Centerfield

And just to round things out, Jason Heyward, 3 HR's, .632 OPS. But hey, 10 points higher than Rene Rivera!

On the other hand, there is Justin Upton, who crushed an opposite field 2 run HR last night to bring his season total to....four. In the first year of his six year, $132 million contract (complete with opt-outs!) his OPS is now .617. Or, as we call it in Mets-land, 5 points lower than Rene Rivera. I hope that idiot poster who pushed to sign him last winter over Cespedes has learned his lesson.

You call that "throwing" what he was doing before?

How fucking stupid is this?

Lefty Specialist wrote: And either way, you have Lagares checked immediately on Saturday. If it is a break, or a tear, or some other serious injury, you bring someone in right away for Sunday. And this is what I can't understand. It's an almost pathological resistance to checking players out immediately, while they stay on the 25-man roster unable to play. They had Wright hang out for almost a week this way. The roster doesn't have a lot of flexibility to begin with, without operating short-handed. Don't forget Steven Matz, where they waited FIVE DAYS to check his elbow. And thank god it turned out to be nothing, but this is just a foolish way to operate.

Vic Sage wrote: booyah! Ebenezer, i think the admins here should make you an honorary Forum member immediately! All in favor say "aye"! BIG PURPLE AYE![/bigpurple]

Lefty Specialist wrote: Derek Jeter, the blank Yankee billboard who spent his career waiting to be bought Yeeouch. Not that Derek cares anyway. Oh, Derek cares. Not the part about waiting to be bought, but that someone noticed and criticized him. For all the crap about Jeter being holier than thou, the man has paper thin skin and bristles at any criticism. Remember, the fallout between ARod and Jeter came not because ARod let his team down in any way, but because ARod had the nerve to say Jeter was not the centerpiece of the Yankee lineup, the way Arod was the focus of the Mariner lineup. So criticize away Mr. Samuel. Call him out on the bullshit. It's about time.

Edgy MD wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: The problem with the immediate replacement (beyond the time squeeze of getting someone across the country for a day game) is that it requires an immediate DL or some separate move. If it just turns out to be a couple day thing -- like say with Cespedes and his hip -- then going a day or three minus a guy is often better than having a regular miss the minimum 15 even though he'll likely be healthy for maybe 10-12 of them. If all DL trips were apparent immediately such calls would be easy but it doesn't always work that way. I think they'll probably know on Lagares either today or tomorrow and make a call then. One thing every roster needs in such situations is Fungible Interchangeable Backend RelieversTM. You send down Verrett, call up Nimmo, live without a seven-man bullpen for a day or two (the horror!). If the injury, after that day or two, turns out to be serious, Lagares hits the DL, Nimmo stays, and Verrett returns. If the injury turns out to be much ado about nuttin', then Nimmo returns to Vegas, and Verrett returns to New York. If it's too soon for Verrett to return within the rules, then the team calls up one of Verrett's fellow FIBRs, Sean Gilmartin or Rafael Montero, both already on the roster and big-league experienced, for whatever that's worth. I don't know about you, but my life has seen a vast improvement since I switched to a high-FIBR diet. It's changed my outlook and allowed me to do things I never could before. I'm never changing back. Exactly. And either way, you have Lagares checked immediately on Saturday. If it is a break, or a tear, or some other serious injury, you bring someone in right away for Sunday.

It looks like the Mets will, as they have many times this season, go with no one at all. Ron was pretty outspoken about how he thought the Mets should have had Lagares checked out ASAP and a replacement brought in just in case. He didn't come outright and say it, but I get the feeling he is frustrated by the Mets lack of urgency on this sort of thing. I feel like the Mets have been playing with a short bench the entire season. On Edit: Before the game, Terry was talking about using Syndergaard as a pinch hitter. I wonder how much of that was real and how much of that was to send a message to the FO, "Hey dickheads, get me some players".

Happy Craniversary MGIM. Long live the 'pool.

Direct hit. Nicely done Mr. Samuel.

