Santa Murph and his helpers
Last Tuesday I was on hand for the Mets annual Holiday Party. This year Mets second baseman (?), Daniel Murphy had the distinct honor of donning the Santa outfit , giving out gifts to children from local Public Schools.
Afterwards, Murph took the time out to talk to Mets bloggers about his health, how acclimation to the second base position is progressing, his hopes for next season, and of course his skew on the loss of Jose Reyes.
To view the video please click here
And with that said… HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday today includes:
Middle reliever from the ’98 season, Willie Blair is 46 (1965).
The New York Mets signed free agent outfielder, Joe Orsulak on December 18, 1992. Orsulak would spend three seasons with the Mets, and even though he was more of a reserve player, he was considered a fan favorite.
The New York Mets signed free agent spot starter/middle reliever, Brian Bohanon on December 18, 1996.
The New York Mets traded minor league outfielder, Fletcher Bates and pitching prospect, Scott Comer to the Florida Marlins for middle reliever, Dennis Cook on December 18, 1997. Cook was the proverbial glue to the Mets bullpen until he was traded in ’01.
The Pittsburgh Pirates signed reserve outfielder, Steve Bieser of the New York Mets as a free agent on December 18, 1997.
The utility man, Colorado Rockies signed Jim Tatum of the New York Mets as a free agent on December 18, 1998.
The New York Mets signed free agent outfielder, Mike Cameron of the Seattle Mariners on December 18, 2003. Damn I hated this signing, and Cameron was never the player the Mets front office expected him to be.
The New York Mets signed free agent middle reliever, Matt Wise of the Milwaukee Brewers on December 18, 2007. Wise appeared in just 8 games with the Mets that season due to rotator cuff tendinitis.
Mo Vaughn is nuttier than a Christmas fruit cake (he’s also denser) !
20 comments
Anonymous
12/18/2011-3:48pm at 3:48 pm (UTC -4)
I still want Havens to win the job, but if by some miracle he can be reasonably sufficient at 2B, not get hurt, and hit like he was last year, Murphy as the starting 2B would give a major boost to the line up, with Davis back.
Honestly, with the question marks as to what you are going to get out of some guys (DW, thole bay, Torres ), if the veterans produce at their career norms and/or replicate their big year (Andres), offense won’t be the problem, and certainly not if Tejada isn’t a black hole.
In some order, a middle lineup of murphy, wright, davis, duda, bay/platoon guy (Has to happen!!!) could actually be very productive. High OBP, and quite a bit of power sprinkled in.
But, would torres/tejada get on enough up tip for RBI ops? WIll the C spot do anything?
I wonder what this lineup can actually produce:
torres
murphy
wright
davis
duda
bay/platoon
thole/platoon
tejada
Anonymous
12/18/2011-7:49pm at 7:49 pm (UTC -4)
I want the 27-year-old Joe Morgan to win the 2B spot.
Your optimism is nice Stick, but this team without Reyes and Beltran is going to regress significantly offensively. It is fantasyland to think otherwise. Reyes and Beltran gave most of the serious production last year.
Torres leading off?
Duda 5th ahead of Bay? Look for a nice OBP and lots of walks. Duda won’t see a fat pitch all year.
Do you realize how little 6-7-8 will produce here?
Anonymous
12/18/2011-8:52pm at 8:52 pm (UTC -4)
The lineup will regress, but not as significantly as you think. They lead the NL in walks, and you can’t give too much credit to Reyes and his Juan Samuelian approach to talking walks for that.
Anonymous
12/18/2011-11:23pm at 11:23 pm (UTC -4)
yes and no.
most teams 6/7/8 don’t produce that much, and 6 won’t be that bad since it will be a platoon. or at lest not as bad as Bay alone.
and Reyes pretty much missed 1/2 the year, and Beltran 1/3. You have to offset losing them by a full year of Ike, and wright not missing 1/2 the year. And the Bay platoon.
I only plugged Torres in because there is no one else at the moment. I don’t actually expect him to start, and if he does, not for long if he doesn’t rebound to 2010 levels.
overall, I expect they should score just as many runs as last year. it will once again come down to pitching.
Anonymous
12/19/2011-7:54pm at 7:54 pm (UTC -4)
Here’s a scary scenario. If the Jets beat the Giants and then the Giants beat the Cowboys and if the Eagles beat the Cowboys and then win their last game the Eagles will win the division.
