G-Fafif

Spring Training 2019 will launch many a major league career (give or take a couple of Super Two weeks), but it also marks the definitive end of others. Catcher A.J. Ellis and pitcher Doug Fister have each made it official in recent days that their baseball-playing journeys are at an end.

James Wagner, who found interesting stores, often with a Latin flavor, for the Times, has moved over to the MFY beat. Presumably the Paper of Record will occasionally cover the Mets with wire copy and a charming anecdote in some non-sports section.

Recidivist Mets watchers can add Travis Taijeron to their radar. The 2017 callup is back on a minor league deal. Will swap "good to be home" stories with Jeurys Familia and Dilson Herrera in the days ahead while hoping he is not the Johnny Monell or Aaron Laffey of 2019.

Future Hall of Fame candidate and ostensible New York legend Robinson Cano not projected to take Flushing by storm, apparently.

Endy Chavez will coach for the Cyclones this summer. He's working in minor league camp in St. Lucie this spring.

Michael Cuddyer a real dark horse this season.

Having witnessed it up close a few times, I feel comfortable asserting Grandy was as good as it got at thrilling kids of all ages with his attention, including posing for selfies while also being the on-deck batter. In general, the portion of 2015 that was sans Captain felt like the Curtis and Daniel Show before and after games, Curtis before, Daniel after. It was suggested in their mutual prime that had baseball been more like hockey, David would have worn the C, Murph the A.

(1) a star, or has star qualities, (2) is relatable, (3) is willing (to be the guy to hold up the big check in the photo op with the corporate supporters of Mets charities, for instance, or to host the Make-a-Wish Foundation kid), (4) has a Q Rating that is high among moms, (5) is clean enough (at least publicly) for a box of Wheaties. A citizen. Even if you have multiple stars—or even better stars—this guy is going to be the go-to guy for media guide and yearbook covers. He's generous to a fault with the media. Needing to be relatable, it's unfortunately an advantage to be white, English-first, tenured for a period, and/or locally sourced. Needing to be almost Wheaties clean, a drug violation, an assault or DWI arrest, or a profane rap record are going to cost you points toward the crown. Not to suggest these things are moral equivalents, but you get what I mean. Wright was unique in that he was able to be all these things (not to be confused with "all things to all people" in the cynical sense). In fact, I don't remember the phrase "face of the franchise" existing before he came along. Though he was surrounded by incredibly decorated veterans as he established himself, he was who he became no later than his third season. If we're gonna get granular, I do think you have to be present to be the guy. David Wright did not lose the crown on paper when he disappeared from the active roster for most of his final four seasons, but when he wasn't around, he wasn't around, and he was always very careful to not big-foot onto the scene when he did make cameos. And while he was the ongoing "let's get David to take this picture with these kids" stalwart, there were stretches when he wasn't the center of attention for the media or the fans. He stepped back in 2011 when Jose Reyes was chasing the batting crown (I remember one of the beat writers noting that it was the first time he saw his colleagues crowd around somebody else after games as a matter of course) and was probably overshadowed across all criteria by R.A. Dickey in 2012. Matt Harvey was a way bigger deal than Wright in 2013, though maybe not doing the milk commercials. You can't undersell Richie Ashburn as 1962 progressed. Gil was out most of the second half of the season and Richie sort of cultivated the Marvelous persona for his teammate. Piazza was clearly The Man on The Mets in a way nobody else, not even Seaver, has ever been for the Mets (everyday player as opposed to a pitcher; larger than life baseball persona; the guy even your Mets-illiterate relatives knew about; nobody else on the roster close in terms of overall star power/Metsian equity across most of his tenure; his name and number on more backs than everybody else's names and numbers combined in a get your player merchandise at Modell's age) but he wasn't really the spokesman for the team. There was inevitably somebody else -- Franco, Leiter, Ventura, Zeile, Cameron, Floyd, Martinez -- who was more comfortable with the media. Mike was "lead by example," excusing some of his reticence with this kind of role. The PR-ishness required does seem to make the idealized Face of the Franchise role more of a Gary Carter thing a little more than a Keith Hernandez one, 1985 through 1988. Yet everything entering 1984, on the heels of his ROY season, was about Darryl taking over the world and Doc built up so much equity and belovedness that he could be suspended for cocaine use and it didn't really peel away at his popularity or even his nice guy image (nice guy made a mistake was all). Keith, of course, was Keith. This is four-headed territory. Sometimes I still can't believe we lived through this era with these kinds of characters and had such a richly textured cast behind them. After Keith and Gary declined and departed, Gregg Jefferies should have been that guy but imploded. HoJo didn't really have it in him to be that guy except on the field every other season. Going into 2019, I'd have to say Conforto is best positioned to pick up however much of the mantle deGrom isn't gripping.

