Frayed Knot

Oh and it gets worse. "When I signed my contract, the Phillies told me they would contend. They told me they would contend every year. But things happen.'' So you took that as essentially a guarantee and therefore the current condition represents some sort of breach?

"I just want to win. That's all any competitor wants. And I know it's not going to happen here." -- Cole Hamels, not exactly mincing words about his desire to be traded.

Well I might suggest that when pointing out that 9-of-12 picks have failed to "ever" reach the majors, the fact that 6 of those still could, while the 3 who won't weren't even the first picks in that year's draft -- 2 were 2nd picks in their year while another was the team's 3rd choice and only 1 of the 3 was even a true 1st round pick (the others were supplemental picks outside the top 30) then I think the statement becomes meaningless to the point of not worth mentioning.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Only three out of the last 12 Mets first round draft picks ever made it to the majors, although, to be fair, there's still plenty of time for those numbers to improve significantly. Yeah, that's more than just a bit misleading considering that most of those are recent, active, under 25, and are mostly showing up on Top-100 lists this winter. To find the last NYM 1st pick of that year's 1st round who failed to make the big leagues you have to go back to Geoff Goetz in 1997. That was a bad one considering how he was the 6th overall pick that year. Reese Havens may have been the Mets 'real' draft pick that year but he was 4 picks after 'compensation' pick Ike.

W.A.G. - Kirk Presley

Zvon wrote: It was my belief that 2 of the circles were used for a pre-game workout. Coaches hitting fungos to left and right field would stand in the circles up the baselines. And sometimes one would be used to hit fungos to outfielders, and the other one hitting groundballs to infielders (the one circle that is closest to home might only be for infield fungos-other two outfield). I don't know this for a fact but I figure coaches wore the grass out in the spots they would fungo from over the years, and eventually they decided to just create a small area w/no grass for him to hit from. A 'fungo circle' makes sense for the seemingly extra one.

d'Kong76 wrote: The Who, What, and Where of new show... http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/feb/18/the-odd-couple-matthew-perry-vanity-project-falls-flat ... and The Wire�s Wendell Pierce plays his friend Ding Ding Ding, the appearance of the BBF (Black Best Friend) a staple of today's sitcoms everywhere!!

Rubin: WOR has offered its pregame and postgame host job to Illinois native Wayne Randazzo, sources told ESPNNewYork.com. The role will include fill-in play-by-play. Randazzo would succeed Seth Everett, who held the role last season. Some of that play-by-play fill-in will probably come early due to the Islander success this year. From Wayne's website: Wayne Randazzo is headed into his second season as the play-by-play broadcaster of the Kane County Cougars (Class A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs) after spending his first four years in pro ball as the lead broadcaster for the Mobile BayBears (Class AA Affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks). Wayne is also currently an update anchor for Chicago's Sports Radio 670 the Score, the flagship station of the Chicago White Sox. Wayne has hosted and co-hosted as a fill-in on the weekly baseball program, Hit & Run, as well as the pregame and postgame shows on the Chicago White Sox Radio Network. He's also worked in various anchor and reporting roles for Chicago�s ESPN 1000, WGN Radio and the Illinois Radio Network. Additionally, Wayne has performed in numerous roles as a television play-by-play broadcaster for the Big Ten Network, Chicago's Comcast Network 100 and for the Alabama High School Athletics Association covering football, men�s and women�s basketball, baseball and softball.

So is this thread timed to get everyone's interest all ginned up for the [u:yfgphqpr]Odd Couple[/u:yfgphqpr] re-boot that's premiering this week (Thursday I believe) with Matthew Perry as Oscar? Somehow I suspect this is going to wind up in the 'Must Miss TV' category.

HahnSolo wrote: And why is there a batter seemingly lurking right around the batters box? Is he the on-deck guy? Most likely yes. He appears to be giving the (much more subtle than today) hands-down signal for the runner to slide.

Lots of scouting reports for NYM prospects courtesy of the folks at Fangraphs

Definitely not a steal of home, Jackie's or anyone else's. Ceetar wrote: why are there two on deck circles. are those on deck circles? They're awfully close and only on the first base side. Neither one of those are on-deck circles. They were, in effect, on-deck mounds. They're not raised obviously, but hurlers would use those back in the day to throw to a plate that was near the backstop as a pre-game warmup. I guess they were considered preferable to the bullpen for whatever reason. There's one on the 3rd base side also. Not quite sure why there are two on the 1st base side (in addition to the batter's circles).

Edgy MD wrote: I'm trying to figure out what angle you're shooting from here. You've got cold evidence that Mike Maddux is apparently mesmerized from checking out Bartolo's butt and your biggest concern is the camera angle?!?

