213 Miles From Shea

When it comes to batters this season, just look at how the player comes up to bat. Are they left handed? Not really interested.

The Mets had major problems facing left handed starters last year as not only the “thump” in the lineup was weakened but our ability to smack hits around the field. Thole was impacted by this. When Thole is at his best, he is getting on base, not necessarily slugging, but just setting up the table for the other strong hitters (if they showed).

This is why the Mets should take a risk on Soto. Soto at his best in the past has had some serious pop for a catcher. At his worst, he’s still a lot better than Mike Nickeas. The past two years Soto has been on the decline but he had a solid three of four seasons between 2008 and 2011. His rookie of the year season was really the last season that he had the full slate of play time but that would work for the Mets. Thole isn’t terrible, and Thole would benefit from having another catcher on roster who was effective with the bat. It would take some of the pressure off of his bat, and probably off of management to play Thole where he would have little success.

I’m normally not a fan of signing someone just to be a platoon, but in this case, with Thole and the state of the Mets, a platoon here would work. And if Soto and can find himself from two years ago, then it could be a steal for the Mets.

Let’s sign Soto!

It has been easy to become a dyspeptic Mets fan the last few years. Injuries. Insipid performances from ownership promising change and not delivering. Some times, the talk of playing competitive ball, or just being a positive fan base sounds like prattle. The Jason Bay contract several years ago is now seen as a document that reeks of meretriciousness. Sometimes following this baseball team has made me feel like a curmudgeon, rather than the youthful, optimistic 23 year old that I should be.

However, the last 24 hours has been a nice, jocular change of pace. Jose Reyes was traded to Toronto, which pretty close to a polar opposite of Miami. In a nice rejoinder of all of the criticism of Mets BFBS alternate uniforms that have been with us through the years, the Mets displayed two new, beautiful color alternates that are filled with team history this morning.

But the icing on the cake, the big moment of the day, was hearing R.A. Dickey’s name announced as the Cy Young award winner. The pitcher whose knuckle ball has become iconoclastic in the small world of knuckleball throwers, breaking every rule about the pitch won the award today that he so deeply deserved. The Mets might not have had a winning record this season, but the Cy Young award has supplanted the dark feelings of being Mets fan.

And honestly that is what Dickey has done all along. He has forced out negative feelings about the Mets because he is so humble, talented, optimistic and realistic that it is impossible to not hope with him, to not achieve with him. His incredible demeanor sometimes feels like an idiosyncrasy when compared to today’s average public portrayal of an athlete, and that is why he is great. For example, Kershaw and Gonzalez both wore T-shirts in their pre-Cy Young interviews. Dickey (and David Price for that matter) knew to dress for the occasion.

R.A. Dickey’s story has been incredible and humbling to follow. He continues to be a source of inspiration for all of us, not just as fans of baseball, but as a source of hope for the human condition. Cheers R.A.

I’ve been pretty giddy since last night. Mid-November comes with serious baseball withdraw when all the news is about minor moves and the body is just starving for something big.

And then the Marlins happened.

The Marlins remind me of my High School Students in that they are extremely reactionary. I teach High School Physics and when I give my students a challenging problem, my students will struggle. That’s the entire point. I don’t expect my students to be able to do the problem right away, I expect them to use their science and math skills to fight through the struggle because that’s the ultimate goal of the class. A significant amount of my students will always push the problem away and announce because they don’t see success directly at this moment, Physics is not for them, its too hard, and I’m crazy.

While I don’t doubt the claims that I’m crazy, eventually the students will change on their first two statements. They struggle, they get through the tough parts, they grow, they succeed. They graduate.

The Marlins trade last night shows they handle stress like my High School students. They spent money, they didn’t see success. Their reaction was to blow it all up and start all over again. A lot of baseball writers, myself included, expected this move to happen eventually, just not like this. We expected in two seasons from now for the Marlins to strip their roster player by player as they got older so the team could get younger. It seems common, I don’t have numbers to back me up right now, but teams that go dramatic roster shifts with spending money don’t hit their peak in their first year. The 2005 Mets needed some extra work to be successful in 2006. The 2012 Angels didn’t perform as well as they should have on paper, but there’s a lot reason to believe they will be serious in 2013. The Heat were not the Heat we were expecting after they signed the Big Three, but the year after was different.

The Marlins displayed last night they have a patience problem.

Now it is possible they might have hit gold with the prospects last night, but there is also reason to believe they could have delayed a move like this one more season to try to see if they can make a run for the championship this year. Financial flexibility is extremely valuable, and it is what the Marlins got in this trade, but championships are the most valuable.

