NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- New York Mets general manager Sandy Alderson spent his first full day at the winter meetings discussing trade options for the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner.
Alderson said his Monday agenda has been busy with meetings with potential suitors for 20-game winner R.A. Dickey. The knuckleballer is under contract for next season at $5 million, but the Mets are serious about trading him this offseason if an extension cannot be reached.
The suitors include the Boston Red Sox, according to a baseball source. Red Sox GM Ben Cherington and Alderson met Monday afternoon, with New York looking for top Red Sox prospects Jackie Bradley Jr. and shortstop Xander Boegarts in exchange for the Cy Young Award winner, the source said. However, it's unlikely the Red Sox would part with those two prospects.
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
It seems that way. They better get at least 1 A+ prospect
it probably makes a lot of sense for the mets.
If I had known then what I know now...
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Mets continue to aim high in talks with the Kansas City Royals. Multiple sources say the club is still pursuing Kansas City Royals outfield prospect Wil Myers.
Myers, who turns 22 next week, hit a combined .314 with 37 homers and 109 RBIs in 522 at-bats last season between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha.
And so you see, I have come to doubt All that I once held as true I stand alone without beliefs The only truth I know is you.
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey says if the New York Mets choose to bring him back next season solely on the remaining year of his contract, he almost certainly will leave next winter as a free agent.
The 38-year-old knuckleballer also insisted during Tuesday's holiday party at Citi Field for schoolchildren affected by Hurricane Sandy that he is asking for a far-below-market-value extension on top of the club's 2013 obligation, so he is disheartened by the slow pace of negotiations.
And so you see, I have come to doubt All that I once held as true I stand alone without beliefs The only truth I know is you.
Please trade him. The longer this goes, the worse its gonna get. Just start the proper rebuild please.
Mets have four 'serious' trade partners for Dickey; resolution expected soon http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/tea ... B6S6N3zeUL
According to an industry source, the Mets consider four teams as “serious” potential trade partners. What defines “serious” at this point? A willingness to include one top prospect in a deal for Dickey. Nevertheless, the Mets aren’t budging from their position of seeking multiple highly rated prospects in any trade for the Cy Young Award winner, and haven’t yet found a team willing to make such a deal.
The Mets have not spoken to the Rangers since the Winter Meetings, according to sources, but Texas and Toronto remain the most logical destinations if Dickey is traded. The Mets have asked the Rangers for stud prospect Mike Olt as part of a deal for Dickey. The Mets are believed to have asked the Blue Jays for highly regarded catcher Travis d’Arnaud as part of a package.
And so you see, I have come to doubt All that I once held as true I stand alone without beliefs The only truth I know is you.
looks like it's almost a done deal. while i am very sad to CY Dickey leave, in the long run trading him for top prospects will be better for this team. did he bring energy to this franchise, yes, but not every year is gonna be like 2012. sell low and buy high, genius move by sandy and the mets.
Ron: I just don't feel like going out tonight
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
55s Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal
Sources: #Mets, #BlueJays have agreement in principle on Dickey trade. Window open for Jays to extend Dickey, which would complete deal @Ken_Rosenthal
Negotiating window for Dickey extension is 72 hours, expiring Tuesday at 2 pm ET. #Mets #BlueJays
2008 - MSG 6/24-6/25
2010 - Newark 5/18 MSG 5/21
2011 - PJ20 9/3-9/4
2012 - MIA Festival 9/2
2013 - Wrigley Field 7/19 Brooklyn 10/18-10/19 Philly 10/22
2015 - Colbert show - 9/23 Global Citizens Festival 9/26
2016 - Philly 4/28-4/29 MSG 5/1-5/2
Yankee fan, but i think this is a good, could be great trade for the Mets. D'Arnaud is a big time prospect, and I've heard varying reports of who else is headed to the Mets. I think I would have preferred Mike Olt from texas, but D'Arnaud plus a bunch of other prospects could turn out to be a huge haul. the Mets are not going to win anything in 2013 with or without Dickey so why not reload and sell when Dickey's value is as high as it will ever be?