Frayed Knot wrote: Marlins pitching coach Juan Nieves out to try and calm down Tom Kohler. You know nothing Juan Nieves!! Can't let this gem go without acknowledgement. Funny. I would have gone with "Tu no sabes nada Juan Nieves".

Reports are now at 6-8 before resuming baseball activities. Which means probably closer to 10 weeks. Sucks. Anyway, it's fine. They'll get it done. This team will find enough offense to stay in the hunt. David and Duda come back for the stretch drive and we have another August/September like 2015. David hits 11 HR's down the stretch. Mets win the World Series. David wins MVP. Rides off into the sunset.

Edgy MD wrote: If last year is anything of an indicator, it's that the team would rather work internally, while working for the right deal, than get squeezed up front. Yup. And I think this is the right play unless one of those teams comes along and says take my 3B, please. But during this time, instead of calling up the best candidate, the team will go with Flores everyday at 3B and Loney every day at 1B. Ty Kelly and Matt Reynolds will be our bench guys. So when the game is on the line in the late innings, Kelly and Reynolds will be our pinch-hitters. Wonderful. And of course it has to be this way because of two iron-clad principles that must not be violated at any cost: 1. Star players do not switch positions. 2. You only call up your best prospect if he is going to play every day. And if you lose a pennant or two along the way, so be it. You just can't break these rules.

Frayed Knot wrote: At least temporarily the 'solution' is Matt Reynolds, not to start of course but to be infielder #5/6 alongside Ty Kelly. Everything about this situation is infuriating. First off, the Mets have known all week that Wright was hurt, that he had a herniated disk, and chose not to DL him. Instead, they went with a cortisone shot. Did they think the cortisone would magically move the disk back in place? How they could even entertain the idea that the guy with spinal stenosis could play through this is beyond me. (And even if he could do it, how insane it would be in the long term to ask him to do so.) So not surprisingly, David ends up on the DL. Meanwhile, the Mets have played a man down all week. And during that time, they dropped 2 straight series, falling 3 games behind Washington and losing a bunch of close games in the process. A bunch of games where a key hit here or there could have turned our fortunes. I get that we have no idea what we would have gotten out of Dilson this week had he been called up, but do you know who he absolutely, positively would have been better than? David Wright. So fucking stupid. And now you call up Reynolds? What the fuck Sandy. Why? Was Eric Campbell not available? I know. Let's call John Mayberry and teach him to play third base. Let's do everything except call up our best hitting prospect who has already proven himself at AAA. It's not like we're trying to win games or anything.

I tend to agree with that. But I think that this somewhat passive approach by the front office is not the correct one to have when you are in a fight-for-your-life pennant race. Duda is on the DL now, Wright is still not available. Loney is 1 for 9, and Wilmer is 1 for 10 since coming back. Ty Kelly went 0 for 5 yesterday and left 4 men on base. Even if it's just for a game, go get Herrera. I know the season seems like an eternity, but division races can completely turn on an AB or three. If Cespedes doesn't double off Storen in Game 2 of that Nats series last year, and Kelly Johnson doesn't HR off Strasburg, the Nats take 2 out of three and the Mets leave town up 3 games instead of 7. Those 2 AB's were huge. I think the FO needs to display a sense of urgency here.

Me too. I think Wright gets this easy. In fact, I think he gets the record this year.

