Jose Reyes

We talk a lot about rivalries here, and while I'm no Phillies fan spewing venom for the Mets, I really don't like any of the Mets. I don't know if I can say I really ever liked any of the Mets. No, it's not payback for Buckner's misplay in 1986, but I just can't say that anyone on the Mets is that great.
And while I'm not church religious (though I do point my finger to Heaven in thanks for the good things that I have been given and try to live my life in a way that would be what He wants), I know not to covet my neighbor's wife or my opponent's short stop.
And with that, I like Jose Reyes as much as I like a post-father in law fighting K-Rod, a slumping Carlos Beltran, an over-hyped David Wright, and a post Red Sox Jason Bay. That's to say that while I don't wish them will will, I'm just not moved by any of their stats or upsides to think that they represent anything worthwhile to the game of baseball - especially the game of baseball in Boston, which would mean mortgaging the future and paying big dollars to get them signed for a long time (and while we know Boston is more than willing to pay lots of little, they need to be more frugal and tighten their purse strings - especially those that would reach out to a shortstop like Reyes). And while it's not even real reaching out, the good folks at Bleacher Report have once again put smoke where there is no fire by saying that the Red Sox would give up on Jed Lowrie who has a .310 average with 3 home runs since replacing idiot move Marco Scutaro.
And if Boston is finally getting it together without Wacky Lackey and his DL stint (or time off to get his marriage together - whatever you want to call it) and with Carl Crawford finally getting out of the sub Mendoza basement from Hell as Adrian Gonzalez goes on a sick RBI tear, do we really need a Met with Attitude at short stop for a shot at post season glory?
Methinks not, but alas, when the Mets owner is trashing his team, we have to believe that there is something right in New York (not named Ike Davis). With that, we give you his classic one liners:
(on REYES)): He thinks he's going to get Carl Crawford money. He's had everything wrong with him. He won't get it.
(on BELTRAN): We had some schmuck in New York who paid him based on that one series. He's 65 to 70 percent of what he was. (didn't I call this the other day? I'm a genius, and I should be writing for ESPN).
(on WRIGHT): Really good kid. A very good player. Not a superstar.
So yeah... there is no love in New York... for the players or for Bernie Madoff who is even trying to play the ethical card by saying the Mets didn't know how they were screwed over by him. Yep... we believe, but that's not saying good things when the Mets (like the Dodgers) are looking to financially implode this year.
And while the fans in Philadelphia probably wouldn't care, let's just say that a part of baseball will die with this team sucking as bad as they are (just like in L.A.). And in a year of parity, that's saying something.

David Wright

This blog is pretty much dedicated to a few things... the players that we like, the events that happen, and who's striking out WAY too much. For that, we start our series of batting futility with the joy of math.
If we take the top 12 strikeout victims (down to the 4th slot on this list - tied for 8th place), we have 4 batters who have whiffed so much that their average is under .200. The high water mark is 31 air conditioner swings. Ryan Raburn has 3 jacks to go with those 31 Ks. Over his years in the bigs, he has 42 homers. If he continues at his current pace, he will DOUBLE his career strikeouts. Dexter Fowler has no shots over the wall in a batter friendly park for this year, and if that doesn't scream no power, he only has 10 home runs in his short career (however, he does take walks and steal bases).
Jack Cust, Kelly Johnson, Austin Jackson, and Adam Dunn are all sub-Mendoza, and Ryan Howard leads the batting average with a .293.
Only David Wright, Drew Stubbs, and Ryan Howard have hit 5 or more home runs for all of their free swinging. For that matter, Adam Dunn only has 2 jacks.
If we take this out to 42nd place (22 strikeouts), we can see a pattern emerge: a high batting average and lots of home runs are the outliers.
There are 3 success stories on the list (Rickie Weeks - .309 despite 22 whiffs, Matt Kemp - .378 despite 23 whiffs, and Peter Bourjos - .318 with 26 jacks). There are 12 sub .200 hitters. If we take the Mendoza Line out to .225 (as some do), there are 8 more guys on the list. That's half of the batters being unproductive 80% (give or take) of the time! Many more could join the list with a few more Ks and a few less hits. What does this say?
Only 13 of the 42 batters have 5 or more home runs, and none of these guys has more than 6 (7) long balls (Chris Young - with 105 career jacks in 651 games played). Then again, when you're playing for a team that is out of the playoffs in March (Arizona), you can pretty much do whatever you want in a non-contending year (if homers and homers alone sells bobble heads and jerseys).
Mark "the King" Reynolds makes the list at 29 (2 homers to show for his 23 put outs by catcher). That said, this is a good year for him.
But what does it really mean to be standing there and caught looking... to not advance the runner... to not put oneself on base... to essentially waste an at bat in hopes of the 1/30 chance of a home run (or in the case of Young, 7/97)? All in all, it's futility. It's playing a game because you still believe that chicks dig the long ball when it should be played to bring the runs across and win the game for your team. Maris was willing to bunt to give his team the chance to win when the home run record was on the line in 61... why aren't these guys willing to play team ball?

