“RDM Rewind” will attempt to rewind the clock as we look back at some of our more popular posts throughout RealDirtyMets history. Our 1st installment was one of our most popular posts. It was written by Rustyjr and published back on 12/13/2010. The title was “This Day In Mets Infamy With Rusty : The ” Who Was The Most Overlooked Mets Pitcher ?” Edition 12-13-10 ”
" He gets my vote !!!"
When you hear the name the New york Mets what is the first thing that comes to mind? Okay wisenheimers – other than futility and collapses so epic it makes the fall of Rome look like a lovers spat.
The correct answer is pitching ! During their winningest of seasons right down to their most dismal of year, good pitching has always been their trademark – their calling card if you will.
Through the years look at the names of some of the better pitchers that have toed the mound for the Mets. Tom Seaver, Dwight Gooden, Pat Zachary, Al Leiter, Pedro Martinez, David Cone,Johan Santana, Ron Darling are among the many who sought glory while wearing a Mets uniform.
But my question is who was the most overlooked pitcher in Mets history ? was it either Jerry Kooseman , Jim McAndrews or Jon Matlack- who always seemed to pitch in the shadow of the legendary Seaver ? Could it be Craig Swan, the often injured ace of the abysmal teams that wallowed in the National League East basemen from “78-’83 ? Perhaps it was Sid Fernandez, the wide in stature workhorse of the mid to late ’80′s teams. Or maybe Brett Saberhagen, the man whose season were so hot and cold he could have been diagnosed with a bipolar carreer. Bleach incident aside, he was possibly the best pitcher in that early ’90′s rotation – after Gooden.
In my opinion the distinction of most overlooked Mets pitcher goes to Rick Reed. Rick Reed was the poor man’s Greg Maddux. He barely had a fastball that could top 90 mph , but he could get you out with his guts and his guile. He was in the Mets rotation from ’97-’02, which included such names as Al Leiter and Mike Hampton and Bobby Jones. But Reed in my opinion was the Mets best big game pitcher. It always seemed like whenever there was a game the Mets must win his turn in the rotation was up.
In his five years as a Met, his record was 59-38 with a 3.66 e.r.a. His past season record for the Mets was 1-1.
So who in your opinion is the most overlooked Mets pitcher ever?
And with that said …. HERE COMES THE INFAMY !!!!
Mets alumni celebrating birthdays today are :
Mets outfielder from ’62-’65, Joe Christopher is 75 (1935) .
Third string catcher for the Mets from ’68-’69, J. C. Martin is 74 (1936).
The only Met to ever become a doctor- relief pitcher, Ron Taylor is 73 (1937) .
Utility infielder from the ’93 team, Doug Saunders is 41(1969) .
New York Mets signed free agent first baseman, Kelvin Torve of the Minnesota Twins on December 13, 1989.He would be released by the Mets on the same day – two years later .
New York Mets signed free agent agent, Rodney McCray of the Chicago White Sox on December 13, 1991.Rodney’s claim to fame is that he was the outfielder that is shown running through a wall to catch a ball . It was current Mets third base coach, Chip Hale who hit that ball.
New York Mets traded fourth outfielder, Chuck Carr to the St. Louis Cardinals for minor league pitcher, Clyde Keller on December 13, 1991.
Mets drafted catcher, Kelly Stinnett from the Cleveland Indians on December 13, 1993.
Mets drafted back up catcher, Charlie Greene from the San Diego Padres on December 13, 1993.
New York Mets signed free agent outfielder, Ryan McGuire of the Montreal Expos on December 13, 1999. He would appear in only one game for the Mets.
Atlanta Braves signed utility infielder, Kurt Abbott of the New York Mets as a free agent on December 13, 2000.
New York Mets signed rubber armed free agent reliever, Dave Weathers of the Chicago Cubs on December 13, 2001.
New York Mets signed free agent outfielder,Roger Cedeño of the Detroit Tigers on December 13, 2001. This would be Rogers second go round with the Mets after he was traded to the Astros for Mike Hampton. Unfortunately it wasn’t a happy homecoming. Cedeno – who was known for his speed and power, had some how lost the ability to hit and steal bases. But he sure knew how to cash his paycheck.
The Mets drafted flame throwing pitcher, Henry Owens from the Pittsburgh Pirates on December 13, 2004. Unfortunately Omar would trade him away two years later along with bullpen mate, Matt Lindstrom to the Florida Marlins for pitchers, Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick. Neither of the two players are still with the Mets – Oh Omar !!
And don’t forget, there are just 109 days until the Mets open the 2011 season against the Florida Marlins in Miami and 116 days until the Mets 2011 home opener against the Washington Nationals at Citi Field.
