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What the Valdespin Situation Really Reveals About the Character of the Mets and their Organization

By: Mr. Met (Staff Writer NFL Prozach)

As the title reveals I am doing a little critical thinking in this post here which is really all I do about this team these days.  Let me just start by saying I know the whole Valdespin  celebration which resulted in a beaning was some time ago and I wanted to wait to put my opinion up here until at least all the stories were out there by the beat reporters and enough player quotes were public.  I also want to say I am in no way giving Valdespin the pass for celebrating with his team down big but I am in no means that upset over it either.  If you remember correctly before Reyes became a superstar fans, players, and beat reporters a like all expressed their concern eventually talent, production, and the winning seasons (collapses or not the Mets still had a run were they put together 3 or 4 competitive years in a row) won out in the end and Reyes quickly became a fan favorite I still have his jersey hanging in my closet to prove it.  I am also in no means trying to compare the player Valdespin is or will be to what Jose Reyes was for this franchise.

Now to the point I do not like or condone the response of this team or Terry Collins.  As a guy who participated in sports as a player, teammate, and now coach I was always taught and teach that the bond of the team is sacred.  The bond of the team leads to things like team chemistry which is something that is often talked about amongst Met fans these days.  This team bond or chemistry will lead to having a good strong team spirit, clubhouse, or whatever it is being called in that particular sport.  Agree with Valdespin’s actions or not the Mets and Manager Terry Collins threw Valdespin under the bus publically to the media and the fans and that is HORRIBLE! It shows a lack of leadership from the Wilpons, Alderson, Collins, and yes even newly named team captain David Wright! As a coach you should never publically admonish a players actions as a teammate you should never publically say a teammate is wrong.  Those are things that lead to the 3 ring circus and unproductive horrendous baseball team and organization they have become during the Sandy Alderson years. Situations like this are to be handled out of the public light behind closed doors, and yes to the players who said what are we supposed to get into a fight to protect this guy the answer is YES!  Like it or not Valdespin is a teammate and a member of your TEAM and you back up your teammate if he is wrong you discuss it after that’s what team chemistry, being on a team, and being a good teammate is all about.  This team is far from winning not because of the lack of talent because that could change in 1 or 2 seasons but because of the lack of leadership currently in this organization and the lack of courage to stand together as one cohesive unit! Terry Collins is not responsible for the lack of talent on this club but he is responsible for building an atmosphere of a team that he has not done.  In fact, Collins and a lot of players on this roster gave the impression to a lot of writers that Valdespin is not professional.  Well neither is Collins or his bosses or this organization so if it is not practiced or taught then guess what the young players will not learn it.  I personally think how Collins and his players handled the situation in the media is unprofessional!  I personally think the New York Mets who constantly lie about attendance is unprofessional!  I personally think when Alderson hints that the Mets don’t buy certain players because of poor revenue which is a result of fans not buying tickets is unprofessional when the product he continually puts out on the field is poor and that of Omar Minaya’s leftovers! I personally think the jokes that Alderson made about Reyes and his box of chocolates and the outfield when it was a sensitive subject with the fans is very unprofessional! In fact I think the New York Mets are a complete joke of a franchise and if I was Bud Selig and MLB I would be embarrassed to have them host my All Star game! In closing I would like for Terry Collins to explain to me how a young player learns to be professional while playing for an organization who literally had a circus in the parking lot! Otherwise he should keep quit and work on pulling this team together because they are probably on their way to one of the worst seasons in team history!

 

Follow me on twitter @MrMetNFLPROZACH

 

State of the Mets Address

By: Mr. Met Staff Writer NFL PROZACH

 

