Hall of Fame

As a member of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, we held our annual hall of fame voting last week and the results were announced this week, with the official vote being announced next Monday. Here is the press release, and for those interested I voted for Bagwell, Larkin and E Martinez.

BBA Recommends Larkin, Bagwell For Hall Of Fame

In the annual polling of members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin and former Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell were recommended for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  This is the third year the organization has conducted this survey of the membership.

Larkin, a 12-time All-Star who fashioned an .815 OPS over 19 seasons, received the largest percentage of votes, being named on 84.25% of the 148 ballots cast.  This is the highest percentage garnered by any player in the three years of BBA voting.


Bagwell, who hit 449 HR and had a .948 OPS in his 15 seasons in Houston, was selected on 115 ballots for a 78.77% rate.  As with the official voting done by the Baseball Writers of America, a player must be named on 75% of the ballots to be recommended by the alliance.



Last year, the BBA recommended second baseman Roberto Alomar and pitcher Bert Blyleven, both of whom were inducted into Cooperstown during the summer.  In 2010, no player reached the 75% mark in BBA balloting, the year that outfielder Andre Dawson was selected for the Hall by the baseball writers.


The Baseball Bloggers Alliance’s vote has no impact on the official vote taken by the Baseball Writers of America.  However, the BBA has often been a predictor of major awards granted by the writers.

The final voting results are as follows:
Barry Larkin 84.25%
Jeff Bagwell 78.77%
Edgar Martinez 60.27%
Tim Raines 57.53%
Alan Trammell 44.52%
Mark McGwire 41.10%
Larry Walker 35.62%
Lee Smith 33.56%
Jack Morris 32.19%
Don Mattingly 29.45%
Rafael Palmerio 28.77%
Fred McGriff 28.08%
Dale Murphy 16.44%
Bernie Williams 11.64%
Juan Gonzalez 6.16%
Javy Lopez 2.74%
Brad Radke 2.05%
Tim Salmon 1.37%
Bill Mueller 0.68%
Phil Nevin 0.68%
Ruben Sierra 0.68%
Tony Womack 0.68%
Jeromy Burnitz 0.00%
Vinny Castilla 0.00%
Brian Jordan 0.00%
Terry Mulholland 0.00%
Eric Young 0.00%
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was established in the fall of 2009 for the purpose of fostering collaboration and communication among bloggers from across baseball.  The BBA has quickly grown to its current membership of 347 blogs, including some of the most prominent blogs on the Internet, spanning all major league teams and various other general aspects of the game.

Wow. Guess I should've waited to comment until this morning...

So the Mets completely revamped the bullpen and changed CF in the matter of hours last night. Quick recap:

In:
Rauch, Ramon Rameriz (Giants),  F Francisco = 7th, 8th and 9th inning
A Torres = starting CF who had one great year (2010) in an otherwise journeyman career

Out:
A Pagan and his terrible baseball IQ

So this morning the Mets are a better baseball team than they were on December 6th. Congratulations. But does this bullpen change them to an 88-90 win team from the 77 wins they had last year (with Reyes)? No chance. So why spend money just for the sake of saying "look, we are spending money."

Jon Rauch?

Why are the Mets going to spend 8-10 million dollars on a couple relievers, and it's starting with Jon Rauch? I understand the concept and agree with it in principle, IF the team was going to compete for a playoff spot. BUT for a team that's not going to compete in 2012, this is ridiculous and worthless.

Sandy, I thought you are better than this.

Good Bye Jose

Although I was mentally prepared to lose Jose Reyes this winter to the highest bidder, after the first flirtation with the Marlins and their initial offer, I reversed course and thought the Mets could and would retain him with a 5 year/90-95 million dollar contract.

Then the bombshell drops last night at the winter meetings that the Marlins upped the ante to 6 years for 106 million (including a buyout of a potential 7th year), and it hurt. A Lot.

Now resigned to the fact we are in a true rebuilding mode (which should've started 18 months ago), I'm ready to trade D Wright now, and try to make a run at the division in 2015. We aren't going to have a winning record next year definitively, and our young pitchers (Harvey, Wheeler and Mejia) could start to make an impact in 2013. So if we can get 2-3 solid prospects for Wright, then might as well. There isn't much of a difference between 72 wins in 2012 without Wright versus 78 wins with.

