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eBooks, Podcasts, Tickets

Shannon Shark of Metspolice.com has released an eBook entitled Send The Beer Guy.(Hey wait, aren’t I the beer guy?) I haven’t gotten a chance to read it yet, got a library book under the gun, but it’s on deck. I’ve heard it’s good, and Shannon was teasing some of the stories at the Mets Police awards in January.

 

I’ve joined Jeff Paternostro and Rob Castellano on the Amazin’ Avenue Audio the past two weeks. This week we talked about a whole bunch of stuff, from Sandy’s culpability for the current roster, the catchers, Stub Hub, some Mets prospects, and a bunch of other things. Check it out. If you haven’t been paying attention, I’ve been writing for Amazin’ Avenue a bunch too, so check that out as well.

 

Opening Day tickets will go on sale next Friday at 10am. There will be various pre-sales earlier in the week as well, and while most games won’t be that high in demand it’s still nice to get your tickets in hand sooner rather than later, especially if you know you want to get to one of the promotion dates such as Banner Day or David Wright Bobblehead Day. Of course, Opening Day tickets will be expensive as well given that it’s one of three premium games. Expect the cheapest seats to be at least $50. Dynamic pricing may make the price spike as tickets go on sale, and certain sections may drop in a couple of days after the initial rush dies down. Last year’s Opening Day was a record crowd though, so if you’re set on Opening Day or the Subway Series, don’t hesitate.

 

I’ve been kind of quiet this offseason, but baseball season is so close I can smell the Shake Shack so expect more posts, both here and at Amazin’ Avenue, which you can find a link to my posts on the right sidebar. Follow me on Twitter (), and you can find Optimistic Mets Fan on Facebook and Google+ as well. I’ve also been known to post a lot of Mets pictures to Instagram.

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Spin It: The Bullpen Can Be Good

Welcome to the inaugural #spinit post, where I try to be cloyingly positive about reader-submitted topics. To submit a topic for me to ‘spin’, tweet (And follow) me @Ceetar with the hashtag #spinit or email me at ceetar@ceetar.com.

 

It’d be easy to simply reference the blind nut principle with bullpens; sooner or later these relievers are going to have good years, but I don’t think that’s necessary. The Mets bullpen has the potential to be pretty good in 2013, and certainly ‘decent’ is a low bar.

 

Bobby Parnell is a good reliever. He was their best reliever last year, and he throws hard. That’s a start. The Mets have a handful of fringe type prospects and young pitchers that can throw some that they can mix and match in the bullpen. Guys like Josh Edgin, Robert Carson, Elvin Ramirez and  even Jeurys Familia and Jenrry Mejia.

 

The Mets did fill their bullpen with some signings as well. Brandon Lyon is usually pretty good. He can certainly help.

 

LaTroy Hawkins is 40 years old, but he’s been pretty reliable as a pitcher over the years. He put up a decent year last year after an awesome one for the Brewers in 2011. If he has anything less in the tank, he should be good for some innings.

 

Pedro Feliciano re-signed with the Mets. He’s always been an excellent lefty reliever, and if he’s sufficiently recovered from the woes associated with being a Yankee, he could definitely be an asset.

 

Another pickup to keep an eye on is Greg Burke. Burke made some mechanic adjustments that led to a really terrific year for the Orioles AAA team. He throws side-arm now, and can hopefully use his newfound delivery to get some big outs for the Mets in 2013.

 

Bullpens are so often a crap shoot, but with the young arms and the potential of some of the other guys, there’s a good chance it can be a strength for the Mets in 2013. This is without mentioning Frank Francisco as a bounce back candidate. He really under-performed his peripherals last season, so perhaps this year he has a less volatile year and locks down his innings.

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Ricky Bones Interview, Caption Contest, Bobby V And More

Mets news is starting to pick up a little, with Spring Training on the horizon.

 

Nick Diunte of examiner.com caught up to Ricky Bones at the Joe DiMaggio Legends Game this weekend and asked him some questions.

 

Metspolice posted a picture of an old Shea van parked in the Citi Field parking lot and asks you to caption it.

 

Bobby Valentine may be headed to SNY. Would love to see this; Valentine’s an intelligent baseball guy who I could listen to talk baseball for hours.

 

Sadly, one of the Mets depth pickups at Catcher, Landon Powell, lost his baby daughter.

 

Mets VP  Jay Horwitz started using Twitter. So far he’s been tweeting some interesting old stories, and is definitely worth a follow.

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Views Of Citi Field: Left Field Foul Pole

I miss Citi Field, and Mets games.

