February 20: Milledge seeks out Franco
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- February
- 20
“Julio Franco”:http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?statsId=3001
said this morning that Lastings Milledge sought him out in the clubhouse yesterday afternoon. Franco started acting as Milledge’s mentor late last season. “He said, `Let’s pick up where we left off,’ ‘’ Franco said. “It’s a great sign. He’s willing to learn and he’s willing to work hard.’’
Franco said Milledge has the tools, but needs to dedicate himself to baseball. He said there are many more distractions for a younger player today than when he played.
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on Tuesday, February 20th, 2007 at 9:47 am by John Delcos.
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John, it seems that young Lastings is making a concerted effort to become a better professional. This is a great, great sign.
John,
This is something to be happy about, no?
It’s far more fun to root for a guy than against him.
Thank you for making a concerted effort to provide more than just the singular, tired version of Lastings-as-bad-kid. If nothing else, Danny and I appreciate it.
Go Milledge and Go Mets.
John,
I personally am not a milledge fan. But with the help of the modest and subdued Franco, he may be able to shape up. Cliff Floyd did wonders for David Wright, and we can only hope JF’s help will be the same for Lastings.
I still hope he shows us something so he’s a good bargaining chip, but time will tell.
we will have to wait and see. the fact the horse went and found water, doesn’t mean he’ll like the taste and drink it.
Jason – You hope he shows you something so that we can trade him? Do you support all of the Mets in this backhanded way?
We should trade Reyes now while his value is the highest. Imagine what we could get back for him?!?!!?
Let’s hope that Milledge has learned some respect for his team mates and will listen. There’s a ton of baseball know-how in that clubhouse.
I hate BackHanded Hope
Danny is right
Are you even a Metsfan Buddy?
I bet
Once Lastings is a super star
Jason will be all like
“I called it”
We all know here today
on the 20th of Febuary
That all this “fan” wants
I use that term very loosly
is for Milledge to do good enough
to be traded
Pickles
Ok, so you’re all a bunch of milledge fans. Good for you. I’m not. I didn’t know it was bad not to like someone on your team? I guess you’re all the same people that think Chan Ho Park is the perfect addition to this team and that our starting pitching is top-notch.
You’re all entitled to your opinions, as am I, and I really don’t think Lastings will be the superstar that he has been annointed with at such an early stage.
Would all of you really be oppossed to sending him and someone else to Chicago for Carlos Zambrano in July? If you don’t feel that’s a good move, that’s fine – but maybe you should also re-evaluate the team’s status and future.
Would I want to trade a top five future shock guy (and someone else) for 3 months of Zambrano? No, I personally wouldn’t. I could see the case being made if our starters are just killing us, but I’d prefer to hold on to the kid. And I personally have no problem with someone who sees problems in Lastings’ ability, but that ain’t you. You just don’t like him. You’re entitled to that, and I’m entitled to think that you miss the forest for the trees. If I may, why do you think that Lsatings won’t be a superstar (would you settle for 75th+ percentile? That’s all I’m willing to predict)? Because Billy Wagner and he aren’t two peas in a pod? What about his talent do you see as an harbinger of future inability? It’s my strong gut feeling that you are judging him entirely on the snatches of play you saw him get in the bigs last year as the youngest player in the NL. He got less than 200ABs. I assume you are able to see through your distaste for Lastings to realize that’s not close to enough to make a sound judgment. If it were, we would never have moved Mike Jacobs…
You don’t know me
and you can’t see me
I have a problem with people
who call themselves Metfans
who want guys
to be good enough to be traded
I don’t like Chan Ho Park signing
if he shows up
and becomes a great hand
I will cheer my dill butt off
whenever he pitches
I cheered for Lima Bean last yr
Hated him
but if he did good
I would of wanted him to stay
The Future of this team is the youth
the Pelfrey’s, the Smith’s
the Humber’s, the Milledge’s
the Camacho’s, the Gomez’s
the Martinez’s, the Carp’s
not some guy on another organization
someone cant be apart of your future
unless he is actually in your organization
look at everyone who plugged Zito in
He was plugged into our future
Would I like Zambrano
yes
Why not wait until we can sign him
remember
Our pitchers didnt lose the NLCS
Our hitters did
David Wright, Jose Reyes,
Chavez, Valentin
& Loduca
Yet
I would go to hell and back
with those guys all over again
Pickles
Pickles…you are the man!
Ed hearts Pickles.
Jason, tell me, are you a scout? Do you have a lot of background? Because, most scouts predict Milledge will be a star. But you apparently are smarter than all of them, since you do not see it. I hope you sent your resume to Omar, he could use someone like you.
you guys definitely have a point – i haven’t seen enough of LM to make sound judgement – but then again, no one has. But from what i did see last year, I felt his fielding was sub-par and despite having a low number of ABs, he showed me a lack of patience at the plate (obviously something that can be worked on, i.e, Reyes).
