting to the other side of the diamond while Kazuo Matsui shoddily sticks at shortstop. Or Howard Johnson looking lost in center field after making a career for himself at the hot corner.

But Teufel, who himself wasn't exactly a defensive dynamo at second base, can get Murphy on track. Right?

Make no mistake -- Murphy's the favorite to hold court at second base on Opening Day because he can hack it better than the other options. The debate isn't whether he can outhit the likes of Justin Turner or Ronny Cedeno -- he most certainly can -- but whether he can hit enough to hide any shortcomings on defense.

Maybe I'm just short-selling Murphy's defensive range at second base compared to the other options:

Season	Inn	Plays	RngR	ErrR	UZR	UZR/150
Turner	679.1	167	-7	-1.8	-11.5	-20.9
Murphy	168.1	48	2.6	-0.5	1.8	12
Cedeno	525.1	114	3.7	-0.5	4.5	12.2

Or not. It's tough to short sell anyone's defensive capabilities when their career record amounts to just over one tenth of one season. Same goes for Turner, who accumulated about a third of a season's worth of innings at second base from what the Mets assigned him in 2011 (the Orioles gave him 25 innings and all of four plays in his time in Baltimore). It also applies to Cedeno, who accrued less than Turner's time in parts of six seasons because he was busy playing shortstop.

It's a big unknown, which is probably better than what Jack Wilson offered to the Mets and certainly cheaper than what Luis Castillo or Orlando Hudson would have provided if Omar Minaya had his way. Methinks my stomach churns only because the unknown is so big; that Murphy should get as good a chance as anyone if only because realistic reinforcements aren't exactly banging down the door yet from the organization's minor league system.

Murphy set the bar of reinvention for himself awfully low in 2009 when he crashed and burned in left field, just as Piazza and Hundley and HoJo did once upon a time at their "new" positions. It remains to be seen whether Murphy's athletic or durable enough to serve as Ruben Tejada's double play partner in the near or far term, and we're a long ways away from thinking of second base without a question mark. Considering that this could be his last shot at sticking with the Mets (because where else can you play him if Ike Davis and David Wright are healthy?), he's a long shot in every sense of the word.

As are his employer, whose present sorry state grants me the ability to exhale from time to time in exaltation whenever Murphy doesn't trip over his feet on a grounder up the middle. I'm certainly not sold on him, but I'll refrain from selling him short, too.

After all, I rooted for Hundley and Piazza to pull off their new positions, too.

John Franco Gets Mets Hall of Fame Call

Matthew Artus — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:16:03 -0000

Eight years after calling him from the bullpen for the last time, the New York Mets decided Johnny be good enough.

The Mets confirmed on Twitter this morning the club's Hall of Fame will grow by one member this season with the addition of longtime reliever and New York City native John Franco. The southpaw in the Sanitation t-shirt will be enshrined in a ceremony on Sunday, June 3 while the Mets are at Citi Field playing the St. Louis Cardinals.

Franco accrued 276 of his 424 career saves in over 14 seasons as a Met, making him the club's all-time saves leader with a comfortable 116-save lead over the guy in second place and his successor on the closer throne, Armando Benitez. He arrived prior to the 1990 season along with Don Brown in a trade with the Cincinnati Reds that gave the Reds Randy Myers and Kip Gross and gave Mets fans heartburn for the next decade, courtesy of Franco's penchant for making save opportunities a lot more interesting than they ever needed to be. Franco also holds the distinction of being the last Met to be officially named team captain, which bestowed him with the ceremonial "C" on his jersey and a place next to Keith Hernandez and Gary Carter as the only captains in club history.

His induction will be the first since 2010 when the Mets called Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Frank Cashen, and Davey Johnson home. That's an interesting distinction, as Franco becomes the first post-1986 Met to receive this honor. Whether that closes the door on any other 1986 characters is open for debate, but it does imply that we may start putting the likes of the late 1990 teams into their proper historical perspective -- just in time for Mike Piazza's first year of eligibility for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame next year.

But we're not here to talk about the guy who made the number 31 famous-er in Mets lore, but instead the guy who made that number famous in the first place. Like him or hate him, the boy from Brooklyn has always been one of the more charismatic characters in team history as well as one of its best relief pitchers. Hindsight is kind to his contributions on and off the field in his tenure with the Mets, even if isn't always supported by the anecdotal evidence from that one time he loaded the bases with the bottom of the order and let in two runs and... GODDAMNIT, FRANCO! JUST GET THE SAVE ALREADY!

His place in the team's history was never really in doubt. The Mets will just make it official on June 3.

Congratulations, John.

Can Mets Fans Take Solace in Super Bowl XLVI?

Matthew Artus — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:48:04 -0000

After Lawrence Tynes converted the game-winning 31-yard field goal that sent the New York Giants to Super Bowl XLVI against the New England Patriots, a small subsection of Metsopotamia presumably breathed a sigh of relief. I say that as a Big Blue Supporter whose perfectly fine with basking in the glow of postseason progress in a lesser sport while the Mets' Hot Stove season continues to prove lukewarm at best.

