You call this barren?

I get it. 2009 was a tough year to be a Mets fan. The media certainly didnt make it easier. After Tony Bernazard ripped his shirt off and Adam Rubin didnt become the new GM of the Mets, the media had a field day. After all, it was convenient to blame Bernazard for everything. Now, just to be clear, far be it for me to defend him. I never liked him. But the things that came out afterward were .... interesting. One thing that really got  me angry more than anything was that people started saying that Bernazard was at fault for leaving the cupboard bare ie leaving the Mets farm sysem depleted. As VP of player development he was in charge of developing the minor league system. And that was one of the problems. No depth. No youth. Right?

It was easy for us to blame. But were we right? The average fan got sucked in and convinced that it was true. But was it? 

Photo by Michael Baron
http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelgbaron/4453018166/

From the looks of things, not really. Jenrry Mejia, Ike Davis and Fernando Martinez have been simply awesome. And theyre besides Wilmer Flores and Ruben Tejada and Josh Thole and Nick Evans and Jon Niese and who knows who else. Im not an expert in minor league baseball but it certainly seems like there is some great talent in the pipelines. (And speaking of Meija - Does it occur to anyone else that had twitter and blogs been around in the 80s people would be killing the Mets for thinking about bringing up that Gooden kid at the age of 19?)

As ive said before, we Mets fans need to stop being so negative. The future is bright, the cupboard is not bare. YA GOTTA BELIEVE !! 

All Time Mets Uniform Number Team

First the rules:
1) Each player on this list can only be used once. (withe one exception)
2) The Number I use does not have to be the players primary number that the player wore
3) Players only - no coaches or managers (or mascots - sorry Mr. Met)
4) Selections based only on the players performance as a Met (So no Willie Mays or Nolan Ryan)

Also -  I would like to point out that whenever i mention "MBTN" - I am referring to the excellent website - WWW.MBTN.NET. I thank them for their site as that is where i got the information on uniform numbers although i point out that all opinions mentioned here are my own. In addition i would like to thank "The ultimate Mets Database" - www.ultimatemets.com - for providing the Mets all time roster. I also should have thanked them for my previous post titled A B C .. in which i give my all time alphabet Mets roster.
As usual this is my opinion so feel free to critique and criticize as much as you like.
Please leave comments and maybe ill change my mind or explain my position better

                     

Uniform Number Player Name Comment 0 Rey Ordonez Only competition is Terry McDaniel OO Tony Clark With a nod to Mr. Met 1 Mookie Wilson 2 Kevin Elster A personal favorite of mine - silky smooth fielder 3 Bud Harrelson 4 Robin Ventura With a nod to Lenny "Nails" Dykstra 5 David Wright 6 Wally Backman MBTN - Most frequently issued jersey in Mets history! 7 Jose Reyes 8 Gary Carter 9 Todd Hundley 10 Rusty Staub 11 Tim Teufel 12 Lee Mazzilli Ron Darling gave me the most trouble.I put Ron Darling as number 44 so i could fit in Lee Mazzilli at 12. Darling also wore 15 but i couldnt bump Carlos Beltran. Of course then i had to bump David Cone from 44. Cone also wore 16 and 17 but i couldnt bump Dwight Gooden or Keith Hernandez. Mazzilli also wore 16 and 13 but i couldnt bump Dwight Gooden and didnt want to bump Edgardo Alfonzo either. This gives you an idea as to why i have my rules that i set out at the top of this post. So from David Cone, Dwight Gooden, Lee Mazzilli, Edgardo Alfonzo, Carlos Beltran, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling i left off David Cone. 13 Edgardo Alfonzo 14 Ron Swoboda Gil Hodges retired number - MBTN - The number was last issued to a player in 1967 (Ken Boyer) 15 Carlos Beltran 16 Dwight Gooden 17 Keith Hernandez Should be the next number retired by the Mets

