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The Tribe has DFA'd Oliver Perez.

Michael Baumann of the Ringer on Jacob deGrom as a) the best player in baseball; a pitcher on a potential unlikely Hall of Fame track. Since deGrom's first Cy Young season in 2018, Baseball-Reference credits him with 22.1 wins above replacement, five more than second-place Aaron Nola and therefore tops among pitchers by far. Add in the 1.4 bWAR deGrom has chipped in at the plate, and you get a total of 23.5 bWAR. Baseball-Reference WAR isn't gospel; it's just one version of one approach to player evaluation. And the time scale of this thought exercise—starting with the best season of deGrom's career—clearly puts him at an advantage; 2018 was the year when deGrom emerged as one of the best pitchers in the world. For most of his career to that point, he wasn't clearly the best on his own team. Then there's the fact that this is a strange moment to try to pick on Trout, who as of this writing is hitting .426/.539/.820. Even with all that said, though, here are the bWAR leaders among position players since 2018: 1. Mookie Betts (22.3) 2. Trout (21.1) 3. Alex Bregman (18.4) 4. Matt Chapman (16.8) 5. Trevor Story (16.2) The question of whether deGrom is the best player in baseball is one of those early-spring reactive talking points that pops up year after year to tide us over until the bounces start to even out. Even the ludicrous hot streak deGrom is on through four starts (50 strikeouts with just one earned run and 16 base runners allowed over 29 innings) might have been camouflaged if it had happened in August. But even if the answer to the question is “no,” as it probably will be until Trout either starts to show signs of age or retires to go home and farm tomatoes, this isn't a silly proposition. There's more to deGrom's run of success than your garden-variety low-data hot takeism. It doesn't take a detailed statistical or biomechanical analysis to appreciate what deGrom is doing; anyone with even a cursory understanding of the rules of baseball can see how dominant deGrom has been this season and how easy he's making it look. So far in 2021, deGrom is leading all MLB starters in ERA (0.31) and average fastball velocity (98.9 mph), and is second in strikeouts (50) and opponent expected wOBA (.189). My favorite number attached to deGrom this year is his strikeout rate of 49.5 percent. Not only because he's striking out basically half of the batters he faces, but because such a feat has been achieved only by one-inning relievers like Aroldis Chapman and Craig Kimbrel. DeGrom, by contrast, is facing an average of 25 batters and change every start. Imagine Usain Bolt running his 200-meter world record pace for a full mile. But the greatest testament to deGrom's success is the fact that he's now considered a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate. https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2021/4/28/22406514/jacob-degrom-hall-of-fame-case-metshttps://www.theringer.com/mlb/2021/4/28/22406514/jacob-degrom-hall-of-fame-case-mets

Jacob deGrom. 6:40 PM.

The lefty announced his hung-em-up on Twitter tonight.

This is a beautiful and heartbreaking story. What a team, still.

Sean Gilmartin has joined Ty Kelly on the Long Island Ducks.

DiComo: Brandon Nimmo is dealing with a mild impingement in his right hip, according to Luis Rojas. Yesterday, he received an injection, which takes about 24-48 hours to take effect. The Mets do expect Nimmo to be available off the bench tonight.

Pitcher bats eight Augurs things great

Today we are all Swedes.

Tarpley down, Peraza up.

