Frayed Knot

Minor league deals abound: Catcher Jesus Flores - never really a NYM but an original signee - hooks on with the Braves for a ST invite and perpetual backup SS Omar Quintanilla does similarly with the Rockies

So it sounds like it has the advantage of being a movie with Adam Sandler that's not an Adam Sandler movie.

MLB.com's Top-100 82 - Michael Conforto 72 - Brandon Nimmo 66 - Steven Matz 63 - Kevin Plawecki 10 - Noah Syndergaard Clicking on a given player via that link gives you a scouting report

RealityChuck wrote: Mays's "decline" was primarily due to the fact that he misjudged one fly ball in the playoffs. And it was as much a case of losing a ball in the October sun than misjudging it.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: My $$ on Big Fat Disappointment, emphasis on "Fat." [fimg=350]http://www.dnamagazine.com.au/media/0/62549/2/julyMatt%20Harvey1.jpg[/fimg] "Who you calling FAT?"

d'Kong76 wrote: ... I'd listen to the Mets if Elmer Fudd was doing the broadcast. As would I, if for no other reason than to hear him describe Anthony Wecker thwowing out a wunner.

Yeah, Figueroa is a native NYer (Abraham Lincoln HS - Brooklyn) so I'm sure that angle appeals to SNY brass. He also came via Brandeis Univ so, baseball scholarship and all, you wouldn't figure him to be a total dummy. Cliffy's been doing some work for the Marlins, at least on a part-time basis, for a couple of years now. At first was kind of dorky/jocky and cliche-heavy but seems to be getting better with time and has snagged some time on MLBN as a result. I believe he lives in So-Fla so you wonder how much he'd be committed to NYC on a full-time basis, but I guess if the money's right ...

I'm in favor of trying everything else first with the hope of avoiding things like rule changes, roster restrictions, or pitch clocks. If they can simply enforce the things they've talked about and which seem easy to do (maybe not by Game #1, but soon enough): 1) batter & pitcher both ready to go [u:1a5s5i73]before[/u:1a5s5i73] the half-inning break is complete - so the 2:05 breaks don't morph into 2:30 2) limit stepping-out and stepping-off and then I'll throw in 3) incoming relievers get their warm-ups in the pen that should be 15 minutes right there. Hell, [u:1a5s5i73]two seconds saved per pitch[/u:1a5s5i73] gets you more than halfway there!

There'd be a significant increase in "injuries" to pitchers following their first batter faced if there was suddenly a two-batter minimum rule. But I predict recovery time for said injuries would be fairly rapid.

The absence of Matz in particular is surprising and I suspect will be the exception rather than the rule as other lists start to appear. Jonathan Mayo/MLB.com is next up, they're releasing theirs Friday night.

Braves reach a four year deal (plus option for 2019) with Cuban OF Dian Toscano. The 25 y/o is considered relatively unknown as he didn't play for the national team recently. Limited stats seem to indicate a high BA but lack of power and throwing arm. And that's what $25.5 million buys you these days.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Paulette LoDuca? He said offspring, not girlfriend.

I always liked this little guy. [fimg=450:3vc9q72p]http://4vector.com/i/free-vector-portland-sea-dogs-0_064892_portland-sea-dogs-0.png[/fimg:3vc9q72p] I had a real comfy PSD sweatshirt w/this logo until losing it somewhere a bunch of years ago.

I don't think anyone's trying to link shifts and game time. Shifts and reduced offense maybe, but not time of game. And again, I think much of what Manfred is trying to say here -- in response to various 'first day on the job' questions -- is send a signal as to how his approach might differ from Selig's (proactive rather than reactive) by indicating that he's willing to at least look such radical topics such as pace of play (already begun) and the idea of restricting defensive shifts.

I suspect it was just some newspaper editor -- one perhaps not familiar with standard scorecard notation -- trying to illustrate how many of the fielders were on the one side of the infield (Mr. catcher is probably #4 but got cropped). That still doesn't answer the question of why he went in the particular order he did, but it's likely nothing other than just random.

I wonder if Ambler is still insisting that 'Afro' Bobby was the better pitcher?

