smg58

I think it improved the knowledge base of the average baseball exec and the average fan considerably, and that's a good thing. But the games are longer and less interesting as a result. Most hitters are going to wait for a pitch they can knock out of the park, and will happily take a walk if they don't get it. They are also not afraid of striking out if their approach leads to more runs in the long haul. These things can all be justified by the stats, but I would argue that the little things and the diversity of players' styles and the strategy involved are what made baseball fun.

=MFS62 post_id=97527 time=1656344710 user_id=60] Mets won Jets won Man walked on the moon My daughter was born. Yes, 1969 was a memorable year. Later

I wouldn't have dealt Crow-Armstrong for two months of Baez, but I also wouldn't rush to judgement because somebody made a mockery of A-ball pitching. Has anybody mentioned the Heath Bell deal? 90+ innings of sub-2 ERA pitching might have helped our pen out a bit in 2007.

For division rivals, that's quite a lot of overlap. Or at least it seems that way. That week with the Marlins had to be awkward for Piazza, knowing that there was no point in unpacking. Why do I have zero recall of Jeff Conine being a Met?

Brandon Nimmo. Centerfielder.

I was thinking the same thing. Catcher is the weak spot in our lineup even when McCann comes back, and while I wouldn't bring Alvarez to Queens tomorrow, seeing how he handles AAA at this point seems reasonable.

Basically everything Omar Minaya did in the 2006-2007 offseason, which was especially bizarre given how he'd done everything right up to that point.

How could I forget Greg Jefferies?

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=95244 time=1654647943 user_id=68] =RealityChuck post_id=95242 time=1654647774 user_id=82] I expected more for Jim Fregosi. He was on a potential HOF track until traded to the Mets.

No doubt. But Diaz is going to need to pitch two innings at least once against the Dodgers in October.

I have a feeling that this will be like the rear view camera on a car. In a year or two, everybody's going to have it.

The turning point was the hiring of Eppler. Alderson was ultimately behind most of the baseball decisions up to that point and not doing well, and he started the GM search by assuming (a) of course baseball people under contract with more successful teams would make a lateral move and ( of course their current employers would let them. Then Eppler shows up, good moves are made quickly, key pieces rumored to be on the move stayed put, and the right manager was brought in. Cohen deserves credit for learning from last year, doing right by people like Seaver, and treating established competence like a desirable commodity.

Smith thrived under Chili Davis, so the potential is there, but right now getting regular ABs at AAA will do him some good. Plummer is already doing better than Smith was doing, and they have at least a few options at first (Canha has a fair amount of experience at the position) if needed.

The A's don't want major league help, certainly not from somebody who's arb-eligible but still establishing himself.

The .396 BABIP won't last, but even if it normalizes you have a pretty good stat line with excellent defense from a lefty reserve infielder. Winning teams make room for guys like that.

With or without the cigar?

There should be a different popup once the game starts.

The SNY app carries the games (at least the SNY ones). The Mets are on mlb.com today, but their gameday is also a good way to follow along without live video.

They really haven't played well yet, but the Braves have the hardware and still look to be the most talented division rival on paper.

The injuries to the pitching staff concern me. Marte's vulnerability to offspeed pitches concerns me. Smith just looking lost concerns me. But I'm taking a glass-half-full attitude towards the offense in general, especially since we've been doing well in spite of it. I figure the hitting will go up and the pitching will go down, but hopefully they cancel each other out and we still have a team that is solidly in first.

No-hitters (especially one-pitcher no hitters) are fantastic moments that transcend the context of the team's place in the standing or the health of the pitcher's arm. That game remains one of the team's most memorable moments, and it's doubtful at best that pulling him would have led to anything more memorable for the team. The injury that sidelined his season had more to do with a collision than with anything else. As far as injuries in general are concerned, we still don't really know how many pitches is too many, or how fast is too fast, or if leaving the ace in because the short-term situation calls for it is asking for trouble long-term. Plenty of pitchers have thrown no-hitters while throwing more pitches than they otherwise would have been allowed to do, without anybody questioning the prudence of it ten years later. I have much bigger issues with the Dodgers taking out Kershaw after seven perfect innings and a perfectly reasonable pitch count. I also would have kept Megill in, but his control was less than ideal and I might have considered taking him out before a hit if it was clear he was pitching on fumes with a long way still to go. A pitcher who is happy to leave the game is a pitcher I don't want on my team. A manager who lets his pitchers make his decisions for him is a manager I don't want on my team. I realize that the league is nerfing starting pitchers right now (with no noticeable benefit in return), but I'm guessing/hopeful that will change back eventually.

It's hilarious/wonderful when you catch up on old threads and get to the one about one of the biggest wins in recent memory and it's mostly about Aerosmith. I'm still afraid I will jinx the team if I come out and say that this year is different. And the best American bands are CCR, Big Star, and The Byrds. I'm in the odd position where The Eagles rub me wrong (and given the behavior of the average rock musician, that takes a lot), but I like a lot of their music.

That's a crummy break. He might be out until 2024, at which point he will have to start re-establishing himself as a major-league reliever completely from scratch.

The bottom line with this is that if you don't have a better offer in front of you (like Syndegaard did) or aren't actively negotiating better offers with other teams, you take the QO. You don't have to like the QO, but it wasn't negotiated out of the CBA either. And unlike the franchise tag in football, you can only get it once. The best case scenario is what Stroman did, turning in a good season and getting a nice contract a year later without taking a pay cut in the meantime. The worst case scenario? Well, Conforto if he had taken the deal -- but he'd be $18M richer than he is now.

I'm not 100% opposed to the idea, but I don't think we're there yet.