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Coming off a quiet day at Tradition Field on Sunday, the player getting the feature of the day treatment in today’s papers is new catcher, Brian Schnieder, whom the Mets acquired, along with OF Ryan Church, from the Nationals in November in exchange for OF Lastings Milledge.
Bill Madden, in the Daily News, quotes Schnieder on how he plans on getting to know a brand new pitching staff:
“I know what my job is here. And with the emphasis on pitching, this is a big challenge getting to know this staff and working with each of them. It’s also going to be fun. It requires a lot more than just catching these guys in drills and games this spring. You’ve got to hang with them, really get to know them. You don’t have to catch them every day. You learn a lot just by not leaving the field early and spending long days watching guys. The catcher has got to be the leader of the team.”
…while i had my reservations about the trade, i’ve definitely warmed to the idea of having Schnieder behind the plate for the Mets this season…
…having watched him over the years, he is athletic behind the plate and calls a great game, and hearing him talk about his preparation and dedication like this really gives me confidence in his ability to handle what should be a talented pitching staff…
Meanwhile, Mike Vaccaro at the NY Post writes that Schnieder may be the next in a long line of fan favorite Mets catchers, following in the foot steps of Jerry Grote, Gary Carter, Todd Hundley, Mike Piazza and even Paul Lo Duca, whom Schnieder is replacing.
Of off-the-field interest, Ben Shpigel of the NY Times describes Schnieder’s adventurous streak. The son of a Navy Pilot, Schnieder has flown with the Blue Angels, and plans on skydiving, bungee jumping and cliff diving when his career comes to a close.
…schnieder notes that he’s worried about hurting his knees during such an adventure, which is welcome news… and we were worried about Duaner Sanchez going out for late night snacks in Miami…
Tonight on 
, Schnieder and infielder Jose Valentin will be guests on Mets Hot Stove Report, which airs at 6 pm and then again at 11 pm.
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How about Gary Carter? Last time I checked he was a fan favorite,….maybe not a favorite of the other players on the team, but he was for sure a FAN faviorite.
agreed
Ditto John Stearns.
A list of fan favorite Mets catchers without Gary Carter? Sure he may have been a self reightous A-Hole, but hack in ‘86 fans loved him almost as much as Mookie.
What about Mackey Sasser and Barry Lyons??
Please don’t forget Charlie O’Brian and his curls!
Here is perhaps a better question…can anyone think if a STARTING Mets catcher who was disliked by fans on a whole?
Even most of the long term back ups have been fairly well liked but can anyone think of a hated catcher for the Mets that was a starter?
Tim Spehr in ‘97?
Nevermind, it was actually ‘98. And it was only for 21 games. Jason Phillips? Alberto Castillo? I don’t know….
Phillips was a fan favorite for the short while he was our regular catcher. He started to suck when he left the team.
Actually, Phillips was only good for the Mets his first full season (2003) – in 2004 (his last season with the Mets), he went .218/.298/.326. That’s pretty terrible.
Ummm… Gary Carter WAS listed… Read the article again…
Matt added his name…..now we just wait for Macky Sasser to get added ::impatiently taps foot::
If I read the phrase “calls a great game” one more time, I am going to vomit… he’s a major league catcher, which of course means he knows how to call a game..
Who was the last catcher that cold really hit, but just couldn’t call a great game?
Getting Johan is obviously great..the Schneider trade is still an all time stinker.
all time stinker? wow, what are your expectations for Milledge this year? 35 HRs? Please…
Do you realize Schneider gets paid $5million for the next two years?? On the Nats payroll? Did it really take an A prospect to get him?
Yes. Yes it did.
Ha.. well it shouldn’t of…
I get there’s no point in being negative and certainly Johan makes everything better..
But he blows.. I hope Castro stays healthy and they have a nice platoon… cause he’s over matched every day…
And I think Castro calls a good game himself…
I also find it ironic that Schneider is available to the Mets, cause they have Jesus Flores who they took in the Rule V last year… whose offensive numbers will probably be on par with Schnneider
Pretty sure that Jesus Flores is gonna be toiling in AAA this year, but it should be fun watching the once and almost Mets Lo Duca and Estrada arm wrestling in the dugout for the opportunity to be first to strangle their manager.
