Benjamin Grimm

Initial voting for Round One, Group One has completed, although we do still have a tiebreaker in progress, with Newsday's HAMMERS & THOR currently holding an 11 to 7 lead over the Daily News' MATZ BETTER. If that lead holds up, the Daily News will have five of the eight covers to advance from this group, with two for Newsday and only one for the New York Post. Second-round matchups are determined by the percentages of votes received in the first round. The number 1 seed is the Daily News' YA GOTTA RELIEVE, which received 30.6 percent of the votes cast in Round 1.1.5. It will face the 8th seed, WHAT A HAM, also from the Daily News. 1. YA GOTTA RELIEVE! (Daily News, 30.6%) 2. WORLD SERIOUS (New York Post, 27.5%) 3. THAT'S TERRIFIC (Daily News, 24.5%) 4. BLADDER UP (Daily News, 23.1%) 5. MATZ BETTER (Daily News) or HAMMERS & THOR (Newsday) (22.2%) 6. AMAZIN' OFFSEASON (Newsday, 21.4%) 7. METS IN A LANDSLIDE (Daily News, 20.5%) 8. WHAT A HAM (Daily News, 14.9%) Last year, three of the four covers to make the Final Four were number 1 seeds: N.Y. CITI (Post), CON4TO (Daily News), and TEAM OF DESTINY (Daily News). The winner, YES-PEDES (Daily News) was a number 2 seed. The current bracket, reflecting polls that have been completed as of this morning:

I enjoyed it. Three stars.

Yeah, I think so too.

Mike Puma wrote: Cespedes' market, at the moment, is the Mets and three other teams, I was told. Cespedes camp expects early-December resolution.

Is there a limit to the number of coaches you can have? I imagine there is, but I'm not sure. Maybe they needed to replace Teufel with a guy who can provide catching instruction in order to stay under that limit.

Centerfield wrote: I didn't realize Wright's injury came in June. For some reason, I thought he never made it out of May. The poor guy. The last game he played was on May 27, but I guess he was day-to-day for a while until they realized that he had to be shut down.

My take is that they feel that Travis (and I guess Plawecki) needs more day-to-day coaching.

If I recall correctly, Becerra was left exposed last year, and whether or not he would be selected was the thing I was biting my nails about. Now that he's a year closer to the big leagues, I don't expect that they'll risk him again. And protecting Rosario is a sure thing.

I'm on team MATZ BETTER.

Poll 1.1.7, has ended in a tie. It's our first tied poll of 2016, and the tie is between a Steven Matz cover from the Daily News and a Noah Syndergaard cover from Newsday. This tiebreaker poll will run for three days. Please vote for the cover you like best. MATZ BETTER New York Daily News, April 18, 2016. HAMMERS & THOR Newsday, April 19, 2016.

Vote for the tabloid covers that you like the best. You may select up to three choices. Voting will run for seven days. LIFE WITHOUT WRIGHT New York Daily News, June 1, 2016. SOX SHOCK Newsday, June 2, 2016. SOMETHINGS'S NOT WRIGHT Newsday, June 3, 2016. THIS HURTS New York Daily News, June 3, 2016. CAPTAIN COOKED New York Post, June 3, 2016. SUMMERTIME BLUES Newsday, June 4, 2016. IN A PINCH Newsday, June 5, 2016. THE 'FORT AWAKENS New York Daily News, June 5, 2016. THE PITTS Newsday, June 8, 2016. TREASURE ISLAND Newsday, June 10, 2016. WORRIED ABOUT TERRY Newsday, June 13, 2016.

I attended a game there in 2008. Nice place, I guess, but I'm not much of a spring training fan. We went because we were in the area anyway.

Well, yeah. There's no denying that. As someone who was eight years old in 1971, when everyone in the neighborhood revered Tom Seaver, I can say that I'd much prefer it if he wasn't an ass. But we didn't know anything about that then.

Seaver has a much better track record, however. And he was the leader of a legendary Mets team, the first legendary Mets team.

The Daily News reporting today that Nancy Seaver was rooting for the Giants to win this game! Tom Seaver's Wife Rooted For Giants, Not Mets, in NL Wild Card Game Should we start gathering pitchforks and torches?

Not much first-base experience though, beyond Duda.

Yeah, I think I am too. I'm also glad to have a little less uncertainty about the composition of the 2017 Mets. And Sandy has targeted the end of the winter meetings to have the Cespedes thing resolved, one way or the other. I think that means December 8, which is just over three weeks from now.

I don't particularly like it either, but I suspect that the purpose is to create some pre-announcement buzz. It's a reminder that the awards are coming, and it gets a few more people writing about, talking about, and tweeting about, baseball during a few days in November between football games. As for T.J. Rivera, he'll still be eligible for Rookie of the Year in 2017. His chances to get a lot of playing time were dramatically reduced yesterday, however.

The Jay-to-the-Jays rumors continue to spread, but all stories still appear to be originating from the same original source, which makes it look like talks are picking up steam, but that's deceptive. Anyway, as for who the Mets would get in return, the only thing I've seen is speculation from one reporter, Joe Giglio of NJ.com, who says, Joe Giglio wrote: As for what the Mets could ask for back? With Bartolo Colon out the door, would a Francisco Liriano ($13.6M in 2017, free agent after season) one-for-one swap work to help the Mets add a veteran presence to the rotation?

2000, Second Base, Jeff Kent?

More votes have been submitted since I bumped this thread, but the tie persists. Voting will continue until tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, and if we're still tied at that point, a three-day tiebreaker thread will be posted. This would be the first tiebreaker of this year's Derby. Last year we had four, all in the first round.

Vote for the tabloid covers that you like the best. You may select up to three choices. Voting will run for seven days. WHERE ARE THEY NOW? New York Post, May 27, 2016. JUST LIKE OLD TIMES Newsday, May 28, 2016. GRAND FINALE! New York Daily News, May 28, 2016. GRAND THEFT New York Post, May 28, 2016. THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE UTLEY Newsday, May 29, 2016. UT-TER DISASTER New York Daily News, May 29, 2016. NO' JUSTICE New York Post, May 29, 2016. THAT LOOKS FAMILIA New York Daily News, May 30, 2016. DARK KNIGHT RISES Newsday, May 31, 2016. BAT OUTTA HELL! New York Daily News, May 31, 2016. 0,' what a Knight at last! New York Post, May 31, 2016. KNIGHT & DAY New York Post, May 31, 2016.

1984 shortstop Gary Templeton.

I know! I feel the same way! I don't know which way I'm rooting, but I want to know the answer!

Twenty minutes and still no news! Such drama!