Rick Peterson
Timmy Trumpet coming to Citi Field was a huge deal. Everyone in the stands and watching on TV were waiting with baited breath to see him play Narco with Edwin Diaz running in from the bullpen.
Instead of watching Timmy Trumpet blow his horn, we got to see Joely Rodriguez blow the game. The pitcher brought to the Mets specifically to get out left-handed batters out was beaten by them turning a tied game into a 4-3 deficit.
Keep in mind, that game was close enough to try to find a reason to use Diaz. Instead, Buck Showalter did the right thing and saved his arm.
That isn’t something that would’ve happened under the Wilpons. With Timmy Trumpet there, they would have forced the manager to make sure Diaz enters the game.
We know this because of Pedro Martinez.
Back in 2005, doctors recommended Martinez shut it down due to injuries. With the postseason out of reach, Willie Randolph and Rick Peterson were of the same mind.
As Pedro detailed in his eponymous book, Pedro, Jeff Wilpon ignored the advice of the medical and baseball professionals. Rather than let Pedro heal, Wilpon pushed him to pitch in a game against Dontrelle Willis in an attempt to generate a gate.
The end result was Pedro worsening his toe injury, and it might’ve been a contributing factor in Pedro’s eventual career ending shoulder injury. With respect to the Mets, it might’ve cost them the World Series in 2006.
That was a problem with the Wilpons operation of the Mets. Not all decisions were baseball decisions. In some ways, you could sell they were selling the Mets but not baseball.
This led to odd choices. In a juxtaposition with Timmy Trumpet, the Mets invited the Baja Men in 2000. Now, we get the far superior Timmy Trumpet.
Except, we didn’t quite get what we expected, and there was disappointment. Assuredly, the team wanted to make good on Timmy Trumpet blasting Diaz as he ran in from the bullpen.
From a fan engagement standpoint, that’s what we all wanted. From a baseball standpoint, it didn’t make sense to use Diaz. To a certain extent, that’s why Cohen’s Mets (in a move the Wilpons probably don’t make) are having Timmy Trumpet again as a guest in the hopes that this time the moment will happen.
Make no mistake here. Both Wilpon and Cohen are trying to get people to the ballpark. The key difference is Cohen is trying to do that with baseball first and everything else second.
That wasn’t always the case with the Wilpons. In fact, you could reasonably argue baseball never really came first under the Wilpons ownership of the Mets.
The Wilpons very likely don’t leave Diaz in the bullpen, and in a similar vein, they don’t bring back Timmy Trumpet. Part of the reason we know this is they didn’t hold Old Timers’s Games bemoaning the costs involved.
Ultimately, Cohen understands the best way to get fans engaged and happy is putting a winning team on the field. The other stuff is great and important, but it comes a distant second to winning. In the end, the baseball is the product.
Sadly, the Wilpons never got that. That’s why Pedro pitched, and Diaz didn’t. It’s also why the Mets are far better run now than at any point during the Wilpon ownership of the team.
Like the Mets, the minor league affiliates’ seasons are long over, and over at Mets Minors, organizational leaderboards are being compiled, and awards are being handed out:
Full Season Batting Leaders – statistically speaking Brandon Nimmo might’ve had the best year especially with him missing out on the Pacific League batting title by .001 points and him having the top OBP in the farm system.
Short Season Batting Leaders – Despite having had the shortest season, Peter Alonso might’ve had the biggest impact
Minor League Best Starting Pitchers – Statistically speaking, the Mets best minor league pitchers were P.J. Conlon, Thomas Szapucki, Harol Gonzalez, Ricky Knapp, and Andrew Church.
Full Season Pitching Leaders – Naturally, the above-referenced pitchers were listed throughout.
Short Season Pitching Leaders – Gonzalez and Gary Cornish dominated for the Brooklyn Cyclones while Szapucki continued to show why he is becoming a big time prospect.
Here is how all the 2015 draft picks fared with Alonso and Justin Dunn as standouts. And nowadays, you would be remiss without mentioning the fact that Tim Tebow homered in his first professional at-bat.
However, here are the bigger awards everyone is most curious about:
Position Player of the Year – Amed Rosario with honorable mention to Dominic Smith
Pitcher of the Year – P.J. Conlon
Reliever of the Year – David Roseboom
As you saw this season, there were major contributors from the Mets minor league system this year. If not for Seth Lugo, Robert Gsellman, Josh Smoker, T.J. Rivera, and others, the Mets may not make the postseason this year. It is not only good to know the Mets minor league system has been this beneficial, but also that there is a significant amount of talent behind the players we have already seen contribute.
I still remember the first Mets prospect I followed though the minors. It was Jae Weong Seo, or Jae Seo as he liked to be called.
Unlike recent big leaguers from South Korea, Seo signed a free agent deal right out of high school before he played in the Korean Leagues. He was a big time prospect with a big time repertoire. They thought so highly of him, they gave him $1 million right out of high school. He was a well regarded prospect. He was good he was tabbed to start the 2001 Future’s Game. While he had some injury issues, few questioned if he was going to be a big leaguer.
Seo made his debut in a relief appearance on July 21, 2002. He pitched a the next year he would join the rotation where he would have two disappointing seasons. Then in 2005, Seo appeared to turn his career around at the age of 27.
I thought the seminal moment of his career was going to be the night Rick Peterson challenged Jae Seo to pitch better, to throw harder. Seo seemed to take it to heart. In 2005, Seo went 8-2 with a 2.59 ERA and a 1.107 WHIP in 14 starts. He seemed ticketed for a spot in the rotation on a young and emerging Mets team. Omar Minaya had other ideas. He traded Seo at his peak value for Duaner Sanchez and Steve Schmoll.
Sanchez was a huge part of the Mets bullpen in 2006 until his ill-fated cab ride. Seo, on the other hand, never reached the heights he reached in 2005. He was out of the league two years later, and he returned to his native South Korea. He got to be a part of a championship team with the 2009 Kia Tigers. He set a record with 44 consecutive scoreless innings in 2012. Now, he’s retiring. Apparently, he’s so well-regarded that the team wants him to remain on as a pitching coach.
So no, Seo might not have had the career we all envisioned he might. However, he did have a good career. He won a title. He set records. He earned the respect of his peers along the way. In the end, that’s a great career. One that anyone would admire.
Congratulations on a good career Jae Weong Seo.