A Boy Named Seo

I felt so bad for him, he looked so pissed last night. Will he end up with more WAR than actual wins? It's a dead heat right now, 4.9 to 5.

Dale Burdick is the very best thing. As previously reported, he started this season as a 22-year old in high A-ball. True to form, Dale //////CRUSHED\\\\\\ to the tune of .175/.282/.272 (.554 OPS) in 131 PAs and was naturally promoted to AAA where he is currently oh-for-eight. Since being drafted with the Mets final pick (40th round) of the 2014 draft (#1195 overall!), he's managed to play 5 season of professional baseball, amassing almost one thousand plate appearances, and his current career batting line is: .196/.308/.309 (.617 OPS). Since his offensive numbers don't scream it, I can only assume he must be A) one hell of a defender super versatile C) a great teammate or D) all of the above. I truly hope he gets a cup of coffee in the show one day to reward his perseverance, if nothing else.

Update time. Since Thompson broke his hand, he hasn't seen much action this year and has turned in just a .673 OPS in 86 plate appearances. Those footsteps my boy is hearing might belong to newly acquired Will Toffey. Get better! Get some hits!

Ceets, I know you're assuming DiPoto/Mariners, and they might be one of the teams who were in on Familia, but the Bowden quote referenced earlier cites sources from rival teams, plural. Sources from rival teams interested in Familia told The Athletic’s Jim Bowden (subscription required) that they didn’t know why the Mets didn’t approach them one final time to give them a chance to top Oakland’s offer. And MLBTR report on July 20th cites Tracky and DiComo as reporting the A's and Cubs were interested, but had competition. Bold is mine. It seems these organizations are hardly the only ones with interest. At least seven or eight contenders have made contact regarding Familia, according to reports from Andy Martino of SNY.tv and MLB.com’s Anthony DiComo. The precise timeline of a deal isn’t at all clear, and will surely depend upon how talks progress. But the Mets are already “exchanging names” of potential prospects with interested teams, Martino adds. That's a day before the Mets took the A's offer. And even if you love that A's offer, it makes all the sense in the world to call the other teams before you accept it and give everyone else a last shot to change your mind.

Ceetar wrote: Ceetar wrote: Anyway, my concern about the Familia deal is that they set a target and jumped as soon as the offer topped that. You're setting Familia's value yourself that way, rather than the market setting it. Of course, I'm not the one talking to the other teams and getting a sense of his value, as I'm sure the Mets have been doing for months. I also don't believe said other GM through Bowden that they would've topped Oakland's offer. I also peg the percentage that that GM is Jerry DiPoto at like 70%. The quote wasn't that they would've topped it, but that they were surprised the Mets never game them the chance. Regardless, why wouldn't you believe it? I just don't believe that mystery GM was suddenly going to up his offer to a point that the Mets would've taken it over the Athletics. You really think it's more believable that the Mets ignored this person's offer over $3 million? And aside from that, if this GM was playing hard ball, he lost. The Mets believed his hard line that he wasn't raising his offer and he knew, as we all did, that there were other teams interested. You could say maybe this was some due to some unfamiliarity, but it's not like these three haven't been with the Mets for a while. The rumored deal was leaked well before it was official, if said GM really wanted Familia he could've picked up a phone at anytime to call the Mets. that's just more believable than they took the first offer that let them offload the salary. You don't think another GM would up their offer if they felt they could top one they thought was inferior to theirs? The fact that Mets may not have called other interested teams to ask for a last/best offer seems crazy to me. And I didn't say the Mets "ignored" any offers and didn't point to anything that said they did, but if this GM was playing hardball and the Mets knew it, then you absolutely go back and say, "last chance here, or we trade trade him to someone else today." If they say no, great. But why not make that call? Why not mull over multiple best offers?

Ceetar wrote: Anyway, my concern about the Familia deal is that they set a target and jumped as soon as the offer topped that. You're setting Familia's value yourself that way, rather than the market setting it. Of course, I'm not the one talking to the other teams and getting a sense of his value, as I'm sure the Mets have been doing for months. I also don't believe said other GM through Bowden that they would've topped Oakland's offer. I also peg the percentage that that GM is Jerry DiPoto at like 70%. The quote wasn't that they would've topped it, but that they were surprised the Mets never game them the chance. Regardless, why wouldn't you believe it?

