Jump to content
SportsWrath

Question for Mets fans


MakeMeSomeFoodHo

Recommended Posts

steve balboni :LMAO::laugh::LMAO:

LOL - from his facebook page:

Considered one of the greatest designated hitters/first basemen of our time (by at least one person), Steven Charles "Bye Bye" Balboni gave hope to thousands of young, portly, mustached teenagers holding dreams of glory on and off the diamond.

While often overshadowed by the sheer intimidation his rotund gut and bewhiskered upper lip conjured, Bones always commanded respect with his lightning-fast speed on the base paths and his ability to take a strike (including at least 498 in the 1985 season). After his retirement from the Show in 1993 (with a lofty .600 season BA), Steve spent some time coaching for various minor league clubs.

Now running the Steve Balboni Baseball School, boys and girls around the world (or at least in the vicinity of Edison, NJ) can benefit from the enormous wealth of hitting prowess stored behind that burly exterior. While many dispute the most influential aspect of Steve's career on the game of baseball, most agree that without his contribution to the history of this great sport, Major League Baseball may not be around today. (read less)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

bwhahahahahaha, thats awesome....but in his defense, If I recall correctly, he did have a few good years,(maybe 2 or 3) at least power wise, with the royals.

1- he still holds their single season HR record (36), set in 1985

Link to comment
Share on other sites

no it wasnt

 

 

Most people in media circles thought the Mets were on the outside looking in, and that the Yankees were probably going to land Santana.

 

I actually DO think that the Mets could trade for Adrian Gonzalez. That's if the Padres are willing to put him out there right now. I don't think they will, however, because he is too popular of a player in San Diego and I don't think they will do that to their fans after trading Peavy recently. More gettable IMO is Carlos Pena, who is an unrestricted free agent after next year. He'll be 32 next year, so if the Rays continue to be cautious about payroll, it may be a good time to move him this offseason, since he will be 33 near the beginning of the 2011 season, and the Rays cannot afford to sign a big money deal to a player who may decline within a couple of seasons. I would say something like a package like Murphy and Parnell or Niese would get it done. It doesn't make a lot of sense for Murphy to stay if they go for a slugging first baseman with Ike Davis moving up the minors at a brisk pace, coupled with Murphy's lack of ability in the outfield.

 

Back to Gonzalez, he is signed through next season, and then has a $5.5 million club option for 2011, with a $500K bonus. I think that is pretty reasonable for the Pads for what they get from him... but I suppose it is possible that they may not want to pay that salary after 2010, and if so, then a trade this offseason or midseason next year is more likely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Most people in media circles thought the Mets were on the outside looking in, and that the Yankees were probably going to land Santana.

 

I actually DO think that the Mets could trade for Adrian Gonzalez. That's if the Padres are willing to put him out there right now. I don't think they will, however, because he is too popular of a player in San Diego and I don't think they will do that to their fans after trading Peavy recently. More gettable IMO is Carlos Pena, who is an unrestricted free agent after next year. He'll be 32 next year, so if the Rays continue to be cautious about payroll, it may be a good time to move him this offseason, since he will be 33 near the beginning of the 2011 season, and the Rays cannot afford to sign a big money deal to a player who may decline within a couple of seasons. I would say something like a package like Murphy and Parnell or Niese would get it done. It doesn't make a lot of sense for Murphy to stay if they go for a slugging first baseman with Ike Davis moving up the minors at a brisk pace, coupled with Murphy's lack of ability in the outfield.

 

Back to Gonzalez, he is signed through next season, and then has a $5.5 million club option for 2011, with a $500K bonus. I think that is pretty reasonable for the Pads for what they get from him... but I suppose it is possible that they may not want to pay that salary after 2010, and if so, then a trade this offseason or midseason next year is more likely.

 

 

Could work, especially if the Rays are helbent on getting rid of Crawford before his contract comes up like I heard Olney say the other day on ESPn radio. Maybe the Rays take less in terms of prospects if the Mets take more(pena) in salary. I like the thought of him as a stop gap until Reese is ready.

 

I like Murphy, but for him t play everyday they need 30 35 hrs from LF and I dont know if they are going to get that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Let me say it again, there are no good free agent 1B this offseason. Tell me who out of this group you'd rather have than Murphy:

 

Rich Aurilia

Hank Blalock

Russell Branyan

Miguel Cairo

Frank Catalanotto

Tony Clark

Carlos Delgado

Nomar Garciaparra

Ross Gload

Eric Hinske

Nick Johnson

Adam LaRoche

Doug Mientkiewicz

Kevin Millar

Chad Tracy

Daryle Ward

Dmitri Young

 

 

That is about as underwhelming as it gets. The only guy there I would want is Laroche. Murphy is a much better hitter than most of those guys, and he only had two really bad months hitting. The kid is 24 years old, just finished his first major league season, and he finished the year hitting .285 in August and September. He definitely struggled at times, but giving up on him now would be too soon. He did hit 37 doubles in under 500 ABs with 11 homeruns. Next year as the everyday 1B I would expect to see those numbers grow into something like 45-50 doubles, which would put him among the league leaders, and about 15 homeruns. If we get a big bopper for left, Beltran has a rebound year at the plate, with Francouer and Wright, that is plenty of power,

 

If you look at it, other than batting average, Murphy had a very similar year hitting to David Wright. And Murph had 42 fewer ABs. If Ike Davis is our future at 1B (and I agree with that notion), then I have no problem with Murphy being the stop gap until he's ready, which is probably at least one more full season.

 

I don't recall saying I wanted to address our first base situation via free agency, though I wouldn't mind Laroche or even Delgado back if we could get him at a reasonable price. And while Murph did compare with Wright in some categories that's not necessarily that great of a thing considering that this was easily David's worst year as a full-time player. And Daniel's OBP was well below average and his SLG % was very average. I never said I was giving up on him altogether, I would just rather have a true power hitter at first. I would love to get Pena from the Rays, I wanted us to trade for him before the deadline.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 months later...

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...