Squawker Media Alert: Jon interviewed by Mets Gazette

Earlier this week, Frank Gray of Mets Gazette asked me what I thought of the K-Rod debacle. Frank interviewed some other Mets bloggers as well and combined our comments into a piece for Mets Gazette. You can read Frank's piece here.

It's still hard for me to believe that a season that held some promise just a few weeks ago has devolved into K-Rod on the disqualified list, Jason Bay out, possibly for the rest of the year, with a concussion and former starting catcher Rod Barajas sent to the Dodgers to save a few bucks.

Meanwhile, on the field, Johan Santana pitches another strong game, only to lose to the lowly Pirates on homers by former Mets phenom Lastings Milledge and former Yankees phenom Jose Tabata.

At least the Mets still won their first road series this season against an NL team. Hope they saved the ball from the final out for the Mets' Hall of Fame.

Thumbs down for K-Rod

Last season, two of the Mets' few bright spots were the willingness of Alex Cora and Jeff Francoeur to play with torn thumb ligaments. Cora continued to play until he tore the ligament in his other thumb and finally had to shut it down. Francoeur tore a ligament in his thumb last August while making a diving catch during the infamous Philly game that ended when he lined into an unassisted triple play, but remained in the lineup the rest of the season.

Now Francisco Rodriguez appears to have pitched Saturday with a torn ligament in his thumb, since the Mets are saying he injured his thumb in Wednesday's altercation.

Cora and Francoeur were hailed as respected team leaders last year and well into this season. But they suffered their injuries on the field, not in the family lounge.

Now Cora is gone, Francoeur's Met days appear numbered, and the team is probably going to try to void K-Rod's contract.

It was only a couple of months ago that the Mets were ten games over .500 and the team was praised for having the best chemistry in years. It's simply not true that the last few years have been uninterrupted misery. This team still has a lot of potential.

But that potential will only be realized through a renewed emphasis on the farm system, not on quick-fix free agents.

No revisionist thinking on K-Rod - everybody wanted him and when the Mets were able to get him at a much lower price than expected, Omar Minaya was praised. Carlos Beltran was also a good signing - after his first year, he has been a star when healthy. And where would the Mets be without Johan Santana?

But Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez were controversial contracts from the start, and many were skeptical of the Jason Bay signing as well. With the latest K-Rod developments, the Mets may have a lot of dead money on their hands. At least Beltran is showing signs that he may still have something left.

The most significant development today could well be that the Mets signed Matt Harvey, their first-round pick. They were willing to spend on a top Scott Boras client. But there are rumblings that the Mets may be underspending in the rest of the draft.

Harvey's deal was reportedly for $2.5M. Even if the Mets are able to void K-Rod's contract, they could be better off putting that money back into the farm system, rather than seeking the next quick fix in the free agent market.

Yankees have HOPE Week, while Mets are just hopeless

I got up this morning to watch Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, and Nick Swisher on "The Today Show" kicking off the Yankees' HOPE Week. That week of events was really inspirational, and I'm sure this year will be just as great.

But on the other hand, Mets fans have no hope. The latest debacle in your dismal season came today, with the news that Frankie Rodriguez tore a thumb ligament when beating up his baby mama's daddy. I am not the least bit surprised. Remember what I wrote last week:

...Rodriguez, who will get paid over $11 million this year to pitch, used the hands that the Mets pay him so much money for to pummel somebody so badly that he was sent to the hospital. And that he did it on Mets property, in front of Mets family members.

What if Rodriguez had hurt his pitching hand in the fight? I wonder if the Mets would have punished him more for potentially missing games.

Only now, after the news that K-Rod is out for the year, did Mets manager Jerry Manuel finally seem ticked off over the debacle, saying he was "disappointed, discouraged, frustrated." And there's talk that the Mets will be looking into voiding the closer's contract. Good luck with that.

This is yet another reason why the Mets' blase reaction about the assault was wrong. Don't you think the players' union will point out that the organization didn't think it was much of a big deal until the injury? Remember, Manuel downplayed the incident as being not baseball-related. Jeff Wilpon issued a one-sentence statement, and Omar Minaya refused to comment. None of them showed any outrage over it -- until now, that is.

