A blog dedicated to the New York Mets with some other baseball thrown in.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Mind Boggling

As I was sitting there watching the game at the Shea Stadium on Sunday, it did cross my mind that while the Mets outplayed them in every game, the Yankees were short two of their starting outfielders. They had more hits than the Mets and more base runners, but the Mets simply out-pitched them with the exception of Jeremi Gonzalez and one inning by Billy Wagner. The Mets basically outplayed them for the entire series and could have easily swept. Don't get me wrong, I would not have cared if the entire Columbus Clipper team was out there. A win is a win, but it always feels a bit sweeter when you beat their A-Team. The Mets did have Jeremi Gonzalez starting, but the Yankees had Aaron Small going on Sunday. Both teams were battered, but the Yankees were more battered. Then I started thinking dollars and cents. Hideki Matsui costs about $10,000,000, Gary Sheffield costs about $13,000,000, and Carl Pavano costs them about $8,000,000. According to USA Today, the Yankee payroll was $194,663,079 before their rash of injuries and if you subtract out their three DL’d players, they are sitting at $162,906,908.

Let that sink in. The team that we saw this weekend would not have a very good chance at making the playoffs in 2006 in my opinion and is still $42,807,084 more expensive than the Red Sox, $59,434,908 more expensive than the Dodgers, $60,156,241 more expensive than the White Sox, and $61,821,945 more expensive than the Mets. Even if you take Posada out, they are $30,807,084, $47,434,908, $48,156,241, and $49,821,945 more expensive than each team respectively. What Brian Cashman and George Steinbrenner have managed to do is no easy task. They put together quite possibly the worst team money can buy. Yes, they are a very good team with everyone healthy and even without them they are a good team. When you factor in how good they are in correlation to the payroll? A monstrosity. Let us all laugh at them with many of their high priced players in a precipitous decline and many others unable to stay healthy. The Mets took advantage of a banged up Yankee team, but that banged up Yankee team still cost $150,906,908.00. To put that into perspective, that is three more Pedro Martinez’s with a sprinkling of another Carlos Delgado and the Yankees total payroll in the real world is still another $ 43,756,171 above that. I still for the life of me cannot figure out why any sane Yankee fan could brag about their team being better than any other team with such disparities in payroll between the Yankees and every single team in professional sports.

* * *

  • This is like a standard Saturday night for me. Make sure you watch the entire thing.

  • SI.com lowered the New York Mets down notch after their impressive series against the Yankees and has them sitting at number five.

    Billy Wagner had an interesting, albeit schizophrenic, interleague weekend. He struck out the side on 12 pitches in picking up a win on Friday night. On Saturday he blew a 4-0 lead in a Mets loss. Then on Sunday he threw a scoreless ninth to earn a save. All in front of a rabid Mets crowd and all against the Yankees. We'll now say Wagner has been officially welcomed to the Big Apple.

    The Phillies are the next highest NL East team and they plummeted seven spots from the fifth slot to the twelfth spot. The Braves are stitting at number sixteen, but what I found interesting that SI.com pointed out was that Atlanta has blown 11 of 20 save opportunities. That is truly and ugly stat.

  • Scott Olsen got a nice shiner courtesy of teammate Randy Messenger.

    The clubhouse was tight-lipped about the incident. Manager Joe Girardi would not discuss Olsen's black eye when a reporter asked about it before Monday's game.

    "That's an in-house issue that we'll take care of, and we'll leave it at that,'' he said.


  • Alay Soler is expected to face Cole Hamels tomorrow night at Shea Stadium.

    The 26-year-old righthander is expected to face Phillies rookie Cole Hamels at Shea tomorrow.

    "It was worth waiting, because with patience you always get the most out of it," Soler said through an interpreter the day he received the news in Binghamton.


    He was being clocked down in St. Lucie at about 94 mph, but has been clocked at about 90 mph and 91 mph since his promotion to AA. Is it anything big?

