213 Miles From Shea

Metsblog posted today portions of fan Q&A with R.A. Dickey.

At one point, Dickey was asked if he was going to still throw two speeds of Knuckleballs, to which he responded “3”.

What does this actually mean?

I haven’t found anything about him pitching or practicing yet an even faster knuckleball, or a slower one, so I doubt that (although if someone can find a link and post it, then I’ll gladley accept it and cross out the rest of this article).

What I’m interpretting this to mean is that he is throwing an in between pitch, maybe even closer to a traditional knuckleball, and he is labeling it as a 3rd speed now. R.A.’s normal knuckleball is a lot faster than normal knuckleballs, and his slow pitch, that he used a few times a game last year, is much slower, so I wonder now if he is using a normal speed one as well.

If he is, I am interested to see how he mixes them up.

Ever wanted to watch a guy get his hair cut for 11 minutes?

You’re Welcome…I guess.

But seriously, the most ridiculous part of that video is probably his hair being authenticated. Really baseball? He is donating his hair to charity.

As odd as him getting his hair authenticated is, it still isn’t as odd as the entire hair cut being televised.

The new Blue Jays logo is awesome. Really classy.

The old one wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t as good as the new one.

After a day walking around New York City on Saturday, I will never see the old Toronto logo in the same eyes ever again. I am very interested in street art, graffiti and how different groups take popular symbols and put a twist on them. I was walking down Sixth Ave on Saturday (South of 16th Street) and saw a sticker for the New York City Green Jays on a cross walk post.

You can see the logo on their facebook page.

The New York Green Jays, as they describe themselves are a group that celebrates the diversity of art in New York City, and their logo recreation is clever, timely, and represents their youth movement.

I just have a feeling the Toronto Blue Jays wouldn’t be too thrilled about it.

There was a post on MLB Trade Rumors this week that explains how interesting of a position the Orioles are in. The article just lists 11 players on the Mets 40 man roster, who are now out of Options, yet are all pretty much competing for spots on the 25 man roster. The players below have a lot of qualities in common, like they were touted prospects who didn’t pan out. A few of them are victims of horrible Orioles management, others are victims of other teams messing up, and then being picked up by the Orioles bargain hunting strategy.

Could their mistakes be the fortunes of other teams at the end of Spring looking to plug up holes? Like the Mets bench search? Here is the list of players:

• Robert Andino
• Chris Davis
• Dana Eveland
• Jim Johnson
• Jai Miller
• Troy Patton
• Clay Rapada
• Nolan Reimold
• Alfredo Simon
• Pedro Strop
• Taylor Teagarden

There are few names that jump out on the list. For Example, there are some names that the Orioles will try their hardest to keep on the roster. However, as they look for veteran bats, other names might become available in a small time trade. Nolan Reimold is a right handed bat that would interest me. I don’t know where he would fit on the Mets, but he’s interesting. I saw him play in the minors and he had a lot of pop, a LOT of pop, but he didn’t pan out in the majors, yet.

Ultimately, I don’t think this list really impacts the Mets at all, but it may make for an interesting Spring in terms of trades, claims, especially in Baltimore.

The Mets rotation, for better or for worse, is set for 2012: Santana (or replacement), Pelfrey, Dickey, Gee and Niese. The Mets also look between the end of this year and 2014 to add several young pitchers, like Familia, Harvey, Wheeler and maybe Mejia.

So I wonder if the Mets could benefit from what will be a crowded All-Star pitching Free Agent market next season. With Edwin Jackson signing a one year deal today, and Oswalt predicting to sign one, that means these pitchers will join Matt Cain, Anibal Sanchez, Zach Grienke, and Cole Hamels next year on the market (credit: MLB Trade Rumors for the information).

That list has a lot of players, looking for long term deals. This year’s market saw one pitcher, Edwin Jackson, kill his hunt for a long multi-year deal to try the market again for next season. With 6 strong starters currently on the market for next season, one has to wonder if there is enough room for ALL of them to sign long term deals.

Maybe one of them looks to pull what Edwin Jackson did this season. If that happens, the Mets should jump on that opportunity. It would be a small time investmetn, albeit expensive, for a player who will be competing for a contract all season long. The Mets will be looking for pitchers not to clog the rotation for young starters, and it would be good for the Mets young starters to be around these pitchers.

Right now, the Mets by far have the worst rotation in the division. Our rotation isn’t terrible, but everyone else has one that ranks “Very Good” or better, or just doesn’t have as many health question marks. Thinking on a multiyear level, the Mets could set themselves up nicely for 2014, 2015 if they play their cards right before the 2013 season.

This, of course, comes down to finances. The Mets are projected right now to the have the largest single season drop in payroll in MLB history, but with minority shares getting ready to be sold, and the debt hopefully about the paid off, maybe by the grace of the baseball Gods the Mets will be able to correctly invest in their own team again.

I don’t have long to mark this special occasion, so maybe I will later on this week (I’m a high school teacher an the first semester is coming to a conclusion today) but I wanted to drop a note about the fifth year anniversary of this website!

It was five years ago today that I started this website as a way to vent about being a Mets fan, and I wanted to thank all of you who read this website and share in the experience with me.

One thing that is hard to believe is that I was the same age as my students right now when I started this website.

Another item that is hard to believe is the difference between the Mets then and now. I started this website after the let down of 2006, without the darkness of 2007 and 2008 ahead. Without the injuries of 2009 and 2010. With no knowledge of the mediocrity of 2011. With no hint of financial disaster that would smear over several seasons. This website was born in the peak of the Minaya era and is now in the sitting in the largest budget reduction in baseball history.

It has been an interesting five years. Thank you for your support and I hope to continue to bring baseball commentary to you for years to come.

-Elliot Teichman