Amazin' Avenue Says Farewell To 2010

The Mets' 2010 was frighteningly similar to 2009 -- injuries to star players, scrubs accumulating way too much playing time and organizational ineptitude from top to bottom. That is until late October 2010, when the Sandy Alderson regime took power in Flushing. For two months, Met fans had reason for optimism. The denizens of Amazin' Avenue were particularly pleased with the hire, as it represented a "180" from the Omar Minaya days. Alderson's approach is similar to ours. A GM who doesn't proudly disparage advanced statistics? And was an innovator in progressive front office philosophy? Awesome.

Naturally, Amazin' Avenue went the route of tongue-in-cheek self deprecation. Channeling Rays Geek, the site was renamed Alderson Avenue, with our Alderson Overlord's face gracing the logo. Most got the joke. Others didn't, and that's okay. If a person can't appreciate Alderson Avenue, then they probably don't appreciate Amazin' Avenue.

The site grew once again this year, in both quantity and quality. The Amazin' Avenue Annual 2010 was released in March and we are still amazed at how awesome it turned out. Thousands downloaded or bought the labor of love. We are currently ranked #1,464,716 on the Amazon bestsellers list. And I'm not exactly sure what to make of this:

Eno Sarris, Rob Castellano, Matthew Callan and Chris McShane joined the front page writing staff, with each bringing a unique voice to the community. Eric Simon, Alex Nelson, Joe Budd, Sam Page, Mark Himmelstein and I continued to take it one day at a time at the grittiest Mets blog around. Readers spend 3+ minutes at AA when they visit, a testament to the quality of the front page work, FanPosts, FanShots and comments. People are sticking around to read and contribute their own insights.

Despite mounting worries of a Sam Page contract holdout, the best is yet to come for Amazin' Avenue. Thank you to all those who stopped by in 2010. To say farewell, here are some of my favorite front page posts from the past year.

January

• Free Agent As Rappers: Bengie Molina -- [----] I'm a monster, no good blood sucker. Fat [------------] now look who's in trouble.
  
• Captain Kirk's Glove -- Mark goes defense stat crazy while looking at the man who does everything decent but nothing great.
  
• Starting Early -- The John Olerud Hall Of Fame Case -- Think where man's most glory begins and ends and say my glory was I had such an Olerud.
  
• Evaluating Baseball's Managers -- Alex tackles one of the most trying topics in baseball analysis.
  
• Enough About Angel Pagan's Baseball IQ -- Blah blah blah, BUT PAGAN IS A DUMB BASERUNNER blah blah blah.
  
• The Amazin' Avenue Annual 2010 -- Eric presents the original cover idea for the AAA.
  
• Mets Organizational Decision-Making Flowchart, ver. 1 -- Synergy, client centricity, targeted workforce reduction -- just a few other buzzwords to include with the word flow-chart.
  
• Could You Root Against The Mets? -- As it turns out, didn't have to.
  
• Keith Law's Top 100 Prospects -- I love Keith Law because he speaks his mind and isn't worried about what others think. Civility is a crutch employed by those desperate to appease those in power.
  

February

• Prospect Retrospective: Shawn Abner -- Abner went to Mechanicsburg High School in Mechanicsburg, PA.
  
• Hisanori Takahashi Reportedly Headed To The Mets -- Little did we know how good Tak2 would be in 2010.
  
• Mets Average Age Trendlines -- Death is but a door, time is but a window, I'll be back.
  
• Jerry Manuel = Phil Jackson -- Zen Master vs. Zed Master. Zed's dead, baby. Zed's dead.
  

March

• Alex Cora Is A True Clubhouse Leader -- According to Alex Cora, that is.
  
• Bernazard's Ridiculous "Oppo" Plan -- Raise your hand if you'll miss the Omar/Bernazard LULZ just a bit.
  
• Mets As Best Picture Nominees -- I hope James Franco isn't docked for 127 Hours this year because of his zany personality. Talented performer.
  
• The Amazin' Avenue Annual Is Here -- Woohoo!
  
• Prospect Retrospective: Pete Schourek -- Check out Schourek's 1995 season.
  
• Happy St. Patrick's Day Benny Agbayani -- I'm a sailor peg / and I lost my leg / I climbed up the top sails / I lost my leg!
  
• Jenrry Mejia, The Mets' Bullpen, And The Media -- Let's forget this ever happened eh? I would want to win now, not three years from now. That's my stance.
  
• Nelson Figueroa: SwingBlade -- I like them French friend potaters.
  

