Centerfield

More evidence I could never be a scout. I saw him and thought "wow, this guy's pretty good." Kinda reminded me of Dillon Gee. Then balls started leaving the yard. Quickly.

You people are lying. Jose Valverde was never a Met.

I'm not sure why we are pretending that the Cespedes situation isn't strange. It's clearly strange. When a player is hurt, there is a description of his injury, a timetable for his recovery, and periodic updates. After Cespedes's ankle surgery, there have been no updates, no prognosis given, no time table. This is strange. It became stranger when Brodie Van Wagenen, when asked directly about it, gave as vague an answer as possible. All he would say is that it was "too early to tell". We now know that Van Wagenen had much more information, but chose not to disclose. Meaning that his answer of the week prior was intentionally vague. Ces isn't holed up at his ranch refusing to answer the Mets. He's at their facility in St. Lucie, walking, hitting, and taking BP from Endy Chavez. Any of this information could have been shared, but it was not. So we have no choice but to speculate why. The obvious guess is insurance. I suspect that if there was no insurance, updates on Ces would be all over the place. He's doing great. Recovery is right on track. It benefits their likely unwillingness to upgrade the offense if they can point to Cespedes as an "addition". But there is insurance. And it covers just under 75% of his salary. So here, it benefits them if Cespedes isn't ready. So they're likely keeping silent in case they end up in an insurance dispute later on. Either with the insurance company or the player. Here's what I think happened. Jeff: Hey, no one give any public statements on Cespedes until further notice. All Mets Employees: Ok. Endy (forgetting): Hey check out this cool video of Yo hitting! Jeff: Endy, you fucking idiot! Did you not hear me say no updates on Cespedes? Endy: But I didn't say anything, it was just a video... Jeff: Are you kidding me? Endy: Sorry Jeff. Endy (to himself): Jeff seemed really mad. I guess I should take the video down. Jeff: DID YOU TAKE THE VIDEO DOWN? MORON. NOW IT LOOKS LIKE WE ARE HIDING SOMETHING. Endy: But we are hiding something... Scene

Sorry. What I meant is Endy took it down. It's been recaptured all over the place so it's on the net, but Endy Chavez deleted it from IG. Which has led to speculation, including mine, as to why. We've all noted how strange it is that there have been no updates on Cespedes. Clearly there is intent there, especially since Brodie was as vague as one can be when asked specifically last week. I'm guessing that they're not happy at all that Endy provided the world of a video of living, breathing, hitting Cespedes.

The video has since been deleted, presumably after Jeff Wilpon called him and chewed him out for undermining his insurance fraud. "Do you realize how hard it is to say he can't play if you post video of him playing!?!?!?!?"

=41Forever post_id=26766 time=1574115918 user_id=69] Part of me is OK with the notion that if a player is a slam-dunk, first ballot Hall-of-Famer, then he should be elected unanimously. The other part of me wishes this trend had started with Tom Seaver, Cal Ripken or Ken Griffey Jr. instead of with a couple MFYs.

I'm with Lunchie. I think Wheeler's pretty good. And still has a lot of upside. The good thing about the starting pitching market is that there are plenty of options out there for anyone willing to spend. If any one pitcher gets "overpaid", there are plenty of other options. If all the options get "overpaid", then no one is overpaid. But I don't see that happening. If last season is any indication, the big guys will probably sign late, and then there will be bargains available as we approach spring training. Strassburg and Cole probably sign in January. Then Wheeler and Bumgarner. Then guys like Ryu and Keuchel as we approach spring training. I'm guessing the Mets won't make a serious run at any of these guys. But who knows. I honestly have no idea what they are going to do this offseason.

Newsday really stepping up. 53 is terrific.

=G-Fafif post_id=26593 time=1573821863 user_id=55] Last six starts this year produced a 1.80 ERA, 6.2 IP per start and about a strikeout per inning. Over the final three, picked up some of whatever it is that plagues deGrom when it comes to his teammates supporting him, each time producing an outing that was deep, sharp and a loss. Watching Hot Stove on SNY last night the consensus was Zack is gone and the Mets will seek moderately priced dregs to take his place.

Hey. This was the week they tried to ruin my vacation. I blame the white uniforms.

Lefty Specialist wrote: I don't like CF's on the wrong side of 30. Yeah, well fuck you too.