Not sure if anyone here has subscribed to the Athletic, but per MLBTR, Jim Bowden of the Athletic claims that rival teams interested in Familia told him "they didn't know why the Mets didn't approach them one final time to give them a chance to top Oakland's offer." Bowden called the trade "the most lopsided trade so far this trade season." And Ricco is speaking about the trade. No mysteries to reveal. He says the A's offered what the Mets wanted. Story --> https://nypost.com/2018/07/22/why-mets-pulled-trigger-early-on-this-jeurys-familia-trade/

WRT to bonus pool money, here's what it looked like before the Mets got that extra $1M. Signing Bonus Pool B ($6,025,400): Reds, Marlins, Brewers, Twins, Athletics, Rays Signing Bonus Pool A ($5,504,500): D-backs, Orioles, Indians, Rockies, Royals, Pirates, Padres Signing Bonus Pool ($5,004,500): Cardinals Signing Bonus Pool ($4,983,500): Braves, Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Tigers, Astros, Angels, Dodgers, Yankees, Mets, Mariners, Giants, Rangers, Blue Jays, Nationals Signing Bonus Pool ($3,949,000): Phillies Teams in italics can't spend more than $300K on any player as a penalty for exceeding their bonus pool last signing period. So the Mets now have $1M more than their $4.9M bonus pool peers, but still have a little less $$ to spend than the Fish, Brewers, Twins, and Rays ($42K is still $42K, especially to a amateur teen from a poorer country). Def good to have that extra cash to splash, but will still a bit of luck and/or savvy to get a clear-cut #1 prospect dude (Victor Vector or whoever that may be). Maybe there's a big talent the Mets love but knew they'd need the extra $$ to sign. Or maybe they just wanna be able to buy a few more 17-year old player lotto tix than before. Who knows. https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/2018-19-mlb-international-bonus-pools/

Sherman is kicking the Mets ass right now on Twitter. I don't agree w/ the Cespedes angle, but this trade does seem questionable from a few angles. I hope this Victor Vector guy is the savior and we do get him cause it does seem the $1M is def the biggest return in the trade. Rosenthal adds that the A's could end up flipping Familia in 10 days if nothing comes of their run. If that happened and their return was better... [tweet:3ragnahn] [/tweet:3ragnahn] [tweet:3ragnahn] [/tweet:3ragnahn] [tweet:3ragnahn] [/tweet:3ragnahn] [tweet:3ragnahn] [/tweet:3ragnahn] [tweet:3ragnahn] [/tweet:3ragnahn] [tweet:3ragnahn] [/tweet:3ragnahn] Rosenthal: [tweet:3ragnahn] [/tweet:3ragnahn]

How sad a season of historic greatness is getting pissed away so far.

Very cool. I love that he kept asking, "So what happened?!?"

.290 Dave Magadan hitters are the new inefficiency.

Would love to kick all over their asses, but I’m feeling more metirish than ceets at the moment. Glad we got our 2 studs going and maybe Matz can pull a Mlicki.

https://www.amazon.com/First-Base-Hero-Pop-Up-Golden-Books/dp/0307106268 1.5 star rating on Amazon! "Do I hold the bat like this, Mr. Keith?" "If you want people to think you hit like a girl, that you're some Punch and Judy, then sure, go right ahead." "Oh. Then maybe can you show me how to catch the ball instead, Mr. Keith? Is this where I should stand?" "It doesn't matter where you stand. They'll move you anyway because nowadays everybody loves to over-shift. In the 80s, we positioned ourselves based on how our pitcher would pitch to the hitter, and where that hitter would hit it in response. No StatCast. No algorithms. On the balls of your feet, then pick it, Wilson!" "Mr. Keith, remember I'm Timmy? Not Wilson." "Take John Candelaria. Toughest sonofabitch I ever faced. Would turn his back to you and would laredo this frontdoor slider towards home plate. Felt like the ball was coming from behind you! So you'd need to let the pitch get deep and go the other way. Forget launch angles and stop stepping in the bucket trying to pull everything for cryin' out loud. You think the great Stan Musial worried about exit velocity?" "Baseball has a bucket? Say, Mr. Keith, can I try to pitch?" "Sure, throw it to me then. But don't aim it, throw it. Good fundies are key. You don't want to pull an oblique, whatever that is." "Jeez, you're gonna get your tits lit lobbing it in like that. Hadji throws harder." "Timmy! It's time for dinner!" "WOW, is that your mom?!?" The End.

