Centerfield

Sure. But players are not players. And elite players are better at producing runs than mediocre players. Am I crazy? I think elite teams are made up of elite players. One need only look at the rosters of these playoff teams to see that. And I don't think you can make up for the loss of an elite player by replacing him with 3 mediocre players. Despite what my avatar suggests, this shit ain't Voltron.

I'm guessing Sandy already has the basics of a Plan A (With Yo) and a Plan B (without Yo) in mind. The tough thing is that unless Cespedes makes his mind up quickly, and there is a good possibility he may not, then you have to start moving on Plan B before you know what he decides. Like for instance, if Yo comes back, maybe you don't need Neil Walker as much. But if he walks, his bat becomes more crucial. And that decision might have to be made before Cespedes. Or maybe you trade Bruce for a catcher. I don't know. Tough situation. I'm fine with replacing Cespedes' production with someone else should he choose to walk, but like last year, I would want that replacement to bring us what Cespedes brings. A legitimate, middle of the order threat. In 2016, we learned how silly it was to suggest that the loss of Cespedes could be somehow be offset by some combination of De Aza and full years from Wright and d'Arnaud. If we start hearing that we won't need Cespedes in 2017 because "Duda will be healthy and we'll have a full year of Jay Bruce", then I think we should treat such statements similarly.

It comes down to how much faith you have that the big 5 will be ready. It sounds like deGrom and Noah (as of now) project healthy. Matz's shoulder won't require any surgery, and the elbow bone spur is fairly routine. But Harvey's surgery was major, and we have no idea how he will bounce back. Or even if that was the reason that he sucked last year. Wheeler is a complete mystery. Even when healthy, I don't know that he was better than Bartolo. So you figure between the last two, there will likely be a need for Bartolo throughout the season. I think you start Gsellman and Lugo in the minors, and have them as insurance in the event of injury. I guess one of those guys might end up the 7th inning guy as well. Just wish we had a better place to put them than LV. Seth seemed to really hate the air there.

Agreed on both sentiments. But one advantage that the Mets have is that the pitching, overall, looks to be in pretty good shape. You have our five horses that you hope can be ready to go when the bell rings. You have Gsellman and Lugo that you can throw into the mix. And you have (hopefully) a fairly simple negotiation to bring back Colon. Could use a 7th inning guy, and a few lefties, but the pitching looks pretty good. But yes, have to resolve the Cespedes situation before anything else. The challenge will be if you can wrap it up quickly or whether this drags to New Year's like it did last time.

MFS62 wrote: They'll have the money if he wants to renegotiate after opting out. There will be an extra $10 million available for raises and re-signings because I don't think they'll bring Walker back. Later I think that money will be largely eaten up by arbitration raises etc. Plus, if they are extending, we aren't so much talking about 2017 as we are 2019-2021.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: d'Kong76 wrote: I could never root for the current Cubs and Maddon. Fuck him. What would really give me some satisfaction is if they got swept again. Why the mad-on for Maddon? Go seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians". Like so douchy. I'm all cool and chill and cerebral. Fucking annoying. Give me Bobby Cox any day.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'd hate to have to argue Zack Wheeler's arbitration case. Whoever it is has it easier than Jenrry Mejia's representative last year.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The Mets, I think, have exclusive negotiating rights with Cespedes until the end of the World Series. I'd love to see this get resolved, with an extension for Cespedes, before anyone else gets a chance to talk to him. He says he wants to stay, so let's make it happen! This is my hope too. I think a 2 year extension (from the remaining 2 years now) will get it done. Actually, I don't know that, but I hope that. I hope that we are willing to offer that money, and I hope that he takes it. He does seem to genuinely like playing here.

Whatever else you do, just bring back Ces.

Didn't sleep at all, but that's not really surprising. I'm better than I thought I would be given the loss. I guess part of me knows that even if we won last night, and somehow got past the Cubs, this rotation was eventually going to catch up to us. I'm always sad at the end of the Mets season. It's really the only sport I follow to this extent. I know some of you guys watch that sport with the pads and the funny shaped ball, but for me, it's a complete dead period until Syracuse Basketball kicks off on November 11. Seems a long, long way away.

