Centerfield

I love Bartolo. But only until about 7:09 p.m. tonight. Then we can rekindle after he's done pitching.

I am a bit surprised that Colon and Dickey are starters 2 and 3. I wonder if I would have tried Garcia, who pitched pretty well last season. Not sure what happened to Matt Wisler. He was only just ok last season, but shut down the Mets IIRC. Just looked at the Braves schedule and he doesn't seem to even be in the rotation. Really pumped to see deGrom tonight. I hear he is back to full strength. If so, the NL should be afraid.

I've always liked Lincecum. Would love to take a flyer on him to see if he's got anything left. What's his issue? Just can't throw hard anymore? I'd be fine with Gee or Fister as well. Pass on Pelfrey. Didn't like him in his prime. Old, washed up Pelfrey seems even less appetizing.

Slight UCL tear. No TJ surgery for now. Recommending rest, then rehab. I feel like we've discussed this before. Do UCL's heal? I think Tanaka is pitching with a slight tear.

(Stockholm, Sweden) Voting for the 2017 Schaefer Mets Player of the Year Award will begin on Tuesday, April 4, the Crane Pool Forum has announced. This will be the thirteenth season that Crane Pool Forum members will be participating in Schaefer voting. The Schaefer Mets Player of the Year Award was established in the 1970's, and Schaefer points were awarded by Mets broadcasters Lindsey Nelson, Ralph Kiner, and Bob Murphy. The award was re-established by the Crane Pool Forum in 2005. Third baseman David Wright has been the winner in in six of the twelve years of the revived prize. The other winners were Johan Santana in 2008, Jose Reyes in 2011, Daniel Murphy in 2013, Lucas Duda in 2014, Jacob deGrom in 2015, and Yoenis Cespedes in 2016. The new voting format that was introduced for the 2016 season will continue. Instead of voting in dedicated Schaefer threads in the forum, voters will go to http://potg.ultimatemets.com and fill in an online Schaefer ballot. Voting for each game will open automatically as soon as the box score has been pasted into the Ultimate Mets Database. This will usually be the morning after each game has been played, but may in some circumstances be considerably later than that, according to CPF spokesmodel Benjamin Grimm. Voting will stay open for up to two weeks, after which the votes are tallied and the results are posted in the IGT thread. In addition, says Grimm, each month a Schaefer Mets Player, Pitcher, Relief Pitcher, and Bench Player of the Month will be named. I realize the majority of this is David Wright, but I like how many winners (10 of the 12) are still with the team.

Strange scene yesterday, as Collins cryptically stated that Lugo is on the shelf for a period of at least a few weeks. http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2017/04/whats_going_on_with_mets_seth_lugo.html I don't know. Maybe I'm a "sky is falling" guy, but once you hear "elbow, second opinion, and Altcheck" in the same sentence, it's not long before Tommy John shows up. So we know he is going for a second opinion, and that we will have more word on Wednesday, but we don't know what the original diagnosis is. Why all the secrecy? It's not like Lugo was scheduled to pitch anytime soon, and it's not like keeping his condition under wraps will give us any competitive advantage. And sure, the Mets don't have any obligation to tell us what is going on, and they're entitled to keep things quiet. But if that's what you want, why mention anything at all? It's not like they asked about Lugo, Terry just volunteered the info. It's just so strange. If you want to keep quiet, say nothing. If you want to share, then share. I don't see what is to be gained by offering cryptic messages that have fans assuming the worst.

I'm starting to think waving Flores in is not such a good idea. At least he didn't get hurt. Terrific win to start the season. Even better, we got a healthy deGrom lined up for Game 2!

Is there any doubt that we are going to lose Lugo to TJ surgery? I mean what else causes you to get a second opinion on a balky elbow following an MRI?

Got my Mets shirt on underneath my suit. Pumped and excited for Game 1.

Speaking of old Braves I remember how much trouble John Rocker got into for his comments. Today he would have been elected President.

Is 15 Chan Ho Park? I don't remember him throwing a knuckleball.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: seawolf17 wrote: HOW DOES HE KNOW ALL THESE FRICKING GUYS It's really mind-boggling. I couldn't ever remember that someone named "Andy Phillips" played for the Mets, much less be able to associate him with any clue you might provide, other than "His name was 'Andy Phillips'" I was going to say that Greg probably pays more attention than I do, but I'm certain that when Andy Phillips was a Met I was very much aware of him. When I watch a game I always know who's on the active roster, and therefore who's available to sub or pinch hit. But I guess I don't retain this stuff nearly as well as Greg does. Imagine how I feel with exactly 1 point in all of this. And it's because it's Jose Lima, and I only knew that because he died. Basically if you're alive, I'm not going to remember you.

themetfairy wrote: I'm with CF. The investigation concluded that Familia had a tantrum inside his home and separated himself from his family without causing any physical harm to anyone. I cannot see how this conclusion possibly justifies a suspension. Exactly. Or even threatened harm. I listened to that 911 call. Familia's wife was not a woman who sounded like she felt threatened. She sounded like someone who saw her husband getting out of control and called out of concern for him.

Actually, I think I know the equivalent. It would be like Familia going to a party where everyone is snorting coke, but he himself did not. Let's say Familia got really drunk, hung out with all the cokeheads, walked around town acting like a dick and saying stupid shit, but he himself did not actually snort coke. I think that's your equivalent. Do you suspend him for that?

