A Boy Named Seo

Metsblog sez the Mets are interested in 35-year old lefty Jason Vargas. He won't cost a second-round pick like Lance Lynn or Alex Cobb and new pitching coach Dave Eiland worked with him last year and apparently likes him enough to not pour cold water on whatever level of interest we have. Not a strikeout guy at all (6.71 K/9 last year), he was probably way too good in the first half (2.62 ERA) and way too crappy in the second half (6.38 ERA). Overall he put up a 4.16 ERA, but FIP (4.67), xFIP (4.94) and SIERA (4.86) all indicate he probably should have been a little worse off. He hasn't worked out of the bullpen since 2005, so this guy would be brought in as a 5th/6th starter. Can't say there's a lot of Jason Vargas excitement from where I sit. What about you?

This fella's a CPF member, no?

Reading this thread hella worried about rupturing the space-time continuum.

LJ can't get comfortable cause he keeps hearing footsteps from muh boy, Dale Burdick.

Who's the dude in the first group between Ramos and Harvey? I notice Fred shows up in the second group to do some scouting.

So with pitchers and catchers having reported (and some position guys, unofficially), we've got the 80+ unsigned guys maybe going the 'unsigned guy spring camp coached by Bo Porter? I wonder how many dudes are gonna show up? I read Duda was hanging around Mets camp (but not working out with the Mets). Like, are we gonna see JD Martinez, Hosmer, and Arrieta and all the other big name dudes working out together? Maybe in 2018, waiting until spring starts to sign your guy might be the market inefficiency and a way to save buxxx, but if you miss this late in the game, you might be screwed. This is getting more interesting by the day.

I'll have to go to my "Sleeveless Thor Pics" folder for confirmation, but I'm not sure he looks any more or less jacked than years prior. He's always been a big, beefy Lannister.

The Hollywood Reporter details the history of the sad and weird friendship of Lenny Dykstra and Charlie Sheen. Warning: It'll make you feel a little gross. Lenny, a piece of shit who paints himself here as some kind of hero, somehow manages to find and befriend a person who's an even more giant piece of shit. What a pair. STORY --> https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/hollywoods-toxic-bromance-implosion-charlie-sheen-lenny-dykstra-1082220

I never thought this until I heard him speak, but now Todd Frazier reminds me a lot of Chris Mullen.

I want to believe in super buff Juan Lagares 2.0. That would be awesome if both ends of that platoon ended up happening.

Centerfield wrote: I think I might be drinking the Kool-Aid here, but am I crazy for thinking Plawecki's improvement might be sustainable? After his recall last year, he .303/.411/.476. OPS of .885. Only 76 AB's, but that's pretty good. His numbers in LV were great too. .328/.375/.514. Again, he started slow in April but then heated up as the season went on. That's 300+ ABs where he was a very productive hitter. And yes, I realize that the LV numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt, but he improved on his production even in LV. He improved his LV OPS by 57 points from 2016, and by 281 points from 2015. Sustainable! Plawecki was my #Pick2Click Spring Training MVP last year, but he didn't quite do the thing. He's always hit really well in the minors (.815 OPS career) and this will be his age 27 season at cheap rate of pay. I think he could be for realz. Td'A is gonna make $3.45M each of the next 2 years and this will be his age 29 season. Lucroy might completely suck nowadays, I don't know, but even in his most recent suck, he was still a pretty efficient OBP machine. I'd be open to taking a flier on him and trading Travis for something. The Pirates don't need a catcher, but the A's do. Maybe Travis for LOOGY Ryan "Rusty" Buchter and some minor league kid to be named later. Mets would save about $3 mils in that deal which will make daddy happy.

double-digit K/9 numbers 3 seasons straight in different levels of A-ball. Looks like a smart acquisition

Lucroy's power was down a lot last year, maybe simply because a bunch of his line drives and fly balls turned into grounders? If that reverts(?), he should be looking at 20+ doubles and 15+ homers again. Even if it doesn't, his .340 OBP would still look real nice anywhere in the lineup, sharing time with Travis (or KP when Travis inevitably gets hurt). Speaking of Travis, look like exactly 55 runners each tried their luck against Lucroy and Td'A last year, with Lucroy throwing out 20, while the incumbent nailed just 9. How about Td'A to Oakland for something? 2B/3B/SS Jed Lowrie get anyone's motor running? Lefty reliever Ryan "Rusty" Buchter??

