They criticize me to lower my self esteem but I’m going straight to the top. I was not born to lose.

Original Post 1:00 PM

“Valdespin knew that was coming. I don’t think it’s fair to say that since we didn’t hit one of the Pittsburgh hitters that he doesn’t have a friend. The notion that he was hung out to dry I think is a mistake. I’m not telling you he’s the most popular guy in the clubhouse, but I don’t think he was hung out to dry.”

That was the quote we heard from Mets GM Sandy Alderson when asked about the continuing Jordany Valdespin issue on Mike Francesa’s radio show yesterday.

Today, another new development has come to light according to Andy Martino of The Daily News.

Martino reported that Valdespin tried to “wiggle his way” out of pinch-hitting on Saturday against the Pirates. Valdespin allegedly sent word to trainer Ray Ramirez that he was “unavailable” to pinch-hit in Saturday’s blowout loss, according to Martino’s source who witnessed the dugout incident.

Much to the chagrin of Valdespin’s teammates, Ramirez sent word to Collins. Collins overruled the decision and sent Valdespin up anyway with body armor and an elbow protector.

Half of Alderson’s quote above now makes sense. Valdespin knew the inevitable plunking would occur if he stepped into the box so he tried to escape his fate. To say he wasn’t left out to dry seems like a stretch now with these new elements to the story.

This coverage is beginning to feel like the Casey Anthony trial, but the issue continues to be that Valdespin’s teammates and coaches decided to discipline him vicariously through the Pirates and not internally.

Valdespin has quirks, to put it mildly. He doesn’t play the game to the standards of conventional baseball in America, but this is clearly something he didn’t deserve given the circumstances.

We will be updating you with more information as it pertains to this story as it unfolds.

Thoughts from Joe D.

What have I been saying about this since day one?

Hung out to dry?

You betcha…

Mets manager Terry Collins was a guest on WFAN this afternoon and lets just say that his whole demeanor about outfielder Jordany Valdespin has done a complete 180. Collins said that Valdespin is the leading candidate to hit in the leadoff spot for the Mets on Opening Day and whenever the Mets are facing a righthanded pitcher.

“Right now, the way Valdespin has been swinging the bat in that spot, we’re leaning towards him,” Collins told Mike Francesa. “As of right now, that’s what we’re looking at.”

Valdespin has been scorching the ball and in 14 games he is hitting .341/.386/.634 with four home runs and eight RBIs. Spin has struck out just twice all spring.

“He’s really worked at the pitch selection,” Collins said. “He’s got a nice idea at the plate, he makes pitchers work. He can bunt for a hit and he can hit a homer. He’s not getting very many easy, first-pitch fastballs.”

Collins even went as far as saying that he has become a threat to take the starting left-field job from Lucas Duda if he continues to produce. Wow…

“His whole demeanor has been a great surprise,” Collins said.

“I just think that, probably, there was some place along the line — maybe at the end of last year — where I know David Wright had a conversation after the guys cut up his shirt and he got upset. I know David took him out and kind of settled him down, and maybe he’s grown up a bit, because he’s certainly been impressive down here.”

Sandy Alderson said adding a difference-maker or two would be his offseason goal for the 2013 season. While it seems he came up short in that department, maybe Omar Minaya left him one in Jordany Valdespin.

Wheeler has firmly set his sights on a spot in the Mets starting rotation.

As Zack Wheeler heads to minor league camp and begins to focus on what he needs to do to ready himself for a potential major league debut later this season with the Mets, let’s consider some of what we did get to see and hear while he was in Mets camp.

Wheeler gave a concise self-assessment of his repertoire not too long ago during an interview with WFAN’s Mike Francesa:

“I like to come at you with a fastball, not afraid to come inside. I am aggressive, I got a sharp slider, good curveball that I can strike you out with, or get over early for a strike. Changeup is a work in progress.“

Most scouts, and those who have seen him, all agree that Wheeler’s number one issue is gaining a better command of his primary pitches while continuing to develop his secondary offerings, particularly his curveball and changeup.

