29
2012
It’s Like A M*A*S*H* Unit Around Here
An article by Doug Branch
In Doug’s Dugout today we explore, M*A*S*H*, Baseball style, and other off-center thoughts:
Cue the Fife ‘n Drum Corpse, er Corps. Sound the theme to M*A*S*H*, the movie or television series. Either one will do.
The Mets are on their way to setting a team record for the number of players to man the shortstop position in one calendar week. Only the Gabor sisters had more ex-husbands.
Maybe they can sign Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, or Hot Lips to fill in for Reuben Tejada, Ronny Cedeno, and Justin Turner. Maybe Buddy Harrelson would be willing to commute again from Long Island to Queens.
Calling all Frank Taveras’, Rey Ordonez’s, and Tim Foli’s to report to the Citi Field exit off the Grand Central. Holy Kevin Elster or Kevin Mitchell, Batman (HoJo is well-rested and tanned down in Florida)
The Mets continue to hang in there despite a bevy of regulars soaking in the hot tub. As per usual, Jason Bay is the slowest healer in baseball history. Tejada is Missing in Action, and Josh Thole is Excedrin Headache #1.
With all the advances in modern medicine why does it take twice as long for players’ to heal than it did say 20, 30, 40 years ago? Just follow the guaranteed contracts, my friends. Nevertheless, to error on the side of caution when it comes to head injuries, is okay by me.
However, even Keith Hernandez, not exactly a fossil, extolled on the inordinate amount of time it takes for today’s player to vacate the DL. I guess he forgot how many games he lost due to tight hammy’s. But, he did have a point.
Nobody knows what the heck happened to Cedeno. One minute he’s leading off first, the next gingerly strolling back into the dugout. “Understudy, Please!”
All in unison Mets fans: How it would be nice to go to war with a full platoon! I thought we traded Carlos Beltran (who is tearing it up) and passed the salt on Jose’ Reyes for just that reason, but the hits (to the body) keep on coming.
Speaking of injuries (and being skittish about them), if Sandy Alderson was so gun-shy about shelling out $10 mill for Chris Capuano, because of previous arm woes-that he proved were in the past last season, how do you think he’ll react to seeing the fit lefty starting for the National League in the All-Star game?
Badly, I hope.
With Mike Pelfrey gone, Cap would’ve slid right into the number two slot. Well, the good news is Ike Davis is physically healthy so far, but mentally fouled up. Send him to Niagara Falls already.
At least we found some suitable replacements, such as Mike Baxter (the new Danny Heep) and Vinny Rottino, recently. I suspect, like Jeremy Lin, their novelty acts will wear old soon enough. (I would mention the young centerfielder more often, but my typing fingers are just not developed enough to bang out his name.)
Injuries are part of the game and no team is immune. (Spend 5 minutes. or 60, reading the burgeoning names on the DL). Heck, the commish had to approve a new 7-game list because so many players are getting hurt.
Have no fear, Terry Collins just received a new shipment of duct tape, bailing wire, and Krazy Glue for the next spate of games, er injuries.
About the Author: Doug Branch
Doug has been sports writing since 1983. He first wrote about the Mets at spring training that year, and his first interviewee was surly catcher Ron Hodges. He currently writes for Mets Inside Pitch, among other magazines published by Scout Publishing-which is owned by Fox Sports. He began following the team during the Wes Westrum era, and redeemed many Borden milk coupons for free Saturday baseball. The night of Tom Seaver's imperfect game against the Cubs, he was in line to buy a ticket when the windows slammed shut and abject disappointment ensued.
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Outstanding post Doug and kudos for telling it like it is but prepare for a lot of scathing attacks from the “I Heart Sandy” crowd.
Sandy skipped over lots of good, inexpensive VETERANS that can help this team win ballgames and lord knows this team needs some experienced players who’ve been through the ropes. Unfortunately like you described perfectly we have the new Danny Heep and baseball’s versions of Jeremy Lin leading the way right now.
Thanks for a actual post about what to do to try and get this team better in order to WIN but instead everybody is doing a proverbial “looking away – sticking their fingers in their ears and closing their eyes going la la la and hoping to brush everything under the rug under the guise of non-guaranteed false hope by reading about minor leaguers every day here. And the amount of minor league news is increasing daily here as if any new name is regarded as some type of future savior.
What about NOW?
