Contests, Dignity, and Icy Hot

Here’s the state of this franchise right now …

You might have heard of a little thing called “the contest“, cooked up by Fangraphs to see who can make the more bizarre move, Omar Minaya, or Royals GM Dayton Moore.  Each making strange move after strange move to try to out-kook each other.  And then, in a bold move, Minaya tried for the checkmate.  He offered Moore Oliver Perez for Gil Meche.  That’s Oliver Perez, the guy who people swear would be picked up in a second if he was ever released because of his “upside” and his “stuff”, for Gil Meche: three years older, arm problems, and stuff that’s as electric as a typewriter.

And Dayton Moore said no.

Let me Comic Sans that for effect:

Dayton Moore said no.

I’m not sure if this means that Omar has won the contest, but I know who loses … ME!  Because I’m going to have to watch Oliver Perez pitch, and probably start, again in a Mets uniform because when presented with the option of acquiring Perez for a cadaver, Dayton Moore’s response was “nah, we’re good”.  What exactly does that say for Oliver Perez?

It’s all part of rooting for a team with a manager that benches Angel Pagan for a game where they needed a leadoff hitter, because of an earlier promise he made to Jeff Francoeur (so in addition to putting Jose Reyes in the starting lineup before he knew how he felt, he’s already screwing up the balance of keeping Pagan sharp, Frenchy happy, and Beltran healthy I’ve talked about).  And it figures when you root for a team that preaches Prevention and Recovery, yet has to push back Mike Pelfrey’s start because he slept wrong on a plane and wrenched his neck.  What, the training staff had no Icy Hot on a charter flight?  Please … Steinbrenner would have had the flight’s air conditioning fired by now.

And it also figures when you root for a team whose big free agent signing comes up in the ninth inning as the tying run in an eventual 1-0 loss (wanna keep a Met out of your house … paint a big giant home plate in front of it) and hits a pitch ten inches.  But Jason Bay didn’t even have the dignity to force the catcher to throw him out.  No, Bay steps on the ball … an automatic out.  Now that’s an at-bat, my friends.  You wouldn’t think after 134 seasons of organized baseball which included Fred Merkle, Marv Throneberry and Ryan Church that you can find a new way to grab some bench, but the Mets seem to do it.  Atta boy, Jason.  What’s next, striking out on two pitches?

C’mon Frenchy, you can do it.