Monthly Archives: October 2005
…well look at who has finally arrived…
MLB.com’s Kevin Czerwinski reports that Alay Soler arrived in America last Thursday and began working out at the Mets Spring Training complex in Port St. Lucie, Fla, today…
It has been 16 months since the Mets first signed the 26–year-old Cuban All-Star to a three-year, $2.8 million deal…
“I’m very appreciative that the Mets were able to believe in me and my talent,” Soler is quoted as saying. “The most difficult part for me was that I wanted to help the team. To see them get so close in the Wild Card and not be able to contribute in the Minor Leagues or at the big league level really bothered me.”…
Former Mets GM Jim Duquette, who signed Soler, tells MLB.com, “When we saw him, he was at the peak of his conditioning and we thought he had a chance to be a solid No. 4 starter…
“He had two-plus pitches in his fastball and slider and we felt, at the time, that his signing changed the perception of the Mets in the Dominican Republic with the guys who tend to find and work for high-profile players. Before that signing, people didn’t consider us as players in that market, but the main people on the island knew we were going to be players after that…
“Realistically, if he pitches the way I think he can, in the middle of the season, he should be on [the Mets] radar. He’s going to have to go through some level of education in the Minor Leagues, but he’s a guy that can move fast. I think he can be a starter or a reliever, but I don’t know how much he’s done out of the ‘pen. But he has legitimate stuff.”…
…welcome aboard alay…and good luck…
Tagged Minors |The Mets have exercised the 2006 option of RHP Steve Trachsel and declined the options on RHP Braden Looper and 1B Doug Mientkiewicz…
“Even though we declined Braden’s option, we still plan on having conversations with his agent,” said Mets GM Omar Minaya…
In other roster news, the Mets shifted Mike Cameron, Bartolome Fortunato,Tyler Yates, Felix Heredia and Jeff Keppinger from the 60–day disabled list to the 40–man roster, which now stands at 39 players…
…the buzz from the bronx is that the yankees have had talks about whether C Mike Piazza could serve as a part-time designated hitter and catcher with jorge posada…the discussions were literally just that, brief discussions…but it was discussed never-the-less…
…speaking as a mets fan, i’m not sure i could handle this…if piazza becomes a yankee, i see no other choice than to steal don mattingly to be the mets batting coach…it’s only fair…
…the cubs have been mentioned to me in nearly every conversation that i’ve had with baseball insiders about the current hot stove market…
…some have even suggested the cubbies could spend close to $30 million in player acquisitions…
…while it sounds like they hope to make a pitch at RHP A.J. Burnett, they’re drooling at the thought of acquiring Twins OF Torii Hunter, and are anticipating a bidding war with the yankees when they make their move…
Mets site reporter Marty Noble answers questions from his e-mailbag at MLB.com…
Of note, Noble writes, “At this point, Jae Seo is likely to be in the rotation unless personnel changes are made.”…
…last friday, as part of the hot stove report podcast, i talked with will leitch, editor of deadspin.com, about the role that blogs can play in the hot stove league…
…for those who were unable to listen to the interview, here is a quick written recap…
…enjoy…
Matthew Cerrone, of MetsBlog.com…
Being that you’re the editor of Deadspin.com, which for those who don’t know, is the sports blog on Nick Denton’s Gawker Media network, it’s an excellent site, very funny, and totally on the ball – so, being that you write a sports blog, I’m thinking it’s safe to assume you’re pretty fond of the blog medium, as am I, obviously, so I’m glad you’ve taken a few minutes to talk with me, because I’m curious about how you see blogs fitting into the rumor-obsessed baseball off-season…
It’ a tool that lends itself very well to this end of sports, I think. Do you think blogs play any sort of role, in terms of how teams or agents spread information, or tap into public perception, or are we not at that stage of the game just yet…
Will Leitch, of Deadspin.com…
There are certain teams that are ahead of the game in this regard, who tend to be ahead of the game on blogs, too. You see, like, Billy Beane is doing a lot of interviews with a lot of A’s blogs. And, I’m a Cardinals fan, and last year Red Bird Nation, which is the great Cardinals blog, they actually got contacted in the middle of the season by a Cardinals executive saying, ‘Listen, we’re curious what kind of money your readers think we should offer Edgar Renteria in the off-season,’ which to me seems highly unusual…I think ultimately it was really good, though…