There’s no questioning Wheeler’s confidence and determination and in that regard, he is like fellow teammate Matt Harvey. They both seem to share that bulldog mentality.

I thought I’d ask our MMO minor league guru, Mitch Petanick, to share some thoughts on Wheeler and provide us with some additional analysis.

Thoughts From Mitch

What can be said about Wheeler that hasn’t been said before? His fastball is dynamite. His two-seamer has wicked movement which moves in on the right-handed hitters hands, and away from left-handed hitters. Wheeler states that he likes to pitch inside, and if the two seam is used effectively on the inside half to righties, opposing hitters will be going through a ton of lumber. In the video shown below it gives a great view of Wheeler’s pitches from behind the plate, and you can really see the filthy movement on all of his pitches.

Wheeler’s curveball is also very sharp and considered a biting curveball. His changeup is still a work in progress, as he states in the quote, but the changeup is not an easy pitch to master. If he’s throwing a circle change, the grip on the ball is awkward for pitchers to get used to. The thumb, which is usually there as a guide, is now on the side of the ball, instead of under it. The pitcher basically makes the O.K. sign with their fingers, and then grip the ball with the middle and ring finger placed on the two seams of the baseball. It is then thrown like a fastball, and due to the grip, the baseball does not generate as much velocity as the fastball.

The Circle Changeup Grip

The batter perceives the pitch to be a fastball because the arm speed of the pitcher does not change, but the velocity of the ball drops by about 10 mph due to the grip. The pitcher releases the ball and lets the ball come out of the hand off the middle, ring, and pinky in a fashion that the ball rotates and creates a motion, from a right-handed pitcher like Wheeler is, that will move in and down on right-handed hitters. Grip a ball making an O.K. sign with your hand and throw it as hard as you can and you will see how hard the pitch is to control and master.

Wheeler’s changeup may still need some work, but it will be effective. Anytime you throw in the upper 90s, the speed drop off from throwing a changeup will be enough to confuse hitters and keep them off-balance, as long as he can throw it for strikes. Wheeler is all but ready to embark on what hopes to be a long and exciting career in a Mets uniform. The fans are patiently awaiting his arrival.

Mike Francesa

Has anyone been listening to Mike Francesa absolutely kill the Mets on WFAN lately? Most likely many of you have, since Francesa garners a large audience, and rightfully so.

He is a knowledgeable sports personality that commands respect based on his reputation. But seriously, talk about something other than degrading the Mets.

This whole past week, Francesa has been tearing the Mets apart for their pathetic play. Yes, the Mets are pathetic right now, but why does Francesa feel the need to drive the stake deeper into Mets’ fans hearts?

I’ll admit that I do sometimes enjoy listening to Francesa. He can easily get on my nerves, but he does provide great insights into the sports world.

There are so many more important New York sports topics going on right now than the Mets. The Yankees are entrenched in an AL East pennant race, the New York Football Giants are looking to repeat a Super Bowl title and the New York Jets are an absolute circus, from the quarterback debate to Bart Scott threatening journalists.

The Mets are no longer relevant in this town, but it’s a shame that Francesa keeps on talking about how bad they are. His shows this week have been so repetitive when it comes to the Mets.

And also, have any of you been following along with Terry Collins’ weekly spot on the show? For the past four weeks, the interview by Francesca has been exactly the same. Mike asks, “Terry, have you ever seen anything like this out of a baseball club?” And Terry always responds, “No Mike, I’ve never seen an entire lineup all go cold at exactly the same time.”

OK, we get it, the Mets stink right now. But the misery is almost over. The last thing Mets fans need is for a die-hard Yankee fan to use his platform to continuously bash our team.

There’s plenty of other things to fill a 5.5-hour period. By talking about the Mets, Francesa is beating a dead horse.

It almost seems like he’s “asleep” to what else is going on in New York sports…

Howie Rose

Yesterday, WFAN’s Mike Francesa discussed how Mets broadcasters Howie Rose and Gary Cohen were “out of line” during this past weekend’s Subway Series.

