Daily Archives: October 16, 2007
According to Neilsen, 375,000 people watched the final broadcast of the Mets this season. When added to the 55,000 people who were at the game, it would suggest there are at least 420,000 or so Mets fans in the tri-state area, if not more, assuming most of the team’s fans were tuning in to watch.
Second, how many Mets fans do you believe live outside the tri-state area?
…it seems to me that by adding this non-tri-state figure to the tri-state figure, i could get a general sense of just how many Mets fans exist…do you agree with this…do you see a flaw in this logic…if so, let me know in the comment’s section…
Tagged MetsBlog |Yesterday, on Sports Radio 660 WFAN, Mike Francesa was confused and incorrect when stating that the Mets had already announced that Rickey Henderson will be fired and replaced by Rangers batting coach Rudy Jaramillo.
…actually, when he said it, i just rolled my eyes, knowing full well that he was once again confusing speculation and suggestion for fact…it happens all the time on that station, frankly…
Today, Francesa had the following to say, speaking with his standard authoritative, all-knowing voice…
“The Mets have stated now that these reports about Rudy Jaramillo are not true, that he’s not coming to the team. I said there were reports that he was coming to the team, but the Mets called and said that he is not coming to the team, that all these reports are untrue.”
…ummm, what reports…my job is to essentially follow every heart-beat across the Mets media, and i never once saw a ‘report’ about jaramillo coming to the Mets…i’ve read several that have speculated how the team may have interest, and will wait to make a move with its coaching staff until jaramillo becomes a free agent at the end of this month, but i do not ever recall a report that stated anything close to what francesa was spreading across the airwaves yesterday…yet, it didn’t stop him from doing so…unreal…
…the best part is that after the Mets call him off-air to clarify, he hits the airwaves and reports on the call like it’s some form of breaking news…hilarious…
Tagged Rudy Jaramillo |…with all of the recent posts about the construction of Citi Field, it’s interesting to note the following promotional video from the 1964–1965 World’s Fair touting construction of Shea Stadium…
…hat tip to bobster1985 on YouTube for posting this clip…if you click on his name, it will take you to his page, which features many other interesting Mets videos…
Tagged Shea Stadium |The following is a quick Q&A I was asked to participate in for a college newspaper from New Jersey…
Question: What were your hopes and expectations going into the 2007 baseball season for the Mets, especially considering how far the Mets made it in 2006?
Cerrone: I had high hopes for this team, and was confident they had enough talent and focus to repeat as NL East champions. Unfortunately, I was only half right.
Question: On September 13th, 2007 the New York Mets had already won 83 games and lost only 62 games for the season…Just 17 days later the Mets season was over. What was it like watching this?
Cerrone: It was like standing on the side of the road, watching a potential car wreck occur over two full weeks, all in super slow motion. Every day, the car got a little bit closer to the truck, spinning, sliding, and no matter how much I tried to cover my eyes I couldn’t, I had to watch.
Question: More so than most journalists that follow the Mets, you actually have a ‘finger on the pulse’ of the Mets fan base. How do you think most fans reacted to this ‘collapse’?
Cerrone: We, as fans, are not taking this ending any less passionately than we all did last season; it’s just that we had two weeks, if not more, to prepare for it this time around, despite continuing to believe it would end differently while going through it. Last season, especially after Endy Chavez’s catch, we were blindsided – and, as such, the endings have seemingly delivered two different responses. I can only speak from what I read and hear, but, last season we seemed to be more depressed and angry from having the carpet suddenly ripped out from under us, while this season people seem to be frustrated, stunned and dismissive and eager to just turn the page and move on.
Question: Without playing fantasy GM, where do you think the Mets should go from here? Do you think they should restock, rebuild, stick it out, etc.?
Cerrone: They do not need to re-build. Instead, they first need to re-think how this team ticks. If they’re smart, they’ll build the team beneath their manager, Willie Randolph, and around their franchise player, David Wright. Randolph only cares about winning. That’s it. Wright is the same way. If there is a player on this team that is unwilling to work hard to keep up with Willie and Wright they should be sent packing, and only players with this attitude should be acquired. With that, I suspect there to be a variety of changes, including changes within management, from the coaching staff down to the minor leagues.
Question: Although it seems silly to believe in miracles when it comes to a professional sports team, would you say that you were hoping for a 2007 Mets miracle, especially at the end of the season?
Cerrone: No. The team was too talented to hope for a miracle. Also, I don’t judge baseball in that front to back, ‘foot race,’ type of way. This team didn’t lose the division in late September, at least any more than they lost it on some random day in May or April, for instance. Hoping for miracles can be fun, but if a team is not living up to its potential then why should a miracle matter.
