Ryan Church: Behind The Blow

Well, another red letter season has come do an end (and that red letter is F ... I'll let you figure out what that stands for.) And believe it or not, I still have s**t to say. The following is random stuff I'm posting in the comments section about a person or persons of my choosing. These are your New York Mets: Behind the Blow.

Here's what's funny about these Behind The Blow entries: There aren't that many left. There are a few blank entries left to feature certain guys with pretty pictures and titles, but were sitting in my draft box otherwise empty ... lonely ... and sad.

One of those entries was this one, Ryan Church.

As I'm eternally trying to get a handle on what to say about Church, I get a comment from James Allen, a frequent commenter. But it's not really a comment, he wrote a whole Behind the Blow for Church! This is how you know you've made it in the blogging world: People want to do your work for you. It's like when elves come in the middle of the night and lay out your Christmas presents, eat your cookies (they only tell you they give them to Santa), and wax your floor (so you'd slip in the morning ... I've learned that elves have a strange sense of humor.)

Or maybe the commenters are trying a hostile takeover because they're tired of my heavy-handed rule and this is the first step in softening me up. Yeah, that's probably it. (I knew I should have offered free biscuits to the readers.) In any event, I give you James Allen's Behind the Blow ... Ryan Church:

"The saga of Ryan Church in 2008 has to be one of the greatest roller coaster rides in baseball (if you only count the initial drop of the coaster.) From decent corner outfield picked up in the somewhat controversial Lastings Milledge trade, to the hitting juggernaut early in the season, to a horribly handled concussion case (his second in 3 months), to his general uselessness at the plate late in the season, the words "what if?" apply to Church more than any other Met. I mean, what if Yunel Escobar's knee didn't get hit with Church's skull on May 21, 2008? After that date, the Mets corner outfield production basically was in limbo while numerous guys were trotted (no pun intended) out there until Tatis and Murphy (two infielders) pretty much asserted themselves at the head of the pack. Similarly, the 2-hole was given back to guys like... well, you know.

I think the Mets didn't get enough criticism in the handling of Church. Sure, they got some from some quarters, but it wasn't nearly as sustained as it could have been. Someone in the NY Post put it best, the Mets cared more about Moises Alou's knee (and any other injury for that matter) than Ryan Church's brain, making him fly to Colorado shortly after the injury so Ryan could have headaches at high altitude. (Editor's note: Mets brass probably doesn't know any better in this regard, thinking "Well we work without brains just fine ... why can't Ryan Church? After all, you don't need a brain to play baseball." All right James, continue) This obviously stemmed from some sort of desperation on the Mets part, as the rash of injuries early (to Alou and Pagan specifically) made Mets management think they could roll the dice with a head injury. It was stupid and careless and Omar and whatever silly medical staff the Mets employ should be held accountable. If the Mets doctors were from a hospital and Church was just a patient, they'd still be being sued as we speak.

When he finally did come back he wasn't his old self, putting up a second half .612 OBP in the second half (to go with the .882 OBP for the first half), looking particular dreadful the last month of the season. Is he shot? Hard to tell. Even with his dropoff at the end, his overall numbers were at his career norm, so maybe he can go into 2009 blackout free and contribute at least at those levels, but, to be blunt and somewhat cold, the Mets seriously have to look at improving their corner outfield and take into account that Church may not come back at 100%. As an added bonus, he's going to be compared to Milledge, who started to come alive in the second half, more and more. Will he end up being the unfortunate casualty of what may turn out to be another bad trade on the Mets part? (Schneider sure ain't going make up any difference.) We shall see. As it is, I'm pulling for the guy, and hope he can avoid getting his bell rung again."

Take a bow James. Here's my epilogue:

A good point was brought up when James mentioned how Church's numbers turned out to be right in line with his career averages. The way the numbers got there, with a hot streak in the beginning, the long layoff with the concussion, and the horrid slump at the end bring up the question of just how much did the concussion hurt him this season. Was Church putrid at the end of the season because of the long layoff? Or was he still feeling the lingering effects of his second concussion of the year (first one being in March against the Dodgers in Spring Training)? Or was it just the law of averages catching up with Church?

As much as I think Church is nowhere near the hitter he was at the beginning of the season and that his numbers were bound to regress to the mean in a healthy season, I can't help but think Church's numbers were affected by the concussions, and the way the Mets handled it ("Hey, let's put a dizzy guy on a cross country flight, it'll be fun ... hey, what's that we said about doing this without brains?") So a real determination of Church's future in New York can't be reached until after the 2009 season.

With that in mind, if you're not sure that you can depend on Church to carry the production of both corner outfielders, then trading a bad contract (cough Castillo cough) for a guy like Juan Pierre may not solve anything. Trading that contract for a guy like Jose Guillen might to the trick. And hey, you want a guy to make things interesting in the clubhouse? Guillen can do that. Heck, Guillen is the kinda guy who will light somebody's pants on fire and walk away ... and unless those pants are your pants, then what's the harm in that? Chemistry changed. And here's what else Jose Guillen can do: hit a home run once in a while, which would be more helpful than Juan Pierre.

And if he gets out of line? Snoop Manuel won't just bench him ... he'll kill him. Problem solved.

