Reliever or Starter: Chan Ho Park vs. Orlando Hernandez

Why can't anyone wrap their heads around Chan Ho Park as a reliever? Does anyone else see it? I mean last yr he was clearly the best pitcher on the Korean team (sorry Ken). He was going against lesser competition at times but I still beg of you all to revisit this since he dominated as a reliever. His fastball was harder, which made his change look filthy. I mean a Change that rivals Aaron Heilman's filthy change. Maybe not that good but good none the less. Plus, Chan Ho Park has a good third pitch to cripple the opposition, something that Heilman has on again, off again.

I'm not even talking about Park being a long man either. I'm talking about being a "Utility" reliever like Darren Oliver last season. The long reliever tag was unfairly placed on Oliver last season. He was our true "Utility" reliever.

Including the postseason, Oliver had:
18 appearances of one inning or less
14 appearances between 1 1/3 innings and 2 innings
14 appearances of 2 1/3 innings or more

This shows how valuable Oliver was to us and how much we will miss him. In no way I thought for a second of bringing him back because I believed Dave Williams could have filled this role but he's hurt and gone for awhile.

Yes, El Duque is very versatile but we're holding a lot against him and forgetting the positives he provided our rotation last year. Is having El Duque in our rotation a thing of Beauty? Not close to the word I'd use. He's not being replaced unless he's injured. His arthritic old man body will cause him to miss a start or two cause of soreness. No one had a problem with this last year in August. It got the great Brian Bannister another start, someone a few people (Ben) thought was our ace last April. The leg injury was unrelated to old age in my opinion. It was an athlete's injury.

Now, here's a few questions I'd like to ask anyone who thinks that El Duque should be moved to the Pen: Why would the unpredictability of work as a reliever help El Duque's old man soreness? Wouldn't you agree that being afforded rest between starts only benefits the recovery from El Duque's old man soreness is bound to have during the season? What Happens the first time Willie doesn't use him for an extended period of time and then has to use him in consecutive days?

Is my argument unreasonable? Talking about moving El Duque to the pen almost sickens me as much as the talk of moving Maine or Perez to the pen. I just don't get some Met fans. It's like the want to break their team! I don't ever claim to be the smartest guy on the planet but I swear I lose respect for people who just throw out loads of crap without basing it on anything at all.

To cover my bases, a 6 man rotation is a the worse idea. Our best pitcher, Tom Glavine, is such a creature of habit that a 6 man rotation seriously handicaps his ability to be our ace. It might make sense in the dog days but not in April. I just don't want to handicap our best starter so everyone can get into the rotation.

Also, everyone is already picking who Pedro replaces in the rotation this year. Who flipping cares? Who predicted John Maine and Oliver Perez pitching game 6 & 7 in the National League Championship Series. I mean it's as stupid as predicting who will be president in 2009. I just don't know. I guess I'm just ranting.

The "Phony Tonys" Predictions

When I was in high school, I played football, baseball & tried wrestling. Many people would view me as a jock based on the fact I seemingly played a bunch of sports. Even though, baseball was my first love, my arm had already given out on me thus making baseball not as fun anymore. Heck, I didn't even go out for the team cause of the injury and only played legion and district ball against many of the star players from around Tucson. I needed a new addiction and that new addiction was Drama. Alot of my fellow jocks thought I was in drama just to get laid, since most of the girls in drama were some of the hottest girls in the entire school and the atmosphere had a rep for being a very liberal environment, which it was. Alot of my firsts happened in that theatre. This week, I am going to see some of these people for the first time this decade when I go to Tucson. In honor of this trip and all these great friends, I've decided to name my Mets awards after the silly awards we had in the Mountain View High School's theatre department.


The Galaragga Spring Training Retirement Award:
And the projected winner is....
Sandy Alomar Jr.
Ruben Sierra was the runner up for this award. I really think both signings were great signings for the Mets. Sandy jr. has been long considered one of the players most likely to someday manage in the big leagues while Ruben has been in the spotlight, thrown to the curb, risen like the phoenix and recycled again and again.

Jose Lima Swallows Award:
And the Projected Winner is....
Jorge Vazquez
I know everyone is predicting Sele for this award. I personally thing Sele is bad but not on Lima's level. If Lima is a loose stool then Sele is a solid turd. Jorge Vazquez just grinds my gears. I think he sucks. I don't need to back this up either.

The Huskey/Toca "I Rule Spring Training" Award:
And the Projected Winner is....
Michel Abreu
This award goes out to the guy who dominates spring training pitching but can't duplicate these numbers in the regular season. Next year, this award will be the Huskey/Toca/Abreu award.

The Jason Scobie Award
And the Projected Winner is....
Ruben Gotay
This award goes to the guy most likely to make a Triple A allstar game but miss a major league callup. If this was for Double A, I'd give the award to Chip Ambres.

