15.12.08

Why Not A Little Pissing And Moaning For A Change of Pace?

Ok, we've all had time to digest the recent flurry of moves Omar put on the rest of baseball (bar the Yankees who defied the times and threw money at anything that moved, outbidding themselves where needed just to feel secure...)and having digested we're perhaps beginning to discover a little too much time on the toilet as a result?

Let's start with K-Rod himself.


Have it, Phillies Wankers...

It's admirable that he's out there shooting off his mouth before he's even found a home in the NYC area for his family.

Sure, K-Rod represents half of the one-two punch Omar has thrown to rejuvinate the Mets rubbish bullpen but let's look at reality for just a tick here...the Phillies, after their leader proclaimed them the team to beat in the Spring of 2007 and even after the Mets team leader proclaimed the Mets the team to beat in the Spring of 2008, won the NL East both times and of course, the World Championship in '08, deservedly or not.

So claiming to be the team to beat, you have to admit, rings a little hollow, sounds a wee bit unrealistic in the face of facts, like someone coming in from the AL West might sound to the the trained NL East ear. I would like to hear the Mets keep their mouths shut this season, keep their throats unrestricted by any kind of choking motions or sounds and go out and win the World Series in 2009.

I mean new faces or not, the credibility of the Mets after two consecutive seasons barking out at shadows whilst the Phillies were taking it all is well, comical almost. They're skating on thin ice as it is.

Yeah, that's right because while I'm thinking of it, I'm starting to get bitter all over again.

So I don't want K-Rod, no matter how well intended, talking smack about being the team to beat when just the thought makes half the team collapse in choking fits and wind themselves so tight they'll all have pulled muscles and trousers stained by urine from pissing themselves in terror before even reporting to Spring Training.

And I don't want any other Met thinking he's got to show some leadership by talking smack about being the team to beat.

Let's be clear. The Mets are NOT the team to beat. They will not be the team to beat unless they win the World Series. That's it. Everyone just laughs at us.

It kind of reminds me of that scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail where the the Black Knight gets his arms and legs cut off by King Arthur but refuses to concede defeat whilst left lying there on the ground trying to pretend "it's only a flesh wound". Mets choke like dogs last two seasons? Pshaw, nothing. We're the team to beat.

Making it worse perhaps, I've only recently discovered that K-Rod comes out to close games to this rubbish song called Sandungueso signalling his entry:



Sung by this Puerto Rican lad who sings/plays something called Reggaeton music, which has its origins in Panama and in the instant case, played for a Venezuelan. Gonna be a weird summer.

*****

Ok, onward to the set-up guy who came over as part of a 12-player, 3-team deal, the cream of the deal, J.J. Putz.

Still feel good about this, even when I'm trying to feel cynical. I mean to get rid of Heilman AND get a guy like Putz not to be your closer but just your bloody set-up man, well, that's quite a coup.

This is what they said in Seattle Times afterwards, which I think is most telling:

"As necessary as it was, losing Putz hurts. When healthy, he is one of the best closers in baseball. He was also the sea of tranquillity in the Mariners' dysfunctional clubhouse.

But a lockdown closer like Putz loses his value on a 101-loss team like the Mariners. They got seven players for him, and they need quantity as well as quality.

Maybe the most intriguing player in this trade is Aaron Heilman, a 2001 first-round draft pick once considered one of the gems of the Mets' pitching staff.

After a string of blown saves, Heilman practically got booed out of Flushing, but he still has a talented arm. And he's only 30. Heilman wants to be a starter, and far away from the barking dogs of Shea, maybe he can relax and enjoy the game again.


So they know Putz is still good and they blame booing and not getting to be a starter for Heilman's lack of success. "Away from the barking dogs of Shea", I like that. I think I'm going to use that as an excuse, even though I'm nowhere near Shea. It can be an excuse in many languages:

Tengo que conseguir alejarse de estos perros ladrando de Shea!

Ich muss weg von diesen Bellen von Hunden Shea!

我得擺脫這些狗的叫聲謝

Я должен получить уйти от этих лай собак из Шей

Anyway, I've got a feeling Putz is going to my favourite guy coming out of the pen firstly because he doesn't play some weird salsa/reggae hybrid when he enters the game, he plays a good auld hardcore bit to get everyone pumped up. Secondly because he's going to be all the more effective as a set-up guy with the other team already shitting themselves about facing K-Rod. Could be quite interesting.

*****

Hard not to like seeing Heilman, Schoeneweiss and Smith get swept away in a matter of hours/days.

“We’re happy to acquire Connor Robertson,” Mets General Manager Omar Minaya said in a statement after the Schoeneweiss dump.

You mean, we're happy to get rid of Schoeneweiss?