Schneider and Church are gonna be way better for team chemistry than Milledge was.
Schneider might not be as much of a loudmouth as Lo Duca, but I don’t think comments like “we’re just waiting to lose” really show leadership – I think sitting down to watch video of your new teammates the minute you get the call to say you’ve been traded, and making the effort to get to know your pitching staff at the earliest possible opportunity shows leadership.
Plus last year, Schneider and Lo Duca both hit 54 RBIs despite Lo Duca getting 37 more at-bats and playing in a more productive lineup. Schneider’s OPS was also higher than Lo Duca’s (.704 vs .699)
Schneider was (very marginally) more productive offensively and more efficient defensively last year. These are statistical facts. Plus, the subjective judgement of pretty much everyone in baseball is that Schneider calls a better game. In other words, he’s a better player in two out of three categories, and equal in the third. Why would you prefer Lo Duca?
fist off extrawhitemeat, Milledge was not an A prospect anymore, our fans really need to get over that fact. Might he still develop? Sure, but its no given. As for Schneider, he doesn’t blow. The fact is, catchers aren’t expected to hit .300 or hit 25 HRs, thats just rare. Most teams go with defense and game calling over offense, offense is gravy pretty much. Mets fan can’t realize this because we’ve had two catchers in Piazza and Lo Duca who aren’t great defensively and gave more offensively (until last year of course when Lo Duca absolutely blew). Schneider offers stability behind the plate, great D, work ethic, and in fact, he’s not inept with the bat. And we didn’t trade Milledge for just him, Church was involved as well, and he’s a good player. You shouldn’t get so down on these guys before the season even starts. Give them a chance, what fun is being a pessimist all the time? These guys actually are pretty good players, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
As a recovering pessimist I can say the appeal of pessimism was that one was often pleasantly surprised. If someone is in here screaming “fire willie” alot I can only hope it’s in lieu of kicking their dog (or worse), not in addition to it.
Know what is great for team chemistry? Getting on base.
It will be hard to do worse then Duca’s .338 Lifetime OBP or his quite empty .288 BA, but it looks like Schneider could pull it off.
Schneider walks a lot more than Lo Doca (which is good – no double plays on walks!). As a result, he was on base more than Lo Duca last year, in fewer PAs.
The .288 BA is above average for a catcher – that would’ve been 6th among all MLB catchers with at least 100 ABs last year. Schneider won’t match that, but then again, what would Lo Duca’s average be without roids?
I really don’t care about a .288BA if it is accompanied by a .338 obp and zero power. Its totally empty.
So if you accept that BA isn’t a great stat for measuring offense… how about Schneider getting as many RBIs as LoDuca last year in fewer ABs on a much less productive offense?
If Schneider hits 260, hits 8-12 HR’s and drives in 55-60 in the 8 hole then I’m all for this defensive stopper. When your strong up the middle (reyes, castillo, and beltran) defense likes this wins championships. I was never a milledge guy although I thought we coulda received more for him but I won’t lose sleep over especially with F mart about a year or 2 away. Besides the average this is what Loduca did last year and he’s considered an offensive catcher!
well, to be fair, while lo duca was considered to be an offensive catcher, he was on steroids when he developed that reputation.
yeah, but its not like he ever had the defense to change people’s minds about that
projected playoffs 08 NL west: diamondbacks NL central: cubs NL east: Mets NL wild card: padres AL west: angels AL central: tigers AL east: red sox AL wild card: Indians any disagreements i pretty much think this is how its gonna be. the diamond backs have a great rotation plus there young line up, the cubs……. the only reason they will make it to the playoff is cuz the rest of the central sucks out loud, the mets… where do i begin there pitching is by far one of the best in the NL next to SD, d-backs. and the padres well its not their line up that will get them to the playoffs its there rotation and thats it i predict the will have 3.50 era as a team. The angels have a great out field and lineup their pitching is not the best neither is it the worst, the tigers and indians will be fighting for the central all year but the tigers will come on top with there super lineup there pitching is good but the d-train this will definitly not be his year hes gone to a league where there is big papi and a-rod, he wont last. the red sox the got it all the pitching the line up the youngsters the bullpen their shoe ins. and the indians got pitching and youth in there line uo such as grady sizmore and victor martinez. there pitchis good they got three pitchers that won more than 15 games, including fausto carmona who i think will win the AL cy young this year.