    "He's not a power pitcher, because I don't think that's his mental thought process," Double-A pitching coach Mark Brewer said. "His mental frame of mind is to understand the faults of the hitters, the swing paths of the hitters, the timing of the hitters and offset that. His mode is around 90 mph. But his top velocity is not 91 by any means. He'll run it up there 93, 94 mph every once in awhile. And it's when he needs it. He knows that he doesn't need it all the time."

    Said Soler: "In Cuba, at first, I started throwing hard because I thought it was something I was going to get better at. But now I realize it's more changing speeds to get the hitter out - by just throwing to the location where you want. The velocity is there. When I feel like putting something on the ball I do it."


    Maybe it is nothing, but his bread and butter is his slider. Even while the Mets had Kris Benson, who has a very good slider, Baseball America said that Soler could of had the best slider out of the entire Mets organization. Soler immediately will become the starter with the highest velocity in the rotation and he should fit in well to break things up and give a different look. The Metropolitans thinks tomorrow's game with Soler facing Hamels is going to be fun to watch.

  • A fluff piece on Paul LoDuca.

  • The Baseball America Draft Tracker is out, and they are not doing the Mets any favors by listing their draft and follow stud Pedro Beato as the thirteenth best talent available for the drat at this point.

    13. Pedro Beato, rhp, St. Petersburg (Fla.) JC
    The Mets don't have a first-round pick, but they have a first-round talent under their control. Everyone expects them to sign the 17th-round 2005 draft-and-follow.


  • Baseball Prospectus' Hit List has the Yankees at #2....#2!!! I get that it is done with fancy math and the Yankees offense factors into their high ranking a lot, but that still reeks.

    The Comeback Kids: the Yanks rally from nine runs down (not for the first time) to top the Rangers and overcome a 4-0 ninth-inning deficit to beat the Mets.

    Less comeback...more implosion for the Mets game as Wagner did all of the heavy lifting for the Yankees.

    The Mets are sitting at #5.

  • Steven Goldman of Baseball Prospectus has a nice piece on Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth.

    The assumption here seems to be that home runs were the only reason why Ruth became famous, and hitting the same number of home runs as he did entitles one to the same kind of appreciation. That expectation leaves out roughly 98% of the Babe Ruth story. Even the question “Who is better, Bonds or Ruth?” completely misses the point. George Herman Ruth became the Babe because of when he played and who he was. His home runs opened the door to stardom and the big man walked through it. Bonds will never be what Ruth is or what Ruth was, and it has only a little to do with the rumors of his dalliance with performance enhancing drugs or his lack of charisma or how many home runs he hits. Given his talent and his personality Ruth would have been a star in any era, but the Babe was a creation of his time. That moment is gone and won’t return; Bonds could hit a thousand home runs but he still couldn’t bring it back.
  • 23 Comments:

    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    2.

    2??

    Ponderous, man, fuckin' ponderous

    --Nokes

    12:58 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    FUCK the Yankees. I don't care who the fuck is the one field, I will gloat and celebrate until the next meeting.
    Nobody took anything away from the Yankees when they beat a team with Jeff Duncan, Jason Phillips, Ty Wigginton, and SHINJO. A 2003 team that included such pitchers as Jeremy Griffiths.
    So fuck that shit. Mets won, Mets are alot better no one will remember that Sheffield and matsui were missing.

    That Pitbull is as gangsta as it gets. If you do the same then God Bless You.
    It was very nice of you to give us a glimpse into your life.
    Let me get in on the non-baseball fun!
    Crazy White People...

    ALay Soler has the Benny Seal of Approval. I look forward to seeing him pitch. He seems like a "pitcher" and not a "thrower" one thing i LOVE about pitchers. I hate guys that throw an empty 95 mph but don't think on the mound.
    I'll take a psychological soft tosser anyday.

    Is BP trying to say that Babe Ruth is magical?
    I could KINDA see thier point. I mean, when Ruth was hitting 50 and 60 homers, everyone else was hitting like 20... the next highest was by 40 more...

