People have been asking us all winter what we’ve been doing to pass the time during the MLB lockout. I’ll tell you what we do here at MMO — we come up with ideas that not only help us stay busy, but will help you all stay busy, too.

Talking about the best teams and/or players in New York Mets history is always a good debate to have — especially during the cold winter months — but what if we created our own teams with players from different eras? That’d be fun, right? Well, we thought it was, and we think you’ll agree. We’ve created eight different Mets teams, all of which consist of a catcher, first baseman, second baseman, shortstop, third baseman, three outfielders, two starting pitchers, one relief pitcher, and a manager. We took the top eight at each position (as well as the top 24 for outfielders and top 16 for starting pitchers) with the goal of splitting them up across eight teams and making them as evenly matched as possible.

We used four players twice, given their multi-positionality: Edgardo Alfonzo (2B/3B), Jeff McNeil (2B/OF), John Milner (1B/OF) and Dave Magadan (1B/3B).

What we’ll be doing over the next eight days is introducing each of the squads and taking a look at their perceived strengths and weaknesses. Once that’s complete, the fun will start with some good ol’ fashioned Twitter polls so you can decide which ones would be victorious if they faced one another. We’ll open up the voting on February 8th, so mark your calendars accordingly.

The Squad: Team 1

OK, I’ll stop stalling and introduce the first of MMO’s Great 8 Mets teams. Check them out below.

Catcher: Jerry Grote

First Base: John Olerud

Second Base: Jeff Kent

Shortstop: Asdrúbal Cabrera

Third Base: Bobby Bonilla

Outfielders: Carlos Beltrán, Art Shamsky, Brandon Nimmo

Starting Pitchers: Tom Seaver, Bob Ojeda

Relief Pitcher: Roger McDowell

Manager: Jerry Manuel

Not a bad way to kick this off.

Strengths

Phew, where do we begin? I suppose a good place to start is the fact that this squad has two of the franchise’s best players at their respective positions in Beltrán and Seaver. If someone had to pick any hurler in history to build a team around while in their prime, you have to believe Seaver would be a popular answer, right? Yea, I think so, too. For The Franchise’s case, it’s also helpful to have Grote behind the dish calling the game for him, too.

I’d be remiss to not mention that in Olerud and Nimmo, this team also has the two best players in franchise history regarding on-base percentage. Having these dudes on base so often would be beneficial for others to drive them home, like Kent, Bonilla (during his first tenure in New York, people), and Beltrán.

Once the runs come pouring in, it’s good to have someone dependable like McDowell ready to close the door. During his four full seasons with the Mets, he posted an ERA below 3.00 twice, and missed doing it a third time by a slim margin (3.02 ERA in 1986). He racked up at least 85 innings in each of these four seasons, going over 100 frames twice. He probably wouldn’t have to toe the slab nearly that often with Seaver and Ojeda taking the ball to start, but it’s good to know there’s a reliever capable of doing so if necessary.

Weaknesses

There are a lot of things to like about this team, but what are some potential weaknesses? One thing that jumps out to me is some holes on defense. While having Kent and Olerud on the right side of the infield is solid, as well as Beltrán out in center, having Bonilla and Cabrera on the left side of second base probably isn’t optimal.

Another area that could be a problem — when compared to the other seven teams — is Jerry Manuel. Sure, he’s ninth all-time in franchise history with 204 wins over two-plus years as manager, but he never put together a full winning season while in charge. The bulk of his success came in 2008 after taking over for Willie Randolph, steering the Mets to a 55-38 record the rest of the way. He followed that with a 70-92 record in 2009 and a 79-83 mark in 2010 before getting the axe. Manuel was obviously a victim of his situation a little — I wouldn’t have wanted to manage that 2009 club — but when looking at the other managers in this competition, I’d rather have someone else steering the ship.

So what do you think, Mets fans? How is this club looking? What are the potential strengths and weaknesses? We’ll be rolling out Team No. 2 on Tuesday.

The post MMO’s Great Eight Mets Teams: Team 1 appeared first on Metsmerized.

The best pitched game of Johan Santana‘s Mets career? Most would naturally say the no-hitter on June 1, 2012 and you’d find little argument against it. But considering the circumstances, a case can be made for the penultimate day of the regular season 13 years ago — part of an emotional weekend with the playoffs at stake and Shea Stadium’s days numbered.

Facing elimination, manager Jerry Manuel was undecided on a starter to face the Florida Marlins. Santana, in his first year with the Mets, volunteered to take the ball despite being on three days rest and having thrown 125 pitches in his last outing.

“[Do] whatever you have to do,” he later said. “I’m all about winning and we’re trying to win every game, and if that’s the case and [you] want me to do it, I don’t have a problem with that.”

In a highly-charged atmosphere, Santana performed like the ace Mets fans had hoped for when they acquired him the previous winter from Minnesota — and then some. He threw 117 pitches, allowed three hits, and struck out nine. He never let the Marlins get on the scoreboard. Just as important, he never allowed the Mets’ beleaguered bullpen to factor in.

It was an outstanding, clutch performance made all the more impressive when it was revealed a few days later that Santana pitched with a torn meniscus in his left knee.

When the top of the ninth inning arrived with New York holding a 2-0 lead, Manuel continued to rely on his workhorse. Santana went out to the mound to the approval of 54,000-plus.

After getting the first out, Josh Willingham laced a double to left field. Santana retained his focus and struck out Dan Uggla on three pitches. Then Cody Ross lifted a fly ball to deep left field. But not deep enough as Endy Chavez hauled it in at the warning track.

Santana’s complete game was the exclamation point on a superb second half. From the All-Star break on, he posted a 2.17 ERA, a 1.096 WHIP, and won all eight of his decisions. None was more important than the shutout he delivered with the season on the line and his physical condition far from optimal.

“You don’t think about that,” he said. “This is not the beginning of the season. We’re talking about the end of the season, where we have a pretty good chance to make it special and go to the next round, and that’s what we’re here for.”

Despite what transpired the next day — a sour end to both the season and Shea — Santana’s gutsy effort still retains legendary status.

The post OTD 2008: Injured Johan Santana Delivers in the Clutch appeared first on Metsmerized.

It’s not often that a player like David Wright rolls around. Not just in regards to on field talent, but being a consummate professional off the field as well.

But when they do, it comes with this overwhelming sense of comfort, security and excitement. Mets fans knew Wright was going to be special after his steady rise through the Mets’ system that plateaued with his Major League debut on July 21, 2004 against the since relocated Montreal Expos, but we will get to that later.

Wright’s path to the Mets was an interesting one.

Most Mets’ fans — and fans around baseball for that matter — know July 1 as Bobby Bonilla day. This is the annual tradition where the Mets hand Bobby Bonilla a $1 million paycheck.

The Mets released Bonilla after a dismal 1999 season, but still owed the washed up slugger $5.9 million. Bonilla’s agent posed a deal to former owner Fred Wilpon, that would defer the money 10 years, but instead, they would owe Bonilla over $1 million every year, starting in 2011 and ending in 2035.

While absolutely ridiculous, the money they saved in ’99 allowed them to sign Mike Hampton that winter, who was a stalwart in the team’s rotation that year, posting a 3.14 ERA, 3.82 FIP, 0.4 HR/9 and punched out 151 batters across 33 starts.

The southpaw Hampton also secured the Mets lone win in the 2000 World Series.

In free agency that winter, Hampton spurned the Mets, citing the Colorado school system as his reason for taking his talents to the Rockies out west.

The Mets were awarded a compensatory draft pick in the 2001 MLB draft, No. 38 overall, where they selected Wright, a lifelong Mets fan from Virginia.

After spending two and a half years in the farm after being drafted, Wright was called up to the show in the summer of ’04, and the rest was history.

Wright went on to become a seven-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove recipient, two-time Silver Slugger, New York’s team captain and the heart of the franchise for over a decade, the Face of MLB, and go on to hold numerous team records.

In honor of Wright’s birthday, here are 15 can’t miss moments from his career.

MLB debut

Wednesday, July 21, 2004 was probably an ordinary day to the rest of the world, but to the Mets it sparked a new era in Queens.

Wright made the start at the hot corner and shined defensively, but wore the collar at the plate. However, the next day after getting his feet wet, the then 21-year-old went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

The Mets went on to finish the ’04 campaign with a 71-91 record, and shipped off their top pitching prospect Scott Kazmir to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano, but brighter days were still on the horizon in Flushing.

