Yesterday while I was on Twitter, I posed a question – Since the Mets are celebrating their 50th anniversary this season, which obscure ex-players, coaches, managers would you like to see return for for the various celebration promotions that will be held throughout the season.
When I use the term ”obscure” , what I mean players that are not regulars for Mets themed events. Every season we generally have appearance by the likes of Seaver, Hernandez, Darling, Koosman, Kranepool etc. But I would like to see more of the players that we got behind – even though they were far from super stars – or even everyday players.
Some of the responses that I got were surprising- such as Kevin Bass, Al Luplow, Ed Hearn and yes wait for it - LUIS CASTILLO ! Some were not so surprising such as Jesse Orosco, Benny Agbayani, Keith Miller and George Theodore.
Some of the former Mets players that I would like to see return for the festivities this coming season includes the likes of Joel Youngblood, Steve Henderson, Skip Lockwood, Jerry Morales, along with a return of Jon Matlack, Craig Swan, and hopefully another appearance of Noan Ryan.
So what Mets alumni would you like to see make their return during next seasons festivities ? Please comment below.
And with that said…. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!!!
Mets alumni celebrating a birthday includes:
Middle reliever from the ’70 season, Ron Herbel is 74 (1938) .
Mets bench coach from the ’10 season, Dave Jauss is 55(1957) .
The New York Mets traded one time first round draft pick – outfielder, Billy Beane along with pitching prospects, Bill Latham and Joe Klink to the Minnesota Twins for second baseman, Tim Teufel and minor league first baseman, Pat Crosby on January 16, 1986. This was one of the better under the radar moves by then general manager, Frank Cashen. Tim was mainly used in a platooon with Wally Backman. Oh and after his retirement from playing, Beane became the general manager of the Oakland A’s – and even ended up having a movie made about his introduction of ”Money Ball” tactics to baseball.
The New York Mets traded reserve catcher, Ronn Reynolds and minor league pitcher, Jeff Bittiger to the Philadelphia Phillies for minor leaguers, Ronnie Gideon and Rodger Cole on January 16, 1986.
The Minnesota Twins signed middle reliever, Randy Niemann of the New York Mets as a free agent on January 16, 1987.
The New York Mets signed free agent Starting pitcher, Pedro Astacio of the Houston Astros on January 16, 2002.
The New York Mets signed free agent middle reliever, Jorge Sosa of the St. Louis Cardinals on January 16, 2007.
The New York Mets signed free agent middle reliever, Scott Schoeneweis of the Cincinnati Reds on January 16, 2007.I still maintain that Scott was misused in his 2 seasons with the Mets.
The New York Mets signed free agent middle reliever, Casey Fossum of the Detroit Tigers on January 16, 2009. Fossum only appeared in 3 games with the Mets before being released.
When Mo Vaughn played high school football he always wanted to be a tight end – but to his dismay the coach made him a wide receiver !!!
33 comments
NJstuckinTX
1/16/2012-8:55am at 8:55 am (UTC -4)
I vote for Timo!
And not to hijack the thread, but I think TRS is finally going to have to admit that the Nats are finally going to be a good team (and should have a nice run going forward). Stras, Zimmerman and Gio is a solid top 3, and they are all under team control for 5+ years. Dang…
Mr North Jersey
1/16/2012-12:24pm at 12:24 pm (UTC -4)
It is well known that I have liked what the Nats have been building these last few years but that being said I don’t know if I would of signed Gio to that contract so quickly. I would of given him at least 1 year before locking him up buying out his 1st year of free agency.
Still at what looks to be $8.5M a year over 5 years that may be a bargain when all is said and done.
kingman 26
1/16/2012-3:05pm at 3:05 pm (UTC -4)
All things considered, that Gio deal looks spectacular based on his career thus far.
The Nats are going to be very competitive; if their bullpen repeats what it did last year, if Strasburg starts 30+ games, and if Ryan Z returns to form and they get anything from Werth, they could be a serious WC contender.
And let’s not forget the magic touch of their manager.
Stick
1/16/2012-3:56pm at 3:56 pm (UTC -4)
what, that old guy that screwed up the pitching change in 1988 to cost them another WS trip?
j/k knog. don’t go off on me again. thought maybe not about that pitching change point…
kingman 26
1/16/2012-4:23pm at 4:23 pm (UTC -4)
Again?
Have I ever gone off on you?
But hey, back off of Davey.
He da man.
Can’t blame Doc’s frigin’ coke habits on Davey.
Pretty sure you can’t, anyway….
Matthew Funtime
1/16/2012-9:30am at 9:30 am (UTC -4)
Two words: Mackey Sasser
NJstuckinTX
1/16/2012-9:31am at 9:31 am (UTC -4)
Would love to see him throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Hazmet
1/16/2012-10:20am at 10:20 am (UTC -4)
But he’d have to throw it from home to the mound so we could see it air mailed into CF. That would be priceless.