What do you guys want the Mets to do?

And I'm Back

After a great 2-week vacation with limited internet access, and only able to watch ESPN one night (but it was the one that counted, day 162 of the season), I'm back and revitalized to prep for the Mets off-season, and what needs to get done.

I know a lot of people were/are upset with how Reyes handled the batting title, leaving after his first at-bat, but it's not a big issue for me. The batting title is an individual accomplishment, and Reyes didn't alter the "integrity of the game" by taking himself out, as neither the Mets nor the Reds seasons were impacted by it. Would I have preferred to have Reyes play out the whole game, get a standing ovation etc. that he deserves, and a thank you for a great year/possibly career with the Mets? OF COURSE, but I'm not going to lose any sleep over his decision, and I don't think he is either.

So stay tuned for my off-season plans over the next week, and let me know what topics you guys want to focus on as we get ready for yet another long off-season for the Mets.

FOLDING UP

“This has been an awful time. … I’m the manager of this team and I’m responsible. We didn’t manage, we didn’t coach and we didn’t play. It’s pretty simple. You go through stretches and this is one of them, but perception is reality in our game and the perception I have is that we folded it up. I won’t stand for that. You want to see intensity? You want to see me be intense? You guys are gonna see it? I don’t play that game. You come to play the game right. I don’t care what the situation is, I don’t care what the standings say, I don’t care about pitch counts. I only care about playing the game correctly. Our fans should be upset. I don’t blame them one bit. … We need to find a new formula. I don’t know what it is yet, but I’ve got a three-hour plan ride to figure it out. … They’re tired. But, the Washington Nationals are tired too. … They can’t be any  more tired than we are. They’re playing for the exact same thing we are, and that’s pride. … We’re not done. We have two weeks to go. If we’re gonna fold it up, that tells me something. It tells me a lot about what will happen next year when we are fighting for something.”

~ Terry Collins, following today’s game, regarding his team’s play

 This is TERRIBLE. 

I am glad TC took the blame, but this is not good. This means to me he may have lost the clubhouse again, like he did in Anaheim? 

Your thoughts? 

PS I will be on vacation for 2 weeks through the end of the season, so expect little activity here until a week after the off-season, and I will have my off-season plan.

Scouting Report Josh Stinson

Mets called up reliever Josh Stinson today as the rosters expanded, so here is the scouting report I did on Stinson during Spring Training. He struggled as a starter early in the year, so was converted to the bullpen.

Josh Stinson - #64

23 years old
6th professional season (no major league experience)
6'4" 205 pounds
Bats R/Throws R

Profile: Drafted out of high school, he didn't pitch above A ball until last season. He started to open some eyes at the end of 2009 in high A ball when he was turned into a reliever and he had a sub-2.00 ERA (1.98 in 38 innings). He pitched between AA and AAA last year, and he earned a spot in the AA All-Star game in 2010. He was added to the 40-man roster so he was not eligible to be selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Good: He throws a hard fastball (91-93 mph), with a good slider and curve-ball.

Bad: In the minors, he hasn't been striking out a ton of hitters (5.5 K/9 in 110 innings in AA, 6.75 K/9 in AAA in 28 innings in 2010).

Role: He will probably start the year in AA or AAA, and try to solidify a role in the bullpen in September/future.

Video:
 1st base view


3rd base view

Picture from tonight's game

Loyal reader is at the game... Enjoy!

Draft Signees

As I mentioned yesterday, I believed the Mets would get their 1st and 3rd round picks signed, and they did. They also were very aggressive and signed their 15th round pitck to an overslot deal, in essence getting a top 100 player (dropped due to strong college commit and money demands) in the 15th round. Yes they paid the money of a supplemental draft pick (between rounds 1 and 2), but that's what big market teams do.

Here was a great chart from Metsminorleagueblog.com, showing the change in the draft spending of the Mets over the past 10 years. Great job Toby.

