Happy New Year!

I'm going out for the last time this year in about 20 minutes and just wanted to thank all my readers. It's been a good year for the blog even though the Mets didn't have a good year. I'd like to think I was always interesting but sometimes baseball was slow and therefore writing was slow.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Hopefully next year will bring better luck to the Mets. It can't be summer soon enough.

Let's Go Mets!

"I'll NEVER FIND CARD 54!"

Spongebob quote of the day provided to you by Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy.

It's almost the end of 2009 so that means The 'Ropolitans is having Met of the Year voting. The first voting match-ups are David Wright against Jeremy Reed and Bobby Parnell faces off with Jeff Francoeur.

The first match-up is easy for me, David Wright gets my vote all the way. The second match-up is a tough one. Bobby Parnell was on the Mets first and he has a nickname, B-Parnz. Jeff Francoeur was only a Met for about half a season and he doesn't have a nickname. But he was somebody I secretly liked for a while during his Braves career. I guess you'll just never know who I vote for.

Mike Pelfrey is in a match-up later.
Ted Berg over at his blog TedQuarters explains one reason why Mike Pelfrey might not have had as bad a 2009 season as some people are saying. He explains why his walk rate really didn't get worse in 2009 even though a quick glance at the numbers would lead a person to believe that.

For obvious reasons I don't want to think Mike Pelfrey got worse in 2009. He certainly wasn't as good as he was in 2008 but he was better than 2007. Almost every player on the Mets had a bad 2009 compared to the rest of their career. I don't think the entire Mets team just got bad, but they really shouldn't have their careers judged by a one fluky year. That goes for Mike Pelfrey and others, including David Wright.

There's a lot to look forward to in 2010, and hopefully proving 2009 was fluke is something that comes from it.

Let's Go Mets!

How To Spot A Tourist

I apologize if this offends anybody, and I say "you're welcome" to anybody who laughs.

Yesterday I went into New York City for my family's annual day of being a tourist and seeing all the holiday stuff set up in the windows and all that stuff. My sister and I got bored so we decided to come up the surefire ways to spot a tourist:

• They say they need to go back to the hotel, or find the hotel, or anything pertaining to a hotel.
• They are carrying luggage.
• Somebody is instructed to look at the tall buildings.
• A foreign language is being spoken.
• They are carry shopping bags from the Nintendo Store, Disney Store, any other themed store, or a GIANT Sephora bag.
• They take pictures of store windows.
• They take pictures in front of store windows.
• They are looking up in the main concourse of Grand Central.
• They wait on the 20+ person line at Starbucks.
• They have a backpack.
• That backpack can be worn on the front of their body, as seen yesterday.
• They exclaim, "Whoa, that's a big tree!"
• You are asked to take a picture of them.

If I missed anything I am sure my sister will let me know.

Let's Go Mets!

P.S.
We also saw a guy in Saks without shoes. Only socks.

The Mets Make A Move

According to the afternoon entertainment (who will remain nameless) on WFAN, the Mets have come to a contract agreement with Jason Bay and the signing should be official next week, after he takes a physical.

It's good to know the Mets can sign players that have no interest in playing here but can't bother to make an offer to the guy who desperately wanted play here.

Ah well.
Let's Go Mets!

More Laughing

The last post was a bit intense. So, I decided to be kind and I'll lead you to something funny. Click here.

That, my friends, is the Garfoose. If you clicked the link you won't be confused by that statement. If you clicked the link you would also know why Dirk Hayhurst is the coolest person ever and why I have to go to a Yankees game against the Blue Jays this year.

That is all.

Let's Go Garfoose!

The Real Case for Joe Smith

Nobody is screaming for the Mets to get another relief pitcher this offseason because last season was what that was for. But the back-end of the Mets bullpen didn't live up to the hype. JJ Putz was injured and has left to the White Sox, K-Rod fell apart after the Luis Castillo FAIL, and the Mets didn't have a primary set-up option.

2010 looks like it will feature Ryota Igarashi who was strong in Japan but hasn't played in the MLB. Kelvim Escobar will look to come back from 2 years of injury and possibly fit in the bullpen. Otherwise, the 2010 bullpen will look pretty much like 2009.

Joe Smith could be a nice addition to the 2010 bullpen. He is the same type of pitcher as Sean Green but at multiple points of the season we were all calling for Green's disappearance. I don't have the numbers but could Sean Green really be making too much money to release him? Really? It would be nice for the Mets to have a consistent sidearm pitcher.

But what about Pedro Feliciano? Pedro is a lefty sidearm pitcher. Joe is a righty sidearm pitcher. Pedro has proven he can get both righty and lefty hitters out, while Joe has not. He would still stay as the primary lefty specialist because I don't know of another lefty reliever on the market, but Joe would move into the righty specialist role, lifting some of the work from the righties Feliciano would face.

The Mets still need a set-up man in the bullpen. That's what Bobby Parnell would work as. The Mets tried putting him in as a starter and he showed flashes of greatness but it was mostly a failure. B-Parnz showed much more as a reliever and could be a really good set-up guy. Yeah, yeah, you're all going to say he's too young. So, use Brian Stokes as the set-up guy going into the season and Bobby Parnell once the season gets going and he has become comfortable pitching in the bullpen. AND MAKE SURE B-PARNZ KNOWS HE'S GOING TO STAY IN THE BULLPEN!!! I don't want anymore of the back-and-forth between the rotation and bullpen.

Joe was consistent in 2009. He was injured but it was mostly bad luck. He had a freak setback in Spring Training when he got the viral infection and another freak injury ended his season when he tripped down the stairs and needed knee surgery. He did suffer a shoulder injury but came back from that well until the knee injury. Joe had an ERA under 2.80 in June, July, and August. Can K-Rod say that??

I really don't think the Indians have any special attachment to Joe Smith, so it really shouldn't take a lot to get him back. But if they were attached to him, I'd be flattered. The Indians have Justin Masterson anyway, and he is basically the same as Joe. They even have the same birthday.

Oh yeah, Joe was really good friends with Pelf and Mainer and could possibly lead to their success.

So, that's my bullpen layout for 2010. Hopefully it could realistically include Joe Smith.

Let's Go Mets!

The Case To Bring Back Joe Smith

In the first video you only need to watch the first five seconds, the entire second video is necessary for viewing.





Let's Go Mets!

More B-Parnz Cuteness

Along with the holiday message, MLB.com did an interview with Bobby Parnell about how he spends the holidays. He mentions he has a girlfriend in the interview, but I guess I'm okay with that. I have Joe Smith.

Let's Go Mets!

Step 1: Watch video. Step 2: Laugh.

Speechless.

A New Year, A New "Boyfriend"

Wow. That sounds terrible. But I'm allowed because this is only my baseball "boyfriend".

If you look at the sidebar, you will see I changed a couple things to indicate Joe Smith is my baseball "boyfriend" again. The lack of Josh Thole is for reasons I'll post later. For now I just want to keep you all up-to-date.

Let's Go Mets!