Former Mets’ area scouting supervisor Jon Updike believes in paying it forward. As a former 28th-round pick by the Seattle Mariners in the 1993 MLB Draft, Updike reflects fondly on the scout, John Ramey, who took the chance on him as a reliever and offered Updike all he could ask for: an opportunity. After his professional playing career was over, in which he spent time with the Mariners,...
Spending sixteen years in the Major Leagues playing for some of the smartest coaches and managers, being teammates with dozens of All-Stars and Hall of Fame players and playing a position in catcher – which tends to translate into having a strong baseball acumen – Chad Kreuter has a ton of knowledge to share. Since being drafted in the fifth round of the 1985 Major League Draft by...
The Durham Bulls were dealing with a lot of shit. Prized pitching prospect Nuke LaLoosh was struggling with his command, dealing with jammed eyelids and his father was watching in the stands. The first baseman’s glove was cursed thanks to his girlfriend. And no one on the team knew what to get Jimmy and Millie for a wedding present. Fortunately for the Bulls, pitching coach Larry Hockett...
Eric Byrnes has never shied away from a challenge. Whether it was learning to control his attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a youth, revitalizing his career with the Arizona Diamondbacks after being released by the Baltimore Orioles after the ’05 season, or training for and completing the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run in under 24 hours, the competitor in him never...
When Sandy Alderson was hired by the Mets as their new GM in 2010 there was a flurry of conjecture about what sort of effect he would have on the team. Words like “Moneyball with money” were being thrown around by Paul DePodesta and J.P. Ricciardi, and everyone started speculating about what exactly this new version of moneyball would look like. Would it be high OBP guys like in Oakland? Would...
I’m a sucker for all the catchy internet sports stuff. Whether it’s a chat or an article that starts with a number (“14 Things the Mets Must Do To Become Respectable”) and I’m all over them. Another popular thing is surveys. I don’t know how to put a real survey up online, but here’s the one I would run here at MMO if I had the computer “skill set” to do so. Select all that apply. JEFF...
We keep hearing the word “plan” tossed around this winter. Nobody knows what the plan is, as it seems to change from day-to-day and week-to-week. As legendary hockey coach Herb Brooks would say, this Mets off-season has looked a lot like “two monkeys trying to hump a football.” The only “plan,” as I see it, is to keep the Mets fans thinking there is a plan so that they continue to buy tickets...
I wrote a piece last October questioning whether the Mets should take a shot on Grady Sizemore. He should be fully recovered from knee injuries now, and could be signed on a minor league deal. Why not take a shot? I’m not talking about making Sizemore the main signing this off-season, I’m talking about taking a shot on a player that could be had relatively cheap, and potentially be...
I cannot help but remember back in mid-May when ESPN New York’s Adam Rubin commented in his blog about the lack of “moneyball” players the Mets have signed since Sandy Alderson took the reigns in New York. That post by Rubin sparked this conversation on MMO. First, I think the phrase “moneyball” players is a little silly. Essentially what Adam is asking is, where...
Back in November, the Mets announced they had signed a right-handed relief pitcher named Greg Burke to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training. When I heard of the signing, it reminded me of the scene at the beginning of the movie Major League where the Cleveland fans are all giving their take on roster moves the team made, and the guy in the diner asks “Mitchell...
Somewhere along the line baseball became more than just a game. Once upon a time, baseball was a simple game. The goal is to score more runs than your opponent. Each team is given 27 outs to score as many runs as they can. In order to score runs, a team’s players have to get on base. Once a player gets on base it was the other players’ jobs to drive them home to score runs. On the other...
I am reminded of that Christmas song…”it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” It doesn’t get any better than playoff time. I’m bummed that the Mets aren’t playing significant baseball again this fall, but I guess it does give us an opportunity to sit back and enjoy these games and celebrate this great game of baseball, without the stress of having our...