It's hard to believe that the Mets will utilize whatever resources they have to a problem as minor as centerfield defense. I don't mean to downplay its importance, but if the Wilpons continue to run on a limited budget, there are far more compelling needs. Starting pitching. Several bullpen arms. And the catching situation. Brandon Nimmo may not be great in CF, but I don't see the value in signing a CF that puts Davis/Cespedes on the bench, while we go with Walker Lockett in place of Wheeler.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Astros are a disgrace between hiring sexist finance bros, shady management, the deny-and-cover-your-ass approach to PR. Eff them https://larrybrownsports.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/yuli-gurriel-asian.jpg>

Guilty. They should have to give us Altuve.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Too many good choices. Hard to decide. This. What a week!

How awesome is Pete. We're saying to ourselves "Man, what if he only hits 38 next year?"

=41Forever post_id=26239 time=1573239445 user_id=69] I just thought it was odd they would pile on the Mets and ignore the Cubs for doing something very similar.

I feel like I should know better than to argue with you. Still. I never learn. next season at some point you'll be saying twice as many World Series appearances and as many wins as the Yankees in 15 years, but sure. I'm not sure what that means. The Yankees won the WS in 2009. They've won 5 since the Mets last won. If you're trying to say that Mets have been successful as compared to this team or that, the Yankees are a bad choice. Anyway, did Brodie make a single 'blunder' that you could attribute to him not knowing what to do? That you couldn't see various other GMs doing? Brodie made countless blunders. Some of them are among the worst blunders I've seen anyone make. Whether this had anything to do with his inexperience or whether those moves were a directive from Wilpon we don't know. But Law's point is that we hired a GM with no experience and he was terrible. And now it seems like they're doing the same thing again. I'm not sure it's apples to apples like Law is suggesting. I think there are key differences, but again, defending Brodie's performance is probably not a winning argument. Law's a hack. I believe even the Mets have a better idea what it takes to manage than Keith Law. Certainly that Beltran does. You think he learned nothing in major league clubhouses for 2 decades? Most of that argument is just gate-keeping nonsense. I don't know what you mean by "hack". Keith Law seems pretty smart to me. I don't know how good he'd be a hiring a manager. We've never seen what he would do in such a situation. But we do know that the Wilpons are not very good. Their recent history includes Art Howe, Willie Randolph, Jerry Manuel and Mickey Callaway. That's pretty bad. They haven't had a good one since Bobby V and only Terry qualifies as "not terrible" this century. Of course they hired off the interview! That's what interviews are for! No. Interviews are part of the process. Law explicitly says they hired off the interview and ignored the resume. If you feel your criticisms of Law are valid, there is no need to distort his words. Oh but why not just take the safe Girardi pick? Is that what Law thinks? Probably. That's what a well run club like the Yankees would do right? They wouldn't pass over the tried and true Girardi for an ex-player manager that's never done it before. Again, Law tells you exactly what he thinks. And whether you agree with him or not, there is no need to attribute fake statements to him to undermine his credibility. In fact, when you do that, you only serve to undermine your own credibility. I don't agree with Keith. I think there are tangible differences between the Beltran hire and the Brodie hire, but at the end of the day, we have no idea if this will work or not. And we have no idea how Carlos Beltran will be as a manager. I do think that eventually, if not immediately, Jeff will meddle. And micromanage. Because it's Jeff. How will Beltran react? We'll all find out together.

This was when the season started getting fun.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: One takeaway from this year is that Newsday generally upped their back-cover game. They are still too inconsistent and still make some odd choices but they execute the typeface and design better than they used to while still maintaining an overall brand approach, yada, yada, yada. Rare head-to-head victory over the same idea that the NYDN had for them in this round. Agreed. Crushed is also really good. Tells you everything you need to know.

This vote went down to deWire!

Edgy MD wrote: The funny thing about those predictions is that the only win they predict for the Yankees is re-signing Brett Gardner. Yeah, I wouldn't put much stock in any of the predictions themselves. Just a way to keeping track of who's out there and what their price tags might be. For instance, I had no idea who Will Smith was. But now I'm thinking he could be a great fit. QO though.

From MLB Trade Rumors. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/11/mlb-free-agent-predictions-2020.htmlhttps://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/11/mlb-free-agent-predictions-2020.html The predictions themselves aren't worth that much, but it's a good way of keeping track of who is available and what the price tag might be. They're not that high on the Mets, predicting Craig Stammen (#35) and Ivan Nova (#48). They predict Wheeler to the Phillies, and both Nats big guys returning to Washington. Let's hope that these guys are completely wrong.

We are already through June 24. Wow. Most of 2019 kinda sucked.

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