Centerfield

Love that McNeil photo. Headline is ok. Feels forced. I mean, I get that the Bronx is another borough. But you can't really sing it. And someone needed to say that it doesn't work. If you want to make a play on that song, I think the substitute place has to kinda rhyme. Places that end with "land" work. No. Sleep. 'til Oak-LAND No. Sleep. 'til Rock-LAND Or, you could have changed it up and honored the dude who got the save in that game. No. Sleep. for Diek-MAN But then I guess you can't use that photo.

I haven't thought this through completely, but I was thinking of a revenue sharing plan. But instead of rewarding the teams with the least revenue, reward the teams that finish in the middle of the pack. So of the 30 teams, 12 make the playoffs. Teams that finish 13-18 get the majority of revenue sharing. Basically, incentivize the owners to win with money. (you'd think the owners would already be incentivized to win, but that's part of the issue)

What leaks? "Pete Alonso is willing to compromise with a three year deal! And despite lots of interest, it's only open to the Mets! What a guy!" "Can you believe it? Even after Pete came to the Mets with a three year deal structure, they still refuse to compromise on money. Steve Cohen is gonna have to get involved." "Did you guys hear that the Mets are forcing a deadline on Pete's negotiations?" "WTF. Check out this low-ball offer the Mets made. After everything Pete has done." "The Mets have moved on from Alonso. Their plan B is Brett Baty. Get ready for life without Pete Mets fans."

Boras is starting to lose his cool. Yesterday at the Corbin Burnes conference, he complained openly that MLB teams are making money but not spending. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/scott-boras-shames-mlb-teams-for-sitting-out-free-agency-theyre-making-more-but-theyre-not-spending/ He's clearly frustrated at the Bregman and Alonso situations and the inability to create a market. Meanwhile, his mouthpiece Jon Heyman has an article that the slow moving free agency market is frustrating players: https://nypost.com/2025/01/16/sports/slow-moving-mlb-free-agency-frustrating-players-insane/ This peak into Boras' mindset starts to give you the context for the leaks they've issued this past week.

It's been bad for me as well.

I think it's helpful to consider why we are getting these leaks. First, Pete's market. There are no other offers that are close. If there were, they would have been leveraged against the Mets offer. There's been nothing. We can reasonably conclude there is nothing currently. So in the absence of actual competitors, Boras is reverting to the only option he has next. Public pressure. He leaked to Duquette last week that Pete was willing to come back on a three year deal, but intentionally did not mention the AAV demand. This riled up the Mets fanbase that a deal was close. The overwhelming sentiment was that for a short term deal, the Mets should "just get it done". Then came the news that they were still far apart in AAV. Duquette, in exchange for the news he was given, was asked to implore Cohen to get involved. Boras knows that Stearns won't budge unless he's made to budge. Since then, Boras has leaked additional info to try to create more public pressure. The Mets have given Alonso a deadline. The Mets made a low-ball offer. And now, he's leaking that the Mets have moved on. Boras is trying to demonstrate to the Mets that losing Alonso will create outrage, panic, and will be terrible for the Mets. I don't think it will work. I picture Stearns just sitting there. Unphased, just sitting on his offer. I think Stearns believes that even if another team comes into the picture and offers more, that the Mets will get the right to match before Pete leaves. And so he sits and waits, knowing he's the highest bidder. And for that reason, I still remain optimistic that the two sides will reach a deal. I don't really think anything has changed simply because Boras decided to make the discussions public. If anything, I think it suggests he's running out of options. I will say this though. Stearns had better be right. Because if Pete gets a higher offer, and out of spite, doesn't come back and ask the Mets to match. Or, if Pete does, and Stearns declines to match, I don't see how Stearns can realistically make up for the loss of Pete with the options that remain. I've said before that I would have blinked long before this. Let's see if he's right.

I just found out about the hip surgery too. I'm guessing that the Mets did their due diligence and that David Stearns is also not just finding out about the surgery.

Minter vs. Scott. Age: Minter is one year older than Scott Track Record: Scott has been lights out for two years, shitty before that. Minter had a shit year in 2019 but has been good every other year since 2017. Career 3.28 ERA, 1.196 WHIP WHIP: Minter was 1.019 in 2024. Scott: 1.125 ERA: Minter: 2.62, Scott: 1.75 BB/9: Minter: 2.9; Scott: 4.5

Love this move. Not as sexy as Tanner Scott, but has a longer history of success.

If they get Sasaki say goodbye to any chance of a Guerrero trade this winter. (not that I thought there was a chance of one anyway)

I got the feeling he disliked being defined by the "Harry Doyle" role. I'll miss that old timey way he called games. Almost like he was singing the play by play to you. Like Murph and Vin Scully. Announcers like that had a way of melting away every worry you were feeling.

