All Met fans ought to spend a half-hour with this recent interview of old No. 7, Ed Kranepool, published at Jimmy Scott’s High & Tight. He talks about the end of his career and the doomed attempt to buy the club in 1979; he absolutely unloads on former GM Joe McDonald while speaking well of chairman Donald Grant; andprovides his take on former colleagues and teammates from Seaver to Swan.
Great job, Jimmy!
It may not ever come to anything but happened to notice when the Mets today moved to claim lefthanded pitcher Jay Marshall off waivers from the Athletics. Marshall, a true submariner in the Chad Bradford style, continues a trend among Omar Minaya’s Mets teams to include or at least invite a few trick pitchers to camp each year. Marshall this spring will join the lefty-righty siderarm tandem of Pedro Feliciano and Sean Green (and another candidate with an unusual offering, knuckleballer R.A. Dickey). There was Joe Smith and Bradford before that, and guys like Steve Schmoll and Shingo Takatsu were given a shot.
Is this a good thing? I’m not entirely sure. While Feliciano has become one of the Mets’ best weapons vs. rival lefty sluggers and Green and Smith often got grounders when they needed them I’d prefer sometimes they could achieve these successes without also tempting the Mets to try and solve all their problems with matchups and specialists. It can grind games to a halt, for one thing, and all seems so delicate: One specialist springs a leak, and suddenly the whole ship is sinking. We’ve seen it before.
On the other hand, sidearmers are fun to watch when they’re going well and the Mets’ desire to bring these creatures in house indicates some evidence they have a plan, and I like that kind of reassurance.
At any rate, surely we’re in a Golden Age for Met sideslingers. I barely remember a one from my childhood when guys like Kent Tekulve, Elias Sosa and Dan Quisenberry were someone else’s property. David Cone was known to get sideways occasionally, and Jeff Innis was a durable middle-inning submariner for a long stretch, — and there was Jesse –but I’m going blank after that, although I’m sure I’m overlooking a few. Little help?
As much as I hated his two years with the Mets (and vice versa I’m sure) I take no pleasure in knowing that baseball writers denied Smilin’ Robbie Alomar election to the Hall of Fame. Alomar’s shortfall was one of a half-dozen disappointments the voters delivered today and another blow to the dignity of the Hall of Fame — an institution that’s become harder and harder to take seriously every year.
Andre Dawson — a borderline guy but a feared hitter with counting-stat bonafides — got in while Tim Raines, Bert Blyleven, Alan Trammell, Barry Larkin and Edgar Martinez ought to have but didn’t. As for Alomar, he was a no-brainer even before he arrived with the Mets and his skills summarily went down the toilet. It’s easy to forget his attitiude never won raves even when he was playing well and that his skills never returned even after the Mets cut him loose.
* * *
I got citation from the Police the other day — The Mets Police.
* * *
A MLB.com story mentioned that Jason Bay chose 44 as a tribute to a boyhood idol, Eric Davis. Now there’s a guy whose route to the Hall of Fame took a sudden wrong turn.
Henry Aaron pioneered No. 44 as a number reserved for sluggers, and fellow Hall of Famers Willie McCovey and Reggie Jackson solidified the trend. For the Mets, the 44 jersey has often found its way onto the backs of guys who only think they’re power hitters.
There was Jay Payton, who had all the muscle of a power hitter but a delicate frame and a line-drive bat. Ryan Thompson could hit it out of the park in interviews but was never as ferocious at game time.Lastings Milledge and his similarly powerful mouth wore out his welcome in less than two years (and only 11 Met home runs).Mike Cameron slammed 30 home runs in 2004 but his hardest hit as a Met was a gruesome collison with teammate Carlos Beltran in 2005.
