NL East Update: Omar Minaya, moron or media genius?
Down at Amazin' Avenue you can find some head scratching quotes from Mets GM Omar Minaya. Mostly in response to questions regarding roster decisions and the team philosophy, Omar always seems to give the media something to play with.
For the Mets, it has gotten to the point that matter what happens this year, there will always be an unnecessary non-baseball related story floating around the clubhouse. Whether it be Omar contradicting himself, or Tony Bernazard challenging his players to a fight, the people in Mets world always feel it necessary to have something to criticize if the team runs into some trouble. To Omar's credit, if it weren't for him the Mets could quite possibly be in an even worse situation than they are now. Minaya was responsible for bringing in names like Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran, ushering in the new Mets era we know today, but ever since coming within 1 win of a World Series birth in 2006, Minaya has lost the once nearly immortal status with questionable decisions and unusual run ins with the media.
Fish Stripes breaks down Cameron Maybin's recent defensive struggles at Citi Field and what the future has in store for the young player.
It feels like years since Maybin sprinted back and settled himself under a long Ryan Church fly ball, recording the final out at Shea Stadium. Now, at Citi Field, he looks as though he is running in circles with the unpredictable wind patterns in Queens. It seems to me like Maybin is using the wind as an excuse for not catching at least three fly balls that dropped in front of him. By saying "under normal conditions" he would have had no trouble with the fly balls is not something I would want to hear if I was Marlins manager Freddi Gonzalez. If playing at Citi Field on a clear 70-degree afternoon game is not considered to be "normal conditions", then maybe you just don't belong in the big leagues.
It's never good when your club is already planning for a "doomsday scenario" for your closer, especially in the first week of the season, but that is just what the guys at Phillies Nation did offering some potential solutions.
I guess it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to things like this. The only two names on the Phillie roster that would even be considered for the closing role are Ryan Madson and Danys Baez. Before Lidge's arrival, Madson had the closing duties and struggled performing in that role. With a boatload of talent, Madson and his herky-jerky delivery have not been able to find any consistency at any one spot in the bullpen. Baez on the other hand, enjoyed breakout seasons in 2004 and 2005 with the Devil Rays making himself a recognizable name in the baseball community, but following a trade to the Dodgers in 2006, Baez has fell off the map, struggling to recapture the early success he had in Tampa Bay. Having made additional stops in Atlanta and Baltimore, Baez is lucky to have found himself in a good situation with the Phillies. Like Chan Ho Park did last year, Baez can "resurrect" his career in the Phillie bullpen by pitching lights out baseball in the seventh and eighth innings of games.
Head over to Talking Chop for some interesting facts from Mondays Brave Home Opener.
The beautiful thing about baseball is that there is a random statistic for nearly every kind of situation imaginable. I could spend hours looking over information from the Elias Sports Bureau who not only deals with baseball, but football, basketball, and hockey as well. With the announcement that Monday was Turner Fields largest attendance for a day game ever just goes to show you the fans in Atlanta are beginning to believe in their team. With Philadelphia having already established themselves as the top dogs in the east, I can't wait to see how this division will stack up three years from now.
