Four hours and eight minutes to play nine innings of baseball? Really? Brutal. Absolutely brutal. So much for getting to bed early for once. Oh, and with this loss, the Mets drop to last place and four games below .500. Continue reading
For those wondering if the Mets might sign Stephen Drew to play shortstop, it ain’t happenin’ — the Boston Red Sox have re-signed Drew.
I imagine the recent spirited play and hot bat of Ruben Tejada prompted Drew to realize he had no option in Flushing, and rushed back to the Bosox. Or, maybe the world doesn’t revolve around the Mets, and instead, it had something to do with Will Middlebrooks‘ finger injury (as well as his slow start) — the Drew signing suggests that Xander Bogaerts will slide over the third base.
On the bright side, at least the Mets won’t lose their 3rd-round pick (85th overall) in the June draft — assuming, of course, they don’t run out and sign Kendrys Morales before then.
MLB can count all the pitches they want, and can blame youth league baseball till the cows come home — ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) / elbow injuries that require Tommy John surgery can be avoided if these mechanical flaws are identified and corrected.
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If the media player above isn’t working, you can listen to the podcast on BlogTalkRadio.com/OnBaseball.
Yet again, Wilson Ramos is a one-man wrecking crew as he powers the Nats past the Mets. Continue reading
Well, the lid blew off of the pot this last week. The New York Times story that Uncle Saulie is looking to sell his share his share of the Mets, while quickly denied, signals that the Wilpon Financial Crisis has reached a critical mass. Maybe this is wishful thinking, but I don’t see any way that Fred and Jeff wriggle out this time.
The facts seem to be these: (a) the Mets are a drain on the family finances; which was OK as long as they enjoyed the prestige of being the owners of a major league team. Well, (b) the Wilpons have now become a laughingstock in the media and are scorned by the very fanbase who’s support they need to stay afloat. If someone offered me that kind of “prestige,” I would decline the honor. Everything Mets is currently radioactive. It’s telling how deep the fracture is when Fred’s sister’s husband wants out. In today’s Post there was another article about Katz wanting out and him trying to convince Fred to sell. Of note was the fact that none of Saul’s children want to own part of the Mets. Translation: Jeff’s cousins don’t like him either.
It is fair to note that long before the Klapishes, the Shermans and the Harpers of the world turned their critical eyes towards the Wilpons, sites like this one (but not only this one) where railing against Fred and Jeff for a variety of sins, both of commission and omission. The fire that was lit here spread first to the stands, where the empty seat is the symbol of the 2014 Mets, then to TV and radio ratings, jumping the firewall to Mike Francessa and Adam Rubin and finally to the dailies. The conflagration is now too big to contain, let alone control—just ask Cerrone.
To continue with the metaphors, the Wilpons are like a bleeding elk surrounded by a pack of snarling wolves, staggering towards an inevitable demise. As distressing as that image sounds, the coming slaughter is likely to be a lot worse. Fred seems incredibly stubborn, a good trait in some instances but probably not so much now. More than likely, someone from the outside will have to break into the inner circle and convince him it is time to go.
Present situation aside, there is still much to like about the Mets. They have a new stadium and do play in the largest media market in the hemisphere. They have their own TV network, which if leveraged correctly, can be a license to print money. There are some promising players either in uniform now or coming quickly. Yes, there are holes everywhere and New York is currently a Yankee town, but there should be plenty of resources to address these issues.
So Fred, as one Mets fan to another: Jeff can have the Cyclones. Do the right thing. Sell The Mets. Now.
Daniel Murphy very nearly tied the game with the last swing of the ballgame, but it was just a little short. After the ball fell safely in Jayson Werth‘s glove, the Mets lost their third straight and sunk to 19-22 as the Nats improved to 22-19. Continue reading
The clouds look ominous — and I’m not necessarily talking symbolically about the Mets’ immediate future but rather, regarding the skies in Washington DC right now. Possibly, there will be a rain delay or rainout tonight. If so, you can get your baseball fix by listening to The Fix, episode 9, during which sport kinesiologist Angel Borrelli and I discuss a panel discussion last Saturday aired on MLB Network titled “The Pitching Dilemma.” In the show — moderated by Bob Costas — several former MLB pitchers and two surgeons (including Mets doctor David Altcheck) discussed their theories regarding the recent rash of pitching injuries. You don’t need to have watched the show in order to listen to this episode of The Fix — in fact, we “topline” the main take-aways and offer up solutions.
Please feel free to ask questions and provide your feedback in the comments.
I realize I’m a day late on this, but sometimes life gets in the way of blogging (crazy, I know).
Considering that the Mets would have owed Kyle Farnsworth a guaranteed $750,000 had he remained with the club through Saturday, one might surmise that the move was financially motivated. Was it? Continue reading