What’s a Met 44? It’s Howard Johnson in May of 1991 switching to No. 44 in an attempt to jump-start his game, only to scurry back to his familiar No. 20 in less than a week when his wife reminded him her jewelry all included the No. 20. It was reserve catcher Harry Chiti, acquired from the Cleveland Indians in 1962 for a player to be named later — Harry Chiti, and the Mets would get fleeced. It was four different players as recently as 2008, and I can barely remember any of them: Brady Clark, Tony Armas, Eddie Kunz and Brandon Knight. They threaten to join Kevin Lomon and Tom Filerand Bob Rauch, to name three Met pitchers who wore 44 in my fan lifetime and of whom I retain no specific memory whatsoever.
Like everything in Mets history, 44 was good for a stretch in the mid-1980s — Ron Darling and David Cone each wore it before switching to other unis — but it wasn’t long before 44 was again the domain of guys like Tim Burke and John Cangelosi and Jay Bell, who I still can’t believe chose sticking out to the bitter end of the 2003 campaign over retirement, or the Mets for allowing him .
It’s into this dysfuctional family that Jason Bay officially arrived in a Met press event today. Bonne chance, Jason! Ya gotta believe!
Today’s the day the Mets finally hold their first grip-and-grin session of the off-season, welcoming Jason Bay to Flushing Bay. We’ll try to update you on the number he’s issued at our first opportunity but I’ll bet you a date with Suzyn Waldman he gets 44, which is already being pushed by the merchandisers at Met$.com and happens to be available.
More interesting news may be what else the Mets say at the event today, regarding the catching situation (dare we court Yorvit Torrealba again?) and manuevers to acquire another starting pitcher — I’ve long suspected the latter could come via the trade market. But we’ll see.
EDIT: 44 it is, or “two times Bobby Orr,” as Rod Gilbert said. Whew. No date with Suzyn.
We recently got an inquiry from a reader who asked about the circumstances around Met coaches Bobby Valentine and Bill Robinson switching uniform numbers before the 1985 season.
You might recall that in 1984, Robinson, then in his first season as the Mets hitting and first-base coach, was wearing No. 26 while Valentine was issued No. 22 until the Mets traded for Ray Knight late in the season. Valentine at that point switched to 28 to allow Knight to wear his customary 22.
By the beginning of 1985, Valentine gave up 28 for No. 2and Robinson moved into 28, a jersey he’d wear for the next five years. No. 26 wasn’t issued agin until Terry Leach arrived in July.
A little bit of research explains Robinson’s preference for 28: He’d worn that number as a player for the best years of his career with the Pirates. It was available with the Mets in ’84 but not until Scott Holman was released at the end of spring training. Holman’s subsequent re-signing as a minor leaguer may have kept the number in near-term mothballs.
Anyone with memories of this situation- – or even why Valentine seemed to prefer No. 2 — is welcome to chime in. Thanks as always for the questions!
I’d be very surprised if at next week’s press conference the Mets don’t present Jason Bay with the No. 44 jersey most recently surrendered by Tim Redding. And it looks also like 45 will be distributed to Kelvim Escobar, the Ex-Jay and former Angel whom the Mets signed to a make-good deal after missing most of the last two years with injuries.
Bay to me seems like a solid addition in an otherwise underwhelming field of available players but it’s entirely possible that his contract could be a burden over the longer term. He’s no Matt Holliday, but Matt Holliday isn’t that much better, I don’t think. I like the risk on Escobar, who before the arm troubles was a strikeout guy who could start or relieve and who desperately needs a new start.
I’m also okay that these moves have been largely pooh-poohed by the mainstream media who seem to want to punish the Mets for failing to compete behind the moves and roster they advocated last year. I agree with MBTN reader 9th-string catcher who in a below post commented that the theme for 2010 is “no stupid moves” as the Mets rebound from a hugely disappointing 2009 marked not only by a massive rash of injury, but by a smug overestimation of their own ability to compete.
Only a few knuckleballers come around per generation, so I was pleased to learn the Mets were on the verge of signing one Tuesday. R.A. (Remarkable Athlete) Dickey has kicked around several organizations since first surfacing with Texas in 2001 and like many knuckleballers, developed the pitch only after his other stuff (including elbow ligaments) abandoned him.
