Welcome Back

As the Nationals head into Shea for three games this week, it will be interesting to see a few things. First, the reception that Lastings and Captain Red Ass receive and second, the quotes Willie will have about it. There's a little part of me that wants Lastings to beat the Mets at least once with a walk-off hit, or even just to have a big game - if only to see what Willie has to say about it.

Well, last year Pelfrey threw 77% fastballs and Milledge hit .318 off fastballs. Here's hoping Big Pelf keeps them outside and low.

EDIT 7:25: A scorched 2B and caught stealing third...not bad considering he was safe. Not to be outdone, Ryan Church had a nice AB against a lefty and hit one right back up the box for a single.

EDIT 8:04: Why is Church bunting? If it's on his own it's stupid - if it's Willie it's going up on the big board of dumb moves. Castillo, bunt. Church? What are they doing?

Bend Ya Knees: Week 2 / The Mets Can't Hit

After a horrible, horrible loss to the Brewers yesterday, the only thing that can lift my spirits is to check out just how much we ripped off the Nats.

.308/.351/.442 - Yes, Lastings has drawn three walks so far! You know how many walks Ryan Church has? Three. Yeah, he's just as good.

And B-Schneid? He has two. Oh wait, that's passed balls - he has six walks! Right again - he's twice the OBP machine that Lastings is.

Alright, there's no getting around it - this team just can't hit. Outside of Wright, Beltran, and maybe Church against righties, who do you feel comfortable with at the plate? Angel Pagan is going to come back to earth and so will B-Schneid. Castillo is, in the words of B!T "the Juan Pierre Lite who at this point is basically just hoping to walk because he can't hit and can't run."

Delgado is a shell of his former self and won't accept it and start trying to use the whole field consistently. Whenever it looks like he's starting to hit line drives and go to all fields he crushes one into the scoreboard and gets pull-happy again for a month.

The fact is that once Pagan and Schneider come back down from their 158 OPS+ and .409 OBP clouds this team is going to score two runs every game if they're lucky. And it should be right about when that moment comes that the Willie Watch will commence. It can't come soon enough

Bend Ya Knees: Week 1

In games through Sunday 4/6 Lastings was hitting at a .267/.313/.400 clip.

Our own Ryan Church? Why he was hitting a robust .381/.409/.524! Brian Schneider you ask? .333/.409/.333 - sure he's not slugger but he's a better OBP man than Lastings! Isn't that what Moneyball was all about!

WE FLEECED WASHINGTON BRO! ABSOLUTELY FLEECED THEM! Church is soooooooo much better than that rapper from Bradenton. And B-Schneid? Johnny Bench 2.0 may seem like a stretch but, hey he's THAT GOOD.

Addendum: Does anyone remember when Aaron Heilman was a key trading chip and/or integral part of the bullpen?

Fun With Small Sample Sizes: Part I

Yeah, so I ripped off the title from FJM. Sue me.

After three games, Blastings! Thrilledge needs to close up shop. Because while Lastings may be hitting .294/.368/.471 with a 126 OPS+, he's no Ryan Church. Shit, he's no Brian Schneider!

                 BA  / OBP / SLG / OPS+    

Ryan Church:    .385  .429  .615  184

Brian Schneider .400  .500  .400  152 

But neither of these heroes of the first week can hod a candle to the immortal former Cyclone himself. The man who made all of us cringe as we thought of his name in the starting lineup. Yup, Angel Pagan is on pace to hit a super human .400/.500/.600 with a 202 OPS+! Take that sabermetrician basement nerds!

The scrappy Brady Clark, however, is on pace to do exactly what we expected: .000/.000/.000

Coming Sunday, the first of the weekly "Bend Ya Knees" and "TOAST!" Milledge and LoDuca updates.

It Shouldn't Even Be A Question

(Way too lazy/tired to photoshop Santana's face in there...but you get the drift)

John Peterson at Blastings! Thrilledge posted this recently:

There will be great celebration by sportswriters and fans when the Mets acquire Johan Santana, but not at Blastings! Thrilledge. It will mean the Mets have lost...

It's true that Johan Santana is a fantastic pitcher, and would make the Mets the clear favorite in the NL East, instead of just the likely Champion. But to trade no less than four prospects, your best four excluding Fernando Martinez, and pretty much your only four besides, is just too much...

The offer as it stands, apparently, is Carlos Gomez, Kevin Mulvey, Philip Humber and Deolis Guerra. This is already too much, but the Twins want F-Mart as well. And why not? The Mets have already shown how little they value their young players, how desperate they are to win now, at any cost...

Sure, the Mets add one of the best pitchers in baseball. But they will have to give him a large contract, and after next year will have to hand out even more money to replace Pedro and El Duque in the rotation, their young pitchers having been traded to Minnesota.

Next offseason the Mets will also have to retain the services of an outfielder, with Alou gone, Gomez traded and Fernando Martinez still developing.

