Happy Birthday

December 6, 2009 Site News One comment

Today would have been my Dad’s 80th birthday. Frank Springer was a freelance cartoonist whose work appeared in comic books and strips, magazines including Playboy, Sports Illustrated for Kids and National Lampoon, and newspapers including the long-defunct Suffolk Sun, which employed him to draw sports cartoons in 1969. After retiring from the commerecial art world in the 1990s he took up oil painting and was doing some terrific work, including the above, until he passed away this April. Born in Queens and raised there and in Lynbook, he grew up a Dodgers fan and then, an original Mets fan. He raised five blue-and-orange kids including at least one obsessive one, and had seven grandchildren who are Met fans too.

The short video here shows many of his baseball works, plus other stuff. Happy birthday Dad!

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Blanco Inc.

December 4, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

The Mets on Thursday signed chubby veteran defensive specialist Henry Blanco to further bolster a catching corps that earlier in the week landed Chris Coste and apparently isn’t done shopping yet.

The Mets will become Blanco’s 8th team in 12 years. His numerical history is just as busy, having worn 54 (Dodgers), 35 (Rockies), 12 (Twins), 20 (Braves), 21 (Twins), 9 and 24 (Cubs) and most recently, 28 with the Padres.Given that Blanco looks to inherit Omir Santos‘ old role as primary reserve, he could wind up in No. 9, but I think he takes what he gets. Surely he’s a better bet for the 23 jersey Brian Schneider just gave away. Or they could salute themslves for being Blanco’s newest employer and dust off the old No. 8 that’s been in storage for years while they tentatively wrestle with the idea of honoring Gary Carter. But I wouldn’t count on that.

Who Blanco caddies for remains a mystery. The Mets are said to admire Bengie Molina though I cannot understand why. As said before perhaps they look into a trade. Ryan Doumit of Pittsburgh? Dionner Navarro of the Rays? Who knows.

Thanks to Jack Looney’s indespensable NOW BATTING NUMBER for the Blanco history.

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Coste-Benefit Analysis

December 1, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

Ouch. The Mets officially got their off-season work underway this week by re-signing veteran Alex Cora and giving free agent catcher Chris Coste a split contract and a shot at the 2010 Mets. In the meantime they saw their own catcher, Brian Schneider, sign with the Phillies, accepting the backup job he probably should have had here all this time.

Cora, it is to be assumed, will step right back into the same No. 3 jersey he wore last season, when unexpected and especially slow-healing injuries to starting shortstop Jose Reyes thrust Cora into a full-time role he was never physically up to. Playing with one and then two sprained thumbs was admirable and gritty, but it didn’t do much to help the Mets win, which raises the question why the Mets would expect a different outcome should Reyes get hurt again. Is he even healed yet? Who knows.

The Schneid and Cute Wifey Jordan in better times.Looks doubtful from here that Coste comes out of his Mets experience with fodder for another inspiring true-life bestseller, but with a decent right-handed bat and some experience playing first base, it’s not out of the realm of possiblity he helps some in 2010. At worst he could be the 2010 Robinson Cancel; much may depend on who winds up with the starting assignment behind the dish: Henry Blanco? Bengie Molina? I’d prefer a trade.

Coste wore 27 with the Phillies (and 41 more recently in Houston) but with Schneider shedding 23, he might slide in there. I’ve always felt Schneider never got enough credit for playing as poorly as he did for the Mets — his defense was less than advertised and his bat was nonexistent but for stretches of both his years here — but news accompanying his signing with the Phillies that he grew up a Phillies fan I’m sure will bring the boo-birds out upon his next visit to CitiField.

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Turkey Stew

November 25, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

Happy thanksgiving! There is a 21-pounder in the brine now and half the guests can’t make it so I may have to open a Brooklyn outpost of Capriotti’s. If you ever find yourself hungry in Delaware, I’d suggest you memorize those locations.

So the new uniform announcement came and went in time for your holiday shopping derby, without a runway fashion show nor any of the garish alternates the Mets had asked about earlier this year. Of course they screwed up the new creamy pinstriper by including the unnecessary black dropshadows (and names on back, I’m pretty sure) and failed to throw out the black completely, though that was a little much to dream for an organization that only now has come to realize that Met fans wanted some Mets with their new stadium.

I try not to get angry anymore. I think it might be best at this point to look around at the people you’re spending Thanksgiving with and realize the Mets are run by a group not unlike them — peculiar unto itself, kind of hard to explain to outsiders, and at times, just completely, astonishingly, bewilderingly, irritatingly, embarrassingly, mind-bogglingly clueless. Spending 81 holidays a year with them would probably drive you crazy at some point too.

