Little Jeffy Wilpon Sticks Foot In Mouth ... Again!

In Thursday's Daily News, Wayne Coffey wrote an article about the progress of the reconfigured fences at Citi Field.  In his article, Coffey discussed how various players and front office personnel agree that the new dimensions will make Citi Field a neutral ballpark instead of one that was geared to eat up long fly balls.  One particular member of the front office chimed in at the end of the article with his own thoughts.

Mets’ non-prodigal son, Jeff Wilpon, was on hand to give the first public tour since Citi Field began experiencing shrinkage.  Little Jeffy, no stranger to the hereditary foot-in-mouth condition passed down to him by his father, gave his two cents on why the moved-in walls will make for a better experience for the dozens of fans in attendance at Citi Field this year.  Given the team’s current financial state, perhaps he should have kept those two cents to himself, especially when these were his words:

“I think fans are going to like (the new dimensions).  People would rather see a 9-7 game than a 2-1 game, for one thing.  And I think players are going to perform better, and they’re going to like that, too.”

So let me get this straight.  Little Jeffy Wilpon believes his customers would rather see a 9-7 game at Citi Field.  Now, I’m assuming he wants the Mets to score the nine runs in this scenario, but since he’s a Wilpon, that assumption can’t always be made.  Therefore, he’s saying that fans want to see Mets pitchers give up seven runs in a ballgame.

For most teams, giving up seven runs in a game means taxing the bullpen (been there, done that), while causing the starting pitchers to lose confidence in their ability.  It also leads to demotions and early promotions to minor leaguers who have no business being called up so soon.

Who wants people to say Johan Santana came off the DL too soon because he allowed a handful of runs in five innings?  How much more of Mike Pelfrey getting shelled can we handle?  If R.A. Dickey starts giving up run after run, will we start seeing #BlameMountKilimanjaro hashtags on Sandy Alderson’s tweets?  No one wants any of that to happen.  Well, almost no one.

Little Jeffy Wilpon would have no problem with any of that because he’s in tune with his fan base and knows we want 9-7 games instead of pitchers’ duels.  Right.  He knows us so well.  In fact, we would have invited our good buddy over for dinner by now but we’re afraid he’d take our silverware home.

This is what Little Jeffy should have said if he didn’t want to stick his foot in his mouth:

“People would rather see us score nine runs instead of two.”

(No mention of how many runs the other team will be scoring.  Perhaps it’s a 9-7 game, but it could also be a complete-game 9-0 shutout.  What fan wouldn’t like the best of both worlds?)

“People would rather see 400-foot bombs land behind the fence and not in opponents’ gloves.” 

(He’d get an “Amen” from the blue and orange congregation who are tired of Jason Bay still chasing Richard Hidalgo on the Mets’ all-time home run list.)

“People would stop asking us to sell the team if we won a few more ballgames.” 

(Okay, that has nothing to do with his 9-7 quote, but at least he wouldn’t be sticking his foot in his mouth with that response.)


The fences at Citi Field will be lower and closer to home plate than they’ve been since the park opened in 2009.  Until the season starts, there’s no way of knowing if this will benefit the Mets or their opponents more.  Jeff Wilpon is counting on the cosmetic changes helping the Mets in both the standings and in ticket sales.  In fact, he’s sure his patrons are going to like it.  After all, he knows exactly what we want.

For his sake, Little Jeffy better be right.  His father has already stuck his own foot in his mouth on multiple occasions.  This is one family tradition that doesn’t need to passed down from one generation to the next.  Isn’t that right, Papa Smirk? 

If Not New York, Where Should Jose Reyes Play?

The Tour de Reyes is underway, with Jose making his first stop earlier today in Miami to tour the Marlins' new ballpark. According to Joe Frisaro (Marlins' beat reporter for mlb.com), the free agent shortstop had lunch with Marlins' team officials at Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach, but did not sign a contract with the newly renamed Miami Marlins.

John Harper of the Daily News believes the Marlins are only going to offer Reyes a three-year deal with an average annual value exceeding $20 million.  Although the Marlins are willing to increase their payroll this year, the length of the deal is probably not enough for them to have a realistic shot to sign Reyes.

Other teams said to have an interest in Reyes include Milwaukee, Detroit and...oh yeah...any team who wants to improve their chances of winning and put extra fans in the seats!

If you were Jose Reyes, what would you do?  Could you imagine yourself being Ryan Braun's teammate, just months after you sat yourself down after one at-bat in the regular season finale in order to improve your chances of winning the batting title?  What about playing for strict disciplinarian Jim Leyland, who tells it like it is, even if it's not something you want to hear?

Never mind those two teams.  Could Reyes really see himself wearing this hideous jersey (see photo below, right) for the next few seasons?  He'd have to get his eyes checked if he did that.

So let's say Jose Reyes doesn't re-sign with the Mets.  Where would the best place be for him if he wants to continue to be an elite player?

With a career batting average of .292, Jose Reyes has always been an above-average hitter.  Obviously, as a member of the Mets, most of his games have come against National League teams.  However, have you seen his numbers in interleague play?

