[RUMOR] Sheff to Mets, Cam to NYY

[Steak]

Looper is okay. He is not as great as Nathan, Lidge, Rivera, and Gagne, but he is solid. He is in the B group of closers where he provides adventures, but can get the job done. He is not that bad. I just think Mets fans are way too harsh with their closers as Armando, John Franco, and even Randy Myers can attest.

[General]

I'm sorry, but Benitez just blew in NY. There's no way around it. He wasn't even a Looper. He was a Kolb in Atlanta.

[Steak]

Armando stunk in his final year with the Mets for sure. Other than that, I thought he was fine in his first two years with the Mets. He was one of the big reasons why the Mets were a playoff team back then. Did he blow saves in big games? Sure, but lot of closers do that too. Joe Nathan blew Game 2 of the ALDS last year. Does that make him a bad closer? Definitely not. Stuff like that it's going to happen.

[General]

Well, the media tore him a new one every day.

[Kingdom]

Who don't they tear new ones for in NY?

[General]

Beltran

[Kingdom]

Kruk gets on Beltran's case all the time on Baseball Tonight

[love_that_reefer]

Benitez had 4 great seasons in NY. Looper will have zero.

[Kingdom]

Looper's middle name is LaVerne.

Hahaha!

[nyjunc]

Armando stunk in his final year with the Mets for sure. Other than that, I thought he was fine in his first two years with the Mets. He was one of the big reasons why the Mets were a playoff team back then. Did he blow saves in big games? Sure, but lot of closers do that too. Joe Nathan blew Game 2 of the ALDS last year. Does that make him a bad closer? Definitely not. Stuff like that it's going to happen.

He was good w/ the Mets until he was put in real pressure situations, he'd save all the games against abd teams but he'd blow it against the better teams and in the 2 years they made the postseason.

[Steak]

OH C'MON. Stop it!

Joe Nathan blow a playoff game last year? Does that make him a bad closer? Definitely not. Every closer is going to have a hiccup in the playoffs. That happens. That's a life of a closer. I think New Yorkers get spoiled watching Rivera do his thing here in NY so Armando gets judge based on that. If you want to fault Armando for what he did in his last year with the Mets, that's fine. He was horrible in his last year with the Mets and his attitude left a lot to be desired in his last year.

This is one of the reason why I hate NY as a sports town. They crucify people especially Mets fans. Mets fans have been hard on guys like Alomar, Armando, and a lot of people. Some things are just not good enough for some people. It's stuff like this which is why no one wants to play with the Mets. It's stuff like this is why Rey Ordonez said Mets fans are stupid and I actually agree with him.

[nyjunc]

Joe Nathan blow a playoff game last year? Does that make him a bad closer? Definitely not. Every closer is going to have a hiccup in the playoffs. That happens. That's a life of a closer. I think New Yorkers get spoiled watching Rivera do his thing here in NY so Armando gets judge based on that. If you want to fault Armando for what he did in his last year with the Mets, that's fine. He was horrible in his last year with the Mets and his attitude left a lot to be desired in his last year.

He could never be counted on in a big spot. Obviously pitching in the same City as Rivera doesn't help but he constantly blew big games especially against the Mets 2 biggest nemesis, the Yanks and Braves.

Save statistics are so overrated, guys can come in and give up 3 runs and still get a save. The Mets were always on edge when Armando was pitching. His era in postseason was 3.56, that's horrible. He was legitimately great for Fla last year but as a Met and as an O he stgruggled in big games.

[General]

Joe Nathan blew a playoff game last year

That's one. Armando blew all of them.

[love_that_reefer]

Nathan blew a game in 2003 too

[Steak]

Never could be counted on a big spot? I guess those saves in September meant nothing when the Mets were contending for the Wild Card spot, eh. Every closer has bombed in a big spot. Trevor Hoffman blew games in a big spot over the years. Not many closers are going to be Rivera or Gagne. It is what it is. I thought Armando did fine against the Braves. Stuff happens like when Brian Jordan homered on a Saturday afternoon in 2001 to end the Mets playoff hopes. Yeah Armando got the blame, but just maybe if the Mets did not get off to a bad start that year, maybe the Mets would have made the playoffs. They started getting on a roll after what happened at 9/11. That was too little too late then. Mets were mediocore all year. One great strech should not reward a team a playoff spot.

Save statistics are overrated? When you save a ballgame, you save a ballgame. It does not matter how much runs you gave up as long as you got the W and save. Joe Nathan gives up runs. Trevor Hoffman makes the ninth inning interesting. Robb Nen gave up runs in the ninth a lot. Dennis Eckersley had his rough moments in the ninth. Heck John Wetteland was not great for the eyes, but he got it done. Again, not many people are going to be Rivera and Gagne. I think the standards that those two set are way too high. It's a credit to how good those two are, but just because the rest of the closers can't get it done does not mean they are bad closers. They are not going to be perfect.

Armando was horrible with the Orioles. That I will agree on. He was a jackass back then for them too.

I did not think Armando was Rivera-like, but he wasn't as bad as Mets fans and the NY media made him out to be. Mets fans have so much high expectations on everyone that they expect them to be robots. It's that type of attitude that made Rey Ordonez speak out on Mets fans and I am glad he did. It's shit like this that made Robbie Alomar be miserable here.