213 Miles From Shea

A thought crossed my mind early in 2013, “Hey! The All-Star Game is coming to New York and I’m a teacher, maybe I should volunteer to work the event!” After I realized that would most likely mean watching other people have fun at All-Star Fan Fest, I changed my mind and just went as a fan instead.

There are a lot of reasons why I did that, but mostly because of how I value volunteer work. Volunteering is something I take seriously. I was in Alpha Phi Omega, a Co-ed Service Fraternity throughout college and encourage my students to find ways to give back and support our community. I felt weird volunteering for the MLB because first it would be self-serving my interests in baseball but more because it would be donating my time to “the man”. What would I really accomplish volunteering for the All-Star Game? I’m not really helping a major issue and I’m saving a giant entity, the MLB money under the guise of putting a good face on for my city.

(It is a good time to point out that I’m not upset with people who do volunteer, just upset at the system that it has become).

In the end, if a major sports league wants to show a nice gesture to its host city, why not pay the members of the city who come out to work for it? That’s what is happening with the All-Star Volunteer now with a class action lawsuit.

Tomorrow is the Super Bowl and if you’ve been around the NY / NJ area, you’ve probably seen the Superbowl volunteers in their bright, yellow VISA jackets. These are good people (I’m friends with at least one) and I’m glad they got some nice swag (jacket, shirts, hats and gloves) but they are also putting in a lot of work and gave up the rights to pay to do this. The difference with the Super Bowl volunteers and the All-Star volunteers is depending where you are placed, you might not get to experience anything related to the event. For example, I live in Brick City (Newark), home of historic Penn Station (it is always so awkward when tourists get on the PATH train at the World Train Center, thinking it is going to Penn Station Newark, which I’ve seen happen twice in the last 3 years, and I only ride the path 4-6 times a month). I saw 6 Super Bowl volunteers in the station today.

Why?

What use are they there? Especially with the HEAVY amount of Port Authority officers there that could have easily done their jobs.

I also saw a volunteer reading on a Kindle at his post (I’m not revealing in what state/train station/street to protect this person). I don’t blame him! It was utterly boring! No one was concerned with the Superbowl where this person was and if someone has the same post tomorrow night, they won’t even be able to see the game!

It feels weird complaining about people volunteering in the sense that I’m complaining that they don’t receive a lot of benefit. It almost contradicts the definition of volunteering. When you consider though that the NFL is a tax-exempt organization due to a provision in the 501 c6 rules that include football leagues, it feels like a slap in the face.

Personally, I feel volunteering for the Superbowl host community is like volunteering at a Walmart on Black Friday (which I hope doesn’t exist). Both situations you have to be truly altruistic, you are trying to make people have a more positive experience, and you are, maybe without noticing it, helping one of the richest organizations/corporations keep more profit.

I truly hope the Superbowl volunteers have had a good experience being part of the event and I also hope that next year, in Arizona, the NFL starts to pay their workers because when you volunteer for the NFL, you are an unpaid worker.

Terry Collins hinted at a Mets position battle in Center Field yesterday on Mets Hot Stove between Chris Young and Juan Lagares. I’m hoping that this is Terry being more political than anything else because statistically speaking Juan Lagares should be in center. Chris Young is an above average fielder but Lagares has proven to be ridiculous. Last year one could, I did, make the case for Juan Lagares to win a golden glove.

Juan Lagares should be in the outfield.

Curtis Granderson should be in the outfield.

Most of the time, Chris Young should be in the outfield.

And, there are three outfield positions! The question where does this leave Eric Young Jr. and Lucas Duda. Both could platoon with Chris Young and there could be heavy rotation in the outfield, maybe Lagares gets mixed into that rotation more often than a normal player does (one day off every week rather than two?)

My rationale comes down to defense and need. Lagares, Granderson and Chris Young are the three best defenders in the Mets outfield. Lagares has the potential to do something special in the outfield after his season last year.

