Well I have to admit that I wasn’t able to hear the ” General” Jerry press conference yesterday. But from the comments that I saw in regards of inserting Jose Reyes into the third spot in the batting order – I do believe the man is as clueless as Col. Klink ! I have to disagree with my fellow brother in Mets Blue and Orange – Kingman25 when he says this might be a brilliant idea because it will bring balance to the batting order. The way I see it Jose – like Lenny Dykstra is a prototypical lead-off hitter. Generally when Jose first comes to bat it is usually a barometer of how the game will go ( If he gets on base he will more times than not get himself into scoring position, and eventually score). I do agree that Jose can successfully bat in any slot of the order since he has speed, ample power and good baserunning instincts. I don’t think that Angel Pagan can be trusted in number one slot neither do I believe Luis ” Slappy” Castillo can either. Speaking of Castillo, I believe he is best suited in either the two ( like Wally Backman) or the eight slot in the batting order. The problem with Luis ( or Jerry Manuel) is that he is more prone to sacrifice the runner over with no outs to put them into scoring position than to try to hit away and find a hole in the infield. Remember how that drove us fans crazy last year because it killed many a rally ?!? But the choice ultimately lies with Jerry . He is the manager ( god help us) and he makes the in game decisions. Lets just hope he is wise with this decision and let us hope that Jose really embraces batting where ever in the order he is slotted. Because a happy Jose will go along way – and remember the old saying “ As Jose Reyes goes – The team goes “.
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                                                    ” Who is the better strategist?”
And now … ON WITH THE INFAMY !!!
Happy Birthday Phil Lombardi (1963), the one time fourth string catcher for the ’89 team.
Utility outfielder and all around punk from the ’04 team Shane Spencer is 38 (1972) .
Starting pitcher from last season – Livan Hernandez is 35 ( YEAH RIGHT !!! ) (1975) .
New York Mets signed free agent Don Aase on February 20, 1989. It’s funny because exactly a year later – The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Don Aase of the New York Mets as a free agent on February 20, 1990.
New York Yankees signed Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets as a free agent on February 20, 1996. This was the ultimate slap in the face for us Mets fans ! Yes Darryl was successful in a limited role for the Yanks. But Dwight showed flashes of the stuff that endeared us Mets fans to him – and the most painful thing is that he pitched a no – hitter for the enemy ! Look I was one of the jilted fans that called for his release after his last relapse and suspension in ’94, but I felt that the Mets at the very least should have reached out to him to give him another shot – instead of his comeback being splashed on the covers of local papers in a Yankee uniform. And to have him shut us down in the 2000 World Series was hard to swallow!
New York Mets signed free agent Tony Clark on February 20, 2003.Tony Clark was a good addition for the Mets. He stepped in for the ailing Mo Vaughn ( insert joke here) and he played rather well.
And while we wait for Rob Barajas to sign with the Mets just remember – There are only 44 days until the Mets open the 2010 season against the Florida Marlins at Citi Field.
7 comments
njstuckintx
2/20/2010-10:11am at 10:11 am (UTC -4)
W00t w00t! 44 days left. Can’t come soon enough.
And, while I prefer Reyes in the leadoff vs. the 3rd spot, prefer the 2nd hole to 1st. So, to summarize, 2nd > 1st > 3rd.
rustyjr
2/20/2010-10:17am at 10:17 am (UTC -4)
i see your point but jose dictates the pace of the game based on his first at bat
njstuckintx
2/20/2010-10:35am at 10:35 am (UTC -4)
Point taken. I can’t say 1 AB makes or breaks the game. I like making a “murder’s row” concept keeping reyes, wright, bay, beltran all together. If plopping Beltran or Wright in the 2 spot accomplishes that, I’d be interested.
These are the good debates. Kicks the crap out of the Omar/Jerry/Wilpons suck and they can’t sign guys, have no money, etc. etc. conversations.
metsfan4decades
2/20/2010-10:42am at 10:42 am (UTC -4)
As far as Jose, I’ll go along with anything that maximizes his talents and helps this lineup. If he’s needed at third, at least until Beltran is back – O.K. If having him lead off is the best way to get the offense going and keep it going – O.K. – I’m go with that.
In short, I don’t care what it takes this year. I want to see them start off strong and end up strong. All bets are off. All hands on deck. Whatever other cliches I can throw out there….
How come comments are off on Kingman’s last post? Is that your doing Rusty, since you have an opposing view? LOL.
Does anyone believe Livan is only 35?
Wish I could say, regarding that pic – ‘that’s before my time’. Alas, I fondly remember watching Hogan’s Heroes. Think the medical staff last year was doing a Schultz – ‘I know noting – NOTING’….
rustyjr
2/20/2010-10:48am at 10:48 am (UTC -4)
i plead the fifth lol – no actually my man komg probably forgot to enable the comment section. He does rasie some good points but i feel that castillio or murph or pagan in the first slot can weaken the top end of the lineup
GravediggerHebner
2/20/2010-11:05am at 11:05 am (UTC -4)
You make some very solid points here Rustman. I think both sides of this discussion have some very solid points. As NJ in TX says above this is a much more interesting and stimulating conversation than does Omar suck this much or does he suck THAT MUCH?
My bottom line is I just want to see it in action for a little while, see how it might pan out. I find it very intriguing. It could be a miserable failure leading to losses, a brilliant plan conducive to winning, or something in between. I would simply like to see it get a chance.
Somewhat along the lines of what Kong says in his post, I think if Jerry Manuel truly embraces the idea then he should try it because clearly his job is not certain and if he’s going to go down he should at least go down his way.
stickguy
2/20/2010-1:06pm at 1:06 pm (UTC -4)
I think you need to look at the batting order holistically. basically, you have to figure out how to arrange the 8 guys that are in it, which is different than just saying 1 player should be in X spot (since there is an obvious domino effect).
So look at it this way: Right now, Beltran is out, and Slappy is (sadly) in. So, with slappy being a 1 dimensional guy (barely), how do you best utilize him (or hide him the best)?
Oddly, IMO, that is at the lead off hole, since his 1 dimension is his OBP (give him another 1/2 dimension for enough speed to still get a few SBs). So if you want to use slappy the best, you have to build around him.
I personally think (and argued for it last year at this time) is that Reyes would be better of in the 2 hole, and I still do. That way, all of the attributes you like leading off are still in play, but you make better use of his slugging.
Hitting 3rd while beltran is out does make sense though, but once Carlos is back, I think you can push reyes back up to #2.
castillo/pagan/reyes/wright maybe for now.
castillo/reyes/wright/beltran later on.
Anyway, I don’t think hitting 3rd will necessarily stop Reyes from being aggressive, stealing bags, etc. And if he gets guys to throw more FBs, I want Wright and Bay seeing them, not slappy!
That, and I detest the sacrifice bunt in the first inning nonsense. Now that is misutilizing Reyes’s speed.
Or get a 2B that can hit and we don’t need to have this conversation.