Benjamin Grimm

Over the last third of the season, the Mets played at a 96-win pace. I don't want the new front office to overvalue ("We don't need to do all that much!") nor undervalue ("Tear it down! Let's commit to three 100-loss seasons!") that fact.

I'm telling you, Andrew McCutchen! Right-handed bat. On the downswing of his career. 32 years old next week. Made $14.75 million in 2018. This is the kind of guy that the Mets sign. Of course, the new GM might look at things differently, but McCutchen smells like a future Met to me. (Although, perhaps, the asparagus I had for dinner last night is having an effect on my perceptions.)

I agree. Bolster the middle of the bullpen and let Lugo or Gsellman or whoever else proves to be the best drift towards the late innings.

Do we think they might consider bringing Familia back?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 84 wins. Second place. No playoffs. PROVE ME WRONG, METS! (But in a good way, please.) Well, I'm glad to see that I wasn't too overly optimistic.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

And it's over! Brewers win the NL Central. Cubs are the top Wild Card and will host the Dodgers or Rockies tomorrow.

Brewers lead the Cubs 3-1 after 8.

I would love to see them unload both Bruce and Frazier, but that might be too much to hope for. Hopefully they can deal at least one of the two. Frazier has less of a financial commitment ahead of him, so he may be easier to trade.

And thank you (and Kongsuds, Ashie62 and Vic Sage) for your continued participation! Hopefully next year will be a better one for the Mets and more people will join in.

All remaining games from the 2018 season are available for voting. If you're a voter, please try to get your submissions in sometime this week so we can put this thing to bed. Thanks! Vote!

Cast your vote!

My Spidey sense tells me that the Mets are going to go after McCutchen.

If I'm interviewing a GM candidate, and he says that his plan would be to tear it down and plan for two seasons of losing, I'd shake his hand, and say "it was a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for coming by. Now get the fuck out of my office."

Baseball Reference says that there's a Miami at Pittsburgh game on the schedule for today. MLB.com doesn't mention it, and ESPN.com says it was canceled. Strange.

I seem to remember we looked at this before, and the name Tim Wallach comes to mind.

That's what it sounds like. But perhaps if a candidate says he wants to go all-in to sign Manny Machado, the Mets will hire somebody else instead.

Anthony DiComo has the story: Wilpon: New GM will decide fates of top execs While Wilpon wants to keep the bulk of his current staff intact, he will leave the fates of assistant GM John Ricco, special assistants J.P. Ricciardi and Omar Minaya, manager Mickey Callaway and his coaches least partially in the hands of the new GM. "They're not here no matter what," Wilpon said of that group. "They're part of the failure that we had this year, the same as I am and the rest of the front office. It's only fair to give somebody coming in an open book to bring in who they want. Would I like them to stay? Yes, from an ownership standpoint, I'd like them to stay. I'd like Mickey to stay. That's from ownership, though. We're going to rely on a new GM to give us that direction and guidance. Is he throwing Sandy Alderson under the bus? Wilpon declined to offer specifics on the Mets' budget or offseason plan, putting both under the stewardship of the incoming GM. He similarly said that many of the Mets' more austere policies in recent seasons, including their relatively small analytics department and their hesitance to spend on premium free agents, were due to recommendations from outgoing GM Sandy Alderson.

Will (or would) this be the first time in MLB history that we've had a one-game, do-or-die, tie-breaking playoff game where the losing team will live to see another day?

That June was deadly. If they had played .500 in June (and everything else stayed the same) the Mets would have had 85 wins.

I don't care at all about Paul Sewald getting a win, but I wouldn't use deGrom. I think the potential negatives outweigh the positives. A cheap win, or a bad inning where he gives up five earned runs, damages his ERA and causes his last impression to be a bad one?

Cast your vote!

It's been about four months since I've watched a baseball game, and it will be another six months before I watch another one, but I had to come back for this one. I watched all 13 innings, and the post-game speech, of course. I'm really glad that David got a chance to do this, and I can tell he enjoyed it. When he first came up to the Mets I was 41 years old, and figured that I was past the point where I'd develop a strong sentimental attachment to a baseball player, but David Wright proved to be an exception. Great player. Great Met. I'm sure he'll still be in the Mets orbit one way or another, as a goodwill ambassador, or a roving instructor, or something else. And I'm also sure that he'll be back for a Number 5 retirement ceremony. (I'm a little surprised that they didn't announce it tonight. Maybe that will be covered in Jeff's address tomorrow. But it would have been nice if Howie had announced it during that video clip.) Oh, and Olivia Wright throwing out the first pitch was absolutely adorable. Maybe it's because I'm also a father of two, but that moment provided the biggest throat lump of the evening for me.

The Mets should just bring in Sewald and end this thing.

I agree with the sentiment expressed on the young lady's makeshift placard.