Frayed Knot

What that linked article didn't mention, even though the original Madden piece it's citing did, is that Fred, along with a number of other owners* who were viewed as Selig favorites, were removed from the powerful 'Executive Council', making this more akin to a reassignment than a reward. * In what amounts to his first act as commish (though he's not yet officially the boss) Manfred replaced seven of the eight members of the powerful executive council, leaving only StL general partner Bill DeWitt (not coincidentally his biggest supporter in last summer�s contentious election process) as the lone holdover. Out are White Sox board chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, Red Sox owner John Henry, Reds owner Bob Castellini, all of whom opposed Manfred's election last summer. Also Fred Wilpon and Royals owner David Glass who were instead put in change of the committees for business (Glass) and finance (Wilpon). In are Yankees general partner Hal Steinbrenner, Twins owner Jim Pohlad, Rays owner Stu Sternberg, Rangers co-chairman Ray Davis, Pirates owner Bob Nutting, Braves chairman Terry McGuirk and Cubs owner Tom Ricketts.

Who'd thought you could start with the NYPost as your source and then make it less intelligible?

It would seem to me that players would be required to pay for workouts during times that they're NOT on club time in order to be compliant with the CBA. Players working out in the off-season and in the company of trainers -- whether just on an individual basis at a local gym or via some larger operation like that sports institute in Arizona that was all the rage for a while -- is nothing new and those costs are certainly on the players. A situation where the club pays is where things seem to start to move into the realm of those "voluntary" workouts and mini-camps that the NFL has all the time in which the players are officially not required to attend only to have coaches and/or mgmt publicly criticize, question the effort of, and threaten the playing time for the ones who aren't there, even when the player in question is making it quite clear that he's getting the work in elsewhere. IOW, the line between when the players are on their own vs when they are on the clock should be as distinct as possible. This arrangement does get a bit murky in that it has the feel of something sponsored by the club as it uses their facilities ... BUT - unless the cost is outrageously higher than what one could get on his own - or there's some kind of kickback arrangement where the trainer's money winds up in the club's coffers - and there's pressure being put on by the team, particularly towards the younger players, to use THIS workout rather then one, say, near their off-season home or simply a different one of their choosing ... then I don't quite get the outrage here.

NY Post -- The Giants, Padres and Rockies have all been mentioned as potential landing spots for the right-hander, but a source indicated at least one AL team has shown interest.

NYPost -- Daniel Murphy settled at $8 million to avoid arbitration

Edgy MD wrote: Gee and Tejada settle. Some would say that Tejada & Gee just settled with the Mets. Others would argue that the Mets are settling for Tejada & Gee.

20 pitch clock to be used in all AA & AAA stadiums in 2015 Still some details still to be worked out but MLB has a great laboratory in which to try out these kind of ideas so why not.

Here's the biggest problem (at least according to this one article) "The limited-edition ticket � just 1,000 of the brass-engraved one-pounders are being produced � can be redeemed at the box office upon request, subject to availability. Having sold just 240 during the initial launch, the package was sweetened to include vouchers for nine random future regular-season games excluding Opening Day and the postseason" The one-game deal doesn't sound as good if it doesn't guarantee you access to that 'Have-to-be-there' game during a championship run or something because of the "subject to availability" clause. And then the nine 'anytime' games don't include potentially valuable post-season tilts. So it winds up being nine regular season (but not opening day) games for $1,000 bucks plus a shot at admission to some hot game in the future. Now it's a bargain of epic proportions as compared to those paying over $1,000 for each game for the right to be sweated upon by the group currently impersonating professional basketball players at MSG on a nightly basis, but that doesn't necessarily make it worthwhile.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: See, this is where things get all absurd for me .. this whole analysis about why Desmond is too flawed to play shortstop for the Mets given his current price tag. Yeah, that's not remotely what I'm saying.

