Daily Archives: February 8, 2008
The New York Times reports that the original Shea Stadium sign man, Karl Ehrhardt, died Tuesday at his home in Glen Oaks, Queens. He was 83.
Dennis Hevesi writes:
“In an interview with The New York Times in 2006, Mr. Ehrhardt said, “I just called them the way I saw them.”
“Ehrhardt served in the Army during World War II, as a translator in a prisoner-of-war camp holding German soldiers. After the war, he graduated from Pratt Institute with a degree in design art.”
…the original sign man was a little before my time, but i am aware of the contributions he made to the team and to the fans in the early years…several have followed in his footsteps, and although i appreciate all of them, no one can come close to the man who started it all…with shea being in its last year, this season will be bittersweet for many reasons…
…all the best to karl’s family…
Tagged Regis Courtemanche |
An anonymous user emailed in asking:
“Wasn’t Francisco Pena supposed to be a top prospect when we signed him? What happened to him?”
The Mets signed Pena out of the Dominican Republic in 2006 for $750,000.
The son of former big leaguer, and now Yankee coach, Tony Pena, he’s a big bodied catcher, measuring in at 6’2 and 230 pounds. That’s a body that led some scouts to tell Baseball America‘s John Manuel that Pena had “cankles”, a story he relayed in a recent chat.
As a 17-year old with Low-A Savannah last season, Pena hit .210 in 326 at bats, hitting 12 doubles and five home runs. He walked 24 times with 76 strike outs.
…basically, the Mets continued their trend of challenging their top Latin American signees, and it backfired with pena…
…i talked recently with Baseball Prospectus’s Kevin Goldstein, whose Top 11 Prospect List came out yesterday, about pena and he says the Mets still believe in the young catcher, who is strong defensively behind the plate….but, goldstein says, he takes ‘bad swings at bad pitches,’ and the bat has a ‘LONG way to go.’
…still, he’s only 18 this season, when most kids are still in high school or playing in rookie ball after being drafted…obviously, some players can be rushed and some don’t respond as well to that, and pena obviously falls into the latter group…patience will be required…
Tagged Minors |
In a post to Lonestar Mets, Dan in Texas plays the part of Marty McFly, travels to the future, steals a Grays Sports Almanac, returns and writes about the future, and what the 2008 season will hold for New York Yankees.
However, in his final paragraph, Dan writes…
“It was all very exciting until I found out that while I was in 2030, Matt Cerrone had stolen my Grays Sports Almanac…I returned to an alternate 2007 in which Matt had become a ruthless millionaire and turned Madison Square Garden into MetsBlog Hotel and Casino. Not only that, Matt also killed my dad and was married to my mother. So I traveled back to 1996 and spent the next two hours on a wacky adventure to retrieve the almanac from Matt in 1996, burn it and thus restore the year 2007 to its previous condition.”
…thanks, dan…i think…
…now make like a tree and get out of here…
The Mariners have announced that they have acquired LHP Erik Bedard from the Orioles for Adam Jones, George Sherrill, Chris Tillman, Cam Mickolio and Tony Butler.
…well, that answers that, since jones alone is better than any one prospect the Mets could have offered – pre-santana…plus, the O’s got seattle’s second-best pitching prospect in hillman…again, as long as bedard didn’t end up on the Phillies or Braves, or Dodgers, i’m happy…
…so, Dan Haren to the D’Backs, Johan Santana to the Mets, and Erik Bedard to the Mariners…
…in my book, the Hot Stove is officially over…
In a report for FOXSports.com, Ken Rosenthal explains why the Braves, position by position, are 
superior to the Mets and comparable to the Phillies.
According to Rosenthal, “The Mets will be a fashionable pick to reach the World Series - too fashionable…but questions remain about the team’s bullpen, not to mention its character.”
Ultimately, Rosenthal writes, “The Braves, under Cox, will play the game properly. Only a fool would ignore them.”
