batmagadanleadoff

=LWFS post_id=70737 time=1625805727 user_id=84] Rules say that every team has to have a player selected... but not necessarily participating. So... Walker doesn't HAVE to be picked.

Dave Stewart's line sums it up best: "[Even if] it was consensual ... what kind of person would ever do that?" https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2021/07/05/former-dodger-dave-stewart-livid-handling-trevor-bauer-case/7865597002/https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/columnist/bob-nightengale/2021/07/05/former-dodger-dave-stewart-livid-handling-trevor-bauer-case/7865597002/

Buccos everywhere.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=70227 time=1625441960 user_id=68] =bmfc1 post_id=70065 time=1625339875 user_id=73] Tijuan, Marcus, and E. Diaz all deserve to make the team but I suspect that Jake will be the only Met.

100%

Mets win probability - 70%

deGrom's ERA now close to Gibson's '68 mark of 1.12 -- 1.10.

Willets Point wrote: On the other hand, I unironically appreciate the Brewers' recreational softball uniforms. Since Lefty's post, I can't get the Cubs Scouts out of my head.

Edgy MD wrote: It's pretty bold of the Brewskis to take advantage of the reschedule and switch up their strategy of using a sacrificial lamb against deGrom and instead burn Burnes in Game One against deGrom. They're putting their chips in sweeping the afternoon, but risking getting swept in the series in doing so. Before I knew that the Brewers would do this, I was hoping that the Mets would have deGrom pitch the night game against Burnes. deGrom's head and shoulders better than everybody this year. He should be going up against the opposing aces, whenever possible.

Visual Forensics How baseball's war on sticky stuff is already changing the game After MLB got serious about foreign substances, spin rates fell, pitchers changed and hitting improved, a Washington Post analysis shows. Good long read; lotsa graphics, charts and pics Excerpt: Washington Nationals ace Max Scherzer, hat on the ground, unbuckled his belt as umpires stood around him. Oakland Athletics reliever Sergio Romo walked off the mound and pulled down his pants. New York Mets star Jacob deGrom laughed as he held out his hat for on-field examination. [***] Before the spectacle of on-field enforcement even began, word of its arrival trickled out around June 3, as MLB made it known it planned to increase scrutiny amid record-high strikeout rates. It appears to be working. Spin rates — or the number of revolutions per minute a baseball makes on its way to home plate — have decreased across the sport, according to a Washington Post analysis. Pitchers have said in recent weeks that it's difficult to grip the ball, and the Post analysis shows that, too: Some pitchers appeared to be searching for grip — using rosin, trying to find sweat and licking fingers — behavior that suggests they are trying to adjust to this new reality. Spin rate can be key to a pitcher's success: A pitch thrown with the same velocity will move differently depending on how fast it spins, and a pitch with a higher spin rate often moves more sharply than one thrown with the same velocity but less spin. The Post analyzed the spin rate, controlling for velocity, for nearly 2 million pitches, focusing primarily on fastballs, of more than 1,400 players from about 9,000 games from 2017 to 2021 — including almost 70,000 pitches since June 3. After climbing year over year, spin rates fell in the three weeks after June 3 to levels lower than in 2017, when the data first started being tracked reliably, according to a Post analysis of data published by Baseball Prospectus. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/02/sticky-stuff-baseball-data/https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/07/02/sticky-stuff-baseball-data/

They've got three of the most exciting starting pitchers in all of baseball and the unhittable reliever Josh Hader who's like the Jacob deGrom of relievers with a 750 ERA+. Check out Hader's unbelievable numbers: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/haderjo01.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/haderjo01.shtml

Not exactly 2021 baseball cards, but here's an article on the "best Mets baseball cards": https://www.mlb.com/news/best-mets-baseball-cardshttps://www.mlb.com/news/best-mets-baseball-cards And here are the cards that made their cut (your mileage will vary): [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_4x5/t_w1536/mlb/srerbxapvshzz30puyv8.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_1x1/t_w1536/mlb/obg6o0uiirxkhlabgn2q.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=444]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1536/mlb/b1lcavptcl8kdvqpvmfh.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1536/mlb/x5o76l0icltaqa5ne8kj.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_1x1/t_w1536/mlb/vjogb1afpjv1doawreqg.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_4x5/t_w1536/mlb/bu7ofihzjvki7cpj95v9.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_4x5/t_w1536/mlb/celn7eqrpfrtzhimmoey.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_1x1/t_w1536/mlb/myau8tukkhsarlmtmxah.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_1x1/t_w1536/mlb/uhy1tpmvmwcv410ryeq5.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_4x5/t_w1536/mlb/epyoi7pfhgj0sjwxx4hl.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_1x1/t_w1536/mlb/a2x4tmypfbppsrhillos.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=333]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_1x1/t_w1536/mlb/c4e7smhliyhfsp78jike.jpg[/FIMG]

Edgy MD wrote: Man, that looks like Carter is about to have a bite taken out of his ass by a sick, sick man. Is that two Wally Backmans surrounding Carter? (One's probably the batboy, I think).

I believe it's a function of deadlines. The game ended around 12:30 AM. The News pictured is a Racing Final, not a Sports Final. New York Newsday tended to be an earlier edition than LI. I know the later News had a photo of Marv Albert interview ping Ray Knight, leading me to infer they went with whatever they could get amid the time crunch. Also: no Sunday NY Post in 1986. I remember that. I have specific memories of "getting the papers" the next day -- or next morning, really -- and being very dissatisfied with the tabloid covers not really capturing the enormity of what transpired in game six. I realized it was probably the deadlines. Here's a Boston Herald cover. [FIMG=555]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/51292137211_1e9df0271e_h.jpg[/FIMG]

https://twitter.com/Jacob_Resnick/status/1411859661674909696 I can't believe deGrom hasn't done that yet this season.