Yankee fan, but i think this is a good, could be great trade for the Mets. D'Arnaud is a big time prospect, and I've heard varying reports of who else is headed to the Mets. I think I would have preferred Mike Olt from texas, but D'Arnaud plus a bunch of other prospects could turn out to be a huge haul. the Mets are not going to win anything in 2013 with or without Dickey so why not reload and sell when Dickey's value is as high as it will ever be?
exactly. D'Arnaud is awesome. His numbers in AAA are awesome as well. Hoping for a Posey pt. 2.
2008 - MSG 6/24-6/25
2010 - Newark 5/18 MSG 5/21
2011 - PJ20 9/3-9/4
2012 - MIA Festival 9/2
2013 - Wrigley Field 7/19 Brooklyn 10/18-10/19 Philly 10/22
2015 - Colbert show - 9/23 Global Citizens Festival 9/26
2016 - Philly 4/28-4/29 MSG 5/1-5/2
yea me too. the licking of his fingers and the mouthpiece and other things. Pelf is another prospect overvauled under this team back when the great Omar Minaya and Tony B were sinking this ship.
i really like this trade not cause of the catching prospect, but cause of getting a top pitching prospect. you can never have enough pitching from top to bottom. mets have essentially rebuilt this team pitching wise in 2 years. for a franchise that's always had good pitching, its great to see what's coming down the pipeline in wheeler and Familia, Syndergaard and also the pitchers up in the big league in Niese, Harvey, McHugh and Gee. I woulda liked to get a major league ready OF prospect, but anytime you can top pitching prospect thats a steal in my book. I'm very sad to CY Dickey leave, but how many seaons is he gonna be like what he's been for the past 3 seasons. eventually his number are gonna decline and why not trade him at his high point.
I like what Sandy is doing, but it's gonna take awhile for me to forgive him for messing up the reyes fiasco. I feel had he handled it wrong. we coulda gotten a boatload of major league ready position prospect.
Ron: I just don't feel like going out tonight
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
i understand the reason..but its still funny trading a cy-young winner
Funny thing or ironic thing is that they're trading him to the team that was the last to trade a pitcher coming off a CY Young season as the Blue Jays dealt Roger Clemens to the Yankees following 1998.
Reading 2004
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016 Fenway 2, 2018 MSG 2022 St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
Whiskey
Tango
Foxtrot
:?
Let Reyes walk for draft picks instead of trading him...
Resign Wright but trade Dickey for a prospect? I could care less how good this guy is in Single A, Double A or Triple A...its a PROSPECT.
This move blows.
Rebuilding again? Continued? Nice message Mets...And you raised ticket prices- sweeet!!!! I don't wanna hear "oh the Mets were going to be last place again with Philly, Washington and Atlanta - blah blah blah" Dickey is a winner. His personal life shit is behind him and he's loving where he is at in life = his on field success. He wasn't trying to break the bank. This move blows. Poor Wright. And STOP about Travis d'Arnaud and how awesome he is GOING to be...F That!!! The most intense baseball fan in the world wouldn't know who this cat is if they tripped over him in Citibank's parking lot.
Crappy day for this Mets fan. I wish RA the best of luck and am grateful for his service. I knew when he came to pitch we were getting his all and most likely a solid start and usually a win. Who's that guy now???? Injured washed up relic Johan? Prospect Wheeler? Prospect Harvey? Prospect Synderguard? C'mon...puuuhhhleeease!
Horrible day for this Mets fan.
GO TORONTO!!
Beloved Mets catcher Mike Piazza comes out swinging in a new memoir — confronting rumors about being gay and taking steroids, detailing his romantic home runs and finally settling the score with his hated rival, Roger Clemens.
The book, “Long Shot” (Simon & Schuster) comes a month after Piazza, arguably the greatest hitting catcher of all time, fell 98 votes short of being voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Many think he missed because of persistent rumors he used performance-enhancing drugs during a 16-year career.
The 44-year-old makes no bones about holding a grudge against Clemens for beaning him during a July 8, 2000, game, and for the infamous bat-throwing incident later that season against the Yankees during the World Series.
“I truly believe that if I hadn’t gotten my head down at the last instant, Clemens’ two-seamer would have struck me in the eye and possibly killed me,” he recalls.
The Yankees hurler called the Mets dugout to apologize during the game, but Piazza wasn’t hearing it.
“I grabbed [the phone], threw it and said, ‘Tell him to go f--k himself,’ ” Piazza said.