    1:06 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Great point on the payroll.

    Saturday morning I was listeneing to Mike and the Mad Dog and they had Tim McCarver as a guest. Fatso and McCarver were carrying on about how no one gives the Mets a hard time for their high payroll while the Yankees get all of this grief. Never mentioning that the Mets payroll while high is closer to the Marlins payroll than the Yankee payroll. Sure enough McCarver brings this up during the game broadcast.

    This whole comparison of the Mets payroll to the Yankees payroll is like comparing the guy in your town who owns a couple of car dealerships to Bill Gates.

    I hope the Yankees end up like the Knicks a higher salary than any other team by far and still the worst in the game. Did anyone notice that the Yankees are only 5 games out of last place.

    Only problem with the Yankees sucking is 3/4 of their fans would all of a sudden be Mets fans and these Wall street yuppies would take the few remaining good seats at Shea.

    1:06 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Sorry about the anonomous post above.

    Adam

    1:08 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    Yes, fucking ponderous indeed. There need to be safeguards thrown into their math because the Yankees at #2 is just is not going to cut it.

    Well said Benny. I'm by no means giving them a free pass, but some Yankee fans might want to point out those injuries and to them I say look at your enourmous payroll.

    You tube is great. If it was a girl, I'm marry it. Really....hours and hours of endless fun.

    BP is saying that Babe Ruth is magical. He was made out of dreams, rainbows, and pixie dust. Therefore, no one can match his mystical being. But to your point, Ruth was on a totally different level. Bonds was on a totally different level (like Pujols now) and that is impressive considering the better all-around talent these days, scouting, coaching, etc....

    Adam, you have to be kidding me. They actually spoke about that? Maybe because it is about 95% higher! When you spend that much more, you should not speak about it. Did they even mention a dollar figure at all? Ridiculous. The big spending White Sox and Dodgers are above the Mets. The Mets are reasonably spending for a big market team and by no means are in a different strata. Do they have an advantage? Yes, but they have been fiscally responsible for the most part. Why are those three allowed to breath?

    The Yankees are headed there. Believe you me. We are seeing it this year. They might miss the playoffs this season and that would be a tasty treat if the Mets slide in with their $101,000,000 payroll and the Yankees miss with their $194,000,000 payroll. How you can even compare the two is so far out of my realm of comprehension.

    You seat fear is well founded. The girls will trade in their pink Jeter shirts for pink Wright shirts. It has been written and it shall come to pass.

    1:45 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    i could have sworn bp had the yankees at number 2 when i looked last week. that was why i wrote about it and you answered they use a math formula. whatever formula they use must really suck.

    lee jenkins had a good story in the times today about hamels. he is the best sportswriter i'm familiar with (ever since kornheiser became lame -- tony's columns back in the last century were hilarious) except for Mr. Met and it is too bad he's no longer covering the mets.

    that dog is a stud.

    2:09 PM

     
    Blogger Anthony said...

    Jake, I was a big fan of Kornheiser as well back in the day. I lived in DC from 98-05' and read his stuff all the time. He was great before the whole ESPN thing happened.

    Nice Mike, very impressive style. The ladies must go nuts every time.

    To answer your question from yesterday, I have been to a couple playoff games in the past. You are correct, having 50K + going nuts for one team is unreal. I also went to game 4 of the subway world series. That was pretty nuts as well. I know the new place is going to be set up nice and everyone goes off on how crappy Shea is. But I am really going miss Shea. I've been going there since I was born. It's like church to me (and I don't go to church...so it's like my actual church!). Sacred ground.
    Too many good times have been had there. Going to be tough not to have around anymore.

    2:35 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    That dog has one wicked orgasm problem!

    And wait, who's Benny Seal? Wasn't he like an actor or something?

    Mets will sign Beato, but he may make them sweat it a bit. At least he's a NY dude which will likely give him some impetus to get the deal done.

