Fact Checkers Wanted?

As DG pointed out to me the other day, Dayn Perry just laid out an example of how to be a complete and utter idiot.

If you take a gander at the Spring Training statistics from any year, you'll find some interesting things.

As of Wednesday, for instance, we find that Mets shortstop Jose Reyes is batting only .125, while the Nationals' Shawn Hill has a 2.00 ERA after three starts. So may we rightly surmise that Reyes' career is over and that Hill will win the NL Cy Young this season? Of course not.

However, some of the early statistical goofiness we're seeing on each and every team speaks to a larger point: Spring Training statistics don't mean much.

Despite this fact, many fans and even many managers and front-office "deciders" treat spring numbers as though they are reliable harbingers of doom or glory. Needless to say, this is a mistake. Cactus and Grapefruit league numbers, in point of fact, are wildly unreliable and have little bearing on future performance.

Well, his article might have a point if the real deal Jose B. Reyes was actually batting a buck and quarter, but it was Jose A. Reyes. The catcher of course and not the best player in the universe. Of course people make mistakes, but something like this is rather ridiculous because Dayn Perry writes for one of the biggest sports sites and he is writing about one of the best players.

But enough of Perry's stupidity, let's talk about Jose B. Reyes. Buster Olney picked him to be the NL MVP as he stated in his blog and I doubt that he will be the only one. In fact, a full year of the new and improved Reyes with a bit more power is downright scary. The only thing standing between him being the favorite for NL MVP in my estimation and not being the favorite is a disappointing showing by the Mets this season.

* * *

Rick Peterson is at it again.

"He's just got to understand there are no more stuffed animals to win in the big leagues," he said. "You have to make pitches. Rearing back and throwing as hard as you can toward home plate is no value. It actually has a negative value."

Just what I was waiting for! Validation from Johnny Damon!

"I thought Schoeneweis was the best left-hander out of the pen in our division," Damon said. "He did not give up homers, he knew how to pitch and he's tough. The Mets made a real good signing."

Chan Ho is surely making a strong point for Mike Pelfrey to be included into the big league rotation.

Or in the words of Danny....

Should we let Chan Ho Park know that he can start locating his fastball any day now?

In fact, the situation is getting to the point where Billy Wagner is offering his services to be the fifth starter.

"Three innings, three pitches," he said to himself. Three and three might equal five, in Wagner's case. It was pure fantasy, and hardly one he fancied.

We've been riding Jake pretty hard about Josh Hamilton. But maybe...just maybe...he'll have the last laugh.

"Josh Hamilton," proclaimed longtime Baltimore Orioles advance scout Deacon Jones, "is the story of this spring training. This guy is not to be believed. I saw him the other night, with that power, that bat speed, that plate discipline and then that throwing arm and I said: ‘Whoaaaa. What is this? This guy might be the best I've ever seen.' At one point, I got up and yelled to him: ‘This game ain't this damn easy!' I never saw him before, but now I know why he was the No. 1 pick in '99. This guy's a real player."

Yankee VP of scouting Gene Michael, sitting across the table from Jones, nodded in agreement.

"He's legitimate five tools," Michael said. "It's all there and he hasn't lost anything from what I've seen. The Reds got themselves a tremendous player, but it's always going to be a question. The drugs are always going to be there, waiting to get to him again."

Scary that someone can possess that much talent.

Why must Wendy's have a culinary delight as delicious as the 4-Alarm Spicy Chicken Sandwich and only have it for a limited time?