Now, I'm no lawyer, but my guess is that this stance is going to hurt the Mets. Besides, as Squawker Jon points out, the only contract in recent memory that was successfully voided was Aaron Boone's. The Yankees weren't able to do it with Kevin Brown, or Jason Giambi. It's not an easy procedure.

At any rate, I think we might have seen K-Rod's last pitch for the Mets, even if it means the Mets dumping him elsewhere. Wonder if he's pointing to the sky now.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Thanks to no K-Rod, Jerry Manuel couldn't ruin R.A. Dickey's complete-game shutout again

On June 23, the Mets led the Tigers, 5-0, after eight innings. Starting pitcher R.A. Dickey had thrown only 97 pitches, allowing four hits, two walks, and retiring the last 13 batters he had faced. Dickey tried to talk manager Jerry Manuel into letting him finish the game, but as Dickey said afterwards, "I was unsuccessful."

That day, Dickey lost a chance for the second complete-game shutout of his career because closer Francisco Rodriguez had not pitched in five days and Manuel wanted to give him some work. K-Rod pitched a scoreless ninth and the Mets beat the Tigers.

Tonight, Dickey had thrown 99 pitches when he took his shutout into the ninth. He had only allowed one hit, but it was a much tighter game - 1-0. And the Mets were playing their division rival Philadelphia. With 9-1-2 due up, the Phillies' top of the order would be coming up.

If K-Rod had been available tonight instead of serving the second game of his two-game suspension, there's a good chance Manuel would have brought him in. Manuel manages save situations by the book. Ninth inning, 1-0, facing Philly - that's book.

Manuel also seems too slow to trust players without a track record. Gary Matthews Jr. started over Angel Pagan on Opening Day. Even when Pagan put together an All-Star caliber first half, he was initially relegated to a platoon with Jeff Francoeur when Carlos Beltran returned.

Also, K-Rod needs to finish a certain number of games over this season and next for his 2012 option to vest, which could have something to do with the manager trying to placate his closer by using him whether or not he is needed.

So despite Dickey's success this season, K-Rod might well have been called on to close if not for recent events. And who knows, K-Rod might have closed it out - he had been on a hot streak lately.

But in K-Rod's absence, Manuel was forced to give Dickey the chance to show that he could complete a one-hit shutout. And now the Mets have a starter who had done that much more to solidify his place in the rotation next year.

Maybe it was the curse of denying Dickey his complete game on June 23, but that win over the Tigers, the Mets' second straight over Detroit, was the last time the Mets won two in a row before tonight.

What's worse for the Mets in K-Rod debacle - bad leadership or no leadership?

The Mets' approach to crisis management appears to be "better to keep one's mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt." As newly-fervent SNY watcher Squawker Lisa writes, Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya have had very little to say about the Francisco Rodriguez mess.

But Squawker Lisa is not a Met fan. Are there any Met fans who seriously want to hear MORE from Minaya or Wilpon?

Jerry Manuel has had a lot to say, and he has removed all doubt about being a fool. As I wrote yesterday, Manuel would have been happy to use K-Rod in yesterday's noon game, despite his spending the night in a prison cell.

The usually quiet Carlos Beltran offered more criticism than Manuel, saying "No one should act like that."

But Jeff Francoeur, who appeared for awhile to be the team leader the Mets desperately need, removed all doubt about him being a fool when he said of the K-Rod altercation, "Maybe it's a distraction we need."

Here's a distraction the Mets don't need - Francoeur wanting a trade because he isn't playing every day. Francoeur doesn't deserve to play every day, and good luck to him finding a place that will make him a fulltime starter. I think the Mets are better off with Francoeur in the mix, but I'd rather see him gone than starting fulltime - or complaining about it.

Getting back to management, the Mets' tendency to do things half way keeps coming back to haunt them. Minaya has had his autonomy taken away from him, but he remains the GM. Manuel, one would think (and hope) is a dead man walking, but he remains the main voice of the team. Oliver Perez has effectively been deactivated, but he remains on the active roster.

The Mets need a new version of Frank Cashen - a strong, decisive, leader from the outside who knows what he is doing, someone who will restore the Mets to glory - and get Squawker Lisa to stop watching SNY for the latest Mets debacle.

Mets' ownership, front office are MIA over K-Rod

To Squawker Jon's dismay, I've been paying a lot of attention to the train wreck that is the Mets of late, with the Francisco Rodriguez arrest situation. So  I watched Wednesday's SNY postgame, and also watched the pregame for Thursday's game.