Francesa said that it’s great that the Mets have fans as announcers, but that they sometimes take it too far in rooting for their team, especially against the Yankees.

Frankly, I love that Rose and Cohen are as die-hard of Mets fans as I am. Yes, I agree that there should be unbiased announcing if the opposing team wins or hits a home run. However, I love the excitement when we hear “It’s Outta Here!” from Cohen or “Put It in the Books” from Rose.

Is it so bad for a fan of the team to be an announcer?

I could see how a Yankees fan would be upset after listening to the Mets broadcast from the weekend. Rose talked about Nick Swisher’s antics after the back-to-back-to-back home runs, and Cohen was not shy about saying that Russell Martin’s first home run was a cheap Yankee Stadium homer.

Gary Cohen and Kevin Burkhardt

But here’s the thing: If Yankee fans are upset about it, go listen to John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman on 880. That’s their radio broadcast anyway. Rather than complain about the Mets broadcasters, Yankees fans should have enough to complain about with that interesting duo.

The whole point of radio is to attract an audience. Die-hard Mets fans enjoy Rose and

Cohen because they believe that the announcers are in the same boat. When a Met gets a clutch hit, it’s made that much more special when Rose or Cohen presents the call.Along the same lines, when the Mets blow a save or suffer a heartbreaking defeat—not too uncommon in our team’s history—Rose and Cohen are right their with the fanbase suffering.It’s not like they show up to work, call the game and say goodbye. These guys genuinely care about what they do, and it shows in their passion for the team.

While other teams or fanbases may have a problem with what Rose and Cohen are doing in the booth, they should simply be worried about what Mets fans think. Everyone I know loves them, and I’m sure the vast majority of Mets fans would agree.

Thankfully there are only 6 more games left of this horrible season.  That also means only 6 more games left of some jerryball.  Last year after the season ended the Mets did a bit of a media blitz that concluded with Jeff Wilpon, Omar Minaya and Dave Howard going on WFAN with Mike Francesa.  They made a bunch of promises and some excuses that for some reason had Mets fans hopeful for 2010.  I posted a blog here on this site the day after, which you can read here.  I didn’t like what I heard on Francesa’s show and I got blasted in the comments section. Unfortunately I was right to be skeptical as they lied to us.

Jeff Wilpon said the Mets were committed to building a championship caliber team and that spending would not be limited.  Well, after signing the bust that is Jason Bay the Mets didn’t spend much.  Gary Matthews Jr., Mike Jacobs and Frank Catalanotto were in the starting lineup on opening day.  For some reason Fernando Tatis and Alex Cora were still on this team.  I’m sorry but those guys don’t belong on a championship caliber team.

Omar and little Jeff said that there would be no more mishandling of injuries. Unfortunately that was a big old lie as well.  Look at how Jose Reyes’ oblique injury was handled.  Reyes was put into the lineup while suffering with oblique injury, and only allowed to bat from one side of the plate.  I don’t see how that is improving on handling injuries.  Jason Bay after hitting his head off the outfield wall in Dodger Stadium not only stayed in that game, he played the next one and then flew on a plane to New York and hasn’t played since.  Johan Santana’s injury was misdiagnosed as a pectoral problem.  Now I’m no doctor but I think the training staff might have missed human anatomy 101.  Plus Santana before being diagnosed correctly was allowed to throw and not even given an MRI.  They also promised to communicate better with the fans and media about the injuries.  Once Santana was diagnosed correctly, the Mets had a press conference where they tried to play down the severity of this shoulder injury by citing position players who came back from the same surgery.  They of course didn’t mention that pitchers who have had the same surgery as Johan has have yet to come back and throw a pitch in the majors.

I’m sure once this season is over the Mets will do another media blitz.  They will say things that sound good but in reality it will only be more cheap talk and hollow promises.

“Who cares what Matt Cerrone thinks…he looks like a 12 year old…who reads blogs anyway?”

