Daniel Murphy is Pure Chaos Tweet This Post
Baseball players don’t have enough cool nicknames. So when Ted Berg suggested, via Ike Davis, that “Pure Chaos” would be a good nickname for Daniel Murphy I decided to run with it. It may not describe his hitting style, but I do think it applies to his general approach to the game. Before you say anything, The Irish Hammer does not count as a nickname.
Howie Rose: “Coming up in the bottom of the inning for the Mets: Niese, Tejada and Pure Chaos.”
Sports Radio Update Guy: “It was all Pure Chaos at Citi Field last night, as the Mets walloped the Phillies eight to one.”
Tags: 2012 mets, baseball nicknames, daniel murphy, mets nicknames, New York Mets, new york mets nicknames, pure chaos
It’s All About The Giants..But Not For Long Tweet This Post
This weekend is about the New York Giants. It’s about the Super Bowl, and a championship. It’s about perhaps a parade on Tuesday and random rankings of Eli Manning among the greatest QBs in the game today.
So good luck to the Giants. I’m looking forward to this game, and like so many so-called experts on Twitter, blogs, radio and tv, I’m going to give you my meaningless prediction. 30-16 Giants. It’ll seem closer than that though. The Giants will score early in the second half to go up 23-13, and the Patriots will answer with a field goal. The next score will be halfway through the fourth quarter when Tom Brady is picked off deep in his own zone. He’ll then turn the ball over on downs on the Giants 44 yard line, and Eli will run out the clock slowly driving down the field and taking a knee.
The Giants, and NY and NJ, will celebrate. The Senate will drink NY beers bought by New England politicians. There will be a parade. Then, despite five other local sports teams playing professional sports, all eyes will turn to baseball. We’ll tick into single digits of days remaining until pitchers and catchers report.
And it can’t come soon enough. Let’s Go Mets!
Tags: 2012 mets, eli manning, giants parade, Mets, New York Giants, New York Mets, pitchers and catchers, Super Bowl, super bowl championship, super bowl XVI
New Mets HOF Member John Franco: First Pitch at Citi Field Tweet This Post
Congratulations to John Franco for being selected for the Mets Hall of Fame.
Did you know John Franco threw out the first ever ceremonial first pitch at Citi Field? It’s true! It took place at an exhibition game between St. Johns and Georgetown. Franco went to St. Johns, so was tagged to do the honors.
Tags: ceremonial first pitch, Citi Field, first pitch, first pitch at citi field, john franco, mets hall of fame, New York Mets, st johns at citi field, st johns game
Apparently Optimism Is Not A Sin Tweet This Post
Ted Berg over at Tedquarters.net is doing a four part series on “If absolutely everything falls right” and looking at the upward bounds of expectations for the Mets roster. It’s nice to know I’m not the only person looking at the optimistic avenue. I was beginning to feel a little like Highlander as an optimistic Mets fan.
I think this post on the infield is very reasonable, and it’s even possible that some of the players overshoot his proposed projections. The most unrealistic part is them all staying healthy all year. Still, health is not an unreasonable expectation. I’m not expecting Wright to break his back again, or Ike Davis managing to fall in exactly the wrong way to ruin his season.
His second part, on the outfield, seems a tad more pessimistic to me. Maybe Bay does rebound a little. I’ve mentioned that here in the past, but I think we’re doing a disservice to Duda in projecting his ceiling defensively as “not terrible”. His outfield experience in the minors was mostly in left, and he’s only got about half a season of time in the majors. Perhaps his hulking frame tends to make one believe he’ll never be good defensively, but I think he can hit “not terrible” just by having all of Spring Training to start at the position and build on it as the year goes on. He can clearly hit the baseball, and if he were to improve on what he did last year he could be our own version of Mike Stanton. In fact, their offensive WAR on baseball-reference were very similar factoring in playing time. Ralph Kiner and Keith Hernandez both love his swing, for whatever that’s worth.
