Gwreck

I thought the hint for #14 was a position player? The best I could come up with is Adrian Gonzalez, who had a mustache, but that’s not really a hall of fame first name (?)

Polanco is very differently situated in my view. He barely played and when he did he was hurt. Not really a meaningful baseline. And, as long as he’s (more) healthy, he’s likely to produce something that’s an already huge upgrade over his 2026 production. Do I want the Mets to massively upgrade at first, second, and DH/LF? Of course. But DH is going to be the lowest priority on that list and they also have to sign Skubal and eat Semien’s money. At some point there is a limit to what they are going to do. Polanco’s “spot” also strikes me as the one that can most easily be freed up should a prospect force their way onto the big league roster in 2027. Assuming (or holding) a starting spot for a prospect is folly.

Darren O’Day? He had at least some Rangers time in there in the early 2010s?

There’s a good chance that Polanco is the starting/primary DH. Unless they try to have him play first again.

I did not know that Tommy Pham was on the White Sox postseason roster. 0-13 with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk this year with the Mets, a .000/.071/.000, negative 77 OPS+

It would be fun to have a running projection of 2027 wins as this roster changes over the course of the offseason. As shown above: that’s maybe a…75-win team?

It’s been a while since I’ve read the Basic Agreement, and I am neither a physician nor an expert on collective bargaining. With those disclaimers: -I do not believe it is correct that a Free Agent is “not subject to the MLBPA.” My understanding is that the provisions of the basic agreement between MLB and the union do apply to free agent signings. -I would not expect standard physicals for players signing free agent contracts to test for PEDs. I would expect they are mostly orthopedic in nature. I suppose they could include some standard blood work but I’d expect that to the extent there was specific screening for PEDs or drugs of abuse that any such testing is subject to the joint drug testing program.

I agree Semien has to go. He obviously cannot be one of the 9 starters, the backup catcher, or the backup outfielder. That leaves him in competition for the backup infielder slot, or the “last spot on the bench” slot. I am far less certain that it will be Baty, Mauricio and/or Young creating a crunch.

I’ll also add that I would be very cautious about concluding definitive PED usage based solely on photographs. Now, if you want to talk about Chapman’s suspension for violating MLB’s Domestic Violence policy…and making some conclusions based on that…I have a different view.

The MLB drug testing policy (https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/upload/mlb/oqj0ztqxefst9pmkpbcl.pdf) is jointly agreed upon by the union and MLB and includes random tests of every player at least once during spring training, the regular season, and the offseason, plus additional testing at random (a player might thus be tested 4 or more times in a given year versus the minimum 3). A team cannot separately mandate its own tests the way an employer without unionized employees might.

If the Dodgers are playing the Yankees in the World Series, we’ve already lost. We need Tampa and Milwaukee to take care of the job in advance.

Corollary: I can’t believe Mullins is starting for a playoff team.

Dunston is short of the list.

Not Cliff. He didn’t have very many games with the Marlins. He was on the Rays’ 2008 World Series team…but short of the list.

Benge has to be the top of the list. He’s the first player from a draft overseen by Stearns to make the majors and all signs are pointing towards success with him. Also a good bit of talent has graduated the farm system in the last year (McLean, Ewing, Thornton) that was drafted in June 2023 — before Stearns arrived — but he still gets some credit for the years of development while he was at the helm. The Jose Iglesias signing worked out fabulously.

I’m not ready to rule out Tampa or Milwaukee before they play a single game.

