Centerfield

Is it too early to tailgate? I miss baseball already.

From what I read there are more east coast ML teams than there are east coast AAA teams. So basically one team always gets stuck with Vegas. The Mets basically assured it will never be them. Plus putting the club in Syracuse will help swing a lot of fans to the Mets instead of the MFY's. Send Mr. Met to the Carrier Dome, etc. Hopefully.

I'm excited about this. This is a great move by the Wilpons. (Yes, I just wrote that.) I've never been to MacArthur Stadium (Is it still called that?). I'm planning to go next year and bring my parents. Fman and seawolf. Meet for drinks?

Vargas final ERA is 5.77. Clearly a great option for next season. No need to spend on the rotation this winter!

Because of the domestic violence? This year notwithstanding he has been one of the great all-time Mets.

I'm guessing he'll start Sunday, and at some point Mickey will take him out of the game. And he'll get a nice ovation etc.

seawolf17 wrote: I know we've beaten this horse to death, but even with the Mets average run support (4.23 runs a game) he could literally have gone 30-0. (The one game where he gave up four, and his one-inning start in Philly being the exceptions.) It will be interesting to see how this season is remembered in Mets history. '85 Gooden triggers incredible memories for me. It was an amazing season, and although I considered myself a Mets fan before, I think it wasn't until 1985 that I became a fan at this level. It still hurts to think of that last game in St. Louis, but I think I've since justified it as making 1986 even better. (though I would have loved to see '85 Gooden tear up the post-season. Wow) On the other hand, I barely remember Dickey's Cy Young season. In fact, I'm not even sure what year it was. 2013? 2012? There are times I forget it even happened. This season, as much as I am in awe of what deGrom did, I can't help but feel incredible frustration that the Wilpon's finances deprived us of a great pennant race. It's so incredibly wrong.

This is an important year for the TCD. Fourth installments of epic enterprises don't always meet the standards of their predecessors. Hopefully it will be better than Jaws IV (titled Jaws: The Revenge) The movie features Mario Van Peebles. BG, please tell us TCD IV will not feature Mario Van Peebles.

bmfc1 wrote: I'm glad to hear the Great Shower Curtain Strike of 2018 is over. Does Maja still have her talk show? But let's face it, we'll be dealing with the fallout from this for years. Thousands and thousands of wet bathroom floors. Terrific work BG! We look forward to TCD IV!

10 years. A billion dollars. Sign that man to an extension.

I have this sinking feeling we're gonna get shutout today.

Agreed. What spurred the post was use of the word "important". Boring...formulaic plot...really a long lost brother? Sure. Look, I enjoyed it a lot, but everyone's entitled to their opinion. But to say it wasn't important.... To the extent any superhero movie can be "important", I think this one fits the bill.

Ceetar wrote: What do you expect him to say? Some guesses: "We are committed to winning" "We are in the process of finding the best possible General Manager" "Mickey has done a great job" yeah, that's what it'll be. It's just a press debriefing. Lots of change going on, tell the media the plan and they'll mostly parrot that all offseason. starting the GM search immediately, though there are guys+ on playoff teams that we have to wait to talk to. etc. We like Callaway and expect him back but obviously need to be on the same page with new GM. Happy with the way the team has played in the second half. Full commitment to competing in 2019 and how we will do that is part of the interview, obviously. Some stuff about Horwitz. Some stuff about David coming to spring training to be with the team. Something something Syracuse? Yup. No one will ask him why the Mets can't afford to fund a big market payroll.

RealityChuck wrote: Wonder Woman gave me hope that a superhero film could be something important (even if the final fight scene was a mistake). After hearing the reviews, I thought this might be going down that path. Alas, it went right for the cookie-cutter. Agreed. Completely cookie-cutter. I mean, once you've seen one movie that celebrates black and African culture, smashes stereotypes, features a minority lead, with a minority-led cast, portrays its black characters as compassionate, powerful, educated and sophisticated rather than two dimensional stereotypes, empowers a generation of African-American kids who no longer have to be told "You can't be Superman, he's not black" and shoots down the idea that a movie with a non-white cast can't be a box office smash, basically you've seen them all.

Good thing we didn’t play Wright and mess everything up.