Tomorrow, we look at the pitching stats that show how much the pitchers of today are benefiting from the "swing away" mentality that Merrill and Graham gave to the world.

Choo Choo Coleman

The Mets really sucked when they first started out.
This isn't being mean. This is a fact.
If Marvelous Marv Throneberry was the symbol of futility, then Choo Choo Coleman was the symbol or purely terrible.
In 1963, he batted 178 in 277 at bats. He did hit 3 home runs, but he did little else. This was pretty much his track record with the Phillies before the the Mets picked him up, and then despite a spike in limited at bats in 1962, he went back to "nicht so gut," and well, that was it.
Throneberry wasn't much better. He hit .244 in his first Mets season and in the space of 2 hits and 1 RBI in 14 at bats, the Mets and the major leagues had seen enough of Marv, and he went on his way.
Ken Burns summed up Marv by saying that nothing he did was marvelous.
That said, we can't all be Pete Rose and Ted Williams at the plate, but we should be able to touch first and second when we actually hit a triple.
In the beginning, there was Casey Stengel to lead the team, and while that might have been for familiarity for New Yorkers who loved him as a Yankee, he really was "too old" and it just didn't play out well.
Nevertheless, there was the Miracle Mets with Seaver and Ryan and Koosman. There was the 86 Mets that benefited more from Roger Clemens, cocaine, and Dan Shaughnessey, and there was a few other good teams along the way, but the Mets of today... "nicht so gut."
It's not the fact that they're also rans since the days of 2006 and Endy Chavez saving the day only to pull defeat out in a game that they seemed fated to win. And that was it.
High priced free agents named Carlos (Beltran and Delgado) who don't do anything well (including staying healthy).
David Wright can't save the day with all those strikeouts.
Pitchers who can't stay healthy.
Jose Reyes who is REALLY over-rated.
Yeah... that's the Mets.
Lastings Milledge who didn't know his place.
And then there's this year...
Charlie Samuels being watched like a hawk eyes a mouse because he just might have profited too much on memorabilia sales.
Francisco Rodriguez and his desire and actions to smack the tar out of his main squeeze's dad.
Oliver Perez no longer a consideration for the starting rotation.
CITI Field not bringing cash in that was hoped for (guess, they should have stayed at Shea).
Bernie Madoff's victims and their lawsuit to get their $1BILLION worth of money back (can't fault them for that).
Fans that don't want to see games even with cut ticket prices (down 20% from $500 in some cases).
A $25 MILLION loan from MLB to keep the team up and running (time to cut out some unprofitable teams, eh?!!).
And perhaps New York needs 2 teams.
Perhaps there is hope in Manhattan yet.
Maybe we can return to the glory days when men on the moon coincided with great teams with dominant pitching.
Just not this year.