Spring Fever

Check out the back page of your favorite New York tabloid today. Check out SportsNite on SNY when at 6 or 10 tonight when you get home. Baseball is back. We're not all the way home, we'll need until April 1 for that, but we're not grasping at straws anymore either.

The influx of actual stories/news is kind of bewildering to me after an offseason in which we spent more time wishing and dreaming about trades or free agent signings than talking about actual, you know, players the Mets had acquired.

But Spring Training is upon us and so are any number of goings on. That's right... I'm going to the grab-bag -- count it!

Who the (expletive) is Jimmy Rollins?

True story, for a moment there I couldn't remember Rollins' first name. That's how much of an impression he's left on me after 7 seasons playing for a division rival. Perhaps it's because he's hit all of .236 against the Mets in the past three years (220 ABs), perhaps it's because the Phillies are a perpetual also-ran, who can say?

The truth is, Rollins has a point here. The Phillies should be good this year. That said, I think Rollins is getting ahead of himself a little bit. The Phillies' starting rotation is better than ours, but I'm not sure that it's going to be dramatically better.

Freddy Garcia should benefit from the switch to the National League, but I'm not convinced he's still a great pitcher. Garcia's strikeout rate has plummeted in the past three seasons, down to 135 from 184 in 2004; in 2004 he allowed 22 long balls in 2004 vs. 32 last year. U.S Cellular Field is a bandbox, sure, but so is Citizens Bank Park. Garcia's still in his prime, but he hasn't been an elite pitcher since 2001, and that's worth remembering.

Meanwhile, I think our bullpen is dramatically better than theirs, and position-by-position we're better in all three outfield spots (LF is contestable I suppose), third base, shortstop and catcher. The Phillies have a far better second baseman and a better first baseman.

(I hesitate to call Ryan Howard far better than Carlos Delgado even if that's probably a fair statement. Howard could be looking at a far lower HR/RBI count this year if he gets the Bonds treatment, which limited Bonds from 73 HR/137 RBI in 2001 to no better than 46/110 since. Those are still gaudy numbers, but they're a far cry from the 58/149 that Howard put up in 2006, and 46/110 is not necessarily better than the 38/114 Delgado put up in 2006.

I realize there's a ton of fuzzy math and assumptions made in that paragraph... I'm just sayin', the two are actually comparable in a way that Jose Valentin and Chase Utley aren't.)

Anyway, it all makes me recall Big Mo's tirade against Troy Percival, after Percival said that the Angels wouldn't miss Vaughn's leadership qualities. Here's a snippet from the big guy:

"Let me say this: Who the (expletive) is Troy Percival? What has he done in this game... (Expletive) Troy Percival. He ain't done (expletive) to be talking about anybody. And he's a (expletive) pitcher, too. You don't even (expletive) play every (expletive) day and you're sitting there talking about position players who play every day."

Nothing could ever be as good as Allen Iverson's "practice" news conference, but this was pretty close.

Of course, the Angels went on to win the World Series that year, so if the Phillies go on to create some October magic, shit, blame me.

I don't want to be pessimistic, but I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever that Shawn Green has found the flaw that limited him to a measly 15 homeruns in 2006, down from 28 in 2004 and 42 in 2002.

I want to like Green, but let's get real here. Green's days as a home run hitter are gone. Would that it weren't so.

Lastings Milledge, Thug Legend.

Uh-huh, yeah.

Fernando Martinez, The Truth.

I'm projecting this kid for 2009. Beltran will be in year 5 of his pact with the Mets, meaning Young Fernando's gonna have to move over. If this is the case, he should start getting acclimated to those spots sooner rather than later.

I realize centerfielders are more valuable than corner outfielders, but the adjustment shouldn't be forced on him when it's time to play in the big city. Start him in left or right once every four games in Double A and let him start getting a feel.

* * * * *

Anyway, there's a bunch of other shit out there but that's all I have time for today. Be thankful, Mets fans, baseball news is upon us.

- A.F.O.M.G.

(Images courtesy of cnn.com and answers.com)