Trade Derby

You want to make the home run derby even more interesting?

Invite the slugging outfielders who are rumored to be going to the Mets in a trade. You can still do four from each league:

National League:

• Adam Dunn
• Matt Holliday
• Jason Bay
• Xavier Nady

American League:

• Raul Ibanez
• Casey Blake
• Juan Rivera
• Jose Guillen

Trade value determined by performance in the derby.

Grey Dawn

After a seventeen inning game, while throwing a pitcher making his first start back from injury, not much could have really been expected, so the All-Star break comes at a wonderful time for the Mets to rest their old bones.

Old bones which seemingly are getting older at an exponential rate.

If you missed it: Ricky Ledee was designated for assignment to make room for Dave Williams, who was the sacrificial lamb on Sunday for the Mets (although when you walk the opposing pitcher and giving up a dinger to a .228 hitter, most likely, you are sacrificing your own lamb). While Ledee may not be any great shakes, the man who got a reprieve on the roster is yet another quadragenarian, Sandy Alomar Jr, a catcher who supposedly gives the Mets more flexibility on the bench.

But only when full containers of Icy Hot are applied.

It's probably going to be a non-issue when guys like Lastings Milledge, Jorge Sosa, and Oliver Perez come back (and heck, maybe if we're good boys and girls, even Moises Alou will take a trip down the chimney to give all of us orange and blue boys and girls an early Christmas gift...although Moises will probably tear a labrum while handing the gifts out). But does it bother anyone else that Julio Franco (forget his weight, the guy is lucky that he's hitting his age) is taking up a roster spot that is probably better served by going to Ledee, who at least can pull the ball and can move around?

And most likely, nobody is going to pick up Ricky Ledee from under our noses, but what if someone does? What if the Royals, still stinging from not getting Milton Bradley, decide that Ledee is the answer to their problems? Maybe that's the scenario of a habitual weed smoker, but stranger things have happened, right? What if we lose Ledee? I mean, they'll survive, but what will it have been for? To get Sandy Alomar Jr. one last hurrah to be a battery mate with a minor league teammate that he never actually caught? Is that what it's come to? Have the Mets become the home of the farewell tour? Is Cher playing Shea Stadium next week? Since when have the Mets become Robin Williams in that movie about the kid that aged like 10 years every 12 months?

And Julio, for Pete Schourek's sake, hang it up! Look, I'm all for athletes hanging it up on their own terms as long as it remains fun. But Julio, you're Jake Taylor in Major League II, except nobody has the guts to pull you into a room and tell you that you'd be more useful as a coach than a player because it not only might alienate the locker room, but they're afraid that God will smite them for pushing an old man out the door before his contract was up. Who knows, as a coach you might have to take over for Willie Randolph before the end of the season, just like Taylor had to take over for Lou Brown. Randolph is undergoing shoulder surgery...what if there's complications? What if they find Bill Pulsipher's bone chips and Victor Zambrano's frayed ligaments and Randolph has to be locked up in a hospital room until Christmas for his own protection? Then what?

Now that Mark Buehrle is off the market, the moves that Omar Minaya may be relegated to are the ones to shore up the back end of the team...the bench and the middle relief. Maybe a guy like Jeff Conine, who needs to be rescued from the Reds who are currently rotting from the inside out, is Omar's best option for the bench. But he can't, because he's afraid that you, Julio, will sneak into his office and put rubber bands where his paper clips should be. Nobody should live their lives in fear. But that's what's happening, because you want to be Minnie Minoso on a pennant contender.

Look, hard times call for hard words. Julio, you deserve a World Series ring. You deserve credit for turning Carlos Beltran's New York career around in '06, along with saving Pedro Martinez's life from the bat-wielding Jose Guillen. But you've become like the kids in the playground playing five-on-five baseball and only using half the field...but you're using the wrong half of the field. If you were that kid, you'd keep hitting foul balls all day and the game would never end. Instead, you make games end too quick by grounding to second base.

Dude, you're older than dirt, stone tablets, and Howard Johnson!

Chip Ambres is sticking pins in your doll!

When you were a rookie, Transformers was a television show. Now it's a movie, and you're still playing...although not in your Optimus Prime. So please, show us the person you are and consider what I'm saying...and make us see more than your .200 average. Show us you're more than meets the eye.

Spring Clock Cleaning

I thought spring training was over.

I thought the days of the Nationals knocking the Mets around the ballpark ended when players with uniform numbers in the 70's and 80's were sent to St. Lucie.

Well, obviously not.

Orlando Hernandez is going to have days where he is unhittable, and days where he's going to get rocked. That's going to happen as long as he threatens to throw the first pitch in major league history to be clocked at under 5 miles per hour.

Which makes it all the more curious that he was ejected for hitting Shawn Hill after the Chris "King of Spring" Snelling home run. I mean, getting hit by Orlando Hernandez is like getting bitten by a kitten. It's inconvenient, but let's face it...it's not going to leave a mark. Hill understood that, as he seemed to accept Hernandez's apology on the field.

However, Jose Guillen did try to charge the mound but couldn't catch a flight from Seattle in time. Guillen has vowed revenge.