Yankees are in the House
So I took the Shinkansen (Bullet Train) home from Tokyo today, and found some fresh newsprint waiting upon my arrival at the home station. The Sanspo News is a popular sports tabloid that comes out daily. Today's afternoon edition features a large picture of Daisuke Matsuzaka, and the headline "Yankees Team Explicitly States, 'We'll Pursue Matsuzaka'". That's the paper on my tatami.The gist of the article is that the Yankees are having internal discussions about the money they want to spend on this venture. There's some internal conflict about whether they're going to break the bank. The paper seems to hedge it's sexy headline near the end of the article by saying that the Yankees are considering the bid to be below $20 million, and that may not be enough. The article also has a firsthand comment from Matsuzaka that he wants the Yankees. It's the first time the Yanks have expressed open interest in Daisuke, and to my knowledge, the first time Matsuzaka has openly admitted that he wants the Yankees as his "honmei", which means preference or favorite. The notion, however, that the bidding can be won at less than $20 million is a surefire way to see Daisuke as a Met next season. They will outbid the Yankees if this is at all true.
The other news beyond the withdrawl of the Mariners is the apparent withdrawl of the Orioles, Angels, Padres, and Dodgers from the bidding. More teams may follow. If I were a betting man, I'd say the real competition is now a competition for the back pages of the New York tabloids. Will the Mets steal Matsuzaka from under the Yankees nose, and claim the crown of most aggressive and pertinent team in New York, or will the Yankees teach their little brothers in Queens a lesson in who's the boss? I might be leaning Mets at this point, but I hope I'm wrong.We'll know soon enough, won't we?
posted by Mike Plugh @ 6:26 PM
54 Comments:
Are you Anti-mets? They are the most exciting team in NY and the MLB. You have Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Delgado, Pedro, Glavine, Lo Duca...This team is exciting and having Matsuzaka would crown the team as Most Exciting in the world. The Mets will be aggressive and you should not actively root for the Yanks to get him. Look at what they did to Irabu's confidence! They would destroy Matsuzaka...He is better off with the Mets. The Mets Pitching Coach is reknown for making pitchers better. Believe me, if you call yourself a fan of Matsuzaka...then you should root for the Mets to win the bidding war.
The Mets need him in the worst way. The way the pitching staff broke down last year was devastating.
Did DMat come out and say or was it coherse out of him? In the U.S papers, the closest thing he said was when he went to see the BRaves Yanks game, he felt the atmosphere of the stadium. Did people take that as to say he wants to be a Yankee?
I think the Mets and the Red Sox are real underdogs on this one. No one mentions the Red Sox but I'm sure they will be very aggressive.
Even if the mets to outbid the yanks, its up to matsuzaka to go. If he doesn't feel like going to the mets then the bid money will go back to the mets and he'll stay one more year in Japan. In the end if he doesn't go to the yanks he will NOT pitch in the majors. Simple as that. Sorry METS fans better luck next time =P
Not a Mets fan nor am I an yankees fan. Big Matsuzaka fan since his Koshien time. Mets suck, period. There's an obvious hatred coming from Randolph against asian players
The Yankees had a $200m payroll last season and still went out and got Abreu in July. I can't see George now getting cheap when he is 80 years old and desperately wants 1 more WS title before he goes to the Stadium in the sky.
Moreover, the Yankees need to sign 1 pitcher and if it is not Matsuzaka, it will be some medicore pitcher like a Ted Lilly or Gil Meche, which will be an awful investment.
If you pass on a Matsuzaka for a Lilly or Meche, the 2007 post season (if you even get there) will be no different than the 2006 for the Yankees. If I know this, the Yankees know this too.
YEAH, NICE TRY. Randolph shows an "obvious hatred" toward Asian players? Please show one instance where this is the case. You suck, period. You have no honor in posting garbage like this about the Mets, or Willie Randolph.
Seriously, even if Matsuzaka wants to be a Yankee, I'm sure he didn't hire Scott Boras to play in Japan for another year if the Yankees do get outbid. My guess though is that the Yankees are trying to drive the inflated price of the rights to negotiate with him down. Could this mean they won't go with an unnecessarily high number and gamble on a lower bid? Maybe. That lower bid could still be in the $20 million range with some estimates having gotten as high as $30 million. But either way they'll still make a meaningful bid I'm sure, unless they feel they've got a good deal for Schmidt or Zito locked up already.
As for Willie, he may not be the most jovial of managers in general, but I highly doubt his judgement of someone like Matsuzaka will be based on anything other than baseball. Willie's a gamer, and he knows and respects talent when he sees it, period. If Willie had something against asians, Kaz would not have had the thousands of chances he did before his trade value completely deteriorated.
Even if the Yanks are the favorites, the Mets can't be far behind no matter what. With the new Cable Network and Stadium soon to come, and all the attendance records that got smashed this season, the Mets have money to spend, and they will spend it somewhere.
as much as I hate Willie Randolph I think its ludicrous to say that he discriminates against Asian players.
