Grit, It's Not Just For Kissin' Anymore

While watching the Mets on ESPN might be about as frustrating as watching Oliver Perez pitch, it reminds me how thankful I am that Steve Phillips is no longer the Mets GM.

I have to admit I missed the first part of his diatribe during Sunday night's loss to Matt Cain and the Giants, but basically it ended something like this (paraphrasing):

"If the Mets lose again this season, they have to think about breaking up the core. I believe David Wright is part of the solution, and I believe Jose Reyes is part of the solution. If I were the GM of the Mets, I'd take a look at the $17 million contract of Carlos Beltran."

Okay, for those of you who became fans in 2006, let me give you a lesson in recent history. You see, Steve Phillips was the GM of the Mets. And while he was the GM of the Mets, he allegedly offered Jose Reyes to Cleveland for Robby Alomar, and also allegedly offered David Wright to Toronto for Jose Cruz Jr. So of course he would think about trading Beltran. He couldn't trade the other two when he had the chance.

But yeah, Phillips would trade Beltran for Mo Vaughn because his 1.066 OPS is "part of the problem". But why? (Again, paraphrasing from Sunday Night Baseball):

"I just think this team needs more grit."

YES! GRIT! I have Carlos Beltran, I'll trade it for five of what you call ... Eckstein. Yes, let's do that.

If somebody can come up with a good reason to dip into the core, I'm all ears. I've heard multiple people tell me that maybe the solution is to trade Reyes. I'm not ready to agree with that, but I've heard semi-decent reasons ... at least better reasons than "this team needs more grit." Beltran may have his issues, but lack of grit isn't one of them. I take you back to a September night in Houston where Carlos Beltran risked life and limb to save a meaningless game by crashing into the wall and leading with his knees. Prudent? Probably not. But gritty? If David Eckstein had done it he would have been nominated for seventeen ESPY's.

Let's review, trading stars for the intangible idea of "grit" for the sole reason of being gritty without a real, honest plan (like trading a sulking Nomar for defense in the form of Orlando Cabrera and Doug Mientkiewicz, because I know someone will bring that up) is ... stupid. You get grit to complement your stars, not instead of them.

Grit without great is bread crust. I can't live on bread crust.

But the worst part of all of this is not that Phillips suggested this ... and not that he suggested this for dopey reasons. No, the worst part is that Joe Morgan subsequently disagreed with Phillips about Beltran, and I was rooting for Morgan. I was on the same side as Joe Morgan in an argument ... and I'm not sure that's a shame I can ever recover from. My IQ fell so far south at that point that I wanted to slit my own wrists but was so incapacitated that I tried to do it with my cell phone.

But then Morgan said that when a pitcher doesn't strike out batters, a lot of contact is made. Then I felt much better.

I'll never forgive you for this, Steve Phillips.

Fly Ollie To The Moon

There has been a lot of justified whining over the re-scheduling of Sunday night's game from a 1PM to an 8PM affair, meaning a late night cross-country flight without a day off. It's justified because unlike the Mets and the Dodgers, ESPN had matchups to choose from between two teams that weren't traveling anywhere the next day (like the Red Sox and Orioles).

But don't blame ESPN for Monday night's brutal loss which featured a six run Giants first inning courtesy of Ollie Perez, because Perez flew to San Francisco at least a day beforehand!

And don't blame jet lag for Ollie Perez's flat and fat fastball, because his fastball has been flat and fat pretty much all season. The only fielders that needed to be awake in the first inning were the fans in the left field bleachers. And I think they had a pep in their step.

And don't blame Carlos Muniz (as Keith Hernandez did) for taking the wind out of the Mets' sails when he gave up four runs and when the game was already halfway out the door in the sixth and seventh. Because Carlos Muniz is a AAA pitcher (literally, as it was made official after the game that Muniz is down to make room for Pedro Martinez.)

Meanwhile, Perez is going to get a gazillion dollar contract next season ... even after Glavining up that first inning on Monday. (I mean really, Oliver ... Brian f***ing Horwitz?)

There has been some discussion from the pundits about whether Omar Minaya needs to make a trade that will change the face of the team midseason, a-la 2004 when Theo Epstein traded Nomar Garciaparra to the Cubs and everybody thought he was insane before the Red Sox went on to sweep the Yankees (in games 4-7) and go on to win the Series. If Minaya is to make a trade like this, it is now painfully clear that it has to involve Perez. No, Perez isn't the pitching equivalent of the 2004 version of Nomar Garciaparra. Nomar, though hurt that season (and every season since) was a .300 hitter in '04. No, Oliver Perez isn't even the pitching equivalent of flippin' Rey Ordonez right now.

So no, there's no Orlando Cabreras to be had for Perez. They'd be lucky to get Doug Mientkiewicz (yes, he was part of the Nomar deal). But Perez is going to be someone else's problem anyway next season, as Scott Boras is going to get some sucker to pay Carlos Silva money to get him and his "potential" on the free agent market next season.

He's got potential to throw in-game batting practice is what he's got. And if there's any chance that the Mets could get anything better than the compensatory draft picks they would get by losing Ollie to a city that has his SoCal comfort zone vibe going, even if it's for dimes on the dollar then Omar should really think about pulling the trigger and giving someone other than me (and Rick Peterson) headaches.