G-Fafif

Zack Buchanan of the Athletic on Oliver Perez's last go-round (paywall) Pérez is now 40, an old man by baseball standards, with specks of gray in his beard and a mohawk that's completely white. (His agent, Scott Boras, jokes with him that hitters lose sight of the baseball in his hair.) Once a tantalizing and frustrating starting pitcher, he's carved out a lengthy second act as a left-handed reliever. He's spent the entirety of his 30s in the bullpen — with seven different organizations — and has recorded a 3.42 ERA in 490 appearances. Since 2012, the year he moved to the bullpen, only three pitchers logged more appearances after turning 30. At times, the game has seemed prepared to yank him off the stage, but Pérez has declined to make his exit. Often, including four times since 2018, the best offer on the table in free agency has been a minor-league deal. So, he takes that deal and, in spring training or in Triple A, earns his way back onto the major-league roster. He's pitched in the majors — sometimes a full season, sometimes just a few games — each of the past 10 seasons. But now, the end is near, and so he faces his final curtain. The 2022 season will be his 20th in the majors if he makes Arizona's roster. If he doesn't, he will play in his home country of Mexico for the Toros de Tijuana, with whom he spent most of last season. Wherever he plays, he's decided, this campaign will be his last. “Do you want to keep playing baseball or do you want to be around your kids?” said Pérez, whose four children range from 10 years old to 3. “I was discussing that the last couple years with my wife and with my family. We said, ‘This might be the year.' I love baseball, but I love my family more.” His career certainly is a testament to his love of the former. Had Pérez been any less resolute, his time in the game could have ended on any number of occasions, and hardly on his own terms. By the time he was 29, he was already at a career crossroads. He'd been a disappointment in New York, in part because he said he persuaded himself to pitch through knee troubles. “I was not prepared at that level to compete when everybody's at 100 percent and I was at 60,” he said. He refused minor-league assignments (as was his collectively bargained right) after a demotion from the rotation in 2010. The Mets released him before the next season, still on the hook for the final year of his contract. To that point, he'd made more than $35 million. The Mets would pay him $12 million more in 2011 no matter where, or if, he pitched. He could have walked away then and never worked another day in his life, and he thought about doing just that. “Those times, you say, ‘You know what, I'm going to retire,'” he said. But that was an emotional reaction that soon passed. Instead, he told Boras that he wanted any job the agent could find. Pérez had flopped so badly in New York, that taxed even the abilities of baseball's super-agent. “I could not find him a job,” Boras said, “except Double A.” https://theathletic.com/3221154/2022/03/31/i-have-to-enjoy-every-moment-at-40-years-old-mlb-journeyman-oliver-perez-prepares-for-his-last-ridehttps://theathletic.com/3221154/2022/03/31/i-have-to-enjoy-every-moment-at-40-years-old-mlb-journeyman-oliver-perez-prepares-for-his-last-ride

Scherzer says is hamstring "just tightened up" while running the other day, went through his routine to pitch today, felt it tightening again. Calls it "a little hiccup". Can't say for sure he'll be ready for the Opener.

Gil Hodges Bobblehead Day at Citi Field July 24, same day Gil will be enshrined in Cooperstown. https://nypost.com/2022/04/02/gil-hodges-getting-honored-with-mets-bobblehead/https://nypost.com/2022/04/02/gil-hodges-getting-honored-with-mets-bobblehead/

"Precautionary" is the word, re Scherzer's hamstring.

Scherzer didn't pitch in this morning's intrasquad game, the one that was to keep him on track for his first start. Mets will update his condition later.

Ed Coleman is retiring, reports Neil Best in Newsday (paywall). Bob “Mr. Met” Heussler, too. Eddie Coleman, the longtime Mets reporter and a WFAN original from the station's 1987 debut, has decided to retire. Coleman, 72, had been expected to call some games from the booth this season with Howie Rose cutting back for medical reasons, but instead he opted to move on. “It's been a great ride,” Coleman told Newsday on Friday, shortly after Newsday broke the news of his departure. “It's been more ups and downs than I care to think about with the Mets, that's for sure. “But I've loved the callers. I've loved the fans. The feedback that I got, I always got positive stuff from fans when we were on the road or even at Citi Field or Shea.” Brad Heller is expected to succeed Coleman as the pregame and postgame host for Mets games on WCBS-AM, which has the same parent company as WFAN in Audacy. The company still is considering candidates to fill in for Rose, who will skip West Coast games this season, and is focused on younger announcers for that role. Coleman's retirement is part of a wave of departures in recent years by WFAN fixtures. Newsday has learned that longtime update man Bob Heussler plans to leave the station also. https://www.newsday.com/sports/media/ed-coleman-wfan-mets-retires-nz7m087khttps://www.newsday.com/sports/media/ed-coleman-wfan-mets-retires-nz7m087k

Meanwhile… Mets believe Max Scherzer is 'going to be okay for Opening Day' despite reported hamstring issue Scherzer would likely pitch Opening Day without Jacob deGrom available https://www.sny.tv/articles/mets-believe-max-scherzer-okay-for-opening-day-hamstringhttps://www.sny.tv/articles/mets-believe-max-scherzer-okay-for-opening-day-hamstring

Official word:

Ah, fuck.