Mo Vaughn will be dressed as the Nutcracker for tomorrows Mets Holiday party at Citi Field !!
22 comments
Mr North Jersey
9/7/2012-11:17am at 11:17 am (UTC -4)
This was a well done post in my opinion. I was hoping maybe bringing back some of the more popular Opinion pieces would generate a bit more buzz around here but it looks like that may not be the case.
Next step I may just start posting MMO comments by Alex68. He seems to generate a lot of responses.
srt
9/7/2012-11:30am at 11:30 am (UTC -4)
The articles here on TRDM are all well done and thought out – IMO. Not much of the controversial type posts that seem to generate a lot of ‘debate’, to put it politely.
And just what we need…..a group of ‘Coeur’ type folks telling us 10 times a day how awful the FO is.
Stick
9/7/2012-11:53am at 11:53 am (UTC -4)
well, you could go from 10 comments to 100, but of the extra 90, you would have to delete 89 for being obscene or total drivel, so does not really seem to be worth the effort!
Mr North Jersey
9/7/2012-12:02pm at 12:02 pm (UTC -4)
I don’t see that happening myself in fact I see many RDM people finding most of the comments worthy of replies and are doing so. So I don’t agree with them being drivel or obscene. They are apparently worthy of debate so if that is the case why not post it?
TRS86
9/7/2012-12:06pm at 12:06 pm (UTC -4)
LOL, I did not realize this was an old post. I was thinking wait a minute NJ is praising himself? Yes it is a great post.
As for the lack of opinion pieces, SRT is right. The problem is that we stay away from shock pieces and most everyone here already knows what our opinions are… catch 22 I guess.
Mr North Jersey
9/7/2012-12:18pm at 12:18 pm (UTC -4)
Really we are staying away from opinion pieces all together.
The site is basically dead outside of minors reports. For a long time now. It’s killing me to see you for example seem to have a bunch to say on a different topic every day with Alex68 but you have none of that to say here on your own site.
I have to wonder exactly what are we doing here of late. We really are just a group of individuals that once in a while like to talk about what we read on other sites I think. We really should just create a forum where we can talk amongst ourselves about what we read.
My problem is I guess I am more concerned than need be especially since you don’t seem to be.
TRS86
9/7/2012-12:32pm at 12:32 pm (UTC -4)
No I am and have been concerned. I the debates with Alex and Metsie are not new opinions. They are obviously the same ones hashed over and over again. I mean seriously who would come here to read ridiculous debates over David Wright and Sandy Alderson everyday?
I can’t force myself to write opinion pieces that say the same thing that everyone already knows. What we have tried to do over the last couple of years is bring in new talent with fresh new opinions. However, with the lack of pay for those guys getting them to stay around is damn near impossible. While I wish the best for TRDM and hope I can be inspired, there is a reason why the average life of a blog is less than a year… it’s damn hard.
Mr North Jersey
9/7/2012-12:44pm at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
Well I know at least 1 person that reads and replies to the same debates. Apparently the same debates are worthy of debate at MMO so if that is the case you might want to take those talking points and share theme here in a post because clearly they are worth reading. I am seeing it read and replied to every single day.
I told you already the site needs your leadership and your reply was you had nothing to say but I am not seeing that. I see you have plenty to say just not here.
Look this is your site and your paying the costs of it so you can do as much or as little as you wish. My thought is we are trying to grow something here. If that is the case it be nice to see that effort from the top down but absent of leadership to inspire lack of interest sets in and right now I see a lack of interest.
Maybe this is all RDM will ever be and if so I just need to accept that but I admittedly am disappointed to do so.
TRS86
9/7/2012-12:49pm at 12:49 pm (UTC -4)
Again, I don’t think the readers here come to see a bunch of trivial debates on Sandy Alderson and David Wright over and over. The fact that I do those things is not indicative of what I believe the reader here wants. IMO the reader here wants fresh new stories, opinions and articles on the Mets that are a cut above the other sites.
I wish I had those in my head today but currently I don’t. Hopefully some others do and I am very grateful to those who have put in their hard work and time into TRDM and wish that I could carry more of the load.
SaltyGary
9/7/2012-1:07pm at 1:07 pm (UTC -4)
Jerz, I am on the same page. This season the site got it’s mojo back, with great contributors and now it’s lost again. There is ZERO effort or direction from the 2 owners and I believe it is the reason why the site is where it currently is. People are here and the are still coming but there has been barely new content besides the excellent farm reports. Why should our great contributors put any effort into something that the owners have abandoned. There is no coordination or desire what so ever.
TRS has been on a crusade at MMO making 100 comments a day and Dirty has been active on Twitter. Adn the last place they go to is here. And it’s a real friggen shame. We have a amazing core group here and we’ve been getting some great new people that are tired of Mets blog and it’s all getting squandered.
