213 Miles From Shea

With the creation of the NFL Network, it was only a matter of time until another one of the America's major sports got its own network, and starting January 1st, Baseball will have the MLB Network. It feels like we have been moving to this point for a while ever since the creation of mlb.com tv a few years ago. They started to show original shows and even would play games online during the winter. Well now it seems that online project has reached a full time channel.

Starting in January, some of the headlining shows will be Hot Stove, which will pretty much be like watching mlbtraderumors.com with insiders puting their own two cents in. There will be a Prime 9 show that focuses on the top 9 whatever in a certain category. Ken Burns' Baseball will highlight great old memories of baseball and Baseball Season's will show highlights of special seasons in baseball (the picture they have on their site about this show has a picture of Cal Ripkin during the 2131 game). Other programming will include basbeall's classig games of course and special events like the home run derby.

As you can imagine, this channel will really pick up speed in the Spring. They have the exclusive rights to 16 WBC games, will be going to all 30 clubs Spring Training Homes in 30 days and will have a show on every night during the baseball season that seems to be like ESPNEWS with only baseball stuff included. Two of the commentators on that show will be Harold Reynolds, formly of Baseball Tongiht, and Al Leiter (one of my favorite all time players).

This should be a very exciting season, especially for us out of town fans. The channel will be getting a national game of the week as well (joining Fox, ESPN, and TBS) which makes it easier for us to see our favorite teams out fo state and also to get a better insight in the wide world of Major League Baseball.

As you can probably guess, or probably saw, this week, the Mets and the Yankees dominated the back pages of the papers in New York because really, they did take the Baseball world by storm this week. For the most part, the Yankees got more attention than the Mets, because that is how reality goes. I was shocked though when I saw this back page from the 11th:

Usually, the papers are hyper-congratulatory for the moves the Yankees make and usually when the Mets do something good, they are quick to criticize or remind how similar things have not worked out. This was a shock because it was a literal slap in the face saying that hey, you might have gotten the best free agent starter, but that doesn't change the fact that you still lost out on Johan, the best starting pitcher right now.

While I like to see the Yankees get criticized, it does reveal those sour feelings that are lingering. After this was printed, the Yankees continued to try to improve their team by spending by giving another rich contract out to AJ Burnet.

Although it is hard to break concentration from our new amazing back
end of the bullpen, we have to take time to look at the Mets Rule V
picks so far.

According the Metsblog.com, at this time the Mets have selected Darren O'Day and Rocky Cherry in the MLB Rounds.

Then they selected Carl Codenthal and John Madden so far in the AAA round.

No one has selected Mets players at this time. (The only recent Met
we have lost in the Rule V Draft that was “substantial” was Jesus
Flores in 2006 to the Nationals, furthering their collection of exMet
Catchers).

So, who are these guys? Will we end up keeping them?

For the first person, Darren O'Day, that answer points to yes. He
his 26 from the Angels and is a side arm relief pitcher (Joe Smith
replacement?) In 30 Appearances last season, he pitched 43 innings, had
29 K's, and posted a 4.57 ERA. (With the Angels). What is striking to
me is that he was a sidearm pitcher that had a good amount innings
above the number of appearances. He could become a key piece for 7th
inning or earlier relief. The downside is he is still rehabbing a
labium injury, and will more than likely start off on the DL and stay
there for some time. Its a good move if he gets healthy and if he
doesn't. He has to stay on the roster for the full season, then the
Mets can move him in 2010 to the minors if need be. A quasi-loophole in
the rule V draft system if you will (although there is another loophole
of him needing to be active for 90 days, I'm not sure, there are a lot
of rules involved with the rule V draft).

The next pick, Rocky
Cherry, was from the Orioles. He did a good job in AAA but struggled in
the majors. He went 0-1, 2.75 ERA over 30 games in the AAA. In the
majors he lasted 17 innings, allowed 15 Runs, 15 Hits, 16 BB, 15 K's.
So there is promise there but a lot of struggles. Spring Training will
be a telling sign for Cherry if he stays with the Mets or goes back to
the Orioles.