We all know that he loves his minority guys.
Its the honkies on the team that he has a problem with.
Insulting Heilman after he pithed a one hitter. Refusing to let him start, constantly going to Mota.
Batting Wright at the bottom of the order when he came to NY.
With respect to the first post....
Reyes, Wright, and Beltran are exciting players, to be sure, but you are reaching on the others. Nobody really knows the status of Delgado, Pedro is on the DL until June or July of 2007 and was MIA in 2006, and Glavine and LoDuca are many things, but exciting they are not.
Just to pay Devil's advocate, Cano finished in the top five in the batting title race and is 23, Wang could be among the top contenders for the Cy Young in his second season, and Cabrera is very young, was among the leaders in outfield assists, and is more than capable with the bat.
Irabu also pitched in Montreal and Texas and was equally ineffective if not worse....you can't blame that on the Yankees....Irabu was just not that good.
As for Rick Peterson, the last time I remember he was supposed to fix Victor Zambrano in 5 minutes. How did that work?
Zambrano, when not on the DL, is more or less the same ineffective and wild pitcher with a mid 4.00 ERA (in the weak hitting N.L. to boot) that he was before the Mets foolishly sacrified Scott Kazmir (a truly young and exciting player) to get him.
ok heres the thing, whether daisuke wants to be a yankee or not is 100 percent irrelevant in the matter, as of right now anyway. The bidding is all that matters up until negotiations, which i think whichever team lands negotiation rights will also land the pitcher, but we cannot forget that a posted player cannot determine where he wants to play this resides simply on the bids
Even if the mets to outbid the yanks, its up to matsuzaka to go. If he doesn't feel like going to the mets then the bid money will go back to the mets and he'll stay one more year in Japan. In the end if he doesn't go to the yanks he will NOT pitch in the majors. Simple as that. Sorry METS fans better luck next time =P
2:12 AM
and what are u his fucking agent u stupid fagget?
what the fuck r u talking about nobody knows the status of delgado, he isnt going anywhere u dumb fuck get your information right
wright never batted at the bottom of the lineup dipshit, and he also never played anywhere else besides the mets
emag u cant base a pitching coach on one failed project. wana here somthing interesting. If the mets never trade kazmir for zambrano, phillips doesnt get fired, minaya doesnt get hired, phillips doesnt pursue pedro martinez, which in turn doesnt allow him to go after beltran, without beltran and martinez, delgado excersizes his no trade clause, vetoing the trade to the mets.right now the mets would be a mediocre team at about .500 winning percentage if kazmir isnt traded for zambrano, and u cant blame peterson because zambrano gets hurt
I'm going to go ahead and guess that the Yankees will make an under the table deal with the Seibu Lions. They'll tell them how much they'll bid, maybe something like 30 million. Seibu would then return the check to the Yankees and they would only end up getting $15 mil or share in some revenue with the Yankees.
"But there may be loopholes. It can be in the Japanese team's best interest for the winning bid to come from a team with which the player wants to sign, since that is the only way the Japanese team gets money. So a Japanese team could make an under-the-table deal with a U.S. team in which only a portion of the winning bid would have to be paid.
When the Seattle Mariners won the rights to sign Ichiro Suzuki in 2000, there were rumors they paid just $4 million of the $13 million winning bid to the Orix Blue Wave."
Anything less than Matsuzaka this offseason is a failure for the Yankees imo.
Lets Clear up a Few Things:
1) Even most yank fans will admit that the Mets are more exciting than the Yanks because they have young enthusiasm and an aggressive front office. There is no "BOSS" that hovers over Minaya and he is making killer moves.
2) Obviously, yank fans want to hope that the Yanks outbid the Mets BUT there seems to be hesitation coming from Tampa (the yank headquarters) that the japanese phenom is too risky to blow anything more than 20 million. If that is the case, Matsu will be a Met.
3) Willie Randolph plays his BEST players. He is not a racist and if matsu is a member of the mets he will play him. To call him a racist is truly idiotic and without honor.
4) If the mets get Matsu then Yanks get Zito...
GO METS!!!!
1) Even most yank fans will admit that the Mets are more exciting than the Yanks because they have young enthusiasm and an aggressive front office. There is no "BOSS" that hovers over Minaya and he is making killer moves.
It's true, the mets are exciting, but you'd never get any yanks fans to admit that they're more exciting to watch than the yankees. Even their offseasons are very exciting, just to see what they'll end up doing. I have to admit, Minaya has done a good job for them
2) Obviously, yank fans want to hope that the Yanks outbid the Mets BUT there seems to be hesitation coming from Tampa (the yank headquarters) that the japanese phenom is too risky to blow anything more than 20 million. If that is the case, Matsu will be a Met.