If you go to most individual team sports blogs, or the really good sports blogs, it’s not “Yankees suck, Derek Jeter sucks.” It’s just not. The level of discourse on it is very high. And they’re very knowledgeable sports fans…
So, I think that it makes sense for certain teams to float stuff out there, and pay a little attention…I’ll tell you, if I were a General Manager of a baseball team I would be checking in daily, five times a day on my fan blog sites because they’re not any more reactionary than the beat reporters and they’re much more honest…
If you read any Sunday notes column from any baseball reporter in any newspaper in the country, it’s full of innuendo and guessing and, “we hear that the Cardinals are gonna try and sign Brian Giles.” There’s no solid facts. There’s nobody on the record with that. It’s just speculation. And the web can do that so much faster. And if somebody says something stupid that doesn’t make any sense, there’s about 50,000 people that will let them know they’re an idiot and said something dumb immediately…
So in that way, I think it makes a lot more sense to get the view of a lot of people rather than just one reporter that happens to have snuck something past his editor…
Cerrone…
Especially when you consider that the blogger, as the fan, is the one buying the tickets, not the beat writers. It’s not as though the beat writers opinion reflects public perception of the people buying the tickets…
Leitch…
Well, we talked about Athletics Nation…we have this thing on Deadspin where we pick the best blogs for each team, and Athletics Nation was one of those selected. I sent an email to the editor of the site, and was like, “Listen, so you know, we picked you for this thing, your site is great, and so on,” and he said something very interesting. He was like, ‘I appreciate the validation, but frankly I look for validation from like the fact that [A's General Manager] Billy Beane did an interview with me, that’s all the validation I need.’…
I think you’ve got to be real careful about that stuff…let’s not forget that to do a real good sports site, you can’t just be a fan. It’s more than that. It’s doing the job that beat reporters should be doing. There are a lot of really good beat reporters out there, don’t get me wrong. I don’t wanna broadly generalize that they’re all terrible, but, if you’ve ever been in a press box…they’re the most depressing places in the world…
There is an element of good journalism that good sports blogs should have. And they should be measured and they should just not be, ‘wow, Billy Beane did an interview with me, that’s all I need, it’s awesome.’ You have to be careful…
You have to realize that when you are doing a site like this, you are representing the fans. So if you’re not careful, you can become more of an advocate with the more access you get. And I think as blogs get bigger and bigger in the next few years, and it’s just gonna get bigger, it’s something that people are gonna have to keep in mind as more and more General Manager, and more people on the business side, pay attention to these blogs that you cant forget why we’re doing this – in that, this is a place for the fans, it’s the one place a fan can really go…
Cerrone…
Take the words out of it, and the medium itself just cuts out the editor. You’ve still got the reporter, reporting on something, whether its rumors or what actually happened on the field or post-game quotes because they have the good fortune of being in the locker room, whatever it is the editor is cut of the mix with the blogging tool…
The blogger could be just an outspoken crazy fan, or it could also be someone with a journalism degree who has worked hard to understand writing and in that sense they are not that much different than the beat writer other than the access to the team…
Leitch…
The thing I think that’s really cool with a new blog is that when a new blog comes up…and if you start up a team site, if it’s good people will find it. Quality always wins out on the web. People aren’t going to waste their time. It’s not like you have time-slot-hits on television. If you have a good site and people can trust you…people are gonna keep coming back. And if people get to the point where they don’t trust you anymore, and they see you, frankly, as the mainstream media who’s just saying outrageous things so they can get their spot on Around the Horn on ESPN, than they’re not gonna trust you anymore…
