David Wright, Jonathon
Niese, Lucas Duda, Travis d'Arnaud, Bobby Parnell, Jeurys Familia and Josh
Edgin have all joined the off-season strength and conditioning camp which now
takes place in Port St. Lucie.
This all started with a
similar version up north last year and an earlier version this off season in
Florida.
I love when I see
things like this. This has nothing to do with batting practice or long tossing
in the outfield. No, it’s all about nutrition, strength, agility, and speed.
It’s an interesting
group too… seven of the 25-man squad once Parnell gets activated.
I never liked all this
public information regarding the voting process for the Hall of Fame. I hate it
when I read that Adam Rubin is telling us that Baseball Think Factory now has
the total Piazza voting into the Hall Of Fame ‘slipping’ to 76.2%, with around
30.1% of the ballots public. I just don’t know enough about this process. Is
the voting still going on. Do we have to deal with ‘chads’?
Return this process to
the respect it deserves for the players on the voting sheet and everybody keep
your trap shut until the entire process is over, which is sometime later today.
Feel free to use this Morning Report for an active discussion on this asinine process. but pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese. LET'S STOP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH HERE.
THE ONLY REASON MIKE PIAZZA ISN'T IN TOE HALL OF FAME IS SOME VOTERS BELIEVE HE TOOK STEROIDS.
AS I DO.
AND I WOULD',T VOTE HIM IN FOR THE SAME REASON.
Feel free to use this Morning Report for an active discussion on this asinine process. but pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeese. LET'S STOP BEATING AROUND THE BUSH HERE.
THE ONLY REASON MIKE PIAZZA ISN'T IN TOE HALL OF FAME IS SOME VOTERS BELIEVE HE TOOK STEROIDS.
AS I DO.
AND I WOULD',T VOTE HIM IN FOR THE SAME REASON.
You know, we all have
our own version as to where the 2015 Mets are heading. We each have our own
heroes producing more wins than in the past and getting us closer to that
magical 88 win total that is supposed to be enough to get this team into
October baseball.
But, there are two
other scenarios that could happen.
One, there’s always a
chance for one of those miracle years that everything falls into the right
place. You know, another ‘You Gotta Believe’ year.
But, there also is a
chance that you could have the kind year that Phil Jackson stepped in over at
the Garden. What if the Mets lost, oh, let’s say 70 of their first 100 games
and all the so called starts of the team are hitting below .200 or producing
5.00+ ERAs?
Would the Mets start
selling off major chips like the Knicks did yesterday and begin another
rebuilding of the team?
I’m sure they would
take whatever they could get for Murphy, and Colon at this point of the season,
but what about Granderson, Cuddyer, Duda, Niese, Parnell, and yes, even David
Wright?
We know there seems to
be a bright future (Dom Smith, Rosario, Herrera, Urena, d’Arnaud, Nimmo,
Conforto… and there still is Syndergaard, Matz, Molina, and Whelan for future
rotations.
Just what could this
team expect to get in return if all the players I listed above were DFAd. Just
who would pick up the phone and call Sandy Alderson offering who for who?
More importantly, would
you come back again as a fan?
- - - -My best friend for the past 16 years passed this afternoon. I held Izzy, my constant Chihuahua companion in my arms while the vets first put the drip into his arm, followed by the numbing solution. Once immobilized, it was quickly followed by the final shot which stopped his heart in around three seasons.
Good night
Iggy. Go sneak on the 7 train and take in a game at Shea for me. -
-
- - - -My best friend for the past 16 years passed this afternoon. I held Izzy, my constant Chihuahua companion in my arms while the vets first put the drip into his arm, followed by the numbing solution. Once immobilized, it was quickly followed by the final shot which stopped his heart in around three seasons.
By the time
we had arrived, Iggy was already deaf, suffering from dementia, and had total
renal failure. No dog every loved a man more than he loved me and he would go
simply go nuts when I came into a room. Now, he would just stand there,
staring, no tail wagging, while occasionally urinating.
