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In part three of this 13-part series of the greatest Mets of all time, we move on to position players, beginning with catchers.

Over their history, the Mets’ most stable non-pitching position has arguably been their catchers. These catchers may have worn the tools of ignorance, but there was nothing ignorant about how they played. The Mets have had all kinds of catchers, from premier home run-hitting machines to speedsters and defensive wizards. In fact, some of the catchers the Mets have had became arguably some of the best offensive catchers in history.They have all called good games and helped the Mets become a team that almost always has had an arsenal of pitchers.

Due to the fact that the Mets have not had ten actual legitimate everyday catchers through the first 49 seasons, the rest of the spots could only be filled by backups. Nonetheless, backup catchers have played important roles in Mets history as well. The Mets have certainly been blessed for having solid backup catchers in addition to a premier starting catcher. 

Josh Thole this year will become a regular catcher for his first full season. He has a good bat, a great contact swing and can get on base at a good rate. He lacks power, but also has good defense and a good arm. However, because he has not played a thoroughly full season with the Mets, he does not qualify at this point as a Top 10 Mets catcher. In time though, barring any injuries, he should get up there later in his career.

As for right now, here they are: The Top 10 Catchers in Mets history.

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There has been little talk about the fact that it is the 25th anniversary of the Mets 1986 World Series victory. It is time to change that.

After reading a great piece by Stephen Meyer comparing two of the best Yankees teams in the franchise’s history, I decided that it would be a good idea to do something similar with the Mets.

With this being the anniversary year, the 1986 Mets team seems to be an obvious choice for this piece. In addition, they were one of the best Mets teams of all time.

The 2000 Mets were one of the franchise’s best teams in recent history. Led by Mike Piazza, the team lost to the Yankees in the World Series.

This article will serve as the grounds for a hypothetical match-up between two of the best teams in franchise history. It will be broken down position by position and each players year will be treated in a vacuum. By this I mean that only their numbers from 1986 and 2000 will be important in this analysis.

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Although they have always been overshadowed by the Bronx Bombers, the Mets have possessed their fair share of baseball’s greatest, especially in recent time. The Mets offense struggled during most of the 1960s until it all of a sudden became clutch in 1969 when they won their first World Series. The offense was better, but still inconsistent during the 1970s. When the Mets won, they were hitting, but during the latter years in which they were a losing team, the hitting was not the same. In the 1980s, the Mets were consistently hitting well, probably their best offensive decade. The 1990s offense was weak, but kept getting stronger each year, but after the 2000 season, the offense was no longer a force until 2006-2008 when the Mets started contending for the playoffs again. As a result, all ten of the Mets’ greatest hitters are from the 1980s-present, and this is what it looks like.

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As news continues to come out about the Wilpons’ connection to Bernie Madoff, it only seems to get worse. In an outstanding piece written for the New York Times by Serge F. Kovaleski and David Waldstein, the Wilpons’ link to Madoff is examined.

A former Mets employee was quoted saying, “Bernie was part of the business plan for the team.” It turns out that Madoff was a huge part of the Mets business plan. The Mets would place any deferred money that they owed to players in Mr. Madoff’s investment firm (yes, that means that the team will need to find another way to fund paying off Bobby Bonilla’s seemingly endless deferred payments).

Regarding Bonilla, it has been reported that his money was in an account. It is now obvious why ownership was so willing to except the Bonilla buyout. They expected to earn 18 percent on the money they invested with Madoff so they would be able to pay off Bonilla as well as make some money for themselves. This would have required a significantly smaller investment than what it would have cost to buy out Bonilla up front.

A former executive remembered Madoff’s name coming up when the team was negotiating contracts. Could Madoff have had a say in what deals were made or if payments would be deferred? There are a lot more questions that will be brought up as the media learns more and more about the Wilpons’ relationship with Madoff.

The Wilpons’ reach in the Ponzi scheme is also larger than we were initially led to believe. Analysis of Madoff’s 15,000 clients was done by Jamie Peppard, a former financial auditor. She concluded that more than 500 individual accounts could be tied to both the Wilpons and Saul Katz. Fred Wilpon also had at least 17 accounts under his name alone. This makes sense as it was noted that Wilpon recommended Madoff to many of his close friends.