…i always laugh when i go back and read these type of interviews…i mean, on the day i submitted those responses, i must have been in an extra surly mood, or irritated about something in my life, because i sound like a cranky, faithless curmudgeon, which is funny to me, because i am usually far more understanding and positive…
Tagged MetsBlog |Tom, a reader of MetsBlog.com, recently took a tour of the Citi Field construction site, during which he was able to walk on the ‘field,’ and in the ‘clubhouse.’
Go here to check out his pictures.
Tom also e-mailed in the following notes from his tour…
“The super told us to check back between Thanksgiving and Christmas and see the
tremendous progress on the rotunda. He noted that Fred Wilpon personally told him that if any section of the stadium is ‘spare no expenses’ it MUST be the rotunda.
“The Mets hope to move into the new offices my late Summer 2008.
“Shea Stadium demolition will begin immediately following the ‘last event’ in the facility.“We got a look at the drawings and there is a spot reserved for the Home Run Apple, most levels will be laid out with Concession Stand followed by bathroom, followed by another concession stand.
“There will be a ‘movie theater-like’ auditorium.”
…hmm, i wonder if the movie theater-like auditorium will be used to host Mets at the Movies events, like the team did last season near Broadway as a way to get fans together for road games…that’s a total guess, but a logical one, and a clever one, i would think…
In a recent column for FOXSports.com, Ken Rosenthal asks, “If the Yankees make Joe Torre an offer that he deems unacceptable…would the Mets jump in and pursue Torre?”
Rosenthal continues by writing, “While hiring Torre would be an awful thing to do to Randolph, it would be a seminal moment for the Mets in their quest to recapture New York from the Yankees.”
…ugh, sure, seminal is one way to put it…yes, torre was part of the Mets franchise for five seasons, but, come on…that’s not recapturing new york, that’s capturing the enemy and will only further solidify the idea 
that the Mets are second fiddle to the Yankees…frankly, as a Mets fan, i’d be embarrassed…especially if one of Jorge Posada or Mariano Rivera followed him across the river…
…i’m all for winning, but the organization must always remember that fans want to identify with the team, that’s part of the dynamic that keeps us loyal, whether we realize it or not…for some of us, part of our identity is very much tied to hating the Yankees…and the business, public-relations side of the Mets should not forget that…
…i understand that rosenthal is just posing a hypothetical…but i don’t even like thinking about this as a way to kill time…please, let’s never discuss this again…
Last Friday, former-Braves GM and current team president John 
Schuerholz appeared as a guest on Colin Cowherd’s ESPN radio show.
Schuerholz, on super-agent Scott Boras, and his suggestion that Alex Rodriguez could be worth $30 million per season, while speaking to Cowherd…
“I think it’s obnoxious…for someone to suggest that this is a valid salary level for a professional athlete, no matter what kind of voodoo economics they can do in analyzing the books of MLB, it’s absolutely asinine…
“When he presented us with that kind of offer with Andruw Jones, we found it so ridiculous and obnoxious we didn’t even respond. It didn’t even rise to the level of requiring a response. It’s just idiotic.”
…well, i guess it’s safe to say that a-rod will not be playing for the Braves any time soon…
For other highlights in written form, check out Neil Best’s outstanding blog for Newsday.
Meanwhile, at his blog for the Daily News, Adam Rubin provides a very, very candid, 250–word quote by former-Mets GM and current ESPN personality Steve Phillips on how ‘negotiations’ with Rodriguez went handled with the Mets seven years ago under his watch.
Phillips tells Rubin of Boras’s demands back in 2000 for Rodriguez, which included, among other things, opt outs after three, five and seven years and meetings with ownership to discuss scouting reports of the team’s minor-league talent.
Phillips, among other interesting comments, as quoted by Rubin…
“He gave me this book they had put together for everybody. He went through his rundown…He said, ‘All these things have to be part of the deal or there’s not a deal.’…I just wrote everything down and digested it all and told ownership about it…they said, ‘Okay, just tell them were out.’ We told him we were out…It wasn’t any sort of a setup that the Mets had interest in before…I will say this, and I think Fred Wilpon has said this: There’s no way the Mets would pay $25 million a year at the time…The dollars were never negotiated. It’s structure was beyond what was appropriate at the time.”
…you have to go to adam’s blog and read the full quote…it’s amazing what boras had been asking for…the thing is, in hindsight, it appears he didn’t get half of what he was looking for…the thing is, even the half that he did get would probably have still been unacceptable to the Mets, which can only make me think he is unacceptable to the Mets today, as well…