I’ve had a
tough time writing lately about the Mets because of the lack of subject matter,
but I could write chapters about this good guy that was the meanest kick ass
four pounds of a dog I ever met to a stranger, but could lick every inch of my
face before he went to sleep every night.
25 comments:
Mack,
Condolences on your pooch, many of us have lost them and know it is a painful loss, even if they are "just" animals.
The Drew signing by the Yanks bothers me, as it does other Met fans, but not so much because of the loss of the player. Yes, with his LH bat and plus defensive skills, he was a nice insurance policy for Flores. But, the guy is aging and hit atrociously last year. Frankly, the Mets should be shooting higher than him, but given their recent track record, everything stinks of cheapness until proven otherwise.
If this is the team they take to opening day, it is a 3rd place team with no more than 82 wins barring breakdowns/increased injuries to others in the NL East. At this point I give Alderson a D- for this offseason.
I've been feeling contrary lately, and my apologies in advance.
On the exercise thing, it makes me roll my eyes. 13-year-old travel teams are doing the same thing. You can't be a modern athlete and not be involved in strength, agility, and conditioning work in the off-season. The Mets are just hyping it in a different way. Oooooh, wow, they're exercising . . .
(BTW, for a few years now I've thought David Wright looked too muscle-bound. More "mirror" muscles than baseball muscles, if you will. I don't know, no meaningful observation to me, he just looks wrong -- maybe a misguided attempt to add power and deal with the LF wall.)
I personally like the transparency & accountability of the open ballots -- and the build up is probably good for the HOF in general, creating interest at an otherwise dull time. (Sandy signed Buddy Carlyle and is going to take off the rest of the month.)
Obviously, some folks believe that Mike took PEDs. But is it all guesswork now? Did Pedro or RJ? All those injuries Smoltz dealt with, is it impossible to think he might have taken something to enhance his recovery? It's all guesswork and scary, like Stalin's Russia, whispers and accusations without proof. But ultimately, it only makes the HOF a bigger joke than it already is, an antiquated ruin. The idea that Pete Rose isn't "in" the HOF is just stupid. He has the most hits of all-time. They need to rethink the whole thing, blow it up, and start over with the idea of documenting the game.
Carry on!
Best believe that if I was making MILLIONS playing a sport, I'd have no problem shelling out a few bucks every offseason to hire people who may help me continue making my millions.......
Speaking of millions, if Piazza, along with names like Bonds, Clemens and mcguire still have some of theirs, are they seriously supposed to stressing about whether or not a bronzed version of their head sits in a museum od not?
The part the moved me the most is the Iggy story. So sorry to hear you lost such a close family member and friend. I have a 2 year old dog who basically reacts the same way when i come into the room. My condolences Mack.
Go Mets!
I'm very sorry to hear about Iggy. Those are the things that punch you in the stomach and make it hard to get through a day, a week or a month.
Will you get another dog?
Mack,
I'm sorry for the loss of your best friend. As a long time dog owner, with a 7 year old husky who still goes crazy whenever I come home after I've been gone for 10 minutes or 10 hours, I understand your loss. I've had to put down 2 wonderful dogs in the past 10 years, and the loss always breaks your heart.Just remember, he's back to himself now.
On Piazza, I have to say I disagree with you on the subject of his steroid use. I think certain people are hung up on the fact that he had back acne. His strength potential and the possibility of power is documented as far back as his initial, pre-draft scouting reports. I agree with James Preller - the HOF's purpose should be the documenting of the game, not moral judgments.
Sorry for your loss Mack, keep your chin up as best you can and remember all the good times you shared.
Understand your view on Piazza but I separate the suspect from the proven - he admitted to Ando when it was not a banned substance - no other proof I am aware of - agree with the above comments that the HOF process is diminished by all this. i don't see Piazza's performance or appaearnace as radically transformed as Clemens or Bonds - I would vote for him based on his being the greatest offensive catcher but it's a moot point anyway - I don't have a vote.
