For The Mets, The Big Three-Oh Is The Big Oh-No!

When David Wright takes the field on Opening Day, he will begin his ninth season as a Met.  At age 29, Wright is the veteran of the team, having been with the Mets since July 2004.  The Mets' third baseman is also entering the final year of his six-year, $55 million contract, meaning that there is no guarantee that Wright will still be a Met at age 30.

That got me wondering.  Do you know which player was the last homegrown Met to still be playing for the team on his 30th birthday?  I do, but I'm not going to share the answer just yet.  I have to look at some other teams first.

Over the past decade, every team in baseball has had at least one player who was originally drafted and/or signed by that team, came up through their minor league system and was on that team's payroll until after he turned the big three-oh.  Let's run down the teams alphabetically, along with that team's last homegrown player who blew out thirty candles without ever knowing another professional franchise.

• Arizona Diamondbacks: Brandon Webb - drafted in 2000, was with the team until 2010 (age 31).
• Atlanta Braves: Chipper Jones - drafted in 1990, is still with the team (age 39).
• Baltimore Orioles: Brian Roberts - drafted in 1999, is still with the team (age 34).
• Boston Red Sox: Jonathan Papelbon - drafted in 2003, was with the team until 2011 (age 30).
• Chicago Cubs: Carlos Zambrano - signed in 1997, was with the team until 2011 (age 30).
• Chicago White Sox: Mark Buehrle - drafted in 1998, was with the team until 2011 (age 32).
• Cincinnati Reds: Ryan Hanigan - signed in 2002, is still with the team (age 31).
• Cleveland Indians: Victor Martinez - signed in 1996, was with the team until 2009 (age 30).
• Colorado Rockies: Todd Helton - drafted in 1995, is still with the team (age 38).
• Detroit Tigers: Brandon Inge - drafted in 1998, is still with the team (age 34).
• Florida Marlins: Luis Castillo - signed in 1992, was with the team until 2005 (age 30).
• Houston Astros: Lance Berkman - drafted in 1997, was with the team until 2010 (age 34).
• Kansas City Royals: David DeJesus - drafted in 2000, was with the team until 2010 (age 30).
• Los Angeles Angels: Reggie Willits - drafted in 2003, was with the team until 2011 (age 30).
• Los Angeles Dodgers: Hong-Chih Kuo - signed in 1999, was with the team until 2011 (age 30).
• Milwaukee Brewers: Ben Sheets - drafted in 1999, was with the team until 2008 (age 30).
• Minnesota Twins: Justin Morneau - drafted in 1999, is still with the team (age 30).
• New York Yankees: Mariano Rivera - signed in 1990, is still with the team (age 42).
• Oakland Athletics: Eric Chavez - drafted in 1996, was with the team until 2010 (age 32).
• Philadelphia Phillies: Jimmy Rollins - drafted in 1996, is still with the team (age 33).
• Pittsburgh Pirates: Ryan Doumit - drafted in 1999, was with the team until 2011 (age 30).
• San Diego Padres: Tony Gwynn - drafted in 1981, was with the team until 2001 (age 41).
• San Francisco Giants: Pedro Feliz - signed in 1994, was with the team until 2007 (age 32).
• Seattle Mariners: Willie Bloomquist - drafted in 1999, was with the team until 2008 (age 30).
• St. Louis Cardinals: Skip Schumaker - drafted in 2001, is still with the team (age 32).
• Tampa Bay Rays: James Shields - drafted in 2000, is still with the team (age 30).
• Texas Rangers: C.J. Wilson - drafted in 2001, was with the team until 2011 (age 30).
• Toronto Blue Jays: Casey Janssen - drafted in 2004, is still with the team (age 30).
• Washington Nationals: Brian Schneider - drafted in 1995, was with the team until 2007 (age 30).

As you can see, every team in the majors has had a homegrown player stay with the team until his 30th birthday (and in some cases, well after his 30th birthday) in the 21st century.  In addition, there are three players about to turn 30 who are still employed by the team that originally drafted them.

