Musings
If there’s anything that has been a hallmark of these recent Mets teams it’s that these players get it. Win or lose they acknowledged the fans. They even did it in a moment of heartbreak after losing the World Series. I was again reminded of this when I saw Vic Black‘s recent Tweet:
Thank You New York
Read: https://t.co/AS32hnPqBu
— Victor Black II (@Vic_Black_2) February 2, 2016
In the TwitLonger link, Vic Black acknowledged his New York Mets career was over even if he hasn’t signed with anyone else. He then went on to thank Mets fans for cheering him during his all too short stay with the Mets:
You were kind in welcoming me to YOUR family and I’ll always have blue and orange running in my blood. New York captured my heart and nothing can ever take that away. You gave me a gift, experiences and moments I’ll cherish forever. I’m counting the days till my next visit in whatever capacity that may be. I love you New York!
At first glance, this made me smile. Black was something of a fan favorite. Poor Adam Rubin was inundated with requests for updates on his status. It’s great Mets fans had an impact upon him. It’s even better that he acknowledged our love and returned the love.
It’s funny that it didn’t always start out that way. Black was acquired in the Marlon Byrd trade. At that time, Byrd was something of a fan favorite himself, and he was being traded for a second base prospect, Dilson Herrera, and a live bullpen arm in Black. A lot of the qualms with that trade went away when Black began pitching with the Mets.
In his two years with the Mets, Black was a good and improving reliever. In his 56 appearances, he had a 2.83 ERA, 125 ERA+, 3.65 FIP, 1.259 WHIP, and an 8.3 K/9. He had a blazing 97 MPH fastball. Unfortunately, he would have a neck injury in 2015, suffer a setback in April, and he would never be recalled to the majors. He was unceremoniously removed from the 40 man roster and made a minor league free agent. It didn’t matter that Black regained his fastball. It didn’t matter that he has been a good reliever who is still just 27.
Apparently, Black wants to be back, and Mets fans want him back. Personally, I want him to return, even if it appears he won’t. Whenever he lands, that team is getting a good reliever and an even better person. When he comes back to New York and he comes running out of the bullpen, I’ll be cheering for him.
Good luck Vic Black.
Today is the eighth anniversary of the Johan Santana trade. Over his tenure with the Mets, Santana pitched well to brilliantly when he was able to pitch.
Santana tried to will the Mets into the postseason in 2008. He pitched on three days rest on a bum knee and gave the Mets a brilliant outing, a complete game, three hit, nine strikeout, shut out. It would be the Mets last win at Shea Stadium. It would be his last great season, but not his last great moment. On June 1, 2012, he threw a 134 pitch no-hitter on a surgically repaired shoulder. The first in Mets history. It was effectively the end of his career.
The cost for all of this? Basically, it was Carlos Gomez. Yes, the same one. It’s interesting that it was Gomez because he wasn’t what the Twins initially wanted. They wanted Lastings Milledge.
At that time everyone wanted Milledge. The A’s wanted Milledge in exchange for Barry Zito. The Mets balked in 2006. They balked despite Pedro Martinez‘s injury problems. The Mets thought that highly of Milledge that they were willing to let him possibly stand in the way of a World Series title. He was considered that good. Except, unfortunately, he really wasn’t that good. His stock would go down to the point where he could only fetch Brian Schneider and Ryan Church. That’s a far cry from Barry Zito and Johan Santana.
The lesson here isn’t necessarily that you should always trade prospects. If that’s the case, the Mets wouldn’t have David Wright. No, the lesson is to make sure you are right before trading prospects.
The Mets were wrong about Gomez and Milledge. Most were. Now, Milledge is playing in Japan. Gomez is a two-time All Star. He’s a Gold Glove centerfielder. There are different times the Mets could’ve used him either as an outfielder (possibly avoiding the disastrous Jason Bay signing), or used him as a trade chip. Unfortunately, he wasn’t there because the Mets held onto the wrong prospect.
There are many lessons to learn with Santana, namely about abusing pitcher’s arms. The other lesson is that teams have to be right about their own prospects. By holding onto Milledge, the Mets might’ve lost out on a World Series in 2006. By being wrong about Milledge, the Mets lost out on Gomez’s career.