And I was appalled by Jerry Manuel excusing his closer's arrest as being "not baseball related," and for him saying that he would actually use K-Rod in a game that day. How outraged was I? I actually uttered the words "Joe Torre would have handled this better" to Squawker Jon. And you know how often it happens that I ever say anything positive about Torre!

According to media reports, the K-Rod fight with Carlos Pena, his common-law father-in-law, supposedly took place after Pena told Rodriguez to "man up." I don't know if that's what happened. But that advice is something the Mets front office ought to do.

So far, their behavior has been abysmal. Aside from Manuel acting like a befuddled Mr. Magoo, insinuating this is a private matter (a private matter doesn't involve an arrest report, dude), the rest of the Mets' management haven't exactly been profiles in courage here.

What did general manager Omar Minaya have to say about the closer he signed turning the family lounge into the stage of "Jerry Springer"? A whole heap of nothing. Here's the story, from Bob Nightengale of USA Today:

Minaya declined comment on the charges against Rodriguez, saying he didn't have enough information. Yet the Mets suspended Rodriguez for two days and placed him on their restricted list, costing him about $125,000 in salary.

You're the GM of the team and you refuse comment? Unacceptable.

Jeff Wilpon, the guy his father Fred Wilpon insisted was doing such a great job, had a little more to say than Minaya, but not much: He issued this statement:

"Ownership and the organization are very disappointed in Francisco's inappropriate behavior and we take this matter very seriously."

Well, the Mets did suspend Francisco for a whole two games. Whoopee.

And why the heck didn't Wilpon speak to the media personally? It was one thing when an aging, addled George Steinbrenner would have his press agent issue statements for him. But why is the COO of this team pulling the Greta Garbo act all the time?

As for the storm of stories about what really happened to spur on K-Rod pummeling his in-law, it doesn't really matter to me what was said, and what caused it. What matters is that Rodriguez, who will get paid over $11 million this year to pitch, used the hands that the Mets pay him so much money for to pummel somebody so badly that he was sent to the hospital. And that he did it on Mets property, in front of Mets family members.

What if Rodriguez had hurt his pitching hand in the fight? I wonder if the Mets would have punished him more for potentially missing games.


Anyhow, the Mets fans who pay their money for tickets and support their team deserve more accountability than they've been getting from their team. When will this nightmare end?


What do you think? Tell us about it!

Bridge to K-Rod becomes bridge to nowhere for nowhere Mets

It was almost exactly one year ago (August 15, 2009) that a Met season already in disarray took a drastic downward turn when the face of the franchise, David Wright, ended up face-down and motionless after getting beaned. Now Francisco Rodriguez is under arrest for an alleged assault on a family member in the family room at family-friendly Citi Field.

So far, K-Rod has been suspended for two days without pay. With the power of the union, a longer suspension at this point would probably run into problems. But at least the Mets could have said that they were suspending K-Rod indefinitely, then bring him back in a couple of days depending on how things developed.

And this story is still developing. Last night, it was reported that K-Rod was upset with reporters because he was not used in the eighth inning, but now it turns out that was because the altercation had already occurred.

Many have been quick to point out a pattern of confrontations with K-Rod. But confrontations with Tony Bernazard, whose temper apparently got him fired, and Brian Bruney, who apparently was the one to provoke K-Rod, and quickly backed down in the following days, do not necessarily make you the new Milton Bradley.

Still, K-Rod also had a confrontation with an older bullpen coach, Randy Niemann. And for all we know, these confrontations are underreported and there is more to them, at least the ones with Bernazard and Niemann, than we know.

Even if K-Rod had a spotless past, the alleged events of last night are bad enough.

Meanwhile, Jerry Manuel says before the game (before the suspension was announced) that he would not hesitate to use K-Rod today. Even if one did not think K-Rod should have been disciplined, it would make no sense to use a player who had apparently spent the night in a holding cell at Citi Field and has yet to be arraigned. But Manuel must not think that would affect K-Rod's performance, considering that he also said before the game that this was not a baseball matter and would not be a distraction to his team.

Even after this incident, the Mets' main issues remain the same. Manuel needs to go as soon as possible. His inability to adapt to changing situations is such that he will probably continue to obsess over who will be the eighth-inning setup man when he currently doesn't have a closer.