The iconic catch

Showing off his defensive prowess, Wright made headlines and highlight reels for years to come with an incredible over the shoulder catch on Aug. 9, 2005 at Petco Park in San Diego against the Friars.

With outfielder Brian Giles at the plate against Dae-Sung Koo, Giles punched a ball the opposite way and sawed off his bat. It was no sweat for Wright, who backtracked, stuck his bare right hand in the air over his shoulder and made the grab.

Even the Padres fans were applauding the terrific play!

Home Run Derby against division rival Ryan Howard

After signing outfielder Carlos Beltran and ace Pedro Martinez in free agency that winter, combined with adding catcher Paul Lo Duca, first baseman Carlos Delgado, closer Billy Wagner among other supplementary pieces the following offseason, the new look Mets went into the 2006 season like a bunch of superheroes.

That year, they touted six All-Stars, including Wright, who went on to square off against Philadelphia Phillies bopper Ryan Howard in the Home Run Derby at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Penn.

Howard just edged out David Wright with the former having 23 overall and five in the final round, compared to Wright’s 22 overall and four in the finals.

While Wright would come up short in the Derby, what he did the next day was special.

Wright homers in first All-Star Game at-bat

At the All-Star Game one day later, Wright got the starting nod at the hot corner and took his first cuts at the plate in the bottom of the second inning.

With former Met Kenny Rogers, now of the Detroit Tigers on the hill, Wright took the lefty deep to left field to knot the game up at one apiece.

Wright went 1-for-3 at the plate, while fellow Met Carlos Beltran went 2-for-4 with a double and stolen base, though ultimately the National League All-Stars lost 3-2.

Wright holds the distinction, along with Lee Mazzilli as the only two Mets to ever homer in an All-Star Game. The latter did it in 1979 coming off the bench for the first pinch hit long ball in All-Star Game history.

Wright walks off Mariano Rivera and Yankees

This actually took place two months before Wright’s Home Run Derby excursion and subsequent All-Star Game dinger, but it is one that is forever engrained in the minds of Mets fans.

What could be better? A clutch late inning performance at home against the cross town rival Yankees to send fans home happy. Wright did just that.

With the game locked at a 6-6 stalemate going into the bottom of the ninth, Paul Lo Duca doubled off Yankees lockdown closer Mariano Rivera, which set the table for the Mets budding young third baseman.

Wright then launched a ball to dead central that just evaded Johnny Damon‘s glove and gave the Mets a 7-6 victory.

Mets win National League East in 2006

While a collective effort, there will be nothing like seeing these guys celebrate on the field after their no sweat win against the Marlins to send them back to the playoffs for the first time since 2000.

Seeing Wright and Jose Reyes pop bottles of champagne and smoke cigars after the win made everyone think a dynasty was ahead with the young studs. While it wasn’t, the ’06 season will always be memorable.

Wright walks off Heath Bell and Padres

It would be an understatement to say how crushing the Mets’ loss in the 2006 NLCS was, followed by catastrophic collapses in 2007 and 2008, but there were some fun moments along the way.

On Aug. 7, 2008, Wright sent Mets fans home smiling from ear to ear with a walk off home run against former Met Heath Bell and the San Diego Padres.

Wright’s World Baseball Classic heroics

Wright had two iconic moments for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, the first of which came in 2009 with a walk-off hit against Puerto Rico to advance to the championship bracket:

And the second came with a grand slam in the 2013 World Baseball Classic against Italy:

Contract extension

After the 2007 and 2008 collapses to end the era of Shea Stadium on a sour note, the 2009 Mets had renewed hope in their pristine new home Citi Field, but were plagued with injuries and limped to a 70-92 finish as their near miss in 2006 drifted further away.

General manager Omar Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel were canned after the 2010 season and replaced by the savvy Sandy Alderson and baseball lifer Terry Collins. However, some rough years were ahead as the Mets decided to rebuild amidst some tough financial times from the Wilpons who were caught up in a ponzi scheme with Bernie Madoff.

Carlos Beltran was traded away before the trade deadline in 2011 and stud shortstop Jose Reyes left via free agency for the division rival Miami Marlins that winter.

Wright was set to hit free agency the next winter, but instead signed a seven-year, $138 million deal to stay in Queens.

Wright acknowledged both the good and the bad times in Flushing, but put his faith in the team that they could build a winner and took a leap of faith to stay put.

O Captain, My Captain!

Shortly thereafter, at the conclusion of a Spring Training game the following March, Wright was announced as the captain of the Mets.

Wright became the fourth captain in team history, after Gary Carter, Keith Hernandez and John Franco, and the first since Franco left after the 2004 season. Since Wright’s retirement. the Mets have not named another captain.

Unlike captains before him, Wright did not wear the capital “C” on his uniform.

“Let me just say, this is one of the proudest days of my career so far,” Wright said in the press conference below.

Wright becomes all-time Mets hits leader

Let’s backup just a moment to right before his contract extension and captaincy.

At the end of the 2012 season, Wright stood alone as the team’s all-time hits leader, after he singled in a September game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, surpassing Ed Kranepool.

Wright would go on to become the Mets leader in plate appearances (6872), hits (1777), doubles (390), RBI (970) walks (762) and position player fWAR (52.0). (H/T Mathew Brownstein of MetsMerized).

Wright returns to Mets lineup with thunder

Unfortunately for Wright, the longevity of the deal didn’t carry over to the longevity of his body.

After 134 games played in 2014, Wright was diagnosed with a degenerative back disorder, spinal stenosis, early on in the 2015 campaign.

Wright missed a majority of the season, but worked his way back to return in late August in the midst of a pennant race.

In what would turn out to be an offensive explosion and the Mets cranking eight taters overall en route to a 16-7 beatdown over the Philadelphia Phillies, Wright started it all off with a no doubt home run in the second inning in his first at bat since April.

Wright’s World Series homer

From the trade deadline on, the Mets powered to a division title, and ultimately a World Series appearance, thanks to some great pitching and offensive breakouts from Daniel Murphy and newly minted Met Yoenis Cespedes.

But to see Wright gear up to appear in his first World Series ever was special. Through slogging through years of heartache, near misses and a rebuild, Wright finally got to be see the bright lights of the Fall Classic.

While the Mets lost in five games, Wright’s home run and four RBI in their lone win in Game 3 made Citi Field erupt in a way that was reminiscent of the Shea days.

Wright’s farewell

Well, the injuries ended up getting the best of David Wright, and after trying to work his way back after injury shortened ’15 and ’16 seasons and a completely sidelined ’17 season, Wright was able to suit up for a final weekend send off at the end of the 2018 season.

I was lucky enough to soak in the festivities in person, and wrote an article that night to document what I had just experienced. Please read the full write up, here.

Wright proclaimed that it was love between him and the fans and his time with the organization after a 1-0 extra innings win.

The tears flowed as Wright and Reyes took the field on the left side of the infield one last time, and again when he was removed midgame for a standing ovation.

The tribute videos and speech after the victory were enough to elicit a wide range of emotions, from happiness, excitement and nostalgia, to sadness and disappointment that such a wonderful human being and player didn’t get to ride down the Canyon of Heroes.

Happy 38th birthday to David Wright and thank you for all the beloved memories!

The post An Ode to the Captain: Fifteen Can’t Miss David Wright Moments appeared first on Metsmerized.

There are times when it’s tough to be a Mets fan. Perhaps you remember when the Mets held a commanding seven-game lead with 17 games to play in 2007, and then collapsed to their rival from down the Turnpike.

Or perhaps you recall 2008, when the Amazin’s held a 3.5 game lead in September with only 17 games to play, before becoming the first team ever to blow a 3.5-game lead in consecutive Septembers. Those heartbreaking collapses only heightened the disdain Mets fans held for those Phillies teams that featured Chase Utley and Ryan Howard.

However a few years later, there was one series that was particularly special for Mets fans, in the midst of an otherwise uneventful season. During a three game-set against the Philadelphia Phillies, the 2010 Mets got revenge and made history in the process.

For just the second time since the franchise’s inception, the Mets swept a series by pitching three-straight shutouts. The first time this took place was in 1969, when Jerry Koosman, Tom Seaver and Gary Gentry blanked the Phillies in Philadelphia down the stretch.

After years of struggling against their division rivals, the Mets vindication against the Phillies began on May 25. In just his second start with the Mets, R.A. Dickey led a whitewashing of the Phils at Citi Field. Dickey threw six scoreless innings, while the Mets scored eight runs to even their record for the season at 23 – 23.  The victory was Dickey’s first win for the Mets.