If you haven’t seen it yet, The Miracle Has Landed, an offshoot of SABR’s Biography Project focusing on the 1969 Mets, is out now from Maple Street Press. I contributed two chapters including an interview with reserve infielder Kevin Collins, who I’m happy to report was absolutely thrilled to learn that he was the first player in team history to wear four different uniform numbers. But the book’s real highlights are contributions from some terrific folks like Matt Silverman (who co-wrote my book and co-edited this project); Greg Prince; and my friend Edward Hoyt. Being associated with these guys as friends and collaborators is something I have to be thankful for in what was otherwise a rough year to be a Met supporter. Thanks also to all the regular contributors to the chatter at this site including Alex. And to my web guy David Moore, with whom I hope to complete another site overhaul this offseason.

We have more new coaches! Say hello to new third base guy Chip Hale (No. 5 with the Diamondbacks last season) and bench coach Dave Jauss (No. 50 with the Orioles last year). We’ll update that info as it comes in.

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Murder By Numbers

November 17, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

The Mets today said that bitching about changes to the 2010 uniforms will begin in December, later than originally scheduled, but timed to coincide with the period during which fans will bitch about the players acquired to wear them, so it will all work out.

With that in mind, the following chart may help you navigate the upcoming shopping season, with a selection of free agents and potential tredees mentioned in recent rumors and speculation, their most recent uni number, and our analysis of the chances they maintain it with the Mets.

Apologies for the ugly chart. They don’t pay me enough here to fix it.

 

Rumored Guy     Current Team    Uni No.     Available?     Notes

 

Joel Pineiro        St. Louis   35    Sorta     Technically belongs to Lance Broadway

Brandon Phillips Cincinnati   4     Yes       Wilson Valdez not on the 40

Aaron Harang     Cincinnati   39   No         Bobby Parnell could switch

Matt Holliday     St. Louis     5/15 Neither  Wright and Beltran won’t switch

Jason Bay         Boston       44   Sort of    Tim Redding cannot make demands

John Lackey     Anaheim     41    Nope     Don’t ask

Ryan Doumit     Pittsburgh   41   No         See Above

Randy Wolf       Los Angeles 21 Yes         Delgado won’t return

Jason Marquis  Colorado 21 Yes         See above

Roy Halladay     Toronto     32   Yes         Unissued in 2009

Benji Molina     San Francisco 1 No         For now; Castillo is rumored to go

 

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Your Move, Creep

November 13, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

“I had a guaranteed military sale with ED-209. Renovation program! Spare parts for 25 years! Who cared if it worked or not?”
–Dick Jones, Robocop

I was reminded of this remark while reading a recent article on Amazin’ Avenue that sought to determine where Omar Minaya’s allegiances stood in the age-old debate between Scouts and Stats. It’s a provocative piece and more evidence, as if you needed some, that the best writing on the Mets these days is being done everyday by losers like you and me who simply devote more thought to the team than the usual suspects with better access.

22But back to Dick Jones for a moment. I thought of him because it was clear that in the JJ Putz trade referenced in the above article, limiting the scope of Omar’s motivations for making that deal to Scouting or Statistics, or even a combination of them, sort of misses the larger point of having made that move primarily to make a show of displeasure with the 2008 bullpen and a scapegoat of Aaron Heilman, scouts and stats be damned. As long as it created the illusion that the Mets had become bulletproof, who cared if it worked it not?

Now that it’s become clear that committing five players and $10 million to a fat closer with arm trouble while gambling on a lineup with too many holes and a rotation with too many questions left us with nothing more than a set-up reliever who more or less is the equivalent of Heilman, while providing an explosive bounty for the Mariners who just might wind up re-signing Putz, maybe Omar ought to listen less to the usual suspects and their demands for dramatic fixes to last year’s problems, and care about what works or not.

Here’s your million dollars, Putz. Now go away.

Numeric content coming soon, I promise!

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150 Days, but Who’s Counting

November 6, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

Baseball is a very humbling game. Just saying, Joe. And you don’t ask Shelly Duncan for his number, you take it while he’s drunk.

21With the offseason officially underway and the countdown to April 5 already begun, two future ex-Mets already filed for free agency and as far as I’m concerned can beat it. See you later, Carlos Delgado and Brian Schneider.

Delgado is obviously a terrific talent and really made the difference in 2006 but like way too many Omarian acquisitions his best days were behind him and he spent entirely too much time nursing injuries and maybe a few grudges as a Met. He made pretty clear in 2005 he didn’t care to be here anyway. Schneider in the meantime might be one of the most overlooked busts the Mets have ever had. In any other year, his 2009 stinking-up-of-the-joint would make him the target of vicious fan abuse and a major concern in the offense. But amid all the other bad news and bad players, he just about got away with it. Schneider’s 2008 was pretty rotten as well.

