ME IN THE NEW YORK TIMES

by Eric Simon on Nov 24, 2005 10:01 AM EST

The New York Times ran an article today by Michael Schmidt entitled "A Player Known for His Politics, Too" which featured quotes from the incomparable Gary Cohen, the loathsome Chris "Mad Dog" Russo, and me. Try to spot the outlier in this group. It's basically a reaction piece to the Mets' acquisition of Carlos Delgado.

Eric Simon, who runs the fan Web site Metsgeek.com, said reaction among the site's users had been mixed.
"A lot of people are excited; they know what type of player he is," Simon said. "Fans that follow the youngsters are sad to see those players go; they could be great players down the road. But most people think it's an enormous upgrade in the short term."

Pretty neat.

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Congrats

Always cool to be quoted, Eric. Becoming a big fish.

Sorry about the superfluous diary entry. :)

by Alex Nelson on Nov 24, 2005 10:19 AM EST reply actions

Shmuperfluous

I consider you and everyone else to be contributing writers on this site. That's what the diaries are for and I enjoy reading what you have to say as much as I enjoy writing my own commentaries.

by Eric Simon on Nov 24, 2005 10:45 AM EST up reply actions

Hahaha

Close. I was talking about a different entry, highlighting your appearance in the Times. Then my browser refreshed and I saw that my comment was superfluous. Took me a while to figure out how to delete it.

by Alex Nelson on Nov 24, 2005 7:46 PM EST up reply actions

Blackfish certainly tops among

the unofficials

by peeder on Nov 25, 2005 6:11 AM EST up reply actions

Congrats Eric

Soon, you may be... The Man. In the meantime, try to take this pebble from my hand...

Just kidding. About Delgado, I was just thinking how much this guy cost us by not just signing with us last winter, for basically the same money:

Jacobs
Petit
A more balanced payroll (we're taking on the back-loaded portion of his contract)
Possibly, last year's division title.

Hopefully he'll come in with a great attitude, but it's a shame he cost us all that for his one year in Florida.

by Mr. Met on Nov 24, 2005 1:29 PM EST reply actions

too bad about the prospects, but...

I can't quite agree with your last two items. Remember, the Marlins are paying a sizable portion of Delgado's contract -- $7M out of the approx. $48M he's owed for the next three years. The remainder -- roughly $13-14M/yr., starting below that and rising slightly over the course of the contract -- is just about exactly what the Mets would've paid if they'd signed Delgado as a free agent. I don't see that as a significant problem from year to year as long as Delgado continues to be a productive bat.

The division title is a more complicated matter, and you certainly might be right that Delgado would've been enough to tip the scales in the Mets' favor. But remember, the Mets already underperformed their Pythagorean record by an alarming amount (you could argue that, but for bad luck and a few bullpen lapses, they "ought to" have won 90 games already). Now maybe scoring a bunch more runs would've made a big difference there -- and in any case Delgado's production has to be worth something like half-dozen wins more than the Mets' 1B rabble last year -- but I'm not so certain it would have put the team over the top last year. Who knows?

by anonymous on Nov 24, 2005 2:19 PM EST up reply actions

NYT

I saw that NYT story in the dead-tree edition, believe it or not, and was very proud of you. :)

I was curious to know why they described you as the proprietor of MetsGeek as opposed to Amazin' Avenue.

by DavidNYC on Nov 27, 2005 5:09 PM EST reply actions

Well

I was contacted with regards to MetsGeek, which is a more oft-visited site than AA, so that's why it went in as it did. I'm very proud of both sites, so I'm happy with any pub I can get :)

by Eric Simon on Nov 28, 2005 5:47 PM EST up reply actions

Hey

Why do you hate Chris Russo? Not that he's some brilliant or amazing guy, but he's not so bad. I listen to the show pretty regularly.

Is there a specific event, or you just hate his personality?

by Nick T @ Amazin' Avenue on Dec 6, 2005 1:10 PM EST reply actions

Russo

The entire show has a strict Yankee/Anti-Met bias, though that's almost solely Francesa's fault. Russo has yet to utter an original baseball thought; when he finally does I will tip my cap to him.

by Eric Simon on Dec 6, 2005 11:25 PM EST up reply actions

"general sports show"

The "general sports show" never works for baseball, and Mike and the Mad Dog is a great example. The trouble (aside from its general idiocy, which I'm willing to overlook) is that neither of the hosts has much of an idea about baseball. They cover it like they would any other sport, with a focus on personality and highlight reels and very little depth of understanding or attention to statistics or history.

by anonymous on Dec 7, 2005 12:01 PM EST up reply actions

I completely disagree.

They spend a lot of time on baseball when it's in season, and they're coverage is very good. They break down a lot of the important plays and decisions that go into big games, and they know a lot about the entire league(s) not just the Mets and Yankees.

They also do great interviews with Willie and do a pretty good job of holding him accountable for his awful decisions. I would agree that it's obvious neither of the hosts like the Mets which is unfortunate, but they cover baseball very intelligently compared to just about any other sports talk show.

by Nick T @ Amazin' Avenue on Dec 7, 2005 12:11 PM EST up reply actions

I'm torn

the reason I hate the Yankees is Francesa. He is the embodiment of the priveleged and dismissive attitude many Yankee fans have had towards the rest of the league and especially the Mets. (Less so lately, but I still hate them)

I do think that they are good interviewers depending on the topic. It's hard to say if someone else would be better, because they are the only ones who ever get to interview Willie or Torre or most of the big names.

I think they tend to focus too much on the business side of sports. Is there anyone who enjoys it when Francesa tries to guess the TV ratings? That has to be one of the worst bits in all of radio.

Don't get me wrong, I still listen, but I'd much rather hear Joe Benigno instead.

I don't think you can argue that there is someone on FAN who knows more about baseball than Mike and the Mad Dog. Maybe Benigno knows as much, and he tends to focus on the Mets much more, but there are times when even he has me shaking my head.

Not that they are necessarily experts, there just isnt anyone else.

So is there a personality on FAN that you stat geeks like, or what? (Sports on Wax?)

by peteyfan45 @ Amazin' Avenue on Dec 9, 2005 3:50 AM EST up reply actions