batmagadanleadoff

Benjamin Grimm wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: ROY if he's promoted before Memorial Day. Plus, you'll need that if you want the Mets to get to the WS in 2016. Because whenever a Mets RHP wins the ROY award (Seaver. Gooden. de Grom?) the Mets win the Series two years after. Whenever a Mets LHP wins the ROY award (Matlack) the Mets are in the Series the following season. Well, then they don't need Matz to win the ROY; deGrom's winning the award in 2014 already clinched the 2016 World Series for the Mets. I see whatcha mean.

Casey sez to ignore Jenny McCarthy and get your measles shots. I don't know exactly where Casey was when that photo was shot, but those are definitely Butterball trees in the background. My bet is on right in front of the water fountain.

That picture can't be from the World Series. The MLB anniversary patch ain't there even though it should be. Kenny Singleton is there even though he shouldn't be. The crowd itself doesn't look World Seriesish because if it did, all those little kids wouldn't be there in the front rows behind the dugout. Ain't that ain't Lou Dimuro because if he was, he'd have one of those big ol' clunky AL ump chest protectors.

Long excerpts from the very soon to be released Gil Hodges book here. Here's an excerpt from the excerpt: Providence provided one. Mets left fielder Cleon Jones was at bat when he was hit in the foot by a curveball in the dirt. But home plate umpire Lou DiMuro didn't think the ball had struck Jones. With their team desperate for base runners, most hitters would have instinctively dropped their bat and head toward first base. Yet, despite a Series batting average less than his weight -- and the on-deck hitter, Donn Clendenon, having already hit two homers in the Series -- Jones wanted to hit. So it was left to Clendenon to argue with DiMuro, to no avail. After striking Cleon Jones's shoe, the ball improbably traveled over fifty feet, bouncing into the Mets' dugout. What occurred there, after the ball bounced in but before Hodges stepped out with a shoe-polish-streaked ball in his hand, remains one of New York City's great twentieth-century mysteries. Ron Swoboda didn't see what happened, but decades later he could still recall watching Hodges play cribbage and how only a few seconds would pass from the time Hodges was dealt his cards until he determined which to keep, and which to throw back. Such skills were easily transferable to any and all fast-moving developments in the dugout. "Whatever happened," Swoboda said, "happened very quickly." Earl Weaver remembers otherwise. The Baltimore manager told me, "They had time to do anything they wanted with the ball." Three things are certain. First, immediately after the game, no less an authority than legendary Yankee manager Casey Stengel made it known that ever since the 1957 World Series between the Milwaukee Braves and the Yankees, when a Milwaukee player named Nippy Jones was awarded first after convincing the umpire that the polish on the ball had come from his shoe (which in turn led to a championship for the Braves), Stengel always kept a few shoe-polish-streaked balls close at hand in the dugout for just such occasions. In addition, before the fifth game of the 1969 World Series, as he did before every game, Nick Torman, the Met clubhouse man, applied shoe polish to all the Mets' game shoes. For this, and for all his hard work during the season, the players would take the unusual step of awarding him a full share of their World Series winnings. But Hodges's reputation for integrity would prove to be the most crucial certainty that day. Hodges treated umpires with respect. As a player, he held the distinction of never having been thrown out of a game. As a manager, Hodges would argue a call only if he was sure he was right. The umpires, in turn, respected Hodges. Tom Gorman, a National League umpire for a quarter of a century wrote, "Gil Hodges [was] as good a man as you'll find in a long day's march." Contemporaneous newspaper accounts reported that the ball rolled into the hands of Mets catcher Jerry Grote, who flipped the ball to Hodges as he was stepping out of the dugout. When Hodges reached home plate, he handed the ball to DiMuro and said, "Lou, the ball hit him." Hodges didn't yell or scream. He didn't have to. It was all measured and calculated -- even the modulation in his deep voice. But despite Hodges's quiet demeanor, there was "a certain menace" in his physical prowess that made you wonder "what he would do if he got going," said New York Times reporter George Vescey. Decades later, Vescey, who was at the game, told me, "Hodges had DiMuro hypnotized." DiMuro looked at the ball. Then he looked at Hodges. Then he reversed his call. [fimg=444]http://images.thepostgame.com/sites/default/files/Gil-Hodges-A-Hall-Of-Fame-Life_179153811.jpg[/fimg] Weaver immediately bounded out of the Orioles' dugout to ask DiMuro if he had kept his eye on the ball the entire time it was in the Mets' dugout. The question implied that shady shoe-polish doings must have occurred there. But Weaver didn't get too excited. The day before, he had become the first manager in thirty-four years to be tossed out of a World Series game, and he didn't want that happening again. Weaver couldn't bring himself to strenuously argue against a call he knew was correct. After the game, Weaver acknowledged that everyone at Shea -- except DiMuro -- saw the ball hit Jones. But Hodges had done much more than just supply the Mets with a base runner. Five years before, a little-known act of kindness on his part had helped bring the next batter to the Mets.

