Items of note
Unsurprisingly, conflicting reports abound about what the Mets may or may not do this offseason. Matt Cerrone wraps up a bunch of them, and I remain skeptical. I don’t think that the journalists reporting from anonymous sources are lying to us, I just think offseason outlooks probably change rapidly — as they should — as the market develops.
Plus, Joel Sherman reports “a split camp” in the Mets’ front office, so sources could be from one side or the other of the split and only leaking the information they want leaked. It’s always important to consider the source’s motivation, too.
I think that the Internet culture and 24-hour news cycle have made scooping and rumormongering so important to Web traffic that journalists essentially push out whatever they hear without really concerning themselves with viability. And until someone starts holding reporters responsible for the amount of nonsense they publish, they have no real impetus to stop.
Joe Janish at Mets Today wonders why everyone’s been so complacent about the news of Tim Lincecum’s marijuana-possession arrest. He remembers baseball’s drug problem in the 1980s and the way it tarnished the game’s image.
Times change, though — look at the difference in perception between Bill Clinton’s admission of marijuana use and Barack Obama’s admission of cocaine use. People just don’t seem to care as much. I’m not saying that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but it’s clearly a thing.
Dave Cameron at Fangraphs points out that Mike Cameron is probably a better pickup than Jason Bay. Of course, at least some of that is based on the fact that Cameron has added value because he plays center field (extremely well), so I wonder how much that would be diminished if he was signed as a left fielder, a non-premium defensive position.