Edgy MD wrote: ... so much of the clamoring is really about using "shortstop" to beat up on the team for not being "serious." That article there demands the Mets pay $150 million to Ian Desmond or have the commissioner seize the team. It's stupid. If the team has $150 million to drop, I can think of a lot of other places I would have it spent without thinking too hard. Yeah, BB-Ref's 'Most Similar' list* for Desmond is topped with names such as JJ Hardy, Orlando Cabrera, Stephen Drew, Juan Uribe, Brandon Phillip & Khalil Greene. Anyone want to be paying $20 mil/yr for any of those guys in their 30's? Desmond will hit 30 just before becoming a FA and has seen his OPS+ slip 125 - 113 - 103 over the past three seasons. Still a serious upgrade over whatever we have there for 2015, but when it's framed as an 'All-in or bust' scenario [best prospect PLUS another top prospect PLUS full FA deal or you're not worthy of a franchise] I think that's overstating things more than just a bit. * Not the greatest judge of like-players IMO, but just a quickie example

In addition to the 40-man roster automatic invites to ML ST - such as Noah Syndergaard, Steven Matz, Akeel Morris, Jack Leathersich and Hansel Robles, these non-40 guys will also start the spring in big league camp: Brandon Nimmo Gavin Cecchini Matt Reynolds Kevin Plawecki also RHPs - Buddy Carlyle, Zack Thornton, Cody Satterwhite, Tyler Pill, Matt Bowman, Jon Velasquez and Chasen Bradford LHP Scott Rice C - Johnny Monell and Xorge Carrillo IFs - Brandon Allen and Danny Muno OF Alex Castellanos.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: So the Nats went and got Yunel Escobar anywhoo, getting him from Oakland for dikhead reliever Tyler Clippard. I guess there's some speculation that the Nats could still do away with Desmond, would be funny if they somehow came to a deal with the Mets after all. That's two big hits to the Nats bullpen this winter. First they let Soriano walk (and despite their fans' complaints about him, he was good for the first 3/4 of the year) and now Clippard (who IS a dick and takes far too long to throw but was more than pretty good). Part of what the Nats are trying to do -- NEED to do really -- is clear out at least some of the many key parts that are coming up on FA-gency in the next two years. FAs at the end of 2015, in addition to Clippard, are Desmond, the pitching Zimmermann, Span, and Fister (fist her I barely know her!). And then after 2016 comes the catcher Ramos plus Strasberg and the rest of the bullpen in Stammen & Storen.

sharpie wrote: So Gattis won't be playing outfield for the Braves and presumably DH's for the 'Stros. Braves now can play that Jordan Shaffer guy alla time along with Markakis and BJ. Not a good outfield. Los Bravos actually lost Schafer last August on waivers to Minnesota so it'll have to be someone else replacing J. Upton + Gattis out there. But your overall point still stands, that the all the Braves moves this winter have been to the detriment of their defense. Most notably Markakis for Heyward (Heyward for ANYONE was going to be a downgrade), but also adding Callaspo at 2nd (his defensive numbers stink anyway) and Pierzynski catching. Outside of Simmons and probably Freeman, they don't look to be a very impressive defensive group.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I can totally understand not wanting to deal Syndergaard for only one guaranteed year of Desmond. Where Megdal says that the Mets could have simply requested a negotiating window, he neglects to mention that those windows are the exception, and most deals (for whatever reason) don't include them. You can't assume that the Mets had that option. And you can't assume that it was money that prevented this deal from happening; it's just one of several potential reasons. Those situations are rare because the clubs can't simply make them happen unilaterally. Both the other team AND the player have to agree to it in advance and then an agreement needs to be reached. And seeing as how Desmond has already turned down a lengthy and lucrative extension from his current team (the only one he's ever played for and one that's in the midst of the best run in its history) it certainly seems that he's intent on trying FA-gency. The Santana case was unusual in that Johan was a rare pre-FA player who had a contract giving him full no-trade protection which in turn gave him full veto power over any trade unless he got the contract he wanted in advance.

