|
Last week, a crane feel from a roof top on the upper east side of Manhattan killing two construction workers.
According to the Daily News, the fiancee of one of the men rejected a financial donation from Ryan Church, “because her future hubby was a Yankee fan.”
“Don was a die-hard Yankee fan,” the woman said. “It would not respect his memory if he accepted this.”
…thanks to my cousin Chris for the link…i think…
Speaking of Church, check out John Delcos’s latest post to his blog for the Journal News, where he a details a conversation before yesterday’s game, 
during which he confronted Omar Minaya about the ‘shameful’ way he handled Church, writing:
“I asked Omar Minaya, sarcastically, I admit, where Church got his medical degree so he could make such a decision. The Mets weren’t happy with the question and told me so…I even got a nasty e-mail from someone, asking who I was to question Minaya. Whoa. I am supposed to question authority in my business and not drink the Kool-Aid. Of course, I haven’t gotten an apology email from that gutless wonder…Just dumb and arrogant from top to bottom. They should be ashamed, but I doubt they have that capability.”
…nice, john…power to the people, man…
gutless wonder sums up this team pretty accurately
It also sums up hacks like John Delcos.
It’s pitiful that he’s trying to make himself a part of the story like this for publicity.
Don’t look now.. but Milledge is starting to rake.. hit a GW homer last night….
yeah, and Church and Schneider have been such disappointments.
C’mon.
Yeah.. guided us all the way to 3 games under .500 now… versus a 23 year old Milledge starting to come into his own..
Moves like this are how we got here in the first place…
please tell me you are kidding……
Yeah, he’s really starting to come into his own because he hit 2 home runs in his last 3 games. He’s hitting .251 with 5 home runs on the year while still corkscrewing himself into the ground on outside sliders.
hey dwright, way to be nonsensical and illogical. welcome to the party. One GW homer does not a season make
How am I kidding? What good is third in the NL east this year?
jesus flores – 23 year old catcher, given up by the mets in the Rule V draft for nothing, claimed by the Nats..318 3 18, OBP .390 Salary 400K
Brian Schneider .255 2 15 OBP .340 Age 31 Salary 5 Million
Before last year when Church played 144 games his previous high was 103… and now we’re all enjoying the Chavez/Tatis Poo Poo Playyer…..
Hey Mo.. all I sad was starting to come into his own.. He’s still only 23… and I’m pretty sure he’s got more game winning homers then 3/4 of our starting roster….
Jesus Flores is a bad example. They didn’t want to give him up at all, but couldn’t protect him. I also think the comparison to Church is bad. He had a fluke injury (as opposed to being injury prone). I am sure while he hasn’t had many GW homers, he is responsible for more wins than Milledge is. Plus his defense is stellar. I still think we made out on the deal
Church has topped 300ABs in a season once.. at what point do you call someone injury prone? He’ll be 30 at season’s end…
I’m sure there was a way they could of protected Flores… they gambled that he was so young that no one would leave him on a roster all season long… and lost.. badly…
We had Jason Standridge on the 40-man roster for the Rule V Draft where Flores was claimed.
He was released 2 weeks later.
There ya go.. thanksDanny…
All I’m saying is.. this is how we get older.. and the payroll gets higher..
If we win.. then all is well.. when we don’t.. like this season.. and everyone complains that the roster is old and the payroll is through the roof… then moves like these two are why…
That was my only point.
While it’s true that Church has only topped 300 ABs once, only in 2005 was that due to injury (he ran into the OF wall making a play), in ‘04 he was a rookie and in ‘06 he was in the minors after struggling early, not injury.
The Nat-spos never gave him a chance to play a full season.
Kinda like us with Milledge? :-)
I’m wit Dwright here. I disliked this trade at the time, and I fully expected Church to be a good ballplayer. We had a young inexpensive outfielder in Milledge and a catcher in Estrada, and we traded that 23 year old for a 29 year old and a no hit catcher and dumped the one we already had.
I never understood why we traded for something we didn’t need and got older and more expensive along the way.
