Frayed Knot

d'Kong76 wrote: Is it me, or is this going to be the longest weekend ever? Exacerbated by it being a 4:00 start rather than the usual 1:00.

Sign the other two NOW!!!! (even if one or both are girls, I don't care)

Ceetar wrote: I don't get why they seem like a trendy pick. I do. Maybe the best young OF in baseball, decent-to-good players just about everywhere else, and several decent pitchers to go along with Jose Fernandez coming back around mid-season. Not a great team maybe, but no real holes either.

With the addition of Trevor Cahill, LHP Wandy Rodriguez has been released. He looked good for a while back with Houston, but injuries and age (he's 36) have caught up with him. Cahill & Stults will man the back end of the Braves rotation.

I'm not sure I'd think of it as a weakness so much as just a case of no one guy with a track record of being dominant in that spot for more than a short period even though the pen taken as a whole could be a strength. I guess that alone could be seen as A definition of weakness, but it's also why this team would be a perfect one (IMO) to not assign anyone as the go-to closer as there's no one who was brought in and paid big bucks specifically for the role and, while several can make some claim to the throne, each has drawbacks as well. - Mejia is the "incumbent" but didn't pitch well down the stretch last season (had the team not been out of the race in Aug/Sept that ugly wart would have been noticed much more than it was) and hasn't had a good spring - Parnell was the man before that but isn't has now missed an entire season and as yet isn't ready to go - Familia probably had the best season last year but has that 'has never done it' label stamped on his forehead I'd love to see a mix-n-match deal based on: who's hot - who's rested - who matches up best but no one (not this manager or any others that I know of) seem willing to want to experiment in that way.

smg58 wrote: Pretty decent numbers: 2.80 ERA in 65 IP, Parnell and/or Familia will have to be really good to unseat him. I dunno. After a season of more hits than innings pitched, an only OK 2.5/1 ratio of K/BB, a .345 OBA-Against, all of which resulted in a near 1.5 WHiP, I tend to think he was a bit lucky with that low ERA and I wouldn't count on his penchant for stranding runners as a repeatable "skill". The 14 separate outings in August & September alone last year where he allowed multiple baserunners (well more than half the time) was enough to scare me into losing confidence until he proves otherwise.

Braves, apparently concerned about their rotation (or maybe their pen), "buy low" (their words) on DBacks hurler Trevor Cahill. Give up a minor league OF Josh Elander. A 2nd round draft pick out of HS in 2007, the now 27 y/o Cahill was an AS for Oakland in 2010 but was dealt to Arizona after 2011 and fell to 2-10 / 5.61 / 1.61 last season while starting about half the time.

Deal apparently signed and delivered (not sure if they sealed it). "I love the Mets," Lagares said Wednesday, before the deal was completed. "That's the team that gave me an opportunity when I was 16 years old. They gave me an opportunity to play in the big leagues with them, too. That's the thing I played my whole career for. This is what I want to do."

Game over already?!?! Either they started really early or Manfred's speed-up rules are working like a charm. And your final is .. a 0-0 tie. No extra-innings, no PKs, and no red cards as far as I know. Harvey [4 IP, 3 hits], C Torres [2 - 1], Goeddel [2 - 1] and Thornton [1 - 1] combine for the 6-hit shutout. Mets only manage 4: Nieuwenhuis, Tejada (a double), Mayberry & Rosario Mets off to Texas for the next two days (who booked THAT trip?!?) 8:05 Friday, 2:05 on Saturday

The thing about those YSII letters is that Reggie Jackson is the guy who bought them in the sell-a-thon when they (finally got around to) dismantling the stadium and now wants to sell them. no telling what ol' Reg wanted them for, and it's possible that he's dumping them now after he found out that he didn't get the right combination of letters to spell out REGGIE in ten foot high neon blue letters in his bedroom

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I like the idea of starting with Gee in the rotation. He can always be displaced by Montero later on, and it saves Montero from pitching too many innings early in the season. Or maybe we can see some version of the pre-injury Gee who, from June '13 to April '14, turned in 28 starts of 2.86 ERA, 1.11 WHiP, 122-to-37 K/BB ratio, 158 Hits in 176 IP, w/a 12-6 record That would then leave someone else (or one of several someones) to fight off Montero (or Syndergaard or Matz) for a spot in the rotation.

The Mets have apparently informed Gee that he is to be starteriffic to start the season; will pitching the season's 5th game.

Back to prospect rankings for a minute: John Sickels ranks the Mets system as 6th best in MLB 6) New York Mets: There isn�t quite as much star potential here [as compared to the upper five] but there is a LOT of solid talent especially on the pitching side (Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz). Catcher Kevin Plawecki, outfielder Brandon Nimmo, second baseman Dilson Herrera, and 2014 first-rounder Michael Conforto all project as regulars. There are several potential fourth starters and relief options. This is clearly a system on the upswing. Last year: 12th http://www.minorleagueball.com/2015/4/1/8268303/minor-league-balls-2015-mlb-farm-system-rankings-sickels

Then that tilts the odds even more against Carlyle it would seem -- and with Black and/or Parnell (hopefully) not (too) far behind things are going to get awfully crowded out there before long (barring other injuries).