The Giants' recent success has made the last 36 hours easy for me, but the same likely can't be said for those Mets fans who find themselves grouped with Gang Green. With their big game aspirations dashed for one more season and the Mets doing little to ease that reality by going broke and being outbid in their tepid pursuit of Cody Ross, Jets fans must be miserable at the moment. No one would blame you for counting down to pitchers and catchers reporting a little louder than usual (though I'd hope the negative feelings directed at Foxborough far outweigh those directed across MetLife Stadium).

Still, it's interesting how fandom can shake out in New York. The rule of thumb is that Giants fans tend to be drawn to the Yankees while the Jets fans go to the Mets. I've never seen a study confirming it, or suspect it's as wide a gap as folks might presume. But that's the rule of thumb -- and one that can probably be blamed on Shea.

It's not so stark a division for the other New York sports teams. NHL allegiances tend to fall regionally, with the Devils currying favor in New Jersey, the Islanders for those few who are still aware of a team claiming to play NHL home games on Long Island, and the Rangers taking all the vast expanses in between. The NBA is simple -- it's the Knicks or an out of town club, since only masochists would stick with the Nets before their move to Brooklyn.

The Giants and Jets? They play in the same building and have done so since 1984, but the lines still feel drawn based on where each football team used to play their home games. The Giants called the Polo Grounds and Yankee Stadium home and are older, leaving them around longer to court the heart and minds of the Bleacher Creatures. The Jets formed two years prior to the Mets, followed the Amazin's from the Polo Grounds to Shea, and followed the 1969 World Series run with an upset win in Super Bowl III. The timing matters, as does the geography.

And yet, it's the Mets/Jets fan whose miserable with his lot in life these days and can't help but blame being born into the suffering. The New York Post's Mike Vaccaro captured that essence perfectly when speaking to a Mets/Jets fan about their suffering back in 2009:

"I wish someone would have told me that about 30 years ago," Gary Kelly said with a laugh yesterday. "All I know is, when I was growing up in Kew Gardens, you were a Mets fan in the summer and a Jets fan in the fall. The rest was easy, because everyone rooted for the Knicks and the Rangers. But if a kid showed up on my block wearing a Yankees jacket or a Giants stocking cap . . . well, it was like wearing the wrong kind of gang colors."

That allegiance still sticks to this day for many, and The Times Herald-Record's Tom Broas recalled in Shea's waning days how the regional sentiment went away for some Mets/Jets fans when the latter team fled Shea in 1984:

"I have only been to one Jets game since they moved to Giants Stadium in 1984 because it doesn't have the same feeling as watching a football game at Shea Stadium, but I do plan on checking out Citi Field," Slutsky says.

I always feel pangs of remorse for those Mets fans who aren't completely along for the ride as the Giants filled in the dead spots of the Hot Stove season with their recent postseason run. I haven't had to feel that way with the Rangers since 1994 (and still contend it wouldn't feel as weird), while it's never come up with the Knicks. But as I watched the Giants celebrate on Sunday, I knew I was glad I wasn't a Jets fan. That would've been too much for my heart to handle.

Then again, I absolutely know that I'm in no position to complain.

Perhaps that guilty conscience comes from the wait I've had for the Mets to come around. It was great when the Rangers won in 1994. Fantastic when the Giants won in 1991 and four years ago. Unbelievable when Syracuse won the NCAA men's basketball national championship while I was a senior in 2003. But none of them are the Mets. None of them are the one sports team that keeps my entire sporting calendar on its axis. The Giants, Rangers, even the Red Bulls... all distractions while waiting for the Mets to get it together again.

Still, I have to ask -- Where do your rooting interests lie when your interest in the Mets has laid down for a long winter's rest?

Poll

As a Mets fan, where do your NFL allegiances lie?

New York Giants

166 votes

New York Jets

116 votes

Another NFL Team

35 votes

Football is awful.

15 votes

332 votes | Poll has closed

Hardball Times: Ten least-likely guys to break up a no-hitter

Matthew Artus — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 20:57:56 -0000

Hardball Times: Ten least-likely guys to break up a no-hitter

THT's Chris Jaffe uses purely unscientific means to narrow down the list of 10 guys whose names you'd only ever know because they turned a no-hitter into a one-hitter.

Of the 10 moments listed, four involve the Mets. That number goes up to 10 if you count ties, with only two of them occurring in the Mets' favor (Cleon Jones in 1965 and Anthony Young in 1992). And that's not even counting Kit Pellow busting up Tom Glavine's no-no bid in 2004...

Mike Pelfrey's Pitching Woes are in The Best Shape of Their Life

Matthew Artus — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:06:26 -0000

Stop me if you've heard this before: Mike Pelfrey needs to keep his sinker down.

In case you missed it, the Mets avoided arbitration with Pelfrey earlier this week by coming to an agreement on a one-year. $5.675 million contract for the team's homegrown starter. And in case you've been living under a rock, Pelfrey's return on the Mets' investment has diminished enough in recent seasons to leave fans wondering if it's worth putting up with a seventh consecutive season of his growing pains at the Major League level.

That reality came to mind as I listened to Pelfrey's appearance on SNY's Mets Hot Stove on Thursday. In it, Captain Obvious concedes that he surrendered "way too many homers" in 2011 before admitting that he needs to reestablish his ability to remove the first "T" in his stinking fastball.

"I can't throw the ball waist high and expect the guy to hit the ball in the grass," said Pelfrey. "It doesn't work like that. I need to put the ball back down."