I know it sucks, but that was an epic pitching matchup, and Syndergaard absolutely delivered on the big stage. He is shaping up to be legendary. Getting to the post-season is tough, but if we can do it again with a healthy Syndergaard, we have good reason to be optimistic for many years.

seawolf17 wrote: I'm satisfied. Could it have been better? Absolutely, but if you told us in April that TJ Rivera would be starting the last game of the season and our rotation included Gsellman and Lugo, we would have thought we were finishing in fourth place. So let's retool and do it again next year. This. Exactly. Hell, TJ is actually the better Rivera. We had Rene Rivera as our #1 catcher. So I jump into my Delorian and tell you guys in March that: *Harvey will suck for 3 months, then be lost for the year. He will suck so bad he will lead the team in losses, even though he doesn't make it to the all-star break. *We will also lose deGrom and Matz to season ending surgeries. Matz will fight a bone spur even when he is able to start. *Syndergaard will pitch with a bone spur all season. *Wheeler will never make it back *Antonio Bastardo will suck. He will suck so bad that we will trade him mid-season for Jon Niese. Niese will suck, then join the rest of the rotation in suffering a season ending injury. *Lucas Duda. Broken Back. Gone in May. *David Wright. Broken neck. Gone in May. *Neil Walker. Herniated disk. Gone in August. *Asdrubal Cabrera will hurt his knee in spring training. The injury will linger all season. Even a DL stint in the middle of the year won't cure him completely. *DL stints for Cespedes, Lagares, d'Arnaud, Flores and Jose Reyes. Oh yeah, we re-signed Jose Reyes. Flores will hit great after coming off the DL, but then we'll lose him in September to, say it with me, season ending injury. *Conforto, after a great April, will suck and get demoted. He will never find his swing again in 2016. *At the trade deadline, we will trade Dilson Herrera for Jay Bruce. Bruce will suck so bad they'll compare him to Jason Bay. In September, we will pinch hit Eric Campbell for him in a big spot. *Eric Campbell will get 85 PA's. He will OPS .511. *d'Arnaud will try 75 different batting stances. None of them will work. You would have guessed we would lose 100 games.

Fuck man. It hurts that we had Familia out there and they beat him. I hope this doesn't become some postseason thing for him. Pissed as all hell right now. Later on I will feel better. But not for a while. Bring back Ces.

Fuck. That was headed for CF.

Ok guys. A run. Just one run. Let's start with that.

Ok. Let's score 20.

Lonely was not the right choice. Jesus guys. Make the guy work a little.

Come on guys. Work the count a little maybe?

Fuck man. We are running out of time for someone to get into a bar fight with Bumgarner or for him to trip over a wet towel or something.

No chance of sleep either way. In theory, I am perfectly happy with a Wild Card berth given the injuries etc from this season. And in a few days or weeks I may come around to that. But no way I feel that tonight. And if they win I'm going to be on Cloud 9.

Cespedes and Rene Rivera as said to have just gone blonde. If the Mets win the World Series, we all have to dye our hair blonde no?

Need some good energy tonight. I will be sitting on the lucky side of my couch tonight. That side worked great last October until Game 1 of the World Series. It took me two games to realize that I had to switch to the other side. Once the move was made, Game 3 was in the bag. This year, I know enough to sit on the lucky side until the WS, and immediately shift to the other side when that begins. Will be wearing my new (well, relatively new, got it last winter) Mets logo t-shirt, which is 4-1 on the year. We got this. I will also be getting drunk, which isn't so much lucky, but helps calm the nerves, win or lose.

How great would it be if TJ Rivera were to be the hero tonight. Hometown kid. Journeyman minor leaguer. Beating the best post-season pitcher in baseball right now. Excited and nervous. October baseball.

Edgy MD wrote: Speaking of stories about awkward romantic relationships with your relations. The Cubs really missed the boat on that last year didn't they? With all that Back to the Future stuff they were doing. "Team of Density" shirts would have been awesome.

Just realized tonight might be the last time we see Ces in a Mets uniform. Whatever you do this offseason (which will not start for a few weeks yet), you have to bring him back.