The Mets’ have employed but two pure knuckleballers in their history. The first was righthanded reliever Bob Moorhead, who developed the delivery while on the road back to New York following a string of injuries (including, ironically, breaking two knuckles by punching a Sportsmans Park dugout door in frustration after a 1962 outing). Moorhead’s other distiction was having been the first relief pitcher ever called on in a Mets game. Moorhead wore 22 as a knuckleball dabbler in 1962 and 21 as a specialist in ’65. The Mets’ last pure knuckler, Dennis Springer, was released shortly after taking a pounding from the Reds on a frigid, wet, windy April evening at Shea in 2000. He wore No. 34.
Other Mets have included a knuckler as part of their repetoire, including relievers Jeff Innis (who threw his sidearm); Dave Roberts; Tom Sturdivant; Frank Lary; Warren Spahn; Bob McClure and Todd Zeile, whose whole pitching career was something of a stunt. Dave Mlicki threw a knuckle curve.
The Mets for a time were developing potential knuckleball throwers in the minors. One, Zac Clements, was a converted catcher who appears to have topped out at AA Binghamton in 2006.Charlie Hough, a longtime knucleball hurler, was the Mets pitching coach in 2001 and 2002.
Dickey in the meantime only signed a minor league contract, and has had only sporadic success in the majors to recommend him, but I’l be rooting for him just the same. Knucklers of recent vintage including Tim Wakefield and Tom Candiotti wear No. 49 so as to honor Hoyt Wilhelm, one of the giants of the craft. The Mets’ current tenant of 49 is lefty Jon Niese.
As long as I was pointing out local media figures preying on what they considered to be a demanding and impatient fan base and poking the Mets with sticks to make a few headlines, I felt I should also point out that Mike Vaccaro of the Post has been providing a steady counterpoint more to my way of thinking.
I wouldn’t necessarily agree with everything in this column, but compared to what John Harper’s been shoveling this week in the News, it’s a welcome contrast and — would you believe? — perspective.
Numerically related content: Jason Bay wore 38 with the Pirates and most recently, 44 with the Red Sox. Fernando Nieve (I liked him quite a bit in his brief stay last year) owns the former at the moment while the latter went back on the market last week when the Mets declined to offer salary arbitration to disappointing signee Tim Redding.
The Times this afternoon reports that the Mets are close to a deal with Japanese reliever Ryota Igarashi of the Yakult Swallows. From what I’ve read Igarashi is either a righthander with a deceptive motion and good control, or a wild righty who throws mad heat, but should be considered to be a late-inning relief candidate in any disguise. All the photos I’ve seen indicates he prefers to wear No. 53, which happens to be Jerry Manuel’snumber. In other words, if the Mets don’t get off to a hot start, he can have it on Memorial Day.
I made the mistake of listening to WFAN while I moved the car last night and was blown away by the fire of stupidity Mike Francessa was stoking among fans competing with one another to be the most wounded by the news that the Phillies were to acquire Roy Halladay (at the cost of Cliff Lee, a multiyear, multimillion extension and some prospects) and the Red Sox had signed John Lackey for five years and $85 million. Ira on the Car Phone announced his intention to stay away from CitiField forever and demanded the Mets part with Jose Reyes (cuz we need less offense) while Francessa just let him talk.
Now.
My confidence in the Mets’ ability to do the right thing for the club is shaky at best, but that’s mainly due to those occasions when they kowtow to the demands of Francessa’s listeners and columnist hacks like John Harper of the Daily News (THE METS MUST SIGN LACKEY he demands as hunting season opens and “THE METS NEVER HAD A CHANCE” he taunts at the end). The JJ Putz trade, which I’ll never stop maligning, was a perfect example. If this tricky offseason has shown anything so far it’s that the Mets haven’t turned themselves inside out only to create the illusion they’ve solved their problems or to win a meaningless competition to make the biggest offseason splash.
They can certainly do a better job standing up for themselves in the meantime, but I’m glad they aren’t getting pushed around, so far. Kudos too to the Phils for boldly making the moves they feel they have to to stay on top. It wouldn’t be any fun to know your opponents weren’t also trying.
