Benjamin Grimm

There are probably very few people who have ever chosen to rename themselves "Melvin".

I have to confess that I don't much of anything about Ian Desmond other than his name and the team he plays for. If you think Wilmer can be just as good, or better, than Desmond then I have no dispute with that.

I think I'm rooting harder for Wilmer than for any other Met this season. He's a young guy being thrust into a very difficult situation: he's the "not Troy Tulowitski and not Ian Desmond". If he doesn't get off to a decent start, the boos will rain down on him. (Entirely unfairly, of course.) I think he has the talent to do a decent job in the field, and a good job with the bat. What I don't know is how he'll withstand the pressure of this current situation. My guess: he'll be solid but not spectacular, and will keep the shortstop job all year. .260, 11 homers.

Jerry Morales

Jerry Martin.

He'll take over the closer job by August 1, if not sooner. 13 saves, mostly in the second half of the season. Six wins.

The New York Times wrote: Managers will also be impacted in their method of challenging a call. Last season, the first with widespread instant replay, managers routinely left the field to feign an argument with the umpire, while keeping an eye on the dugout. Behind the scenes, a team video coordinator would study the replay and tell a coach whether the manager should issue a challenge. The manager would not leave the field until getting his signal from the coach. Those tactics were not part of the rules, and served as a tedious sidelight to an otherwise effective replay rollout. Managers can still rush onto the field to challenge a potential inning-ending out. But in other instances, they are now instructed to stay in the dugout and signal to the umpire from the top step � verbally or with a hand signal � that they are considering a challenge.

Of course I hope he builds on his 2014 for a better 2015, but I fear that last year was Lucas' peak and I expect he'll backslide, but hopefully not too much. I'll say 25 homers, 85 rbi.

CBS Sports wrote: � Managers must challenge replays from dugout. No more slow walks over to umpires on the field in order to stall while team replay mavens check their TV monitors. So does this mean that managers won't get a chance to peek at the replay before they make a challenge? Or are managers going to have the ability to call a, say, 20-second timeout so they can review?

In general, I think I approve of all three bullet points. Especially the one about the foot in the batters box.

MLB announces pace-of-play changes and replay tweaks By David Brown | Baseball Writer February 20, 2015 11:07 am ET Major League Baseball wants games to move along more crisply and, as expected Friday morning, announced new rules in pace-of-game regulations and video replay etiquette. As our own Mike Axisa wrote Thursday night after broad sketches of the new rules leaked to Fox Sports, those changes include: � Managers must challenge replays from dugout. No more slow walks over to umpires on the field in order to stall while team replay mavens check their TV monitors. MLB is making other replay tweaks as well, including adding an additional manager's challenge for playoff games, regular-season tiebreakers and the All-Star game. Also: tag-up plays will be reviewable going forward. And no instant replay will be used in spring training this season. � Batters must keep one foot in the batter's box "unless an established exception occurs." Exceptions include actions such as bunting, or when there's a wild pitch, for example. This might be the most "invasive" of the changes, something batters will have to get used to. � Play must resume promptly once a broadcast returns from a commercial break. To that end, timers will be installed in each ballpark to assist umpires in keeping everyone on task. The new regulations were part of a joint effort among the league, the players association and the umpires union to help shorten the length of ballgames, which lasted about 3.13 hours in 2014 and, apparently, make everyone in North America too sleepy. In a statement, commissioner Rob Manfred said: "These changes represent a step forward in our efforts to streamline the pace of play. The most fundamental starting point for improving the pace of the average game involves getting into and out of breaks seamlessly. In addition, the batter's box rule will help speed up a basic action of the game." One takeaway from all of this: With the addition of physical timers "counting down" in each ballpark, we can be fairly certain that a "pitch clock" component will be added to the game in the near future. The upper levels of the minor leagues are experimenting with it in 2015, and with MLB already adding a clock to games to regulate pace coming out of commercial breaks, it's just a matter of... time until the clock is used after every pitch in order to "keep the game moving." One would think that umpires would be able to keep the game moving just by concerted effort, but that's not how MLB wants to do it. MLB had been unique. Now it has a clock like other sports.

You thought Baseball Prospectus was up in our bid'ness, players? Baseball America be all up in Metly bid'ness. 7 in the top 100, tied with Boston for first. 4 in the top 50-- #11 Syndergaard, #33 Matz, #45 Nimmo, #46 Herrera. (#63 Plawecki, #80 Conforto, and #98 Rosario round out the set.) Mets in the BA top 100, as reported on the MLB network: 11. Thor 33. Matz 45. Nimmo 46. Herrera 63. Plawecki 80. Conforto 98. Rosario Tied with the Red Sox for most playrs in the Top 100, with 7. Later These two posts sure look the same to me.

Ceetar wrote: For things that don't really need their own thread but are interesting nonethless like this picture from "Ebbets Field Flannels Inc." on Facebook. That photo is amazing! Thanks for sharing it!

24-4, 1.53. Okay, maybe that's a little optimistic. I actually think he'll be a bit less sensational in 2015 than he was last year. Maybe 15-9, 3.60.

I think we'll be happy with his offensive production this year. 20 homers, 30 doubles, .265, 70 RBI.

100 games. 15 homers.

I agree. I wouldn't retire any numbers that haven't already been retired. (The player most deserving, I think, is Keith, but he falls short. As does Carter and Piazza.) I expect that David Wright will be next, and given that he'll be the all-time leader at virtually every offensive statistic for a franchise that will be almost 60 years old, I'll be okay with retiring his number.

I thought this was going to be a thread about Mike Piazza's wife.

I agree as well. It's time to put 8 and 24 back in circulation. And not just for the Rickey Hendersons, but for the Kelvin Torves too.

Jerry Seinfeld wrote: ? @JerrySeinfeld Nelson Figueroa is taking over for Bobby Ojeda as analyst on pregame and postgame show. #mets "Booooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!" 3:41 PM - 16 Feb 2015

batmagadanleadoff wrote: When're you gonna stop making up these guys? I haven't heard of any of them yet. I know. I feel like I've woken up from a ten-year coma and I no longer know who any of the Mets are.

Cut loose around March 31.

This thread title keeps making me think that Eric wrote a book.

That's what I was thinking too; just retell the origin in a montage. As classic as Spidey's origin is, it doesn't need to be told on the big screen for a third time in 15 years. You'd have to not only have the radioactive spider bite, but you'd also have to establish the relationship with Uncle Ben, and Ben's murder, and Peter's discovery of how his powers work. Or he can start with a "My name is Peter Parker" thing like they do in each episode of Arrow and Flash.