G-Fafif

Yonder Alonso has signed minor league deal with Braves.

Wilmer Flores signs with the Giants.

You had me at Joy in Melville.

Tony Fernandez, 57, in critical condition from a kidney disorder. Kidney stones were an issue during his 1993 Met tenure.

Ten-Ten? This is truly a WINS kind of vote.

Matt Adams and his 11 career PH HRs get a Met ST invite.

From the FAFIF countdown of the Top 100 Mets of the 2010s, where Curtis checked in at No. 8. If all Curtis Granderson did was play virtually every day that he wore a New York Mets uniform, that would differentiate him from all of his contemporaries. In an era when almost nobody stayed in the Met lineup daily, Curtis was the reason you had to say “almost”. Grandy was the rock of the Mets roster for most of four seasons, especially the two in the middle of his tenure, 2015 and 2016, not coincidentally the two seasons when he helped lead his team into the playoffs. Whether you found him in right or, as necessary, center, you knew you were gonna get solid, heady defense. Wherever he appeared in the batting order — leadoff a lot, but cleanup sometimes — you knew the opposing pitcher was in for a battle. No Met drew more walks in a single year during the decade than Curtis, who worked out 91 bases on balls in 2015. Anecdotally, you'd swear each one ignited or extended a rally. For a while in '15, the veteran's walks were the Mets rallies, but he also chipped in 26 homers, 33 doubles and a world of smart baserunning. He went deep three more times in the World Series and drove in a dozen postseason runs overall. A year later, his over-the-shoulder robbery of Brandon Belt's bid for an RBI double at the center field wall kept the NL Wild Card Game scoreless in the sixth. Yet plucking statistics and highlights from Granderson's time as a Met seems to undersell what he meant to the franchise. You could just as easily go by Major League Baseball presenting him with the Roberto Clemente Award in 2016, annual recognition of the player who “best exemplifies the game of baseball, sportsmanship, community involvement and the individual's contribution to his team”. Actually, you could have just paid attention to how Curtis played the game and treated people, and you would have gotten the Grand picture.

"Streakers!" is the definitive back page of 2019. It speaks to the moment that redefined the way we are destined to remember this season, as one when the Mets roared back to relevance and had a blast doing so. These were the Mets who never gave up, except their shirts. This back page is the ideal illustration of who they were (not unlike Conforto stumbling backwards into the outfield fence spoke volumes about what 2018 was in last year's winner). Michael is front and center, but notice his teammates in the background, all of them celebrating his feat -- beyond second base, no less. The picture tells a story of a team racing from the dugout and up the standings. "3 Jog Night" is clever, and certainly works for the day after (which is all you can ask a back page to do the next morning), but I don't see it as speaking to 2019 as a whole, which I think is what the champion of this competition should be expected to do. I also think its would-be hot take is two months late. Cano jogging to first was a May story. This was July. The connection is reasonable, but not so sizzling by then.

Cross-referencing the Memories thread to note Ruben Tejada signed with the Blue Jays on January 17.

The Blue Jays signed Ruben Tejada to a minor league deal on January 17. His 2019 return was low-key, as were the results: six games, nine at-bats, zero hits. It will go down with Ray Sadecki's in 1977 as, "he came back?"

The first first-round pick from the 2012 draft has signed a minor league deal with Arizona. The second was Kevin Plawecki. Maybe not the most fruitful of first rounds. Brief stints, few results, yet a home run off Clayton Kershaw. I also recall tweeting something nice after the kid debuted and his mother quickly fav-ing it.

Gavin Cecchini signs with the Snakes.

MFYs sign Josh Thole to very minor league contract.

Ron Swoboda, Jr., 53. Oof.

The play on Three Dog Night vs the reference to streaking — it's a final 1974 can love!

Plus Al Jackson gets the long and meritorious service award, posthumously.

It's official: Matlack, Darling, Alfonzo. https://metsinsider.mlblogs.com/matlack-darling-alfonzo-to-be-inducted-into-mets-hall-of-fame-b1ccd547f829https://metsinsider.mlblogs.com/matlack-darling-alfonzo-to-be-inducted-into-mets-hall-of-fame-b1ccd547f829

Astros reportedly hiring Dusty Baker to manage grimy sign-stealers.

On the scene report http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2020/01/28/inside-the-park-home-run/here.

Guns can be jumped, but that they were fired cannot be denied. On two possibly unrelated notes... https://youtu.be/erMgpfiOMSUhttps://youtu.be/erMgpfiOMSU https://youtu.be/kW8gvGTlpWMhttps://youtu.be/kW8gvGTlpWM

I was there, albeit as media, so I can't speak fully to the fan experience. Very good vibe, I thought. Will be posting a full report on FAFIF by morning.

DH 2021: A Dystopian Future. I've kept hoping that the publicly quiet periods on this issue were an indicator it was going away, like somebody noticed how much fun it is when a pitcher drives in a run and said, “never mind, baseball has bigger problems.”

Kobe, a Philly kid with good taste.

Righty Erasmo Ramirez get an invite to Spring Training, albeit of the non-roster variety.