=bmfc1 post_id=70065 time=1625339875 user_id=73] Tijuan, Marcus, and E. Diaz all deserve to make the team but I suspect that Jake will be the only Met.

Holy Cow! The Yankees' organist is playing "Meet the Mets!"

=smg58 post_id=70051 time=1625337526 user_id=62] The Wilpons could have gotten him for a year when the Braves did, but even that was too much to ask for. His glove is not better than average at this point and his OPS is more low-.800s than low-.900s like in his prime, but that still makes him a valuable player. It's fair to ask if he's valuable enough to take on two more years with a salary above $20M, but I think you have to at least kick the tires.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=69480 time=1624999947 user_id=68] I'm not concerned about the Mets offense. I realize how bad it is this season, but I think it should revert to the mean, which, I believe, is a tremendous offense. I'm chalking all of this up to bad luck, a historically dead ball which is suppressing offenses everywhere, but particularly the Mets because of the humidor the Mets are using this season -- and because they play in a pitcher's park, which are impacted harder by deader balls. I think it's mostly external conditions that's causing the Mets offensive woes. That's al;so why the pitching is so good - with three all-star caliber starters, including one for the ages and two of the best relievers (Diaz and Loup). Put back a regular ball in play and take away the Citi Field humidor and the Mets'll hit better. And the pitching'll get worse. Including deGrom.

Donaldson is the Andrew McCutchen of the infield. When the Mets have needed help in the outfield the past few years, Andrew's name has popped up. Infield help needed? Donaldson's reportedly been in their sights. I'd like to get him. Donaldson was in the Mets sights? Or maybe this forum's sights? Like the Wilpons were ever gonna pay what it would've taken to sign Donaldson as a FA. I'll tell you what the Wilpons would have done if they sensed that Mets fans wanted Donaldson: after he signed elsewhere , they'dve said that he could've been had and that all that Sandy or BVW had to do was ask for permission to go and sign him for whatever money was needed and that money was no object. No. He was in reporter (newspaper and internet) rumor-mill sights. Of course, the writers didn't have to pay him. But , logically, he was a good fit for the team. Later Oh. Because you wrote that "Donaldson's reportedly been in their sights". And that "When the Mets have needed help....". So when you wrote "reportedly", you were saying that reporters were reporting that reporters wanted the Mets to sign Donaldson? [FIMG=15]https://thumbs.dreamstime.com/z/smiley-face-happy-smiley-emoji-vector-yellow-smiley-face-happy-smiley-emoji-vector-yellow-vector-happy-circle-face-160815464.jpg [/FIMG] And that's what you meant by in "their sights"? Why would that even be noteworthy? Reporters'll make a case for every available body.

=MFS62 post_id=70027 time=1625327069 user_id=60] Donaldson is the Andrew McCutchen of the infield. When the Mets have needed help in the outfield the past few years, Andrew's name has popped up. Infield help needed? Donaldson's reportedly been in their sights. I'd like to get him.

=Gwreck post_id=69932 time=1625251423 user_id=56] Ken Rosenthal had a column in the Athletic explaining it. Administrative leave is not disciplinary, the player continues to get paid, no impact to service time accrual, etc. He just doesn't play. The player also gets to request an immediate (within 24 hours) hearing for reinstatement. The union could still probably file a grievance if they wanted (especially if missing a start contributed to missing a performance incentive, eg. innings pitched or number of games started) but they're less likely to win since it was a Commissioner action, not a team action.

I re-arranged Mets player HOF'ers in chronological order of their Mets debut. I find this arrangement more helpful. 1983 was the most bountiful season for Mets HOF'ers debuting (three). Ed Kranepool Cleon Jones Tug McGraw Bud Harrelson Jerry Grote Tom Seaver Jerry Koosman Tommie Agee Jon Matlack Rusty Staub Mookie Wilson Darryl Strawberry Keith Hernandez Ron Darling Dwight Gooden Gary Carter John Franco Edgardo Alfonzo Mike Piazza

Jacob deGrom will skip MLB All-Star Game under these Mets conditions Excerpt: But should the pitcher charting one of the best seasons in modern baseball history get chosen to the July 13 All-Star Game in Colorado, he says he won't participate if the Mets' blueprint holds and he starts three times to close the first half, including the final Sunday before the break. https://nypost.com/2021/06/29/jacob-degrom-will-skip-mlb-all-star-game-if-this-happens/https://nypost.com/2021/06/29/jacob-degrom-will-skip-mlb-all-star-game-if-this-happens/

https://nypost.com/2021/07/01/photos-new-text-messages-revealed-in-trevor-bauer-assault-accusations/https://nypost.com/2021/07/01/photos-new-text-messages-revealed-in-trevor-bauer-assault-accusations/ New text messages revealed. The reason I wrote yesterday that I wanted to hear more of Bauer's side of the story was because some of the accuser's story didnt add up. Why, during their first encounter, didnt she leave right away when she regained consciousness, instead staying with Bauer for several hours? Why did she then have a second encounter with Bauer? I'm just spitballing here but one possibility is that the sex, though violent and very kinky, was entirely consensual and that initially, the accuser had no intention of making accusations against Bauer. But then Bauer ended their relationship and that's when the accusations began to fly.