The Eternal Question...

Rob (DE): In your blog today, you linked to a great article about why the Twins have failed this season. But not giving ABs to Punto and Tyner seems so obvious? Why doesnt Terry Ryan, who has done a great job of judging talent (specifically pitching) not get this?

SportsNation Rob Neyer: (12:24 PM ET ) Everybody's got their blind spots, I guess. remember Mike Hargrove and Willie Bloomquist?

This list can go on and on in regards to egregious moves. In Kansas City where John Buck, a once highly touted catching prospect who is still young, has sixteen homers in limited action and is still mysteriously sharing time with Jason LaRue. A bad Cincinnati team failing to move Scott Hattenberg for a bag of balls to get top prospect Joey Votto some time or Naron not letting Edwin Encarnacion play through early struggles.

Conveniently enough as I decided to write this, it was a hot topic in the chats.

Jared (NJ): What's your opinion of Milledge's perfomance so far? It seems to me he shouldbe in right field 4 out ot 5 days SportsNation Keith Law: (2:10 PM ET ) He should be out there every day, no? Shawn Green is awful.

Of course Lastings should see most of the time in right moving forward, but some moves that are seemingly plain to see by normal human beings are not acted upon by managers. It could be either riding someone for so long while viable and better options exist or a bad team not letting their young guys get much needed exposure while the team his headed nowhere anyway. In the case of Rickie Weeks, it is understandable why Yost could simply not stick with him. But conversely in the middle of a race, veterans will be given a leash equivalent to the circumference of Michael Kaye's gigantic head.

I agree, Gutierrez should definitely be getting playing time. The thing that people forget about seemingly harmless, low-cost signings of past-their-prime players is that managers can become enamored with that kind of guy, and ace better talent out of playing time as a result. Trot Nixon has had a very good career, but he should be a bench player at this point.

Why managers become enamored with this guys are beyond me. These are questions that will never get fully answered but one has to assume they remember the good 'ole days when they did produce. The funny part is that you can go around to any fanbase and you will see similar things occurring where fans are howling about some guy. Bring up Shelly Duncan, bring up Adam Jones, bring up 8 pound 6 ounce baby jebus, let Lastings play, Joe Borowski must die, etc. Sometimes they straighten out, but generally, these guys are baked.

But the eternal question remains, why do some managers refuse to do right thing?

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In contrast to the above piece, there are simply times where you have to sit idly by and let these veterans muddle though. You have to be able to see when there is no upside as in the case of Green and Nixon and you have to be able to see that their strength and athleticism is gone and their declines have been steady and not quick ones. Also, you have to be able to understand when it is a guy like Delgado or Andruw Jones. Those guys at least have upside.

Delgado's decline was unpredictable and you had to believe he was going to pick it up. Drop him in the order? Sure. But you simply cannot bench him because there was little reason to believe he was as bad as he was showing earlier in the season. He was killing the team and in all likelihood is done being a .300 hitter, but he is a solid #5 hitter at this stage since he still possesses some pop. It is not black and white and you have to use a little common sense to see who is done and who to keep the faith in.

Sorry we ate your forefathers. Hey, at least they apologized.

Travis (Mad Town): Hey Keith, Revisiting the 05 draft Who would you go with now Braun, Zimmerman, or Gordon?

SportsNation Keith Law: (2:35 PM ET ) Oddly enough, same way I had them at the time. Gordon, Tulowitzki, Braun, Zimmerman. You'll notice a certain LHP who's not on there.

Ziiiiinnnggg!! Of course you remember that the Blue Jays drafted Rickey Romero who was a good lefty handed prospect, but not one you would likely consider that high with all that talent in the draft. Of course the Mets took Mike Pelfrey and the early returns have not been good and I'm often daydreaming of their second choice, Jay Bruce, in a Met uniform.

David Wright and Willie predict a gold glove for Jose, but Vizquel probably has something to say about that. He'll win it until he retires and I thought a mockery was being made by voting him in just because he's won it so many times. I thought that until I watched the Giants play the Mets and he was tighter than a camel's asshole in a sandstorm.

Not that Jose has not necessarily played even with him or even slightly better, but a tie goes to the incumbent Gold Glover and Vizquel is still pretty damn amazing.

Endy is on his way back and played in his first rehab game today Of course there is not much room for him in the outfield, but that is another issue altogether.

Pedro Watch '07 continues.

PEDRO WATCH: The Mets confirmed that Pedro Martinez's next rehab start is scheduled for Monday with high-A St. Lucie, during a doubleheader that begins at 5 p.m. against Brevard County. Martinez, working his way back from right shoulder surgery, retired the first 10 rookie-level Gulf Coast League batters he faced Tuesday before surrendering a three-run homer in the fourth inning during a 60-pitch outing.

I thought he would be put up against AA batters but I guess not. I'm not sure if this means two more starts no matter what or whether one more good start means he hits the bigs next.

Also from the above link, Joe Smith is feeling better.

"I really haven't got hit hard," Smith said. "Everything is coming back like I thought it would. I've got confidence. My fastball is sinking."

The Mets have added a new member to the family:

The Mets' latest international signing comes from Europe. Team officials announced the signing of 18-year-old third baseman Marinus Vernooij from Rotterdam, Holland.

If he can regain early season form, that is obviously a huge boost for the Mets World Series aspirations.

The Mets are rolling in the dough and spent the 9th least out of team in the first ten rounds.

They plunked down $3,328,800 and only the Phillies, Marlins, Brewers, White Sox, Indians, Twins, Angels, and Astros spent less. The Astros spent $536,000 and did not have a pick until the third round, which makes their failure to sign their top two picks a joke. Anyone still think they shouldn't Oswalt and try and rebuild what has quickly become a disaster?

The Orioles, Nationals, Yankees, Tigers, and Devil Rays round out the top five with $7 million + spent each, which is no surprise when you see what they spent in the first round.

In regards to Efferson, it looks as though the Mets failed to sign him.

That game last night was ugly. Heilman made a mistake fielding the bunt and didn't get all that much help afterwards. Rough loss, but they take the series and it's onto DC to play the tougher than people think Nationals.

I think I'm going to alternate negative and positive posts....the next one will be positive one. Good times!