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Re-Peterson?

Frayed Knot Sep 09 2006 01:42 PM

John Harper reporting that Rick Peterson [url=http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/story/450846p-379499c.html]is likely to re-up with Mets[/url]. His initial 3-year contract is up after this year. Adam Rubin maintained that in the 1st year or two of the deal he would have bet almost anything against his return as Rick tended to butt heads with some of the front office. Those somebodies were always un-named but you get the idea that it was the "senior scout" types that the Wilpons initially hired as a hedge against trusting the keys to the kingdom too much to Duquette.

smg58 Sep 09 2006 08:45 PM

Things are different when you win. You could argue that he hasn't kept Pedro and Glavine healthy, but when you look at what the Mets have gotten out of a whole litany of pitchers that nobody really had the right to expect much from, I can't see how you can deny him some sort of credit. The staff has outperformed my expectations (taking this year's injuries into consideration) for three years in a row, and I don't see what else I can use to judge the guy.

Yancy Street Gang Sep 09 2006 09:06 PM

It would be hard to blame Peterson for the numbness in Glavine's ring finger.

A Boy Named Seo Sep 09 2006 09:11 PM

You could argue that he hasn't kept Pedro and Glavine healthy, but you'd lose that argument quickly. Also, Kazmir's recent shoulder woes make you wonder if Peterson really did see something or if that's just a crappy coincidence for poor Scotty. That article didn't even give him props for Darren Oliver or Aaron Heilman. Edit: What Yancy said.

Rotblatt Sep 10 2006 08:20 AM

Resign the dude! Other GMs would kill for him--especially Boston, I'm thinking, since their shiny new pitchers have drastically underperformed the last few years. I don't know if he's just getting lucky or what, and I don't care. All I know is that our scrubs have been better than other team's scrubs, and I'm willing to credit Peterson for that--deserved or not.

smg58 Sep 10 2006 09:55 AM

A Boy Named Seo wrote: You could argue that he hasn't kept Pedro and Glavine healthy, but you'd lose that argument quickly. Also, Kazmir's recent shoulder woes make you wonder if Peterson really did see something or if that's just a crappy coincidence for poor Scotty. You would lose that argument very quickly, but I think I remember somebody on the site making that argument when Pedro first went down. I might be confusing his injury with Zambrano's, although that injury may have been a blessing in disguise. I got the impression that Kazmir would be pitching if the games meant anything for Tampa, so I don't know if I'd read that much into it unless the shoulder becomes an issue again for him next year.

Frayed Knot Sep 10 2006 10:52 AM

* Peterson never predicted arm problems for Kazmir * Can anyone - like maybe one of you with the keys to the way-back machine - find the terms of Peterson's contract? I keep hearing how he makes "way more" than Willie but I've never seen the specifics one way or the other. We all assume that Willie - who's coming up on the final year of his deal - is in line for a significant raise himself, but it's tough to imagine Rick hanging around while getting his pay slashed just to keep it in line.

A Boy Named Seo Sep 10 2006 12:32 PM

I looked for a minute (and came up empty) for quotes regarding Kazmir's delivery and mechanics. My brain told me that Peterson thought Kazmir had a violent delivery, and that maybe this opinion was formed after Kazmir's session in Birmingham at the Sports Medicine Institute (something like a hundred bazillion, trillion revolutions per millisecond in his pitching arm... pretty sure that's what he said). My brain's not as smart as he sometimes thinks he is.

Johnny Dickshot Sep 10 2006 12:49 PM

Couldn't find the terms other than three years -- he was the first into a 3-year deal with the A's at the time. The other interesting part of the transaction was the A's insistence the Mets take Terrence Long too. We declined.

Edgy DC Sep 10 2006 12:55 PM

Even if Peterson was of the opinion that Scott Kazmir was a likely candidate for a debilitating injury, the Mets would be grossly unprofessional to realease that specific opinion in the context of the trade. They hung him out to dry enough by letting that ten-minute comment leak. Peterson's gospel, such that it is, is that a starting pitcher tends to need X number of innings in the minors (I forget the number -- 500 maybe?) if he is to be effective long term at the big-league level.

A Boy Named Seo Sep 10 2006 01:26 PM

]Even if Peterson was of the opinion that Scott Kazmir was a likely candidate for a debilitating injury, the Mets would be grossly unprofessional to realease that specific opinion in the context of the trade. They hung him out to dry enough by letting that ten-minute comment leak. I agree with you, and the Mets might've done that, who knows. If the "he's gonna get hurt" theory was talked about openly, it could've been an attempt by the organization to justify the trade and to calm the angry WFAN Met fan after it happened. I'm still curious whether Peterson actually said anything along those lines, though. This [url=http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/040823kazmir.html]BA article[/url] from two years ago suggests he did publicly say Kazmir had mechanics issues, but provides no direct quotes from Peterson, and Kazmir himself refutes that Peterson had any problems with the way he pitches. Following the trade, Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson was quoted in several publications suggesting Kazmir's mechanics needed improvement. At barely 6 feet tall, Kazmir already fought questions about his durability. He had a tender elbow at the start of the 2003 season and an abdominal strain early this season, and the Mets handled him carefully, so he has never had a huge workload. While Wilken points out that few 20-year-old pitchers have perfect deliveries, he says there's nothing in Kazmir's mechanics to suggest a future of arm problems. "We didn't see anything alarming either mechanically or mentally," said Wilken, who previously worked with Peterson in the Blue Jays organization. "Scott Kazmir has gotten through a lot of things, so hopefully in his next steps he can handle (making adjustments) too. "I just hope Rick Peterson's wrong this time." Kazmir disputed that Peterson even made the criticisms attributed to him, and said he isn't worried about his mechanics regardless. Doctors analyzed his delivery at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham prior to this season, looking at the muscle strain and torque in his arm and upper body, and said he checked out fine. "I don't think (Peterson) said that, to tell you the truth," Kazmir said. "Because when we were in Birmingham doing biomechanics with all that, he was saying he didn't want me to change anything and that my mechanics were pretty sound."

Rockin' Doc Sep 10 2006 01:42 PM

I don't recall ever seeing or hearing direct quotes regarding Kazmir's mechanics or tendency to injuries attributed to Peterson or any of the Mets leadership. I remember numerous posts alluding to such remarks, but I don't recall any of them ever providing a quote to substantiate that such a statement was ever made by Peterson or any of the Mets front office regarding Kazmir.

Edgy DC Sep 10 2006 02:51 PM

That seems fair. He earlier showed concerns about Kazzy's mechanics (and how many pitchers fresh out of high school wouldn't that be true about), but wasn't running around after the trade scoffing that Kazmir was doomed. And it would further be grossly unprofessional if Peterson is anything but sympathetic if and when Kazmir has arm problems going forth. Looking like a lost weekend in Metland, I tell you what.