Madoff’s former secretary, Elanor Squillari, noted that the Wilpons, both Fred and his son Jeff, would visit Bernie and his son Mark at the office. She also noticed that Madoff acted differently around Fred Wilpon than he did with the rest of his close friends. As close as Fred and Bernie were, Bernie always treated Fred like a business partner at the office and not like a close friend.

Fred Wilpon also had strong admiration for Madoff. When asked by an employee how Bernie was able to bring back such large returns, Fred commented that Madoff was very creative and smarter than everyone else. It is amazing that such a large organization with so much oversight simply let something like this slip by. One would think that the Mets ownership would have tried to do some research on Madoff and other investors before making multi-million investments. However, it appears that the Wilpons’ friendship with the Madoffs got in the way of their better judgment.

The Mets debt totals have actually increased as a result of the Ponzi scheme. The Wilpons had secured loans using the money in their funds with Madoff as collateral. It appears that the team has nearly $400 million in debt now because the loans had to be refinanced with new collateral. This does a lot to explain why the Wilpons are looking to sell a stake in the team.

It may eventually come up that Wilpon did have some knowledge of Madoff’s scheme or it may be true that Wilpon sincerely believed that Madoff was making legitimate investments. Either way, as an organization, the Mets have been greatly impacted by this. It has become more and more evident this offseason, when the Mets did not spend money on free agents.

One must also think about the impact that Madoff has clearly had on the Mets’ past. Do the Mets trade for and sign Johan Santana without their Madoff money? Does Mike Piazza get his huge deal in 1999 without the Madoff money? Do the Mets bring in Carlos Beltran or Pedro Martinez if they did not have their money invested in accounts with Madoffs?

As despicable as it sounds to make this claim, Madoff may have been part of what fueled the Mets’ success during the 2000s. Without him the Wilpons may not have been able to afford the players that they brought in. If this is truly the case, how will we think of these teams when we look back?  And more importantly, what does it mean for the team moving forward to the future.

To keep up on Mets news check out Mr. Mets Daily and Mets Gazette.

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The Mets are looking at Ronny Paulino to back-up Josh Thole, which would form the catching tandem for the 2011 season.

I know this post might be a little off topic with all the Hot Stove murmurings going on, but I felt that it would be a good time, in lieu of the Mets possibly signing a catcher, to remember the career of Mike Piazza.

Piazza burst onto to the scene with Los Angeles Dodgers and won the NL Rookie of the Year award in 1993. He put up big numbers for the Dodgers through five full seasons.

Then on May 22, 1998, the improbable yet remarkable happened for Met fans. The Mets sent Preston Wilson, Ed Yarnall and Geoff Goetz to the Florida Marlins in exchange for Piazza, who had been traded to the Marlins only a week earlier.

Todd Hundley had gone down with an injury, so the Mets desperately needed a catcher. Piazza arrived with a bang and immediately became a fan favorite.

The Mets locked him up to a seven-year, $91 million contract in 1999, which was a huge contract at the time.

In eight years with the Mets, Piazza hit .296 and clubbed 220 home runs, second on the all-time Mets list to Darryl Strawberry. He was a hero to so many Mets fans, young and old.

He wasn’t exactly a defensive wizard, especially throwing out runners, but he more than made up for that with his potent bat.

Sadly, time caught up with Piazza. His body could no longer take the beating of a catcher, so the Mets experimented with him at first base. It didn’t go so well, and after one more year behind the dish, the Mets let him walk.

He actually put up decent numbers at age 37 in his one season for the Padres. He retired as the all-time home run leader among catchers, a feat he accomplished with the Mets. His legacy will never be forgotten.

So that leads us to the question: How have the Mets went about filling Piazza’s enormous shoes?

They acquired Paul LoDuca from the Marlins before the 2006 season and he turned in an All-Star caliber season, hitting .318. He never had the power of Piazza, but he held his own at the plate and brought much needed fire to the team. But even LoDuca began his decline in 2007, signaling the end of his Mets tenure.

The Mets saw Brian Schneider as the answer at catcher and traded Lastings Milledge to acquire him and Ryan Church. Schneider was a good defensive catcher, but was a very weak hitter.

