Yankees 2009 team numbers, with MLB rank in parentheses:

Pitching

ERA: 4.28 (11th)
FIP: 4.32 (13th)

Baserunning

Stolen Bases: 111 (11th)
EqBRR: -6.4 (20th)

Defense

UZR: -17.6 (19th)
PADE: -0.39 (13th)

Hmm, not overly impressive.  Let's look at some batting numbers:

wOBA: .366 (1st)
OBP: .362 (1st)
SLG: .478 (1st)

The goal is to score more runs than you allow.  Hitting, pitching, defense and baserunning are all factors in this run scoring/prevention balance.  The Yankees had the 2nd best run differential in baseball this season and they did it without the benefit of great pitching or above average defense.  Home runs are not evil and pitching alone does not win championships.

On a personal note I'm glad this nonsense is over.  My RSS Feed won't be clogged with stories about Chase Utley being the greatest 2nd baseman of all-time or ex post facto results-based 2nd guessing of Joe Girardi's decision to go with a 3-man rotation.  Now we can get down to the offseason business we know and love - trade and free agent rumors, 90% of which turn out to be totally bogus.

Maybe people are sick of reading about the intangibles topic but it is one that continues to fascinate me.  Adam Rubin's late season report that Alex Cora will likely be re-signed and subsequent fan support for bringing back Cora is the latest source of this fascination. 

Cora is now 34 years old, coming off a replacement level season in which he earned $2 million.  Smart organizations would bid such a player a fond farewell - thank you for the grit and leadership Alex, but we are moving in another direction.  The most common argument in favor of a Cora return is his impact in the clubhouse.  His off-the-field guidance for younger players is allegedly valuable enough to justify a spot on the roster.  My question is, why can't good players bring these intangibles?  Better yet, how about the members of the Mets' coaching staff provide guidance to younger players who need it?  The coaching staff is filled with former players, many with playoff experience and even World Series rings.  Presumably, they encountered similar on and off the field issues during their playing careers as players do today.  Surely they can give advice on family life, conditioning, playing through pain or whatever other questions the players have.

Wise organizations don't pay for intangibles, they pay for on-field production.  Cora's intangible qualities are almost universally praised so I feel confident in saying he has some positive value in the clubhouse, even if it is very small.  That's terrific and I'd love it if all players had Cora's personality.  However, if he had some value on the field that would be significantly more important.  I'll close with some words I enjoyed from Matt Meyers, an ESPN The Magazine editor, who e-mailed the following to Matt Cerrone at Metsblog yesterday:

You’ll notice the Royals and Pirates have been two of the biggest spenders in the last couple of years, giving seven-figure bonuses to kids in rounds three through 10.  Instead, the Mets will stick to slot in those rounds and spend $2 million on Alex Cora.  It’s a joke, and shows a complete lack of understanding of value on the part of the Mets.

If I had to name the most pompous, self-righteous and judgmental mainstream sportswriter around it would probably be Jeff Pearlman.  At the same time, Pearlman is also one of the most talented sportswriters around.  His pieces at Sports Illustrated and his personal blog are daily must-reads, no matter how much I disagree and am annoyed with what he is writing.  Yesterday's Pearlman article at SI.com about Mark McGwire being hired as the St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach falls into the "extremely annoying" category.  He gripes about the hiring, on the grounds that McGwire is a dirty cheater who screwed over Roger Maris and the Maris family.  A few snippets:

As I sit here at my computer, dumbfounded by the St. Louis Cardinals' numbingly inane decision to hire McGwire as the team's new hitting coach, I think back to Maris. Actually, I really think back to September 8, 1998, when McGwire hit his 62nd home run of the season at Busch Stadium, then immediately walked toward the stands to engulf Maris' family in an enormous bear hug. Later, with tears streaming down his cheeks, McGwire told the media how, earlier in the day, he had held the bat Maris used when he set the old mark.

As we all now know McGwire was a fraud. His amazing feat wasn't nearly so amazing. His courage and strength were mirages. His greatness, well, very artificial.

Worst of all, however, McGwire was a baseball thief. At the very moment his 341-foot home run landed behind the outfield fence, he robbed Roger Maris of the most important record in professional sports. He robbed the Maris family of future income from 61-related merchandising and events.

