Blogging Mets

Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez had a very interesting conversation during a Mets game last week about why strikeouts have reached epic proportions in major league baseball. They came up with an explanation I had not heard before.

Ike Davis isn’t the only batter racking up strikeouts.

Cohen pointed out that the last eight months of baseball — the last month of 2011, all of 2012, and the first month of this season — have been the highest strikeout months in the history of the league. They said it has nothing to do with pitchers being better or the absence of steroids making hitters worse. No, it has to do with the new philosophy of hitting.

Many teams, the Mets included, now preach the theory that hitters should take more pitches and wait for that perfect one that the hitter can drive. This leads to more two-strike counts, which in turn leads to more strikeouts.

Hernandez also said the two-strike approach has changed. In the old days batters would choke up and just try to make contact. Nowadays they swing for the fences, and more often than not, they strike out. Hernandez said one scout claims the current two-strike approach is the worst in baseball history.

Cohen also pointed out that the dreaded pitch count plays a role here. With virtually every starter on a 100-pitch leash, batters take pitches in order to get them closer to that number. This forces them out of the game, allowing them to hit against mediocre middle relievers, the soft underbelly of every team.

They didn’t mention another key factor that has been talked about at length — the stigma of striking out is gone. Hitters used to hang their heads in shame on the walk back to the dugout after a strikeout. Now they get pats on the back for trying. Ralph Kiner struck out more than 100 times in his rookie league. He said he was so embarrassed, he vowed never to do it again, and he never did. Willie Mays also struck out 100+ times just once, when he was 40 and just trying to hang on with severely diminished skills. Hank Aaron never struck out 100 times, nor did Babe Ruth; proof that you don’t have to take strikeouts to hit home runs.

Just like everything, this trend will some day go away, replaced with a new, hopefully better hitting philosophy. In the meantime, let’s all enjoy the cool breezes we get from all of those whiffs.

Since this is Jackie Robinson Day and I saw “42″ on Friday, I’ve been thinking a lot about race in baseball these past few days.

(My quick review of “42″: good, not great. It is obviously a compelling story, but it is basically a one-note movie — “we don’t want to play with a black guy” — for two hours. The biggest failing is that you never really learn anything about Jackie Robinson; what made him tick, that sort of thing. The acting is very good, even Harrison Ford chewing the scenery as Branch Rickey. The best part was the CGI of the old stadiums. You really thought they were filming in Ebbets Field, Polo Grounds and other long-gone ballparks.)

It is amazing to consider, but more than 60 years after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier, the number of black players in major league baseball has actually been dwindling over the past few decades. About 8% of big leaguers are black. Compare that to 27% in 1975. Latinos have filled the void — 25% of rosters are Latino.

This is because it is easier to scout and sign a kid from Latin America. You just have to scout them, and sign them. If a team finds a black kid in the U.S., it has to scout him, then hope he is still available in the draft. Then you have to deal with a Scott Boras to sign him.

Baseball has also done a poor job over the past 20 years or so of promoting itself, while the popularity of the NFL and NBA has skyrocketed. So many kids — white and black — have gravitated away from baseball to those sports. Imagine how many potential baseball superstars — the next Hanks Aaron, Willie Mays, or Frank Robinson — have been lost.

MLB has responded by setting up training facilities in inner cities to attract black kids back to the game. Hopefully it will work.

Another race issue I have written about in the past is almost an amusing one, but it kind of shows how our minds work. Whenever a baseball announcer or team official compares a young player to a player in the past, it is almost always along racial lines. I don’t think it is being done on purpose. I like to think of it as Unconscious Racial Profiling.

I mean, when do you ever see a white player compared to Roberto Clemente? Or a black player compared to Mike Schmidt? It almost never happens. White players are compared to Chipper Jones, blacks to Willie McCovey, Latinos to Manny Ramirez.

This was on full display in the Sports Illustrated baseball preview issue earlier this month. They were writing about four rookies who might make an impact this season. White outfielder Wil Myers was compared to Dale Murphy. White pitcher Gerrit Cole was compared to Stephen Strasburg. Latino outfielder Oscar Taveras was compared to Vladimir Guerrero. And shortstop Jurickson Profar was compared to Tony Fernandez. Profar, by the way, is from Curacao. I don’t know if that counts as Latino, but for comparison purposes it does, for baseball people, anyway!

Now, I’m not saying these comparisons are not valid. I’m just saying it probably never dawned on anyone to compare Taveras to, say, Ken Griffey, Jr. or to compare Myers to, well, Ken Griffey, Jr.

It’s just funny how our minds are programmed to see race first. The point of Jackie Robinson’s struggle was that we would someday stop judging people based on their race. Sadly, that day has not yet come.

The Mets-Twins game on Sunday was suspended because of freezing rain and other wintry elements. Friday’s game opened with flurries and ended with temperatures near or below freezing. Did anyone expect anything less, what with scheduling games in Minnesota in early April? It is bad scheduling, just asking for cold weather baseball, and it could and should be changed.

David Wright battles flurries in Minnesota Friday night.