Granted, the Mets constructed their offense so that they didn’t need Schneider to produce, but after seeing Piazza for so many year, we fans grew accustomed to seeing production out of the catching position.

Ramon Castro was a good backup to Piazza and a good backup to Schneider. Omir Santos chipped in nicely in 2009, but the Mets never saw him as more of an insurance plan.

They brought in Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco for last season, and in the beginning, those deals looked great. Both guys got some big hits in big spots.

But Blanco began wearing down and Barajas hit a cold spell, forcing the Mets to promote Josh Thole. Thole is a solid contact hitter and could develop some pop.

He and Paulino would form a serviceable tandem for 2011 if they are both healthy. Paulino always seemed to get a big hit against the Mets when he played for the Marlins, so hopefully he would continue that, just against the other teams.

Piazza has been sorely missed for the past few years, but if the other position players can produce, the production of Thole/Paulino would fly under the radar.

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With the Major League Baseball Hot Stove season almost at its boiling point, many fans across Dodgertown can’t help but recollect the most notable trades in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers franchise.

Since officially moving to Los Angeles in 1958, many player trades occurred that were instrumental in winning nine National League pennants and five World Series championships. However, along with the deals that were beneficial came the deals that were dreadful, and people wonder what may have transpired if a number of these trades could have been undone.

The following slides rank the 50 worst trades in the history of the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, as well as offer a bit of commentary for each transaction. Please note that the rankings don’t include any free-agent signings, nor do they contain any deals made prior to the Dodgers moving to Los Angeles. The list is not syndicated in any fashion and it is purely opinionated and subjective.

Although some of the transactions listed may seem more prominent than others, the logic used in the rankings is based on the players ability at that time and into the future, weighted against what the Dodgers actually received in return.

Fasten your seat belts and enjoy the ride through 52 years of Dodgers history.

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The National League Rookie of the Year announcement was made earlier today, and Giants catcher Buster Posey deservedly took home the honor. He received 20 of the possible 32 first-place votes, and beat out fellow phenom Jason Heyward of the Atlanta Braves.

Posey helped lead the Giants to the World Series title, and he could also be considered an NL MVP candidate for his contributions.

With Posey’s great season, this is a good time to look back at some of the other great debut seasons posted by catchers recently, as catcher may be the toughest position to man as a rookie.

So here are the top 10 seasons from rookie catchers in the past 20 years, including this year’s phenom, Buster Posey.

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As if the Mets have not gone through enough controversy the past few years.

The Mets have had to deal with the Adam Rubin vs. Omar Minaya incident as well as the incident where former VP of player development Tony Bernazard ripped his shirt off and challenged a minor leaguer to a fight.

This year, the Mets have already had to deal with the K-Rod incident in which he fought his girlfriend’s father in the clubhouse. Now, it has come out that the Mets had other issues within their clubhouse.

According to a person familiar with the recent NYPD investigation, Samuels admitted on at least one occasion that he bet on baseball.

It is believed that most of Samuels’ bets were on NFL games, but it is still unnerving to know that he was part of an illegal gambling ring and that he bet on baseball.

Another source close to the investigation said that it is possible that Samuels made unauthorized withdrawals from Mets accounts and then later paid the money back.

There are also questions about Samuels relationships with the Mets players. It was revealed that Samuels received a $50,000 tip from Jeff Francoeur when he was traded to the Rangers.

While this does seem unusual, there have been examples of other players, such as Manny Ramirez, leaving generous tips for clubhouse attendants.

Samuels also reportedly received a Lexus from Mike Piazza after winning a bet with him about how much weight Piazza’s father could lose.

The last incident that has been reported that involved a player featured Francisco Rodriguez. Samuels gave K-Rod a place to stay after he was ordered to stay away from his home following the fight with his girlfriend’s father.

While this very well maybe the case of Samuels being a good friend, one must still be suspicious. Rodriguez has more than enough money to rent a house, apartment or hotel room.

If Samuels bet on the Mets, he was now with the person who had a lot of control over how a close game could end.

There are also reports that Samuels may have gave out inside information about the players to members of the mob.