April

• The Top 50 Mets Of All Time: #31 D.J. Dozier -- Written by Alex "Sidd FInch" Nelson.
• The Best And Worst Mets Opening Day Lineups -- Some are good, some are bad -- in the end, Let's Go Mets!
  
• Rooting For Extremes In Small Sample Sizes -- Mountain Dew is extreme.
  
• Amazin' Avenue 2010 Season Predictions -- Look here to see who was an idiot.
  
• Mets 2, Cardinals 1: Twenty Is Plenty -- The only game recap I included. Remember that nightmare?
  
• Ike Davis Service Time Clarification -- Mark with some worthwhile info.
  
• Reader Poll: Citi Field Chants -- Take the time to vote, this is a democracy.
  
• Is Jeff Francoeur More Patient? -- No.
  
• Blame The Superstar Syndrome -- I'd love to hear Sandy Alderson's answer to the question "do David Wright and Jose Reyes have an edge?"
  

May

• Draft 2010: Lessons From 2009 -- If there's one reason to visit AA, it's Alex's Draft insights.
  
• Mets Daily Top Prospect Report, Inaugural Edition -- Rob and Alex provided one of the most valuable daily AA features, together with Joe Budd's Applesauce. Heart and soul of AA.
  
• Fernando Tatis's Reign Of Grabbiness Continues, Ike Davis Latest Victim -- Most unexpected headline of the year?
• How Omar Minaya Stacks Up -- Not well.
  
• An Inning With Cow-Bell Man -- Y'all have heard him at games.
  
• Transcript Of The 90-Minute Closed-Door Meeting Of Mets Management -- You f*cked up! You trusted us!
  
• New York Mets Look-A-Likes -- Non-sinister doppelgangers.
  
• What To Do With Frenchy -- Give him to the Royals where he can mentor young players on how to become successful.
  
• Jerry Manuel Decision-Making Flow Chart -- Brilliance.
  

June

• 2010 Draft Profile: Matt Harvey -- Alex profiles the Mets' #1 pick.
• Amazin' Avenue Charity Pledge Drive -- Sweet charity.
  
• Rewarding Minor League Lifers (or: The Story Of Jesus Feliciano) -- Good for Jesus Feliciano.
  
• The Mets Are Swinging At Lots Of Pitches Outside The Strike Zone -- Award for self-explanatory headline of the year.
• 2010 Draft: Formal Recap, Rounds 1-7 -- And check out Alex' recap of rounds 8-15 as well.
• Mets Management Needs To Start Evaluating Talent In The Present -- Stupid Mets.
  
• Jenrry Mejia The Big League Reliever: Our Long National Nightmare Is Over -- It's about time.
• RIP RBI -- Bye-bye, RBI.
  
• Home Grown! The Beginner's Guide To Understanding The Mets, Vol. 2 -- I don't ask, for much these days. And I don't bitch and whine, if I don't get my way.
  

July

• What's A Fair Deal For Cliff Lee? -- I can't believe this was a legit topic a few months ago.
  
• Gary Cohen Doesn't Understand, Derides Sabermetrics -- Oh, Gary. And read Eric's follow-up piece, Bridging The Great Baseball Analysis Divide.
• A Capitol Weekend -- Nats Park is cool.
  
• The Greatest Trade Rumor In Baseball History -- Royals! Mets! Guillen! Francoeur! Ollie!
  
• Carlos Beltran Has A Tersely Worded Response To His Critics -- Beltran tells the haters to suck it. Well, not really, cause Beltran is too classy to actually do that. But he should.
  

August

• Five Ways To Improve The Mets (And Restore Some Sanity To The Fanbase) -- I wrote this at a time when I had just about had enough of the franchise.
  
• Omar Minaya And Jeff Wilpon Are 6-13 Against Nationals And Diamondbacks -- Don't hate the players, hate the... front office.
  
• 2010 Mets = 1990 Hawks? -- For those with fresh memories of Dominique Wilkins and Jon Koncak.
  
• The Mets Are Who The Computers Thought They Were -- Don't mess.
  
• If You Could Dump One Mets Contract -- Gotta be Jay-Bay, right?
  
• Things I Was Wrong About -- Sanctimony aside, I wish every analyst did a post like this from time-to-time.
• Francisco Rodriguez Fights Father-In-Law, Gets Arrested -- I take it back, this is the most unexpected headline of the year.
• Wally Backman As Mets Manager Is A Bad Idea -- The Cult Of Backman did not appreciate this post.
  
• Mets Hire Additional Team Security To Corral Rogue Ballplayers -- Vin Diesel is rumored for 'The Expendables 2'. Sweet.
  
