First of all, thanks to Josh last night and Jake tonight for taking over the blog. Yours truly hasn’t been feeling well lately and spent the good part of the day with the doc . I will shut it down until the Yankee series. I will, however, keep posting and monitoring the blog.
If nothing else, I hope that gives you an idea how much I care about this.
That leads me to the next issue, which was pointed out to me in an email from a long-time poster. This blog is getting more and more confrontational and it irritates me. And, “Fists of Fury,’’ Bob isn’t the only one. He’s just the one I’m most active in banning right now.
Here’s the deal. I like the blog and want it to keep growing. However, it can’t, and won’t, go on like this.
My concept of the blog is like a group of friends hanging out watching the games together and shooting the breeze.
Let me ask you, if you’re with your friends and somebody didn’t like what you said and called you stupid, or ignorant, or arrogant, or any number of things I have read here, would you stand for it?
What if somebody was obnoxious and threatened you? What would you do?
Chances are you wouldn’t hang with that group anymore.
Can you see my point? I want this to be a pleasant place to exchange ideas. That’s it. I don’t care if you agree with me or not. Just discuss it like adults.
Yes, I know, the Internet is like the Wild West where most everything goes.
But, this is my blog and I don’t like the vulgarity. I don’t like the threats. I don’t like the name calling. I don’t like somebody using three or four identities and hijacking the blog.
When somebody writes me and tells me this isn’t as fun as it used to be in makes me angry.
I will be more aggressive in deleting comments. I will be more aggressive in telling people to leave. I will be more aggressive in banning people.
I like dealing with most of you and find the give-and-take and exchange of ideas refreshing. I also don’t mind getting tweaked.
I just don’t like it when it gets mean-spirited. So, let’s share the sandbox and play nice.
Thanks, JD
72 Comments
I spoke my piece about the team last night, so I guess I might as well speak about the blog now.
John asked me to contribute to the blog when it started in 2006. I’m still delighted to be a part of it most of the time, but I have to admit that he’s right about the civility level slipping here.
Fans are fanatic about their teams, players, games etc. and their enthusiasm is wonderful to see, however all the mean stuff is not. Let’s go back to being fans in the seats talking about the game.
As John said:
“My concept of the blog is like a group of friends hanging out watching the games together and shooting the breeze.”
Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?
Let’s make it work.
A few weeks back there was discussion as to whether Pelfrey or Vargas would be sent to the minors (or bullpen) when Perdo Martinez returned from the DL. I suggested that Pelfrey and Vargas should stay in the rotation and Perez is the one who should go to the pen. I feel even more strongly about that now. As someone who has had very little faith in Coin-Flip these last couple years, even I am surprised at how truly bad he is.
Let’s hope Pelfrey can keep improving. John Maine must become more reliable. I think strong starting pitching is the best shot we have at turning the season around. How many people are left out there who would like to see Perez remain in the rotation? I think Vargas should get another chance to see if maybe he can do better. If he cannot, I don’t know what moves are left for us.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I am out of town and just read the scores of the last two days and comments, including John’s call for some civil sharing of the sandbox. I enjoy this blog very much for John’s insights and feedback that he receives from the players, and, while I may not always agree with what is written, I respect John’s as well as any other person’s right to express themselves. I have been a Met fan for forty years now, and, living with adversity and frustration with them is what goes along with the territory. When the blog comments start to have one blogger call another one out, it gets to be school yard style trash talk, which no one wants to hear. My suggestion is just to ignore those that choose to attack others and let John decide whether to ultimately block them.
Aa for the team itself, I agree with what many have stated and hope that Minaya does not go for the “big splash” buyer type trade that gets a name here just for the next year or two, but, totally mortgages the future. This team needs more that just one bat or one arm. Minaya knows with Willie gone he is now the next potential target, and, I hope that he does not react out of urgency to prove his worth.
Is it possible to give Tony Armas Jr a chance in the rotation? He has always been more an injury prone prospect than a real starter but he is pitching well. Oberkfell and Warthen saw him. They should be consulted to see if he can do the job.
Perez has no fastball anymore. He had speed in 04 and in 07 and he lost it both times and turned to crap both times. Whether it be arm problems he is hiding or an inability to throw a strike causing him to press and throw slower, doesn’t matter. Time for the Mets to follow Pirate lead and give up. He’s not here next year anyway. As for a replacment if Minaya would give up then bring up Niese and let him pitch the whole year here no matter what. Since Omar hasn’t given up, I don’t think it matters whom he calls up. For whatever reason it won’t be Vargas. I don’t understand this move. Even with getting bombed yesterday, he’s under a hit an inning, under a walk per 3 innings, and he’s a viable occassional starter.
Probably the worst thing for this team’s future has been the Phillie swoon. It leaves Minaya dreaming that if on;y he can find that washed up guy with 3 good months in him, he’ll pull out a rabbit.
You know i’ve never been more embarassed at being a Met fan at any time in my life until now. Losing two in a row to the worst team in baseball at home is inexcusable. I think i’ve seen enough of this team to know that at the very best they will be a .500 team this year. There is too big of a sampling to refute that IMO. I’m ready to build around Wright/Reyes/Santana/Maine/Pelfrey. If Omar hasn’t done it by now, he should be exploring the trade market for Beltran, either now or at the very worst the end of the season, depending if the team miraculously turns it around. Delgado should be cut..period. Bring up Carp and give him a shot…hell bring up both Carp and Evans and have them platoon. It can’t be any worse than Delgattago. Do not resign Perez, see what he can get for you at the deadline..maybe a lower level fringe prospect or two. Other than that , there really isn’t a bunch of trade value..maybe Schoenweis, but that is it. Either way, this team as presently constituted is not very good. A new hitting coach isn’t going to do the trick either. New players are what is needed.
