Centerfield

I used Niese as a teaching tool for my son. He had a really bad inning where he gave up some hits and also felt like he was getting squeezed by the ump. He started stomping around and lost his command. He ended up giving up 5 runs that inning. Afterwards, I talked to him about Jon Niese and how we always groaned when things started trending downhill for him. I think the message hit home. He was determined not to be that guy. I told him you're going to have some rough spots when pitching. Do you want to be Jon Niese or Jacob deGrom? After that, any time he started to get into trouble, I could see him trying to get tough, put a really adorable scowl on his face, and push his way through the inning.

Don't know how that Harvey cover made it out of the first round.

At least in the Mets context? Can't play CF, so he doesn't fit the Mets as nicely as Heyward did, but supplies more consistent power. Only 28 years old, so he's squarely in his prime. http://espn.go.com/mlb/player/stats/_/id/28841/justin-upton Had a down year last year, but I think a lot of that can be attributed to playing in San Diego. The only way Upton would work is if you move Granderson to CF and platoon him with Lagares, with the hope that Lagares' bat will come around by the time Granderson's contract is up. It would not be a good defensive OF. I think this, and obviously the money, means we're not getting him. But hey, he's from Norfolk, Virginia. And that means he should be playing for us.

dgwphotography wrote: Centerfield wrote: d'Kong76 wrote: I can't believe more people aren't outraged. I've been saying it over and over and I still can't believe it. This is the real shocker for me. The Wilpons falling through, while disappointing, was always a strong possibility. It's just crazy that so many are ok with this. You, me, Vic, Gwreck. Batmags has been there for years. BG agrees in his own calm way. Everyone else seems like they're just "eh, whatevers". I have never been "eh, whatevers" when it comes to these cheap, lying bastards. It's a long winter - if nothing else gets done by spring training, like last year, then I will bitch and moan like I did a year ago. Yay! PAW Membership up to 7!

d'Kong76 wrote: I can't believe more people aren't outraged. I've been saying it over and over and I still can't believe it. This is the real shocker for me. The Wilpons falling through, while disappointing, was always a strong possibility. It's just crazy that so many are ok with this. You, me, Vic, Gwreck. Batmags has been there for years. BG agrees in his own calm way. Everyone else seems like they're just "eh, whatevers".

And now the Cardinals, having lost a key hitter in their lineup, and turning to players who can maybe platoon in the outfield like Will Venable. Wait, that's not true. That would be stupid. Cards are said to be in on Alex Gordon, looking to replace the hole in their lineup.

Gwreck wrote: Wow, how strange: National League Team in one of the very largest media markets in the country makes playoffs after five consecutive losing seasons. Plays well, but falls short of championship. Goes out, adds significant players in free agency in order to improve team. Oh, wait. Did I say strange? There's nothing strange about that at all. The Cubs are significantly better than they were in October. The Mets have taken a big step back. Earlier Vic Sage posted that the Mets needed Zobrist and Heyward. Looks like the Cubs were the only team listening.

d'Kong76 wrote: Guess some teams see an opportunity and run with it. Don't worry Kase. We'll get Heyward. Someday he'll be a 35 year old washed up player and we'll pounce then.

And better pitching. Cubs are not done yet. Still looking for a starter. You have to tip your hat to Epstein. He really knows how to build a winner. Develop solid homegrown players. When they are ready, surround them with elite talent.

Exactly. Gerardo Parra don't come cheap.

I guess of the three teams pursuing Heyward, it would be best if he went back to St. Louis. I want no part of him on Washington, and the Cubs are already better than the team we saw in October. Of course that the beat writers having narrowed it to these three clubs means nothing. Anaheim could swoop in any time I guess.

Latest buzz is that the Nats are in on Heyward too. If the Cubs and Nats both get him we're in serious trouble.

