Benjamin Grimm

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: 4 year contract clears arb years and 1st FA year. This is something. Something doesn't add up. (Am I missing something?) According to Baseball Reference, Lagares wouldn't become a free agent until after 2019. So if the new contract covers his first year of free agency, wouldn't it have to run through 2020? A contract starting in 2015 would have to be a six-year contract in order to do that.

1. Reach base safely WRIGHT 2. Get a hit WRIGHT 3. Draw a walk CUDDYER 4. Hit a double FLORES 5. Hit a triple LAGARES 6. Hit a home run CUDDYER 7. Steal second base LAGARES 8. Reach by error D'ARNAUD 9. Hit a grounds-rule double GRANDERSON 10. Score a run WRIGHT 11. Drive in a run DUDA 12. Get hit by a pitch GRANDERSON 13. Drive in more than one run in a single plate appearance DUDA 14. Hit into a double play DUDA 15. Get caught stealing OR picked off base LAGARES 16. Strike out as a batter CUDDYER 17. Bunt for a base hit NIESE (going for a longshot choice here) 18. Get tagged out at home DUDA 19. Pinch hit NIEWENHUIS 20. Be pinch-hit for COLON 21. Commit an error FLORES 22. Play a batted ball by an opponent in fair territory LAGARES 23. Hit a sacrifice fly WRIGHT 24. Slide (head or feet first, on the basepaths) WRIGHT (feet) 25. Have 2 hits in a game FLORES 26. Be called on to relieve CARLOS TORRES 27. Strike out 6 or more batters in the same game DEGROM 28. Hit an opposing batter with a pitch MEJIA 29. Win a Schaefer POTG COLON 30. Finish a game (with a save or not) MEJIA Bonus/tiebreaker: score the first double play the Mets turn 4-6-3

I have the same situation; my ideal cap size is between two of the standard sizes. The smaller size pinches my head, and the larger size is a little too loose. What I did is I bought the larger size and pinched it a little bit in the back with a well-placed staple on the interior band. It worked surprisingly well. I had thought that would be a stopgap measure until I could ask someone who knows how to sew (like my wife or my mom) to put a couple of stitches in place of the staple, but I never had to take that step.

It's actually five years of control for Torres, according to Baseball Reference. He can't become a free agent until after the 2019 season.

I'm indifferent too. I suspect that den Dekker would have continued to slip down the depth chart if he had stayed, and Blevins may turn out to be a one-year rental. If he pitches well, and the Mets make a serious playoff run, then it will have been a good deal.

So... what's the deal with the giant cap, anyway?

Yeah, that's my sense of him. A reserve player on a good team or a starter on a bad team. Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if he has another five or six years in the big leagues ahead of him.

This is the year that the Jeurys Familia era begins.

I'll remember him as part of that glorious era when the Mets had three players whose name started with a lower-case "d".

Remember Schaefer voters: It's CTorres or ATorres. Alex Torres turned 27 in December. Not eligible for free agency until after the 2019 season, so the Mets have five years of control. Mets went all winter without getting a lefty reliever, and then they go and get two in one day. (Two so far, anyway.)

Blevins is 31, turns 32 in September. Eligible for free agency after this season.

Is Chief Wahoo a racist?

It really amazes me how few there were in 1988. It looks like there might be four or five new Mets in the first few days of the season: Cuddyer, Mayberry, Muno or Reynolds, and, as Gwreck said, one or two relievers. My guess is that number 1,000 will come sometime around August 1.

Didn't we do this already? 84 wins. 2nd place. No playoffs.

I vote for the Rockies logo as the one that looks most like a refrigerator magnet.

This is how old I am: When I saw "The Dude" I thought this was about John Stearns.