Piazza passes the eye test to me he looked like a HOF'er when I watched him play - craig Biggio not so much but Biggio's lifetime statistics are cumulatively impressive - maybe there should be a Lifetime Achievement Wing built next to the actual HOF. No disrespect to Biggio who I always enjoyed watching - he was a pro.
Had a lot of trouble making it through the Iggy section - having lost 2 dogs in the past years and having to watch as we had teh vet put them down were among the most brutal experiences of my life - I had no idea it could actually be that difficult - I am very sorry for your loss and the emotional chasm it created.
Sorry to hear about Iggy, Mack. Dogs are so tough to lose like that.
Ruben Tejada has been do arm curls with 2 forks simultaneously.
Mets won't lose like that, but if they did, bring on the minor league kiddies and yes, I'd go to watch them.
Mack,
Sorry to hear about the loss of the family "friend".
For those of you who are reading the comments section today, let me tell you about Sue's triple chocolate brownies. I love both of her shortbreads but the brownies take the cake! Try them, try them in honor of Izzy.
Mack,
I'm so sorry to hear about your loss. I've had dogs whenever my living situation allowed and as George Carlin once observed you tend to define the periods of your life by the dogs you had at the time. I recall vividly at the end of high school getting a runt of the litter, a little white mixed breed that could pass for a pure bred Maltese but most felt he was probably some stew of Chihuahua, Poodle and Terrier. Not only was he my best friend, but he was also my introduction to girls as he looked forever like a puppy. I thought the worst day of my life occurred when at just 4 years old my mother called me at college to inform me he'd died suddenly of a brain tumor.
Many dogs and years later I moved to El Paso from the NYC area on what my brother and I referred to as our white trash tour through West Virginia and Arkansas with bags of pork rinds, diet Mountain Dew and my trusty pit bull Bela in the back seat. Sadly she lived only two years after arriving here, the victim of an inoperable splenetic tumor. Having her sleeping against my feet every morning was comforting in a way only dog owners can know and the emptiness afterwards seemed like it would never end.
When she was pretty much like your Iggy, I took that long, lonely drive to the vet's office with the intention of having her put to sleep, but even then she gave me the greatest final gift ever...dying in my arms in the waiting room without me having to live with the guilt of having gotten her the needle.
Since her demise was expected (and against my promise to the rescue league where I got her), I went out and brought home Cash, a Shar Pei mix who I describe as the tofu of dogs because he takes on the personality of whatever other dogs are with him. With Bela he was quiet and subdued as she was on her last legs. When my Bichon Frise puppy joined the home, Cash's playful side came out and they're best buddies. Somehow along the way a Pomeranian and a Dachshund (all from rescue leagues) joined the fray, and with four dogs we're on the borderline of being crazy dog people.
There's an old joke (which right now won't make you laugh but perhaps someday will) about a man who loved his dog very much and his wife became jealous. She said to him, "I think you love that dog more than you love me!"
He thought about it a minute and said, "Well, dear, I don't know about that but I do know the dog loves me more than you do."
She said, "You're crazy. How could you say that?"
He said, "Let's try an experiment." He goes and gets his car, brings it around to the front of the house and pops open the trunk. He then turns to his wife and says, "I'm going to put my dog in the trunk and drive around for an hour. Then when I'm done, I'm going to put YOU in the trunk and drive around for an hour. At the end of those hours, when I open the trunk lid, which one of you is going to be happy to see me?"
Rest in Peace Iggy.
My condolences Mack.
FYI.....Bobby Parnell and Mets avoid arbitration. He has re-signed for 1 yr/$3.7M
Brian -
I think Iggy is going to make a great 'last dog'
Steve from Norfork -
We're just going to have to disagree about the Piazza thing.
someone mentiioned Wright... no, he's just weight crazy.
he goes back in and works out for 20 more minutes after many games are over
Derek -
you've given my wife some comfort today (she's a mess) - thank you
So Sorry for your Loss Mack... If we could all be a little more like the Dogs we Love the world would be a much better place.
