PITCHER AND CATCHER 3-10-2016

PITCHER AND CATCHER 3-10-2016

The other evening I was listening to another Mets podcast, and the cohost was quite angry at Jacob de Grom for not signing his 2016 contract. As you know,  de Grom was not happy with the contract that he received from the Mets and his agent had to do some fancy footwork to try to smooth over the situation. 

At first I was a little taken aback by the cohost’s opinion , thinking that it was not a big deal, but after further reflection I think he made a valid point. Jacob de Grom and his agent handled the whole situation poorly. It should have  never gotten out in the press, it should've never gotten to the point where they had to walk it back to make it look that it wasn’t that big a deal. The Mets were well within  their authority  to offer what they did to de Grom. He's got to except the rules. These are rules that were set up by his union, the Major League Baseball Players Association, as well as Major-League Baseball. It was negotiated, agreed upon, and the players have to learn to live with it. Of course, he's underpaid. He’s not making anything near what he should be making but that's not the point. The point is there is a CBA, which was agreed by everybody.  The Mets had every right to do what they did. 

The business of baseball can be an ugly business with the arbitration hearings and all.  It can be very nasty and what happened with Jacob de Grom wasn't right, but, the Mets are not the bad guy in this thing. They did exactly what a team that is trying to save a few bucks to keep the team together would do and have no fault at all. Jacob de Grom will make his money eventually, so for now just work hard and wait for that day to come and sign the contract.

Mike Piazza spent the other day visiting the  Hall of Fame for the first time in a long while. He checked out the different exhibits, and also checked out where his future plaque is going to be come this July. He had some thoughts on being at the Hall of Fame:

"It's a little overwhelming," Piazza said Tuesday after touring the shrine in preparation for his induction in July. "You kind of feel like the race is over. It all starts to hit home. It's your career and many people have touched it. It's pretty crazy to think about."
"It's incredibly powerful. This whole year for me has been so euphoric. It's such an honor," said Piazza. "When you come here and you see the history here, the players that you played against and with, it all sort of trickles back. It's a powerful experience. The game has given me everything that I have."
Piazza put on white gloves and swung bats once wielded by the Splendid Splinter, Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams, and Philadelphia Phillies icon Mike Schmidt.
"To come back and then to see Mike Schmidt's bat, I mean, I grew up watching the Phillies in the 70s," said Piazza, who lived in Norristown, just north of Philadelphia. "That was the team that I loved to watch and followed. Coming full circle with the Mets and seeing Tom Seaver (in the Hall of Fame), it starts to hit home. It's very exciting for me."
Elected on the fourth try, Piazza joins Tom Seaver as the only players elected to the Hall as New York Mets. Piazza will be inducted July 24 with Ken Griffey Jr.