David Wright needs protection in the line up. Granderson then has to play every day. Besides, why do you get Granderson if you don’t play him everyday? Luckily no one is suggesting he won’t play every day so this is a mute point.

This leads to three players for the last outfield spot: Duda, Chris Young and Eric Young Jr. It should come down to Spring Training to shake this down.

This is the seventh anniversary of the start of this blog.

Thanks for reading all of these years! Looking forward to year 8!

The Mets drafted Reese Havens in 2008, back then, the Mets were finally able to draft players in the first round after a couple of years of signing their draft picks away. In 2008, the Mets drafted Ike Davis, Brad Holt and Reese Havens. Havens was instantly considered a prospect in the middle infield. Back in 2009, I wrote a prospect preview and in 2008 I wrote a draft pick review, both covering his status as a prospect and his stats in college.

He was considered a Mets Top Ten Prospect by Baseball America for a while:

• 2009 – #8
• 2010 – #7
• 2011 – #6
• 2012 – #9

Reese Havens was constantly held back by injuries. Each of those seasons above saw a multitude of articles predicting his future in the middle of the Mets infield, especially at a time where second base was a mystery (pre-Murphy Mets) and a need at short stop (post-Reyes Mets). Its sad that injuries curtailed his career.

Wishing him the best on his future endeavors!

As mentioned in an earlier post, the Minnesota Twins will be wearing four sleeve patches this season. Normally they have three patches, but the All-Star game requires another patch. Right now, they wear two patches at a time, one being the All-Star game and the other being the base patch for the jerseys.

The earlier post did a poor job of showing the patches, so the purpose here is just to offer a closer view of patches:

All Star Game Patch, Road Patch (Both Road Jerseys)

Home Patch, Home Alternate Retro Patch

(All images from the Minnesota Twins Shop)

With the Mets not trading Davis or Duda, the Mets will have an interesting situation at Spring Training. The Mets have the following players in the outfield and at first base, creating a bit of a log jam on the bench:

First Base:

• Ike Davis
• Lucas Duda
• Josh Satin
• Wilmer Flores

Outfield:

• Curtis Granderson
• Chris Young
• Juan Lagares
• Eric Young Jr.
• Lucas Duda
• Matt den dekker
• Captain Kirk

Flores is only listed at first because of his bat and no natural position anywhere else. He has an outside, outside, like Major League “just a bit outside” chance at first. Josh Satin lines up as the most logical back up for first base because of his splits and how he hits where Duda and Davis can’t.

Granderson and Lagares are locks in the outfield.

Chris Young is a much better defender than Lucas Duda, which is why he should start much more often than Duda in outfield. Duda and Young though match on the platoon side. Duda has a .356 OBP against right handers vs .302 against lefties. His OPS also goes from .812 to .643 from RHP to LHP. Chris Young goes from .295 OBP to .363 from RHP to LHP. His OPS goes from .710 vs RHP to .929.

From the data, Chris Young should pretty much always play when the Mets play against a Left Handed Pitcher. Between Chris Young’s defense, offense, and track record, he should also have some playing against RHP’s as well, as long as Duda isn’t in a hot streak. This is frustrating because Duda has potential, but is being placed out here due to defense and a similar player in Ike.

Ike on the other hand will probably split time with Satin, from a statistics sense it is logical. Ike Davis has an OPS of .827 vs RHP and .602 vs LHP. In limited major league experience, Satin has .661 vs RHP and an .862 OPS vs LHP. However if Ike struggles, then Duda should also see time at first. If Satin struggles, then one of Davis or Duda will see time at first vs LHP.

What makes this frustrating is by having both Davis and Duda, it makes the Mets have the possibility for four part time players (Chris Young, Ike Davis, Lucas Duda, and Josh Satin). By having so many player combinations, the Mets will need to have superior communication in the field for proper defense.

It also begs for a situation where one of Davis or Duda could still be traded, thus quieting this heavy rotation between outfield, first base and bench.