Mainstream media and bloggers react to A-Rod

Smart, rational reactions:
Rob Neyer - My favorite
Tom Tango - 2nd favorite
Beyond the Boxscore
Mets Police
Shysterball
Boogiedown Baseball
Mets Tailgate - Genius
Mike's Mets
Phil Allard - Great job Phil pointing out what a piece of trash this Selena Roberts is. First Duke lax, now this.
FanGraphs
Anthony Rieber

Poor reactions:
Jay Mariotti - What a shock...
Joel Sherman
Jerry Brewer
Ken Davidoff
Bill Madden
Jayson Stark - Stark's outrageous headline: "A-Rod has destroyed game's history"
Ted Keith
Bill Madden - Again! And even sillier the 2nd time around.
Wallace Matthews - If you look up the definition of 'moron' in the dictionary...

I'll add more as I come across them. Noticing a trend here? It's pretty much just the traditional mainstream media sportswriters who are outraged over this. The progressive, rational bloggers/analysts have it right. Not that this is anything out of the norm when it comes to baseball analysis.

Corner OF's Henderson and Rice voted into Hall of Fame

Congratulations to Rickey Henderson for being elected to the Hall of Fame. Rickey is one of the greatest players of all time and he garnered 94.8% of the vote (but should've had 100%). To be elected, a player must appear on 75% of all ballots.

Congratulations to Jim Rice for being wrongfully elected to the Hall of Fame on his 15th and final year of eligibility with 76.4% of the vote. Apologies to the following OF's, who are as good or better than Rice as all around players and will never be elected:

- Dwight Evans
- Frank Howard
- Dave Parker
- Albert Belle
- Reggie Smith
- Roy White
- Brian Downing

Rice may have been the 3rd best OF on his own team during much of his career (behind Evans and Fred Lynn) and he makes the Hall. Meanwhile Bert Blyleven garners 62.7%, Tim Raines 22.6% and Alan Trammell 17.4%. Whatever. I came across a great quote from Joe Sheehan at Baseball Prospectus:

"Bill James once wrote that the further removed you got from a player’s career, the more that career became about the player’s numbers. In Rice’s case, the exact opposite effect occurred. As we looked more and more at the numbers and realized that Rice had a short career, and a short peak, and didn’t hit all that well outside of Fenway Park, and his peak was more about counting stats built in a great lineup than what he did himself, and that he didn’t contribute very much outside of the batter’s box…his vote totals grew."

The members of the BBWAA (who vote on the HOF, and postseason awards like MVP and Cy Young) continue to embarrass themselves with these results. A total of 28 voters left Henderson off their ballots. Let me write that again: 28 current or former professional baseball writers do not think that Rickey Henderson, the all time leader in runs scored and stolen bases, the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history, is worthy of being enshrined in the Hall of Fame. To quote ESPN's Jayson Stark: "Stupefying. Embarrassing. Inexcusable."

Season in review: What went right and wrong for the Mets in 2008

It would be wise to take an objective look at what went right and wrong for the Mets in 2008 before recommending roster moves this offseason. Most fans can determine just by watching the games that the bullpen was disastrous, and the offense and pitching were solid. Let’s take a look at the statistics and see if perception equals reality:

Offense
799 Runs (2nd in the NL out of 16 teams)
4.93 R/game (2nd)
.266 BA( 4th)
.340 OBP (4th)
.420 SLG (6th)
.761 OPS (4th)
172 HR (7th)
.253 BA w/RISP (10th)
.265 BA in "close and late" situations (4th)
.272 BA with runners on base (5th)

These numbers are excellent. The home runs are not impressive, but that is not an issue considering the team BA, OBP, and SLG were so strong. Interestingly enough, Baseball Prospectus projected the Mets to score 799 runs this year – they hit it right on the nose. The offense was not a glaring issue in 2008. This is not to say it can’t be improved. (***EDIT***: I added the last 3 listed stats, responding to a valued commenter's request. Again, I encourage comments/suggestions, especially when it appears that I'm twisting the stats to fit my supposed agenda.)

Starting Pitching
3.98 ERA (5th out of 16)
6.00 IP/start (3rd)
86 Quality Starts (3rd)
3 CG (3rd)
1.36 WHIP (6th)
105 HR (6th)
.253 BAA (2nd)
.725 OPS against (4th)

The rotation did a commendable job this year, pitching pretty well despite Pedro Martinez sucking, Oliver Perez’s inconsistency and John Maine’s injury problems. However, there are potentially 2 open spots in 2009 (if Perez doesn’t re-sign). Maine will be coming off surgery so he is not a given.

Bullpen
4.25 ERA (13th out of 16 teams)
1.40 WHIP (9th)
58 HR (6th most)
29 Blown Saves (2nd most)
60% Save Percentage (11th)
.258 BAA (10th)
.736 OPS against (10th)

The bullpen is biggest culprit in 2009, and the part of the team EVERYONE should be blaming more than the offense’s clutch hitting problems. In this column from last week, Jayson Stark at ESPN concluded, with the help of Bill James, that the Mets would’ve been 6.5 games up in the NL East on Sept. 22 if games lasted just 8 innings. That tells you all you need to know about the Mets relievers (but also a little about how good Brad Lidge was for the Phillies). If the Mets were 6.5 games up in the NL East going into the final weekend, they wouldn't have needed to rely on the offense to carry the team as it had for much of the summer.

The Mets’ priorities this offseason should be, in order:
1) shoring up the awful bullpen
2) figuring out the back end of the rotation
3) finding a power hitting corner OF and/or a 2B who can hit

FYI, here are the bullpen stats for the 8 playoff teams.
Phillies: 3.22 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 15 blown saves
Brewers: 3.89 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 26 blown saves
Cubs: 4.10 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, 24 blown saves
Dodgers: 3.34 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 20 blown saves
Rays: 3.55 ERA, 1.26 WHIP, 16 blown saves
Red Sox: 4.00 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 22 blown saves
White Sox: 4.13 ERA, 1.35 WHIP, 18 blown saves
Angels: 3.69 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 23 blown saves

Again, the Mets: 4.25 ERA, 1.40 WHIP, 29 blown saves

The Mets bullpen is by far worse than any of these teams’. Even the Brewers bullpen, featuring the truly dreadful Eric Gagne and Guillermo Mota, was superior. I cannot say this enough – THE METS BULLPEN COST THEM THE PLAYOFFS IN 2008, NOT THE OFFENSE! Sportswriters, radio personalities, commenters: please stop saying the “core” of David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran is the problem and needs to be broken up. If the Mets front office does not make a significant attempt to fix the glaring bullpen issues, then fans have legitimate reason to be annoyed going into 2009. Stay tuned for my recommendations for the Mets deficiencies.