How can anyone really be happy about acquiring Connor Robertson? He's a 27 year old who barely got up into the Major Leagues last season and when he did, he sucked. I'm not saying he's a bad person or anything but let's be honest, as much as losing Schoeneweiss is addition by subtraction, this addition of Robertson is little more than, oh jeez, at least he'll be closer to his brother David the Effin Yankee.

I mean even this bit by a Diamondbacks article about non-roster-invitees can't even find anything good to say about him:

"There’s no use reposting his major league stats here so we’ll just wish Connor the best of luck."


Is Robertson the sort of guy who could actually make us MISS Schoeneweiss? I hope not.

*****

Lastly, I would be doing my readers a disservice not to drop a few bitter remarks about the abundantly overpaid Luis Castillo still scheduled to be wearing a Mets uniform next season.


Castillo performing his offseason training of sitting up from a lying down position.

3 years, $18 million.

Anytime you want to call Omar a genius just remember that.

"I know he didn't have a good year, I know it's tough for him to come back. But this guy's been an All-Star, and a two-time World Series winner, a .300 hitter for 10 years."

Great, Omar. Let him retire and be proud of his career but for feck's sake, let's not compound the absurdist error of the contract you gave him by keeping him on the team and worse still, making weird suggestions about batting him lead off.

But watch this, mateys. Luis Castillo is going to be the Comeback Kid.

That's my other prediction for 2009 early on, along with I'll never say or even think "goddamnit! Why didn't we sign Oliver Perez to an astronomical, multi-year contract when we had the chance?!".

Luis Castillo fools us all and wins Comeback Player of the Year.

Yeah. Right about the time he stops walking around the bases like Fred Sanford, that is.



*****

To be fair, there is really nothing out there too appealing as far as starters go.

So here's my take on the irony of 2009:

Except in games where Johan pitches, there won't be any leads for the bullpen to blow out there.

I mean, you can just see it, can't you?

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just figured it out: the Mets ARE the team to beat. They say they are the team to beat and every year somebody beats them. It is so simple. Someone should have stopped KRod before he said they were the team to beat. Now he has doomed them for 2009. As for Castillo, I say great. He promised to come in in shape this year. And I assume he presented Oh My with an envelope containing 6 million dollars in cash, representing last years salary, which he did nothing to earn. After all, Oh My (aka the Scarecrow ("If I only had a Brain, lalala")) spoke glowingly about the guy afterwards. He must have gotten the money back. You know it is interesting, Omar was talking the other day about where he was going to spend "his money." Hey. if it was his money, he would have strangled Castillo on the spot.

Jaap said...

aye, jdon. Promises, promises. Castillo is no more reliable than the last Met to show up fat and out of shape after surgery, i.e. Duaner Sanchez. Sanchez didn't exactly have a stellar year last season - even if Castillo doesn't show up fat does that mean he hits .300? Does that mean he's stays healthy enough to play 130 games? It sucks when you sign deadenders like that to long term contracts so that you end up just hoping you can squeeze one stinking year slightly above mediocrity out of him just so it isn't a total wash. for shame, for shame, Omar. Now go out and dig up some starters!

Anonymous said...

Castillo has the lower body of a 80 year old man and the upper body of a woman, strengthwise. At least he has reduced range at second and a weak arm. At least that is nothing. He never smiles. Wouldn't you think a guy who was so overpaid would be smiling some of the time.

Anonymous said...

that fucking song sucks.

K-Rod better save a thousand games to make up for making us listen to that shitty music he's going to get into the game with.

I.M. Forme said...

我得擺脫這些狗的叫聲謝

"I must (?) shake off the calls of those dogs Thanks."

Remember fellas, Omar *needed* to sign Castillo to keep him out of the hands of those worthy Mets competitors,the Astros, who, bested by Omar's savvy maneuvers, filled the slot instead with Kaz Matsui.

Jaap said...

well sanchez, maybe you can start your letter writing campaign against K-rod's song now, whilst everyone is still happy and thinking they're the team to beat. I'd rather think something from Control Machete would be a little more ominous.

Jaap said...

jdon and I M Forme, there's someone who can come up with FOUR reasons to keep Castillo, check it out, it's like a magic trick:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/94067-four-reasons-why-luis-castillo-should-be-the-mets-second-baseman-in-2009

you have to admire the imagination.

Anonymous said...

I contend that this author has had previous pleasurable physical relations with Luis Castillo and is therefore biased in his reporting. Don't ask me what those physical relations could have been. Eeeesh! l have not yet compiled all of my suppositions yet.

katherine said...

great post, jaap. Luis Castillo IS Fred Sanford!

And K Rod's song actually hurt my ears. It is the Caribbean version of Helter Skelter