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Interview with Mets GM Joe DeMayo |
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Written by Kevin Lewis
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Friday, 25 April 2008 |
Hi, this is Stuart Scott, here we are with Mets GM Joe DeMayo, who is coming off a stunning World Series victory after being down 3-1 in the series. Let's get straight to the questions.
Stuart Scott: With some GMs questioning all of your moves prior to the trade deadline. What was your reasoning behind all the moves? Are there any moves that you regret doing now that you look back on the season?
Joe DeMayo: My philosophy on running a baseball organization is to have a mixture of youth and veteran, you can't be too veteran heavy, and can't be too youth heavy. A good mix can equal success, and I think having guys like Matt Holliday, Luis Castillo, Javier Vazquez and a few other vets to go with the young ones like Tim Lincecum, Nick Adenhart, Clay Buchholz and now Fernando Martinez is a good mix. I also wanted to cut payroll, as to me, I don't believe you need a 200 million dollar payroll to win, and obviously I was proven correct, the highest payroll in the league was defeated in the ALCS, and we had one of the lower payrolls, and went all the way to the winning the World Series. I never regret any move I make, there's a reasoning behind each and every move, and they all worked out for the positive for the organization, and I wish all the players well that helped us along the way in 2008.
Stuart: Looking at your rotation throughout the year, were you ever worried that they were too inexperienced and too young to succeed so quick?
Joe: If you look at the opening day rotation, and the World Series rotation, they were significantly different, so there was a bunch of changes. Our opening day ace ended the season in Triple-A. I have a lot of confidence in the youth of this organization, they all showed great poise, and just pure fearlessness, and just going after hitters. When you nitpick, it can lead to bad results, when you go after someone and pound the strike zone that can be of great success, see Rich Hill. In general in his career he hasn't been the type to go right after hitters, but when I acquired him from the Cubs, the pitching coach worked with him and helped change his mentality, and Hill put up a great year, and finished 2nd in the Cy Young voting. So to really answer it, I was never really worried about the youth of the rotation, but as a safety precaution I acquired a lot of depth in case things didn't work out, in Triple A we had Brian Bannister, Zach Duke, Tobi Stoner, Paul Maholm and Glen Perkins in case they were needed, fortunately our young guys at the big league level did their thing.
Stuart: One of the questions that may be on peoples mind is, why did you trade Johan Santana shortly after you acquired him from the Minnesota Twins?
Joe: We traded for Johan Santana with the intention of re-signing him long term to be the ace of the staff. But when the trade was done, Johan appeared unhappy with the situation, not sure if he didn't want to play in New York or what it was, but multiple attempts at a contract extension were rebuffed by his agent, so we figured it was best for both parties to just let Johan go somewhere else and garner some good pieces for him, which I believe we did in Curtis Granderson amongst others. Santana seems to have found a home in Detroit and I wish him nothing but the best.
Stuart: What are your goals for this off-season? Will you be looking to add some more veteran leadership? Do you have anyone in mind that you might try to bring to Queens to fill that leadership role?
Joe: In general I am very happy with this team. The bullpen was fantastic for us, so I expect the bullpen for the most part to remain intact. I love the rotation as it is as well, but I am always in the boat of if I can improve my pitching I do not think twice about it. But on the offensive side of the ball, Mike Carp did a good job for us, and we have young Chris Parmelee whom we acquired from the Twins, but if I can get a good 1st baseman I will look into that. If veteran leadership is added, it will be either at first, or on the bench. I am very content with our outfield situation, having Matt Holliday, Curtis Granderson, and the renaissance of Ryan Church to go with the teenager Fernando Martinez. And then we have a great left side of the infield with David Wright and Dustin Pedroia, and Luis Castillo did a great job at second for us this year, I am very excited to be bringing him back. And I'm sure you saw we re-signed Yadier Molina for 4 seasons, so he will be our catcher for a while. To really answer the question, if we do, it will probably be at first base or the bench.
Stuart: With the rapid success of Rich Hill, who was acquired from the Cubs shortly after the season started, will you look to lock him up long-term or will you go to a year-by-year basis?
Joe: That's a great question, we were overly satisfied with Rich's performance this year, and he seems to be very happy and comfortable here. And the entire team loves him, he's a great guy, I can say we have been in negotiations with his agent on a multi-year contract, it remains to be seen if something will happen, if it does not, we still have him under our control for a couple seasons under arbitration, but we'd like to lock up Rich longer than that if we can.
Stuart: Now the most important question of the night. Down 3-1 in the World Series to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, what did you tell your team that sparked that fire and pull off 3 straight wins to win the World Series?
Joe: I believe that the first four games the team was pressing too hard. There was a ton of pressure, as there always is in New York. In New York you have to win. And they were just pressing so they didn't disappoint anyone, and the Angels were just playing great baseball, after 3-1 I held a team meeting and basically told everyone that they were playing like robots out there. And regardless of whether it's the World Series, or whatever, baseball is a game. And you have to play the game and have some fun, and just play loose and relaxed and things will work themselves out if you don't over think everything, and obviously it worked (laugh). I also told them down 3-1, okay guys, we have a 3 game series ahead of us, let's sweep. And we had some excellent pitching from Nick Adenhart in game 5 to keep us alive, a lot of people questioned my move to put Adenhart in the NLCS and WS rotation over Javier Vazquez, but I thought Adenhart was real pumped and ready to do his thing while Javier was really stressing the situation, so we put him in a less pressure role in the pen. Game 6 Rich Hill showed why he was our ace and why he lost to Brandon Webb by a few votes for the Cy Young, pitching a shutout into the 9th before a high pitch count took him out. Tim Lincecum was excellent in this series and I am excited to have him at the top of the Mets rotation for a while to come.
Stuart: Well Joe, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to join us.
Joe: Thanks for having me Stuart. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 April 2008 )
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Written by Kevin Lewis
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Wednesday, 23 April 2008 |
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Well, the World Series Baseball League has arrived at the World Series. It took eight long months to get here and only two teams remaining standing, one of which will be named the World Series Champions. It will be the Los Angeles of Anaheim (93-69) versus the New York Mets (99-63). It's no surprise that the Mets made it to the World Series this year. They really had no competition this year in the National League, although they have had some struggles in the playoffs, which caused a few close games. However, the Angles in the World has to be a little bit of a surprise. Many people though this would be a Subway Series between the New York Yankees and New York Mets. But the Angels took care of the Yankees easily in the American League Championship Series 4-1. As much fun as that would have been, I believe this will be a more exciting series than most people think. Both the Angels and Mets have many similarities and we will get more in-depth with those. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 25 April 2008 )
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Written by Joey Anastasio
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Tuesday, 18 March 2008 |
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Well here we are people just a few days after the All-Star game. It's time to take a look what's going on with each division starting in the AL. First on our list we make our way to the American League East. Last time we looked at the Blue Jays, who were on top by 3 games with the Yankees on their tail. But now the Yanks climbed their way to the top, making MANY trades to give the team a new image. Their biggest pick up on offense, Ryan Howard, has already smacked 16 homers, 46 RBI’s and batting .283 with the Yankees. And on the defense side Jake Peavy, just acquired, so we will have to wait and see what he could bring to this team. But a BIG reason why this team is in first and still picking up ground one word Joba. 13-1 says it all. |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 23 April 2008 )
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