And his rushes to judgment will probably cause Manuel to anoint a new closer immediately, even if K-Rod is due back in a couple of days. Manuel pulled Hisanori Takahashi from the rotation after a grand total of one successful setup appearance Tuesday, only to see him falter last night. Now he's stuck with no starter for Saturday, and has actually mentioned the dreaded Ollie.

But this is one instance where I hope that Manuel goes through with one of his crazy plans. If the Mets insist on keeping Ollie on the roster, Manuel should show upper management the consequences of that decision.

I'm just glad I don't have tickets for Saturday night's game.

Keeping Perez on the team sends a message that if your contract is big enough, it does not matter what you do. Yesterday's altercation ends up being all the more reason to dump Ollie.

As for replacing Manuel, the Mets have drawn praise for giving Wally Backman a second chance and setting him up as a potential replacement that could inspire the team, excite the fans, and come cheaply. But Backman needed that second chance because of his own legal issues, including one involving a domestic incident.

Will the Mets, who tend to be publicity-conscious at the wrong times, now shy away from Backman? I hope not. If Backman deserved a second chance before, he still deserves one. But if he is going to become the new manager, appointing him now could set off a whole new round of controversy. Maybe the Mets should bring in an interim skipper instead and then hire Backman or someone else after the season.

But if the Mets want to rally a fan base that is moving from dispirited to disgusted, get rid of Manuel as now and send Ollie packing.

Judging from Squawker Lisa's excitement last night, the only people who will be caring about the Mets before too long are rubbernecking Yankee fans.

Yankees' great win will be forgotten today, thanks to K-Rod's arrest

Last night's Yankees-Rangers game had a real playoff feel to it, from the sellout attendance to the atmosphere to even the celebs (George and Laura Bush) in the house. And it was one of the most exciting Yankee wins this year. To be down five runs to Cliff Lee, and still come back and win the game, was pretty impressive.

I was hoping Javier Vazquez would have a good start -- I even implored Squawker Jon to start him in his fantasy league, to no avail. So much for that dopey notion on my part. Eight hits and six runs in 4.1 innings isn't exact a quality start! My friend Steve of "Was Watching" was so irate during the game, that he wrote a parody song during the game about Javy!)

But despite Marcus Thames' eighth-inning homer and ninth-inning go-ahead hit, despite the Yankee bullpen keeping the Yanks in the game, and despite Derek Jeter's game-tying hit, the biggest story in the New York media today is what happened in Flushing, where Francisco (K-Rod) Rodriguez was arrested for allegedly attacking his own father-in-law.

I'm no different -- when I saw news on the K-Rod meltdown on Facebook, I turned on the Mets postgame instead of basking in the Yankees win. To SNY's credit, they didn't sugarcoat any of it, spending a long time talking of nothing else than what K-Rod allegedly did (and yeah, I don't think YES would have been quite so candid if it were one of their own.) Bob Ojeda was very angry, wondering if Jerry Manuel has "lost control of the club, or does he just have a rogue guy with a bad temper on his hands who likes to beat up old people? I don't know, but this is the same guy that pushed Randy Niemann around..." Just in time for today's AARP Day and Senior Stroll at Citi Field!

I think it's about time for the Mets' front office to pull that emergency chute hatch, and send Jerry Manuel on his merry way (maybe with a beer or two, like that flight attendant took!) What, exactly, is Manuel good at, other than playing kissy face with the media? His in-game strategies are terrible (why didn't he pitch K-Rod in the eighth last night, as Rodriguez apparently wanted him to do?), his clubhouse is a complete mess, and now this debacle. We now know that there is a police holding cell in Citi Field, thanks to the team's closer being arrested. Oh joy.


It may be too late to salvage the Mets' season, but isn't a new face worth a try? Look at how Buck Showalter has been able to shake things up in Baltimore, leading them to an 8-1 record so far. From Bob Klapisch of the Bergen Record:

"Buck stood in the middle of the clubhouse, clipboard in hand, and calmly read the names of every Class AA and Class AAA prospect dying for promotions to the major league roster. The Orioles, who’d long since tuned out Dave Trembley and interim replacement Juan Samuel, listened in shock to Showalter’s thinly veiled warning: No one’s safe on a team with a .345 winning percentage."