ROY if he's promoted before Memorial Day. Plus, you'll need that if you want the Mets to get to the WS in 2016. Because whenever a Mets RHP wins the ROY award (Seaver. Gooden. de Grom?) the Mets win the Series two years after. Whenever a Mets LHP wins the ROY award (Matlack) the Mets are in the Series the following season.

Yankees by the water tower, Clendenon Field.

Same group as above, more or less, one year later. Butterball Field.

Writers covering the Yankees group together for a photo at the Sadecki Spot at Butterball Field, 1959, including a younger Jack Lang, Stan Isaacs and Joe Trimble. Also in the shot is Len Schecter who wrote Ball Four and a great book about the Polo Grounds Mets, Once Upon the Polo Grounds. Schecter wrote for the NY Post and deserves as much credit as anyone for crafting the Mets early image of inept but lovable losers. Ol 'Case is front and center.

I'm kinda down on Lagares and by down, I mean the down that means down instead of the slang down that really means up. First of all, and foremost, I think he's sort of a crappy hitter. I know he's a great fielder but the thing is that I don't really know how good a fielder he is and what the value is for that. I see the dWAR rates and all those other newfangled defensive stats but I have no real way of knowing what those numbers really mean and I'm pretty good at math, too. I used to typically take a college math test and get a perfect score in like fifteen minutes. I could ace the test twice over before the rest of the class even finished it once. Like I said, I used to be good at math. Now you take something like batting average or ERA and hell, I've been doing the math to figure those stats out since I was in the 2nd grade. I've been playing Strat-o_Matic since I was nine --obsessively for my first few SOM years, and I tabulated all of my fantasy SOM stats and borrowed my dad's fancy calculator that plugged into the wall (it could even calculate square roots!) and figured out every pitcher's ERA. I know exactly what an ERA is. Hell, when I was a teen-ager, I figured out how to reverse engineer and make up my own SOM player cards -- a difficult thing to do because the math involved is challenging not to mention the paucity of available stats when I was a teen. But this WAR stuff, I respect it but I hafta admit that I'm taking a big leap of faith when I trust it because I couldn't calculate WAR by myself. I don't know that I even understand the formulas involved. So how could I really know? And most nobody can. You coulda been an ace math student and mastered the science needed to ace your classes. You coulda mastered regression analyses and all sorts of other statistical tools. But knowing something from 20 or 30 years ago doesn't cut it. If you're not working with that math in the present and on a regular basis, you can't calculate those stats. And if you can't calculate them, there's no way you can fully understand them, and can't even know what those numbers really mean. I look at some of David Wright's recent stats and his numbers are off the charts, indicating that he was playing at practically MVP levels until last year. But I see Wright every day, and even though I no longer follow all of baseball like I did when I was a nine year old playing SOM every day and handling my baseball cards every day, I still know the Mets. And based on what I see with my own eyeballs, David Wright weren't no MVP in recent years. So I look at the stats harder and I see that a lot of his value is in dWAR and other newfanglwed stats that only a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the population has the skills to calculate from scratch. So I'm skeptical. Like I am of Lagares who I know can field, but I don't know how good he fields and what's that worth. I do know that he's good and there's anecdotal evidence (great plays) of his prowess. But then again, Ordonez was magic to look at and he never dominated league defense like his highlight reel suggested he would or should. I do know that Lagares is sort of a crappy hitter. I hope nobody's factoring his defense when they're trying to figure out how well he's gonna hit.