18 Darryl Strawberry Glad i could get him in on an all time team as he was passed over for Tom Seaver in my all time Mets Alphabet team 19 Bobby Ojeda 20 Howard Johnson 21 Carlos Delgado 22 Al Leiter My most difficult decision. At one point or another I had Al Leiter, Don Clendenon and Kevin McReynolds 23 Bernard Gilkey Im not sure why but i thought i would be able to find someone better for 23 24 Art Shamsky Interestingly this number was not issued to a player from when Willie Mays wore it in 1973 until 1990 when they gave it to Kelvin Torve. Former owner Joan Payson made a promise to not issue this number again but apparently the Mets gave it to Torve by accident. When Rickey Henderson joined the team he first sought - and got permission from Willie Mays to wear the number. 25 Pedro Feliciano You can almost make an all-disappointment team with this number - Jay Payton,Bill Pulsipher, Bobby Bonilla, Kaz Matsui and Alex Escobar all wore 25 at some point 26 Dave Kingman 27 Craig Swan Scratched Todd Zeille at the last second. Largely due to seniority. Swan wore the number for the Mets from 1973 - 1984 28 Bobby Jones .568 winning percentage and one of the single great pitching performances in Mets history in the 2000 NLDS 29 Dave Magadan Ill also mention Steve Trachsel who made the all-decade Mets team of the 00s 30 Cliff Floyd I wish i could give it to Nolan Ryan 31 Mike Piazza If Keith Hernandez is not next then Mike Piazza certainly is 32 Jon Matlack A bit of an overshadowed pitcher but look it up - a pretty good pitcher that had an outstanding posteason in '73 33 Ron Hunt Heres to hoping we can give this spot to John Maine someday 34 Cleon Jones 35 Rick Reed 59 - 36 W-L with a 3.66 ERA - not bad 36 Jerry Koosman 37 No Met Player has ever wore this number Casey Stengel retired number

38 Rick Aguilera 39 Jeff Kent 40 Jeff Innis Pitched for the Mets for parts of seven seasons to the tune of a 3.05 ERA 41 Tom Seaver The Franchise - Tom Seaver retired number 42 Roger McDowell Retired throughout baseball 43 Terry Leach Mets career - W - L - 24 - 9 with a 3.11 ERA 44 Ron Darling 45 John Franco 46 Oliver Perez What can i say - slim pickings here although 29 - 24 W-L is not bad 47 Tom Glavine 48 Randy Myers 49 Armando Benitez He did put up some good numbers 50 Sid Frenandez MBTN - Number most associated with Hawaiians Sid Fernandez, the first and best player ever to wear it, and Benny Agbayani. 51 Lance Johnson Only played for the Mets for two seasons but 1996 was one for the ages. Established then Mets single-season records for at bats, runs, hits, triples and total bases. The records for hits and triples still stand. 52 Tony Clark An exception to the rule - I had to list him twice as he is the only Mets player to wear 00 and the only Mets player to wear 52 53 Chad Bradford 54 Mark Clark Only competition is Brad Lawrence 55 Orel Hershiser 56 Dyar Miller The first Mets player to be issued this number 57 Johan Santana

58 Louis Rosada No other Mets ever played a game wearing this number 59 Ed Lynch 60 Scott Schoeneweis Only player to ever wear this number 61 Jesse Orosco 62 Hubie Brooks 63 NONE 64 Elmer Dessens Only player to ever wear this number 65 - 72 NONE 73 Kenny Rogers wow - cant believe i had to put him on an all-anything-team but only competition is Ricardo Rincon 74 NONE 75 Frankie Rodriguez Only player to ever wear this number 76 - 98 NONE 99 Turk Wendell Only player to ever wear this number

The night I "Met the Mets"

Allow me to begin by telling you a little bit about myself. I am a 30 year old die-hard Mets fan. The first game i ever went to was at Shea Stadium and Bobby Bonilla hit a home run - for the Pirates. I didnt go to a ton of games as a kid but my brother was a yankees fan and gave me all his Mets baseball cards and so i was hooked. I fell in love with Doc and Darryl and Gary Cater and Keith Hernandez and Lenny Dykstra and Wally Backman and that whole mid -to - late 1980s team. As a fan i havent changed much except that i am more into it now. I go to about 10 games a year but follow every single game. I am your average die-hard fan. I have no inside scoop and no media credentials or connections. As a kid i would dream about meeting a player and getting his autograph. I would stand outside the stadium waiting for autographs until my father would get bored and tell me that its time to go home. I never did get one. Once i got an autographed photo of Howard Johnson in the mail (i have no idea how) but that was it.