I realize the Hot Stove rhetoric helps beat writers file on a slow news day, but the chatter about his pitching repetoire can often feel like the Mets-centric version of the "The Best Shape of My Life" stories that signal the start of Spring Training. We get it. He lacks a second pitch. He needs to make his fastball sink. He needs to be better.

But why can't he just do it already? And why do the Mets still put up with it?

In my formative years playing sandlot baseball at the Dustbowl in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, my friends and I pretty much let anyone with a pulse join us if it meant we had enough for a game. One such pulse-bearer was a kid named Jim, who was as awkward a teenager as you'll ever meet and dabbled with drugs to add to the awkwardness but, at his heart, was an awkward guy like us who just wanted to play a little baseball.

And Jim wanted to pitch. We only had one regular pitcher in my friend Victor, who was our de facto Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez as he would later go on to play college ball as a pitcher and shortstop. Victor couldn't pitch every day as he played in multiple leagues in addition to our sandlot ball, so we let Jim toe the rubber from time to time as needed.

Finding a catcher for Jim was another matter. Jim's version of his own scouting report included an unstoppable arsenal of nine different pitches that he could throw endlessly and with impunity. Our version consisted of Jim chucking the same slow, flat offspeed pitch from nine different awkward grips. The catcher du jour had his work cut out for him in blocking balls in the dirt, but he could throw up any combination of hand signals to appease Jim into thinking his catcher was attempting to focus the pure talent of the next great phenom hurling fastballs, screwballs, and sliders with ease.

I thought of Jim as I stared at Mike Pelfrey's FanGraphs page following his new one-year deal being announced. It's maddening. If he could just collect one more strikeout per nine innings or walk one less batter per nine... If he could just concede a few less fly balls and coerce a few more grounders... If he could just find the strike zone a bit more, or get opposing batters to chase a few balls out of it...

If he could just normalize his pitch selection...

Season	FB%	SL%	CT%	CB%	CH%	SF%
2006	76.7% (94.0)	10.8% (80.4)	0.8% (90.3)	3.4% (77.8)	8.2% (85.1)
2007	72.8% (92.4)	13.5% (83.0)			13.7% (83.6)
2008	81.2% (92.7)	12.8% (84.3)		0.8% (73.9)	5.1% (83.2)
2009	78.3% (92.6)	13.6% (84.8)		3.9% (76.1)	4.2% (83.4)
2010	68.9% (92.0)	9.2% (83.8)		5.5% (75.5)		16.3% (84.5)
2011	64.4% (92.2)	14.1% (84.3)	3.1% (87.9)	5.6% (75.7)		12.8% (84.5)
Total	73.2% (92.4)	12.5% (84.2)	0.7% (87.9)	3.6% (75.7)	3.5% (83.5)	6.6% (84.5)

It always interested me that Pelfrey officially added his splitter in 2010 to basically counteract his inability to miss bats with his fastball in 2009. It even worked for a bit; Pelfrey pitched a bit better than average that year, only to once again plummet back to Earth in 2011. But what do you do? Add another pitch? Throw the pitch with the most sink more often? Every time there's a clue, it creates a false lead.

Despite all that frustration, I still want to root for Mike Pelfrey. His homegrown status isn't lost on me, nor is his work ethic and his stand-up attitude for the troubles he creates. Pelfrey's like the anti-Oliver Perez in that way; he's working hard to contribute, but hates his troubles coming at the club's expense. If his pitching capability matched his character, we'd be golden at the top of the starting rotation.

Unlike the mystery surrounding the inconsistent performance of David Wright, our long relationship with our 6-foot-7 righty has left little doubt in what he has to offer going forward (presuming that Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen can't summon the spirit of former Angels pitching coach Tom Morgan and turn Pelfrey into Nolan Ryan's heir apparent by teaching him a proper offspeed pitch) . If he can get the ball down, we'll have a meaningful starter. If he can't, we hope he lasts long enough on the mound to give the bullpen a break.

And like Jim, we just need to find a catcher in addition to Josh Thole that's willing to keep those balls out of the dirt while Pelfrey keeps chasing greatness.

Here's the video of R.A. Dickey's appearance on CNN from earlier today. Dickey discusses his climb...

Matthew Artus — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:29:00 -0000

Here's the video of R.A. Dickey's appearance on CNN from earlier today. Dickey discusses his climb up Mount Kilimanjaro and mentions that he believes the Mets supported him privately while expressing concern publicly.

Dickey, of course, made the climb in support of Bombay Teen Challenge.

Getting a Grip on David Wright's Immediate Future

Matthew Artus — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:37:52 -0000

All the New York Mets know about David Wright is that he should be their starting third baseman for Opening Day in 2012.

After that, who knows?

In case you missed it, ESPN's Buster Olney recently mulled over the future prospects of our star third baseman (subscription required) for this season and beyond. He lays out three paths for Wright -- a longterm extension that buys out his 2013 option, the wait-and-see-until-after-2013 approach that recently worked oh-so-well with Jose Reyes, or a trade either at the July deadline or after Wright's 2013 option is picked up -- after advocating the third way himself. It's not exactly groundbreaking stuff; Olney briefly assesses Wright's current status with the Mets in a fair manner that's unbecoming of a certain lazy national baseball writer at Yahoo Sports.

Olney then offers three assessments from various talent evaluators on Wright's standing these days, and it's the appraisal of the AL scout that caught my eye.

