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[melack]

I think one of the coolest things about baseball is that you don't have the same uniformity you see in the NFL. Half the league plays under dramatically different rules than the other, and they get to design their playing fields in whichever crazy, off-the-wall way they want. That quirkiness is what makes baseball awesome, and  I think it ties in to the same reason LFM likes seeing pitchers rope doubles down the line.

[Golfhaus]

While we're talking about the leagues, I think the time has come to scale back interleague play. It was a fun novelty at first, but now... make it a 4-day weekend. Split the teams into pairs (Mets/Yankees, Cubs/White Sox, etc.) and have a 2-and-2 series. That's it. No one cares if Toronto ever plays in Atlanta again.

[melack]

Yeah, interleague play lasts far too long. And the fact that it comes in several chunks is no good either. One continuous string of interleague play for a week or two and that's it.

[littlefallsmets]

I am all about scaling back interleague, definitely. I am not so much of a traditionalist so as to say that it needs to completely go? But yeah. How about two three-game series a year?

Home and home with their most logical regional rivals and, if they have none, grab-bag. There is definitely a great buzz to the regional rivalry interleague stuff but, seriously, fuck Rockies vs Orioles.

And if anyone screams "unbalanced schedules murdered the baby Jesus" the schedule is already fucked, and 6 divided with 162 is basically a very small number.

If 3.7% of the season fucks you out of the postseason, frankly you deserve it.

[melack]

I suppose a default win is still a win. But this offense is going to be atrocious. Last I checked, Jose Vidro is still our everyday DH.

[littlefallsmets]

I'll go toe to toe with anyone on offensive incompetence, 'lack.

My Mets have a starting line-up wherein five out of eight of the opening day starters are:

An entirely broken-down Carlos Delgado, an almost-entirely broken-down Luis Castillo, Ryan Church, Angel Pagan and Brian Schneider.

It is a good thing I haven't started losing my hair yet so that I can rip it all out this year, getting to watch, like, seventy-five 2-1/1-0 losses.

[melack]

Any team with David Wright and Johan Santana doesn't get to complain. About anything.

The A's at least are building for the future, and they're doing an exceptional job of it. The Giants, well... those fans can complain.

[melack]

Right, but people don't seem to understand that our pitching and defense isn't that good, especially the latter. At the front of our bullpen we have Bedard (awesome) and Felix (awesome when he chooses to be). Aside from that, we have a pair of number 5 starters in Washburn and Batista and an average-at-best starter making hell of bank in Silva. So it's Bedard, a fickle Felix and a whole lotta uninspiring flotsam.

Our defense contains Richie Sexson and Raul Ibanez, perhaps the two worst defenders at their positions. Wilkerson is a shell of his former self, Betancourt flashes promise when he's not overthrowing the first baseman by ten feet and Jose Lopez is a tick above average. The only reliable, quality defenders we have are Beltre and Ichirio. Kenji Johjima? Who the fuck knows. Nobody on earth can accurately quantify catcher defense at this point in time.

So our pitching and defense? A pair of gems in each department who are overshadowed by a pile of ass. You'll have to understand my lack of faith in their ability to win the division, even with Kelvim Escobar's potentially season-ending injury.

[littlefallsmets]

Pitching is very important, sure. And the Mets have an outstanding one-through-four rotation and above-average one-through-six bullpen... Scott Schoeneweis blows dead dogs and El Duque is in strict denial that his career is over... but if your problems are your fifth starter and your last guy out of the bullpen, you're doing okay. The pitching is there, yeah.

Defense? Defense is over-rated in a sense.

Having not-terrible defense is very important, of course... but the value of exceptional defense over steady acceptable defense in baseball, man, I think people read desperately too much into exceptional defense.

Over the course of a game... or a week or a month... how many plays are there REALLY out there that an extraordinary defender will be making that an okay-but-unspectacular defender won't make?

Most of the defensive plays out there, man, either any basically-competent defender will get it or even the best player at that position will not get it.

Brian Schneider's decent glove will help the Mets a lot less than his complete inability to hit will hurt them, for example.

I mean, you certainly don't want a whole squad of ridiculously ineffective defenders out there... that's not what I'm saying...

But really great defense doesn't mean anything if you just flat-out can't hit.

Gimmie a guy who is a solid defender with an above-average bat any day over the best fielder at his position who's gonna hit .240... any day of the week.

[melack]

Defense? Defense is over-rated in a sense.

No. Not at all. If anything, quality defense is underrated. People don't realize just how much pitching and defense are tied together. A great defensive team will make your mediocre pitcher look really good. Smart GMs can save a lot of money by plugging in quality defenders in certain premium defensive positions to save on overly-expensive free agent starters. Use that money to pay for a free agent hitter who can mash (way more reliable than free agent pitchers) and presto! You've got yourself a winning formula.

[littlefallsmets]

All I know is that if Beltran isn't 100% and the opposing team puts a left-handed pitcher up there...

All the opposing team has to do is walk Reyes, walk Wright and score two runs.

I don't think I'm being completionist. As pessimistic as realistically allowable? Sure.

But with baseball, that's the only way to be without driving yourself crazy.

[melack]

Melack, you just defined part of the Billy Beane school of basebal that I was cribbing from. I also think you're poor mouthing a few extra players in there.

sMets, you just suffer from completionist syndrome in a land that doesn't ever finish anything.

You want one of my other theories? Look for a team that fields 3 grinders with moderate to good talent every day. Over 162 they're going to set a tone that will not only effect the major league team but the organization as a whole. If management doesn't shoot them in the dick, they will win consistently.

I may be underselling Betancourt as a shortstop and Silva as a starter, but my point remains: not that great of a team! With some luck they might be able to win the division, but that's not a realistic projection at this point in time. Maybe a few more season-ending injuries to Angels starters.

And Ibanez and Sexson really are the worst of the worst. I'm not exaggerating there.

[melack]

For what it's worth, I wouldn't trade LFM's pessimism for a Yankee fan's arrogance for the world.

[littlefallsmets]

It is the Met fan's job to balance out the baseball karma of the Northeast, you see.

There is the Yankee ridiculous front-running arrogance, there is the neurotic braggadocia of the Red Sox as if they are a tech billionaire with a trophy wife who screams how awesome he is from the hills to cover the fear that it'll all fall through tomorrow if the next bubble bursts...

And to balance it out, there is the bean-counting obsessive scrutiny with detail of the Flushing faithful. Breaking down splits for double-A players. Combing the waiver wires more often than we comb our goat beards.

Always hoping for the best, always counting on what would be the reasonably-occuring worst and just being happy when we get more than that.

As Old Batman said at the end of The Dark Knight Returns, it is a good life. Good enough.

[Turbo Ninja]

First thought: Not actually football, baseball.

Second thought: This is going to take a bit of learning.

Think of this as a cultural exercise.

I think we're getting rolled here - dumping Thome for Swisher is a savvy move for a guy who claims ignorance.