Gwreck

I bet there are some other names on both lists…like…Jacob deGrom?

You give me too much credit as there is no way I remember Oliver having two different runs with Texas, and certainly not as a starter. I remember him a a starter with St. Louis (?). I was thinking of Oliver’s post-Mets tenure, when he was still an effective reliever for Anaheim and the Rangers (and I think he was on their WS teams in 2010/11). I did just realize there is an obvious answer missing here: our new-ish friend Marcus Semien.

Two big takeaways I have are: 1. I did not expect catcher to be so low. Since a change there seems unlikely, it just increases the need to upgrade at first/second/DH. 2. Soto only played 67 games in left so that ranking seems even better. But he also led the Mets in DH appearances which makes that ranking seem even worse.

Mariners, .663. Josh Naylor played 152 games there and was just bad, .667 OPS and -0.2 WAR Diamondbacks, .636. Ildemargo Vargas (.675 OPS on the season) played half the games there and the rest by a bunch of guys who hit even less.

OPS by position, where the Mets ranked in 2026 C: .676, 20th of 30 teams. 1B: .667, 28th 2B: .628, 27th 3B: .684, 19th SS: .697, 13th LF: .793, 4th CF: .735, 10th RF: .756, 14th DH: .688, 20th

We can start and stop with needing better players. Especially because Soto, Lindor, Bichette,* Benge, Ewing, and Alvarez/Torrens already comprise two-thirds of the lineup. We already know what a team with them looks like. The other 3 positions, 1B, 2B, and OF/DH all require significant upgrades, full stop.

For context, 4.3 WAR puts Benge as the 26th most productive position player in MLB this year. (40th overall).

Postseason Rooting Hierarchy: 1. Brewers. Great fanbase. Longest pennant drought of any team in the postseason. Franchise that puts the lie to claims that small markets can’t compete and win. No known offenses against the Mets other than when they were deliberately throwing at Jesse Winker a couple years ago. Also the victims in a great Mets postseason moment so we can root for them now in solidarity. 2. Rays. A level below the Brewers because they’re a newer team, not in the NL, and don’t have the same great fanbase. Otherwise very similarly situated. Bonus point for taking the AL East. 3. Guardians. Also generally meeting the above criteria but they’re not as good this year. Bonus point to them for having their pitchcom volume too loud, thus helping the Mets sweep them this August. 4. White Sox. Comeback stories good. Have always felt some kinship to a team in a two-team city that is actually more authentically a representative of its environs rather than the other annoyingly more-heralded team. 5. Padres. Not terribly unlike the Brewers, but I’m still annoyed about the 2022 wild card series. They massively increased payroll, fans have been selling out the stadium for multiple years. That’s how it’s supposed to work. 6. Cubs. Falls a little lower since they did have that World Series title 10 years ago. 7. Red Sox. Eh. Didn’t distinguish themselves this year or in last year’s playoffs by not doing more to defeat the Yankees. 8. Astros. Teams with .500 records in the playoffs are hard to root for. The bad options come next. 9. Dodgers. Surprising that they could come in this high but that’s a testament to how execrable the remaining options are. 10. Phillies. Can’t root for division rivals. (Maybe we wouldn’t dislike the Marlins as much but then again they don’t really make the playoffs). Entering the playoffs back-assward and probably going to lose quickly anyway so they don’t fall as low as… 11. Braves. See Phillies. I guess they got rid of Ozuna but the racist chant remains. Do they still fail to sell out playoff games? Just a bad fanbase. 12. Yankees. Never an acceptable choice. I guess we’d root for the Yankees if they were matched up against the Al-Qaeda all-stars but seeing as that’s not the matchup this time…

My Plan A is Brandon Lowe over Sato, though. Lowe can play second (hopefully Semien is cut) and he has played first before so he could shift there (and Soto back to DH) if the prospects force the issue. I’m interested in Sato mostly if Bichette leaves. If Bichette stays, we need Lowe.

I don’t think the data bears that out at all. The 1973 NL West had 4 teams (of 6) over .500 with their fourth place team (the Astros) only a half a game behind the Mets (who didn’t make up one rainout). Where did all those wins come from? A whole lot of winning against the East of course. Of the 6 NL West teams, only the truly awful Padres had a losing record against the East. The 1973 NL East was just a lot of mediocre teams. Sometimes the talent shakes out like that.

I agree with much of this but I genuinely laughed at you suggesting a second straight year of signing a free agent to play first who has never played first ever before. (Sato’s never played a single pitch there as a professional). Now, I of course was suggesting Soto there (and he’s also never played there as a professional either)…but we at least know what we’re getting offensively from Soto.

They were already announced a while ago, before the final races were even decided. And were most certainly decided at the convenience of NBC rather than any teams (let alone attendees). PHI at ATL at 2 CHW at HOU at 5 BOS at NYY at 8 CHC at SDP at 10.

I personally like Sean Manaea and was hoping he could finish strong. Guess not. One wonders if he could have some reasonable trade value if the Mets were to eat $10M of the last year of his deal. A change of scenery might benefit everyone.

Yes, you read that right, they moved up the start time because of weather/to end this miserable season just a little faster. (Yes, we are all happy about the development of Benge, McLean, whomever. It was still an abysmal failure of a year).

This won’t matter unless Arizona wins another game. They’re down 10-4 to the Padres after 6. The good news is that San Diego clinches the #4 seed with a win so they won’t have anything to play for Sunday.

And his fellow 2006 Met Darren Oliver

I bet Kenny Rogers is on this list.

Marlon Byrd was a Ranger at some point. Did he put up enough WAR in his 4 months as a Met to make this list?

And now the Cubs/Red Sox have officially moved their game to an alternate site (Tampa) in order to avoid a Monday game. Seems like something that could have been done in 2024…

Point of order: it was the Saturday NYY game that was moved to the doubleheader today. Apparently there is some consideration being given to moving the Sunday Boston/Cubs game to Tampa. If rain is an issue on Sunday, the BAL/NYY game can just be cancelled as irrelevant.

Dillon Gee? He started once on opening day. I couldn’t tell you where he went after the Mets but I could believe it was Texas.

We’re running out of Mets opening day starters here. Umm…Mike Pelfrey? He played for the Twins, the Tigers…he could’ve been a mid-2010s Ranger too?

Nimmo discussed the no trade clause a little in a pregame interview with Steve Gelbs earlier this week. He used the analogy of divorce: if one partner says they want a divorce, it’s hard to come back and say no, we should stay together.

Noah Syndergaard? He bounced to a couple AL teams at the end I think.

Jesse Orosco? He had to have played a lot of places, what with his career games pitched record.