I take all of this with a grain of salt. The Mets front office doesn't leak. So figure everything you're hearing is coming from Boras, especially since Heyman is one of the guys reporting this. Stearns/Mets don't benefit in any way from news that they are pivoting to plan B. Boras does. The news comes out. Mets fans get outraged. Boras tries to use that to ramp up the pressure on the Mets. When the Soto saga was going on, the numbers were leaked constantly. Because it benefited Boras/Soto to have the numbers floated around so teams would increase their bids. With Pete's side, it's been a week and there's been no release of Pete's demands. This suggests that Boras doesn't want those numbers to be known. I think this is all a negotiation ploy, and that eventually the two sides will agree upon a deal.

I like the move for the price. I think he has some good upside. Important to note though, that this move comes with a significant amount of risk. He was great for us in October, but was pretty crappy for the Mets in the regular season (.683 OPS). His good first half of 2024 with Washington is the only time he's been good since 2021. He was terrible in 2023 for the Brewers (.567 OPS), and terrible in 2022 for Seattle (.688 OPS). Also battled a bad back last fall.

The Binghamton Rumble Ponies will be changing their name (for two games) to the Bathtub Donkeys in response to an obscure NYS law. https://www.si.com/mlb/mets-minor-league-team-adopting-new-team-name-obscure-donkey-lawhttps://www.si.com/mlb/mets-minor-league-team-adopting-new-team-name-obscure-donkey-law I was hoping that the obscure NYS law was the reason behind the temporary name change. It sounds like the team was just inspired by the NYS law. Like it would have been cooler if the law said something like "no assemblage of more than 25 ppl except when the event honors a farm animal...bla bla blah"

2015 was a particularly interesting year in the international pool. The Mets signed Andres Gimenez. He was the 19th ranked prospect that year. That class featured: #7. Vladimir Guerrero Jr. #25. Juan Soto #30. Fernando Tatis Jr. https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/2015/international/https://www.mlb.com/milb/prospects/2015/international/

Committing this much to a top guy is a departure from prior regimes where the preference was to spread it around more lower ranked guys. The thinking was that these guys are so young it's basically a crap shoot. We'll see what works. It's too early to tell on the recent signings, so let's look at the top ranked guys from 5 years +. 2019 1. Yoelqui Cespedes 2. Jasson Dominguez 3. Robert Puason 2018 1. Victor Mesa 2. Yennier Cano 3. Diego Cartaya 2017 1. Shohei Ohtani 2. Wander Franco 3. JP Martinez 2016 1. Luis Robert Jr. 2. Kevin Maitan 3. Adrian Morejon 2015 1. Yadier Alvarez 2. Vladimir Gutierrez 3. Yusniel Diaz Not counting Ohtani, we have 14 players. 1 of them (Franco) ended up as a star player before running into off-field issues. Luis Robert is a major leaguer coming off a down season, but could still be a star. Jasson Dominguez is still highly rated and should get a chance to play this year. Other than that, there's a lot of disappointment on that board. In other words, I'm glad we signed him, but he's by no means a lock.

Jim Duquette did an interview on something called "Foul Territory". Basically says that Pete and Stearns are in a stare down. Pete wants them to come up to his number and Stearns doesn't feel the need to bid against himself. Duquette suggested that Cohen may need to step in. No numbers from either side were mentioned.

He put up All-Star/MVP numbers for a 400 PA stretch between 2019 and 2020. That's a significant period of time. At the time he attributed much of that jump to addressing his sleep apnea. Problem is he's basically been unplayable since then. I've never seen any explanation or injury to attest that to. Just went into the tank. A lot of our hopes and dreams in 2021 died with Dom Smith and Michael Conforto falling off a cliff.

Still not a peep on the Alonso demand. I'm guessing the demand must have been stupid high from Boras/Pete.

Joel Sherman says that the Mets have been told they're out. Oh well. I guess I can hold out hope that he'll end up in the AL. But most likely he'll end up with the Dodgers or Padres.

I think the 93.3 number is speculation from writers for the Athletic. I haven’t seen that it’s his actual demand yet.

Pete encapsulating exactly how I felt that night.

Two days later and there are no reports of the numbers being asked. Curious.

I saw a Heyman clip posted by NY Post sports. Summary: ---There's a "good chance" of a reunion ---Spent some time advertising Pete's accomplishments (6 years, more HRs than anyone other than Judge). ----"Not a certainly, there are other teams involved" ---"They haven't met the price yet, there's some more compromising to do" ---It's only Jan. 10. Half the free agents haven't signed, Bryce Harper signed in February, so did Prince Fielder. They got big deals. ---A lot of teams are looking at shorter term deals with opt outs for Pete ---More than a month to go before Spring Training Basically, he ran through all the points Scott Boras would want him to cover. If I'm reading between the lines, it kinda sounds like Boras is pushing back on this leak, or at the very least, didn't want this information out there, and sent Heyman to try to pry back some leverage.

I have no idea if Jim Duquette has any credibility on stuff like this. I don't remember him having any inside knowledge, but I also don't remember him being wrong about stuff like this. If it's true, I'm guessing it's just a matter of time until a deal is hammered out.