You probably haven't followed the Yankees recently, but Tampa is no longer considered the Yankees "headquarters." When Cashman's contract was extended, he was given more power in the front office and decisions. Look at the past two amateur drafts, especially this past years' where the Yankees were rated as having the 2nd best draft in baseball by BA. Also, last years' winter meetings were conducted in the Bronx instead of Tampa for the first time in years. So even if Tampa is concerned about Daisuke, I'm sure Cashman will make the right decision. Tampa's decision making is not all that great anyway. (see: jaret wright, tony womack, etc.)
3) Willie Randolph plays his BEST players. He is not a racist and if matsu is a member of the mets he will play him. To call him a racist is truly idiotic and without honor.
I love Willie and think he's a great manager. I was disappointed when he went to the mets, especially since I wanted torre gone years ago.
4) If the mets get Matsu then Yanks get Zito...
I hope not.. But I can't really see Zito in pinstripes. They know how horrible he's done against the AL East, and he's been in a decline for years.
delgado can ask for a trade and it has been rumored that he will if the mets don't pick up his last year option.
Get your information right dipshit
All this hating on the Mets is ridiculous. Saying Willie is racist or Delgado wants a trade is idiotic.
Daisuke is pretty much made up his mind to pitch in the ML next year. The Yankees are not his sole team. You know that every free agent is suppose to say they want to play for one of the New York teams right? Unless its the Royals who wins the bid, Daisuke will pitch for one of the bigger market teams.
delgado will be a met in april
absolute gauruntee
It's not that Yankees destroyed Irabu's confidence, it's that Irabu's makeup was not as good to take the pressure. Matsuzaka has a great mental makeup and stuffs...
BTW this guy is a Yankee fan, so shush your mouth
I just can't see the Mets spending the money to get DMat. Things have changed since Minaya came on board but how much, really? If anything is "exciting," it will be watching the bidding war between the Yanks & Mets. But as a longtime Yankee fan I'm sure the Yanks will win out. The Red Sox have too much rebuilding to do in other areas to blow the money on DMat. Ain't gonna happen.
Peter Angelos is an idiot. Treats his fans and players like crap. he should be bought out and an owner with a real interest in baseball should take over down there. He's bad for the team, period.
And some idiot Mets fans are bad for the Mets. Why don't you guys lighten up, name-calling is a waste of our time. We'd like to root for your team sometimes but fans like you make it really, really hard.
ESPN Insider - In pursuit of Matsuzaka, Buster Olney
The Orioles are thinking about getting in on the Daisuke Matsuzaka bidding, writes Jeff Zrebiec.
The posting system is deeply flawed. For example, here's one sabotage scenario that might interest a team like Baltimore, which is faced with the possibility that Matsuzaka will land with either of the big market monsters in its division, the Yankees or the Red Sox. The Orioles could post a huge bid -- say $50 million -- and blow everybody else out of the water. With exclusive negotiating rights, they then could offer Matsuzaka a take-it-or-leave-it minimum bid, like a six-year, $6 million deal. Matsuzaka and agent Scott Boras, with just 30 days to negotiate and with no ability to generate a competing bid from another major league team, would have a stark choice of taking the Orioles' lowball offer or remaining in Japan. If Matsuzaka came to the U.S. under those circumstances -- and that would seem very unlikely -- then the Orioles would have a frontline pitcher for much less than the total package of $80 million that everybody expects it will cost to keep Matsuzaka. And if he were to stay in Japan after such a lowball offer, then the Orioles would get their posting fee back and would still serve their own purposes, as well, by keeping him out of the hands of the Red Sox and Yankees.
http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?showtopic=11061&st=660
Preface: I don't know what I'm talking about.
So I've spent time watching a bunch of tape of Matsuzaka, making sure not to watch just highlight reels, and also looking more at his numbers compared to other Japanese guys who came over.
All the Japanese guys have great numbers - the difference is in the degree of greatness. Matsuzaka is not Nomo or Irabu. He has much much better control than either one of them. Nomo walked 86 guys in 114 innings the year before coming over, the year before that, he walked 148 in 243 innings. He more or less transitioned as the same type of pitcher - lots of strikeouts and lots of walks. I don't have Japanese HR data for him. Irabu, the sort of doomsday scenario for Matsuzaka, has a similar, less extreme thing going on. He had what would be major league average control in Japan, walking as many as 94 guys in 207 innings, and never having a year where he only walked like 50. His walks fluctuated, but they were between average and high.
In the U.S., Irabu actually had a fine K rate, his BB rate was on the high side, while his HR rate was the real killer.
Matsuzaka is better than any of that. He has stellar walk numbers, 49 in 215 innings in 2005, and 34 in 200 innings this year. His control has gotten better each of the last three years, and he's walked under 3 per 9 every year since his age 19 season. Neither Irabu nor Nomo ever dipped below 3 BB per 9 even in their best years. Nomo never dipped below 4.
Daisuke is not Irabu. His control is simply much better. He also keeps the ball on the ground with a vengeance, not having given up more than 13HRs in a years since his age 18 season, when he gave up 14. Now Japanese HR numbers are different, but they're not so different that this projects to something like Irabu, who gave up 26 and 27 HRs in 170ish innings.