Pretty harsh but pretty funny at the same time. He went on to continue his personal attack on Cerrone.  Just who does read blogs Mr. Francesa? Hmmm. Here’s to sticking up for our friends over at MetsBlog.  Bad form Francesa.

Note from Joe D: Give him hell Matt. If Francesa had any guts he would have you on as a guest and challenge you in person, but he knows that you will run circles around him where the Mets are concerned. It’s okay for him to mention how proud he is of Mickey Mantle every single day and speak of him like he’s a god, but it’s not okay for Mets bloggers to have some pride in their team or their players? Just because the Yankees are struggling and their $250 MM poster boy Teixeira is batting .210, there’s no need for Francesa to take it out on Mets fans!

Like most of you, I search the web daily looking for breaking Met news. When I visited the Mets.com message board, there were several threads saying Francesa would have a “major Mets announcement” on Tuesday’s show. After reading a few threads I decided to check out my usual sources; the Daily News, NY Post, Newsday, MLB.com, CNN/SI, ESPN.com, The Seven Train To Shea and Mets Merized Online. But none of these fine websites had anything to report… yet.

As soon as Francesa broke the news at 2:07 PM, it wasn’t long before the Jason Bay signing went viral in the Mets blogosphere.

What strikes me as strange in this whole deal was how did Mike Francesa pull this off?

None of the beat writers had any advanced knowledge and even the normally reliable baseball insider, Jon Heyman, was seemingly left out of the loop. So who fed such a major scoop to Francesa, was it the Mets?

It would seem so, but why would the Mets bypass their own SNY cable network and give it to WFAN’s Francesa, someone who is known to be a huge Yankees supporter and a Mets hater who constantly takes shots at the Mets?

If they had their reasons to break this on WFAN, why not do it via two well known Mets supporters (and frequent guests on SNY) Joe and Evan?

Are the Mets grooming Francesa to take over for the revered, but aging public relations VP, Jay Horwitz?

Obviously not, but still it’s all very curious.

Maybe the Mets felt that by tossing the big man this scoop, he’d go easy on them in the upcoming season?

I wouldn’t bet on that.

Last week Danny Krieger posted a blog about Yankee pitcher A.J. Burnett and his habit of shaving cream pies after a big win, if you like you can read that post here.

Danny mentions how A.J. has brought fun back to the Bronx and how that fun translated into the Yankees winning season and perhaps winning a 27th World Series title.  It got me thinking to the 2006 Mets.  The 2006 team had a lot of fun while playing the game.  They were always smiling, always joking with each other.  Everyone remembers the handshakes that Jose Reyes would do whenever someone hit a homerun out of the park or the bubble gum hats we saw that year.

There was a lot of criticism towards the Mets, specifially the never ending smiling Jose Reyes.  Opposing teams hated the handshakes and dancing in the dugouts.  It made them want to beat us even more.  Teams would hate to play us knowing that you couldn’t erase that smile off of Jose Reyes’ face.  The opposing team knew whether Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, David Wright and any other Met hit a homer in 2005 that there was going to be a fun handshake and celebration in the dugout.  Reyes even had a different handshake and dance with every Met on the roster.

The press and the radio shows, especially that blowhard Mike Francesa seemed to always get on Reyes and the Mets for the celebrations.  That seemed to be the start of the end of the fun in Flushing.  We all know even if this year there were a lot of bad media moments the Mets front office don’t like any negative press about their players.  They expect their players to be smiling, polite gentleman.  There were reports going around that Willie Randolph told Jose Reyes to cut out the celebrations after the homers.  Management was said to see the reactions to Reyes’ behavior and decided that the press was right, the Mets needed to be more like the Yankees, not smiling, not having fun, showing up and being businessmen.

If you look at 2007 the fun stopped.  The fun disappeared long before the Mets collapsed that year.  They were no longer smiling or easy going like they were in 2006.  It looked like they wanted to have fun but were holding back and as 2007 was coming to an end that attitude took it’s toll.