Omar Minaya’s reclamation project would finish that season 11 – 9 with a 2.84 ERA. Two years later, Dickey would win the Cy Young Award, going 20 – 6 with a 2.73 ERA, leading the league in innings pitched (233.2), complete games (5), shut outs (3), and strikeouts (230). He was then traded the following off season to the Blue Jays with Josh Thole and Mike Nickeas in exchange for John Buck, Travis d’Arnaud, Noah Syndergaard, and minor leaguer Wuilmer Becerra.

In the second game of the series, rookie sensation Hisanori Takahashi started for the Mets and blanked Philadelphia for six innings, striking out six without issuing a single walk. Takahashi served Mets manager Jerry Manuel as a swing man in 2010, finishing 10 – 6 with a 3.61 ERA and eight saves. The Mets won the game 5 – 0, behind the three RBIs provided by catcher Rod Barajas, and Jose Reyes‘ home run and two RBIs.

In the series finale, the Mets finished their sweep, behind the starting pitching efforts of Mike Pelfry, who pitched seven shutout innings to improve his record to 7 – 1 to start the season.  Pelfrey had the best year of his career in 2010, finishing 15 – 10 with a 3.66 ERA. Francisco Rodriguez pitched the ninth inning for the Mets to record his ninth save of the season and push the Mets to two games above .500.

The three-game sweep was the high-water mark for the Mets in 2010. They went on to finish 79 – 83, in fourth place, 18 games behind the Phillies. Minaya and Manuel both got fired after the season and were replaced by Sandy Alderson, and Terry Collins. That duo would ultimately help lead the Mets to the 2015 World Series.

The post Amazin’ Memories: Mets Blank Phillies in Series of Shutouts appeared first on Metsmerized.

Throughout his 17-year major league career, Moises Alou was one of the most dangerous hitters at the plate.

A six-time All-Star with five different teams, Alou posted a career slash of .303/.369/.516 with 2,134 hits and 332 home runs. He twice finished in the top-3 of M.V.P. voting (1994, 98), and took home Silver Slugger Awards in those same seasons.

Alou, 53, is one of nineteen players in major league history to collect at least 2,100 hits, 325 homers and record a career batting average of .300 or better. His offensive prowess was well-established, though, for Alou, his biggest issue was remaining healthy and staying on the field.

For his career, Alou appeared in 140 or more games just five times. He missed the entire 1991 season due to a serious shoulder injury, and then the entire 1999 campaign after he tore his ACL when he slipped and fell off his treadmill at home in the Dominican Republic.

In total, Alou underwent nine surgeries in his career, yet remained a steadfast presence at the plate once he returned from injury.

Take the 2007 season, for example, which was his first year playing for the New York Mets after signing a one-year deal (with a team option) in November 2006. Alou was placed on the disabled list in May due to a quadriceps injury. At the time of the injury, Alou was slashing .318/.374/.445 with as many walks as strikeouts (11) and 10 extra-base hits in 30 games in his age-40 season.

As soon as he returned to the Mets’ lineup in late July, Alou went right back to work at the plate.

While the Mets’ season collapsed down the stretch, Alou’s offensive production was off the charts. After returning from the DL, Alou appeared in 57 games, slashing .353/.401/.564 with 11 homers and 36 RBIs. His 149 wRC+ was in a 3-way tie for 8th-best among qualified National League hitters in the second half of the 2007 season.

During that period, Alou established a new club record for longest hitting streak at 30 games (August 23 to September 26), breaking David Wright’s previous club record of 26 games in 2006.

Alou finished the ’07 season with a .341 batting average. Since 1900, only three players that were 40 or older (age on June 30th) recorded a season in which they hit .340 or better with a minimum 300 at-bats: Ty Cobb (.357, 1927), Sam Rice (.349, 1930) and Alou (.341, 2007).

The son of Felipe Alou, a three-time All-Star in his own right and the first Dominican-born manager in the majors (who managed the Montreal Expos and San Francisco Giants for a total of 14 seasons), Moises has had several offers to interview for major league manager openings, potentially following in his father’s footsteps.

However, Alou is adamant about not returning to the game as a manager. Just this past offseason, Alou was approached by the San Diego Padres, where he’s worked as a special assistant in player development since 2015, about interviewing for the vacant managerial position. He declined and took his name out of the running before the Padres eventually hired Jayce Tingler.

While Alou has no intention of managing, that doesn’t mean he won’t be paying great attention to one current big league manager who he shares a great bond with. Alou’s brother, Luis Rojas, was named the 23rd manager in Mets history in late January, after managing for many seasons in the team’s minor league system and serving as their quality control coach in 2019.

Alou’s content in remaining his role with the Padres and spending quality time at home in the Dominican Republic.

The right-handed-hitting slugger, whose stance at the plate was so quiet yet was blessed with such quick wrists that would send baseballs scorching into the gaps or over the outfield walls, will forever be revered for what he added to his family’s legacy.

And now he gets to watch from afar as his brother embarks on his own big league career and looks to add even more prestige to one of the game’s great families.

I had the pleasure of speaking with Alou in mid May, where we discussed his family’s legacy, his time with the Mets and thoughts on how his brother will fare managing in Queens.

MMO: Who were some of your favorite players growing up?

Alou: My favorite player growing up was Pedro Guerrero. I grew up in the Dominican Republic, and I grew up a fan of Guerrero’s.

MMO: I read that you initially played basketball over baseball growing up. Is that true? And at what point did baseball become your predominant sport?

Alou: Actually, I had no choice but to play basketball because the schools here in the Dominican didn’t have baseball programs or baseball fields. But they do have basketball, like every school, and they have basketball courts.

I started playing organized baseball right after high school because I wanted to get a scholarship to go to school in the United States, and that was my only way out. My brother had a scholarship from this Latin American foundation.

I played some baseball – street ball or pickup games – and I’d play some with my uncle. But I didn’t play organized until after high school.

MMO: It’s amazing to think that you didn’t play organized baseball until college, and still became such a feared hitter in the league for 17 years!

Alou: Yeah, I went from graduating high school in the summer of ’84, started playing organized baseball to being a first-round pick in the January Draft of 1986.

MMO: Your family is considered baseball royalty when you talk about your father Felipe; uncles Jesús Alou and Matty Alou; your cousin Mel Rojas; and now your brother, Luis Rojas, managing the Mets. How do you reflect on your family’s importance in the game?

Alou: We’ve been blessed. I dislike using the word “royalty,” but when people hear the name Alou in the Dominican because it’s not a common last name, it relates to baseball.

I think it’s pretty impressive the fact that my dad and his two brothers played on the same team and in the same game. It’s pretty awesome!

I had a pretty good career, and then my dad was a pretty good big-league player and a pretty good manager. Now my younger brother is a big-league manager, even though he hasn’t made his big league debut yet. So, we’ve been blessed as a family.

MMO: How would you describe your dad as a manager?

Alou: I played for seventeen seasons and played for different managers, and I always say that my dad was the best manager I had. Not because he’s my father, but there’s something about him that made him so much better than the other guys that I had. And I played for Jim Leyland, Dusty Baker; I played for some good managers.

My dad is a pretty knowledgeable guy, and if you played for my dad, you’d learn something. Whether it’s baseball, life, fishing, or religion, he’s a pretty smart guy.

MMO: When you think back to the 1994 Montreal Expos, in which the club had the best record in the game (74-40) and you were having one of your finest all-around seasons, do you think the Expos would’ve been World Series champs had there not been a players’ strike?

Alou: It’s pretty hard to predict. Baseball’s not like boxing where you can say I’m going to win the title; in baseball, you can’t say that.

We had a stacked team, and the time that it happened, we were just getting better. We were a bunch of young guys and starting four years before in 1990, when I got to the Expos after the trade, Larry Walker was there, Delino DeShields was there, Marquis Grissom was there, Mel Rojas was there.

And then year-after-year we kept adding guys and lost some guys but kept getting better and better. We got Pedro Martinez for Delino. We were young, and it was pretty much like we grew up together even though some of us came from other clubs, like John Wetteland from the Dodgers, Sean Berry came from Kansas City, Wil Cordero came from within the organization.

It was pretty much like we grew up together and we had chemistry, man. I’ve been on so many good teams, but this is the only team I remember where we’d go to a visiting park, stretch somewhere before the game, and you could feel the other team was afraid of us. Like, they were ready to get their ass kicked; that’s how good that team was.