Rob Manfred: �I�m Confident The Mets� Finances Are In Acceptable Condition� February 27, 2015 2:10 PM Rob Manfred (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images) NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) � Are you hoping that MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred will demand that the Wilpons start spending more money on players? Well, don�t get your hopes up. �I�m confident the Mets� finances are in acceptable condition, and that they have available to them the resources to field a very competitive club,� Manfred said on Thursday, according to Newsday. According to Baseball-Reference.com, New York�s payroll is an estimated $98.2 million. That ranks 20th in the major leagues. Manfred, who served as the chief operating officer of MLB before assuming office in January, replaced Bud Selig. It�s well-documented that Selig has a close relationship with Mets CEO Fred Wilpon. Selig made similar comments regarding the Mets� finances before he retired. In what many considered an odd and suspicious move, Manfred named the elder Wilpon the chairman of MLB�s finance committee last month. �I think it�s important to understand the role of the finance committee,� Manfred said, according to the newspaper. �It reviews very senior-level compensation and internal financial matters. �Fred is a long-experienced businessman very capable of handling those matters, and this committee has nothing to do with any investment made by or on behalf of baseball. So I don�t see the issues.� When Newsday reached out to the Mets for a comment regarding Manfred�s statements, a spokesman simply responded, �We�re excited about the upcoming season.� General manager Sandy Alderson kept a low profile this offseason and was very conservative in his spending. He only signed two players � Michael Cuddyer for $21 million and John Mayberry, Jr. for $1.45 million � to major league deals. http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2015/02/27/rob-manfred-im-confident-the-mets-finances-are-in-acceptable-condition/

So who was the first base coach when Marvelous was hitting his HR? I can't tell from Cosell's note or from Prince's Happy Recap.

Looks like a young Howard Cosell. It is. Was. [fimg=803]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/costello_07/Stubbys%20Scans/JesseOwensMets1.jpg[/fimg] Check out this personal note from Cosell to "Bill" about a Mets game happily recapped here by forumite Prince. [fimg=524]https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8593/16470237840_685ab6714d_o.jpg[/fimg] ALSO QUITE HAPPY: On August 21, 1962, the Mets learned the most Marvelous way to break yet another mammoth losing streak was with more Marv Throneberry, not less. The legend of Throneberry as avatar of laughable failure in the franchise’s inaugural season is littered with everything that went wrong for his disaster of a team. Some of it was even true. Just as true, though, is that these fellows were human, and no human being likes to be laughed at…or provide anybody watching them a reason to snicker. The Mets, however, were their own worst enemies in that regard. Their record wasn’t making up that they’d just lost their 13th consecutive game (their third losing streak of ten or more games) to start a doubleheader versus the Pirates at the Polo Grounds. They really were bad enough to have entered this Tuesday twinighter 51 games out of first place. Maybe the stress of it all got to be too much for third base coach Solly Hemus, for Solly argued a call with umpire Frank Walsh and got tossed from the nightcap for his troubles. In those days, there weren’t bench coaches and batting coaches filling the dugout, so Casey Stengel needed someone from the ranks of his players to fill in at first after he shifted first base coach Cookie Lavagetto to the third base box. His original choice was veteran Gene Woodling, but then he used Woodling to pinch-hit, so he needed somebody else to pat fannies and handle helmets. Who else for such a delicate assignment but Marv Throneberry? Well, why not? The Mets were a mere 65 games under .500 at the moment Stengel required a volunteer and Richie Ashburn volunteered Throneberry. The 4,184 who trekked to Coogan’s Bluff in search of a full evening’s entertainment were tickled to death. They cottoned quickly to the concept of Marv Throneberry, first base coach. But not as much as they adored the notion of Marv Throneberry, pinch-hitting hero. The Mets were three outs from their 14th consecutive loss when Ashburn led off the Mets’ ninth with a single to right. After Buc starter Harvey Haddix walked Joe Christopher, Pittsburgh skipper Danny Murtaugh opted to bring in relief ace Roy Face. Face fanned Charlie Neal for the first out of the bottom of the ninth, but then allowed a run-scoring single to Felix Mantilla. After Frank Thomas flied to center and the Mets were down to their last out, Casey wanted a lefty batter to face the righty Face. Thus, to pinch-hit for the righthanded Jim Hickman, he chose the people’s choice of 1962. “We want Marvelous! We want Marvelous!” the fans cried, as remembered in The Amazing Mets by Jerry Mitchell. So Ol’ Case gave ’em what they wanted. So did Marvelous. Throneberry blasted a three-run homer to right. The Mets won 5-4 — the same score by which Bobby Thomson’s three-run homer won the pennant for the Giants in the very same inning in the very same ballpark eleven years earlier. Hard to decide which was the bigger miracle under Coogan’s Bluff.