Ted dreams of Jason Bay having a great first half and becoming a trade chip and Kirk Nieuwenhuis forcing his way up to the majors. Personally I think that’s unrealistic, because I don’t think a half season of good baseball is going to yield the type of return to make it worth trading him. He’s not Carlos Beltran and his trade would come along with 24 or so million dollars owed to him and a possible vesting option. More likely if Nieuwenhuis does warrant a call-up, Andres Torres will become a fourth outfielder. If this happens we’ll lose a little defensively, but gain a lot offensively, including some flexibility with defensive replacements.
So what’s the highest fWAR we can expect from the Mets offense? I’m going to say somewhere in the 28-30 range. This would’ve had them 4th in the NL last year and best in the NL East. I think this number represents of everything goes well. It’s certainly possible that if one or two things turn out to go extraordinarily well, they could shoot past it. Because fWAR heavily relies on fielding, if the pitching does better there will be less balls in play and less fielding damage to the values. I assume part three and four of Ted’s series will deal with the rotation and the bullpen.
Tags: 2012 mets, Mets, mets defense, mets fWAR, mets offense, mets optimism, mets projections, New York Mets
Are the Mets Irrelevant? Tweet This Post
Joe Janish at Mets Today declares the Mets irrelevant. The preliminary ESPN Sunday Night Baseball schedule came out, and the Mets are not on it. Of course, the schedule only lists 10 of probably 26 or so total games, but certainly no one at ESPN thinks the Mets are going to be a draw early on.
He then asks at what point between the Mets signing Pedro Martinez and yesterday did the Mets fade into oblivion?
I think that date was when Jose Reyes signed with the Marlins. The Mets losing their homegrown star, who’s one of the most exciting players in baseball, and seemingly fading into a financial holding pattern, was a big blow. ESPN likes to air flashy stars and lots of drama.
This doesn’t mean the Mets won’t be on ESPN though. There are certainly parts of the Mets that can turn into compelling stories. ESPN would love to see a resurgent Johan Santana face Roy Halladay for instance. If the Mets were competing with the Marlins later in the season, ESPN would love to twist the knife with the Reyes at Citi Field game. The Subway Series could get flexed to prime time. If Ike Davis and Lucas Duda are blasting home runs, it could propel the Mets into a interesting story.
ESPN’s opinion on what is a draw is also high skeptical. A Spring Training beaning of Chase Utley by Mike Pelfrey and an ensuing fight could be enough to prompt them to put the first Sunday Mets-Phillies game on. Still, the Mets are clearly underdogs in not just the games but in attention. If they want to be a respected or interesting team, they’re going to have to earn it.
Tags: 2012 mets, 2012 new york mets, espn schedule, irrelevant mets, mets espn, New York Mets, sunday night baseball
2012 New York Met as 2011 New York Giant Tweet This Post
Every year there are tons of examples of teams that were deemed to have no chance to be competitive that make surprising runs deep into the playoff rounds and sometimes win it all. The New York Football Giants were given very little chance to make the playoffs, and even less once they started piling up injuries in the preseason. Tom Coughlin’s job was in jeopardy nearly every week, and Eli Manning was laughed at for calling himself elite. The Giants were soundly criticized for mismanaging the cap and for doing nothing in the offseason.
Now there are only four teams left. One of them is the Giants, and no one’s doubting they have a serious shot at winning their game in San Francisco and going to, and perhaps winning, the Super Bowl.
Eli Manning won Super Bowl MVP in 2008 in Super Bowl XLII. That vindicated him some from the critics early in his career, but his failure to win a playoff since had brought back the doubts about his talent. Last year he had a lot of interceptions, and it really downgraded his status with a lot of people. In a way, it reminds me of David Wright.
I have hope that the 2012 David Wright will be a similar story to 2011′s Eli Manning. David’s strikeouts nicely represent Eli’s interceptions. Although he doesn’t have a title, Wright was a legitimate MVP candidate in 2007. In 2012 I expect to see Wright return to that form. After Eli outplayed Aaron Rodgers on Sunday there were people that were even comparing him to his brother Peyton, who may be the best ever. When the 2012 MLB season ends, no longer will we have to debate if he’s the best third baseman in the NL East. Instead critics will struggle to find a third baseman in all of baseball as good as he is.