2008 was no better.  Carlos Beltran tried to get Reyes to have fun, telling him to be himself but the entire team was on edge having to answer questions about Willie Randolph’s job security plus the press reminding them everyday about 2007 collapse.  They were even more on edge then the year before.  Unfortunately the same result happened.  The Mets failed to make the playoffs yet again on the last day of the regular season.  No fun was had during the season and no fun would have fun in October of 2008 either.

2009 seemed to be a little different as far the Mets demeanor heading into Spring Training.  While they were not dancing in the dugouts they looked like they were having fun again, trying to get passed the last 2 seasons.  We all saw opening day the 24 different handshakes Johan Santana had with his teammates.  The team looked to be having fun for the first few weeks until all the injuries took place.  Gone was the fun, in came the dread of another bad season.  We all know how 2009 ended up.

In conclusion teams that have fun seemed to win a little more.  Obviously you need talent and the Mets do have talent.  I hate to use the Phillies and Yankees as examples but both teams had fun playing the game this past season, they obviously have talented players and they are both in the World Series. It’s time to stop worrying about what writers and idiot radio guys like Francesa think, go and have fun.  If Jose Reyes wants to celebrate with a handshake and groove a little with his teammates let him.  Lets see the smiling Jose Reyes of 2006.  2006 was a great season for him and the Mets.  Lets see David Wright take the pressure off himself to hit more homers and just have fun.  The fans enjoyed watching the games and going to them in 2006.  Part of the fun was not just seeing the Mets win but seeing them enjoy the game, seeing what new handshakes and dance moves they would come up with.  2006 the Mets had fun and just missed going to the World Series.  In 2010 lets have some fun and get to the World Series!

I know Francesa isn’t the most liked personality within Mets circles, but you have to admit that he pulls no punches and never holds back when he does an interview. There was no shortage of “wow” moments during his one hour long interrogation of the Mets braintrust. He did a fine job of holding their feet to the fire, but easing up and giving them ample time to respond to the criticism. In my opinion, it was a heck of an interview.

I’ve already posted on the Mets potential spending and the Madoff implications, a few times in the last 48 hours so I’ll stay away from that. Suffice it to say that the Wilpons remain committed to spending with no restrictions and their goal is to win a championship in 2010. There were no new revelations during the WFAN interview.

I’m just going to stick to some of the “on the field” issues that I found most interesting. 

Daniel Murphy – I could not believe how much time was spent discussing the virtues of the Murph. The most shocking moment of the entire interview came from Omar Minaya who dared to compare Murphy to Kevin Youkilis. It immediately drew the shock and awe of Francesa who proclaimed, “Are you kidding me?!?!” Youkilis is a remarkable fielder, a .400 OBP guy, and proven run producer, how can you even make such a comparison?!?!” A befuddled Minaya than mumbled something before back-pedaling and admitting it was a bad analogy. What Minaya really wanted to say was that plenty of teams have won the World Series without a power guy at first.

I believe the Mets need a bona fide slugger at first base, and that Murphy would be better fit off the bench. Ideally, the Mets should trade him because it won’t be long until until Ike Davis takes over permanently and Murphy will then become a Met without a position which will wipe out any leverage the Mets may have in trading him later as opposed to now. Then of course there’s that old sophomore jinx theory.

First Base – Much of the discussion centered around first base in general where Francesa hammered Minaya on this one very valid point… If you’re not going to get a huge power bat at first base, where else can you possibly do it? Unless of course you have plans on trading one of your core players? Shockingly, Minaya admitted that trading a core player could be one possibility. To which Francesa replied, that would be crazy because all your core players have big question marks and you would only get fifty cents on a dollar. Minaya quickly retreated again. Francesa then blurted, “If you really want to make Mets fans happy, do whatever it takes to get Prince Fielder or that kid in San Diego, Gonzalez.”

Thanks for putting the bug in his ear Mike… Either of those guys would make such a wonderful stocking stuffer…

Power Bat – “You’re a couple of smart guys, right? You do know that this team is not going anywhere without a huge big time slugger in the lineup. Look at the Phillies… They have 45 homers at first base and another 30-something at second base, how can you possibly compete with that?” That line of questioning by Francesa got both Omar and Jeff to admit that finding a power hitter (or two) will be a top priority. Wilpon said that money will not be an issue and that he is leaving it up to Omar to fill that power void the best way that he can.