I wasn't convinced before, as his numbers had the general veneer of dominance, which other guys, like Irabu also had. However, looking at it closer, his BB numbers are a lot better than Irabu's, his K rates are similar, and he shouldn't have Irabu's HR issues either. Just solving the HR issues would make him a league average pitcher. The significant superiority in BB numbers makes me think he's an ace.
He will be one of the 10 best pitchers in baseball next year.
agree on the control issue, and that's quite important obviously. But I'm not clear what the basis is for suggesting there's much difference in Irabu's and Matsuzaka's HR rates. Your comparison above is of Matsuzaka's Japanese HR rate to Irabu's US one, and I think a direct comparison may be more fair. I don't know Japanese park and league factors, and maybe there's an explanation there, too.
Matsuzaka has pitched 401 innings and allowed 26 HR in his past two seasons in Japan.
In his final two years in Japan, Irabu pitched 406 innings and allowed 30 HR.
I certainly expect Matsuzaka to be better than Irabu, but I'm leery of projecting him to be particularly good at HR suppression based on what I've seen. Though it is always true that if you have good control and good stuff you will give up a lot more solo homers than ones that hurt you more.
http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/3763/irabumatsuzakage6.jpg
This comment section needs to be cleaned out. Let a few Mets fans in and the place becomes a toilet like Shea Stadium.
Seriously, guys, think you can go one comment without calling someone a racist or a "fagget" (if you're going to call someone gay, spell the insult right, dude).
Don't get too excited by what's written in a newspaper. If the quote from the Japanese newspaper actually came from Matsuzaka, that IS good news for the Yankees. But all this information about what teams are "thinking" about doing is meaningless because they're not going to show their hand this early.
The idea that the Yankees are suddenly going to shrink their offer is absurd (first of all, we don't even KNOW what their bid was going to be). The Yankees need a pitcher, this is the pitcher they want, and all it costs is money (which is the type of deal the Yankees love).
It feels like the Red Sox and Mets are in on this just because the Yankees are. Omar has Yankee-envy. Whenever the Yankees do something, the Mets are always in the background like some annoying little brother.
Omar isn't the slick dealer people think he is. To get DoLuca and Delgado (who had huge contracts) he traded away his farm system. Anyone could have done that.
Omar is going to go the safe route and overpay Barry Zito.
Unless another team like the Rangers bids 40 million or something, Matsuzaka should be in pinstripes next year.
And one final note: the Mets are not an "exciting" team because they have one speedy player (Reyes). Their pitching stinks. Good pitching -- and not a speedy leadoff hitter -- leads to exciting baseball (if you actually understand baseball).
Position by position, the Yankees are better than the Mets and it's not even close. Plus, we have better young players (Cano, Melky, Hughes, etc.) than you do. Your big outfield prospect came up and couldn't hit OR field. Our outfield prospect "nobody" came up and helped his team with sparkling defense and clutch hitting. The Mets farm system is now barren because of Omar. So enjoy your "exciting" shortstop -- because there aren't any others coming up anytime soon.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/story/467729p-393611c.html
Wright seizes prime time
Meets Japan's PM & hits HR
BY ADAM RUBIN
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
David Wright joins Jose Reyes in presenting Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe with Mets jersey, ...
... then slugs tying home run for MLB All-Stars to delight of at least one Japanese fan (below).
TOKYO - David Wright presented Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe with a Mets jersey. Then the third baseman asked for the leader's help in landing Seibu Lions ace Daisuke Matsuzaka, whom the Mets and Yankees covet.
"I asked him if he could make a couple of phone calls for us and maybe persuade him. We could use another quality starting pitcher next year," Wright said. "He said he'd look into it for me. We'll see."
Wright followed that meeting with a two-out, two-run homer in the ninth as Major League Baseball's All-Stars opened play with a 7-7 exhibition tie against the Yomiuri Giants last night. The 23-year-old Met sent a pitch from righthander Takahiko Nomaguchi over the left-center-field wall at the Tokyo Dome. The MLB All-Stars open their official five-game series against their Japanese All-Star counterparts tonight.
"You get in these international competitions, you're representing not only yourself - you're representing a lot of different teams and countries and major league baseball," Wright said. "It was very exciting. I watched the replay and saw the reaction of the bench and how excited the bench got. That makes it a lot of fun."
Said manager Bruce Bochy: "Our dugout went nuts. It's a great way to start the series."
During the afternoon, Jose Reyes, John Maine and Wright - along with the White Sox's Tadahito Iguchi and Mariners' Kenji Johjima - had a 20-minute sitdown with Abe in the Japanese leader's office. The prime minister even donned a pinstriped Mets jersey with No.1 and his last name on the back.
"We stayed strictly to baseball questions and not North Korean questions," Wright quipped. "We wanted to prolong the visit."
Added Maine with a laugh: "I figured he had to be a Mets fan if I was there."