Whether we would’ve won the World Series, I don’t know. But we were getting better at the time of the strike. We had a six- or seven-game lead against the Braves, who had a dynasty in the East. It was probably going to be a 15-game lead at the end of the season and playing against some very good teams.

MMO: You had a terrific World Series in 1997, with 3 homers, 9 RBIs and an OPS of 1.101. What memories stand out to you from that Series? And was there anything you changed or altered at the plate compared to the 1997 NLDS and NLCS?

Alou: It’s just a matter of getting hot at the right time. As a team with the Marlins, that’s what happened: We got hot. As a player, when you have a good team, every day is a different guy. Every series is a different guy.

I had a slow ’97 playoffs, but I remember I had a game-winning hit against the Giants in the Divisional Series in ’97 (Game 2 off Roberto Hernandez). My average didn’t show it, but I contributed big time in one of those wins for us to go to the next round.

During the World Series, I just got hot. They couldn’t hold me for that long! I remember before the first game of the ’97 World Series, Jerry Manuel was one of our coaches, and I was shagging in the outfield and he came walking through the outfield and was tracking to me. We came together from the Expos; he came as a coach and I came as a player, and we had a great relationship; we still do.

I remember Jerry saying to me, “Hey man, you’re going to get hot. You’ve got to get hot!”

He kind of pumped me up. And I went deep in my second at-bat in the World Series, and that pretty much broke the ice. Second at-bat you hit a homer and then all of a sudden it’s a little easier for you.

MMO: Does a day go by where the name Steve Bartman isn’t brought up to you?

Alou: Well, not really. [Laughs.] Now, yes, because in the Dominican we have a curfew here due to the pandemic, and I don’t go anywhere unless I have to. But besides that, no, one day doesn’t go by where somebody doesn’t ask me a question about Bartman.

MMO: Is there any doubt in your mind that you would’ve caught that ball?

Alou: There’s no doubt in my mind that I would’ve caught the ball. That was probably the reason why I was so upset about it, and also the situation as well. We kept coming back and we had them on the ropes, as they say. We were up three games to one, then three-two, and they tied the series.

I’m 100 percent certain that I had that ball because I was pretty bad making that play in foul territory or trying to rob a homer because I always used to take my eyes off of the ball. That time, I remember I had my eyes on the ball. I knew I had that ball.

MMO: Fast forward to November 2006, when you signed a one-year deal (with a team option) with the Mets. What made you sign with New York, and how was your experience overall playing in the Big Apple?

Alou: I remember it was kind of like when I signed with the Marlins in ’97. I wanted to play for the Mets so badly. Why? I don’t know. Probably because we were going to have a good team when I was going to play in New York.

Omar Minaya was the GM, and he’s from the Dominican, and I wanted to be part of that team. I remember kind of doing my own negotiations when they called. I’m going to tell you something that I never told anyone: I had a two-year deal with the Indians. Guaranteed two years for more money than what I signed for with the Mets. I signed with the Mets for less money and only one year guaranteed and a team option. So, I left money and another year guaranteed on the table to go to New York.

There were a couple of reasons for that. One, I wanted to stay in the National League. And two, one of my teammates with the Giants, the team I played on before the Mets, was Omar Vizquel. I remember calling Omar and telling him I have to make a decision: two years with the Indians or one year with the Mets. And Omar told me, “Cleveland is such a nice city, but I would go to New York; it’s the best.”

That was part, not the whole reason, but that was part of the reason why I went to play with the Mets.

I had a great time, I was always thankful for the way that I was treated by the Wilpons and Omar. They have a very special place in my heart. I was treated very nicely; they were very down-to-earth owners when I played there.

I remember after I played my last game after I got hurt and I was going to be out for the year, Fred invited me over to his house for dinner. He felt bad about the way my season ended. And that’s something that I’ll always remember.

MMO: During your 30-game hitting streak in 2007, was that as locked in as you can remember being at the plate during your career?

Alou: I remember being locked in. But the thing that I’m most proud about with that 30-game hitting streak is the period of time when it happened. We were in the pennant race, and to be hot and getting hits every day during that race is something that I’ll always be proud of.

I was a guy that moved everywhere. I wasn’t a bad teammate, and I wasn’t a bad player; pretty much when you move around, it’s because you’re a bad guy or a bad player. I wasn’t either one of those. I don’t know; nobody ever signed me back. I would sign with a team for two years, and after that season I would move to another team. It happened a couple of times.

With the Astros, I had an option to become a free agent after ’98 because I got traded during a long-term deal with the Marlins. I could’ve left Houston, but they asked me to stay, so I stayed. And then the Mets asked me back after they picked up my option.

Everywhere I went, I wanted to do good for that team. I wanted to do good for the guy that traded for me; I wanted to do good for those who signed me as a free agent. I’m a six-time All-Star, and I’m an All-Star with five different teams. So everywhere I went, I made the All-Star team. That meant I had a good season with every club that I went to.

When I signed with the Mets, I was very disappointed because I remember I pulled my hamstring around May, which made me miss two months. One thing that I wanted was to make the All-Star team as a Met. And I probably would’ve done it! When I got hurt, I was playing well, and then I missed two months. Then I came back and had the 30-game hitting streak, so that’s something I’m proud of.

That was my biggest disappointment, that I played well but I couldn’t stay on the field.

MMO: One of the many things you’re remembered for in your career is forgoing using batting gloves. Was that something you did your whole career, and what was the reason behind it?

Alou: I liked feeling the wood of the bat. It would sting my hands, but I felt like I hit the ball harder without batting gloves. I never used batting gloves. I don’t know, maybe in the minor leagues I did or in junior college. But in my big-league career, sometimes maybe I would if I was slumping and looking for luck, but my whole career playing every day I didn’t use batting gloves. You might find a picture or baseball card for some reason; maybe I had a blister or something.

But I believe in my seventeen seasons I didn’t use batting gloves. I just liked the feel of the wood in my hands.

MMO: I had a tweet about players 40 or older who hit at least .340 with a minimum of 300 at-bats. You were one of the three since 1900, along with Sam Rice and Ty Cobb. Many remember you for your tremendous hit tool and quick wrists. How were you able to continue hitting at such an elite level so late in your career?

Alou: The way I hit, my swing and everything, was low maintenance. I didn’t have very much movement because I had quick hands. My bat speed was pretty good, and I remember my dad telling me, and I agreed with it, that the guy that can hit the fastball is going to stay in the game as long as they want.

I could’ve stayed in the game if I didn’t get hurt. Even after I got hurt, I could’ve signed with the Phillies in 2009. I didn’t want to play anymore because I was tired of getting hurt. So, I would’ve played at age 43 if I wanted to. My last four seasons I hit over .300 and seven out of my last ten I hit over .300.

I became a better hitter. I didn’t hit .300 in Chicago because it’s tough to hit .300 in Chicago because of the big grass. I was a guy that was a line-drive hitter that found holes. My skills were getting better and better as I was getting older. And when you have nine surgeries in your career, it takes a toll.

MMO: Who was the toughest pitcher you faced during your career?

Alou: By far it’s Pedro. I played with Pedro for three or four years, and I only had like 10 at-bats off Pedro.

José Rijo was also tough. John Smoltz was tough. But Pedro definitely number one for sure.

MMO: Your brother, Luis Rojas, is embarking on his first major league managerial job with the Mets. Can you talk a bit about why Mets fans should be excited for Luis at the helm?

Alou: Luis is a seasoned manager. This guy is like a young veteran manager. He comes with a seasoned resume with more experience than a lot of the managers already in the big leagues. He doesn’t come with a big-league career, but he does come with a pedigree. He’s the son of a very good manager, the best manager I ever played for. He’s a kid with a lot of passion for the game; he loves the game, and someone that has a lot of experience as a manager in the minor leagues and as a winter league manager.

Winter league is a step that a lot of managers want to take. A lot of people don’t want to manage in the big leagues, but they want to come manage in the winter leagues.

David Bell with the Reds; he came here and managed my team when I was GM [Leones del Escogido]. He came in and managed the team that Luis managed for three or four years.

Luis won a championship here; he won one in the minor leagues. If you give him a good team despite his young age, he has a lot of experience and he has great leadership. That’s something I’m very proud of, and I think he’s going to push the right buttons most of the time.

MMO: I’ve often heard that managing in winter ball is a terrific way to gain valuable experience based on the serious competition.

