TransMonk

Would the Nats really fire their manager with six weeks left in the season while their team is still in the hunt? I know the Nats have under-performed this season, but a shake-up like that seems risky.

Per Rubin's blog: Adam Rubin wrote: ESPN has picked up the Sept. 20 Subway Series game between the Mets and Yankees and has moved it to Sunday Night Baseball. No big surprise, but this may be the first time that I actually get excited about a Mets/Yanks series during the regular season. They should both have something to play for in this late-season match up.

I wish the Mets could have picked up a game or two on the Nats this weekend. It sure feels like an opportunity missed.

Now I share JCL's worries about the Dude.

Holy crap! Lagares made an impression last night. Keep it up, Laggy!

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: How much more right handed can it be? None. None more right-handed. Hey wait. What's Muffy doing in there. Where is Cambpell when you need him?

metsmarathon wrote: if the mets can't afford to spend more money on payroll than they currently are... a) the cespedes trade is still better than the gomez non-trade, both this year and next sandy's grand plan is finally making hte most of what little resources are available c) the wilpons are to blame for the situation, as it was their investments in madoff that laid the cumbling foundation for it all d) the mets are a worse team than they likely would be if they had more money available to spend on payroll, because having more money to spend doesn't mean having to spend it poorly. i mean, do you think the mets would be a better team if they spent even LESS on payroll? This. Completely. Especially B. I truly believe that Sandy's plan will be more sustainable and could create a longer tradition of winning than throwing money at quick fixes (I'm looking at you, Omar). That being said, eventually a biggish move will need to be made to push them over the top and I think we will find out at that point where the Wilpons stand. Personally, I was not expecting that biggish move to occur at the 2015 trade deadline.

Bruce definitely isn't happening now. Why would it? The Mets have Cuddyer, Cespedes, and Granderson. Next year, even if they don't extend Cespedes which might be the right move anyway, they have those two, plus Conforto and Nimmo. They don't NEED Bruce. Don't forget Lagares. I would also throw out an idea that was mentioned in the TV booth last night: d'Arnaud may play some in the outfield next season as well in order to utilize Plawecki and Travis at the same time. I can see where the Mets would have wanted to lean towards a trade that didn't congest the outfield any further next season. I'm not suggesting that any of the options already under contract for next year are better than Gomez or Bruce or that finances had nothing to do with it, but the Mets have too many players for the outfield as it is for 2016.

Ceetar wrote: Washington has had their horses back for a while now and they still are 3-7 L10. The Mets have what they need to win this division, and that's what's got me exuberant and saving pennies for a postseason game. While I mostly agree, my main concern is the tiring of the young arms down the stretch. Not just the innings cap that may be impending for some of them, but a worry that their effectiveness may diminish over the next 50-some games. What happened to the six-man rotation? Are they really waiting for Matz to return before re-instating it? I'm not sure that is going to cut it. I would hate to get to the last two weeks of the season and watch the team go down in flames because the young guns are laboring.

My routine recently has me flipping over to MASN to catch the end of the Nats games after the Mets are done. I got to see Kahnle get his saves on both Friday and Sunday. He walks a tight rope and uses a lot of change ups, but got the job done on both nights. He also faced Harper (and got him out) in both appearances, IIRC. I don't know if he a long term answer for the Rox, but I would guess that he has some KAHN-fidence built up after this past weekend. Mets beware.

After I found it odd that the Rays were batting their DH from the lead off spot on Saturday, it appears as if the Mets will do the same on Sunday.

I'm no expert on the AL...do teams use a DH to lead off all that often?

Yeah, shortly after my last post I was able to move David Price (mostly by picking up his salary for the remainder of the year). I can't decide if Harper is going to be part of my future or not since I'm guessing his salary is going to increase mightily during the off-season. I'm open to offers on him, though. *wink*

OK, yeah, I'm a little giddy now.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Howie suggests the org has grown impatient with Montero and terry is likely to "go up one side of him and down another" noting that the team could have used his help as a reliever or spot starter by now. Gary and Ron also talked about this using the same quote during last night's telecast. Having an off day between Miami and TB is another schedule quirk that could work out to be beneficial for the Mets if it allows Terry to look Montero in the eye in PSL and motivate him.

Adam Rubin quoting Yoenis Cespedes wrote: "I don't know what the front office is thinking about. But with what I see so far, I would love for everything to work out and stay as a Met for a long, long time, because I like the atmosphere." Cespedes getting in on the love. Hard to see the front office reeling him in long-term, though.

I'm rooting for Lagares tonight.

I do prefer fireflies to gnats.

Christ, the Alpine Albatrosses have dominated for three seasons now. We might have to name the championship trophy after their owner. My team is definitely boxed in right now. My high priced players are guys I don't think I could even give away. I now understand that if you are re-building for the third time in three years, it's really just one long re-build.

I think this may get lost in a lot of the Flores love that is going on, but this was pretty cool, too. I've never heard of anyone else doing it. Marc Carig of Newsday wrote: "I told him I know it's a business and he has a job to do, but I'd really like to be here because of what's about to happen," Wheeler told Newsday on Sunday. "I've been here a couple of years and want to see it through." He spoke about why he made the call. "I know that doesn't happen every day and I was nervous about doing it," said Wheeler, still a Met. "But I figured it was the best way to get it across that I wanted to stay and be a part of this team's winning future." http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/mets/zack-wheeler-why-i-made-the-call-to-sandy-alderson-asking-to-stay-a-met-1.10700429 As a fan, I'm glad Wheeler wants to stay because I've always wanted him around and would have been disappointed if he'd been traded.

Lefty Specialist wrote: ESPNinnies completely ignored Rendon's double while they yammered on. Fortunately nothing else happened. One of the downfalls of calling the game from the left field bleachers is that they just aren't used to calling a game from that vantage point. I'm thinking they thought it was foul and continued yammering about whatever they were yammering about. The ESPN crew was tolerable...mostly because they were GUSHING about the Mets all night. It's been a long time since that has happened.

I can't remember feeling this good about a series in many, many years. What a weekend!

I'm headed to the Brewers/Cubs game for a company outing. I'll be mildly rooting for the Brewers. I'll be home with more than enough time to see the real game of the day.

Another great game! Going for the sweep in front of a national TV audience...it would be quite a statement.

Edgy MD wrote: Jonathan Weissman in the house. Hilarious!