Fast Forward to last year. I happened to be in my boss (who also happens to be my father) office. As we were talking, i saw him open something up,  read it and put it aside. I asked him what it is. He tells me its an invitation to a dinner that a client is making. It seems they are opening up a new wing to their facility and so he has to write them a check for the fundraiser. But something about the invitation caught my eye. Did it say Keith Hernandez on there? Nah - cant be. But then he says to me "Oh - I think some sports guy is going to be there or is donating something or something like that - here take a look." So i look at the invitation and lo and behold - Keith Hernandez is going to be at the dinner! So my father asks me if i want to go since hes paying for it anyway and suddenly i turned into a little kid again. "Of course ill go!" i said grabbing the invitation away from him.

After work i ran home - showered and changed and headed out to the dinner, baseball in hand. On my way there i started thinking to myself that maybe showing up to a fancy dinner in a fancy hotel in Manhattan was not the classiest thing to do. So i stuffed the ball in my pocket and went into the hall. As i walked in to the hotel, the first person i see - laughing it up with some guy is none other than Keith Hernandez. Well, i couldnt hold myself back. I walked right up to him and shook his hand and told him what a big fan i was of him. Then i slowly took the ball out of my pocket and asked him to sign. He was nice enough to sign the ball and nice enough to tell me that all his guests were there to sign autographs as well. And thats when it hit me. I looked up and there he was - Darryl Strawberry! and then Ho Jo and John Franco and Al Leiter. I was starstruck. And then my last meeting of the night - Ralph Kiner.

Here are the pictures of the autographs i got. I couldnt get all the players to sign but most did. For some of you reading this - Im sure its no big deal. But to me, on that night, it was a fulfillment of a childhood dream, a night that made you remember how big a fan you were and how big a fan you are and what it meant to be a kid idolizing your favorite team. And to me it was a night i wont soon forget.

Keith Hernandez

Al Lieter

Bobby Ojeda

 Rusty Staub 

Darryl Strawberry

John Franco

Howard Johnson

The prize of the night - Ralph Kiner

A B C ..

In honor of one of the Mets mantras this spring - getting back to basics - I decided to get back to the ABCs. 
Here is my list of the top Mets players of all time for each letter of the alphabet. Once again feel free to argue and debate because after all thats what being a fan is all about. You will notice that this list is heavily weighted towards the last 30 years or so as that is when i have been a fan from. However i think its pretty accurate but like a said - feel free to argue and if i feel youre right ill change the list.




A - Edgardo Alfonzo
B - Carlos Beltran
C - Gary Carter
D - Ron Darling
E - Kevin Elster
F - John Franco
G - Dwight Gooden
H - Keith Hernandez
I - Jason  Isringhausen
J - Howard Johnson
K - Jerry Koosman
L - Al Leiter
M - Kevin McReynolds
N - Xavier Nady
O - John Olerud
P - Mike Piazza
Q - There has never been a player that played for the Mets whos last name starts with the letter Q (that i know of)
R - Jose Reyes
S - Tom Seaver (sorry Darryl)
T - Tim Teufel
U - Del Unser
V - Robin Ventura
W - David Wright
X - There has never been a player that played for the Mets whos last name starts with the letter X (that i know of)
Y - Joel Youngblood
Z - Todd Zeile

Hyperthyroidism? Seriously?!?!

by Mr. Optimistic

So, I'm sitting in my office this afternoon jumping from one conference call to another when my cell phone vibrates. In a very somber voice my friend says to me "did you hear the news"? I knew right away, that the worst case scenario we had heard about Jose Reyes turned out to be wrong...it was going to be even worse. There's no way he'll miss opening day, they said. He'll take medication and be almost as good as new, they said. All of a sudden he's out 2 - 8 weeks!! and what is 2 - 8 weeks? What ever happened to 2-4 weeks or 6 - 8 weeks?? now it's become 2 - 8 weeks?? When did that happen?