The only problem I have is my concern that Omar is being given the keys to the kingdom again… I have no doubt that Omar Minaya can spend the Wilpon’s millions, but my big concern is whether Omar can spend those millions wisely. He has yet to prove that he is capable of doing that.

Citi Field – “Why did you build a park that you knew would hurt your core players David Wright and Carlos Beltran. Didn’t you consider the fact you were going to hurt them offensively? Why did you do it?” Seeing Wilpon mumble his way through his answer was amusing, especially when he said that he only did what Omar and Manuel wanted. Omar’s eyes widened and Francesa turned to him. “Umm, umm, ummm, well, uhh, we wanted to build the team around pitching, speed and defense. We were one of the top running teams in the league.” That particular exchange led to this painful moment for Jeff Wilpon,

” I get calls all the time about Citi Field from Mets fans who felt like you slapped them in the face with all the Brooklyn Dodger stuff and lack of Mets stuff.”

(OUCH!) I actually felt sorry for Jeff who said he did not intend to make Mets fans feel like they were slapped. He also said it was a “proper criticism” and there would be some great new additions including a Mets museum that will be prominently located within the park. I’m looking forward to seeing that, but damn it, I still want statues of Tom Seaver and Gil Hodges erected!

Starting Pitching -  Shocking as it may seem, Omar Minaya defended his signing of Oliver Perez even when Francesa asked, ”If you had a mulligan would you take back the Oliver Perez deal?” Omar believes Ollie can still pitch like he did in 2007. (That’s scary!) Wilpon mentioned a starting pitcher when he was asked what was one of the Mets top needs, and Minaya agreed that they need to backup Santana, who by the way is doing great and feels fantastic. When Wilpon was asked what he felt the team needed most, without hesitation he said starting pitching. Omar quickly agreed.

Those are just a few of the many things that were discussed. I would urge you to go to WFAN and listen to the entire interview if you have an hour to kill. Eric Simon posted an excellent recap of the entire interview on Amazin Avenue, and Matt Cerrone did a fine job of live blogging the interview on MetsBlog.

I had a problem with something that Mike said. For some reason he seemed to whisk away K-Rod’s terrible second half performance at one point in the interview when discussing returning 2010 players.

“I’m not worried about how K-Rod finished because he wasn’t closing in meaningful games and he’s a competitive guy. He’ll be fine next year”

What the heck does that mean???

Come on Mike, the guy is one of the highest paid closers in baseball, is it too much to expect a big effort every time he gets the call?

Regarding Omar Minaya and the Wilpons he said:

“Either they are a lot more ignorant than I thought, or they just don’t really care about winning. It can’t possibly be anything else. They just are plain ignorant or they just don’t give a damn.”

“If I, who am not even a baseball executive could plainly see that this offense had real problems playing in the pressure cooker of New York, what does it say about the Mets? I’ll tell you what it says, it says that they don’t care. They don’t care about their suffering fans, they don’t care about filling the stadium because they’ll have no problem doing that this season, and they sure as hell don’t care about winning.”

Omar had plenty of opportunities to upgrade this offense he went on to say, but he basically upgraded the bullpen and then sat on his hands. “Was he not watching this team last September” he said, ” basically he brought back the same exact lineup so what does that tell you about the Mets?”

He then spent the next 30 minutes taking calls from bent out of shape Mets fans, but in his usual classless style, he never let them get their points in, spoke over them, or just disconnected them.

Outrageous.

I don’t mind picking on the Mets or criticizing them which is something I and most bloggers do often, but it just ticks me off hearing it from a Yankee fan.

However, I would never say that Omar or the Mets are ignorant or that they don’t care. That’s hitting below the belt, especially when he doesn’t have the guts to say it to their faces when they were all guests of his show during the home opener.