Samuels, the Mets clubhouse manager and traveling secretary for 27 years, has been suspended indefinitely as a result of the investigation.

This is certainly not the way that the Mets wanted to start the Sandy Alderson era. This will be a black mark on the organization and could be a distraction during the season depending on how long the investigation lasts.

Both current and former players will be questioned and some could be involved in the gambling ring. Hopefully, no players will be indicted when all of the dust settles.

To stay up to date on this and other Mets stories go visit MetsGazette.

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Nine years ago, the entire world changed as 19 terrorists boarded four commercial jets and committed one of the works acts of violence in the world’s history.

On tragic day, those terrorists flew two planes into the Twin Tower in New York City, another plane into the Pentagon and the final plane in a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania that was believed to be targeted at hitting the Capitol Building in Washington DC.

As a result of the attacks, 2,977 innocent lives were lost on this day, and the entire world went into mourning.

Americans became more united than ever by going to massive candle light vigils, massive memorials were held and ordinary Americans contributed anyway they could to help out at the sights where the terrorist attacks took place.

The attacks brought Americans together as America became a more unified nation with these acts of kindness as the word’s “We Will Never Forget” as a common theme.

With everyone being impacted from the attacks, the personal that helped to rescue the people during the attacks became everyone’s heroes.

And as a result, professional athletes became all but forgotten due to the terrorist attacks and tried to contribute any way that they could.

From the New York Mets making Shea Stadium into a rescue area to hold supplies that would be transported to Ground Zero to members of the New York Yankees visiting New York City firehouses to assist anyway that they could, professional athletes did what was right in order to help raise morale’s after the terrorist attacks.

Five days after the terrorist attacks, baseball returned as America’s Pastime became a vital part of the nation trying to re-adapt to normal life.

Ten days after September 11 (Friday, September 21), the New York Mets became the first sports team to play in New York since the terrorist attacks as they faced the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium.

Before the game, both teams decided to dedicate their entire game salaries to the families that lost their lives in this game and there was an overwhelming patriotic attitude for that game.

In what was the biggest baseball game of these players lives, the Mets were able to win 3-2 after catcher Mike Piazza hit a moonshot off of New York resident Steve Karsay that hit the camera tower in center field in the eighth inning to give the Mets the lead.

And in the World Series that year, the Mets nearby neighbor, the Yankees, faced the Arizona Diamondbacks in one of the greatest World Series of all-time.

Even though the Yankees failed to win, they provided dramatics that were greater than a Hollywood thriller, as Tino Martinez and Scott Brosius hit two out home runs in the ninth inning off of Arizona reliever Byung-Hyun Kim to tie and eventually win both games for the Yankees.

Even though the Yankees did not win, the World Series helped to end a great postseason and gave many Americans hope as we moved forward as a nation.

Also, the NFL helped to help America heal during the winter, as after canceling Week Two due to 9-11, they were able to help Americans feel united as NFL games helped to unite the largest groups of people after 9-11 for a non-memorial service.

And ironically enough, the New England Patriots were able to prove themselves to be a true American story that year, as they overcame all the odds with a rookie quarterback in Tom Brady to win their first Super Bowl over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams.

The Patriots were also able to win the Super Bowl with a lack of big name players and were able to get the winning points on a late drive with a game-winning field goal of 48 yards as time expired to give the Patriots the title.

But now, nine years later, these moments of sporting greatness will always be linked to the aftermath of September 11 and how they helped to reestablish normal life to American lives.

However, an event such as September 11, 2001 should stand as a reminder to us that sport’s are not that important, but it is life, friends and family that are the most important things that should be the most important things in our lives.

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September 11, 2001 started off as any other regular day. I was in eighth grade at the time, school had just started a few days before, and I basically didn’t have a care in the world.

However, the events of that day struck fear into the nation, to the point where we still feel the effects today.

The Mets were in Pittsburgh at the time of the attacks. Commissioner Bud Selig had cancelled all games for the next five days so players could spend some needed time with their families to properly mourn the tragedy.