I know my name is Mr. Optimistic and I really try, but the Mets give you a serious run for your money. Ok, I'm done ranting...now I'll get back to my optimistic persona. I couldn't agree more with MFF. I think the Mets handled this as well as they could, aside from jumping the gun a little and announcing a diagnosis every day, rather than waiting until all the test results were in. It's amazing though that no matter what they do, the Mets seem to get it wrong and then get criticized. They took every precaution with Jose and because of that, his condition is probably better than it would have been had they allowed him to go out and play. So everyone needs to quiet down and hope that a little rest and a change of diet will have Jose back on the field sooner than later. My prediction is Jose Reyes is starting at SS for the Mets no later than April 20th. That means he misses about 13-14 games. Sucks that he won't be in the opening day lineup, but missing 2 weeks of the season isn't the end of the world.

A few minutes after I heard the news about Reyes, a coworker of mine (a Mets season ticket holder) happens by my office. Unfortunately, he hadn't heard the news yet and I had to break it to him. After venting about Hyperthyroidism for a few minutes, he then went on to question the Mets and their whole offseason. I told him that I understood where he was coming from, but I disagreed. Could the Mets have done more? unquestionably. Would they be significantly better had they made those moves? Aside from signing Lackey, I think the answer is no.
Call me an optimist or just plain crazy, but I believe in the pitching staff and in this team. If everyone stays healthy on the pitching staff, Reyes comes back by late April and Carlos by mid-May, I think this team is going to surprise people, including a lot of Mets fans who are jumping ship. Well, good riddance to them. If you can't stick with your team through thick and thin, then you were never a real fan anyway. 24 days to opening day...I know I'm looking forward.

WHY? Who cares?!?! Lets Go Mets!

At exactly 1:03 PM today I was just coming back from lunch and hadnt looked at the news or internet at all for about an hour. Suddenly I  received the following message on my blackberry from a friend of mine who happens to be a Yankees fan: "hahhhhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaa"  - OK, i thought, probably just trying to get me nervous before our fantasy baseball draft (he and I are picking back to back) Then another: "hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah" - uh oh - what happened? and then: "cant make this stuff up". At this point i nearly broke into a cold sweat. I realized that his taunting had something to do with my beloved Mets. I quickly surfed to Metsblog.com to find out what it was, but before the page even loaded i get the dagger text message: "love it" followed quickly by the words i least expected: "Jose jose jose jose jose jose"
At this point all i could think of was "Why?" why the Mets? Why Reyes? why hyperthyroidism? Why did the diagnosis have to go from "a couple of days" to 2 - 8 weeks. Yes, other teams have injuries. But not like the Mets. When they do it they really do it. First Beltran (which i already wrote about here) and now Reyes.

I tried researching other athletes who have missed playing time due to hyperthyroidism but couldnt find a single one. Thats the Mets for you, or at least the Mets of the last couple of years. But isnt that what being a fan is all about? Sticking with your team through thick and thin right? I try, i really do - you wouldnt believe how many people i speak to who are ready to or have already given up.
Today was the closest ive ever come to completely throwing my hands up to the heavens and saying "Ok, you got me! I get it! Youre not a Mets fan!"
But then i stepped back. Lets analyze this for a second. Physically, Jose Reyes is fine. So when he is cleared sometime between March 25th and May 6th he should be ready to go fairly soon thereafter. I saw and heard some people saying that this is somehow the Mets fault and they botched another medical issue. NO THEY DIDNT! They didnt botch anything! They were extra cautious and it paid off. Would it have been better to let him just play and eventually die of a heart attack?!? The point is that its not the Mets fault. Its not the worst news in the world. Does it suck that he wont be ready for opening day? YES! Does this make it better that Omar signed Alex Cora for 2 mil? NO! But is this the worst news we could have gotten? Far from it. As i read today in rationalmetsmusings
"Articles will come out tomorrow declaring that the Mets' season is doomed - even though Jose Reyes really shouldn't miss that much time. Irrational people who claim to be die hard Mets fans will call talk radio and surrender. The real Mets fans? We'll shake this off, wish Jose Reyes a speedy recovery, and resume the countdown to Opening Day." 
Well said Danny. Now lets just hope for happiness and health for the Mets in 2010.

