Nuclear Meltdown, Japan, Libya, the Economy… and Second Base

What’s wrong with the title?

 
I mean, the first four items mentioned are some serious shit, but the more I’m on line, the more I realize that the real story out there is who in God’s name is going to play friggin second base for the New York Mets.

 
First, it’s definitely Daniel Murphy, then, all of a sudden, everyone falls in love with Luis Castillo again.

 
Next we here that the manager hates Castillo and is going to name Luis Hernandez. But wait, Brad Emaus gets reported he’s the man, if Brad can’t do it, no one can.

 
Jordany Valdespin and Ruben Tejada fans keep tweeting they shouldn’t have been sent down and I’m waiting for Edgardo Alfonzo to ask for his yearly, ‘come on coach, give me another shot” plea.

 
Is this the best we can do, guys?

 
Most people think jobs are won in spring training. What they don’t realize is all ST is, is a place to be eliminated.

 
No baseball suit gives a rat’s ass what your batting average or fielding percentage is in March. If they did, David Wright would be sent down and Felipe Alou would have never played in the majors.

 

Here’s my opinion how this Mets second base thing works:

 
1. The job belongs to the last person that had it.
 

2. The brass does everything they can to find something they don’t like about the guy who was the last person to have the job.

 
3. If he shows up on time, he’s late.

 
4. If he’s quiet in the locker room, he’s not a team player.
 

5. If he laughs at a joke, he’s not taking the job serious enough.

 
6. If he laughs at a joke, that was in Spanish, he’s hiding something.

7. The manager’s job is to mention to one of the press guys a different name every day that impresses him at second base.

8. The reporter writes a story on it, but first tweets a tweet (God, I hate that expression…)

9. Next, 2397 other Mets writers and bloggers also tweet what the manager said.

10. The deflection has been accomplished and the team can get back to playing baseball.

Luis Castillo, Adam Rubin, Terry Collins, and Source Material

 

There was a report yesterday that went across the internet that ESPN’s Adam Rubin reported that New York Mets manager Terry Collins wanted 2B Luis Castillo released from the team.

First, let me tell you about Rubin. Adam would never break a story like this unless he was more than confident that the information was correct. He also would have multiple sources.

Source material is tricky. There’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t umbrella that hangs over information like this.

I haven’t had a bunch of juicy info over the years I’ve been doing this, but three cases can easily show you the different outcomes you can have. However, all source information does one thing when it is printed. It divides Mets ownership and management both from the players as well as the reporters that cover the team. The initial reaction of any manager would be to not trust anyone around them that they shared confidential information with.

I had the scoop on the re-signing of Oliver Perez three days before it was announced. This information did not come from anyone employed by the team, but it still caused some internal concern (as I was told later), but, in this case, the concern was how did I know something no one in the Mets organization knew.

I next had exclusive information on seven ball players that had received a mid-season promotion from one of the Mets minor league teams to another. My sources were confirmed, so I printed the names (which were correct), which created a devide from the management of that team, to me, and to the players involved. As it turned out, none of the players had told me, nor did any of them confirm it…  I was smart enough not to involve them… but they still were considered the source of this material by management.

And lastly, I reported about the triple-VP system the Mets were going to have this year, but I had one of the names wrong. I should have spent another day triple checking my sources and I was castrated by the Mets internet community for being incorrect with the names (though I was given no credit for having the 3-VP thing correct).

The point I’m trying to make is a reporter, or a sports writer, or a columnist, or whatever the hell some of us are… is pulled in multiple directions when it comes to exclusive information received… and confirmed.  You break the story, the team gets pissed at you and loses trust in everyone around them. You hold the story and you’re not doing the job you’re suppose to.

I’m currently holding an exclusive on a medical clusterfuk that happened during the past ten years, that I’m not going to write about until the player (who is still playing organized baseball) retires from this game.

Someone wrote, when I had the 3-VP thing blow up in my face, something like “heck, why would a guy living in Savannah be privy to information like this?”. That’s understandable narrow thinking, when, in fact, it really doesn’t matter where you live anymore (btw… I’ve never lived in Savannah).

You have a story if two people talk, write, tweet, or facebook each other with information.

You write that information gained from that conversation on a sticky and it place it on the top of your computer.

Then, you need to find someone else to back up what you were told by the first person.

Then, you have exclusive information from “multiple sources”.

The next move is yours…

Cutnpaste: – Luis Castillo, Sale, Wilmer Flores, Francisco Rodriguez, Daniel Murphy

Luis:

 

Let us consider the best case scenario for Luis Castillo. In 2009, he hit .302/.387/.346 in 580 PA with 20 stolen bases. He also scored just 77 runs at the top of a Mets lineup that was struggling to score at the time. The lineup is better now, but Castillo has sandwiched that season with two injury-plagued and ineffective campaigns that have had Mets fans calling for his head. Given Castillo’s fragile nature (he has spent 118 days out with injury since 2008) and his red-flag status for missing 15 or more games in 2011, he is a safe bet not to make a full season, which means he is very likely to miss significant time even if he hits at his best.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13159

 

Sale:
 

And here’s where Rosenthal’s speculation about Sternberg’s interest in buying the Mets—something also reported by the New York Post last week—could make some sense, and could help explain why we’re hearing renewed contraction talk. So far the Wilpons say they only want to sell a small cut of the team, something that would rule out Sternberg, who would only want majority control. But if Bernie Madoff trustee Irving Picard has his way, they’ll have to cough up more than $1 billion in damages, something they can’t handle without selling off the entire team (and, it’s likely, the SNY cable network as well).
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13153

 

Wilmer:
 

Wilmer Flores SS (Mets) 2.73 – Everyone says he will eventually move to third or the outfield as he fills out. He should hit for big time power with a good average. With David Wright at third, the outfield may be his best opportunity. If Jose Reyes leaves via free agency next year the Mets may give Wilmer a shot to stay at short at the major league level.
http://myworldofbaseball.com/wordpress/2011/03

 

K-Rod:
Considering the dilemma the Mets face with Rodriguez’s contract, it’s not such a crazy idea. If they allow K-Rod to finish 55 games this season, his $17.5 million option for 2012 will automatically kick in. If they try to prevent that from happening by resting him excessively, it will elicit a fight from the players’ union.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704504404576184910081222664.html

 

Murph:
 

Of the two other competitors for the job, Daniel Murphy is the recognizable name because of his strong 2008 season. He hit .313/.397/.473 in 151 PA that year, then followed that up with a full season playing first base and a line of just .266/.313/.427. Murphy can avoid the strikeout, as his 11.6 percent career strikeout rate in the minors shows, but his power both in the majors (.161 career ISO) and minors (.157 career) has been merely average and Citi Park certainly is not going to do him favors. It also does not help that Murphy is coming off a right ACL sprain and still cannot find a position in the majors; he will try again at second base this season after having failed in left field. It would not surprise anyone to see him shifted away from the position early in the year, leaving your second base situation high and dry.
http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=13159