Then again, how would a threat work in Metsland, when disasters like Oliver Perez and Luis Castillo get to take up roster spots, no matter what, because of the money they make? When Fred Wilpon is making "Annie" references about keeping Omar Minaya, and bragging about the great job Jeff Wilpon is doing. If only the tough but fair criticisms that broadcaster Bob Ojeda has given time and time again were something the Mets' front office would actually listen to, this team would be a lot better off.

Anyhow, the purpose of the Subway Squawkers blog is for Jon and I to rib each other about our teams -- and each other. But even this Yankee fan thinks that the Met fans deserve better. I felt the same way about seeing the then-pathetic Orioles this summer after Squawker Jon and I went to Camden Yards to see them against the Yanks and Mets. Now, with Buck Showalter, the O's - and their fans - have something to look forward to. If only Met fans had something to be hopeful over.


What do you think? Tell us about it!

A-Rod, K-Rod, and the Melky Way

After yesterday's whole A-Rod to-do, I tweeted Bay Area writer Jeff Fletcher, after the AOL Fanhouse writer wrote about the feud, noting my point about the "unwritten rule about nobody pitchers not getting to call out superstars." Jeff followed up by asking "Baseball Codes" co-author Jason Turbow about the "hierarchy of unwritten rules," specifically that one.

Turbow seemed to think that what Braden did was fine, saying on Fletcher's Bay Area Baseball site that "I might have a problem with a young hothead trying to intimidate a star, but that isn’t this. Braden wants only what’s rightfully his, and he has every right to do so."

I disagreed, of course, comparing A-Rod's dismissive reaction to Pedro Martinez's takedown of Karim Garcia with the "Who is Karim Garcia" line.

And while I may be biased towards A-Rod, I also believe that nobodies shouldn't lecture superstars on baseball etiquette. Which is why I supported Francisco Rodriguez in his argument with Brian Bruney last year, even though K-Rod gets on my last nerve, and even though Bruney was a Yankee then.

You may remember that feud. After Bruney called Rodriguez a "tired act" last year, the closer responded several times, first saying:

"He needs to keep his mouth shut and do his job,” Rodriguez said. “If he was a big guy, I’d probably pay attention. If he was somebody big like Mariano, I’d respect that. But if I don’t know who he is, I just don’t listen.”

Then later on responding:

“Instead of sending a message through the paper, next time when he sees me at Citi Field come up to me and say it to my face. Don’t be sending a message through the media. I don’t even know who that guy is. Somewhere in Double-A? I believe he hasn’t even pitched one full season. He’s always been on the DL. That’s all I know right now.”

See, I don't remember any handwringing in the media about how K-Rod should have just kept his mouth shut, stayed classy, and let what Bruney said go, the way people are saying today that A-Rod should have done with Braden.

In fact, pretty much everybody back then - including myself - thought the Met was completely justified in saying what he did. As I wrote, "Even though he's my least favorite Met, I gotta give Rodriguez credit here. Both quotes are classic. He was able to make Bruney look dopey just with these rejoinders."

The only thing K-Rod erred in was in having to be restrained from physically attacking Bruney when they saw each other before a game. Rodriguez already won the argument with those lines; he didn't need to take it any further and threaten a physical fight.

Speaking of the Mets, Squawker Jon and I are showing up at Shea...err, I mean Citi Field! tonight. I'm wearing one of my 2009 World Series shirts and rooting for Eric Hinske and the Melky Way! I fully expect boos - from Squawker Jon!

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

K-K-K-K-Rod

From Dr. K on, fans have put up K's to celebrate strikeouts. This week, Met fans could have set up a K Korner for K-Rod. Francisco Rodriguez now has four saves in four days. Nine saves with no blown saves.

I've been to one regular-season game so far at Citi Field - April 24 against Washington - and it was notable in retrospect for two reasons. The Mets scored four runs for Johan Santana - the biggest total for him so far in a game. What must Santana have been thinking when the Mets scored four runs in the first inning tonight?

April 24 was also the only time all season so far that K-Rod has given up any earned runs, a two-run homer to Jesus Flores that cut the lead to 4-3. But K-Rod still picked up the save.

K-Rod was far from the only reason the Mets swept the Phillies in the two-game series, but his importance can't be overstated when one considers that the Phillies were behind, 7-1, but, as usual, battled back to make it a close game. But unlike the last part of last season, the Mets were able to shut the door.