In 447 career at-bats against American League teams, Reyes has hit .304.  He has also been exceptional at making contact, striking out only 44 times in those 447 at-bats.  However, some of those 447 at-bats came in New York.  What has Reyes done when he's played in an American League park?  How about a .331 career mark in AL stadiums.  Did that get your attention?

Over his nine-year career, Jose Reyes has hit over .400 in five different stadiums.  Four of those ballparks are in the American League (Angels Stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Comerica Park, Rogers Centre).  The other stadium in which Reyes holds a career batting above .400 is Olympic Stadium, a ballpark Reyes will never play in again regardless of which team he chooses to sign with.

If Reyes wants to go where the money and long-term security is, then the American League is the place for him.  He has thrived in interleague play, especially when the Mets were wearing the road grays (or alternate black jerseys, which are still better looking than those new Marlins unis).

However, there's one other ballpark we haven't looked at.  What about Citi Field?  A quick check of the numbers reveals that Reyes has had his fair share of success there as well.

This looks like a good fit to me.  Isn't that right, Jose?

Jose Reyes has played approximately one full season's worth of games at Citi Field (153 games).  In 626 at-bats in the Mets' home ballpark, Reyes has batted .319, picking up exactly 200 hits.  Reyes has excelled in the extra-base hit department at Citi Field, lashing 29 doubles, 20 triples and 13 home runs.  Just as he has done against the American League, Reyes' contact rate has also been exceptional at Citi Field.  The shortstop has struck out a mere 55 times in 626 at-bats.

One more thing about Reyes at Citi Field.  As any Mets fan knows, Reyes' game is in his legs, and at Citi Field, no one is better at stealing bases.  In 153 games there, Reyes has stolen 44 bases while being caught only four times.  His 92% success rate at Citi Field is his highest in any ballpark.  Reyes has been successful in 79% of his stolen base attempts at venues other than Citi Field.

If Jose Reyes chooses to leave the Mets, it would benefit him to move to the American League.  But why would he want to do that?  He could play 81 games a year at Citi Field, where he has performed well both at the plate and on the basepaths.  Besides, blue and orange will always look better on him than tangerine.

A Double Dose of Dickeypedia

There are times when R.A. Dickey's words of wisdom cannot be contained. They can come at you from every direction, just like an Oliver Perez fastball. So it should come as no surprise that Bill Madden's article on the Mets' knuckler/wordsmith in today's Daily News touched upon a topic that made us consult Dickeypedia.

In 2005, R.A. Dickey was coming off his second consecutive poor season for the Texas Rangers. As a result, Dickey was asked by the Rangers to consult knuckleball guru (and former Ranger pitcher) Charlie Hough so he could learn the nuances of the nomadic pitch. In discussing Hough's influence on Dickey's career-saving pitch, the Mets' righty professed:

"Charlie taught me the rudiments of the knuckleball. He changed my grip to help with the consistency and make it mechanically more compact."

Later on, Dickey discussed how he went to Atlanta a few years after studying under Charlie Hough. There he met the Pai Mei of knuckleball instructors, Phil Niekro. After some time in the film room, Niekro made some minor changes to Dickey's delivery, evolving the pitch into what it has become.

Dickey came out of the meeting with Niekro as a new man with a devastating new pitch. So overjoyed was Dickey that he let his extensive vocabulary describe the feeling:

"Only a few people have the knuckleball vernacular. But as Phil told me, the one design of the pitch is to get people out."

R.A. Dickey learned how to throw the knuckleball so he could get people out. However, his penchant for spitting out SAT words as if they were sunflower seeds has gotten people's dictionaries out as well.

For those who only got credit on their SAT for spelling their names correctly, here are the definitions for the words "rudiments" and "vernacular":

rudiments:

• 1. the elements or first principles of a subject.
• 2. a mere beginning, first slight appearance, or undeveloped or imperfect form of something.

vernacular:

• 1. the native speech or language of a place.
• 2. the language or vocabulary particular to a class or profession.

R.A. Dickey showed us the proper way to use those words in sentences. To show you how NOT to use these words properly, we decided to contact former Met closer (and receiver of fan wrath) Armando Benitez to give us his input. In less time than he used to take to blow a crucial save, Benitez came up with these wild pitches of wisdom.

"I don't understand why Mets fans were always booing me. I always went out there and gave 100%. If that's not good enough, then tough. I won't be disrespected, so they better not be rudiments to me."

If that isn't enough for you, Benitez decided to reflect on one "disrespectful" moment in his Mets career. You might remember it as the ninth inning, game-tying, three-run homer he gave up to San Francisco's J.T. Snow in the second game of the 2000 NLDS.

"After that game, I was confronted by a Mets fan who was at the game, but couldn't get tickets. He decided to watch the game from across McCovey Cove. He told me that from where he was, he didn't even need vernaculars to see that I had just served up a meaty pitch for Snow to hit."

If only Armando Benitez had consulted Dickeypedia first, he might not have made a fool of himself when talking about Mets fans who weren't happy with his version of 100%. Then again, we are talking about the guy who put the "BS" in Blown Save...

That's all for this edition of "Dickeypedia Word of the Week". Be here next time as we proceed with your education while former Mets continue to suffer their humiliation.