So whenever the Mets trade a prospect, we should look not just at the return, but also who they didn’t trade. As we saw with the Santana deal, you can still win a trade while still losing out on something else.
Groundhog Day pretty well sums up what it’s been like being a Mets fan since the Madoff scandal a/k/a the Wilponzi Scandal. It was nothing but a series of cost-cutting measures and insulting fans intelligence telling them they would spend if fans came to the park to watch what was a pretty terrible product.
Sandy Alderson was running around like Ned Ryerson . . . BING! . . . telling us about the D.J. Carrascos and Shaun Marcums of the baseball world inviting us to come down to Citi Field. Mets fans ran away tripping into a puddle while everyone seemed to laugh at us. We went about every offseason saying, “Well, the Mets won’t spend money . . . Again.”
Seriously, nothing could go right. Even when something good happened, like Matt Harvey‘s 2013 season, we closed our eyes and *poof* it was all over. The next season rolled around with no Harvey. No hope. Just the same old song with the same old stinging cold shower trying to wash the pain away of another lost season.
BING! We’re all wet and embarrassed again. We took off from Citi Field being told, “Don’t drive angry. Don’t drive angry!”
Yet, everyday things got better. The Mets made shrewd trades for the future. In 2015, they made in-season trades to improve the team. Jacob deGrom won the Rookie of the Year. Harvey was coming back from Tommy John Surgery. Noah Syndergaard fulfilled his promise. The Mets actually made in-season trades to get better. Like Phil Connors wielding a chainsaw, things were taking shape.
After the Mets lost the World Series, it seemed like the Mets fans were going to go to sleep and all the good will gone the way of Alejandro De Aza. Then Jeff Wilpon crawled out of his hole with enough money to re-sign Yoenis Cespedes.
It’s a new day for the Mets. They’re going to go and give it their all to win the World Series. It’s a new feeling in the – BING! – Sandy Alderson Era. Why it’s almost like being in love.
Back in the 90’s when the Braves had Glavine, Maddux, and Smoltz, Leo Mazzone was hailed as a genius. When he went to the Baltimore Orioles, not so much. Rick Peterson was a genius with Hudson, Mulder, and Zito. With the Mets, he was a scapegoat. He was replaced with Dan Warthen.
Now that the Mets have Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard, Warthen has gained some notoriety. We now hear about the “Warthen Slider.” As is the case, when you get a trio of young aces, all the fame is going to come your way. They point to certain things you do that makes great pitchers great. Typically, pitching coaches get a lot of praise when they have great pitchers. Warthen, who had survived two GMs and two managers, is no different. How good is he really? Perhaps, we are about to find out.
This past offseason the Mets traded Jon Niese. He was once regarded well enough to receive a five year contract extension with two additional team options. Overall, Niese was somewhat disappointing. He’s had shoulder problems. He was 61-61 with a 3.91 ERA and a 1.361 WHIP. I believe it’s fair to say the Mets expected more and didn’t receive it. Now, Niese is a Pittsburgh Pirate where he is now joined with well regarded pitching coach Ray Searage.
Searage is fast developing a reputation as a pitching guru. Unlike most pitching coaches, it’s not because of who he has, but what he does with what he has. Here’s an example of some of his success stories:
- 2012 Twins/White Sox 6-12, 5.34 ERA, 1.468 WHIP
- 2013-2015 Pirates 35-25, 3.26 ERA, 1.241 ERA
- 2011 Yankees 11-11, 5.15 ERA, 1.434 WHIP
- 2012-2013 Pirates 26-21, 3.41 ERA, 1.228 WHIP
- 2014 Phillies 8-18, 4.59 ERA, 1.409 WHIP
- 2015 Pirates 9-7, 3.18 ERA, 1.360 ERA
- 2015 Mariners 4-6, 4.64 ERA, 1.408 WHIP
- 2015 Pirates 7-2, 1.85 ERA, 1.026 WHIP
As noted above, Searage’s next project is Niese. He’s coming off of what might be perhaps the worst year of his career where he went 9-10 with a 4.13 ERA and a 1.398 WHIP. Searage has his work cut out for him, especially with a head strong pitcher like Niese. For his part, Niese is seeing an opportunity for improvement with a superior Pirates defense. Is the Pirates defense Searage’s equivalent to Warthen’s slider? Who knows?
