Jehrico

How did Dusty win Manager of the Year 3 times? It boggles my mind...

Yes. Basically, Hendry is delaying the decision of who to take off of the 40man that was created when he added Womak until Prior is ready to come back. I'm hoping he's working on a trade or two. As bad as the team is that Hendry has assembled, he's generally been pretty good at making trades (as long as the trading partner isn't Florida...)

It's somewhat understandable, given MacPhail's background and connections in MN. Maybe we need to hire someone away from AZ or TB, so we have someone with connections with those organizations who might be able to work us some good trades :)

Yeah, but he was never backewd this much by MacPhail. I don't see how Dusty has anymore backing than Baylor did with MacPhail. Knowing how MacPhail operates, I doubt he'd stand in Hendry's way if JH decides to fire him.

Check out the nosedive we did in '99. OPS+ for the team was 89, ERA+ was 92. Perhaps the worst collection of pitchers I've ever seen was our team in 2000, when we posted an ERA+ of 81. There can't be many non-expansion teams that did worse than that. (for reference, the '03 Tigers that went 43-119 also had an ERA+ of 81).

I hope he pretends the strike zone is an osprey. I'd rather he didn't. From what I understand, it took him about a dozen throws to hit it. :D

Forget the Murton/Bynum platoon, I'd rather see the Bynum Pierre platoon. I was just thinking the other day of how best to describe JP, and I came up with this: He is our no-power, can't get on base, mediocre fielding, noodle-armed centerfielder who is good at stealing bases. Freddie Bynum, when he's played OF, hasn't been very good, but is fast, and can get to some balls. All in all, he's not horrible out there. He's got speed, he can swipe some bases. His average and OBP are close to JPs, except he's got almost .200 SLG points on Juan (not that I think he'll sustain that, but he's also likely to keep it well over Juans .268). I could overlook Juans lady-like slugging if he were getting on base. I'm not advocating getting Bynum regular playing time. But, if he's going to play his way into earning a platoon with someone, it should be with JP, not Murton.

Heh, evidence that Hendry doesn't read NSBB. They're still just waiting on that win streak before announcing the extension. They all need to go. I feel better knowing that JP isn't happy with his performance. :x :pukel: Also, re: the nolasco for Pierre comment...some did say that, many others of us, including me, didn't say anything out of naive hope that Pierre could get back to his .370 OBP performances of past.

I'd rather see young kids get a chance to prove that they either aren't MLB material or they are, rather than seeing an aging washed-up vet reaffirm his ineptitude, regardless of results. I wonder if this was Dusty's call, or if Hendry is forcing his hand? Has the transaction occured to bring him up yet?

Perhaps one of our biggest complaints last year was that we kept putting our worst OBP guys in the #1 and #2 slot in the lineup. Looking at the lineup today, here's our order with OBPs: Pierre: .267 Hairston: .268 Walker: .362 Barrett: .356 ARam: .322 Murton: .344 Jones: .315 Cedeno: .303 Side note on Jones: everyone knows about his putrid start...if you chalk that up to adjusting to the new league, pressures of a new team, all of the other BS that Dusty believes in, Jacque has had an OBP of .345 in May. Is Dusty ever going to learn to NOT put your worst on-base guys ahead of the middle of your order? Even if you lock in 3-4-5 the way it is, any combination of Murton, Jones, and Cedeno in your 1-2 slots would be score more runs than what we currently have. This should be evident by Pierre not having an RBI since 8 April. Cedeno, Murton, and crew have done a good job getting on base at the bottom of the order, only to have the pitcher and Pierre fail to take a BB or get a hit. It's also evident by the fact that our slumping slugger, Aramis, had scored more runs coming into today than him, which is a catastrophe. When is enough enough? It doesn't appear to me that Dusty has learned a darned thing since he's been here. He's the poster boy for the old adage, "you can't teach an old dog new tricks." I am desperately hoping with every ounce of will in my body that the rumors of an imminent Dusty extension are nothing more than pure speculation.

