So Long, Shelley

post from Bronx Baseball Daily on 21 November 2009 12:25:44 PM. © Bronx Baseball Daily

It?s about time.Shelley Duncan has tore up the Yankees farm system for the last six years, and has[...]

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Say What Chicago Cubs Sign John Grabow To
Two-Year, $7.5 Million Deal

post from The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on 21 November 2009 12:07:30 PM. © The Ghost of Moonlight Graham

There is always talk amongst baseball fans and writers in regards to who is the worst general manager in baseball.Dayton Moore of the Kansas City Royals and Omar Minaya of the New York Mets are usually at the top of that conversation. Well, I think we can add one more GM to the conversation–Jim Hendry [...]

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Ken Griffey Jrs 1997 MVP Season SPECTACULAR!!!

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 21 November 2009 12:00:05 PM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

Ken Griffey Jr’s 1997 season is one of the most well-rounded seasons of both offense and defense that the baseball world has seen in the last 25 years!Offensively, ‘The Kid’ was lights out!! He batted .304 on the year and compiled a .646 slugging percentage. He collected 185 hits while smacking 34 doubles and 56 [...]

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Mets announce changes to Citi-Field

post from First2Third on 21 November 2009 11:50:00 AM. © First2Third

Matt Cerrone of Metsblog.com is reporting that the Mets have announced their changes to Citi-Field for the 2010 season. The changes come amidst complaints by fans that the stadium lacked a Mets persona. For a list of the announced changes, check out the article.

I don't really have a reaction to this. I can understand what fans were complaing about, but I didn't find it to be a detraction from being in the stadium. I think the stadium is great, and i'm sure it will be even better now. Now, lets get to talking about those giant walls and what we can do to move them in for David Wrights sake.

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http://www.first2third.com/2009/11/mets-announce-changes-to-citi-field.html

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Chapman drops agent

post from First2Third on 21 November 2009 11:41:00 AM. © First2Third

According to Jorge Arangure Jr. of ESPN, cuban defector Aroldis Chapman has fired his agent, API (Athletes Premier International). Edwin Mejia, of API represented Chapman until today. Chapman has decided to go with the Hendricks brothers. Randy Hendricks has confirmed the story according to ESPN.

Hendricks Brothers currently represents Rick Porcello, Andy Pettitte and Kendry Morales to name a few.

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Citi Field Will No Longer Be Dedicated To The
Dodgers

post from Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog on 21 November 2009 11:31:00 AM. © Sliding Into Home: A Yankees Blog

This is an actual press release from the Mets:

FLUSHING, N.Y. -- The New York Mets today announced plans to expand the presence of club history at Citi Field next season in a variety of ways including renaming areas of the ballpark after Casey Stengel, Gil Hodges, Tom Seaver and William A. Shea. The Mets also have re-formed the Mets Hall of Fame Committee, and will increase the number of visuals commemorating great players and moments both inside and outside the ballpark. The Mets previously announced a 2010 opening of the Mets Hall of Fame & Museum at Citi Field.

RENAMING OF AREAS IN BALLPARK The Mets will rename and visually theme Citi Field's VIP entrances and outfield bridge after individuals who made an indelible mark on the club. First Base VIP will be named after Hodges to honor the manager who led the Mets to their first World Championship in 1969. Third Base VIP will honor Seaver, the Hall of Fame pitcher and Mets leader in wins, earned run average and strikeouts. Left Field VIP will be named after Stengel, the first manager in Mets history. The outfield bridge will be dedicated as Shea Bridge, honoring the legacy of the man who was the driving force to bring National League baseball back to New York after the departure of the Dodgers and Giants.

METS HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM & HALL OF FAME COMMITTEE The centerpiece for Mets memorabilia will be the Mets Hall of Fame & Museum, located adjacent to the Jackie Robinson Rotunda and accessible from both inside and outside the ballpark. A re-formed Mets Hall of Fame Committee will evaluate potential inductees, and is comprised of a combination of media members with a long-standing connection to the club and Mets front office staff.

Media members on the committee are: Marty Noble, the Mets.com beat writer who is entering his fifth decade covering the team; Gary Cohen, the New York native and voice of the Mets on SNY who has been a Mets broadcaster for 21 years; and Howie Rose, a Queens native and radio voice of the Mets on WFAN who has covered the team for 21 years on radio and television.

The Mets committee members are: Dave Howard, executive vice president, business operations who has been with the organization for 18 years; Jay Horwitz, vice president, media relations who just completed his 30th season with the team; Tina Mannix, senior director, marketing who has been with the Mets for nine years; and former Mets pitcher Al Jackson, a pitching consultant who is entering his sixth decade with the Mets. Chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon serves as ex-officio.

"The re-formation of the Mets Hall of Fame Committee is central to our concerted efforts to better connect our present and future to our past," said Wilpon. "It reinforces the organization's and our fans' shared desire to recognize our greatest players. With our 2010 opening of the Mets Hall of Fame & Museum at Citi Field, now was the time to bring this group together."

Candidates will be evaluated on their impact on the field while in a Mets uniform, how they represented and affected the organization and their place in Mets history.

The Mets Hall of Fame was established in 1981 with an inaugural class of Joan Payson, the first Mets owner, and Casey Stengel, the first Mets manager. The Mets Hall of Fame has 21 members including former players, managers, front-office executives and broadcasters. Tommie Agee was the last person inducted in 2002.

