Imagine If He Had Kazmir!

Courtesy of Always Amazin', here's a link to a 2003 interview with Rick Peterson. Ketchup on ice cream and comparing Mike Pelfrey to red wine aside, you can't argue the fact that The Professor knows his shit up, down, and sideways.

For all you practical, self-motivated thinkers out there, they're having open tryouts at Shea right after the Senior Stroll:

RP: We did personality factor tests to learn more about each player. When we first rolled out these tests, there were norms for people like teachers and lawyers, but not for professional baseball players. For example one test measures whether a person is self-motivated or works better through instruction. What we found is that self-motivated, practical thinkers tend to fare well in baseball. By keeping your motivation up, you overcome the fear, worry, and doubt which can hurt performance. Then we look at an umbrella of skills in 12 major areas. Those include: keeping things in perspective, self-knowledge of strong points and limits, discipline, and ability to learn.

We want to quantify as much of the process as possible, whether it's mechanical or psychological. The expression I like to use is: In God we trust, all others must have data.

And when you're done chewing that, you can thank It's Mets For Me, for the classic page of Jacket truths.