Category: General

Links: Jose Reyes and Oliver Perez

Jose Reyes– Tim Brown of Yahoo Sports writes about Reyes growing up in New York with the Mets. It’s a well written piece focusing on quotes from Reyes and Damion Easley. Despite the way that last season ended, particularly for Reyes, I’m convinced that he’s got a huge career ahead of him. He’ll be known as one of the best leadoff hitters ever by the time he’s finished playing.

Oliver Perez– Anthony DiComo of MLB.com writes about Oliver Perez from the angle of his contentious arbitration hearing and impending free agency. The column contains plenty of Perez directed fluff from his agent, Scott Boras. Determining Perez’ value in free agency should be interesting because he’s such a wild card, no pun intended. He’s brilliant at moments and dreadful the next moment. I suppose Perez’ value will really depend on what other pitchers get on the free agent market in this coming off-season. Certainly, C.C. Sabbathia will be the big fish in the pond of free agency. Even though he’s had a tough start to this season, he’s got potential to be the #1 starter on most teams. After he signs, that will play a big part in determining how much value Perez has.

Mets Pitcher Billy Wagner: Bully Or Team Leader?

The biggest story with the New York Mets over the last week has been closer Billy Wagner ripping Oliver Perez after Perez’ dreadful start against the Pirates on Wednesday. It’s raised many questions about the Mets as a team.

Do the Mets need a team captain?– They could probably use a team captain but I don’t know who would be the logical candidate. They would want someone that’s going to be around for several years like Jose Reyes, David Wright, Johan Santana, or Carlos Beltran. I doubt that it would be Santana. Typically, captains are position players. Wright and Reyes are pretty young to captain a team of veterans. Beltran is usually so quiet that it’s hard to picture him as the team leader. I don’t think that Billy Wagner would even enter the discussion on this topic. Continue reading “Mets Pitcher Billy Wagner: Bully Or Team Leader?”

Billy Wagner Calls Out Teammates After Loss

Oliver Pérez 02:45, 19 July 2007 . . Metsfan7 . . 590×700 (374,826 bytes)Image via Wikipedia

Adam Rubin from the Daily News is reporting that Billy Wagner had some tough comments for the Mets and Oliver Perez, in particular, after his poor start today.

“You’ve got to have that willpower and that desire to go back out there and fight,” Wagner said about responding to the Mets’ early deficit. “This guy (Pirates starter Tom Gorzelanny), he wasn’t throwing the ball that well to shut down our offense. Perez has honestly got to step up and know that we’ve just used every guy in our bullpen the night before. He can’t come out there and decide that gee, he hasn’t got it today, and so be it.”

Wagner added: “When you have games like this, it’s very easy to say, ‘Hey, yeah, you’re going to have these games.’ And you will have these games. But when there’s not a lot of effort and desire, that’s when you worry. You definitely want to play a little bit better than we did, but I know everybody is out there doing what they can. As a pitching staff, we have to show up. We can’t go out there and get beat 13-1 by Pittsburgh.”

Wagner is easily one of the best closers in the game, if not of all time. But sometimes he’s a little too “old school” for me. Oliver Perez is an easy target for analysts both professional and amateur because he’s erratic. I don’t think Perez wasn’t giving a full effort today. He just is what he is, sometimes wild and completely without control.

I don’t like that Wagner is calling Perez out after a rough loss like that. It smacks of piling on. Likewise, I thought that Wagner was too tough on Lastings Milledge when he was here. Wagner needs to concern himself more with his own game than with anyone else. Let the coaches deal with the other pitchers. No good can come of alienating teammates, much less this early in the season.

At War With Delgado

This afternoon I got to listen to a little of WFAN’s Mike and the Mad Dog show discussing whether we, the Mets fans, are at war with Carlos Delgado. To summarize the situation:

  • Delgado’s been terrible since April 2007
  • Mets fans boo him at Shea Stadium

It’s as simple as that.

Personally, I haven’t engaged in booing him. Although I could certainly understand it. I don’t blame fellow Mets fans for booing him one bit.

On the other hand, I’m sure that Delgado is sick of hearing it and doesn’t like it. He snubbed the fans by not coming out for a curtain call after his two home run game yesterday afternoon. I can understand that. He doesn’t like us, and we don’t like him.

I wouldn’t describe our relationship with Delgado as a “war”. But I would say it’s a very sour relationship. I would venture to say that he probably can’t wait to leave the Mets. Equally so, we can’t wait for him to be gone either. I’ll be perfectly happy when he continues his career in Pittsburgh or Texas next season. The fans there most likely have much lower expectations of their players.

Adam Rubin of the Daily News posted Delgado’s statements to the media this afternoon. Frankly, I don’t believe anything Delgado says. His media saavy is really showing in his comments. He’s not going to come out and say he’s angry about the way he’s been been treated by the fans. But I’m sure that it’s in his head.

The sooner we end this relationship the better.

More On Booing Home Players

Although the blogs have been on this topic for weeks, the mainstream media is still just getting to this story. We, as Mets fans, are frustrated and angry with this team. The last two seasons have left a lot of pent up emotion that can’t be relieved by a trip to a shrink. We need a trip to the playoffs. That’s the only cure for our angst.
Picturehouse Presents The Premiere Of "El Cantante" - Arrivals
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Mike Vaccaro wrote a column on the topic for Fox Sports today and summarizes the current victims of our impatience:

Right now, there are three permanent residents of the wrong side of the wall, which we’ll call the dark side of the swoon: Carlos Delgado is the captain and unchallenged leader, and the farther south of .200 his average dips the more likely he’ll be wearing a “C” on his uniform before long. Aaron Heilman is on that side, mostly because he can’t get out of his own way now. And Willie Randolph is there, too, for long and meritorious service.

Why should we be more tolerant? We’ve got a first class city, a first class payroll, and a first class stadium on the way. We want a franchise that plays like a first place team.

End For Delgado Looks Near

Carlos Delgado has been demoted in the batting order. Now he’s been benched, at least for one night. It’s become a situation that will happen with greater frequency in the near future. New York’s high-paid former star first baseman sitting on the bench. He’s become the deserving target of boo’s from New York Mets fans both at home and on the road. The Mets fans have been traveling well this season so Carlos gets to hear boo’s wherever he goes.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post wrote a good column today talking about how we know this is going to end soon. It’s likely that the Mets will have to release Delgado before his sub-par play ruins the 2008 season for the rest of the team.

Sherman also introduces an interesting concept, that of Delgado’s contract providing protection for him. The Mets owe him so much money that they have to tolerate more than a year of putrid on-field performance.

I’d like to introduce a concept of my own. The concept that Delgado has made $118, 299,000 in his career before to the 2008 season began. He’s already made more money than he and his family and many future generations of his family will ever need. He’s just not motivated or “hungry” to get back to a high level of play before he made the money. That’s what it comes down to in my mind. If he hadn’t made all that money he’d still be motivated to get his game together to earn a big contract.

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