Wheeler, Harvey, and Familia all make MLB.com’s ‘Top 100 Prospects’ list

Metzilla has a great recap of the three Mets pitching studs, Zack Wheeler, Matt Harvey, and Jeurys Familia, making MLB.com's top 100 prospect list.

Also on the MLB Network last night was an interview with Paul DePodesta, Mets VP of Player Development and Scouting. He was also the inspiration for the character played by Jonah Hill in the movie "Moneyball", which he talks about here:

Most influential Canadian in baseball is ... | Baseball | Sports | Toronto Sun

I think the most insulting part of this list is Jason Bay is nowhere to be found on it. I guess nice guys don't even finish last anymore!

"Meet the Mets, Meet the Mets, Step right up and BUY the Mets!"

The New York Times got its hands on the term sheet being offered to those looking to buy an ownership interest in the New York Mets. Reading this passage about one of the ownership perks proves how pathetic the Wilpons really are:

"Access to Mr. Met, the team mascot, although the degree of access is not entirely spelled out. It definitely means you, as a part-owner, can schmooze with Mr. Met at Citi Field. It’s less clear whether you could get him to come to your child’s birthday party without a fee."

Seriously? A friend of mine from high school got this at his wedding without forking over $20 million for 4% of the team:

Everything 'Clicked' When Andres Torres Confronted ADHD | Baseball Nation

As someone that went through a similar experience myself roughly a decade ago, I'm glad to see Andres Torres raising awareness of ADHD and hopefully helping to remove all of the stigmas associated with it.

Is Centerfield Taken? Mets should bid on Norichika Aoki | Double G Sports

This is an interesting idea. The author makes a good point:

"But his posting fee may be low like Nakajima who was won by the Yanks for $2M."

Also, you only have to pay the posting fee if you sign Aoki. If you fail to reach an agreement, you don't pay the posting fee and Aoki returns to his Japanese baseball team. It could be something and not as expensive as people may initially think.

At the very least, if he does come to the Mets, what better place for Norichika Aoki to try to get free meals in New York than the restaurant that shares the same name?

New York Mets 2012 Top 15 Prospects | Bullpen Banter

The guys at Bullpen Banter are working their way through the top 15 prospects of every Major League Baseball team and made their way to the New York Mets today. Here are their top 15 lists:

1 Matt Harvey / Matt Harvey
2 Zack Wheeler / Zack Wheeler
3 Brandon Nimmo / Brandon Nimmo
4 Jenrry Mejia / Jeurys Familia
5 Reese Havens / Jenrry Mejia
6 Cesar Puello / Michael Fulmer
7 Jeurys Familia / Reese Havens
8 Michael Fulmer / Cesar Puello
9 Kirk Nieuwenhuis / Juan Urbina
10 Juan Urbina / Kirk Nieuwenhuis
11 Jordany Valdespin / Domingo Tapia
12 Domingo Tapia / Cory Mazzoni
13 Wilmer Flores / Bradley Marquez
14 Cory Mazzoni / Jordany Valdespin
15 Akeel Morris / Wilmer Flores

While I'm not surprised by Harvey, Wheeler, and Nimmo being the top three, I'm surprised both writers have Havens so high, which I agree with, and Tapia and Mazzoni in the top 15, which I do not agree with.

An interesting list nonetheless and yet another opinion on the Mets future stars. What's more telling is the two top draft picks of 2011 and a 2011 trade acquisition are in the top ten and occupy #'s 2 and 3 on these lists, giving you a good idea of how depleted the system was prior to the arrival of Alderson and Company.

Balanced Baseball Leagues...what about schedules?

I wrote back in 2009 that a solution to improve Interleague play would be to balance the leagues with 15 teams each. I doubt the powers-that-be at Major League Baseball read my blog post on this but they seem to have done the same thing with the move of the Houston Astros to the American League West in 2013.

One thing I left open in my 2009 post was how the opponents outside of the strength-of-schedule method that I proposed would be selected. My solution: starting with the team with the worst record, select the nearest opponent that is not already scheduled until all of the teams are scheduled. Then, also beginning with the team with the worst record, schedule the three games against the teams with the best record at home, leaving the other three as road games. As the home/road splits get assigned, things start to shake out where everyone gets equitably scheduled.