The following is the list of Hall of Fame members in order of the year they were inducted:

Joan Payson (1981); Casey Stengel (1981); Gil Hodges (1982); George M. Weiss (1982); William A. Shea (1983); Johnny Murphy (1983); Ralph Kiner (1984); Bob Murphy (1984); Lindsey Nelson (1984); Bud Harrelson (1986); Rusty Staub (1986); Tom Seaver (1988); Jerry Koosman (1989); Ed Kranepool (1990); Cleon Jones (1991); Jerry Grote (1992); Tug McGraw (1993); Mookie Wilson (1996); Keith Hernandez (1997); Gary Carter (2001); and Tommie Agee (2002).

The Mets will announce further details about the Mets Hall of Fame & Museum in the coming weeks.

IMAGERY & TEAM COLORS Next season, fans will be greeted by Mets colors as they approach Citi Field with full-color banners of Mets players on Mets Plaza in front of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda. Mets logos will be added on entry points to the parking areas and on the light poles in the parking lots. The addition of team colors will continue inside the ballpark with staircases painted with blue and orange and more Mets logos throughout the ballpark. Flowers in the gardens at Mets Plaza in front of the Jackie Robinson Rotunda will also be blue and orange.

"These additions amplify our commitment to better recognize our team's heritage and honor the players and memories our fans cherish," said Howard. "Ownership is acting upon our fans' desire to see more Mets around the ballpark. We hear our fans loud and clear and these additions continue the process that started last season."

I never understood why a team would build a new stadium in New York that's dedicated to a team currently playing in L.A., but at least it only took them a year to realize how stupid an idea it was. Still, kinda hilarious that the Mets needed to release a statement saying they were going to make their new ballpark reflect the team.

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longer-be-dedicated.html

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Ken Griffey Jr Has Been An All-Star 13 Times!!!

post from 30-Year Old Cardboard on 21 November 2009 11:00:56 AM. © 30-Year Old Cardboard

With 13 appearances in the Major League All-star game to his credit, Ken Griffey Jr. cemented himself as one of his era’s greatest players.Of his 13 trips to the ‘Mid-Summer Classic’, eleven of his appearances were in consecutive seasons from 1990-2000. Griffey had a stranglehold on a roster spot as he was one of the [...]

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-times/

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Saturdays Fan

post from Love My Team on 21 November 2009 10:41:58 AM. © Love My Team

Yesterday, I was having a little trouble with the message board. As I was working from a remote[...]

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What Can Be Learned From the AL MVP Voting

by Reinhold Matay - AP View full size photo » On Monday afternoon, I fully expect Joe Mauer to win his first MVP award after finishing sixth in 2006 and fourth last[...]

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Hopefully this isn't a repeat of the Johan
Santana decision

The Astros left Koby Clemens and Drew Locke, among others, unprotected in the Rule 5 draft. That seems like a risk to me. Hopefully, Ed Wade is right when he says he put himself in the place of the other GMs and felt that they would not be players who could be kept on a ML roster for a full season. But the Astros reached that same conclusion regarding a young pitcher named Johan Santana and he was selected in the Rule 5 draft. I'm not saying that Clemens or Locke can become franchise type players, like Santana, but it does show that teams can miscalculate when it comes to protecting Rule 5 candidates.

Teams think the way Wade has in this case and still get surprised when players, who don't appear advanced enough to stay on a major league roster, do get picked and succeed. In the recent past, the Mets believed that A-level catcher Jesus Flores wasn't advanced enough to make a ML roster. However, he was drafted by the Nationals a couple of years ago to be the team's third string catcher, but ended up showing that he was good enough to be a starting catcher--and continues on the Nats' ML roster. Outfielder Brian Barton was thought to be safe, given a down year in the minors, but became a successful Rule 5 pick of the Cardinals in 2007, showing decent production as a platoon player in the 2008 season. Dan Uggla is similar to Locke, to the extent that he showed good production in AA but Arizona left him unprotected because he was viewed as too old for that level. Uggla was drafted by the Marlins and became one of best offensive 2d basemen in baseball. Josh Hamilton is another recent example of an outfielder who was left unprotected in the Rule 5 draft and became an All Star after he was selected. The Rays apparently felt that Hamilton's troubled history and low development level (his recent play was in A ball) would keep teams from drafting him.

I honestly felt that the Astros should give Locke a shot at competing for a major league roster spot as a back up outfielder. Given his advanced age, I don't think AAA will do anything for him other than make him a Quad A player. That would seem to make him a perfect candidate for the Rule 5 pick. Wade's decisions must indicate that he doesn't think that Locke can compete for a major league back up position with the Astros are anywhere else. Clemens is a longer shot for a Rule 5 drafting team, but his age and versatility as an emergency back up at several positions might help. If a team has room to keep a third string catcher, like the Jesus Flores example, he might get drafted. In both cases, the eye popping stats for Clemens and Locke will draw some attention. Clemens led all minor league players in RBIs, with 123. Locke was the best run producer in the Texas League, despite missing a month or so with an injury, and the last I looked he continues to hit well in the Venezuela Winter League.

I certainly hope that Wade's calculation is correct, and this doesn't come back to bite the Astros.

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