The Athletic's Steve Buckley (paywall) catches up with Shaun Clancy, whose desire to serve the public has outlasted Foley's. What would you say if I told you that Shaun Clancy, the former owner of a much loved and dearly missed sports bar on West 33rd Street in New York City, is now working behind the deli counter at a Publix supermarket in Clearwater, Fla.? The sports bar was Foley's NY Pub & Restaurant — Foley's for short — and it was the beating heart of baseball in New York. If Boston's make-believe Cheers bar was the place where everybody knew your name, Foley's was the place where Shaun Clancy knew your name and also your game — whether you were a Red Sox beat writer, a Dodgers scout or an umpire scheduled to work home plate for Jacob deGrom's start against the Phillies that night at Citi Field. Foley's was neat but not fancy. Loud, but not cackling. Memorabilia? It was a Louvre of sports loot, some of it eye-catching and of value, such as a baseball autographed by Pope John Paul II. And some of it was kinda kitschy, such as an official clock radio the Yankees sent to beat writers as Christmas gifts in 1970. Just as the late, legendary Toots Shor was a larger-than-life presence at the celebrity-strewn joints he ran in New York during the 1940s and '50s, Clancy was that guy at Foley's — except that Toots sought the limelight, whereas Clancy couldn't find it with a compass. Toots entertained TV stars (Jackie Gleason), sports stars (Joe DiMaggio), mobsters (Frank Costello), crooners (Bing Crosby) and crooners who cavorted with mobsters (Frank Sinatra). While plenty of famous athletes stepped into Foley's — former Mets third baseman and seven-time All-Star David Wright was a regular — they were no more important than the ball writers, scouts and umpires who stopped by for noontime lunches and midnight pops. The only true connection Foley's had with Toots Shor's was that Clancy's father, John Clancy, was a waiter at Shor's as a 20-something, freshly arrived from Ireland. He later returned to Ireland, and years later, came out of retirement to be a greeter at Foley's. When he wasn't greeting, he was holding court at a side table, regaling visitors with stories about growing up in the old country and waiting tables at Toots Shor's. John Clancy is now 87 and enjoying his second retirement in the village of Butlers Bridge in County Cavan, Ireland — which is where Shaun Clancy, born in 1970, the year of the Yankees clock radio, grew up. The younger Clancy visited the States for about six months in 1991, mostly to see if New York was all it was cracked up to be, and a few years later, he returned for keeps. When he opened Foley's, the old man came back over to pitch in. Foley's is where you'd find a Sid Hartman Burger, named after the late Minneapolis Star Tribune sports columnist who was 100 when he died in 2020. There was a Mrs. Met Burger — and if you're wondering why there was no Mr. Met Burger, this is why: There was a nice old lady who had the dual distinction of being a Foley's regular and devoted Mets fan. Whenever she was in Foley's, people would respectfully address her as Mrs. Met; the burger, then, is named for her and not for Mr. Met's better half. So, yeah, that was Foley's. And here we are: Shaun Clancy, this big, friendly, baseball-obsessed, storytelling 52-year-old who (as my County Kerry-born grandmother used to say) has the map of Ireland on his face, has gone from running an iconic bar in The City That Never Sleeps to placing chicken in the rotisserie at the Publix on McMullen Booth Road in Clearwater, across the street from an Exxon station. Foley's was across the street from the damned Empire State Building. Hell, the urinals at Foley's were brought over from the original Waldorf-Astoria hotel when it was torn down in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building. You think Shaun Clancy has that kind of history in his hands when he's taking a leak at Publix? The only problem with this riches-to-rags story is that it is nothing of the kind. Yes, the roar of the pandemic two years ago forced Clancy to close down Foley's — temporarily at first, and then for keeps. Though he's enjoying life in Florida, Shaun allows that if, say, Steve Cohen wanted to let him revive his restaurant at Citi Field, he'd be open to it. https://theathletic.com/3216993/2022/04/01/from-foleys-to-a-publix-deli-counter-why-shaun-clancy-shuttered-new-yorks-iconic-baseball-bar-and-what-comes-next/https://theathletic.com/3216993/2022/04/01/from-foleys-to-a-publix-deli-counter-why-shaun-clancy-shuttered-new-yorks-iconic-baseball-bar-and-what-comes-next/

Messrs. Cespedes and Colon will join the cast of Old Timers Day 2022. https://www.mlb.com/news/yoenis-cespedes-bartolo-colon-mets-old-timers-dayhttps://www.mlb.com/news/yoenis-cespedes-bartolo-colon-mets-old-timers-day

