Jon Springer – Page 38 – Mets by the Numbers

Happy New Year

One of the reasons I’ve been hesitant to update my outlook on 2014 here is that I was absolutely convinced that as soon as I would I’d have to re-do it all because there would be a trade consummated before opening day. Not just a trade, but a TRADE: You know, one of those transactions that as Met fans we remember where we were when it was announced (I was driving on the New Jersey Turnpike when they traded Dykstra. In Union Square meeting my wife for a drink when they traded Kazmir. Throwing a fit in the kitchen for Seaver and Kingman). Where was I when they announced the big Ike Davis/Ruben Tejada/Whomever for Whomever trade on 2014? I wasn’t anywhere. It didn’t happen.

“How could it not have?” is the question I’m taking with me into the 2014 regular season. Granted it’s better than last year when I was asking “Shaun Marcum? Seriously?” but I mean, geez. Talk about a seeming unmet opportunity. Talk about unanswered questions!

I’m going to presume a deal didn’t get done not because the Mets didn’t sincerely desire one but because Sandy Alderson balked at the asking price for guys the Mets could certainly use (Didi Gregorius and Nick Franklin for example) and that, as usual, Ike Davis screwed up all our plans by being unavailable. I decided at some point last season that if I were running the Mets I wouldn’t give Ike Davis another shot at being the difference between a good team and a bad team but here we are. I know, the alternatives aren’t great. I’m just surprised and I guess disappointed. Ike sure has gotten away with a lot.

In the big picture it’s somewhat disheartening to realize that which went wrong for the Mets last season were not just the kinds of things that had been counted on but also, were legacy Met prospects inherited from the Omar era (Davis, Tejada, Jon Niese, who worries me quite a bit). To that we may want to add Bobby Parnell, whose sketchy recovery from neck surgery (neck surgery?) already appears to be exposing a shaky bullpen.

Other than that though? I’m kind of excited. Accompanying my concern is an undercurrent of optimism resulting from a farm system that at least appears to have turned the corner with regard to analyst opinion. Prospects for the first time in a decade include a few guys who can hit, which is awfully good to know. I feel like the aggressive way the Mets went after Chris Young reveals they saw something worth exploiting in a Marlon Byrd-like way. Granderson is a nice player. There’s guys on the bench who can hit doubles and home runs (Andrew Brown, Anthony Recker, Lucas Duda, Josh Satin) and/or are useful when they aren’t starting (Eric Young). I’m not yet sold on Travis d’Arnaud yet but it’s not like he’s Rod Barajas or Brian Schneider.

The challenge I think for the organization as a whole is to consolidate those gains they’ve made in the lineup, keep the young prospects coming (the starting depth is a real improvement from last year already even without Matt Harvey) and try to act, and play, and market itself in accordance with a team that expects to win 90 games on merit, and not the club willing to cut any and all corners to get by until things improve and say they want to win 90 games because it sounds good, even if they happen to be both of those things at this very moment. And though the Big Trade I’ve been expecting hasn’t happened (yet) this team and my expectations remain subject to change.

And with that, we welcome the following players to the Mets All-Time Numerical Roster:

Chris Young 1

Curtis Granderson 3

John Lannan 32

Bartolo Colon 40

Jose Valverde 47

And wearing new numbers: Andrew Brown in 30 and Omar Quintanilla in 0.

The roster pages at Ultimate Mets Database will be updated as players accrue statistics. Let’s Go Mets!

Not for Nothing

Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal today makes note of the 13 ballplayers known to have worn No. 0 — and perhaps the 14th, Mets reserve shortstop Omar Quintanilla.

My first reaction upon seeing that article was to think there must have been more than 13 so far but it checks out at least according to Baseball-Reference.com. Amazinly, two players wore No. 0 as Mets — Terry McDaniel in 1991 and Rey Ordonez in 1996-97 — while Junior Ortiz went on to wear 0 in his post Mets career (Junior was a rare No. 34 position player in orange and blue). There’s actually been more 00s in baseball history than 0s — 19 overall. That group includes Tony Clark, who wore it for the Mets in 2003 — at least until it was pointed out that he was sharing a number that otherwise belonged to Mr. Met.

Clark initially took 00 upon joining the Mets as a late-arriving free agent during 2003’s spring training. With jerseys already assigned, the veteran said he preferred taking 00 to the selections in the 80s that were otherwise available then. Ironically, when Clark switched — to No. 52 — he became the first Met player to appear wearing that number too. Former Met reliever Rick White — a 51 in New York — wore 00 later in his career.