Well it is now mid- May and I have to say I am not surprised by the Mets 14-19 record this season in fact I expected nothing more than a losing effort.  Why you ask? Well that has been the trademark of the Sandy Alderson era thus far.  However, Sandy never tried to sell us (Mets Fans) on the now he has been about building a consistent winner from within a team that unlike the team’s Omar Minaya built in the last administration could sustain winning. With that being said I think even the Alderson supporters, fans, and all Mets optimists have to start to worry about the future of this franchise.  Let me start by saying this nobody expected this team to win this year, a .500 record is something that fans, analyst, and bloggers alike hoped for and benchmarked as a good season for this team.  But even with that the most important thing to a successful 2013 for the Mets was too start to build on some of this young talent that they supposedly have coming up from the minors or here already on the Major league roster.  Judging by this standard this season thus far has been an absolute disaster!  Once again Ike Davis has looked horrendous at the plate early in the season.  Once again Dillon Gee and Jon Niese have been inconsistent and borderline horrible!  For the record I do believe both will turn it around but the facts thus far are the facts and their statistics are absolutely horrible!  After a hot start John Buck has cooled down and what about that outfield! The only bright spot on this team as of now is the development of Matt Harvey into an ace and perhaps also Lucas Duda starting to flash some of that power more often.  But even with that he is as clumsy as they came out in left field.

So what am I getting at?  I think it’s about time somebody holds Alderson responsible for his plan.  You see lets discuss his plan to build around “prospects”.  When it is said help is coming it means Travis d’Arnaud and Zack Wheeler.  Noah Syndergaard and Brandon Nimmo are easily at least 2 full seasons away from making an impact on this team and I believe from searching around the web, listening, and reading about their development mid 2015 would be the earliest we could see Syndergaard and who knows with Nimmo.  To discuss Wheeler first it has been talked of how much of a great thing it was that Alderson got him in return for Beltran. Well fast forward some years later Carlos Beltran is still a top producing outfielder in the big leagues.  What of Wheeler well now there’s a question of his maturity after an incident with a fellow team mate in spring training.  However, more telling was his struggles early this year in triple a Las Vegas where he had all the excuses in the world except that he needs to be better.  The conditions in MLB will vary from night to night, day to day, and start to start.  More importantly the Mets play in the northeast so if he struggles in early April and May or worst in October is he going to blame it on the weather?  Is this the type of franchise player we applaud Alderson for acquiring?  The kid could still be fantastic but these are defiantly some major concerns I have.  Now to get into d’Arnaud, who is well injury prone!  d’Arnaud is out again with an injury the injury itself is not important.  What is important here is again the 24 year old d’Arnaud is missing another chunk of time with an injury preventing him from development.  We know can’t expect to see him the big leagues for his MLB debut anytime soon making it very possible that he may not see any significant time in the big leagues until the age of 25 and that’s as long as he can get healthy and stay on the field and not suffer another injury, thus far he has not proved that.  Again is this a franchise player? 

Two things I would like to discuss about this year’s version of the Mets is the garbage that this team’s strength would be the starting rotation as well as the Collin Cowgill situation.  First for the rotation it is far from this team’s strength.  I know a lot of you reading this will be well how could he have known Santana would go down for the year so early?  Well my answer to that is how could he have not prepared for it!  Alderson knew Santana did not pitch the last few months of the season last year.  In fact, he even created a situation with it with his mouth which I will not get into again in this post.  He should have known there was a strong possibility Santana would land on the DL sometime this year and having Jeremy Hefner or Aaron Laffey as a replacement for Johan Santana is a complete joke and shows the lack of effort he has put into building this team.  Also, knowing the health problems you have with Santana and with the Dickey trade the Mets should not have bet on Shaun Marcum especially with the health problems he had last year.  That was a little foolish on the part of Alderson.  Now to get into my thoughts on Collin Cowgill which have been heavily criticized on twitter.  Cowgill hit .254 last year in triple a the fact that not only was he on the major league roster opening day but the leadoff hitter was not only short lived but a complete joke that probably stemmed from once again Alderson’s big mouth.  I believe that because of the jokes that Alderson made, throughout, the offseason about the outfield he was desires of one of his minor league pickups to play well to start the year so he didn’t look foolish.  Hence the Collin Cowgill experiment out in centerfield and it came at the expense of better outfielders!