All of these free agent signings will strip the Mets of their top-round draft picks, further depriving an already destitute farm system of talent.

When will this shit end?

Metstradamus was a bit more optimistic...but still wondered if Johan Santana was going to be the Mets fans version of Herschel Walker.

Alright. It's time to look at this from an objective viewpoint. This is Johan Goddamn Santana people. 3 of the past 4 years he has posted a sub-1.00 WHIP. His career ERA+ is 140. To put that into perspective the 2007 Met with the highest ERA+ (excluding Pedro's 3 weeks) was Ollie Perez at 120.

Santana gave up a lot more HRs than usual and saw his ERA rise over 3 last season and still posted a 130 ERA+ In other words, a down year from Johan Santana is still ten-percent better than the best pitcher we had last season.

Does this mean Santana is entering the downside of his career? I doubt it. He posted a better 2006 than 2005 and after coming off a super-human 2004 anything he does is bound to be criticized for not matching up. He's two years removed from winning the AL triple crown for pitchers and we're worried about Carlos Gomez?

And the worries about trading too many prospects are reasonable given the Mets history of horrendous trades (I won't yet concede the Milledge deal was a bust but you can). But this is different. This isn't Robbie Alomar and this isn't Victor Zambrano. This is arguably the greatest LHP of this generation who already has 2 Cy Young Awards under his belt and averages 220 K's per 162 IP and he's only going to 29 on opening day 2008.

So if the Twins want Humber and his underwhelming self they can have him. If they want Gomez and his freakish speed they can have him. If they want Guerra and his supposedly tremendous upside they can have him. And Omar'll even throw in Kevin Mulvey at no extra charge.

An opportunity to acquire a pitcher of Santana's caliber comes along once in a generation. Could Guerra turn into an ace in Minneapolis with Mulvey and Humber following in the rotation and Gomez swiping 100 bases a year and winning gold gloves in CF? They sure could. But I wouldn't bet on it...and I sure as hell wouldn't let that gamble stand in the way of acquiring a bona fide ace who will fill a void that this team desperately needs to fill.

Freddie Coupon Pours Salt in the Wounds

Dear Fred,

Remember the letter you had Jeffy send us in October? Right after Toothless' horrific one-inning performance? You thanked us for our record-breaking support in 2007 and assured us that ownership was committed to providing the necessary resources to field a championship team.

Do you remember? Maybe this will jog your memory, "You deserve better results...Many thanks again for your record-breaking support." Ringing any bells?

So what did you do? You paid scouts to watch Jeff Fassero in Mexico. You were outbid by the Diamondbacks for Dan Haren. From all angles it looks like you'll be outbid on Santana. You've traded away our 23-year-old top prospect for the past 2 seasons for a 29-year-old who is arguably his equivalent with less upside and a catcher with a career OPS+ of 82. You don't seem to have learned from your mistakes.

Couple this with a historic collapse and team-wide who gives a shit attitude last September, and you have the makings of a quite pissed-off fanbase.

But leave it to you to figure out a way to pour a little extra salt in the wounds. Leave it to to you to add insult to the injury that was bad enough on its own.

Loyal Mets fans reward for record-breaking attendance and support to the bitter end? A 20% increase in ticket prices for the final season at Shea.

What's the 20% going towards Fred? Those Mexican leagues scouts' burrito bills as they type furiously on their blackberries that Omar should give a pitcher whose last decent season came in the 20th century a shot?

But rest assured, the biggest increases will effect the most expensive seats and there will be $5 nose-bleeds available for 36 games this year! Oh goody! If you want a decent ticket you're going to get final-season-at-Shea raped...but fear not, you can always sit in UR Row V for $5.

Thanks Freddie Coupon, you always find a way to top yourself.

Love,
Just one of many who contributed to the record-breaking support

Hat tip to CSTB for the image.

You Pick Your New Wallpaper and/or Screensaver

With all due respect to Metstradamus and his impeccable photoshopping skills... Doesn't the real thing hurt so much more?

Remember everyone complaining about the Mets not having any heart? Not playing with any emotion? Not caring about choking away a 7 game lead in the middle of September?

Apparently the solution was to get rid of the two guys who may have actually gave a fuck.

I was on board with the Milledge trade when it happened...now, I'm not so sure. The thought of Captain Red Ass and Da Edge combining to hit .500 with 20 HR against Met pitching in 2008 isn't particularly appetizing.

But rest assured loyal Mets fans, this upstanding gentleman who exited the clubhouse after the quite epic collapse looking like this should be fully healed and ready to go just in time for spring training.

No more stories of barely legal girls from Oneonta instead of smoking hot playmate wives. No more articulate rap songs praising the benefits of deep knee bends. Just someone named Carlos telling the media that this team is so good that sometimes they just get bored.

The Team! The Time! The Utter Humiliation!

Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

I realize this is a week old...but I felt the need to put it up anyways. From Shoot Your Hopes and Dreams:

"Nats GM Jim Bowden has traded for both Lastings Milledge and Elijah Dukes in the last 4 days. On their own I love both trades. In tandem these acquisitions are a disaster waiting to happen. Ordinarily I'm the last guy to worry about team chemistry, but not since Hitler met Goebbels has a pairing had this much potential for damage. (No I'm not literally equating World War II with a couple of thugs. Don't waste your time in the comments section).

Despite his considerable talents, the Mets organization soured on Milledge's cocky attitude to the point were they preferred mediocrity to his presence in the clubhouse. While Milledge rubs people the wrong way, Elijah Dukes is a complete sociopath. He has six arrests under his belt. His wife has a restraining order against him for threatening to kill her. He just knocked up the 17 year old foster child of one of his relatives. Not a good dude."

Good times all around! And just think, we get to see it all unfold (probably from below in the standings) in the NL East!

What About Ryan Church?

According to Dayn Perry over at FoxSports the Mets couldn't even make the top 5 trade candidates for Johan Santana.

No team could use Santana more than the Mets, but they don't have the tempting young arms needed to get something done. Also, now that Lastings Milledge has been jettisoned, they can't even assemble an attractive package of position players...

There's nothing like reading for a week about how L-Millz's stock had dropped so low that the only possible deal was for him to him being turned around for Brian Schneider, Ryan Church, and Youppi - and then hearing that if Omar had kept him the Mets could be in the mix for say, the greatest LHP of the past 4 years.

So who do we believe? Dayn Perry, Metstradamus, and the 16 fans who sat along the right field line that fateful day - or Wally Matthews (wait...never believe Wally Matthews) and those who told us that Lastings had gone from the man who the Mets wouldn't trade for Manny into Youppi bait?


I'm beginning to think the only memories of Santana at Shea will be from the random interleague game I managed to attend on June 18th, 2002 when an unknown Twins reliever put up 6 innings of 3 hit, 1 run baseball to become what Mets fans believed would be another name on the long list of "nobodies" who shut down the awe-inspiring offensive juggernaut that was Vaughn, Alomar, and Burnitz.

Hope Springs...

All the thanks to Riding with Rickey for this...If he makes them, I'll place my order. Kinkos won't give me a reasonable price for blowing up the "Choked to Death" NY Post cover - featuring the unluckiest non-devastated taxi rider in the city.

Lastly, someone needs to get on the Lastings Milledge Facts and re-coordinate the color scheme...navy and red perhaps? I'm sure Metstradamus would be up to the task.

In other news concerning the still Victor Zambrano-less Metropolitans, Omar is upbeat and confident something will get done...to improve the team that is.

From David Lennon in Newsday:

"The fact that we are having dialogue, you know you're in the game," Minaya said. "But it's really hard to tell. I can tell you when these things develop, they develop quickly. There's a lot of back-and-forth going on and we're pretty much in the back-and-forth area."

Minaya found Aaron Heilman to be in great demand, and a National League official confirmed that there was talk about swapping him for Rockies lefthanded reliever Brian Fuentes, as first reported by Foxsports.com. Minaya is likely to need Heilman, however, in a bigger deal for the top starters on the market.

Now pay attention here: Lennon throws some of those scented wood shavings on the pile of vomit that was the Bartolo Colon/Livan Hernandez rumors. Is everyone paying attention? You can come in off the ledge now. Yes, I'm talking to you 'Damus, Rickey, and just about every other Met fan with half a brain.

If the Mets are unable to do that, Minaya did not sound very enthusiastic about the free-agent market, so it doesn't appear that adding Livan Hernandez, Bartolo Colon or the rehabbing Freddy Garcia is an appetizing fallback position. Rather than package pitching prospect Kevin Mulvey, the Mets could always give him the chance to win a rotation spot and skip the free agents.

I'm Betting the Kid Isn't a Fan of The Policy in Iraq

ESPN.com is reporting that Doug Mientkiewicz's replacement has left the team to be with his wife in Puerto Rico for the birth of their first child...

In other news Don Zimmer's most fearsome sparring partner made 125 tosses from 75 feet today...apparently that's a good thing.

"'I'm on the same program but making a lot more progress than the previous week,' Martinez said.

Martinez said he throws four days during the week and spends about five hours a day working out at the Mets' minor-league facility in Port St. Lucie.

'It's agonizing some times,' Martinez said. 'So far I am sticking to the program. I feel real good, no pain. I'm not evening icing yet. But this is just throwing long. When you throw off the mound it's totally different.'"

Everyone's favorite Jewish RF is reportedly losing his "stronghold" on a starting spot according to Newsday's David Lennon.

Does it matter if there's an aspiring record producer with a bad attitude in RF or a over-the-hill, poorly defending, "I wonder if I should play on Yom Kippur or not" in RF? I don't think so. Milledge is destined to be trade bait anyway with the emergence of Gomez and Martinez in the minor league OF ranks.