It’s the same thing when when we traded a young starter (Bannister) for a power bullpen arm (Bourgos) and then traded two young power bullpen arms (Lindstrom and Owens) for a young starter (Vargas). I complained about that then, I complained about Milledge at the time. It is weird, upside down (or is it just sideways?) trading.
I will still take Church and Schneider over Milledge any day! Get better Church!
How is Bannister doing this year? Lindstrom? Owens? Do you think any of them would be difference makers for this team? Did you even check Flores numbers before he got called up? He was hitting a lofty .153 at AAA. He got off to hot start after his call up and now is cooling down. Quit complaining about the past and focus on the future.
I never said any of those guys were doing well, my point was that Omar has shown a penchant for trading for pieces he already has. Would I take Bannister over Vargas? Yes. Would I take Lindstrom over Bourgos? Yes.
I’m happy to look to the future. Maybe Omar will trade Reyes for Julio Lugo.
He’s cooling down? Yeah that HR he hit yesterday was probably a lucky shot..
Milledge is joke, and they have managed to be 14 games under .500 with him. wow he is great!
We’re three games under with Wright and Johann. I guess they suck too.
Dwright was saying what a great addition milledge is to the team and how we are 3 games under with Church and Schneider. Milledge is terrible and and how do you come up with those two? Wright and Johann had nothing to do with the trade. I know it is difficult but let’s try to follow along.
Metfan435: I think the idea was that you cannot say a player stinks just because his team is doing bad. The Nationals have a lot of problems accounting for their being 14 games under .500 that have nothing to do with Milledge. If you have a problem with Milledge, fine, but don’t say he scks because his team scks. There are a lot of good players playing for bad teams (e.g. Wright and Johann)
I am not saying that he sucks because the nationals are bad. Obviously good players play for bad teams all the time. I am saying that Milledge sucks because he can’t hit a breaking pitch and his fielding is terrible and we won’t even start to go after that he is a head case. But dwright was implying we got the short end of the trade, I would take Church and Schneider any day over milledge.
Wow … is there no limit to the arrogance of those in charge of this team? Arrogance, denial, arrogance and more denial.
Omar traded for an ace to help change the vibe … but it didn’t work. There are deeper problems at work here … much deeper … it keeps getting ignored.
You can put an ace in a deck with no hearts but that still doesn’t make you play the game the right way.
thats punny
It’s time to bring out Michael Ray, y’all:
“The ship be sinkin’.”
Garry Templeton?
No, I think it was Richardson
Templeton’s rhyme was
“If I ain’t startin’, I ain’t departin’”
hahaha, ok.
What about “Operation Shutdown”? Ahh, Derek Bell…I miss you.
I’m a Mets fan but god forbid if something happens to me and Arod offers my family some money, I hope they take it.
BTW- Did any of her dead Hubby’s sainted Yanks pony up any cash for her?
Condolences to the fiancee/family, but that is just one of the stupidest comments I’ve heard in a long time. Ryan Church is a human being first, a Met second. Kudos to him for the compassionate gesture. Boos to the fiancee for her reason for turning it down.
I think the term ‘living and dying with my team’ was taken just a bit too far….
shows what kind of person a-rod is. and there are a lot of mets who make more money than he does. the lady is an idiot
Unbelievable, right? I mean…it’s not like Big Papi tried to give em some money. I hardly consider the Mets and Yankees rivals. Unbelievable
just another reason i’m proud to be a mets fan and not a skankees fan. they have absolutely no class
Here is the problem with this team. Despite having won NOTHING they still are arrogant and secretive. Sounds like the Bush administration.
Bush at least won re-election..
the analogy works. bush was ineffective, and got reelected. willie has sucked it up since the 2006 nlcs, and still has a job
I keep forgetting that Willie couldnt hit Cardinals pitching….thanks for reminding me.
How can you forget, silly? Willie striking out in Game 7 against Wainwright. Willie choking last season, Willie pitching a bad game last game of the season. Willie costing us the playoffs. Willie coming out from the bullpen giving up homer after homer last night. It’s all Willie’s fault. He can’t hit, he can’t run the bases, he can’t pitch, he’s messing it all up.
It’s funny that a guy with a moniker alluding to Mota would come to the defense of Willie, when Willie went to Mota far too often at the end of last year and mismanaged that pitching staff right into the biggest collapse of all time.
