bmfc1

To me, the QBC is worth the $35 + the round-trip on Amtrak because I get to see many of you, meet Josh Lewin, Adam Rubin, shake hands with Mookie and Ed Charles, and talk Mets all day. I guess if I lived in New York I'd be less enthused but I don't get to talk with many Mets fans in DC so I loved the experience. As the themetfairy said, the main "breakout" room is too small so I didn't attend Mookie's presentation. I went to the "Mets executives" talk so I could get a seat in advance of Wally. These Mets Executives were more concerned with the Kids Club, concerts and tee shirts than getting a shortstop. Hearing their enthusiasm about the concert series and why it was moved to Saturdays was interesting until I read that the Athletics acquired Ben Zobrist. I'd rather have Ben Zobrist in Flushing than Steve Miller. We were told that they are already planning for 30th anniversary events around the 1986 Mets. Wally was great. JCL summarized it nicely. We learned that the Mets are trying to resign Dana Eveland (BREAKING!). G-Fafif asked Adam Rubin many good questions and Adam was open (the Mets wanted him to leak that they were concerned about Ike going out drinking with Justin Turner and Matt Harvey--he wrote about it without mentioning his cohorts so not to hurt his relationships with Turner and Harvey). He said that ESPN has one Mets writer while having two MFY writers. The panel on Uniforms was wonderful. I don't care THAT much about the subject but it was fun and Paul Lukas kept it lively. JCL was sadly underutilized but added good data. G-Fafif's intro of Ed Charles was beautiful. I'm hoping that the Mets let us inside CF next year. (300 Mets fans in an adjoining restaurant and the team store was closed--stupid!)

http://www.murraychass.com/?p=8373 Chass again damns Mike Piazza with speculation and rumor but offers no evidence.

Great movie. At the end, I was mad, at the way he was treated, and sad, at what the world lost because of how he was treated.

Five of the ones that didn't vote for Mike Piazza and to them I say "F y'all": Heyman Noble Sherman Verducci Dan Shaughnessy.

Who is going from the CPF: I will be there G-Fafif themetfairy Ceetar... who else?

I have the new [u:1u0u0y02]Bill James Handbook[/u:1u0u0y02] and there are stats about replay. I thought that if Terry was good at one thing, it was knowing when to challenge but he was under .500 at that: he challenged 30 calls and 13 were overturned (43.3%). (By comparison, the high for challenges was 48 by the Rays and Blue Jays while the low was 26 by the Athletics.) Overall, 52.6% of the challenges were successful. Against the Mets, 20 calls were challenged and 12 were overturned so the Mets were +1 on challenges. The Nationals were first at +11 but then again, they had a great record so perhaps the replays were irrelevant. The Rangers were last at -9 and they had a poor record.

Tom Verducci stopped fellating Jeter and Torre long enough to vote and he didn't vote for Piazza.

I thought that this was a thread about me. Thanks a lot!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmkBNPY405WAdFBOUVBhbjNRZjYzbWI2d201bm0tSmc&usp=sharing#gid=16

You omitted Zach Wheeler. However, I'd like him to finish over .500 at least once before deciding that he's done a good job. As of now, he's done a lousy job and I hope he proves me wrong this week by getting an all-star SS.

I didn't know that we were only allowed to suggest rule changes that you deem to be realistic. Of course it will never happen because MLB only cares about making money. The point was that if MLB was serious about fixing the issue of lengthy games, it could, right now, without involving the MLPA, even if that fix was "unrealistic" to you.

Thank you FK. MLB doesn't want to shorten the games--shorter games means fewer commercials (remember that commercials happen during a game, not just between innings). Someone is likely looking at that and thinking "its only 8 minutes." I want those 8 minutes! The words "bad news" and "Joe Torre" seem to go together. But the biggest problem isn't commercial time, it's the slow pace that occurs during supposedly live action. The amount of allotted time for commercial breaks [2:05 for most games, 2:25 for GotW (FOX Saturday and ESPN Sunday night), and 2:55 for post-season] hasn't changed in years, and yet the time-creep continues upward. It's all problematic. If MLB wanted to do something about the problem right away and do something that doesn't required MLBA OK, it would make the commercial breaks 90 seconds. They won't because it will cost them money but if they were serious about the issue, this is one way to help solve it. Cutting back merely one 30 second spot from all of the scenarios saves 9 minutes.