After an 111/2-hour flight and dealing with the 14-hour time difference from New York, the Mets' trio has started to venture outside and experience Japanese culture. Maine traveled to Electric City, home of the next generation of electronics. Reyes hadn't strayed far from the hotel yet, though he did try sushi at a Yomiuri Giants-sponsored welcome party.
Told Wright had had pizza at a hotel buffet yesterday afternoon, Reyes shouted over to his teammate.
"No way!" Reyes told Wright. "You come to Japan and have pizza?"
Even after the homer, two days after his arrival, Wright still felt the effects of the grueling travel.
"It takes a little bit to get used to. I mean, right now, you're almost on the complete opposite schedule you would be in the States," he said. "It's amazing. Usually I don't get very tired. It just seems like this time of night, dinner time, you start to hit a wall. Your body is so used to that clock in the States."
Wright had met Bill Clinton during the former commander-in-chief's visit to Shea, and Dick Cheney when the vice president came to the Mets' clubhouse during a visit to RFK Stadium for the Nationals' home opener. Yesterday ranked up there.
"I thought it was pretty exciting," Wright said. "It was one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I was looking forward to it, getting a chance to go give the prime minister of Japan a Mets jersey. To have a 15- to 20-minute conversation with him was pretty special. Hopefully I can get a picture of the whole process captured, because that's something I'd like to keep."
Reyes replaced the Dodgers' Rafael Furcal at shortstop in the fifth, while Wright replaced the Angels' Chone Figgins at third base the following inning. In the seventh, Wright stepped to the plate to his typical Beastie Boys tune, "Brass Monkey," fouled off the first two pitches from righthander Hiroki Sanada, took a 132-kilometer-per-hour (82 mph) pitch for a ball, then struck out swinging. Two pitches later, Reyes grounded out to first base on a 1-0 offering. After Wright's homer in the ninth in his second at-bat tied the score, Reyes popped out to second base for the MLB All-Stars' final out. Atlanta's Andruw Jones homered twice. Philadelphia's Ryan Howard also went deep.
After the final out, Reyes appeared to be teaching Figgins the Mets' special handshake celebration.
"I think that was a different one," Wright said with a laugh. "He can't be giving away our little thing. I mean, that's our little thing."
Whoever posted at 5:38; thanks for the post. I do not know how you were able to get your hands on Matsuzaka's pitching tapes, but the info you provided was great! I saw him in the baseball classic and he seems like a ground ball pitcher with great comand of all his pitches(which he has an assortment of). I as a Met fan would love to see him picth in Queens, but more than that, I would love to see him pitch in the Majors.
I also love getting the "low down" on the bidding all the way from Nippon. This whole process is shrouded in secrecy. i guess that is what makes this whole think exciting.
Thanks
I hope to read more informative posts and less mud slinging over subjective points.
The fact is that the Yankees and A LOT of talent, but the Mets have some big names as well and should not be over looked. They did get to the NLCS, and took the eventual World Series Champs to a game 7.
All this talk about the Yanks and Mets, but someone may just come out of obscurity and make a high bid. I have yet to see anywhere where the Royals have said that there aren't interested and they've had a couple of scouts watching Daisuke . They have banked a buttload of money from revenue sharing and with Dayton Moore as their new GM, I wouldn't count them out. They are looking to increase their payroll by approx. $10mill. next year and could possibly play the spoiler in all of this. They have been looking for a solid front-line starter and with the team's play the last few years, this may be the only chance to snag one. Just in time for the likes of Alex Gordon, Billy Butler, Zack Greinke, Luke Hochevar and a few others. Moore made sure that he was going to take charge of baseball operations before KC hired him and this sounds like some Mr. Moore just might do.
As the author of this site, let mne say:
Matsuzaka would do very well pitching for either the Mets or the Yankees. He'd be a great fit with the Mets, and would likely help them become the most aggressive and relevant team in New York. Minaya is a smart man, and will give this pursuit all he has. I wouldn't be at all surprised if Daisuke pitched in Queens next year. I'd even give the Mets the best chance of landing him at this point.
The Yankees will be aggressive. They're likely playing down their pursuit at this point. They didn't hire Shoichi Kida, Matsuzaka's high school teammate, for nothing. They didn't send their Assistant GM to Japan 2-3 times to lowball this now that it's time to bid. The Yanks will be right there.
There may be other teams that get aggressive. You may see the Rangers end up with Matsuzaka. You might see him pitch for Boston. It's hard to say.
The Royals and low payroll teams will not win the bidding. There isn't a team at the low end of the spectrum that can land him. It's about Boras and money, as well as Matsuzaka's wishes. He can refuse to pitch in KC, which I believe he would. He'd become a free agent after next season, and find a good team to take him.
i hope new york gets anyone they want ,but still choke in the end
1. The fellow who suggested a team such as the Orioles could pay an exhorbinant 50mil posting fee and then offer the player a take it or leave it 6 yr $6 million dollar offer, I DON'T SEE THAT HAPPENING! Bosar would immediately cry foul. In such a situation, the commissioner of baseball would step in "for the integrity of the game" and void out that sham bidder, allowing the second highest bidder to negotiate... Undoubtedly the commissioner has spoken to all the teams with general "guidelines" designed to avoid any such shenanigans.