Help is on the way? NEW YORK METS NAMES THERABODY AN OFFICIAL RECOVERY AND WELLNESS TECHNOLOGY PARTNER FLUSHING, N.Y., April 27, 2021 – The New York Mets today announced that they have selected Therabody™, the innovator in tech wellness and the creators of percussive therapy, as an official recovery and wellness technology partner. The Mets will be integrating Therabody's percussive massage therapy device Theragun®, pneumatic compression device RecoveryAir, and its industry-leading research and education into the team's programming to enhance overall player and team performance. “Therabody products have been a welcome addition to our player's preparation and recovery routines,” says Jim Cavallini, Mets Director of Performance and Sports Science. “The quality of the products as well as their range of applications have made for a quick integration into our daily practices.” Committed to innovation, technology, and research and development, Therabody's ecosystem of wellness solutions are trusted by professional athletes and sports teams worldwide. Through this partnership, Therabody will provide the Mets with effective training and recovery devices and protocols. “I am thrilled to be partnering with the New York Mets,” explains Dr. Jason Wersland, Founder and Chief Wellness Officer of Therabody. “We are looking forward to supporting the Mets in ensuring that their players not only use the best-in-class training and recovery solutions that we develop, but that they also have access to the most innovative research and methodology to help them play their best every time they step onto the field.” Therabody will build a custom section in the dugout for Mets players to use devices -- such as the Theragun PRO and Wave Roller -- during games and practices, and will provide custom carts of devices in the bullpen. Therabody recently announced the launch of RecoveryAir, its clinical pneumatic compression device, which will also be integrated into the team's recovery routine. Additionally, Therabody will enroll the Mets' players, coaches and medical experts in Therabody University, the company's education division, on ways to effectively take care of themselves and optimize the benefits of Therabody's devices and solutions.

Bumgarner and Tatis named co-NL Players of the Week. DeGrom comfortable with Pitcher of the Age.

Cuomo has announced permissible capacity will be up to 33% later in May but the Mets (per DiComo) are only budging to 22% because of the six-feet distancing requirement. All the more reason for Steve Cohen to build a bigger, pandemic-adaptable ballpark.

1,124. Stephen Tarpley

Almora caught the damn ball.

Thank you for reinjecting this into my Mets popular culture consciousness. I remembered the radio and the 4-0 score (and that the Dodgers were the opponent), but I didn't remember the specific episode nor the content of the bet. It was the Skipper who lost that wager (that I remembered). He told Mr. Howell he could subtract it from the 960 mangos Howell owed him from playing gin. Still, I'm touched someone would bet that many bananas on Wes Westrum's Mets. http://www.gilligansisle.com/scripts/script86.htmlhttp://www.gilligansisle.com/scripts/script86.html

About 4% chance of rain at 1:10 first pitch — bet that they play!

Josh Harrison 2B Yadiel Hernandez RF Trea Turner SS Josh Bell 1B Kyle Schwarber LF Starlin Castro 3B Yan Gomes C Victor Robles CF Patrick Corbin P

Nimmo LF Alonso 1B Lindor SS J.D. Davis 3B Conforto RF McCann C Villar 2B Almora CF Walker RHP

Nimmo CF Lindor SS D. Smith LF Alonso 1B Conforto RF J.D. Davis 3B McNeil 2B McCann C Stroman RHP

Extending deGrom — from Hasbro! Extending deGrom can now be stretched for nine while innings and won't break!

Schwarber argued after he was called out for the 15th K. SNY didn't stay focused on him, but it appeared his gripe was coming out of his ass.

Coming out of sublime 2018, I had elevated deGrom in my estimation to maybe a few feet shy of Doc and Kooz overall, wishing to see more longevity and a few complete games (period differences notwithstanding) before totally endorsing the notion that Jake was the best thing since Seaver bread. Those guys pitched very well for very long even if Doc is usually boiled down to his first two years and Kooz is hat-tipped mostly for pennant race and postseason performance. Tom was implicitly out of reach. Also, we'd just come off anointing Harvey and, to a lesser extent, Thor (in a social media era when everybody with three promising starts is OMG GOAT DAY!!!). I think I wanted an undeniable sense that deGrom could just go out there and keep doing what he was doing to the point that it wasn't a phenomenon, but simply what he does. Now? We're in year eight of his career that was very good before it shot up to great; his consistency at the absolute top level of the game has been transcendent; last night speaks for itself (just one shutout, but part of a run where this kind of game has become common for him); and, well, maybe reach is all relative.