MFS62

metsmarathon wrote: fucking wilpons trying to squeeze every last dime out of a situation, (Piling on) Exactly! Think of all that extra concession revenue when the home games go long. Later

I wanted to see what Carlos could do as a starter, but not this way. I would have preferred stretching him out a bit. IIRC, his longest stint so far has been around 2 innings. Later

Was anyone in the stands, or in the dugout, keeping a scorecard? Didn't they spot this immediately? Three batters, multiple times? Nobody noticed? Weird. Rod Serling could have made an entire episode about that for The Twilight Zone. Later

Nice thread title. Nice post. I'm thinking GG is warming up in some virtual bullpen until the Mets make a decision about putting Marcum on the DL. Later

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Ah, yes... the poor man's Mientkiewicz. Wow! Just ... wow! Later

Angel Hernandez will be one of the umpires? Good joke. Good knowledge of the game (actually, you only have had to watch him umpire one game to know his incompetence). But scary shit nevertheless. Later

In case anyone happened to see it. Later

Frayed Knot wrote: Speaking of Hafner, there's a guy who deserves a 50 game suspension. Not for PEDs (although maybe he does those too) but for constant delay of game. I was flipping over to the Yanx game every once in a while last night including during one of his ABs. And after Every. Single. Pitch. he first smoothes the dirt in the box with his feet; then leaves and walks towards the 1B dugout until he gets to the outermost edge of the dirt circle some 20 feet away; at this point he takes a couple of practice swings, stretches a bit, spits once or twice, then slowly walks back towards the plate where of course the dirt needs smoothing again. Only then is his ready to dig his feet in allow the pitcher the honor of throwing the next pitch. The Mets/Brewes game must have gone through two or three batters in the time Hafner's AB alone took. And I know it wasn't just this one time because I've seen him do this before. All that, and he doesn't even resort to the old "adjust the batting gloves" routine? How creative. We can only imgine what Bob Gibson would have done if he'd tried that crap while Bob was pitching. Later

I don't have to speak Korean to know that every guy on that bench was saying some form of: 'Holy shit she must be hot in bed' She isn't that good. Later

Burke recalled? Later

Snippets of what BA wrote on Puello (they mentioned the Biogenesis case but didn't go farther than one sentence): Just a few years ago, right fielder Cesar Puello stood as one of the organization’s brightest prospects at any position. His intriguing combination of physicality, speed and arm strength contributed to a No. 3 ranking among Mets farmhands entering the 2011 season. So while trouble turning his tools into production, managing the strike zone and staying healthy caused him to slide to the fringes of the prospect radar, the 22-year-old Puello has enjoyed a stunning resurgence at Double-A Binghamton this season, finally making good on the power potential that led to him being so highly touted. ------------- Puello advanced to Double-A to begin the 2013 season, and with his April performance he showed signs of improvement when compared with his previous two years. He hit .280/.357/.420 in 15 games—though he didn’t hit a home run—but then something seemed to click for Puello the following month. On May 3, he hit a home run off Harrisburg lefthander Ian Krol. He went three days before hitting another one off Trenton righthander Jose Ramirez. The day after that, Puello blasted two home runs off Trenton lefty Nik Turley. So began Puello’s prodigious hot streak. Since that first homer, he has hit .341/.404/.659 with 15 homers and 46 RBIs in 47 games. Puello had another two-homer game on June 6, again against the Thunder. As of July 2—six years to the day since he signed as an amateur—Puello leads the Eastern League with 15 home runs and a .602 slugging percentage. The homers haven’t been chip shots, either. One, hit off Altoona lefty Nate Baker, was drilled to dead center so hard that it was over the batter’s eye before the center fielder made it to the warning track. ------------------------------- New Approach, New Mechanics While Puello finally is tapping into the power that his sturdy frame affords him, those numbers don’t quite tell the whole story. His walk rate hasn’t dramatically increased this season, but according to his Binghamton coaches, Puello’s plate discipline, working in concert with mechanical adjustments and improvements, have keyed his resurgence. Binghamton manager Pedro Lopez said Puello has been more selective in terms of what he swings at and has refined his perception of the strike zone, picking pitches he can consistently drive rather than falling behind in the count and having to settle for less-desirable offerings. ‘The plate discipline, for me, it’s the No. 1 thing,” Lopez said. “In the past, he would get himself out . . . He would swing at way too many pitches over his head, down and away and stuff, and that didn’t allow him to get good pitches to hit. I mean, no pitcher would throw him a strike if he would keep swinging at those pitches.” But now that Puello has refined his idea of the strike zone and has cut down on helping pitchers out, his coaches have seen him drive both fastballs and offspeed pitches out of the park and into the gaps. Binghamton hitting coach Luis Natera said Puello has raised the pre-swing position of his hands this year to above his head, and the action of driving his hands down through the strike zone has helped Puello get more backspin on the ball and drive it farther. Natera also said Puello has made adjustments to draw more power from his lower half. “Power is the last thing to come,” Natera said. “You have to be a hitter first, and then you let it go. And right now, I think he’s a better hitter.” ------------------------------- If Puello has a second half to match the first, then the Mets could have first-division-caliber corner outfielder on their hands. The man at the top, general manager Sandy Alderson, has taken notice. “He’s always been a five-tool guy, a five-tool projection, but not necessarily five-tool performer,” Alderson told Mike Francesca of New York’s WFAN on June 10. “This year he’s put it all together and has been phenomenal over the last couple of weeks.” Later