Today is a good day to be a Mets fan, and thank you Sandy for doing exactly what you said you would do when you signed on this off-season.

State of the Mets 8/15/11

It's been close to 2 weeks since we last looked at how the Mets were doing, and on 8/2 they were 1 game under .500 and 8 1/2 games behind the Braves for a Wild Card.

It's now officially the dog days of August, as the Mets have lost 5 games in a row, including getting swept out of Arizona, and are 4 games under .500, 20 1/2 games out of 1st place, and 11 1/2 games behind the Braves for the Wild Card. They are only 2 games ahead of last place (Florida Marlins).

• Johan Santana has not resumed throwing since his 'shoulder fatigue' diagnosis 2 weeks ago, and I would put his chances of throwing in the majors this season at 10%.
• Ike Davis will rest for two more weeks and then decide if he should undergo microfracture surgery, which would allow him to be ready for Spring Training in 2012, so he is obviously done for this season.

Today is the deadline for signing drafted players, and the Mets still haven't signed their 1st and 3rd round picks, but this isn't a surprise. Anyone who gets an overslot deal often waits until the last day, and Nimmo has been asking for 2.5+ million since before he was drafted. No harm in waiting until the last day and I'm not concerned unless they fail to sign him and then that's a huge issue.

Are there any other pressing issues you guys think with the Mets? I don't want to turn to the off-season plan just yet (do they tender a contract to Pelfrey/Pagan, and what should the offer be to Reyes).

Fans at the game

Here is a picture from a braves fan at tonight's game.

Lets go Mets!

State of the Mets 8/2/11

At this time last week, the Mets were 1 game under .500, and 8 1/2 games behind the Braves for the Wild Card. Now the Mets are 1 game over .500, and 7 1/2 games behind the Braves. To get to 90 wins, they would need to go 35-18, or play .660 ball the remainder of the year. The Phillies have the best record in baseball this year, and they are playing .640 ball.

In other news, Sandy Alderson decided not to trade anyone else besides K-Rod and Beltran because he felt it was important to let this team try to win. No one but Sandy and the front office knows what the market was for guys like Byrdak or Isringhausen or S Hairston, but if there was any decent package out there for any of those guys, he did the Mets a disservice by not trading them. Again, I'm not saying there was a fair trade out there, I don't know that. But the difference between winning 76 games and 84 games is nothing to me; I'd rather win 76 games, get a guy who may help the team in the future for a spare part, and get a better draft pick next year.

The rest of the season will focus on individual performances, on if Ike Davis will be able to avoid surgery on his ankle, and how Johan Santana comes back and performs/for how many starts.

What else are you guys concerned/focused on the rest of the season?

Mets Newest Pitching Prospect, Zack Wheeler

Late night at work last night, so I'm just getting around to the scouting report of Zack Wheeler, who the Mets acquired for the 2-month rental of Carlos Beltran. Wheeler was considered the #2 prospect in the Giants system by Baseball America, ESPN's Keith Law, and Baseball Prospectus. He was the #6 draft pick in the 2009 draft and got 3.3 million from the Giants out of high school.

Wheeler is a 3/4 pitch pitcher, with a fastball that sits 90-94 and touches 96-97 mph with natural sink, a big and slow curveball mid-70s, an average slider (85 mph), and a below-average change that still needs work. He was pitching in High A ball this year after only throwing 58 2/3 innings last year in A ball secondary to a cracked finger nail. That helped him refine his mechanics slightly, but there are some concerns about his arm action (as you will see in the video/article below).  He still has command issues (walking > 4.5/9 innings), and has trouble with left-handed hitters which may be a result of his arm angle. But he is striking out > 10/9 innings; don't forget he is 21 years old, so he has plenty of room to grow and project to the front-line starter many scouts see him as.

His ETA to the majors would be 2013, so the Mets rotation could be headlined by Harvey and Wheeler, with Mejia,and Niese rounding out a solid young quartet of pitchers for many years to come (hopefully).

Here is a great video review of Wheeler from one of his starts in May (http://projectprospect.com/article/2011/05/23/zack-wheeler-scouting-report).