Alou: It’s the competition and pressure. When you manage in the Dominican, there are 5,000 managers; everybody here thinks they can manage and that they’re smarter than the manager. It’s basically what have you done for me today. If you lose tomorrow, they want you fired. They fire managers here after four games! Seriously, after four games they fire managers in winter ball.

When they ask me about Luis, and if managing in New York is going to bring him pressure, I tell them he’s been through worse pressure here in the Dominican. [Laughs.]

MMO: Your name has popped over the last several years as a potential managerial candidate. Can you envision yourself ever managing in the major leagues?

Alou: No, no chance. My name has come up, and I’ve been asked for interviews, but no.

MMO: You’ve been working in the Padres’ front office as a special assistant in player development since 2015. Are you still working in that capacity with the Padres, and what are some of your responsibilities?

Alou: Yes, I’m still a special assistant with the Padres. I kind of do a little bit of everything and a little bit of nothing. [Laughs.]

I do some scouting, and a special assistant’s job is kind of like an advisor. I’m involved with a little bit of everything, like when we interview managers and coaches. The only thing I don’t get involved in is the draft and things like that. But they’ll ask my opinion for free-agent signings and trades.

MMO: Looking back on your career, what are you most proud of?

Alou: You know what I’m most proud of? I work with the Padres now, and whenever we sign a player or trade for a player, I always like to sign or trade for a guy that shows up every day. That’s what I’m most proud of: that I showed up every day.

I showed up every day, and I was there to give it all I had. Like I said earlier, the Mets signed me; I wanted to be an All-Star. That’s the thing I’m most proud of, that I showed up every day.

MMO: Thank you very much for your time today, Moises. It was great to talk with you about your incredible career.

Alou: Thanks, Mat.

Follow Moises Alou on Twitter, @MoisesAlou18

The post MMO Exclusive: Six-Time All-Star, Moises Alou appeared first on Metsmerized.

The Mets are set to activate David Wright on Tuesday, and he will make his final start on Saturday the 29th. With his upcoming retirement two of Wright’s former managers recently shared their thought’s on Wright and his thirteen year career.

In an of episode of ‘Mets On Deck’ with Pete McCarthy of WOR, spoke with former Mets manager Jerry Manuel.

Manuel told McCarthy that upon joining the Mets organization in 2005, his first impression of Wright was that he “had the opportunity to potentially impact a five tool player, which David was.”

He added that even as a younger guy in the clubhouse, Wright was the leader he is today.

“He was young, but he was quite the teammate. He embraced everyone and every player that joined the organization.. He had those characteristic traits of a natural leader, he did everything the organization would ask him to do,” Manuel said.

Manuel became Wright’s manager in the middle of the 2008 season. That offseason, Wright played hero for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, which Manuel thought was going to be a turning point in his career.

“I thought he was ready to take off and win championships just like the young man crosstown [Derek Jeter]. He was in that same class, but was lacking the championships, and I think that’s what hurt me more than anything about his career,” Manuel said.

Terry Collins, who managed Wright in more games than anyone else, also feels the third baseman showed Hall of Fame potential.

“I saw him when he was rehabbing in Port St. Lucie, and I told him I managed three Hall of Famers and he could do everything they could do, if not more,” Collins recently told Ken Davidoff of the New York Post.

Collins became the Mets manager in 2011, and he named Wright the team captain two years later in 2013. During the 2015 season, Wright appeared in 38 games, and Collins penciled him in as the third baseman during the Mets World Series run.

In 2017 when teammates anonymously ripped into Collins’ leadership styles, Wright didn’t hold back and was quick to jump and defend Collins.

Collins told Davidoff, “obviously I’m very honored to have been able to manage him.”

“As a person, he’s one of the finer people I’ve ever been around. And he was a great player,” Collins said.

The post Two of Wright’s Former Managers Offer High Praise for The Captain appeared first on Metsmerized.

Right now, the Mets are just a bad baseball team. When you are a fan of a bad baseball team, it is sometimes difficult to find seasons to watch. Thankfully, there still remain reasons to watch the Mets:

Jacob deGrom – This year, deGrom has returned to pitching like an ace. No, he may not be the guy he was in 2015, but he’s still a great pitcher. You know with him on the mound the Mets have a chance to win the game. With his ability, anything is possible.

Michael Conforto – We have been watching Conforto have one of the best, if not the best, season a young Mets player has ever had. He will soon be the youngest Mets player to ever hit 30 homers. He’s showing how special he is taking on more leadership responsibilities in the clubhouse.

Chris Flexen – Very quickly, Flexen has gone from over-matched to holding his own. He’s just 23 and had just seven Double-A starts under his belt. Just holding his own at this point is remarkable. Sooner or later, he may just prove he belongs at this level.

Juan Lagares – One thing that really stood out in the Subway Series was this man can still play Gold Glove defense. In fact, he might be the best outfielder in baseball with his league leading 34.0 UZR/150. Metrics aside, it’s a joy to watch him play center field defense, and you never know when he is going to make his next great play.

Amed Rosario & Dominic Smith – They have essentially been presented as this generations David Wright and Jose Reyes or Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry. If they’re at those levels, the Mets will quickly turn things around. If they are truly this good, we won’t want to miss a minute of them playing.

With that, there are five very good reasons to continue watching this team. Other than that, we can watch because we’re Mets fans, and we love our team. I know I watched the Jeff Torborg, Art Howe, or Jerry Manuel Mets teams, I can certainly watch this team.

The post There Are Still Reasons To Watch This Mets Team appeared first on Metsmerized.

Ask the former Gold Glove center fielder Mike Cameron how he looks back on his 17-year career in the majors, and he’ll tell you that he feels blessed and grateful.

Those words perfectly describe a man who had the opportunity to play close to 2,000 games in the big leagues, swat 278 career home runs, steal 297 bases, earn three Gold Glove Awards and collect endless memories with the eight different franchises he played for.

Among all qualified center fielders from 1997 (his rookie year) to 2009 (his last season playing over 100 games), Cameron ranked fifth in home runs (264), fifth in RBIs (924), fourth in runs scored (1008), fourth in fWAR (50.8) and third in stolen bases (296).

The combination of speed and power puts Cameron in a rarefied group: He’s one of only 13 outfielders (min. 75 percent played in the outfield) in major league history with at least 250 career home runs and 250 stolen bases. Some of the luminaries in this category are Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, and Andre Dawson.

To many, the highlight reel catches Cameron would make routinely at the center-field wall stood out from his career. Winner of three Gold Gloves (2001, 2003, 2006), Cameron was among the top performers in center during that same stretch of 1997-09, placing first in putouts (4481), second in Total Zone (61), third in UZR (45.8) and seventh in assists (67).

Cameron signed with the New York Mets in the 2003 offseason, fresh off his fifth straight double-digit home run season and earning his second Gold Glove Award.

The slugging center fielder hit a career-best 30 homers for the Mets in 2004, leading the Mets that year in home runs, runs batted in (76), stolen bases (22), runs (76), games played (140), and total bases (236).

I had the privilege of speaking with Cameron last week to discuss his impressive career, tenure with the Mets and his general thoughts about the game today.

MMO: What has life been like for you post-retirement? I read that you have your own baseball academy?

Mike: When I first got out, my oldest son was just starting high school, and now he’s kind of on his own. I just wanted to, not get away from the game, but I needed to step away from the game for a while and just live with family. It’s hard enough as it is already, but just being in tune with their life and not about mine, so to speak, and just kind of going with it like that. Just trying to be a dad, just a regular old dad, you know?

I only have one kid that plays baseball, and baseball is still a heavy devotion in my life. That’s the reason why I got the baseball [academy]. It started out with a couple of cages and turned into something massive that I had really looked for, so I became kind of instantaneously part of the community by just putting something together like that.

MMO: You mentioned your son who plays baseball. Daz Cameron was taken in the first round by the Houston Astros in the 2015 Draft. What’s it been like getting to watch your son play professionally now? It must be pretty cool that he’s also playing your old position.

Mike: Yeah, it’s cool. He’s kind of just doing his own thing. We have a lot of similarities and features, and I try to enforce a little bit more of the things that I felt like we’re a little bit different types of players. He has this really good knack for controlling the barrel, a lot more than maybe I should have. I should have that same thing.

One thing, if I could regret [something], is coming into this power thing where you sacrifice so many swings and misses for power when you don’t really have to. He has this really good knack for putting the bat on the ball, and even more so than me, if I was envious of anything he does very well.