How do you expect them to win without Nieto? Come on!
Here’s a thought. Probably stupid and naive but let me throw it out. Have Coin Flip make a start this weekend against the Yankees. If he pitches well (and he has in the past against them) see if you can make a trade with them for Coin Flip. The number of Mets Yankee trades in the past are very rare (Ventura for Justice in 2001 is about it) but maybe that can change with George out of the loop with his health problems. The Yankees may balk at trading a couple prospects for a CC Sabathia rental. Would they trade a Jeff Karstens or Alan Horne for Perez?
Minaya has a point saying there is a strong core of good young players in Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Santana and Maine. Not sure if I will include Church as he does. Maybe too many people are writing this team off as too old or weak in the minors.
JD: a few questions and a statement or 3.
couldnt the mets play under protest? it was obvious what happened, even with the poor playing.
are the umpires untouchable as far as prosecution? I mean everyone saw him bait, there should be something in the rule book that can throw the ump out. no?
ok for the statement, I was so proud of manuel, thats what a manager does! I love willie, but he was way too laid back.
Its amazing how right after that the ump felt brave enough to eject Beltran. unreal… its a shame it got wasted and no one could focus on hitting the damned ball past a double play. there’s always tonight!
oh yeah. and the fact we didnt win the argument over the thrown glove! come on! that was a rally killer right there!
You dont lose your fastball at 26 years old. Maybe with free agency coming up, Perez has been encouraged by Boras to suck it up, and keep pitching through an injury.
Bring back Victor zambrano
It aint pretty :
http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?n=Victor%20Zambrano&pos=P&sid=milb&t=p_pbp&pid=406913
Sadecki: I agree with you normally but this is the second time in this guy’s career he lost his fastball. When he had his great year with Pittsburgh he was in mid 90s. When they dumped him he was in 80s. Then last year he was back to 94. Now he barely touches 90. Hurt or whatever. At 90 he’s a loser.
Why does Keith Hernandez hate the QualityStart statistic so much? Pitcher’s W-L record is a much worse statistic than quality starts. In fact the percentage of a pitcher’s starts that are quality starts is a very good gauge of how well he has pitched. Think about it. You have to go at least 6 innings and allow no more than 3 earned runs. I understand that if you pitch 6 innings and allow 3 runs you are pitching to 4.50 ERA and 4.50 is not an outstanding ERA. In fact its right around the league average. 4.24 is the NL ERA right now. But the thing is, that is the absolute worst that you can do and still be credited with a quality start. Perhaps the name of the start should be changed to DecentStarts because 3 runs in 6 innings is not quite quality pitching, but its still a very informative statistic.
Like I said 3 runs in 6 innings is the worst that you can do and still be credited with a quality start. That means that in all of a pitchers quality starts are the games where he allowed 3,2,1 and 0 runs in 6 or more innings. In those games his ERA is likely to be a lot lower than 4.50. If a pitcher pitches 6 innings and allows 2 runs his ERA for the day is 3.00. 1 run and its 1.50. 0 of course its 0.00.
I think the reason that they chose 6 innings and 3 runs is that 2 runs is a very, very good start. That threshold is too high. The idea is to show how often the pitcher gives the team a decent chance to win. I think its an excellent stat.
QS has an advantage over ERA in that it is not so skewed by a few bad performances. If a pitcher pitches 4 straight starts of 6 innings each and allows just 2 runs in each start and then pitches a game where he allows 6 runs without recording an out and is pulled from the game he has allowed 14 runs in 24 innings for an ERA of 5.25. Not so impressive. But he has actually been a big asset for the team. He has 4 QSs in 5 starts and his .800 quality start percentage is a much better indicator of his true value than his unimpressive 5.25 ERA.
The Mets leaders in QS% are :
Johan Santana 75%
John Maine 60%
Claudio Vargas 50%
Mike Pelfrey 43%
Pedro Martinez 40%
Nelson Figueroa 33%
Oliver Perez 25%
That’s everyone who has started for the Mets this year. Noone had 0%.
I think a quality start being 4.50 is riddiculous. I don’t know if being over the league average should ever be considered as quality. So I hear what Keith is talking about.
I agree about Perez’s velocity. He can’t win unless his fastball is at least 93mph. He just doesn’t have the command or a good enough off-speed pitch.
Steve, I understand that some bristle at calling a 4.50 ERA outing ‘quality’ but that’s sort beside the point of the stat. Maybe the name should be changed but its still a good stat to gauge how often a starter is keeping the team in the game. If you leave allowing 3 after 6 you’re usually in the game.
Actually, now that I think of it, that’s the only stat that I can think of that has an implied value judgment in its name.
When the Quality Start came in 25 years ago, people were outraged a 4.50 ERA was quality. Back then it was pretty lousy. Hernandez opinion may have been set by that. I used to wonder “why not change it to 2 runs in 6 innings” but no one ever thought of that. Or maybe make it 7 innings. People just ranted about “How can a 4.50 ERA be a quality start”?
JD,
Thanks for the post. We need more civility here.
As for our Mets, what can I say. Church and Pagan had energy early in the season and we are missing them now.
I just wish the team would try on every play and keep the errors to a minimum. Then they would be fun to watch regardless of what happens.
I think they have been better after the firing, but the feeling may have faded.
Dave