Note: It took some self control to not put a new manager's name in this category -- Jerry Manuel's days sure could be numbered, especially with some curious offseason additions to the personnel department. Former major league managers Bob Melvin, a former Tiger, and Terry Collins, a Midland native, were hired by the organization as a scout and minor league field coordinator, respectively. There is some speculation they were brought aboard to form a small pool to pick from should Manuel get the axe in '10 (it could come early); Melvin has managed the Mariners (2003-04) and Diamondbacks (2005-09), while Collins has managed the Astros (1994-96) and Angels (97-99). Manuel, for one, isn't sweating it, nor looking over his shoulder -- even though he's the early favorite to be the first manager canned this season. "The organization is putting together some good baseball people. I think those are all good baseball people, good baseball minds," said Manuel, hired after Willie Randolph got canned 69 games into the '08 season. "For any organization to move forward, you need those types of people in place. ... So I don't have a problem with that." - link
Google is set to make a fresh attempt to gain a stronger foothold in the booming social networking business on Tuesday as it seeks to counter the growing threat that Facebook poses to some of its core services.The search company is preparing to announce new features for Gmail that would extend the capabilities of the internet-based e-mail service to mirror some aspects of the fast-growing social networking site, according to a person familiar with its plans. - link
As promised, a list of the biggest drops in fastball speed from 2009 to 2008. A minimum of 50 innings pitched in each season was needed to qualify.
Joba Chamberlain, -2.5
Ervin Santana, -2.1
Ross Ohlendorf, -2
Jared Burton, -1.7
Tim Lincecum, -1.7
Daniel Cabrera, -1.7
Manny Delcarmen, -1.6
Chan Ho Park, -1.6
Brian Fuentes, -1.6
Jeremy Sowers, -1.5
Lance Cormier, -1.4
Chris Young, -1.4
Grant Balfour, -1.3
Mariano Rivera, -1.3
Tim Redding, -1.3
Oliver Perez, -1.2
Aaron Cook, -1.2
Kevin Gregg, -1.2
Kyle McClellan, -1.1
Aaron Heilman, -1 - link
Tatis:
Would you have signed Tatis to a 1-year, $850K deal to compete with Dan Murphy for the starting first base job, or would you have signed one of the following players to a 1-year deal: Ryan Garko ($550K), Jim Thome ($1.5M), Troy Glaus ($1.75M), Adam LaRoche ($6M), Nick Johnson ($5.75M), Aubrey Huff ($3M), Miguel Tejada ($6M), Jason Giambi ($1.75M), Xavier Nady ($3.5M), Garrett Atkins ($4.5M), Russell Branyan ($?), Hank Blalock ($?)? Or, would you have given a minor-league deal to Chad Tracy, Kevin Millar, Dan Johnson, Rich Aurilia, or Nomar Garciaparra? Or, would you re-sign Carlos Delgado? -
link
So it isn't necessary to be frustrated that the Mets don't spend like the Yankees to come to the conclusion that this offseason could have been far better spent. And to be clear, none of these three players are silver bullets, or even particularly special. Felipe Lopez is still out there, and likely a better option than Kennedy at second base. Rod Barajas is roughly worth what Torrealba was worth. And John Smoltz is a less-rewarding but more versatile pitcher still on the market. But there are no indications that the Mets will get any of those three. And for strikingly little money, all three of the problems could have already been addressed -- just last week. The Mets don't need to find the most expensive solutions to their problems. They simply do need to actually solve them. - link
No comments:
Post a Comment