Gwreck
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Everything posted by Gwreck
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[bLOCKQUOTE]Castellanos, many of his teammates argued, was not a team player. This was an important distinction to make. His candor, appreciated by some because there was never any guessing about where Castellanos stood, was not for everyone. A team player, Phillies sources said, would have understood that late-inning defensive substitutions were not necessarily an indictment of his abilities. The team had a better chance to win that game with a defensive upgrade. A team player, Phillies sources said, would not play music from his own portable speaker if he personally had a good game after a Phillies loss. Numerous players had grievances with management regarding strategy or usage; these were usually expressed in private settings. Castellanos was different. He was most outward with his disdain for two people, Thomson and hitting coach Kevin Long. He did not trust them, he told teammates, because they had never played in the majors[/bLOCKQUOTE]
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Answering questions on what I think will happen (and not necessarily what should happen): 1. Williams is the closer on opening day. Is he the closer by the time the postseason comes around? Not sure. 2. Mets break camp with 6 starters, and continue to use a 6-man rotation unless/until one of those 6 gets hurt. 3. Yes, Benge makes the roster. 4. Yes, Benge plays RF on opening day. Baty plays <25 games there in 2026. 5. Semien leads off if Lindor is not playing opening day.
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As in November, I remain unenthused about our outfield other than Soto. Feels like the team is still short a bat. Maybe Benge will prove me wrong and it’s a repeat of 2019 Alonso….but this sure feels like a hole Stearns hasn’t adequately addressed.
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Don’t forget the DWI too. We should want no part of Ozuna.
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I’ve got bad news for you about Williams. I agree with the broader point though: the bench options are thoroughly unimpressive if Baty and Vientos and Baty are everyday players.
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13 hitters will make the team. 11 spots locked: Alvarez, Polanco, Semien, Bichette, Lindor, Robert, Soto, Torrens, Baty, Vientos, Taylor 2 spots open with this as the competition: Carson Benge Vidal Brujan Ronny Mauricio MJ Melendez Nick Morabito Jared Young
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Strictly a depth piece and should make the major league roster only if Benge isn’t ready.
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RIP Terrance Gore: 1991 – 2026, Met in 2022
Gwreck replied to Cowtipper's topic in New York Mets Talk
11. His only Mets postseason appearance was in Wild Card game 2, the one the Mets won that year. -
Did these get moved to a new location?
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There are some very specific rules for MLB salary anrbitrstion about the players who can be used as comparisons, who must have corresponding service time, and so forth. In most circumstances, neither Manaea’s salary (nor many others’) would have been a relevant data point. Skubal had an advantage because there is a rarely-applicable rule that if a player has “special achievements” (here, the back-to-back Cy Young awards) than the pool of comparators can be expanded. But in any circumstance, the $19M was still way too low, and probably harmed any chance of settling (if they had filed at, say $23 or $25M, Skubal might have thought twice about going through with the hearing).
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Skubal won the hearing and will be paid $32 million this year (versus the Tigers’ proposed $19M).
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Are we talking about Framber Valdez?
Gwreck replied to Marshmallowmilkshake's topic in New York Mets Talk
I view it as the Tigers looking to make a push one more time before Skubal leaves in free agency. Weak division and Skubal - Valdez - Flaherty is a very credible playoff rotation. -
A not-well-reported piece of information I came across today: Day-of-game parking at Citi Field will rise to $50 for the 2026 season ($40 for season ticket holders). Compare to last year when it was $40 ($27 for season ticket holders); and 2022 ($25 for everyone). While this probably isn’t a make-or-break expense for most people, it simultaneously seems like the kind of thing that people really focus on…
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Awful Announcing reporting that Keith said on Laura Albanese’s podcast that it’s a reduction from 110 to 91 games.
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Gelbs has never replaced Keith before and I doubt they’d start now.
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I didn’t know the Mets gave Seaver 2000 and 2015 NL Championship rings. I wonder why - maybe just because he is Tom Seaver?
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Plus also Marcus Semien! If that guy brings nothing else, gold glove-caliber defense on the Mets is something we haven’t seen a lot of recently.
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Things I Didn't Know about Baseball until 2026
Gwreck replied to Edgy MD's topic in New York Mets Talk
They light up and shake hands when a Twins player hits a home run. One of my favorite parts of that park. -
For what it’s worth, Britton/Sammon’s first opening day roster projection has Kimbrel making the team (remember that Minter will start the year on the IL). https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6998072/2026/01/26/mets-roster-projection-lineup-pitching-staff/
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Good call. 30 is his Baseball America ranking (not MLB).
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Williams is #30 overall.
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Does having better farm/development system make it more likely that top-ranked prospects turn out to be good players? Not sure. I get that it is more likely to have a higher quantity of top ranked prospects. It’s not like the Mets were the only ones who thought Alex Escobar or Delois Guerra were top prospects — they had top 50 overall rankings from Baseball America. They just didn’t turn out to be good MLB players. This is probably a research question for someone with more time than me but tracing prior prospect rankings to some major league stat (say, WAR) would be fascinating: what is the median WAR for a #10 prospect? Do some systems turn out prospects that more frequently turn into good players? Etc.
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As for the Cano/Diaz/Kelenic deal, it was a debacle because (a) if the Wilpons only had limited money to spend, taking on Cano’s contract was idiotic and ( acquiring 35 year old players coming off PED suspensions is so stupid that it makes me question the judgment of anyone involved in the decision.* Just seeing this in print makes me irate all these years later. The fact that the Wilpons could have actually this is baffling, even for them. I realize Van Wegenen has never worked again as a GM and that’s probably the right outcome if he actually believed this. ___ *It’s not exactly analogous — as the PED suspension was much further in the past vis a vis the acquisition, and he was 3 years younger at the time of the acquisition — but the 4 year deal for Marte after 2021 maybe should also have been avoided.
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I didn’t include Kelenic here because he didn’t wind up “hurting” the Mets by becoming a good major league player elsewhere. I was doing an exercise to evaluate the classic trade scenario, not unlike the Peralta deal: exchanging young, unproven talent for major-league ready players. Sometimes that young, unproven talent becomes pretty good. Most of the time not, and thus there only a few truly regrettable trades: prospect becomes good while Mets get little or no value.
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Over the last 40 years, I count only 3 seriously regrettable trades concerning the prospects lost: 1. Melvin Mora for Mike Bordick, 2000. Admittedly with some benefit of hindsight. 2. Scott Kazmir for Victor Zambrano, 2004. No hindsight required, it was dumb at the time. 3. Pete Crow-Armstrong for Javy Baez, 2021. (I’d guess I’d also consider the July 2002 deal for Reed/Middlebrooks that gave up Jason Bay). Whether the deals worked (Leiter, Piazza, Delgado, Cespedes, Lindor), didn’t work (Alomar, Cano), or worked but didn’t make a difference re: playoffs (Viola, Santana), the Mets weren’t burned on the prospects lost.