Great post. In fact, after Omar and Willie gave that press conference on Memorial Day when he decided not to fire Willie, I did a post called “Willie, you’re doin’ a heckuva job!”
“Last week, a crane feel from a roof top on the upper east side of Manhattan killing two construction workers.
According to the Daily News, the fiancee of one of the men rejected a financial donation from Ryan Church, “because her future hubby was a Yankee fan.”
“Don was a die-hard Yankee fan,” the woman said. “It would not respect his memory if he accepted this.”
Talk about priorities…….
Remember when arod saved that Boston kid a while back. He was a Red Sock fan….That lady was rediculous
Hubris- excessive pride or self-confidence; arrogance. Tragic flaw in most figures of power.
Minaya has started to drink his own Kool-Aid.
for a moment I thought you were talking about the lady who refused the money
so did i..lol
started? I think he’s past started. I’d say he started in the winter of 06.
Excellent, excellent column by Delcos.
Delcos is an arrogant pr*ck. I don’t blame Omar for not engaging such a jerk. Everybody loved Omar in 2006 and most of 2007, and now everyone is dying to stick the knife in his back. How fickle of you all!
I’m with you Hubie…Way to kick a man while he’s down, really classy by Delcos.
A real journalist gets all the facts before reporting on a story, last time I checked wisecracks directed at General Managers were not part of that equation.
Um…the FACTS are that the Mets bungled the Church thing and put his long term health in serious risk.
While Delcos’ ultimate point was a valid one, he hardly handled the situation like a ‘professional journalist.’ Probably got his blog a bunch of extra hits though so I guess good for him.
Delcos point was valid, regardless of what you think of his personality. According to Delcos, Omar judged Church was OK to play because he (Church) said he was. That is both reckless and asinine response – especially when dealing with a second concussion. OF COURSE a player is going to say he feels OK to play.
I think it was perfectly valid for Delcos to offer his snarky reply, given Omar’s obliviousness to Church’s condition – which, as it turned out, completely warranted a trip to the DL. If Omar faced reality earlier and put Church on the DL last week, he would have been ready to play that much sooner. But no, in typical Mets FO fasion, they dither and procrastinate whenever they need to make an obvious but difficult choice.
Can you imagine if the Navy let their pilots fly based on their say-so and not the opinion of the flight surgeon? There’d be a lot more expensive fighter jets at the bottom of the ocean.
How is that Omar’s fault? Church had seen a specialist, gotten tested a few times, and after that (days after) he said he felt fine. What would a baseball official do? All signs pointed to him feeling better and feeling no ill affects. It didn’t work out, it was the wrong way to approach things. Hell, after the Sunday night game it looked as if Church was completely fine.
It’s Omar’s fault becuase he said he based his decision according to what Church told him, NOT on what a qualified medical specialist told him.
If Omar had told Delcos that he didn’t put Church on the DL because the Mets medical staff advised him not to, that would be one thing. But he didn’t say that – and Omar is the kind of guy who is careful in the way he phrases things. So I think he purposely said it was based on Church’s opinion because there were probably some doctors who were telling him otherwise.
So I think it was perfectly legitimate for Delcos to ask Omar where Church got his medical degree. And the fact that someone in the Mets FO was shocked, SHOCKED that someone dare question Minaya’s judgement, says a lot about how the organization is being run at the moment.
I can’t see how that’s Omar’s fault.
Putting yourself in his position, if medical reports show nothing and the player is telling you that he is fine, coupled with the fact that the team has struggled overall, what do you do? You play Church.
And it’s not so much that Omar was questioned, it’s the way in which he did it. Apparently, Delcos doesn’t have the greatest of reputations so that doesn’t help either. You don’t pose “sarcastic” or condescending questions in response to a serious matter. He got what he deserved.
If the medical reports showed nothing, why didn’t he say that? It would have carried far more weight to the media (and the fans) than saying Church is playing because he said he could play. Omar chose to respond the way he did for a reason. Frankly, I’m glad someone decided to call Omar on his glib, canned responses. I can understand playing your cards close to your vest during negotiations, but this was a medical issue.
