Brian Runge has been suspended for one game by Major League Baseball for his actions on Tuesday night at Shea Stadium. I’m thrilled to see MLB take action like this with an umpire that was clearly looking for a fight. His aggressive actions (chest bumping Jerry Manuel) turned a docile situation into a combustible scenario that’s embarrassing to MLB.
Jerry Manuel and Carlos Beltran, who were both ejected by Runge, have received undisclosed fines.
New York Mets Director of Corporate Sales Jim Plummer died today at New York Univ. Medical Center. He was 56 years old. He had a liver and kidney transplant last week and died of a heart attack. The Mets released the following statement:
"Plum was a friend who helped me get adjusted to New York," former Mets pitcher Dwight Gooden said in a statement released by the team. "He was there for me whenever I needed something."
Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated is reporting that the Mets and Ike Davis agreed to a deal giving Davis a signing bonus in the range of $1.5 million. A physical is still pending. Davis was selected 18th overall and plays first base for Arizona State University.
Jerry Manuel said in his post game comments that David Wright appeared to be fatigued tonight. He had one error in the game, and was charged with a second before the official scorer changed the call to a hit.
I’m not sure if Wright is fatigued or just going through a bad patch right now but it couldn’t hurt. Manuel specifically said in his comments that he wanted to avoid the Mets regulars resting during home games but he feels this is necessary.
Wright is hitting well below his career batting average and slugging percentage:
2008: .275/ .370/ .471
Career: .307/ .386/ .525
Image via Wikipedia
I was shocked to read the Baseball Analysts post today that there’s only one player born in the Dominican Republic in the Hall of Fame, Juan Marichal and he was inducted in 1983. It’s also notable that there are only five Latin players in the Hall of Fame: Roberto Clemente, Orlando Cepeda, Luis Aparicio, and Tony Perez.
The post notes that the 2008 opening day rosters contained 22.1% of foreign born players. There are several notable Latin players that will be Hall eligible over the next ten years, likely including our own Pedro Martinez. I can’t see him playing much more than a couple more years. We’ll also have some statistically deserving but questionable players like Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero.
If you’re into heavy statistical analysis, you probably already read Cyril Morong’s excellent baseball blog “Cybermetrics”. Yesterday he posted an in-depth analysis of baseball’s best leadoff hitters and to little surprise the Mets’ Jose Reyes is tops on his list.
The basic concept of the analysis is which leadoff hitters have the best statistics in terms of getting themselves into scoring position without creating outs most frequently. There were two variations that you can see in the chart above, one penalizing the player for hitting home runs and one without the penalty. In both cases, Reyes is statistically the best leadoff hitter.
I can’t say that I’m surprised by that because watching Reyes play everyday is a real treat for Mets fans. It’s interesting to see that Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez jumps from number 9 to number 2 on the list when the home run penalty is removed.
The blog post is a good read with heavy mathematical analysis.
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
The managers firing line continues. Apparently, Omar Minaya started a domino effect by firing Willie Randolph on Monday (or Tuesday depending on what time zone you were in). The Mariners fired John McLaren yesterday. Most likely they were upset that he wasn’t the first manager fired this season after the worst in MLB record.
Former Mets catcher John Gibbons was fired by the Toronto Blue Jays after their 35-39 start and losing the last five consecutive games. Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi took his anger out on Cincinnati Reds outfielder Adam Dunn for some unknown reason, telling a radio station that Dunn doesn’t care about baseball and wouldn’t trade for him. I’m glad to see that one team is more dysfunctional than the Mets.
The Blue Jays hired former Jays manager Cito Gaston to return to his scene for former glory. He won two World Series’ in 1992 and 1993.
The Mets Report 