If this seems a bit random and arbitrary, it's meant to be. Considering that baseball schedules cannot be determined until two years in advance (unlike at the end of the regular season like the NFL), it wouldn't be a huge impediment if, say, Baltimore played Philadelphia more often than other teams because there is not telling where those teams will be two years from now (okay, maybe Baltimore and Philly are bad examples but who would have thought Arizona would go from worst-to-first while Minnesota and San Diego both went first-to-worst in one season?)

I went through this exercise for all of the teams based on the final records of the 2010 and 2011 seasons (because this is how I enjoy spending my free time) and here's a sample of what I came up with:

- The Mets would play six games against the Yankees as a "regional rival". They would also have played, based on the 2010 schedule, Toronto and Seattle at home and Boston and Kansas City on the road. Based on 2011, the schedule in addition to the Yankees would be Houston and Baltimore at home, Toronto and Cleveland on the road.

- Pittsburgh had the worst record in MLB in 2010 and ended up with Detroit, Toronto, and Cleveland at home and Baltimore, Kansas City, and Seattle on the road.

- Houston had the worst record in MLB in 2011 and ended up with Arizona, Colorado, and St. Louis at home and Miami, Chicago, and San Diego on the road.

- Philadelphia had the best record in MLB in both years and ended up with (based on 2010) Baltimore, Minnesota, and Toronto at home, Detroit, Tampa Bay, and Texas on the road; and (based on 2011) Toronto, Boston, and Baltimore at home, and the Yankees, Detroit, and Texas on the road.

Definitely enough variety there to make the scheduling interesting but also increasing local/regional fan interest by ensuring that teams closest to each other have the best chance to play each other more often.

Why Revenue Sharing and Luxury Tax Failed | Mets Merized Online

A very well written post at Metsmerizedonline.com. Worth checking out...

Bill Maher: Football & Baseball or Democrats & Republicans

I'm pretty sure I've posted this before but it never hurts to remind people, especially now since a great World Series has ended and the NFL season is in full swing:

1986 playoffs still resonate 25 years later – USATODAY.com

Probably the greatest baseball playoffs of all time.

Selig: Mets never threatened over cap flap - NYPOST.com

Here's more proof that Bud Selig is, and always will be, way in over his head as the commissioner of Major League Baseball. The fact that he could be so clueless as to the importance of the Mets wearing the first responder hats like they did in 2001 is pathetic and sad. Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports, Matthew Cerrone of Metsblog, Adam Rubin of ESPN, John Harper of The New York Daily News, and George Willis of The New York Post agree that the Mets should have been wearing the NYPD, FDNY, and PAPD hats for 9/11.

Baseball Prospectus | The Lineup Card: 11 Disastrous Acquisitions

How disastrous were these acquisitions? The Mets signing of Kaz Matsui only makes #7 on the list. THAT BAD!

More on the blue Mets jerseys...

Uni Watch has more info on the blue Mets jerseys. Check it out.

Blue Mets Jerseys in 2013? Sounds too good to be true!

Looks like the blue uniforms the Mets wore for Fiesta Latina weren't a fluke after all. Apparently the team was testing fan reaction and was impressed with the positive response:

"“We did receive quite a bit of feedback, almost all of it anecdotal, but fairly extensive and fairly uniformly positive about the blue jersey,” [Mets executive VP for business operations Dave] Howard said. “It’s something we wanted to try. We had been discussing it internally. And we had been hearing from fans -- and observing on blogs and things like that -- of people having a view that they’d like to see more of the blue and orange. So with the “Los Mets” jersey, obviously it’s something you wear for one day for a promotion. And we thought it would be a good opportunity to try out this particular design. And it was very well received.”"

Everyone from David Wright (via Metsblog) to Metsblog readers (91% in favor) to me weighed in on the blue jerseys, nearly all of it in favor of the blue.

The only drawback of this is Major League Baseball's uniform rules are so ridiculous, teams have to submit their uniforms for the following season prior to opening day of the current season. Meaning, if the Mets wanted to make the blue uniforms part of their regular jerseys for next season, it would have to have been submitted for approval to the league offices this past March. How ridiculous is that?!?