Met talent? Are you kidding. Look at that 2001 team, the one following the world series. Zeille as the starting 1B, Payton, Agbayani and Perez the starting OF (that's Cubs esque), worthless Rey Ordonez at short. An already in decline Alfonzo. Kevin Appier, Glendon Rusch, Steve Trachsel, Bruce Chen. I think it's a miracle he got them to .500. He won 88, 88, 97 and 94 in his first 4 years, and that was with the pathetic Steve Phillips as GM. He never had a stud pitcher. His best position player was Piazza, whose best days were behind him. Ventura and Alfonzo were probably his 2nd and 3rd best position players while he was there. Valentine managed the pants off of Baker in the 2000 playoffs, watching it game by game was amazing to see how far ahead of Dusty he was. Dusty was getting guys up in the pen way too late, and Valentine exploited every bad move. You rarely see that in baseball. Piazza past his prime? Piazza was putting up OPSs of 1.024, .936, 1.012, .957, and .903 for Bobby V. If those weren't his prime years, then he didn't have a prime. He also had Alphonso in his prime (OBPs of .391, .355, .425, .322, .391). Alphonso started sucking once he got to SF. He got an average OPS of .800 from Ventura while he was there. Zeile was only there for two years, and they got OBPs of over .350 from him both times. He had almost St Louis type of luck when he got guys on the downside of their careers. Heck, he brought in Ricky Henderson when he was 40 and got a .423 OBP and nearly a .900 OPS out of him. They were getting better production than you could expect from many of their guys. I would have called him fortunate. You want to slam the outfields he had with Agbayani, Payton, and Perez. Agbayani, the three years he started for them, put up OBPs of .363, .391, and .364. Jay Payton was a failed prospect (if you want to knock Dusty and his staff for not developing our kids, what prospects did Bobby V and his staff develop into successful players that stuck in the league for awhile?), and Timo Perez was only a part time starter. Part of that does go back on Phillips for not having solid corner OFers, but Bobby V didn't do much either. If you want to give Bobby V credit for going to the series, Dusty almost did the same thing (save for the Bartman, and more importantly, the Gonzo plays) with a lineup laden with an equal number of fringe baseball players. You want to give him a pass for having a no-talent lineup that started guys like Rey Ordonez...if I were a Mets fan, I would have blamed him for trotting Rey Ordonez out there game after game just like I do Dusty when Neifi gets out there consistantly. And maybe he didn't have a stud pitcher like a Schilling or Johnson, but he had Leiter during his best years, and Leiter was very effective during his prime. He got some great years out of Trachsel too. He didn't have the greatest rotations, but he got consistancy and didn't deal with nearly as many injury issues as we've had. He had no control over his teams, and led the Mets to a train wreck that last season. They were as bad fundamentally as Bakers. There's a reason no one has made a move to bring him back into a clubhouse since he was fired from NY. I don't want him anywhere near this team. Bobby V = Dusty part deux.

How about Glenallen Hill? If I can't see the guys put some Ws on the board, I'd at least like to see some jacks hit over the rooftops.

he's only given anything up 3 times so far this year when it counted. The other two times, the game was decided and were inconsequential. Two of those three were today and yesterday (i.e. before yesterday, he'd only given up anything in a game when it mattered once). Pulling Dempster now would be like benching Cedeno after his first 0-12. It's stupid, and doesn't make sense. Ride it out.

I just realized that he's not leading the team in runs scored anymore. Aramis has scored more than him now. Aramis, with his horrible start, hitting anywhere from 4th - 5th for the most part, with what's supposed to be the low OBP spots hitting behind him, has scored more than Pierre has. Pierre needs to go. Leadoff man is supposed to score alot, but you can't score if you're not getting on base. Not that any of you needed to hear this to come to that conclusion.

Ever hear the quote, those who can't do, teach (or coach)? Some people just don't have the physical tools (coordination, reflexes, etc) to get the most out of what they know. I think Von Joshua falls into this category. I don't care what his major league numbers were, I'm more concerned with what kind of an approach he's teaching to the kids. And by all accounts, it's pretty solid.

What good does a great AAA hitting coach do if the guys get to the majors are and ruined by our horrible major league hitting coach? Our BA has dropped roughly 30 points in the last month. I attribute alot of that to Cedeno, Walker, and Murton dropping off during this slump. We all saw the quotes where they were trying to get Murton to change his whole approach at the plate, and now he's sucking. I say Bring Von Joshua back up to get these guys hitting like they were. Plus, the only prospect in AAA that I'd prefer to see Von Joshua work with is Pie, and I have a feeling they're going to bring him up and give him a shot sooner or later anyways, so there won't be anyone at AAA I'm that excited about.