G-Fafif wrote: I wrote a new foreword to a rereleased book for the same publisher to which JCL refers. One of the items in the book regarded Joe Pignatano hitting into a triple play in the last game of the 1962 season. In the hands of whoever is responsible for book jacket copy (that I didn't see until published) it became "they hit a triple in their last game!" or some such construct that omitted "play". So while I'm not sure what we're trying to ferret out in that description, something tells me it will have nothing to do with the actual book. The Paskin book?

Jesse Owens? Yes it is. "Coach" Jesse Owens leading the Mets in a jog around Stengel Huggins where the Crescent Lake side fence shortens, a few years before the Mets'd add a white sign there. Case and Yogi are up front and center. It appears that some Mets are already gassed. [fimg=555]https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSBInLve-Npgy6TK7ZGxTAJmFJFALoq-ciu9b4NVq9FRhaTqm20[/fimg] I1583adUqSg Extra credit: Who's the feller in the backgound with a cigarette dangling from his mouth? [fimg=303]http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q258/costello_07/Stubbys%20Scans/JesseOwensMets1.jpg[/fimg]

Readers are invited to a book reading/signing but are never told where to go. (In the very last sentence, a phone number is provided so that readers can call and reserve a seat or a book and presumably, to find out where the hell they should go if they wanna get to the book signing).

Who's the feller sitting on the folding chair surrounded by Mets at the Clubhouse and being photographed?

Youse are all finding things I didn't even notice because the screw-up I picked up on was, I thought, so glaring, so key, I could barely read the rest of the piece once I noticed what I noticed.

Let's start with sentence number one. Please join[crossout]s[/crossout] us Thursday, March 5[crossout]th,[/crossout] at 7:00_p[crossout].[/crossout]m[crossout].[/crossout] as author Michael Garry tells [crossout]the[/crossout] stories and signs copies of his new book, [crossout]“[/crossout]Game of My Life — New York Mets: Memorable Stories of Mets Baseball[crossout]”[/crossout] [i set the title here in italics, rather than quotes.] (release date: March 3[crossout]rd[/crossout]). Going with "March 5" or "March 5th" is more of a house style question, I guess. But come on, guys. Hire some help. Editors need jobs too. You're missing the bigger picture. Just like the piece author. Not what I was looking for.

Test your reading comprehension. How would you improve this article? _______________ “Game of My Life New York Mets” author event with Danbury’s Michael Garry Please joins us Thursday March 5th at 7:00p.m. as Michael Garry tells the stories and signs copies of his new book, “Game of My Life New York Mets: Memorable Stories of Mets Baseball” (release date: March 3rd). About the book: This new addition to the Game of My Life series takes a personal look inside some of the biggest moments of the Mets’ greatest and most beloved players, from journeymen to superstars, as the Mets morphed from a dismal expansion team in 1962 to World Series Champions in 1969 and 1986 and then back to basement dwellers before meeting the Yankees in the 2000 Subway Series. Fan favorite Ron Swoboda recounts making “The Catch.” Infielder Wally Backman relives the many highs of playing on the ’86 Mets as they marched to a championship. All-Star Edgardo Alfonzo describes going six-for-six, including three home runs, in one of the most dominating offensive games in baseball history. Right-hander Bobby Jones relates his thoughts on pitching the most dominating postseason game in Mets’ history, when he threw a one-hit shutout to clinch the 2000 National League Division Series against the San Francisco Giants. Current infielder Daniel Murphy shares his thoughts on his young career with the Mets and the difficulties of playing in New York, as well as describing the best game of his young career. Author Michael Garry, a longtime Mets fan, also includes anecdotes on Tom Seaver, Mike Piazza, and David Wright, amongst others. About the author: Michael Garry is a business, technology, and environmental writer and editor with a thirty-year track record. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of MIT with a degree in political science, he has a passion for sports, music, writing, and politics. He lives in Danbury, Connecticut, with his wife, Maureen, and his son, Ethan. His greatest moment as a Mets fan was watching Mookie’s grounder elude Buckner in the ’86 World Series. To pre-order the book, click here. Please call the store to save a spot and/or hold a copy of the book for you for signing (203-730-2973). http://news.hamlethub.com/bethel/events/42147-author-talk-and-books-signing