Edgy MD wrote: I'm more chagrined at trying to sustain they're too cheap to outbid the Cubs on Zobrist which would have been stupid anyway. Which is it? I don't think he ever said that they were too cheap to outbid the Cubs on Zobrist. He says that pursuing Zobrist was misguided in the first place. I agree. He says that the Cubs are showing a willingness to spend even more (they have been linked to Hayward) while the Mets have not. I agree with that as well. He surmises that this may have influenced Zobrist's decision. I don't know about this. I think only Zobrist can answer that.

If you're tired of Howie Megdal telling you about the Mets paupery, then read it in the New York Times. Michael Powell mocks Zobrist as a Plan A and writes, essentially, that the Wilpons should sell the team if free agents like Yoenis Cespedes are out of the question and beyond reach. [fimg=444]http://a1.nyt.com/assets/article/20151208-125316/images/foundation/logos/nyt-logo-185x26.svg[/fimg] Good News: Mets Lose Out on Ben Zobrist Sports of The Times By MICHAEL POWELL DEC. 9, 2015 Ben Zobrist, the apple of the Mets’ eye this off-season, decided to spurn the family Wilpon and sign with the Chicago Cubs. Chicago’s proximity to Zobrist’s family home in Nashville was said to play a role. That would have made sense when paddle-wheel riverboats were the preferred means of transport, but less so since Orville Wright and the advent of winged flying devices. (Chicago is 1 hour 20 minutes by plane from Nashville; New York City is 2:20.) More likely, the fact that Cubs Manager Joe Maddon and Zobrist enjoyed many years together with Tampa Bay was the deciding factor. And Theo Epstein, the Cubs’ president, has displayed a willingness to spend and spend again. The Wilpons have displayed no willingness to do any such thing. Still, this is a good test for the Mets. Zobrist, who will be 35 in May, was the wrong player at the wrong time for the Mets, who offer a peculiar mix of fuzzy-cheeked youth and the creaky-boned aged. By the spring, this team will have a 37-year-old left fielder, a 35-year-old right fielder and a sore-backed 33-year-old third baseman. It did not need to pay a new second baseman until the cusp of his fifth decade. Instead, the Mets, blessed with an abundance of strong pitching arms, need to pursue a genuine power hitter, like that fellow Yoenis Cespedes, who patrolled the outfield and led the team during its stirring pennant run last season. If not Cespedes for the rest of us — the Mets pretend to have all but lost his telephone number — then two other top free-agent outfielders loom: Justin Upton, 28, and Jason Heyward, 26. To type this is to risk marking yourself as an unserious man as so many fall over themselves to explain that the Mets cannot possibly afford to compete with the likes of Chicago, Boston, the Dodgers, the Angels and, perhaps, even Kansas City. On Wednesday, the Mets traded for a second baseman, picking up Neil Walker from the Pittsburgh Pirates for an expendable starting pitcher, Jon Niese. It was a nice trade and perfectly small-bore Mets. It was a cash wash. Later that night, they continued to reshape their infield, adding Asdrubal Cabrera, a former All-Star who ranks among the poorest defensive shortstops in baseball, on a two-year deal believed to be worth a modest $18 million. Still, however much Sandy Alderson, an astute baseball man, enjoyed Oakland and San Diego, and however much the Wilpons might enjoy visiting Milwaukee, the Mets fit no definition of a midmarket team. Flushing, Queens — for better and worse — is not Cleveland. The Mets’ claim of sackcloth poverty seems worth interrogating. The Wilpons trusted their grifter friend Bernard L. Madoff, and so fell on hard times. And the debt service on their new stadium is