Both of these picks go back to Omar's typical
style of getting pitchers that other's do not have hope for, and
bringing them up to speed. It worked in 2006, and it looks like it
might work again in 2009.

The other two players picked, Carl Codenthal is an outfielder from Atlanta, John Madden is a RHP from the Padres.

The Mets took the next crucial step in rebuilding the pen as they added JJ Putz to set up the new closer, Krod. The last time the Mets had a reliable 8th and 9th inning duo was the first half of 2006, when Sanchez was still healthy (before cab crash) and he was followed by Wagner. What happened that year? The Mets were almost a guranteed win with a run lead or any lead by the time the eighth inning rolled around. That time has come again.

The Mets now have two closers to pitche the 8th and 9th inning and will be going into Spring Training with that part of the gameplan already in place. This allows the Mets to do so much more. Lets start with the Spring Training. The attention can now be spent on looking at the battle for the fifth starter spot and finalizing the roles in the pen (It has been a long time since pitchers in the pen had definitive roles for gametime). When it comes to the actual regular season games, no longer do Starting pitchers have to hope to last 8 innings, and then hope for a revolving door of 9th inning pitchers can finish off the game. The Mets gain so much confidence with this duo.

The more amazing thing about this trade is that the prospect load to get Putz was pretty light. Carp had promise, but our system was flooded with players like him (Evans and Murphy are both developing in sinilar ways). It has been amazing that over the last two years, we have been able to get Santana and Putz through trade and have not had to give up Fmart, Parnell, Kunz, Niese, and now Holt and Havens. This is a testament to Omar and when he is on, he is on.

Of course there is the question of what's next. I still would like to sign Cordero, only if he is cheap. I am not to thrilled about getting another Catcher to start, because Schnieder calls games very well, and I rather have that ability behind the plate rather than a slightly better bat (I am one of those people who believe that the Catcher is the most dynamic player on the field). In terms of SP, we do need another starter, and now that we didn't have to shell out big bucks for Krod and a setup man, you have to think we would be going for Lowe or Perez. Personally, I would take Wolf. Someone for a shorter time commitment, that won't cost too many prospects since he is only a type B (actually, he wasn't offered arbritation so he might cost no prospects) and then when Ollie signs with another team, we can continue to rebuild our farm system.

Anyway, this has been a great week for the Mets and New York, as more and more big names are flocking to the evil empire as well. One could expand that to the East Coast as it looks like Mark Texaria will end up on this coast as well as Lowe, and Burnett (who looks to sign with the Yanks)

All signs are pointing toward the Mets and Krod completing a three year 37 million dollar deal, and this is probably the best thing for the Mets right now. We needed a closer, badly, however there were a few things that need was contigent on. One was a closer for 3 years, anymore would be irreponsible (an option for year 4 is alright though, its that guranteed 4 year that gets scary). With that time frame, we also needed someone intense. Someone that would bring fire into the stadium, fire that matches the energy the city of New York has for Baseball.

Krod has that energy, that intense composure on the mound and is exactly what the Mets needed. The problem was he wanted 5 years and 75 million originally. That type of signing would ended the offseason for the Mets. They went bargain shopping today on the buyers market filled with closers and got Krod at 3 years and 37 million. At that price, this signing really does become a no brainer. We get the best closer out there, and we have enough money to go get other players now. Its time to start getting active.

The reason this can become a bad signing is if the Mets do not take the next step. The Mets need to get a setup guy and they need to get at least one more player in the bullpen (I still like Chad Cordero) once that pen is reconstructed, then we can start looking at getting back into the playoffs. This is exciting stuff folks.

I literally woke up yesterday and said, “I feel like we are getting a closer today!” Now although that might be a sad testament of my life, and probably due to my life being crushed by finals right now, there is that exciting feeling in the air, isn't there?

