Centerfield

Edgy MD wrote: I'm not smart on such matters. But I think it's been measured a few times (https://www.businessinsider.com/mets-bobby-bonilla-deal-smart-2015-7here's one), and argued that the Bonilla deal worked for the Mets. An assumption of 8% returns seems kinda sketchy.

Frayed Knot wrote: $52.5 million of deGrom's new deal will be money deferred until the 2030's So right about the time when those annual lol-Mets/Bonilla stories should be petering out, the press will have deGrom payment stories to chuckle over. Not that I have any expectation of this, but I hope that the press would treat those situations fairly. Locking up a Cy Young winner and deferring some money to try to win a title is one thing. Buying out a bad contract through a payment plan that only makes sense if you continue to get Ponzi-scheme like returns on you current investment is another.

I have to wonder what anyone sees in Tim Peterson. Dowdy had a high ERA but jeezus. Tim Peterson.

Well it looks like G-Fafif started the IGT already. And since he stays on until they win, that should take us until about April 23. After that, maybe go by seniority? Edgy, KC, then the JCL/FK brothers. That should be enough to get us to the All-Star break.

Koos. Though I do love Wright's swing, the photo is kinda shitty.

The comparisons to Jason Bay are, frankly, unfair. Jason Bay was a much better hitter and younger when the Mets signed him. So while Lowrie may become a disappointment, he won't be as big a disappointment as Bay. I think eventually Lowrie will get healthy and contribute. But what are we realistically expecting of this guy? Career .749 OPS going into his age 35 season. He's never hit .300, he's never had a .400 OBP (or even been realistically close) and his career SLG is .414. He's hit 20 HR's once in his career (last year) doesn't appear to have any sort of speed (1 SB over his last 5 seasons). So I don't know. There are some positives. His best seasons have been his last two, so maybe it's the result of a new approach? And you have to think that taking him out of Oakland will give his numbers a boost. His home-away splits last year were pretty drastic. .710 OPS at home vs. .884 on the road. Also hit 19 of his 24 HR's on the road. So maybe there's room for hope. I'm guessing OPS in the high .700's, 14 HRs. Plays all around the diamond.

I'm thinking this whole thing started with the decision to keep Travis over Plawecki. Plawecki is a perfectly serviceable backup catcher and was cheap enough that you could have used the Travis money on Gio Gonzalez. Secondly, I hear you guys saying it's the right personnel move. Why? Nido was terrible. We talked about how the Mets needed to do something about catcher as the season slipped away last year. Mesoraco isn't that good, but he's Babe Ruth compared to Nido. So why wouldn't you keep him? If you lose him, then you're stuck with two injury-prone guys and Thomas Nido. But that being said, Mes is dead wrong. You sign a contract, you have to honor it. If you're relying on some sort of handshake agreement with Brodie Van UsedCarSalesmanIReporttoJeffWilpon, then yeah. Lotsa luck buddy.

I don't know. But you ask, don't you? What if he would do a 3 year deal at $15 per.

=dgwphotography post_id=5053 time=1553605645 user_id=78] I would normally vote for any cover featuring Nancy, but that photo editor should have been fired immediately after that cover went to print

Wait, why do we feel like there's plenty of time to talk to Wheeler? He's a free agent at the end of this season.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Wheeler is more complicated because he has less of a track record. He probably prefers to try to bolster his value with a solid 2019 before signing a multi-year contract. That's why I thought he might be had cheaper. I thought it would be worth a try.

I guess they'll say there isn't enough time. I think the timing of this was intentional.

Anyone going to be in Washington this weekend? The Fields are making a last minute trip to DC to catch Game 2. Per the recommendations here: http://www.thecranepool.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25972http://www.thecranepool.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=25972 I'll drink a DB beer and not care in particular about the food.

Kinda have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, Wilpon buying more Mets kinda deflates any notions that he might sell the team. On the other hand, it's good that Fred had $180 million just lying around. The real story here is that the Mets sold 48% of the team in 2012, through 12 lots for $20 million each. That's $20 million for a 4% share, or $60 million for 12%. Fred just bought back 12% for $180 million. So that's a nice return of $120 million (tripling their money) for the cable companies who were struggling to unload this undervalued interest. Imagine if they had done well.

This is terrific news! Great job by the Mets to lock him up possibly for his whole career. Every deal comes with risks, but this is one I'm willing to take. Hopefully they extend the others (Wheeler, Conforto, Noah) and surround those guys with enough talent that we compete for years to come.

What should a collection of Mets be called? Um. Mets?

It's not necessary to vote for a cover. But of course an emotional connection is part of what makes a cover special. Unless Seaver means something to you, those first two covers are pretty dumb. But here they've captured 13 out of 15 votes.

I went with Wright. Simply because I don't like any of the other covers. I've seen the Seaver painting one before. I dunno. To me it's kinda goofy and dumb. It's never been more apparent than this last week (with the health news, and the magazine covers) how little Seaver means to me. And in a way, I've always felt a little bit of disconnect from other Mets fans because of it. My first season watching the Mets was 1983, and I was only 8 and didn't watch that many games. And to be honest, I don't remember him much. The only feeling I remember having was that I'd heard about Seaver, and I was told how great he was, but just seemed to be ok as far as I could tell. Then he was gone. I didn't hear anything about him again until 1986, and that he might show up with the Red Sox, but wasn't going to be able to pitch. My first real experience with Seaver was during his comeback bid with the Mets. I was older, I think 12?, appreciated the history a little more and was looking forward to seeing him. But then he retired and that was it. Unfortunately most of my memories of Seaver are as of him as an announcer. And in that sense, I found him insufferable. I had occasion to ride the elevator at Shea with him once, when my son was young, and looked for an opportunity to introduce him. But Seaver, stone-faced, looked straight ahead clearly not wanting anything to do with the young fan who would have been able to tell the story of meeting the Franchise for the rest of his life. So whatever. I'm sorry he has dementia, because it's something no human being should ever go through, but as far as any emotional connection to the Mets...well yeah. Whatever.

No matter how fit you are, how prepared you may be, the grind of a 162 game schedule is a tremendous challenge. A team that's serious about contending should be doing everything they can to ease that burden. Not pile on top of it for PR. But then, the Mets have never been about winning first. So, this is not a surprise. If he's unhappy, of course he has to go public with it. What's he going to do? Fill out a form and submit it to HR?

I went with the cover that I removed from my bedroom wall as a kid. I guess I'm over it now.

I haven't seen it, but Brie Larson does like, nothing for me.

.227/.291/.358 No way he stays healthy until the All-Star break.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Weird Darling holding a bomb almost got my vote, but that Swoboda photo is perfect. You couldn't get that feel in 2019 with the fanciest camera and a thousand filters. I mean seriously, it's just a beautiful cover.

https://www.sicovers.com/content/images/thumbs/0002122_johan-santana-of-the-mets.jpeg> That SI cover of Santana is weird. With the background it looks like he has no legs. Here's an image with a bit better resolution, but it's still hard to see the legs. I get what SI is trying to do there, but I don't know that I would have gone with that image for the cover. Anyway, it doesn't matter. Swoboda is the obvious choice here.

Riots starting in Philadelphia in 3...2...1....