Centerfield

G-Fafif wrote: Geez, it's like McEwing didn't have all winter to make out this lineup. Why would Bobby Valentine's bench coach be making the lineup? You're so weird.

You guys are amazing with this stuff. I'll go with William Henry Harrison. Maybe he was a Met before his presidency.

Yes it’s far too early, but discussions of 'all this winning is terrible' are making a comeback so this bears a fresh look. A couple of things first: - tanking is really hard in baseball. Really bad teams win 30-some pct of their games which makes it quite unlike the NBA where teams can go years without reaching that level even once. - how exactly would one go about tanking, especially when you’ve got a team full of guys trying desperately to get jobs next year? Was Taijeron supposed to intentionally whiff last night during his first, and possibly last, chance in the majors so as to make sure the Mets would lose and possibly gain a slightly/maybe better draft pick? Was Terry supposed to bench deGrom back in August while subjecting another not ready for prime time pitcher up from Single A as if HE has a stake in next year’s draft pick? Reyes? Cabrera? Aoki? Nimmo/Smith/Rosario? - and of course you’re competing with all the other teams who are likely to win and lose their share of games down the stretch at random levels as well BatMags has brought up, at least twice now, that folks are touting next year’s draft as some sort of super group, a claim which I flat out don’t buy. Not saying that he didn’t read that somewhere but I don’t buy the accuracy of that kind of prediction particularly not five months prior to the college/HS seasons even starting. Think things aren’t going to change between now and then or that the true value of that draft is going to be known even five years from now? And then there’s the idea that there are not only a couple of Darryl Strawberrys available next June (and you can never have too many temperamental alcoholics on your squad) there’s still the minor problem of identifying which ones those are. Towards that end I did a bit of research here. I took eleven years of drafts (2000 - 2010) and picked out the 4th thru 7th picks in those years. Why those years and why those picks? Because the years are recent enough without being too recent and the Mets are at the moment teetering on the verge of the 5th/6th pick so could conceivably rise to 4th with a bad final week or ‘drop’ to around 7th by running the table. So which picks out of those years based on cumulative WAR? By far it was the 7th picks, followed by the 5ths, then the 6ths, and worst of them all, and it wasn’t even close, were the 4th picks 7th picks: Cum WAR = 185.6 led by Kershaw, Tulowitski, Markakis, Fielder, Harvey 5th picks: Cum WAR = 172.6 led by Teixeira, Braun, Posey, Wieters, Pomeranz 6th picks: Cum WAR = 92.7 led by Greinke, Baldelli, Ricky Romero, Andrew Miller, Zack Wheeler 4th picks: Cum WAR = 65.4 Ryan Zimmerman, Gavin Floyd, Jeff Niemann, Tim Stauffer, Brian Matusz 9 of the 44 picks never spent a day in the majors: one 4th pick, three 5th picks, three 6th picks, two 7th picks Nice work. Do you have numbers on picks 1, 2, and 3? I think it bears out what most have been saying. It's better to pick higher (duh) but at the end it may not show any tangible results.

Edgy MD wrote: Ceetar wrote: It's 2017+ and home runs are leaving the yard at record paces. Yes, I know what year it is. The Mets have hit more homers than at any time in their history, and yet are 20th in scoring. They need baserunners. This.

Ceetar wrote: Edgy MD wrote: It didn't seem to be something he wasn't good at, so much as something that was completely alien to him. Like the Mets had asked him to try and punt one inside the 20, or slap on some fencing gear and execute a passata sotto. Systemic neglect of fundies is a concern. The Mets should run an all-bunting mini-camp. as in one where they say "never do this" and teach them about run expectancies? Bunting doesn't have to be a sacrifice. The bunt hit is a great weapon. And there are situations where the sacrifice bunt is appropriate. First and second, no one out, one run game, is one of those situations. Either way, there is no detriment to having good fundamentals.

Edgy MD wrote: It didn't seem to be something he wasn't good at, so much as something that was completely alien to him. Like the Mets had asked him to try and punt one inside the 20, or slap on some fencing gear and execute a passata sotto. Systemic neglect of fundies is a concern. The Mets should run an all-bunting mini-camp. I can totally get behind this. Especially since they play back every time he's up. A player with his footspeed (and unfortunately, his low OBP) needs to have the bunt hit in his bag of tricks. I'm shocked, with the shifts and all, that every hitter, power hitter or not, isn't learning how to lay one down when it's given to you and walk to first.

OPS of .862 since his callup. He looks like a different hitter.

I like him. Super fast, great arm, ball seems to jump off his bat. Still a little loose at the plate, and no OBP to speak of. But I see a high ceiling for him. I think it will take him time to get there, and may have to bat at the bottom of the lineup for a while, but I see good signs. I think the defense will be pretty good, recent errors notwithstanding.