Frayed Knot wrote: Looks like we can call off the move to Def-Con Five Let's play chess. Later

Frayed Knot wrote: Zvon wrote: I really thought it was silly to start this one up again after the delay but I'm glad they did. It was a one run game at the time, it would have been crazy not to resume it. Wins are nice. But I was getting palpitations from all those squeakers. The final score did wonders for my blood pressure. Later

According to Mets.com, RHP Gonzalez Germen is on his way to NY. A corresponding move will made prior to Tuesday's game. Later

Edgy MD wrote: Man, they are going to hammer the last-chance-to-see-Rivera angle, aren't they? I hope that means they will have to bring him into a lot of games when they're losing. Later

Whoda' thunkit? Brown delivers. Who needs FedEx? Later

Is "obviously" this generation's "You know"? (If anyone answers "obviously" I will hunt you down.) Later

Royals DFA Jeff Francoeur They* wouldn't. They just wouldn't. Would they? Later * = the Mets FO

Sort of like when Martino finally gets a girl to say "yes", then takes off his tracksuit. Later

Position adjustments? Doesn't a first baseman handle more chances than players at other positions? (Except maybe catcher on a strikeout staff)? That means more chances to make an error. But they are comparing those guys I looked at to the average schlub replacement first baseman. Are they awarded wins when they dig a throw out of the dirt, range into the hole to start a double play or dive to stop a "sure double" down the line that those schlubs wouldn't have done? Doesn't make sense. Maybe, as you said, the definition of that "average" first baseman is different. Why should it be when it comes to wins contributed by their defense? A win is a win. Later

When the Mets played the LA earlier this month, I got into an arguement with the VYF in my office about who was the better defensive First Baseman - Keith Hernandez or Don Mattingly. They were two of the best I've ever seen. So I decided to check out Baseball-Reference. I was shocked by what I saw. First, I looked at players who passed the eyeball test as superior defenders at some other positions to see if the dWAR ratings were consistent with their reputations. Here's what I found: 3B - Brooks Robinson - 38.8 , Clete Boyer - 21.5 ss - Ozzie Smith - 43.4 2B - Bill Mazeroski - 23.9 , Bobby Grich - 16.2 OF - Clemente - 12.1 (surprisingly Joe DiMaggio 3.2, but in a shorter career and Al Kaline - 2.5 in a long one) Seemed to pass the eyeball test. But when I got to the first basemen, I was astounded: Keith Hernandez 0.6 Don Mattingly MINUS 6.8 So I looked at Gil Hodges Minus 5.4 What is it about first base dWAR that seems to cause dWAR to measure two of the greatest fielding first baseman the way it did? Maybe this would be something to be discussed at the next SABR meeting. I'd like to know what they say. Later

And the infielder we got for Nolan Ryan. Bad memories. Later

Here y' go: http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=matz--001ste Later

Dammit. I hat it when a guy proves he's human. Later

There have been a lot of things A-Rod has done to confirm that he is not too bright. And I think he keeps trying to put those things behind him. And he could do that by performing well for the MFYs and getting some cheers from the fans. So I chalk this one up to being happy that he was told he finally will be able to start playing soon, and wanting to let his fans know that. If anything it was an error of enthusiasm. Maybe it was premature, but Cashman wayyyyy over reacted. Later