Master Index of Archived Threads


Farewell to Wallace Matthews

bmfc1 Apr 01 2010 07:05 PM Edited 1 time(s), most recently on Apr 01 2010 08:00 PM

Good riddance, I mean good luck!, to Wallace Matthews. He's not leaving NY, but he's left Newsday to join ESPN NY as the Yankees reporter. That means no more lame columns about the Mets. http://www.espnmediazone3.com/us/2010/0 ... tributors/ http://espn.go.com/newyork/

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 01 2010 07:32 PM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

So, ESPN NY is run by illiterates, then?

Kong76 Apr 01 2010 07:42 PM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

ESPN NY is looking to take over everything ... Wally's head must be bigger than ever.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 01 2010 07:46 PM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I found out the site is being run by Leon Carter who was the Snooze's sports editor. Site is supposed to launch in the am.

metirish Apr 01 2010 08:09 PM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I think Wally was never going to last at Newsday once MSG and Dolan took over . Wally used to kill him in the paper.

Nymr83 Apr 01 2010 08:56 PM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

good riddance! let him write about just the yankees where i'll have no compulsion to ever read him.

A Boy Named Seo Apr 01 2010 08:59 PM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

We've had our ESPN-LA for a while. Most times I'm there, it's an accident. http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/

metirish Apr 02 2010 06:41 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I found out the site is being run by Leon Carter who was the Snooze's sports editor. Site is supposed to launch in the am. Launched http://espn.go.com/new-york/index The roster of columnists is very familiar

Frayed Knot Apr 02 2010 06:44 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Kicking it off with a Buster Olney Q&A session starting at 9AM

Ceetar Apr 02 2010 06:49 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I'm not sure we need even more coverage, even if it is just recycled people from other venues. I guess i'll find out if things from there start popping up as 'must read', but so far it's not worth reading the main stream media about the Mets since they are incapable of forming an opinion that's not heavily supported by all the other media guys, and the negativity cycle just continues.

HahnSolo Apr 02 2010 06:57 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I tend to like O'Connor, Rubin and Kieran Darcy. They have a pretty strong douche contingent in Wally, Marchand, and Coutinho, though.

HahnSolo Apr 02 2010 07:00 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Ceetar wrote: I'm not sure we need even more coverage, even if it is just recycled people from other venues. I guess i'll find out if things from there start popping up as 'must read', but so far it's not worth reading the main stream media about the Mets since they are incapable of forming an opinion that's not heavily supported by all the other media guys, and the negativity cycle just continues. Too much of ESPN's on-line stuff is hidden behind their "Insider" walls, so I tend not to do much more on their sites than browse headlines.

Ceetar Apr 02 2010 07:01 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I've never been a following of any of the beat writer guys close enough to care anyway, but not really a fan of Rubin, especially after last year. coutinho had a very enlightening interview with Pelfrey the other day that pretty much erased any of the (small) worry I had over his Spring though. There's just so much info out there. And with Twitter and blogs I already read, and here, news will come to me if it's worth reading. So that's on them.

metirish Apr 02 2010 07:18 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

David Wright's Helmet has submitted a question.

metirish Apr 02 2010 07:24 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

There's a chat with Rubin at 9:30 and with Wally at 10...in fact it looks like these chats will be a big feature of the site. In Olney's chat on the right side they have all the upcoming chats, and there's a whole lot.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 02 2010 07:59 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I'm in the Rubin queue now but forgot to ask under a goofy name.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 02 2010 08:01 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Got to me right away though he didn't answer the $24 million question: Jonny (Brooklyn) Hey Adam, Sorry to see you leave the News, I'm an old school hard-copy reader. What should we make of the rotation switcheroo? Is this supposed to have sent a message to Pelfrey and Perez especially, and do you expect they will receive it? $24M is a lot to eat, do they dare? Adam Rubin They want to get off to a good start, and want to go with the hottest pitchers in the first series. It's probably a message thing, too. Jerry said it was because of Pelfrey's numbers against the Marlins. That's spin. He knew that weeks earlier.

Ceetar Apr 02 2010 08:50 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

It's an example of managing scared, and I wish Manuel would s top trying to send veiled messages to his players through the media and instead challenge Pelfrey to step up and beat the Marlins. Show confidence in his players instead of basically criticizing them behind their backs.

batmagadanleadoff Apr 02 2010 08:58 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

What if this move is a show of confidence in Niese?

Benjamin Grimm Apr 02 2010 09:00 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I'd like to think that that's what it is.

Ceetar Apr 02 2010 09:05 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

batmagadanleadoff wrote: What if this move is a show of confidence in Niese? Then he shouldn't have said "I don't want Pelfrey to face the Marlins."

G-Fafif Apr 02 2010 09:11 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

What's the point of Mike Pelfrey if we have to hide him from a division rival in April?