Fitting baseball stat for International Lefthanders' Day

BaseballReference.com. lists the longest-tenured lefties in Major League Baseball today.

As I commented on the page, not sure if it was a coincidence or by design but to all my lefty friends out there: Happy International Lefthanders' Day! (Not really sure what that really means though.)

Moving in the walls at CitiField?

The spaciousness of CitiField has often been a point of contention about players and fans alike but Marty Noble provides this little nugget:

"...for the most part, Citi has been unpopular with hitters. The first time the Braves played here in 2009, Chipper Jones smoked a pitch to right-center field. It was caught. As he ran off the field and passed by third base, [David] Wright offered a telling two-word commentary: "Nice park.""

Did you know Carlos Beltran will be traded any day now?

Jon Heyman's column in Sports Illustrated the other day makes me wonder not so much why the Mets would trade Carlos Beltran within their own division but rather, why would a division rival send a top prospect to another team within its own division when that prospect could come back to haunt them for the next 7-10 years?

On a side note about Beltran, Will Leitch of New York Magazine makes an interesting observation:

"Within the next eleven days, the Mets are going to trade Carlos Beltran. When that happens, we will all write obituaries to his seven-year Mets career, the high times, the low times, the injuries, the last out of the 2006 NLCS."

Later in the same post, he writes:

"And in his first chance as closer, Jason Isringhausen, of all people, nailed down the save. Mets fans of course know Isringhausen as the onetime starting prospect burnout, but Cardinals fans know him as the agonizingly inconsistent closer whose injury allowed Adam Wainwright to become the Cardinals closer in 2006, which led to that 2006 NLCS Game 7, which leads us back to Beltran. This post just went full circle and blew your mind."

A New York Yankee fan explains why "It Stinks To Be A Yankees Fan"

Great column today from a Yankee fan that travelled to a number of Major League ballparks around the country and realized that what is missing from the Yankee universe is the innocence that the game is supposed to bring to its fans:

"What’s my point, you ask? Yankees fans need to seriously reflect here. Ask yourselves, do you really enjoy making the playoffs every year?

Is it an accomplishment that is really celebrated, or something expected that finally and inevitably comes to pass? Be honest. It’s the latter and it’s a shame. A division championship or a postseason birth is something that should be valued and appreciated, not viewed as a divine right.

I’m sure fans of other teams reading this right about now are asking themselves: “So what’s the problem? I’d want to make the playoffs every year. It’s awesome.” Think again.

As a kid waking up on Christmas morning, there was nothing cooler than seeing a brand new bike wheeled out after all the presents were opened as some kind of uber-surprise. Even though you realized something was up (since there weren’t really any gifts under the tree for you), it was still the thrill of a lifetime. Even though the ground was blanketed with snow and it was just 25 degrees outside, you would get on that bike and ride it until your face froze. It was the best.

Do you think it would feel that way if every single Christmas morning you got a new bike? Nope. Soon it would become an expectation, to the point if you didn’t get the bike, no matter the substitute, it would be a disappointment that would dwarf any feeling of joy. You’d become spoiled and entitled. It’s bad for the person receiving the gift and the person giving it.

The Yankees fan is the kid that gets a new bike every Christmas — and their parents can’t figure out a way to top it."

The 2011 MLB All-Star Game, Live from the "Papers Please" state

Roberto Clemente, Jr. wonders why the proposed boycott of this year's All-Star Game fizzled after Arizona passed the "Papers Please" law. It's really sad because I remember the Phoenix Suns making their protest in a very unique way. Hopefully, one of the 21 Latinos playing in this year's All-Star Game will remind us of this issue in his own unique way. Or at least one can hope so.

Baseball Prospectus | Baseball ProGUESTus: The Real Realignment Solution

This was an unusual column to read for no other reason than the fact that its tongue-in-cheek nature doesn't really come across until you start reading the proposed realigned leagues and divisions. It is a very interesting read nonetheless. As far as realignment goes though, I'm still sticking with my idea from June 2009.