Benjamin Grimm

Mark Feinsand (that's the kind of sand you would put in your kid's sandbox) reports that the Mets are one of the teams pushing hardest for Michael King.

All I did was change the graphic at the top of the page and the shade of orange. That couldn't have affected the site's performance. What may have made a difference is that about three weeks ago (maybe) I disconnected us from Cloudflare. That was supposed to have been a service that would improve performance and filter out bots. It made a difference for about two days and then we were back to the status quo. It was a Cloudflare issue that shut down Wordle (and many other sites.) I disconnected us that same day.

Oh, I think you would...

I suppose that just because he's the Twins' ace it doesn't make him a Viola or a Santana. I think there may have been a time when Mark Bomback was considered the Mets' ace. Maybe Kevin Kobel too!

I don't know. I'd take Tom Seaver over Steve Henderson, Doug Flynn, Pat Zachry, and Dan Norman. Sometimes the team that gets the prospects gets the better part of the deal, but sometimes the advantage goes to the team that gets the veteran. I'm glad I'm not the one who has to make these decisions.

Bumping this in case it comes up again this offseason.

29 years old. (He'll turn 30 in June.) Two years away from free agency. 3.42 ERA last year with 194 strikeouts and 39 walks in 171 innings.

I've never heard of Joe Ryan until a few minutes ago, when I saw the following on CBS Sports website: Apparently he's the Twins' ace pitcher! The Mets have previously traded for Frank Viola and Johan Santana, so why not Joe Ryan?

Let's try to keep this thread on topic.

It looks like I will retain ownership of the UMDB for another two weeks or so. I had a meeting this morning with the new guy and he has big plans. The site will likely look very different in 2026. I told him that he's free to do whatever he wants with it, and I'm looking forward to seeing what he comes up with. Meanwhile, we've hit a little snag with the domain that the forum will be moving to. I'm sure it can be resolved. The plan is to try to move the forum as it is, with the posts and the users and everything. Stay tuned for further announcements.

Not quite yet, but we have a plan anyway.

I was able to successfully accept the invitation. Haven't had time to do anything more than preliminary poking around, but when I have the time I'll see about installing phpBB. Thank you!

Mets Hot Stove last week had the panel discussing Bellinger and Tucker. It sounds like the Mets will be talking to both of them.

I went to ChemiCloud's site and yes, they do support PHP and mySQL databases. The Starter Plan claims to be able to handle around 25,000 visits per month. (We'd easily come in under that number if we only counted humans, but there are also those pesky bots.) The next level up, the Pro Plan, can handle 50,000 visits. It won't cut off if we go over that amount, we'd probably just see degradation. (And we're used to degradation!) Starter Plan costs $11.95 per month and Pro Plan costs $17.95 per month. (Annually that's $144 and $216, respectively.) Even at our reduced membership level, I think we can get enough contributors to cover either of those amounts. And instead of maintaining a rolling fund, as used to be the case (I think) there could just be an annual pledge drive. Maybe we ask fifteen people to step up and donate $15 each when the bill comes due. But from what you're saying, billing wouldn't kick in for another ten months or so?

The offers of financial support are very much appreciated, but this is more of a technical challenge than a financial one. If everyone who visited regularly contributed about eight to ten dollars a year we'd probably have more than enough. Ideally, though, we'll be able to leverage an existing hosting account, as we have for the last seven years that we've been on ultimatemets.com. If we can do that, then no money contributions would be needed.

ultimatemets.com has also gone from EHost to JustHost to BlueHost, and so far BlueHost has really sucked. The slowness issues weren't unknown before BlueHost, but they've gotten noticeably worse since then. It would probably be better to avoid a temporary host if possible. Does cranepoolcompanion's hosting company support PHP? If it's a domain that's already paid for and is a technical fit it might be the ideal solution. Here's some information I got from Microsoft CoPilot:

It's very possible that I will be handing over the reins to the Ultimate Mets Database in the next week or two. Maybe even sooner. I have a call scheduled for Thursday morning (December 4) with the SABR member that KC found. (See the thread in the Bitch to the Admins forum for more details.) Once I transfer the ultimatemets.com domain to the new owner, I'll no longer have the rights to the domain that hosts this forum. While it's possible that the forum will continue under the new ownership, I'm not getting the sense that it's likely. We need to come up with an alternative, and soon, or else we may have to disband. A new site for the forum would require a hosting account that includes PHP scripting support. If anyone currently holds such an account, the forum could probably be hosted at no additional charge. If someone were to open a new account, with a new domain name, I estimate the annual cost would probably be on the lower end of the $100 to $200 range. I've had a private conversation with one long-standing forum member who may be able to take on the hosting. But I think we're at the point where this has to be an open, and prominent, discussion. So here we are. Discuss!

There seems to be a real consensus here, one that I'm on board with as well. We like this deal a lot better if it's a supplement for Diaz rather than a replacement. Diaz has come a long way from his terrible first impression in 2019, hasn't he?

That same TWSN that was saying that the Mets were going to trade Lindor to the Padres now says he's been traded to Detroit. I wish there was an effective way to block these stupid sites from my news feed.

If it's faster right now that's probably just happenstance. Unbranding means i removed the reference to the UMDB and it no longer matches the UMDB's font and color scheme.

It's been "unbranded"

I have one particular standout memory of Devin Williams...

The rumors are out there. He's younger than I thought he was... He'll turn 33 in March. I don't see the Mets signing both Schwarber and Pete, and I'd rather have Pete. But Schwarber would make a formidable DH.

I have the driving to Citi thing figured out. I park under the Northern Boulevard overpass. So far I've always been able to get one of the few remaining spots. Parking there allows for an easy exit after the game. I head toward Main Street and then south to the LIE. I once parked in the garage at Yankee Stadium, on the day that Tom Seaver won his 300th game. It took forever to get out of that garage with everyone leaving at the same time. I'd rather park five miles away and get a subway or an Uber to and from the stadium.

Thank you! Update: I've heard from the Professor (but nothing yet from Ginger, Mary Ann, or the Howells) and it looks like we're moving forward. He asked if it was okay with me if he made significant changes to the UMDB's user interface and I said I have no qualms about that at all. In fact, I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with it. No word yet on what his plans for the forum might be, but I'll let you know when I know more. We'll continue to follow this breaking news story.