2. I don't see the Yankees going with a low bid (it would be totally out of character). This is the player that they want AND NEED. I think they will bid in excess of $30mil just for the right to negotiate! This talk about a lowball bid is probably designed to lower the other teams sights and insure a successful Yankee bid.
3. Willie Randolph is not a racist. But he is an excellent manager. In fact, he did a remarkable job managing with as shaky a pitching staff as I can remember. They need to get younger and better in their starting rotation. I expect them to sign Zito and I think he'll do well in the NL.
4. I believe Schmidt will be signed by the Mariners.
the 5:10 post, shut yur mouth bro, no met fan needs, or wants the suppost of a spoiled brat yankee fan, the mets wont spend? what was beltrans contract for? 7 years 100 mil plus. And how bout wagner, also a huge deal. Sounds to me like the yankee fan r getten scurrred that the new number 1 team in NY is trying to tak their prized possesion right out from underneath them, you guys keep telling yourself that, whatever makes u feel better.
dr quinn u "fagget", your a funny guy dude. I absolutely love how u refer to the mets as the annoying little brother, which is funny to me, because the mets are clearly a better team with a muchhh brghter future, this is coming from a neutral baseball fan who watches plenty of mets and yankees. Minaya has shown he will 'SHOW ME THE MONEY" if a player is worth it. Yankee fans are so funny its ridiculous, they think they can just go out and sign whoever they want, and its their birth right to make it to the world series every year, they complain and moan and cry when they lose in the playoffs, boo the reigning mvp of the league, trash their own manager, and in general are just big spoiled babies. I cant wait until about 5 years from now when Jeter starts to get old and the yankees hit a 10 year dryspell, that will be the best 10 years of my life, to see the spoiled little yankee fans act the fool when their team actually sucks, and steinbrenner selles the team, orkicks the bucket and they cant go out and over pay for every guy on the market.
lol the yankees have better young players then the mets dr quinn? thats by far th most hysterical thing ive ever heard in my life. Minaya didnt trade away his farm system for lo duca and delgado, he traded away mike jacobs, a good bat, but will never be anything more then that. You have the nerve to say minaya over pays for f.a.'s, yeah lol, then why is it the yankees spent over 1 billion dollars since 2001 and have nothing to show for it lol. How much money did u pay for that guy in cennter field who cant even throw a baseball further then my little sis? young talent? wright, reyes, pelfrey, maine, perez, bannister, owens, humber, anderson hernadez, milledge, and the yankees may be better position for position, which u cant accurately state until lapril when rosters are in, but maybe u havent realized, the whole lets go out and overpay a former all star for every posititon thing doesnt work buddy, sorry to tell ya. And whatever you say about the mets, omar minaya has done a brilliant and masterful job . This team lost 90+ games the year before he was brought in, a 30 win turn around in 2 years, is awesome, and i dont need theexpertise of some moron named dr quinn to tell me otherwise (when i can just hear it from somebody who actually understands baseball). And this is all coming from an atlanta brave fan, so it pains me to say all of this, but the mets r the top team in ny and in my opinion will stay that was for many years to come
and one other thing, u cant judge milledge. Hes 21, and has all of 100 ML at bats, ya idiot. These things take time and he obviously has the makings of a 5 tool player, and if the yankees r so much better position for position, then why did they get absolutely man handled by the tigers?
Hey everyone and mike please visit my yankees fourms thanks..
http://yankees.20.forumer.com
the yankees are the favorites to win the WS every year because of Jeter's leadership and value of Mo's rivera saving Ballgames. Don't tell me that Yankee spend money because the Yankees have more homegrown than Mets
Robinson Cano- Homegrown
Chien Ming Wang Homegroun
Derek Jeter -Homegrown
Jorge Posada- Homegrown
Melky Cabrera- Homegrown
Mariano Rivera- Homergrown
Bernie Williams Homegrown
Future Homegrown - Phillip Hughes and Jose Tabata
The mets - only homegrown are Reyes and Wright, Bannister and Overatted Milledge Lol
Delgado- Traded from Marlins
Loduca - Traded from Marlins
Beltran- Free agent Signing
Floyd - Free agent Signing
Trachsel - Free agent Signing
Victor Zambrano - Traded from Drays with Kazmir trade
Pedro Martinez - Free agent Signing
Duaner Sanchez - Traded from Dodgers with Jay Seo Trade
Darren Oliver- Spring training Invitee and Free agent signing
Julio Franco- Free Signing
Guillermo Mota -Waiver trade from Cleveland
Roberto Hernandez - Traded from Pittsburgh along with Oliver Perez for Oliver Nady.
