Gwreck

My recollection is that Kent’s injury was revealed to have come from a motorcycle accident, and not from “falling while washing his truck” as alleged. Which of course is problematic because motorcycle riding was an activity prohibited by his contract, but not nearly as problematic as what you wrote above. I didn’t recall a domestic abuse incident. Do you have a link?

And yet the stunning hypocrisy of electing Bud Selig doesn’t seem to have caused such breach. Who is supposed to get through the Bud Selig breach? George Steinbrenner and George W. Bush? Or maybe Marvin Miller? I figure that the standard is already established with commissioners. If you last for twenty years or more, by hook or by crook, you are likely to get in. It's too embarrassing for baseball, keeping around somebody for that long while acknowledging that he wasn't such a special figure after all, so they pretend he is. The point is that Selig failed to sufficiently address the PED and allowed the problem to grow as large as it did. And thus it is deeply hypocritical to induct him but not players who are suspected (without positive PED tests) in to the Hall.

You sort of answer your own question here. Kent’s WAR and OPS+ in New York: 1992: 0.4, 91 (37 games after being traded from Toronto) 1993: 0.3, 106 (140 games) 1994: 2.7, 111 (107 games, strike year) 1995: 3.2, 110 (125 games) 1996: 1.7, 105 (89 games before being traded) Those are…not Hall of Fame numbers. And as you note, Baerga dropping off a cliff at 27 is not exactly the standard age curve for previously productive major leaguers. This is much more of a bad luck trade than, say, acquiring a guy with a massive contract who was recently suspended for PEDs and is on the wrong side of 35.

And yet the stunning hypocrisy of electing Bud Selig doesn’t seem to have caused such breach.

Missed a couple months with shoulder inflammation, came back, made one start, then missed another month with a knee issue. Returned to make a handful of starts down the stretch in September. Didn’t start in the wild card series but was on the roster and pitched out of the bullpen.

Wisdom has this one. Those projections assume that Tong makes 8 starts and throws 44 MLB innings. Ryan’s projection is for 31 starts and 182 MLB innings.

Passan was reporting earlier this week that Buxton is open to waiving the no-trade clause. Interestingly, 2026 is his last year of full no-trade rights. He can only block trades to 5 clubs in 2027 and 2028. He also, as FK noted, has some interesting escalators in his contract. He can make up to $2.5 M more each season based on plate appearance targets (pretty standard) but he also has the highest MVP award bonuses I’ve ever seen: “$8M for MVP ($7M for second place in vote, $6M for third place, $5M for fourth place, $4M for fifth place, $3M for sixth-10th place).” Buxton finished 11th in AL MVP voting this past year.

I’d propose (a) Tong or Sproat; ( Baty or Vientos; and © Williams or Benge for Ryan and Byron Buxton.

Rubin published his ballot: Beltran, Jones, Ramirez, A. Rodriguez, Rollins, Utley, Wright. DiComo didn’t have a vote as of 2025. He might have one this year (I believe it’s been 10 years since BBWAA membership was opened to MLB.com writers).

It’s nothing against Cedric but it was a bad trade from the outset. Sure, he even underperformed the justifiably low expectations, but it wasn’t as if we had reason to expect he’d be good at all. A big misstep for Stearns.

The 16 voters have been announced: HOF Players Ferguson Jenkins Jim Kaat Juan Marichal Tony Perez Ozzie Smith Alan Trammell Robin Yount Owners Mark Attanasio Arte Moreno Executives Doug Melvin Kim Ng Tony Reagans Terry Ryan Others Tyler Kepner Jayson Stark Steve Hirdt (former EVP, Elias Sports Bureau) Of note, Stark is on record having voted for Bonds and Clemens when they were on the writers’ ballot. Kepner has taken the position that the period before PED testing/suspension is different that the 2004 and later process, and thus did not vote for Ramirez or Rodriguez in recent years because of their PED suspensions.

The Asdrubal Cabrera game from September 2016 was my immediate best guess for a contender of highest WPA swing -- 3 run homer to win in the bottom of the 11th, Mets were down 2 runs at the time -- but that was only an 81% swing (although in a substantially more important game vis a vis playoff chances). I did some poking around the UMDB and Baseball Reference and I believe a 92% wWPA is the record for a single Mets play. It is held by Henderson, tied with two others.

I don't always buy the "some guys can't really handle playing in New York" storyline that comes up from time to time...but I'm also not entirely sure it's wrong. If this is a move to supplement Diaz in the bullpen, no problem. If this is the move to replace Diaz, I am in fierce disagreement.

It’s not as if driving/parking at Citi is already a pleasant experience. Anyway, I highly doubt they’re going to remove all the parking. From what I saw, the plan includes garages to increase parking capacity on the smaller footprint.

I thought that was Tylor Megill? (Or is it Rogers too?)

Helsley signed with Baltimore, 2 years/$28 million, to be a closer. (Helsley had reportedly been interested in/explored the possibility of converting to a starter). If anyone wants to start a "Memories of" thread, go right ahead. I don't really have any good ones to share...

Exactly. Led MLB in appearances in 2020, 2021, 2024, and 2025, and was just outside the top 10 in 2022 and 2023 (68 appearances each of those 2 seasons).

