Trade David Wright, a selfish stats-oriented choker, for Augie Ojeda, the little engine that could.

Hoo-boy . . .

“You don’t see a lot of guys that have statistical numbers play well in these championship series”

Statistical Numbers! dibs on that name for my blog......

That's all well and good, Jerry. Having your pitchers being able to get down a bunt every once in a while would be good, certainly. And I'm all for some situational baseball, properly defined.

But if you and Warthen and Omar just fix the damned bullpen, I have a feeling we'll face a lot fewer "situations" where it'll matter. Just sayin'.

How is the new park going to differ from Shea in dimensions?

“What you see is usually the little second baseman or somebody like that carries off the M.V.P. trophy that nobody expected him to do.

Hmmm. I wonder who he might be referring to here. Let me think. Who in god's name is a little second baseman who's an MVP candidate and who was underestimated by the scouts? I wonder who that could be...

He's probably talking about David Eckstein.

No, that can't be it. Eckstein isn't an MVP candidate. Let me see...

Didn't he win a WS MVP in 2006? Manuel was talking about playoff performance.

You know, Morgan gets ripped a new one all the time here for saying something similar, that the pitching and defense is better in the playoffs and teams that succeed have to know how to manufacture runs.

I'm inclined to agree with Jerry.

LOL @ kevin. Bro you're on fire today!

I'm inclined to agree with Jerry.

That sounds about right.

Hmmm. I wonder who he might be referring to here. Let me think. Who in god's name is a little second baseman who's an MVP candidate and who was underestimated by the scouts? I wonder who that could be...

And this is pretty ignorant.

...“You don’t see a lot of guys that have statistical numbers play well in these championship series,” Manuel said.

Who you have in mind does have a high BA? Hmmm, let me see who isn't thinking of....

I think Manuel has a point but it's one I would hope not many teams have an issue with. You don't teach someone how to walk or take an extra base simply by pointing to numbers and their implications. Doing on the field is a completely different beast than analysis.

But I can't believe that the Mets, or any other team, have been stressing statistical analysis amongst the players. The GM, on the other hand should be doing that. The coaches should talk numbers with management and how-to with the players.

So do you folks have any idea? Are players really sitting around talking numbers with their coaches and manager?

So do you folks have any idea? Are players really sitting around talking numbers with their coaches and manager?

Juan Gonzalez. I suspect it happens on occassion. It usually will revolve around RBIs or SBs. I think Manuel doesn't know what he is talking about, and it is simple enough to point to bringing in Scot Schoenewies to face Mike Jacobs on the last day of the season to demonstrate as much.

Sure they are.

as a Cardinal fan that grew up hating the Mets, this is totally awesome.

Hmmm. I wonder who he might be referring to here. Let me think. Who in god's name is a little second baseman who's an MVP candidate and who was underestimated by the scouts? I wonder who that could be...

You must be thinking Iwamura. Kid had a great, surprising year.

...“You don’t see a lot of guys that have statistical numbers play well in these championship series,” Manuel said. “What you see is usually the little second baseman or somebody like that carries off the M.V.P. trophy that nobody expected him to do. That’s because he’s comfortable in playing that form of baseball, so therefore when the stage comes, it’s not a struggle for him.”

Oh them stat numbers. What does the "that" mean in "that form of baseball"? Anybody know?

I'm too lazy to do it, but one could do a study of all the playoff MVP winners and see how many scrappy little guys walked off with it versus what number of scrappy little guys we'd expect to walk off with it...

“What you see is usually the little second baseman or somebody like that carries off the M.V.P. trophy that nobody expected him to do. That’s because he’s comfortable in playing that form of baseball, so therefore when the stage comes, it’s not a struggle for him.”

Huh? What? Sure you see little 2B walk off with WS MVP and such honors on occasion. But it's not because they sacrificed well or moved a runner over, it's because they hit 420 over 7 games.

The last few WS MVPs: Lowell, Eckstein, Dye, Manny, Beckett, Glaus, Johnson/Schilling, Jeter, Rivera, Brosius, Livan, Wetteland, Glavine, blank, Molitor, Borders (!), Morris, Rijo..

OK:

Eckstein: 364/391/500, 4 RBI, no sacs.
Brosius: 471/471/824, 6 RBI, no sacs.
Borders: 450/500/750, 3 RBI, no sacs.