Corey Hart (drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in 2000) will turn 30 on March 24.  Brian Wilson (drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 2003) will beat Hart to the punch by eight days, as the Giants' closer turns 30 on March 16.  If Tim Stauffer (drafted by the San Diego Padres in 2003) is still a Friar on June 2, he will replace Tony Gwynn as the most recent homegrown Padres player to still be with the team at age 30.

Should Stauffer replace Gwynn on this list in June, that would leave the Florida/Miami Marlins as the only team to not have a homegrown player make it to age 30 in the past five years.  Actually, that's not entirely accurate.  There's one team that hasn't had a homegrown 30-year-old since before Luis Castillo was the last Marlin to accomplish the feat.  Of course, I'm talking about the New York Mets.

In 1993, Vance Wilson was drafted by the Mets in the 44th round of the amateur draft.  He made his major league debut six years later and remained with the team until 2004, playing his final game for the Mets at the age of 31.  As unlikely as it would seem, Vance Wilson was the last homegrown Met to still be with the team on his 30th birthday.

Vance Wilson (shown here as a 31-year-old in 2004) not only tagged opposing baserunners, but he also tagged the title of last homegrown Met to stay with the team into his thirties.

If David Wright is still a Met in 2013, he will be the first Met in almost a decade to be drafted by the team and remain with the club until he turned 30.  In recent years, the Mets have had a number of veteran players on the team.  Unfortunately, those veterans have been the products of other organizations.  The Mets haven't produced many successful major leaguers over the past ten seasons, and when they have, they've either traded them away or allowed them to leave via free agency.

On June 2, San Diego's Tim Stauffer will turn 30 years old.  By then, he could be the third new member of the homegrown age 30 club, joining Milwaukee's Corey Hart and San Francisco's Brian Wilson.  If David Wright doesn't join this club in December when he turns 30, it could be a long time before the Mets produce another homegrown player to stay with the team until his 30th birthday.  (Mike Pelfrey won't turn 30 until 2014.  He'll probably be mentioned in 30 trade rumors before then.)

Jose Reyes played his final game for the Mets before the age of 30.  So did Dwight Gooden and Darryl Strawberry.  Some people look forward to turning 30.  For players originally drafted by the Mets, it's something they can look forward to doing in another team's uniform.

The K-Rod Deal: Who Could The Possible PTBNL Be?

PTBNL. No, it doesn't stand for Perhaps Tim Bogar Needs Listerine. It stands for Player To Be Named Later. There will be two PTBNL coming to New York from Milwaukee in exchange for former Mets closer Francisco Rodriguez.

So who could the two players to be named later be? Sandy Alderson gave no hints in his conference call with members of the media earlier today. Of course, we have some ideas at Studious Metsimus. Who knows? Some of them might actually be right...

Bernie Brewer

The fun-loving Brewers mascot would come to the Mets and set up shop by the Beers of the World stand. While kids are having their pictures taken with Mr. Met, their parents could get a high four from Bernie (since he only has four fingers) and indulge in an adult beverage or three.

Bernie's slide from Milwaukee, which he rides down after every home run hit by the Brewers, would not come with him to Citi Field, as the Mets don't hit home runs there, making the slide nothing but an expensive dust collector.




Bob Eucker

Upon arriving at Citi Field, he’d say "great seats, eh, buddy" like in the old Miller Lite commercials, only to be reminded that his seat has an obstructed view. Then during a pitch, he’d utter "just a bit outside", before being corrected that the pitch hit the batter, to which he’d say "well, with all these obstructions at Citi Field, how can anyone be expected to call a game properly?"




Robin Yount's statue

Since the Mets either haven't thought about it or can’t afford to pay for a statue of Tom Seaver to be erected outside Citi Field, they figured they'd just trade for one and hope that their fans don’t notice the difference.

Of course, if the fans dress up as empty seats during the second half of the season, they probably won't have to worry about it.





Rollie Fingers' mustache

The Mets haven’t had a player with a killer mustache since the '80s when Keith Hernandez’s ‘stache patrolled first base at Shea Stadium. With the team trading away their closer and Brian Wilson’s beard being all the rage among ninth inning specialists, the Mets would give the lip hair to Bobby Parnell to make his 100 MPH fastball look all the more intimidating.