Backman replacing Giles was THE lineup change in 1983-1984 offseason. Keys to a big improvement: Have 2/5 of your starting rotation finish 1st & 5th in RoY voting - and then watch them improve the year after that. seawolf17 wrote: I'm not displeased with this offseason. I don't want to make moves just to make moves; it's not about cutting the Wilpons slack -- I can't stand the Wilpons -- but all the big names available were starting pitchers, and we don't *need* any of that. Look, I'd be all for a shortstop upgrade (and have been both hoping and predicting it for two off-seasons now). But, like you say, don't make moves just to make them and one of the best lessons from 'Moneybag' IMO is that the player you fail to sign/acquire won't hurt you as much as the one you get at the wrong price. Remember two winters ago the "must have" FA in many NYM circles was Michael Bourn. Imagine today had we signed Bourn for four years, cut Lagares loose because of it (he would have been blocked and no one seemed to know what we had in him at that time), and paid not just the FA cost but also the draft pick that became Conforto. As for SS, we had a similar winter-long SS thread last winter and then looked at it later in the year only to find that none of the rumored or hoped-for guys [Gregorius, Miller or Franklin from Seattle for ex.] would have helped all that much if at all. Gregarious was finally moved this year and, while he's got youth and potential, he's also a 24 y/o already in his 3rd org with an OPS vs LHP that would make for a halfway decent two-game bowling score but that's about it. We all know the problems/questions with Tulo, and while I would have loved Desmond, he was the one deal where we pretty know for a fact what the price would have been to get him, and no one here (me included) would have been comfortable paying it.

The thing about years like 1984 is that the improvements look obvious only in retrospect. With similar hindsight, we could be saying years from now that a lack of outside acquisitions was OK way back in the winter of 2014-15 because we knew heading into '15 that we were going to have the first full years of Harvey, deGrom, d'Arnaud, & Lagares; that Wright was returning from injury and sure to improve, that Grandson was due for a bounce back, that Duda had shown the previous year that he was ready for prime-time and now had the job from day one, etc. Far-fetched? Maybe. But no more so than knowing the kind of year Keith was going to give you or that Dwight Gooden was about to be dropped in your lap. I remember a writer (wish I remembered which one) laughing at the idea of Wally Backman making a contribution at 2B but of course, with hindsight, that turned out to be exactly the move we needed.

Various insiders discuss the shifting trend - or the trends in shifting. http://m.mlb.com/news/article/107573504/players-coaches-discuss-impact-of-the-infield-shift

Streak ends with the 3rd base crew. Not only do we not have anyone real strong there but that's also a stacked position right now as I suspect the top three on this list will all be Top-20 prospects overall and maybe even Top-10. There are some crazy power projections among those three.

His playing time is going to depend on how well he produces. The team might hate him and are currently all high and mighty about him being a disgrace to the pinstripes, but if he proves he can still hit he'll get his ABs one way or another [DH, 3B, 1B] He's almost certain to pass Mays barring another big injury, but it's just as certain that the Yanx don't want to pay him that ($6mil) bonus so that's where the first fight is going to come. Ruth would be the next milestone but, at 60 HRs away at this point, that's a threshold he may never get to even if he does play more or less regularly. I think if you told the Yanx that they'd get 3 seasons out of him at 18-20 HRs/per they'd sign up for that in a heartbeat.

Meeting with A-Rod will have to wait until Spring Training: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/report--yankees-reject--clear-the-air--meeting-with-alex-rodriguez-054658194.html Later And now the team is threatening to fight him in court over those bonuses they had written into his contract for the 'milestone' HRs, claiming he obtained those incentives under false pretensions (and they of course had no idea he was dabbling in steroids, no way they'd ever deal with one of those). The first one of those bonuses -- $6 million worth -- is due after (if?) he hits just six more HRs and catches Willie Mays.

One cool thing about that 2B list is that Dilson is the 3rd youngest of the ten (one is younger by just a few weeks, the other by about a year + 1/2) but the only one to reach the majors so far.

I have to be honest. I don't know how typical that alignment really was. Leaving only one guy on the left side instead of one in the infield and one in the outfield is totally EXXXTREME!!11! Cleveland player/manager Lou Boudreau (he might be player #2 in that picture) is the one credited for coming up with that one vs Teddy Ballgame, but it was hardly the first or only time that type of thing was used prior to just the last year or two. Olbermann did a piece on this not long ago which included him reading newspaper accounts from 19th century games which described defenses drastically overloading one side against certain hitters. I guess I just don't understand the big itch to do something about this. There are only a few rules in existence about positioning: the catcher has to be in his box; the pitcher needs to be on the rubber*; and the other seven need only to be in fair territory. If teams want to put all seven of them in a pile on the 2nd base bag, or have them in a circle holding hands in CF then they're free to do so. * unless you're Jordan Walden

In the laundry list of topics that he touched on, Manfred listed expansion as NOT something on the near-term agenda.