It seems to me that, with the passage of time, more people will come to understand that the commissioner's periodic spasms of self-righteousness do not constitute baseball law. It seems to me that the argument that it is cheating must ultimately collapse under the weight of carrying this great contradiction-that 80% of the players are cheating against the other 20% by violating some "rule" to which they never consented, which was never included in the rule books, and which for which there was no enforcement procedure. History is simply not going to see it that way.

Maybe the cheaters were wrong; that's the direction in which I lean, probably because I've got a streak of the moralist in me. But I will not sit idly while great athletes looking for an edge -- not all that different from the many generations before them -- are demonized by the high priests of baseball opinion. I will not.

We care about this less than the players do.  As I keep saying, this is a workplace issue, a personal issue.  If players have a problem with it, they have to deal with it as a union.  And if they can’t, that means the majority of the players doesn’t want to deal with it.  We as fans can’t expect more from players than they themselves expect from each other.  And fans respond with their feet and wallet by giving money to MLB.  It’s that simple.

Note: The following is a fictional recap of the seasons of 3 fictional Mets ballplayers written by a fictional sportswriter/blogger. Any resemblance the fictional writer bears to a real-life writer is pure coincidence. Any resemblance the fictional players bear to any real player is 100% intentional. Take this with a grain of salt and familiarize yourself with the concept of hyperbole.

A Season In Review: D.J. Murphy, Julio Francora and Joe Kings

By John Q. Sportswriter

D.J. Murphy

Promising youngster D.J. Murphy came into 2009 on the heels of a strong 2008 campaign. He opened up 2009 with a bang - an opening day home run at Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark. Since then, things have taken a turn for the worse. Murphy initially displayed his athleticism in the outfield, impressively ranging to get to many fly balls. Nevertheless, his lazy approach led to miscues, including a costly drop vs. the Marlins and loss of footing against the Cardinals. A shift to first base proved beneficial for a short period.  He seemed more comfortable there than in the outfield.  However, towards the end of the year he made several miscues, showing that he lacked the mental toughness necessary to play the position.

An attitude problem has been attributed to Murphy, starting last offseason. It was revealed that upon meeting his college baseball teammates for the first time, he stated "My name is D.J. Murphy and I bat 3rd." This cockiness did not sit well with teammates then and certainly doesn't now. This rook might be wise to know his place a little better. He has also been known to hog time in the batting cage, selfishly depriving teammates of their own shot to practice.

It was thought his rough upbringing in upper Manhattan might prove beneficial toward his development. To his credit, he made an appearance at an RBI Program (Reviving Baseball In Inner Cities) event at his childhood sandlot, but he still managed to screw that up by showing up late for that night's game. Young Murphy hasn't exhibited any toughness during his time in the big leagues - just laziness and a low baseball IQ.

Julio Francora

In half a season with the Mets, Julio Francora did nothing to alter the baseball world's perception of him as a soft free-swinger. The old saying goes "you don't walk your way off the island", referring to the hacktastic approach at the plate employed by players from the Caribbean. Francora still lives by that mantra, despite making it off the island and playing 5 years in the big leagues. His unintentional walk rate is at an all-time low, and it took him 56 plate appearances with the Mets to draw a walk. Upon doing so, he was seen laughing and joking with the Mets dugout, as if to say "look how ridiculous I am for drawing a walk, real men get base hits, I am a Nancy-boy!" If that wasn't bad enough, he was the first to break solidarity by shaving his beard, after the rest of his teammates pledged to not shave until the Mets record reached .500. Unsurprisingly, the Mets went into a tailspin shortly thereafter, perhaps due to lack of team unity caused by Francora.

He lived up to his "soft" reputation multiple times this season. Francora shied away from a routine fly ball against the Nationals and failed to run over the Astros' catcher on a play at the plate. Who would choose to slide on such a play? A soft player, that's who. After making the last out of a game on September 18th, ending a promising Mets comeback, he destroyed a water cooler in frustration. It was an embarrassing, immature display, and one he seemed to show no remorse for afterwards.

Morever, there's oodles of evidence suggesting that Francora doesn't even like baseball. He stated that he would give it up for a music career in a heartbeat (if only he had the singing talent). He is frequently heard talking about his true favorite sport, futbol, and how he can't wait for the offseason so he can spend his days watching it on television. It appears Francora is here to stay, but for the sake of Met fans hopefully he can toughen up.