I don't agree with all of Omar Minaya's decisions, but the most important thing he had to do in the offseason was get a top closer, and that's just what he did.

Will WBC ruin Mets' season?

HOW MANY PITCHES WILL YOUR $36M STARTER THROW?

WILL YOUR NEW $37M CLOSER BE ASKED TO THROW ANOTHER FOUR-OUT SAVE?

TUNE IN TO THE WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC TO SEE MLB PLAY RUSSIAN ROULETTE WITH YOUR STARS

DON'T DELAY! AT THE RATE THESE PITCHERS ARE BEING OVERUSED, YOU MAY NOT HAVE THE SAME CHANCE TO SEE THEM AT THEIR BEST DURING THE REGULAR SEASON!

There are some people who only watch a NASCAR race to see if there will be a crash. I wouldn't put it past Bud Selig to adopt a similar cynical marketing campaign for the World Baseball Classic.

Or is baseball so cynical that, now that Oliver Perez and Francisco Rodriguez have landed their guaranteed long-term contracts, it doesn't matter if they get hurt?

As Metsblog points out, Oliver Perez threw 85 pitches in his last game - after throwing 65 pitches the game before. Weren't there supposed to be pitch counts in the WBC?

This on top of K-Rod being asked to make not one, but two four-out saves, after making NONE all last season, according to the Post. In other words, the Angels, knowing that K-Rod was in his walk year and was likely to leave the team, protected his arm more than the WBC is doing.

The most disturbing thing, also from the Post article (and also highlighted in The Mets Police):

USA Today reported last week that its own study showed nearly four of every five pitchers in the 2006 WBC recorded a higher ERA that season than the previous year. Even more ominously: More than one in three WBC pitching veterans spent time on the disabled list in '06, including 14 who landed on it in April and May.

I'm not even going to get into David Wright getting kneed in the head and feeling dizzy afterwards. After all, Ryan Church suffered his first concussion last year during a Grapefruit League game.

At least, according to Kevin Kernan, the WBC news is not all bad for the Mets. Carlos Beltran is having a great tournament. And K-Rod threw only 20 pitches in his last save and said "I'm not going to put my future at risk at all... I feel tremendous. If I feel like I can, I will. If I cannot do it I will not do it."

I hope he's right. But if something happens to K-Rod, at least the Mets have a good backup closer this year. Oh, wait, J.J. Putz is in the WBC, too.

This tournament can't end soon enough.

What do you think of the WBC?

I have a new nickname for the Yankees' free agent pitchers

A few thoughts while we wait for this afternoon's big press conference (I'm assuming this is a carving board sort of day at the Stadium, with prime rib. Yum!) Alas, I have other plans this afternoon, and will have to record the presser and watch it later. Bummer.

But I do have a suggestion. Nicknames are vitally important in baseball, and I think the Bombers' new Yankee pitchers CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett need one. My suggestion? Alphabet Soup for CC and A.J. Hey, it's better than calling them, say, 243 (for the combined millions the Bombers will be paying them) or 570 (their estimated combined weight.)

Readers, if you have a better suggestion for nicknames, please post a comment here, or email us at subwaysquawkers@gmail.com.

* Squawker Jon, I see that your Mets did their own wingding for "Krancisco" Rodriguez, as I like to call him. (He shouldn't be K-Rod if his name begins with an F!) And he will be taking the unusual uniform number of 75. Is that for how many wins the Mets will get next year?

* Derek Jeter was on XM Radio the other day, and he had this to say about Red Sox MVP Dustin Pedroia (oh, how I hate to put those words together!) Peter Abraham's blog has the words from the transcript. Here's a snippet:

“He’s a great player. More importantly, he’s a good person. He was fun to be around (at the All-Star Game). The thing about Dustin that I like is every game he’s playing all out. I mean, he’s a player that you really enjoy to watch play. I mean, I really don’t enjoy it because we see enough of him but you really appreciate the way he goes about playing the game everyday.

While I am positively cringing hearing Jeter say all that praise, I am also jealous that the Yanks really don't have a kid like Pedroia right now. I guess Joba counts as far as pitching excitement (and getting other opposing fans' skin the way Pedroia does), but there is not hot young position player on the Yanks who is an equivalent to Dustin. And I wish they did.