On a related follicle note, the Mets did try to trade Francisco Rodriguez to San Francisco for Brian Wilson’s beard but pulled the trade off the table when the Giants asked for a package of K-Rod, Carlos Beltran and a Shake Shack burger. Was the addition of Beltran the dealbreaker? Not exactly.

The Mets claimed that the state of California already has the In-N-Out Burger chain while New York doesn’t, so they felt the Giants asking for Shake Shack would be an embarrassment of riches.



For now, we'll have to wait and see who the players to be named later will be in the Frankie Rodriguez trade to Milwaukee. Perhaps they'll get a mascot. Perhaps it'll be Mr. Belvedere's sidekick.

Regardless of who the players are, the Mets had to make this trade if they wanted to have any chance of signing Jose Reyes in 2012. With K-Rod's vesting option no longer a concern, the Mets will need plenty of funds to have a chance of keeping Reyes in 2012 and beyond. After all without Reyes, it would take more than Bernie Brewer to bring Mets fans back to Citi Field.

Joey's Soapbox: Predictions For A Yankee-less, Phillie-less World Series

Greetings, Mets fans! Welcome to the latest edition of Joey's Soapbox, where today I will give you my predictions for this year's World Series to be played between the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants.

If you recall, last week I correctly predicted that both the Rangers and the Giants would be representing their respective leagues in the Fall Classic. (Click here if you don't believe me.)

Now I have the difficult task of picking a winner for this year's World Series. It was tough last year because I wanted both the Yankees and Phillies to lose. I hoped for Armageddon to arrive before the Series began so that we would be spared having to watch one of our hated rivals win a championship. Needless to say, the Yankees won their millionth World Series title and the Phillies were number two, which is the most appropriate number I can think of for them.

This year, I was rooting for both the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants to knock off those two teams from the previous paragraph, (I can't even make myself say their dreaded names again for fear that I'll lose my appetite.) so now that they have, how can I root against either one of them?

Regardless, I am a professional. I must perform the task at hand. You came to this blog because you either wanted my World Series predictions or you Googled "gluteus maximus" and after the first dozen or so matches, Studious Metsimus showed up and you clicked on it out of morbid curiosity. (What I'm curious about is why you would be searching for "gluteus maximus" to begin with...)

Therefore, without further ado, here are my predictions for the 2010 World Series.


World Series

Texas Rangers vs. San Francisco Giants

Because the National League won their first All-Star Game since before Al Gore invented the Internet, the World Series will begin in San Francisco.

The Giants were 49-32 at AT&T Park, while the Rangers were 39-42 on the road. However, Texas' road difficulties did not carry into the postseason, as the Rangers have played brilliantly away from home, winning five out of six road games against the Rays and Yankees in the ALDS and ALCS.

Both teams parlayed hot months into a division title. Texas was 21-6 in June, but was barely above .500 (69-66) in the other five months. Similarly, San Francisco took apart the league in July (20-8) and September (18-8), but split their other 108 games, going 54-54 in the other four months.

Texas has great hitters. If Josh Hamilton doesn't hurt you, Vladimir Guerrero will. If Guerrero doesn't come through, Nelson Cruz will. The list goes on and on. The Giants don't have that kind of offensive firepower, but they might not need it if their pitching staff shows up for duty.

The starting rotation of Tim Lincecum, Matt Cain, Jonathan Sanchez and Madison Bumgarner is among the best in the league. Yes, Texas has Cliff Lee, who is already searching for a bank large enough to stash away his hunka-hunka burnin' cash that he is sure to receive once he becomes a free agent. But although C.J. Wilson, Colby Lewis and Tommy Hunter have all blossomed this season, they're still not in the class of the awesome foursome from San Francisco.

Another thing to consider is the bullpens. Neftali Feliz had an incredible rookie season, but he has not been tested in October. Because every Ranger victory in the postseason has been by at least four runs, Feliz has not pitched in a save situation yet.

Meanwhile, Brian Wilson has racked up five saves in nine scoreless innings of work. If the teams are deadlocked in the late innings, Wilson's pressure-packed successes in this postseason will prove invaluable to the Giants, whereas we're still unsure if Feliz's butterflies will get the best of him if he's thrust into a tight ballgame.