…i agree with that last part…in fact, SNY.tv’s Ted Berg and i were just talking about how we’ll always fear the Braves more than the Phillies…actually, to my dismay, i was pretty dismissive about the Phillies through much of last season…that was clearly a mistake…however, even with last season’s ending, i am still more worried about the Braves entering this season than the Phillies…
In an article for 
, Michael Salfino takes a closer look at how Willie Randolph compares to other managers in the National League.
…i have read this article twice…i still don’t know if salfino thinks randolph did a good job or not…maybe you can figure it out…
…you know my opinion on this…i do not believe willie is perfect, not by a long shot…i think he has several flaws, many of which came back to bite him at the end of last season…the thing is, i don’t know that a baseball manager even needs to be perfect in order to be successful…
…i still believe the manager is among the most overrated people in any organization…from what i can tell, the success and failure of the overall club has far, far more to do with who is on the roster and how those players execute than it does with any one call by the manager…to me, willie’s job is more about managing expectations; player personalities and the media, than it is about on-field x’s and o’s…
…as i have said before, there is so much we are not aware of…closed door meetings…who is banged up…who is isn’t…who is and is not saying so…etc…that it is difficult to fully judge the day-by-day job of a baseball manager, which is why i prefer to reserve judgment until the season is over…
…that said, willie is on thinner ice than he was at the start of last season…because, in the end, he’s job is to win and he’ll be the first to tell us that…and so, be it because of x’s and o’s, or not, if the team does not win and make the playoffs this season i suspect it’s going to be a stressful October for randolph…
Tagged Willie Randolph |According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies continue to talk 
with free-agent RHP Kris Benson, who missed last season recovering from shoulder surgery.
…i still love the fact that, when you search Kris Benson on Google Images, 16 of the first 20 images are of his wife…hilarious…
…i mean, the guy is a major league pitcher…something very few men will ever attain…yet, he’ll forever be known for the outlandish behavior of his wife, who is only famous because she is his wife…so weird…i wonder if this bothers him or not…oh well…
In a post to his blog for ESPN.com, Buster Olney writes that Scott Boras is still seeking ‘significant deals’ for both free-agent RHP Kyle Lohse and Jeff Weaver.
…seriously, i know this guy gets his clients the occasional mega-deal, but i’d love to know, on average, how much does he cost his players by waiting, and waiting and waiting like this…
According to Olney, “The only way that the Mets will take Lohse, sources say, is if he hands himself on a cheap financial platter to New York,” otherwise, “The team is fully committed to go to spring training with the pitchers they already have, now that Johan Santana is in the fold.”
…thanks to Jason B for the link…
ESPN 1050’s Andrew Marchand had the following to say about Johan Santana’s contract, while appearing a few moments ago on The Max Kellerman Show…
“The Mets may be able to get limited insurance on Johan Santana‘s contract. The Mets are looking into insurance, but likely only will be able to insure part of the first three years of the deal with very high premiums. Then after three years, they can re-apply for the second half of the contact.
“The premiums are so high that they factored into some teams thinking when they added what the cost of Santana’s contract would be, the risk and the difficulty in insuring it.”
…by the way, marchand is doing an outstanding job on this story…well done, man…
…why do we care about this story, you may ask…well, two words, Mo Vaughn…if you don’t remember, go here…
To listen live to ESPN 1050, and for previous installments of the Marchand Minute, click here.
At MLB.com, Marty Noble writes about Johan Santana’s ability to improve the Mets…at the plate.
According to Noble, a Silver Slugger Award clause was included in the contract Santana signed last Friday.
Santana’s agent, Peter Greenberg, as quoted by Noble…
‘Johan didn’t ask that we include one in the contract…But we know our client…We’ve told him, ‘No, think doubles, Shea plays big.’”
…it’s always fun to have a pitcher that can hit, just ask the three Marlins fans who i’m sure enjoyed watching Dontrelle Willis kill the Mets to the tune of 12 for 31 with three home runs and eight RBI over the last three seasons…
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