Oliver Perez - Traded from Pittsburgh with Xavier Nady
El Duque Hernandez - Traded from Dbacks for Jorge Julio
Michael Tucker- Signed as Free Agent
Ricky Ledee- Signed as Free Agent
Shawn Green -Traded from Arizona
Michael Tucker- Signed as Free Agent
Ricky Ledee- Signed as Free Agent
Shawn Green -Traded from Arizona
Michael Tucker- Signed as Free Agent
Ricky Ledee- Signed as Free Agent
Shawn Green -Traded from Arizona
Jose Valentin - Signed as Free Agent
Kaz Matsui- Traded to Rockies for Eli Marrero
The Mets Spend More Money than Yankees Does, and Yet they are complaining about the Yankees Payroll.
Add Joe Torre's Salary to Yankee Payroll and Brian Cashman, They Overpaid for Jeter's greatness.
Plus Add The Luxury Tax and Revenue Sharing
Deduct $150 Million..
I think most of the comments here have been beyond idiotic. Not because of what they're saying, but rather because of the WAY they're being said. It's like a bunch of whiny little children have suddenly come to my blog and spoiled it.
If you can't discuss these issues with a degree of sophistication or respect for one another, I will have to treat you like children and close the comments section completely.
For Mets fans, the way you counter Yankee fans is simply by saying that Omay Minaya seems to have a vision that threatens Yankees dominance of the New York market. You can say that your team is fresh and interesting and the monopoly of the free agent market that the Yankees enjoyed for so many years is over thanks to a GM with a sense of what he wants to accomplish and the resources to do it.
For Yankee fans, you can stay away from baiting Mets fans by simply noting that neither team won the World Series this year. That both had the same record, the Yankees in the more competitive league. The young players on both teams are very good, and perhaps before Mets fans get too excited about it they should acknowledge the young players the Yankees are developing too. Phil Hughes is probably the best player under 25 on either team.
Fans of other teams can remind both that there is baseball beyond New York and that the FA market may be more competitive outside the Big Apple than in the 5 boroughs. New York gets a lot of attention, but the World Series champion for the last 6 years have been non-NYers.
In the end, I don't care what kind of opinion you guys exchange here, but this site is not for juvenile commentary. If that's what continues it's over for comments.
One name Philip Hughes Lovers... BRIEN TAYLOR.
Remember him??? I do. One of the greatest flops in history. He was even more highly touted than Hughes.
Another quetion: Where will Melky be next year? You keep talking about a 4th OF like he's an all-star. Fact is he'll be riding the pine MOST of the time. You have Matsui, Abreu, and Damon (who each make more than 12 million/year. DH? nah, taken by Giambi. He can't play the field. So why talk about a guy who you won't actually be using?
Mets have plenty on the farm. Jesus Flores is poised to take over for LoDuca in the next 2 years. Mike Carp will be able to Take over for Delgado (he is the nineteen year old that won the GG in the FSL). Second base is always rotating...SS Reyes, 3rd DWright... OF... Fernando (better than Tabata) Martinez who is looking good in the AFL while being the youngest player. Milledge will still be very good, and maybe the best of all...Carlos Gomez, who batted .341 the second half of the year in AA despite being one of the youngest players in his league. Pitching? Pelfrey (who many say will be better than Hughes, including some of the BBall prospectus guys on their chat). Humber, who may turn out to be an Ace. Mulvey is very good. And then, the 17 year old DEOLIS GUERRA!!! Yeah, the next King Felix. Posted a 2.20 ERA as a 17 year old and was promoted to Class A ball with Martinez...as 17 year olds!!! Mets have just as good a star studded list of Minor Leaguers as the Yanks.
I'm not putting the Yanks down, but don't knock the Mets Either.
Where did the Yanks get the following...
Giambi?
Nick Green?
The Wilson boy?
Cairo?
ARod?
Matsui?
Damon?
Abreu?
RJ?
Wright?
Mussina?
Farnsworth?
Villone?
Sheffield?
Sal Fasano?
Lidle?
Please, before talking about where the Mets came from, maybe you should look at your own team. With Reyes, Wright, Heilman, and Milledge, along with Pelfrey, I'm happy with where we've been going. When Philips was the GM we'd have traded Wright and Reyes for Manny and Soriano. Pelfrey would be gone, Heilman would never have seen action. We'd be the...Yankees?
Yankees have more homegrown players than mets who are bought everything.... true or false???
Robinson Cano- Homegrown
Chien Ming Wang Homegroun
Derek Jeter -Homegrown
Jorge Posada- Homegrown
Melky Cabrera- Homegrown
Mariano Rivera- Homergrown
Bernie Williams Homegrown
Future Homegrown - Phillip Hughes and Jose Tabata
False...
Milledge, Heilman, Pelfrey, Wright, Reyes, Bannister, Bell, Ring all were right from the farm this year. That's 8 farmers to your 7.
Matsuzaka will be a.....
Texas Ranger (or New York Met)
http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=MLB&id=776&line=196302&spln=1
Somebody has to play the Crazy factor- and who's more giddy with a checkbook than Omar Minaya.... or in previous years, Tom Hicks?