MLB catching up to other professional leagues in having its officials explain their calls. Umpires will be equipped with microphones to inform crowds in the ballparks and the viewing audience at home of instant replay reviews, Major League Baseball announced Friday. Beginning with exhibition games this weekend, crew chiefs will wear a microphone to announce when a play is being challenged and what is being challenged and reviewed. When a team issues a challenge, the umpire will proceed to either baseline and face the press box to make the announcement, prior to communicating with the replay official in New York. After reviews are completed, the crew chief will return to the same spot to make a post-review announcement of the ruling and any changes to the placement of runners. This system, which will be similar to the one used by NFL officials, will also be used when a crew chief review is initiated without a prompt from either dugout (typically, on potential home run reviews). In those instances, the crew chief will also jog to the baseline to make the announcement. https://www.mlb.com/news/umpires-to-announce-replay-reviews-to-fanshttps://www.mlb.com/news/umpires-to-announce-replay-reviews-to-fans

Dave Gallagher, with stories that touch on, among others, Willie Mays, Nolan Ryan and Bret Saberhagen. I have a great story about Willie Mays. I had all of that love for Willie Mays as a kid. Years later playing for the Mets, we went into San Francisco to play the Giants. Bobby Bonilla started in right field. I went in in the seventh inning for him and there was a right-handed hitter who tended to drive the ball the other way. I'm in right, so I'm ready. He did exactly what I envisioned and hit it to right. At Candlestick Park, from the foul line to the padded wall is extremely narrow. I was on a dead run, caught the ball and pulled my arm in because I knew I was gonna slam into the wall, which I did. I went down to the ground, held up the ball and jogged in because it was the last out. The next day, I checked in with the trainers to say hello. I was about to leave when one of them said, “Hey Gally, you got a compliment from a pretty big name.” I thought they were playing with me and trying to put the bait out there. The other trainer said, “Yeah, Willie Mays came in and asked who the right fielder was.” They told him it was Bobby Bonilla. He said he knew who Bonilla was but wanted to know the guy who went in for him. They told him it was Dave Gallagher. He said, “Well tell him he's a really good outfielder because good outfielders make hard plays look easy.” I'll never forget that. I can't understand how a little boy in New Jersey who idolized Willie Mays, so many years later would be complimented by that man. That doesn't seem possible! https://ballnine.com/2022/03/31/dave-gallagher/https://ballnine.com/2022/03/31/dave-gallagher/

Can't get much more “what's a Met retired from the game up to?” than a check-in with David Wright as he visits St. Lucie. https://www.mlb.com/news/david-wright-joins-mets-spring-traininghttps://www.mlb.com/news/david-wright-joins-mets-spring-training

Dodgers send A.J. Pollock to the White Sox and receive Craig Kimbrel in exchange.

“I'll tell ya something else Matt told me in confidence, Wayne…”

Mike might be busy. https://vucommodores.com/coach/mike-baxter-3/https://vucommodores.com/coach/mike-baxter-3/

One day shy of ten years will be Johanniversary Night at Citi Field. FLUSHING, N.Y., March 28, 2022 — The New York Mets today announced that the club will hold a pre-game ceremony commemorating the 10th anniversary of Johan Santana's historic no-hitter on Tuesday, May 31 prior to the 7:10 pm game vs. Washington. On June 1, 2012, Santana delivered his signature pitch, a changeup, to strike out St. Louis' David Freese, to author the first no-hitter in franchise history after 8,019 regular season games. Santana and his catcher that evening Josh Thole, will be honored for their historic achievement. “I still remember how I felt that night,” said Santana, who gutted through 134 pitches. “I knew how much it meant to New York Mets fans. I was very proud to be a part of the first no-hitter and I can't wait to celebrate with the fans on May 31. It holds a special place in my heart.” In addition, the team announced that Santana and Thole will both participate in Old Timers' Day on Saturday, August 27 prior to the 7:10 pm game vs. Colorado. With one out in the seventh inning, Yadier Molina laced a line drive to left. Queens native Mike Baxter raced back and crashed violently into the wall but held onto the baseball to preserve the no-hit bid. “I was in a zone with Josh all night,” recalled Santana. “I remember I was holding my breath before Baxter's catch. It was amazing. He really saved me.” https://newyorkmets.medium.com/mets-to-honor-johan-santana-on-may-31-in-a-pre-game-ceremony-10-years-after-his-historic-no-hitter-71d5855d1f25https://newyorkmets.medium.com/mets-to-honor-johan-santana-on-may-31-in-a-pre-game-ceremony-10-years-after-his-historic-no-hitter-71d5855d1f25

Turn the WSH jerseys inside out and they read DRY.

The Mets will raise the Apple+ twice in the season's first half.