Benjamin Grimm Apr 02 2010 09:13 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I think Mike Pelfrey still has too much potential to give up on him, but he's, at the present time, not as good as we'd like him to be.

metirish Apr 02 2010 09:15 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

G-Fafif wrote: What's the point of Mike Pelfrey if we have to hide him from a division rival in April? Yeah this , it's been the same the last few seasons too with Pelfrey and the Marlins, shuffling him to avoid them in a key late season game is one thing(I don't like it) but doing it now is for losers.

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 02 2010 09:18 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Let's not go too far afield. It's obvious the move was done in reaction to their poor performances this spring, my question was really whether this is the kind of thing that could jolt or motivate a player, trigger some primal jock response or even make clear the tenuousness of their jobs, or whether it's no big deal to them. I mean, I think at some level athletes in pro team sports are driven not to disappoint or fall behind one another, and to that extent I wondered the weight at which the rotation order carries. I don't think Rubin really answered this.

metirish Apr 02 2010 09:21 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Fair points JCL. Pelfrey doesn't strike me as the kind of person that gets mad at anything and my impression of him is that he probably shrugged his shoulders at this.

Ceetar Apr 02 2010 09:23 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

metirish wrote: G-Fafif wrote: What's the point of Mike Pelfrey if we have to hide him from a division rival in April? Yeah this , it's been the same the last few seasons too with Pelfrey and the Marlins, shuffling him to avoid them in a key late season game is one thing(I don't like it) but doing it now is for losers. Exactly. I have a lot of faith in Pelfrey this year, we'll see how it goes, but this is pretty much exactly why I think Manuel is the worst manager I've ever seen on the Mets. He does similar stuff in game as well. How about when he pulls pitchers (and I've heard people bring this up in general) at 5.2, etc. You're teaching these guys that there is always a safety net, and you don't challenge them to go all the way, to finish things off, to battle when they're tired or struggling. Teaching them how to overcome these things that are present in just about every game is important, because any talented major league pitcher is going to have success when they're feeling good, and all their pitches are working perfectly. Rubin didn't answer it because he doesn't know what Manuel was really thinking, just what he said. But why should you punish a guy that's just working on things in games that don't count who's guarenteed a job?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 02 2010 09:50 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Isn't it also possible that they wanted to break up the bullpen-taxers-- Maine and Perez being the most flagrant-- so as not to deplete the rubber-arm brigade in the first couple of weeks? That said, though I'm with G-F, et. al., on the Hiding-Pelf issue... I do like the matchup of Niese on Florida a lot. Ramirez aside, they're a team of fastball hitters-- Uggla, Cantu... even young buck Sanchez profiles that way. They're guys you can make miss "back and forth" in the zone more than "side to side" (which is to say, mixing speeds and loopy stuff messes them up, but they can hold up on outside-the-zone stuff). The kid's curve should give them night terrors.

Edgy DC Apr 02 2010 09:57 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

And it's perfectly OK to see the swap as an investment in Niese's development, rather than a divestment in Pelf's.

Ashie62 Apr 02 2010 10:08 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I have no idea what Jerry is doing with the SP. Maybe the intent is to set Niese aflutter and make Pelfrey cry. The rotation will likely be a work in progress.

Frayed Knot Apr 02 2010 10:45 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

The rotation in that order also serves to break up the two RH starters - although there are certainly other combos that could have done that as well.

Nymr83 Apr 02 2010 10:54 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Keeping Pelf away from the Marlins seems silly, if we're operating that way we should add Figueroa to the rotation and just keep Perez away from everyone!

John Cougar Lunchbucket Apr 02 2010 11:09 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

Am I talking with people who are actually buying the matchup reasoning? (that is separate to whether a case can be made for it, which you've shown can be done). If matchups were really the case why would it need to have been changed so late in the game in the first place? Come on!

metirish Apr 02 2010 11:13 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

I don't believe it but I can see how folks would feel better for believing it. Great visual BTW....it really sells your point, you must work in that industry.

G-Fafif Apr 02 2010 11:17 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

If this were truly about matchups, they would have kept Misch, who shut out the Marlins last year, around for the first week.

metirish Apr 02 2010 11:18 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

G-Fafif wrote: If this were truly about matchups, they would have kept Misch, who shut out the Marlins last year, around for the first week. This is why you hang on here and haven't been cut.

Ceetar Apr 02 2010 11:23 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

G-Fafif wrote: If this were truly about matchups, they would have kept Misch, who shut out the Marlins last year, around for the first week. With Manuel it's rarely about anything he says it is, because he's a liar. My issue is with him saying it, and making that the 'official' reason, whether or not it actually is. Go ahead and pump up Niese or Maine and say they deserve it or something, make it a positive, not a negative.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr Apr 02 2010 11:28 AM Re: Farewell to Wallace Matthews

G-Fafif wrote: If this were truly about matchups, they would have kept Misch, who shut out the Marlins last year, around for the first week. And the second-to-last time Pelf went Fishin', he tossed 7 2/3 innings of 1-run ball, with 6 K and 6 baserunners all game. One game does not a matchup make. I'm not really buying a lot of what Chuckles says at this point. But the pitching order thing doesn't really bug me much. It's immaterial, really... of far less importance than batting order.