And to be clear, if the results of the investigation had been inconclusive, then yes, I can see how you might suspend him. If the prosecution had said they wished they had more evidence, then yes, go for it. But here, they affirmatively concluded that this did not happen. This was an exoneration. This was them finding a stolen 1963 mint green Pontiac Tempest with the gun that shot the clerk. What should have happened, was that MLB investigated, then cleared Familia, then reiterated that this is how it's meant to work. Arrests are mandatory and meant to find false positives. The MLB investigation ensued in a timely manner, identified that nothing happened, and cleared his name. Reiterate that even where the legal system clears someone, MLB will investigate on their own. That's how it's supposed to work.

Edgy MD wrote: What would be the equivalent incident? That he purchased banned substances but didn't take them, and his wife called the cops when she found them in the house? I don't think so. Because if he had purchased steroids, that itself is illegal. The consensus seems to be that he was drunk, loud, breaking shit around the house, was told to calm down, felt out of control, and so he barricaded himself in the bathroom. This is not a crime, this is not domestic abuse. It should not warrant a suspension. Manfred has said the conduct was "inappropriate". And Familia has admitted that he acted in an "unacceptable" manner. Since when does inappropriate or unacceptable conduct warrant suspension? It seems nonsensical that one can be cleared of domestic abuse, but be in violation of the domestic abuse policy. I don't know what the equivalent would be. If you don't take banned substances but still act inappropriately? I guess maybe eating a bunch of shit that's bad for you or eating something inappropriately? "Jeurys Familia did not take any banned substances, but he acted inappropriately by putting ketchup on his Luger's steak, which I think we can all agree is pretty fucked up. 15 games son."

I mean, think of this in any other context. We investigated Jeurys Familia for violations of the substance abuse policy. As you know, we take substance abuse very seriously. Our investigation revealed that Mr. Familia did not take any banned substances. We have nonetheless decided to ban him for about half of what we would have if he took banned substances. We are doing this so you guys can understand that we take this shit very seriously.

15 games is less than I expected, so in a way, it's good news. But that doesn't change the fact that any suspension here is complete and utter bullshit. There is no basis to suspend Familia here, and the only reason to do so is to demonstrate that the league is "tough" on domestic violence. It's a joke. It is important to distinguish Familia's case from those of Chapman and Reyes. There, the evidence and failure of the victim to cooperate left the prosecution with not enough ammunition to reach a conviction. That is absolutely not what happened here. Here, the Familias cooperated, and the prosecution made a determination that no domestic violence occurred. That is important. The court affirmatively determined that domestic violence did not occur. That should be the end of any discussion of any penalties, civil or otherwise. How does MLB justify this? Even Manfred's statement today admits as much: Mr. Familia and his wife cooperated fully throughout the investigation, including submitting to in-person interviews with MLB's Department of Investigations…. The evidence reviewed by my office does not support a determination that Mr. Familia physically assaulted his wife, or threatened her or others with physical force or harm, on Oct. 31, 2016. If that is the case, how do you then suspend Familia? The justification is along the lines of "whether or not he committed domestic violence, he acted inappropriately". Getting drunk, smashing a door, yelling a lot and acting weird. Is that what the policy forbids? If getting drunk and acting inappropriately is the standard, you are going to have to suspend half the league. And most of the fans. I can't find the text of the policy anywhere, but the press release from 2015 says: Major League Baseball and its clubs are proud to adopt a comprehensive policy that reflects the gravity and the sensitivities of these significant societal issues. We believe that these efforts will foster not only an approach of education and prevention but also a united stance against these matters throughout our sport and our communities.” A player accused of domestic violence, sexual assault or child abuse may be placed on paid administrative leave for up to a week while allegations are investigated before making a disciplinary decision. The policies giving the commissioner authority to impose discipline aren’t dependent on whether the player is convicted or pleads guilty to a crime. So, if a player is arrested for domestic violence, a standard that is kept intentionally low and foster false-positives due to the nature of the crime, and then ultimately it is determined by the Courts that domestic violence did not occur, and then an investigation is held by MLB, where it is confirmed that domestic violence did not occur, how the hell do you end up with any suspension? There has to be some standard here. You can't let suspensions be this arbitrary.

18. Jose Lima?

I agree. Sees the field this year. Plays somewhere between 30-50 games. Even has a few cool moments. We will all root for him, but ultimately his body will just not cooperate. Retires at the end of the season. A handful of HR's short of Straw's record.

His turnaround this spring has me wondering...maybe he really was hurt all that time?

What's the holdup on guys like Bumgarner or Felix Hernandez? Those are no brainers no? I wonder if they are battling some injury.

I'm expecting some regression in the HR department, especially from the right side. Still seems really fluky that he broke out like that last season. I feel like with that pretty swing he should hit for a higher BA. So I'll say he goes for about .280, with 18 HR's. I'm still shocked he's back. I was strongly in the "Of course you offer the QO, because he'd be a fool to take it" camp. Still think he could have gotten a multi-year deal like Murph's had he held out.

Are we still trying to win without scoring runs?

Hopefully it's nothing. If it is I hear Jon Niese is available.