Part 1: YES or NO 1) Curtis Granderson leads the club in HRs? NO 2) Jenrry Mejia leads in saves? NO Will be on the team's ML roster (or DL) the entire season? 3) Dillon Gee YES 4) Bartolo Colon NO 5) Travis d'Arnaud YES 6) Anthony Recker NO 7) Daniel Murphy YES 8) Ruben Tejada NO 9) Jonathon Niese YES 10) Terry Collins (has to be field manager for a YES to count - if demoted but stays in the org with a "special assistant" title or other such nonsense it doesn't count) YES Part 2: OVER/UNDER 11) Lucas Duda -- 29.5 HRs UNDER 12) Michael Cuddyer -- 119.5 Starts UNDER 13) Jenrry Mejia -- 19.5 Saves UNDER 14) Wilmer Flores -- 449.5 PAs UNDER 15) Bartolo Colon -- 17.5 Starts OVER 16) David Wright -- 21.5 HRs (22 or more would surpass Straw's club record) OVER 17) Kirk Nieuwenhuis -- 199.5 PAs UNDER 18) Noah Syndergaard -- 19.5 ML Starts UNDER 19) Steven Matz -- 9.5 ML Starts OVER 20) Brandon Nimmo - 49.5 ML PAs UNDER EITHER/OR - simply name one player or the other in each comparison 21) More PAs w/2015 NYM: Murphy or Herrera? MURPHY 22) More PAs: Nieuwenhuis or Mayberry? MAYBERRY 23) More PAs: d'Arnaud or Plawecki? D'ARNAUD 24) More Saves: Parnell or Familia? FAMILIA 25) More IPs: Gilmartin or Leathersich? LEATHERSICH

I couldn't disagree more.

Ceetar wrote: You know what would increase offense and RBI opportunities for the leadoff guys? a DH. It would also make the game a helluva lot less interesting. On the rare instances when I watch a game played by AL rules it feels like it's the "managing for dummies" version.

Gonna be a lot of wild guesses here. (I may have a bit of a rough advantage in that I know some of the UMDB ID numbers, which don't strictly match the order of appearance but are in the ballpark. I'll make my choices hard to read so as not to influence subsequent entries.) Who is Met #50? Duke Snider Who is Met #100? Tug McGraw Who is Met #150? Tommy Davis Who is Met #200? Rusty Staub Who is Met #250? Dave Kingman Who is Met #300? Hubie Brooks Who is Met #350? Ron Darling Who is Met #400? Kevin McReynolds Who is Met #450? Jeff Musselman Who is Met #500? Rico Brogna Who is Met #550? Edgardo Alfonzo Who is Met #600? Mike Piazza Who is Met #650? Todd Zeile Who is Met #700? Tom Glavine Who is Met #750? Pedro Martinez Who is Met #800? Moises Alou Who is Met #850? Daniel Murphy Who is Met #900? Pedro Beato Who is Met #950? Zack Wheeler Who is Met #1000 Cesar Puello

The pie thing is a real example of douchebaggery.

I don't get the 8/9 thing either. It's just the illusion of a difference. The batting order isn't really a list, it's a cycle. It has to start somewhere, (in the first inning, of course) but then it's a rotation. This: Granderson Wright Duda Cuddyer Murphy d'Arnaud Flores Pitcher Lagares Is only nominally different from this: Lagares Granderson Wright Duda Cuddyer Murphy d'Arnaud Flores Pitcher It may make the manager look like he's thinking outside the box, but it really means next to nothing, except to Juan Lagares, who, as noted, will be getting significantly fewer plate appearances.

I don't care about the Yankees. My main point is that he's unlikely to remain a Met. Sure, I'd prefer him to be a Red Sock or a Mariner than a Yankee, but wherever he goes, if he's not a Met, he's off my radar.

I'm just saying that, more than most, this is a guy we should avoid getting too attached to.

Actually, I can't say I'm sure he'll be a Yankee, but I strongly suspect he won't be a Met. If Harvey turns out to be nearly as good as we hope, Scott Boras will be looking for something like $300 million over ten years. And the Mets (wisely) won't go for that, but someone else probably will. Of course, if Harvey falls short of expectations, those numbers will be different. But I still think that Boras will seek, and get, more years than the Mets will want to commit to.