The first two talent evaluators from Olney's post project Wright as a very-good-but-inconsistent player and a potentially poorer investment than the sometimes fragile Aramis Ramirez. (Fragile enough to make my fantasy baseball roster suffer, anyway.) Their straightforward reviews are sound enough for folks outside the Metsopotamia fishbowl, if only because we've heard them a hundred times before.

Then Olney cites a scout calling for a jolt of optimism. Read for yourself:

From an AL scout: "David Wright is a potential coup. He's eerily similar in value to the Seattle version of Adrian Beltre, although he (and everyone else in baseball) is not the defender that Beltre is. He and Beltre both were suffocated by their home parks, Citi Field and Safeco Field, respectively. Teams should have pounced and offered Beltre a premium multi-year deal when he left Seattle originally. If available, I'd trade and sign Wright now. Another caveat with Wright is that he's performed and handled himself admirably in New York, which bodes well for any type of market going forward."

It's an interesting comparison, if imperfect. Wright's flashed a little more power and walks almost twice as much as the more free-swinging Beltre, but his strikeout rate since moving to Citi Field in 2009 is at 22.9% (which is basically dangerous territory for anyone aspiring to be an MLB superstar). By comparison, Beltre's never posted a seasonal strikeout percentage higher than 17.3% in his career. And let's go ahead and dismiss any notion that Wright might follow Beltre's lead with a contract year bump in his performance, since we all should know better.

While the two right-handed hitters might not match talents to perfection, there is a disparity in their defensive abilities as the AL scout suggests. Allowing for Wright's busier workload with more plays at the hot corner in fewer seasons (which may be due in part to an abundance of southpaws on the Mets over the past few seasons), Beltre's defense still saves runs while Wright's tactics concede them. Giving you the numbers to compare is cruel, so instead I wanted to show an interesting note from Wright's UZR numbers:

Year	Inn	DPR	RngR	ErrR	UZR	UZR/150
2004	603.2	-1.2	6.6	-2.3	3.2	6.6
2005	1404.1	-0.8	-2.9	-1.7	-5.4	-4.9
2006	1365.1	-0.2	-6.3	0.4	-6.2	-6.3
2007	1418.1	-0.3	7.1	-0.5	6.3	6.3
2008	1433.1	-0.7	5.1	0.7	5.1	5.2
2009	1232	-1.1	-7.9	-1.1	-10	-12.2
2010	1373	-0.7	-10.8	0.9	-10.6	-9.5
2011	893.2	-0.7	-4.8	-5	-10.5	-16.4
Total	9723.2	-5.6	-13.9	-8.5	-28.1	-4

UZR/150 needs a big, fat sample size to be worthwhile. One season of UZR is barely a minimum; three seasons or more is better. And eras like, say, the years coinciding with a change in your home ballpark...

Home	Inn	DPR	RngR	ErrR	UZR	UZR/150
Shea Stadium	6223.6	-3.2	9.6	-3.4	3	6.9
Citi Field	3498.2	-2.5	-23.5	-5.2	-31.1	-38.1

...might leave you wondering: What the hell is in the water supply at Citi Field? Did they forget to calibrate their machines from the deeply-negative factory default settings? Is the locker room air damaging his glove and cleats?

Wright's spike in strikeouts has hurt him at the plate, but his complete loss of any defensive ability at third base has rendered him an average Major League Baseball player at best these days. It's doubly frustrating as he's still at an age where he can right the ship, presuming the ship's path should echo his formative years at Shea Stadium rather than his troublesome ones at Citi Field -- and that Wright's performance on the road matches that which occurs at home.

UZR's a tricky beast, because its reliability varies from season to season and it likely overestimates the player's true ability through faulty calculations under the stat's hood. But it is telling us something about David Wright, and that something is leaving me more in doubt about the future of the latest-and-greatest longest tenure Met. Not because I'm giving up on him, but because I legitimately have zero clue about what expectations to ask of him going forward.

Report: Darryl Strawberry's Ex-Wife Can't Touch $800K Owed by Mets

Matthew Artus — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:07:32 -0000

It looks like Bobby Bonilla isn't the only New York Mets alum enjoying a golden parachute from his former club.

TMZ reported earlier this morning that Darryl Strawberry's ex-wife endured a setback in her attempt to claim $800,000 from her husband in court. I'm not about to get into the gossip barrage involving Strawberry and his ex, but it's probably worth noting where TMZ says why she her claim on the money is on shaky ground:

Darryl Strawberry's ex-wife just suffered a massive setback in court -- after a judge ordered she can't touch $800,000 in Mets money Darryl earned in the 80s ... until the IRS gets its cut.

According to court docs, Darryl has an arrangement with the Mets, in which the ball club pays him $8,891 a month as delayed compensation for his time with the team.

Yep. According to TMZ, the Mets still pay their former superstar $8,891 a month for services rendered while he was still a player. (That's $106,692 a year for those of you without ready access to a calculator.) The report also indicates that it's unclear how much the Mets still owe Strawberry.

Look at the bright side. If the Mets could go now back in time to like 1990, they'd already have an All-Star right fielder and All-Star third baseman on the payroll from that era to take with them.

Who Let Bobby Bonilla Return to the Mets in 1998?