Anyway, I was very excited to hear that not only did the Mets offer a contract to K-rod, but they met with Fuentes, they set up a meeting to meet with Wood, they had talks about Street and Ryan (maybe), they set up a meeting with Cordero and they could have set up a meeting with Hoffman. That is a lot of meetings.

There are conflicting stories right now, but it sounds like the Mets are close to signing a three year deal with Krod (37 mil), even though some people are saying thats not happening (pick a paper in New York, flip a coin, and thats how they feel about this deal going through soon). However, there have been no reports of Krod meeting with other teams, which looks good for the Mets. If we can get this signing out of the way today, we can probably turn our attention to:
   a) starting pitching
   b) more closers via trade
   c) Cheap replacements in the Pen (like Cordero)
   d) changing catchers, which I still don't know how I feel about that yet

After the arbitration deadline earlier this week, the stove is starting to warm up as we approach the all important Winter Meetings. The latest rumors on the stove has been that Renteria has signed with the Giants (which I'm sure got pushed faster along when the Tigers declined to offer Renteria arbitration), and the Braves have remained very active, which worries me.

The Braves intially getting Peavy did not worry me because they would have to give up the farm system, which is very good by the way, to get him, and they wouldnt have many resources left to improve the rest of the team. It would also be only one player. However, over the last few days they have shown that they are very interested in reinserting themselves into the National League East by trading for Javier Vasquez and possibly preparing to offer Burnett 5 years or more. They are also close right now to solidifying their bench with David Ross to back up McCann behind the plate.

The only reason I guess this worries me is except for that active first few days of the offseason where the Mets actived Delgado's option and picked up Tatis, they havn't done much else except sign a few minor leaguers like Figuroa. I know however this will change next week with the winter meetings. MLBtraderumors.com even has reported whispers of a possible mega deal with the WhiteSox that would send Jenks and Dye to New York for Fernando Martinez and others (still not sure how I think about that)

Don't forget to refresh your memory on Part 1 and Part 2

The stadium emptied pretty quickly, mostly due to the blow out score of the Ravens beating the Eagles 37-7. As soon as the sectioned emptied that I was working at, we immediately began the next assignment which was combing every seat in every section for valuables. This sounds like a hefty task, especially in a huge stadium like M&T Bank Stadium, but it was over in about 4 or 5 minutes. The only valuables we found in our section was a seat cushion and a blanket. I was amazed at the amount of ticket stubs that are left (I'm sure many of you can peg me as the type that holds onto every ticket from every game I go to). There were also a ton of Raven's Team Photos that were being given out at the beginning of the game.

We were then told to report to another section for debriefing. At the time we got to that section, it was about maybe 10 minutes since the game was over and there were only four sections in the entire stadium that had people in it, and they were the four locations for debriefing. Seeing a stadium is a weird moment. People in a stadium make them seem so much smaller than they actually are. If I had a camera on me, I would have taken a picture. Anyway, down on the field, the crew just finished removing all of the sideline equipment. So in roughly ten minutes, the field was empty as well.

For us, we got our time cards signed and were sent down to the bellows of the stadium again to return all of the clothes we had to borrow and to turn in our time cards, so we can eventually get paid. And just like that, 25 minutes after game time, we were out of the stadium and back on road back to College Park.

Overall, I was very surprised how fast the Stadium gets set up in the morning, and how fast it gets taken down at night. Working Security (Part 2) was by far the most revealing portion of the day as I had no previous training for what I was doing.

In Part 4, I will be discussing a completely different side of sports. The side we all hate. It was also the hardest thing I have ever done related to sports (and I have taught kids at camps for over 8 years), I am, of course, talking about being the official, the umpire, the referee, the man in blue, the man in black and white stripes.

The Baseball Writer's Association today released the ballot for election to the Hall of Fame. For those of you who are confused by all of the ballots now, this is the main one that is a big deal to get voted in on (It's a big deal to get voted in on any one, but this one is that ballot you go on after 5 years out of baseball) and headlining this year's ballot is Rickey Henderson.