Did you guys actually read the article? The Jacket is amazing. He says about the importance of a great handler of pitchers type of catcher (a la BS):
“What exactly does a ‘great handler of pitchers’ mean?” pitching coach Rick Peterson said. “Put it this way: On average, there are 22,500 pitches a pitching staff throws during the course of a season. That means there are 22,500 decisions two people are making. There are going to be days when a pitcher doesn’t feel that good and the catcher has to judge what that pitcher has working for him that day.
“The catcher is responsible for getting the pitchers through those 22,500 decisions and, when you think of it, it takes just one pitch to decide a ballgame. You realize the margin between playing in October and going home like we did last year could be a difference of just 2-3 pitches.”
I love it!
Great stuff. Warming quickly to Schneider. The good newss keeps getting better.
Can we please “PLAY BALL”
As a fan I enjoy and appreciate the Jacket’s gift for gab and just generally the way he expresses himself.
However, I became a bit wary of him after a remark Ron Darling made on a Met telecast last year which was roughly: “when you’re on the mound you are intense and focused and the LAST thing you need is some guy coming out and telling you long analogic stories about tortoises and hares, you need a pat on the butt and a go get ‘em.”
Of course, there’s not a mic on the mound so for all I know the latter is exactly what he’s saying out there.
totally valid point. the difference between knowing and doing is huge.
I see Peterson as a guy who knows how to switch it up for the individual pitcher. That being said, I mean, you really can’t argue with success though can you? Just look at Maine and Ollie, who both preach the words of Peterson, they went from nothing to something significant in a year or 2.
First let me say I’m a fan of the Jacket and I’m glad he’s the pitching coach of my favorite team, but…
While noting the obvious success of Perez and Maine, I can’t overlook the failures of Lawrence, Sele, Park, Vargas, Williams, to an extent Glavine, the arguably slow development of Pelfrey and of course the forever lowlight example of some guy named Zambrano.
What I think I understand about the Jacket is this: if you have talent, he can help you realize it; if you don’t, tough luck cuz he can’t help you. Assuming that’s true, the onus is on the organization to understand that and provide him with talent potential, not landfill.
um, what organization has #7 and #8 pitchers with talent? That would be one stocked team, and I simply don’t see it anywhere. Obviously more guys in baseball will fail then succeed, but when 2/5’s of your rotation is made up of guys who pretty much were reclamation projects, you’re doing something right. Of course you need talent, some luck, whatever, but expecting all those other guys to work out as well is ridiculous. How can you expect that?
if the good lord himself was the pitching coach, lawrence, sele, park, vargas, and williams would still stink.
In no way was I expecting all of them to work out, but it would have been nice if the Jacket could have done something postive for even one of them.
What happened to Alay Soler? He had a couple of great starts which showed me some talent/potential but then he disappeared off the face of the earth. And clearly the Jacket doesn’t adjust to everyone, Heath Bell as an example.
Jae Seo pitched pretty well under the Jacket, yet someone with a track record of decency such as Kaz Ishii under the influence of the Jacket just loses it?
Again, I like him, I’m glad to have him, but I temper my praise a bit that’s all.
whoops, please allow me to retract Kaz Ishii, his ancillary numbers all stayed the same, just his wins went down, that’s not the Jacket’s fault.
Also, before I get dragged any further into somehow defaming Rick Petersen, which was never my intent, let me reiterate my intial point: the onus is on the organization to provide him with talent. The only reason I would even question him a little bit is because my perception is other organizations seem to be able to call kids and/or retreads up from the minors and get, at least temporarily, something out of them. My perception is The Mets call up people and they either thrive or crash and burn, I don’t see a middle ground. Whether my perception in any way jives with reality, having been a longtime reader of metsblog, I’m confident that you (darkstar73) can tell me.
First off, all pitching coaches have their clunkers. Dave Duncan, for all his success, could not get through to Kip Wells. Leo Mazzone could not get through to anyone on Baltimore, and was fired as a result. So the fact that Peterson isn’t batting 1.000 should not be cause for alarm.