The Doug Sisk "WTF?" Award
And the Projected Winner is....
Roberto Hernandez
Somehow, someway Bert will find his way back onto our roster this year. This award goes out to the reliever most likely to piss off Metsgeek posters when he enters the game. If Bert doesn't end up with the Mets, Jon Adkins will win this award hands down.

The Rodney McCray/Ced Landrum award
And the Projected Winner is....
Chip Ambres
This goes out to the guy who no one will remember was ever apart of the Mets because all they did was pinch run in September. You might remember Rodney as being the guy who went through a wall in Portland and Ced as a once promising Cubs prospect but you have probably forgotten these guys ever taking the field at Shea.

The Bob Gibson (No, not the famous one) Award
And the Projected Winner is....
Jose A. Reyes
Sorry Danny. This goes to the guy who shares a name with a good ball player, in this case Jose B. Reyes. Also up for this award is Derek Lee and Julio Franco. *Writers note: I did not realize that the famous Julio Franco was still playing. Wow!

Aaron Heilman and the Moody Blues

Much has been made over the past two years about Aaron Heilman being Unhappy over his role as a reliever on the New York Mets. This has created much debate at sites such as Metsgeek, Metsblog and Gothem with about half of the people saying "Shut Up Aaron" and the other half saying "Why are the Mets screwing with Aaron." Personally, I wish Aaron would except his great fortune of being a valuable member of a major league team, a contending team in the biggest market in the country no less. Well, lets take a closer look at Aaron the grouch and see if he is truly deserving of the penthouse or should he just stick to living in a garbage can.

A little history. Aaron Heilman was drafted by the Mets in 2001 in the first round after a dominating season for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Somewhere between the draft and his major league debut, Aaron's arm slot changed and he was relatively ineffective until 2005 when coaches during spring training "fixed" him. On federal income tax day, 2005, Aaron threw a one hitter to blank a relatively good Florida Marlins lineup.

Aaron went 2-3 as a starter in 2005. During a game on May 5th, 2005, Aaron relieved a rehabbing Kris Benson with two outs and the bases loaded and pitched splendidly. Next thing he knows, Aaron becomes a dominate reliever, finishing the second half of the season as the most dominate reliever in the NL. Aaron is not happy. Aaron wants to be a starter and asks for a trade through his agent.

Aaron reported to spring training in 2006 with an opportunity to be the Mets 5th starter. Aaron pitches great but is ultimately demoted to the pen because Willie Randolph, Rick Peterson and Omar Minaya see Aaron giving the Mets the best chance to win as a reliever. Aaron has an up and down year but in the end, put up a decent Whip of 1.16. He was one of the better setup guys in the NL. End of Season and Aaron wants to start again.

So is Aaron a starter or a reliever?

Last year, Aaron threw a two seem fastball, a four seem fastball, a changeup and a seldom used slider. He threw a fastball 59% of the time, a change up 35% of the time and a slider 6% of the time. We can assume that Aaron will throw more sliders as a starter and less change ups. In College, his slider was a special pitch;however, it is viewed now as merely average. I think the average fan will say if he threw it more, the slider would be a better pitch. It is probably true but that still wouldn't make him any better in my eyes as a starter. I believe the key to Aaron being a starter is throwing another pitch. Why?

I think, after a major league lineup faces him a couple of times, Aaron would have problems 7/10 times making it through a lineup the third time. I think he would lose velocity on his fastball, thus making his change more hittable (See: Jose Lima's career). He also doesn't have that pitch that changes the eyesight of the hitter like a curveball. I think just showing a curveball helps any starter. The Curve can't be a dud though. It's got to be a pitch a hitter can take seriously. If it isn't, hitter will just sit on location and launch.

Aaron could be a dominant reliever or an average starter. Ideally, he's going to be paid either way. I would rather dominate than be average. Domination is a special trait that most players don't have. Aaron has shown he can dominate at times and can dominate as he matures. I really want the best for Aaron and hope the best occurs in the blue and orange uniform. We will win with or without Aaron. With Aaron as a reliever, we can dominate.

"Super"dud!

The Superbowl sucked. What was the deal with Billy Joel? Maybe he needs the booze to sing on key. It was quite sad in my opinion. The game, the halftime show, everything just sucked. The only people who enjoyed the game were Colt fans, people who had some action on the Colts, Prince (since he made easy money for 15 minutes of crap), the NFL and CBS. The good thing about the superbowl is that it signals the start of the Baseball season. Pitchers and catchers report in 10 days!

Today was the perfect day to start the new blog. Why a blog? Well, I need a distraction from school and talking baseball is the best distraction for me. Well, that's it for day one. Have a nice day.