213 Miles From Shea

Hello fellow Mets fans. In the celebration of the holiday spirit, I decided to jot down a quick list of things I am thankful for as a Mets Fan:

1. I'm Thankful the Mets have someone leading the front office who has a clear plan in mind. This isn't a swipe at Omar, I think he had a plan too when he came here, but his plan over the last few years became to resurrect his previous plan. So I'm thankful for a fresh plan and a fresh direction.

2. I'm Thankful for Alderson announcing next season there will be a wide open competition for second base.

3. I'm thankful that it isn't September 2007 anymore.

4. I'm thankful ownership finally decided to retire 31 and 17…..Oh wait that hasn't happened yet. Maybe next year?

5. I'm thankful for being part of a passionate fan base.

6. I'm thankful that Oliver Perez has one year left on his contract.

7. I'm thankful that the Mets drafted Ike Davis.

8. I'm thankful that people read this website.

9. I'm thankful for the Mets finally giving Angel Pagan a chance.

10. Finally, I'm thankful that the Mets will be playing baseball (or something resembling baseball) next season.

Have a great Thanksgiving Everyone!

Willie Randolph gets a reunion of sorts as he has rounded out the Baltimore Coaching Staff as the Orioles bench coach, according to the Baltimore Sun. The Sun is quick to point out that Showalter (the Orioles Manager) was the first person to give Randolph a coaching job in 1994 and was looking for a bench coach with a lot of experience.

From what I know about Showalter, living in the Baltimore/DC area, I think this was a good move for the Orioles, if you like coaching staffs with little disagreement among the ranks. Willie Is a no bull type, but can also be passive during games. This is fine for him because Showalter is also a no bull manager, but as a manager, Buck has some fire. So the two not only balance each other out but fill the roles quite nicely.

If you noticed I slipped that “with little disagreement” phrase in my above analysis. The weakness I see here is that Randolph and Buck are pretty similar so while this makes a uniform managerial staff, the drawback could be a stale slate of ideas when it comes to what to do for a given situation. Given Buck's record though, he really doesn't need that much help with ideas.

All in all, congrats Randolph and I hope you enjoy Baltimore. It's a nice city.

Well, as thought earlier this month by just about every Mets pundit out there, the Mets Manager job was Terry Collin's to lose, and he didn't lose it. So presenting your new manager, Terry Collins.

From summarizing a lot of different sources at once (ie, these are not my original ideas, but the ideas of so many Mets people across the land that they have been socially constructed to be the blanket, uniform, Mets opinion of Collins) Terry essentially has some quality that every candidate for the job had. In other words, if you ranked the qualities the other managers would have brought (like passion, intelligence, etc) Collins would not have listed #1 on any of them, but probably #2 on all of them.

It's like when you build a player in a video game, an instead of making that character really good in one category (like hitting for power from the right side) and making other areas really weak (agility in the field), the Mets chose a Manager who is good in every area they are looking for, but not great in anyone particular area.

Once the details on his contract are released, and the information on the coaching staff is known, I'll have a full opinion on the hiring. It would be irresponsible for me right now to commit fully to an opinion without all the information.

Congrats Terry! Here's hoping for some rings.

The majority of the coverage for the better part of a month on this blog has been about the future of the Mets Manager, since that really has been the news for the Mets over that period of time. For a change of pace, lets look at some of the winter progress of Amazin's who went abroad for the winter in order to practice and get ready for the 2010 campaign.

Let's start with Olver Perez. Good News! He has won a game! Better news! He hasn't lost! Yeah! He's 1-0.

What I just did was a total misrepresentation of his stats. His first outing, which was an inning, really has been his only clean outing. So far he has pitched 5.0 innings and has allowed 5 ER. In addition he has allowed 7 hits, 3 BB and 6 K's over that period of time. So the only thing he is doing well is striking batters out, but he is still having some tremendous problems as a pitcher, and I really hope he pulls it around soon because I just don't think I can handle another season of him.

Murphy is having a pretty good winter so far, and could make things complicated again, among Mets fans and Management, as his numbers suggest that he should be playing somewhere on the team next year. He is batting .312 over 90+ AB so far with 6 2B, 3B, and 3 HR. He also adds to that about 9 BB so he has a OBP of .365. He is currently leading his team with 18 RBI's.

In case you wondering, Jesus Feliciano also plays winter ball. He's hitting .278 right now, continuing his life of just getting hits.

Also, fun fact, Julio Franco manages a winter team.

One aspect of Baseball that stands out from the other major sport leagues in this nation is the playoff system. A team has to be a good team to make the playoffs since only 4 teams from each league get into the playoffs, not 50% of the league like a few other sports.It was a huge deal the last time a Wild Card team was added to the season, and I think that was a good idea when you think about it. Expanding playoffs from 4 to 8 teams didn't diminish the talent in the playoffs too much as there is enough talent to field 8 good teams, as long as each division is strong. Plus, the league was expanding over time in the amount of teams that made it up.