Frayed Knot wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: We have some people here who I believe are vastly over-rating Dilson Herrera's value. Yes, it's far-fetched. This appears to be directed at me. So I'll retort. Actually it was directed at the idea being floated about that the reason Herrera was being kept down was as a way of manipulating his possible FA time-frame five or six years down the road. Teams obviously do that on occasion but almost exclusively with players right out of the box (when a simple two-week delay at the beginning of the season assures it) and on players who the team has reason to believe will be a major star. Herrera already has about 2/3 of a season under his belt and, while a decent prospect, probably would have rated no better than the back half of top-100 prospects lists this past winter had he still be eligible. He may turn out to be real good down the road, but right now he's a .211 ML hitter with strike-outs projecting to 130 or so over a full season. As for the rest of this stuff, I never saw this as a case of him vs Campbell. Campbell's role was that of the last man off the bench and if it wasn't him it was going to be someone similar (like Kelly whose resume is essentially identical to Soupy's) but they weren't going to put a promising 21 y/o in that job. That Campbell then started to get starts was obviously due to not just the injuries but the sequence of them. First it was as a sub for Duda when the jury was out on him being DL'd. By the time that became official Loney and Flores were on their way to help cover both 1st & 3rd. You may have decided that Dilson is already a better ML hitter than Wilmer but I don't know that the Mets agree. That leaves 5 IFs for four slots (only with Kelly now as Mr. 25th) except that now Wright is in DL limbo. So if it turns out that Wright needs DL'ing then I suspect Herrera's promotion becomes more likely. As to who gets more time at 2nd and who at 3rd, I don't think it makes a lot of difference. Got it. I have no idea about the delaying FA angle. Largely because I don't really know how that works. I understand that Campbell was originally the 25th man, and that we had an everyday lineup set, with Flores ready as a supersub. So I was fine with Herrera not going north with the team. But during the course of the last few weeks it became evident that injuries were going to open up AB's for Campbell, and Reynolds, and Kelly. 100 PA's were lost to a guy with a .492 OPS and 2 guys who were even worse. All of this while we had a better option wasting time in LV. Such a waste. And what was the justification? First base defense. Because Campbell could play 1B. Was that worth it? Campbell is not Keith Hernandez. He's a journeyman utility guy who learned to play a serviceable 1B. How much better is he at 1B than Neil Walker? Would it have been a big dropoff? I don't know. Certainly doesn't seem like it would have been. Because on the offensive side, it's not close. Everyone knows about Dilson's upside. But even if Herrera made no progress from his prior performance, he would have surpassed Campbell's OPS by .200 points. And the continuing injuries mean more AB's will be available. It's mind-boggling why we wouldn't try the guy who might actually be good. We are in a fierce pennant race. We are struggling to score runs. This team doesn't have the luxury of going with back-end options. If you have a huge lead like the 2006 team, sure, do whatever. If you're going nowhere like all teams from earlier this decade, go ahead and baby your prospects. But on this team? Get me the best hitters now. If there is a guy in the organization that improves my chances to win by .00001%, I want him on the team. Seriously, how many times did Ty Kelly come up yesterday with a chance to do something? 1-1 game, a hit someplace might have turned that loss into a win. Is there anyone who would prefer Ty over Dilson in that spot? And what's the downside? Would sitting on the Mets bench hurt Dilson's development? I have no idea if irregular at-bats in the bigs is necessarily worse for his development than every-day at bats in LV. Do we know that for a fact? And even if it is, sorry Dilson. The team needs you now. Sack up and get ready. Look, I have no idea how good Herrera might be. He might be a bust. Who knows. But I have no idea why we wouldn't find out.

I know it's just one game, and you're never as bad as you think you are after a loss, but holy crap are we lucky that Cespedes came back. Think of the justifications for making up Cespedes' production last winter: 1. Full year of d'Arnaud and Wright. Wait, they're hurt? Wow, could not have seen that one coming. 2. Full year of Conforto: Suddenly sucks. I think it's just a slump though, and he'll post great numbers by year's end. 3. Deeper Lineup (fewer AB's for the likes of Campbell, Ceciliani, Mayberry): Campbell somehow ended up getting his ABs anyway, and sucked again. De Aza, after starting strong, sucks. Wilmer, relegated to the bench, is hitting like he belongs there.

Seems like the Cubs have taken a page from the 2015 Royals.

He's how many away? 10?

Just pathetic. This offense is terrible.

OMG ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME. SHOULD HAVE JUST STRUCK OUT.

Leadoff walk. This is usually a good thing no?

Let's like, score.