Anonymous
12/19/2011-2:12pm at 2:12 pm (UTC -4)
Amen!!!…..Brock, my friend many of our fellow fanatics are living in fantasy land and are blind to how bad this coming season is very likely to be.
MetsFan4Decades
12/19/2011-3:22pm at 3:22 pm (UTC -4)
Realistically, we’ll be lucky to finish .500 this year.
But I’m basing that on the pitching, not lack of offense.
TRS86
12/20/2011-2:06am at 2:06 am (UTC -4)
Completely agree I think hitting it looks okay but the pitching looks terrible.
TRS86
12/20/2011-2:01am at 2:01 am (UTC -4)
So I am guessing it was a fluke that the mets scoredSo I am guessing it was a fluke that the mets scored more runs in the second half.
TRS86
12/20/2011-2:04am at 2:04 am (UTC -4)
You also assuming no improvement from the younger guys nor rebound from others.
Anonymous
12/20/2011-3:19am at 3:19 am (UTC -4)
that’s why you can’t just subtract what one guy did and assume the offense drops by that much. It is only the delta to his replacement, and offset by the fact that everyone else isn’t going to do the same either!
quite likely, a full year of Ike and Wright (at more normal, healthy Wright levels) will more than offset the drop from reyes to tejada.
but as always, we never know.
Well, I do know that they need a serious “WTF” year out of the pitching to be legit. 1st half 2010 pelf + Johan would help!
Anonymous
12/20/2011-3:47am at 3:47 am (UTC -4)
By the same token you have to expect that the pitching in the league will adjust to some of the younger players and over the years I’ve seen many a young player have an excellent inaugural season followed by mediocre seasons. So you really can’t make an assumption one way or the other. You can only hope for the best.
TRS86
12/20/2011-2:31pm at 2:31 pm (UTC -4)
Sure… but we also have No idea how the park changes will play either. In other words No reason to take the doom and gloom approach for the offense when there are plenty areas worse off.
wanny
12/20/2011-3:48pm at 3:48 pm (UTC -4)
the park changes won’t make the offense better. it will potentially make both teams’ offenses better and the more talented one will still prevail.
that said, i’m more concerned with the Mets starting rotation and defense than I am with the bats.
my biggest concern with the bats is that torres is far from a decent leadoff hitter. i’d been inclined to bat Murphy or Tejada at the top. i really hope a real CF is brought in to move Torres to the 4th OF spot.
Anonymous
12/19/2011-3:59am at 3:59 am (UTC -4)
Could have looked like Chavez Murphy Wright Davis Bay Duda thole tejada
Anonymous
12/19/2011-2:55pm at 2:55 pm (UTC -4)
Definitely not an optimal lineup. Based on that goup, I would probably prefer an unorthodox Murphy, Wright, Davis, Duda, Bay, Tejada, Torres, Thole, but at this point we’re shuffling stiffs. Maybe Tejada can be that number 2 hitter? Or maybe Torres can hold his weight and be the lead off guy (doubtful)? I wouldn’t be surprised if Capt. Kirk makes the team out of spring training. Going Kirk/Murphy/Wright/Davis/Duda/Bay/Tejada/Thole makes me feel better. Shift people around as you feel necessary to bust up R/L if you need to. Would be nice to slot a “in his prime” Beltran in that lineup…
SaltyGary
12/19/2011-5:22pm at 5:22 pm (UTC -4)
Tweet of the year “MetsMerized
Mets Merized Online
WANTED: Blogger to write
about WFAN type, hypothetical, lopsided trades that favor the Mets. Must
be unobjective and ready to start today”.
“Unobjective” LOL
SaltyGary
12/19/2011-5:23pm at 5:23 pm (UTC -4)
I would take this job specifically just so I can eff with Bayonne.
Wanny
12/19/2011-9:30pm at 9:30 pm (UTC -4)
How about Parra as a guy who can bat left handed and play all 3 outfield positions? He could start in CF and free Torres up to be a defensive replacement in RF or occasional platoon mate in CF and LF. If Torres is playing better, Parra can switch roles.
What would AZ want for him given the acquisition of Kubel?
Wanny
12/19/2011-9:30pm at 9:30 pm (UTC -4)
How about Parra as a guy who can bat left handed and play all 3 outfield positions? He could start in CF and free Torres up to be a defensive replacement in RF or occasional platoon mate in CF and LF. If Torres is playing better, Parra can switch roles.
What would AZ want for him given the acquisition of Kubel?