As for Quintanilla, he explains that like Clark he preferred a number more befitting to his stature and experience — modest as it may be — when he rejoined the team this winter on a minor league contract after seeing his most recent assignment, No. 3, issued to newly arrived free agent Curtis Granderson. What Diamond’s article fails to mention is that the uni switch was the second in as many deals for Quintanilla, who saw his 2012 assignment of No. 6 issued to Kelly Shoppach and then Marlon Byrd while he was away with Baltimore.

Random Notes at 15

Middle-infield reserve candidate and local Jersey guy Anthony Seratelli is wearing No. 2. Guess who for. And I was gonna root for the guy. At the risk of sounding like a crotchety old man, I’m already sick of the retirement Victory Lap.

As suspected, Andrew Brown is now hanging around wearing No. 30 and looks like Jose Valverde has taken over 47.

Brown notwithstanding, it’s a little bit weird how the Mets have tended recently to flip the traditional assignments between infielders and outfielders. That could just be an impression and could be explained in part by Murphy and Davis occupying digits in the high-20s (and I have to tell you, I don’t much like that). But some potential starting outfields this year could combine to as little as 10 (Young-den Dekker-Granderson) or more realistically, 16 with Lagares there instead.

I’ll still wager Ike Davis won’t make it to opening day with the Mets, and it may not have anything to do with Stephen Drew. Rather I still believe it makes too much sense not to turn our redundancies at first base, the outfield (Eric Young?) and young pitching (to the extent you can have enough young pitching) into the things we still could use (a shortstop).

On this day in 1999, Mets by the Numbers was born. That’s 15 years ago! While the very earliest stuff has been absorbed into Internet heaven you can get a glimpse of our hard-hitting take on the breaking Rick Reed-Matt Lawton trade from 2001 here. Those posts and more are of course all backed up here using the archives tab.

Meet This Year’s Special Guest Veteran Closer

The Mets on Wednesday announced Jose Valverde as the second candidate to become this year’s Special Guest Veteran Closer, a role played a year ago by Brandon Lyon and LaTroy Hawkins and the year before by Jason Isringhausen.

Valverde at one time was a heck of a closer for Detroit, but became something of a gasbag by 2012. One of his competitors in Mets camp is the mookish Kyle Farnsworth, himself a former 100-mph freak but more recently the kind of guy teams reach for when they’re unsure of the health of their closer. I guess the Mets sort of qualify.

Farnsworth has been issued No. 44, which is the number I recall him wearing back when he was a phenom with the Cubs. No word yet on Valverde’s digits though he’s most often worn 47. That number currently belongs to Andrew Brown, whose own path to a job this year appears difficult, especially if Josh Satin really learns how to play the outfield.

Purely as a matter of taste I’d prefer the demonstrative Valverde over the combustible Farnsworth but history suggests we stand a pretty good chance of seeing both, or neither. Let’s see how it goes.

Number Up

Here’s what the roster looks like now that numbers were published on the Mets’ site today. Notable is Chris Young in No. 1. Taylor Teagarden in 23. Omar Quintanila takes No. 0, as both 3 and 6, his previous numbers, are already occupied. Bartolo Colon, as expected, in 40. John Lannan in 32, Noah Syndergaard in 55. Looks like all coaches and Jennry Mejia retain their assignments. New assignments in bold