LALALALALALALALALA, I can’t hear you!
real intelligent z – that’s why you come across as a drunk JERK when u post.
Well at least he apparently has alcohol to blame for his behavior… we are all eagerly awaiting your excuse. (just too easy)
Posting advice from someone who constantly come up with variations on “sandy suckers, slurpers, sandy blow-up doll lover, etc., is pretty hilarious. Sorry, didn’t CAPITALIZE random words so you could understand it Bayonne Minaya Muncher.
Try doing what I do. Ignore him.
Doug, nice job here.
I really, really liked Capuano.
But, here is where I disagree with you
“With Mike Pelfrey gone, Cap would’ve slid right into the number two slot”
Pelf wasn’t gone until after the season started. Which means you would have had to guarantee Cap a 2 year deal without a promised role in the rotation in the winter.
I’m not sure why either side would do that to be honest? Why would Cap take an identical deal with the Mets to be a long reliever or fight with Gee for a rotation spot? Why would the Mets guarantee him 2 years at $5mil a pop to be a long relievers?
Sometimes things just don’t fit. If Pelf got hurt in the fall of 2011, I think they’d seriously look at Cap. But that is not how it worked out.
Capuano is having a career year right now, the Mets saw him last year and there’s no way any Mets fan can tell me that after the 2011 season they saw Capuano as a 7-1 low 2 ERA pitcher.
He was a nice find last year and filled a need. The need he filled last year was because of Santana being out, and Gee not being with the team. The Mets went into 2012 thinking they had both spots filled.
You don’t sign Chris Capuano to 2 years $10mil “just in case” of an injury. Especially when he has an offer on the table to be in a rotation.
I actually went and looked at stats for him to make sure I wasn’t mis-remembering.
here are some #s (2011/career/2012):
whip: 1.35/1.33/1.00
ERA: 4.55/4.25/2.14
ERA+: 80/99/173 (threw that in for the sabergoons)
H/9: 9.6/9.1/6.0
Basically, even with that one huge anomoly game last year, CC was below even his career averages (which were basically average back end SP #s). And at 33 (going on 34), what reason was there to think he was suddenly going to turn into Cliff Lee?
He also was not a huge innings eater type. And he was only above .500 in a season 1 time in his career.
So hell yeah, if you could have guaranteed a full season of this years #s for 5 mill, Sandy would have said yes. So would the other 28 GMs that passed on him.
But these results scream out to be unsustainable (and looking at his other peripherals, the improvement is entirely though hits allowed, since Ks and BBs are pretty consistent with prior years). Why all of a sudden? Who knows. Could be luck, could just be a hot streak. Or maybe he miraculously developed a special new pitch.
but, coming off last year, he would have been a great guy to bring back in the swing role he was signed for in 2011, but really did nto make a strong case for guaranteeing him a rotation spot.
The mets should have tried to bring in a solid veteran to bolster the staff, but not sure you can really say that after last year Capu was that guy.
Taking the $ issue out of the equation (though it is a driving factor), I like Gee and all, but he should have been the guy to go to the BP and Cap should have been in the rotation, especially considering the injury that Santana was coming off of. (I think it’s quite amazing that we’ve gotten this much from his so far!). SP depth was an issue I wish Alderson had addressed. Be it lack of resources or just a GM’s decision to not go after him, either way, it wasn’t the way I wished the team would have gone.
Right but what I am saying is, if you’re the Mets… Gee and Cap weren’t all that different last year. So would you rather have a young kid whom you believe can get better at league minimum or a veteran who showed you as much as your young kid did but for $10mil?
forget gee. last year, as bad as Pelf was (and many people here wanted him DFA’d and were all over Sandy for wasting $5mill on him), his numbers were pretty much interchangable with Capuanos.
Right and he’s what like 7, 8 years younger? And 4million cheaper?
We can say DFA Pelf was the answer but that wasn’t gonna happen, and frankly NOBODY knew Pelf would get injured and Pelf LOOKED good when he pitched.
If the Mets signed Cap to 2 years, DFA’d Pelf, and watched Pelf go 7-1 for the Dodgers and Cap out for the year… we’d be here yelling about DFA’ing Pelf and what a disaster that was
stick — Pelfrey pitched between 184-200 innings each season. That’s pretty close to being an innings eater and as good as it gets on the Mets, other than Johan. It takes a load off of the starters, occasionally giving them an extra days rest when the bullpen crew gets worn out, as they have for several years recently. He may or may not be the best, but if he’s better than most secondary starters, he’s valuable. The screaming of some fans shows how little they know about what it takes to put together a composite pitching staff. With them the glass is always half empty but they really don’t know how to refill the glass.