You did the right things with Iggy and for Iggy every step of the way...I can tell by the way you reflect on your time together.
Congratulations on a life well shared with a great little firend!!!
I find the steroid argument mind blowing. I can't wrap my head around how people can morally judge people they "think" did steroids. Its probably my biggest pet peeve about baseball aside from people saying the only players that can win MVP are those from teams that make the playoffs instead of the best players. Just feels so backwards and antiquated to me.
START RANT
The fact is we will only know for sure the players that were caught. We will never know if everyone else is clean. We cant know for certain that any of the guys just elected were clean either. Baseball PROMOTED steroids by not testing. Everyone was doing it. Not doing it meant probably not having a job or not playing at the same level as everyone else. Its easy to judge others but my guess is that if most the people that were in the same situation would have made the exact same choice. Taking steroids could have meant the difference of tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in earning power, or maybe not having a job at all (if you were on the cusp). Not doing steroids is probably akin to outsourcing. You may not like the idea of outsourcing work to other companies, but if you dont do it then your company will fold and you lose all the employees instead of some. Now with advanced testing you are on the same playing field as everyone else and you don't need to make that choice (or if you do at least face serious consequences). Without steroids I think the state of baseball would be much different than it is today. I was a big McGwire fan since I was 9 years old and his chase of 62 home runs reinvigorated the sport that was still reeling from a recent strike. I also think a lot of the people that didnt vote for Piazza, McGwire, Bonds, Clemens etc sure made a good living writing about them.
/END RANT
Sorry about your dog Mack.
Go Mets
Mack;
Sorry for your loss. Went through the same thing with my 13 year old golden a few years back.
Have to disagree with you on Piazza. We can't convict people without evidence and "he looked bigger" is not evidence. And then start pulling all those old timers out of the Hall that used amphetamines. One extra hit a week can make a hall of famer and using anything that would help improve attention and focus would do it. So lets start the greenie hunt.
Fine Dallas -
RANT
Then just let anyone do anything they want... steroids, horse urine, andro, whatever... do what it takes to make the 4-7 years period you play this game on earth the best you can... then, crawl off with every ailment on earth and God, I hope you made enough money in that 4-7 years to day for your health care... oh? what?? they get lifetime healthcare too as part of some agreement with the owners and the league?
What do Care? I'm watching them on TV making my $12 bucks an hour. Why should I care what they put in their bodies
Poor Iggy. Sorry Mack. I know it's heartbreaking.
I've come to realize I don't give a rat's ass about the HOF and still trying to figure out why I ever did. Love Piazza, but life will go on.
I think horse urine is OK, pretty sure there are no tests for that :)
My point is that by not regulating it during the McGwire years they promoted it. You have to ban them all or accept it because you don't know who was clean. By all measures it was a very high percentage of players. Again if you didn't do them you were put at a disadvantage. If you are going to set rules you have to enforce them. I would forgive A-Rods earlier transgressions but maybe not the new ones because at that point MLB was actually regulating it.
Baseball might actually be more fun with steroids and andro (whose ill health effects have been pretty overblown, some documentaries and scientific articles showing this) but no one should feel forced to do drugs in order to compete.
I don't like Bond and Clemens, their egos and lies are a little too much for me but they belong in the HOF along with McGwire and Piazza. Pretty sure they provided a lot more excitement, dominance and fun then Biggio.
Cheers
I'm sorry for my rank and I'm going offline for the rest of the day
sorry about your dog. thats a bummer. but 16 years together is a awesome and a championship run if i ever heard of one!
Rest peacefully Iggy. Ride that 7 back and forth tonight
The problem with the "let them take whatever they want" position is that it's morally bankrupt, and it ignores all the young, amateur athletes who will be taking the same things.
Steroids was (maybe still is?) a problem in many HS locker rooms.
If we let the pros take what they want, we are telling the kids that they MUST too, if they wish to compete.
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