4/26/10

Bobby Bonilla, Nails, Brandon Sage, Ben Baumer... and Mike Pelfrey

Bobby Bonilla:
In 1999, Bonilla returned to the Mets for a second stint at Shea following his borderline disastrous free-agent signing in 1992. Bonilla wasn't any better the second time around, so the Mets waived him in 2000. The problem was that the team still owed Bonilla $5.9 million in guaranteed salary. Bonilla's agents worked out a deal with the Mets where he would defer the salary if the team would pay him $1,193,248.20 every July 1 from 2011 to 2035. Not a bad deal for someone who was so bad the team basically paid him to go away. - link

Nails:

Lenny Dykstra struck out in his recent bid to have his bankruptcy case dismissed, according to a lawyer involved in the case. Judge Geraldine Mund of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Los Angeles rejected Dykstra’s bid for voluntary dismissal of his case following a hearing Tuesday, according to Robert Huttenhoff, an attorney for bankruptcy trustee Arturo - link



Brandon Sage:

Well, I went to the ballpark today and did a great interview with Sage, who currently leads the organization with the lowest WHIP. Guess what… I pushed the wrong button and there’s nothing on the tape recorder.


As my wife always says, don’t ever fly on a plane I worked on.


Brandon was a 37th round unheralded pick in 2009, who was immediately signed and sent to Brooklyn. Playing his first professional ball in the big city was quite a thrill for Sage, who quickly earned the nickname “hunterman” from Mets brass. He posted stats of 3-3, 2.03, in 16 appearances and finished the year #67 on “The Keepers”.

This season, with the Sand Gnats, he’s just about perfect, or as catcher Kai Gronauer said, “he just doesn’t let people make base.”


Sage singled out his control on his fastball as the key ingredient for success this year… which of course the Mack curse was in effect last night when he gave up two runs before I could print this interview… which ain’t an interview anymore…


Sorry Brandon… my bad.

Ben Baumer:

Ben Baumer says his gig as the Mets statistical analyst was a direct result of the popularity of “Moneyball” early last decade. And in his seven seasons in that position, he has seen the sabermetrics movement expand and deepen. Now, about 15 Major League Baseball teams have a person designated to do some kind of statistics crunching – including the Yankees, Red Sox and Cardinals, Baumer said – and they are looking for new statistical frontiers as well - link
Mike Pelfrey:

Mike Pelfrey tossed five scoreless innings for the win as the Mets beat the Braves in a rain-shortened game Sunday night. Play was halted just one pitch into the sixth inning and never resumed. Pelfrey had already been removed, since he had walked five and thrown 106 pitches in his five innings. He lowered his ERA to 0.69, but this was definitely his shakiest outing so far this season. - link

-yeah, but here is the difference... he didn't lose his concentration and he walked away with 0-ERs for five innings of pitching without his best stuff... this easily could be a turning point in his young career... and credit henry Blanco for keeping Pelf in the game.

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