“Roger Clemens had near-perfect control. I wouldn’t have batted an eye if he had just brushed me off the plate — of course that’s what he said he was trying to do . . . But to stick it in my forehead, that’s another story altogether.”
Piazza tells how he mapped out a plan for revenge — taking karate lessons and visualizing the next time they would go at it.
“I would approach with my fist pulled back. I figured he’d throw his glove out for protection. I’d parry the glove and then get after it,” Piazza writes.
He would get his chance in October — when the upstart Mets met their crosstown rivals in the World Series. The coming confrontation between the Mets’ 12-time All-Star catcher and the Bombers’ hard-case hurler was the talk of the city.
The climactic moment came at Yankee Stadium, during Clemens’ fourth pitch to Piazza in the first inning of Game 2. The sizzling fastball sawed Piazza’s bat into three pieces, with a shard flying toward the mound. Clemens picked up the splintered barrel and, inexplicably, chucked it in Piazza’s direction as the hitter ran down the first-base line.
“What the f--k is your problem?” Piazza, still holding the handle of the broken bat and walking toward the pitcher’s mound, asked Clemens. But Piazza went no further — and never realized his dream of revenge.
“There were complications,” he recalls. “The least of them was the realization that Clemens was a big guy, and I stood a pretty fair chance of getting my ass kicked in front of Yankee Stadium and the world. That was a legitimate concern.”
It was a decision over which he still beats himself. “It was not only possible but — circumstances be damned — it was in order,” he said. “It was the story of the Series. I couldn’t deliver a punch.”
Piazza carried a chip on his shoulder toward the Yankees, even off the field.
After a Guns N’ Roses concert, Piazza — who’d been drinking vodka all night — chided lead singer Axl Rose for wearing Rangers, Knicks and Yankees jerseys on stage. But not his team’s.
“I’m obliterated. I go, ‘Hey, yo, Axl! What the f--k, man? Like, you know, you think you could’ve mixed in a Mets jersey?’ ”
The baseball world speculated about Clemens’ apparent “roid rage” during the 2000 Subway Series, and Piazza, late in his career, had to battle similar rumors about using performance-enhancing drugs.
The book, co-written by Lonnie Wheeler, flatly denies this.
“I was into power, not prison,” he said of illegal steroids.
The strongest concoction he admits taking was androstenedione — also called “andro,” a muscle-building supplement bought over the counter at nutrition stores in a “Monster Pak” that also contained creatine and amino acids.
When andro was found in Mark McGwire’s locker in 1998, Piazza said he decided to phase it out of his own regimen. In 2004 the FDA banned it.
Piazza admits that every team had a treasure chest of drugs.
“I used Vioxx because it was an intense anti-inflammatory and it made me feel good,” he writes in the book, which is set to go on sale Tuesday.
“When I caught for 22 straight days and could hardly drag myself out of bed to get to the ballpark, Vioxx picked me up. I’d sing, ‘It’s gonna be a Vioxx morning.’ ”
Piazza admits he took “greenies” — stimulants that were once common in baseball — usually in his coffee. But they made him too jittery. He preferred Dymetadrine, a light asthma medication that sends more oxygen to the brain. He also used Ephedra, an over-the-counter fat burner. It was later added to the banned list.
The use of PEDs was not the only rumor swirling.
Piazza believes the persistent whispers that he was in the closet began after Mets manager Bobby Valentine said in a 2002 interview that Major League Baseball was ready for an openly gay player.
“The whole episode was such a strange, incredible phenomenon . . . I still don’t get it.
“I don’t know where the rumor came from, although I’ve heard many theories, including one that I suppose makes the most sense to me, involving a former teammate and his agent.”
Piazza doesn’t name the instigators, and is vague about how the rumor spread from there. He felt compelled to address the gossip publicly, telling reporters, “I’m not gay. I’m heterosexual. I can’t control what people think. I can say I’m heterosexual. I date women. That’s pretty much it.”
Questions about his sexuality bothered him less than the insinuation that he was somehow phony. “I found it hugely insulting that people believed I’d go so far out of my way — living with Playmates, vacationing with actresses, showing up at nightclubs — to act out a lifestyle that would amount to a charade,” he writes. “If I was gay, I’d be gay all the way.”
¡Habla inglés!