Hey Jeff. Please don’t bunt anymore. Hey Jay. Please bunt.

Our awesome 28th ranked bullpen. But hey, man if we had just stayed healthy...

Dear Future GM, Get us a bullpen. Sincerely, CF

If he got hurt he could have called 1-800 MAS-Y-MAS.

Does holding him out of games save insurance money?

I think only Markakis and Suzuki are free agents at the end of this year. Young core, money to spend, these guys could be a threat for a long time. Maybe. But part of the premise here is that so many things went right for them this season and can their starting eight manage to miss less than 60 games combined (iow, start more than 95% of the man/games for the entire season) next year too? Or will they have more of a NYM 2018 year, which, even without counting not necessarily regulars like Rivera and Lagares (or Wright for that matter), sums up to more like 400 games missed (more than 30%) [Cespedes - hasn't played since May 13; Td'A - not since Apr 13; Lagares - not since May 16; Frazier - missed gaps of 24 + 19 games; Bruce - out for a 59 game stretch; TJ Rivera - whole season] The other amazing thing about this Braves team is the amount of holdovers from their last division title in 2013 (lost to LAD in NLDS 3-1): Freddie Freeman, Julio Teheran, and that's it! Andrelton Simmons, Craig Kimbrel, Jason Heyward, Justin Upton, Brian McCann were among their big players that year. That's not even the tip of the iceberg with their luck. Mike Foltynewicz was a scrub before this year. 1.48 WHIP, 4.79 ERA. This year, his ERA is under 3, and he has a 1.11 WHIP. And that's even less surprising than Anibal Sanchez. Veteran with a bad arm, suddenly striking gold in his age 34 season. Crazy. The danger with citing luck (and I know this is not the point you are trying to make, but that others have improperly inferred from your post) is that somehow this means the gap to the division title is closer. While it may be likely that the Braves might not get lucky again, it's folly to think that someone in the division won't win as many as 94 games.

41Forever wrote: What's interesting is that what worked for the Braves wasn't necessarily spending big -- their payroll was about $30 million less than the Mets -- but that their guys were healthy. Wow! That really is interesting. Boy that will really stick in the craw of those guys who say a high payroll is a prerequisite to winning! In your face! It's almost like they'll be forced to admit that there is another method of building a winner, one where a team actively loses, trades away veterans for prospects, drafts high, collects young talent, then hopes that they arrive and succeed around the same time. We could call that something like "revamp" or "restock" or something like that. You know, and then those idiot payroll guys will be forced to admit that payroll and winning is not a one-to-one relationship, and that payroll does not actually guarantee winning, only increasing a team's chances at winning if spent correctly. They may also be forced to admit that good teams don't simply spend every year, but rather gauge where they are in their maturation process, at first keeping payroll lower when their young talent arrives, then supplementing that core with free agent stars to create a sustained winner over several seasons. I remember there was a team in the '90's that did exactly this, then used a top tier payroll to roll off 14 straight division titles. I forget which team that was... 41Forever wrote: Imagine if we had Cespedes, Thor, Travis, Frazier, Swarzak, Bruce and Lagares for the whole season. Heck, maybe if Vargas had not been injured in the spring his season might have been better. The other side is that Nimmo probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to break out, and certainly not McNeil. I know! Oh what could have been! We might have won 85 games!

Just in case our new GM is of the "we only need a few tweaks to compete" mindset... The Braves project to finish with 94 wins. Basically your average division winner. The Braves are 7th in runs scored, 7th in OPS. The Mets, even with their recent surge, are 20th in runs scored, 24th in OPS. The Braves bullpen has been their weakspot. Their bullpen ERA is ranked 16th in baseball. The Mets come in at 28th. Which brings us to starting pitching, the strength of this Mets team. Mets starters are by far their best performers. Starter ERA is 7th in baseball. Unfortunately, the Braves are 5th. The Braves beat us in every category.

I think only Markakis and Suzuki are free agents at the end of this year. Young core, money to spend, these guys could be a threat for a long time.

Brandon continues to collect his walks (and his HBP's) but his hitting has taken a nosedive. BA for September is .215, and his slugging is a punchless .385. Only 2 HR's in September. That sucks Brandon. Sucks.