As I said before, this series is tough to predict, but since I'm contractually obligated to do so (although my colleague still hasn't shown me this contract...I might have to talk to my agent about that), I will say that the World Series will go six games. Unfortunately, both teams will have won three of those games.

Who will win Game 7? It will be the...Oops! Apparently, it's Bedtime for Beartran. Too bad. Guess I won't be able to tell you that tonight. Besides, does it really matter who wins this World Series?

As Mets fans, we're all winners because we don't have to watch Alex Rodriguez, Derek Jeter and C(onstantly) C(hewing) Sabathia playing this year. We also don't have to hear Chase Utley, Jimmy Rollins and Shane "The Cryin' Hawaiian" Victorino whine about every call that doesn't go their way. That, my friends, is why this will be a true Fall Classic. Enjoy the World Series!

What Would Keith Say To Sergio Romo And Brian Wilson?

By now you've seen the Bosom Beardies from the San Francisco Giants. I'm talking about Giants' relievers Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson, both of whom are sporting a facial forest. If not, perhaps the photos below will help.

Sergio Romo is the pitcher who is not in the Witness Protection Program, or is that Brian Wilson?

The hirsute heroes from the Bay Area formed a solid one-two punch in the Giants' bullpen this season, combining for 136.2 innings, striking out 163 batters and giving up only 108 hits. However, they became even more unhittable in the NLCS, where together they pitched 7.1 scoreless innings, allowing only four hits and striking out ten Phillies.

How did they manage to dominate the league this season? Perhaps Keith Hernandez would like to offer his opinion. Keith?

Thanks so much for inviting me to guest-write on your blog, although I have no idea who you are and why you would want my opinion. I'll make this brief so I can beat the traffic home.

I think the reason Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson have pitched so well is because they're hiding something in their beards.

Romo had never pitched more than 34 innings in a season before this year. Then all of a sudden he grows a beard and pitches in 68 games for the Giants. That's not a coincidence. I think Romo is hiding an emery board or petroleum jelly in his beard. Since the umpires are afraid to check it for fear that they won't be able to find their way out of it, Romo has been getting away with it.

Similarly, I recently read that Wilson, despite his affiliation with the Beach Boys, is not from the state of California. In fact, he was born and raised in Londonderry, New Hampshire. What's New Hampshire most known for? That's right, kids. Being next to Vermont. That means Wilson had a ton of maple syrup at his disposal. It would be quite easy to hide some of that maple syrup within his massive beard. The spitball might be illegal in baseball, but there's nothing in the rule book that prevents pitchers from throwing a syrupball.

I'm not saying that Romo and Wilson are cheating, but when two relief pitchers on a team start growing their beards out, then tell all the members of the media that it's because they're starting a ZZ Top cover band that will tour during the off-season, let's just say that I'm willing to bet a box of Tootsie Pops that something fishy is going on there.

If Romo and Wilson really wanted to get the media to believe them, they should have just dropped my name. In five easy minutes, they could have just told them that they were the new spokesmen for Just For Men and everything would have been kosher.

After all, Emmitt Smith couldn't continue to shoot more Just For Men commercials with Walt Frazier and yours truly because he's far too busy right now. (Like winning on Dancing With The Stars and being elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame is more important than appearing with me in a commercial.)

We wouldn't even have had to shoot any new commercials. The producers could have just digitally removed Emmitt Smith from his scenes and inserted Romo and Wilson. Of course, we'd also have to change any football reference to a baseball reference and I'd have to re-do my line and say "your beards are weird", but that wouldn't have taken very long to memorize.



It's so sad. Romo and Wilson have done so well this season. I hope the news of their beard-assisted cheating doesn't ruin their careers. If only they had asked Jeff Francoeur how he got away with growing a beard without any speculation of wrongdoing, perhaps I wouldn't have blown them out of the water like I just did.

That's all for now. Hope everyone can still enjoy the World Series, despite the Romo/Wilson follicle follies. It's time for me to go back to my six-month vacation. Why do I get six months off as opposed to other people? The answer is simple, really. After all, I'm Keith Hernandez.