Anyone think this [u:izyev3vk]wasn't[/u:izyev3vk] a demand by Yanx mgmt coerced by threats of making every second of his pinstriped life a living hell over the next three years? Reminds me of the Zimmer apology following his dust-up with Pedro -- the day after he suddenly realized that 'he embarrassed the organization' in a tearful on camera mea culpa. Only problem was that it still didn't keep Steinbrenner from demanding that cameras never show him in the dugouts (even when it meant an absurd tightly-cropped shot of Torre) or eventually forcing him out anyway.

They ignore their past, even when it�s staring them right in the face. Sure, the Mets don�t have 27 titles, but Mets� fans have heroes. Creating this notion that the only way to honor someone is by retiring their number; anything less (or merely different) is the equivalent of an insult both to the player and the fans. And then he pretty much admits it's mostly a marketing ploy. Reiterating my policy on this topic (for like the 15th year running now): - all numbers not currently retired should be in circulation. The 'in limbo' status of 24, 8, and 31 is worse than either a yes or a no choice. - If you want to save numbers with a distinguished past for (hopefully) the next special player at that position, even better. - next number under consideration is #5 - and that's a discussion for the decade of the '20s, let's see how things play out I'm not one for absolute standards on this stuff, but I think they should consider players who are something along the lines of: 1) HoF status player or pretty damn come to it; 2) majority of his career in an NYM uni; 3) not an asshole. Carter fills the first criteria there but doesn't come close to the second. Keith falls somewhat short of both but had a much better Met career than Carter which means if you retire #8 then you're into the same slippery slope dilemma I brought up with the Yanx. I'd listen to arguments about Piazza (will eventually satisfy #1, is close on #2) but given the choice I'd prefer not to.

d'Kong76 wrote: Bunch of wet blankets we have here, I tell ya. And I haven't even begun to wet blanket!! btw, Kernan should be ashamed of himself for playing that angle.

I'm not dead yet!! -- Barry Zito, last pitched in MLB in 2013, inks a minor league deal back where it all started for him with Oakland.

I have no idea about this guy's prospect credentials, but he has some positive things to say about Cecchini - noting mostly his improvement from his first season of minor league ball to his second. 2013 = .041 IsoP at Brooklyn (that's essentially no power at all) 2014 = .131 IsoP split between higher levels Savannah & St Lucie (plus 4 ABs at Bingo) That's a jump from 8 XBHs in 2013 (all of them doubles) to 40 (in slightly more than 2x the ABs) including 5 3Bs & 8 HRs And his K/BB ratio dropped from 2.14 to 1.44

Andruw, btw, is NOT officially retired (has been playing in Japan the last two years) and has been talking to MLB teams this winter about a stateside job. If he lands one he'll still be only 38 y/o on Opening Day.

Marc Carig, Newday, tweets: Unless an opportunity presents itself (injury in another camp), the Mets won't be pursuing a trade for one of their pitchers.

Edgy MD wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: I get what you mean about the slippery slope up there in The Bronx over retiring uniform numbers, but Pettitte's probably not the poster boy for any of that. He'll deservedly get Hall of Fame votes and if his Yankee career was instead, as a Met, he'd be the franchise's second best pitcher all-time (career, not peak). Pettitte isn't the poster boy for the slippery slope, Guidry was. Once they retired his number they took any prospect of even having a debate about Pettitte totally off the table. I'd say Roger Maris and Billy Martin muddied that slope more than Guidry ever did. Yes, I was going to mention them both as further examples but wanted to stick with a pitcher-to-pitcher comparison. Petite had the overall better MFY career so they put themselves in a situation where they can't NOT retire him now on account of 'Gator'.

MFS62 wrote: One writer on the Mets Inside Pitch (subscription required) has called him "Bustchini", although that writer has been known to occasionally write with pen in cheek. In any event, I don't see him making it to the majors this year, and he may be passed by Rosario at some point. Maybe someone should explain to this "writer" how stupid it is to stick a 'Bust' label on a 20 y/o player just two years after his draft out of high school. Or at least force him to explain his scouting bonafides up front.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: I get what you mean about the slippery slope up there in The Bronx over retiring uniform numbers, but Pettitte's probably not the poster boy for any of that. He'll deservedly get Hall of Fame votes and if his Yankee career was instead, as a Met, he'd be the franchise's second best pitcher all-time (career, not peak). Pettitte isn't the poster boy for the slippery slope, Guidry was. Once they retired his number they took any prospect of even having a debate about Pettitte totally off the table.

Well in fairness, some of these guys (this one for instance) aren't even on the 40-man.

It's the slippery slope theory come to life, once you retire Guidry's digits then you essentially have to do Petite too. While Guidry may have had the better peak, AP had 100 more starts as a Yank, almost 100 more wins, 1,000 more innings pitched, plus won more championships and will get more HoF consideration.