I have written before that there are enough warm weather cities and domes to house every baseball game for at least the first two weeks of the season. This would reduce the chances that games would be played in frigid conditions. Sure, the Mets and other Northern and Midwest teams would have to wait two weeks for their home opener, but it would be worth it to play the game the way it is supposed to be played.

Of course, it wouldn’t eliminate all cold weather baseball games. The Mets are in Denver starting Monday, the third week of the season, and the thermometer is not predicted to rise above 42 during their stay. It could be as low as 17 degrees for Wednesday night’s game.

To combat that, games in these extremely cold cities should be scheduled for daytime in all of April. It might still be cold, but it won’t be as cold as when the sun sets. It offers at least some relief to the players and fans.

Another issue that cropped up this week for the Mets and the Yankees, which lost two games in Cleveland this week because of weather, is scheduling games between teams who will only visit that city just one time. The Mets now have to make up this game with the Twins on August 19, which was supposed to be an off day for the Mets to fly back from San Diego. The Yankees will have to make an extra trip to Cleveland on May 13 to play a doubleheader.

This can be avoided by only scheduling division games in April. This way, if a game is postponed, it can easily be made up during another series with the team, since division rivals meet each other multiple times.

Certain series can also be moved if it is predicted well in advance that extreme weather is on tap.  MLB has known for a week about what might happen in Denver over the next few days. The series could have been moved to Phoenix. The Diamondbacks are out of town, and the Rockies play there after the Mets series anyway.

This would, of course, hurt the Rockies financially; they would lose home games and the revenue they generate. But MLB could maintain a fund to compensate teams in such situations.

Such a move is not unprecedented; an Angels-Indians series in April 2007 was moved to the retractable dome Miller Park in Milwaukee because of snow in Cleveland. The average attendance for the three game set was around 18,000, which was not terrible.

MLB really has to do something about this before a player suffers a catastrophic injury because of cold weather baseball. Only then will baseball be forced to take action. And then it will be too late.

Former Mets play-by-play announcer Tim McCarver has announced that this season, his 18th, will be his last with Fox Sports.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the 71-year-old McCarver said:

I’ve informed Fox Sports that I will not seek to extend my contract to broadcast baseball past the 2013 season. Although I am neither tired of broadcasting baseball nor have I in any way lost my interest in baseball, with which I have been associated as a player and broadcaster for 55 years, it’s time to cut back. Since 1996, my time with Joe Buck has been filled with some of the most memorable moments in the game’s magnificent history. I am very proud to have been a part of all the things that make this game so special for all of us who follow it day-to-day, week-to-week and year-to-year. Finally, to the gifted men and women at Fox with whom I’ve worked with over the last 17 years, your work has been exemplary and unmatched. You’re the best in the business and it has been a privilege.

In a conference call, Tim McCarver said this has nothing to do with any health issues. He said he just wants to do other things, saying, “I want to take cooking classes in Italy.”

McCarver called Mets games from 1983 to 1998, doing an excellent job and really revitalizing the broadcasts. The Mets dropped him in favor of Tom Seaver, which was a huge mistake because Seaver is not even remotely as good a commentator as McCarver.

Tim McCarver has faced much criticism over the years, but except for annoyingly hammering home certain points from time to time, I think McCarver is one of the best baseball announcers out there, and will be missed.

So I turn on the big USA-Dominican Republic game Thursday night and the first thing I hear is, “No David Wright, but…” It turns out Wright had to be scratched from the game with a sore back.

MLB Network reports it is just precautionary, that Wright is not seriously injured. That’s good news, but I was really looking forward to watching “Captain America” take on Jose Reyes, Robinson Cano and the rest of the powerhouse Dominican team.

I guess I’ll have to be happy by watching Reyes and fellow former Met R.A. Dickey in the game. But they are no substitute for David Wright.

UPDATE:

Later reports say Wright is suffering from sore ribs, not a sore back.

Unless you live under a rock where there is no television reception and you couldn’t watch Mets games last year, then you know all about the movie “Knuckleball,” featuring former Met R.A. Dickey. It came out last season and was often a topic of conversations during Dickey’s starts.

The well-received film is being released on DVD on April 2, and you could be the first kid on your block to own it, for free! In conjunction with MPI/Film Buff, I am giving away three copies to the movie.

All you have to do answer a simple Mets trivia question, and of course, it is related to knuckleballs:

Dickey was, obviously, the most successful knuckleballer in Mets history. But the Mets had another knuckleballer earlier this century. He wasn’t particularly good; he could never get his ball to float like Dickey’s or flutter like Phil Niekro’s. His pitches just came in flat, which explains why he started just two games for the Mets, pitching to an 8.74 ERA before being released. What is this fellow’s name?

Be one of the first three people to email me the correct answer and you win. My email address can be found in the “Contact” tab. Please do not answer in the comment section; it will not count and it will spoil the fun for everyone.

Good luck!

CONTEST IS CLOSED

The answer was Dennis Springer, who pitched for the Mets in 2000.

The Justin Upton-to-the-Mets stories can now stop — he has been dealt to the Braves, who now have the best team in the National League East.

The Braves get Upton and third baseman Chris Johnson for Martin Prado, Randall Delgado and three minor league prospects.

