Rising Apple Report, Ep. 5 – And What’s the Deeeaaal With the 11th pick?!

Because I’ve been embarrassed too many times in my lifetime to care, here is last night’s slightly shortened Rising Apple Report podcast.

To those of you who joined us at the appropriate time of 6:30 PM, including fellow writers Dan Haefeli and Danny Abriano, I apologize for the technical difficulties. I didn’t take the proper precautions to make sure, no matter what the circumstances, the show got off the ground when it was scheduled. I GUARANTEE The Rising Apple Report will never start late again.

For the sake of comedy, however, this one-time hiccup is rather entertaining as I bumbled around trying to get the internet to work. Finally, around 8 minutes into the 6’s 30’s, I got the writers and our guest, card collector and avid Met fan Julian, onto the airwaves.

We began by exploring how long Julian, who just turned 13, has been collecting cards. After he gave his answer, I asked Dan and Danny whether trading cards had any roll in their lives. Haefeli started collecting at an early age, but not so much because of baseball. He was just into “collecting stuff.” Abriano was an avid collector growing up in Brooklyn. If you are familiar with the Former City as well and are into card collecting, then keep your ears tuned to the locations he divulges that abide in the Borough of Churches.

From there we explored what got Julian collecting, whether his friends collect as well and what his favorite Met card is (he couldn’t exactly narrow that one down.) He talks about some oldies but goodies, so its nice to hear someone his age be so in tune to the history of this team.

If you were like me, cards kind of found their way to you randomly over the course of your life, without really collecting them. I wasn’t familiar with the way the card business works, and Julian was able to lay out the different sets and series that get released throughout the year, including how the free agent system affects the printing of them. Fascinating stuff.

After we thanked Julian for his time and knowledge and he went on his way, we moved on to the 5th anniversary of the Johan Santana Trade. I asked Danny whether the entire thing, all the money and the injuries, was all worth it for the no-hitter. Danny laid it out pretty much how it is:

"First of all, it’s more than just the no-hitter. You have to take into account…you know, its revisionist history. You can’t go back and decide, “Alright, we’re not gonna do it now ’cause we see what happened.” The time the trade was made it was a no-brainer…and I see it as more than just the no-hitter. If you look back at 2008, game 161, he had a torn miniscus in his knee, Mets were on the verge of being eliminated from playoff contention…he pitched one of the greatest games I’ve ever saw…Shea was electric, and although there have been some injuries along the way, I don’t regret it one bit…"

In the end, we all agreed that Johan Santana is a tremendous part of the history of the Metropolitan franchise, and he will probably have a huge role as a New York Met in retirement.

Then, with 5 minutes left, we talked about what we should have talked about in the 1st 5 minutes of the show: Michael Bourn meeting Sandy Alderson, but wanting only a 5-year deal.

And with that, a show that started off with such baffoonery ended where it should have began in the first place: with some solid, fantastic, good ol’ fashioned Mets talk.

Been chatted about since 1962.

So join us next week! When The Rising Apple Report will begin ON TIME and better than ever!!!

Thanks for reading! You can read Sam Maxwell’s personal Mets Blog here.  Also, be sure to Like Rising Apple’s Facebook page and follow @RisingAppleBlog on Twitter to keep up with the latest news, rumors, and opinion.