Benjamin Grimm

I think the first 5 that I remember was Mike Phillips.

Stearns inherited Ottavino and Quintana. Manaea came from the Giants.

It's easy enough to ignore if you don't like it. As for ranked choice voting and wild cards, the way I look at it, some covers land in something similar to a tough division. And yes, I don't care to add any levels of complexity to this; we'll leave it as it is. I'm really surprised that this has made it to its tenth year. Back in 2015 when this started I don't think I would have guessed that we'd still have three tabloids churning out back pages every day.

The Daily News will have the most surviving covers when the first round ends tomorrow. Whether they can parlay that into victory, of course, remains to be seen. Look to the parent thread tomorrow for some statistics and the first look at our 2024 brackets.

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We need someone to break this three-way tie between STAYIN' AMAZIN', CALIFORNIA DREAMIN', and OOH-LA-LA.

Maybe I missed it, but did they consider having the A's play in the minor league stadium in Vegas and let the AAA team play in Sacramento?

If the Mets get Soto, the Red Sox can have his older sister.

There have been rumors that the Red Sox are about to close the deal. I guess we'll see.

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When I picked Larry Doby, it gave me a score of 130% for that choice. After a few more selections it dropped to 67.

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His siblings are named Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Looks like a pretty good "why not?" move to me. He just turned 28 last month. In 2024 with the Blue Jays, he had a 3.59 ERA in 69 games (62.2 innings). 50 strikeouts, but 29 walks. Throws left. I wonder why he was available? I see he's arbitration eligible. I guess Toronto non-tendered him?

It can be frustrating, if you let it. Lately, whenever I search for news about the Mets, I get a flood of stories about trade proposals and predictions from "MLB insiders" who are working with little more than their imaginations.

Twenty of our 26 first-round polls have now completed. No covers have clinched a bye yet, but the covers listed in italics have been eliminated from contention for that bye, and will compete in the second round. The rankings so far: 1. ONE MORE GAME (Daily News) 2. TALL AT SHORT (Newsday) 3. NO SLEEP TILL THE BRONX (Daily News) 4. NO MERCY! (Daily News) 5. PURPLE TRAIN (Daily News) 6. STEVIE NIXED (New York Post) 7. POP IN THEIR STEP (Newsday) 8. THROW BOMBERS FROM THE TRAIN (Daily News) 9. HAIR FORCE WON! (New York Post) 10. KNOCK YOUR SOX OFF! (Daily News) 11. 16 (Daily News) 12. PICCADILLY CIRCUS (Daily News) 13. LUIS ARM STRONG (New York Post) 14. REBORN TO BE WILD (Newsday) 15. STARTING STRONG (Newsday) 16. WAITING FOR A PITCH (Newsday) 17. BLASTOFF! (Daily News) 18. WHAT A MESS (Daily News) 19. NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO YES! (New York Post) 20. YA GOTTA BELONG! (Daily News) http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2024/2024_1_15.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2024/2024_1_16.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2024/2024_1_17.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2024/2024_1_18.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2024/2024_1_19.png> http://leaptoad.com/mets/covers/images/2024/2024_1_20.png>

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Don't forget Todd Hundley! Mets who have caught and played outfield, with number of games at each position: [table][tr][th]Name[/th][th]C[/th][th]OF[/th][/tr] [tr][td]Tommie Reynolds[/td][td]1[/td][td]72[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Todd Hundley[/td][td]745[/td][td]34[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Mackey Sasser[/td][td]261[/td][td]31[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Steve Bieser[/td][td]2[/td][td]21[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Mike Kinkade[/td][td]1[/td][td]18[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Hawk Taylor[/td][td]101[/td][td]16[/td][/tr] [tr][td]John Stephenson[/td][td]98[/td][td]11[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Clint Hurdle[/td][td]17[/td][td]11[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Eli Marrero[/td][td]2[/td][td]7[/td][/tr] [tr][td]John Stearns[/td][td]698[/td][td]6[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Gary Carter[/td][td]566[/td][td]6[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Jim Tatum[/td][td]4[/td][td]4[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Jerry Grote[/td][td]1176[/td][td]3[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Alex Trevino[/td][td]179[/td][td]2[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Duffy Dyer[/td][td]326[/td][td]1[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Chris Cannizzaro[/td][td]236[/td][td]1[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Todd Pratt[/td][td]206[/td][td]1[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Choo Choo Coleman[/td][td]140[/td][td]1[/td][/tr] [tr][td]Jeff McKnight[/td][td]1[/td][td]1[/td][/tr][/table]

Naturally! Meanwhile, I have a prediction for the headline if Soto signs with the Mets. Or the Yankees for that matter: JUAN FOR THE MONEY!

Yes, in 2025. And hopefully it will be more like JUAN SIGNS than SOTO NO GO.

Do we know who David Pingalore is? Is he reliable? If the Dodgers are really only willing to sign Soto for a one- or two-year contract, then they're not a serious player here.

Are we supposed to be upset that the Mets exceeded our expectations in 2024? Maybe they lied, or more charitably, underplayed their intentions, to Max Scherzer to get him to accept a deal. Max ended up with a World Series ring and the Mets ended up with a top prospect. And went to the 2024 NLCS. I'm okay with all of that.

Today's poll, number 1.26, is the final poll of the first round. We've now seen all 256 of our covers. (95 from Newsday, 87 from the Daily News, and 74 from the New York Post.) We'll now pause for a week so all of the currently running polls can come to a close. The top six covers will receive a bye, and the remaining twenty winners will compete in ten head-to-head polls in the second round. When the second round is complete, we will have our Sweet Sixteen. The third round will begin in January, after the Tabloid Cover Derby takes its holiday break.