At the end of the day, it’s a results based business, and Searage has done something with his pitchers to coax better results than they have elsewhere. If that continues, Niese is about to have the best year of what has so far been a very disappointing career. It’ll be another pitcher that Searage has been able to reach that other pitching coaches couldn’t.
If that’s true, it doesn’t make Warthen a bad pitching coach. Rather, it shows that like this who have come before him, his perceived skill is more closely tied to the skills possessed by his pitching staff.
Last year, we got to celebrate Cespedes for only three months. Now that Yoenis Cespedes has re-signed with three Mets, we will have a full year to celebrate Cespedes.
For you new fans, Cespedes is a time that fans gather round Citi Field or their TV sets to watch Yoenis dazzle on the field and lead the Mets to the postseason. If you haven’t been here before, Yoenis hits balls that go really out there. It all starts with the Cespedes bat.
Cespedes Pole
For the Cespedes Pole, you nee something balanced and sturdy. You need something that is strong enough to handle 90+ MPH fastballs but light enough that it can soar in the air with the flick of the wrists.
Throwing Out of Baserunners
Cespedes has a lot of issues with these baserunners trying to take the extra base, and the umpire is going to let them hear about it:
Once the umpire calls there baserunners out, they “couldn’t smooth a silk sheet even if they had a hot date with a babe.” I lost my train of thought.
Feats of Strength
Cespedes isn’t over until Yoenis does a bat flip after a homer.
If we see a repeat of what we saw last year, we can expect a Cespedes Miracle.
For those that never watched Watch What Happens Live, it’s talk show masquerading as a drinking game. If you’re married, you’ve seen it because it normally follows Real Housewives of [Insert City].
Overall, if you’re looking for anything scandalous, Harvey technically got what a sac fly is wrong. He said it was whenever a batter advances to any base on a flyball out. Technically, it’s only when a runner scores. Other than that, the entire episode was fairly tame, at least with respect to a typical Watch What Happens Live episode.
Initially, Matt Harvey looked awkward sitting there with Cardinals fan Andy Cohen and Nationals fan Connie Chung. First, he wasn’t drinking (looked like water to me). Second, they went right to Connie Chung and her fight with Donald Trump:
Third, Andy didn’t ask Harvey about baseball. He asked more about his grooming and dating habits. He asked “which Met had the biggest bat.” (Note, Andy put it more crudely and bluntly). Harvey didn’t answer that one. If you’re interested, Harvey is single, uses Degree women’s deodorant, flies on private planes, and his teammates gave him a poster of his layout from the ESPN The Body issue. There are other adult topics, which I found amusing, which are neither here or there (Seinfeld roommate switch and on the field in college). Also, unlike the ’86 Mets, Harvey never tried cocaine. Really, Andy didn’t ask any baseball questions, which if you’ve ever watched the show, isn’t all that surprising.
However, Connie Chung asked the question, and he answered the question. Connie Chung grilled him on Terry Collins sending him back in there for the ninth inning. As you can assume, Harvey doesn’t regret the decision. He thought he gave his team the best chance to win. He also said Connie should ask Collins if the manager thought he made a mistake.
As an aside, it’s great that Connie Chung was all over the issue. As you can tell from most of the episode, she doesn’t know much about baseball. However, she knew about this moment. Baseball and the Mets have reached the national consciousness. This is a great thing even if the Mets lost the World Series.
Of course, you should know former teammate, Anthony Recker, was calling in after the show, which is not televised. Andy Cohen made sure to let us know why he was being mentioned at the rear-end of the episode.
It was somewhat bizarre that both my wife and I wanted to watch Watch What Happens Live. It’s also bizarre that Matt Harvey, or any baseball player for that matter, would be on the show. With that said, anytime you’re talking Mets in January, it’s a good thing. It’s even better to see how much this Mets team resonates.
