The Mack Attack: Vol. I, Issue I

By John Mackin Ade
Posted Thursday, January 3, 2008

Stay back… I bite!

First there was the “Mack’s Mets Notes. Next came ‘The Mack Report’. And now begins the era of ‘The Mack Attack’.

Boy, that sounds important doesn’t it? Actually, it should have read: first came a website a few people read where I made no money, then came an email I sent out to people that still talk to me, and now begins the era of a weekly post on www.flushinguniversity.com who fear that, if they don’t print it, I’ll call ‘Cousin Chucky’ and burn down the van they live in.

The first sentence is a better read.

We’ll cover mostly Mets in this weekly, but if there’s something on my mind, I’ll try and flair up here rather than take it out on the 6 years old that visit the above mentioned site. Mike McGann, the owner of the site, is trying to come up with some kind of virtual ankle bracelet he can put on my computer, but that’s another story.

So here goes week one:

There seems to be some speculation that SP Scott Kazmir wants out of Tampa Bay and hopes to go to a team that actually has a chance of winning something. The problem is he has 3 years left in a team option, which I’m sure means T.B. will do what it takes to keep him.

Can the Mets come up with a package to trade for him? Well, they couldn’t for Johan Santana and at this point in their organizational development, I’m not sure they have enough to trade for Jay Payton. For now, Omar and Co. seems destined to be happy signing aging utility players, relief pitchers with a 5+ ERA, and someone that can speak both Spanish and ‘Randolph’.

Kazmir would be a nice addition to a rotation that would include… err… that’s right; the Mets had to trade the other 4 to get Scott.

Oh well.

I was looking over the 40-man:

Pitchers: Adam Bostick Ambiorix Burgos Willie Collazo Pedro Feliciano Aaron Heilman Orlando Hernandez

Philip Humber John Maine Pedro Martinez Carlos Muniz Mike Pelfrey Oliver Perez

Steven Register Duaner Sanchez Scott Schoeneweis Joe Smith Jorge Sosa Brian Stokes

Jason Vargas Billy Wagner Matt Wise

Catchers: Ramon Castro - Brian Schneider

Infielders Luis Castillo Carlos Delgado Damion Easley Ruben Gotay Anderson Hernandez Jose Reyes

David Wright

Outfielders Moises Alou Marlon Anderson Carlos Beltran Endy Chavez Ryan Church Carlos Gomez

That’s it. Boy, this just doesn’t look like a New York baseball roster. First, there are only 36 names. Then there are people named Register, Stokes, Wise. We add to that fossils like Castro, Pedro, Alou, Anderson, Easley, Delgado, Feliciano, Sanchez, El Duque, Sosa, S.S., Wagner, and Castillo, and end with unproven talent named Gotay, Gomez, A. Hernandez (is he still around?), Bostick, Collazo, Humber, Pelfrey, Vargas, Smith, and Muniz, and what do they have left to field?

Maine, Perez, Heilman, Schneider, Reyes, Wright, and Beltran.

I predicted last year that the Mets would finish 3rd. Finishing 3rd in 2008 with a lineup like this is a stretch, but since Florida and Washington suck big time, I’ll concede and stay with that predication again. But watch out, this could be a 4th place team in the making. They wouldn’t come lower in the AL East.

The Yankees seem to be interested in some pitcher named Yu Darvish, that pitches on one of the Japanese teams. He is a 21-year old with Iranian and Japanese parents.

The story comes out of a Korean newspaper. Why didn’t it come out in either an Iranian pr Japanese rag? Did it, but the translation was held up until the State Department figured it out? The paper says:

The report goes on to say that the Dodgers, Mets and Cubs have also made 러브콜 to Darvish… which loosely translates as “love calls”… and that the floor of negotiations is something along the lines of what Daisuke Matsuzaka was able to command during his posting extravaganza in 2006.

A recent scouting report said:

Darvish throws a low-90s fastball (91-93 mph). At 21 years old, he is 6 foot 5 and under 180 lbs. which means he has the potential to add weight and thereby add velocity. He throws a plus knuckle curveball along with a sinker, slider, and changeup. His 2007 season, which earned him the Japanese version of the Cy Young was spectacular: 1.82 ERA, 26 starts, 207 innings pitched, 123 hits, 210 strikeouts, 49 walks and 12 complete games. That works out to a k/bb of 4.29, a batting average against of .170 while averaging 8 innings pitched per start.

Yu Darvish. Iranian and Japanese. Is that Iraniese or Japanian? Does this mean he can make chemical weapons and place them on his own subway train?

Omar Minaya said this week that the “position player” portion of the 2008 Mets roster is filled.

This means 2 things:

1. The trainer is going to get a lot of work this year

2. We’re still praying like shit for a pitcher to come our way

What I’m curious about is, what if the agent for Johan Santana calls Minaya and says you can have him for a 4 package deal that includes, oh, let’s say, Aaron Heilman and Endy Chavez. Does Omar hang up because the ‘position’ portion of the roster is locked solid? And what about Mike Pelfrey, Carlos Gomez, and Phillip Humber? Are they now position players?

Look. You want another top SP for the 2008 Mets? Simple. Package both Carlos Gomez and Fernando Martinez, plus give the team offering the pitcher a list to choose 2 more players from. Guys like Chavez, Ruben Gotay, Anderson Hernandez, Jon Niese, Jake Ruckle, Tobi Stoner, Emmanuel Garcia, Luis Rivera, Mike Carp, Nick Abel, Nick Evans, Hector Pellot, Sean McCraw, Bobby Parnell, Adam Bostick, Matt Durkin, Eric Brown, Carlos Muniz, Ryan Cullen, and Blake Eager.

Why the hell not? Who cares if both Gomez and Martinez go? The Mets still have Carlos Beltran, Ryan Church, and Mosies Alou for this year, and I’m sure the team can find someone to cover injury or old man time if Chavez was in the deal.

And what about 2009? Well, who the hell cares about 2009? I certainly don’t because I’ll probably be propped up in a corner of the VA hospital with a straw up my nose, watching black and white TV.

Use some common sense here people. The Cowboys wouldn’t have a chance to win the Super Bowl this year if they didn’t play year to year with new draft picks and free agent pickups.

Just ask Isiah.