The New York Post fires another shot in its feud with Mike Francesa. I don’t know that I can think of any two institutions that deserve each other more. It’s like Phillies-Yankees all over again.
Kerry Rhodes is getting benched. Good. He stunk on Sunday and Eric Smith played well.
Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species.” The New York Times demonstrates how breathtakingly awesome evolution can be.
The Mets named their coaching staff yesterday. I don’t know enough about any of these guys to have a strong opinion, though I was kind of hoping Eric Wedge would be involved.
Tim Brown of Yahoo! Sports ominously reports that the Mets have “called on Russell Branyan.” I’m not certain he’s the best pickup for the Mets, but I’ve long been a fan of the Grand Branyan. Depends on the price tag and whether he can still adequately defend the outfield corners, I think.
The Daily News says the Mets could pursue Jack Cust in a trade. Presumably, as a non-tender candidate, Cust would come cheap, but I’m not certain where he fits. He’s a pretty terrible defender and probably a born DH.
Even in a down year in 2009, Cust still hit righties very well. I’d say he could be a left-handed insurance policy and potential platoon partner for Jeff Francoeur, but I can’t imagine the Mets are thinking that way.
I don’t want to think about the Jets anymore. Is there a coach in any sport more detestable than Bill Belichick?
TedQuarters person of bafflement Justin Bieber caused a near-riot at the Roosevelt Field Mall over the weekend. I caused my fair share of near-riots at the Roosevelt Field Mall when I was 15, too, but sadly, they never had anything to do with thousands of screaming female fans.
My brain says that, as a fan of another Big East basketball team, I should actually be rooting for Syracuse in non-conference matchups with ranked opponents. After all, more respect for the conference should mean more NCAA berths. My heart says screw that, and that Syracuse should burn in hell.
First off, the poll there is hilarious: Would you trade for Derek Lowe? A) Absolutely, B) No way. There is no gray area, and terms of the deal are immaterial. It’s not “Would you trade Milton Bradley for Derek Lowe?” (yes) or “Would you trade a really good sandwich for Derek Lowe” (not unless the Braves ate a huge part of his contract along with my sandwich).
Also, it’s funny how the Derek Lowe vs. Ollie Perez free-agent debate from last season worked out. Lose-lose so far. At the Perpetual Post, Howard Megdal and Chris Pummer discussed which pitcher is a better bet moving forward. Howard won’t give up on Ollie until someone pries his baseball-reference sponsorship from his cold, dead hands.
For no reason at all, here’s some guy’s video for Ween’s The Mollusk:
This is one of the most interesting things I’ve read about baseball this offseason. I have no idea who to believe — smart money says no one here is entirely accurate with his figures — but it’s certainly an important and concerning topic.
Friend of TedQuarters Eric Simon weighs in on inefficiencies in the pitching market, and saves me a lot of legwork the post I was planning on Jon Garland. Garland’s not great, mind you, but he stays healthy enough to pitch 200-some passable innings every year, and that’s a valuable thing.
The debate over whether steroid users belong in the Hall of Fame continues. My stance? Consider their achievements in context of the era’s offensive outburst, but let the deserving guys in. I outlined this here, in a column that got very few eyeballs because it came the morning of the Jeff Francoeur deal:
There’s talk that four of the very best players of this or any era — Manny, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds — should be excluded from the Hall of Fame. I like the Hall of Fame, and I fear if those men don’t make it in, the honor will someday seem like the Gold Glove Award or something, like some sort of pageant that bears little correlation to actual accomplishments within the game.
Ben Shpigel reports that Omar Minaya is planning a visit to Puerto Rico to scout Carlos Delgado. I understand the thought process — Delgado could be had on the cheap and serve as a nice one-year stopgap for Ike Davis — but I’d rather see Murphy get more at-bats to show what he can or can’t do. Would a healthy Delgado be better than Murphy? Almost certainly, but Murphy could be a much bigger part of the team’s future.
The Brooklyn Cyclones introduced Wally Backman as their manager yesterday, prompting John Harper to speculate about whether Backman could replace Jerry Manuel, and also write this maddening sentence:
He was never afraid to get in the face of a teammate, once even calling out Darryl Strawberry for missing games because of hangovers disguised as sick days, so if anybody is going to tell Carlos Beltran he’d better slide next time, it would likely be Backman.
Howard Megdal votes no on Chone Figgins. Sam Page is ambivalent, and points to Figgins’ “really cool name,” an excellent point. I refuse to pronounce it “Shawn,” for what it’s worth. I much prefer to say it phonetically with a terrible cockney accent, along the lines of “I’m Chone Figgins, I am, I am” and maybe throw in a “guv’nah” in there, too.
Also, someone clearly needs to put Chone Figgins, Lastings Milledge and Norris Hopper on the same team to field an All-Dickens-name outfield.
Rich Zuckerman, SNY.tv Knicks columnist and lauded ass-kicking machine, says Allen Iverson is not The Answer for the Knicks. I think it just depends on the question. If it’s “Would I be more likely to watch Knicks games if Allen Iverson was playing?” then, well, yes.
Alan Schwarz at the Times discusses the widening gap between the A.L. and N.L. and how it’s affecting the offseason market. American Mustache Hero Jay Jaffe has demonstrated statistically the very real gap between the leagues, but the examples cited in Schwarz’ piece seem either extreme or illusory.
Javier Vazquez had a great, career year in 2009 and likely benefited from changing leagues, but also had some terrible luck in 2008. John Smoltz was just returning from a lengthy injury with the Red Sox in 2009, so he could have been getting stronger as he improved with the Cardinals.
Which isn’t to say it’s not there. It is, as Jay showed. But I just don’t think GMs should be putting too much stock into the split when it comes to player evaluation.
Mike D’Antoni referred to the Knicks as “zombies.” I assume he means the classic, lurching version of the undead and not the fast type seen in 28 Days Later. Either way, I can’t really think of an image scarier than Zombie Eddy Curry. Dude hungers for a whole lot of brains.
The Daily News’ Mark Feinsand and Bill Madden say the Mets “don’t seem to be inclined to get involved with the big free agents such as Matt Holliday” and so should be in on trade talks. They also say the Tigers will cut payroll, but “it’s highly unlikely that any team would take on the mammoth contract of Miguel Cabrera.”
Wait a minute, hold the phone. Would the Tigers really be looking to dump Cabrera’s salary? It’s huge, mind you — he’s owed $126 million over the next six seasons — but he’s not even 27 yet and he’s completely awesome. So awesome, in fact, that Fangraphs valued him at $24.3 million in 2009, more money than he’ll make in any single year in his current contract. Obviously I have no idea what he’d cost in a trade package, I’m just saying. Some team with money should be willing to take him on.
LeBron James will wear No. 6 next season to honor Michael Jordan. Good news for Toney Douglas.
Tedquarters 