Now maybe he means that, for some reason, scrappy players know how to hit under pressure ... but that would only lead one to wonder why they don't in the regular season ... or for that matter, in other postseason series or even earlier in those same playoffs (Eckstein was 8 for 41 going into the WS ... admittedly Borders and Brosius were hot the whole postseason those two years).

...“You don’t see a lot of guys that have statistical numbers play well in these championship series,”

Yes, that Pujols guy only hits .323/.429/.593 in the playoffs - not quite what he hits in the regular season, so see!

Huh? What? Sure you see little 2B walk off with WS MVP and such honors on occasion. But it's not because they sacrificed well or moved a runner over, it's because they hit 420 over 7 games.

I choose to believe you mean Petunia here, and not Mark Lemke.

All baseball quotes are about Dustin Petroia, to those who have eyes to see.

I completely endorse a scrappier Mets club unconcerned with statistical numbers.

Manuel seemed pretty aware of platoon splits as manager. He used platoons and certainly did his best to use his relievers in favorable matchups. He can say whatever he wants if he manages like that next year.

The last few WS MVPs: Lowell, Eckstein, Dye, Manny, Beckett, Glaus, Johnson/Schilling, Jeter, Rivera, Brosius, Livan, Wetteland, Glavine, blank, Molitor, Borders (!), Morris, Rijo.

Manny didn't deserve it, though. Belhorn should have gotten it.

The irony will be that Omar dumps bullpen guys who had down years and due to the nature of the role those same guys rebound.

Only with someone else.....

Now maybe he means that, for some reason, scrappy players know how to hit under pressure ... but that would only lead one to wonder why they don't in the regular season

They do. But it's overshadowed by powerball in the regular season. Your own list shows no firstbasemen, 1 DH and only 2 outfielders, 1 of whom didn't really deserve it. On the other hand, pitchers and infielders players got the lion's share.

When the post-season rolls around and the power game gets shut down, it doesn't adversely affect the guys used to playing smallball. So, it's not so much they are doing better, it's that their powerhitting brethren are doing worse, because they are facing better pitching and defense than they would in the regular season.

So do you folks have any idea? Are players really sitting around talking numbers with their coaches and manager?

Juan Gonzalez. I suspect it happens on occassion. It usually will revolve around RBIs or SBs. I think Manuel doesn't know what he is talking about, and it is simple enough to point to bringing in Scot Schoenewies to face Mike Jacobs on the last day of the season to demonstrate as much.

I phrased that badly. Of course players know their numbers and they about stats. It's natural and it helps at contract times. I meant talk numbers like sabr types and GM types. I wouldn't want the players sitting around focusing on complex statistical analysis and thinking about roster construction and whatnot. I mean, if they think about it or talk about it occasionally, fine. But I'd mostly want them to go about the business of learning and practicing doing it, not analysing it.

#26, the guy that that is most likely with is Heilman, but does anyone really think that Aaron can pitch well for the METS next year? I think he can rebound next year, but I don't think he can do that on this team. He turned into the Rojas/Mota for Mets fans this year. The fans turned on him since the HR in game 7 and by now he doesn't have any more chances to recover.

I think Show could rebound next year in a pen where he is used correctly all year long, and I think he will probably still be a Met next year. I also think Sanchez will still be a Met next year and can rebound with a off season and this year under his belt. But the key for Minaya this year is to bring in two quality arms to allow Manuel to set some steady roles in the pen and to make better use of the other arms in proper situations. Might Muniz be able to take a bigger role next year? Possibly. Might we have another arm in the minors we can use last year, there are a couple that might be able to help. But Minaya can't depend on that. He has to bring in 2 guys to settle down the pen and that is it.

What's up with everybody wanting to be like the Angels? Last year when Ed Wade took over in Houston, he said he wanted to make the Astros like the Angels. Now Manuel holds the Angels out as his model for the Mets?

I do get...improving fundamentals, attention to hitting in critical situations, improving defense....the manager should say he wants his team to work on those areas. What I don't get...why do you blame statistical analysis when your team doesn't do those things? Statistical analysis is more relevant to putting the team's personnel together. But you don't teach the players statistics. I just don't like scapegoating "statistical numbers" for something to which it is unrelated.

It doesn't sound like an average "get your nose out of the spreadsheets" screed. It is more of a "120 RBIs mean squat if you can't do it on September 30" vibe