[fimg=177]https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/uploads/blog/sbnu_logo/35/large_amazinavenue.com.full.82120.png[/fimg] Mets offseason: Did Sandy Alderson do enough to contend in 2015? By Bryan Brandom on Jan 21, 2015, 10:00a 339 With general manager Sandy Alderson reiterating (again) that Wilmer Flores is the Mets' solution at shortstop for the upcoming season, it's looking more and more like the 2014-15 offseason will heretofore be known as the Winter of Michael Cuddyer. That's not a very reassuring sentence for a team and fan base that has been targeting 2015 as a "contention year" since deciding to tear it all down and hire a sort of rebuild-the-right-way master in Alderson in 2010. Yet, despite fans' dissatisfaction with the Mets' offseason haul, the team managed to vastly improve its starting pitching, bullpen, and offense from 2014 to 2015. Let's review all the ways the Mets will be better in 2015. Bloomers with the Bat It's not often pointed out, but the Mets didn't lose a single valuable player from a 2014 roster that scored 12 more runs than it allowed. Thanks in part to Alderson's slavish devotion to patience and holding on to assets, the Mets have a trio of young hitters that finished 2015 with their own versions of offensive explosions: Travis d'Arnaud, Flores, and Juan Lagares. The least offensively promising of these is Lagares. The Gold Glove center fielder posted a pleasantly surprising .281/.321/.382 last season, but his .341 BABIP screams regression, a sentiment reflected in Steamer's .249/.291/.352 projection for Lagares in 2015. Where he did show some unexpected potential is in the stolen base department. After swiping just 10 bags in his first 219 big league games, Lagares had nine steals in 18 games to close out the year, and was caught just once in that span. With no obvious leadoff hitter on the team's roster, don't be surprised to see Lagares slotted in that role early in the season, though he'll have to show an improvement in his ability to get on base in order to stick there�he drew just 20 walks in 2014. Flores finished 2015 on a high note. Starting at shortstop and playing in 51 of the team's remaining 55 games, he hit .262/.301/.419 with five home runs and 22 RBI in 184 at-bats. The concern with Flores has never really been about his offense; if he can manage shortstop or second base on defense, he's a productive player. The question is whether he can manage shortstop or second base. (For a deeper exploration into the future production of Flores�an apparently popular topic of debate�click here and here.) After a rough start resulted in his being sent down to the minors, d'Arnaud came back to the Mets in a big way in the second half of 2015. From his return on June 24 to the end of the season, d'Arnaud hit an impressive .272/.319/.486 with 10 home runs, 19 doubles, and 32 RBI in 69 games. Steamer projects d'Arnaud to be effective but not durable in 2015: .251/.313/.428 with 17 home runs and 53 RBI in just 121 games. While Noah Syndergaard remains the crown jewel of the R.A. Dickey trade, a 25-year-old catcher who has already exhibited 20-homer potential is not something many teams can claim to have. As promising as their bats look, this trio of youngsters still has a lot to prove in the majors, and one, some, or all three may fail. But if even one of them takes a big step forward this year and as they get older�something that seems likely�that adds a lot to a team that was surprisingly competitive in 2014. Addition by Recovery The Mets also added significantly to both their starting pitcher and relief corps by sitting on their hands and watching modern medicine and mother nature hard at work. Not that Mets fans need a reminder, but Matt Harvey is pitching in 2015. Given the front office-mandated time off and successful history of Tommy John surgery (a few recent examples of elite pitchers to remain that way after the procedure: Adam Wainwright, Stephen Strasburg, Chris Carpenter, and, of course, Jacob deGrom), it's fair to assume the Mets will have a top-flight starter in 2015 that gave them zero production the season prior. The marriage of Harvey's return and Alderson's refusal to exchange Dillon Gee for what the GM deems is under market value provides a happy accident of sorts: Gee likely moving to the team's bullpen. Though he's proven to be an effective back-of-the-rotation starter, his true calling may be as a long man and spot starter in the bullpen. He's only pitched into the eighth inning 15 times in 106 career starts, and hitters tend to start feasting on him after 75 pitches: I Split G BA OBP SLG BAbip Pitch 1-25 106 .244 .307 .398 .270 Pitch 26-50 105 .247 .296 .382 .280 Pitch 51-75 103 .249 .309 .357 .283 Pitch 76-100 96 .279 .363 .490 .306 Pitch 101+ 43 .308 .416 .462 .383 Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 1/19/2015. With his average fastball velocity consistently around 89 MPH for his career, a move to the bullpen and less concern about stamina could push that number into the 90s. While a shift in a player's role never assures continued effectiveness, Gee could benefit from the shorter outings and give the Mets a pitcher to take the ball if a starter is scratched late or pulled early. In turn, Carlos Torres would be used less often in multiple-inning situations a season after exerting himself to the tune 97 innings in 73 appearances. Though there's a good chance Alderson finds a suitor for Gee either before or during the season, he'll be a useful player until that happens. Joining Gee in the bullpen and also returning from Tommy John surgery: Bobby Parnell. While he won't be ready for Opening Day, the hard-throwing reliever is expected to be available for a majority of the season and was a revelation for the closer-starved Mets in 2013, posting a 2.16 ERA in 49 appearances and collecting 22 saves. Regardless of whether or not Parnell wrests the closer role upon his return, he'll join a bullpen that already features a fleet of fireballing arms in Vic Black, Jenrry Mejia, and Jeurys Familia. A less reliable source of improvement-by-health comes in the form of David Wright. By almost every measure, 2014 was the worst offensive season of his career, thanks in large part to a shoulder injury he sustained while sliding in June. Before the injury, Wright hit .277/.333/.396 while appearing in all 79 of the team's games. Though he was on pace to crack just 13 homers over the course of a full season, he was also on track to hit 42 doubles and drive in 85 runs�not the terror at the plate Mets fans remember form the late 2000s, but formidable nonetheless. After missing seven games, Wright finished the season weakly, hitting .257/.310/.341 with two home runs in 55 games before calling it a season with 18 contests left. In fear of having Wright miss the 2015 season opener, he and the Mets elected against surgery and in favor of rehab. Whether or not that was the right decision remains to be seen, despite what any reports regarding the third baseman's fitness may indicate. Mets fans have seen Wright bounce back from rough seasons before�hitting .306/.391/.492 in 2012 after a short and ugly 2011; blasting 29 home runs and collecting 103 RBI in 2010 after his 2009 power outage�and spent 2014 wishing the team could add a threatening bat to support Luca Duda. In Wright, that bat could be returning