Tuesday, November 16, 2010

DePodesta's Baseball Reform

This is a presentation that Paul DePodesta gave in 2003 called The Genesis, Implementation, and Management of New Systems. It is an awesome read about his time in Cleveland and Oakland and should be interesting for all Mets fans to see how their new head of Player Development and Amateur Scouting thinks. So give it the proper 15 minutes it takes to read.

Thanks to Dave Studeman at The Hardball Times for finding this.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Front Office Dream

Gone, is the creepshow that was Omar Minaya. Gone, is his "I'm a baseball guy, so I know more than you" nonsense. Gone, is his guesswork.

In, is some brains with a plan. In, are some guys who HAVE tools, not guys who ARE tools. In, is a modern, intelligent approach to baseball.

Watching the Mets bring in Alderson, Ricciardi, and DePodesta is like a dream come true. These are the guys that changed the way everyone looked at baseball just 10 years ago. They found a cheap way to build a first-place team. Hopefully, they can keep evolving and find a new way to do it, again.

To me, the structure of the front office looks like this.... Alderson is the GM, the CEO, the owner (hell, the Wilpons probably should just hand over the team to him), while Ricciardi and DePodesta are the assistants that actually do all the work. They'll choose the players, come up with trades and run the system. Alderson will smoothly pull off the transactions. It's all in place.

However, my fear is this.... the Mets are 10 years too late. These guys had their run. They had their glory. They took advantage of a broken system. Everyone caught on and they've lost their edge. Once the rest of the league figured out what they were doing, they followed their path. Ricciardi and DePodesta both failed as GMs, and maybe this was the reason. Everyone is playing their game.

Still, this has to be exciting for us Mets fans. Proven winners have been inserted while a proven jackass is gone.


Friday, October 1, 2010

The Myth of the Yankees "Lean Years"

Why is it that Yankees fans insist on trying to tell me that they suffered through the "lean years"? When I ask them about when exactly these "lean years" took place, I hear grumbling about the 80's and usually a comment about Matt Nokes.

For me (Mets fan obviously) and most of my Yankee friends who were born around 1975, the first things we remember about baseball, or anything else for that matter, was in the early 80's. So I looked back, and what do you know, in 1980 the Yankees won 103 games and finished in 1st place, and the following year they played in the World Series. So those can't be the "lean years".

1982 was actually a down year. But from 1983 to 1988 the Yankees finished with a winning record each season, a stint that included three 90-win seasons (97 wins in 1985!). The Yankees actually finished the decade of the 80's with more wins that any other team in MLB. So the 80's can't be the 'lean years'. But I was just told by a Yankees fan that "The Yankees were TERRIBLE.... in the 80's". Really? I don't know why he wants to remember it that way.

The true "lean years" were from 1989 to 1992. In those four seasons the Yankees were terrible. They finished last once, 5th twice, and 4th once. So out of the last 30 years, including 1982, the Yankees have had only five losing seasons. Five. Out of 30. Five. Maybe today's Yankees fans are like those who win the lottery, yet fall into a deep depression because they feel they didn't "earn" the money. Is that what the Yankees fans are feeling? They need to justify their fandom.

Since 1993, the Yankees lowest winning percentage in any given year is .540. And in that year (2000), they finished in 1st place and actually won the World Series. I think the last 20 years have more than made up for the four "lean years".

I actually had someone say this on Facebook the other day, "those born in the late 70s lived through the Mets winning a WS, lived through the NY media LOVING the Mets and only covering the Yankees because of Steinbrenner's antics.... I used to listen to WFAN and hope they would spend a few minutes on the Yankees, it was that bad." Hilarious. So not only do Yankees fans need to have a good team, but they also need to get all the attention.

Basically, here's the point Yankees fan.... if you want to talk about your championships, fine, but don't try and give me some sob story to go with it. Listening to a Yankee fan attempt to get you to feel bad for them is like listening to your 110LB girlfriend try and tell you she's fat. Meanwhile, her much hotter 125LB friend is thinking, "I hate that titless bitch". Meaning, yeah, the Yankees are like a girl with no tits and the rest of the league are her friends with the nice racks. Who wants a girl with no tits? So, if you're a Yankee fan, just continue to be an arrogant prick, and give up the "lean years" sob story.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Wright Tries to Sabotage Yankees Season

Yankees catcher, Francisco Cervelli, was seen using David Wright's glove on Monday night. Cervelli was sent out to play thirdbase by Joe Girardi after Alex Rodriguez left the game with a calf injury and Ramiro Pena was replaced by a pinch-hitter.

