213 Miles From Shea

I received an email a few days ago from Cynthia Marrero talking about the Chase Community Giving. Its a contest where non-profit organizations of 10 million or less (budgets) can win via Facebook a 1 million dollar grant.

Here's the email:

Hello,

        My name is
Cynthia Marrero, and I work with the Nephcure Foundation. We have a video
featuring Ed Hearn that you might be interested in. Ed is leading the charge
for Nephcure in the Chase Community Giving Facebook Contest. Nephcure is among
100 non-profit organizations with budgets of 10,000,000 dollars or less, who
are competing for a 1 million dollar grant. Here is the youtube link to
Ed’s video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoeuz2fVHGU

Other relevant links are:

www.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving

www.nephcure.org

Thanks so much for your time!

Voting Just closed, so I'm sorry that this is coming a little late. But its nice to see former Mets helping out in the community.

If you ever want uniform news, I really hope you use uniwatchblog.com because it is an unbelievable site. Anyway, they announced that New Era has released new BP hats for every MLB team (and this explains why the old BP hats are only $10 on the official online shops right now).

The main complaint for these hats, at least asthetically, are the inappropriate amount of piping. Below is a photo of the BP hat that Mets wore last year:

(Image from the USA Today Sports Store)

And Here is the new hat:
(From the New Era Online Store)

Before we explain the differences you can see, there is one that you can't see in the photos which is on the back of the new hat, the MLB logo is surrounded by a half circle of piping and is inset I believe in black fabric.

I have two main problems with the new hat design. The first is I am not a fan of hats that have different color piping that runs up along the top of the hat, especially when the hat is not a pinwheel design (meaning that in a pinwheel, the hat top itself, not including the bill, is several different colors). With this, I am not a fan of when official hats have multi-colored bills, its fine for hats that fans where, but looks kinda silly for MLB teams.

The second main problem I have with that hat is the colors they decided. The orange outnline along the old BP hat was really nice. Once again with this new hat, Orange takes a a back seat as a New York Mets color, which is sad.

Just a quick note:

It was revealed today that Beltran had some sort of knee surgery and the Mets are claiming that they didn't know that this was going to happen and didn't know that this was even a problem. (although there are some who say the Mets did know and didn't give permission for the surgery). Right now there are conflicting reports on whether this was routine or not.

As details come out, more conclusions will be able to be made. Right now it looks like that Beltran could be out up to 12 weeks (or more or less, things are very unclear). Personally, I feel this means the Mets will now have serious problems moving Angel Pagan because CF will either be Pagan or Fmart for at least the start of the season.

Oh boy, this is just bad.

Delgado hit a homerun a few nights ago. You probably already heard this. I wrote an article immediately after it happened, but I never linked it to here.

So you can find that article here.

The article contains his winter stats and some opinions of why it would be appropriate to bring Delgado back, why it wouldn't be, and how he would affect the lineup.

2003 Draft

                In
part three of this series, we look at the 2003 draft and more memories of this
decade begin to emerge as we get a chance to remember our fun times with the
first round pick, Lastings Milledge. Overall, the Mets drafted three players in
2003 that would eventually play in the majors and several players that would
later lead to trades to get more major league talent.

Lastings Milledge: We all remember Lastings. He was a big, big deal
when he came up. He was also the first of a series of highly touted outfielders
from the Farm System. His reputation as a lose cannon was cemented early on as
he high fived fans after a home run and released a rap album with some
questionable lyrics. He had a short temper and later was traded to the
Nationals. He was traded for Schneider and Church in a trade that many opposed
at first. After some short success in Washington, Lastings tailed off, as
Church played well in New York. Milledge was then traded to the Pirates,
Schneider has signed with the Phillies and Church has been traded for
Francoeur. In some respect, the Mets turned Milledge into Francouer.

Brian Bannister: Bannister had a pretty good first stint in the
majors as he pitched a 4.48 ERA over 38.0 innings. In a bad trade for the Mets,
they sent this starter from the 2003 draft over to the Royals where has had
success. The player the Mets received Burgos, has never really had success so
far with the Mets.