Mike Piazza thinks Hispanic ballplayers need to learn English.
“I certainly don’t dispute that Latin players are entitled to the same dreams and opportunities that I had, but I’m sorry: when they arrive on US soil, the onus isn’t on the American players to learn Spanish,” he writes in his memoir. “It’s on the Latin players to learn English.”
Tensions between Piazza and Latin ballplayers simmered more than once during his 16-year career.
Piazza describes “some kind of weird Hispanic conspiracy against me, almost like a secret brotherhood, a Latin mafia-type of thing.”
During his Dodger days, he was scorned by teammates Ismael Valdez, and Ramon and Pedro Martinez. And he was hit by pitches by Pedro and Guillermo Mota, and Julian Tavarez.
Comments
Check back in 4 years.
Alderson said his Monday agenda has been busy with meetings with potential suitors for 20-game winner R.A. Dickey. The knuckleballer is under contract for next season at $5 million, but the Mets are serious about trading him this offseason if an extension cannot be reached.
The suitors include the Boston Red Sox, according to a baseball source. Red Sox GM Ben Cherington and Alderson met Monday afternoon, with New York looking for top Red Sox prospects Jackie Bradley Jr. and shortstop Xander Boegarts in exchange for the Cy Young Award winner, the source said. However, it's unlikely the Red Sox would part with those two prospects.
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/87065 ... ource-says
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
it probably makes a lot of sense for the mets.
Vegas 93, Vegas 98, Vegas 00 (10 year show), Vegas 03, Vegas 06
VIC 07
EV LA1 08
Seattle1 09, Seattle2 09, Salt Lake 09, LA4 09
Columbus 10
EV LA 11
Vancouver 11
Missoula 12
Portland 13, Spokane 13
St. Paul 14, Denver 14
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Mets continue to aim high in talks with the Kansas City Royals. Multiple sources say the club is still pursuing Kansas City Royals outfield prospect Wil Myers.
Myers, who turns 22 next week, hit a combined .314 with 37 homers and 109 RBIs in 522 at-bats last season between Double-A Northwest Arkansas and Triple-A Omaha.
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
Please
dear god please...
7.9.03~9.28.04~10.1.05~5.12.06~5.13.06~5.27.06~5.28.06
8.5.08(EV)~10.9.09~5.21.10~6.20.11(EV)~7.5.11(EV)~7.9.11(EV)
11.21.13~8.27.16(EV)~11.14.16(TOTD)~4.13.20~9.27.20~9.26.21~10.2.21
2.15.22 (EV)~2.25.22 (EV)~2.27.22 (EV)~5.3.22~5.7.22~9.17.24~9.29.24
We need an OF bad.
2010 - Newark 5/18 MSG 5/21
2011 - PJ20 9/3-9/4
2012 - MIA Festival 9/2
2013 - Wrigley Field 7/19 Brooklyn 10/18-10/19 Philly 10/22
2015 - Colbert show - 9/23 Global Citizens Festival 9/26
2016 - Philly 4/28-4/29 MSG 5/1-5/2
eeeek...scary...we need RA
we need a catcher
we need bullpen
we need outfielder
in that order, no?
7.9.03~9.28.04~10.1.05~5.12.06~5.13.06~5.27.06~5.28.06
8.5.08(EV)~10.9.09~5.21.10~6.20.11(EV)~7.5.11(EV)~7.9.11(EV)
11.21.13~8.27.16(EV)~11.14.16(TOTD)~4.13.20~9.27.20~9.26.21~10.2.21
2.15.22 (EV)~2.25.22 (EV)~2.27.22 (EV)~5.3.22~5.7.22~9.17.24~9.29.24
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_ ... -ra-dickey
Reigning NL Cy Young Award winner R.A. Dickey says if the New York Mets choose to bring him back next season solely on the remaining year of his contract, he almost certainly will leave next winter as a free agent.
The 38-year-old knuckleballer also insisted during Tuesday's holiday party at Citi Field for schoolchildren affected by Hurricane Sandy that he is asking for a far-below-market-value extension on top of the club's 2013 obligation, so he is disheartened by the slow pace of negotiations.
