batmagadanleadoff

Mets insured David Wright contract By Scott Gelman @Gelman_Scott on May 26, 2015, 11:32p David Wright is set to see a back specialist but the Mets may not be responsible for his entire contract if he ends up on the disabled list for an extended period of time. Wright was diagnosed with spinal stenosis over the weekend, and according to FOX Sports' Ken Rosenthal, the Mets insured Wright's contract. Once Wright is out for 60 days, Rosenthal notes the Mets would "recoup 75 percent of his contract" while he is still not able to play. Wright will determine what action needs to be taken moving forward after consulting with a specialist in California. Ultimately, New York is hoping Wright will be healthy, however if he is unable to play for at least the next few months, the club will not be financially responsible. New York signed Wright to an extensive contract after the 2012 campaign and he established himself as a consistent third base option, playing in 112 games in 2013 and 134 games last season. The deal will pay Wright, who has only played in eight games in 2015, $20 million a season for each of the next four seasons, $15 million in 2019, and $12 million in 2020. Wright, 32, has not made an appearance since April 14 and was subsequently placed on the disabled list after pulling his right hamstring. The Mets were optimistic as Wright was prepared to begin his rehab assignment but the organization shut him down again on May 6 after he suffered from back problems. Despite being cleared to resume baseball activities, Wright's rehab was shut down again three weeks later. While New York was not initially convinced the injury was notably serious, Wright was diagnosed with lumbar spinal stenosis last weekend. Comparable versions of the ailment ended the careers of Lenny Dykstra and New York Giants running back David Wilson, however NYU director of spine service Dr. Jeffrey Goldsetin told Newsday the outcome "really depends on the patient." The Mets, after a 5-4 victory over the Phillies on Tuesday night, are sitting at 26-21, good for second place in the National League East. New York has had difficulty scoring runs early in 2015 and the loss of Wright will likely not make scoring any easier. Eric Campbell (.185/.306/.284 in 25 games) and Dilson Herrera were both expected to replace Wright at third base, however Herrera was placed on the disabled list with a broken finger. Wilfredo Tovar and Alex Castellanos are minor league options, and while the Mets could add a third baseman via a trade, General Manager Sandy Alderson told the New York Post it may be too early to determine if the Mets need a long-term replacement for Wright. Prospect Matt Reynolds may be a candidate, however he has never played third base at the professional level. Surgery is not considered to be an option for Wright at this point, according to Mike Puma of the New York Post, but if the Mets find themselves in contention without Wright, adding a third baseman might become a goal. New York will continue to monitor Wright's status, but if he does not take the field for 60 days, the club could spend elsewhere since his contract is insured. http://www.mlbdailydish.com/2015/5/26/8664581/mets-david-wright-contract-insured

The Mets can get away with this for now so long as their so-called abundance of pitching isn't all major-league ready, whether because of injuries (Wheeler, Montero) ripeness (Matz, so they say), or something else. Sooner or later though, something's gonna give. A team can't hoard ten major-league ready starting pitchers, can it?

Frayed Knot wrote: Tough to know what to make of Grandy's "surge" lately. Last season he OPS'd 468 in April, then jumped to 838 & 933 in May & June, kind of split the difference in July with a 753 before plummeting to 415 in August, then back up to 918 in September So while I'd love to say that he's figured something out and is in for a lengthy streak, we've seen this movie before and it adds up to lots of movement but nothing resembling a trend. Not that I know anything, but If I had to guess, I'd guess that this is just a random clustering of good hits -- and not a trend.

From the Department of In the Future: The Major League roster isn't big enough to accommodate this idea, but the most efficient way to use a pitching staff might be to ditch the whole starting pitcher concept and instead, have a handful of pitchers, each pitching no more than three innings, pitch each game. The pitching staff would essentially be comprised entirely of relief pitchers -- and all pitchers would be groomed for a reliever's workload. The game is trending that way, but again, roster-size limitations are an obstacle to this idea. All pitchers, from the stars to especially the fringe pitchers, are less efficient with each incremental trip through the opponent's lineup. In a relief staff, pitchers wouldn't have to pace themselves to pitch six or even more innings a game, and the batters would rarely see the same pitcher twice in the same game.

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Ashie62 wrote: I thought midnight was the protocol for starting an i.g.t., oh well. How old are you? Seven? Eight, maybe?