Thanks for the reminder. Our last two answers were Dick Schofield and Alvaro Espinoza. [th]Position Player[/th][th]AL Games Before Mets Debut[/th][td]Yogi Berra[/td][td]2,116[/td][td]Robinson Cano[/td][td]2,078[/td][td]Tony Phillips[/td][td]2,003[/td][td]Marcus Semien[/td][td]1,629[/td][td]Jim Piersall[/td][td]1,529[/td][td]Jim Fregosi[/td][td]1,429[/td][td]Mike Bordick[/td][td]1,387[/td][td]Mo Vaughn[/td][td]1,346[/td][td]Robin Ventura[/td][td]1,254[/td][td]Curtis Granderson[/td][td]1,187[/td][td]Trot Nixon[/td][td]1,081[/td][td]Dick Schofield[/td][td]1,061[/td][td]John Valentin[/td][td]991[/td][td]John Olerud[/td][td]920[/td][td]Carlos Baerga[/td][td]919[/td][td]Tony Clark[/td][td]862[/td][td]Alvaro Espinoza[/td][td]861[/td][td]Tom Veryzer[/td][td]853[/td] [th]Pitcher[/th][th]AL Games Before Mets Debut[/th][td]Frank Tanana[/td][td]606[/td][td]Mickey Lolich[/td][td]508[/td][td]Kenny Rogers[/td][td]490[/td][td]Justin Verlander[/td][td]482[/td][td]Francisco Rodriguez[/td][td]408[/td][td]Dean Chance[/td][td]372[/td] Short of the leaderboards Cedric Mullins - 784 Francisco Lindor - 777 Claudell Washington - 745 Ed Charles - 726 Bob Johnson - 692 Joe Foy - 576 Yoenis Cespedes - 518 Daryl Boston - 500 Marv Throneberry - 350 Tommie Agee - 359 Tim Teufel - 316 Frank Lary - 304 Bret Saberhagen - 252 Had other NL time before Mets Gene Woodling Mike Cameron Carlos Delgado Asdrubal Cabrera Sandy Alomar, Jr. Jose Bautista

In June. And the Post is printing it now, based solely on anonymous sources. Exceptionally weak, even for that paper.

Valdez is the best starting pitcher available in free agency this year. He turned 32 ten days ago. Over the past 5 seasons he's got the best groundball rate and third-lowest homer rate of any pitcher with 500+ innings. Strikeout rate of >8 per 9 innings. Obviously he's significantly better than any of the established starting pitchers the Mets have on the roster now and they could really use him. As for the years/money, that only really matters if it unduly hampers the Mets from also filling all the other holes they need to address. If this is where they are using a lot of cash, perhaps it means that some of the lineup holes (outfield, 1B, DH) will be addressed via trade rather than free agency.

I greatly enjoyed this in its initial form and now again as updated. Nice job G-FAFIF. I do find myself agreeing frequently but also vehemently disagreeing at times too (such are the nature of rankings, I suppose). Little surprise to see several of the 2024 NLCS losses at the bottom, but I cannot figure out what is going on with the 2022 games. Especially that third one, that had just an awful performance all around, from the players to team management to the fans. I can’t fathom it being anywhere but the very bottom. I also think the 2015 NLCS rankings seem backwards. Games 1 and 2 were where the excitement was and the series was won. Pennants are great but game 4 was basically anticlimactic versus the defeats of Arietta and Lester at Citi.

You are a “yes” on Manny Ramirez and a “no” on Alex Rodriguez? That one is odd to me - can you elaborate? Serious question.

518 for Yoenis.

316 games for Teufel in the AL before joining the Mets.

Tony Phillips is indeed the 2.003 games guy. What an underrated career. [th]Position Player[/th][th]AL Games Before Mets Debut[/th][td]Yogi Berra[/td][td]2,116[/td][td]Robinson Cano[/td][td]2,078[/td][td]Tony Phillips[/td][td]2,003[/td][td]Marcus Semien[/td][td]1,629[/td][td]Jim Piersall[/td][td]1,529[/td][td]Jim Fregosi[/td][td]1,429[/td][td]Mike Bordick[/td][td]1,387[/td][td]Mo Vaughn[/td][td]1,346[/td][td]Robin Ventura[/td][td]1,254[/td][td]Curtis Granderson[/td][td]1,187[/td][td]Trot Nixon[/td][td]1,081[/td][td][/td][td]1,061[/td][td]John Valentin[/td][td]991[/td][td]John Olerud[/td][td]920[/td][td]Carlos Baerga[/td][td]919[/td][td]Tony Clark[/td][td]862[/td][td][/td][td]861[/td][td]Tom Veryzer[/td][td]853[/td] [th]Pitcher[/th][th]AL Games Before Mets Debut[/th][td]Frank Tanana[/td][td]606[/td][td]Mickey Lolich[/td][td]508[/td][td]Kenny Rogers[/td][td]490[/td][td]Justin Verlander[/td][td]482[/td][td]Francisco Rodriguez[/td][td]408[/td][td]Dean Chance[/td][td]372[/td] Short of the leaderboards Cedric Mullins - 784 Francisco Lindor - 777 Claudell Washington - 745 Ed Charles - 726 Bob Johnson - 692 Joe Foy - 576 Marv Throneberry - 350 Tommie Agee - 359 Frank Lary - 304 Bret Saberhagen - 252 Had other NL time before Mets Gene Woodling Mike Cameron Carlos Delgado Asdrubal Cabrera Sandy Alomar, Jr. Jose Bautista