Big brain Rizzo is trying to balance winning in 2015 with all the FA's that they will have in the near future: http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/sports/wp/2014/12/04/how-would-washington-nationals-signal-theyre-all-in-for-2015-by-doing-very-little/

Thank you FK. MLB doesn't want to shorten the games--shorter games means fewer commercials (remember that commercials happen during a game, not just between innings). Someone is likely looking at that and thinking "its only 8 minutes." I want those 8 minutes! The words "bad news" and "Joe Torre" seem to go together.

Zero. Sandy doesn't have the ingenuity or the drive (and perhaps the money) to make a big trade for a SS. As a result, the remaining options are no better than what Wilmer Flores could be. If you want to counter this by saying that the big SS options (Andrus, Castro, Tulo aren't worth the price of depleting the system, go ahead). He'll say that they "laid the groundwork" to more talks... whatever that means. They'll lose someone in the Rule V. They might pick up someone in the minor league phase of the Rule V. Perhaps they'll sign a relief pitcher but I don't expect much except lots of boring press conferences.

Sherman says to pass on Everth: http://nypost.com/2014/12/03/skilled-available-shortstop-also-a-faded-juiced-stained-pothead/

Edgy MD wrote: Oooh, Padres non-tender Everth Cabreara. Right up the Mets alley: Plays shortstop.Has had one good season in the five, but it was only 2013.Has an arrest for driving under the influence of pot, so he needs some New York Met-brand redemption.Adds the base stealing juice that they lost by letting EYJ go.Isn't Tejada. Agreed! Plus, Sandy doesn't have to give up anything or really do anything.

And he wouldn't have cost the Mets a draft pick, a player in return, or the cost of developing him in the minors.

With his departure, the average time of MLB games will drop.

Biggio R. Johnson P. Martinez Piazza Raines Smoltz (coincidentally, the same as FK.)

Castro isn't a "number 7 hitter" even if he would be in the 2015 Mets lineup. And if he's batting seventh, then the Mets lineup is in good shape.

Phil Rogers, who put deGrom 2d, voted Terry as 3d for Manager of the Year. Was he casting this vote from the bottom?

Booooo!: Phil Rogers, MLB.com (CHI): Hamilton DeGrom Wong Fred Mitchell, Chicago Tribune (CHI): Hamilton DeGrom Wong John Erardi, Cincinnati Enquirer (CIN): Hamilton DeGrom Inciarte Brian Golden, Antelope Valley Press (LA): Hamilton DeGrom Wong

There is some Michael Morse talk today. Two good reads: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-obvious-lessons-of-one-dimensional-hitters/#more-167564 Morse clouted 16 but saw just two clear the fence after the calendar changed to July. It makes these hitters, high average and good contact rates though they claim, tough sells for teams in need of offense. http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/mike-morse-contract-san-francisco-giants-110214 Put simply, we didn't think Morse would hit enough to atone for his substandard left-field play. Add in his shaky health record, and there was a chance for disaster. But it wasn't a disaster. If power is what the Giants desired from Morse, then he fulfilled their dreams by finishing second on the roster in ISO. He wasn't just all about the bass, either�he posted the second-highest True Average, too. All told, Morse played as much as he had in all but one season, and put together the third-best offensive season of his career that saw him notch triple-digit plate appearances. He wasn't as good as the Giants could have helped, he was better. He seems to fit the concept of getting someone to "hold down the fort" until Conforto and/or Nimmo are ready but I'm skeptical because of his injury history. He has a good walk-up song:

bmfc1 wrote: Nate Silver says "send him!": http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/send-alex-gordon/ Fangraphs says "don't send him!": http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/alex-gordon-barely-had-a-chance/