TRS86
1/16/2012-11:17am at 11:17 am (UTC -4)
Certainly look better than a year ago. They really should sign Fielder. However I still think they have a lot of holes and finish either 3rd or 4th.
Mr North Jersey
1/16/2012-9:38am at 9:38 am (UTC -4)
Rico Brogna
Hazmet
1/16/2012-10:28am at 10:28 am (UTC -4)
If we’re going unusual, huh moment then: Mike Vail, Don Hahn, Mike Jorgensen.
Or how about a ’93 reunion: Bonilla, Coleman, Saberhagen, Torbog
In seriousness: Whitey Herzog
Stick
1/16/2012-1:26pm at 1:26 pm (UTC -4)
2 of my favorites from back in the good old days:
Pepe manguel (sp?) and Bruce Boisclair.
And that might explain why the current situation doesn’t bother me. My favorite time as a met fan was from about 1976-1980
kingman 26
1/16/2012-3:01pm at 3:01 pm (UTC -4)
Love your choices Rusty, except I am not so sure about Jerry Morales!
How about Lenny Randle? Willie Montanez? John Pacella? Ron Hodges? Bobby Jones (the good one)? Pete Falcone? Ed Charles? George Stone?
And of course, Dave Kingman.
Stick
1/16/2012-3:43pm at 3:43 pm (UTC -4)
Ah, back in HS we started the “john pacella cap count”. Kind of like a drinking game, based on every time his cap fell off (which I seem to recall was damned near every pitch).
kingman 26
1/16/2012-4:23pm at 4:23 pm (UTC -4)
It was off on nearly every (terrible) pitch.
saltygary
1/16/2012-4:39pm at 4:39 pm (UTC -4)
The obvious above all is Gary Carter. As for the rest, Joe Orsulak, Joe Mcrwing ( sorry with spelling on vacation with a bunch of beer in me), Timo and the best Hawaiian ballplayer not named Ron Darling, Benny agbayani.
darknova306
1/16/2012-4:41pm at 4:41 pm (UTC -4)
Reunite the ’99 infield! That was the team that has, to this day, given me the best Mets memories. Talk about a likeable, blue collar team. I especially want to see Olerud back.
Stick
1/16/2012-5:57pm at 5:57 pm (UTC -4)
I never wanted him to leave.
NJstuckinTX
1/16/2012-9:49pm at 9:49 pm (UTC -4)
Me either. Loved the always helmeted one…
gategem
1/16/2012-4:59pm at 4:59 pm (UTC -4)
Jim Hickman, Joe Christopher, Galen Cisco, Al Jackson, Dennis Ribant, Ken Boswell, Don Bosch and Ed Charles.
Hazmet
1/16/2012-8:31pm at 8:31 pm (UTC -4)
Just to change things up I’d like to see in 2012:
Oswalt at 8mil for 1 year (apparent asking price in some camps)
Fielder for 5 at whatever if there’s interest.
If those 2 moves were made could we compete for a WC? While I know it won’t happen, I say yes. Thoughts?
darknova306
1/16/2012-9:27pm at 9:27 pm (UTC -4)
Even if Oswalt stays healthy, that rotation is still mostly garbage.
Hazmet
1/16/2012-10:17pm at 10:17 pm (UTC -4)
Agreed, but on the off chance Santana is say 75% what he was for 80% of the season it wouldn’t be entirely horrendous. Santana, Oswalt, Dickey ain’t the 90′s Braves but would be in the anything’s an improvement category over what’s there now.
Understand, I know we’re screwed I’m just looking for relatively low cost pie in the sky if we can actually get something out of Santana.
darknova306
1/16/2012-11:42pm at 11:42 pm (UTC -4)
Fair enough, all we have at this point is fantasizing about crazy things that could happen. And it’s certainly crazy at this point to expect anything from Santana.
darknova306
1/16/2012-11:44pm at 11:44 pm (UTC -4)
And I’d be all for spending $4M for a 1/2 year of Oswalt then flipping him at the deadline for a prospect or two. That would be nice to see.
MetsFan4Decades
1/17/2012-6:56am at 6:56 am (UTC -4)
I’m with this. Suggested it the other day when I saw the rumors that he’d take about 8MIL for a one year deal.
It’s insurance for Santana, if he pitches well we can flip him for a prospect in July, it allows him to show he can still pitch in a non pressure type environment for half a year, plus he’ll know if he pitches well he’ll probably be traded to a post season team for the second half.
Win/Win for both, right?
