Comments on: The Mets Bullpen Is Full Of Sensitive Gentlemen

By: Matthew K

Matthew K — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:24:42 +0000

The cubs do the same thing too – the backpack is usually full of sunflower seeds and gum.

Looks like the Twins do it too – Pat Neshek auctioned off the old backpack on his blog http://www.eteamz.com/patneshek/index.cfm? (May 21st.)

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:42:34 +0000

Actually, the Red Sox do this too. I think it maybe one of those timeless hardball rituals whose origins are now lost in the hazy deeps of history.

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By: Jon L

Jon L — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 08:43:34 +0000

That’s brilliant. Glad to see my Mets have that sensitive side. And as you say Paul, pretty darn funny when it’s somebody else that has to go through it. I wonder if there’s a pink Hello Kitty Flask inside with which to hydrate himself between innings?

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By: Paul Moro

Paul Moro — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:55:07 +0000

Nate, if you know (correctly) that Wagner used it before Mo did, then how exactly can you argue that Wagner “stole” it? The two points don’t connect, man.

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By: Nate

Nate — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:51:59 +0000

The Yankees have the same hazing ritual…it’s the newest call-up to the bullpen that’s relegated to the duty of carrying the pink bag. Maybe Wagner stole the idea from them…like he stole “Enter Sandman” from Mariano. (I find the fact that he used it before Mo irrelevant when it comes to using it in New York.)

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By: melissa

melissa — Fri, 23 May 2008 00:36:38 +0000

Coley,
You must be ecstatic to hear that Oprah is going to be waving the big foam finger for the veggie lifestyle. She’s going on a 21 day vegan detox diet. Vegetarians everywhere will be hoping she doesn’t do to them what she did to James Frey. Forget what dietitians think Oprah will tell America and baseball writers everywhere what to think about a life sans meat. Prince may soon have the only advocate he needs to support his new lifestyle.

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By: coley

coley — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:17:02 +0000

I think Sarah hit it right on the head. What’s crazy is that people are worried about Prince now that he’s a vegetarian, but they were totally fine with him before, when he was downing Whoppers and fries like a stoned Kobayashi with a case of the munchies. Funston says he is surprised the Brewers didn’t rush out and hire a dietitian after Prince went veggie, but I’m shocked they didn’t hire one years ago.

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By: Sarah Green

Sarah Green — Thu, 22 May 2008 17:35:15 +0000

I’m still not convinced JD’s suckage was because of his family issues. I’m sure they didn’t help, but I think the better explanation was the one he gave this spring—he was standing in the wrong spot in the batter’s box. That seems much more likely to directly affect his hitting performance than his emotional state. But that’s not something we could know from parsing his stats on Baseball Reference.

That said, let’s parse some of Prince’s stats on Baseball Reference just to see what’s there. His P/PA is slightly up, but he seems to be striking out on a few more of those deep counts instead of walking, since his BB/PA and his BB/SO rates have declined slightly from last year. His AB/HR rate has gone from a homer every 11.5 at-bats last year to a horrifying 27.2 rate this year. His BABIP, at .283 last year, is a little lower this year at .267, but it’s not dramatically awful. He is, however, hitting doubles at almost exactly the same rate (once every 16.4 games in 07 and once every 16.3 games this year). For what that’s worth. Yet there is a swing in his GB/FB ratio—last year, it was .80, this year, it’s 1.02. What do we make of this?

If you look at his numbers from 2006 and 2005, you can see just how dramatic his breakout in 2007 was. Maybe he’s just falling back to earth a little bit. Maybe his timing is off, or he’s not “seeing the ball,” or maybe he’s hiding an injury. I mean, we could speculate all day. But if you’re going to speculate about his new veggie diet, I think it’s important to remember that *this was not a healthy man to begin with.* It’s not like his diet was perfectly Zen-balanced before, when he was knocking back the buffalo wings and quarter-pounders with cheese.

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By: Rich

Rich — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:25:44 +0000

I absolutely agree that every major leaguer should be working with a dietitian, Sarah. I’m honestly shocked that the Brewers don’t have one. A proper diet is one of the easiest ways to improve athletic performance.

However, it’s even more key for vegetarian athletes, as they have to pay more attention to what they’re eating. It’s certainly doable with only a modicum of effort and knowledge.

As to whether or not we should be jumping all over his diet, answer these questions.

Has he changed his stance?
Has he changed his weight training?
Has he changed his conditioning?
Does he party more?
Has he changed his diet? YES

I’m going to go with the obvious explanation, until someone can provide information otherwise.

Think back to last year’s J.D Drew in Boston. Most Boston fan’s thought like this:

Does JD Drew just outright suck balls? YES
Does JD Drew have some family issues right now? . . .

It wasn’t until people found out about his family issues that they realized he might have something other than himself to worry about.

Until someone can shed some light on other possible issues that Prince Fielder might be experiencing, I’m going to go with the fairly simple assumption about most athletes: He doesn’t know a thing about regular diets let alone vegetarian diets, and it’s hurting his performance.

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By: Lyndsay

Lyndsay — Thu, 22 May 2008 15:23:55 +0000

FAT. BOYYYY! (which I had to say every time Bartolo Colon came back up last night, and it will be a while before it gets old)

I think Fielder should go on the Miguel Cabrera/Bartolo Colon diet, aka “I don’t geeve a sheet, mang, I aint losin weight for no contract!” diet.

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