Furthermore, given the fact that Church was pulled after one game and is now on the DL, it is now pretty clear that there *was* something wrong with him. I’m just thankful that nothing serious happened to him on the field while the Mets FO dithered about what to do with him.
Life is fickle. Get over it.
OrangEandBlue
Easy bangwagon, the Mets are having a tough year, so please stop crying and you get over it
Hubie? I know that the Mets suck now that is why I do not think too highly of then when they look great for an inning or too.
Either you do not care Hubie about the Mets situation right now or you are a Phillies or Braves fan. Either way you still should not talk.
I know one thing for certain. I know more about the Mets historically and today than a pea brain like your self. Pease go away!
She probably didn’t want the money cause of the big fat check she is going to sue the city for.
congrats John, now no one will read anything by you as you will no longer have access to the Mets…
questiong Omar is valid, doing it public and to his face is also valid, writing a “mommy he didnt answer my question and didnt want to be friends!” piece shows a lack of talent on your part.
I hope you are not serious. The Mets are sucking right now and Omar Minaya better take some of the blame publicly, like Wille Randolph is during the post-game press conferences.
If everything went down as Delcos had put it, he jokingly asked Omar about how he handled the Church situation and Minaya took it offensively, then that is the GM’s problem. Omar Minaya DID handle the entire situation like an idiot and he deserves to be treated like one for doing so.
You do not mess with a player’s head injury.
actually, maybe his cavalier attitude toward the mets should signal to us that the press corps is getting frustrated with this team and that perhaps there is a feeling among them that the current regime is losing its grip on the team and consequently their jobs.
trust me, delcos will be around long after willie, omar, bernazard, et al have been fired.
on a different note, is it time to start entertaining trade calls for perdo, alou, heilman, sanchez, feliciano, showenweis, wagner, delgado, endy, perez, anderson?
i truly believe this team is done, why not get something (if anything) for these guys
No one is looking to buy yet. Not sure anyone on that list will bring back much except perhaps pedro, if he proves he is healthy. Wags ain’t going any where. The middle relievers could bring back marginal prospects. Show’s contract makes him tough to trade.
With St Louis leading the Wild card with a so so starting staff (and wainwright on the dl) and no other teams besides the Phils and Cubs playing great ball, unless we fall apart, we will be in the wild card race for awhile, I doubt any trades will happen in june.
Players of any value that you listed are Alou, Heilman, Show, and Wagner. I’m sure they can get something for Perez, but not what they could have gotten in the offseason.
Trade Call:
Minaya: Hello?
GM “X”: Yeah, hi Omar, listen I’d like to offer you a brand new, solid tin, bucket of ‘like-new’ baseballs for Aaron Heilman and Carlos Delgado, what do you say? The balls were only used once…
Minaya: How dare you question me?……………….make it two buckets and you have yourself a deal
what did delcos expect when he is being snarky and sarcastic in what is supposed to be a professional environment. you ask an undignified question, you get an undignified response. delcos shouldnt be whining and crying about it such a public manner. its not like omar gets on sny and is like ‘delcos is a whiny b*tch, look at the question he asked me wah wah wah!’
hopefully the mets will galvanize around this john delcos incident. last year, the philthies were doing horribly and came together when a journalist went after charlie manuel. having said that, this met team is … gutless, so i dont expect it. but delcos is a prick
I’ll nominate this as possible post of the day.
While Delcos could have posed the question better, and without the sarcasm, it is a very valid question and goes to the heart of the matter of why this Church issue was mismanaged.
I also love how when people are not critical of the team they’re part of the Mets machine and when they are critical of the team, they’re an enemy of the team.
I guess you can’t win around here, which mean simply forget what anyone else has to say and just do your thing.
Amen.
WHAT CAVALIER ATTITUDE?!?!?!?!?! ALL OF YOU….EVERY LAST WILLIE AND OMAR HATER….IF THE METS HAD PUT CHURCH ON THE DL RIGHT AWAY YOU WOULDVE ALL BLASTED THEM FOR NOT GIVING HIM A CHANCE TO PLAY AND CAUSING US TO LOSE….ENOUGH…..
it was a terrible decision by Omar, I mean possibly worthy of losing his job, but lets face it to the 30 of you who do this every friggin day….we get it you hate Willie and Omar, post something new. soemthing anything….but instead youll write somehting like
“Carlos Beltran’s mole is bringing this team down, Willie and Omar didnt ask him to have it removed, they should be fired”
You’re proving that you are a fool. While there are posts that blame Willie and Omar for ridiculous things, many, many of them are well thought out and argued.