NJstuckinTX
1/16/2012-9:47pm at 9:47 pm (UTC -4)
Well, assuming that the contract does not have a no trade clause, might be worth the 1/2 year, 4 million dollar investment to flip him for prospects…
Fielder is awesome. If the $ was there, I wouldn’t mind putting Ike in RF and platooning Duda and Bay in LF. Even with the poor defense, the mashing that would occur would be worth it. But the again had there been money for that, we may have seen Reyes still as a Met, Madson as the closer, an actual major league catcher on the roster and something better than Torres in CF.
Hazmet
1/16/2012-10:36pm at 10:36 pm (UTC -4)
In someways I believe Fielder’s worth more than Reyes. Obviously, I know none of this could happen since we have no $$s but I gotta have some baseball kicks this winter. My move was actually to go totally weak on outfield D and put Bay in CF and Duda in LF then rotate Bay to LF and Torres to CF for late inning defense. There would sure to be some Keystone Cops moments with that outfield but what the heck. It’s just so frustrating that there’s still actually a good number of free agents out there, most of which wouldn’t mean much of anything to the teams record, but a few that might. Yet, we have to stand pat.
Hazmet
1/16/2012-10:40pm at 10:40 pm (UTC -4)
Note: My gravatar of Shatner with eyes shut tight in terror from the Twilight Zone represents how I expect to watch the 2012 season. The creature on the wing represents the team….
Just stating so it’s clear I have no illusions about what this seasons about to hold.
NJstuckinTX
1/17/2012-9:16am at 9:16 am (UTC -4)
If the pitching staff was made up of a great deal of ground ball pitchers, that might be able to work. The thump in that lineup would be tremendous. And I agree that Fielder would have more value to the Mets than Reyes (sacrilegious, i know). Can you imagine that power lineup? Tejada, Murphy, Wright, Fielder, Davis, Bay, Duda, Thole, Pitcher. Lot of Lefties in the lineup, but who the heck cares?
gategem
1/16/2012-11:49pm at 11:49 pm (UTC -4)
Yahoo! Sports is examining the offseason of every MLB team with Wilpons’ Mets occupying the stage today. Jeff Passan’s analysis of Wilpons’ Mets I fear is representative of what anyone not a fan of Wilpons’ Mets sees and it ain’t pretty.
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AgHHd62LYj2WgnTO_PouIGMRvLYF?slug=jp-passan_hot_stove_daily_mets_wilpon_011512
“General manager Sandy Alderson inherited a next-to-impossible situation: the biggest market with commensurate expectations and a cross-borough big brother that epitomizes success; a farm system devoid of talent; and an impoverished ownership group so intent upon keeping its claws in the franchise it had no qualms sacrificing a season or two, and maybe more, to ensure it stays in power. Mets? Psh. This is the New York Mess, and the ugliness is just beginning.”
“For as long as he has been in his cash-flow muck, Fred Wilpon has received unfailing support from the best ally possible: commissioner Bud Selig. Wilpon is different than Dodgers deadbeat Frank McCourt, Selig says through actions since he can’t through words; the Mets’ owner was worthy, after all, of a $25 million loan from Major League Baseball that he still hasn’t repaid. But pressure is mounting. More bills are coming due. One source says MLB is likely to let the creditors’ squeeze force Wilpon into considering selling, which isn’t exactly imminent – and could set the franchise back even more. If Wilpon wanted what was best for the Mets, he’d sell now and give the club a chance to avoid the wrecking ball barreling toward him. Instead, this is about him and his family and their team, and so he olés the wrecking ball, knowing its target is the team onto which he so desperately wants to hold. It’s sad really, this proud franchise sullied by a man whose greed overwhelmed the greater good of the thing he purportedly loved. Sounds a lot, in fact, like someone with whom Fred Wilpon was intimately familiar: Bernie Madoff.”
darknova306
1/17/2012-2:54am at 2:54 am (UTC -4)
Man, there’s a lot of silliness in that article. I love how his biggest issue is that the Mets didn’t give Reyes a heavily backloaded contract to fit into the 2012 payroll. Talk about a disaster in the making.
MetsFan4Decades
1/17/2012-7:05am at 7:05 am (UTC -4)
IMO, Passan usually adds very little insight and also usually heavily slants whatever topic he’s writing about.
That being said, nothing in here we already don’t know. And that bit about all the ‘spare parts’ costing more than Reyes is just ridiculous. As much as I wanted Reyes resigned, he seems to gloss over the fact that if they did resign him, there was no money left for any other ‘spare parts’. That and most of what SA brought in is on a one year contract as opposed to the 6 it was going to take to sign Jose.
I’m being very realistic in saying we’ve got a snowball chance in hell of finishing above 4th and very likely will finish in last place. And yeah, it’s mostly all the Wilpon’s fault. However, I’ll be supporting my Mets, as usual. This is sort of like the ‘hate the war but support the troops’ mentality this year. It’s not our boys in orange and blue’s fault they’re going nowhere anytime soon…..