What do you guys think? Should Sandy get a lifetime contract for this deal?

Thank you Carlos

The Mets have reportedly agreed to deal Carlos Beltran to the Giants for three players, one of which is a top 40 prospect in baseball Zack Wheeler. He is a young RHP, and instantly becomes a future front off the rotation starter with Matt Harvey. He most likely won't join the Mets until 2013, but this is a great job by Sandy Alderson.

A more thorough scouting report will be posted tonight.

LET'S GO METS!

If this were to happen...

I'd go out and buy a Rasmus jersey tomorrow.

http://www.metsminorleagueblog.com/colby-rasmus-is-available-want/

Don't think that Pelfrey, Capuano and Brydak would get it done either, but can't we dream?

Mets Lose Weekend Series vs the Marlins

Mets had a nice win on Friday night to get 1 game above .500, but then lost the next two, to once again drop below .500. They are on the road for a 4-game series versus the Reds, followed by a 3-game road series at the Nationals.

The Mets are currently 14 1/2 games behind the Phillies, and 8 1/2 out of the Wild Card, with 5 teams between them and the Braves.

The next week will focus strictly on the trade market for Beltran, Byrdak, Isringhausen, Capuano, Hairston etc., and this could be a turning point in the Mets future if they are able to secure one or two future pieces by trading any of those above players. I'm not going to list every rumor/prospect because 98% of those trades don't happen. But when the deal is done, I will give the scouting reports/information I have on the players the Mets are receiving.

Let's go Sandy and the Rest of the Front Office!

Mets going for the sweep

Anyone who isn't doing anything today, head out to Citi Field for what may be the last Home game for Carlos Beltran. Do the right thing and cheer him every at bat and thank him for the last 7 years.

Let's go Mets!

State of the Mets: 7/16

I wanted to do a state of the Mets at the All-Star break, but the real world once again was too busy. So now I'm sitting on balcony watching boats go by and life isn't so bad:)

• After last night's loss to the Phillies, the Mets are 46-46, and 12 games behind the division-leading Phillies, and 8 1/2 behind the Braves.
• I mentioned to a couple people on Friday that I hope the Mets get swept. No, I'm not becoming a Yankee fan after wearing that disgusting hat last week, but I don't want the Mets to get hot and have the organization think they still have a shot at making the playoffs this year.
• K-Rod was traded for 2 PTBNL, of which no one knows the list of players, so I'm not going to speculate
• Within a day of accepting the trade to a team that was on his original 10-team no-trade list (good job by his former agent dropping the ball), K-Rod agrees to make the option a mutual option, essentially assuring he will be a free agent at the end of the year. 
• Now the Brewers will get 2 draft picks next year (assuming he's a type A free-agent, which I think is pretty safe) and that he doesn't resign with the Brewers (which won't happen)
• I wonder if the Mets would've been given that luxury or if he needed to be traded in order for that to occur.The Mets would've been better off getting those two draft picks, but hindsight is 20/20, and I doubt Boras would've allowed him to make the player option a mutual option
• People are worried that the Mets are "waving the White flag" and going to have a fire sale
• Why be worried? This is what the Mets should be doing! If someone wants to give us a B level prospect for Isringhausen, great! Scott Hairston, I'll pay for the airfare! Even Chris Capuano, who I really like, may bring in a decent player from a contender looking for a 4th/5th starter
• Any useable pieces that aren't in the long-term plans of the team should be traded as long as the trade is giving us a potential major league player in return, even if that player will take 3 years to reach the big leagues
• This comes to the issue of should the Mets trade Carlos Beltran, and the answer is a resounding YES
• Although it's great to read that Beltran "wants to finish his career in a Mets uniform", Boras made a great contract point 7 years ago that the Mets couldn't offer him arbitration after this year. So if we keep Beltran through the rest of this year and he leaves as a free agent, we don't get a draft pick for him leaving (as the Brewers will for having K-Rod walk)
• Because of this, it is ESSENTIAL that the Mets trade Beltran to whoever the highest bidder is. Beltran is the best outfield bat on the trade market, and as many as 6 or 7 teams are interested. 
• Alderson is rumored to be looking for a top prospect in return, and why not? Ask for the moon and if you wind up with a star, great. This is a big chance for the Mets to get better for the future, and we can't let this opportunity go by.