Sunday, April 5 Adam Wainwright@Jon Lester Monday, April 6 Drew Hutchison@Masahiro TanakaPhil Hughes@David PriceKyle Kendrick@Kyle LohseClay Buchholz@Cole HamelsChris Tillman@Chris ArcherBartolo Colon@Max ScherzerJulio Teheran@Henderson AlvarezJeff Samardzija@Yordano VenturaJered Weaver@Felix HernandezFrancisco Liriano@Johnny CuetoJames Shields@Clayton KershawCorey Kluber@Dallas KeuchelYovani Gallardo@Sonny GrayMadison Bumgarner@Josh Collmenter

So I'm figuring that Muffy won't be ready to answer the bell on Monday and, if not, neither of the likely replacements -- Muno or Reynolds -- are on the 40-man. Herrera is but I think they'd like to keep him down for a while particularly since the assignment is likely to be short-term. On the flip side, they can create an opening by sticking Wheeler on the 60-day DL so it's not like they have to jettison anyone in order to create more room. Reynolds has looked more than ready but his right-handedness might work against him here. Sandy has acknowledged that the bench is all RHH except for Kirk and that ideally you'd want more balance. The other backup duel is Recker vs Monell. For the same reasons the switch-hitting Monell might have the edge here but I don't know if they think his defense is good enough to make him your sole backup backstop as opposed to say a 3rd option/PH And in the pen it's probably Gilmartin vs Carlyle for the last spot. Whoever loses out risks being lost for good: Carlyle because he'd have to be exposed to waivers and Gilmartin would need offered back to the roster he came from. Carlyle more likely to skate by I'd think. Sandy seems fine with three LHPs in the pen as only Blevins is really a limited specialist.

2 in the 7th (2R 2B by Matt Reynolds) then 2 more in the 9th (including a run-scoring 1B by Reynolds) makes it close. 5-4 StL

Ceetar wrote: how did I change arbitration into nitration? is it because I was half-writing a BeerGraphs post about the Old Howling Bastard I had on nitro last weekend? Or maybe your spellcheck program was drinking. The arbitration cut off is the one that's speculative (usually around 1/3 of the season) but it's also less important. If Bryant turns out to be as good as everyone hopes then what he's going to be paid in year 3 of his career is relatively small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, particularly when compared to the question of being a FA or not in year 7. Plus if he's that good year 3 will probably be over-ridden by a multi-year deal which will cover those carb-years anyway. As far as how things work for FA purposes: the ML season, for accounting purposes, is 182 days long, but players who are on the roster for at least 170 of them get credit for one full year which is where the 12 days thing kicks in. And once a player misses those 12 days there's no way to make them up; no way to earn 'extra credit' so to speak for being active in all 182 days in subsequent years.

I'm fine with this signing (assuming it comes off) but it really doesn't change much. Lagares was tied to the team for those years anyway so all this does is set the cost in concrete for both parties and, if the option is picked up, buy one extra year. And if he bombs or booms starting with this season then one side or the other is uttering about what he should be making instead of what he's obligated to be paid - but that's a problem for accountants and agents, not fans.

http://m.mlb.com/cutfour/2015/04/01/115665866/april-fools-here-are-10-times-someone-fell-for-the-hidden-ball-trick

Now with Rendon a certainty to miss OD and probably the whole series ("he's off to see Dr. James Andrews" are never good things to hear if you're looking toward a quick rebound) the Nats are talking about SS-turned-2B Yunel Escobar shifting to 3rd base with I guess Danny Espinosa manning 2B. We're not going to see Jayson Werth next week either.

... Unless there is something in the CBA that requires such decisions be based on their best baseball judgment, not economic considerations. But I doubt the CBA does, though, because how could you possible prove intent? Actually I think there IS some language in the CBA about how demotions have to be done for baseball reasons, or at least how they CAN'T be done strictly for manipulation of service time which is certainly what this smells like. But of course you then run into the second part of your statement about how one goes about proving it. One thing that would add to the union's position in any theoretical litigation would be if Bryant is called up exactly on the day that would delay his FA time for an extra year so I'm betting we don't see that.

This makes more sense than the Duda rumors along the same lines. Laggy is younger and can still make contributions defensively in the event his hitting declines or at least never improves. On the flip side, Duda's predecessor showed what a power-hitting 1st baseman who stops hitting for power is worth. Plus even a short-ish contract w/Duda takes you to age 32 or 33.

I forecast that I will refer to him as Jeremy (because that's what I thought his name actually was) until at least mid season.

Yeah, I guess that didn't float to the top because it was minor leaguer-for-minor leaguer, with neither ultimately ever playing for the Mets, so the UMDB didn't record it. Makes sense. I only remembered it because of some stupid argument years ago about the Mets failing to hold on to Bautista (when in fact he was never really Mets property). Yeah, but it was also an example of the team deciding to make a trade, and then basically jumping through whatever hoops were needed to see it through. The Pirates had be raped in the previous winter's Rule 5 draft (lost like 4 players almost immediately) and saw the Mets' desire to get Benson as an opportunity to get one back. So they said that, in addition to Matt Peterson and Ty Wigginton, the Mets also had to cough up a player they didn't even have in order to get Benson. That forced Duquette et al (the 'Wise Old Men') to first make an initial deal in order to seal the bigger deal. So, yeah, while Bautista was never really NYM property and it's ultimately the Royals who should be kicking themselves over that deal (even though Bautista wouldn't really start hitting until a couple years after that) the Blue & Orange didn't exactly cover themselves with glory over that deal either. I suspect that same day's more infamous deal probably worked along the same lines: once the brass got themselves (for whatever reason) set on landing Victor Zambrano that there was no price too high they wouldn't meet in order to get him. Shyeeet, I wonder if the TB brass ever rued not getting more for Zambrano & Bartolome Fortunate because it's possible the Mets hadn't reached their limit!!