A "Different Sort" of Cut N Paste

By David Rubin

I normally leave the "Cut N Paste" features to good buddy Mack, but there were a few things that I came across this morning that had to be commented on- so with all apologies, I present a totally different sort of "Cut N Paste"...first, I'll paste some of the article, and then I'll offer some comments on what these reporters had to say (warning: it's GONNA get SNARKY!!)

This is from Adam Kilgore of The Washington Post (and I enjoy his writing very much):

The Washington Nationals selected right-handed pitcher Elvin Ramirez from the New York Mets' Class AA affiliate with their first pick in the Rule 5 draft, a potential coup for Washington, which gets a right-handed reliever who can regularly hit 98 mph - and sometimes reach 100 - with his fastball.

The player with the best chance to stick is Ramirez, a 23-year-old from the Dominican Republic. Though he has struggled with control issues, his recent improvement and raw potential led some to believe he would be the first pick in the Rule 5 draft once the Mets chose not to protect him.
"If he throws enough strikes," General Manager Mike Rizzo said, "his stuff is as good as anybody's we've got."

"He's finally figuring out the strike zone," Rizzo said. "The latter portion of the minor league season and this winter, he's taken it to a different level. He's a big, power guy

Okay- I like hype and optimism as much as the next guy, but, as Mack has already said, this kid did NOT "regularly hit 98" and, on top of that, 20+ innings in the Dominican is NOT the same as pitching in AA and above, where hitters have begun to figure things out and the real prospects are separated from the "also-rans." He has some raw talent, no one's debating that, and 23 is NOT old for a power pitcher by any means. However, unless someone's JUGS Gun is either broken or not calibrated correctly, it's hard to believe that a pitcher deemed to have "slightly above average speed" (around 92-93) all of a sudden hits 98 "regularly." Hey- if he can figure it all out, and somehow he's a freak of nature who can gain 4-5 mph from the season to the off-season, I wish him all the success in the world...but somehow, I see him being offered back to the Mets before too long...

Next, from Sports Illustrated's Jon Heyman, who has seemingly been on an "anti-Mets" kick for some time now. From his "Red Sox lead winter meetings winners while Angels are losers" column, published today- under the "LOSER" portion:

6. Mets and GM Sandy Alderson. Alderson showed he has a sense of humor when he jabbed at Washington’s $126 million deal for Werth by saying, “I thought they were trying to reduce the deficit in Washington.” But he went a bit too far when he said the contract “makes some of our deals look pretty good.” Every team has a bad one or two, and deposed GM Omar Minaya doesn’t need to hear that. Meanwhile, Alderson was handing out only nickels and dimes, securing Ronny Paulino, D.J. Carrasco and Boof Bonser. It doesn’t help matters that Paulino will miss the first eight games due to a PED suspension at a time the Mets don’t need any more adverse publicity. They are also talking to pitcher Chris Young, who could take an incentive-laden deal.

Okay- last off-season, the consensus "winner" of the Winter Meetings was the Mariners- they of the 61-101 record, having lost 24 wins from the prior season, even after all of GM Jack Zduriencik's moves (adding Cliff Lee & Chone Figgins) for which he was being crowned "GM of the Year" by multiple columnists before the season was even played (Heyman didn't choose the Mariners as a "winner" but he DID chose Chone Figgins as a "loser" for signing a deal that was too LOW!! Hindsight being 20-20, Figgins is lucky to have been able to get the deal he did.)

Besides the fact that these so-called "Winners/Losers" columns are usually the sign of a writer stretching for material, it also shows that Heyman doesn't "get" what Alderson and company are attempting to do. Quite simply, they are in a "retooling" mode, similar to what Frank Cashen had to do upon taking over the team in 1980, which was putting as competitive a team on the field as they were able, while building a player development system that could/would produce long-term wellsprings of major league-ready talent. Seems to me that this is what Theo Epstein has done in Boston, and it hasn't seemed to work too badly for Sox Nation these past 8 years!! If the Mets HAD signed a Jayson Werth or a Carl Crawford to similar deals to the one they've signed elsewhere, I can guarantee that Heyman would have been one of the first to knock Alderson for adding yet another long-term guaranteed contract to the many he already inherited.

Why not simply put Alderson in the "No-Win" category as it seems that no matter which direction he took, he'd be damned for it...

Oh- by the way- Heyman's second "loser" from his 2009 Winter Meetings column? The San Francisco Giants- you know, the team that won the WORLD SERIES in 2010???

2. Giants: The worst-hitting team in baseball announced through continually cantankerous GM Brian Sabean that it didn't have the funds to play for Holliday or Bay, which ought to be real encouraging news for Tim Lincecum, the freakish talent who could only manage 15 wins due to a lack of run support. They continue to wait in the unrealistic hope that power-hitting Dan Uggla will be non-tendered by the Marlins (he won't be) and haven't really seemed to figure out how to field an offense to match the pitching talent they've assembled. Even if they eventually get Uggla, they'll have to figure out how to rework their defensive alignment to fit two second basemen (with Freddy Sanchez being the other).

Look, reporters and bloggers alike often stretch for material- it's hard to write and re-write about the same topics, day after day, and I know how hard it is to stay on deadline, especially when it involves being creative on a daily basis. However, if you're going to put out a "Winners/Losers" list like this, it should probably come AFTER the season, when you can actually offer factual information instead of speculation. Otherwise, it should be called "Potential Winners" and "Potential Losers"...or am I just being too prickly?? Either way, I'd love to hear what our readers have to say about this.

Finally, glad to be of service recently, as I've seen that a number of blogs have put up links to prospective new Met hitting coach Dave Hudgens' hitting website, which we linked to earlier this week!

Tomorrow: Winners, Losers, and everything in-between for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Winter Meetings!!! (Yep- I've been to my psychic and she's already told me the outcome of the next 3 off-seasons!!) (That WAS a joke, folks!!)