However, baseball now wants to add two more Wild Card teams, one for each league, and then have a play in game, or a best of three series to get the actual Wild Card Spot. This only becomes a viable addition to the post-season when there are several strong teams pushing for the Wild-Card spot at the end of the season, then this Wild Card game or series could be exciting (think of the story lines).

The main problem for this new system comes when the league is dominated by four teams. When a league is dominated by four teams, that fifth team diminishes the playoffs. If that team somehow has a better day than that other Wild Card team in that play-in game, then all of a sudden the playoff field gets that much weaker. There are also two other smaller issues. First, this could cause, especially if its a best of three, extra rest for the other playoff teams. We have seen in the past teams with too much rest falling apart in the playoffs, plus the season would have to be shortened otherwise the season would almost always go into November (unless started in March). Finally, this just reeks of greed. Generally, the teams that just miss the playoffs if they didn't make it are big market teams.

Overall, right now there is no need to add extra teams into the Playoff system. So just don't do it.

On the front cover the New York Times today (story by Michael S. Schmidt) is a story about the controversy surrounding investors in America and Baseball Camps in the Dominican Republic. The New York Times found the a critical voice against this issue (to be explained momentarily) in the new GM of the Mets, Sandy Alderson and after reading his comments, I am glad and proud that he represents the New York Mets organization.

The controversy starts off as something that should be beneficial, but as many things that involve large trade offs of money, turns sinister. As Baseball teams have become more competitive over getting young talent from other countries, people have in turn opened up Baseball Camps. Students as young as 13 or 14 can enroll in these camps and learn about baseball, but they have to give up their education to do so. These camps fund these students with equipment and money to their families in return for taking a cut of their first contract and signing bonus. Sandy basically put in the best possible way what is actually occurring:

“If the investment is benefiting the player in some way and improving his circumstances, providing as I said, educational opportunities, etc, then it can be a good thing. But generally speaking, there is no assurance that is happening.”

The article then goes on an talks about the differences among camps that are being supported by a variety of people in the United States. These camps could be nice but there also a lot of instances of camps that feel like prisons. They are surrounded by concrete walls and barbed wire and all of the players have to sleep in one room. Ones that have houses aren't better as the players are packed into the main room. The conditions are poor at best.

This is how the article ends, “Mr. Alderson said he hoped the American investors realized their investments were teenagers, many who will never reach the major leagues. 'These people who have given up other possibilities, forgone other opportunities have not gone to school,' Mr. Alderson said. 'It's not just mailing in a check to some mutual fund and hoping that you're going to get a return.'”

I agree with all of Sandy's points here. In an ideal world these camps are a good idea if the students that are in them have good to great living conditions and if they are also still going to school (that is key). The fact that people are paying for them to not have to go to school anymore, and then risk a lot by not getting into a major league organization is disturbing. It's essentially making risking investments where all the investor looses is money, but the investment, the player, can loose a whole lot more. I expect this to eventually become an issue that the MLB will have to deal with, and I'm glad Alderson is on the right side on this issue early.

The field for the for the next manager of the Amazin's has entered the second round. Where well over a dozen people were considered by the media, and probably slightly less than 10 were actually interviewed, the Mets Front Office has made its announcement for the final four contenders. Not in the group is Clint Hurdle, who as of last week was picking up steam as a dark horse candidate, but he has taken the top job out in Pittsburgh. Without any further delay, here are the Mets top four choices, to be interviewed in Orlando soon:

Wally Backman: This surprised me. I still do not think he will be the Mets next manager, but he is in this round. He must have said something amazing in that first interview, or maybe they are trying to get him to be seriously considered for a bench position, or a higher up managerial spot in the minors.

Chip Hale: Hale I am not as surprised to see him in the final round. Although he has not had major league experience as a manager, he seems to be a leader on this club and takes winning seriously. I could get behind a Hale ran team.

Terry Collins: Considered by many to be on the fast track for the manager job, I'm still not entirely sure of his appeal. I wouldn't be against him as manager, but its not him that I'm looking for.

Bob Melvin: I used to be very much against Melvin. Now I have a different perspective. He has been with the team for a while in scouting, so he has a good idea of talent, he has some more recent managerial experience as an MLB manager I have a lot of respect for his baseball knowledge

Ultimately, the Mets need a smart manager who can handle what will hopefully be two very different seasons over the next two yeas as next season is shaping up to be a combination of a lame duck, lets see if we can win with these pieces, season as there really isn't much the Mets can do / a rebuilding season, and 2012 seems to be a season where the Mets could make a lot of moves.

Well it looks pretty clear, or really clear, at this point that Lee Mazzilli will not be candidate for the Mets Manager job. It just doesn't seem like its going to happen. Sandy has his plan, I have my own plan, Sandy is a GM with a fantastic resume, I'm a blogger who does this as a hobby and is really a scientist, so in the end, I'll trust Sandy. I guess I'm just bitter my boy didn't get a shot to interview, but I'm happy with the remaining candidates and I'm happy with the new front office, so I'm not going to be upset at it. I had two stories ready to go for an article in case Lee was offered an interview, and I'm not one to waste good pre-writing, so without further ado, here are my two favorite Lee Mazzilli stories.

