Keith Speaks Out on Steroids

We recently spoke to Keith Hernandez about steroids, and he relayed the following story:

During one of my recent walks in the Hamptons out on Long Island, a young lad in a Yankee cap came up to me and asked me about steroids. He told me he wasn't sure what they were or what the word even meant.

He was concerned about some of his favorite players, namely Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and Jason Giambi, and what impact steroids would have on their chances for the Hall of Fame.

He noticed I was snacking on a wheel of cheese and asked me innocently, "Mr Hernandez, is cheese a steroid?"

I thought to myself, "what a great question!" I tore off a hunk of the cheese, autographed it for him, and sent the kid on his way.

Let me clear up any misconceptions kiddies and tell you right now that High Cheddar is not a steroid, but it is a drug....a fascinating drug.

You stand in the box, absolutely mesmerized, and you just see this pill, or 'fastball' coming at you at 98 mph....let me tell you it's a rush like no other.

So no Mets fans, High Cheddar is not a steroid, but it does act like a drug.

Did you see that moon Gary? That's something else that has been compared to cheese.

Daniel Murphy: Baseball's Worst Offensive First Baseman

One of the biggest questions Mets management will have to answer this off-season is what exactly do we have in Murph?

The simple facts are that he struggled mightily this year, and that he is statistically the worst hitting first baseman in all of baseball.

For our comparative analysis we used 325 at-bats as the baseline--then we looked at several categories including OPS, BA, SLG, HRs and RBIs--essentially how often does he contribute to his club by getting on-base and producing runs.

Murphy is at the very bottom of the pile.

• OPS: Dead last among our pool--27th of 27 eligible candidates.
• BA: 24 of 27--only Aubrey Huff, Jason Giambi and Carlos Pena trail Murph.
• HR: Again, dead last.
• SLG: 25th out of 27
• RBI: 26th out of 27--he leads Jason Giambi by one RBI

The most troubling aspect of his stats, in my opinion, is the OBP.

Here are his OBP numbers by month:
.373, .278, .298, .323, .304

His OPS is similarly troubling:
.800, .631, .618, .715, .725

Those numbers are bad for a defensively gifted but offensively challenged middle infielder, much less a first baseman.

So the question lingers...what to do about Murph and what to do about first base in 2010?

There's no easy answer.

1B Search - Team 2-5

Oakland - 13 wins

Jason Giambi - 38 yrs. old - .204 - 1 yr./5.25mil

Bobby Crosby - 29 yrs. old - .236 - 5 yrs/12.75mil - 2009: 5.25mil

Arizona - 14 wins

Chad Tracy - 29 yrs. old - .193 - 3 yrs./13.25mil - 2007-2009 (4.75mil)

Colorado - 14 wins

Todd Helton - 35 yrs. old - .347/.401//521/.922 - 9 yrs./141.5mil - 2003-2011 - 16.6mil 2009, 2010... 19.1mil 2011

Cleveland - 14 wins

Ryan Garko - 28 yrs. old - .258 - 1 yr./446K

Victor Martinez - 30 yrs. old - .401/.478/.632/1.109 - 7 HRs - 5 yrs./15.5mil - 2005-2009 - 5.7mil 2009


Well... forget Oakland... Tracy isn't good enough... Helton is having a great year but forget the contract... it comes down to one guy...

add Victor Martinez to the list.

Remaining Free Agents and the Mets

We all know the names: Lowe, Garland, Dunn, Manny, Abreu, Wolf, Perez, Redding.

So who fits for the Mets, and who doesn't?

Our friend Jon Heyman from Sports Illustrated just finished a piece handicapping the remaining free agents.

Jon racks and stacks them as follows:

1. Bobby Abreu, OF
2. Milton Bradley, OF/DH
3. Pat Burrell, OF/DH.
4. Orlando Cabrera, SS.
5. Joe Crede, 3B
6. Adam Dunn, OF
7. Jon Garland, SP.
8. Jason Giambi, DH/1B.
9. Orlando Hudson, 2B.
10. Derek Lowe, SP.
11. Oliver Perez, SP
12. Andy Pettitte, SP.
13. Manny Ramirez, OF.
14. Ben Sheets, SP
15. Jason Varitek, C.
16. Randy Wolf, SP.
17. Garret Anderson, OF
18. Freddy Garcia, SP
19. Cliff Floyd, DH
20. Tim Redding, SP.

It's an interesting list, and many of the names have been bandied about as possibilities for the Mets.

We rank the ones that could most help the Mets as follows:

1. Oliver Perez, SP: Very high on Ollie. Strikeout pitcher, hitting his prime, aces against the Phils lefty lineup, and wants the ball in tough spots. He's young, he's lefty, and he's nasty. $$$$
2. Derek Lowe, SP: Innings eater who throws ground balls. Seems like the perfect fit for this team, at this time. He's older, but has a great motion and body type for longevity. $$$$
3. Manny Ramirez, OF: Not gonna happen, but just think if it could. Manny in left field for 2 years would make this lineup as good as any in baseball, plus we'd all get to enjoy his fielding. $$$$$
4. Jon Garland, SP: Guaranteed to start 32+ games and throw 200 innings. Battler, pitches to contact, but gets the job done. Would slot well to the #4 in this rotation. $$$
5. Orlando Hudson, 2B: Worth the price of admission to see him and Reyes in the same infield. Very capable hitter who gets on base and makes things happen. If it weren't for Castillo, Hudson would already be a Met. $$$
6. Adam Dunn, OF: Has his flaws, but also his strengths. Big power with a keen eye. Not a great RBI man, but in a stacked lineup he could have the best year of his career. Average fielder. Omar is not a fan. $$$$
7. Ben Sheets, SP: Has great stuff, but the injury worry is there. Surprising lack of interest in this excellent pitcher. Someone is going to get a relative bargain. $$$$
8. Randy Wolf, SP: I'm not a fan. Had a very nice 2008, but before that had four consecutive years of 18 starts or less. $$$

I still believe Lowe will be a Met, but there's a good chance that more than one name from Heyman's list gets added in the next two weeks.