We know a few things about David Wright and Francisco Cervelli. First, they're both a little weird. Wright has those perfectly sculpted salon-style eyebrows that I can't help look at even though they give me the creeps.

Meanwhile, Cervelli just has D-Bag written all over him. He's all about the over-exuberant 6th-inning fist pump during a Thursday afternoon game in April, and he reminds me of that guy in your Sunday baseball league that thinks everyone else is bushleague, even though he's the one that's acting like a tool and was playing catch on the infield dirt before the game.

So maybe these guys hang out on those Monday days off. Or, maybe this was David Wright's way of trying to hand off some of those strikeouts to the Yankees.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

Mets Make Key Deadline Deal

With just 13 seconds left before the trading deadline, the Mets have traded GM Omar Minaya back to the Montreal Expos for the Youppi! costume.

Seriously, Minaya, it's time to go. There's the door. Your lying creepshow is over. Thanks for nothing.

Friday, July 23, 2010

Mustrash Talk

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Let's Go Have a Beer, Doc

Wally Backman.

South Georgia Peanuts.

South Coast League.

2007.

This is a classic minor league ejection from a former backyard Mets-Thing legend.

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

The New Big Train

How angry is manager Jim Riggleman right now? The Nationals had Stephen Strasburg pitching in the minor leagues until last night, when he went off for 14 strikeouts against the Pirates in his major league debut. The Nats are actually contending this year. They could have used this kid in April and May. Riggleman should walk into GM Mike Rizzo's office and punch him in the face.

Maybe the Nationals were resting Strasburg, just waiting for June to come so he wouldn't log too many innings this season? Nope. They were pitching him. He threw 55 minor league innings in 11 starts before Tuesday night.

OK, so maybe they didn't think he wasn't ready? Nope. The kid finished his minor league stint with a 0.79 whip and 65 punchouts. Noone could possibly think he wasn't ready.

So what kept him in the minor leagues?.... Money. The Nationals simply tried to limit "Big Train" Strasburg's major league service time this season, which would make Strasburg ineligible for salary arbitration after the 2012 season. Basically, this would keep the Nats in control of his salary a little bit longer.

Of course, the Nats management says that all this minor league nonsense was part of Strasburg's "development plan", but I'm not buying it.

I think they simply made a mistake. Let's just say Strasburg started the season with the Nats, there is nothing that would make me believe that he wouldn't have pitched extremely well. The Nats could have had an extra 11 sellouts in his starts, and began making up that extra money they'll just end up paying him in the end anyway. Meanwhile, they'd have tons more fans and more W's in the standings.

I know some of you are saying that the Nats did a great job here. They got Strasburg some valuable minor league experience, meanwhile pumping up the hype machine to unbelievable heights. Last night was better than the two perfect games thrown this season, and the Jim Joyce game, combined. Then Strasburg lived up to the hype by going out and dealing while the whole baseball world was watching. Perfect.

Decent argument, but the Strasburg hype was already at stratosphere heights when he was in college last spring, and you can ask Mike Leake about whether he needed any minor league experience.

Riggleman is pissed.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Reyes 3rd? No. Wright 5th.

Lost in all the we're moving Jose Reyes to the 3-hole drama, was the best decision Jerry Manuel has made in a while.... moving David Wright down to the 5th spot in the batting order.

Mets-Thing correspondent, Cribs, has been calling for this move the last two seasons. Wright simply puts too much pressure on himself and his swing has turned into some kind of twisting upper-cut while he's stepping in the bucket.

Since moving down in the order, it is quite obvious that he is calmer in the batters box and taking more relaxed swings. His numbers since 4/23, the first day he returned to the 5-hole....

.343 BA, .368 OB%, .629 SLG%, 2 HR, 11 RBI

Friday, April 30, 2010

I, Davis.

On April 17, the Mets decided that they'd seen enough swings and misses out of firstbaseman Mike Jacobs, and designated him for assignment. Meaning, cut, see ya, get out of here you bum.

On April 19, the Mets decided that they'd call up firstbaseman Ike Davis, their 2008 1st round draft pick. The entire team was struggling. They couldn't sustain a rally offensively, and couldn't pitch.

After calling up Davis, the team has been on a 10-1 tear. Coincidence? We think "NO".

Davis has simply solidified the firstbase position. He has hit well so far and drawn some walks. Defensively, he doesn't look like the most gifted guy with the glove, but he looks the part and the infielders appear to be more comfortable letting throws go with his long arms over there to receive them.

We could be looking at the Mets firstbaseman of the next ten years.