Mack Ade - I May Be Wrong, But… Ryan Braun, Jeff Bagwell, Mets Needs Posts, Brian Jorna, Mike Nickeas

1.     An MLB official told Tom Haudricourt of the Journal-Sentinel that there’s little to no chance that 2011 MVP Ryan Braun will win his appeal of a 50-game suspension for using a banned substance. I have no problem with this. I’ve heard every excuse in the world for the reason some professional sports figure put something in their mouth that they weren’t supposed to. Exceptions to this rule cannot be tolerated. The only chance you have for future ballplayers to not break the rule, is to enforce the rule.

2.     Andrew Martin, of http://seamheads.com/ debated whether Jeff Bagwell should be voted into the Hall of Fame. I have such a big problem with this process because it includes humans. I feel a ballplayer should be voted into the HOF if he dominated the sport he played in, for at least ten years, in at least one major category of statistics. It just doesn’t work that way. If it did, Gil Hodges would be in for being the person who was ranked third… ever… on the day he retired. That’s domination and that’s what should get you in the HOF. Regarding Bagwell, if there’s doubt, leave him out.

3.     I’m stopping the “Breaking Down – Mets Needs” posts with the last one (Atlanta Braves) on January 10^th. We’ve covered all the AL teams and, frankly, I don’t see the purpose to continue this. The Mets don’t have the depth in talent to pull off a big trade, and the team has basically shut the hot stove off. Why torture ourselves talking about teams with deeper systems. Email me if you think I’m wrong.

4.     I want to thank Brian Jorna of www.mets360.com for having me as a guest on his radio show tonight. I hope I didn’t stink up the place. We talked for a half hour about Mets prospectsand the link to the pod cast is: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/mets360/2012/01/02/mets360

photo by Mack Ade

5.     Mike Nickeas and I shared thoughts today. He’s looking forward to the upcoming season and is working hard in the off-season in areas he feels work is needed. Regular readers here know I’ve been high on Mike since he arrived in a 2006 trade for OF Victor Diaz. There isn’t a pitcher in the chain that doesn’t like him catch for them and I continue to feel he will someday be a catching coach in the Mets organization.