Fantasy Dreams

Its that time of year again when hope springs eternal. Your teams hitters will all have a power surge and your teams pitchers will all finally get over the hump. Your teams bullpen may be a bit weak but bullpens are so unpredictable anyway. Youre teams happy with its new acquisitions. You think your teams was wise with who was picked up and who was passed up on.

Thats right -Fantasy Baseball season is upon us. Truth be told im not a very good fantasy baseball player. I draft too much with my heart and not enough with my brain - or gut for that matter. I tend to get too emotional. I have never been in a baseball draft without drafting at least one member of the Mets, or a football draft without at least one member of the Jets. Plus i tend to redraft guys that i had in previous years (Players i have had on my team more than once include Brandon Philips, Ian Kinsler, Matt Holliday and Zack Grienke - off the top of my head ) So my teams may not be the best but i generally have no problem rooting for my guys. This year i am in two baseball drafts. One is already done. This one was a fun draft with a bunch of Mets fans done online in an ESPN  league. First time ive done a draft this way and i went in thinking i would draft as many Mets as i can but as it turned out i only ended up with one and that was my first pick (10th overall) - David Wright. No way I was letting him slip to the second round. Thats just disrespectful. Once i saw that i wasnt getting any other Mets (this was a draft full of Mets fans) I decided that i wasnt drafting anyone who a) spurned the Mets or b) is a Mets villain. So i passed on John Lackey and Jason Werth and Mark Reynolds and so many others.

There is another reason i entered this draft. My second draft is a draft i have been part of since 2005. Every draft since then, my team name has been the same. AlkaZelcers. This year however i am teaming up with a former fantasy baseball rival and as such am forced to give up my beloved team name. So being in the ESPN draft gave me a chance to keep it going somewhat. Call me sentimental but im gonna miss that name.

Thats right - thats me - proud to be a former league champ!

Anyway without further ado - here is my first 2010 fantasy draft team - the AlkaZelcers. Ill keep you updated of my standings as the season goes.

Wish me luck! (NOTE: the Lastings Milledge pick was an auto-pick!)

All Opposite Field, all the time...

NOTE: Metsfanforever.com is proud to welcome its new author, Mr. Optimistic. I will be sharing the load with Mr.Optimistic from here on in. Welcome to MFF and Good luck! 
By: Mr. Optimistic

So, I read an interesting article in the Daily News today. Just when we thought the whole Tony Bernazard mess was over and done with, we get this: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/2010/03/01/2010-03-01_new_pull_for_mets.html. 

 In summary, the article is about how the Mets went to an extreme in spring training last year, trying to hit everything to the opposite field, based on Bernazard's belief that this was the approach needed to put them over the top. Injuries notwithstanding, that didn't seem to be very effective last year. Now, I'm a big proponent of Bernazard bashing, I was never a fan of his and think all he did was undermine the management of the Mets, but let's get over him. Time to move on and start figuring out what needs to be done to fix the mess that was the 2009 Mets. It seems that the team has gone back to basics and while they fully understand that having the ability to hit to the opposite field is extremely important and a key to winning, the organization has now expanded their repertoire and gotten back to emphasizing and practicing pulling the ball. As Jeff Francouer said, "if I'm in a 2-0 count, I'm trying to crush the ball for a HR...I'm not looking to the opposite field". He also said, he was shocked when he came to the Mets, because all they asked him to do in BP was hit to the opposite field. They almost never practiced pulling the ball (his strength). Seems pretty strange to me.

On a different note, I can't help but get psyched up that when I go to mets.com, the little countdown clock is now at 14 hours, 30 minutes until first pitch of the first official spring training game. I know, I know, it's just spring training, but this is where it all begins...can't wait to see the almost fully healthy team back on the field together again, finally, even if it's just spring training...and besides, once that spring training countdown clock turns to zero, the clock starts again with the countdown to the actual season and that just means we're not that far from the real thing.