Matthew Artus — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 04:07:19 -0000

The New York Mets are not drumming up a lot of meaningful news these days, which means it's only a matter of time before some hack writer drums up Bobby Bonilla's deferred contract payments for "original" content on a slow news day.

We all know about how the story ends with $1,193,248.20 due to Bonilla every July 1 from 2011 to 2035, but former Mets general manager Jim Duquette intimated via Twitter on Tuesday that we should remember how the story of Bonilla's horrible homecoming begins -- or, more specifically, that we should remember who let that second chapter start for one of the most polarizing and controversial players in Mets history.

In responding to a question about the role of Phillips in Bonilla's homecoming from Real Dirty Mets blogger Ed Marcus, Duquette --- also known as Phillips's director of player personnel back in 1998 -- set the record straight on the actual shot caller that brought Bonilla back for a second tour in Flushing:

btw - the Bonilla trade may fall on Cashen's record as well as SP's. Check out the timing

and then clarified...

the 1st time was Al's. 2nd time - Cashen was interim. That's all I can say. NDA!

...which begs the question -- Need he say more?

The Mets reacquired Bonilla from the Los Angeles Dodgers on November 11, 1998 in a trade for reliever Mel Rojas. The trade itself was basically a swap of headaches and bloated salaries for both sides. Rojas had worn out his welcome in Flushing and was due approximately $4.6 million in 1999. An underperforming Bonilla clashed constantly with new Dodgers manager Davey Johnson, who had just signed a three-year contract and previously clashed with Bonilla in Baltimore.

It was a classic change-of-scenery trade, and one that had been rumored for weeks prior to the deal. Then again, one version of the trade rumor also included the Mets sending Butch Huskey to Dodgertown to pick up Eric Young. Another version upgraded Huskey to Todd Hundley and involved Darren Dreifort coming back to Shea.

That date, however, is important. November 11, 1998 was three days after Phillips took a leave of absence from the club to deal with the fallout of a sexual harrassment suit filed against him by a former Mets employee. He was replaced by Mets Hall of Famer Frank Cashen, who had served as a consultant to the Mets after leaving his post as general manager in 1991.

Cashen held the reins for all of eight days in a tenure that likely played a role in two other roster moves. He re-signed starter Masato Yoshii to a two-year, $5 million contract and left two days prior to southpaw reliever Dennis Cook returning to the Mets with a three-year, $6.6 million deal. Both were Major League moves, but neither could induce the vitriol that gets produced upon seeing Bobby Bonilla in orange and blue.

So Duquette's technically right. Cashen's name sat atop the front office hierarchy that brought Bonilla back to Shea Stadium for a second tour. But is it now all on the architect of the 1986 World Champions, especially considering that Cashen basically completed the groundwork that Phillips laid down? Jason Diamos recalls in the New York Times on November 18, 1998 (a.k.a. the day Cook signed) that there was more than one chef in the front office kitchen for the Mets as the Mets continued to mull over players like B.J. Surhoff and Robin Ventura:

That, of course, is up to Phillips -- although the Mets apparently are still operating as a negotiating team (Duquette is the team's director of player personnel) until Phillips settles back into his everyday role. Yesterday, Phillips spent a good part of his time in meetings at Shea, which included the co-owner Fred Wilpon and the team's vice president, David Howard.

And that's why Duquette likely cut off Marcus on Twitter with his "NDA!" proclamation. A non-disclosure agreement would preclude Duquette from elaborating on the "negotiating team" tactics that kept the ship afloat in Phillips's absence or who thought Cook was worth $6.6 million for what turned out to be three years of replacement-level relief pitching.

It's interesting that Duquette tried to pin Bonilla's second tour on Cashen, especially since Diamos reported in that same story that B.J. Surhoff's agent confirmed a three-year deal allegedly worth $12.75 million was offered by Duquette on the day Phillips returned. Did Phillips just walk in and order Duquette to throw that offer out there? Cashen himself admitted to Diamos days earlier that he'd never spoken to Surhoff's agent, but "one of our guys talked to him." I wonder which guy.

The second coming of Bobby Bonilla was a disaster by all accounts while his lasting presence on the Mets' payroll comes courtesy of Phillips. Even if you want to blame Fred Wilpon for allowing Bernie Madoff's growing influence to make deferred payments seem like a viable strategy, it was ultimately Phillips' call to specifically defer Bonilla's money. His presence on the Mets payroll for the next 24 years falls at Phillips' feet as much as anyone.

But the reason Bonilla made it back to Flushing in the first place? You could make the argument that Phillips's legal troubles left the door open to the paltry haul since he wasn't there to revise or halt it, but you could just as reasonably point the finger at the brain trust left in charge after their GM's sudden absence and chose to stay the course on the so-called "Steve Phillips Plan" in the interim.

Or you could just implicate the 90-year-old bozo in the bow tie whose decorated career with the Mets and Baltimore Orioles might lift this transgression off someone else's shoulders with ease.

An item in the Extra Bases baseball notebook last Sunday misidentified, in some editions, the...

Matthew Artus — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 15:03:55 -0000

An item in the Extra Bases baseball notebook last Sunday misidentified, in some editions, the origin of the name Orcrist the Goblin Cleaver, which Mets pitcher R. A. Dickey gave one of his bats. Orcrist was not, as Dickey had said, the name of the sword used by Bilbo Baggins in the Misty Mountains in "The Hobbit"; Orcrist was the sword used by the dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the book. (Bilbo Baggins’s sword was called Sting.)