    The Yanks are a structurally flawed team. I personally look forward to the moment that more than half their payroll is on the DL. I also look forward to them missing the playoffs which is going to happen.

    Fearless prediction: Soler will win tomorrow. I expect six innings, three runs.

    2:46 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    Jake, I do remember this.

    Hamels is a god down there already. Benny pointed out a few weeks ago the Cole Hamels fact websites molded after the Chuck Norris facts.

    I was shocked the dog did not eat the puke up and finish his biz nit.

    Well, no one said they liked it. I just said that's how I do things.

    I like Shea as well because of the memories, but once we get to sit in the new shiny digs there will be no sadness. Only pure baseball enjoyment and hopefully by then there is one or two more WS banners to put on the flagpoles.

    2:50 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    Beato will make them sweat a bit, just sign the dude, let him got to St. Lucie to go Metsmermized and throw him in Brooklyn in two weeks when they open. If he was asking for a million as reported a few days ago, him being a mid-level 1st round talent may make him try and stretch it to $1,500,000. No doubt they will get hm, but it is s nice surprise to be reading this stuff about him.

    I'm predicting a Soler win as well and it will be fucking swell. Then I'll try and claim him off waivers in our league like everyone else and not get him like I missed out on Hamels like everyone else.

    2:53 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Cole Hammels once ate Hole Cammels.

    3:08 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    I like gastric juices...

    I'm torn about going to the game. It seems like a fucking swell day to head out there, but I'm kind of leaning towards wings at a bar so I can really get a look at Soler and Hamels. Hard to really, really see how they are doing at the game.

    3:09 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    i'm out of the loop on Beato; where do I catch up?

    mike what are you going to do about starting floyd this time around?

    3:20 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    Floyd is done. My rotation is going nicely. I only use five and knock it down to four at the midway point.

    Harden comes back soon then I have Liriano, Harden, Glavine, Verlander, and Duke. That's hit.

    Gavin is getting cut soon and he will not be starting today.

    Not much to catch up really. He had TJ surgery last year. The Mets drafted him. He is pitching for a Jr. College team and is throwing 94/95...BA says he is the thirteenth best talent this year and now the Mets get a 1st round talent without a first round pick! Talk about fucking swell.

    3:28 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    Sorry, that last sentence was about Beato in case you didn't get that...

    3:29 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Dog Balls.

    4:01 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    Dog Balls indeed.

    You could perhaps say Dog Balls Deep.

    4:33 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    I deleted an ad. I don't delete comments no matter what they are unless they are A) Double Posts or B) Ads...

    It said

    "Hey I love you blog!

    If you want meds, click here."

    As much as I like compliments, it makes me feel dirty...and not in a good way.

    You can call me a douchebag and it will stay. You can drop the 'c' word (I believe you have in the past) and I will leave it. Consider the my comment section like Vegas...

    Condor, I was talking about Gavin Floyd. I have him on my fantasy team and I benched him against the Mets last time he faced them. I lost out a rain shorted, complete game, shut out. Probably lost about 10 points. I said him and his 2.00 WHIP and 6.00 ERA is done and will no longer start for me. However, if you asked me what Cliffy would have done, I probably would have said weakly ground to first.

    10:00 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Way to go Jose! Homer ties it up when he's been killed on curve balls all game.

    Lastings Milledge hit a big two out double in the eleventh tonight as well. Place the young guys.

    Don't be surprised if DWright wins this.

    10:21 PM

     
    Anonymous Anonymous said...

    Jose fuckin' Reyes

    10:21 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    Jose should not have swung at that ball, but fuck me for trying to rain on everyone's parade...After all this shit and Duaner's two innings (what's he at, 100 so far this season?) you cannot lose this game. That will hurt bad. This win is so big with Soler and Oliver/Gonzo going the next two games. This team has cojones and The Metropolitans fully endorses anyone that wants to buy an Endy Chavez jersey.

    10:49 PM

     
    Blogger michael o. said...

    DUANER!!!!!

    10:51 PM

     
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    7:13 AM

     

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