I like Gee, I do. He get’s by on a lot of Moxie and Smarts. Love the grit and how he can pitch through bad outings more times than not. But his stuff isn’t overwhelming at all. Saying he was guaranteed a spot is a little silly, in my estimation.
Anyway, As Stick mentioned, Cap’s numbers weren’t great. Him signing with the Mets would have been a luxury, especially at the salary he was looking to get. This team would be better with him on it, but with all the other holes and lack of funds to plug them all properly, he was the one to go. All in all, wish he was here, I understand why he isn’t and I stopped crying over spilled milk the last time I spilled my milk.
If the Mets had a chance to get some no brainer, then yes Gee was out.
Gee wasn’t losing his job in the Winter after pitching 13-6 with a mid 4 ERA making league minimum at age 25
To a guy who went 11-12 with a mid 4 ERA who would need $5mil for the next 2 years at age 33.
I’m sorry but that wasn’t happening.
It must be Capuano Day today.
Adam Rubin:
Can’t fault Mets. You looked at his averages 3rd time thru order last year and cringed // RT @Cjz1028: Think messed up letting Capuano go?
11:55 AM – 29 May 12 via TweetDeck
Adam Rubin:
And idea is not to pay premium for past performance, it’s to find value. He had $1.1M base and incentives last year. He got 2yr, $10M in LA.
11:55 AM – 29 May 12 via TweetDeck
Adam Rubin:
And if you re-signed Chris Capuano, that money would not have been available to commit to Frank Francisco.
11:58 AM – 29 May 12 via TweetDeck
You can’t just sign everybody. Heading into December 2011, the Mets had hopes of Johan, then Pelf, Gee, Niese, Dickey.
Heading into December 2010, the Mets had… Pelf, Niese, Dickey.
Players like Cap and Millwood (as somebody mentioned in the shoutbox) need to go where opportunities are.
If you’re Capuano, you don’t sign with the Mets who have 5 starters when the Dodgers make you an offer and they have Kershaw and Billingsley and thats it.
Last year was about getting Capuano through an entire season healthy and he did that. Also a pitcher doesnt come all the way back until the second year from surgery so considering what we invested in him last season why did you give up when he was an actual success story? Finally, I read something in the offseason by Mark Simon that said last season Capuano had the best pitched game of 2011 in August and that it trumped the no-hitters that were tossed in terms of pure dominance. In light of all those things, I dont see how $5M a season was a bigger gamble than the $3.9M Capuano got from the Mets in 2011 after performance bonuses kicked in. He basically wanted a $1M dollar raise or what we wasted on Carrasco.
the guy had multiple surgeries and “come backs” though. His only solid years (still just respectable, nothing earthshattering) where in 2005 and 2006. heck, he missed 2 complete MLyears after that (08-09) and had ’07 cut short (and 2010 was mostly some relief spots late in the year). So yes, he did hold together in 2011, but he is not someone you can count on to be an iron man!
\
I posted career and recent stats up above, but again, if he keeps this up all year, it will not be a case of finally being healthy and back to normal, it will be an incredible career year, far and away better than anything he ever did.
But Hodges, they didn’t have a spot for him. That’s the problem.
Guaranteeing a guy 2 years at 5mil each is not the issue. Its what do you expect from him. The Mets had faith in Gee, he wasn’t going to the pen after his 2011 season. Why do that to him?
Cap had some nice games, he was a nice player to have but nobody who watched every one of those starts expected this 2012 season.
Your own words show just how clueless you are jessep. You want the exact number of guys to fit the exact number of roster spots. You therefore totally ignore injuries and the possibility of trading from strength, two things that both you and your equal failure Mr Alderson both don’t understand and which is why you I mean Mr Alderson is a failure as the Met GM. Your logic guarantees failures in the long term.
Amazin, I’m sorry but you don’t sign a pitcher to a 2 year $10mil deal unless you have a roster spot for him when you sign him. It’s not clueless to think that, it’s how the game works.
If in January 2012, the Mets signed Capuano to an identical deal as the Dodgers, it would have come with a guarantee of a rotation spot.