After-Show Update
- Harvey is no longer a Yankee fan
- He wishes Daniel Murphy was able to return to the Mets.
- The Marlins give him more trouble than any other team.
- He’s been training in Boras’ California facility.
- He missed the BBWAA dinner because his driver wasn’t permitted on the roads due to travel restrictions during the blizzard to pick him up.
Oh yeah, Recker never actually called-in. He just left a message.
With the Mets announcing they are finally retiring Mike Piazza’s number, there have been renewed discussions regarding if there should be any other Mets who should have their number retired. You know the names: Gary Carter, Dwight Gooden, Darryl Strawberry, and, of course, Keith Hermandez.
Instead of arguing the merits of each of these players, I thought I would offer up a new name. Ron Darling.
Looking over Darling’s resume, he was a good, but not a great Met. He was 99-70 with a 3.50 ERA in nine years with the Mets. He won a Gold Glove, and he went to an All Star Game. He had a nice career, and he certainly justified the Mets trading away fan favorite Lee Mazzilli for him. Justifying a trade and having your number retired are two separate distinctions. Admittedly, Darling’s career falls well short of justifying his number retired.
The argument for his number being retired emirates from his current role with the Mets. He’s part of the already iconic Gary, Keith, and Ron. He calls Mets games from the Ralph Kiner TV Booth. That honor was bestowed upon Kiner, an original Met, and Mets broadcasting legend. Kiner was part of the original amazing Mets trio of Kiner, Lindsay Nelson, and Bob Murphy. The radio booth was named after the Hall of Famer Bob Murphy.
Darling is a terrific broadcaster in his own right. He’s so great he was picked up by TBS to do color commentary. As a member of the 1986 Mets and as a broadcaster, Darling has been an important part of Mets history. Since the TV booth already carries the name of Ralph Kiner, and deservedly so, we need to find another way to honor Ron Darling’s rich Mets career. The Mets should retire his number 12.
However, they shouldn’t do it before retiring Keith’s number 17.
As a Giants fan, I love Eli Manning. Any true Giants fan would. The man won two Super Bowls picking up an MVP in each game. There’s always the debate if he’s elite or not. That conversation never concerned me because I knew that my guy could go up against Brett Favre, Aaron Rodgers, and Tom Brady (twice) and beat them in the biggest games. He inspires confidence. That’s all I could ask. That’s why he’s a big time QB.
That’s how I feel about the Mets current pitching staff. Last we saw them, they were leading the Mets to an improbable National League Pennant. Matt Harvey, Jacob deGrom, and Noah Syndergaard went out there and established they can pitch with anybody. Better yet, they established they can beat anybody. In the NLDS, it was Clayton Kershaw and Zack Greinke for two starts a piece. In the NLCS, it was Jake Arrieta and Jon Lester. Mets beat them all.
With Arrieta, Greinke, and Kershaw, the Mets beat the top three in the NL Cy Young voting. With Lester, the Mets beat a pitcher who has a 2.85 postseason ERA along with a 1.071 WHIP. Harvey, deGrom, and Syndergaard beat them all. Not only did they establish they can pitch with the best, they also established they can beat the best. That’s all you need to know about them.
Sure, the Mets rotation wasn’t ranked ahead of the Cubs rotation, nor was it ranked as the top rotation in baseball. None of the Mets pitchers were ranked as the top 10 pitchers right now. At the end of the day, who cares? Seriously. This stuff is to create and drive debate. What’s not up for debate is that the Mets Big Three can go against any other team’s pitching and win.
So while everyone can go on discussing who is and who is not elite, I’m perfectly comfortable watching my guys collect division titles and pennants. They’ve proven they can do that, and they will do it again. So yes, none of the Mets starters are in the Top 10 right now. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter.
The Mets starters right now are number one in the National League.
This morning my son woke me up early, very early, by sitting on my chest and yelling, “DADDY WAKE UP!” I’m starting to come down sick. Despite all of this, I’m going to have to shovel about a foot of snow. So, how am I feeling this morning?