• How Excited Should We Be About Lucas Duda? -- That's just your opinion, Eno.
  

September

• The Illogicality Of The Jeff Francoeur Trade -- Fixed -- The Illogicality of Jeff Francoeur being in the majors.
  
• Jeff Francoeur And Why I Like Certain Players -- A short post, and one of my favorites. Can't understand how people hate on good players yet claim they want to see the Mets win.
  
• Rod Barajas, Master Of The First Impression -- Rod The Bod parlayed his firm handshake into $3.25 million from the Dodgers.
• Reasons To Keep Watching -- Shilling for the Mets.
  
• The Mets And The Oliver Perez Quagmire -- Giggity giggity?
  
• Few Tears For Omar Minaya -- No tears, for me.
  
• Suggestions For Keeping Fans Interested -- Trying my best to keep people reading the site.
  
• The Amazin' Avenue "R.A. Dickey Face" Contest -- Oh yes.
  
• The Hypocrisy Of The Walter Reed "Story" -- Hopefully the last time this "story" will be mentioned.
• Ruben Tejada And Rose-Colored Glasses -- Eno gets optimistic on young Ruben.
• And The Winner Of The Amazin' Avenue "R.A. Dickey Face" Photoshop Contest Is... -- mistermet!
• Built To Fail: Auditing Omar Minaya's Front Office -- I don't want to hear the word 'audit' outside of work.
  
• Does Angel Pagan Deserve A Gold Glove? -- Yes, but it didn't happen.

October

• Come On Folks, It Wasn't All Bad -- Alex comes to the defense of Omar Minaya.
• The Day The Sun Went Out -- Rob riffs on Fred Wilpon's infamous quotation.
• The Great Divide -- Matthew Callan with one of the finest pieces of sportswriting from 2010.
• Wrapping Up The 2010 Amazin' Avenue Blogging Season -- Eric gets sentimental. Sort of.
• I've Been On This Ride Before -- It ain't easy being a Mets fan sometimes.
• I Know It When I See It -- Saber-porn, fortunately SFW.
• Transcript Of The 2010 Mets GM Candidate Debate -- Jimmy McMillan.
• Mets GM Search: Sandy Alderson Hired -- And boom goes the dynamite.
• The Moneyball Mets -- Sam with one of my favorite posts of the year, for personal reasons.
• Calls For Sandy Alderson To Apologize For Steroids Era Are Laughable -- It goes without saying. Wrote it anyway.

November

• Why I Don't Want The Mets To Hire Wally Backman -- I should just post the GChat conversation between Sam and myself which inspired this post. On second thought...
• Mets Suspend Clubhouse Manager Charlie Samuels -- Weird but notable.
  
• In The Year 2000: 'Round Midnight -- Matt recaps his unbelievably extensive 2000 Mets series.
• Who Is Terry Collins? -- Rob profiles our new on-field leader.
• Paul DePodesta Explains "Moneyball" -- d3p0 and J.P. Ricciardi were hired in November. Here's to years of success.
• Sabermetrics And You: An Introduction -- Eric begins our Saber 101 series, useful for both the saber novice and the TRUE SABR among us.
• Remembering Mets Veterans -- A Veterans Day special.
• Terry Collins, Destroyer Of Worlds? -- Collins has ya fire right here.
• The Apple Never Falls Far: A Genealogy Of The Mets Front Office -- A Sam Page production.
• The Pace Of Mets Pitchers -- Chris parses some stats to tell us who works fast.
  
• Poll: Do You Want Jeter In Queens? -- Yama hama it's fright night!
• Season In Review: Buffalo Bisons -- One of Rob's comprehensive recaps of the Mets' minor league affiliates.

December

• 2011 Mets: So Close To Homemade -- Almost.
  
• A Conversation With R.A. Dickey, Part One -- The legend(s).
  
• An Interview With Mets OF Lucas Duda -- The Dude, unscripted.
• Who Is Ronny Paulino? -- Our new backup(?) catcher.
• It's Not The Amount Of Money In The Bank, It's How You Spend It -- Platitudes from me.
  
• Transcript Of Sandy Alderson's Conference Call With Bloggers -- In which Sandy asks "What's that damn noise in the background!?!"
• New York Mets Holiday Party 2010 Recap -- Rob goes to the videotape.
• Pedro Feliciano Signs With The Yankees -- I'll never let go, Pedro.
• Mets-Related SNY Programming Suggestions -- DocuMetaries is the best idea.
• The 2010 Mets On The Basepaths -- Eno uses info to judge Chip Hale.
  
• John Olerud Hall Of Fame Roundup -- Let's end the year with some Johnny-O.