In a headline that seems fake, the Marlins trade Jose Reyes, Mark Buehrle, Josh Johnson, John Buck and Emilio Bonifacio for a set of players that seems to be changing every few minutes, so I’ll update that tomorrow.

After this summer’s salary dump between Los Angeles and Boston, I never thought we would see anything similar, but then this happened. Basically, if you were making money with the Marlins, you now play in Toronto. Or as my roommate eloquently put it, “How crazy would it be if you decided to play in Miami to be in Miami and then they told you suprise! You’re going to Toronto.”

Personally I’m excited about this trade because:

– Now the amount of times I have to type “Buehrle” is significantly decreased
– The Mets no longer have to face Josh Johnson
– I no longer feel guilty if I want to root for Reyes

On a serious note, this does change the landscape in baseball. Depending on what the Marlins get in return, this knocks their trajectory of success back to when the Mets should be successful (instead of the Mets rising while the Marlins age and are weighed down by costly contracts). Toronto becomes an instant contender. Jose Reyes is an upgrade and Josh Johnson, if healthy is an absolute steal. Plus if Buehrle doesn’t have to be ace or second ace of the staff, the team is completely rebuilt.

But honestly, this whole situation is hilarious.

Earlier this month Nickeas cleared waivers as he was removed from the 40 man roster. He was assigned to Triple A Las Vegas (which still is odd to type).

Yesterday, Mike Nickeas elected free agency, ending his current time with the Mets, not withstanding a reunion. Mike is 29 years old, and in three seasons over 172 AB’s he batted .180 with 12 runs, 31 hits, 4 doubles, 2 homers and 19 RBI’s. I was at the game this year when he hit his really improbable grand slam in the stomping of the Giants.

Even though Mike was only up with the Mets for three seasons, and really only two seasons (2010 he played only 5 games) it felt like Mike was with us longer. This year more than others, he seemed more important than he was in that his existence on the roster represented what was wrong with the Mets as a whole. Happy Trails Mike. You were a nice guy, just not the direction the team needed.

(Although, I have an odd feeling that he may be back, and I don’t know why)

A couple of days ago, the Astros unveiled the worst kept secret this offseason as they showed off their new uniforms. We’ll step through later this week.

An interesting note was made about the Astros BP uniform, that it will double as the Astros second alternative uniform on Sundays for games:

So far this doesn’t impact the Mets at all, until you put the pieces together about the Mets uniforms for next year. Rumors have been circulating that the Mets will have two new Blue alternate uniforms, but one of them sounded identical to the BP uniform the Mets had last year. That would mean the Mets would either need a new batting practice uniform, which is still a possibility, and would be the 7th uniform for the Mets next year. Or the Mets may double on their blue uniform and wear it during games. Or, the BP and the Blue uniform would look identical and just be made out of different material.

I guess we’ll find out in two weeks.

I escaped Newark this weekend to get some electricity, and I’ve been working backwards through what was apparently a very busy week in baseball. I came across this small headline:

“Braves claim Jordan Schafer from Astros”

Now that seems like a small move, which it is. But that name should sound familiar to you.

Jordan Schafer was traded from the Braves to the Astros! He was the centerpiece of the Braves package! Back in 2011 the Braves traded Schafer along with minor leaguers Brett Oberholtzer, Paul Clemens, and Juan Abreu.

Schafer will be 26 next season and still hasn’t lived up to his initial hype, thus why he was put on waivers to begin with. I also find it odd though when a player gets traded from their home organization to then immediately returned to that same organization.

Nyjer Morgan elected for Free Agency today after declining a placement to Triple A (he was removed from the 40 man last year).

If the price is right, and I’m talking minor league contract right, I think the Mets should take a risk on Nyjer Morgan.

The Mets OF ended up being a revolving door last year with players not grasping the opportunity of other players failing to play at a major league level. If we ignore the possibility of talent in Morgan, he could at least kick start the competition in spring to bring out everyone’s best.

In four of his six seasons in the majors, Morgan has hit over .294, including twice over .300. Two of his last three seasons were his worst hitting .253 and most recently .239.

The strong reason against Morgan is that he lacks power, which is what the Mets need, however he does have a lot of speed and if he can be had for cheap, he could be an interesting back up piece in the outfield. If he has an average season, he’ll probably rack up 25 steals, about 15 doubles, 4 triples and 2 homers. His best asset is his defense, which would be welcomed in Citi Field.

Thoughts?