Centerfield

Excited to be making our first visit this coming Labor Day weekend. We'll be rooting for the Mets on that Saturday game. Would love any suggestions from those who have visited. I've heard great things about this ballpark and am very much looking forward to visiting.

I figured since the new ballpark is years away, the Coliseum should get its own thread. We will be there the last week of August to root for Jeurys Familia. Any tips from those who have been there? I got tickets along the third baseline. I guess, if you can all it that. I saw pictures of the ballpark and it looks like the seats are about a half mile away from the field. Gotta love those cookie cutter round stadiums.

Triple Happiness! Is that even a thing anymore?

I read that some of the guys who had bad years in 2017 have stepped up this year. Still have high hopes for Thomas Szapucki. Hopefully he can fill out his potential once he recovers from TJ.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Well, I'm not going to root for the Mets to lose any particular game, but if it's all the same, I'd rather the Mets draft ahead of the Reds next June. Ideally, our starting pitching will round into form. Including Vargas who is so awesome down the stretch that someone takes him off our hands. McNeil, Conforto, Nimmo, Plawecki, Rosario, and Dom Smith will be amazing. Frazier will play well enough to be included in the Vargas trade. But costly errors by Jose Reyes and crappy pitching by Jerry Blevins will result in lots of losses.

What a great day. I think I tied too much of my 2018 joy on this poor kid. All season long it's been "The Mets suck, but at least we discovered Brandon Nimmo." Since he's been struggling it's tough to even watch. I think Plawecki's beyond hope. I really had high hopes for him based on his resurgence last year, but it looks like it wasn't sustainable. Of my pre-season predictions (Nimmo, Plawecki, Cecchini and Super-Jack-Hammer-Wielding Juan Lagares), only Nimmo has hit.

I was thinking at some point this year, the Mets are going to score 18 runs for deGrom in one game, and then act like everything is ok. Maybe today will be that day.

G-Fafif wrote: Robert Stephenson makes his season debut for Cincinnati. Let's make it a Vargas one for him. Isn't that the dude that wrote Treasure Island? He must be over 100 years old! We should be able to score 3-4 runs off him.

Edgy MD wrote: Centerfield wrote: Edgar Martinez I thought of him, but Ichiro has to have the franchise hit record. I mean, if he didn't, he'd play into his nineties trying to get it. Oh right. Geez. Completely forgot Ichiro.

Edgar Martinez

Todd Helton.

Agreed. No one is going to give up the revenue generated by more post-season games, even if it means that the WS Champ is more a function of luck rather than merit.

A dedicated Soviet cop arrives in Chicago, where he reluctantly teams up with a foul-mouthed American detective to comb the streets of the Windy City for the Russian drug dealer who killed both their partners. I mean, this is gold.

d'Kong76 wrote: Didn't you fix Curtis this way? Cross your fingers. If history is any indication, Brandon will homer tonight.

What the hell Brandon. .660 OPS in July. .490 in August. I think he's crossed the line from patient to timid. Swings and misses so much. Isn't hitting any HR's anymore. Pitchers have a noticeably different approach. Fastballs up and in, breaking stuff once they get ahead in the count. Everyone in the world knows he has to adjust. I just don't know how you learn to cover that pitch. My suggestion: Use a funny shaped bat with no knob. Come on kid. You're better than this.

smg58 wrote: It wasn't that long ago that teams could win 100 games and not have any postseason. Divisions are perceived as building rivalries, which is perceived as being good for fan interest, so I don't see that changing. The current wildcard format was put in so that winning the division became more meaningful (i.e., the Sox sweeping the Yankees would be a lot less of a big deal in the previous format than it currently is). I didn't think anybody who isn't a Yankee fan thinks the current system is unfair, and of course Yankee fans wouldn't feel that way at all if they were the ones pulling away. At any rate, it would serve the best interests of competitive balance (and, of course, humanity in general) if the Yankees played only one playoff game. I'm on board with this too. I think winning your division has been and always should be the central aim of the regular season, and this current system fosters it. Don't want to play a 1 game playoff? Then win your division. That being said, I do understand where the Red Sox fan feels shafted. In the past 20 seasons, Boston has won 90+ games 14 times, and has only 5 division titles to show for it. People talk about re-alignment. And let me say, thank god these two teams play in the AL. If the Mets shared a division with these two teams they would never win it. I mean, they don't win very often now as it is, but with these two powerhouses, I think you could kiss any wildcard goodbye as well.

I’m at that point too. I give up. I can’t believe we continue to give starts to Jose Reyes and Jose Bautista. Dom Smith rots away in AAA. And I know he hasn’t exactly earned it, but you have to see what he has. Even if it means he has nothing.

Ok. To clarify, starting pitching is the strongest aspect of this team (as opposed to the bullpen, offense, etc). But it is not a strength as far as contending against other teams. Our starters’ ERA is over 4.00, outside the top ten, and worse than Atlanta, Washington and Philadelphia. If we wanted to win the division, we would have to upgrade the offense and bullpen enough to make up for the starting pitching.

This is the right move. I think this winter it’s important to understand Matz for what he is, and that is a serviceable back end starter. I don’t get this myth that starting pitching is a strength for this team.

I just did some digging. Man I found some gold. 17 year-old Michael Conforto wrote: Awesome day at the gym today. Shoulder a bit cranky. Prolly nothing. 17 year-old Kris Benson wrote: wtf brad dating a stripper. what a loser lololol 17 year old Jason Vargas wrote: omg luv the new wilson phillips song. amazing 17 year old Bartolo Colon wrote: RIP Pres Lincoln. UR GOAT

My money's on Nimmo. Seems like a loose cannon.

Frayed Knot wrote: In case you haven't seen him lately, he is noticeably slower / rustier / less mobile since returning from his lengthy knee-surgery rehab. Now maybe that gets a bit better as he knocks the rust off, but this is a guy not exactly known for being particularly fast or mobile in the first place. I suspect the 'he'll be American League player' tag will be attached to him in the rumor mills this winter. So in other words, he's perfect!

d'Kong76 wrote: [tweet]https://twitter.com/Mets/status/1024383645388365824[/tweet] Every start given to Jackson or Bautista is a waste of a precious asset. Same can be said about PA's to Reyes, Mesoraco, or whatever scrub they pick up between now and the end of the season. I imagine it won't be long before we see that Nori guy again. McNeil needs every PA possible. Smith should be here as well. And if you want to play Flores that's fine, play him at 3B or 2B. When TJ Rivera gets back, I'm ok with him playing. Or Gavin Cecchini if he's ever rescued from the deserted island he seems to have disappeared to. That guy who throws hard but can't find the plate from Oakland. Get him up here too. This is just idiotic to give away precious MLB time.

sharpie wrote: The Guardian weighs in with an anti-Mets pro-Padres article. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2018/jul/31/mlb-tanking-mets-padres-relegation Hard to argue with any of that.

I guess it was inevitable that this thread would turn into a discussion about trading him. But I just wanted to point out how much better he's looked recently. And it's not just the results, but his poise, this pitch counts, everything. I think his slider seems to have a bit better bite. Maybe that's it? Pitching is funny. As for trading him, I think the decision to trade or not trade is dependent on their philosophy as a whole. As I mentioned in the other thread, if they really are all in on 2019, which means actually getting good players this offseason, then I guess you keep him. He's showing value, and it would be expensive to replace him. On the other hand, if they are going to be the same old Wilpon Mets, then they should just unload him now while his value is high.