He’s got a good feel for the game, and he’s just learning; he’s learning Minor League Baseball. He’s just trying to put it all together. And that’s it, that’s all I can do. I told him I’ve given him all the ingredients. We talk, and I get a chance to see the games because he’s in the Midwest League, so I see him on the computer. I can instantly see what’s going on and correct whatever it may be, but I can’t do it every day because I need for him to feel it. I need him to understand where I need him to be able to communicate those types of things. I can enhance his learning process a lot better, so it’s instantaneous.

But it’s good; he’s got me, and I know everything inside/out about the game. So wherever he is, you spend twenty-one years, and I spent years in the minor leagues, so I know everything; there’s nothing that I don’t know about playing this part of the game.

He’s kind of got his own thing, and I’ve stepped back to allow him to have his own thing. He’s got enough pressure; he’s got my last name. I played for a long time and I was pretty good. He’s a first-round draft pick, so there are so many things in the game of baseball and in his situation that could be negative energy towards him, and I try to stay away from that.

I stay away from all negativity with him, except giving him the simple basics of what he needs to do playing the game. Understanding there’s going to be failure, there’s no one that can get past the failure of the game of baseball, so just live it, man. Live it. Get engaged with it and do your thing.

MMO: Growing up, who were some of your favorite players?

Mike: I got a chance to see those Monday night games, I saw a lot of the Braves. I saw a lot of the Cincinnati Reds. I saw Rickey Henderson a lot, and almost to a fault Ken Griffey Jr.

Modeling my game after one specific player, I used to like Devon White, Rickey Henderson; I liked everybody. I liked all those guys in center field.

Eric Davis was probably my favorite because I resembled the way he played the game. But there are so many dynamics that you learn. Devon White, I feel like I played center field like Devon White. You just copy a lot of different guys.

I kind of learned the game from my uncles, and growing up playing softball at a young age with my dad, I just had so much. My grandma was a big fan of the game, so I’ve had it easy; I’ve had that support system. Where I grew up, that was just small town, so everybody knew everybody that did something like this right here. It was good for me.

MMO: Did you primarily play in the outfield when you were growing up?

Mike: I didn’t start playing outfield until I was in my sophomore year of high school. I was a shortstop.

MMO: No kidding? Did you like playing short?

Mike: I loved shortstop! I always had aspirations to play one inning in the big leagues at shortstop. I used to try to get Lou Piniella to let me do it all the time. I took ground balls at short every single day. And not just messing around but to ensure and work on the simple basics and those things like that. It’s a different type of work on the infield; you have to get down, so I try to use those things as a stepping stone.

Jerry Manuel was one of the guys who always used to let us do that because he thought we got a chance to see a different side of the game from that dirt as opposed to the outfield. There are so many things that I learned. Joe Nossek, when I first came up with the Chicago White Sox, was inspirational every day in getting me prepared to be an everyday centerfielder.

Gary Pettis was probably the reason why I got the Gold Gloves I have, and Johnny Moses. I had Pettis in the minor leagues. I was just fortunate to have all these guys that were pieces of my puzzle that kind of put me together. Especially early on at a young age in the minor leagues and everything else.

I can’t be anything but grateful for all the people that do that. In return, I try to share those same sentiments with kids and everybody else playing the game now.

MMO: You were known throughout the game as a tremendous defensive center fielder during your career. Is that something you took pride in and embraced?

Mike: Yeah, I had a good feeling. Darren Lewis used to tell me, and I’m pretty sure everyone else, if you’re playing the middle of the diamond, then your main priority is to be a difference-maker on the field. I tried to change the game. I probably didn’t get the same kind of kickback as Andruw Jones or, so to speak, even Torii [Hunter].

I managed my own weight; I could play that and other positions better than 90 percent of the dudes that play out there. It wasn’t anything like a weakness; I didn’t have a weakness in the outfield. I had a strong arm, I could go back, I could come in, I could play above the fence, I could play around the fence. I learned the nuances of the game like that. There wasn’t any dynamic that I didn’t take into consideration when I played the game out on the field.

I’m grateful for the opportunity I got out there. I figured that they told me if you can play this game in the field and do something, then it’ll give you more at-bats to stay in the lineup. Anything can happen on any given day, even when you’re struggling. I’ve always looked at it like that.

I mean, before I hit the four homers (May 2, 2002, against the Chicago White Sox), I had been struggling a little bit towards the end of April. That day in Chicago I hit four homers and robbed a grand slam. Nobody ever talks about that; I robbed a grand slam! [Laughs.]

MMO: That’s right, I remember that! But of course, the homers are the most talked about.

Mike: It’s special. All of those things are things I’ll never forget. Obviously, I’ve had way more great days in the field than at the plate, but I’ve had some good days at the plate, so it kind of balances out. I just knew that my game in center field is up there with some of the best, so I can’t even complain one bit.

MMO: What would you rather have: a walk-off home run or to rob a guy of a home run to end a game?

Mike: I’ve got to go with the homer because it’s so hard to hit homers! It’s so hard to hit homers, I loved robbing them, but it’s so hard to hit a home run, man.

The best guys only put a good swing on the ball 40 times; that’s how difficult it is. That’s the kind of game it is. If we think about it in simplest forms, if you hit 20 homers, you got to hit 20 balls on the screws very well to get it in the air. You’ve got to hit 30 of them; you try to hit 30 balls out of 700 and something at-bats, you’re trying to hit 30 of them on the screws very well.

That type of mindset simplifies a lot of different things, so you start to square the ball up, and God-given ability allows you to get the ball out of the ballpark. I’m trying to teach my kid that.

MMO: When you were traded from the Cincinnati Reds to the Seattle Mariners in 2000, were there any nerves about replacing an icon in Ken Griffey Jr.?

Mike: I was a nervous wreck! Arguably, that was the best player of our generation at that time, other than Barry [Bonds] and whoever, but Junior was the guy. Here I am getting traded for this dude; I’m like, what the?! What am I going to do in Seattle? I’m just trying to get my feet pressed into the game, so it was difficult.

I had a chance to think about this stuff in the offseason, but once I got a chance to actually get to see in spring training and kind of how everyone embraced me, man, I was good. It became normal again.

We had a pretty good year in Cincinnati with the ’99 team. I thought we were going to be there forever. We had a nice little run into the New York Mets, and Al Leiter shut us out in that one-game playoff, and Rickey Henderson going deep against us.

MMO: That was some play-in game though!

Mike: Oh man, I couldn’t play! I got hurt the last game in Milwaukee. I was hurt; I got hurt the night before. We had that Sunday night game against Milwaukee, and I ended up re-injuring my hamstring, and it was terrible. Because we played later at night, we got rained out until later that night, and basically, we played a Sunday night game at like one o’clock in the morning. Then we flew back and had that one-game playoff against the New York Mets that night. It was crazy, man. It was cold too in Milwaukee and a little bit chilly in Cincinnati.

We were kids. We were good and really started to pave our own way with the Houston Astros because they were kind of like the beef of the division at that time. So we started kind of making a name for ourselves, you know me, Pokey Reese, Dmitri Young, Barry Larkin, Sean Casey, Aaron Boone, Jason LaRue, Greg Vaughn, Jeffrey Hammonds and Michael Tucker.

MMO: You had a great mixture of veterans and young guys on that Reds team.

Mike: We had an unbelievable team, you couldn’t believe! That’s one good thing I can say Jim Bowden did was he was able to put together these squads. I mean, that was the last time there would be eight brothers on the squad, too! [Laughs.] It doesn’t happen often. We were like family, we were close-knit. It was good.

MMO: Having that type of camaraderie must make it so much more fun when you all are close like that.

Mike: Until I got to Seattle, it was the most unified team that I ever played on. I mean, we go to dinner it [would] be like ten-to-fifteen guys; we had so much of everything there. We had the veteran leadership, we had the young players, we had superstars, we had everything! It was just like no other man.

We had Pete Harnisch, Steve Avery, Danny Graves; we had all kinds of dudes! Scott Williamson, we had Scott Williamson as a rookie throwing 95 mph sliders; that’s why he didn’t last long. We had so much talent.

Stan Belinda, Dennys Reyes, we had so many dudes, and everybody was on the same page. We had Hal Morris and Mark Lewis. Ken Griffey Sr. was my hitting coach, and we had Jack McKeon as our manager. Dude, we had so much fun; it was a blessing.

I’ve been so blessed. Everyone kind of says that I’ve been a nomad of baseball because I’ve played with eight different franchises. I had no idea; I thought I was going to be in Cincinnati forever. I thought I was going to be in Seattle forever. I thought by the end I’ll be in New York for the rest of my career. That’s just the way it kind of transpired.

