batmagadanleadoff

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I'm going to have to get caught up on what happened. [media=youtube]FGtfqwHwvmA[/media] Those two should be banned from attending MLB games for the rest of their lives. There was a second fan who tried to restrain Betts's right or throwing hand while the first fan stole the ball from Betts's glove. The two jackasses could've also injured Betts in the process. I can't think of having witnessed any worse fan behavior in my lifetime of baseball watching.

I think one of the differences with the new regime is that it is willing to move on from players when it stopped working. The old regime, I suspect, would have stuck with the Joey Wendells and Adrian Housers all year. I don't think that's luck, but rather good general managing. This is exactly right. In the past, those guys who sucked would have been run out there again and again and our season would have gone right into the tank. Part of it would have been from being stubborn. From wanting to be right. "Joey Wendle is a former All-Star. We've just got to get him going". But most of it would have been the money they made. Narvaez, Houser, Diekman, Wendle, and Nido combined to make over $20M. Can you imagine the Wilpons eating that money? True. But that doesn't mean that no luck was involved.

Every team that performs very well is extremely lucky. Good and lucky. Every athlete that has an outstanding season is extremely lucky. And good. This is how it always is. Everything has to go your way to be the very best and finish at the very top.

Also, the Yankees have no chance to win because the Dodgers have Max Muncy and Max Muncy is the best baseball player in the whole wide world who ever lived. Muncy got a lot of hits against the Mets in the playoffs ......... oooh! ............ the playoffs. And it's so much harder to get hits in ... oooooh! ... the playoffs. You have to be the best player in the world to get a hit in the playoffs. Because I'm with the Vipers! And in the playoffs, the stakes are higher. So the game is different. The pitchers turn on their magic play-better buttons because they're in the playoffs and suddenly, their fastballs come in at 120 MPH. And the fielders are as fast as the flash. No -- I mean as fast as The Flash. Because it's the playoffs. Ans so you have to be a really great hitter to get hits in the playoffs with the fast fastballs and the Flash fielders. Not like in the middle of May. The middle of May is not the playoffs. So the players play sucky and shitty. Muncy is the greatest. The Mets had no chance against the Dodgers. If the Mets and Dodgers played 100 games, there would never be a seven game sequence in those 100 game where the Mets won more games than the Dodgers. Max Muncy would not let that happen because he is the greatest baseball player ever. You can tell because of his NLCS four game hitting streak. A four game hitting streak in the playoffs is like hitting in 200 straight games in the regular season. I bet Max Muncy renegotiates his contract in the off-season and gets paid like a billion dollars a year. It's the playoffs. Also, the Dodgers are just better than the Mets. What that means is that if the Dodgers and the Mets played each other 500 times, the Dodgers would win all 500 games. So what chance did the Mets have in ooh the playoffs? If they can't beat the Dodgers once in 500 games, how are they supposed to take a seven game series from the Dodgers? They can't. I'm with the Vipers.

Frayed Knot wrote: =Gwreck post_id=177525 time=1729910995 user_id=56] This series is uninteresting because there's no juice to the matchup. No underdogs, no surprises, no teams that have engineered a turnaround. This is an uncompelling and uninteresting series regardless of how one feels about the teams. Gotta say, this is the first time I've heard the argument that having the top teams and several of the games top stars in the WS makes it a less interesting matchup. Also didn't know that this one was unique in using the universal DH. Personally I prefer seeing two first place teams playing for the championship over last year's AL's 4th best vs NL's 6th

... wherein the best players will hit Home Runs every other at bat and the best pitchers will hurl three hitters, striking out 12 batters every start. Because ... oooooh! ..... it's the World Series! It's the playoffs! The stakes are higher. And when the stakes are higher, the best players will turn on their magic buttons and play to the very best of their abilities. Because the best players can play their very best whenever they fucking feel like it but would rather wait until they're lucky enough to get to play in the ... ooooooooh! World Series to play their best.

