smg58

I have officially un-given up.

Given the state of our pen, why not? I might also consider signing (NOT claiming, due to the price tag) Brad Brach, who has stunk enough this year to just get DFAd but might still be better than a few of our guys and could always regain his form.

It seemed like every player Alderson signed in the 2017-2018 offseason got hurt, tried to play through an injury that they would have been better off not playing through (and the team would have been better off as well), but eventually performed at a level consistent with realistic expectations. But like with Bruce, the new GM treated Vargas like he was valueless when he wasn't.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Yabbut for a 26-year-old AA catcher hitting .190? In your div? Two months of Cabrera got us a borderline top-100 prospect (at least before the TJS) from the Phillies. Hard to see this as selling high. We basically got Nido without the fearsome bat. And we didn't even save a whole lot of money.

I'd love this deal if the Mets had 10 more wins. Stroman has more than held his own in the hardest division to pitch in. It actually makes less sense to trade Thor now -- he's under contract for longer, and Kay could have filled a rotation spot in the long term. Getting Stroman means we're committed to competing next year --which we can do if we're willing to add another $30M or so in payroll. We don't have a playoff team right now, or even a .500 one, and we're rapidly running out of prospect pieces. So this move will ultimately be judged in the context of whatever else happens.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=16802 time=1564161513 user_id=68] =smg58 post_id=16798 time=1564158760 user_id=62] Other than McNeil, Alonso, and DeGrom, there is nobody untouchable.

Other than McNeil, Alonso, and DeGrom, there is nobody untouchable. Did you notice we're a sub-.500 team? I would happily settle for sanely good for anybody else. But I also wouldn't feel forced to deal anybody who isn't a free agent.

Too many slow jogs around the bases. I think it's funny that they say they want to shorten games, when all the big suggestions (universal DH, outlawing or limiting the shift, pitchers can't be removed after one batter) will help offense, and helping offense prolongs games. The Yankees and Red Sox combined for 30 runs in one of their London games. Was that supposed to get people home in three hours? Have they considered giving pitchers a chance?

Edgy MD wrote: So, this is deGrom's to lose now, right? Yep. Until the day Pete Alonso writes his name in the record books. Later This comment is quite a bit more prescient than was probably originally intended.

Only McNeil, Alonso, and DeGrom are untouchable. Smith is not hurting the team in left. Keep him in there, and play him every day. If there is a taker for Ramos, let him go. Rosario should get you value. Conforto would get you good value, if you are thinking long-term, and Smith makes him expendable. Same with Seth Lugo -- let somebody else overpay for a relief pitcher. McNeil should be an infielder long-term. I'd have no problem playing Lowrie at short while giving Gimenez time to move forward. Lowrie would not be worse there than Rosario has been. Obviously you take what you can get for your free agents. I don't think they can afford to trade Diaz at the really, really big loss it would be right now. I'd be happy to part with Cano, but I'm afraid there is only one GM in the league who would willingly take his contract and he's already done that. I'd look into Harrison Bader of the Cardinals. He hasn't done more than show flashes, but he's a superior centerfielder having some bad BABIP luck this year and the Cardinals don't seem to be patient with him. Plus they are fully capable of undervaluing their own -- what did they get for Tommy Pham and Luke Voit this time last year? And his floor is still quite a bit higher than Juan Lagares' floor.

So I've officially changed my mind about Diaz being healthy. Something seriously ain't right with him, and it needs to be addressed before it affects next year too.

Go for it! Plus it would be useful to have a mole in a high place.

Just horrible.

You could go on baseballreference.com and find all this information out in about 10 minutes. This isn't rocket science.

The Mets have too much invested in Diaz long-term to let him pitch through a potential injury. If there's something that needs to be checked out, cut the crap and check it out. The article also mentions concerns with the ball, something that CF has brought up in at least one thread here. Honestly, I don't know what the league is trying to do with this ball. Attendance is not going up over this.

Oh, absolutely. But one of Brodie's missions over the winter was to shore up the pen, and he unquestionably did that. The fact that it didn't work is some combination of injury, mismanagement, and misjudgment. The question is what percent is what. I'd add bad luck. I do think Familia is genuinely hurt, but I don't know what's up with Diaz. And assigning numbers is always tricky. Misjudgment: certainly, as that deal is a failure if Diaz is merely pretty good -- and maybe he'll work his way all the way up to "pretty good" by the season's end. Mismanagement: well, Diaz hasn't been overworked, and there were definitely situations where more could/should have been asked of him, but he's not pitching at a level where we can assume more favorable results if he were used better.

And that Justin Wilson would at least be a serviceable LOOGY. My concern was that Brodie overpaid for what he got and the resources could have been better spent elsewhere, not that the pen would blow up like this.

I'm at a loss. You think it can't get any worse, and then yesterday. It's many things, and no one thing in particular. You make the Diaz/Cano deal, and Diaz can't afford to have an ERA over 3 to make it even marginally worthwhile. But this has now gone way beyond that, and there's no good explanation for it. The same with Familia; if he were simply mediocre, you could blame Brodie for overpaying. And while we're dumping on Brodie, keep in mind that Anderson used the 2017 trade deadline to stockpile young bullpen arms. What do we have to show for it? Callaway has earned fair criticism for his handling of the pen, and he officially lost me with his treatment of Healey. But if anybody he brings in will implode anyway, how much difference is it really making? We scapegoated Eiland, but is there any evidence that he mattered in a negative way, if at all?

I don't know who'd argue with that, and yet very few teams actually run their pen that way.

Alonso is the polar bear. Which I'd totally get if he were from Alaska, but he's from Florida.

Edgy MD wrote: I wonder if a new pitching coach and new pitching strategist and a new bullpen coach will lead to a review of the Mets' kid-gloves-for-Lugo policy. Lugo's elbow injury in 2017 is still a fair concern. Two months of rest saved him from TJS over the short term, but that always has to be in the back of your mind. You have to balance immediate need with the reality that the team cannot afford to see him vanish for a year and a half.

=41Forever post_id=13783 time=1561149648 user_id=69] For a guy who supposedly couldn't play defense, Alonso hasn't been awful. Nice pick off!

Edgy MD wrote: McNeil may be getting better as the season progresses. Unfortunately, it may be asking too much of him to become an MVP. Yes, and yes.

=bmfc1 post_id=13763 time=1561131560 user_id=73] How about that Mets OF?

My current votes are Rosario, and as many relievers as they would allow me to select.