From time to time during this offseason, we’re going to randomly look back at some MetsToday posts from the past and see how they look now, with the benefit of hindsight. To start, I offer you this suggestion made in early February 2011: Would You Trade for Michael Young? At the time, the Rangers had … Read more
With the Hot Stove Season in full effect, and free agents dancing around the open market, I give you my fearless free agent predictions for this offseason.
Former Mets #1 draft pick and almost-superstar Lastings Milledge will be starring in a Japanese baseball reality show based on the movie “Mr. Baseball
After failing to fulfill his potential at several stops in MLB, the slick-rapping centerfielder and hip-hop mogul is taking his show to Japan – literally. Cameras will follow Milledge 24 hours a day, documenting every detail of his adventure in Asia.
“It’s a story people will want to see: an American assimilating himself to Asian culture, while also adjusting to the Japanese way of playing baseball,” said Wada “Bull” Shetter, one of the show’s producers.
Traditionally,
When Jason Isringhausen walked off of a softball field and into spring training in Port St. Lucie, expectations were low. After all, the 38-year-old hadn’t thrown a big-league pitch in almost two years — and even then, it was only 8 innings before blowing out his elbow and undergoing season-ending Tommy John surgery. Izzy himself wasn’t necessarily convinced he could pitch in MLB again — he had resigned himself to playing recreational softball after a brief comeback attempt in AAA during 2010. But nonetheless, he gave it the old college try. And who were the Mets to deny any pitcher entrance to their spring training complex, much less one with Isringhausen’s resume and previous history with the organization?
It was a longshot, and if Izzy could just make it back on a big-league mound it would make for a fabulous feel-good story. As it turned out, Izzy gave the Mets and we fans much more than that.
According to Bob Klapisch, Wally Backman has rejected an offer by Davey Johnson to join the Nationals’ coaching staff, and instead will accept the Mets’ offer to manage the AAA Buffalo Bisons in 2012.
Funny, I did not realize that the Mets “exclusivity period” to negotiate with Jose Reyes had passed as of last Thursday. Why? Perhaps because I kept waiting to hear news from “a person close to the situation” regarding a rumored offer of some sort by the Mets during that exclusive window of time. Certainly, the Mets would not throw away that opportunity to re-sign their first and only batting title winner?
Yet, clearly, they did. According to various reports, the team has chosen to see what offers the star shortstop will entertain from others before the Mets show their hand. Apparently, they believe that there is a possibility that the open market will be somewhat depressed, and Reyes won’t get any kind of contract offers approaching “Carl Crawford Money”. Rather than bid against themselves, they’re going to see what the market bears, hope it will be less than a 5- or 6-year, $90-110M offer, and then swoop in with a very fair 4-year deal in the $60-70M range. After all, Jose loves playing in New York, and won’t he be happy to give the team a home-team discount?
In related news, the Wilpons are selling the Brooklyn Bridge — and entertaining all serious offers.
Recently, the Mets declined their option to bring Ryota Igarashi back for the 2012 season, thus ending yet another Japanese import gone bad. Of course, the Mets’ experience with transplanted Asian ballplayers hasn’t been all bad; Tsuyoshi Shinjo was a usable asset and fan favorite. But the failures have been glaring, punctuated by the experiments … Read more
Author’s Note: We interrupt the Spilled Milk Series to focus on a story that many of the current fans may have either forgotten or don’t know about. It’s the story of how the Mets missed their chance to extend their great mid- to late-80s run. As a courtesy to our readers and to help protect your valuable keyboard, monitor, or smart phone, The Mets Today staff will notify you when the “spit take” part of this article arrives. Next week, we’ll look at other big deals from the post-1986 era that didn’t happen.
Two events signaled the end of the Mets 1984-1990 winning streak. One is obvious and occurred in the 9th inning of Game Four of the 1988 NLDS. To paraphrase Casey Stengel: you can look that one up. The other occurred about five months later and while somewhat less dramatic than the events of that terrible October evening, had an equally devastating impact on the team’s immediate and long-term future.