in 2015. The Actual Additions The Mets went into the offseason with an obvious hole at corner outfield and were terrible against left-handed pitching in 2014, collectively hitting just .230/.305/.328. With that in mind, the team's "haul" of two went a long way in addressing two of the team's biggest weaknesses. Michael Cuddyer hits lefties at a .291/.378/.504 clip for his career, and is coming off a three-year stint with the Rockies in which he was potent when healthy. While his .307/.362/.505 mark in Colorado can be attributed to Coors Field's offensive advantages, he also hit a substantial .286/.332/.463 on the road with the Rockies. The Mets had to forfeit a 15th overall pick to land the 2013 NL batting champion, a loss that is slightly mitigated by the fact that the pick is the only real asset the Mets gave up all summer, despite demands for pieces of their organizational depth. As far as corner outfielders who hit lefties hard go, Cuddyer is close to the best the Mets were going to do without paying significantly more than his $21 million over two years. Guys like Nelson Cruz (four years, $57 million), Melky Cabrera (three years, $42 million), and Yasmany Tomas (10 years, $68 million) appear to have been well outside the front office's feeble price range, and the Mets are beyond their reclamation project days (someone like Corey Hart, for instance), which succeeded with Marlon Byrd but failed miserably with Chris Young. If the Mets could do it all over again, they may have preferred to hold out for Alex Rios, who has a .290/.334/.466 career mark against lefties and signed a more team-friendly deal with the Kansas City Royals on December 19, worth $9.5 million in 2015 and $12.5 million the next year with a $1.5 million buyout. The Mets were put in a tough position, given a week to agree with Cuddyer after the Rockies extended his qualifying offer to him. Beyond Cuddyer and Rios, there were limited options within the team's price range, and the Mets would have been without options had they passed on Cuddyer and had Rios agreed to sign elsewhere. To continue the strategy of improving against lefty pitching, and to soften the blow of Cuddyer's poor outfield defense, Alderson signed John Mayberry Jr. to a one-year, $1.45 million deal. In theory, when the Mets face left-handed starters, Mayberry and his .269/.324/.533 career mark against southpaws would replace Duda's .212/.292/.317 line against the same, while also pushing Cuddyer out of the outfield and to first base for a more palatable defensive lineup. Speaking of defense ... The One Area in which the Mets Got Worse By most available reliable metrics, the Mets were a hair above average in the field in 2014. Their 17 DRS was good for 12th in the majors, and they posted a UZR/150 of 1.3 (ninth) and a 0.9 in Fangraphs's Def statistic (15th). Unfortunately, all those numbers are likely to take a hit in 2015. Flores's defense has been discussed at length for years, but his defensive ceiling at shortstop is competency, so a full season of his manning the position is a considerable downgrade after 2014 saw Ruben Tejada play the lion's share of innings there. This step back is only magnified by the unconventional Daniel Murphy handling defensive duties on the other side of second base. Cuddyer's outfield defense is also a massive regression from the Eric Young, Chris Young, Matt den Dekker, Kirk Nieuwenhuis hodgepodge that played opposite Curtis Granderson in 2014. The offseason's biggest acquisition owns an outfield UZR/150 of -7.7 and a DRS of -64 in 7,569.2 career outfield innings. Thankfully, Cuddyer's platoon partner Mayberry is a considerable improvement when the team faces lefties. Though Mayberry's overall defensive metrics are hurt by the Phillies' misuse of him in center field (where he posted a DRS of -17 and a UZR of -15.4 in 1,153 innings), he's effective in the corner outfield positions, where he owns a DRS of -2 and UZR of 2.8 in 1,324 career innings. The hope for the Mets is that this regression in the field will be overtaken by the increase in talent to their pitching staff. Regardless of whether that hope comes to fruition or not, the Mets may still have a chance to increase their defensive efficiency, thanks to their ... Flexibility Going Forward While the Mets gained just an injury risk of an outfielder and a right-handed platoon bat in the trade and free agency market, they gained something else by both being stubborn with their pitching prospect asking price and deciding to see what they have in Wilmer Flores: flexibility and opportunity. By doing so, the Mets enter 2015 with a surplus of starting pitchers, both at the major league level and in the minors, and three middle infielders that the team has at least shown a willingness to start everyday. As the season wears on, the Mets will have a better grasp of what they have in Flores as well as a better idea of any needs that might reveal themselves, either due to performance or injury. If the Flores experiment implodes, the team still has a depth of pitching to exchange for an upgrade at shortstop if one becomes available during the changing tides of the long season. If that experiment succeeds in every measure, that same depth could be used to help the Mets in the bullpen or an unforeseen area of concern. And if Flores has success with the bat but proves himself more of a second baseman, the Mets have the option of including Daniel Murphy in a trade for a shortstop, or using Murphy to improve organizational depth or in that same unforeseen area of concern, with Tejada taking over everyday shortstop duties. By standing pat with their assets and limited funds, Alderson placed the Mets in a position to address the team's needs as they become evident in a season with many possible outcomes, rather than rushing to perfect the roster for its big Opening Day reveal. * * * Say what you want about Alderson's passiveness in free agency, but it's not his fault the Mets don't have money to spend, a team in the nation's largest market with an obscenely low payroll. With that fact in mind, his strategy of talent-hoarding and patience has been the most prudent path, despite how indifferent it may seem at times. With big names signing even bigger contracts with different teams around the league, it's easy to forget Alderson is responsible for acquiring the likes of Zack Wheeler, Syndergaard, d'Arnaud, Dilson Herrera, and Vic Black for next to nothing (less than half a season of Marlon Byrd and Carlos Beltran, and a season of R.A. Dickey) in order to contend in 2015 and beyond, and the years he spent rebuilding the roster yielded significant growth from the likes of Duda, Lagares, Familia, Mejia, and possibly Flores to the same end. Sure, Alderson would probably love the luxury of being able to shower someone like Nelson Cruz with $60 million to play in Flushing, but even if the Wilpons could afford that kind of salary (they can't), it's the type of free spending that placed the Mets in a position to have to start from scratch in the first place. While, no, Alderson didn't do a lot this offseason, the team will be a lot better, in part because rebuilding a team doesn't happen in one season, and the GM has been getting the Mets better each year in preparation for 2015. http://www.amazinavenue.com/2015/1/21/7529017/new-york-mets-sandy-alderson-contend-2015