Why isn't Vientos even on the ballot? Personally, I think he's the real Dark Horse and I don't think it's particularly close. He wasn't a prospect anymore by the time this season started. He was a prospect in 2022, maybe 2023. He wasn't on anybody's top prospects lists this season and if anything, he was "suspect". He wasn't even deemed worthy of holding a spot on the roster. He was Brett Baty's backup ferchrissakes. Roll that last sentence around in your head for a while. When he was first promoted from Syracuse earlier this season, it was for a little while. To the extent he would play, it would be off the bench and then only here and there. And as if all of that wasn't enough, then the Mets went out and got J.D. Martinez, pushing Vientos even further down the depth chart. How did it come about that Vientos finally got a chance to get some regular playing time without having to play with the fear of being benched again or even demoted by playing a few bad or uneventful games in a row? How? Only because Brett Baty was awful. Dreadful. Execrable. Horsehit. That's how. Vientos is my Dark Horse. Iglesias had a fine season. But Vientos was way better and it wasn't particularly close. Pound for pound, Vientos was one of the top dozen hitters in the entire NL this season. Vientos was on pace to top 40 HR's had he gotten the same number of at-bats as Lindor or Alonso. Ohtani was the only NL'er to top 40 HR's this year. And only four NLers hit HRs at a greater rate than Vientos did in 2024.

The next statue should be of Marv Throneberry. How Marvelous!

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: For a long time, Seaver was the only deserving of a retired number. Then achieveing a retired number became easier, so they had to separate Seaver again. If you start giving out statues to everyone we'd need another way to honor Seaver, which would be to exhume him and bury him in the parking lot underneath a gigantic orange and blue tombstone And speaking of exhumations, there were so many rumblings this afternoon at Gary Carter's gravesite that they hadda exhume his dead body to figure out what the hell was happening. And when they did, Carter said that he deserved a Citi Field statue next. He was inducted into the HOF before Piazza and he won a World Series with the Mets. Not Piazza. Also, Carter was the last piece to the puzzle. And he had two good seasons with the Mets.

Putting aside the "closer" role, why is it that some pitchers are relievers instead of starters? Is it mainly a matter of talent -- that it takes more talent to be a starter than a reliever? Or is it mainly an issue of stamina --- and that relievers can't pitch as many innings as starters --- the way some track and field athletes can run a great 40 yard dash but would never be able to compete in a mile race, or a marathon?

[FIMG=366]https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54087455427_c79a0a0746_h.jpg[/FIMG]

=Centerfield post_id=177301 time=1729622460 user_id=65] Jeff McNeil. First Half 323 PA. .591 OPS. 5 HR Second Half 129 PA .923 OPS 7 HR His second half BA was .289. So even the good McNeil didn't quite get up above .300. In fact, he never got his average over .300 for any month in 2024. He'll be 33 in April of 2025 and on last year of his contract, and by then 3 years removed from his batting title.

Jeff Reardon, too. And the Mets didn't draft Jesse Orosco, but they definitely developed him. Randy Myers was very effective for a few years. Tug McGraw?