Tags: 2011 giants, 2012 mets, David Wright, david wright is elite, eli manning, lets go mets, Mets, mlb mvp, new york football giants, New York Giants, New York Mets, nfc mvp, nfl mvp, nl mvp, super bowl xlii
Other Citi Field Changes? Tweet This Post
Last spring we were faced with the shocking news that Brooklyn Brewery beers would no longer be available at the Shake Shack stands out in center field. Every season at most stadiums things change from season to season. Usually they’re small things; advertisers change, menus get tweaked, music changes and mid-inning contests are different. Maybe there’s a new dunk tank, a home run apple, or a new banner or piece of memorabilia celebrating the home team.
This season the Mets are making major structural changes to the dimensions and height of the wall. This won’t have any real affect on the win-loss record, but it’ll probably create more home runs for fans. At least it’ll create a different seating area that should be interesting.
So what smaller changes can we expect at Citi Field this summer? The easy one is that Keith’s burger stand will probably become a permanent fixture somewhere and we’ll get some new test product in that space. Citi Field has an extensive beer list, but what it lacks is local community beers. While on a Citi Field food tour last season, I was told that some of the concessions were chosen because of their local affiliate. Cascarino’s is so close that if you called them up and gave them Citi Field’s address, it’d fall within the delivery zone. Hopefully they’ll take this into account when looking at the beer available next year. The only local beer outside of the Delta Club was Blue Point’s Toasted Lager at Catch of the Day. Great beer, but not enough. Nor is the couple of places you can get Brooklyn Lager. It doesn’t have to be the perfectly paired beer for Shake Shack, Blue Smoke, or El Verano Taqueria even though it should be. A handful of craft beer booths around the stadium would work just as well. Plenty of people in New York love their craft beer and want to drink something more than Budweiser at a baseball game even if Anheuser-Busch is going to brand the cans with a Mets logo this year.
Ommegang is a New York brewery from Cooperstown. There should be a tap of beer from there in every stadium across the country in my opinion. There’s already some in the Delta Club, so why not make it available to all? I bet it’d be possible to get Brooklyn Brewery, or a different local brewery, to contract-brew specific beers for the Mets. How cool would it be to be able to get a Tom Seaver Ale, a World’s Fair Unisphere Rye, or a Home Run Apple Cider?
Tags: beer island, brooklyn brewery, brooklyn brewery at city field, Citi Field, citi field beers, Mets, New York Mets
2012 Mets: The Big Tease Tweet This Post
How’s that for a slogan? This was inspired by the Mets tweeting pictures today of Johan Santana throwing in Port St. Lucie. It was good news in the sense that his arm didn’t fall off, but throwing in January tells us little about what he’ll do in April.
It’s still over a month until pitchers and catchers report, and closer to three until the first real game. I’m thankful for the Mets sharing these types of things, and love seeing Johan on a baseball field, but ultimately this is a big tease. There’s still plenty of uncertainty with how Santana’s shoulder will hold up to a full Spring Training and following that, the season.
In a way the whole 2012 Mets season may be a tease. With the finances and roster turnover it very much feels like the Mets are in a holding pattern. That’s not to say things won’t ultimately turn out good, but there are plenty of question marks we need answers to and a lot of time before we can start finding them. 2012 may be one long quest to find the answers. What do we really have in Lucas Duda, Josh Thole, Ruben Tejada and Ike Davis? To what extent can David Wright and Jason Bay rebound? Are any of the touted pitching prospects going to be knocking on the rotation door for 2013, or sooner? Is second base the anti-matter to Daniel Murphy‘s matter, causing explosion whenever they come in contact?
Stay tuned, because 2012 may be the big tease before we find out where this team is going.
CRG and Fred Wilpon Don’t Affect Me Tweet This Post
I saw this post over at Mets Police about the CRG situation and how fans will root for this team this year.
It’s interesting how people sometimes forget that peoples positions, viewpoints, or situations change. The idea that the Mets hiring CRG could mean they might file for bankruptcy and one day have to sell is not mutually exclusive from the Mets statement that they didn’t hire CRG to file for bankruptcy.