Yeah, yeah, we all know Stearns fucked up. No disagreement. But instead of just repeating those same points again, let’s look at CF’s broader point: how can the Mets have sustained success the way those other teams do? Let’s examine: Yankees/Dodgers years and years of steady management by Cashman/Friedman, smart player development, always able and usually willing to spend big. Also huge institutional advantages leveraged in getting top players to want to play for their teams. Braves: very similar with Anthopolous. Outstanding player development and an aggressive strategy of signing young stars to extensions early that has largely paid huge dividends. Astros: Major tank-a-thon for several seasons (check out 2011-2013 in particular) followed by oustanding draft successes with first-round picks including Springer, Correa, and Bregman. Once the team got good, continued smart player development and some good acquisitions. Years of steady leadership by Luhnow (until he got suspended). Also, some cheating. Brewers: years and years of strong player development, disciplined approaches to veterans, willingness to trade players before they hit FA. Also…umm…I think we have to give Stearns quite a bit of credit here. The Rays weren’t mentioned by CF but have a similar approach. Phillies: let’s not forget that they really only had two good runs in the last 30 years: 2007-2011 and then 2022-present. There were 10 bad years in between and a lot of bad years prior to 2007. But they hired Dombrowski and started having success a few years later. * * * And so then there’s the Mets. They had deeply problematic ownership, then deeply problematic ownership with an austerity budget, and sure, Cohen coming in was huge but they’ve also had about 8 different GMs and field managers in the past 10 years. Hiring Stearns is exactly the sort of move you make to build a team for sustained success. Full stop. I don’t have a single problem with Cohen doing that, and it made perfect sense. Stearns had many successes in Milwaukee, he is ambitious and smart, he was given the mandate to build a perennial contender, and Cohen opened up the checkbook wide. It’s basically the exact same move the Dodgers made hiring Friedman from the Rays 15 years ago. Hell, for bonus points, Stearns is even a Mets fan since birth. Three years in, are we happy with the results? Of course not. Maybe this was bad luck, maybe Stearns just isn’t that smart/was just lucky in his prior job. There are other executives out there and sure, firing him now is justifiable. But everything about his hire was procedurally sound to me. Maybe we get luckier with the next GM?

32 games for Mike.

1. John Olerud 66 2. Carlos Beltran 65 3. Curtis Granderson 64 4. Rickey Henderson 60 5. Travis D’Arnaud 57 6. Bobby Bonilla 46 7. 8t. Francisco Lindor 41 8t. JD Martinez 41 10. Darryl Strawberry 40 11. Robin Ventura 37 12. Tom Glavine 35 13. Harrison Bader 34 14. Willie Mays 33. He’s the highest number to have not played at least one postseason game in 1995 or later. Too few games Shawn Green Bartolo Colon Julio Franco David Cone Octavio Dotel Mike Piazza Todd Zeile Carlos Delgado Darryl Hamilton Didn’t play in postseason for Mets Adrian Gonzalez Andres Gimenez Jeff Kent Justin Turner Trot Nixon

Correct! 46 career postseason games, for 5 different franchises. His one Mets hit was a pinch hit for Mahomes after Pat’s heroic effort to keep the Mets in the game in Game 6 in 1999.

Darryl had 9 postseason hits for the Mets, none bigger than his two-out double off Robb Nen in the 10th inning of NLDS Game 2 in 2000. Only played in 25 career postseason games.

Harrison Bader played more postseason games with the 2024 Mets than he ever played in his entire time in St. Louis. But he *is* on the list, with 34 career postseason games. And exactly 1 hit for the Mets, in the 9th inning of game 1 of the division series in Philadelphia.

Each of our remaining correct answers has exactly one postseason hit for the Mets.

This is also something that remains surprising to me, that the early evening news actually gets meaningful viewership. I have a tough time imagining the demographic for that other than…senior citizens? This is where it becomes clear, I suppose, that I am not a network television executive.

Yes, as already stated above, it’s well understood which party is driving the decision. What I’ve never heard is a cogent explanation as to why doing it that way makes the network(s) more money. Why is a given that they will lose viewers from the “overlap” versus gaining viewers from Philadelphia and Atlanta who aren’t going to watch at 2 PM but would watch at 7. Do those Philly and Atlanta fans who work come home and really watch the Red Sox or Cubs instead? I guess this must be the case, that there are enough (1) fans who will watch an additional game or (2) unaffiliated viewers who will watch multiple games if given the chance.