No.	2013 occupant(s)	2014 assignment
0	Vacant	Omar Quintanilla
1	Jordany Valdespin	Chris Young
2	Justin Turner	Anthony Seratelli
3	Omar Quintanilla	Curtis Granderson
4	Collin Cowgill, Wilmer Flores	Flores
5	David Wright	Wright
6	Marlon Byrd, Matt den Dekker	den Dekker
7	Bob Geren	Geren
8	Vacant	Vacant
9	Kirk Nieuwenhuis	Nieuwenhuis
10	Terry Collins	Collins
11	Ruben Tejada	Tejada
12	Juan Lagares	Lagares
13	Josh Satin	Satin
14	Retired	Retired
15	Travis d’Arnaud	d’Arnaud
16	Rick Ankeil, Daisuke Matsuzaka	Matsuzaka
17	Vacant	Vacant
18	Tim Teufel	Teufel
19	Zach Lutz	Lutz
20	Anthony Recker	Recker
21	Lucas Duda	Duda
22	Eric Young	Young
23	Mike Baxter	Taylor Teagarden
24	Vacant	Vacant
25	Ricky Bones	Bones
26	Tom Goodwin	Goodwin
27	Jeurys Familia	Familia
28	Daniel Murphy	Murphy
29	Ike Davis	Davis
30	David Aardsma	Vacant
31	Vacant	Vacant
32	LaTroy Hawkins	John Lannan
33	Matt Harvey	Harvey
34	Brandon Lyon	Joel Carreno
35	Dillon Gee	Gee
36	Collin McHugh, Juan Centano	Centano
37	Retired	Retired
38	Shawn Marcum, Vic Black	Black
39	Bobby Parnell	Parnell
40	Tim Byrdak	Bartolo Colon
41	Retired	Retired
42	Retired	Retired
43	Sean Henn	Ryan Reid
44	John Buck, Aaron Harang	Kyle Farnsworth
45	Zack Wheeler	Wheeler
46	Greg Burke	Jeff Walters
47	Aaron Laffey, Andrew Brown	Brown
48	Frank Francisco	Jacob deGrom
49	Jon Niese	Niese
50	Scott Atchison	Rafael Montero
51	Dave Hudgens	Hudgens
52	Carlos Torres	Torres
53	Jeremy Hefner	Hefner
54	Vacant	Vacant
55	Pedro Feliciano	Noah Syndergaard
56	Scott Rice	Rice
57	Johan Santana	Vacant
58	Jennry Mejia	Mejia
59	Dan Warthen	Warthen
60	Vacant	Brandon Allen
61	Vacantr	Miguel Socolovich
62	Vacant	Erik Goeddel
63	Vacant	Steven Matz
64	Vacant	Daniel Muno
65	Vacant	Cesar Puello
66	Josh Edgin	Edgin
67	Vacant	Dustin Lawley
68	Vacant	Eric Campbell
69	Vacant	Vacant
70	Wilfredo Tovar	Tovar
71	Gonzalez Germen	Germen
72	Vacant	Kevin Plawecki
73	Robert Carson	Adam Kolarek
74	Vacant	Cory Vaughn
75	Vacant	Cory Mazzoni
76	Vacant	Chase Bradford
77	Vacant	Brandon Nimmo
78	Vacant	Vacant
79	Vacant	John Church
80	Vacant	Logan Verrett
81	Vacant	Jack Leathersich
82	Vacant	Matt Clark
83-99	Vacant	Vacant

Ralph

When I moved to the Philadelphia area to attend college in the 1980s, I became an admirer of Jayson Stark’s whimsical Sunday baseball column in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Rumblings & Grumblings. Stark’s tracking of oddball statistics (“last guy to get a hit”) and goofy stories in retrospect were an inspiration to my own approach to baseball writing. But the part where he’d include a weekly “Kinerism” featuring a mangled phrase or goof made by the Mets’ venerable announcer and Hall of Fame slugger never sat right with me.

To read it, you’d think Ralph Kiner was either a clown on the order of Bob Uecker or a dumb drunken unaware jock-turned-broadcaster like Rick Sutcliffe, but Ralph of course wasn’t either of those things: He was extraordinarily knowledgeable about baseball, could hold your attention when the game got close, and could make you laugh with a story about Branch Rickey. And his screw-ups to me never seemed out of proportion to the sheer volume of his work: the man called Mets games for 50 years after all. There may not ever be anyone with more to say about them.

So while you trudge through the dozens of #kinerisms you’ll be sure to come across today (many of which are already splintering into urban legend territory: I’ve seen Ralph “quoted” wishing mothers and fathers a Happy Birthday today) please also see pieces by the terrific Marty Noble at mlb.com and the Daily News’ Gary Myers who express the admiration people held for Ralph, and the fact that when he did screw up, he did it with self-effacing humor and class. RIP Ralph!

Tweet It Out Loud

@jwil25 .34 #AskFutures

— Futures Game (@MLBFutures) January 29, 2014

In case you didn’t hear, that’s hot Mets pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard on the Twitter this afternoon. And we’re happy to report that if 34 is what he wants, it’s currently available. That’s not to say he’ll necessarily get it, although with a relative dearth of established big-leaguers accompanying Syndergaard to camp this year it could certainly happen.

Thirty four is perhaps known best as Mike Pelfrey’s number, though for some reason I also flash on nondescript reliever Tom Martin. ~~Also Jim McAndrew~~. Also Junior Ortiz.

