Friday Applesauce

by Eric Simon on Jul 25, 2008 10:45 AM EDT in Link Dump Comment 18 comments

With Pedro Martinez unavailable while he attends his father's funeral in DR, the Mets may call up Brandon Knight from New Orleans to start against the Cardinals on Saturday. Knight made eleven appearances with the Yankees in 2001 and 2002, posting an aggregate ERA of 10.71. In five starts and eleven total appearances with the Zephyrs this year he has a 1.60 ERA and a 49-to-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 39.1 innings.

Also in the afore-linked article, Angel Pagan will have the torn labrum in his left shoulder repaired surgically any day now. Don't expect to see him anytime before spring training 2009.

Interesting little profile of Aaron Heilman in today's New York Sun. The piece is long on observation and short on actual quotes from Heilman, but it's a neat window into the most "cerebral" Met.

Recent draftee Brad Holt lit it up for Brooklyn yesterday, fanning 14 Vermont Lake Monsters in six innings, dropping his ERA to 1.57 in the process. The Mets grabbed Holt as a sandwich pick -- 33rd overall -- between this past draft's first and second rounds. Definitely keep an eye on him.

Turns out that Jimmy Rollins was benched yesterday for arriving late for the team's 10am reporting time. Rollins says he was stuck in traffic, but that Charlie Manuel is a stickler for the rules.

Apparently there was an imaginary clash between Carlos Delgado and Jamie Moyer yesterday after the latter lost control of his bat and the former tossed it back to him. Kevin Burkhardt was the only one who noticed.

And we'll wrap things up with a write-up of Ollie Perez in Newsday. I wrote more about him earlier today.

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Pineiro has been erratic

So who knows what to expect on Saturday.

"It's Father's Day today at Shea, so to all you fathers out there, Happy Birthday." -- Ralph Kiner

by dissento on Jul 25, 2008 11:09 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The bat thingy

On Baseball Tonight last night they were making like Delgado tossing the bat back to Moyer was some big thing and even mentioned it as similar to Piazza-Clemens. Umm, sure, other than the fact that Delgado and Moyer were both smiling and it was actually nothing at all like Piazza-Clemens.

ESPN can cram it with walnuts.

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jul 25, 2008 11:20 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Ugly.

Cram it with walnuts, *ugly*.

by Eric Simon on Jul 25, 2008 11:25 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I know

It just seems out of place when I’m not saying it to their face.

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jul 25, 2008 12:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Heilman

I found New York Sun aritcle pretty disappointing. I knew that Heilman had studied philosophy at ND and I was hoping that the article would provide some insight into his intellectual intrests. All I learned was that he is reading some book that sounded like the work of conspiracy nuts. When I tried to do some research on the book at nytimes.com, all I discovered is that Heilamn told a Times reporter that he was reading the same book on April 20, 2008 (I take that he is not the fastest of readers). I also learned that he listens to Pearl Jam - a band that was boring in 1991. Finally, I learned that the writer of the article is a square - I’m not sure what “hard edged rock” is.

by Shomov on Jul 25, 2008 11:36 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I agree

What was with the comment about existentialism? I have a feeling the reporter had no idea what to ask him about philosophy so just blurted out “DO U LIKE EXISTENTIALISM???”

"It's Father's Day today at Shea, so to all you fathers out there, Happy Birthday." -- Ralph Kiner

by dissento on Jul 25, 2008 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

if i had that kind of time, i'd email him and do this reporter the service of

advising him to find another line of work. I don’t read the Sun much, but was surprised to find out it’s a highschool paper.

...”Pressed on this, he agreed that existentialism was indeed “redundant.”

Wha?

I.M. Forme

by itsmetsforme on Jul 25, 2008 12:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Actually

The Sun is generally quite good. Tim Marchman is one of the best sportswriters around, and The Sun is consistently posting content from BP writers like Steven Goldman, Christina Kahrl and Marc Normandin.

by Eric Simon on Jul 25, 2008 12:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rollins

So I am sure there will be the same reaction to Rollins as there has been when Reyes or other Mets have gotten into trouble. The press will write articles saying how immature Rollins is, Bill Rhoden will talk about how the Phillies lack leadership and displine and how they should do things the Yankee way and writers and radio and tv commentators will talk about how Rollins is getting too big for the team, is overrated and that maybe he should be traded if the Phillies ever really want to contend for a championship. And maybe he will get snubbed for the All-Star team when his numbers showed he was worthy of it because of negativie perceptions created by this incident and his general trash talking this year.
I also think that Bush will admit that he was wrong about Iraq and that I will soon go on a date with Jessica Biel.

by Endys Game on Jul 25, 2008 11:47 AM EDT reply actions 0 recs

careful on that date

You might get Jeter’s herpes.

