Close Call

This story says one of two things to me.

1) People within the game really truly were ignorant about the PED use in the clubhouses.
2) People within the game really truly did not care about the PED use in the clubhouses.

If Willie had any sort of pull, the Mets would probably be unjustly in the middle of this shit storm whether or not one player got anything from MacNamee. I have no idea if MacNamee would have been slinging the stuff last season, but it is clearly something that would have been chewed on by the media and spit out time and time again.

Luckily for us and the Mets, Willie has no clout in the organization and has no say in personnel. I do not think MacNamee is an evil guy for supplying some players with the juice and HGH. For me, that is a victimless crime. I think Rick Down might have been trying to help some guy out in an innocent way, but that would have been a flat out disaster.

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It is way to premature to talk about Pedro and a long term contract. I know we all will speak to the intangibles about Pedro's contract, but that just makes us sounds like the people who support David Eckstein.

From a financial standpoint, it really has been a disaster. He was useless for two years. I would be OK with giving him another two years if he gives six healthy months, but I would be very wary and the dollar amount would have to be reasonable. I am not sure $24 million over two years would make me feel all warm and fuzzy, but I guess we will have to see what level he performs at.

Kevin Kernan hits the nail on the head.

Don't do it. Don't change a thing. Be yourself, don't be a robot. Don't tame the tiger, don't try to be like Jeremy Shockey who toned down his act and then fell off the face of the football earth. This isn't the No Fun League, this is baseball.

If you want to change something, lay off the high fastballs and don't joke too much with opponents on second base.

As for all the handshakes, the pure joy of playing, the first-to-third smiles, don't change a thing. Be yourself. Be the player God made you to be with that Hall of Fame personality. If teams like the Marlins think you are showing them up, too bad, you're not, you're just being yourself.

I want to see more choreographed handshakes, I want to see more joy, and I want you to make the game fun for everyone who watches you play. If opponents get upset, that's life.

The crazy part is that it does not seem to be coming from the Mets.

David Wright doesn't want to see you change, especially at Shea. "When the fans get going, it's tough as a visitor to come in there when that place is rocking and Jose is part of that reason because the fans feed off of his energy," Wright said.

Omar Minaya agrees. "I don't want him to change, " he said.

Hopefully Reyes revert back to old Jose when the season changes. The only thing he needs to work on is taking another leap forward in plate discipline and work on getting his GB/FB ratio back up to the 1.38 area.

Kunz is no Joba. Actually, I'm not sure he is half of Joba.

I usually like Billy Wagner, but this is ridiculous.

"If he got that bunt down, I would have drilled the next guy," Wagner said. "Play to win against Villanova."

Frankly, Michigan wanted to win. The Mets did not care. The kids wanted to beat a big league team and played like that.

"He couldn't bring himself to drill the kid," Randolph said. " Nolan Ryan might have. Nolan or Roger [Clemens] may have done it, kid or not."

While the Mets viewed the game as their preseason tuneup, Michigan was fired up, and Randolph mentioned that all the Wolverines' chatter "-- me off a little bit."

They were pumped. Why can't the millionaires let the kids have some fun? Ridiculous.

Also from the above link:

Extra bases

Orlando Hernandez finally threw a batting practice session and looked sharp. El Duque has been delayed by foot problems.

Bill Madden? Wrong.

Just when it seemed baseball was finally rid of Barry Bonds and the terrible blight he has brought upon the game, comes the report in the St. Petersburg Times Monday of internal discussions the Tampa Bay Rays have had recently about the counterfeit all-time home run king.

Why does baseball want to rid themselves of any talent? Would Bill Madden be saying this if the Astros were going to bring back Clemens for half of a season? Did he care when Pettitte came back? Again, Bonds is treated differently. Baseball would be 100% better off having him back because he is one of the top ten baseball players of all time and still performs at a high level. He is a legend and should be playing someone. Yes, he cheated. But if you ask me, it would be a travesty for him to never play again.

Jose Reyes Peaked at 23?

I'm know I'm late on John Sickles' Jose Reyes projection, but I never read it so it's new to me. It is crazy how in the '06 season Jose Reyes had surpassed David Wright in the minds of a lot of Met fans in terms of who is going to be the better overall player. While I do believe we all agree both will be tremendous players and perennial All-Stars, Reyes' ceiling all of a sudden seems limitless. There is talk in the papers about him not only surpassing Jeter in terms of his career, but possibly being better at this point in time. I'm not going to weigh in on that one, but it is nice that things like that can even be discussed.

Back to John Sickels' Crystal Ball. Jose Ryes had 99 runs in '05 and 122 in '06, but only manages to notch over 100 three more times with what should be a potent lineup behind him? He never steals sixty bases again, never hits seventeen triples again after doing it twice in a row and only hits double digits four more times, and only knocks 20+ homers twice. I do get the fact that he does this to only strike up some conversation and this has no significance on reality or is based on anything concrete, but Reyes' career seems a bit low to say the least. Anyway, if you have not checked it out, you should rummage through the comments. There are plenty of anti-Met people that chime in with ridiculous statements, but there is some interesting commentary in there in regards to the topic and it is good to read other points of views.

For me and my thoughts on the topic with no statistic relevance at all factoring in, I think he is going to be a five tool monster that can hit anywhere from first to third in the lineup and produce in any capacity he is asked too. He is going to steal more than 64 bases quite a few times, top twenty triples at least once, hit 20+ homers quite a few more times than two, top 100 runs perennially as does Jeter, and be a magician with the glove. Not that Sickels' career line for Jose is particularly bad, but Reyes is certainly looking like a rare talent that many teams have not come across and might not come across. This kid can be so good it is scary and he is just one of those guys who you need to watch daily to really understand what he is capable of.

Sickels also did David Wright a while back and was a bit more generous, but he has them both curiously retiring at 37 (Reyes) and 36 (Wright). These days, top tier players have the juice to play longer and these two certainly are athletic enough to make it past his predicted retirement ages. I do understand that you just cannot anoint anyone a future Hall of Famer until they show some longevity (see Mark Prior) and I think that plays a lot into his conservative estimates for Reyes and the semi-conservative estimate for Wright.