Second, Pelfrey’s slow development is more Minaya’s fault than anyone else’s. Pelfrey was rushed to the bigs, and his failure (up till this point) can be attributed to 2 things: lack of experience and making the bigs too easily.
Playing in the bigs is not easy, thus, making the bigs should not be easy. By promoting Pelfrey so quickly, not only did they do him a disservice by not giving him the necessary innings to hone his craft, but he did not develop any kind of hunger, desire, or toughness that is required to pitch in the bigs. He was drafted, sat out the rest of the year, signed a contract in the offseason, and was up in the bigs after a handful of minor league starts. This is not the way to develop a young pitcher.
The only way any player, but especially a pitcher, should fly through the minors is in the case of the young Yankee pitchers. Hughes, Joba, and Kennedy pretty much dominated the minor leagues, plus they have big time secondary pitches. Pelfrey has neither dominated, nor does he have any kind of secondary pitch that scares big league hitters. Plus, when you watch guys like Hughes, Kennedy, and Joba you see a certain kind of toughness and intensity on the mound that Pelfrey lacks. Pitching requires an incredible amount of focus and determination. Again, this is acquired from toiling in the minors while trying to force your way onto a big league roster, not from being rushed through the system and handed a starting spot.
I mean, perception is not always reality, we deal with watching these guys we have to call up to be #7 pitchers everyday, we don’t see other team’s #7 pitchers every time they pitch, trust me, they’re not doing so hot either. However, one of the problems the past couple of years was our lack of major league ready pitching prospects. That I will say, helps other teams, while we have just lacked that the past couple years. However, we have gotten decent performances from some people who have later on gone on to crash and burn (see Soler, Dave Williams, maybe someone else). So I’ll agree, its on the organization to provide talent, no pitching coach can make it work every time, but given talent, Peterson has a knack for turning it around.
Dark and Squad, thank you for sharing your thoughts, you’ve both given me alot to think about. After spending the last 3 days over at LoHud Mets blog banging my head against a wall of “Ryan Church is a bad player, a selfish person, and an anti-semite” posts, I suppose I had my hackles up, and the last thing I wanted to do was return to the supposed sanctuary of metsblog only to find it infiltrated with polite but antagonistic phils fans and then get into an argument with fellow Mets fans over whether Rick Petersen is great or merely very good. You’re clearly happy to have him, I’m happy to have him, and please trust me that I don’t boo the Jacket when a Met pitcher quickly whips his head around to watch a home run fly out of the park. I wish/hope that someone would give the Jacket a radio or tv show because I really like the way he expresses himself.
The Mets can have a Professor Jacket’s Metaphor Academy (like Prof Reyes’ Spanish Academy) so we can learn to better express ourselves in odd, esoteric ways.
I think Peterson is a good pitching coach, but he does have his flaws. The Bell situation was a debacle (I always like Heath, perhaps b/c his first name rhymes with mine, but whatever) and I have a problem with the way Mets pitchers tend to nibble rather than just going after guys (although this could have been Lo Duca, who called a terrible, predictable game.)
I also think that for whatever reason, the Mets have done a poor job developing pitchers recently. The only pitcher I can think who they have brought up and had any kind of success on the Mets is Bobby Jones. Everyone else they’ve either traded (Kazmir/Izzy/Bannister) or have handled horribly (Wilson, Pulse, Humber, and Pelfrey.)
Off topic a bit but have to ask an important question. I just viewed a mock draft which had the Mets picking Kyle Long(son of Howie) with the 18th pick. The kid is supposed to be a major beast at 6-7 290lbs and a mean streak. Incredible LHP/1B and major threat at the plate. Turned down Football offers from every major school.
My question is, if he commits to a college and we draft him now, do we retain his rights through his college years. Sorry, I don’t have the link.
My guess is the Mets would have to offer a heck of a signing bonus (aka over slot), to get Long to play baseball and forgo college.