I'm not sure I'd be all that keen on sending three prospects away to get Evan Gattis (with the caveat that I don't know anything about those particular prospects) but one can definitely see Gattis hitting about ninety-eleven HRs/year in that park in Houston.

Just for starters: HM: "In case you haven't heard, the New York Mets still don't have a starting shortstop." Yes they do. It may not be the one you want but it's the same one who started the majority of the final 50 games of last season ... just in case you hadn't heard. HM: "And when Ken Rosenthal reported this weekend that the Mets had a chance to get Ian Desmond, shortstop for the Washington Nationals, in a three-way trade that would have cost the Mets pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard and one other top prospect from a list of three, it's hard to fathom exactly why the Mets were the team saying no. But as you've probably guessed, yes, it's the money." It's not hard to fathom at all. Argue that it's something they should have done all you want (although I'd argue otherwise) but ... - if you're going to use the Rosenthal article to kick off this piece, at least mention the part where he cites the unwillingness to part with the prospects as the specific reason the Mets backed away (salary was never mentioned). - and if you're going to cite Desmond's salary as the third rail that they will not touch, at least have the decency to acknowledge that they have made three separate acquisitions in the last 14 months where the incoming salary matches or exceeds Desmond's per/year salary (Cuddyer, Colon, Granderson) and all of those for multiple years rather than just one. Geez, they went $7.5 on Chris Young fer crissakes. But the readers probably already guessed that.

It appears to lack the magic "best shape of my life" quote, but Kernan at the Post checks out what David, as well as several other Mets, are up to lately.

Edgy MD wrote: I'd send you a private message, but who knows where to find private messages in this layout? Click on a user's name and 'Send Private Message' is one of the choices you'll have.

And, to answer a question that MEX17 posed last June in an attempt to help gauge 2015 payroll, Adam Rubin predicts the final salary numbers for NYM arg-eligible players So back in June Mex asked about: -Murphy -- AR sez $8.1 -Gee -- $5 mil, but it sounds like he'll be off the team before that figure ever gets decided -Parnell -- $3.7 -E. Young -- $0.00 as far as the Mets are concerned -Duda -- $4.25 -Tejada -- $1.7 and Mex didn't ask about Mejia but Rubin predicts $2.5

Jenrry Mejia, Dillon Gee, Daniel Murphy, Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada joined 170+ MLers by jumping on the Arby-filing train as it left the station yesterday. Parnell, who was eligible, pre-settled at $3.7 - the same salary he made in 2014

Dan, Zack, what's the difference? They're all from the same town in West Virginia anyway.

Well, according to the caller anyway, the Mets [u:riswe01s]promised[/u:riswe01s] that this is their year and that they'd go all out to make it happen. Ergo: Passing on this deal proves that they're not.

I heard exactly One WFAN call today - it was a guy complaining about the Mets not making this [three-way Ian Desmond] deal. And his complaint was not merely that they didn't do it but that not pulling the trigger on it is more proof that we're being lied to.

Ta-Dah ... your 2014 Top-30 New York Mets!! RANKPLAYER30LUAS DUDA29JACOB deGROM28DANIEL MURPHY27JUAN LAGARES26ZACK WHEELER25JONATHON NIESE24CURTIS GRANDERSON23TRAVIS d’ARNAUD22BARTOLO COLON21JEURYS FAMILIA20DAVID WRIGHT19JENRRY MEJIA18DILLON GEE17CARLOS TORRES16RUBEN TEJADA15WILMER FLORES14KIRK NIEUWENHUIS13VIC BLACK12JOSH EDGIN11ERIC YOUNG JR.10ERIC CAMPBELL9ANTHONY RECKER8BUDDY CARLYLE7MATT den DEKKER6CHRIS YOUNG5DAISUKE MATSUZAKA4DANA EVELAND3DILSON HERRERA2RAFAEL MONTERO1BOBBY ABREU

Particularly when the first half d'Arnaud slump + injury opened the door a bit wider, his key to semi-regular ML playing time was merely to outplay Recker. He didn't.