If you like Willie and Omar, that’s fine, argue for them. But don’t act like there’s no argument on the other side.
exactly Tidewater, actually there is a much bigger argumentative side against Willie and Omar than not. if it isnt Omar’s fault that he loves old geezers, then who’s fault is it?? repetitively signing injury-prone players and old players will come back to bite you in the butt. Willie isnt the best manager in MLB but he plays the players that Omar has given him.
there are good posts, absolutely, but cmon…we all know that 99 out of 100 are as ludicrous as my example.
the mets organization has no clue how to deal with the media from top to bottom. there is always drama. this rarely happens with the yankees unless one of the owners wants to stir things up.
by the way, the source of the marlins played hard the last day of the season b/c of reyes and milledge dancing was tom glavine (feinstein’s glavine/mussina) book. he blames them for his pitching .1 inning with 7 runs.
that crane accident guy’s fiancee is a moron for not taking church’s money, but maybe she was just trying to get herself some publicity so hank or someone like posada slips her a few thou.
i think schneider is really to blame for all of these late game implosions from the bullpen. sanchez and heilman may throw the pitches but schneider calls them. i really think him not knowing our bullpen is costing us games
That fiancee is an idiot. Rejecting a donation shouldn’t be based on what team a guys play for. He doesn’t even play for the Red Sox.
OH YEA!! OH YEA!!
Yeah comin through the wall is real cool, USING THE FRONT DOOR IS COOL… Don’t touch me you drink, don’t touch me you giant beverage!
Oh Yea?
Oh NO! You fix that wall before my father comes home! He’s never going to believe a giant bowl of punch came through the wall…
Weird but really stupid funny!
BTW, Delcos’ comment was that of an a-hole and he deserves a nasty email for it. He does not come off as the nicest of media members. He complained about how in ST Santana seemed impatient when Delcos was asking him questions (even though Santana probably heard the questions 100 times already and knew from the players Delcos was a rear-end).
Well it happened.. I woke up this morning and I came to the relization that the Mets.. Simply Put are just not a good team.. and I am OK with that… Hell I stuck by worst teams than this one! My expecatations were so high ever since 2006… they finally have come back down to reality.
Now that being said.. the Mets need to make some SERIOUS moves. Willie and Omar need to go. We need to trade Heilman and Pelfrey.
I have been able to tolerate the Knicks despite everything that happened after 1998-1999 so accepting these Mets after 2006 will not be as hard.
I agree with this entire post. Although i dont think they are a bad team and there is still a glimmer of hope for a wild card in the tight national league. Alot of teams are falling all over themselves just like us. If Omar an Willie want to save their jobs they better start producing some results via trades, better roster moves or something! The tipping point is approaching.
This is hilarious. Before Church returned, the fans and the media were bashing Minaya for being too cautious with Ryan. Now, they’re ripping him for bringing Church back too soon. Everyone has such a short memory. But, of course, there’s no reason to let facts get in the way of a good story.
Show me a post where people ripped Omar for being too cautious.
John Delcos is an idiot. It’s a sensitive subject; you’re talking about the long-term health of a human being and he wants to try and get cute, and then feels offended by the response email. Serves him right.
And the lady who rejected the money because her late fiancee was a Yankee fan, I mean seriously, it’s the gesture not the allegiance. I don’t understand people sometimes.
Here’s something I didn’t see anyone mention here…
A couple of years ago Omar would have finessed his way through that and by the time he was done Delcos (who I generally like) would have been offereing to buy him dinner. Delcos may have been wrong in how he went about doing this, but boy, judging by the response times sure have changed.
“…nice, john…power to the people, man…”
So this is applauded by Metsblog?
Interesting.
This sort of porcine pseudo-journalism doesn’t deserve to be repeated.