Centerfield

Frayed Knot wrote: Completely different situations though. Kelenic was dealt for a mid-20s top notch closer with four years of team control, plus the gamble on how much Cano had left (good while he was available before ultimately washing out). Even if the Baez trade was worse (TBD), it shouldn't go overlooked here how colossally stupid it was to trade for Cano, a 35-year old on the downside of his career coming off a PED suspension with an albatross contract. And this was before the Mets had a billionaire owner! Calling it a “gamble” on Cano is far too charitable. Also calling Cano “good” is not really accurate either. He had a middling 2019, and a good 2020 (all 49 games of it), and then was so bad/a clubhouse cancer that they had to release him with almost 3 years left on the contract. As for Baez, when he was acquired, the Mets were up 5 games in the division, and Lindor was hurt (he didn't return until August 24 that year).. Baez played very well down the stretch, and the Mets also got Trevor Williams who was a not insignificant part of the 2022 team. It may well have still been a dumb trade but it's far from clear if it really was that bad. The most significant aspect of the Cano trade was that he had a no trade clause. Meaning the Mariners had no leverage at all. That trade only makes sense in the context of a failson owner who had no means to increase payroll but wanted to hold that trophy before he sold in two years. That's why Kelenic was expendable.

I haven't seen all of his ABs. Maybe not even half. But I don't recall Ronny getting into a 3 ball count. Much less walking.

My first impressions based on a stupidly small sample size *Looks like a great athlete. Big, strong, fast kid. I didn't realize he was as fast as he was and was surprised to see he stole 24 bases this year. Seem generally more coordinated than Amed Rosario. *Doesn't seem to have the super soft hands you'd want from a middle infielder. So maybe 3B or OF is in his future. Looks fast enough to play OF. *Swing seems kinda long with a lot of holes. I think he gets by with good bat to ball skills, but it seems like you could clean things up a bit. Certainly he hits the ball plenty card, so maybe you can cut down on that swing while still maintaining good power. *Even with his good start, he doesn't seem to have any pitch recognition. Swung at some really bad ones. I think it's a skill that players don't generally develop anyway, so I guess I'm not that surprised. But man. If he ever learned to pick up on the off speed....

Every time I ask about Mays, all the answers are abstract. He transcended. Was beloved. You had to be there to understand what it meant to the city/fanbase/everyone/me. And I get that. He made Mets fans really really happy. Especially those who had been Giant fans. But that's not a reason to put him in the Hall of Fame, much less retire his number. And I get that there is precedent. Like when they retired Boggs number in Tampa. I thought it was silly then, I think it's silly now. It can't just be that this player made us really really happy. Todd Pratt did that. So did Cespedes. Daniel Murphy. Edgardo Alfonso is much more worthy of number retirement than Willie Mays. I worried that when you retired Koosman you opened the door to a lot of questionable guys. With Mays, you can retire literally anyone. I have no issue with the HOF as a Met criteria. I have no issue with the HOF Met criteria that allows exceptions for a lifelong Met that falls just short of HOF criteria due to an unfortunate injury. My criteria would be: 1. Did he dominate? 2. As a Met? 3. For a long time? Mays hits none of that criteria. Koosman was a Met for a long time but was he dominant. I didn't see him play, so I'm left with stats. Those suggest 4 dominant seasons out of his 12. Maybe that, plus being a World Champion is enough. And for what it's worth, I don't think I care all that much. But retiring 24 means we can't make fun of any Yankee numbers again.

Thoracic Outlet Syndrome. Fucking death sentence for pitchers. I know he's Nat. And a rich one at that. But it's sad nonetheless.

I still don't understand 24. Mays was a Giant. Not a Met.

The Braves are fucking cheating.

Meanwhile, some assholes continue to worship Pete Rose, who was in his mid 30's and married when he was into 14 year olds

I wish I was named Ke'Bryan.

I think I'm gonna adopt the O's the rest of the way. Fun club. Great stadium. Rival of the MFYs. No pedophiles as far as I know. Go O's!

Following Edwin Bobblehead Day. Seems cruel.

Gary is awesome. Didn't think I could love him more.

