Benjamin Grimm

I agree. "Spiders" is the way to go.

No, not the original. The Mets had their AAA franchise in Syracuse in 1962 and in Buffalo from 1963-1965. Jacksonville's first year was 1966, just in time for George Feaver.

The current cover count is 368: 142 for the Daily News, 116 for the New York Post, and 110 for Newsday. This number will continue to grow. The cutoff date is, tentatively, December 4, the date that the final first-round poll is scheduled to launch. I'm expecting we'll see at least a few more covers in the next several weeks with updates on Jeurys Familia, speculation on Yoenis Cespedes, and whatever off-season news or rumors may come up once the World Series ends.

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: I don't get to see the tabloid covers out here too often, so I love seeing this. Looking forward to the new contest. And, hearing from Maja. Maja told me to tell you she says, "Hallå!" (That's Swedish for "Hey!")

Ceetar wrote: I'm interested to see what they turned out this year, but it's a lot like picking the silliest WFAN trade proposal. To each his own. I don't particularly care about the quippy headlines. I look at them as pop art, and they can be beautiful, in their own unique way.

Ceetar wrote: Looking forward to all the garbage stupid headlines these rags produced this year. You're always the turd in the punch bowl, aren't you?

Mets legend Rusty Staub and 2014 Miss Sweden, Camilla Hansson, were on hand at Citi Field yesterday to kickoff the return of last year's offseason sensation, The Tabloid Cover Derby! Voting starts tomorrow, November 3. The format will be the same as last year, with 32 first-round threads in which all entries will be presented in groups of roughly 11 or 12 covers. In each first-round thread, you'll be able to vote for up to three favorite covers. Second and subsequent rounds will be NCAA-style single elimination. There will be a break for Christmas week. The final winner will be announced in February, and will be displayed in the lobby of the CPF International Headquarters in Stockholm.

This, by the way, is probably the strangest sentence I'll type this week: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Is there a Jeurys Familia impersonator going around punching cheeks and scratching chests?

Centerfield wrote: Sure, but then you need someone to replace Reed. I expect he'll be back by around May 1. Or he may not miss any time at all, if this really does turn out to be a hoax. (Which is a little hard to imagine. Is there a Jeurys Familia impersonator going around punching cheeks and scratching chests?)

Well, I guess he can sign Aroldis Chapman! As I said above, I think there will be public discussion (and a lot of it) about Kenley Jansen. But the less expensive route would be to have Addison Reed be the closer. My guess is that if Familia is suspended it will be 30 games. This sounds (so far anyway) like a less severe attack than what happened with Reyes in Hawaii.

Here's a link to the official complaint document: http://media.nj.com/mets_main/other/Familia%20complaint.pdf Victim's name has been redacted. The "Serious Personal Injury" checkbox was left unchecked.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I didn't even know he had an alternate last name of Mojica! Yeah, that too! That came out of nowhere!

Centerfield wrote: It's the Jose Reyes thing all over again. You really don't know these guys that we think we know. In Familia's case, I don't even feel like I had the illusion that I knew him well. I'm still not even sure how to pronounce his name! But yeah, this sucks. If the talk is just of a "scratch" hopefully nobody was hurt too badly. And brace yourself for the onslaught of calls for the Mets to sign Kenley Jansen.

Oh for fuck's sake.

I'm most secure in the middle infield. I like Cabrera a lot, and although I don't know who's going to play second base, they have a lot of options and I'm optimistic that they'll find someone to give them good production from that position. I think Duda will be back. I don't think he'll be non-tendered, but I guess there's a chance that he'll be tendered and then traded, once he's properly tender. If he ends up hurt or non-productive, I'm not sure what the Mets will do. I assume Loney won't be around. There's been talk of moving Bruce or Conforto to first base, but I'd be surprised to see that. I don't expect Dom Smith to make much more than a token appearance in the big leagues in 2017. I'm not too worried about third base. Not sure what David Wright will provide, but even if it's nothing at all, one of the spillover options from second base can assume third base. Not ideal, but not my biggest concern. The outfield is the big mystery. I expect Granderson will be back, and will be a starter. He's in decline, and I worry that there may be a big drop next year. Hopefully not. I'd like to see the Mets resign Cespedes and sign a legitimate center fielder (like Dexter Fowler, perhaps). Unless we (they) think that Lagares can be a viable option. I know that adding Fowler and retaining Cespedes would make for a crowded outfield and I'm not sure of the best way to resolve that. I don't want to give up on Conforto. Would be willing to trade Bruce (if Cespedes returns). It's hard to say. As for catcher, I'm not ready to give up totally on d'Arnaud, but I'd like to see the Mets bring in a veteran catcher on a one- or two-year contract and have Travis be his backup. I don't have any names in mind.

I think I read that Joe Buck offered to step aside for Vin Scully, but Scully declined. I'll have to see if I can find a link. ON EDIT: http://www.americansportscastersonline.com/buckscullyworldseries.html

Good point. I assume they're still testing for cocaine and heroin, right? And not just for PEDs?

Centerfield wrote: ...it only takes one team to offer five years or more. And if they do, that team wins. Maybe. How much do we know about what the Nationals offered him last year? I seem to remember hearing that they offered him more guaranteed years than the Mets did.

I can't think of any scenario where I'd be rooting for the Mets to lose the sixth game of the World Series.

It depends on what's stronger, your rooting interest or your desire to go to the game. If I had Mets tickets for World Series Game 7, and the Mets were up 3 games to 2, I'd be totally rooting for them to win Game 6.

It's entirely possible that the Mets and/or the Yankees are interested in Smyly. That part of the rumor doesn't seem implausible. But Rays fan/blogger Pashman seems to be the one who speculated that the trade would involve d'Arnaud and Conforto. That part doesn't seem plausible at all and while the "interest" may be based on some inside information, the inclusion of the specific players likely is not.

Maybe. I don't really know since I don't read many blogs. Whenever I do encounter a new blog, it often seems to be of the caliber of Rays Colored Glasses.

Ceetar wrote: the actual recorded media was always floppy. I know that. Ceetar wrote: It's not lifted as much as cross-posted. But as long as we're going to talk about stupid non-sourced proposals, there's really no need to differentiate being blogger and credentialed writer. I guess stupid is as stupid does. (Whatever that actually means.) But CF's guideline for this thread was to leave out private blogs, which have a much higher stupid quotient.

Too bad you don't have them on 5¼-inch floppies. Now those were floppy! And as for that Rays "rumor" about Smyly, Centerfield posted a link to Fox Sports, which is a "real" site, it was actually lifted from a fan site called "Rays Colored Glasses", which I would figure has a bit less credibility. http://rayscoloredglasses.com/2016/10/24/tampa-bay-rays-rumors-mets-yankees-smyly/

And put it somewhere along the East River!