TRS86
9/7/2012-1:21pm at 1:21 pm (UTC -4)
Again Salty, there are many authors on the roster here and my desire is always to find the best authors for the job. In fact that is why you have author privileges as well. However, after you have been trying to write actually high standard opinion articles for a while you will learn it isn’t as easy as just posting a comment.
SaltyGary
9/7/2012-1:31pm at 1:31 pm (UTC -4)
Nothing but excuses… You have not one article since July but you have 100 different opinions a day and you manage to reply to almost every person on a completely different site. If you just took 10% of the passion that you put into MMO over here, you would get different results.
Plus the lack of coordination is appalling. Not one email to the group since before the start of the season to provide direction. Its a 100% hands-off approach and just hope everyone else does all the work. The only emails you send are to say you cant do the post game. How about getting the group together once and a while to develop a feature or a series or something. Just excuses.
TRS86
9/7/2012-2:04pm at 2:04 pm (UTC -4)
Yup. Salty I have no problem in admitting that the author in me is burnt out.
As for being behind the scenes, Salty I have other passions as so do you. We all started this not because of a love to write articles but because of a love to comment.
I like many others love a great debate and to an extent, other than on this subject it appears, that isn’t the case here. Why is that? Again, I think it’s because we all know exactly what each others opinions are and for the most part they are in agreement with each other.
Personalities like Alex and Metsie are fun, trying and challenging to debate with because of how irrational they are. However, we don’t have that type here besides the occasional tirades.
Where TRDM goes from here? Perhaps all of us can do some searching. I know my shortcomings and that is why each year I try to bring in the brightest authors, such as Connor as well as the entire TRDMinors staff.
Aside from heading the other direction and posting 5 minute articles designed just to get a pulp reaction, I am not sure where we need to go.
Mr North Jersey
9/7/2012-3:30pm at 3:30 pm (UTC -4)
You keep failing to see it. You can’t ask people to come here and be a part of something and then you yourself wipe your hands and be absent.
Yet your not absent at least not on other sites cause you have an opinion on a lot of topics and have a ton to say every day. Meanwhile over here your presence has been barely felt all season. If you made 25 posts this season I’d be surprised and that is only if I include recaps. Again you seem to have a lot to say just not here.
I’m telling you what I see on my end because I see a lot of people put an effort around here to find a way to contribute in one way or the other it be nice if more could do that but I can understand if people simply don’t have the time and if that is the case then in my opinion that means there is also no time for a bevy of comments everyday somewhere else.
TRS86
9/7/2012-3:58pm at 3:58 pm (UTC -4)
And you fail to see that making post and making comments are much different. I don’t want fluff here and that is exactly what I am doing on MMO. Comments and articles are not the same.
I am not defending myself here, I have written somewhere around 500 post in my time here and I am sure I am still the leader for most comments by far. Is it as much as I like? Nope. If I could churn out lots of great articles would I? Sure. Will I just throw stuff up for clicks? Nope.
This is a hobby that many of us have put various amounts of time into over the years but if at any point I feel that it becomes a job, I have enough of those already. When I feel like I have something to contribute , I promise it will be here.
Mr North Jersey
9/7/2012-4:18pm at 4:18 pm (UTC -4)
Leadership to inspire that is all I am saying.
Look at some of the efforts some of the authors have made here trying to help your site put out a quality consistent product every day. All that is being asked of you is to be around more. I am getting excuses instead.
You are one of the most opinionated people here always have been just try and show others that they are not alone in trying to help RDM grow in some fashion or the other. Even if it’s but once every 2 weeks.
Trs86
9/8/2012-12:36am at 12:36 am (UTC -4)
Thanks for the advice.
NJstuckinTX
9/7/2012-11:41am at 11:41 am (UTC -4)
I liked Reed alot. Even though he was a scab!
TRS86
9/7/2012-12:08pm at 12:08 pm (UTC -4)
I am going with Viola, I know the guy was discussed as a very good pitcher but it seems like we sometimes forget he was even here. That 1990 season was incredible.
wanny
9/7/2012-12:44pm at 12:44 pm (UTC -4)
Bobby Jones was 74-56 with a 4.13 ERA for the Mets, in mostly not such good times for Mets teams,
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jonesbo03.shtml#1993-2000-sum:pitching_standard
TRS86
9/7/2012-12:50pm at 12:50 pm (UTC -4)
Another good name.
TRS86
9/7/2012-12:53pm at 12:53 pm (UTC -4)
How about Al Leiter. I know he was considered an ace of that staff but do we ever think about him as a top 10 Mets pitcher?