I’m not a LM hater, as a FAN, I just want the best for my team and feel that turning him loose elsewhere to get something good in return – for the team – would not be a bad option.
Milledge was never given corner OF experience until he was asked to in the bigs. That being said, I would argue his number of excellent plays (execution style gun downs of Counsell and Nomar, diving catches galore down the stretch) cancelled out his awful plays (drop in Pedro-Webb classic, Fenway debacles, bad jumps on balls hit at him but in front of him). A little experience can go a long way. He clearly has the range and arm to be a league average (or better) corner outfielder, which is admittedly not his natural position.
Milledge has done nothing but kill it in the minors year in and year out. I agree it wasn’t an all star we saw in the bigs last year, but I enjoy hoping that he will become a guy consistently at his best rather than just good enough to scrap for someone else’s prospect. Keep in mind he’s more than 2 whole years younger than David Wright, who was and is incredibly precocious.
Looks like all of the MetsGeeks are here now. Milledge haters go away! Give the kid a break before you roast him on the first few days of training camp. So many media led sheep in Mets Nation!
Ramon, we’ve missed you man. How is Germany?
Pickles is a fan of Ramon
I second Lister’s sentiments
Pickles
Germany was a blast guys, I suggest you all save a little and take the time to visit the country. Actually I came back to the States a month ago and am planning on leaving on the first week of March to Puerto Rico to do my research for the year. I was reading some of your blogs on the “Geek” and I realized how much I missed you all. Unfortunately, they have banned me from the site on my home computer and I cannot post my opinions in the US. I think that it had something to do with my comments offending too many people. Oh well…
Hey, if you guys really do miss me…you can all ask Eric Simon to stop his ridiculous censoring of my posts!
P.S. Leave Milledge alone haters!
I’ll send an email to Eric and see what I can figure out…
Go mets
Thanks, I really want to get int he discussion thread.
Dag, they banned ya Ramon.
That ain’t right, we were all getting along.
We’ll fight the good fight for ya.
What can I say…censorship is a real big thing over at the ‘Geek’. I always liked Michael Oliver, but Eric Simon and I don’t get along at all.
Also, tell ed in Weschester that I am the real genuine article…the one and only Ramon! So it is written, so it shall come to pass!
Mike Oliver has his own blog.
its pretty darn good too. maybe you can find peace there ;)
I’ll tell ed.
I’ll also see if i can you back in before the season starts, everybody deserves another chance.
MO’s blog is like themetropolitans.blogspot.com
Actually I don’t get along with Oliver either…I meant Andrew Hintz. I liked him, he was a cool guy. What ever happened to him?
Ramon – bad thing you being banned. We may have butted heads once in a while, but you know your stuff.
Did you visit my site a couple of weeks back?
No, I was unaware you branched out. If I knew you had a blog I would have visited. I have been out of sorts with the blogging because of the offseason, my European holiday vacation and other professional matters involving graduate research.
Andrew Hintz must have gone off and gotten a life, cuz he hasnt been around in forever.
Too bad cause Andrew was one of the few guys there who was fair.
These are good steps for Milledge. If he means them and works to be the best player and teammate he can be, it will be fun to see him develop his fullest potential. He has players on his heels such as Gomez and Johnson, and hopefully that drives him as well.
Lister,
Milledge was playing the corners in the minors before he was called up.
Milledge played 95% of his minors time in CF before the fated Oswalt non-trade.
He only 5 games or so in the corners that year.
Ramon
See if you can click on my name through metsgeek, you will be taken to the blog. I started it during last season. Or google my screen name.
Hopefully, the geeks will let you back.
I know some people had some issues last year where they were “banned” but not on purpose, some sorta IP issue. Maybe that’s what happened to you, unless they flat out told you that you were.
Dep,
In 2006, at Norfork, he started 21 games in left, and 8 in right.
I haven’t been able to locate his Bingo fielding locations in 2006, and overall in 2005. I believe however, he played the corners in Bingo before being called up for his ML debut after the Nady surgery.
EL – that’s still not a lot of time in the corner spots. Plus, he gets killed for his poor play in Fenway, in front of the monster, which has eaten up veterans.
The corner spots are much harder than center. The ball comes off the bat “differently” in the eyes of the fielder, and has more hook to it, depending on the corner being played and the side of the plate the hitter is on.
He has the natural talent to play the outfield, he just needs to learn the corners. Heck, even Cameron, an acknowledged top tier CF, had trouble in right at times.
Do we really think the kind of gaffes Milledge made at Fenway are going to haunt his whole career?
To me they were just really embarassing, bad rookie plays…
I don’t think a dode that athletic is just going to fall over himself on routine fly balls once he gets his feet wet…
I wrote that stuff on your blog Ed. I tried to clear it up on the geek site but I’m in time out. I was the 2nd Ramon. Someone else did the first one. I was trying to be funny. I’m going down to ST for 2 weeks if any of you guys wanna throw beer on me (in me). I’ll be the pale guy.