I was, and still am, against the Jones signing as anyone else on this board. However, I don't know if I'd agree he has no value. He's got decent speed (if only he weren't an imbecile on the basepaths), has good defense, and, after that horrible 0-fer start, has hit pretty good. Despite the horrible start, he's up to .280 and rising. His cold start could be attributed to adjusting to the new league and team (okay, maybe I'm trying to hype his value, as if it would actually help us or trade him or something...).

I keep trying to point out that Lee went down in game #14, but this team didn't die until game #20. Maybe not, but of the three wins we recorded during the gap, two were against the Marlins. I would attribute our treading water to their horrible pitching (horrible outside of Dontrelle, and we were only mediocre against the rest) rather than anyone stepping up after DLee went down.

What's with all of the Bobby V love around here? Look at the talent on the Mets teams he had, then look at their records. He drove that team into the ground. If I had to choose between Valentine and Baker, and someone was pointing a gun to my head, I'd ask what was behind door number 3. If you want a former Mets manager, find Davey Johnson, and throw money at him until he can't say no (if he has a price, Davey Johnson might be one of those RARE people that doesn't...). How long of a contract did Girardi sign?

he has been but he has been nowhere near as bad as Pierre has been And, unlike Pierre, he's starting to finally get back on track. Pierre's doesn't seem like he'd know what the track was until he got hit by a train.

Oh hell no. Murton for Soriano? I'll pass everyday, and twice on Sundays. Slumping Murton for Soriano? Still, no. Bradley wouldn't have cost that much, unless you're aluding to Colletti's former ties to this club and the spite he holds. I don't think he'd make any deal with us unless he were fleecing us.

They have a lot of physical talent, and athletic talent, but not nearly enough baseball talent. Michael Jordan was a fantastic athelete, amazing physical specimen, and couldn't play baseball worth a lick. I'm amazed he wasn't in the Cubs system. In all fairness, he hadn't seriously played baseball in over a decade when he had his little stint. ARod wouldn't hit very well if he put down the bat for that long. Of course, that doesn't mean he would have been very good if he had played competitively every year from high school on.

C'mon...you've been one of the most unobjective posters in this thread. Don't pretend you can speak for others, because you're way off. He lost his cool, he screwed up, and he's going to be punished. End of story. You're grouping him into the same catagory as people like Mike Tyson.

It might have, or at least been close, before he started having a breakout season. Probably not now though. But then again, Marshall has been better than anyone expected...

This is the best post out of all of them on the subject. I mean it will suck not having Barrett, but AJP is an idiot and needed a good punching...plus, his take on the fight i don't take a lot of stock into...he could have avoided barrett on the walk to his helmet.......plus, it made my saturday a lot more bearable Agreed. I'm tired of these "high morals" people (not naming anybody in particular)who think Barrett should had been the bigger person and not slug AJ. AJ's bowling over Barrett may have been considered "clean", but ask anybody in the clubhouse of any team(maybe outside of White Sox) and they will tell you...that AJ was in the wrong. You DON'T take out the cathcer, if he doesn't have the ball, regardless if he has the ball or not. How much simpler can I get. AJ should had done a hook slide, plain and simple. And I am GLAD Barrett punch AJ. Besides Barrett did not "sucker punch" AJ. Sucker punch means not to see the punch coming. AJ clearly was looking at Barrett, when he was swinging. AJ knew the punch was coming, just he couldn't react in time to block. It's not just "high morals" people, "low morals" people like myself just don't think there was enough there to warrant sucker punching AJP. Whether or not is was a sucker punch may be semantics, but the universal definition is to punch a person suddenly and without warning. It doesn't matter if one sees the punch comming, the whole point of a sucker punch is that the person on the receiving end can't react because he/she was not warned that punches were going to be thrown. A person can stand face to face with another and still throw a sucker punch. There's also a big difference for punching someone for no reason (i.e. walking up to a stranger on the street and smacking him) and punching someone with provocation. No one here can tell exactly what provocation Barrett had, for all we know, AJP was talking smack the game before and earlier that day, and smacking the plate coupled with running him over when there was plenty of room to slide around him was enough provocation to push Barretts emotions over. Again, this is a far cry from the random street mugging some of you are making it out to be.