Carlos Muniz: Muniz has bounced between the minors and the majors
since his debuted in 2007. He didn’t impress much in 07 but he was better in
2008. He doesn’t factor to be a major part of the Mets plans in the near
future.

Bonus: The Mets fifth round pick Corey Coles has played a role for
the Mets in the last few years as the Mets traded him to the Cubs in 2007 and
received Angel Pagan in return. Coles has yet to make the Majors, but his trade
to the Cubs led to a very exciting player for our team. One would have to
imagine though, that the way injuries to the outfield core went 07-09, if Coles
was still in the system, he probably would have played.

For those of you who are new to this site, I am a Mets fan that grew up in Baltimore (and now live outside of DC), so for the majority of my life I have been an away fan. I have never met a group of fans though like Mets fans. While I don't always agree with some of views as fellow Mets fans (a friend of mine and I constantly argue over Dan Murphy. I'm for him, he's not), Mets fans always seem educated in what is going on with the team. They know the recent moves. They have opinions. They know the recent story lines.

I was walking to work yesterday and I hear a car honk. I look around and someone was waving at me. He asked me where I got my jacket (I was wearing a Mets winter jacket that I got for $90 off a few years ago because I bought it in Baltimore, seriously if you want cheap Mets gear, Baltimore has it cause stores stock it and then they can't sell it). So I told him and he told me he was from Queens and has been a Mets fan his entire life.

We then started a five minute discussion where he asked me my opinon about Jason Bay (without saying Bay, we both knew who we were talking about) and then I asked him about the rotation where he stated his opinion about the quality of pitchers after Johan. After this we parted ways (and I forgot to tell him about this website, which happens a lot. If you ever meet me in real life, there is a 90% chance I will forget to mention this site).

I'm sure there are Mets fans that don't represent this mold that I'm talking about here, but I haven't met them yet, and I go to a good number of games and talk to people in the street if I see them wearing Mets stuff. Lets Go Mets! Come on Spring, get here sooner.

2002 Draft

                The
Mets drafted two major leagues in 2002, one who we later flipped for a few
players that ended up benefiting the other team slightly more than it helped
us. The other player we drafted in 2002 became an icon for entire front office
organization.

Scott Kazmir: This lefty was drafted as the fifteenth overall draft
pick and was supposed to change face of the Mets rotation. He had major league
talent and was ready to shine in New York. Then, in one of the most infamous
moves in the history of the Mets and one of the most infamous moves in the
majors (for this decade) Kazmir was traded to the Rays for Victor Zambrano.
Kazmir has since been an All-Star twice, 
has played with the historic Rays and now is an Angel. Kazmir defines
this draft for sure as he is an All-Star (the second straight year the Mets
drafted a later All-Star) and his move to the Rays defined the pre-Minaya
front-office.

Matt Lindstrom:  Lindstrom
was drafted in the tenth round and was later traded with Owens for Vargas and
Bostick. Lindstrom broke into the majors in 2007 and had two very successful
years with the Marlins in 2007 and 2008. He had a so-so year last year. His
mild success makes two major leaguers from this draft for the Mets.

Bonus: The Mets also drafted the
recently praised Shawn Bowman in this draft.

As time has transpired so far,
this draft has proved to be the best for the Mets in the decade (which is hard
to say since 2008 and 2009 draftees are still very young). In a draft, when you
get one player who can play at the major league level either as a bench player
or platoon (or more) its considered an average draft. When you get one who is a
starter, it is considered an good draft. When you get an All-Star, it is
considered a great draft. When you get a player who is consistently an All-Star
and a leader, it is considered an amazing draft. By now you figured out who the
Mets drafted in 2001, David Wright. The Mets over all had 5 members of their
2001 draft class play in the majors. Overall for the Mets, this was a very
solid draft class that produced three solid major league players.

Aaron Heilman: A player who has a lot of history with Mets fans,
especially after the 2006 and 2007 seasons was drafted 18 overall by the
Amazin’s. Despite his struggles at the end of his tenure with the Mets, he was
a good selection by the Mets. Originally slated to be a starter, he ended up
being a set-up man who went through highs, and recently lows. His last
contribution to the Mets was when he was traded as part of the three way trade
that brought JJ Putz to New York.