Let's trade Raley. 1. Middle relievers are hard to predict. Might suck later if we hold onto him. Who knows. 2. Seems like the market is hot for middle relievers at the deadline 3. Isn't he the homophobe? Trade the dickhead

I read he hits the ball on the ground a lot. So if he fixes that, maybe the power blooms. Or. He flies out more and his BA goes down. Speculating is hard. Speculating about a guy I've never seen play and didn't know existed until Saturday is even harder.

I don't remember another playing being this hit or miss. He's never had an OPS in the .700s. He's either in the 800/900s, or 600s. Nuts.

=Centerfield post_id=125561 time=1684191000 user_id=65] Um. The Mets kinda suck.

I haven't heard him at all since he left FAN either. If I had to guess, I would say he doesn't believe half the things he says. Or at least not to the extent he makes it seem. His job is to talk sports and make it interesting. Fire people up and get them listening, calling, arguing. He's very talented at doing so and turned it into a fortune. Paraphrasing Ralph, guys who get ratings drive Cadillacs. I don't dislike him at all for doing so. Especially when there are soulless assholes telling lies to the public for ratings and destroying the country without a care in the world. Tucker Carlson and Alex Fucking Jones. Give me Russo any day.

Edgy MD wrote: I tend to think that this was still do-able without turning the game over to a clock. What would you have tried? Shorter games are good. But still hate the clock.

=Gwreck post_id=124178 time=1683127146 user_id=56] Every time I see this sort of data I think about how awful, terrible, and now completely unjustified the ghost runner rule is.

I saw that too. WHIP in line with career totals but ERA is high. I guess also giving up the long ball hurts. To Edgy's point, it's not one guys. It's that they're all underperforming. Some of them disastrously so.

Um. The Mets kinda suck.

"Seems", yeah. And his comments after losing to the Mets last year about cheap hits almost confirmed it, but: [bLOCKQUOTE]Strider had been diagnosed with high blood pressure at 18. Unable to pitch, he researched new eating habits. He quit meat and his body appreciated it, he said. Being vegan also “[satisfied] my ethical concerns with the animal-agricultural industry, and those types of things, and the environment,” he said. He found he preferred berries and yogurt to bacon and eggs. “It gives me a joy in eating,” he said. Strider throws with his right hand. But he leans to the left. He studied political science and obsessed over the 2020 election. When asked for Clemson's official website which person, living or dead, he most wished he could dine with, Strider answered Bernie Sanders, the independent senator from Vermont and former Democratic presidential candidate. “To not get extremely political, I just admire his progressive independence, as I like to characterize it,” Strider said. Within the generally conservative culture of baseball, this made him a rarity. “Little Bernie” was an occasional nickname. “Guys liked to egg him on in the locker room about it — but there's no way they'd win, because he'd win a debate with anybody on politics,” See said. He added, “Listening to him talk about politics made me feel like an idiot. Like, ‘God, he knows everything.' “We're like right in the middle of the Bible Belt,” Lee said. “You've got the vegan power right-hander pitcher who's a big Bernie Sanders guy. It was great to have a guy like him in the clubhouse. It wasn't that he was different — he just had no problem sharing with everybody who he was and what he believed in.”[/bLOCKQUOTE] https://theathletic.com/3690316/2022/10/14/spencer-strider-atlanta-braves-strikeout/https://theathletic.com/3690316/2022/10/14/spencer-strider-atlanta-braves-strikeout/ Feel free to think he is if you want. [Lee was his college coach.] Well fuck.

And he has a stupid moustache.

I could be wrong, but i thought I had seen a play where the runner beat the throw, ran into the shortstop's leg, and then the ball arrived and was tagged. But I guess I could be misremembering. I'm guessing this isn't the case at first right? Like you can't set up in front of the bag and force the runner to slow down or change directions.

I don't think I really have a firm handle on these rules. I saw a play at second base where the fielder kneeled in front of the bag, making it impossible for the runner (sliding headfirst) to reach the bag. The runner was out. If you're not allowed to obstruct a baserunner, it's kinda counterintuitive that you should be allowed to do it when you get really close to the base.