Category: Latest News

Major League Baseball And Newspapers

NEW YORK - FEBRUARY 14: The New York Times he...

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I read an interesting post on Murray Chass’ blog today, and believe me Murray, you are a blogger. Chass has contempt for bloggers like me but I have to say that I like his writing. It’s nice to get a fix of “old school” style every now and again. His points are well written even if I often don’t agree with the content itself. I like to read posts from bloggers like Chass because he comes from a very different point of view than I do. And I appreciate that.

Yesterday, Chass lamented that many newspapers that regularly cover MLB teams aren’t covering the World Series this year in-person. He goes on to write that it’s a sign of an industry that’s hurting. There’s nothing new there that we haven’t heard over the last few years. But there are some quotes from MLB Commissioner Bud Selig sadly pondering the loss of some free publicity for MLB. As if they don’t get enough on TV and the Internet already.

Continue reading “Major League Baseball And Newspapers”

Steve Phillips Girlfriend Causes Trouble

ESPN wordmark.

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Former Mets GM Steve Phillips was back in the news today for having another affair. This time it was with an ESPN intern identified in media reports as Brooke Hundley. You can see pictures of her here. The NY Post has been all over this story as you would expect.

The reports make it sound like a “Fatal Attraction” type of situation with Hundley harassing Phillips wife (who filed for divorce last month). The reports also say Hundley was posing as a Wilton, CT high school student to get information about the family on Facebook from Phillips teenage son. Continue reading “Steve Phillips Girlfriend Causes Trouble”

Mets 2010 Starting Pitchers- Question Marks Everywhere

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There’s only one certainty when it comes to the Mets starting pitchers for 2010: Johan Santana. As long as he’s healthy, there’s no reason to think he won’t be one of the best pitchers in baseball. He’s had some minor injury problems but I don’t expect to see any decline in his performance. After Santana, the situation gets very murky, very quickly. This is about to get ugly, so Mets fans hold onto your hats.

Mike Pelfrey– In 31 starts Pelfrey finished the season at 10-12 with a 5.03 ERA. 2009 was a serious regression for him from his 2008 line of 32 starts 13-11 and 3.72 ERA. Pelfrey had some disgusting performances like June 4th in Pittsburgh giving up 8 runs in 3.2 innings and giving up 9 runs in 4.1 innings in Atlanta on July 17th. There were other ugly games but you get the idea. Often Pelfrey looked uncomfortable and frustrated, but who wouldn’t be while pitching poorly? He had a bad year but the Mets have too much invested in him for him not to be back in the rotation. He’ll be there. You can bank on it. But I doubt that he’ll be considered the #2 starter. He should be demoted in the rotation. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t have a bounce-back year in 2010.

Continue reading “Mets 2010 Starting Pitchers- Question Marks Everywhere”

Ron Darling Tax Problems And Billy Wagner Retiring

Ron Darling

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I haven’t been posting too much daily stuff about the Mets recently but two stories caught my eye today. Ron Darling and Billy Wagner are both making big news.

First, SNY’s Darling owes $544,197 in back state and federal taxes according to the Detroit News. That’s a big number even for a guy that likely makes a nice living from SNY and TBS. He also made $17.9 million during his playing days.

Second, Billy Wagner says that he’s retiring at 385 saves instead of going for 400 next season. He’s a free agent and I’m sure somebody would pick him up on a one year deal to close. I think he’s just down after giving up 2 runs in .2 innings against the Angels in the ALDS.

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Video: Mets 2010 Left Field- A Trade Awaits

Here’s an interview I did with Kerel Cooper of On The Black. We talked about the Mets left field situation for next year. Watch the video and let me know your thoughts in the comments below.

http://blip.tv/play/gvchgaW2dAI

 

Thanks to Kerel Cooper for the invitation and check out his Mets video blog at On The Black.

Audio: Mets Management On 2010

NEW YORK - JUNE 23: General Manager Omar Mina...

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As part of their press tour today, we got to hear the Mets brass talk about their disappointment in 2009 and commitment to winning for 2010. What else would they say?

You won’t know just how committed they are until free agency starts and they can start spending. That’s when we’ll find out.

Dave Howard, Jeff Wilpon, and Omar Minaya spent quite a bit of time with Mike Francesa on WFAN this afternoon. He did a nice job of hammering them on Daniel Murphy among other things. It’s a two-part audio you can listen to below.

Mets management Part 1

Mets management Part 2

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Mets Fire Coaches, Players Next

NEW YORK - DECEMBER 02: New York Mets chief o...

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The Mets had a press conference today to announce that they’re firing Sandy Alomar Sr. and Luis Alicea. They’re also re-assigning Razor Shines and Sandy Alomar Jr. Apparently, Alomar Sr. has been asked to stay with the Mets in another job.

I always think it’s interesting that the coaching staff is the first to take the fall after a miserable season like the one the Mets just finished. Sure, a 70-92 finish means that changes will be made. Honestly, how much difference does a coach really make at this level? It’s the players that make or break a team.

I don’t have a problem with these changes. Clearly, Shines wasn’t the right man for the third base coach job. He just doesn’t have good judgment there on close plays. But he seems like a well-intentioned guy that could have a positive impact elsewhere.

The real news will come after the World Series when free agency begins and the Mets can make some meaningful player moves.

You can hear the audio clips below from the press conference today.

Jerry Manuel audio

Jeff Wilpon audio

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