Which means Gee loses his job in the winter, even though he pitched nearly identical to Capuano yet would make $4mil less.
That’s not clueless.
You sign guys like Batista, Young etc “in case of injury” You don’t commit $10mil “in case of injury”
Nobody does that.
Tell me your Capuano, the Mets say “hey we’ll offer you 2 years $5mil each year and use you just in case of an injury.” and the Dodgers say “we’ll offer you 2 years $5mil each year and you can be our #3 starter before we get to spring training.”
Tell me why you’d take the Mets offer?
And stop acting like you saw so much of Cap in 2011 to decide he was gonna go 7-1 with a low 2 ERA.
This pendulum has swung full from one side to the other.
For several years, it was a cortisone shot and stick you back out in the field after 72 hours, even if you had a chronic knee problem that wasn’t getting any better w/o surgery.
Or tape up an oblique problem and have the switch hitter swing from one side only, rather than the smarter option of a short DL stint to rest it.
Now it appears error on the side of caution is more than just a saying. Whether it was Cedeno, who had a simple leg cramp, still isn’t back and not on the DL, to Ruben with a strained quad who said he could play when his swollen eye went down a bit but was put on the DL and now doesn’t seem to be progressing with that quad.
Only player I know who had an injury who refused to go on the DL and played through it was the man with the broken pinkie.
I don’t know what the correct course of action is b/c I’m just not privy to enough information on these guys. And we know all FOs only dole out what they want to be public knowledge.
Case in point was the concern in ST on Halladay and his reduced velocity. Takes that into the season and has gotten off to a not so stellar start. Remove him after 2 innings the other day and lo and behold, finally release information that he’s been dealing with a sore shoulder for a good long while now. How is it that organization didn’t order an MRI on him a month ago? What good reason would there be not to?
You mention Capuano. I would have taken a flyer on him for sure. Problem is he wanted 2 years and from what I read, Mets weren’t going more than 1 year on any starter. That and I believe what little money they did have to spend, they decided would be used for the BP.
Hindsight is always 20/20 though. If the all FOs had that luxury, they’d all be geniuses.
“All in unison Mets fans: How it would be nice to go to war with a full platoon! I thought we traded Carlos Beltran (who is tearing it up) and passed the salt on Jose’ Reyes for just that reason, but the hits (to the body) keep on coming.”
No, Beltran was traded because he was leaving and they wanted to get something for him.
Reyes was passed over because there was only one team willing to give him that crazy deal and they told him “take it or leave it”.
Off Topic: Looking at the Angels attendance and so far their attendance in 2012 after 22 games compared to the same number of games this time last year is down a combined total of 107,760. Not good especially after committing $330,500,000 in free agents this past off season. The only team with a larger difference are the Twins with 111,694 after 24 games.
its a weird fan base out there.
Their average is down about 4,000 right now.
If you’re an Angels exec you’re blaming the early attendance woes on: KC, Oak, Balt, Min
At 22 games last year their least attractive opponents were: Cle, Oak, ChiSox, Atl
You would have thought pre-sale would carry them through the 30k mark alone after the winter they had. Probably doesn’t help that the Dodgers are doing well.
There is a biz of baseball article from back in March that said one of the reasons attendance would be higher in MLB in 2012 was the Angels signing of Pujols. So far that is not the case though attendance is indeed up in MLB overall despite this.
More impressive… St Louis attendance is up nearly 4,000 per game.
Yea but they did win the W.S.
But…but…they signed stars…
In the spirit of M.A.S.H. the Phils placed Halladay on the DL with a shoulder strain. Reports are he will be out 6 to 8 weeks.
What bothers me is not the injuries but how they happened!
Two of the Three have been on baserunning blunders.
Sliding into first (Tejada) is a pretty dumb move and getting caught off the base (Turner) was pretty dumb too.
Not sure how Cedeno got hurt…
Tejada did not slide into first and got hurt, he tripped and fell. Facts aren’t exactly your forte though.
Can we enjoy the frickin ride for one day without it becoming a Sandy debate?! Good lord! You’d think we were 10 games under .500 instead of 5 games over.
Sandy fans–you’d defend him if he resigned Pelfrey to a Sabathia deal.
Sandy haters–he could trade Quintanilla for Verlander and you’d find a reason to complain.
Let’s sit back and enjoy what’s been a good season so far.
Let’s go Mets, regardless of who runs the team.