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
Mets have four 'serious' trade partners for Dickey; resolution expected soon
http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/mets/tea ... B6S6N3zeUL
According to an industry source, the Mets consider four teams as “serious” potential trade partners. What defines “serious” at this point? A willingness to include one top prospect in a deal for Dickey. Nevertheless, the Mets aren’t budging from their position of seeking multiple highly rated prospects in any trade for the Cy Young Award winner, and haven’t yet found a team willing to make such a deal.
The Mets have not spoken to the Rangers since the Winter Meetings, according to sources, but Texas and Toronto remain the most logical destinations if Dickey is traded. The Mets have asked the Rangers for stud prospect Mike Olt as part of a deal for Dickey. The Mets are believed to have asked the Blue Jays for highly regarded catcher Travis d’Arnaud as part of a package.
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
Dickey/Thole/Prospect (not elite) to Toronto
T. d'Arnaud/Syndegaad/Buck/not elite prospect or cash to Mets
Says that this is the current deal via twitter
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
Sources: #Mets, #BlueJays have agreement in principle on Dickey trade. Window open for Jays to extend Dickey, which would complete deal
@Ken_Rosenthal
Negotiating window for Dickey extension is 72 hours, expiring Tuesday at 2 pm ET. #Mets #BlueJays
2010 - Newark 5/18 MSG 5/21
2011 - PJ20 9/3-9/4
2012 - MIA Festival 9/2
2013 - Wrigley Field 7/19 Brooklyn 10/18-10/19 Philly 10/22
2015 - Colbert show - 9/23 Global Citizens Festival 9/26
2016 - Philly 4/28-4/29 MSG 5/1-5/2
Pearl Jam bootlegs:
http://wegotshit.blogspot.com
Kind of but not really. He was getting traded all along
2010 - Newark 5/18 MSG 5/21
2011 - PJ20 9/3-9/4
2012 - MIA Festival 9/2
2013 - Wrigley Field 7/19 Brooklyn 10/18-10/19 Philly 10/22
2015 - Colbert show - 9/23 Global Citizens Festival 9/26
2016 - Philly 4/28-4/29 MSG 5/1-5/2
I personally saw him lose 6 games in person.
2010 - Newark 5/18 MSG 5/21
2011 - PJ20 9/3-9/4
2012 - MIA Festival 9/2
2013 - Wrigley Field 7/19 Brooklyn 10/18-10/19 Philly 10/22
2015 - Colbert show - 9/23 Global Citizens Festival 9/26
2016 - Philly 4/28-4/29 MSG 5/1-5/2
All that I once held as true
I stand alone without beliefs
The only truth I know is you.
i really like this trade not cause of the catching prospect, but cause of getting a top pitching prospect. you can never have enough pitching from top to bottom. mets have essentially rebuilt this team pitching wise in 2 years. for a franchise that's always had good pitching, its great to see what's coming down the pipeline in wheeler and Familia, Syndergaard and also the pitchers up in the big league in Niese, Harvey, McHugh and Gee. I woulda liked to get a major league ready OF prospect, but anytime you can top pitching prospect thats a steal in my book. I'm very sad to CY Dickey leave, but how many seaons is he gonna be like what he's been for the past 3 seasons. eventually his number are gonna decline and why not trade him at his high point.
I like what Sandy is doing, but it's gonna take awhile for me to forgive him for messing up the reyes fiasco. I feel had he handled it wrong. we coulda gotten a boatload of major league ready position prospect.
Sammi: Wanna just break up?
i understand the reason..but its still funny trading a cy-young winner
Funny thing or ironic thing is that they're trading him to the team that was the last to trade a pitcher coming off a CY Young season as the Blue Jays dealt Roger Clemens to the Yankees following 1998.
Albany 2006 Camden 2006 E. Rutherford 2, 2006 Inglewood 2006,
Chicago 2007
Camden 2008 MSG 2008 MSG 2008 Hartford 2008.
Seattle 2009 Seattle 2009 Philadelphia 2009,Philadelphia 2009 Philadelphia 2009
Hartford 2010 MSG 2010 MSG 2010
Toronto 2011,Toronto 2011
Wrigley Field 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Brooklyn 2013 Philadelphia 2, 2013
Philadelphia 1, 2016 Philadelphia 2 2016 New York 2016 New York 2016 Fenway 1, 2016
Fenway 2, 2018
MSG 2022
St. Paul, 1, St. Paul 2 2023
"I play good, hard-nosed basketball.
