Daily Archives: May 1, 2009
Jayson Stark of ESPN.com wonders how the A’s will handle OF Matt Holliday, who hit his first home run of the season last night.
The popular belief is Oakland acquired Holliday in the off-season with the intention of either keeping him to contend in 2009, or trading him at the deadline in July.
Holliday is eligible to be a free agent at the end of this season, and is batting .236 with 11 extra base hits in the 165 at bats since September 1 of last season.
Stark quotes a league executive who believes Holliday’s price will continue to drop, be it as a free agent, or in a trade, with every day that goes by in which he does not turn his season around.
“He’s a guy who has already turned down $86 million over four years, and now he’s going to have to take a one-year deal,” the same executive told Stark. “I just don’t see what team would be willing to open its wallet and commit to a guy who has just come out of Coors Field and now, in his first year out of Coors, he does this.”
Stark also writes about the better-than-expected attendance in MLB, the Royals effort to trade for a bat, and whether Zach Greinke can be had, the Marlins search for bullpen help, and the list of potential arms who could be available.
The Mets travel to Philadelphia tonight to begin 
a three-game series with the Phillies, who they will again meet for two games in Citi Field towards the end of next week.
Philadelphia columnist, and provocateur, John Gonzalez writes a letter to Mets fans in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer, saying:
“This might be overstepping our relationship, but can we tell you something? You guys seem awfully haggard. It looks like you haven’t slept much lately. Guess choking away two straight division titles will keep you up at night. It has to be brutal to be a Mets fan. For once, we won’t blame you guys for making the trip down to Philly. Generally it bugs us. But if we had it that rough, we’d want to get away, too.”
Peter Botte writes about the match up in the Daily News, while quoting Jerry Manuel as saying:
“I’m really looking forward to it. I’m looking forward to how we react to what they do. I 
want to see what we do, how our guys do… Hopefully, we’ll be at full strength at that point. I just want to see where we are with those guys and (the Braves). I’ve seen Washington, I’ve seen the Marlins. I want to see where we are and how we compare in the division with those two teams.”
The Mets play the Braves and Phillies 10 times in the next 13 games.
The Brooklyn Met Fan is hoping the Mets get in to an on-field drawl with the Phillies, writing, “In my estimation, there’s no surer way to unify, inspire and kick-start a placid team then a good old-fashioned brawl.”
That said, David Murphy of the Philadelphia Daily News explains, “The hyperbole surrounding the rivalry is driven more by the media and fans than by those who actually take the field.”
Nevertheless, in the Bergen Record, Steve Popper says, “The bus ride from Citi Field to Citizens Bank Park is about two hours, long enough for the Mets to nap. But it would be nice if they woke up by the time that they take the field tonight.”
At his blog for Newsday, David Lennon says Jerry Manuel should listen to former Jets coach Herm Edwards’ “You play to win the game” rant and put his best lineup on the field.
By the way, you can follow Lennon on Twitter, by clicking here.
With both David Wright and Mark Teixeira both slumping, LetsGoMets Blog wonder why only Wright is getting grief.
…tex seems to be getting a pass because the media finally realizes there is an adjustment period for players playing in new york for the first time, but don’t expect to continue if tex struggles and the yanks are around .500 in june…as for wright, he is paying the price for being the face of a franchise that has collapsed in consecutive seasons, while showing the same tendencies early on that he and the rest of his teammates exhibited during the last two septembers…
Ken Davidoff of Newsday provides his weekend predictions, which includes a not-so-happy weekend for the Mets.
Meanwhile, Joe Janish of MetsToday wonders if the National League East is the weakest division in baseball.
With Alex Rodriguez back on the backpages, Metstradamus provides us with a very funny way for David Wright to get out of his slump.
Finally, the Miami Herald reports the Marlins weren’t happy about the Mets stall tactic during the ninth inning of Wednesday’s game.
Tagged Mike Nichols |In Newsday, David Lennon writes, “On the first day of May, there is a 
gaping hole where this team’s heart should be, and Jerry Manuel… cannot fill that void from the manager’s chair.”
According to Lennon, the Mets are 1–10 when trailing after six innings, and 0–11 when trailing after the seventh.
In other words, the Mets do not come back to win ballgames; something, by the way, the Phillies seem to do night after night. What’s worse, the Mets have led in eight of their 12 losses. So, do the math, and you get a frustrated group of players, fans, and lots of justified questions about heart, pride and passion.
The argument is about adjustments. Manuel once told reporters he believes the hitters and coaches are not making the necessary adjustments late in games, and so the team repeatedly strikes out, hits weak pops and ground balls.
Fans, however, frame Lennon’s stats as the result of ‘quitting,’ ‘giving up,’ not having ‘heart,’ or ‘fire,’ or not ‘caring to win.’
Sadly, it’s probably some combination of both.
In a must-read column on SNY, Ted Berg writes:
“I’m confident that I know enough about baseball to analyze most of what the players do on the field. I’m not confident that I know enough about people to analyze what happens in their heads… After all, if we accept that psychiatry is a form of medicine, why are we so eager to practice it ourselves? I haven’t heard a single WFAN caller attempt to diagnose Carlos Delgado‘s hip injury; why does every single one of them have so much insight into David Wright‘s mental makeup and the Mets’ group dynamic?”
I discussed this with Berg while he was writing it, I told him I think it’s because we, as fans, project our own emotions about the team on to the team. I know the anger I feel during a loss, or when the team is down, and I know how badly I want them to fight back and win. And so when the player fails, it must be because he felt the emotional opposite from what I did, i.e., if I care and equate passion to winning, and the Mets lose, it means the Mets must not care enough to win, otherwise they would have won. The thing is, this isn’t what is going on in reality. They care. They want to win. They have passion for baseball. They’re just not focused and executing.
This not to say there isn’t something to the ‘this team has no fire’ argument. There is. Every player has the passion to put on the uniform and play, he can’t sustain himself over seven or so months of the game if he didn’t. So, when you ask a player about passion, as I have before, to a man they all say they have it. The thing is, this is not what fans are talking about.
We are talking about ‘mid-game passion,’ energy to re-focus and fight when losing, which is different from the overall passion for the game as a job. The latter is a character trait; a person either has it or they don’t. And, I have talked with ex-players who, after lots of twisting and turning, will admit they have played with players who did quit, who would pack it in, ‘toss in the towel,’ and not really care to fight back – so long as that player got a hit or two, he was happy. I do not believe this is indicative of every player, but it exists, and I would not be surprised to learn there are some players on the Mets who may fall in to this category.
“Brian Schneider has been slowed further by a sore right calf,” reports Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post.
Schneider is eligible to come off the 15-day disabled list on Sunday, May 3, in Philadelphia.
According to Hubbuch, “The Mets now are saying his return has been pushed back indefinitely after the calf issue developed this week.”
Hubbuch continues on to write how Schneider’s status will impact, or not impact, Omir Santos and Ramon Castro.
…i still believe santos is sent to triple-a regardless of how he does, or how castro behaves… unfortunately, it’s not like the Mets to cut a player like castro, in favor of a younger, potentially-better player, like santos… at least not yet…of course, this is all meaningless right now, if schneider is unable to return any time soon…
Tagged Omir Santos, Ramon Castro | Newer posts →
