Blogging Mets

The Mets on Friday officially non-tendered Mike Pelfrey, Andres Torres and Manny Acosta. But in typical Mets fashion, it doesn’t mean we have seen the last of these sub-par players in Mets uniforms.

We’ve seen enough of Mike Pelfrey on the mound at Citi Field!

There are reports that the Mets might offer Pelfrey a contract so he can continue his rehab with the team and provide depth for the starting rotation. I can sort of understand– no, I can’t. Despite a couple of good years, Pelfrey has been a severe disappointment. It is time to just cut him loose and move on.

Even more shocking, there are reports that the Mets might bring back Torres on the cheap. Torres is useless, the worst player on the Mets in 2012, and that includes Jason Bay. Torres provided nothing — he couldn’t hit, he couldn’t steal bases, he wasn’t even that good defensively. Why bring him back? Because he won’t cost much? There are plenty of players out there who would be better signings at similar money.

As far as Acosta, he was just as bad as Torres. Yes, he had a strong finish, but he was so inept early in the season that he was banished to Buffalo. Fortunately there is no talk of bringing him back.

Non-tendering these guys was a good move by Sandy Alderson. Let’s hope he doesn’t ruin it by resigning any of them.

Check out my latest appearance on “The Phil Naessens Show.” We taped Thursday morning, and I correctly predicted that the David Wright deal would get done “today or tomorrow.” Further evidence of my prognostication genius!

http://phillipnaessens.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/the-phil-naessens-show-november-30-2012-hot-stove-baseball-bonanza/

Reports in the wee hours of the morning on Friday say the Mets and David Wright have agreed to a contract that will  make Wright a Met for life.

David Wright finally gets his big payday.

WFAN’s Ed Coleman and ESPNNewYork.com both report that it is a seven-year extension for $122 million. Add in the $16 million Wright is owed for 2013 and that makes it the richest contract in Mets history, topping Johan Santana’s $137.5 million contract by a mere $500,000.Wright will become a ten-and-five guy midway through the 2013 season, which means after that he will not be able to be traded without his permission. Since Wright has always said he wants to retire as a Met, it is likely that he will get his wish unless he changes his mind over the course of the next eight years.

This is good news for the Mets. Now they can concentrate on either extending R.A. Dickey or trading him, as well as making several other necessary moves to make the team better and surrounding David Wright with the players to finally make him a winner.

Well, here it is — the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame Ballot, the mother of all Hall of Fame ballots. It includes the all-time home run champ, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, one of  just eight players to hit 600 or more home runs, a member of the 3000-hit club, and the greatest hitting catcher of all time. All slam dunk, first-ballot hall of famers, and most of them will likely not be voted in because of those pesky PED allegations. Let’s analyze:

Mike Piazza

Since this is a Mets site, we’ll begin with Piazza. Of course he is worthy — no catcher has ever hit like he did. But then there are the steroid whispers that began after he retired. There was talk of back acne (a steroid side effect) that suddenly disappeared once drug testing began, questions about how a 62nd round draft choice can suddenly become such a prolific hitter and speculation about how huge he was (I saw him in the clubhouse once; his arms were as big as my legs).

However, there has been no evidence, circumstantial or otherwise, to prove any kind of PED connection to Piazza. Unlike other players, he did not show up in the Mitchell report, has never been linked to steroid deliveries or providers and never tested positive.

There really is no justification for keeping Piazza out of the Hall of Fame, except for writers who might think, “I just know he did it.” Without any kind of proof, that is just not fair. The same type of sentiment has, however, kept Jeff Bagwell out of the Hall. But Piazza and Bagwell are different cases because Bagwell is not a sure-fire nominee, while Piazza is.

I think while many writers will not vote for Piazza because of their suspicions, enough will and Piazza will be elected to the Hall of Fame. And he will wear a Mets hat on his plaque.

Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens

Bonds and Clemens will be the litmus test that will decide whether steroid users ever get voted into the Hall of Fame by the writers. Both stood trial and were acquitted (Bonds was convicted on one count, but not of taking PEDs), but in both cases, there were mountains of evidence that they did indeed use PEDs. There is justification for keeping them out based on the hard evidence.

You could argue that a Hall of Fame without Bonds and Clemens would be a joke, and you wouldn’t be wrong. I don’t think either one will get in this year, and perhaps they will never get in. If they do, that would open the doors to all steroid users, and I don’t think the writers want to do that.