AWESOME! Yoenis Cespedes re-signed with the Mets. He turned down more money because he wanted to play for the Mets, for us fans. This never happens. Usually, like with Carlos Beltran, the Mets had to be the highest bidder in order to get the player. Again, this never happens.
Furthermore, the Mets spent $27.5 million in the first year to get him. They gave him a no trade clause. They offered him an opt out. His contract is the fifth highest in Mets history and the highest single season salary in Mets history. The Mets made him the second highest paid position player next year. The Mets front-loaded his three year $75 million contract. The Wilpons spent to improve the team.
Right now, there is no reason for any Mets fan to complain. Sure, you can miss players like Daniel Murphy. However, there is no reason to complain if you’re a fan. Alejandro De Aza may feel differently, but I’m pretty sure fans are alright with that.
Today, it doesn’t get any better being a Mets fan. The fans were always all-in, and now the team is all-in as well. Today, as it continuously snows leaving us all trapped inside, the Mets have not had a sunnier outlook. Instead of thinking of shoveling, Mets fans are thinking of watching a World Series favorite playing baseball on warm summer nights.
I’m not putting on my snow clothes to go outside today. No, I’m putting on the same clothes I will be wearing this October in Citi Field. What a great day.
LETS GO METS!
Wow #MetsTwitter is turning into a cesspool right now over the news that Yoenis Cespedes may be signing a deal with the Nationals. Seriously, everybody is attacking everybody. People I’ve found to be pretty lockstep in their opinions and/or cordial to one another are jumping at each other’s throats. Seriously, no opinion is safe:
- If think Cespedes doesn’t deserve a long term deal than you’re a shill.
- If you think Cespedes didn’t have the impact fans thought he did, you’re a nerd that doesn’t watch baseball.
- If you’re angry with how the Mets are operating this offseason, you’re ungrateful for the NL Pennant and/or unfit to be a Mets fan.
- If you think the Mets can win without Cespedes, you don’t know baseball.
- If you think Cespedes is a good centerfielder, you’re a dinosaur that doesn’t understand advanced stats.
At the end of the day, do you know what this all is? It’s misplaced anger. To a man Mets fans are upset with this offseason. Put aside your feelings on the Mets ability to win the NL East or the World Series next year. You’re not happy with the offseason. You’re not happy with the Mets not keeping their promise. The Mets said they would spend if the fans showed up and spent their own hard earned money.
Well, the fans did that, and yet, the Mets still aren’t spending commensurate with their revenues or their market. At the end of the day, it makes Mets fans angry. Mostly, we’re angry with the Wilpons. Only there’s no way we can voice our displeasure directly at them. So instead, we create billboards to voice our displeasure. We start yelling at each other. The reason? Simple, we’re angry, and there’s no avenue to properly voice that displeasure.
The sick part is the Mets don’t understand this. They don’t see a passionate fanbase. They see ungrateful people that should sign a loyalty oath because we know loyalty means never voicing a contrary opinion. The Mets don’t understand how lucky they are. This is a fanbase put through the ringer by this ownership, and yet, these fans still care. They are still passionate. They still keep coming back like Charlie Brown trying to kick that football.
The thing is the venom is going to get worse once Cespedes does officially leave the Mets. Fans will continue to go after one another instead of voicing our displeasure directly to the Wilpons. Again, the fans are angry, and I understand why. I think it’s time to take a step back and realize who the culprits are. It’s not each other; it’s the Wilpons. Other than the billboard, there’s no other method to let the Mets know how we feel (Note: not an advertisement, just stating a fact).
Basically, all I’m saying is Mets fans need to stop cannibalizing one another and find constructive ways to vent. The billboard is one idea. I know some who boycott. If there are other ideas, come up with those because right now yelling at each other isn’t helping anything. In fact, the only thing it accomplishes is irritating each other while the Wilpons’ malfeasance is ignored. It’s time to take a step back, take a deep breath, and realize the fans you’re attacking love this team no matter what.
You’re really angry at the Wilpons. Find a way to voice that displeasure. It’ll accomplish more than you yelling at another fan.