Link Roundup: Monday Morning Coming Down
As the Mets get ready to take on the Braves, here are your Monday morning Mets links:
- PhilliesNation tells us that Ryan Madson has some interesting things to say about the Mets. Unfortunately, he’s probably right.
- Jason Vargas resurfaced last night, getting the win in Seattle’s 15-inning victory (TheRopolitans)
- MetsFever has a nice summation of the team’s newest acquisition – Oliver Perez’s mysterious knee injury. Good find, Omar!
- TheMetsPolice aren’t impressed with the Mets/Braves rivalry… at least not as impressed as Forbes magazine is.
- CenterfieldMaz has a nice lil’ writeup on Today in Mets History, which was written yesterday… Making it Yesterday in Mets History, but whatever. Click here to read about Ron Swoboda leading the Mets to a doubleheader sweep of the Cubs.
- Ron Kaplan discusses the new books by Darryl Strawberry and Ron Darling – he also points out that you can read the first chapter of each. Click here for Strawberry’s book and click here for Darling’s book.
- SportsFanVent has John Franco in the crosshairs in a very entertaining rant. Bonus - be sure to click on the link about Jeter and ARod refusing to get dirty in a brawl back in 1999.
- Mets Prospect Hub has a rundown on the Mets minor league teams
And there you go. Have a great morning and don’t drink too much coffee. And if you do, be sure to visit the comments section and type really fast.
About the Author
John Fitzgerald is an independent film/TV producer. In 2007, he followed former Mets 2B Wally Backman and his minor league team for the TV show, "Playing for Peanuts." Click here for DVD ordering information NOTE: $5 from each sale goes to maintenance costs of MetsToday.com
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I don’t necessarily believe Madson said anything that inflammatory. You could probably apply his comments to every other team in baseball, not just the Mets.
In regards to Ollie’s “injury,” to me it makes no difference whether it’s the true root cause for his struggles or if it’s something completely made-up. Putting Ollie on the DL and demoting Ollie essentially do the same thing, and that is removing him from the 25-man roster, allowing the Mets to replace him with someone else in the rotation, and giving him an opportunity to get healthy/work out his problems in AAA. If his knee really is bothering him, it should breed a major sigh of relief amongst Met fans because now we understand why he’s been so bad. All it should take is some R&R&R (rest, relaxation, rehab) and he should be good as new. And if his knee isn’t hurting and it’s just his excuse to allow the Mets to remove him from the roster, who cares? The bottom line should be to get him corrected, not to get him to pass a lie detector. As long as he goes to Buffalo, shows improvement, and returns to the Mets throwing strikes, whether his knee was really an issue or not will be long forgotten.
How does Ryan Madson know what’s going on in the Mets clubhouse?
I’ll give you a clue: he doesn’t.
It’s a pitiful attempt at head games.
I know what’s going on in the Met clubhouse, you know what’s going on in the Met clubhouse. I’m sure the Phillies and the rest of the National League know what’s going on in that clubhouse too. And it ain’t pretty!
Gotta go with what you’re saying about Madson’s comments, ID. There’s a few people in the Yankees’ clubhouse that wouldn’t go well in the Phillthies’ clubhouse, or the Braves’ clubhouse, or the Brewers’, or so on. As for Ollie, he’s really disgusting all of us who thought that we’d get the ’07 version. Yet, as Joe has pointed out to me, it’s early in the season. Problem here is that the Mets can’t afford another meltdown like Ollie showed on Saturday. If, for some unknown reason, the Mets DFAed Ollie (much like the Tigers did to Sheffield), he’d probably wind up in Washington or Atlanta, and do some real damage to the Mets.
To follow up on the Ollie story, word came down yesterday that instead of going on the DL or going to the minors, the Mets have decided Ollie will be moved to the bullpen. Leave it to the Mets to do the absolute most wrong thing in any situation. How is this going to help? Honestly, sometimes I just want to give up on this team.
First of all, this is terrible for the team. Ollie is the worst type of candidate for the bullpen, in that he walks the ballpark and unravels in big situations. Jerry will be afraid to turn to him in big spots, which shortens the bullpen. And no offense to Takahashi, but I don’t see him cutting it as a starter. Figueroa or Redding would have been the better choice.
This is also terrible for Ollie. His fragile psyche will not take well to bad outings or being pulled after 1 batter. If his knee really is bothering him, pitching/warming up in the bullpen 3-4 times per week will be more stressful on his body than starting twice a week. And how exactly does pitching out of the bullpen help a pitcher re-establish himself as a starter? Don’t feed me the “gaining confidence” line, because Ollie’s ego is so vulnerable he could read a bad fortune cookie and have his confidence shattered.
Ollie either needs to be on the DL resting his “injury,” or in AAA where he can do no further harm to the team while trying to figure out what the hell is wrong. This is detrimental and nonsensical on every front…and likely the reason why the Mets chose this option.