cal sharpie wrote: I'm skeptical as to whether Soto is really gettable. It does appear as if he happy withe MFY's and will take their many millions over our many millions. Same here. He's already in New York. Benjamin Grimm wrote: Maybe the Mets will have to offer him many many millions to the Yankees' many millions. Winning the World Series won't make keeping Juan Soto any easier for the Yankees Aaron Judge left money on the table to stay in New York long-term. The Yankees won't get as lucky with Juan Soto, even if they win the World Series. Sure, Soto is an unquestionable competitor who will want to go somewhere he consistently has a chance to play in October. The pending free agent was just 20 years old when the Washington Nationals won the World Series in 2019. He still calls that team “a family” and for years after — even when the Nationals traded him away — Soto had that family and their trophy as his cell phone's screen saver. In San Diego, despite struggling at times, Soto was identified by numerous people in the organization as the rare star who truly cared more about winning than individual numbers. Losses bothered him equally when he was 0-for-4 or 4-for-4, though going hitless often led to hours in the cage. That was a habit he picked up while still in Washington; Soto spent one October night in D.C.'s batting cages with former hitting coach Kevin Long, working until well past midnight to get out of a slump, only to later emerge as a Nationals playoff hero. Soto doesn't just relish the game's biggest moments, he feeds off them, as evidenced by his 10th-inning home run late Saturday night that sent the Yankees past the Cleveland Guardians and clinched New York's first World Series appearance since 2009. It would be foolish to think winning it all wouldn't matter to a player like Soto, who is expected to sign a mega-contract this winter that could lock him up for the next decade or more. But records matter, too. Multiple people told The Athletic this spring they believe Soto's camp is after Shohei Ohtani's record-breaking deal. Ohtani's contract included 97 percent deferrals, but still put his present-day average annual value at roughly $43.78 million, or closer to $46 million when calculated for luxury tax purposes. Soto, making $31 million in his final arbitration year, could easily eclipse both those numbers and set a new record, though Ohtani's overall number of $700 million still seems like a pipe dream unless Soto is willing to accept heavy deferrals. (It's worth noting that it's not unheard of for Scott Boras clients to accept heavy deferrals. Soto's former teammate Max Scherzer signed a seven-year, $210 million deal before the 2015 season that had record deferrals at the time.) Soto, who will turn 26 on Friday, was widely thought before the season to be seeking offers starting at around $500 million. Fresh off a regular season in which Soto posted an 8.1 fWAR — trailing only Judge, Ohtani and Bobby Witt Jr. — it wouldn't be a surprise if Soto's youth and playoff performance push him closer to $600 million. Boras, coming off a disappointing offseason for some of his top clients, shouldn't have a problem getting Soto — who has drawn Ted Williams comparisons — every penny he deserves. But any notion that the Yankees winning the World Series would give them a significant leg up on re-signing superstar Soto seems wishful at best. Trophies are nice, but Soto — who turned down $440 million from the Nationals before he was traded in 2022 — has often spoken about advancing the market and pushing things forward for the next group of players. That's not exactly the mindset that signifies a willingness to leave tens of millions on the table, like Judge did in turning down the San Diego Padres. In finally getting to pick his team, Soto isn't signing up to lose for the foreseeable future — I don't think the Miami Marlins or Chicago White Sox could pay him enough, even if both very unlikely suitors decided to. But the other team expected to be a major player for Soto, the Steve Cohen-owned New York Mets? Well, they just had a heck of a run, finishing two wins shy of playing the Yankees. Soto loves New York; he has family in the area and his parents can easily fly from the Dominican Republic to stay with him. If it truly is a two-team race for Soto's services — and with him preferring the East Coast and the big money involved, it very well could be — it's tough to imagine a scenario where a few more October wins play a tangible role in distinguishing the Yankees from the Mets. Cohen is the richest owner in the sport, unafraid to storm through luxury tax layers. Should Cohen decide he has to have Soto, convincing him and Boras that the Mets are on the upswing shouldn't be hard. Under president David Stearns, the organization is expected to undergo significant internal changes, replacing and restructuring more than 20 positions in his second full season at the helm. Stearns and rookie manager Carlos Mendoza squeezed the most out of the roster and the Mets rode a wild-card berth — clinched a day after the regular season was supposed to end — to the NL Championship series. On neither New York team will Soto immediately become the team's star; both Francisco Lindor and Judge are signed with their respective teams until 2032. Though if being the face of an organization is important to Soto, Lindor doesn't get nearly the national spotlight or attention Judge commands. The Yankees went all-in on trading for one year of Soto and they're four wins away from having that bet pay off handsomely. But to keep him in pinstripes beyond 2024 will require one thing: record money. Any other talk is exactly that. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5860843/2024/10/22/juan-soto-yankees-free-agency/https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5860843/2024/10/22/juan-soto-yankees-free-agency/

Consider the impact bats these other teams have. Top 25 MLB OPS Leaders for 2024 Yankees Judge #1, Soto #3 Dodgers Ohtani #2. Betts #15, Freeman #16, Teoscar #21 Phillies Harper #10. Schwarber #17 Braves Ozuna #9. (Acuna was injured, but his career .904 OPS would have been #10, Riley, Albies and Harris all lacked enough ABs to qualify) Padres Profar #21, Merril #25 (Tatis didn't have enough ABs, but would have been #23, The Mets had one guy in the top 25. Francisco Lindor. #19. Pete Alonso ranked 39th. If you lower the requirement to 450 PAs, Mark Vientos ranked 23rd in the majors in OPS in 2024. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&type=1&season=2024&month=0&season1=2024&ind=0&pageitems=30&sortcol=9&sortdir=default&qual=450https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders/major-league?pos=all&stats=bat≶=all&type=1&season=2024&month=0&season1=2024&ind=0&pageitems=30&sortcol=9&sortdir=default&qual=450

cal sharpie wrote: I'm skeptical as to whether Soto is really gettable. It does appear as if he happy withe MFY's and will take their many millions over our many millions. Same here. He's already in New York.