Sammy Sosa

The evidence against Sosa is less clear than Bonds and Clemens. First there was his dubious testimony to Congress when he suddenly forgot how to speak English. Then he was reported to have been one of the 104 players who tested positive in the 2003 round of survey testing that was supposed to be anonymous.

All of this is circumstantial at best, but it will likely be enough to confirm suspicions that Sosa was a PED user and keep him out of Cooperstown. After all, Mark McGwire offered similar lame testimony on that fateful day and the writers refused to vote for him because of it (it was only later that he admitted HGH use).

Craig Biggio

Now, thankfully, let’s get to some non-steroid players. Biggio amassed 3060 hits in his career. He was never really a dominant player — he was an All-Star only seven times in 20 years and he only had 200+ hits once. He never came close to an MVP award. But in addition to his hits total he is fifth all-time in doubles, so he will likely be elected in his first year of eligibility, and deservedly so.

Curt Schilling

Schilling is an interesting case. He was only 216-146 in his career. He only made six All-Star teams and never won a Cy Young award (he finished second three times). He did, however, have a solid ERA of 3.46 and struck out 3116 batters (including 300+ three times). But Schilling shined in the post season while everyone was watching, going 11-2 with a 2.23 ERA in 19 starts with one infamous bloody sock, winning three World Series titles. It is his post season performance that will get Schilling elected; not this year, though. Schilling really doesn’t meet the criteria of a first-ballot Hall of Famer, but he will eventually get in after waiting a few years.

Now to the holdovers. None of them are getting in, simple as that. Jack Morris, appearing on his 14th ballot, just isn’t a Hall of Famer. Neither are Lee Smith, Tim Raines, Edgar Martinez or Larry Walker. Bagwell will probably get in some day, but not this year. McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro have their obvious steroid issues.

And now to Fred McGriff, about whom I have written in the past:

McGriff is never getting in… He was never a particularly dominant player…

Well, I am starting to warm to McGriff’s candidacy. He finished seven home runs shy of 500, but I like to look at individual seasons as well as career totals. McGriff had 30+ home runs 10 times and 100+ RBIs eight times. To put that in perspective, Carl Yastrzemski had 30+ home runs three times and 100+ RBIs five times. Dave Winfield had 30+ home runs three times and 100+ RBIs the same eight times. Obviously those players each had 3000+ hits, but the point I am trying to make is that McGriff was better than most people think and measures up well to some of the great players in the game. I don’t think McGriff will get in, but I think he deserves a closer look.

So to sum it up, Piazza and Biggio will be the only ones elected from this incredible Hall of Fame ballot. And things don’t slow down next year — we get Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Mike Mussina and Jeff Kent.

The reports have been coming in fast and furious over the past couple of days about David Wright’s contract negotiations with the Mets. This can only be good news, as it means the Mets are actually attempting to negotiate a deal with Wright, not like that free agent last year who is now hunkering down in Toronto.

David Wright close to a new contract?

The talk from various sources is that the Mets initially offered Wright six-years, $100 million, the same money fellow third basemen Ryan Zimmerman and Evan Longoria got. After Wright was “put off” by that measly offer according to the Daily News, the club quickly added a seventh year. The offer is now said to be worth anywhere from $119 million to$129 million. My bet is that a deal gets done sooner rather than later.

That’s because when you add in the $16 million he is owed in 2013, the entire deal would likely surpass Johan Santana’s $137.5 million contract, making it the richest in Mets history. Sources say this is important to Wright and his agents — probably more to his agents, who are trying to rebuild their reputation after the Melky Cabrera fiasco.

There could be a hold-up, however. The New York Post reports that the two sides are bickering over deferred money. This is crucial because it could reduce the amount of the contract in present-day dollars. It would be surprising if this scuttled the entire deal if everything else can be agreed upon.

Another problem appears to be the fact that we know any of this. Wright told MLB Trade Rumors that he is unhappy with the “inaccurate” reports, saying he wanted to keep the negotiations private.

“I have said from Day 1 that I want to play my entire career with the New York Mets. I remain hopeful that goal can be achieved. However, I am disappointed by the reports that I have read (Tuesday) which are inaccurate,” said Wright.

Unless David Wright is lying, which is unlikely, then the Mets have been talking to the media. Hopefully it won’t be enough to sour Wright on resigning with the team.

In any case, a seven-year extension would mean Wright would be 37 in the final year of the contract. I would prefer not to sign any player (except for the elite of the elite) past age 35 or 36, but I would make an exception to get this done. Paying an extra year at the end is worth having David Wright spend his entire career with the Mets.