 

Clearly I like to roam when I’m at the game alone, and this shot from last April reflects that. It’s taken from the Promenade corner in left field shot right over the foul pole. This is actually the first place I ever sat in Citi Field, way back during the St. Johns exhibition game before the 2009 season. You’re not close to the action, but you do get a nice bird’s eye view of the entire field, sans the left field wall which you need to lean forward to see.

photo by Ceetar

Behind me is the only exit in the ballpark that resembles the Shea ramps, and doubles as the smoking section. You can also see the Manhattan skyline from there.

photo by Ceetar

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Citi Field Beer Idea

This weekend I got a chance to visit the new Queens brewery, Singlecut Beersmiths.

Photo by Ceetar

You can click on that link for my review, but the gist of it is that it was good stuff. Queens hasn’t really had any breweries at all until recently, and Singlecut fits right in. You should all know where I’m going with this now. The Mets should support a local business, and get (at least) a tap of their beer into Citi Field. They did a great job with the craft beer dugouts last season, and adding Singlecut to the selection would not be that difficult.

 

It’d be a great way to expand the beer selection to include a larger variety of local beer.

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New Feature: Spin It

This feature could also be called rose-colored glasses. I’ll take one particular aspect of the Mets and try to use logic, reasoning, and statistical analysis to look at the best case scenarios for various Mets players and situations. It’s also about spreading optimism, however small. So along those lines, I’d like to write the posts based on reader-submitted questions.

 

If you want me to tell you why Daniel Murphy will be a good player for the 2013 Mets, or why we should put our faith in Kirk Nieuwenhuis as the regular center fielder, let me know. Email me at ceetar@ceetar.com,or tweet at me @Ceetar.

 

To start us off I’m going to link to a Mark Simon post describing what the Mets need to make the 2013 playoffs.

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Hall Of Fame Vote: Now The Hall Of Favorites

Fake Piazza plaque via CeetarMike Piazza was clearly a Hall of Famer, as were numerous other players on the ballot that were not elected this year. He’s among the leaders, if not THE leader, in many offensive categories including home runs and slugging percentage. He was a perennial MVP candidate and was on the All-Star Team roughly every year. He hit, and hit, and hit.

 

Any allegations about illegal substances that may or may not have had some unknown positive effect on his overall performance are pure speculation at best. The Hall of Fame has a five year waiting period for a reason and as we look back at Piazza’s numbers and performance over the years it’s clear he should be a clear-cut favorite to be on practically every ballot. There has been plenty of time for dirt-digging and witch-hunts, if such things matter to your vote. Nothing substantial has turned up as the dust settled on his career, clearly meaning he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame among his fellow all-time greats.

 

It simply isn’t a Hall of Fame if the most famous players aren’t a part of it. Perhaps we should start referring to it as the Hall of Favorites, subject to the whim and folly of the baseball writers of America. It’s not just Piazza either, and it’s not all voters that have failed baseball fans. There are many well-reasoned ballots out there that were forced to leave people off the ballot not because of whispers and rumors, but because they are only allowed to vote for 10 people and found more than 10 on this ballot were qualified. For none of those qualified players to get in is a travesty.

 

The Hall of Fame is just a museum, but baseball is a sport that celebrates lore and history and the Hall of Fame is a great representation of that. It has failed in that regard, and it’s a step down a road to being just another virtually meaningless award. If it’s not going to represent the best of the best, then it’s purpose has passed. Take down all the plaques and let it remain as a museum of treasures and accomplishments, and as fans we’ll remember who the truly great players are.  It’s not the Hall’s fault, as it’s the writers who vote for the collection of players honored, but if they’re not going to change the criteria for voters, these things will continue to happen and deserving players will be kept out. There is a lot of outrage right now, but this may be the last straw. Next year many fans, such as me, will treat the pending vote as a triviality.

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The Mazzy Awards

The third annual Mazzy Awards were held Saturday night at Donovan’s Pub in Woodside. No matter what other activities you’re interested in to pass the time between last out and first pitch, you miss your baseball pals. The men, women, and baseball-headed mascots that make up so much of your life from the time when pitchers and catchers report to Port St. Lucie and the final strike of the season. Alas, Mr. Met couldn’t make it this year, but maybe next time..

 

When you have the opportunity to help honor fellow fans and bloggers and talk baseball on a quiet night in January, you do it. No one takes themselves too seriously, it was just a fun way to whittle away the offseason, but Shannon and Keith both did an amazing job setting up and executing these awards. High quality video streams, a private room for us, official envelopes and even bobblehead award statues. Everyone agreed that they should make it an annual event; next year I hope you join us.

 

Hanging out with a beer or two with fellow Mets fans talking sports, Hall of Fame, old wax cups at Shea Stadium and even television almost made you feel like it was baseball season again. If you listened carefully you could almost hear Howie Rose describing the new blue uniforms as the Mets jogged out to take their places on the field.