I don't know if you were joking about the childrens book. I hope not. I mean I hope so?

BTW - top 100 player Luke Heimlich was not drafted again this year. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/sports/luke-heimlich-of-oregon-state-goes-undrafted-again.html What you guys say about this? I'm happy the Mets are not going to be his employer (and to a larger degree, that the rest of MLB teams did not look the other way on this).

seawolf17 wrote: He also already wrote "If At First," so maybe he felt he didn't need to cover that again. Was If at First the one where he broke down 2 baseball games? how many damn books does Keith have?

Benjamin Grimm wrote: That article says the book only covers the St. Louis portion of his playing career? Is this true? If so, it makes the book considerably less interesting to me. Maybe. At the 3/4 mark, he's still a young Cardinal trying to get established. I still enjoy it, but I get what you mean. The chapters go back and forth from young Keith (growing up, minors, early MLB days) to present-day Keith (working at Citi, playing with his cat). The present-day Keith is plenty Met-centric.

Anybody else read or is reading Keith's book? It's exactly Keith, for the record. I've appreciated the candor about drug use and prostitutes, things that could be embarrassing or even damaging to him. But the part about the trainer in San Diego seemed kinda bullshitty. He tied his feelings to women in baseball back to when female journos were allowed in the clubhouses he played in the 70s which he said made him uncomfortable (OK, fine). But then told a story how he dealt with feeling uncomfortable by dropping all his clothes and streaking through the clubhouse naked in front of the female reporters. That'll show them! Keith seems like a guy I wouldn't take to IRL, but I still love him for some reason. 3/4's of the way through the book. If you enjoy Keith even when you know maybe you shouldn't, read the book. If you don't, don't.

Wow, what a mug. Phil's name caught my attention, too. When Rob Morrow, who played Dr. Joel Fleischman, split from my all-time fav TV show "Northern Exposure" after season 5, the producers didn't know what to do and installed another big city doctor to replace him - Phil Capra - a kinda crappy character played ably by Paul Provenza. Not our Phil Capra:

seawolf17 wrote: In Round 19, the Mets drafted the son of the actor who played "Biff" in "Back to the Future"! http://www.fullertontitans.com/sports/m-basebl/2017-18/bios/wilson_tommy_6a68 That's actually kind of a neat factoid. I'm gonna adopt this slacker.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I won't ever advocate "blowing it up" but maybe the wise thing to do is trade Familia and Cabrera. I'd also trade Bruce and/or Cespedes, but that's a trickier proposition because of suckiness on Bruce's part and injury and a no-trade clause for Cespedes. Sandy said as much, that a drastic rebuild won't happen on his watch. But yeah, I agree with all of Familia, Cabrera, Bruce, Cespedes, Ramos (if you could somehow string, like, 4 clean innings in a row out of him). Especially true of Cabrera. He is probably at his peak right now (or maybe a week or so ago). Trade him for useful youngins before he, too, catches the suck.

Mets draft vertically-challenged 5'10" shortstop Manny Rodriguez from U. of Cincinnati (by way of Brooklyn, NY). Sounds like a good baller with some pop in his bat. ---> http://www.newsrecord.org/sports/manny-being-manny-rodriguez-s-consistency-guiding-uc-baseball/article_a3ebb97e-42a2-11e8-a411-d3e510c04fe8.html

bmfc1 wrote: The 8th pick is another big guy: 6'7", 230: Tylor Megill The 9th round pitcher is even larger: 6'7", 265: Bryce Montes de Oca (has been drafted twice but stayed in school). Yeah, Mets are drafting a team that should immediately compete to win Royal Rumble. MLB vid on this kid sez he brings it at a hundred. ----> http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/262722544/v2078636183?tcid=draft-tracker-player-id-656755