Huh?

In case you missed it....

John Sickels decided to look into his crystal ball and project Lastings Milledge's career path. Mr. Sickels does not think that highly of Mr. Milledge since he does not even finish with 250 homers. In fact, he only hits over 20 four times and only three times in his seven years a mile above sea level. Just a weird article and I do know it was only to stir up some conversation and Sickels asks some questions as the end, but I was left confused to whether I thought it was utterly useless or interesting. I have not been this confused since I got that forward that was a test to see if I can figure out if a person was a tranny or a real woman.

However, the funniest thing of all was this comment.

Personally, I doubt he will K as much as that, especially in Coors. The '09 trade was straight up for Jeff Francis [who was toiling in denvers and getting expensive], who went on to win the Cy Young in '10 after being freed from Coors.

I still get the feeling Milledge is a bust unless he gets a good nickname. I just can see a guy named Lastings as an all-star. It just doesn't have a good ring to it. [I feel the same way about Eddy M-E]

Objectively, I think Milledge will improve his SB success rate as he matures, as well as have better [not by a huge margin] plate discipline. IF Beltran is around as a mentor.

I also don't see him getting 124 AB's in 06, unless Cameron is out of the picture.

If you read this site or Metsgeek a lot, you will have noticed that Benny has a name test for players. Bad name? You won't be good. Cool name? You have a shot to be something. Apparently Benny is not the only one. I do have to take issue with that statement since I do think Lastings Milledge has that ring to it.

As for Sickels and his prediction of Lastings career path, he basically does not think very highly of him. Aside from two years of hitting .333 in one year and .368 in another, Lastings has had some rather unaweinspiring years and was nothing special at all. He could be right, but I think his power numbers will be higher and his average will be more consistently in the .300-.310 range and he will never step foot in Colorado. If Lastings makes it through this off-season and is not used to get Manny Ramirez, I see him hanging around for while because I truly think the kid is special. Some scouts do not think his power will really develop and he will steal a ton and others think he will hit a lot of homers and not steal many bases, but the fact is no one obviously knows. It will be fun to see what becomes of him and I think his time on Team USA and in the Arizona Fall League will go a long way in giving us an idea but he looks like a future #3 hitter to me.

* * *

"I'm very anxious to get on the field," he said Wednesday. "All I think about is having my name called, playing left field and seeing that little kid in the field cheering. Those are the visions I see."

Good luck with all of that. I hope that little kid is your son because I'm not sure you will have many fans on your side after the fiasco that has been your season and I'm not just talking about steroids. Your updates from your website and no one really knowing what Barry was doing was a diva act that fans are starting to get sick of.

I officially dub Kris Benson "warning track".

Minor update:

• Norfolk came back to even the series against Toledo yesterday by winning 7-3. It was a battle of super studs as Yusmeiro Petit went up against Joel Zumaya and Petit came out on top with a ridiculous game. Petit went eight innings of three run ball and gave up four hits, one homer, one walk, and struck out fourteen. Petit struggled since moving up to AAA and picked a great spot to have his best game at AAA. Mr. Koo made an appearance and gave up one hit and one walk in .1 innings and Manny Aybar came in and saved the game. "Mr. September" Marcus Thames homered in two straight games for Toledo and is 2 for 7 with two homers and five RBIs in the first two games. He is going to start getting the Barry Bonds treatment soon. Angel Pagan did not pick up a hit after having three in the first game, but did manage to walk three times and score a run. Anderson Hernandez went 2 for 5 with a run scored and an RBI, Prentice Redman went 1 for 4 with a homer and three RBIs, Brian Daubach went 1 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI, Chase Lambin went 0 for 2 with two walks and a run scored, Eric Valent went 1 for 3 with a walk, and Rodney Nye went 2 for 4 with a run scored.
  
• New Jersey beat Brooklyn 5-2. Caleb Stewart went 1 for 2 with a double, an RBI, and two walks, Nick Evans went 1 for 4 with a run scored, and Leivi Ventura went 1 for 3 with an RBI. Joe D'Alessandro picked up the loss and went 1.1 innings in relief and gave up four hits, five runs, three earned runs, one walk, and struck out two.
  
• In non Met-related news, Kannapolis beat Charleston 4-3 in a ridiculous in twenty-one innings on Wednesday. What is even more impressive to me is that each team only used five pitchers and did not use every pitcher which would usually happen in these types of game. Charleston's starter went eight innings and the next four pitchers went at least three innings. Kannapolis' starter went 7.2 innings and the next pitcher went 2.1 innings with the three pitchers covering the next eleven innings. To top it all off Kannapolis made four errors in a seemingly very undeserving win.

Checking in with one of the comments of the year..

And for the good news today...only the Marlins and Nationals played.

If we can keep the current pace, we should be able to pass Milwaukee and Chicago, perhaps the Reds as well.

SF, LA and Arizona will take a lot of work...but I think if we lose 10-12 more straight, we can do it. Only the Rockies and Pirates are a long shot. If we position well...we can lose the last 4 to the Rockies and finish with the second worst record in the NL and perhaps 5th overall (KC, TB, Seattle, Pittsburgh ahead)

Not bad for some picks.
-Will

Way to spin this into a positive somehow.

Johnny Damon is doing his thing working for a contract in '06.

"Anaheim's right behind Boston as far as teams on the list," Damon said. "I love Southern California. The weather is awesome, I like the team, I love (Manager) Mike Scioscia, I love their pitching staff, I love Orlando Cabrera. A lot of things about it make sense."

Also from the above article:

Vladimir Guerrero and David Ortiz got together and decided to donate $50,000 each to Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. Ortiz said the two players were watching TV at Ortiz's house when they were moved to contribute.

"We're going to challenge all the baseball players to come and do the same thing, especially players from the Dominican Republic," Ortiz said. "We have received a lot of help from this country when our country struggled."

Guerrero was 3 years old in 1979 when Hurricane David devastated much of the southwest coast of the Dominican, where Guerrero grew up and still lives.

"I remember my family talking about all the destruction they had there," Guerrero said. "One thing I feel very happy about is helping people, because my family struggled before and other people helped out."

In addition to Guerrero's donation, Angels' players wives raised $34,000 in a memorabilia auction. Angels owner Arte Moreno will match that donation, raising the team's contribution to roughly $120,000.

Good stuff.

Ben Shpigel goes over some heartbreaking performances by Looper this year in his new aricle.

Looper has a $5 million option for next season with a $250,000 buyout clause and said he would love to come back next season. But asked if he would consider a reduced role if the Mets coveted Wagner, the top free-agent closer available, Looper hesitated.

"It would be hard to say no, but it's definitely not what I prefer," Looper said.

It would be hard to say no because you would be hard pressed to get $5 million elsewhere.

Willie lays down the law.

Willie Randolph met with Carlos Beltran before Thursday's game to express his displeasure that Beltran chose to bunt with no outs and two runners on base in the first inning Wednesday. Beltran moved José Reyes and Kazuo Matsui over, and they eventually scored, but the No. 3 hitter in the lineup is usually expected to drive in runs, not sacrifice.

"I told him that I'd prefer him not to do that," Randolph said. "He felt he could maybe get a bunt base hit and, like I said earlier, if he makes it, then we're O.K. But even if he makes it, it still might not be the right play. But he feels that's part of his game in his mind. But personally, no, I'd rather him swing the bat."

This sounds interesting:

In the hours that surrounded that agreement, however, Hochevar changed agents, changed back, aborted the deal and publicly accused the Dodgers of unfair tactics, smearing an already trouble-laden process.