Things happen in the game. Nothing you
can do. I don't go and say,
"I'm gonna beat this guy up."
I didn't like watching him pitch. Every picture of him has him with his tongue out
Tango
Foxtrot
:?
Let Reyes walk for draft picks instead of trading him...
Resign Wright but trade Dickey for a prospect? I could care less how good this guy is in Single A, Double A or Triple A...its a PROSPECT.
This move blows.
Rebuilding again? Continued? Nice message Mets...And you raised ticket prices- sweeet!!!! I don't wanna hear "oh the Mets were going to be last place again with Philly, Washington and Atlanta - blah blah blah" Dickey is a winner. His personal life shit is behind him and he's loving where he is at in life = his on field success. He wasn't trying to break the bank. This move blows. Poor Wright. And STOP about Travis d'Arnaud and how awesome he is GOING to be...F That!!! The most intense baseball fan in the world wouldn't know who this cat is if they tripped over him in Citibank's parking lot.
Crappy day for this Mets fan. I wish RA the best of luck and am grateful for his service. I knew when he came to pitch we were getting his all and most likely a solid start and usually a win. Who's that guy now???? Injured washed up relic Johan? Prospect Wheeler? Prospect Harvey? Prospect Synderguard? C'mon...puuuhhhleeease!
Horrible day for this Mets fan.
GO TORONTO!!
7.9.03~9.28.04~10.1.05~5.12.06~5.13.06~5.27.06~5.28.06
8.5.08(EV)~10.9.09~5.21.10~6.20.11(EV)~7.5.11(EV)~7.9.11(EV)
11.21.13~8.27.16(EV)~11.14.16(TOTD)~4.13.20~9.27.20~9.26.21~10.2.21
2.15.22 (EV)~2.25.22 (EV)~2.27.22 (EV)~5.3.22~5.7.22~9.17.24~9.29.24
Congrats Toronto...what a classy great pitcher you are getting.
The Mets should be embarassed
7.9.03~9.28.04~10.1.05~5.12.06~5.13.06~5.27.06~5.28.06
8.5.08(EV)~10.9.09~5.21.10~6.20.11(EV)~7.5.11(EV)~7.9.11(EV)
11.21.13~8.27.16(EV)~11.14.16(TOTD)~4.13.20~9.27.20~9.26.21~10.2.21
2.15.22 (EV)~2.25.22 (EV)~2.27.22 (EV)~5.3.22~5.7.22~9.17.24~9.29.24
The book, “Long Shot” (Simon & Schuster) comes a month after Piazza, arguably the greatest hitting catcher of all time, fell 98 votes short of being voted into the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. Many think he missed because of persistent rumors he used performance-enhancing drugs during a 16-year career.
The 44-year-old makes no bones about holding a grudge against Clemens for beaning him during a July 8, 2000, game, and for the infamous bat-throwing incident later that season against the Yankees during the World Series.
“I truly believe that if I hadn’t gotten my head down at the last instant, Clemens’ two-seamer would have struck me in the eye and possibly killed me,” he recalls.
The Yankees hurler called the Mets dugout to apologize during the game, but Piazza wasn’t hearing it.
“I grabbed [the phone], threw it and said, ‘Tell him to go f--k himself,’ ” Piazza said.
“Roger Clemens had near-perfect control. I wouldn’t have batted an eye if he had just brushed me off the plate — of course that’s what he said he was trying to do . . . But to stick it in my forehead, that’s another story altogether.”
Piazza tells how he mapped out a plan for revenge — taking karate lessons and visualizing the next time they would go at it.
“I would approach with my fist pulled back. I figured he’d throw his glove out for protection. I’d parry the glove and then get after it,” Piazza writes.
He would get his chance in October — when the upstart Mets met their crosstown rivals in the World Series. The coming confrontation between the Mets’ 12-time All-Star catcher and the Bombers’ hard-case hurler was the talk of the city.
The climactic moment came at Yankee Stadium, during Clemens’ fourth pitch to Piazza in the first inning of Game 2. The sizzling fastball sawed Piazza’s bat into three pieces, with a shard flying toward the mound. Clemens picked up the splintered barrel and, inexplicably, chucked it in Piazza’s direction as the hitter ran down the first-base line.