The only place I think I didn’t get the chance to really etch myself in because it happened so quickly was in New York, because of what happened between me and Beltran. That was probably the hardest thing I ever had to deal with in my whole life.

MMO: Do you feel that after that horrific injury you were the same type of ballplayer ever again?

Mike: I was different all the way around. The only reason why was at that time I was only 31 going into my [age] 32-year, I felt like I was still at the top of my game as a center fielder [until] that injury. I wouldn’t be able to be the same player if I went back that next year to playing right field knowing what just transpired. I wouldn’t have been good, so I just said I can’t do it no more, I can’t play right field under these circumstances once my body had kind of healed up, and they traded me.

They traded me to San Diego (for Xavier Nady). That was one of the best things that happened to me in the aftermath because it took me directly to the place where I got hurt. Getting hurt is one thing, but I could’ve died, I could’ve died, literally. The impact could’ve broken my neck.

I wasn’t supposed to play baseball anymore after that. With the stuff that happens with your eyes and everything, I wasn’t supposed to play baseball after that. I didn’t know that. I mean, I made it back from that and got traded to San Diego, out of all places, the same place where everything took place at.

I went back to center field, and my gratitude for the game was even more intense. I even played on another crazy level, like with recklessness, because my gratitude for the game changed. I was like, I can’t take anything at all for granted. Just to see my BP jersey hanging in the locker, you know I wasn’t supposed to be coming back, man. I wasn’t supposed to come back and do this anymore, but internally I felt like I had to come back because I couldn’t let that be the last time I go out.

I’m so thankful for that. It took a while, but I finished 21st in the MVP ballot, we made it to the playoffs in San Diego, I won another Gold Glove back in center. I got instant relief of saying that it’s okay, you know, everything’s all right.

MMO: Was it peace of mind knowing you could go back out there and compete?

Mike: I was good anyway, but the fact that my oldest sister passed that October, I got hurt in August and was going through that psychologically. Then my oldest sister, who had two young girls, passed away. She died from pulmonary embolism, and psychologically I was screwed up for a while.

It took me a while to come back that year. It took me almost a year and a half to heal. I played, but it took me a year and a half to heal.

I wasn’t fully healed until probably 2007. I played 2006 just with what I was going through. I didn’t even work out in the offseason; I didn’t do anything. I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything [from] August, September, October, November, and December. In January, I may have picked up a bat like two weeks before spring training, just to see what it felt like. It was a lot of healing for me.

I guess the timing was perfect that I went to a place like San Diego where there was not much pressure. It was 75 degrees and sunny out there every day. I lived on the beach, so it was therapy for me. It wasn’t any hard feelings with Beltran or whatever else; sometimes that’s just the way the game is.

He played a lot deeper center field than I played, so it’s very hard for me to have a collision with someone in the outfield because I’m in total command when I play center field. I’m in all the way command and everyone understood what I was trying to do when I was playing the game out there. Even my infielders, I let everybody know what was taking place; I let everybody know. I didn’t want any misunderstandings.

Even in times when we knew we were going to be in pressurized situations, I wanted to be in control. That got me in a little bit of trouble when I played right field because we didn’t play off each other; our boundaries were off. I had to learn how to play where Beltran was playing. And I played right field in the minor leagues my first couple of years because when I came up to the big leagues, you didn’t play your position because somebody was there; you had to wait your turn.

MMO: How long did it take you to grab hold of center?

Mike: About a year and a half, I just had to wait my turn. I learned other positions, and my son kind of gripes about that today. They’ve had him playing right field, and I tell him there’s nothing wrong with that, son. I said this is development. There’s nothing wrong with developing yourself in all areas because it’s going to come back to you. You’re not going to be able to do it. I mean, there aren’t many guys that can play center field in their late thirties, and I was able to do that. I played 150-155 games in center field.

MMO: You’re right. You start hearing from scouts how certain guys lose a step or two after a certain age.

Mike: Yeah, you’ve got all these metrics and everything else now.

MMO: Are you a fan of the new metrics and advanced stats in the game?

Mike: Some of them. I mean, the numbers don’t lie, obviously. The numbers don’t tell the whole story, and I think that’s what is happening to Andrew McCutchen now. The numbers have gouged him, and everyone saying he can’t play. I think that’s gouged his game in center field; just because it doesn’t add up one year doesn’t mean you’re dead. There are some things you can improve on.

I remember one time they said that I couldn’t do this or whatever else it is, and I’m like, Okay, I’ll just show you. It’s like, okay, you said I can’t do that; I learned to play shallow in center field because everyone was talking about how good Andruw Jones was at going back on the ball and this, that and the other. And I was like, S***, I can do that easily! I’m going to work on that in batting practice, and I’ll be able to go back so I’m going to take away these singles.

I knew I could go back to the wall, partly because I played in Seattle where the ball hung up, so it’s kind of just understanding everything that kind of takes place.

I kind of engaged myself in every moment being on the field and trying to be engaged with the game. Sometimes it was good, and sometimes they were bad because I took it to heart. I tried to perfect as much as I possibly could at the craft and have my people feel really good about it who I played with.

MMO: Backtracking a bit, what about New York sold you when you were a free agent in the offseason of 2003?

Mike: I had already been on the West Coast pretty much my whole career. As I said, I couldn’t come to Atlanta because of my grandmother. I wanted to be around where she could see me every day. I wanted to come back closer to home since I couldn’t be in Seattle; I wanted to come back this way.

And New York, I saw their team, and they had an opening. I checked out their minor leagues and knew they had Cliff [Floyd], who was a really good friend and remember they had just beat us in ’99, and they had some guys coming through [the system].

There was an opening in New York, and it was the fact that I felt like since I played in Chicago, I got a few years under my belt, I can handle New York. I just played in Seattle, where we were kind of the top team for three or four years, we just missed the playoffs those last two years because the Angels won 100-something games and the year before Oakland had won 100-some games, and we won 93 games.

I thought I was prepared. I played for Lou Piniella, so that prepared me a little bit more. I could handle New York; I’m 30-something years old now. And it’s a chance to play in New York, man! You play in New York, it’s special.

MMO: Did you enjoy New York? Do you have a favorite moment?

Mike: No doubt about it! It was hard, you know? My time in New York was well spent. I got a chance to engage in a lot of people, the atmosphere, everything else, and so that was special in itself.

Numbers-wise, it didn’t come out the way I wanted to. I ended up passing Tommie Agee with the home run deal. It was good, man, because I was around a lot of good players. [Mike] Piazza, [John] Franco, [Tom] Glavine, [Al] Leiter; at least two of them Hall of Famers. Learning from that aspect, and probably David Wright would’ve been a Hall of Famer too if he could’ve kept going.

MMO: I know you said you separated yourself from the game a little since retirement, but do you still keep up with all that’s going on in the game today?

Mike: Most definitely! When I said separated it was just trying to intertwine my life other than baseball. I’m fully engaged, this woman here [his wife] hates me right now. She hates it that I’m still so engaged. I said look, for half of my life that’s what it was, that was my life even before I knew your life.

MMO: Do you pay attention to the certain teams you played for or certain guys you played with?

Mike: [Laughs.] Everyone I played with is gone! Except for Ichiro, that’s it! He’s the only guy still playing.

MMO: You and Ichiro seemed to have a very close relationship and bond in Seattle. What kind of guy is Ichiro off the field?

Mike: We did! He’s a good man; he’s good people. He stays to himself. I went down to spring training, and I saw him when I went to see my son. I told him that your young guys have to pay attention to you. There’s a reason why he’s playing at 43-years-old and still playing [at a high level].

I wish I had the chance to play with him longer; I should have but Bill Bavasi messed that up in Seattle.

I’m just grateful for being able to play with so many great players. I don’t know if anyone can say they played with so many great players that are Hall of Famers or potential Hall of Famers. Every team I played on, I played with Hall of Famers. I played with Pedro [Martínez] in New York, Mike Piazza, Tom Glavine.

In Chicago I played with Frank Thomas, Tim Raines, I played with Robin Ventura, Harold Baines, Ozzie Guillen, Albert Belle, and pitching-wise Doug Drabek.

Cincinnatti with Greg Vaughn, Barry Larkin, and guys that were instrumental in teaching.

In Seattle: John Olerud, A-Rod, Edgar Martinez, Jay Buhner, Ichiro. In San Diego: Trevor Hoffman, Adrian Gonzalez was probably the next tier of guy I should say. Playing with David Wells, like all of these guys.