Joe Kings

Following 3 outstanding, All-Star caliber seasons, expectations were high for Joe Kings in 2009. Unfortunately, the Mets' shortstop and team leader succumbed to injury in May, ending his season right when he was starting one of his patented hot streaks. It killed Kings that he couldn't join his mates on the field, evidenced by an emotional September media session and his continued desire to suit up, if even for just the final game. This burning desire and love of the game is nothing new for Kings, who has been with the Mets organization since his teenage years when he was drafted out of Lee-Davis High School in Georgia.

The leadership he has shown at such a young age is truly astounding. Every year, he creates a unique handshake for each of his teammates, making them all feel like part of something special. He rarely took a day off from 2005-2008, playing all but 15 games in those 4 seasons. In June 2008, he was removed from a game by manager Jerry Manuel as a precaution against injury. Kings was not pleased.  No one takes him off a ballfield! He very publicly expressed his displeasure, evoking memories of another great New York warrior - Paul O'Neill. Much like fellow southern boy Brett Favre, Kings plays the game with steely-eyed intensity yet has more fun than a little leaguer.  There is always a smile on his face.

He has been rehabbing hard this season and will continue to do so this offseason. Some say that only Hanley Ramirez of the Marlins is a superior all-around shortstop. Maybe that is true statistically. However, Ramirez clearly lacks the intangibles and grit of Kings. Ramirez's recent clubhouse issues are proof of that. Great things are on the horizon for Joe Kings. He is all business and should continue to live up to his namesake next season and beyond. Let's finish with a quote from ESPN columnist Mason Spark:

The day Joe Kings is paraded down the Canyon of Heroes will be the culmination of a life of hard work and love of baseball. If only he could get some help from his teammates!

Since the day Jeff Francoeur arrived from Atlanta, there has been a deluge of praise for his positive intangible qualities.  Believe it or not, I think this emphasis on intangibles is a disservice to Francoeur, who has been a reasonably productive hitter for the Mets since being acquired.  A .350 wOBA is very good for him, even if it is fueled by an unsustainably high .355 BABIP.  Instead of focusing mostly on his on-field performance (which has a tangible effect on winning ballgames) the intangibles crowd has sung the praises of everything from his smile to his clothing choices to his water cooler destruction.  A few recent examples:

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More photos » by Frank Franklin II - AP

Yeah that's right Jerry, we straight-up robbin' this team of millions.

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On this date 2 years ago, following a 9-8 loss to the Nationals, Willie Randolph uttered one of the most unforgettable quotes in Mets history:

This feels very normal to me, the way a playoff race should be.  When we sip the champagne later on, it'll be even sweeter.

I'm not one to believe in curses but in this case I'll make an exception.  It's all your fault Willie.

If you read about baseball on the Internet, you must have come across Ken Rosenthal's piece about Joe Mauer, the MVP Award and sabermetrics at FoxSports.com today. It features some worthwhile points and some not-so-worthwhile points about a favorite topic - discussion surrounding the MVP Award.  He ultimately decides that Mauer is most worthy of the AL MVP Award, which is true.  Praise is due for realizing that.  He also writes some bizarre things about sabermetrics and even invokes the "it's a free country" platitude.  I think I used to use that in kindergarten.  I'm not going to explore the piece too much here because others have responded to it quite well already. Here are some, including the usual suspects:

Rob Neyer

Joe Posnanski

Tom Tango

devil_fingers

Bill Baer

It appears Rosenthal is familiar with the Internet sabermetric community (which I suppose includes Fangraphs, BTF, THT, BtB and The Book Blog, amongst others), so I think he is trolling with words like these:

Taking a contrary position does not make me just another unenlightened member of the MSM (translation: mainstream media). But it will subject me to a certain level of scorn for rejecting SGT (translation: sabermetric groupthink).

I just want to have a nice, civil discussion about a fascinating MVP race, a discussion that includes number geeks sitting in their basements, overworked hacks in press boxes across America and fans of all ages, colors and philosophies.

Rosenthal is smart. He knows any mention of "sabermetric groupthink" or "geeks in the basement" will rile people up. And on a certain level it did, judging by the responses all over the Internet. Hand-in-hand with this is increased attention, free publicity and an boost in hits to his webpage. These are all positive things for him, no matter how silly some (but not all) of his message is.

Congratulations to Ken Rosenthal, Troll of the Day. 

This won't be a weekly thing, I think, but will pop up when warranted:

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