The Poynter Institute highlighted this correction to a New York Times blog post from last May regarding the name of R.A. Dickey's bat as one of six notable ombudsman corrections in 2011.

In Dickey we trust, except for his Hobbit references.

Mets Paid $142 Million to Finish Fourth in NL East in 2011

Matthew Artus — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 15:57:52 -0000

Spending boatloads of money just doesn't buy what it used to, does it?

The next time someone tells you that Sandy Alderson should simply throw more money at the problems facing the New York Mets for the foreseeable future, tell them about 2011. We begrudgingly understood that 2011 would be a hump year until the Wilpons' rapidly-diminishing financial capabilities morphed that molehill into a mountain and paralyzed the club's payroll for 2012 and beyond. That's why we settled for the likes of Chris Capuano and Chris Young instead of Cliff Lee and Carl Crawford; there was no point in spending the money.

And there was no point because the Mets apparently already did spend the money. Over at the Biz of Baseball, Maury Brown released his MLB end-of-year salary rankings for the 2011 season and the Mets finished a lot higher than I would have guessed given what I heard of the team's paltry payroll situation.

Here's the money quote:

The clubs lost a reported $70 million and has had to take out more than one loan, but the New York Mets actually saw player payroll rise 11.51%. At $142,244,744 they ended the season ranked 5th behind only the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies, and Angels.

Brown then speculates that the Mets' payroll will likely drop down next season and in seasons to come, with the departure of Jose Reyes to the Miami Marlins as Exhibit A in the club's spendthrift strategy. (He also includes the full rankings for MLB in 2011, which reflects a the largest spike in final player payroll since 2008 and a growing chasm in spending between the New York Yankees and the rest of the league.)

Still, if you had to guess a number off the top of your head, did you really think the Mets still spent $142 million to cover their players this past season? Based on everything we've been told, that ~~just seemed ridiculously high~~ actually came in about $3 million less than where Alderson projected it in Spring Training. (Ed. note (12:47 p.m. ET): For some reason, I thought the projected number was lower. Or I expected lower. That's on me, not the Mets.)

That said, let's not paint this as an indictment of Alderson being two-faced in his comments regarding player payroll. 2011 represented his first chance to untangle the web of poor contracts left behind by Omar Minaya and came in a year where Spring Training invitations were still extended to Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo. This was always a hump year for a reason; now we just see the actual size of the hump.

Considering the club's troubled standing in terms of finances going forward, it should also serve as proof positive that the "spend smarter" strategy being employed by Alderson couldn't possibly go any worse than the "spend harder" strategy which led to this past debacle of a season. Sure, you've gotta spend money to make money -- but trying using that to ease the minds of Jason Bay's detractors.

A Mets Fan's Christmas List

Matthew Artus — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:52:46 -0000

Dear Santa,

I don't need any more coal.

The precarious financial situation paralyzing the New York Mets has provided more than enough black gold to keep all of Metsopotamia warm for decades. If there were ever a time to reward the weary fans with some Christmas cheer, this year would be it.

It turned out the 2011 Hump was really just the tip of an iceberg which could sink the team's postseason aspirations for years to come. We already watched Jose Reyes flee to the Miami Marlins and most recently Carlos Beltran to the St. Louis Cardinals. We don't expect to see much of Johan Santana in 2012, and don't know if we want to see any of Jason Bay in the interim. But hey, the bullpen's looking pretty good!

The previous management has made us grow accustomed to finding new presents under the tree on a yearly basis, from Mike Hampton to Beltran to Bay and everyone in between. It's a bad habit we need to shake, but that hardly means we don't need any gifts this year.

So on behalf of Mets fans everywhere, here's a plea for a few nice things for Mets fans to find under their tree come Sunday:

The Bottom. Ever since Mets fans learned the name of Bernie Madoff, we've watched the ownership's finances flounder in a downward spiral with no end in sight. I know it's likely past the point where the Wilpons could voluntarily sell and presume that they'll only go if the club is pried from their cold, dead hands by MLB or bankruptcy. But it would be nice to reach the point where it actually couldn't get worse. It would help to not see Sandy Alderson constantly revise the payroll projections because the team's diminishing finances force him. I don't know if Mets fans really want to know what rock bottom looks like, but I do know we're all exhausted from being in free fall for so long.
A Home for Daniel Murphy. There's a lot to like about Murphy, whose coming off a solid year and showing a bit of power at the plate. I'd just like him more if he could stay healthy enough to give us a real sample of his defensive capabilities at second base. His bat looks even better there than the other spots the Mets have stuck him, but he hasn't been good enough defensively to definitively fill in a hole on the diamond. Second base might very well be his last shot at becoming a starter instead of a super sub, but I hope he sticks here instead of at a new home in another ballpark someday.
A Bucked Trend for Bay. We all know what Jason Bay accomplished before Omar Minaya signed him in his last foray into free agency as Mets general manager. Unfortunately, we also know what he's done since -- two subpar seasons with a complete disappearance of his power. The redesigned walls at Citi Field will hopefully help that a bit, but two seasons of futility is a heck of a sample size and I'd really rather not see it get to three in fear of seeing another player get the Oliver Perez treatment.
The Anti-Ollie. Speaking of Perez, could you make sure Mike Pelfrey doesn't end up that way, either? I've given up hope that the Mets' 2011 Opening Day starter will ever resemble an All Star on the mound, but could we knock it off with the epic implosions for the guy? He's not doing anything wildly different except alternating years in which he ponies up fly balls, but we keep hearing about some magical second pitch or his sinking fastball not sinking or GEEZ... IS HE AGGRAVATING OR WHAT?!?
A No Hitter. If 2012 turns out to be the rebuilding year that no one in the Mets' marketing department wants us to think it is, we're going to be rooting for individual achievements as much as we pray for the team's success. Rooting for Reyes winning the batting title made September baseball in Flushing a bit more worthwhile, but there's one achievement we want more than that and that, deep down, no Mets fan wants to miss. Wouldn't it be great if the R.A. Dickey knuckleball was perfect for a night, or Jon Niese put an exclamation point on a breakout season with a no-no? Come on, Santa. We're due.
A Banner Day on Banner Day. I get that Banner Day has felt at times like a cause célèbre for Mets bloggers on a slow news day, but it really can be a great thing if done well. There is a charm in seeing fans expressing themselves with signs draped around the ballpark or carried through the stands, even if it might look like an elementary school art show to some. It was the running commentary at Shea Stadium once, and could make for it once again at Citi Field if the fans who pleaded for it so vociferously actually show up and make it a day to remember with a marked-up bed sheet and a professed love of the Mets.
A New Name on the Marquee. We keep hearing about the promising prospects of the likes of Matt Harvey or Jeurys Familia, but it would be nice to see one of them stop plying their trade at Binghamton or Buffalo and start plowing through the Majors with reckless abandon. I'm not saying they should be rushed or put on the spot, but there'll be ample opportunities to experiment with a near-ready prospect at the Major League level this season if guys we pencil in to the Opening Day lineup can't hack it or stay healthy long term. Wouldn't it be great if this is the year Fernando Martinez finally puts it together, or Reese Havens stays healthy long enough to take the second base job for good?
A World Series Trophy. If you don't ask, you'll never get it.

Thanks, Santa. Safe travels up and down all those chimneys this weekend, and pace yourself with those cookies. And if you could also give a look to the wish list or revisions to mine left below in the comments, I'd appreciate that, too.

Give our regards to the Missus. Happy Holidays!

Matt

Tell the BBWAA That the Steroids Era Happened

Matthew Artus — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:01:01 -0000

Yesterday, my blogging brother-in-arms Matthew Callan decried the writers' sanctimonious attitude towards Hall of Fame-caliber ballplayers with alleged performance-enhancing drug experience as those writers were the very ones in a position to call out said ballplayers when it mattered most.

Matt, of course, makes a great point regarding those writers with sin who continue to cast stones with impunity while we still wait for them to ask forgiveness or even fully acknowledge their role. Some have (ESPN's Buster Olney comes to mind, and there are certainly others), but then you get shlock from folks like Ken Rosenthal at Fox Sports whining that modern baseball is an illusion because it will never be clean.

The accountability still needs some work, but I continue to take great exception to the sentiment that what you, I, and everyone else saw over the past two decades should just be ignored. It discounts the realization that, to borrow a phrase from the Pete Rose apologists, "somebody got all those hits."

I adored Nolan Ryan as a kid, which was peculiar as I had no aspirations to become a pitcher. He'd long since left the Mets and long since moved on from the Houston Astros rivalry that fueled Mets fans in the 1980s. I admired that Ryan was a balls-out, somewhat erratic flamethrower with a curveball that made Doc Gooden swoon and a fearless demeanor to keep the young'ns at bay. And he had those seven no-hitters, which are presumably the envy of Mets fans everywhere.

I'm old enough to remember Ryan's last no hitter against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 1, 1991. Ryan threw 122 pitches that day, including 83 of them for strikes. He struck out 16 batters, including All-Star second baseman and MVP candidate Roberto Alomar with a fastball clocked at 93 miles per hour to end the game.

Nolan Ryan was 44 years old on May 1, 1991.

"There's always one guy that defies the odds," said Joe Carter of the Blue Jays according to the New York Times. "He's the guy."

They wrote similar sentiments about the ageless Roger Clemens in his latter years. Same goes for Barry Bonds, too.

This isn't a direct accusation that I suspect Ryan dabbled in PEDs. I have no tangible evidence, and stranger things have certainly happened in the history of baseball. Rather, I offer it to show how easy it is to get wrapped up in a witch hunt with the flimsiest of circumstantial evidence -- and that, even if I did have something of real merit, it wouldn't suddenly get the Ryan Express expelled from Cooperstown.

SB Nation's Marc Normandin offered a great write-up on the hypocrisy of high morals in curating the talent eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. Of all the players recited as examples of impurity already within the Hall, Ty Cobb stood out most for me -- but not for the reasons listed by Normandin.

Cobb, of course, is the very definition of a first-ballot Hall of Famer as he was one of the first five ever picked. He, along with Tris Speaker, also retired suddenly in 1926 and one day prior to accusations made by Dutch Leonard that the duo along with Smokey Joe Wood fixed a game on September 24, 1919. Commissioner Landis exonerated the players involved, but suspicion persisted that the commish wanted to bury a scandal after the 1919 World Series and the Black Sox.