The first is one that I experienced first hand. When I was in High School, Lee was the manager of the Baltimore Orioles, and held the helm of the last time it felt like the Orioles actually had a shot to make some noise (seriously, that was a feeling back in the beginning of the 21st century). There was one game, it was during interleague play, that would be hard to forget. It was right around the time that the Orioles were starting to slip and the Red Sox and Yankees were roaring. The Orioles were playing the Rockies, for some reason (I'll hold my opinion on Interleague Play) and one of my favorite batters (also for no reason in particular) was at the plate: Chris Gomez. Gomez took a pitch and sent it right the left field corner. Was it a homer? Did it curl foul? The umpire called it foul and then Lee just went off. Also important to note is at the time, I would say because he was a New Yorker but I'm biased, he was losing the public opinion. Well Lee let the umpire have it. He argued for a while on the field, got his money's worth, and then went back into the dugout. He then proceeded to pick up the box holding the bubblegum and tossed it all over the field. The crowd loved it, and loved him for the day.

By the way, the ball was foul.

My other favorite Lee Mazzilli story was one that I didnt experience first hand. I wasn't even close to be being born yet. Thankfully, I was able to experience it thanks to the fantastic book The Bad Guys Won, By Jeff Pearlman:

“As Mazzill's Q-rating increased, his attitude went polar. He pouted when, to make room for Wilson, manager Joe Torre made him play first base or a corner outfield position, and he irked older teammates by strutting around the stadium like a ten-year veteran. Cazeneuve, the batboy turned right fielder remembers sitting at a table in the clubhouse before a Spring Training game, quietly eating an egg and imitation bacon sandwich, when out nowhere Mazzilli picked it up and took a big bite. ” What's this shit?” he mumbled. Cazeneuve, a vegetarian, explained to Mazzilli that it was homemade and healthy. “Okay,” said Mazzilli. “If that's the case” He then shoved the entire sandwich in his mouth leaving Cazeveuve stunned.”

I'm not sure what it is about that story, but it always makes me laugh.

I know this isn't new. I know this is highly reported.

Bill Jone's Gumball Helmet Collection is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen in sports. To be frank, I think I'm at the level of obssessed with it. Jones has been creating Gumball Helmets for a while, and while a lot of the story has been documented here, the article has fallen to a terrible epidemic on the internet: link rot. Since the article was written a long time ago, a lot of the links have disappeared. What is so incredible about his work is that it merges the old time collectible of the Gumball Helmet with the era of a zillion minor league teams and baseball gimicks.

After discovering that, I decided to look on the internet for more Jones work. His peices of art (and I really mean art) are frequently featured on Uni Watch Blog, and after a lot of searcing, I believe I found his flckr stream.

Anyway here are some links to some of the gem's in his collection:

Just a Portion his massive Minor League Baseball Helmet Collection. Around the middle of the page are the three Cyclone hats.

Yeah, this guy has ever gimick covered. I mean every gimick.

Yes, these are Gumball Helmets for the newly formed Austrailian Baseball League.

Look, its all really impressive so check it out. Also, if you know any other collections you think I should highlight, let me know!

Well fans, we are essentially about to be in the full swing of Mets Manager Interviews as they have just started to go underway and more interviews are being set up for next week. Here is a recap, with information mostly collected from Mets Blog, of the people who have had confirmed interviews to become the Mets skipper –

Ken Oberkfell – Oberkfell is currently the manager for the Bisons and has a fairly impressive non-Major League managing resume. He is the manager right now for a team in the Dominican (the same team that he led to the championship last season) and in 2005 he was the Minor League Manager of the year. As a player he has one World Series Ring and an additional pennant. What hurts him is that he does not have any major league experience as a Manager.

Bob Melvin – Already Interviewed. I am slowly warming up to the idea of having Melvin as a manager. He has experience on all sides and is considered to be smart. I guess what disappoints me with Melvin is that he isn't Mazzilli, but I wouldn't complain if Melvin was hired.

David Jauss – Also Already Interviewed.

Wally Backman – To Be Interviewed this weekend.

Chip Hale – To Be Interviewed this weekend. Ownership has been vocal that they want him involved on the management team no matter who the next manager is

Terry Collins – To Be Interviewed this weekend.

Don Wakamatsu – No Interview confirmed yet. But I have a strong feeling he will end up being slotted soon (unless someone else on this list blows Sandy away).

As for other people, if a planned interview isn't decided by the end of the next week, then they probably will not be considered for the position. In other words, I think the Mets will try to wrap up the first round of interviews as quickly as possible.

Other Management/Front Office News:

In addition to Hale, ownership apparently also wants to keep Warthen on for next season. As much as I like Hale, and as indifferent as I am to Dan, I really feel that ownership should not be doing this. The coaching staff should be the responsibility of the new manager or Sandy.

Sandy is making progress in trying to get DePodesta as he has now been granted permission from the Padres to talk to him. I would love for him, Riccardi and Sandy to all have a chance to fill in the gaps on the roster for next season. It would be a great set of brains to try to find affordable talent to give this team some nice surprises for next season.