So if he is available and the word on the street is its money to get this “beast” to play baseball, Omar and the FO will literally have to put their money where their mouth is and take this guy.
projected playoffs 08 NL west: diamondbacks NL central: cubs NL east: Mets NL wild card: padres AL west: angels AL central: tigers AL east: red sox AL wild card: Indians any disagreements i pretty much think this is how its gonna be. the diamond backs have a great rotation plus there young line up, the cubs……. the only reason they will make it to the playoff is cuz the rest of the central sucks out loud, the mets… where do i begin there pitching is by far one of the best in the NL next to SD, d-backs. and the padres well its not their line up that will get them to the playoffs its there rotation and thats it i predict the will have 3.50 era as a team. The angels have a great out field and lineup their pitching is not the best neither is it the worst, the tigers and indians will be fighting for the central all year but the tigers will come on top with there super lineup there pitching is good but the d-train this will definitly not be his year hes gone to a league where there is big papi and a-rod, he wont last. the red sox the got it all the pitching the line up the youngsters the bullpen their shoe ins. and the indians got pitching and youth in there line uo such as grady sizmore and victor martinez. there pitchis good they got three pitchers that won more than 15 games, including fausto carmona who i think will win the AL cy young this year.,
it’s deja vu all over again
So I take it that if we draft him and he goes to college, we loose control of him.
The info on this kid is alarming. My guess is that he will go to college but if that’s the case, why would they list him as our pick at 18?
Link for mock draft MyMLBdraft.com
I’d hope they’d only take him if they were confident that he was going to sign.
From Wikipedia:
Prior to 2007, a team retained the rights to sign a selected player for one week prior to the next draft, or until the player enters, or returns to, a four-year college on a full-time basis. Starting in 2007, the deadline for signing a drafted player is August 15. A selected player who enters a junior college cannot be signed until the conclusion of the school’s baseball season. A player who is drafted and does not sign with the club that selected him may be drafted again at a future year’s draft, so long as the player is eligible for that year’s draft. A club may not select a player again in a subsequent year, unless the player has consented to the re-selection.
A player who is eligible to be selected and is passed over by every club becomes a free agent and may sign with any club, up until one week before the next draft, or until the player enters, or returns to, a four-year college full-time or enters, or returns to, a junior college. In the one-week period before any draft, which is called the “closed period”, the general rule is that no club may sign a new player.
Looks like the compensation for failure to sign is now that you get a supplemental pick immedeately after the pick that failed to sign in the following year’s draft.
So for example, if the Mets choose Long with the #22 pick in ‘08, and he doesn’t sign, they get the “#22-A” pick in ‘09 (after the #22 pick, before the #23 pick), in addition to their other first round pick (assuming they don’t lose that by signing a type A free agent).
The supplementary picks for unsigned draft picks cannot be forfeited and do not alter the calculations for free agent compensatory picks.
Capiche? ;)
Great stuff. Thanks for the help. This draft is going to be fun. Big implications on the future.
I have a hard time envisioning a .323 Career OBP being a fan favorite…
how about a guy with a .311 OBP last year and only 10 points higher then Schneider’s for his career, but doesn’t play any defense? Not to mention that OBP being quite empty seeing as it was most likely a weak dribbler. I’d rather have my #8 hitter getting on base with walks rather then being a DP machine. But hey, we had that guy, and he was a fan favorite.
Yeah, but LoDuca threw his helmet, argued with umps, and generally showed “fire” and “heart” so he was adored by the masses. Those kind of things don’t show up in the box score or in your fancy pants “statistics.”
Can we ever get over Milledge? Or our feelings for him ever-Lastings??
How long did it take to forget about the Scott Kazmir deal? Or Brian Bannister??
Just wondering….
Has everyone forgotten John Stearns, A hard nosed, Speedy catcher who played for the Mets from 75-84 Before his career ending injuries, He was pretty popular around Shea.
NO! Stearns and Mookie were my favorite Mets as a kid. Talk about a guy doomed by being on bad teams (although he did get a few all-star spots out of it).
I for one was thrilled the guy just got to be around the Mets as a coach in 2000 to finally experience winning baseball in Queens. The Monster’s out of the cage!!
Personally, I am very impressed with Schneider. Others have made the case for why he as good as Lo Duca offensively; and no one can question that he is better defensively.
I think, as fans, we are simply spoiled by the memory of Piazza. He was the best offensive catcher in the history of baseball.
Schneider may not be flashy, but I have a feeling he is going to win over his critics.