So there's sort of a precedent for dealing with this scale of corrupting the sanctity of the game. There was no Rule 21 yet, so Cobb didn't necessarily know any better but was hardly above suspicion. He then received more votes than anybody (including Babe Ruth) in the inaugural Hall of Fame class. The precedent? Eh, let him in anyway if he was that good.

(And if that's not good enough for you, former Giants manager John McGraw definitely bet on his own team to win in the 1905 World Series. He was inducted to Cooperstown one year after Cobb.)

It's not hard to come up with more examples of hypocrisy, but how does that help Jeff Bagwell or Mike Piazza? How does showing a past failing make it right to allow a possible one to occur again? And why aren't the writers in charge of sorting this skip the "ask for forgiveness" phase as they found religion on the topic of PEDs?

The trouble I have with this "Did he or didn't he?" bickering is that we're once again moving away from putting the players of a particular era in a proper context. No matter how high and mighty Rosenthal or Jon Heyman or Bill Plaschke get, the so-called Steroids Era happened. It counts. Somebody got all those hits.

Let's have a sincere dialogue about the Steroids Era to put it in a proper perspective for future fans looking back on box scores that always leave out the context. Let's stop with the finger wagging and name calling and instead make it an open environment for writers to admit their failings and players to speak without repercussion about the pressures and temptations of using PEDs to keep up with the Joneses over the past two decades. Let's make it clear that performance-enhancing drugs have been, are now, and always will be a gray area in a professional sport where even the slightest edge can be worth millions of dollars to a lot of people.

But, to those writers who continue to behave as guardians of the Hall to compensate for their perceived diminishing role in the modern baseball conversation, please stop telling me that the last two decades of baseball were a mirage. It truly is the only baseball I and a lot of my fellow admission-paying fans have ever known -- and our numbers are growing. The players have a role in this as well due to their stonewalling, but they're the ones who are afraid to speak because you're the ones in charge of writing their epitaph.

Tell us what you know to be true and not what you think should be true given the era. And don't crucify those who do before you're ready to come to your senses.

Breaking Up the Mets is Hard to Do

Matthew Artus — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 14:55:47 -0000

There's this old fan's tale that ties the derisive "Break up the Mets!" chant to the history of the ballclub.

The story goes that upon the team's first win in team history and after nine consecutive losses to open the 1962 season, journeyman catcher Joe Ginsburg bursts in to the Mets clubhouse and says, "Break up the Mets!" The exclamation caught on for better or worse, but mercifully (or mercilessly, depending on your purview) only erupted 39 more times that season.

But it never quite went away. It carried on ever after in fits and spurts, among future Mets clubhouses and fans at the Polo Grounds and Shea Stadium. In their book The Year The Mets Lost Last Place: The Most Amazing Year in the History of Baseball, Paul Zimmerman and Dick Schaap recalled fans sitting behind home plate at Tom Seaver's near-perfect game against the Cubs in July 1969 starting that exact chant during a Cubs pitching change. It's been used as headline fodder then and now, making for a sarcastic blog post title or a spontaneous utterance.

Call me crazy, but it sounds like the chants are in full force again. We have rampant speculation that Alderson may break up the roster and rebuild without actually uttering the word. We have a dire prognosis for the financial well-being of the Wilpons and calls for MLB to step in and break up the ownership.

So maybe we haven't found ourselves in this particular doom-and-gloom scenario before, but this franchise has a history of shooting itself in the foot and coping with self-deprecating humor. Why stop now?

I'm a firm believer that the Wilpons will not voluntarily sell the Mets. There's simply no incentive as it doesn't fill in any meaningful financial holes for them. And if you haven't admitted to yourself that baseball is a business first, then you should start coming to grips with the fact that the Wilpons keeping hold of the Mets is looking out for themselves -- which is hardly a new phenomenon in professional sports. If you want to own the Mets, you will need to pry them from the cold, dead fingers of the Wilpons via bankruptcy or MLB intervention.

That's just the worst-case scenario, though. If Alderson can build a club capable of playing meaningful enough baseball (i.e. not effectively eliminated by the All-Star break) that would entice you to pony up for tickets in September, then the club could start paying for itself again and leave the Wilpons to work on climbing out of their bigger holes. If the economy turns around and real estate starts booming again, the Wilpons will find themselves flush with cash once more. There are both unlikely scenarios, but the former's not beyond the realm of possibility considering Alderson's track record while the latter is the carrot the Wilpons chase while plugging every hole in the ship in the interim.

There exists a very real possibility that the Mets could enter a dark era rivaling the one following the Midnight Massacre or The Worst Team Money Could Buy. But unlike those eras, we're entering this one with our eyes wide open. No M. Donald Grant to blindside us. No Al Harazin, Steve Phillips, or Omar Minaya adding lousy contract after lousy contract to bury us. No lack of a meaningful framework that allows for successful baseball without a bloated payroll.

I don't know where this trail goes, but I'm very interested in seeing it through. If Alderson pulls this off, it will rival any accomplishment he's achieved in the baseball wing of his decorated history. If the Wilpons come out of this alive, it will be a miracle -- and aren't we rooting for the club that makes believing in miracles one of their core principles?

Break up the Mets? Why? We're just getting started.