Edit: It's a longshot, at least for the Rangers, but who knows. Matsuzaka would probably never play for the Rangers.
Ring was part of Roberto Alomar trade. hahahha
Go to a Mets game and you see the same thing: a sea of working-class, blue-collar cretins. They're low-class loudmouths and they deserve that disgrace they have to watch their players in.
Mets fans talk and talk and talk. They've been TALKING about taking over this town for years. This was the year of the Mets -- they were by far the best team in their weak division and their weak league -- and GUESS WHAT? The couldn't win it all.
You will always be the second team. You will always be losers. It took a first baseman booting a ground ball for you to win a World Series.
You will always be the whiny little kid in the background.
Get over it. No one gives a damn about you outside of New York.
And for all the Mets fans posing as Braves fans and other teams' fans, stop it -- you look like idiots.
Oh, and how could I forget Pedro Feliciano, who was one of the best lefty relievers in baseball this year!
Talk all you want Doc Q., That shows how nervous you are. in the 90's Yankee fans ignored the Mets and their fans...now all of a sudden, You talk about them....interesting. And in the 80's the Mets OWNED NY. I remember those days...the ones when Yankee fans hid. Mets apparell was everywhere!!! It goes in cycles. People didn't think the yanks would take over the city again, much like they don't think the Mets can now. It just take a good decade to take over again. Best sport journalist quote this year: "Mets fans are dissapointed that their team lost, because they love their team, Yankees fans are upset at their team, because they hate their team."
Any team that won't bid on Matsuzaka is simply lacking cojones.
lol, ok, the anonymous post at 12:20 is absolutely ridiculous, first of all, the mets do spend alot of money, but not anywhere close to the money the yanks spend. Second of all, who cares where the players come from, if it forms a winning team, u also named micheal tucker and ricky ledee like 4 times each, who cares about them lol, they are bench players, mo rivera is gettin old and starting to have arm problems, and getting less and less dominant every year, albeit still extremely effective. The yankees are not the favorite to win the world series everyyear, because they dont have the pitching, also learn to write, i dont care about shortening words for online, but the mets spend more money thens the yankees does, i mean come on now.
mike plugh, i agree with your post about 2 teams with good young players, but how can u possibly say hughes is the best of the bunch when u have cano, wright, reyes? i mean first of all u cant compare him to any of those guys because hes a pitcher and their not, second how can u say that when hes never been in a major league game. a little premature i would say
i have an idea people, how bout the mets and yankees fans just truce for a little bit and say this. We are possibly the 2 best teams in our respective leagues and will only play 6 times during the season. Once the year comes to and end, and the subway series talk starts again, we can get back into this banter about who is really better. I also forgot to mention carlos gomez, who i saw mentioned in a different post, this guy is gonna be off the hook, being compared to reyes with his speed and batting ability, is enough to excite any met fan, i mean who wouldnt want another guy like reyes, and yanks, phil hughes does appear to be the real deal, lets leave it at that, we are both loaded and should both have awesome seasons
http://www.nj.com/sports/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-1/1162622388293870.xml&coll=1
Matsuzaka tampering charged
Saturday, November 04, 2006
BY ED PRICE
Star-Ledger Staff
NEW YORK -- At least three teams have attempted under-the-table negotiations to obtain Japanese ace Daisuke Matsuzaka, a Japanese newspaper reported. Major League Baseball said yesterday that nothing has been brought to its attention.
Teams have until 5 p.m. Wednesday to submit sealed bids for the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka, a 26-year-old right-hander who was MVP of the World Baseball Classic and went 17-5 with a 2.13 ERA this year for the Seibu Lions. The team making the highest bid (once accepted by Seibu) will have 30 days to sign Matsuzaka.
Boston, Texas, Mets?
I think there's probably going to be lots of suspicions, but overall, tampering seems unlikely to me:
Seibu has no reason to take less $ in a Matsuzaka bid, and are in it for the $. The idea that Matsuzaka will only play for one team, and he must be steered there is very far fetched*, as evidenced by his repeated demands to be posted. I think it's safe to say that he is aware that if he is going to pitch in MLB (which he clearly wants), he won't get to choose the team. Since he will make more $ in MLB than the NBL it is in his interest to make the move. I think we can count on the self interested greed of all parties involved to keep things on the up and up.
* At least on of his comments about his preference to goto the mfy came at a press confrence that was designed to prepare his fan base for his departure; talking about a team that most them know well could lessen the blow..
Humanity and justice it is not it materialized the battle at below water, secretly."
This is pretty clear evidence that the Mets, Redsox, Rangers are tamper ring and should be fined severely and blocked from the bidding, in my mind.
Not sure where that story has come from but the Yankees have never stated anything public about Matsuzaka.
In fact, on a conference call with writers just two days ago, Cashman would not comment on Matsuzaka.
Obviously, they are interested. But they have never said so publicly.
Pete Abraham
Journal News, Westchester, N.Y.
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