“What the f--k is your problem?” Piazza, still holding the handle of the broken bat and walking toward the pitcher’s mound, asked Clemens. But Piazza went no further — and never realized his dream of revenge.
“There were complications,” he recalls. “The least of them was the realization that Clemens was a big guy, and I stood a pretty fair chance of getting my ass kicked in front of Yankee Stadium and the world. That was a legitimate concern.”
It was a decision over which he still beats himself. “It was not only possible but — circumstances be damned — it was in order,” he said. “It was the story of the Series. I couldn’t deliver a punch.”
Piazza carried a chip on his shoulder toward the Yankees, even off the field.
After a Guns N’ Roses concert, Piazza — who’d been drinking vodka all night — chided lead singer Axl Rose for wearing Rangers, Knicks and Yankees jerseys on stage. But not his team’s.
“I’m obliterated. I go, ‘Hey, yo, Axl! What the f--k, man? Like, you know, you think you could’ve mixed in a Mets jersey?’ ”
The baseball world speculated about Clemens’ apparent “roid rage” during the 2000 Subway Series, and Piazza, late in his career, had to battle similar rumors about using performance-enhancing drugs.
The book, co-written by Lonnie Wheeler, flatly denies this.
“I was into power, not prison,” he said of illegal steroids.
The strongest concoction he admits taking was androstenedione — also called “andro,” a muscle-building supplement bought over the counter at nutrition stores in a “Monster Pak” that also contained creatine and amino acids.
When andro was found in Mark McGwire’s locker in 1998, Piazza said he decided to phase it out of his own regimen. In 2004 the FDA banned it.
Piazza admits that every team had a treasure chest of drugs.
“I used Vioxx because it was an intense anti-inflammatory and it made me feel good,” he writes in the book, which is set to go on sale Tuesday.
“When I caught for 22 straight days and could hardly drag myself out of bed to get to the ballpark, Vioxx picked me up. I’d sing, ‘It’s gonna be a Vioxx morning.’ ”
Piazza admits he took “greenies” — stimulants that were once common in baseball — usually in his coffee. But they made him too jittery. He preferred Dymetadrine, a light asthma medication that sends more oxygen to the brain. He also used Ephedra, an over-the-counter fat burner. It was later added to the banned list.
The use of PEDs was not the only rumor swirling.
Piazza believes the persistent whispers that he was in the closet began after Mets manager Bobby Valentine said in a 2002 interview that Major League Baseball was ready for an openly gay player.
“The whole episode was such a strange, incredible phenomenon . . . I still don’t get it.
“I don’t know where the rumor came from, although I’ve heard many theories, including one that I suppose makes the most sense to me, involving a former teammate and his agent.”
Piazza doesn’t name the instigators, and is vague about how the rumor spread from there. He felt compelled to address the gossip publicly, telling reporters, “I’m not gay. I’m heterosexual. I can’t control what people think. I can say I’m heterosexual. I date women. That’s pretty much it.”
Questions about his sexuality bothered him less than the insinuation that he was somehow phony. “I found it hugely insulting that people believed I’d go so far out of my way — living with Playmates, vacationing with actresses, showing up at nightclubs — to act out a lifestyle that would amount to a charade,” he writes. “If I was gay, I’d be gay all the way.”
¡Habla inglés!
Mike Piazza thinks Hispanic ballplayers need to learn English.
“I certainly don’t dispute that Latin players are entitled to the same dreams and opportunities that I had, but I’m sorry: when they arrive on US soil, the onus isn’t on the American players to learn Spanish,” he writes in his memoir. “It’s on the Latin players to learn English.”
Tensions between Piazza and Latin ballplayers simmered more than once during his 16-year career.
Piazza describes “some kind of weird Hispanic conspiracy against me, almost like a secret brotherhood, a Latin mafia-type of thing.”
During his Dodger days, he was scorned by teammates Ismael Valdez, and Ramon and Pedro Martinez. And he was hit by pitches by Pedro and Guillermo Mota, and Julian Tavarez.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/gay_ ... owqNvUMN/0
He didn't need to write a book to confirm the fact that he's a
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http://www.businessinsider.com/mets-highest-paid-outfielder-has-been-retired-for-12-years-2013-2