Following is a list of minor leaguers, 40-man adds, and other assorted newbies expected to be in big-league camp this year and seeking a new uni assignment:
PITCHERS (40 man)
Bartolo Colon
Jacob deGrom
Eric Goeddel
Steven “Meet the” Matz
Ryan Reid
Jeff Walters
PITCHERS (NRI)
Daisuke Matsuzaka
Joel Carreno
Miguel Socolovich
Jack Leathersich
Adam Kolarek
Chasen Bradford
John Church
Jeremy Hefner
Rafael Montero
Syndergaard
Cory Mazzoni
Logan Verrett

CATCHERS (NRI)
Taylor Teagarden
Kevin Plawecki

INFIELDERS (NRI)
Brandon Allen
Eric Campbell
Anthony Seratelli
Daniel Muno

OUTFIELDERS (40 Man)
Chris Young
OUTFIELDERS (NRI)
Dustin Lawley
Cory Vaughn
Brandon Nimmo

Rock & Roll Over

Only a short week or two before ballplayers begin trickling into Port St. Lucie to begin another season and respective number assignments reveal themselves. It seems as though there’s been considerable turnover from 2013, which not only featured a lot of different players (53 in all), but an unusually large number of oddball high assignments. That’s in part because there were numbers occupied all year by guys who didn’t play much due to injury (Tim Byrdak, Pedro Feliciano); and others by guys who couldn’t establish themselves (Colin Cowgill, Kirk Nieuwenhuis); and that set the team wheeling and dealing, often for scrubs who themselves were short-lived (Rick Ankeil, Aaron Laffey, Aaron Harang, etc.). There’s also the fact the manager and most of the coaches have been occupying traditional “player” numbers (7, 10, 18, 25, 26).

In all, 28 players made their debut with the 2013 Mets. A conservative estimation reveals at last 21 2013 Mets won’t be back, freeing up some prime numerical real estate. Currently there are 7 players on the 40-man awaiting assignment (Bartolo Colon, Jacob deGrom, Erik Goeddel, Steven Matz, Ryan Reid, Jeff Walters, Chris Young), as are at least 20 non-roster invitees. A quick look:

No.	2013 occupant(s)	2014 assignment
1	Jordany Valdespin	Vacant
2	Justin Turner	Vacant
3	Omar Quintanilla	Curtis Granderson
4	Collin Cowgill, Wilmer Flores	Flores
5	David Wright	Wright
6	Marlon Byrd, Matt den Dekker	den Dekker
7	Bob Geren	Geren
8	Vacant	Vacant
9	Kirk Nieuwenhuis	Nieuwenhuis
10	Terry Collins	Collins
11	Ruben Tejada	Tejada
12	Juan Lagares	Lagares
13	Josh Satin	Satin
14	Retired	Retired
15	Travis d’Arnaud	d’Arnaud
16	Rick Ankeil, Daisuke Matsuzaka	Matsuzaka?
17	Vacant	Vacant
18	Tim Teufel	Teufel
19	Zach Lutz	Lutz
20	Anthony Recker	Recker
21	Lucas Duda	Duda
22	Eric Young	Young
23	Mike Baxter	Vacant
24	Vacant	Vacant
25	Ricky Bones	Bones
26	Tom Goodwin	Goodwin
27	Jeurys Familia	Familia
28	Daniel Murphy	Murphy
29	Ike Davis	Davis?
30	David Aardsma	Vacant
31	Vacant	Vacant
32	LaTroy Hawkins	Vacant
33	Matt Harvey	Harvey
34	Brandon Lyon	Vacant
35	Dillon Gee	Gee
36	Collin McHugh, Juan Centano	Centano
37	Retired	Retired
38	Shawn Marcum, Vic Black	Black
39	Bobby Parnell	Parnell
40	Tim Byrdak	Vacant
41	Retired	Retired
42	Retired	Retired
43	Sean Henn	Vacant
44	John Buck, Aaron Harang	Vacant
45	Zack Wheeler	Wheeler
46	Greg Burke	Vacant
47	Aaron Laffey, Andrew Brown	Brown
48	Frank Francisco	Vacant
49	Jon Niese	Niese
50	Scott Atchison	Vacant
51	Dave Hudgens	Hudgens
52	Carlos Torres	Torres
53	Jeremy Hefner	Hefner?
54	Vacant	Vacant
55	Pedro Feliciano	Vacant
56	Scott Rice	Rice
57	Johan Santana	Vacant
58	Jennry Mejia	Mejia
59	Dan Warthen	Warthen
60	Vacant	Vacant
61	Vacantr	Vacant
62	Vacant	Vacant
63	Vacant	Vacant
64	Vacant	Vacant
65	Vacant	Vacant
66	Josh Edgin	Edgin
67	Vacant	Vacant
68	Vacant	Vacant
69	Vacant	Vacant
70	Wilfredo Tovar	Tovar
71	Gonzalez Germen	Germen
72	Vacant	Vacant
73	Robert Carson	Vacant
74-99	Vacant	Vacant

Once, Twice, Three Times A Quintanilla

Making small headlines over the weekend was the Mets’ annual signing of reserve infielder Omar Quintanilla to a minor league deal. This marks the third winter in a row they’ve done exactly that, and Quintanilla twice now has gone on to play a bigger role than that minor assignment might have indicated.