MLBTR sez the Mets might still be thinking about Lucroy as everyone seems to be ignoring him and his price could keep dropping. T'dA and Plawecki both had a nice finish, but so did Lucroy after he landed w/ the Rockies. Second half OPS: .777 August OPS: .862 Sept/Oct OPS: .868 Career OBP of .343 (was .345 last year in a decidedly bad year for him) and he turns 32 in June. He's also appeared as a 1Bman 47 times in his career, so he's a novice, but not a complete stranger to the big mitt anyway. Travis and Plawecki's career OBP's are .304 and .306 respectively... I would totally take a stab at Lucroy on a 1-year deal, but per Edgy's roster spreadsheet, neither T'dA nor KP have options. Lucroy made $5.25M last year and MLBTR predicted a 2-year/$24M contract for him, so I'm totally low-balling here, but what about 1 year, $6M deal, team option (or buyout) for 2019?? Try to sneak Plawecki to AAA? If Lucroy says no, then we say, "Best of luck to you, sir." What sayeth the Crane Pool Forum?

I wasn't quite Seawolf about him, but I really McReynolds at the time. I think his weight gain didn't help with the impression that he could give any shits whether he was playing ball or not.

TransMonk wrote: They need to add a veteran starter...offense wasn't really their issue last season. Still, that outfield is a serious upgrade. True, and adding talent even where they didn't necessarily need it puts them in a good position to trade for an arm. Domingo Santana could fetch something nice back, I'd imagine.

"I did not know that"

ARod's a turd, but I think he's pretty good at explaining the game on TV. And I'm jealous he gets to watch J-Lo get ready before they go out.

New insights on the Addison Reed signing ---> here. It would seem very likely we were never in consideration to begin with. Good luck to him in Minny-hoo-ha. As it turned out, a proven commodity in his prime with 125 career saves narrowed his market significantly at the start of the free-agent process. His reasons had more to do with family and geography, which ultimately played right into the Twins’ hands. ... Reed’s wife is from Akron, Ohio, so the well-traveled right-hander from San Diego State gave veteran agent Adam Katz a short list of teams that would interest him. ... Reed reportedly had at least one three-year offer elsewhere, but at 29 he was eager to get back to the Midwest, where he started his career with the Chicago White Sox from 2011-13.

seawolf17 wrote: A Boy Named Seo wrote: Please tell me your memories of Chasen, as I have none, and I will pretend yours are mine. 9LSEa7qc_xU Literal LOL (or LLOL)

DFA'd yesterday, claimed by Seattle today. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/01/mariners-claim-chasen-bradford-waivers-mets.html Please tell me your memories of Chasen, as I have none, and I will pretend yours are mine.

Poor Edgy has to update the table again. Chasen got DFA'd. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/01/mets-dfa-chasen-bradford.html

Well, shit. I guess Karim the Stream's legacy as the greatest Mexican Met first baseman is safe.

Frank Estrada was almost our own Moonlight Graham. 1 lone game in his career, September 14th, 1971 against the Expos. Montreal lit up Nolan Ryan and with the game out of hand, Estrada came on to finish up for Jerry Grote, and went a tidy 1-for-2 in his only 2 major league at-bats. Even though the Mets undoubtedly paid a pretty peso to acquire him in the pre-season from the Mexico City Reds in what bb-ref described as an "unknown transaction", the Mets would flip Estrada, Nolan Ryan and some other bums to the Angels for Jim Fregosi, and Estrada would never again sniff the show. Fun Fact! bb-ref career stats show that 23 years after the Mets shipped him to Anaheim in the Ryan trade, Estrada finally played his last game in the Mexican league in 1994 at the tender age of 46! He prob wanted to outlast Nolan Ryan himself who retired after the 93 season!