Gwreck

Tom S.

It's "worked out" in the sense that they are in the playoffs (a reasonable measure of success for any team) but it's still pretty early to declare a winner on the Shields-Myers deal. Shields is a free agent after this year. Davis, as great as he was as a reliever this year, put up negative 2.7 WAR as a starter last year for KC. Myers won the Rookie of the Year with Tampa and a 1.9 WAR in 2013 before having a terrible sophomore slump and a wrist injury. He's still 4+ seasons away from free agency and is 23 years old. Ororizzi put up 1.2 WAR in 31 starts this year for Tampa, his first full season.

ESPN reporting that Chip Hale was hired by Arizona.

FK's order is fine; I would put KC first as more deserving than the Orioles but not by a huge margin. I generally don't like rooting for the American League in the World Series, but as in 1997, 2008 or 2011, it's sometimes necessary.

Didn't the guess come after Kevin Baez? That's what made me think of him. Anyway, that's about the extent of my guesses.

Rey "the Barber" Sanchez?

If you wanted to (eventually) give a hint, I would suggest giving the number of ABs for each of the players on the list. I'm sure I could name a ton of players who haven't hit any homers (hello, Chin-Ling Hu) but the ABs are what make this so tough. I wonder if Jeremy Reed, from the recently-discussed JJ Putz trade disaster, qualifies. He was on the 2009 roster for the whole year and didn't hit any homers, I believe.

I don't think David Cone hit any homers. Is he our RHP?

Al Leiter, your LHP with the most Mets ABs and no homers.

Another extra inning homer for the Royals. About to take a 2-0 lead on the Angels before the series heads back to Kansas City.

Edgy MD wrote: Joe Smith (lost by the Mets as part of the disastrous three-team J.J. Putz trade) I was reminded about that watching Smith last night. He reached free agency after the 2013 season, so we have a pretty good idea of where this trade wound up. The Mets got: JJ Putz, Negative 0.5 WAR in 2009, and paid him $6 million Jeremy Reed, Negative 0.7 WAR in 2009, and paid him $925k Sean Green, zero WAR in 2009 and Negative 0.2 WAR in 2010; paid $1.4 M over the two seasons. All of these players were lost as free agents with no draft pick compensation. The Mets traded away: Maikel Cleto. Has pitched 45 major league innings, almost all badly. Traded away by Seattle before reaching the majors, and has been with three other organizations since. Ezequiel Cabrera. Traded by Seattle to Cleveand (in a separate deal) before reaching the majors. Negligible value/minimal salary as a bench player for Cleveland before singing as a free agent with the Tigers this offseason. Endy Chavez. Was a minimally effective bench player for Seattle at $2M salary, for one year before reaching free agency. Mike Carp. Put up 1 win above replacement, cumulative, over 4 seasons, at minimal salary. Seattle sold his contract to Boston where he was a useful bench player for their WS-winning team in 2013. Aaron Heilman. Had two arbitration years left, and got $3.7M salary. Seattle flipped him to the Cubs almost immediately, where he put up a 0.9 WAR season. Traded to the Diamondbacks for the next year, he had a poor year (negative 0.1 WAR). All of that wouldn't be so bad, except for: Joe Smith. Put up 5.9 WAR over five seasons with Cleveland before reaching free agency, for just $6.5M of total salary. OUCH.

Tigers have elected to forego using their regular relievers for a while and instead used starting pitcher Anibal Sanchez (came off the DL about a week before the playoffs) in relief of Verlander. Tigers got an extra insurance run on a Victor Martinez double in the top of the 8th.

Nice. Love the Recker card. --- I also will now officially predict that Carlos Torres will be traded this offseason as part of the deal to bring offense to the Mets.

Frayed Knot wrote: Yes, that was the El Duque injury I was speaking of a few posts ago. He injured himself jogging after Game 1 was called off and would have been replaced if allowed. But because the roster cut-off time had passed in advance of the scheduled Game 1 time, they weren't allowed to replace him even though it was 24 hours or so before the series got going. Not that it changes the general point, but the rainout was game 1 of the LCS. Duque got injured before game 1 of the Division series.

Frayed Knot wrote: *the technicality that cost us the ability to replace El Duque and quite possibly the series even though it was an injury which occurred before the series ever started Duque was hurt before the Division Series, which they swept. He was unavailable for the LCS due to the injury. My recollection is that he was expected to be healthy for the World Series, if they had made it.

Good for them. Not that Oakland is unlikable, but good for Kansas City.

Wow. If if Ned Yost managed the Mets I just don't know what would happen after all these bunts. I'm sure it would be some sort of head explosion/nervous breakdown, but couldn't totally rule out homicidal rampage either.

Allowing the teams to make roster adjustments between the Wild Card Game and the Division Series seems...strange. Not sure they should be allowed to leave out those other three starting pitchers for the extra relievers/pinch runners.

Ceetar wrote: Isn't the in-division, douchebag factor, and the idea that they manhandled us this season enough? Getting beaten by a division rival isn't a reason to hate them, it's a reason to want your own team to get better. Unless they are somehow douchebags in the way they are beating you; but I don't see that having happened.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Did you switch Huskey to Burnitz? No, you're going crazy. --- In all seriousness, yes, I changed it quickly. I though Burnitz was a better guess, because I remembered that he got traded in the middle of the one good year he had for the Mets and probably didn't hit 20 homers for the Mets alone that year.

I really don't understand all of the hate for the Nationals. They are to me, easily the most benign of our division foes. They have committed no major atrocities towards our fanbase or team, other than winning a disproportionate number of games. I understand the douchebag factor (Werth, Harper) but they've got a long way to go until they are become nearly as loathsome as the Phillies, Braves or Marlins. That said, I'm still rooting for Pittsburgh.

Jeromy Burnitz

Benny Agbayani

Jay Payton

Jose Valentin