Centerfield

Maybe we did have it. Here's Mike Piazza in his last game as a Met.

I remember him trying. Did it fly? Here's Pedro Martinez violating that rule.

The rule was one of the dumbest things in all of sports. It arose from a moral standard that is long outdated. It's insulting to grown professional men who are the greatest in their arena. It may have served as a detriment in free agency, now that the Yankees are not at a financial advantage over all other teams. It was likely illegal. Given that they benefit from the anti-trust exemption and have player control for 6+ years. But I liked that it made the Yankees look stupid and outdated.

Excited for this.

In addition to the Judge strikeout, I remember the hope I had for Diekman when he was signed. Shintaro Fujinami too. I had visions of those two fireballers getting fixed at the pitching lab and bringing heat at the end of games. Oh well. The lab doesn't always work.

Harrelson was the better player. Looking at his OPS+, Harrelson was 75 as a Met. Ordonez was 58. And the WAR numbers are not close. In 13 seasons Buddy had a WAR of 18.6 (avg. 1.43/season). Ordonez had a 0.9 WAR in 7 seasons (avg. 0.12/season). Basically, Rey Ordonez was a replacement player who got starter playing time and starter money. The problem with the bottom of that Mets lineup is #8 is where you would bat your backup catcher, your emergency callup, a fill-in guy. On the Mets, that scrub batted 7th. So you get 7. Scrub, 8. Ordonez, 9. Pitcher. Just awful.

Every year, I make sure to soak in this post at a desktop, with plenty of time to soak in the details. Love it. The covers are up and down, but BG hits a HR every year. Nice to see Rice-a-Roni increase their portion size. It always left you wanting a little more.

Let Butto start.

Out for a “significant stretch”. Per Mike Puma. More details to follow.

True. Let me rephrase. If OPS had been as common and as widely understood as it is now, there would have been no debate. Imagine if the Mets gave a multi year deal to a player with a sub .600 OPS. There would have been rioting. As for “fraud”. I don't know if I'd go as far as calling Ordonez a fraud, but certainly his WAR numbers suggest his defense wasn't as valuable as advertised. Take a look at Seattle era Vizquel numbers. They're far better than Rey. Maybe it's that Omar had better range and Rey just looked cooler and more acrobatic.

Point taken about WAR being imperfect. But it's not like Ordonez numbers are close to being good, where a tweak in the formula may lead to a different perception. Rey's numbers are categorically awful. And unless you throw out WAR as too flawed to even consider, it's a damning assessment. He had a negative WAR or a WAR under 1 in all but one year as a Met. Andrelton Simmons is considered a glove first SS. His WAR numbers put Ordonez to shame. As for his offense, it's not just that he put up terrible numbers. It's that he had the misfortune of almost always being healthy so he would take up 500 ABs of terrible numbers. I really think if we had OPS as a stat back then, not only would he have not gotten that contract, he would have been the late inning sub he deserved to be.

Also, one of the cool things you can do now is to go back with today's stats and get a better idea of the performance of past stars. Remember the Great Rey Debates? For those that weren't there, there was fierce debate over the value of Rey Ordonez. Some felt Rey's extension was a drag on the team, and that the Mets needed to upgrade at SS. Others argued that Rey detractors didn't understand the value of defense. Some of the most extreme argued they'd rather have Rey over Jeter due to his superior defense. There were arguments over his .250-ish average and how badly that weighed down the team's offense. Looking back, Rey had a Mets career OPS of .596. He put up 0.9 WAR over 7 seasons with the Mets. Not much of a debate.

Terrence Long is correct! 1. Bill Pulsipher, LHP 2. Paul Wilson, RHP 3. Rey Ordonez, SS 4. Edgardo Alfonzo, IF 5. Carl Everett, OF 6. Jason Isringhausen, RHP 7. Jay Payton, OF 8. Terrence Long, OF 9. Kirk Presley, RHP 10. Preston Wilson, 3B 9 players who all had significant ML careers. All 9 played for the Mets!

Jay Payton is correct. #8. #7 already appears in this thread as well. No to Daubach and Shirley.

LIFE. CHANGING. I'm going to embed so many videos.

OMG I GOT IT TO WORK THANK YOU!!!

I continue to have absolutely no idea how to imbed a youtube clip.

Alvarez has so many issues in his swing. I can't find a clip from last year. But he not only opened up too early, he set up open and never took a stride, meaning he was already starting out wide open. Another issue is his head movement. You can see it in this clip below. The best hitters never move their head position throughout their swing. You can see Alvarez starts his head at a certain level, then drops it a bit during his takeback, then drops it even further when the ball approaches. [media=youtube]6i-L94h0QNg?si=xU_U5aCDuNG8Nxwu[/media] It's hard enough to hit a baseball when your head is quiet. When the ball is moving, and the head is moving, it's impossible to stay consistent. Compare this to this clip of Robinson Cano. Just incredible how consistent he is. https://x.com/notgaetti/status/1884341605500330036https://x.com/notgaetti/status/1884341605500330036

It looks like Francisco Alvarez drastically changed his swing over the winter. He's incorporated a much bigger stride. Video and Mendy's comments here: https://nypost.com/video/francisco-alvarez-improves-rhythm-with-renovated-swing/https://nypost.com/video/francisco-alvarez-improves-rhythm-with-renovated-swing/ If you read between the lines, it kinda sounds like Mendy thinks that the swing is not there yet. Praising him for his work ethic I guess, but not really sold on what he's seeing.