The first act that transcended baseball during that two week period was the fact that Shea Stadium was transformed into a staging area for the Ground Zero recovery and cleanup missions. Cots were set up in the stadium tunnels for police officers, firefighters, and rescue workers to rest between their shifts. Bobby Valentine, John Franco, and other Mets offered their support in unloading supply trucks and bolstering the morale following the attacks. Some players even ventured to Ground Zero and helped out in whatever way they could.

Each player donated a day’s pay to the relief efforts, which totaled $450,000. According to former Mets’ GM Steve Phillips, Vance Wilson, a rookie at the time, stood up during a team meeting following the attacks and said that he no longer wanted to hear any grumblings about minor inconveniences the players had endured. He said that people had lost family members which was more important than anything at that point.

Games resumed September 16, with the Mets still in Pittsburgh. They were in the middle of a race for the Wild Card spot, but that really didn’t matter. What mattered more was restoring the nation after the terrorist attacks. And what better way for that to occur than through America’s pastime: the game of baseball.

Shea Stadium hosted the first professional sporting event in NYC since the attacks against their arch-rival, the Atlanta Braves, on September 21. Security was at an all time high for this game and rightly so. The Mets’ players wore caps and badges commemorating the efforts of the FDNY, NYPD, and other organizations aiding in the relief effort.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani was honored before the game, and despite his being a Yankee fan, he was given a standing ovation by the Shea faithful. Words cannot describe his efforts during that dark time in NYC’s history.

Following Marc Anthony’s rendition of the National Anthem, the Mets and Braves players met near the mound and began embracing each other. Bitter rivals who were fighting for playoff spots embracing before a game? That just shows you the emotion felt by these players. The rivalry was trivial in the face of what had happened several days earlier.

Bruce Chen took the hill for the Mets against the Braves’ young righty Jason Marquis. The game was tied at one going into the seventh, but John Franco, who had offered so much of his time and support to the relief effort, was charged with the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth, when Armando Benitez gave up a double to Brian Jordan. Franco was visibly shaken by his performance, knowing what this game meant to so many New Yorkers.

During a memorable seventh inning stretch, Diana Ross performed “God Bless America” followed by Liza Minnelli’s riveting performance of “New York, New York.” These performances must have motivated the Mets because the events that followed were also incidents that transcended the game.

With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Edgardo Alfonzo walked against Steve Karsay on an awfully close full-count pitch. In stepped Mets’ hero Mike Piazza, who had already hit doubles that night. I remember thinking to myself, “If Piazza hits a homer here, that place will go insane.”

The count was 0-1. I believe quoting Howie Rose would be the best way to describe what happened next: 

“Lopez wants it away…and it’s hit deep to left center..Andruw Jones on the run …this one has a chance! Home run!..Mike Piazza, and the Mets lead 3 to 2!”

Piazza crushed Karsay‘s offering onto the camera tower in left center field. 41,000 fans immediately jumped to their feet, celebrating what came to be known as “The Healing Power of a Swing.”

Piazza later commented:

“It was almost like a blur to me, it was almost like a dream, sort of surreal. We as athletes in a sense have some sort of ability to focus. We try to revert back to that and try to sort of find that and say that, you know, I feel like I’m gonna cry but it’s my job so I was torn. We just had to basically dig down deep and do whatever we could to go out there and do our jobs. People obviously found a way to find some sort of joy or happiness or inspiration, you know, but me again I try to keep perspective. I’m just so happy I gave the people something to cheer. There was a lot of emotion. It was just a surreal sort of energy out there. I’m just so proud to be a part of it tonight.”

During his curtain call, Piazza poignantly pointed to the crowd and acknowledged the real heroes in attendance who were doing their part to repair the city’s wounds.

“You couldn’t have scripted it any better,” said Mets’ outfielder Jay Payton.

As we look back on the tragic events of 9/11/01, let’s try to focus more of the unity that overcame the country, especially in New York City. The Mets’ victory that night was not only a victory for the team, but it was also a victory for all of New York City. Slowly but surely, wounds were being healed, and New Yorkers conveyed the message that they were no longer afraid.

With his inspirational home run, Piazza further added to his already dazzling Mets’ legacy.

Please take a moment at some point today to remember all those lost during the attacks. But also try to reminisce on how the steps of rebuilding the nation began that fateful night at Shea Stadium.

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