David Wright: Selected as the supplemental pick for losing Hampton,
Wright has quickly become the face of the franchise for the New York Mets.
There is not much to say here about Wright as his successes are pretty well.
The future of the team depends on Wright and he is the type of player that not
only makes the 2001 draft but makes up for a decade worth of drafts.

Lenny DiNardo: Drafted in the third round by the Mets, DiNardo was
originally drafted in 1998 but didn’t sign. He was then drafted by the Red Sox
in 2003 in the Rule Five draft and debuted with the Red Sox in 2004. He has
played in every season since then playing for the Red Sox until 2006, Oakland
in 2007-2008, and the Royals last season. His best season was in 2007 where he
posted a 4.11 ERA over 131.1 innings pitched.

Denny Garcia: Garcia was drafted in the fifth round and played for
the Mets in 2003 and 2004 before being released (and being signed by two other
teams, and not making the majors with either team). In 2003 Garcia batted .214
for the Mets and batted .232 in 2004.

Joe Hietpas:  The 16^th
round pick for the Mets in 2001. His inclusion on this list at this point is
just a formality because he made the majors, but he didn’t even have an AB in
his debut in 2004.

In this series of articles (as
described earlier) the Mets drafts of each year of the decade will be analyzed
in terms of players that made the majors, and for more recent years, players
that were drafted that were traded in key trades (this section will be focused
more on later drafts, where the players haven’t made it to the majors yet).

Since
this article is focusing on the 2000 draft, it will be more of a focus on how
the players that the Mets scouted turned out after they were drafted. There
were four players the Mets drafted that made it to the majors later on in their
careers.

Billy Traber: The Mets first pick in the draft came from the 16^th
pick in the first round (via the Mariners) and the Mets selected Billy Traber,
an LHP from Loyola (CA). Traber was part of the trade that brought Roberto
Alomar over to the Mets. Traber himself made his major league debut for the
Cleveland Indians in 2003 where he had a 5.24 ERA over 111.2 innings pitched.
He was then claimed off waivers to the Red Sox in 2004. In 2005 he rejoined via
Free Agency the Indians and then in 2006 made his way over to the Nationals
where he pitched 43.1 innings in the majors and then 39 innings the following
year (ERA’s: 2006-6.44, 2007-4.76). In 2008 he played with the Yankees where he
pitched a little over 16 innings and in 2009 he pitched 3.2 innings with the
Red Sox.

Bobby Keppel: Keppel was the second draftee for the Mets in 2000.
They selected him with pick 36 in the supplemental round. Keppel stayed in the
Mets system until he was released by the Mets in 2005 where he then joined with
the Royals. In 2006 he made his major league debut where he had a 5.50 ERA over
34.1 innings. The next season he was with the Rockies where he had an ERA over
11 over 4 innings of work. He made it back to the majors last season with the
Twins with a 4.83 ERA over 54.0 innings pitched.

Chris Basak: Basak was the 25^th pick in round 6 for the
Mets in 2000. He has not had much success in the majors. He was released by the
Mets in 2006. In 2007 he played in 5 games for the Yankees where he had only
one at bat (and didn’t get a hit).

Jeff Duncan: In round 7, the Mets selected Duncan. Duncan was first
drafted in ’97 by the Cubs, but he didn’t sign. He is the only player the Mets
drafted in 2000 that made the majors with the Mets. He played in two seasons
for the Mets in 2003 and 2004. In 2003 he hit .194 and in 2004 he hit .067. He
hasn’t played in the Majors since.

Tonight I will be starting a series where I look at the drafts in the last decade for the New York Mets, starting with 2000 and through 2009. The reviews look basically at the players that Mets drafted who eventually made it to the majors for the earlier seasons, and for the later seasons, the reviews look at players involved in key trades, and players who look to be making a big impact in the near future for the Amazin's.

So far 6 of the 10 reviews have been written, and its not secret that the 2001 draft so far has been the best for the Mets, where they drafted David Wright (you may have heard of him). Also, 2005, depending on how the players develop, could possibly pass the 2001 draft thanks to a couple of pitchers a catcher that caught our eyes late last season.

I hope you all like the series, suprisingly I have learned a lot from researching these posts.