So for these reasons, I'm hoping the Mets don't get a false sense of hope on this season, and view this as a chance to set up for a brighter future. 

Agree/Disagree?

Scouting Report Cole Hamels

You know the rotation is scary good (when healthy), when you are happy you miss both C Lee and R Halladay, but still have to face another ace in Cole Hamels. The Mets beat him up badly back in April, but he rebounded in his last start May 28th and threw 7 quality innings, striking out 10. Here's the scouting report from then, with his updated stats.

This year he's 11-4 (19 starts, 132 innings), with a 2.32 ERA, 0.93 WHIP,  8.2 K/9 rate and miniscule 1.6 BB/9 rate. He's increased his ground ball rate, and is having the best season of his career. He's increased the use of his cutter to 22%, and he has three plus pitches now (fastball, change and cutter). He used to struggle versus right-handers, but he's limiting them to a .196 batting average this year. He's a serious contender to win the Cy Young award this year (but it's tough to win the Cy Young for his own team).

Cole Hamels
27 Years Old
6th major league season
Bats L/Throws L

The 27-year old Hamels went from a future ace after his stellar post-season in 2008 to a failure in the eyes of Phillies fans after 2009, and back to an ace during 2010. So which pitcher is Cole? Some where in between, but closer to the ace. He was drafted in the 1st round of the 2002 draft and made his major league debut in 2006. He had some durability/character issues in the minors (elbow pain, back discomfort, broken arm in a possible fight in high school, and broke a bone in his hand in a bar room fight), but he has a career 60-45 record in the big leagues, with a 3.53 ERA and 1.18 WHIP. In 2009, he was highly unlucky (.325 BAPIP), while his strikeout and walk rates remained the same from 2008. He added a cutter last year, but more importantly his BAPIP regressed to .289, and he saw his ERA drop from 4.32 in 2009 to 3.06 in 2010, and his WHIP go from 1.29 to 1.18.

Hamels has a smooth high 3/4s arm action and was a fly-ball pitcher (the cutter has made him more of a ground-ball pitcher this year as noted above). He throws his fastball 90-93 mph (92 mph average was the highest of his major league career, up 2 mph from 2009), and possesses one of the best change-ups in the game (82 mph). He occasionally throws a show me curve-ball (76 mph), and added a cutter last year (89 mph). His strike out pitch is his change-up, but also has been getting strikeouts/swings and misses on fastballs out of the zone. He averaged 9.2 K/9 last year and his swing and miss % was 11.9%.

In his 15 career starts versus the Mets, he's struggled. He's 3-9 with a 4.22 ERA and a 1.53 WHIP. The 4.22 ERA is the highest ERA versus any team he's faced 10+ times in his career. Last year the Mets beat him in all 4 starts, although he had a 3.20 ERA in those 25 innings, including two back to back starts in August that he lost 1-0.

Mets Trade K-Rod

I had spent yesterday morning talking to a lawyer asking the ramifications of the Mets just releasing K-Rod (ala Alex Cora), as he got closer to the 55 games finished mark.

Well all that is for naught as the news broke last night the Mets traded K-Rod and Cash Considerations (reported 5 million dollars to cover his salary for this year) in exchange for 2 players to be named later.

My Take: I'm glad we don't have to have any more K-Rod game finished tweets/debates about his usage, but you can't declare this a win until you find out who the 2 PTNL are. The Brewers farm system is very very weak, after they traded everyone for S Marcum and Z Greinke this off-season. They don't have a 4 or a 5 star prospect according to Baseball Prospectus (not that we would get that for K-Rod), but they have 6 out of their top 10 prospects as RHP. So maybe we can get one of these mid-level pitching prospects that may be able to cheaply fill out the back of the rotation next year, or in 2013. And the biggest thing is we don't have to think about paying 15%+ out of payroll next year to a guy who will pitch 70 innings.