On the other hand, if Luke Raley had stayed healthy, maybe we win it all. Or Dedniel Nunez, the Mets best set-up man. Or if Brandon Nimmo, who had an awful NLCS, (.167/.259/.167) wasn't so obviously compromised. Or Jeff McNeil, who was turning it around after the All-Star break, until he fractured his wrist. He played in 40% of the Dodgers games after not playing for a month and a half. And did Francisco Lindor ever get back to full strength after his September back injury? Who the hell knows? Not to mention having their "best pitcher" Kodai Senga for essentially, just one game all season long. But ooooooooooooh, it's the playoffs. It's special baseball. Baseball at its best. (rollseyes) Even though the pitchers are so running on empty by October that if the current state of the game drives you nuts with the pitch counts and starters barely throwing six innings worth, in today's playoffs, you're lucky to get four innings from your starters. Wanna know who the reigning WS champs are? The Texas Rangers. They beat the Diamondbacks in last year's series. Neither of those two teams were even expected to make the playoffs last year even though one out of every two and a half teams now makes the playoffs. Have fun and enjoy the show. Just don't tell me that the WS champs are baseball's best team. (Oooooooooooooooh! It's the playoffs! The playoffs! I'm with the Vipers!)

Lefty Specialist wrote: They needed a Tommy Edman, someone who played way over his head, and they didn't have one in this series. That's just plain ol' luck. Every team has a Tommy Edman. Any major leaguer other than Rey Ordonez or Doug Flynn could get red-hot for a six game stretch and hit out of his mind like that. It could've just the same, been Jose Iglesias (who was doing just that during the season), or Tyrone Taylor. Or any Met. It was just randomness. Do you think it was pre-ordained that Donn Clendenon would hit three HR's in four WS games? And that he would continue to hit three HR's for every four WS games that he'd get to play if he was lucky enough to play more WS games? Of course not. He just happened to get hot, and lucky, during those games.

Bob Alpacadaca wrote: =metirish post_id=177167 time=1729516765 user_id=72] I guess all of those guys are replaceable, probably not practical to replace all , but I'll keep Sevy Stanek Winker Pete Good calls. Do you think Manaea will be too extensive [sic] to keep, or did we get the best of him this year?

Lefty Specialist wrote: Yeah, sure, if a couple of breaks went a different way, they might be playing tonight. Or if the breaks went the other way, Francisco Lindor's grand slam could have been a long fly ball to the warning track. That's baseball, Suzyn. That's fine. And if you wanna give props to the Dodgers, that's fine, too. Wanna say that the Dodgers had a better series than the Mets? I'm right there with you. But for someone (not you) to say that the Mets didn't have a chance? That's just idiotic. As if this was all preordained and an inevitable destiny because it was ... wait for it ... the playoffs. Oooooh! The playoffs. For most of the season, two thirds of it, the Mets were the best team in the majors. That wasn't luck. That team could play with anybody and beat anybody. We could play a game of Monopoly (the board game) for fun. Or we could play a game of Monopoly where the loser has to jump off of the observation deck at the Empire State Building. One version of that game would be far more intense than the other, no doubt. But the game would be the same no matter which version we play. You'd have the same odds of rolling a seven no matter which version we play, the same odds of landing on Ventnor Avenue no matter which version we play and the cost of putting up a hotel on Park Place would be the same no matter which version we play. It's the same game whether we're playing for fun or for all of the marbles in the world. You don't suddenly get better at rolling the dice just because the stakes are higher. If we could replay this series 20 times over, we'd have 20 different outcomes and 20 different "narratives". And I'd bet my life a zillion times over that the Dodgers don't win all 20 of those replayed series. Not even close. Enough with the fucking but it's the playoffs. Oooooh! The playoffs. It's the same fucking game they play in May. And if the Rockies could take two of three from the Dodgers in May, then surely the Mets could win a short series from the Dodgers in October.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=177140 time=1729486539 user_id=68] =batmagadanleadoff post_id=177139 time=1729486169 user_id=68] =Gwreck post_id=177138 time=1729485085 user_id=56] This might be the first time ever that the Mets were truly outmatched by a better opponent in a postseason series, and didn't really have a chance to win.

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=177139 time=1729486169 user_id=68] =Gwreck post_id=177138 time=1729485085 user_id=56] This might be the first time ever that the Mets were truly outmatched by a better opponent in a postseason series, and didn't really have a chance to win.

=Gwreck post_id=177138 time=1729485085 user_id=56] This might be the first time ever that the Mets were truly outmatched by a better opponent in a postseason series, and didn't really have a chance to win.

Mets win probabilty right after Vientos's HR went from 4.8% to 11.1%.

Hey! It's another blowout. That's bonkers!