Today, Thursday, July 28th is my 30th birthday. So, I'm wishing myself a happy birthday and, as I take the maiden voyage into the Sea of Middle Age, I am going to take this opportunity to say a few more things as well. Remember, it’s my party and I’ll blog if I want to…
1. Hart: A hearty congrats to our fellow contributor, close friend and general good guy. He finished the bar exam yesterday afternoon and is now T-minus a couple of days before he goes on his well-earned vacation with his lovely and talented girlfriend Allie. I call her “Hart’s Texo-Canadian friend” because she’s from Canada but now has roots in Texas. Anyway, they’re going to Southeast Asia (follow their adventures on http://postbartrip.blogspot.com/). So, Hitman, have a good time, be safe, congrats on officially being done with hard-core studying and bon voyage.
2. So Sori: The rumors in NYC are that the Mets are thinking of dealing Mike Cameron, their top minor league prospect (AA outfielder Lastings Milledge) and another piece (maybe a minor leaguer, maybe Kaz Ishii) to the Rangers for Alfonso Soriano. The city seems pretty split about this with half saying that the Mets should do whatever it takes to compete since they’re still in the hunt and the other half saying that Soriano is showing signs of inconsistency outside of the friendly hitting environment that is Ameriquest Field. A survey of his home-road splits does show an interesting and troublesome dip in performance when playing on the road.
2005:
Home: 205 AB/66 H/17 2B/18 HR/.322 AVG/.353 OBP/.678 SLG/1.031 OPS
Road: 192 AB/46 H/10 2B/7 HR/.240 AVG/.276 OBP/.401 SLG/.677 OPS
If I’m the Mets, I am seriously stumped on this one. The Mets have one of the worst track records in player trades and free agent signings but they also haven’t developed much from the minor leagues. It’s a double whammy. On the one hand, they acquire a charismatic talent who has shown no fear and can play in NYC. On the other hand, they give up Milledge, who is being touted as a superstar in the future. I guess that’s why they pay Mets GM Omar Minaya the big bucks.
As an aside, what are the Rangers thinking? You have a guy that has a 1.031 OPS at home and you’re trading him? Ok, sure, you have plenty of offense with Teixeira, Blalock and Young, why not ask the Mets for some pitching? It’s not like Mike Cameron and Lastings Milledge will make or break you and it’s certainly not like Kenny Rogers is a guy you can count on to pitch you into the post-season. John Hart, what happened? You used to be so smart.
3. Hideous Nomo: I can’t believe this poor bastard is on our team. This is now his seventh big-league team in 11 seasons (Dodgers-Mets-Brewers-Tigers-Red Sox-Dodgers again-Devil Rays-Yanks). He’s donning Pinstripes because Kevin Brown’s back has given out again. Kevin, do us all a favor and stay on the DL for good this time. Don’t come back, we don’t like you. You suck.
4. Larry Brown: I’ve blogged about him ad nauseam. All I’ll say is Larry, welcome. You are a great teacher and the Knicks have a lot to learn. Here’s to a good experience for both parties.
5. Mountain Time: Tomorrow morning I’m heading to Denver to visit another contributor, Colonel Sanders, and to spend my birthday weekend seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. I’ll also be checking out the Phillies/Rockies game at Coors Field. As I’ve done with the Rogers Centre (f/k/a Skydome) and RFK Stadium, I will file my first impressions of this ballpark upon my return to NYC. Coors field will be my 10th stadium out of 30 currently in use. I’ve got a long way to go to fulfill my dream of seeing a game in each park but at least I’m getting one of the tough ones to get to out of the way.
So, other than any comments I may post today, I won’t be joining you for my regular columns until Tuesday, at the earliest. Have a great weekend and, if you’re of age, have a beer tonight toasting to my big 3-0. Send me the tab, I’m buyin’.