https://i1.wp.com/onesnladay.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/12-3-1983_0.00.45.00.jpg?ssl=1> Tom Seaver leads off Saturday Night Live reporting for NBC Sports on the rain delay holding up the December 3, 1983, show. On February 8, 2019's Real Time, Bill Maher and Chris Christie bond over their Mets fandom.

The Twins invite Lucas Duda to Spring Training because what's a party without Lucas Duda?

The New York Mets: Baseball's ambassadors to the world.

Going on the IL for illin' seems apropos. Somewhere an anecdote in which a player bound for the Injured List frets that he's being farmed out to the International League is waiting to be born. They don't really say "farmed out" anymore, do they? Agriculturally insensitive, perhaps.

My dollar and two cents on Frank Robinson http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2019/02/08/towering-and-enormous/here.

My heart skipped a beat when I saw the thread title. I thought for a second he had been traded. https://bowiesongs.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/uf.jpg> Yet my ears were burning underneath my porkpie hat. Or was that just static?

I was a young and easily intimidated reporter when I approached Mr. Robinson for a story. Still an awesome experience. https://metsguyinmichigan.blogspot.com/2005/12/mickey-me-part-1-two-hall-of-famers.htmlhttps://metsguyinmichigan.blogspot.com/2005/12/mickey-me-part-1-two-hall-of-famers.html "Go talk to the people in Rochester." Beautiful quote.

Jeff McNeil has shed his "just happy to be here" No. 68 and will report to Spring Training as a legit major leaguer wearing No. 6. Pat Roessler fans are stunned by the disrespect.

Rene Rivera is going to San Francisco. Flowers in his hair optional.

Frayed Knot wrote: Who was the pitcher who Frank yanked by the collar and dressed down on the mound in front of a full stadium when said hurler casually flipped the ball in Frank's general direction because he was pissed at being relieved? Jim Barr, at Shea in 1983. Yeah, don't eff with F. Robby.

About 3:30 in, Frank acknowledges the Mets. Over the last couple of minutes, when he's done speaking, the entire Mets team surrounds him. An incredible display of respect -- and one of the best farewells to the game ever delivered.

If not the villain, exactly, then definitely the high-profile foil for the Mets in the 1969 World Series, from his immortal (and premature) "bring on Ron Gaspar/Rod Stupid" dismissal of the Orioles' opponents to his frustration at not being awarded first base on a hit by pitch shortly before Cleon Jones was granted exactly that. Managed to launch a home run in the very same Game Five, ultimately to no avail. Thirty-seven years later, when the Nationals held pregame ceremonies on Closing Day to thank him for his service as Washington's first manager, Robinson took a moment to congratulate Willie Randolph and his team on having won the National League East.

Hall of Famer and absolutely enormous figure Frank Robinson, 83.

I wonder if this makes d'Arnaud more versatile in the planning, as he's often been positioned but never (except in emergency) been in practice. Or he could be traded. Or Mesoraco will get to know Syracuse for a while. Or he'll be traded. Or...lotta "ors" in the water.

More from the unending fount of https://sports.yahoo.com/lenny-dykstra-accused-turning-new-jersey-neighborhood-den-drugs-prostitution-161628563.htmlLenny Dykstra news.

Mets sign Devin Mesoraco to a minor league deal with an invite to Spring Training.

When I think of LOOGYness, I think of Dario Alvarez coming into face Bryce Harper in a tie game on Labor Day 2015, when the NL East hung in the balance, and Alvarez striking him out on a full count to end the inning. The next half-inning brought three Mets runs, the third of them punctuated by the iconic David Wright fist pump. We won the game, swept the Nats in that series and all but nailed down the division. Alvarez's one-batter appearance was a true pivot point, LOOGYing at its best. For all the hurry up and wait pertaining to multiple pitching changes, I'd prefer a moment like that -- and a role like that -- not be disappeared from baseball.