That advice is one big Catch-22 as far as I'm concerned. It's all too much to ask and expect of most elementary school kids. And if you're an adult and you're still going gaga over trying to interact with the athletes, well ...... (rolls eyes).

paywall'd? wtf. No paywall today. _________________________ [fimg=244]http://www.happy-wallpapers.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Wall_street_journal_logo-5.jpg[/fimg] A Pro�s Guide to Interacting With Mets in the Wild Feb. 23, 2015 11:33 p.m. ET When you have the good fortune of spotting your favorite player in Port St. Lucie, you also have a great responsibility�to stay in control. Just because you can stroll into Chipotle and find a bunch of Mets chowing down on chips and salsa doesn�t give you free rein to stalk baseball players all spring. That�s why we consulted Mets relief pitcher Vic Black to devise a few basic ground rules for approaching a player if you see one out in the wild. � Families are off-limits: Ballplayers aren�t home much and value time with their families. Most of them try to shield their wives, parents and especially their children from the spotlight. If a player is out with any of these people, it�s probably not the best time to ask him to pose for a selfie. �Those are good places to just say, �Hi, good luck on the season,�� Black said. � Read the room: Certain settings are designed for fans and players to interact. In fact, Black said he often goes to Duffy�s, the popular sports bar attached to the bowling alley, for the opportunity to mingle with the crowd. �I don�t see me being a baseball player as being more special than anybody else,� he said. �You want to have that connection with fans.� In a dark, candlelit restaurant, however, pick your spot: �Wait until they�re winding down or getting up to leave,� Black said. � Be polite: It sounds obvious, but �Hey, it�s you!� isn�t the best way to get on a player�s good side. Black said he doesn�t mind being referred to as Vic, but when in doubt, err on the side of deference. �The more pleasant-sounding approach works better,� he said. �Mr. Wright or Mr. Murphy, especially when it�s someone younger than the guy.� �Jared Diamond