That’s why blogs have become bigger. All the newspaper columnists and all the beat reporting is all online…you can get all that. I mean, if that were really filling everybody’s possible needs in the mainstream media coverage, we wouldn’t need blogs because everything would already be covered on that. But it’s obvious that that’s why they’re getting big, because there is something clearly not being given to the fans that sports blogs can give them…
Cerrone…
That also brings up the question of sources…for instance, I know my information is legit, but I’m still perceived as a blog, which is perceived as a “blogger,” which takes on that connotation of “just some rabid fan,” making that credibility tricky. So, to Athletics Nation’s credit, when you bring on somebody like Billy Beane, it does add that credibility…
Leitch…
I think that’s true, but honestly I think that’s something…like right now, it’s annoying when someone is like, “oh I saw it on the web so you don’t know if you can believe it.” That’s like old thinking. In 20-years, nobody is going to think that way…we are the last generation that will think of writing on the web as any different than writing in print…
And, so, to me, it’s frustrating when people are like, ‘oh, he just writes on the web, he’s not a real writer, he’s not a real journalist.” Frankly, that’s just ignorant thinking…
I think the majority of people who will be making the big decisions over the next 20-years, who are really gonna be in positions of power, don’t feel that way. When I hear somebody say something like that, I just think that’s there loss…
Cerrone…
You’re right. The New York papers crack me up when MLB.com will report something – now, you know, MLB.com is mainstream source, they’ve got boots on the ground, they have the backing of the league, and they’re all online. And they’ll still write in the newspapers, “a website report,” like they’re trying to dismiss the credibility of it when you’ve got guys writing for MLB.com that have been print journalists before…
Leitch…
That’s what I’m saying…it’s loaded now, but it won’t be loaded for much longer.
…though it’s still very early, several baseball people seem to feel that toronto and texas are likely destinations for RHP A.J. Burnett…
…from what i can gather, burnett is looking for a four-year deal worth roughly $50 million…
…which is a lot of money for what he’s shown to be…
…also, it is sounding like the yankees have no interest in burnett, which is bound to have a negative impact on his value…
…the buzz out of tampa bay is that teams in need of a second baseman are quite curious about the status of 2B Julio Lugo…
Though Lugo has played roughly 10 percent of his career at second base, he hasn’t done so on a regular basis since his rookie season in 2000…
Last year with the Devil Rays, batting mostly from the first and second slots in the lineup, the 30–year-old Lugo hit .295 with .362 OBP and 39 stolen bases…
…in his final year of arbitration eligibility, lugo will most likely make $4 million next season before becoming a free agent heading into 2007…he could be a great stop-gap for the mets, who like what they see in youngster anderson hernandez, but feel still needs time in the minors…
To trade Lastings Milledge, or not to trade Lastings Milledge – that is the subject of Ben Shpigel’s column in the New York Times…
…this is an outstanding read…
“If the Mets are looking to trade him, I know 29 teams who would be more than happy to take him off their hands,” a veteran National League scout tells Shpigel…
…minaya will certainly lose a few hours sleep this off-season thinking about this very topic…
…i don’t envy him at all…
…good luck, omar…choose wisely…
Japanese Baseball C Kenji Johjima has officially filed for free agency and will pursue a career in the Major Leagues, writes Japan Today…
The 29-year-old Johjima hit .309 with 24 homers and 57 RBIs in 116 games last year before ending his season with a broken shin…
“I will play for a team that needs me as a regular catcher,” Johjima told Today…
…the main concern coming from american teams is jojima’s inability to speak english…he speaks none…which could make it difficult to talk with his pitchers…
…many suspect that the mets, mariners, padres and dodgers could have interest in jojima, though one would figure he’ll most likely be pursued by the teams that do not sign ramon hernandez and benji molina…
To check out Johjima’s career stats in Japan, click here…