The same was true of the original Mets statement that the Madoff situation would not affect the Mets. It’s easy to look back now and accuse them of lying, but the situation probably spiraled beyond what they expected, including the contining poor economy to the reach of the Picard lawsuit. You could say perhaps it was just short-sighted and that they should’ve known it was going to affect the team, but I’m not so sure that’s the case either. If the Mets had not gone into a downward spiral themselves and instead had won games, stayed healthy, and been competitive there is a chance they would’ve remained profitable.
If you want to read into every statement and play conspiracy theory that’s fine. Chances are there are stuff Fred Wilpon is glossing over and stuff he’s flat out ignoring. He could even be lying about certain things. We’re not obligated to know everything about the behind the scenes investments or have access to all financial statements of the team we root for or the owners of that team. No one’s doubting that the current financial situation around the Mets is bad, cost us Jose Reyes, and looks dire. Still, hiring CRG was actually a positive move. It’s not a “Hey look at the embarrassment this team is” move, it’s one aimed at getting the team righted.
CRG was _not_ hired by Sterling or the Wilpons, and the negative revenue situation does not go away with a new owner. In the same breath people are criticizing the Mets for spending wildly to get themselves into this mess, and criticizing the Wilpons for being too broke to spend wildly to try to get the team out of this mess. Some question who would want to be a minority investor in this team, but isn’t it also a valid question to ask who would want to buy a team that they’d have to put tens of millions of dollars into each year? Remember they lost 70 million last year. You can see value in the future of this team as both a minority or majority owner if you look.
You’re welcome to not spend money on the team if you want. The Wilpons won’t see a dime anyway, no matter what you spend, since the team is losing money. Winning solves the Mets problems, losing exacerbates it. Nothing you do will change that. If you can give up the enjoyment derived from going to see a game, that’s fine. Just remember you’re also withdrawing your support from Ike Davis. David Wright will notice when he hits a walk-off grand slam and there are only 12 people cheering. Do you think he’ll remember that when he becomes a free agent at the end of one of the next two seasons? Did Jose Reyes notice how empty it was in front of his supposedly loving fans in September while he was chasing Mets history?
Some people phrase it as “Choose the Mets, not the Wilpons”. To me that means enjoying Mets baseball whenever I can get it and not worrying about who the owner is. I derive no joy from who owns the Mets, or who runs the Mets. All I keep thinking is that if the Wilpons selling is so important to you, you’d almost have to be disappointed if the Mets went on a miracle run and went to the World Series, because the resultant cash flow could cement them as owners. So I’ll stick to hoping for that miracle run and let the financial stuff shake out where it may.
Tags: 2012 mets, choose the mets, fred wilpon, Mets, mets crg, mets finances, mets owners, mets ownership, New York Mets
Some Optimism For Jason Bay Tweet This Post
There hasn’t been a lot of positives with Jason Bay, but barring something weird, he’ll be here next year. So are there any signs that he can have a season that we can even remotely describe as good? Before you jump all over me, I know I’m grasping at straws here. On the other hand, Jason Bay sneezes harder than he hit the ball the last two years, and you’d figure he could have a better year almost by accident.
Health would be a good start. He’s missed some time each of the two years, keeping him from getting a steady rhythm that often helps baseball players. He finished 2011 hot, but he also finished it injured.
He hit one home run in April and one in May.
He hit two home runs in June and two home runs in July.
He hit three home runs in August and three in September.
That’s a steady progression. It’s not a sign for 40 home runs, but three a month would at least give him 18. (Which is how many he has for the Mets now)
He had a hit in each of the last 15 games he started except two, a Tim Hudson 10K game and a clunker against the Nationals. That’s a .954 OPS in September. It was nice to see him avoid some of those prolonged 0-20 slumps he so frequently got himself into. However he did have a 2 for 45 slump in August just before getting hot.
His OPS jumped from a .656 in the first half to a .758 in the second half.
He was clearly hitting the ball with authority in September; In addition to his three home runs, he had seven doubles. 75 AB is hardly a representative sample, but we were beginning to doubt he was capable of being good even that long.
Even a modest 10% improvement from Bay would put him close to a .800 OPS with around 20 home runs. That’s still well below his career averages. 2011 was the bottom of the barrel for Bay, but his career trajectory doesn’t read as a straight down arrow, so there’s hope and even optimism that he’ll have a better year next year.