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Another aerial view. [fimg=555]http://www.russmattbaseball.com/data/b-tb/images/venues/HugginsStengelField.jpg[/fimg] Is that a practice field, or is that where they had the spring games? Looks like there are small stands behind home plate. I must've overlooked the first part of your question. That's an aerial of Stengel Huggins Field, renamed so in 1963, where the Mets mainly practiced since their inception. Before 1963, the field was named Miller Huggins Field, in honor of the Yankees skipper. The Yankees had trained there forever and you could look that up if you need an exact date or year. That park was originally known as Crescent Lake Field. The Mets played their home exhibition games -- at least the games against other franchises -- at Al Lang Field, which they shared with the St. Looey Cards. In 1969, the Joan Payson Field complex opened, providing the Mets with a modern facility. The Mets trained there and also at Stengel-Huggins simultaneously. We referred to the Joan Payson complex as The Forbidden Zone in the original and now archived Butterball thread.

https://www.google.com/maps/@27.785275,-82.640055,3a,75y,204.11h,90.95t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sb2glBcGY2vYvQMWAJ0v1mw!2e0 Use that link as a starting point to navigate the Butterball Field neighborhood with Google Maps. The water tower's in the initial photo view as a reference point.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I'm not sure how fat he is these days but you can tell he's one of those guys who's vulnerable to it. I was thinking the exact same thing when I saw the picture in the first post to this thread. I'd bet that if Harvey suddenly went sedentary for eight or so months, he'd put on 50 pounds, easily. [fimg=333]https://blog-blogmediainc.netdna-ssl.com/upload/SportsBlogcom/1660342/0792017001422810959_filepicker.jpg[/fimg]