Updated with hints. 1. Bill Pulsipher, LHP 2. Paul Wilson, RHP 3. Rey Ordonez, SS 4. Edgardo Alfonzo, IF 5. Carl Everett, OF 6. Jason Isringhausen, RHP 7. __________, OF 8. __________, OF 9. Kirk Presley, RHP 10. Preston Wilson, 3B (had no idea he was a 3B in the minors) Incorrect: Scott Saurbeck, joelmon, Paul Byrd

I mean, of course you never know what's going to happen in a baseball season until you play the season. That's a given. But I think prudent decisions rely upon likelihood of outcomes, and in that sense, projections matter. And yes, sometimes a team comes out of nowhere to compete, but oftentimes (last year excepted), another team that was supposed to be good will be awful. Last year, the Mets were projected to win 83.6 games, good for the 3rd WC. (PECOTA, 2024). For that team, I think trading for frontline starter could have potentially greatly improved their odds to make the playoffs. They were a fringe team, and were projected to have holes in their rotation. This year, the Mets are projected to win 91.1 games. https://www.baseballprospectus.com/standings/https://www.baseballprospectus.com/standings/ WC teams are the Mets (91.1), Arizona (87.0), San Diego (86.0). Philadelphia is the last team out (85.3). No one from the central is reasonably expected to compete for the WC (Milwaukee is the closest at 80.8). And LA is projected to run away with the division. So effectively, that leaves 5 teams (ATL, NYM, PHI, SD, ARI) competing for 4 spots, with the Mets projected to have the second highest win total among those 5 teams. My thinking is that the Mets are well positioned to make the playoffs without Cease. And barring disaster, should be good enough to at least stay in the race until July, when you have more clarity and the price is lower. The downside, is that you could fall out of the race by then, some of your prospects may have lost value, and SD may have already unloaded Cease, or someone else, to a competitor. So I don't know if there is a clear cut right answer, but I'd be inclined to hold onto my prospects for now.

Wow. Gwreck with the toughest answer. I thought for sure he'd be guessed last. 1. Bill Pulsipher, LHP 2. Paul Wilson, RHP 3. Rey Ordonez, SS 4. Edgardo Alfonzo, IF 5. Carl Everett, OF 6. Jason Isringhausen, RHP 7. 8. 9. Kirk Presley, RHP 10. Preston Wilson, 3B (had no idea he was a 3B in the minors) In correct: Felix Gomez, Vance Wilson, Claudio Guzman, Raul Casanova, AJ Burnett. Fun Fact: I don't know prospects well enough to know if some of these are jokes or real guesses. I'm guessing Eddie Rosario was a joke, but I don't know if there was another Eddie Rosario that was a Mets prospect. Two left. Both are very guessable.

Updated. 1. Bill Pulsipher, LHP 2. Paul Wilson, RHP 3. Rey Ordonez, SS 4. Edgardo Alfonzo, IF 5. Carl Everett, OF 6. Jason Isringhausen, RHP 7. 8. 9. 10. Preston Wilson, 3B (had no idea he was a 3B in the minors) No to Eddie Rosario, Alex Escobar, Robert Person, or Benny Agbayani. Agbayani, as far as I can tell, was never on any top prospects lists. Which is why I retroactively named him 1999 Dark Horse Met.

cal sharpie wrote: I'm somewhat responsible for the tie. I had originally voted for SUPERMANEA but I changed my vote. If this weren't the final I wouldn't have done so as SUPERMANAEA is the better cover but what goes to Stockholm should be a cover that at least in some way epitomizes the season. Decades from now when people are walking through the Hall of Fame in Sweden and see SUPERMANAEA, they would think of 2024: "I guess this pitcher epitomizes that long-ago season" rather than "what's the deal with the MG after Alonso's name -- let me look into that year." I disagree with your choice of cover but absolutely agree with your logic about the winner epitomizing the season. That's why I had such an issue with the Seaver cover winning a few years ago. It had nothing to do with that year's team.

=smg58 post_id=185152 time=1739450374 user_id=62] At $40M per, he's not opting out too soon. Nick Pivetta got four years and $55M, with two opt-outs, from the Padres. His first year comes in at a $3M signing bonus and a $1M salary. As long as he's at least adequate, it's a massive bargain for the Padres.