pretty high. But as Howard Megdal of Capital New York has noted, somewhere between $45 million and $60 million rained down upon the Wilpons in this autumn’s baseball festivities. Ratings and ad rates are up significantly on SNY, in which the Mets own a majority share. And as my colleague Richard Sandomir has noted, ticket sales are up. Then there’s the fact that Alderson and Mets management insisted for years that if only fans came out in greater numbers, the team would spend more. Typically in American capitalism, you produce a better product, and sales rise. Whatever; it worked. Baseball’s commissioner, Rob Manfred, seems intent on responding as Bud Selig did to his old friends the Wilpons: Manfred is playing the avuncular enabler. “I think clubs should and do spend commensurate with the revenues that are available to them,” Manfred said recently. This is silliness. New York City’s veins are clotted with young masters and mistresses of the universe who would love to own the bauble known as a major league franchise. The Wilpons could put the team on the market Monday and count their billion-plus dollars by Friday. As for free agency, the Wilpons would do well to start with what they had: Cespedes. The Mets lack many coaches who can speak Spanish, but in a city nearly half black and Latino, you might expect a black Cuban to present the team with intriguing marketing possibilities. As to his play, Cespedes is not Willie Mays. He is like a hound after a hare to high fastballs. He swings at a few too many curves off the low outside corner. (These are not disabilities unique to him; Fangraphs has documented that Mike Trout has the same weakness for high, hard stuff.) Nor was Cespedes spectacular in the postseason, although he did hit two home runs and knock in seven runs in nine playoff games before the World Series. Like most of the Mets, he had a bad five-game stretch in the Series. His fielding in center field in the postseason bore a resemblance to soccer. That said, he is a natural left fielder, and for his work there with the Detroit Tigers in the first half of 2015, he just won a Gold Glove. His arm is like a javelin in the hands of Achilles: deadly. As Fangraphs wrote, if he stayed put in left field, he would rate “among the best full-time players.” Mets management tells reporters — sotto voce — that were it to give Cespedes his desired long-term contract, he would be 36 at the end of it. This is a curious plaint, as the team offered a four-year contract to an infielder who would have been 38 when the deal ended. The Mets have reached an inflection point. They have a phalanx of terrific young starting pitchers who can toss nasty curves and dial fastballs at close to 100 miles per hour. The actuarial odds are that one of them might tear an elbow tendon, and the economic odds are that one or more might leave for free agency. As the Mets learned in the soporific days of June and July, baseball teams cannot live on pitching alone. Someone has to hit. Catcher Travis d’Arnaud might stay healthy all year, although he has not managed that feat yet. And Michael Conforto, in his second season, might blast more home runs. But after 174 regular-season at-bats in the major leagues, Conforto will confront pitchers who have studied his weaknesses. Let’s say he hits .260 with 24 home runs. That is a nice sophomore year, and no shame there. He might not be ready to carry the team. The Angels are circling Upton. God only knows how many general managers are whispering sweet things into Heyward’s ears. One World Series is no guarantee of another. You wonder if the Wilpons realize they are not running Tampa Bay. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/10/sports/baseball/yoenis-cespedes-the-key-for-new-york-mets.html HR for Michael Powell.