Now if that happens a third time (and given the Mets shortstop situation why wouldn’t it?) we’ll be in for an interesting dilemma. Quintanilla wore No. 6 his first time through town, but by the time he’d been dealt off to Baltimore and returned the jersey went to Kelly Shoppach, then to Marlon Byrd, then, most recently, to Matt den Dekker. Quintanilla instead was issued No. 3 for 2013; a move that incidentally forced Josh Satin to a new number (13). Now between his release in December and annual January return the Mets have assigned No. 3 to Curtis Granderson, assuring that Quintanilla, should he return to active duty in 2014, do so in his third different uniform number.

Oh, Darling

Hi, I wanted to share quick impressions of the inaugural Queens Baseball Convention, which took place Saturday at McFadden’s at CitiField:

The program highlight undoubtedly was a revealing interview from Ron Darling, helped along by excellent preparation and questions from interviewer Jason Fry. Darling acknowledged the sometimes ugly singlemindedness and ego required to be a successful pro athlete and the challenges that brings: A rookie-year locker room encounter with Tom Seaver, who dropped a New York Times crossword in his lap with instructions to finish by the end of the week; feelings of confusion upon being traded; of fierce determination on the mound; and of helplessness at the prospect of being released. He described his admiration for Gary Cohen; how encountering his National Guardsman father on the Fenway Park field prior to Game 4 of the 1986 World Series helped to overcome a rattled confidence and a poor pre-game bullpen session; and what it was like to play for a phenomenal team like the 1986 Mets, using the same language teammate Gary Carter once did of saying what ultimately made the difference was love for one another. How great is that?

Darling in addition to being a favorite of mine when he played, is also becoming a terrific broadcaster and establishing a perspective, voice and an accessible presence truly unique among ex-Mets. I was thrilled to hear he signed a five-year contract to continue calling Mets games and that he’s currently at work on another book.

In the brief Q&A session afterward I asked about the rare accomplishment of having worn three different uniform numbers during the course of a single, uninterrupted tenure with the team (quite unusual as the chart on this page illustrates): He relayed the familiar story of pitchers of that era gathering numbers in the teens to surround young Dwight Gooden; but said his change from 12 to 15 some years later was a matter of playing a trick on Mets pr man Jay Horwitz, whom he knew would panic when he couldn’t explain who the guy wearing No. 15 on that mound that day was. (In contemporary accounts, Darling always seemed to me to be less-than-forthcoming, telling writers then that “12 hasn’t been showing up this year.”) Great stuff, Ron!

I was briefly mortified to have forgotten the players to have followed Dwight Gooden in the No. 16 jersey (David Cone slipped my mind) during the session on uniforms in which I participated, but it was only a speedbump in a wild and wide-ranging discussion including Todd Radom‘s discovery and subsequent re-creation of the Mets’ logo in its original — pink and black! — colors. The event also placed me in a seat next to Russ Gompers, whose Whitestone sporting goods firm Stitches is the official embroider to the Mets and so a giant in my line of research. I’m happy to report he’s also a terrific guy whom I intend to meet again soon, to discuss certain matters relating to … Doug Saunders.

We were hooked off the stage so the show could go on, and those who stayed for Mark Simon‘s presentation were treated to a well-researched and well-told tale of unusual Met victories and heros … like Chris Jones. I owe a writeup of a uni-related discovery Mark shared with me recently that was one of the things inspiring my recent return to this project.

I’m in agreement with many who noted the overriding best part of the event was the mere gathering of so many fans in January. I’m happy to have personally met a few longtime readers of the MBTN project including the immortal Alex G., Internet personalities with whom I’ve encountered virtually for many years (Shannon Shark, Mark Healey); and seeing some old friends again. My wife and son showed up and got themselves photographed and quoted. Thanks, guys!

McFadden’s vast expanse and advantageous location made for a good site to gather but some challenging acoustics for events held in the main dining room. That said I was impressed they basically opened an entire restaurant on the fly for a day. Do they ever really need a men’s room attendant? I wish they’d promote this worker to the kitchen or bar and allow me to gather my own paper towels. That goes for any day of the season.