The Mets have released pricing for Opening Day 2013, and it shows that the Wilpons have no clue about how to run a baseball team that has a disgruntled fan base.

Dumb and dumber?

Mets Blog reports that the cheapest ticket will be $63, with prices rising to $460. In contrast, that same cheapest ticket will cost just $12 for the second game of the season.

Fans are already pleading with the Wilpons to sell the Mets, accusing them of being cheap, money-grubbing owners who won’t spend money on the team; do they think this latest price gouging really helps their image?

The Mets know people want to attend Opening Day and that it will likely sell out. The Wilpons see this as a way to make a quick buck so they are going for it, regardless of the disgust the fans will probably register.

Once again the Wilpons are showing no regard for the Mets loyal fan base. They’d better be careful — loyalty has its limits.

A baseball executive who may or may not know anything about the inner workings of the Mets claims the team wants a “monster package” for R.A. Dickey (don’t we all want a monster package?!).

R.A. Dickey and his “monster package.”

The Daily News says this unnamed mysterious “high-ranking major league executive” recently spoke with the Mets, quoting him as saying the Mets “would want a monster package for Dickey, and if they don’t get it, probably would not trade him.”

Who knows if this is true or not, but this is the way it should be. Unless the Mets can get at least two young, major league ready players, they should absolutely hold onto their Cy Young Award winner. There is no reason to trade him just for the sake of trading him, getting only prospects in return.

R.A. Dickey is signed for $5 million for 2013 — one of the best bargains in baseball. There is nothing wrong with having him in the rotation with the hope that solid pitching can propel the Mets into contention. If not, and he is pitching well, he can easily be traded at the deadline to a team desperate for a front-line starter. The price would be even higher then.

This week on “The Phil Naessens Show,” Phil and I discuss R.A. Dickey’s much-deserved Cy Young Award, Jason Bay’s much-deserved ouster from Flushing, as well as Sandy Alderson’s reported opinion that the Mets are a 70-win team.

http://phillipnaessens.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/the-phil-naessens-show-november-16-2012-miguel-cabrera-wins-the-american-league-mvp/

The final two post season awards were handed out on Thursday — the American and National League MVPs.

MVPs Miguel Cabrera & Buster Posey in Game 1 of World Series.

The conversation over the past couple of months has been whether Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera or phenom and sabermetrics favorite Mike Trout should win the AL award. Everybody predicted an extremely close race. However, I wrote:

This shouldn’t even be an issue. Triple Crown winner Miguel Cabrera should win this unanimously.

Well, in the end it wasn’t an issue at all. Cabrera got 22 of the 28 first place votes to finish with 362 points, far ahead of Trout and his 281 points. Adrian Beltre finished third. I predicted Josh Hamilton would be third; he was fifth.

Over in the National League, Buster Posey was the easy winner, getting 27 first place votes and a total of 422 points. Ryan Braun was second and Andrew McCutchen was third. I predicted all of this.

By the way, David Wright finished sixth with 86 points and Cy Young winner R.A. Dickey was 15th with 16 points.

So the real winner of the post season award season was actually me. I predicted all six of the winners, missing only third place finishers for AL MVP and NL Rookie of the Year. Big deal. I also correctly predicted the presidential race. I’m going to Vegas!

There was a very disturbing little tidbit buried in an Andy Martino article in the Daily News earlier this week:

Even Mr. Met is upset by this nonsense.

Privately, the front office projects its team to win around 70 games in 2013, according to a source present in a September meeting at which general manager Sandy Alderson articulated this view.

This stunning statement has thus far flown under the radar, but it is time to bring it to light. If Alderson really thinks the Mets are only capable of winning 70 games next season and he doesn’t do anything to improve the team, then he deserves to be fired.

Think about it — Alderson’s job is to make the team better. If he believes the team is terrible (and 70 wins would be terrible), then he is obligated to do something about it. If he stands relatively pat like he did the past two off seasons, then Alderson is just stealing his salary and deceiving the fan base.

Alderson has not denied the report; it is unknown if he has even been asked about it. But if it is true, then whenever Alderson talks about the Mets being competitive, he is just lying.

Mets fans have been through a lot over the past few seasons — two epic collapses, ownership bilked out of  hundreds of millions of dollars and won’t spend on players and plenty of losing. They don’t deserve to have a general manager who is constantly lying to them about the team’s outlook.

Mets fans are notoriously loyal, but behavior like this could push even the most die-hard fans away.