seawolf17 wrote: Remember how he left? Remember that Metly parting gift he left in the press? Jon Niese: “I’m sure what I’ll appreciate more than anything is the way (#Pirates) play defense. I’m looking forward to that.” HANG ON WAIT. EFF THAT GUY, THEN. LOL. Good pitcher. His demeanor probably made us all not appreciate how good he actually was. Few guys gave us this consistency over the years. Which is strange considering we will always remember him for his inconsistency. Saw Niese pitch on my first visit to Citizen's Bank this year. I remember meeting metfairy in the stands and shaking our heads at him stomping around the mound. Later in the game, he got a hit or something that contributed to the game-winning rally. I feel like that's him in a nutshell, played a pretty good game, but perhaps unfairly, left a negative impression nonetheless.

Edgy MD wrote: The infield has more pop perhaps if you think about it from a depth perspective. Less Campbell and less Muno expected. Perhaps less Herrera also. If Tejada is moved, that's certainly suggesting more pop. The infield also gains more pop if you sign Bruno Mars or Drake or Pharrell Williams or somebody. If all you want is pop...

If depth and flexibility were what they were looking for, then Kelly Johnson could have provided it for a fraction of this price. The offensive production is similar. They cal both play multiple positions. The only thing Cabrera can do that Johnson does not is play SS, and Cabrera plays it poorly. And as of now, the Mets have 3 guys (Tejada, Flores, Reynolds) that can all play SS, with Ceccini hopefully adding his name to the mix sometime in 2016. If it turns out that the Mets sign Cabrera for $9 million, Will Venable for $8 Million, and Bartolo Colon for $5 million, while letting Heyward/Cespedes/Upton walk, I'll fucking lose my shit.

Back to Denard Span. If we can't get the big hitters (and it's looking more and more like that's the case), Denard Span would be my choice for CF. Very small commitment. Maybe throw in some incentives. No draft pick tied to him. Only problem is that Boras is his agent. So we'll have to wait and see. I'm not convinced about Gerardo Parra. Plus he'd cost a lot more money and wants a long-term deal. Will Venable. I can't believe I have to even mention Will Venable.

I have no idea who Matt Bowman is. Should I be mad? Glad to hear about Becerra.

Maybe I'm giving too much credit to the beat writers. It's just not common that they all agree on something. Anyway, that brings me back to why Walker wasn't option #1 in the first place. For me anyway, Walker is far preferable to Zobrist.

Edgy MD wrote: I don't know that the Niese/Walker trade hadn't been on the table as an option before the Zobrist offer didn't bear fruit. We don't know for sure. But indications are strong that this was the case since: 1. The Mets were very public about what they were doing. 2. All beat writers uniformly reported that the Mets were all in on Zobrist, and had no plan B.

I think the whole day yesterday was just really weird. I like the Walker trade a lot. I dislike the Cabrera signing a lot. But the whole thing is just very confusing. My thoughts on this: 1. All of these thoughts are made possible because the Mets, uncharacteristically, were very public about their moves and intentions. Don't get the value in this at all. 2. The Pirates made Neil Walker available weeks ago. If he could be had for Jon Neise, why wasn't this option #1? And why wasn't this not even on the table during the Zobrist courtship? If nothing else, at least the Mets could have saved themselves the embarrassment of not having a Plan B after Zobrist fell through. 3. It's hard to refute that the Zobrist situation was misplayed. I'm glad that it didn't happen, so no complaints from me. But if they really wanted Zobrist, I think the way to do it is to talk to Pittsburgh first, get the Niese deal floated, then put the contract in front of Zobrist last week, and say you've got to sign now, or we're pushing the button on the Pittsburgh deal. You might have even gotten him for 3 years then. It certainly beats fellating him in public the way they did. 4. The Asdrubal Cabrera deal makes no sense. He represents a marginal upgrade over Wilmer offensively and defensively. They didn't feel fit to pursue Cabrera last winter when SS was an even bigger mystery. It's odd that they would do it now. Even if you had a big market payroll, allocating $9 million plus to Cabrera seems like a terrible use of resources. (See MGIM? I am not advocating spending just for the sake of spending.) It's no secret I want the big OF bat, but I would have even been happier spending this money on a reliever. 5. All of this seems so different than the way Sandy Alderson ran things. I wonder how involved Sandy really is. Has anyone even seen him since he collapsed? I worry that there is a Weekend at Bernie's thing going on here. 6. I don't know how smart John Ricco is or isn't. But when he does interviews, he just kinda looks confused and overwhelmed. 7. How about Steve Gelbs during these Hot Stove Reports? I feel like he's made great strides. A lot more confident. Completely controlling the conversation. Obviously he's not Burkhardt, but I'm proud of the guy.

Exactly TM. You were talking about cost-efficient moves? Put this one down as an example of inefficiency. I don't get this at all. Either they are working on a trade with Flores, or maybe Wright is hurt more than we know? Complete head scratcher. It probably also means that whatever slight chance we had at Cespedes/Hayward/Upton is out the window. Jesus Mets. Can't even give me one night to enjoy the Walker trade?

2 year deal plus an option, says Ken Rosenthal. 18.5 guaranteed.

Maybe I spoke too soon.