When you look at the ballot as a whole, Henderson seems like the only one who can really go in. I feel Rice should be in, and only being 16 votes shy last year, he will probably get in, but I also feel that if no one deserves to go in, then no one goes in on the ballot. (I believe it was 1970 when the Writers felt that no one on the ballot should go in). In my personal opinion, Henderson should go in. He is a ten time allstar, a 3 time silver slugger and an MVP. He is most famous for his Stolen Bases, 1406, which is about 500 more than the second place holder. That might be a record that stands the test of time.

The argument against Henderson is that he was a one trick pony. All he could do was steal bases. Before I attempt to refute how accurate that statement is,. that argument can be used on people like Thome, who has a lot of homers, but he does not lead in that category. If he had 500 more homers than Bonds, and that was all he could do, he would make it into the Hall no problem because he dominated that category. In other words, there is a line that gets crossed when talking about one trick ponies. If they dominate a statistic like Henderson has, that is more than note worthy.

He is number 4 on the games played list, 20 on singles, 56 on OBP, 40 on doubles (just about everyone ahead of him on that list is in the hall or is still active), had over 1100 RBI's, and is number one in Runs all time. So mainly, his games played, Stolen Bases and Runs should be enough to get him besides the fact that he wrecked havock on the basepaths and was a feared player when on the bags.

Part 1 Can Be Found Here.

After our lunch break was over, which was about 1:50, we got moved to the upperdeck of M&T stadium for reassignment. My first assignment on the upperdeck lasted all of 5 minutes. The way the deck is constructed, the concourse is like a giant outdoor porch, which is very nice, the issue they have is people then going out of the bowl to smoke, and not standing in the right spot. So the job of myself and my friend was to stand 3 feet from the smoking fence, and if we saw anyone smoking in front of us, we had to tell them to smoke behind us. This obvisously does not sound like a job for two people, which the Supervisors figured out and five minutes later, I was moved into a section of the upperdeck with about 40 seconds left in the first half.

My intial job in the section was to watch the crowd and make sure that the fans from Philly didn't fight the fans from Baltimore. I phrase the statement like that because I was told to specifically watch the Philly fans, because they were already tagged as the problem fans just because they were the away fans. Personally, I agree with that statement to some degree. Trouble will be centered around away fans, but as I got to see first hand, its not always the away fan's fault.

As soon as the third quarter started, a Supervisor, and a few cops ran by me up to the top of the section, took an Eagle's fan out of the ballpark for fighting. I was then told to stand in the back of the section and basically babysit the Philadelphia fans. I was given a clicker which had four buttons on it. The first one called a supervisor, the second called a courtesy squad, the third called the police and the last one called the medics.

For the rest of the game I stood with the 40 or so Eagle's fans who kept on making their case to me that it was one of the Ravens fans who started all of the trouble in the section. They called me their babysitter, they talked to me a lot during the game. I had to break up a few arguments with fans during the rest of the game. That was when I was glad I have been a camp counselor for several years, if it wasn't for the conflict resolution skills I developed then, I would been sunk when trying to handle these arguments (basically I would have had to call the Supervisor for everything).

At the end of the game, the Eagles fans gave me an ovation and tried to get a cheer going for my first day on the job. What I found very interesting is that I was the first level of security for that section, and I have never been trained to be such. It was very easy for me to get trained personell if I needed them, but it makes you wonder when your at a game, how many people are trained secuity and how many people are just standing to look like security to make it seem like there is more security than there actually is. Its a very interesting dynamic because psychologically, one is less likely to cause trouble when it looks like theire are a ton of security guards.

Now I am not trying to bash the security system at football games From what I understand, in addition to the significant amount of cops in the stadium, there are a ton of undercover cops located all over the stadium to increase safety.

In the third installment of the series, I will discuss the end of the day, the stadium emptying out, and more behind the door things that happen at the stadium.