We've got ourselves a ball club, the Mets of New York town!

by kingcritical on Jul 25, 2008 12:03 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

On that note,

BBTN also discussed Reyes’ home run trot from Wednesday night. I hope that either Jose pays no attention to all these nabobs or, if he does, Jerry is in the clubhouse telling him that all the talking heads can shove it. I did like Buck Showalter’s take on it, though – he basically said that if other teams genuinely have a problem with Jose, they should take care of it themselves. Nuts to the media.

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Jul 25, 2008 12:16 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Seriously?

He got stuck in traffic. That’s not immaturity, it’s poor planning for rush hour in Queens.

by JoshNY on Jul 25, 2008 12:19 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Holt pitching well

Recent draftee Brad Holt lit it up for Brooklyn yesterday, fanning 14 Vermont Lake Monsters in six innings, dropping his ERA to 1.57 in the process. The Mets grabbed Holt as a sandwich pick - 33rd overall - between this past draft’s first and second rounds. Definitely keep an eye on him.

Ah, the Braves signing Glavine. The gift that keeps on giving.

by swoboda on Jul 25, 2008 2:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Not that I

mind the pick with Holt, but I still wished Omar had ponied up and drafted Melville. For all the talk that Omar had about going over slot, it seems as if he backed down at the last minute. Actually I was online during that draft (over at minorleagueball.com) and was utterly depressed at the selection of Holt. I knew very little at the time of the draft other than he threw very hard. Myself and the other Mets fans during the draft were all hoping that Hunt or Melville would be our pick…. I guess its true what they say: All’s well that ends well

by tbach81 on Jul 25, 2008 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Melville

I really believe that people get too upset over the desire to go over-slot. After a while, people just care more about the idea of it than the guy they’re actually signing. There are circumstances where it makes sense, but I’m not 100% sure Melville’s the guy you want to make your stand with (and I’m someone who grabbed Melville in his shadow draft).

He’s got a great arm, but his velocity was up-and-down this past year, and his mechanics aren’t as clean as Holt’s. Holt, on the other hand, wasn’t just a fastball: he also brought durability, a very strong arm, clean mechanics, and solid command of the fastball. My scouting reports prior to the draft called Holt’s slider “promising but inconsistent.” In the end, it’s quite conceivable that Holt, a rare (for this draft) combination of upside and safety, was higher on the Mets’ draft board than Melville. He wasn’t on mine, but I won’t fault the Mets for taking their guy, which is what I think really happened.

by Blackfish on Jul 25, 2008 4:11 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I agree with

what you said about Holt. I just felt that the of the reports on Melville, the only deturrent was his signing bonus demand, were so positive that we should have taken a gamble on him. Most reports had Melville as the best high school pitcher available with plus potential. Couple that potential with our dimished farm system, and it seemed to me to be the best possible choice. And this is in no way complaining about the Holt pick, becuase hes be absolutely fantastic thus far.

Again I agree on Holts durability and developing slider. Like I said all reports are promising and as a Mets fan Im glad that things have turned out the way that they have. I just hope that Holt isnt a case of another polished collegian who dominates in short season rookie ball…

by tbach81 on Jul 25, 2008 4:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

HS Pitchers

Melville was considered by many to be the top H.S. pitcher out there. That said, it was a terrible year for prep pitchers. In the end, it wasn’t just bonus demands that was scaring teams away. Teams have shown that they will pay for top talent when that talent is worth it. After all, no player had higher bonus demands than Pedro Alvarez, and the notoriously tight-fisted Pirates had no qualms with taking him (and hopefully they’ll sign him).

If Melville was as good as everyone said he was, he wouldn’t have slipped to the fourth round. The Dodgers, who love prep arms and always sign them, wouldn’t have passed on Melville to take Martin. The Yankees, who always take best available, wouldn’t have passed on him to take prep pitcher Gerrit Cole. The Brewers wouldn’t have passed to take prep pitcher Jake Odorizzi. Even the Royals, who took Melville in the fourth, drafted two other potentially hard-to-sign prep pitchers first.

by Blackfish on Jul 25, 2008 9:00 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

A team that goes to the game together, wins together?

Let me get this straight…Jimmy Rollins arrived late to the game. How do you do this if you’re on the road? Isn’t the entire team going from the hotel to the game on the same bus? I just don’t understand how this guy shows up late?