Monthly Archives: February 2006
At MinorLeagueBall.com, John Sickels writes about the future of Jose Reyes, comparing him to similar players at his age from year’s past…
To listen live, go to NewJerseySportsNetwork.com…
At AtHomePlate.com, Frank Bundy III asks, “Why does everybody constantly call Jose Reyes a superstar?”…
He then goes on to use 1,600 words and three charts to tell “everybody” that they are wrong…
…thanks, frank…my question to you is: who is ‘everybody,’ and when did they ever say this about reyes…
…i’ve been blogging this team for two years now and i’ve never heard even the most die-hard of mets fans say reyes is anything more than a good player with a lot of potential…and my guess is that they don’t need charts and stats to get to this conclusion…
…sometimes i feel i am missing the boat when it comes to all this statistical analysis, and other times i am so happy i am simply stupid and just enjoy watching the game for fun…
Tagged Stats |Cyril Morong from Beyond the Boxscore and Ken Arneson from Catfish Stew helped to create 
the Baseball Musings Lineup Analysis Tool, which basically uses some crazy algorithm to spit out your team’s ideal lineup…
…i entered the career average OBP and slugging percentages for David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Cliff Floyd, Victor Diaz, Kaz Matsui, Paul Lo Duca, Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes, and here is what i was told…
The lineup that will result in the most runs scored for the Mets is…
1. Lo Duca
2. Wright
3. Beltran
4. Floyd
5. Delgado
6. Reyes
7. Matsui
8. Diaz
9. Pitcher
According to the results, this lineup will score 4.6 runs per game…
Of note, nearly every successful lineup featured either Lo Duca, Floyd and Wright at the top of the order, while Reyes never appeared higher than sixth…
The worst possible combination will score 4.0 runs per game…
David Pinto, who writes Baseball Musings, did his own analysis of the Mets order, and finds that a lineup of Beltran, Wright, Matsui, Delgado, Floyd, Diaz, Reyes, the pitcher followed by Lo Duca will produce 5.1 runs per game…
…of course, lo duca would probably kill himself is he were batting behind pedro martinez, in which case this study goes right out the window…ah, the truth of statistics…
…at any rate, this means nothing, of course…but it is fun to play with…and hat’s off to cyril and ken for creating this tool…
In the Daily News, Adam Rubin notes that Dodgers RHP Jae Seo will not sign autographs for fans who hand him items with a Mets logo…
…hmm…bitter much…
…the buzz from port st. lucie is that Pedro Martinez threw roughly 30 pitches from the top of the pitcher’s mound today and is telling people that he feels good about the workout…
…meanwhile…
David Wright, Jose Reyes, Chris Woodward, Tom Glavine and Darry Strawberry, among others, helped to build a home for Habitat for Humanity in the parking lot of Tradition Field…
Upon completion, the house to will be moved and given to a family affected by Hurricane Wilma…
…the players wore white hard-hats, for those fearing on-the-job injuries…
Albert Nunez is a managing director for a credit resource firm by day, but a ‘ridiculous Mets fan’ by night, and was kind enough to phone in a quick recap of his day in Port St. Lucie watching the Mets in a workout from this past weekend…
This is Nunez’s third year in a row spending the entire month of March at spring training…
According to Nunez…
“Omar Minaya is a very nice guy, and was gracious enough to talk with me for roughly ten minutes about the Mets and growing up in Queens, which he didn’t have to do, but did. He is a very down to earth guy.…
“Lastings Milledge is the real deal…he made Carlos Beltran look foolish at the plate during batting practice…Howard Johnson has been watching over him a lot…Minaya and Jeff Wilpon watched Milledge closely and couldn’t help but hear the crowd of fans cheering for him to be a starter in 2006…
“Alay Soler appears to be a class act, and while he is a bit husky, he isn’t fat, just a big-boned, bulldog type pitcher…
“There were a group of Yankees fans hanging on the fence heckling the Mets players…
“Pedro Martinez is difficult to find, and he seems to have a very small presence in camp this season, obviously because of the toe injury…
“Every player seems considerate of the fans and will sign autographs if asked politely…However, Paul Lo Duca snapped at a fan who called him “Do Luca,” saying, “Read the name on the back of the jersey,” while walking away…
“During team workouts and running drills, Victor Zambrano appeared to be dogging it a bit, as was Darren Oliver, who looked very lackadaisical. Cliff Floyd, David Wright, Jose
Lima, Milledge and Brian Bannister, however, were not. They were all hustling pretty hard…
“Willie Randolph repeatedly yells, “Gotta keep it moving,” at his players.”…
Floyd looks to be in great shape, and is working very, very hard. Floyd’s Mom told me that her son would like to be back in New York next season…
“Lima is full of personality. In fact, the entire camp has had a very fun feel, with a lot of joking around taking place on the field. It is a very loose atmosphere. However, compared to seasons in the past, this camp also appears very positive and the team seems to be very gelled together…
…thanks, albert, for the notes and pictures…it is much appreciated…
At No Joy in Metsville, Vinny gives a quick recap of Anna Benson’s appearance on the Howard Stern Show this morning…
“They traded [Kris Benson] for a bag of balls. But you know what? They’re still short on balls,” Vinny quotes Benson as saying…
…i hate writing about anna, as i am sure you can tell given the way i often avoid the subject…in this case, though, i have to post this because she is making a direct knock against the mets…
…i wonder if kris laughs when she makes these comments, does he just roll his eyes and ignore them, or do you think it bugs him…
…it’s got to bug him, i would think…but, who knows…and more importantly, who really cares…
Mets RHP Pedro Martinez talked with New York 1 this morning from Port St. Lucie…
…i did not see the spot, but Daniel Massey, a reader of metsblog, did…
According to Massey, Martinez said…
…he had a tremendous amount of fun with the fans last year…
…on paper the team should be a contender this year…
…it’s a fabulous, easygoing clubhouse with a great mix of youth and veterans…
…he doesn’t care about how many starts he gets, only that he’s healthy down the stretch with the team in contention…
…health would be the only thing that will sidetrack the team…
…he isn’t yet ready to cancel himself out of the WBC, but he didn’t exactly say the toe was not going to be a problem…
…“Everything starts with my legs,” he said, adding that if his legs aren’t right, it will lead to other parts of his body not being right…
…thanks, daniel, for the recap…
This Thursday, the Mets begin the first of 33 exhibition games, which conclude on April 1 in St. Louis… This Thursday, March 2, Steve Trachsel will start against the Cardinals in Jupiter, FL…game time is 1:05 PM EDT… On Friday, March 3, Yusaka Iriki will start against the Cardinals in Port St. Lucie…game time is 7:10 PM EDT… On Saturday, March 4, Aaron Heilman will start against the Nationals in Port St. Lucie…game time is 1:10 PM EDT… …i wonder if it hurts a major-league team to play the same seven teams for six weeks…the mets play the nationals and marlins four times each and the braves three times…