1. Hart: A hearty congrats to our fellow contributor, close friend and general good guy. He finished the bar exam yesterday afternoon and is now T-minus a couple of days before he goes on his well-earned vacation with his lovely and talented girlfriend Allie. I call her “Hart’s Texo-Canadian friend” because she’s from Canada but now has roots in Texas. Anyway, they’re going to Southeast Asia (follow their adventures on http://postbartrip.blogspot.com/). So, Hitman, have a good time, be safe, congrats on officially being done with hard-core studying and bon voyage.
2. So Sori: The rumors in NYC are that the Mets are thinking of dealing Mike Cameron, their top minor league prospect (AA outfielder Lastings Milledge) and another piece (maybe a minor leaguer, maybe Kaz Ishii) to the Rangers for Alfonso Soriano. The city seems pretty split about this with half saying that the Mets should do whatever it takes to compete since they’re still in the hunt and the other half saying that Soriano is showing signs of inconsistency outside of the friendly hitting environment that is Ameriquest Field. A survey of his home-road splits does show an interesting and troublesome dip in performance when playing on the road.
2005:
Home: 205 AB/66 H/17 2B/18 HR/.322 AVG/.353 OBP/.678 SLG/1.031 OPS
Road: 192 AB/46 H/10 2B/7 HR/.240 AVG/.276 OBP/.401 SLG/.677 OPS
If I’m the Mets, I am seriously stumped on this one. The Mets have one of the worst track records in player trades and free agent signings but they also haven’t developed much from the minor leagues. It’s a double whammy. On the one hand, they acquire a charismatic talent who has shown no fear and can play in NYC. On the other hand, they give up Milledge, who is being touted as a superstar in the future. I guess that’s why they pay Mets GM Omar Minaya the big bucks.
As an aside, what are the Rangers thinking? You have a guy that has a 1.031 OPS at home and you’re trading him? Ok, sure, you have plenty of offense with Teixeira, Blalock and Young, why not ask the Mets for some pitching? It’s not like Mike Cameron and Lastings Milledge will make or break you and it’s certainly not like Kenny Rogers is a guy you can count on to pitch you into the post-season. John Hart, what happened? You used to be so smart.
3. Hideous Nomo: I can’t believe this poor bastard is on our team. This is now his seventh big-league team in 11 seasons (Dodgers-Mets-Brewers-Tigers-Red Sox-Dodgers again-Devil Rays-Yanks). He’s donning Pinstripes because Kevin Brown’s back has given out again. Kevin, do us all a favor and stay on the DL for good this time. Don’t come back, we don’t like you. You suck.
4. Larry Brown: I’ve blogged about him ad nauseam. All I’ll say is Larry, welcome. You are a great teacher and the Knicks have a lot to learn. Here’s to a good experience for both parties.
5. Mountain Time: Tomorrow morning I’m heading to Denver to visit another contributor, Colonel Sanders, and to spend my birthday weekend seeing the Rocky Mountains for the first time. I’ll also be checking out the Phillies/Rockies game at Coors Field. As I’ve done with the Rogers Centre (f/k/a Skydome) and RFK Stadium, I will file my first impressions of this ballpark upon my return to NYC. Coors field will be my 10th stadium out of 30 currently in use. I’ve got a long way to go to fulfill my dream of seeing a game in each park but at least I’m getting one of the tough ones to get to out of the way.
So, other than any comments I may post today, I won’t be joining you for my regular columns until Tuesday, at the earliest. Have a great weekend and, if you’re of age, have a beer tonight toasting to my big 3-0. Send me the tab, I’m buyin’.
3 comments:
If any of you want to come enjoy get into the Rocky Mountain air (it has been really smoggy as of late), watch a really shitty baseball team, or get drunk twice as quickly, let me know. Looking forward to Mo's visit.
John Hart can never have enough hitting apparently. Although on this one I can't understand. A blind deaf and dumb dolphin could figure out Texas needs more pitching.
MJ - Happy birthday
Hart - we will miss your blogging here, but there's blogging elsewhere, so you're even steven.
I will refrain from commenting on John Hart.
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