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Talk about a dead thread. What this thread needs is a more eventful season. A season that included the arrival of the best pitcher in baseball. And a first baseman with Atlas's shoulders. And a manager that got what he deserved. And a bullpen fiasco. And Shea Stadium. And the last time the Mets would play a season with hardly anyone knowing the name Madoff. And another year of hideous black uniforms. And the last time the NY Post would print larger format papers. And gangstas. Definitely gangstas. [fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8857/17552512793_60f133b5f9_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7762/18146619996_c62a847004_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7754/17552477753_4f90ce4536_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7791/18169497472_2b70c42ffa_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8829/18169549182_3908b98322_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8884/17985428500_5c4acf96c3_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8792/17986843569_9114b75380_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8863/18146636456_35beab6c5b_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8837/18174261121_5718f3f072_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8869/18173124135_2a9fb5715b_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k][fimg=366:2ftgox6k]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7793/17552521753_563b544906_o.jpg[/fimg:2ftgox6k]

I still conflate Newy and den Dekker. All of the cyber ink used up on Newy here over the years is a sad reminder of how far the Mets had fallen. [fimg=555:15cighwl]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8784/17980713249_55be73a592_o.jpg[/fimg:15cighwl]

As you can see, the News gets their Mets focus all screwed up. One more back page from 2013. [fimg=333:3g6802cm]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7762/18145799732_d2a1d8f2e4_o.jpg[/fimg:3g6802cm]

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I like this list. Great list-making, Edge. I'd tinker with it some, though, to reflect that one HR does a lot more good than an error does harm. So a shortstop who has a HR to error ratio of, and I'm just wild-ass guessing here, about 60%, is probably an asset, at least based on just those two stats. Obviously, there's more to this. Melvin Mora (2000): 6 HR's, 7 E's at SS = asset.

Here's the picture of starting pitcher Bartolo Colon this web site ran to lead their game recap. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

How do you know?

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St. Looey Cards say Duda'a a different hitter this season. excerpt: NEW YORK • One of the challenges that faced the New York Mets entering Thursday afternoon's game against the Cardinals was scouting lefty Jaime Garcia. They weren’t lacking video or data about the Cardinals’ data. Just recent video and data. “Jason Bay kills him,” manager Terry Collins told reporters. He mentioned another player as well, and neither of them had played for the Mets since 2012. Garcia’s absence from the game — nearly a year between starts — and his chronic shoulder soreness over the previous three seasons left the Mets wondering if Past Jaime was any sort of preparation for Present Jaime. The Cardinals ended up in the same dilemma with Lucas Duda. They looked for Past Duda. They got a long look at Present Duda. “Right now, he’s not the same hitter,” manager Mike Matheny said. Duda hit two home runs in the Mets’ 5-0 victory against the Cardinals. The win sent the Cardinals back to Missouri for a series against Kansas City after a four-game split in Queens. The Cardinals managed little (one run) in Matt Harvey’s start Monday night and they managed less (zero runs) against Jacob deGrom on Thursday. In between, they feasted for 19 runs and two routs of the Mets. Duda delivered four of the five runs the Mets scored on Thursday, and both of his home runs came against lefthanded pitchers. Duda, who hit 30 homers last season, was lost against lefties in 2014. He hit .180 with a .264 on-base percentage and a .252 slugging percentage. He had as many home runs on Thursday on two pitches from lefties than he had in 111 at-bats last summer against lefties. Duda struck out 41 times in those 111 at-bats. He was the reason Ol’ Abner invented LOOGYs. This past offseason, Duda worked his hands raw in the cage to improve his swing and his pitch recognition against lefthanded pitching. He got some tips from Keith Hernandez, as The Daily News reported this morning, and he got lots of time from hitting coach Kevin Long*. * Same hitting coach, you might recall, that had such a profound effect on John “J-Rod” Rodriguez that he slingshot to the majors briefly and helped the Cardinals in 2005-06. “Essentially, just trying to stay short, and take what they give you,” Duda said. http://www.stltoday.com/sports/baseball/professional/birdland/goold-how-duda-defied-data-flipped-cards-plan-against-him/article_b0936e26-0e84-5472-b605-6887a12cd595.html

If you got all your info from Daily News Covers, you'd think that the 2014 Mets barely existed. Below is last year's puny Mets showing on the back, and occasionally front pages of the Daily News. The gallery includes mostly forgettable games from a forgettable season that, one year later, barely register anymore. From the 4th of July forward, the Mets would be featured on just two back pages. Even deGrom, the brilliant breakthrough ROY, was largely ignored. Competing with Phil Jackson, the World Cup and Derek Jeter's farts, deGrom made just one back page. [fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8768/18098147712_c0d77bd820_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8823/18101594105_f3f7342d52_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7798/18101594725_e6c4a5aa72_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7707/18098149422_20227b2d14_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8840/18101595625_7399cd9a6a_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8859/18101596075_0bde3f92fa_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7730/18101596835_9a0bd407f9_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7686/17915357949_beac69f20d_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8892/18101598045_ba75a620bb_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8882/18102579471_8a282d76d5_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8760/18098153192_0bd1421c4a_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7721/18101599285_85c10a16fa_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7771/18075088186_e3a6f1c109_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8875/18075088816_1063b84ab9_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c4.staticflickr.com/8/7784/18102582381_ab86f9b5f7_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q][fimg=333:2g04y60q]https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8879/17913676898_a2f0df3843_o.jpg[/fimg:2g04y60q]

Who am I? You won't find me on a Topps baseball card in a Padres uniform. Or a Mets uniform. You might not even find me in the Mets records. Unless you know where to look. Talk about ephemeral.