In Milwaukee, Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun, and Trevor Hoffman again. And then going from Milwaukee to Boston, I was playing with Big Papi, Jon Lester, Adrian Beltre, Victor Martinez, Dustin Pedroia, Mikey Lowell. That nucleus just goes on and on, and I’ve been fortunate to be a part of the game in that sense. Not only be able to see it, but watch it transpire like no other.

MMO: Do you have a favorite moment from your career?

Mike: So many because they’re all not really baseball-related or inclined. Obviously, the four-homer game was one thing, but probably one of the biggest things that took place in my life was being mentioned in the sense of winning an award or being mentioned in the award for the Roberto Clemente Award by being in New York City.

MMO: I can’t thank you enough for some time today, Mike. It was great to talk with you!

Mike: Definitely, Mathew. Take care.

Follow Mike Cameron on Twitter @_darkman44

The post MMO Exclusive: A Conversation With Former Mets Outfielder, Mike Cameron appeared first on Metsmerized.

To many, this might not seem important at all. But with 41.2 percent of players in 2015 being people of color according to Sports Business News, it should be. It’s something that’s clearly gotten the attention of the commissioner.

“You’re going to have peaks and valleys in terms of representation within what’s a very small sample; there’s only 30 of them out there,” said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred to the Associated Press back in October. “Having said that, we are focused on the need to promote diversity, not just African-American, but Latino, as well, in the managerial ranks.”

Prior to Terry Collins, the Mets had two ‘African-American’ managers: Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel. Randolph spent the final days of an illustrious playing career with the Mets in 1992, when then-GM Al Harazin won the winter meetings by acquiring Randolph, Bobby Bonilla, Eddie Murray and Bret Saberhagen.

He would only play in 90 games that season, opening the door for a young infielder named Jeff Kent, acquired in a trade with Toronto for David Cone. A six-time All-Star raised in Brooklyn, he was on Joe Torre’s staff for 11 seasons as the Yankees won four World Series champions. He had never managed before at any level, but brought the same calm self-assurance seen from Torre to the Blue and Orange and for as much deserved criticism for the 2007 collapse, the Mets were a winning franchise under Randolph.

• 2005 – 83-79
• 2006 – 97-65
• 2007 – 88-74
• 2008 – 34-35

He was replaced by Jerry Manuel, who was known as a communicator and great leader. On the staff since 2005, he was a bench coach for Jim Leyland in 1997 when the Florida Marlins won the World Series. He was tapped to take over the Chicago White Sox the following year and won the AL Central Division title and Manager of the Year in 2000. But three years later, Manuel was out in favor of Ozzie Guillen.

Despite going 55-38 after taking over the Mets for Randolph, the team lost two of the final three games including the final game at Shea to miss the postseason once again. The following year started well enough before a sorry 9-18 June paved the way to meaningless games in September and a 70-92 season.

Manuel lost his job along with Omar Minaya in 2010. Sandy Alderson took over, waited for many of Minaya’s draft picks to blossom instead of trading them and hired a manager within the organization to lead them in Terry Collins.

If Collins sticks with his claim to walk away from the dugout in a couple of years, the Mets could have his replacement already within the ranks in Pedro Lopez. Currently the Mets Binghamton manager, Lopez was twice named the best manager prospect in the Eastern League by Baseball America in 2014.

He’s been in the Mets organization since 2008, working his way up from the Rookie League affiliate in Kingsport. B-Mets President and co-owner Mike Urda says Lopez’s even-keeled nature and knack for motivating players stands out.

“The most impressive thing I could say about Pedro is the players produce for him,” said Urda. “They like playing for him.”

Lopez managed Zack Wheeler, Juan Lagares, Jacob deGrom, Rafael Montero, Wilmer Flores and Dilson Herrera just to name a few and seems to have the mindset that protecting his players is essential.

“I’ve always said that the one thing I bring to the table is that I’m trying to keep an environment to work and have fun every year,” said Lopez. “I try to keep them relaxed, tell them that even if it’s a bad outing—or if it’s a positon player that has a bad day—it’s okay. It’s going to get better.”

Is he going to be the next manager in Queens? I think it’s important for our next manager to speak Spanish. He (or she) doesn’t have to be fluent, but with the number of Latin players in the League they should be able to directly connect with the entire team. Many on Jon Heyman’s list of possible candidates would fall into that category.

• Sandy Alomar Jr.: Excellent persona, and fine playing and coaching resumes. Would be miscarriage of justice if he never had the chance.
• Hensley Meulens: The hard-working hitting coach of the Giants has learned from the best in Bruce Bochy and speaks several languages.
• Jose Oquendo: Long-time Cardinals coach obviously has been around winning, but he has been passed over so much now he seems almost ingrained as a coach.
• Delino DeShields: Managed the last five years in the Cincinnati Reds’ organization

All of these minority candidates are seemingly hurt by the industry’s move towards analytic-loving, college educated and front-office friendly managers instead of actual managing experience. Lloyd McClendon wasn’t given much in Seattle and in two seasons is just two games over .500, but the new GM Jerry Dipoto has turned over the reins to Scot Servais, a former player and minor league scouting director.

If this trend continues, with the numbers of Hispanic players signing at 16 and the 8% black population in the major leagues and just 2.6% playing Division I college baseball, it’s clear that the future doesn’t look bright for minority managers.

Is this a trend that will eventually turn back to the past or one that’s here to stay? Should Manfred institute something like the NLF’s Rooney Rule or should the best person get the job regardless of their race?

The post Bridging the Minority Manager Gap appeared first on Metsmerized.

Usually I’m not the type to tell someone “I told you so”. It’s annoying at best and at its worst it can make you want to slug the person who says it. That doesn’t mean there aren’t times when facts are so evident that they hit you in the face leaving you feeling like Delino DeShields Jr. after a close encounter with a 90 mph fastball. When it comes to the future of Jenrry Mejia, unfortunately all I can say is – I told you so.

You see it was about 4 years ago right here on Metsmerized when I wrote an article about what – get this – Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel should do about Jenrry Mejia. Should he be groomed as the heir apparent to Frankie Rodriguez or “stretched” out and turned into a starting pitcher? Of course as it is with many young players who make their way through this organization, their climb up the rungs is far from dull and uneventful. For Mejia it was a birth by fire.

Get ready, I’m about to quote myself because that’s how I roll.

“Earlier this year Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel fawned over minor league phenom pitcher, Jenrry Mejia. Somehow through that love affair, the kid surprisingly made the major league team right out of Spring. It was a desperate move then and looking back, it remains the same.

Especially considering one, the kid had barely over 200 innings of work in the minors and two, unbeknownst to him, he was anointed by Jerry Manuel and few other prominent figures around the team, a future Mariano Rivera armed with a Godly cutter and all.

No pressure there Jenrry. Here’s the ball, have fun. Nobody ever accused the Mets of being masters of public relations but this situation took the cake for me. Instead of dealing with the reality of not having a bonafide set-up man, Minaya and Manuel decided to thrust Jenrry Mejia into the spotlight.”

So instead of sending Mejia to AAA to pitch and either succeed or fail all on his own, they set the kid up. In the minors we would’ve learned probably what we know now, that Mejia is lights out for about 3 innings – roughly one time through a lineup as the .160 average against him is right now. But of course in the minds of Minaya and Manuel it was all about winning and winning NOW.

When I look back it disgusts me how this organization handled Mejia. This was supposed to be their crown jewel and they treated him like a cheap Lucas Duda knock-off watch right off of Canal Street. But before we sharpen our knives on Omar and Jerry let’s not forget that while Mejia has had to deal with injuries and multiple surgeries, he’s still a pretty damn good pitcher but the writing is on the wall. Collins and Alderson need to put Mejia in the bullpen despite his desire to start. The more they wait, the more Mejia is going to believe he should be a starter.

I want to bat third in the Mets lineup but it’s not going to happen either, get over it Jenrry. Alderson and his acolytes in Sabermetrics tend to believe that relievers are simply failed starters. Don’t get me wrong, many are but every once in a while you get a diamond that can only go an inning or two.

Alderson found one in Dennis Eckersley and the other just retired last season as the greatest reliever ever. This team needs to right the wrongs that they’ve placed on Jenrry Mejia and prepare him for his proper role as closer for the New York Mets. Hey it’s not like I didn’t say I told you so.

The post Righting The Wrongs appeared first on Metsmerized.