We’ll see what the Mets have in mind regarding the potential replacements for these guys, but I wouldn’t kill them for looking into what it might take to pry catcher Chris Iannetta from the Rockies. I tend to think the Mets might be best off holding their noses and getting Daniel Murphy a right-handed hitting platoonmate at first base while waiting to mix in promising prospect Ike Davis at first base. Garrett Atkins? Xavier Nady? Let’s think on it.

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All You Zombies Show Your Faces

October 29, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

Quick note to inform everyone we’re still here, wearing our Phillie Phanatic Underoos and puzzling over the perceived lack of conviction among Met fans for rooting interests this World Series. We had some computer issues, busy work schedules and sickness, but will have new Met related stuff up soon.

Hey Met fans: Root for the Phillies. The way I see it, the Phils beat the Mets, they may as well beat everyone. And they’re the only team this postseason — certainly the first to face the Yankees — that hasn’t gone around playing the kind of embarrassing baseball we’ve already seen too much of this year. So if you’re still on the fence, don’t let rhe media trick you into buying Mets-Phillies as an overwrought drama in the vein of Red Sox-Yankees: Support your league, take what consolation you can in acknowledging the Mets fell to a terrific team, and hope the Phillies get their Phil this time around (if ever) and subsequently begin the the kind of sad death-spiral that all multichampionship teams eventually encounter.

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The 3,000 Hit Club

October 12, 2009 Uncategorized One comment

Who said the Mets didn’t accomplish something this year?

While fans licked their wounds, Jeff Wilpon slandered other teams’ medical staffs and the writers commissioned sculptures of Derek Jeter, not one but two round-number milestones in Met history were toppled in the same week, and nobody even noticed.

Until now.

Congratulations to Carlos Beltran and David Wright. Your acts of tepid batsmanship as the season ground to a forgettable close resulted in the 3,000th all-time Mets hit for each of your respective uniform numbers. And your pursuit of this glory in the season’s final week made for a thrilling down-to-the-wire chase that went similarly unremarked upon.

Beltran reached the magic number Sept. 25 in Florida, when his single off Ricky Nolasco marked the 3,000th all-time safety for the No. 15 jersey. Three nights later in Washington, Wright rapped a double to right field off Ross Detwiler, marking hit No. 3000 for the No. 5s.

Wright then proceeded to out-hit his teammate 6-to-5 over the final four games, leaving No. 5 ahead of 15 by a single hit, 3,006-3,005.

Wright, who already is the Mets’ all-time leading No. 5, made good strides to tighten the overall race while Beltran was limited to 100 hits and Jose Reyes, representing the leader, No. 7, added only 41 hits the total in ’09. Also notable: Luis Castillo in No. 1 outhits the combination of Ramon Castro, Argenis Reyes and Anderson Hernandez in No. 11 to overtake fourth place.

Top Numbers by Hits, through 2009:

No.      Hits      Leader

7          3,441   Kranepool (1,252)

5          3,006   Wright (983)

15        3,005   Grote (994)

1          2,743   Wilson (1,112)

11        2,739   Garrett (667)

4          2,587   Dykstra (469)

12        2,542   Stearns (636)

9          2,519   Hundley (590)

17        2,509   Hernandez (939)

 

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Welcome to New Jersey

October 8, 2009 The Uniform One comment

My friend Dave reports the buzz on the Intenets suggests the Mets will unveil their new uniform designs on Friday, Nov. 27. For those of you dreading the worst, that day is also known as “Black Friday” and the official kick off to the Holiday shopping season. It’s also a week before the Winter Meetings get underway.

That the home pinstripe unis will shift from a bright-white to cream color is the worst kept secretof this event. What might be more interesting to track is whether those jerseys will retain the unnecessary black accents that the current jerseys do, and whatever other changes might be in store.

 

I’ve been tipped off that certain influential people in the Mets organization are strongly in favor of a new alternate look — that is, to balance to the “retro” look of the cream pinstripes — as well as subtle chages to the current ensemble including the removal of piping on the plackets of the home whites. That would allow the Mets to further resemble to Dodgers, but if you’re going to copy an NL team, you could do worse. Do you think this addition might mean they cashier the all-black look or would they dare mix and match four looks? I dunno. And I wish they’d come to realize the two-tone hat is just awful and derserved to die years ago already.

Pictured here are a few of the alterna-prototypes the Mets asked season-ticket holders to consider earlier this year. What do you think?

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