Atlanta now has a powerhouse lineup that features both Upton brothers and young stars Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman. Add in their solid pitching and the Braves will likely be back atop the NL East yet again. Just what Mets fans want to hear.

Stan Musial died Saturday at age 92.

Stan Musial

“Stan the Man” — purportedly named by Dodgers fans at Ebbets Field who groaned “there’s that man again” whenever he stepped up to the plate — was one of the underrated legends of the game. He spent his entire 22-year career in St. Louis, and thus did not get the publicity that players in New York and other cities received.

But Musial was just as good as anybody — he retired in 1963 with 3630 career hits, 475 home runs, 1951 RBIs and a .331 batting average. And he missed a year because he served in World War 2. He win three MVP Awards and made 20 All-Star teams. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1969.

The Cardinals released a statement:

We have lost the most beloved member of the Cardinals family. Stan Musial was the greatest player in Cardinals history and one of the best players in the history of baseball.

The entire Cardinals organization extends its sincere condolences to Stan’s family, including his children Richard, Gerry, Janet and Jean, as well as his eleven grandchildren and twelve great grandchildren. We join fans everywhere in mourning the loss of our dear friend and reflect on how fortunate we all are to have known ‘Stan the Man’.

Stan Musial was said to be one of the really good guys of the game. He was also one of my all-time favorites, and I’m proud to say that his signed ball is part of my (mostly Mets) autographed baseball collection.

Word Tuesday is that the Nationals have signed former Yankees closer Rafael Soriano to a two-year, $28 million deal. If you are scoring at home, his $14 million yearly salary is second all-time for a reliever,  just a million bucks behind Mariano Rivera. How is this possible? Two words — Scott Boras.

Scott Boras — extortionist?

Boras continues to somehow be able to score huge, overpriced contracts for his clients when it appears there is no market for them.  There is only one explanation for this — extortion.

The Nationals have a good relationship with Boras, having signed several of his clients, including Jayson Werth, who received perhaps the most overpriced contract in baseball history. Washington has two other Scott Boras clients on the team; their names are Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper. Perhaps you have heard of them.

I suspect Boras said something like this to the Nationals front office: “Hey, if you hope to resign Strasburg and Harper some day, you’ll sign my guy now, at my price.” Sounds like extortion to me. And the last time I checked, extortion was against the laws of the United States.

This is the only explanation I can thing of. Soriano is very good — he had 42 saves and a 2.26 ERA last season — but he’s only been a closer for three season over an 11 year career. He’s also 33 years old. He does not warrant being the second-highest paid reliever in history.

Not to mention that the Nationals now have to give up their first-round pick in the Junes draft because Soriano was attached to compensation. That’s one reason the market for him was so slow.

Many teams — including the Mets, apparently — shy away from doing business with Scott Boras. Probably a good idea.

The following is a guest post. The views expressed do not necessarily represent those of Blogging Mets.

The 2013 Major League Baseball season is about to start this March. Teams, especially the ones that finished poorly last season, are busy improving their roster, perfecting their system, and strengthening their mental and physical conditions. One team that doubles the effort on these tasks is the New York Mets. The Mets ended last year’s season with a .457 win-loss percentage, way below what their fans expected. They were initially viewed as contenders until injuries jeopardized their campaign. But that 2012 disaster is something that the team wants to bury. They’ve been training and making changes in their roster for the next season to give Frenchman Bruce Bochy and his San Francisco Giants a run for their money. To bolster the team, one thing that the Mets could do is to arrange a friendly game against national teams like France. Bochy is of French blood, it could be that his excellent managing skills were shaped by his mother country.

France has a national baseball team that competes at the World Baseball Classic. A game or two in the European country would give the team tougher competition and of course, a wider fan base. But more than just training, a team building tour in France can help players and management lessen the pressure they feel. Players could also tag along with Mets fan (and nearly part owner) and 2012 World Series of Poker third placer David Einhorn (left) to inspire players in playing baseball, not poker. Since arranging a poker session at live casinos can be quite time consuming and tedious, they should consider playing online at gaming portals like such as Partypoker.fr/, a website that offers fun and high-level poker games. This website is playable on smartphones and tablets. Partypoker, which gives players the chance to win cash prizes, also has tournaments that can serve as a stepping stone to qualify for the World Poker Tour. Because this website is available worldwide and is visited by enthusiasts from all over the world, players will not just enjoy, they will also learn how to play with patience, become strategic, and learn how to deliver under pressure; things that make a smart baseball player.

There are more reasons why playing against the France National Baseball Team is a good idea for the Mets. One man behind the bench of the French team is 2003 Cy Young awardee Éric Gagné. The three-time French Canadian All Star player is currently France’s pitching coach. Since signing with the European country in 2011, Gagne has already helped the team qualify for the World Baseball Classics. The Under-21 French national baseball team topped the European Championship to get a slot at the 2012 WBC. The New York Mets current line up is full of young players, especially on the pitching end. Gagne is one person that pitchers of this generation look up to. His experience would benefit the younger guys. His deep knowledge of the game could be that one big factor for the Mets to start well in the 2013 season.