Once upon a time, Robinson Cano and Melky Cabrera appeared to be up-and-coming stars. But Melky's star faded so much he first was demoted to the minors, and then was supposed to be traded for Mike Cameron. However, it looks like that trade is dead. It would be nice if in 2009, Cano and Cabrera could be the exciting young players they projected to be. Dare to dream!

* One other note - Subway Squawkers is now part of Facebook's blog network. If you belong to Facebook, click here to join the fun with us.

What do you think about the state of the Yankees? Leave us a comment!

Will K-Rod be lightning rod for Mets' rivals?

Congratulations, I guess, are in order on Squawker Jon's beloved Mets getting Francisco Rodriguez to agree to a three-year, $37 million deal. After all, as my blogging partner notes, the Mets got him for a lot less than the 5-year, $75 million deal he was seeking.

K-Rod is known not just for being a great closer, but for his annoying, over-the-top celebrations. He makes Jonathan Papelbon look like a librarian, and Joba Chamberlain seem like a church mouse. And now he joins a team which already has one drama king - Jose Reyes.

So it's going to be interesting to watch how the other teams in the National League, especially the Phillies, react to seeing K-Rod's ridiculous displays of emotion.

As for how this will affect the Yankee-Mets rivalry, I'm guessing we'll be hearing about how the Mets now have the best closer in town. Good grief. And I'm also thinking that K-Rod will be, shall we say, not exactly loved by Yankee fans. I'm sure Squawker reader Uncle Mike (aka Michael in NJ) is firing up a post as we speak about Rodriguez!

I'm also wondering how having K-Rod and Reyes on the same team will affect the Mets. Will Reyes feel compelled to elevate his displays of emotion to an even more histrionic level? If so, heaven help us!

You know what I don't like about K-Rod? His nickname. Not only is it a ripoff of A-Rod, but I keep on thinking that the pitcher's first name should begin with a K instead of an F. Maybe he should just change his name to Krancisco Rodriguez. It would make a lot more sense!

What do you think of K-Rod? Leave us a comment!

Mets' bullpen needs New Deal

An article in Sunday's Times argues that the Mets should not go after Francisco Rodriguez because he only ranked fourth in the AL this year among closers in a new stat, W.P.A. Also, a drop in K-Rod's velocity means increased injury risk, especially considering what happened to Billy Wagner this year.

The article makes some good points, and there are valid reasons for being wary of giving K-Rod a five-year deal. But I am tired of reading arguments that must come up with new stats with names that sound like they'd be more at home in FDR's New Deal while ignoring the basic facts about K-Rod:

• He has saved more than forty games four years in a row.
• He helped pitch the Angels to a World Series title in 2002.
• Even in a year in which, aside from saves, his statistics were supposedly off, K-Rod still had an ERA of 2.24 and a batting average against of .216. Even with his reduced strikeout rate, he still fanned 77 in 68 1/3 innings.
• He is only 26 years old.
• Oh, and by the way, he set the all-time saves record in 2008 with 62.

My favorite passage from the Times article ends up making a more telling point about the Mets' needs:

Even a healthy closer can have only so much impact on a team. If a team's top reliever is hurt, the manager can promote the club's set-up man - also a well-above average pitcher - to closer, ensuring that he will still have a strong hurler working the ninth.

It is clear that this writer did not see any Mets games in 2008. But as far as making a point that a good setup man is just as important as a good closer, he is on to something there.

If the Mets do sign K-Rod and call it a day with the bullpen, you can bet he won't be getting 62 saves again, because the Mets' bridge to a closer is currently more like a bridge to nowhere.

Another bit of "conventional wisdom" I'd like to see retired is the notion that the problem with the Mets' bullpen in '08 was that once Wagner got hurt, the other relievers were all moved into unsuitable roles.

Let's face it - for some of these guys, the unsuitable role was being on a big-league roster. And even when Wagner was healthy, nobody was laying claim to the setup role.

So the Mets need not just a closer, but a good setup man. Ideally, he would be someone with closing experience, but I'll be happy if the Mets get one closer, much less two, especially since they are already paying Wagner's salary next year. So instead of one solid high-priced setup man, how about two lower-priced good possibilities for the role? (Players like, alas, Matt Lindstrom and Heath Bell).

The Mets bullpen needs a new deal, and what better place to go for that new deal than Las Vegas?