Centerfield

Todd: Hey Gary, maybe I'm just used to the Yankee announcers, but maybe you could be a little more like Sterling and Kay. Gary: No. Todd: Ok. Good talk.

I wonder how much wins/prospects affect the value of a franchise. I would think most of the value is the anti-trust exemption. Anything else is gravy.

Somehow I feel worse after reading that. I think Senga will be good. Though I think he will regress a bit. I think Quintana can be solid. Same for Manaea. Maybe high 3, low 4 ERA. I think the rest of the rotation kinda looks like a mess.

I think no one has any idea what the Mets are going to do. Martino least of all. So everything we are hearing is just guessing. I don't see how it makes sense for the Mets to run this team out there. For just money, they can easily turn this team into a team that projects a win total in the high 80s. That's good enough to get you to the dance with this new playoff format. I'm guessing (hoping?) Stearns is waiting on the market and will pounce on bargains as we get closer to spring training.

This has to be the strongest showing that NewsDay has ever had in the TCD.

SI was required reading when I was a kid. Read those things cover to cover. It used to have some pretty good writing. It's too bad. But that's life today. Everything is free and stupid and wrong.

Great post and thread idea. For me, the most important criteria for an owner is whether the owner puts winning first. I think very few owners in MLB do this. Steve is one of the rare ones. So that alone is enough for me. If he did nothing else, I think I'd appreciate his efforts to understand the privilege he has of owning a team. He's going to make money in the long run from this franchise. Lots of it. Good on him to be willing to spend in the short term. My other criteria for a good owner was: (a) hire smart people, and ( stay out of the way. It took him some time, some of it for reasons beyond his control, but he's got smart guys in place now. I don't think he'll ever stay out of the way, but hey, Meatloaf. His plan was pretty obvious. Try to buy into contention while you rebuild the farm, scouting, player development etc. And we did get a 100 win season out of that, so still, not bad. Even during our "step back" season, we'll have the highest payroll in baseball. I think he tries. He's smart enough to learn from his mistakes. I think his ownership of this team gives us a great shot to be competitive for a long time.

Is Grissom on the level of Brett Baty? Just trying to judge what they gave up.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Are we discussing Rhys Hoskins? I like him as a fuck you to the Phillies but he's not a bad hitter I like him too. Kind of an asshole from what I remember. But good hitter.

Lefty Specialist wrote: How does a team that spends so much money have so many holes? Years and years of shitty player development.

Lots of money. Two year deal. Not very good. Im ok to take a pass. But we'll need some pitching sooner or later.

I hope you're right. But I don't see it. I think it's a football saying? You are what your record says you are. And the Mets were a 75 win team last year and have even less pitching going into 2024. They were 20th in runs scored, and 18th in team ERA. That's a lot of ground to make up. For pitching, the Mets had two good pitchers (Senga and Raley) and two ok ones (Quintana, Otto). Everyone else was terrible. Ottovino is now gone. Diaz coming back helps, but this pitching staff right now is worse than it was last year. Offensively, the Mets got strong years from Alonso, Lindor and Nimmo. McNeil might be the only hitter who was down last year that might realistically bounce back. Maybe Alvarez figures it out. I think no one else is likely to improve upon their 2023 numbers. Realistically, they need like five pitchers, and two hitters to be a wild card team. Like I said in another thread, it speaks to the ineptitude of past regimes.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Goddamn Shohei is thicc Right? No fucking way the guy on the right throws harder. Anyway. I guess it's not terrible to miss out on 12 years to a little guy that throws hard. History tells us they don't hold up. But will probably be awesome for 4-5 years if he's everything he's cracked up to be.

Agreed. Two 84 win teams made the playoffs last year. One of them got hot at the right time and went to the World Series. For better or worse, this is what baseball is now. The Mets should never be out of the race. The Mets aren't a playoff team as built, but with a few tweaks they can put themselves into the mix. It's probably not realistic to think another 84 win team will make the playoffs again, but high 80s or 90 wins should do it. It's a testament to the ineptitude of prior management that they currently project to have the highest payroll in baseball but aren't a realistic contender with a 12 team playoff.

Best do it in 2024, I've heard late January 2025 it will be banned. Frayed Knot wrote: It was more like Benigno got his job at FAN by winning a contest Yup ©, of course... Can't even imagine the contestants that lost...

I usually don't like those gimmicky covers, but I can see myself getting behind "Everything Must Go" the rest of the way.

Edgy MD wrote: "Let's be honest" is a pretty fair indicator that you're about to hear a pretty selective interpretation of the truth. Let's be honest My point is At the end of the day To tell you the truth All things being equal Or whatever whatnot So many words. None of the meaning a damn thing.

Andrew McCutcheon back to Pittsburgh. 1 year. $5 million.

Glasnow to the Dodgers. Twitter says they are negotiating an extension.

I don't know anything about the guys traded for Soto. But I just looked up Michael King and he's pretty good. Looks like a reliever turned starter. Don't know if the other younger guys are any good. What would have been a comparable return of Mets prospects?

Annoying that the article doesn't get more specific than “elbow injury”.

Always thought he seemed ok, but not great. Kinda like Steven Matz. But I looked up his stats and he seems to definitely be a notch or two better. 3.68 career ERA, 1.209 career WHIP. 31 years old. Makes 30 starts a year. Solid, dependable 2/3 type starter. Of course that means he'll make a bazillion dollars.

Mets saw all those 6+ ERA pitchers going to the Braves and said “Get me some of that!”

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Harrison and Sophia may someday prove to be the next comings of Jeff Wilpon and Lorinda deRoulet, but that's a concern for another decade. I would be curious for those who were there, who you consider to be worse.

Sorry. It says 10 years.