Now to move on to Matt Harvey who has been in short phenomenal! There is nothing I can write that hasn’t been written about the kid or his success. I would just like to point out that Omar Minaya drafted Harvey not Sandy Alderson.  To take it a step further for those of you who like to tell me on twitter that Alderson is responsible for the plan that brought Harvey here that’s nonsense.  Do you people use your EYES!!  The kid is incredible any team that has a kid with his talent with any GM would include him in any type of plan for the present or the future.  Alderson was handed a future Cy Young Award winner and all he did was not mess it up!  I would also like to point out that other than d’Arnaud and Wheeler who I discussed earlier in this post Alderson’s plan for the future is still all guys brought in by Omar Minaya and Steve Phillips in David Wright’s case.  Unless you believe John Buck is the catcher of the future and not d’Arnaud you cannot argue against this point! So I pose the question what has he really done?  When will Alderson be held responsible for the loosing and poor shape of this franchise?  Yes I said this franchise is in poor shape because even if all those ifs and all these players I discussed on this roster pan out do you guys still think this team is in any shape to compete with the fire power of the Braves or the Nats?  Because I sure don’t!

 

Follow me on twitter @MrMetNFLPROZACH

And keep checking back here www.nflprozach.com as I will be posting more frequently for the foreseeable future!

DRUID: 2013 NFL MOCK DRAFT- FINAL 8.0

1. 
   Kansas City – Luke Joeckel, OT, Texas A&M – “Goo goo g’joob”.

2. 
   Jacksonville – Geno Smith, QB, West Virginia –Because Gabbert sucks.

3. 
   Oakland – Eric Fisher, OT, Central Michigan – Can’t miss.

4. 
   Philadelphia – Dion Jordan, DE/OLB, Oregon – The Eagles will play fast.

5. 
   Detroit – Ezekiel Ansah, DE/OLB, BYU – Upside > Reach?

6. 
   Miami – TRADE – Lane Johnson, OT, Oklahoma – Tora - Tora – Tora

7. 
   Arizona – Sharrif Floyd, DT, Florida – Over hyped<Just right

8. 
   Buffalo – E.J. Manuel, QB, Florida State – Would you bet your job on Kolb?

9. 
   Atlanta – TRADE - Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama – The fierce urgency of now?

10. 
    Tennessee- Star Lotuelei, DT, Utah – Good things comes to those that wait?

11. 
    San Diego – Menelik Watson, OT, Florida State – Rivers wishes he had been traded to the Chiefs!

12. 
    Cleveland – Xavier Rhodes, CB, Florida State – Skills translate to the next level.

13. 
    Baltimore (from Jets) - TRADE – Cordarrelle Patterson, WR, Tennessee – Ossie will not concede the crown.

14. 
    Carolina –Johnathan Cooper, G, North Carolina – Cam can evolve as far as the yards rushed from the line of scrimmage.

15. 
    New Orleans – Barkervious Mingo, DE/OLB, LSU – Speed freak?

16. 
    St. Louis – Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia – Harvin, Cobb, or Sproles?

17. 
    San Francisco – TRADE – Kenny Vaccaro, S, Texas – Easy sneezy?

18. 
    Dallas – Chance Warmack, G, Alabama – The run game and Romo.

19. 
    N.Y. Giants – Bjoern Werner, DE, Florida State – If the Giants believe Werner has peeked, then the pick will be Fluker. The market for OL continues to appreciate.

20. 
    Chicago – Alex Ogletree, OLB, Georgia – Locks the door on Urlacher.

21. 
    Cincinnati – D.J. Fluker, OT, Alabama – Fluker will mitigate Smith.

22. 
    St. Louis (from Washington) – Eddie Lacy, RB, Alabama – EL>SJax?

23. 
    Minnesota – Sheldon Richardson, DT, Missouri – Solid.

24. 
    Indianapolis – Tank Carradine, DE, Florida State – Knee on schedule?

25. 
    Minnesota (from Seattle) – Arthur Brown, ILB, Kansas State – Offense from here on out.

26. 
    Green Bay – Tyler Eifert, TE, Notre Dame – Having 6 TEs on the roster screams, unsettled. Eifert>Finley.

27. 
    Houston – Justin Hunter, WR, Tennessee – Nothing after Johnson.

28. 
    Denver – Sylvester Williams, DT, North Carolina – Plan B

29. 
    DeAndre Hopkins, WR, Clemson – How long can Tom be terrific?
    New England –
    

30. 
    N.Y. Jets – Desmond Trufant, CB, Washington – Slick Idsik!!

31. 
    Pittsburgh – Datone Jones, DE/OLB – Hoping to replace Harrison.

32. 
    N.Y. Jets – Keenan Allen, WR, California – Slick Idsik!!!
    
    
    
    
    

NY GIANTS: REESES’S PIECES – 10 days out!