Centerfield wrote: Not impressed at all. Swing looks long. Defense seems overrated. I know. Small sample. Still kinda feeling this way.

Now up to .836! How did this guy put up such shit numbers in LV? Maybe he was hurt? Had a nice year there last year. Wouldn't it be something if this guy were real. I think if nothing else, this takes the pressure off the Mets in the event Conforto is not ready to go on Opening Day. Not sure he's a starter yet, but really promising looking kid. Great eye, flashes of power, big frame so you think the power would develop. Can run and play the field adequately.

Frayed Knot wrote: Didn't like the bunt there w/Rosario, and hated it after the count got to 2-0 Nice AB by Taijeron to win it though!! I hated it too. In fact, the only good that may have come from that is we learned that Amed Rosario is really not good at bunting.

I would send Matt Harvey.

Nimmo. .826 OPS. For real?

d'Kong76 wrote: We should have a full-blown CPF game in 2018. Tail-gating, matching shirts and posters from all over the country/world. And an octagon for fighting! Yeah, an octagon. For fighting. I'd be down for this. Short Center could hang with Lunchpail.

Finds a fan's phone, drives out of his way to return it, signs autographs, remains generally awesome. http://abc7news.com/sports/fan-loses-phone-at-raiders-game-rickey-henderson-returns-it/2441556/

Ceetar wrote: That's not an interesting factoid. They could at least give us something that's not on 452 blogs and news sites? Couldn't agree more. The milkshake thing is a factoid.

Gwreck wrote: The netting is awful. Tragic incidents are just that...tragic. But also extremely rare. Seats aren't getting any closer to the field. And line drives being faster? Maybe? A little? Not substantially so. There are thousands of seats to sit in if one doesn't want to be in a spot where the ball will enter the stands. Put away your phone, pay attention, and mind your children if you want to sit there. In theory yes. An able-bodied person can and should put away the phone, pay attention, and mind their children. But what about elderly patrons. A single adult with four children. People with disabilities. It's easy to say "then just sit somewhere else". But why should the majority of field level seats be off-limits to those people? Also, it's easy to say people should put away their phones. This is not going to happen. It's only going to get worse over time, and so, injury is unquestionably forseeable. Rare, but forseeable. The acceptable number of children injured at baseball games is zero. There should be no kids who go to a game and get struck by line drives. Seat belts are obstructive and uncomfortable. Bike helmets are the worst. There should be no need for law enforcement of no texting and driving, no need for advertising campaigns for this purpose, but it's necessary. Because people do it. They will always do it. They text while speeding down the highway at 80 mph with their kids in the backseat. You don't think they're going to text at a baseball game? You have to protect people from themselves. The cost-benefit here is a slam dunk. That's why I think it's a no-brainer. After it's been there for a while, no one will even notice it. In hockey they didn't want to wear helmets. Batters didn't want to wear helmets. Base coaches didn't want to wear helmets. Now we barely notice these things. Put up the nets guys. I don't think it needs to go to the foul lines, but extend it like they did at Citi.

Ceetar wrote: not as nice as that 10.51 K/9 or the 28.4K%! 9th best K% in the league. Though it'd be nice if he hadn't walked so many this season. At least it's been somewhat better in the second half, as has his velocity. Are those numbers even on a baseball card? Do they still have cool little factoids about the ballplayers?

Lefty Specialist wrote: Call it a two-fer. Is it possible to look any more like Beavis?

To be clear, just because it's ugly doesn't mean you can't like it. (this statement is why I was able to get any dates at all when I was single) But it is, undeniably, ugly. As is Edgy's building. Also, the Marlin on the right is so clearly Ichiro.

Ceetar wrote: I'd rather he were a Yankee than President.

...should you choose to accept it. Find me something. Anything. Doesn't have to be limited to baseball. That is uglier than the Marlins Home Run Statue. Go.

Back to this, someone here predicted that someone would have to get seriously hurt before it became mandated. I hope the kid is ok.

Nothing is worse than losing a day game on Wednesday, followed by an off-day Thursday. It feels like you have to wait two weeks before the Friday night game. Not that anything matters in 2017. The whole year sucks.

Ceetar wrote: It's a nobrainer, especially as seats get closer and line drives get faster. none of the minuscule complaints about the netting outweigh the benefits of not hurting people. Yup. And if you don't like netting, you can sit further out where there is no netting. No brainer. Especially where half the crowd is looking down at their phones or taking selfies anyway. Those guys seem more interested in posting that they are at the game, rather than watching the game.