Good morning Giant Fans. Druid has spent the weekend channeling Jerry Reese, Be amazed as he reveals the G-Men war room game plan for the 2013 NFL Draft.

The Giants have 8 picks in the upcoming draft. As usual, there is an open mindedness, but no plan/intent to trade out of their designated positions.

PICK #1 (19) – This pick will be a freak. The Giants prefer it was a DE, OL, or S. These picks are not made in a vacuum. They must release Tuck, Baas, and Rolle in 2014, so they can re-sign Cruz, Nicks, and JPP. Yet, this is the spot where you can swing for the fences and have a reasonable chance of hitting a homerun.

Ok, lets peak in at Jerry’s 1^st round board and see how he groups the “freaky” 1^st rounders. Percentages are a blend of availability, the degree of upside, and a risk/reward variance.

BJOERN WERNER

Werner 50% Fluker 35% Carradine 25%

Ogletree 50% Vaccaro 25% Jones 15%

Moore 50% Watson 25%

Warmack 35% Hunt 25%

The Giants select Bjoern Werner – This pick is almost too easy. Werner is a natural 4-3 LDE with an excellent risk/reward equation.

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PICK #2 (49) – With the first pick, The Giants are thrilled to have added their heir apparent to Justin Tuck. They will continue to execute their plan from the pool of identified players below.

TRAVIS FREDERICK

Frederick 50% Armstead 25% Jenkins 25%

Montgomery 50% Amerson 25% Swearinger 15%

Okafor 50% Collins 25% Te’o 15%

GIANTS PICK – Travis Frederick – Frederick will have a year to develop into Baas’s replacement. He can play some G, if need be.

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PICK #3 (81) – With the first 2 selections the Giants have stayed on script. For the most part, it continues to be a process of elimination. The next pick will likely come from the following group of prospects.

Blidi Wreh-Wilson 

Alford 50% Holmes 25%

Ryan 50% C. Washington 15%

Wreh-Wilson 50% T. Mathieu 15%

GIANTS PICK – Blidi Wreh-Wilson – Blidi is the kind of big corner the Giants covet. The Giants roster, absent Prince, has too many question marks returning at CB.

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PICK #4 (116) – 3 picks and 3 future starters.

JON BOSTIC

C. Washington 50% J. Bostic 25%

N. Johnson 25% J. Jenkins 25%

C. Michael 25% D. Williams 15%

GIANTS PICK – Jon Bostic – Jerry adds an ILB to the mix. Connor is signed for 1 year and Herzlich is a special teamer.

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PICK #5 (152) – From this pick on, Jerry starts betting on long shots.

REID FRAGEL

D. Taylor 50% R. Fragel 25%

M. Mauti 50% O. Aboushi 25%

W. Davis 25% A. Mellette 25%

GIANTS PICK – Reid Fragel – Jerry hopes this converted OT can continue to develop.

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PICK #6 (187) – “Earth to Jerry” From below.

RONTEZ MILES

T. Hawthorne 25% R. Miles 25%

B. Cave 25% L. Murray 25%

C. Fuller 25% M. Furstenburg 25%

GIANTS PICK – Rontez Miles – Jerry grabs some value and fills in the loss of KP. Miles should be useful on special teams. Perhaps, T. Thomas works out at Safety?

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PICK #7 (225)- Does Jerry have another Markus Kuhn up his sleeve?

MARCUS DAVIS

GIANTS PICK - Marcus Davis – Yes he does! Giants grab a big wide out from a familiar program.

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PICK #8 (253)- Jerry is off the map. The Giants will use this pick to grab a player they will not be able not sign as a URF.

GIANTS PICK – Knile Davis – A player with a high-risk health profile. Knile may not be physically ready for camp.

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Good Luck Giant Nation. Go Big Blue.